Bringing the Railway to Daming

On a certain day after the fifteenth of August in the eighth year of the Yongle reign (1413).

Liu Kuan arrived at Fengxian Hall.

Besides Zhu Xiong Ying, the only other person in the hall was Wei Fang, the eunuch he trusted most.

As for Zhu Wenyao, he went to the army for training after the Lantern Festival in the seventh year of the Yongle reign and participated in the military logistics work for the Ming army's suppression of the Siamese rebellion last winter. He is still in the army, mainly responsible for logistics and inspecting the discipline of the army.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Zhu Wenyao will remain in the army for four consecutive years, until the end of the tenth year of the Yongle reign.

"See Your Majesty!"

"Teacher, there's no need for such formalities. Come and see this newly made 'Complete Map of the Ming Dynasty' that I had someone make." Zhu Xiong Ying stood in front of a huge map and waved.

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan walked over.

In fact, he noticed the map as soon as he entered the Fengxian Hall—because the map was really too big.

This "Complete Map of the Ming Dynasty" consists of a rectangular scroll and two other scrolls. However, these two scrolls are actually two redwood pillars as thick as an adult man's arm!

Furthermore, each of the two pillars is equipped with three metal casters made by skilled craftsmen, which makes it easy for the pillars to stand upright and also easy to move.

The two pillars are 3.3 meters high, and the scroll in the middle is 10 feet wide and 33 feet long!

While it's called the "Complete Map of the Ming Dynasty," it's actually a global map. Because the Ming Dynasty's directly subordinate military commands are now spread across the globe, and it's long been known as the "empire on which the sun never sets," only a global map can fully represent the entire territory of the Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, Zhu Xiong Ying stood in front of the map and said with great pride, "Teacher, look! Our Great Ming Dynasty now has thirty major provinces and twelve independent military commands, all of which are on this map, covering the whole world!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan's gaze fell upon the enormous map, and he began to list the many provinces and independent military commands of the Ming Dynasty:

Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, and Liaoning.

These 16 provinces were territories that existed during the Ming Dynasty in history. Among them, the Liaoning part was incorporated into Shandong, and they were known as the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces.

In addition to these 16 provinces, there are now 14 newly added provinces: Anxi, Mobei, Andong, Lelang, Ninghai, Dongying, Fusang, Anyang, Luzon, Hainan, Vientiane, Cangnan, Jiaozhou, and Northern Myanmar!
In addition, there were twelve separate military commands: Ü-Tsang, Jilin, Beiting, Luohuang, Beiyang, Nanyang, Hailong, Southern Myanmar, North America, Central America, Western Sea, and Western Ocean.

Among them, the area directly under the imperial court that was furthest from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty was the Western Pacific Commandery established on the British Isles, followed by the Central American, North American, and Western Pacific Commanderies.

With such a vast territory, it is no exaggeration for the Ming Dynasty to be called the "empire on which the sun never sets."

While Liu Kuan was expressing his feelings, Zhu Xiong Ying said, "Now that South America already has the Yong and Yu vassal states, and the imperial court has also established garrisons in northern South America, I plan to go a step further and establish a South American Regional Military Commission. What do you think, teacher?"

Liu Kuan said, "The South American Commandery was originally part of the imperial court's plan. Now that more than 20 years have passed since the Ming Dynasty began its expansion into the Americas, it is certainly feasible to establish the South American Commandery."

"However, the court's manpower is limited at present. Even if the South American Commandery is established, there is no need to immigrate too many people at the beginning. We can leave it to be gradually filled by exiled criminals and people voluntarily immigrating in the future."

Zhu Xiong Ying laughed and said, "I understand—in addition to establishing the South American Regional Military Commission, I also want to establish the Australian Regional Military Commission. Depending on the situation in the future, we can also establish three more regional military commissions in East Africa, West Africa, and South Africa. In this way, my Great Ming will have eighteen independently established regional military commissions."

Liu Kuan said, “It is good that Your Majesty has such lofty ambitions, but the establishment of these military commands must be done step by step. If we rashly send out people and hastily relocate them, I am afraid that many problems will arise.”

Zhu Xiong Ying was slightly disappointed upon hearing this, but still said, "I know this without the teacher telling me—I have plenty of patience and will complete this matter step by step."

As they spoke, Zhu Xiong Ying's gaze fell upon Liu Kuan's temple, where a noticeable strand of white hair appeared. He couldn't help but sigh, "Judging by the time, it's been 32 years since you came to the Ming Dynasty, Teacher?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan also sighed, "It has indeed been 32 years."

He was only twenty-six or twenty-seven when he came to the Ming Dynasty, and now he's almost sixty. More than thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye. However, the changes he has brought to the Ming Dynasty over the years have been earth-shattering, and time has not been wasted on him.

After a moment of silence, Zhu Xiong Ying brought up another matter.

"By the way, teacher, the 'Chinese Pinyin' based on our Ming Dynasty Mandarin has been established, and a dictionary called the Yongle Dictionary has also been compiled based on it."

As Zhu Xiong Ying spoke, he gestured to the eunuch Wei Fang.

Wei Fang immediately took a book from the imperial desk and handed it to Liu Kuan.

This Yongle Dictionary is about 15 or 16 centimeters wide, 20 centimeters long, and nearly 10 centimeters thick!

It clearly contains a lot of content.

The cover is made of cowhide, with the four gold characters "Yongle Dictionary" engraved on it, along with many small silver characters, making it very exquisite, even luxurious.

Liu Kuan flipped through the table of contents and glanced at the rest of the text, realizing that this dictionary contained far more information than commonly used dictionaries in later generations. In fact, it was more similar to the later "Cihai" dictionary.

After looking at it for a while, he handed the Yongle Dictionary to Wei Fang.

Zhu Xiong Ying then asked expectantly, "What does the teacher think of this Yongle Dictionary?"

Liu Kuandao said, "The content is rich, exquisite and luxurious, very suitable for collection, and will surely be passed down to future generations."

Zhu Xiong Ying was not stupid; she could tell that although Liu Kuan's words were full of praise, his expression did not convey any real praise.

He thought for a moment and said, "Does the teacher mean that this dictionary is not practical?"

Liu Kuan said, “Your Majesty, this Yongle Dictionary would be very useful, even perfect, for scholars who specialize in Chinese characters and literature, or for the children of wealthy families.”

"But for the general public, all they need is a reference book that makes it easy to look up and learn new characters."

"This reference book does not need to have rich and complex content, but it should be cheap and easy to carry - in fact, the commonly used dictionaries in later generations are only the size of a man's palm."

Zhu Xiong Ying was somewhat speechless upon hearing this, and said, "Since you knew all this, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Liu Kuan smiled wryly, "I didn't know Your Majesty had a dictionary compiled like this. However, this Yongle Dictionary is not a waste of time—the country needs such a precious dictionary for its collection."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xiong Ying's expression softened somewhat, and he said, "Then I will have someone compile a simple dictionary suitable for the daily use of ordinary people."

After finishing this, Liu Kuan prepared to take his leave—there were still a lot of things waiting for him to handle at the Tiangong Academy.

However, Zhu Xiong Ying then asked, "By the way, teacher, how is the research on telephones progressing at the Tiangong Institute?" (End of Chapter)