Bringing the Railway to Daming

Liu Kuan said, “More than forty years before I came to the Ming Dynasty, Pengcheng was indeed a small fishing village. At that time, in order to promote the development of the domestic economy, the new dynasty used Pengcheng as a pilot to open up to the outside world and gave it various support policies.”

"As a result, with the support of domestic policies, the attraction of external investment, and a large number of domestic workers, Pengcheng developed rapidly and became one of the top cities in the new dynasty in just one or two decades."

"As for the next twenty years, it was just further development, but it also made Shenzhen a world-renowned, even top-ranking, megacity."

Although Chinese dynasties throughout history have been fond of infrastructure development, the speed at which a small fishing village could develop into one of the top cities in the country in just one or two decades still shocked and astonished Zhu Yuanzhang and others.

Zhu Biao couldn't help but exclaim, "After the Ming Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, it took thirty years for the population of the capital to increase from the initial 70 to more than one million today. That's fast enough."

"However, compared to the speed of urban development in later generations, it is still significantly inferior—the various high technologies and vast human resources of later generations are truly enviable."

Liu Kuan then seized the opportunity to say, "In fact, if the country wants to develop a certain place or city, policy is very important—different policies can be tried in a certain area, which can not only test the effectiveness of the policies, but also promote the development of the area."

Among the crowd, Zhu Yuanzhang, though old, still possessed the highest level of understanding and immediately said, "You mean that the court needs to flexibly apply policy measures?"

Liu Kuan nodded, “That’s right—for example, the policies of opening up and prohibiting the sea. In the past, the Ming Dynasty implemented the policy of prohibiting the sea several times because of the Japanese pirates along the coast. No sails were allowed to go to sea, and this lasted for a considerable period of time. In fact, it was a kind of crude ‘one-size-fits-all’ method.”

"Simply put, it means that in order to avoid trouble and more complex governance methods, policymakers adopt simple and crude methods to solve problems."

"It may seem that the problem has been solved, but in reality, it has left a lot of hidden dangers. For example, the opening of the sea in the Ming Dynasty and later the Qing Dynasty was to open the sea in a few port cities. It was similar to the policy support that later generations used to make Pengcheng develop rapidly, except that the methods were not perfect or mature enough."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in agreement, “A one-size-fits-all approach is indeed undesirable. National governance should also be adapted to local conditions and changing with the times.”

As for Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiong Ying, and others, they were all pondering the principles of governance contained in the conversation between Liu Kuan and Old Zhu.

Lan Yu wasn't interested in the art of governing a country. Recalling the various contents of the previous video, what he really wanted to ask was whether those scantily clad female robots were intended to be concubines for men in later generations.

But even he, in his recklessness, knew he shouldn't ask such a question in this kind of situation.

He then asked about another matter of concern, "Lord Jiangning, our Great Ming Dynasty has invented hot air balloons for quite some time now, hasn't it? When will they be used in actual combat?"

Liu Kuan said, "Our Ming Dynasty's hot air balloons can now be used in actual combat."

"Now?" Lan Yu was surprised. "How come we didn't know?"

Liu Kuan looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "The hot air balloons currently used in the Ming Dynasty can be applied to actual combat, and are mainly used to observe the enemy's camp layout, reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and intimidate them."

"As for using hot air balloons to inflict actual damage on the enemy, it's still somewhat lacking. At most, hot air balloons can carry a few elite troops to the enemy's rear, or drop less heavy explosive charges from the air—either way, the intimidation effect is greater than the actual damage, and once the enemy is prepared, the intimidation effect will be greatly reduced."

"Therefore, hot air balloons are currently only equipped by the Royal Navy, and high-altitude observation teams and high-altitude assault teams have been established within the Royal Navy for related training."

"As for other armies, they do not need hot air balloons to deal with the current war in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, suitable hot air balloons are not easy to produce, so there are no plans to equip them with anything other than the Imperial Guard for the time being."

Old Zhu's explanation was quite considerate of Lan Yu.

If it were a decade or two ago, he would have dismissed Lan Yu with a simple "This is none of your business." But now, both he and Lan Yu have changed, and their ways of handling things are naturally different from before.

Lan Yu, Mu Ying, and the others wisely refrained from asking any further questions.

But deep down he knew that the Zhu family attached great importance to the development of the emperor's personal guards—no matter that they were both armies of the Ming Dynasty, perhaps today one guard of the emperor's personal guards could defeat two or three guards of the enemy, or even more.

However, it has always been a practice in the history of the dynasties to strengthen the central government and weaken local forces in military construction, so officials such as Xu Da and Mu Ying would not interfere.

Having reached this point in the conversation, Zhu Yuanzhang felt there was nothing else worth asking about the video, or rather, even if he did ask, it would only make people envious of the advanced technology of later generations. So he asked, "Liu Kuan? Are there any other videos prepared?"

Liu Kuan shook his head, "This time, I have prepared four videos."

"Then let's show a movie."

"Yes." Liu Kuan responded, then picked up the tablet and brought up the prepared movie.

He then introduced, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this movie is called 'Detective Chinatown 1900.' It tells the story of a Chinese community in San Francisco, the United States of America, which is now Jinshanwei, the North American Military Command of the Ming Dynasty, in 1900 AD. It is called Chinatown."

“A murder occurred in the area. Alice, the daughter of San Francisco City Councilman Grant, was killed in a manner that imitated the methods of the famous British killer ‘Jack the Ripper.’ Alice was disemboweled, which caused a very negative social impact.”

"Based on some so-called evidence, the local police department believed that the murderer was Bai Zhenbang, the son of Bai Xuanling, the head of the Chinatown business, Xie Sheng Tang. Based on this, they proposed an enhanced version of the 'Chinese Exclusion Act,' which would completely expel Chinese people from San Francisco."

"However, the protagonists of the film are Qin Fu, a young man from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners who works as a detective in San Francisco, and A Gui, a young man who was originally the son of a Chinese laborer but was adopted by an Indian tribe."

"By a twist of fate, these two, together with another patriotic young man, Zheng Shiliang, solved the mystery of Alice's death."

"However, the main focus of this film is not on solving the case, but rather on using the crime-solving plot to reflect the situation of Chinese people in the United States at that time, as well as the complex relationships between people of different races in the United States, and even the situation in China across the ocean."

The movie content was certainly more than what Liu Kuan had mentioned, but he could only touch on it briefly before touching the screen to start playing the movie.

The movie "Detective Chinatown 1900" begins with a plot where Qing Dynasty officials cooperate with the Bald Eagles to take away the Buddha's head.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang and others did not quite understand the value and significance of the Buddha head at that time, they still frowned when they saw this scene. They felt that the Manchu officials were disgusting to look at—it was one thing to give the Buddha head to the foreigners for free, but the whole process was so obsequious and flattering, which was extremely shameful.

Then comes the storyline of Fei Yanggu, a first-class imperial bodyguard of the Qing Dynasty played by Yue Yunpeng, who is ordered to San Francisco, the United States of America, to capture rebels.

Then, the scene shifts to the protagonist, Qin Fu, assisting a foreign detective in solving a case on a train. He is then tricked into going to San Francisco to solve the case of "Alice being killed by Jack the Ripper," and the film enters its main plot...
···
"Detective Chinatown 1900" is 136 minutes long, but after watching it, the Zhu family, Xu Da, Mu Ying and others were still in a daze for a long time, and some plots in the movie that made them feel inexplicably emotional or indignant kept floating in their minds.

Zhu Biao spoke first, "In the movie, Fei Yanggu, the first-class bodyguard of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, is like a clown. From his first appearance to his death, everything he says and does is laughable."

"But when they heard that the Eight-Nation Alliance had broken through Beijing, and that the fate of the Qing Empress Dowager and the Emperor was unknown, and that the foreigners around them were clamoring to sleep with the Emperor's concubines, they still lost their temper and the three of them fought a bloody battle on the spot with a large group of armed foreigners who had originally cooperated with them. It was truly both tragic and lamentable."

Zhu Yuanzhang also remarked with great emotion, "Every dynasty has had its share of loyal and righteous people. The Mongol Yuan had them, so it's not surprising that the Manchu Qing also had them."

"However, in this movie, whether it is the Manchu people like Fei Yanggu, the Chinese in the Bald Eagle represented by Bai Xuanling and Bai Zhenbang, or the wanderers like Qin Fu and Zheng Shiliang, or the Chinese orphans adopted by the Native Americans like A Gui."

"Their tragic experiences, their helplessness and predicaments were all caused by the weakness of China at that time."

"If our nation were as powerful as the Ming Dynasty, and its people went overseas, as long as the locals understood the strength of the Ming Dynasty, who would dare to bully them?"

Mu Ying said, "That Congressman Grant from the United States is truly depraved. He accidentally killed his daughter, yet he turned around and used her body to cut open the womb and slander Bai Zhenbang in order to achieve his own political goals."

As he spoke, Mu Ying shook his head, clearly unable to understand Grant's behavior.

Old Zhu and Zhu Biao knew that some people were born of power, and that brothers and fathers and sons would kill each other for power and position. What did Grant, who used his daughter's corpse, amount to?
Of course, they wouldn't say this aloud, because in the eyes of the Ming people, Grant's behavior had indeed crossed the moral line.

At this moment, Zhu Xiong Ying said, "Grandpa, I think this movie really reflects the situation of the strong preying on the weak among people of all races and countries during the Age of Exploration."

"At that time, China was weak because of the Qing Dynasty, so Chinese people were oppressed in San Francisco. They shed so much blood and sweat to create so much value for the local area, but they were driven out by the locals on the grounds that they had stolen job opportunities. In the end, wasn't it because the Qing government was weak and incompetent at that time?"

"And the ending of the film further shows that the foreigners in the United States, whether they targeted the Chinese laborers from the beginning or pretended to help the Chinese laborers but actually wanted to take advantage of them, were not good people."

"Some of them wanted to directly seize the hard-earned money of the local Chinese community over the years, while others not only used tricks to take away the Chinese people's hard-earned money, but also wanted to continue to exploit them. They are even more despicable!"

Upon hearing Zhu Xiong Ying's words, everyone immediately recalled the final scene of the movie—after another councilor's party won the election, it also obtained Bai Xuan Ling's yarn factory and extracted oil from it.

As the black oil gushed out, the obese foreign men and women, like pigs, hugged their pet dogs and raised their wine glasses, laughing wildly.

The Chinese laborers were drenched in gushing oil, their faces numb, their bodies blackened, and only their eyes filled with humiliation.

Even now, recalling that scene still makes Lan Yu, with her fiery temper, furious! (End of Chapter)