Bringing the Railway to Daming

When Liu Kuan told them that Queen Victoria of England reigned for 64 years, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Tang He, Lan Yu, and others were all very surprised.

Lan Yu couldn't help but say, "How old was Queen Victoria of England when she ascended the throne? She reigned for sixty-four years. Doesn't that make her an old hag?"

To say that a foreign empress is a witch in front of the Zhu family—that's Lan Yu for you.

Liu Kuan glanced at Old Zhu subconsciously, and seeing that Old Zhu did not seem angry, he said, "Queen Victoria ascended the throne at the age of 18, which means she lived to be 82 years old (according to the Ming Dynasty's age calculation method)."

"However, she is not the longest-reigning queen in British history; there is one who reigns longer."

There are even longer ones?
Old Zhu, Lan Yu, and the others were surprised once again upon hearing this.

Liu Kuan said with a smile, "Fifty years after Queen Victoria's death, Britain had another queen named Elizabeth, who was known as Elizabeth II."

"She ascended the throne at the age of 26 in 1952, and then reigned for a full seventy years until she passed away two years before I came to the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 2022!"

A monarch who reigned for seventy years!

Still the Queen!

For a moment, Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao, Lan Yu, and the others were so surprised that they didn't know what to say.

By the time of the Ming Dynasty, China had already had thousands of years of feudal history. Even those who don't read history know that the emperors' court and harem were busy day and night, and most of them didn't live long.

Just like in the original history of the Ming Dynasty, several emperors only lived to their thirties or even died of illness in their twenties.

Few people live to be over fifty.

But Britain first had a queen who reigned for 64 years and lived to the age of 82; then came a queen who reigned for 70 years and lived to the terrifying age of 96!
For a moment, Old Zhu couldn't help but mutter to himself: Could it be that if a woman becomes emperor, she is destined to live longer than a man?

It seems that Wu Zetian in history was much older than Li Zhi, but she lived for several decades longer.

Liu Kuan, getting carried away with his story, added, "Speaking of Elizabeth II, there's a meme about her on the internet—Britain did have a crown prince, which was essentially the same as a crown prince."

“The prince was four or five years old when Elizabeth ascended the throne. Since Britain also follows the primogeniture system, Elizabeth’s eldest son was named the crown prince as soon as she ascended the throne.”

"But no one expected that Elizabeth would reign for seventy years, and thus her eldest son also served as crown prince for a full seventy years."

"Therefore, when discussing this matter online in later generations, netizens often quote lines from the crown princes of the Kangxi era in film and television dramas depicting the 'Nine Princes' struggle for the throne' during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty."

Hearing this, everyone's curiosity was piqued.

Seeing Liu Kuan pause, Lan Yu couldn't help but urge him, "What lines are they?"

Liu Kuan deliberately kept everyone in suspense, saying, "Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the one who reigned the longest was Qianlong—he lived to be 88 years old, ascended the throne at the age of 24, and reigned for 60 years before voluntarily abdicating to become the Retired Emperor."

"Next is Emperor Kangxi—although he didn't live to be that old, he still lived to be 69. However, he ascended the throne at a young age, that is, at the age of eight, and thus reigned for 61 years."

"Kangxi's eldest son was his second son. He was born when Kangxi was 16 years old. In order to maintain the stability of the imperial succession, the Qing Dynasty originally chose the primogeniture system. Therefore, Kangxi's eldest son was made crown prince a few years after his birth."

"But he didn't expect Kangxi to live so long. So in a later TV series about Kangxi, this crown prince of Kangxi lived to his forties. When he was deposed for making a mistake, he angrily shouted: 'How can there be a crown prince who lives for forty years?'"

"Later netizens applied this phrase to the British crown prince, and it became, 'Is there ever a crown prince who lasts seventy years?'"

A crown prince for forty years?

A prince for seventy years?!
After Liu Kuan finished telling this story, everyone else was just surprised, but Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiong Ying had complex and incomprehensible emotions.

In fact, Zhu Biao served as crown prince for a relatively long time compared to other crown princes in previous Ming dynasties, a full twenty years.

In this timeline, if Zhu Yuanzhang had not abdicated, he might still be the crown prince, and could very well have achieved the feat of being the crown prince for thirty years.

However, Zhu Biao had a deep relationship with his father, Zhu Yuanzhang. He wasn't indifferent to whether he was the crown prince or the emperor, but he wasn't particularly fixated on it either—after all, when he was the crown prince, he was already exercising some of the rights of the Ming emperor.

Therefore, Zhu Biao was more concerned about why Kangxi and Qianlong didn't abdicate earlier. Especially Kangxi, who actually drove the crown prince to such great resentment.

Think about it, if the crown prince has been a prince for more than forty years, it's fine if there is enough trust between father and son, but if there is mutual suspicion, the crown prince will have to be cautious and his life will definitely be very difficult.

Emperor Qianlong, on the other hand, abdicated after reigning for sixty years to become the Retired Emperor, which was quite astute. However, didn't his eldest son also serve as Crown Prince for sixty years?
As for Zhu Xiong Ying, he imagined what it would be like to be the crown prince for forty or sixty years, thinking to himself: If my father continues to trust me as he does now, entrusting me with some important military and state affairs, being the crown prince or the emperor wouldn't make much difference. However, wearing the title of crown prince for forty or even sixty years would indeed be rather stifling.

On the other hand, Zhu Yuanzhang asked directly: "According to you, then did Qianlong's eldest son reign as emperor for sixty years before succeeding to the throne?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. “Your Majesty has forgotten? I once said that because Emperor Kangxi eventually abolished the position of the eldest son of the legitimate wife as the crown prince, the Qing Dynasty no longer implemented the system of primogeniture. Instead, it adopted the system of ‘secretly establishing an heir’ to select the most virtuous successor.”

Secretly designating an heir?

Li Xian?

"Could you explain in detail the Qing Dynasty's system of selecting an heir?" Zhu Yuanzhang pressed.

Liu Kuandao said, "After deposing his eldest son as crown prince, Emperor Kangxi did not appoint a new crown prince. Instead, he allowed his sons to serve in various departments of the court to observe their abilities."

"In the Qianqing Palace of the Qing Dynasty, which is actually similar to the Fengtian Hall today, there is a plaque with the words 'Upright and Bright' inside. Emperor Kangxi sealed the edict for establishing the heir apparent in a box and placed it behind this plaque."

"At the same time, prepare another copy, also sealed in a box, and carry it with you, just in case."

"It was stipulated that only when he was about to die of illness or died unexpectedly could the imperial family and court officials learn who the crown prince was and who should ascend the throne based on this secret edict."

“After Kangxi, the Qing Dynasty continued this system. For example, Qianlong had his fifteenth son ascend the throne, rather than his eldest son.”

After Liu Kuan finished speaking, Xu Da, Tang He, and other "outside officials" were also thinking about it, but they all kept silent, clearly not wanting to get involved in the matter.

After pondering for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If we establish an heir in this way, I'm afraid it will cause my sons to fight among themselves. Furthermore, if I allow my sons to enter various departments in the court, their infighting will likely jeopardize important military and national affairs."

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty is wise. The 'Nine Princes' struggle for the throne' that I mentioned earlier is the result of this."

"However, in all dynasties, there were few instances where brothers in the royal family did not fight for the throne. The Ming Dynasty probably had the fewest such conflicts. However, His Majesty the Emperor was well aware of the many drawbacks of the Ming Dynasty's policy of appointing princes in history."

Although Liu Kuan did not say it explicitly, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao knew that he was referring to the policy of treating the princes like pigs after Zhu Di ascended the throne during the Jingnan Rebellion and after Zhu Zhanji experienced the Rebellion of the Prince of Han.

While Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiong Ying were weighing the merits of the Ming Dynasty's primogeniture system and the Qing Dynasty's secret system of selecting an heir based on merit, Liu Kuan did not continue discussing the matter of selecting an heir.

Ultimately, he was merely an outsider; if he interfered too much in the matter of choosing an heir, it might arouse suspicion from Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, or Zhu Xiong Ying.

If he were to speak freely, he could also discuss the constitutional monarchy of later Britain, which would be a better way to ensure the continuation of the royal family from generation to generation.

But Liu Kuan did not want China to have a royal family on its throne, like the British royal family, which has been passed down from generation to generation.

The Ming Dynasty will certainly last longer than it has in history, but if he could, he would hope that it would be the last feudal dynasty in China...

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao knew that it was inappropriate to discuss the Ming Dynasty's succession system in this setting, so after regaining their composure, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "There are still videos, right? Let's play the next one."

"Yes."

Liu Kuan picked up the tablet and played the third video he had prepared.

This person's third video also had two titles.

The video's cover reads "Pan-Thailandism, the Hidden Blade of the Southwest."

The title above the video reads: "Behind the character 'Dai' lies a conspiracy in 20th-century Southeast Asia."

Upon seeing these two headlines, both members of the Zhu family and officials like Xu Da and Mu Ying immediately shifted their attention.

They all realized from the two titles that the video was about the Southwest.

After the pacification of the southwest in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, fifteen years have passed. The Ming court, through the garrison system and other political means and strategies, has stabilized its control over Guizhou and Yunnan, making the chieftains of Yunnan and Guizhou submit to its rule.

At the same time, the Mianbei Province was established, making Mianbei also part of the Ming Dynasty. Myanmar, southern Myanmar, Annam, and even the entire Indochina Peninsula were all influenced by the Ming Dynasty.

Furthermore, with the Korean Peninsula and Japan now under Ming rule, the next step for the Ming Dynasty will inevitably be to bring the Indochina Peninsula under its control, provided the opportunity arises. (End of Chapter)