Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 299: Is the Imperial Court So Terrible? Overseas Confucianism [Request for Subscription]

Tsushima South Guard, pier.

Qi Tai and four other exiles were allowed to disembark for some fresh air, but their activities were restricted to the dock and they were not allowed to leave.

Huang Zicheng happened to come to the dock to do some business and met Qi Tai. He almost didn't recognize him - Qi Tai's appearance had changed so much.

Fortunately, Huang Zicheng hadn't changed much, and Qi Tai recognized him.

"Zicheng!"

Huang Zicheng turned around upon hearing the voice, and after sizing up Qi Tai for a few seconds, he exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Shangli?!"

"Yes, it's me."

"Brother Shangli, how did you become like this..."

Huang Zicheng didn't know how to describe it for a moment, because Qi Tai was not only much darker than before, but also thinner, and looked like a fisherman.

Qi Tai smiled nonchalantly and explained, "I go out to sea fishing almost every day in Dengzhou. Being exposed to the wind and sun, my appearance has naturally changed a lot."

"I see." Huang Zicheng understood. Seeing Qi Tai's wife and daughter following behind him, he said, "I'm afraid this will be the last time Brother Shangli and I see each other. Why don't we go to the restaurant for a couple of drinks and catch up?"

"it is good."

Qi Tai finished speaking and prepared to send his wife and daughter back to the ship. Huang Zicheng thought Qi Tai was having a hard time as an exile in Dengzhou, so he said, "Brother Shangli, if you don't mind, please ask my sister-in-law and daughter to come along."

The atmosphere in the early Ming Dynasty was relatively open. Considering that he might never return to the Central Plains after going to America, Qi Tai did not follow formalities and brought his wife and daughter to the banquet.

Huang Zicheng came from a prominent family and had a good salary after joining Zhu Di's court. He was not stingy and ordered a large table of delicious dishes and two pots of good wine to drink with Qi Tai.

"Brother Shangli, do you know how long this exploratory fleet will stay in Tsushima?"

"Only half a day," Qi Tai replied, then asked, "What is Zicheng doing on this island to help the King of Yan?"

Huang Zicheng's face suddenly turned bitter, and he asked, "Brother Shangli, do you know why the King of Yan is on Tsushima Island?"

Qi Tai shook his head - he was just an ordinary candidate before, and the Hongwu court was not like the later Ming court, which was like a sieve, with all kinds of secrets leaked out. He did not know the purpose of the court sending Prince Yan to Tsushima Island.

Huang Zicheng lowered his voice and said, "Plot against Japan."

"Plotting against Japan?" Qi Tai frowned. "Could it be that the imperial court intends to invade Japan?"

As a Confucian disciple after the Song Dynasty, Qi Tai was instinctively disgusted with the monarch's warlike behavior of expanding territory everywhere, and believed that it was not a good thing.

If the previous pacification of the southwest and the northern expedition to the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty were either to recover China's lost territories or to resolve border problems, then the expedition to Japan is difficult to understand.

Not to mention, there was the precedent of Kublai Khan's two disastrous defeats in his invasions of Japan.

Even though the Ming Dynasty's navy is now far more powerful than the Yuan Dynasty and there is no need to worry about the army being destroyed in a storm at sea, even if the Ming army successfully lands on Japanese territory, the war against Japan will not be so easy to fight, right?

Qi Tai had some understanding of Japan. He knew that it was not a small country, but a big country with a population of over ten million. Its national strength was definitely among the top three among the countries surrounding the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Huang Zicheng said: "Perhaps the court will have plans to conquer Japan in the future, but now it is only calculating against Japan."

"Calculate?" Qi Tai was curious. "How to calculate?"

Huang Zicheng said with a complicated expression, "They forced the Japanese to 'switch from rice to mulberry trees' and were forced to 'migrate' abroad."

Switching from rice to mulberry? Forced migration?
Qi Tai didn't understand the deep meaning of these two words for a moment.

Huang Zicheng simply lowered his voice and explained, "In the past two or three years, the Ming Dynasty has used steam textile machinery, which has greatly increased the demand for raw silk. The domestic supply of raw silk is insufficient, so we have to purchase it from Japan."

"Therefore, many feudal lords in Japan now switch from rice to mulberry in order to make money - they make a profit by selling raw silk to the Ming Dynasty, and then make another profit by selling grain imported from Korea and other places to farmers."

"Japan already suffered from famine due to the North-South War and weather conditions. Now, with more mulberry fields than grain fields, the country is even more short of food, and the famine is even worse."

"Many Ming Dynasty merchants came to hire young Japanese men and women, claiming they were sending them to work overseas—but these people's employment contracts were signed for life. It was called employment, but in reality it was a contract to sell their bodies."

"And most of the people hired were young women. From what I understand, most of these young Japanese women were sent to the Beiyang, Jilin, and Nanyang military governorates to be betrothed to the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty garrisons."

"Those young men were sent to Southeast Asia to open up wasteland and work as coolie laborers."

Huang Zicheng stopped talking here, and Qi Tai looked shocked.

After several breaths, he finally reacted and said in disbelief, "You mean, all of this is orchestrated by the imperial court?"

Huang Zicheng nodded and said, "Prince Yan's main purpose in staying in Tsushima is to supervise this matter."

After receiving a positive answer, Qi Tai was even more shocked. He never expected that the court's plan against Japan would be so terrifying.

Huang Zicheng continued, "In addition, Prince Yan also adopted over 3,000 Japanese orphans this year and placed them on Tsushima Island for training."

"I am currently serving as a Confucian teacher in that orphanage. I lead a group of Confucian scholars recruited by the King of Yan, teaching the orphans Chinese characters and speech, and instilling in them the Confucian Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, as well as the principle of loyalty to the emperor."

Qi Tai was originally thinking that the Ming Dynasty's plotting against Japan was unbecoming of the Celestial Empire and was not in line with the Confucian idea of ​​kingly way. He was afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would be cursed in history and would be infamous for thousands of years.

After hearing Huang Zicheng's story about the "orphan camp," he shifted his focus again and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't Prince Yan's behavior like training a group of assassins? Isn't he afraid that the court will find out and blame him?"

Huang Zicheng smiled and said, "I was also worried when I first learned about this. Later I learned that the Prince of Yan had reported this to that person and only started the process after receiving permission."

"Most of these orphans are young men between the ages of ten and twelve. With just three to five years of training, they can follow the King of Yan to his fiefdom to fight or do other things. They will definitely be very useful."

Qi Tai thought for a moment and said, "Even though these orphans have been taught loyalty to the emperor since childhood, they are still Japanese. I'm afraid some of them will inevitably develop disloyalty in the future. Zicheng, why don't you suggest that Prince Yan adopt orphans in Ming Dynasty?" Huang Zicheng sighed, "I have certainly suggested this. In fact, Prince Yan does run an orphanage in Ming Dynasty, but it currently has less than 500 people."

"Nowadays, the imperial court has set up orphanages in various places. There are orphans who are not left unattended. It is not easy for the Prince of Yan to recruit them."

"Besides, even if they are orphans, they still have to occupy the 5,000 immigration quotas granted by the court. Therefore, even if there are many orphans, the King of Yan will not accept too many."

Afterwards, Qi Tai talked with Huang Zicheng about other things. After Huang Zicheng entered Zhu Di's court, he was much more well-informed than ordinary Confucian scholars and knew a lot of things he had never heard of before.

Now he told these things to Qi Tai, which not only opened Qi Tai's eyes, but also made him realize more deeply that the world today is indeed very different. It seems that even some of the principles passed down by Confucian sages have been overturned.

This actually made Qi Tai feel a little confused.

After the banquet, before leaving, Huang Zicheng suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, right, the biggest gain I got after joining the Yan Wang Shogunate is actually this."

As he spoke, Huang Zicheng took out a thin book from his arms and handed it over.

Qi Tai took it and looked at it, and was shocked to see the words "Essence of Mind Learning" written on the cover.

Qi Tai was puzzled and asked, "What is the meaning of this Xinxue? How is it different from Confucianism and science?"

Huang Zicheng smiled and said, "I learned about this School of Mind from the Prince of Yan and his chief advisor Daoyan. It's considered a branch of Confucianism. The Prince of Yan didn't elaborate on its origins, so I don't know either."

"But now Neo-Confucianism is powerless in the face of science. When I learned about the School of Mind, I began to think that perhaps I could find a different path from Neo-Confucianism to control science."

"However, the power of one person is ultimately limited. Today, I am giving this collection of Xinxue manuscripts and my insights to Brother Shangli, hoping that he can study this path with me."

"Of course, if Brother Shangli feels that the Way of the Heart School goes against his will, there's no need to force it. This handwritten lunchbox of mine has given Brother Shangli some new insights."

After Huang Zicheng finished speaking, he bowed and left.

Qi Tai brought his family back to the Yingzhou, and then he opened "The Essence of Mind Learning" and began to read.

"There is no good or evil in the body, but there are good and evil intentions in the action. Knowing good and evil is conscience, and doing good and eliminating evil is the study of things."

After reading the opening four sentences of the teachings of the School of Mind, Qi Tai looked pensive...

···
More than a month later, the long-distance exploration fleet arrived at Dongshengwei, North American Military Commandery.

Afterwards, in addition to resting and replenishing, the fleet also dropped off hundreds of military and civilian households and some exiled prisoners to replenish Dongshengwei, including Qi Tai's family.

Before getting off the boat, Qi Tai stood on the deck, looking at Dongshengwei where many fields had been opened up, then looking at the lush mountains and forests in the background, and finally looking back to the west, feeling a lot of emotion for a moment.

Is this the Dongsheng Guard, the easternmost garrison of the Ming Dynasty, 10,000 to 20,000 miles away from the Central Plains?
His family finally arrived safely.

It’s really not easy!
Along the way, the fleet encountered two moderately severe storms. Although they managed to get through them without any casualties, some people were injured.

His wife Wang accidentally hit her head and broke it, causing bleeding and she fell into a coma.

He and his daughter were shocked at the time and thought that Wang was going to die.

When the doctor on the ship came and revived the man, they realized it was a false alarm.

In the second half of the voyage, because my daughter was still young, she could not adapt to the life at sea for a long time and fell ill.

Thanks to the good medical skills of the doctor on the ship and the sufficient medicine, my daughter was able to reach Xianzhouwei, the northernmost part of America. After recuperating in Xianzhouwei for two or three days, she gradually got better.

The experience of his family is just a microcosm of the many exiled families in the fleet. Some of the other families also have injured and sick people, and some are still sick.

Fortunately, this time the fleet will stay in Dongshengwei for ten days, and the soldiers and civilians of the garrison and the exiles who need to continue moving south will have a relatively sufficient period of rest.

On the second day after Qi Tai arrived in Dongshengwei, he was summoned by the commander-in-chief Xie Deyou.

"It's not easy to welcome a scholar to this remote and barbaric place overseas." Xie Deyou was quite enthusiastic about Qi Tai. "Mr. Qi, did you feel comfortable staying here last night?"

Yesterday, Qi Tai's family, like other soldiers and civilians who would fill the Dongsheng Guard, were arranged to camp in a special camp. The conditions were quite simple, only slightly better than on the boat. Since it was a new place, Qi Tai's family was not used to sleeping there.

But Qi Tai still responded, "It's okay."

Xie Deyou smiled and said, "It's okay if you're not used to it. I'll have someone arrange a house for Mr. Qi and his family today. Of course, before that, we have to decide on Mr. Qi's position first."

"Mr. Qi has been exiled here, so I can't treat him too well right off the bat. There's a position for a Confucian teacher at the Dongsheng Guards' official school. Would Mr. Qi be willing to take it?"

One of Qi Tai's plans after coming to America was to spread Confucianism. Being a teacher suited his taste, so he immediately said, "I'll leave it to Xie Du to arrange it."

Xie Deyou said, "Since Mr. Qi said so, I will take it as your agreement. Speaking of which, the official school needs a Confucian disciple with a profound foundation like yours."

"There's one more thing I must explain—the Dusi doesn't keep idlers, so your wife will also be given work. As for your daughter, she will be sent to the Acropolis Girls' School."

Qi Tai was not surprised to hear that there was a girls' school in the Acropolis.

When he was in Dengzhou, there was a girls' school in the nearby garrison.

In addition to teaching girls literacy and arithmetic, they also taught them practical skills such as weaving, sewing, and cooking. The only thing they lacked was female virtue, but he and his wife would make up for this through private tutoring.

However, Wang was also arranged to work, which made him worry about another thing.

He then bowed and said, "May I ask Xie Duzhi, if my wife also has to work, who will cook and clean the house?"

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)