Bringing the Railway to Daming

Influenced by Liu Kuan, Zhu Yuanzhang now let the princes and grandchildren do things mainly for training purposes, and supervising local officials as his eyes and ears was just a side effect.

Therefore, the fourteen or fifteen-year-old Zhu Yunwen was not doing a noble job in the military factory in the capital. Instead, he worked as a clerk under the chief and deputy officials, doing things like writing documents and running errands.

It's okay on weekdays, but at the end of the year, all government offices are busy, and the Beijing Military Factory, as an important department, is naturally no exception.

In addition, it has become normal for princes and grandchildren of the emperor to serve in various government offices and local areas to gain experience. Zhu Yunwen does not have the precious status of the crown prince. He is just a grandson of the emperor who has not yet been granted a title, and did not receive much special treatment.

Therefore, his work during this period was much busier than before, and he often felt like he was writing and running around so hard that his hands were broken and his legs were broken.

However, it was Zhu Yunwen who took the initiative to ask to work in the military factory, so he naturally would not complain about being tired in front of Zhu Biao.

He said, "It's a lot busier than usual, but the child can adapt."

"So what are the main tasks of the military factory in the near future?" Zhu Biao asked again.

Zhu Yunwen said, "It's mainly to summarize this year's production work and settle the financial accounts. In addition, we are preparing to install a breech-loading rifle production line next year."

Zhu Biao nodded slightly. As the Crown Prince Regent of the Ming Dynasty, he was naturally well aware of the affairs of such an important department as the Capital Military Factory.

Furthermore, speaking of firearms, while the Ming Dynasty's garrisons and the armies of the various overseas vassal states still used matchlock rifles, the emperor's personal army had already deployed flintlock rifles. As for the vassal states, only the imperial guards and the generals of the imperial guards were equipped with short, quick-firing muskets.

However, the most advanced musket in the Ming Dynasty today is the breech-loading rifle - the technology of the breech-loading rifle was only broken through in the past two years, so the Beijing Military Factory will have to wait until next year to install the first breech-loading rifle production line.

The most advanced musket currently equipped by the emperor's personal army is actually a muzzle-loading, rifled flintlock rifle equipped with paper shell fixed bullets.

But even in the emperor's personal army, this type of musket was only equipped to a very small number of special troops - these troops were controlled by Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

As for artillery, breech-loading and rifled guns were naturally developed. However, because the Shenwei cannon and the Hudun cannon had not been in service for a long time before the Ming Dynasty and were more than enough to deal with existing enemies, this advanced breech-loading cannon was still only equipped in a small number in the emperor's personal army, and other troops did not have it.

In addition, relevant military research institutes have also developed more sophisticated cloth armor and other military supplies, most of which are temporarily equipped to the emperor's personal army, and a few are even currently in storage.

The reason why Zhu Biao deliberately asked Zhu Yunwen these questions was to see how familiar Zhu Yunwen was with the affairs of the military factory.

Afterwards, he asked some other questions about the military factory before nodding with satisfaction and preparing to talk to Zhu Yunhuan.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yunwen said, "Father, I want to go to the army to gain some experience next year."

Zhu Biao was a little surprised when he heard this and asked, "Why? Do you want to establish a vassal state overseas in the future?"

Zhu Yunwen hesitated for a moment, then mustered up the courage to say, "Yes."

Zhu Biao looked at his son carefully, remembering how he had played a good hand so badly in the original history, and how he was almost completely defeated by Zhu Di in military affairs. He couldn't help but say, "If you want to be a vassal overseas, you really should go to the army to gain some good experience, otherwise your mother and I will be worried."

"Well, next year you will first go to Fengyang to train for a year and familiarize yourself with military affairs. The year after that, wherever there is a war, you will go there to serve as a mid-level general."

Zhu Yunwen didn't expect Zhu Biao to agree so easily. He couldn't help but feel happy and said, "Thank you, father, for your help!"

"Alright, if you have nothing else to do, go back to your room and study. Even though you're out working, you can't slack off on your studies. You've learned a lot in the Great Hall, but if you want to establish a feudal domain overseas, you'll need a lot of knowledge, and you're still far from there."

"I understand. I'll take my leave."

Looking at Zhu Yunwen's back as he left, Zhu Biao sighed softly.

Although Zhu Yunwen tried his best to conceal it, Zhu Biao could still see the reluctance in his heart - he was unwilling to be an ordinary vassal king. He was destined to have no chance of becoming an emperor, so he had to go overseas to establish a vassal state.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Biao began to ask Zhu Yunhuan about his studies.

Zhu Yunhuan was born in November of the eleventh year of Hongwu and is now thirteen years old.

Logically speaking, he should be able to graduate from the main hall next year, but Zhu Biao feels that given his current academic situation, he will probably have to study in the main hall for another one or two years.

Then, Zhu Biao's thoughts diverged again, and he realized that it was time for Zhu Yunwen to leave the palace and live separately - Zhu Xiongying was still living in the palace after he was fourteen years old because he had the status of the crown prince, but Zhu Yunwen did not.

At the age of fifteen, most children in the countryside are married. It is not appropriate to live with them in Chunhe Palace at this age, even if there is a separate courtyard.

Zhu Yunhuan also had to leave the palace and live separately, so they simply prepared their residences in one place...

···
There was another snowfall before the New Year, but fortunately it was not as heavy as the previous one.

In addition, the people of Ming Dynasty were now much better off, with coal for heating and many people across the country building adobe and even brick houses, so getting through the cold winter was not difficult.

In the blink of an eye, it was the second day of the first lunar month of the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu.

On this day, Liu Kuan, as in previous years, brought his entire family to the palace in a carriage to attend the movie viewing banquet hosted by the Zhu family.

Great Good Hall.

After Liu Kuan and his family had paid their respects and Zhu Huilan, Su Caiwei, and their children had taken their seats, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Liu Kuan, you shouldn't be preparing any old songs this time, right? Hurry up and bring the tablet over and play the song video for us and the Queen."

Liu Kuan thought to himself, since you said so, how dare I fool people with old songs?

Fortunately, he had already prepared several new songs this time.

So he took the tablet computer to the imperial throne, pulled out the prepared song and video collection, and put the tablet computer away.

He then said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I have prepared a few songs that will be considered quite trendy in later generations."

"Is this song considered trendy in later generations?" Zhu Yuanzhang showed an interested look. "Then we must listen carefully."

Queen Ma was also very excited.

Liu Kuan didn't say anything more and retreated - Zhu Yuanzhang could now operate the tablet simply and didn't need his help anyway.

Zhu Yuanzhang clicked on the video collection and saw two big golden characters appear at the beginning of the video - Grain in Ear!
Grain in Ear?

Isn’t this one of the 24 solar terms?
"Could it be a song written in later times to encourage farming?"

In order to encourage farmers to work harder and popularize farming-related knowledge such as the solar terms to farmers, previous dynasties sometimes wrote songs to encourage farmers to spread them. Zhu Yuanzhang had people do this, so he thought so.

Queen Ma nodded and said, "Perhaps."

As soon as she finished speaking, the video started, and the result was not what she expected.

"Whenever I think of you, I oh~~~~don't dream of it for too long!"

The first sentence of the song almost stunned Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma, and even the concubines, princes, princesses, etc. who were listening attentively below.

Although they have listened to many songs from later generations over the years, this is the first time they have heard electronic music like "Mang Zhong".

For a moment, it felt strange and nice at the same time.

On the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma watched the video without blinking.

Because this song video is edited from various popular travel videos of beautiful women on the Internet in later generations, it can be said that it perfectly combines beautiful women, beautiful scenery and musical rhythm.

The most important thing is the filters and other technological advancements, which really made Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma greatly shocked by the beauties and scenery of later generations.

More than three minutes later, when "Mang Zhong" was finished playing, Zhu Yuanzhang subconsciously paused the video, but he still felt that the strange melody was still lingering in his ears and even in his mind.

"This song seems... to have some problems." Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it, unable to describe the feeling for a moment.

Empress Ma also pondered and said, "The tune is strange, but it makes people want to listen again and again. It is easy to be mesmerized, just like some kind of alluring magic sound in legends."

"Yes, that's the feeling!" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Empress Ma with admiration, "You are indeed a cultured girl, able to describe that feeling."

Zhu Yuanzhang then looked at the beautiful woman in the last frame of the video, and a thought remained unspoken: Why are there so many beautiful women in later generations? And why is the scenery so beautiful? Could it be simply because people in later generations had better living conditions?
"Don't just stand there, continue playing the second song." Queen Ma urged.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, touched the screen to continue playing, and saw the name of the second song appear - "Lady Shexiang".

Madam Shexiang?

Zhu Yuanzhang blinked and paused the video again, wondering, "I remember that Guizhou Shuixi Tusi Ai Cui passed away two years ago. The local authorities reported that his wife had taken over the post of Shuixi Xuanweisi temporarily. The Yi people called his wife 'Lady Shexiang'. Could this song be a tribute to this woman?"

Empress Ma said, "Since later generations have used her name as the title of a song, it probably means to extol her. I imagine she did some good deed in history that will be remembered by future generations." (End of this chapter)