Bringing the Railway to Daming

As for the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, it was not in Zhu Di's consideration for the time being—at least during his lifetime, he would not easily expand southward.

Firstly, having spent over twenty years in India, he has gained a relatively deep understanding of the climate there; it is truly hot.

It's already this hot in the north, so it must be even hotter in the south.

Therefore, he felt that instead of spending energy expanding southward, it would be better to expand westward first, and ideally, to take over the Delhi Sultanate as soon as possible and open up the passage to Ü-Tsang and Anxi Province.

Secondly, Zhu Fu's Qi vassal state, besides occupying the entire island of the Lion Kingdom, began expanding northward seven or eight years ago. It now occupies most of what would later become the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

If he continues to expand southward, he might one day find himself on the battlefield with the seventh prince.

Although he was not afraid of Zhu Fu and the State of Qi, and even had the confidence to win, it would not look good if things really came to that point. It might even give the court an opportunity to punish the two vassal states of Yan and Qi at the same time, and perhaps in the end, he would suffer more losses than gains.

In addition, according to the information he obtained from the Ming Dynasty, among the descendants of the Zhu family who were interested in establishing their own fiefdoms overseas but had not yet done so, it seemed that some had their eyes on the Indian subcontinent and also wanted to establish their own fiefdoms there.

If that's the case, the Indian subcontinent will inevitably see a temporary tripartite balance of power...

Zhu Di talked for a long time in the Hall of Diligent Governance about the arrangements for military and political affairs after his departure. After a moment of reflection, he burst into tears.

When the cries reached outside the palace, Zhu Gaochi, with tears in his eyes, summoned officials and palace servants to prepare for the national mourning.

After observing a seven-day mourning period for Zhu Yuanzhang in Yanjing (Calcutta), Zhu Di led his troops out to sea to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

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Qi Fan, Qi Du (Sri Lanka, Manar town).

After establishing the State of Qi, Zhu Fu also changed the capital twice.

He initially established his capital in what is now Manar, and later moved it after conquering the capital of the Lion Kingdom (Colombo).

However, since seven or eight years ago, the State of Qi has been expanding its territory to the north. In order to make it easier to govern the newly acquired northern territories, Zhu Fu moved the capital back to Manar Town.

As for the original capital (Colombo), it was called the Southern Capital, which was another important political, economic, and military center of the State of Qi.

Because Qi Fan's rule on the island is still unstable, the people of the former Lion Kingdom often revolt. Although most of the uprisings are easily suppressed, Zhu Fu has no choice but to leave a considerable number of troops in the southern part of the island.

Although the State of Qi is not very stable at present, with intermittent wars of territorial expansion in the north and occasional popular uprisings in the southern part of the island, it does not affect Zhu Fu's happy life as a vassal king.

Over the years, Zhu Fu's harem had grown to over a hundred beauties, and he had fifty or sixty children.

The women here are mainly from the former Lion Kingdom and the two major countries of southern India, but there are also white women bought from Europe, as well as women from Korea and Japan, and even Native American women.

In short, Zhu Fu had a wide range of interests and a very complete collection of beauties in his harem.

The result of having so many concubines in the harem is that Zhu Fu, who is now 47 years old, is very thin, but looks a bit older than Zhu Di.

That day, he took some time out of his busy schedule in the inner palace to deal with military and political affairs, but unexpectedly received a telegram from the capital. He then lay down on the table and burst into tears.

He also followed Zhu Yuanzhang's example, letting his heir Zhu Xianting familiarize himself with government affairs in advance, effectively handing over most military and political matters to Zhu Xianting.

At this moment, Zhu Xianying was inside the hall, and upon seeing this, he naturally inquired about it.

"Your imperial grandfather has passed away," Zhu Fu said, raising his head and weeping.

Zhu Xianting was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then forced a hint of sorrow—he had been very young when he went to sea with Zhu Fu and had little impression of Zhu Yuanzhang, let alone any affection for him. After a moment, Zhu Xianting said, "Father, please accept my condolences... Father, are you going back to the capital to pay respects to Grandfather?"

"Of course," Zhu Fu said. "After I leave, the military and political affairs of Qi will be entrusted to you. Do a good job."

Zhu Xianying said, "Your subject will certainly handle state affairs well and not disappoint Father."

What he was thinking was that with Zhu Fu gone, it would be easier for him to handle some things. To be honest, although Zhu Fu had handled fewer and fewer state affairs in recent years, he still held onto some important matters. Zhu Xianting disapproved of many of Zhu Fu's practices and wanted to change them, but he had no power to do so.

With Zhu Fu gone, he was freed from any constraints and could finally unleash his full potential.

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Upon receiving the telegram from the capital, Zhu Gang, the Prince of Jin in North Africa, and Zhu Gui, the Prince of Su, Zhu Yan, the Prince of Liao, Zhu Zhi, the Prince of Ning, Zhu Song, the Prince of Han, and Zhu Mo, the Prince of Shen, all the princes in Europe temporarily put aside whatever major events were taking place in their respective vassal states, or entrusted them to trusted individuals, and left their vassal states to return to the capital of the Ming Dynasty by ship.

Similarly, Prince Yong (Zhu Shuang), Prince Xiang (Zhu Bai), Prince Lu (Zhu Tan), and Prince Yu (Zhu Yunwen) in the Americas also received the telegram.

Yongdu, which is the same as the later Saint Anthony.

In a luxurious yet rugged royal palace, Zhu Shuang, fifty-five years old with gray hair, stared blankly at the telegram in his hand. After a long while, he finally came to his senses, tears streaming down his face, and cried out, "Father—waaaah..."

To be honest, Zhu Shuang had grievances against Zhu Yuanzhang back then, and even hated him at one point—who made him lose his princely status and do hard labor outside for several years?
But as he grew older, especially after establishing a vassal state in South America, he began to pay attention to the education of his sons and gradually came to understand Zhu Yuanzhang's good intentions.

Recalling his childhood, when Zhu Yuanzhang doted on him, he felt a deep longing for him.

He was truly heartbroken and saddened to hear of Zhu Yuanzhang's death.

He cried for a long time before sending someone to summon Prince Zhu Shangbing and the two princesses to explain the situation and prepare to return to the capital of the Ming Dynasty for the funeral.

Zhu Shuang set sail with Prince Lu, Zhu Tan, to establish his fiefdom in the 24th year of the Hongwu reign (1391), and nearly 20 years have passed since then.

Logically speaking, with the 3,000-household army and garrison troops that Zhu Shuang brought from the Ming Dynasty, as well as other recruited troops, he should have had no rivals in South America and should have expanded his territory considerably.

In reality, due to its topography and the twenty-year agreement, the territory of Yong Kingdom is not very large today, and it is limited to the western coast of South America.

It roughly corresponds to what is now northern and central Chile, and a small part of southern Peru.

Furthermore, in recent years, Yongzheng had been at war with the indigenous forces of South America, primarily the Inca Kingdom—this was mainly because Zhu Shuang's policy toward the indigenous people was primarily one of conquest, and the indigenous people of South America were inherently skilled in warfare, especially in the mountains.

Furthermore, the indigenous peoples of South America are inherently quite resilient. Historically, the Spanish colonized South America for many years. Although they took advantage of internal strife within the Inca Empire to destroy it, many indigenous tribes continued to resist until the Spanish rule collapsed centuries later.

Of course, while Yong State mainly dealt with the local people through conquest, it also attempted to assimilate them, although the assimilation efficiency was not as high as that of other vassal states.

Today, Yongfan has a population of over one million, of which only about two hundred thousand are Han Chinese (Han immigrants and young people and children with Han blood), while more than eight hundred thousand are naturalized natives.

Compared to other vassal states, it's already considered quite good.

Today, only the population of the Lu Fan (鲁藩) is similar to that of the Yong Fan (雍藩). The populations of the later Xiang Fan (湘藩) and Yu Fan (虞藩) cannot compare with those of the Yong Fan (雍藩).

Zhu Shuang, after only three days of preparation, boarded the ship and set sail.

Furthermore, he did not take the safe route through the North Pacific, but rather the South Pacific route, which had been open for less than ten years.

Despite repeated dissuasion from high-ranking officials of the Yongzheng Emperor's court, as well as from Lady Deng and Guanyinnu, Zhu Shuang insisted on taking the South Pacific route in order to reach the capital of the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible... (End of this chapter)