Bringing the Railway to Daming

Liu Kuandao said, "If we develop through farming, we can choose from the central and southern coasts of Africa, or the Americas. Among these, the Americas, especially South America, are far from the Ming Dynasty's mainland, and there aren't many places to choose from for settling down."

"In Africa, the local natives would definitely be less useful to naturalize than the natives of the Americas—this issue was mentioned in several videos that were shown back then, and I'm sure His Highness Prince Yu is aware of it."

Hearing Liu Kuan say this, Zhu Yunwen became even more undecided, so he simply asked, "Then, teacher, which place do you think would be more suitable for me?"

When Liu Kuan heard Zhu Yunwen use "more suitable" instead of "better," he knew that there was probably some suspicion between Zhu Yunwen and his brother Zhu Xiong Ying. Although Zhu Yunwen did not know the original history of the Ming Dynasty, he would always have some guesses, so it was not surprising that there was some estrangement between him and Zhu Xiong Ying.

Thinking of this, Liu Kuan said, "If Your Highness Yu does not mind the long journey, it would be more appropriate to establish a vassal state in South America. Currently, South America only has the Yong vassal state, and even though it has expanded its territory in the past few years, it has not been able to reach the east coast."

"If Your Highness Yu wishes to establish a fiefdom and then gradually develop the land, Uruguay in southeastern South America in later generations would be a good choice."

Uruguay?
Upon hearing Liu Kuan mention the name of a country from a later era, Zhu Xiong Ying and Zhu Yun Wen recalled the maps of that era from their memories and quickly located the country.

Based on his knowledge of natural science, Zhu Yunwen estimated the latitude of Uruguay and recalled its plains terrain. He nodded and said, "It is indeed a good place for farming and development. In that case, I will go to southeastern South America to establish a fiefdom."

Liu Kuan was surprised, not expecting Zhu Yunwen to make a decision so easily, and couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, won't you consider other places?"

Zhu Yunwen said, "Didn't the teacher just analyze that Uruguay is a good place? So I won't continue looking."

"When does Your Highness plan to establish your own fiefdom?"

"I've only just established my own residence; I need to prepare for at least another year."

Afterwards, Zhu Yunwen inquired about the climate and customs of the indigenous people in southeastern America, but unfortunately Liu Kuan did not know, so Zhu Yunwen had to take his leave in disappointment.

Liu Kuan was also about to take his leave of the palace, but Zhu Xiong Ying stopped him.

"Teacher, Imperial Physician Tong, who is stationed in Fengyang, said that my grandfather has been spending more and more time in a daze lately. Sometimes he sits there for an hour at a time, his memory is obviously not as good as before, and he doesn't like to move around."

"I'm afraid that if this continues, Grandfather's health will soon collapse. Does Teacher have any ideas on this?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan sighed inwardly, thinking to himself: In this era, no one can escape birth, aging, sickness, and death, not even Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the Ming Dynasty.

He then said, "I don't have any particularly good solutions either—perhaps we could select two or three young members of the royal family to send there to accompany the Emperor Emeritus. It would be best if they were clever and lovable, which might alleviate the Emperor Emeritus's symptoms."

Although it cannot be detected with current medical methods, Liu Kuan guessed that Zhu Yuanzhang had some tendency towards Alzheimer's disease.

He continued, "In addition, since the Duke of Wei has retired, perhaps we can allow the Duke of Wei and a few other retired generals to stay in Fengyang from time to time for a while, chat with the Emperor Emeritus, play chess, or even discuss state affairs."

Zhu Xiong Ying nodded upon hearing this, saying, "That's the only way we can try."

Seeing that Zhu Xiong Ying had fallen into deep thought after speaking, Liu Kuan cupped his hands and said, "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."

Zhu Xiong Ying came to her senses and smiled, "Why are you in such a hurry to leave, teacher? I have a few telegrams from Europe here that I'm sure you'll find interesting."

After speaking, he took out several telegrams from the imperial desk and gestured to the eunuchs serving beside him to hand them to Liu Kuan.

Liu Kuan took the telegrams and glanced at them. He found that they were from the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Dai, the Prince of Su, the Prince of Liao, the Prince of Ning, and the Western Sea Commandery.

Then he quietly looked around inside the hall.

Zhu Xiong Ying even had a eunuch bring him a chair, and Liu Kuan sat down without ceremony—he was now in his fifties, and sitting was naturally more comfortable than standing.

Besides, with his current titles of Duke of Ningguo, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, Grand Councilor, Director of the Imperial Workshop, and Minister of Works, especially his status as Imperial Tutor, it shouldn't be a problem for him to sit for a while in such a private setting.

After reading through the telegrams, Liu Kuan concluded that they mainly covered two things. The first was the current situation in Europe.

Because of their military advantages, as well as their institutional and even ideological and cultural advantages, both the Jin vassal state in North Africa and the four vassal states of Dai, Su, Liao and Ning that established themselves in Europe have developed rapidly in the past few years.

However, due to the constraints imposed by the Ming Dynasty court and the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang, the Jin vassal state was unable to continue its large-scale expansion after its destruction.

Originally, given the strength of the Jin state, it would have been easy to destroy the Marin Kingdom on the northwest coast of North Africa, or to destroy Aragon and other countries on the Iberian Peninsula.

If Jin were to conquer these civilized nations and seize their lands, populations, and wealth, it could immediately become a powerful state spanning Asia, Europe, and Africa. By European standards at the time, it would not be an exaggeration to call it an empire.

However, several years ago, Zhu Biao and Zhu Lao had told Zhu Gang by telegram that the State of Jin was not allowed to continue expanding westward and northward.

Left with no other choice, Zhu Gang could only seek to gain trade benefits from Europe on the one hand, and slowly expand southward on the other. At this time, the southern part of Jin was either tropical desert, tropical grassland, or primeval forest, inhabited by indigenous black people who were still in the tribal era. Even if he expanded his territory extensively, it would have a very limited impact on the strength of Jin.

Therefore, the expansion of the Jin state's territory was temporarily restricted.

The four vassal states of Dai, Ning, and others, however, were doing very well in Europe.

After spending two or three years governing the country and initially stabilizing domestic affairs, Prince Zhu Gui of Dai continued to expand his territory—mainly northward and towards the Atlantic Ocean.

After successively destroying several duchies and counties that originally belonged to France, the current Kingdom of Dai has occupied nearly half of the former French territory, becoming a veritable "great power" in Europe.

Of course, by the standards of the Ming Dynasty, the Dai Kingdom still only had a few prefectures, and its territory was not as large as most provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the three kingdoms of Su, Liao, and Ning, they were located deep inland in Europe, surrounded by Ketu religious states, making expansion even more difficult.

However, with their formidable military strength, the three kingdoms now possessed territories roughly equivalent to a prefecture of the Ming Dynasty, making them comparable to major European powers.

The alliance of the four vassal states of Dai, Su, Liao, and Ning, along with the support of the Jin vassal state and the Xihai Commandery, had already become a major hegemon in Europe, capable of competing with the Christian states led by the Holy Roman Empire and the Islamic states led by the Ottoman Empire.

However, these European countries were not to be underestimated. After several years of fighting, trade and other contacts, they not only brought arquebuses and cannons from the surviving vassal states, but also began to imitate them and equip their armies with them.

In other words, at the beginning of the 15th century in this time and space, Europe, with its many independent states, was entering the age of firearms!

Among these, the Duchy of Burgundy, the Duchy of Austria of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bohemia, and England were the most active and rapid in developing firearms.

Burgundy, Austria, and Bohemia, three countries on the European continent, were in a better position. Although they were imitating firearms, they were constrained by the complex war situation in Europe, making it extremely difficult for them to develop their own firearms military industry in a stable manner.

England is different.

Henry IV, the current King of England, can be considered a "founding monarch" to some extent. His cousin, Richard II, was the previous king. He first helped Richard II suppress the rebellion of the Duke of Gloucester. Later, due to political failure, his fiefdom was confiscated. He then raised an army to fight Richard and was supported by the English Parliament to ascend the throne.

He was the one who set a precedent for English kings to respect the opinions of Parliament.

According to an investigation by the Bright Guard in England, England was still in the era of serfdom several decades ago.

However, after a series of coups, reforms, and wars over the past few decades, England saw the emergence of a large number of self-sufficient farmers, small landowners, and small merchants who had been transformed from serfs—this is when the seeds of capitalism in England began.

Although Zhu Gang, Zhu Gui, and others were unaware of this, they still managed to discern the differences between England and other European countries through a series of intelligence reports they obtained.

Furthermore, given that Henry IV had used replica firearms to completely quell the internal strife in England last year and consolidate his rule, Zhu Gang, Zhu Gui, and others felt that England could not be allowed to continue developing in this way. (End of Chapter)