Bringing the Railway to Daming

When Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses, he found that the others seemed to have finished discussing it and were all looking at him.

He immediately realized that he had probably been spacing out for quite some time again—Zhu Yuanzhang knew that although his Alzheimer's symptoms had improved compared to before, they were not completely cured, so he would occasionally space out for a long time without realizing it.

After regaining his composure, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "The matter of Lanfang is indeed regrettable, but now our Great Ming Dynasty dominates the seas, has many overseas territories, has established vassal states overseas, and has even extended its influence into Europe. I think we will never again have such a regrettable incident as Lanfang."

Zhu Xiong Ying said, "Grandfather is right—our Great Ming already has four major vassal states in Europe. If we enfeoff a few more vassal kings there in the future, the Europeans will be too busy to take care of themselves, so how could they possibly colonize the East again?"

At this point, Zhu Xiong Ying remembered something, looked at Liu Kuan, and asked, "By the way, teacher, which country in Europe is the Netherlands in today's Europe?"

Liu Kuan thought for a moment and said, "The Netherlands was a multi-powered country established at the end of the 16th century. It should still be within the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, and a part of it may even be owned by the Ning Kingdom."

Zhu Xiong Ying laughed and said, "Does that mean that the Netherlands will most likely never appear again?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "It's highly unlikely to happen."

The Netherlands was originally a country composed of multiple merchant families. Even though there were noble forces among them, it still had a considerable merchant character. It was established in the 16th century when Spain and France were fighting each other. Now that Europe has undergone tremendous changes, France has perished, and Spain will never exist again. So how could the Netherlands have emerged?
The others couldn't help but smile when they heard Liu Kuan's answer.

But thinking about it, the Qing Dynasty was truly incompetent to be bullied so badly by a few small European countries.

After a while of discussion, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Liu Kuan, shouldn't we start showing a movie now?"

Liu Kuan nodded. "It's time to show a movie."

He then pulled up a movie he had prepared on the tablet, placed the tablet down, and said, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this is an animated movie that I specially selected from the few remaining movies. Although it is not of much reference value to our Great Ming, the plot is quite heartwarming and lighthearted.”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "It would be good to watch something heartwarming and lighthearted during the Spring Festival."

In fact, ever since Zhu Yuanzhang watched an "animated film" produced by the Ming Dynasty last year, taken by Liu Ruoyue, he hasn't been so obsessed with watching movies from later generations. He believes that sooner or later, the Ming Dynasty will also be able to produce as many and exciting films as those of later generations.

Liu Kuan continued, "This animated film is called 'WALL-E,' and it was produced quite some time ago."

"It tells the story of how, hundreds of years later, Earth has been turned into a giant garbage dump by humans and is no longer habitable. So, humans migrate to other planets in large numbers and entrust a garbage cleanup company to take care of the aftermath until the Earth's ecology is restored."

"This garbage disposal company sent a batch of specialized garbage-collecting robots to Earth and gave them only one instruction—garbage sorting."

"Over time, these robots broke down one by one, leaving only one, which has been forgotten by the garbage collection company."

"But it continued to work diligently in the garbage dump according to its instructions until hundreds of years later, a spaceship suddenly arrived, bringing with it the robot Eva, who was tasked with a search mission, and that's when the story began."

After giving a brief introduction to the background story of "WALL-E", Liu Kuan then touched the screen to play the video.

This kind of movie featuring "robots" as the main characters was still quite novel for Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Xiong Ying, and others.

Therefore, even though it was an animation, and not as well-made as the other animated films from later generations that they had seen before, everyone still watched it intently, completely absorbed.

During this process, Lao Zhu and others would sometimes smile because of the plot of the movie, and sometimes they would show worry. It can be said that their mood was completely driven by the movie plot.

It wasn't until nearly a hundred minutes later, when the movie ended with its closing credits, that everyone came to their senses and began to whisper among themselves.

"Sigh, even though I know that WALL-E is just a robot, I still couldn't help but be moved by his centuries of loyalty to his duty after watching this movie."

"Indeed, this robot is far more loyal than a human."

"It's not easy for a machine to run for hundreds of years—the longest our Ming Dynasty's steam engines have been running well is less than a month. I heard they break down every few days and need to be repaired by a specialist before they can continue to run." "Our Ming Dynasty's technology has only just begun to develop. How can it compare to later generations? Besides, the movie is set hundreds of years in the future."

"I never imagined robots could have love; it's so touching."

"This robot WALL-E is practically sentient..."

Listening to the crowd's discussion, Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent, for he was thinking of Empress Ma again.

'Girl, if only you were still alive, still by my side, how wonderful that would be.'

With a sigh, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up.

Zhu Xiong Ying hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, Grandfather?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I'm a little tired, so I won't get involved in what happens next. Let someone help me to Yanfu Palace to rest."

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang did not look well, Zhu Xiong Ying was somewhat worried, but still did as she was told and had several palace servants support Zhu Yuanzhang and take him to Yanfu Palace to rest.

Still not entirely reassured, he sent for the imperial physician to go to Yanfu Palace to check on Zhu Yuanzhang's health...

···
Time passed quickly, and it was the end of February in the second year of the Yongle reign (1407).

On this day, after consulting with Zhu Xiong Ying, Zhu Yunwen took a train to Fengyang.

He came to bid farewell to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Upon arriving at the Fengyang Imperial Palace, Zhu Yunwen saw Zhu Yuanzhang sunbathing in the back garden, with a boy and a girl playing nearby. He wondered which of his uncles' children they were.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be dozing off, Zhu Yunwen stopped the palace servants from waking him up and waited patiently by his side.

After about an hour, Zhu Yuanzhang opened his eyes in a daze.

He stepped forward and said, "Grandpa Emperor, Yunwen has come to see you."

"Yunwen is here?" Zhu Yuanzhang seemed more energetic, his cloudy eyes brightening slightly. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long, just arrived a little while ago."

"Why did you suddenly decide to visit us in Fengyang?" Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself, then slapped his forehead. "Look at my memory—shouldn't you be heading out to sea to establish your own fiefdom by now?"

Zhu Yunwen said, "That is indeed the case, which is why I have come to bid farewell to my grandfather."

Zhu Yuanzhang carefully examined Zhu Yunwen for a while, then instructed him: "Yunwen, according to Liu Kuan, the land you chose is a good place. After you go there, focus on farming and development, and build up your vassal state well. Do you understand?"

Zhu Yunwen said, "Grandson will remember this—grandson is leaving this time and does not know when he will be able to return to the Great Ming. Please take good care of yourself, Your Majesty."

"I can do it," Zhu Yuanzhang said, trying to stand up, but he couldn't stand up right away. So he said, "Come on, help me walk around, so that we can have a chat."

"Yes." (End of Chapter)