Bringing the Railway to Daming

Xu Da currently has four sons and four grandsons. The eldest grandson is not Xu Qin, the son of Xu Huizu, but Xu Maoxian, the son of his second son Xu Tianfu. Next is Xu Jingchang, the son of Xu Zengshou, and the fourth is Xu Jingyan, the eldest son of Xu Yingxu.

Of his four grandsons, Xu Da actually favored his eldest grandson, Xu Maoxian, the most. Xu Maoxian was already seven or eight years old. Although he did not show any outstanding qualities compared to other children his age, he was well-behaved and obedient, and he was also diligent in his studies.

However, the succession of the title by the eldest son cannot be changed, so barring any unforeseen circumstances, the title of Duke of Wei can only be passed on to Xu Qin after Xu Huizu.

However, while the rules for the succession of titles cannot be changed, the qualifications can be revoked.

Under the watchful eyes of his sons, he changed the subject, saying, "However, the person who will inherit the title of Duke of Wei in the future represents the face of our Xu family. Even if we don't expect him to be very capable, there are two things that must be guaranteed."

"First, one must be absolutely loyal to the Ming Dynasty and the imperial family; second, one must abide by the law and not use one's power to bully the good."

"If these two points are violated, not only will our family rules not tolerate it, but the imperial court will also strip him of his title and find another person in our family to inherit it."

Upon hearing this, Xu Huizu frowned slightly, feeling that he should put more effort into educating his son.

Otherwise, it would be too shameful if my son lost his title because of the above two reasons.

At this moment, Xu Da also reminded him: "Hui Zu, you should discipline Shi Jia Bao (Xu Qin's nickname) properly. You should help him become a good person and prevent him from going astray in the future."

Xu Huizu immediately promised, "I'll teach that kid a lesson when I get back."

Xu Da frowned and said, "Don't lecture him for no reason. He's already five or six years old and has started school. You can reason with him."

"Yes, son understands."

After discussing these matters, Xu Dacai said, "In a few years, when you have more sons, our Xu family will have even more descendants. Therefore, after much thought, we feel that we should establish some clear family rules to guide our descendants in how to conduct themselves and how to do things."

"I have called you here today to discuss this matter—what are your thoughts on it? Please share them with me."

The four men looked at each other in surprise, not expecting that Xu Da would ask them to discuss setting family rules.

The youngest, Xu Yingxu, asked with a smile, "Dad, can I really participate in making the family rules?"

Xu Da immediately saw through his youngest son's thoughts—if there was one of the four sons who was somewhat disappointing, it would be Xu Yingxu. Therefore, he was certain that Xu Yingxu wanted to add some provisions to the family rules that would benefit him personally.

He then said, “You can all bring up any ideas you have, but whether or not to adopt them is up to us.”

"I see." Xu Yingxu was greatly disappointed.

Meanwhile, at the Duke of Xin's residence, Tang He summoned the imperial physician to inquire whether there was a prescription for treating or alleviating Alzheimer's disease. As Liu Kuan had said, there was indeed one.

He immediately ordered the imperial physician to prescribe medicine.

Starting today, he plans to eat, rest, take his medicine, and exercise on time, just as Liu Kuan had suggested. He plans to invite people to his residence to tell stories and sing songs, and to play chess with someone when he has free time.

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Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and it was July of the second year of Wenlong (1396).

Central America, Xiangjing (later Los Mochis on the northwestern coast of Mexico).

Located near a natural harbor on the northwestern coast of Central America, this area features plains and rivers, making it a very suitable place for reclamation and farming.

In mid-March of this year, Zhu Bai led his fleet of ships to set sail, and after more than three months of sailing, he arrived at the starting point for establishing his fiefdom, which he had selected on the map of the Americas.

Therefore, Xiangjing is currently just a camp under construction, without even a trace of a city.

On this day, Zhu Bai was inspecting the progress of land reclamation when he saw Hua Wenxiang, the advisor to the shogunate, hurriedly coming with several attendants.

"Your Majesty, the delegation sent to the Dongshan tribe has returned. The Dongshan tribe is only willing to trade and not to submit to our Xiang Kingdom. They even almost had a conflict when the delegation proposed submission."

The Dongshan tribe was a large tribe located about 20 to 30 miles east of Xiangdong. Because the village was built on a hill, it was named Dongshan by the Xiang people. It had about a thousand people and was considered a fairly large indigenous tribe.

Therefore, Zhu Bai wanted to first subdue the Dongshan tribe, and then naturally other smaller tribes in the surrounding area would submit to him.

Upon hearing that the Dongshan tribe was unwilling to submit, Zhu Bai was not surprised. He said, "Their unwillingness to submit is because they don't understand us yet—let's treat them as trading partners for now. As time goes by, they will understand us and naturally submit."

Hua Wenxiang said helplessly, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid it won't work—this mission has also learned an important piece of information."

"what news?"

Hua Wenxiang said, "This Dongshan tribe is actually allied with several tribes. It seems that they were originally from the same origin, but they split off from the original tribes for the sake of survival."

"As for the entire tribal alliance, its total number of people is probably as many as several thousand, or even tens of thousands."

"Given this situation, it will be very difficult to make them realize our strength and then voluntarily submit to us."

Zhu Bai frowned upon hearing this.

His reason for establishing a kingdom in the Americas was to try to win over the natives of the Americas in a gentler way, or to put into practice the Confucian doctrine of benevolent rule.

Although he knew this path would be difficult, he didn't expect to run into such a tough obstacle right away.

If war is not waged, then the best way to compare strength and weakness is undoubtedly by the size of the population.

The Dongshan tribe and its tribal alliance now have a total population of over ten thousand, not much less than the Xiang people who migrated here. It is impossible for them to submit to us in a short time due to the disparity in strength between them. Zhu Bai's mind was not shaken. He said, "Anyway, we have only been here for a little over half a month. There is no rush. Let's focus on establishing camps and reclaiming wasteland first. After we have a good harvest next year and have traded with them many times, we will make the Dongshan tribe realize the benefits of submitting to us."

Since Hua Wenxiang followed Zhu Bai to establish a fiefdom in this distant Central America, he naturally recognized Zhu Bai's ambitions.

However, after arriving in the Americas, he discovered the vast wilderness and the uncivilized tribes, and his mindset changed somewhat. He hoped to bring these natives, who looked no different from the descendants of Yan and Huang, to the Xiang Kingdom in a faster way, so that he could achieve great things!
Nowadays, there are many civil officials in Xiang who have changed their mindset like him. As for military generals, they are even more eager to launch wars, demonstrate their abilities, and gain military merits.

But Zhu Bai doesn't seem to have realized any of this yet.

Hua Wenxiang opened his mouth, wanting to offer some advice, but he didn't know what to say—after all, it was these people whose mentality had changed, not Zhu Bai.

However, there are some things that even Zhu Bai, as the king of Xiang, could not change, especially when the opinions of the group differed from his personal opinions.

The next day, Zhu Bai was processing documents in his log cabin when Zhao Ken, the commander of the Imperial Guard, came in with a grim expression and said, "Your Majesty, our exploration team sent to the south has been attacked by the natives."

Zhu Bai hurriedly asked, "Were there any casualties?"

Zhao Ken said, "Three of them sustained minor injuries, but one of them was captured after falling into a trap set by the natives. The remaining soldiers of the exploration team were hesitant to act, so they could only watch as the natives left with their captured soldiers."

Zhu Bai frowned and asked, "Do you know anything about that tribe?"

Zhao Ken said, "The exploration team was outnumbered, while the enemy was numerous and quite vigilant, so we were unable to track them down. Your Majesty, our soldiers have been captured, and we cannot abandon them."

Zhu Bai knew that the tens of thousands of people who had followed him to the distant Americas were already in a state of disarray. If any of his soldiers were captured by the natives and he did not come to their aid, regardless of the reason, it would greatly demoralize the Xiang Kingdom and even cause its people to scatter.

"Once morale is low, it's hard to lead a team"—he remembered clearly the words his teacher, Liu Kuan, had said.

He then said, “Of course we must save them—so, first send out an elite scout from the commandery to search for the local tribe to the south, to find out about their situation, and to make sure the safety of the captured soldiers.”

"This humble general obeys the order."

Zhao Ken took Zhu Bai's military order and left immediately.

Three days later, the elite scout team that went to investigate the tribe returned, bringing back news of the indigenous tribe.

"This tribe is located about 37 or 38 miles southeast of Xiangdong. The village is built on the side of a small river, and the population is estimated to be around 1,000."

"Because we can't infiltrate, we can't be sure of the safety of the captured soldiers at the moment."

In the council hall, also built of logs, Zhu Bai listened to the report from the scout captain along with his civil and military officials.

After listening, Zhu Bai first asked the strategist Chen Bi, "Mr. Chen, what do you think is the best way to rescue the captured soldiers?"

Chen Bi stroked his short beard and said, "We can first send a caravan to the tribe under the guise of trade, firstly to investigate the situation, and secondly to see if we can ransom the captured soldiers with money."

"However, just in case, Your Majesty should send troops to accompany you—not too many, a thousand garrison soldiers will suffice."

A thousand garrison troops are more than enough to conquer a village of about a thousand local people, ensuring the safety of the caravan and making the tribe wary.

Zhu Bai sensed that the civil and military officials of the shogunate seemed to favor sending troops to attack the tribe.

Therefore, he could only hope that the tribe would not harm the captured soldiers; otherwise, even if he was unwilling, he would have no choice but to send troops to attack the tribe in order to unite the people.

Immediately, Zhu Bai ordered Counselor Hua Wenxiang to personally lead the caravan to the indigenous tribe for trade and to be responsible for redeeming the captured soldiers. He also ordered Commander Zhao Ken to lead a thousand guards to escort them from behind.

As a result, the team returned the afternoon after setting off—bringing back a large number of native prisoners and spoils!

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Bai felt a deep unease.

It wasn't just because Hua and Zhao launched a war against a local tribe, but also because he only found out about such a big event afterward.

He forced a smile as he greeted the triumphant team.

But after summoning all the civil and military officials to the council hall, his face darkened, and he asked in a cold voice, "Counselor Hua, Commander Zhao, what exactly is going on?"

“Your humble servant is guilty!” Hua Wenxiang and Zhao Ken knelt down together upon hearing this.

Zhu Bai's expression grew even colder, and he said, "I ask you, what exactly happened?!"

Realizing that Zhu Bai was truly angry, Hua Wenxiang and Zhao Ken, though mentally prepared, still broke out in a sweat.

Hua Wenxiang said, “Your Majesty, the tribal chief is a greedy and arrogant person. After learning that the captured soldiers are our fellow tribesmen, he wanted to detain our caravan in exchange for more wealth.”

"Fortunately, the caravan guards saw the danger and protected us. Zhao, the commander who was outside, also led his troops to break through the local village in time, which saved us."

"But by then, the war had already begun, and we needed to find the captured soldiers. We had no choice but to attack and destroy the tribe. The situation was urgent, so we failed to send someone to consult Your Majesty first. Please forgive us, Your Majesty!"

Zhao Ken said, "Your Majesty, it was this humble general who ordered the attack on that native tribe. If you wish to punish someone, please punish this humble general alone!"

At this moment, another advisor, Qi Tongsheng, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, if what Hua and Zhao said is true, then the only way to ensure the safety of the caravan was to send troops to attack and break through the tribe."

"Therefore, I believe that Commander Zhao has not only been without fault, but has actually rendered meritorious service. I humbly request Your Majesty's wise judgment!" (End of Chapter)