Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 357 Two Choices, Zhu Xiongying reads "The Ming Dynasty 1566" [Request for Subscription]

Liu Kuan was stunned. He didn't expect Zhu Di to ask him such a big question.

After coming to his senses, he said, "Your Highness the Prince of Yan thinks highly of me by asking this question. I have no experience in governing a county, nor have I studied this subject. How can I know how to govern a country?"

Zhu Di smiled and said, "My brother-in-law is very knowledgeable. Even if he can offer a few suggestions, they will surely be helpful to me in governing the vassal state. Please feel free to give me your advice."

Seeing that Zhu Di was so humble, Liu Kuan felt it would be unreasonable not to give him some advice.

He paused for a moment and said, "I played a video about Indian history this time. I'm sure His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan has some understanding of the situation there."

Zhu Di nodded.

Liu Kuan: "Ever since the Aryans used Brahmanism to establish the caste system in India, almost all foreign invaders have adopted this system, and even improved it."

"So, the caste system is now deeply rooted in India. When Your Highness goes to India to establish a fiefdom, it is impossible to kill all the original Indians, and it is difficult to do so. If you do so, you will inevitably have to face the Indian caste issue."

"The issue, to me, is a choice - either accept the caste system like the foreigners who came before us, or overthrow it."

"If you accept the caste system, Your Highness can modify it slightly, with the royal family as the first class, the civil and military officials who followed Your Highness to India, and the common people of the Ming Dynasty as the second class, the Indians who voluntarily joined Your Highness as the third class, and everyone else as the fourth class."

"However, this is just an ideal division. If it is to be implemented in practice, there will definitely be many problems."

"For example, India's caste system is deeply tied to Brahmanism, and it distinguishes people by their race and skin color, and has always revered white people like the Aryans."

"In history, when invading foreign tribes adopted the caste system, they generally chose to intermarry or form alliances with the original Brahmins and Kshatriyas, transforming themselves into rulers that conformed to the rules of Brahmanism."

"We are all yellow people. It will definitely be difficult for us to integrate into India's caste system. Even if we integrate, it will probably be difficult for us to become white people."

"Furthermore, the civil officials, military commanders, and common people who accompany His Majesty to India may not necessarily accept the caste system. Even if they do, it will not be easy for Confucianism to integrate with the caste system."

"Of course, if Your Highness chooses to accept the caste system, it will certainly be much easier for you to rule over the Indians."

Hearing this, Zhu Di was thoughtful.

As a nobleman from a royal family, he actually thought that the caste system was good and a very useful system for rulers.

As for the problems mentioned by Liu Kuan, he believes they are acceptable or solvable.

Liu Kuan continued, "If Your Highness chooses to overthrow the caste system and establish one similar to the Ming Dynasty, the downside is that you will inevitably face resistance from many Indians led by Brahmanism and even its alienated form of Islam. Expanding territory and consolidating rule will be much more difficult."

"As for the benefits, one is that there is no need to change the thinking, cognition, and habits of Your Highness and the immigrants."

"Secondly, if Your Highness truly establishes a vassal state in India similar to the Ming Dynasty, even if Your Highness is gone in the future, it will not be easily invaded and ruled by foreign races like the previous dynasties in India."

Seeing Liu Kuan finished speaking, Zhu Di came out of his contemplation and asked, "What do you think my brother-in-law should do?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "Your Highness can only decide this matter yourself. How can you listen to others?"

Zhu Di was speechless for a moment.

If he knew some of the Internet buzzwords of later generations, he would definitely think of this sentence at this time: Listening to your words is like listening to your own words.

In fact, Zhu Di felt that Liu Kuan's words were of great help to him. At least they made him know the key issues that needed to be solved in order to establish rule in India.

'Maybe Daoyan can help me make the right choice.'

Thinking this, Zhu Di said, "No matter what, I still want to thank my brother-in-law for his analysis and suggestions. After the Lantern Festival, I will visit him again before leaving Beijing. I hope he doesn't find me annoying."

"I dare not." Liu Kuan bowed, "If Your Highness Prince Yan has nothing else to do, I will leave the palace."

Zhu Di nodded and sent Liu Kuan out of the hall.

Afterwards, Zhu Di went to the main hall to reunite with his wife and children, and said goodbye to Old Zhu and Empress Ma.

Zhu Yuanzhang instructed: "Don't run around tomorrow. Wait for Liu Kuan to bring the tablet to the palace, and then we can watch the TV series about Jiajing together."

"Yes."

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The next day.

Chunhe Palace.

Tianbaodian.

Zhu Xiongying heard the six o'clock bell, opened his eyes, stayed in bed for a while, and then turned over and got up.

Speaking of which, Zhu Xiongying is now fifteen years old (in lunar age). According to the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang for the princes, he should have left the palace and lived separately after the Lantern Festival last year.

But he was not a prince, but a grandson of the emperor, and was the crown prince designated by Zhu Yuanzhang through imperial edict.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma, and Zhu Biao were all worried that he would suffer from another serious illness, so they continued to let him live in Chunhe Palace.

However, Zhu Xiongying was already a teenager, and it was not a good idea for him to live in Chunhe Palace with Lu and other concubines of Zhu Biao. Therefore, last year Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the construction of "Tianbao Palace" to the south of Chunhe Palace, commonly known as Taisun Mansion.

Although the Tianbao Palace is only planned to be half the size of the Chunhe Palace, it will also be designed and made of exquisite materials. Even though it will use a lot of cement, steel bars, bricks, and glass, it will not be completed until this spring.

So Zhu Xiongying had to stay in Chunhe Palace for a few months.

After Zhu Xiongying got out of bed wearing only a single layer of clothes, he saw the palace servants putting all the prepared clothes aside.

He then picked up his clothes and put them on himself. After he was basically dressed, he began to fold the quilt.

Afterwards, he used the cold water, hot water, toothbrush, tooth powder, towel, etc. brought by the palace maids to wash, and finally sat in front of a dressing table inlaid with a mercury glass mirror while the palace maids combed his hair.

He could comb his hair himself, but it was certainly not as good as the palace maids. If it were a normal day last year, after combing his hair, he would have to go to a special place to fetch and boil water before he could eat a meal that was not rich but nutritious.

However, he officially graduated from the main hall last year, and it is still the New Year holiday, so he doesn't need to do those things as training.

So, after combing his hair, he took out a few Confucian books like "Zizhi Tongjian" and recited them silently in the study - this was the reading task Zhu Biao gave him years ago.

As was his habit when he was studying at the Great Hall, he read until half past seven.

The palace's clock chimed the time, and soon the palace maids around Lu came over to call him to have breakfast.

On weekdays, he ate alone, but during the New Year holidays he mostly ate with Zhu Biao, Lu and his younger brothers.

After breakfast, Zhu Xiongying habitually wanted to go to the nearby small training ground to practice martial arts, but he heard Zhu Biao say: "Xiongying, get ready and follow me to Fengxian Hall."

Although Zhu Xiongying was curious about what they were going to do, he resisted the urge to ask. He just said "yes" and went back to Tianbaodian to change his clothes.

When Zhu Xiongying followed Zhu Biao to Fengxian Hall, he found that in addition to Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and Liu Kuan were also there.

Liu Kuan first saluted and greeted Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying, and then Zhu Xiongying paid tribute to Liu Kuan as a student.

Zhu Xiongying was about to ask Liu Kuan what he was doing here when he saw Liu Kuan bow to Zhu Yuanzhang and say, "Your Majesty, I will return home now. If there is any problem with the tablet, Your Majesty, please do not move. Send a palace servant to summon me."

"Okay, you can go back." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with a smile.

Only then did Zhu Xiongying notice that Liu Kuan's tablet computer was placed next to Zhu Yuanzhang.

After Liu Kuan left, Zhu Yuanzhang said to him, "Xiongying, Liu Kuan got a TV series about our Ming Dynasty Emperor Jiajing in later history."

"It is said that this TV series reflects many historical issues in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and also touches on many imperial tactics and officialdom intrigues."

"The throne of the Ming Dynasty will be handed over to you sooner or later, so we will let you come and take a look and learn from it."

Watch TV series?

Zhu Xiongying's eyes lit up when he heard this.

He had learned a few years ago that in addition to various movies, videos, and songs, the teacher also had something called a TV series - it seemed like a very long movie divided into many episodes.

To be honest, he had wanted to see it for a long time.

But in the past few years, although he has had the opportunity to use a tablet many times through credits, he mostly used it to watch movies and videos, and it was not enough for watching TV series.

He originally thought that he might have to wait until he became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty before he would have the chance to watch it, but he didn't expect that he would be able to watch one of them now.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Xiongying immediately expressed his feelings: "Thank you, Grandfather Emperor, for your grace. Your grandson will definitely watch and learn carefully!"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Xiongying with envy.

I envy Zhu Xiongying for having the opportunity to watch TV dramas with a few people (his son Zhu Gaochi didn't have that opportunity), and I also envy Zhu Biao for having a good son like Zhu Xiongying - from the current point of view, Zhu Xiongying is very talented, both civil and military, and is very likely to become a great ruler in the future!
Unlike Zhu Gaochi, who preferred literature to martial arts, she needed supervision to control her tongue and maintain a healthy figure.

Moreover, the young Zhu Xiongying looked healthy and energetic, and he was cared for by many people. Having survived the critical moment at the age of eight, it was estimated that the possibility of his death later in life was very small.

While Zhu Di was thinking about this, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered: "Li Gui, take someone to set up the tables and chairs, and let's watch the TV series together."

"Yes."

Li Guida responded and took two eunuchs with him to quickly set up a small home theater.

Zhu Yuanzhang took his seat with Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and Zhu Xiongying.

"Come, Xiongying, sit next to us."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and asked Zhu Xiongying to sit on his right, and Zhu Biao was arranged on his left.

Zhu Di pursed his lips and sat on the far right.

Zhu Yuanzhang operated the tablet computer and adjusted it to 1.5 times the speed before starting to play the first episode.

Only then did Zhu Xiongying see the name of this TV series - "The Ming Dynasty 1566".

"It's a very common name, isn't it ugly?"

Zhu Xiongying, who has watched quite a few films, couldn't help but think so.

He soon collected his thoughts because the TV series started.

Old Master Zhu watched for three or four breaths before he realized that it was the opening credits, not the actual content.

Fortunately, the one and a half minutes passed quickly and the main film began.

The screen turned black, and a few words appeared on it - Forbidden City, Meridian Gate.

Then, in the open space between the palaces in the seemingly small imperial palace, a group of people who looked like eunuchs surrounded an official with disheveled hair and beard.

The official looked up at the gloomy sky with a sad expression.

'What is this doing?'

Old Zhu and the other three didn't understand for a moment.

　First update.

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)