Bringing the Railway to Daming

When Zhu Yuanzhang asked about official corruption, Liu Kuan felt both surprised and that it made sense.

For a country, corruption is a problem that it must always face, just as dirt will always accumulate on a person's body.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, I believe that as long as the country is still governed by people, corruption will inevitably occur."

"Because as long as you are human, you will have selfish desires, and the number of officials needed to govern a country is quite large. With more officials, there will naturally be people who have difficulty controlling their selfish desires and resisting temptations, who abuse their power for personal gain and commit embezzlement and pervert the law."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "Can't we design a perfect system of oversight?"

Liu Kuan said, "I believe that even the most perfect system at the beginning will gradually develop loopholes as it is put into operation, and will eventually be taken advantage of by unscrupulous people."

"Furthermore, His Majesty may have heard the saying, 'For every policy from above, there is a countermeasure from below.' As long as officials harbor corrupt intentions, they will always find an opportunity."

"Unless, as in some science fiction novels of later generations, supercomputers or artificial intelligence are used to replace officials in governing the country—AI has no emotions and therefore will not be corrupted by personal desires."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up upon hearing this, "This seems to be a feasible method, but unfortunately our Great Ming Dynasty cannot implement it."

When he said the last sentence, Zhu Yuanzhang showed a look of regret.

Liu Kuandao said, "Actually, this is just a hypothetical scenario for future generations. Some people say that even if social management is handed over to AI, there will still be people who exploit the loopholes in AI and the system to seek personal gain."

"Therefore, some people believe that as long as society is still composed of flesh-and-blood people with feelings, corruption can never be completely eliminated."

"It's like a dialogue in the later martial arts novel 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer': A young swordsman, having seen too much of the deceit and treachery in the martial arts world, wants to leave it; but another says: People are the martial arts world, how can you leave?"

Is the world of people itself a microcosm of society?
Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and then exclaimed with emotion, "These words are simple yet contain profound truths—one cannot truly leave the world of martial arts, because the world of martial arts is inherently composed of people."

Liu Kuan said, "Therefore, even if His Majesty despises corrupt officials, he can only ask the court to strengthen its supervision of officials and punish corrupt officials. Just treat corrupt officials as dirt on the human body and clean them regularly."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and dropped the subject.

But then he asked an even more chilling question.

"Liu Kuan, you say our Great Ming Dynasty has become like this. If it were to fall again in the future, what would be the reason for its demise? And how many years from now?"

Liu Kuan smiled wryly, "Your Majesty, you've put me in a difficult position—how could I possibly foresee what will happen in the future?"

"However, the Ming Dynasty is now the strongest country in the world, and other countries can hardly compare. Its internal system is also relatively sound. As long as there are no major problems with the succession of the throne, the dynasty should last for four or five hundred years without any issues."

Liu Kuan's words were not actually true.

Even if the succession to the Ming throne doesn't encounter major problems, there's no guarantee that societal issues won't arise with technological advancements. If the court can handle these situations well, things will be fine; but if it doesn't, it will certainly suffer the consequences.

Zhu Yuanzhang also felt that Liu Kuan could not answer his question, since Liu Kuan came from another time and space in the future, and could not truly predict the future.

While the two were chatting, they waited on the bridge for a while. Seeing that the strange fog had not appeared for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang guessed that he would not be able to see it this time.

He gazed at the surging river below the bridge, his thoughts drifting for a moment, and asked, "Liu Kuan, what kind of person do you think we would be if we were born in the future?"

"The future?" Liu Kuan was slightly surprised. "Does Your Majesty mean the era before me?"

"good."

Liu Kuan pondered for a moment and said, "That depends on His Majesty's background and the specific era he was born in."

"When I came to the Great Ming Dynasty, the later Xin Dynasty had only been established for more than seventy years, but it had gone through several eras, each with its own characteristics, and some were even completely different from the previous ones."

"Basically, it can be said that the world is different every ten years; it is no exaggeration to say that it is changing rapidly."

Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't expected that his casual question would lead to such a discussion. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What if we were the same age as you?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "In later generations, I will be called a post-90s generation, that is, someone born after 1990."

"If we were born in the countryside, we wouldn't have gone hungry when we were young, but it wasn't easy to have meat or anything good to eat."

"Whether it's eating meat every two or three days, once every seven days, or once every ten days or half a month, it depends on each family's situation."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but say sourly, "Even if you can eat meat once every ten days or half a month, you can't call that difficult, can you?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Does Your Majesty know what my standard of living was before I came to the Ming Dynasty? If I wanted to eat meat, I could eat it every meal. At most, I would save less of my salary." "As for eggs, milk, and fruit, I could eat them every day without any problem. I could even buy two new outfits and two new shoes every month."

"At that time, I was just an ordinary worker in later generations. If I didn't care about the quality of food and clothing, and only cared about whether I had it, I would be easily satisfied."

"Because the country is in a period of peace and prosperity, and its technology is advanced, these basic necessities are easy to obtain."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, accepting what Liu Kuan had said, and then asked, "What if one is born in a city?"

Liu Kuandao said, "We haven't finished talking about the rural areas yet—for most rural children born in the 1990s, their parents usually work away from home all year round, and they live with their grandparents at home."

"As a child from a rural area, the main way to get ahead back then was to go to school, get into a good university in a big city, and eventually find a good job."

"If I'm lucky and save up for many years, I might be able to buy a house in the city where I work with the help of my family, and my life will be more stable in the future."

"His Majesty is exceptionally intelligent, with a strong learning ability and an even stronger execution ability. Therefore, even if he were a rural kid born in the 90s, he could probably get into a good university and then settle down in a big city."

"Even during college or work, you might seize an opportunity to start your own business and become a big boss."

"Big boss?" The term "boss" also existed in the Ming Dynasty at this time, but it only existed in some local dialects, so Zhu Yuanzhang did not know the specific meaning of this word.

Liu Kuan explained, "It means a great merchant."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head upon hearing this, saying, "What's the point of being a merchant? There's a hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, and there's a reason why merchants are ranked last. I don't want to be a merchant."

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "With His Majesty's talent, if he were to enter the court of later generations, he might become a good civil official, and might even eventually rise to the rank of Grand Secretary."

"In the military, promotions might be slower. After all, in times of peace and prosperity, there aren't many opportunities to earn military merits, and most people can only follow the established path."

Zhu Yuanzhang imagined what it would be like for him to be a high-ranking official or general in later generations, but he found it impossible to imagine, since he had never lived in later society.

The two chatted idly on the bridge until after ten o'clock. Seeing that the strange fog hadn't appeared and the sun was getting stronger, they packed up and left...
···
After spending the Mid-Autumn Festival in the capital, Zhu Yuanzhang prepared to return to Fengyang and come back before the Lunar New Year.

However, a few days before his departure, he received several telegrams from the Jin State, the Western Sea Commandery, and princes such as the Prince of Dai. The matters mentioned in the telegrams were quite important, so he stayed a few more days.

That afternoon, Liu Kuan was also summoned to the Fengxian Hall in the palace.

Old Zhu, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiong Ying are all here.

Liu Kuan could tell at a glance that another small meeting was about to begin.

Sure enough, after he bowed, Zhu Biao said, "Brother-in-law, according to information from the Bright Guard and other sources, France and England have finally concluded a 'twenty-year truce' agreement."

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but ask, "Didn't His Majesty order the spies of the Bright Guard to sabotage it?"

Zhu Biao smiled wryly, "The Ming Dynasty has only had the Bright Guard stationed in France for a few years. How could it possibly undermine an agreement of this level?"

"Could we ask the Grand Duke of Bourbon to intervene?" Liu Kuan didn't know much about French affairs, hence the question.

Zhu Biao shook his head. "The current Bourbon Louis II has long been marginalized by the regent Philip II and is completely unable to interfere with the signing of this agreement."

At this moment, Zhu Xiong Ying said, "Teacher, the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Dai estimate that Philip II will likely take action to suppress the forces within France that are at odds with him."

"Louis II and other pro-war nobles in France were the main political opponents of the pro-peace faction represented by Philip II. Therefore, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the French civil war is likely to escalate."

"The Prince of Jin and the Prince of Dai hoped to take this opportunity to quickly expand their power and then usurp the throne, so that the Prince of Dai could try to establish a vassal state in France first."

Let that bastard Zhu Gui establish a vassal state in France?
Liu Kuan imagined the scene and found it to be "too beautiful".

After regaining his composure, he said, "I don't know much about the situation in France, so it's really hard for me to comment on it."

As he spoke, he looked at Old Zhu, wanting to know Old Zhu's opinion on the matter.

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his gray beard and said, "The thirteenth prince is somewhat unreliable, but he can be considered a capable general. Given the current situation in France, let the thirteenth prince give it a try."

"However, his process of establishing a fiefdom needs to be changed—first let him lead his guards and French escorts to France to establish a fiefdom, and once things are stable, then we can see how the situation develops and allow people to immigrate from the Ming Dynasty."

"In this way, even if the thirteenth prince fails to establish his fiefdom, with the support of the Jin fiefdom and the Xihai military command, he can escape with his guards without endangering the people who migrated with him." (End of Chapter)