Bringing the Railway to Daming

Guo Ying had long known how dangerous it was to sail to America.

Zhu Tan had previously encountered trouble crossing a strait when borrowing passage from Xuanguanwei. This time, he was leading a fleet around South America and heading for the eastern waters of Central America, where the potential dangers were multiplied.

But again, he had to do it.

Thinking of this, Guo Ying replied: "Your Majesty, I have already explained everything."

Zhu Yuanzhang tapped the imperial desk with his fingers and said, "In that case, after Guo Zhen and Shan Qing are married and the Lantern Festival is over, you will go to the Beiyang Navy camp to make preparations and set sail when the time comes."

"Yes."

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang talked to Guo Ying about some other things before letting Guo Ying leave.

On the tenth day, Zhu Yuanzhang's twelfth daughter, Zhu Shanqing (sixteen years old), who was named Princess Yongjia, married Guo Zhen, the eldest son of Guo Ying, the Marquis of Wuding.

At one time, all the nobles in the capital came to the banquet to congratulate.

As one of the nobles and a distant relative of the Guo family, Liu Kuan naturally brought his family to attend the wedding banquet.

At the wedding banquet, seeing the brothers Guo Xing, Guo Ying, and Guo Decheng bringing more than a dozen adult and underage nephews of the Guo family to greet the guests, Liu Kuan couldn't help but think of the historical events of the Guo family (not the Guo family of Guo Zixing).

The three brothers of the Guo family, Guo Xing and Guo Ying, both followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world in their early years. Their sisters became Zhu Yuanzhang's concubines. The fourth brother, Guo Decheng, also joined the army later, but did not make many contributions and was not granted a title of nobility.

Now that Zhu Yuanzhang married his daughter to Guo Ying's eldest son Guo Zhen, the relationship between the two families naturally became deeper.

Historically, Guo Yinghui had two daughters who married Zhu Yuanzhang's sons as princesses, and one granddaughter even became Zhu Gaochi's concubine, which made the Guo family honored for a time. The family was one of the few military heroes who were not implicated in the two major cases of Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu.

Unfortunately, he later joined Geng Bingwen and Li Jinglong in fighting against Zhu Di during the Jingnan Rebellion, but failed to switch sides in time. He died at home in the first year of Yongle. There is no definite explanation for how he died. Some say he committed suicide, some say he was sentenced to death by Zhu Di, and some say he died of illness.

Now the Jingnan Campaign would not happen, but unexpectedly, Guo Ying was sent by Zhu to find Zhu Tan.

The voyage of tens of thousands of miles is extremely dangerous, and it is unknown whether Guo Ying can return to the Ming Dynasty safely.

On the other hand, Princess Yongjia Zhu Shanqing, as one of the few daughters of Zhu Yuanzhang whose names were recorded in later history, lived until the Jingtai period and died at the age of eighty...
···
The 25th year of Hongwu, the 17th day of the first lunar month.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, issued an edict:
He ordered Li Wenzhong, Duke of Cao, to hold the seal of General Zhengnan and serve as the commander-in-chief of the army; he ordered Lan Yu, Duke of Liang, to hold the seal of General Pingman and Chang Mao, Duke of Zheng, to hold the seal of General Pingyi and serve as the left and right deputy commanders.

Part of the troops were mobilized from the five major military governorates of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Beibei, as well as all the garrison troops of Luzon Military Governorate and Hailong Military Governorate, totaling 100,000 troops.

He also ordered King Zhu Zhen of Chu to lead 20,000 soldiers as a detachment.

The army is said to have 200,000 soldiers and is heading to attack the Majapahit Kingdom!

Between February and March, the Ming army won two major victories over the Majapahit navy off the coast of Sumudara (the transliteration of Sumatra Island in the Yuan and Ming dynasties of China), almost completely destroying its navy.

They also defeated the Majapahit land army several times in the central and southern parts of Sumudara Island, recaptured more than a dozen important cities including Old Port, and forced Majapahit to retreat to Java Island.

Subsequently, Majapahit spies learned that the main force of the Ming army would land in Coconut City (later Jakarta) on the northern coast of West Java.

King Wikarama then personally led an army of 200,000 to defend the northern coast of West Java, hoping to defeat the Ming army when it landed and seek peace through victory.

On March 13, the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Navy and Nanyang Navy landed in Coconut City with tens of thousands of Ming troops, and another great battle broke out with the Majapahit Kingdom.

In this battle, the Ming army dispatched hundreds of warships of various sizes, including a steam-sail hybrid ironclad warship with a capacity of more than 7,000 tons, three decks, and loaded with 72 powerful cannons!
Before the Ming army landed, thousands of powerful cannons from the two navies fired simultaneously. The fierce artillery fire almost destroyed all the stone forts and wooden strongholds built by the Majapahit Kingdom on the coast. The garrison troops also suffered heavy casualties, and the rest fled.

Subsequently, tens of thousands of Ming troops landed at the port of Coconut City.

Although the Majapahit Kingdom sent tens of thousands of elite troops to attack the Ming army when it landed, it was defeated again by the Ming army.

At the same time, Zhu Zhen, the King of Chu of the Ming Dynasty, also led 20,000 Chu vassal troops to land on the northern coast of East Java. Within a few days, they captured several cities with empty troops and cut off the main passage between the Majapahit capital of Tro Ulan and East Java.

On March 21, King Vikarama and Prime Minister Puduwangka led the remaining main forces of Majapahit to retreat to Burangan (Bandung), and learned that the food supply route had been blocked by the Chu vassal army.

Boliang'an was originally a royal city. Although it was destroyed two hundred years ago, it left behind the ancient city of Boliang'an, which was mainly built of stone and was quite large.

At this time, in the Brahman temple transformed from the former royal city of Burangan, Vikramā knelt in front of the tall and ferocious Vishnu statue, his face full of despair.

"God, have you really abandoned Majapahit?"

He asked while crying, but unfortunately the statue was speechless and did not answer him at all.

At this time, Puduwangka walked in and sighed, "Your Majesty, there are only two options now. First, lead the army eastward, break through the Ming blockade, and return to East Java." "Second, send someone to surrender to the Ming army and agree to the conditions proposed by the Ming Emperor last year."

Vikarama smiled bitterly. "How could the terms of surrender to the Ming army now be the same as last year? I'm afraid even if we want to keep East Java, we won't be able to do so."

Puduwangka said, "The weather in Java will soon become hot, and the rainy season will also arrive. If we retreat into the forest at that time, the Ming army will be unable to defeat us even with their advanced firearms."

"I am willing to negotiate with the Ming army on this condition. Even if we cannot secure East Java, we will at least strive to preserve the Majapahit Empire."

Vikarama turned around, bowed to Puduwangka, and said, "Then I'll leave it to the Prime Minister."

Puduwangka said, "If my negotiations fail, or if I fail to return, Your Majesty should lead the army to retreat eastward. If we cannot defeat the enemy blocking the road, we should split the army and return to Troulan via other smaller routes."

"it is good."

On March 25, Puduwangka failed to seek peace with the Ming Dynasty on behalf of the Majapahit Kingdom, and the Ming army took advantage of the situation to attack Boliang'an.

The remaining main forces of Majapahit broke out, but the Prime Minister Puduwangka was killed in the battle, and Vikarama only led more than 10,000 elite soldiers to break out of the siege.

However, this defeated army was ambushed by the Chu army in Yogyakarta in later generations, and suffered heavy casualties again. King Vikarama was also killed by the Chu army's musket.

On April 9, the main force of the Ming army and the Chu vassal army jointly broke through Troulan and captured many dignitaries including the Queen of Majapahit, Vikalami. Since then, the South Seas power Majapahit, which had been powerful for nearly a hundred years, was declared destroyed.

···
Tro Ulan, the former palace of the King of Majapahit.

Li Wenzhong, Lan Yu and Zhu Zhen gathered in the same palace.

A throne inlaid with various gems was placed at the top, but no one sat on it - the three of them were each sitting on an ordinary chair brought by the army.

Li Wenzhong, now fifty-three, stroked his beard and pointed to the map before him. "Although the Majapahit Empire was destroyed, we arrived a little late. Vikarama's eldest daughter, Suvarna, led several thousand of the remaining elite Majapahit troops into the southeastern jungles."

"The weather in Java is getting hotter and the rainy season is coming. I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to completely wipe out the remnants of Majapahit, including Suvarna."

"Your Majesty's intention is that since His Majesty the King of Chu wants to annex East Java as part of the Chu vassal state, then the task of eliminating Suvana and the others will be left to the Chu vassal state."

Zhu Zhen said, "This is what my Chu clan should do."

Lan Yu smiled and said, "In my opinion, Your Highness the King of Chu should send someone to tell that Suwanna that you are willing to take her as a concubine and pardon the crimes of the main generals who followed her. I think this matter will be easily resolved!"

Zhu Zhen was a little speechless after hearing this and said, "Duke Liang, you're joking. Suwanna's father was killed by me, the Chu clan. I'm afraid she hates me to the core. How could she be willing to be my concubine?"

Lan Yu said, "What's the big deal? When we drove the Mongols north, we killed countless Mongol generals, but in the end, we still took their wives and daughters as concubines."

Lan Yu was about to persuade him again, but Li Wenzhong said, "Since His Majesty has handed this matter over to His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu, Duke Liang should refrain from making random suggestions. I believe His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu will make his own judgment."

The Lan Yu of today was not as arrogant and domineering as he was in later history. Instead, he became more cautious and steady (relatively speaking) because of various things. Therefore, after hearing what Li Wenzhong said, he stopped trying to persuade him.

Then the three of them started talking about other things, such as how to divide the spoils.

Although the Majapahit Kingdom was only established a hundred years ago, it lost Java Island and several surrounding countries within a hundred years, and even defeated Srivijaya, causing it to lose most of its territory. Naturally, it accumulated a lot of gold, silver and treasures in the royal city.

As the main force attacking Majapahit, the Ming Dynasty was bound to take away the vast majority of the spoils such as gold, silver and treasures, and the Chu vassal state was estimated to only get one-tenth.

That’s because Zhu Zhen is Zhu Yuanzhang’s son, otherwise he wouldn’t even get one-tenth of it.

Even if only one tenth of the gold and silver treasures were found, there would still be 70,000 to 80,000 taels of gold, while the silver was much less, only a little over 300,000 taels. As for the various gems and pearls, they were also divided into 70 or 80 boxes.

In fact, Zhu Zhen didn’t care much about how much gold, silver and treasures he would get. What he cared about most was territory.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not influenced too much by the father-son relationship in this matter. In the end, he only agreed to divide the island of Java into two parts. The western part was under the jurisdiction of the court, and only the eastern half was designated as the territory of the Chu vassal state.

Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang is not currently concerned about places such as Bali Island further east. In the telegram, he stated that the Chu vassal state can take Bali Island, Timor Island and other islands at will.

In May of the 25th year of Hongwu, the Ming court officially announced the establishment of Hainan Province, which means "South of the South China Sea", with the provincial capital located in Jiugang.

As for the jurisdiction of Hainan Province, it extended from dozens of miles west of Yogyakarta in the east to Jambi in Indonesia and the northwest of Sumudara Island in the west, which was under the jurisdiction of the Hailongdusi.

According to the current system of the Ming Dynasty court, in addition to the provincial government offices responsible for civil affairs, Hainan Province also has the Hainan Regional Military Commission responsible for the garrison troops.

However, the power of the provincial-level Dusi was not as great as that of the independent Dusi in Luzon and Hailong. (End of this chapter)