Bringing the Railway to Daming

It turns out that Lu Tao, as the son of the prefect Lu Zhi, was a playboy, but because he had been educated, he had some knowledge and "ambition".

A few days after Ma Sanlang invented "animation," he went out to perform on the street for the first time and was spotted by Lu Tao. Although Lu Tao did not know about animation in later generations, he could see that Ma Sanlang's invention was quite valuable and wanted to make it his own.

He first sent a messenger to tell Ma Sanlang that he wanted to discuss spending some money to buy the invention and patent rights of "animation".

To everyone's surprise, Ma Sanlang refused to even talk about it.

After two unsuccessful invitations, Lu Tao had his butler and men kidnap Ma Sanlang to "Red Butterfly Residence," intending to use coercion and inducement to force him to buy the "animation" invention patent at a lower price.

In fact, Lu Tao's actions were not considered a serious crime, and he was stopped by Zhu Yuanzhang after only taking the first step of "binding people".

However, based on this incident, as well as Lu Tao's practice of keeping seven or eight thugs and spending a fortune to book the top courtesan, Hong Die, at "Hong Die Ya Zhu," Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Lu Tao must have committed many petty evils in his daily life.

As for whether his father, Lu Zhi, was a corrupt official, Zhu Yuanzhang was not sure.

He changed his mind and said to Cheng Ji, "You should keep Lu Tao under your custody at Hongdie Yazhu first, and then send people to thoroughly investigate Lu Zhi. If there are enough people, investigate the other officials in the Chuzhou prefectural government as well."

"The last general takes orders."

Cheng Ji responded and went to arrange for people to carry out the task.

Zhu Yuanzhang then had Li Gui bring tea from Hongdie Yazhu, and sat in the courtyard chatting with Ma Sanlang.

At this moment, whether it was Lu Tao, Ma Sanlang, or the madam and top courtesan Hongdie of Hongdie Yazhu, they all realized that Zhu Yuanzhang's identity was extraordinary—Cheng Ji and others had clearly shown extraordinary behavior, and Zhu Yuanzhang had said that he wanted to investigate Lu Zhi, the prefect, so he was very likely a high-ranking official in the court.

Therefore, Ma Sanlang was inevitably nervous when facing Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled broadly, as if he had become a kind old man, and asked, "Did you invent the mechanism for playing the 'animation' yourself?"

Ma Sanlang nodded first, then added, "It's not entirely my invention—I got the inspiration from the revolving lantern and comic strips, and then combined the two into one."

"Have you applied for a patent at the patent office?"

Ma Sanlang said, "Of course I applied for it. Otherwise, Lu Tao wouldn't have needed to talk to me. He could have just stolen my car and copied it—this invention isn't actually that hard to copy."

At this point, Ma Sanlang seemed to remember something, so he stood up, bowed deeply, and said, "Thank you for your righteous rescue, sir. May I ask your name?"

"Our surname is Huang, so you can just call me Master Huang," Zhu Yuanzhang said. "Your invention is quite good. Have you figured out how to monetize it?"

"Cash in?"

Seeing Ma Sanlang's confusion, Zhu Yuanzhang realized that "transformation" was a term he had learned from Liu Kuan and was probably not yet known to the common people.

He then explained, "It's about making money with your invention."

Ma Sanlang scratched his head and said, "Master Huang, I was making money with my inventions when I was performing on the street before, wasn't I?"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head with a smile, "Your performance is like a street performer, relying on the people to give you a few coins if they're happy. How much money can you make?"

Ma Sanlang said, "I don't earn much, but it's at least several times more than what I earned as a painter before. I'm already very satisfied."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, “I think there are still many areas where your invention can be improved. For example, you could add sound, or change the manual operation to automatic operation, or even make your vehicle bigger or smaller, so small that a person can hold it in their hand to look at it.”

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was not an inventor, over the past ten years or so, Liu Kuan, who was in charge of the Imperial Workshop, would submit reports to him on various research and inventions. Having seen so much, he naturally had a broader knowledge and more open-minded thinking in this area than the average person.

Sure enough, Ma Sanlang's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "Your suggestions are excellent! I will definitely find a way to improve them!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "No matter how good our suggestions are, it won't be easy for you to implement them on your own, right? Besides, some of these ideas will definitely require a lot of money and skilled craftsmen to realize."

"If you trust me, I can write a letter of recommendation. You can take it to the capital and find the head of the Imperial Crafts Academy. Not only will you be able to get investment from the Imperial Crafts Academy, but you might also be able to get an official position."

Director of the Tiangong Academy?
Ma Sanlang was taken aback at first, then excitedly asked, "Sir, you know the Marquis of Jiangning?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and nodded.

Ma Sanlang was so excited he almost jumped up. "That's the Marquis of Jiangning! The legendary banished immortal who invented the steam engine, the train, cement, and so many other things! You really want me to meet him?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was quite surprised that Ma Sanlang admired Liu Kuan so much, but he still nodded and said, "I used to be an official in the court, and I could talk to him for a while."

Ma Sanlang immediately bowed deeply again, "Thank you very much, Master Huang!"

Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a letter of recommendation at the Red Butterfly Pavilion, handed it to Ma Sanlang, and then left with Li Gui and others, leaving only a few guards to watch over Lu Tao and the others.

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang, along with Liu Chang'an and Liu Ruoyue, strolled around Chuzhou City for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, they had someone rent a private residence that was running an inn (similar to a guesthouse in later times) for them to stay in.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was very effective.

In fact, the Embroidered Uniform Guard already had people stationed in Chuzhou. Cheng Ji only needed to contact the Embroidered Uniform Guard's person in charge in Chuzhou to obtain a considerable amount of the information he wanted to know.

The next morning after breakfast, he reported to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, the matter of Wang Jindong's brother-in-law, the owner of the Wang family textile factory in Dongcheng, Chuzhou, has been investigated. This man did indeed use his position in the factory to seduce two women. He has already succeeded in seducing seven women, four of whom are unmarried and three of whom are married."

"In addition, this person also abused his power for personal gain, which harmed Wang Jindong's interests."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Write down two copies of the evidence and the details of the matter. Give one copy to Wang Jindong and send the other copy to the Chuzhou government office."

Cheng Ji nodded and immediately assigned a subordinate to carry it out.

He then reported, "According to the investigation by the men I sent out, and the response from the Jinyiwei in Chuzhou, Lu Zhi has not been found guilty of any corruption or bribery." "However, several of Lu Zhi's relatives and his wife's relatives are doing very well in business in Chuzhou, involved in multiple industries such as building materials, cloth, and jewelry. In just a few years, they have amassed a fortune of over 100,000 guan."

"In addition, although Lu Zhizhi's family and his wife's family have not committed any obvious crimes, they often bully others by abusing their power, and there is even suspicion of forced buying and selling."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "Isn't he just like that kid Lu Tao? He may not have committed any major evils, but he's certainly guilty of many minor ones."

Cheng Ji: "That's true."

"Do you know this person's political achievements over the years?"

Cheng Ji said, "Since Lu Zhi took office as the magistrate of Liuhe County more than ten years ago, his political achievements have always been good."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly upon hearing this. "He served as the magistrate of Liuhe County more than ten years ago? Could it be that he was the magistrate when Liu Kuan carried out the ironworks reform in Liuhe?"

"Yes."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment, "Collect all the evidence of crimes committed by Lu Zhi's clan, his wife's clan, and that brat Lu Tao. Have Lu Tao write a list of his crimes and give it all to Lu Zhi. Let's see how he handles it."

Cheng Ji reminded him, "Your Majesty, the Embroidered Uniform Guard cannot directly intervene in this matter. Under what pretext should we proceed?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Let's assign it to the subordinate offices of the Zhili Provincial Surveillance Commission and the censors under the Censorate. This will be a good opportunity to see what kind of officials these two departments in Chuzhou are capable of."

"Yes."

Cheng Ji then explained the matter to a subordinate before saying, "The matter of the illegal mines and schools in Chuzhou is still under investigation, and it will probably take some time to clarify."

"It's alright, we're not in a hurry."

···
···
Zhu Yuanzhang did not stay in Chuzhou for long, and left with his two children the next day.

It was only then that Lu Zhi learned that his son Lu Tao had not returned home all night—in fact, there were many instances in the past when Lu Tao had not returned home all night, but he would always send someone to tell the family.

Lu Zhifa's wife naturally became worried after he left for a day or two without saying a word.

"He must have gone to some brothel again!" Lu Zhi snorted coldly, quite dissatisfied with his only son Lu Tao, but still instructed the steward, "Send a few people to inquire at the brothels he frequents."

"Yes, sir."

The steward responded and went to send someone. When he returned, he said, "Master, Liu, the Assistant Surveillance Commissioner, has sent a servant to invite you to a banquet at Jiuxi Courtyard tonight."

"Liu Tong?" Lu Zhi asked, puzzled. "Why would he invite me to a banquet tonight?"

The butler, of course, couldn't answer.

However, since Liu Tong did not send an invitation but instead had his servant deliver a message, he most likely wanted to discuss something that was inconvenient for outsiders to know.

This can be inferred from the location of the banquet – Jiuxi Courtyard is a private kitchen that only accepts two tables of guests each day, in the morning and evening. The place is also quite secluded, making it a good place to have private conversations.

In the afternoon, Lu Zhi's servants went to several brothels, but they couldn't find any news about his son, Lu Tao, so Lu Zhi couldn't help but worry.

With worries in his heart, he went to the banquet at Jiuxi Courtyard on the outskirts of the city.

Liu Tong was an unremarkable middle-aged official. After exchanging pleasantries with Lu Zhi, they sat down for tea and chatted idly until the food was served, without getting down to business.

Lu Zhi patiently negotiated until the mealtime, when Liu Tong asked everyone in the hall to leave before he said with a smile, "I received a big gift this morning, Brother Lu, could you take a look at it for me?"

After saying that, he pulled out a cloth bag from somewhere on his person and placed it in front of Lu Zhi.

When Lu Zhi opened it, he found a list of crimes, all related to his clan, his wife's family, and his son Lu Tao—the crimes were all minor, but there were quite a few, which made him feel quite shocked.

Then his mind started racing.

If his son's and relatives' affairs are exposed, not only will they be punished, but it will also affect his career—at best, it will ruin his future, and at worst, he will lose his official position.

So where did these accusations against Liu Tong come from? Were they investigating him all along?

What is the purpose of summoning him out and presenting these accusations?
'He probably didn't intend to use these charges against me, otherwise he wouldn't have lured me here and shown me these charges.'

'So, they're probably trying to exchange benefits.'

Thinking of this, Lu Zhi wanted to test what benefits Liu Tong wanted to exchange, but just as he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered that Liu Tong had said he had received a big gift before—that is to say, most of these charges were not obtained by Liu Tong himself, but were given to him by someone else!
Who gave it to him?!
"Where did Liu Qianshi get these charges?" Lu Zhi put down the cloth bag and asked calmly.

Liu Tong still smiled and said, "Didn't I tell you? I received it this morning."

"That means someone else is investigating me, and Liu Tong probably doesn't even know who it is!"

Having made his judgment, Lu Zhi asked again, "What is the purpose of Liu Qian Shi showing me these things?"

Liu Tong smiled and said, "Relatives are a thing; every official has them, and inevitably a few of them will make mistakes."

“I’ve seen the cases involving Brother Lu’s relatives. They’re not major issues. If they get a light sentence, they might just get away with it quietly. But if it blows up and they get a heavy sentence, it will have a big impact on Brother Lu.”

This is a threat.

Lu Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly, "If you have any thoughts, just say them."

Liu Tong suddenly sighed, "Brother Lu, I have relatives too—one of my nephews wants to contract the Qingtoushan quarry, and another nephew wants to buy land near the train station to build a house. They're clearly doing legitimate businesses, but the prefectural government keeps making things difficult for them." (End of Chapter)