Bringing the Railway to Daming

"What's the name of this movie? What's it about?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked before the movie started.

"Your Majesty, the movie is called 'Kung Fu Hustle.' It's still a comedy, telling the story of a kind-hearted street thug who reforms and eventually becomes a great hero."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly upon hearing this and said, "Street thugs should be sent to the army, and if they commit crimes, they should be punished according to the law. Even if such people reform, why should they be praised?"

"Uh..." Liu Kuan was at a loss for words.

He thought for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty, if it were a peaceful and prosperous era like the Hongwu period, with strict laws, then we should do as Your Majesty says."

"However, the film is set in a chaotic era where the authority of the imperial court and government has been lost, the law is almost meaningless, and gangs run rampant."

“In this situation, some kind-hearted people may become gangsters out of necessity. If they always have a bottom line and have never actually committed a crime, then it is a good thing if they realize their mistakes and eventually turn over a new leaf.”

Zhu Yuanzhang was not persuaded by Liu Kuan. He snorted and was about to say something when Empress Ma spoke first: "Zhongba, as the saying goes, 'A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold,' and the story of 'Zhou Chu eliminating the three evils' has been passed down to this day."

"Besides, no one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. We cannot deny people a chance to correct their mistakes just because they have made one."

"The laws of all dynasties were used to determine punishments, and never stipulated that all criminals should be beheaded. This gave those who made minor mistakes a chance to reform."

After saying this, Empress Ma smiled at Liu Kuan and said, "Kuan'er, let's start playing the movie."

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say anything, Liu Kuan replied "Yes" and started playing the movie on the touchscreen.

After the opening credits, the first classic scene from "Kung Fu Hustle" unfolds.

Feng Kuzi plays a gang leader who causes a scene at the police station after his concubine is arrested. He beats the police chief badly and even spits on him. Everyone else in the station is watching, and no one dares to intervene. The chief keeps apologizing to Feng Kuzi.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned deeply and couldn't help but say, "Such a thing couldn't have happened even at the end of a dynasty, could it? Judging from the movie, the technology seems to be close to that of later times, how could such a thing happen?"

Liu Kuan had to pause the film and explain, "Your Majesty, this film is a bit exaggerated, but it's by no means made up—has Your Majesty forgotten the previous video introducing the watchtowers of Guangdong?"

“In the history before the establishment of the new dynasty, there were instances of bandits breaking into county towns and kidnapping county magistrates. So it is possible that a gang leader with a powerful background and even more forceful than the police could disregard the government.”

Zhu Yuanzhang fell silent for a moment, but his brows remained furrowed.

Liu Kuan then continued playing the movie.

The second plot: As soon as Feng Kuzi left the police station, he was surrounded by several hundred members of the Axe Gang and hacked to death in the street.

This plot not only fully demonstrates the ruthlessness and arrogance of the Axe Gang leader, but also further explains the cruel and chaotic world that the film is set against.

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang's brows relaxed.

Because he recalled some things he had seen during the years he spent as a wandering monk begging—although there were no gangs like the Axe Gang in the movies that challenged the government, there were various criminal groups in the countryside, such as those who ran black shops, killed people and sold human flesh buns, trafficked women and children, and drug beggars who harvested and mutilated animals.

As for gambling dens setting traps to bankrupt wealthy families, he had witnessed it several times. Therefore, he didn't find the Axe Gang's brutality and arrogance in the movie to be particularly exaggerated.

Of course, only a minority of Lao Zhu's family members are so rational in their viewing and analysis of the plot; most of them just watch for fun and can appreciate some of the humor.

For example, when Feng Kuzi was surrounded, he shouted that he would fight the Axe Gang, but in reality, he used his underlings as shields to escape. This not only highlighted the shamelessness of him as the leader of the Crocodile Gang, but also made him look a bit funny.

Aunt Feng begged for mercy, and the Axe Gang leader said he never killed women and would let her go. But as soon as Aunt Feng turned to leave, swaying seductively, the Axe Gang leader blasted her away with a shotgun.

This scene challenged the Zhu family's understanding of gang members—although gangs committed various crimes at this time, many people still valued "trust" and "righteousness" when they were out in the world.

This Axe Gang leader, however, was a man of no integrity and was undoubtedly a thoroughly evil person.

The film then uses scenes of the Axe Gang members dancing and their accountant constantly counting money to show that the Axe Gang has dominated the city and is making a fortune every day.

He then went on to explain the film's background in a short text:
"This is an era of social unrest and rampant gangs, among which the 'Axe Gang' is the most feared. Only some impoverished communities that even gangs are not interested in can enjoy temporary peace."

The scene shifts to "Pig Dragon Village".

Seeing the dilapidated scene inside and the people's old and tattered clothes, Lao Zhu and the others realized that this was the "impoverished community" mentioned in the subtitles.

However, only a few people, such as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, noticed certain details that were shown in those few minutes, such as a laborer carrying several sacks of grain, the iron rings for hanging clothes in the tailor shop, and the noodle shop owner using a long stick to roll out dough.

Most of the other viewers were drawn in and amused by the final scene where the sauce exposed half of her buttocks, the sudden water outage resembling a hair wash, and the landlord's teasing of the buck-toothed Jane.

When the landlord, with a red lipstick mark on his face, told the landlady that he had only gone out to buy breakfast and hadn't done anything, he was beaten up by the landlady, even Empress Ma was amused.

However, when they saw the landlord being thrown down, with a flowerpot smashed on his head, bleeding profusely, and motionless, Old Zhu's family was very surprised.

'This landlady actually murdered her own husband?'

'Even if her husband was wrong to flirt with other women, she shouldn't have killed him, right?'

'If it's not a comedy, is it actually a crime-solving story? Or a tale of officials chasing a criminal?'

'···'

Just as the Zhu family was puzzled, the landlord, who was lying on the ground, moved his hand and said in a relaxed tone that it was nothing.

At that moment, everyone realized that this was probably another comedy like "Flirting Scholar," which relied heavily on exaggerated and nonsensical plots.

Later, Stephen Chow and Lam Chi-chung play two thugs who impersonate members of the Axe Gang and extort money from Pig Dragon Alley, thus revealing the real Axe Gang and drawing their attention to Pig Dragon Alley, thus entering the main plot of the film...
More than a hundred minutes later, "Kung Fu Hustle" ended. Whether it was Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, or the princes, grandsons, princesses, and noblewomen who had just come to understand things, they were still savoring the plot, their faces bearing satisfied smiles. Yes, satisfied.

From the main plot to the various nonsensical comedies, details, martial arts, special effects, and dialogue, everything in this movie fully plays its role, leaving a lasting impression.

About a minute later, Old Zhu's family began to whisper among themselves.

"There are so many funny parts in this movie—the landlord even flirts with that buck-toothed woman; he's really indiscriminate in his pursuit of her."

"The protagonist was intimidated by the unity of the Walled City residents and challenged them to a duel. However, he ended up taking on three formidable opponents. How unlucky!"

"I think everyone in Pig Dragon Alley probably knows kung fu."

"That Fire Cloud Evil God is too powerful; he can actually catch bullets with his bare hands."

"No matter how powerful you are, you still get crushed by the protagonist's Tathagata Palm, right?"

"If there really is a martial art like the Tathagata Palm, I wish I could learn it."

What do you want to do with it?

"I···"

In the front row, Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, "This movie is indeed good, but unfortunately it has no practical significance and there is nothing of value to our Ming Dynasty."

Empress Ma laughed and said, "Aren't you satisfied with just looking good?"

"Haha, as long as the girl likes it, that's fine."

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, the world set in the movie is actually based on a real-life model: Shanghai during the late Qing Dynasty and the decades before the fall of the Qing and the establishment of the new dynasty."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiong Ying all looked over, clearly quite interested.

Liu Kuan continued, "Because Shanghai had the largest foreign concessions in the late Qing Dynasty..."

"Teacher, what is a concession?" Zhu Xiong Ying couldn't help but ask.

Liu Kuan: "A concession refers to a legal place of residence in which one country obtains administrative autonomy and extraterritorial rights through an agreement between two countries."

Liu Kuan did not need to explain extraterritoriality, because the treaty signed between Zhu Gang and Aragon contained a similar extraterritoriality clause.

"Historically, starting with the Opium War in the late Qing Dynasty, Western powers acquired concessions in Beijing, Tianjin (now Haijin), port cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, and even important inland cities along the Yangtze River such as Wuchang and Chongqing through a series of unequal treaties."

"Among them, the British, French, and Japanese concessions were the most numerous and had the largest territories. Westerners and Japanese invaders stationed troops in these concessions and did whatever they wanted, which can be said to have created multiple states within states."

"Furthermore, Chinese people were not allowed to enter without the permission of the concession management. When the Westerners were at their most rampant, the French Concession in Shanghai once erected a sign outside that read: 'Dogs and Chinese are not allowed to enter.'"

boom!
Upon hearing this, Old Zhu's face flushed red. He slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair and roared, "How dare they insult us like this! These Western barbarians truly deserve to die!"

Even Zhu Xiong Ying revealed a murderous intent, saying, "Teacher, the country that established the French Concession should be the Kingdom of France in Western Europe today, right?"

Liu Kuan nodded.

Zhu Xiong Ying said, "There will be no France in this world."

Prince Zhu Gui of Dai shouted, "Once I establish my vassal state in Western Europe, I will not only destroy France, but also England, the Netherlands, and Spain!"

Prince Ning, Zhu Quan, couldn't help but remind him, "Thirteenth Brother, Spain doesn't exist yet."

Zhu Gui said, "Then let's destroy the countries on that land of Spain!"

Liu Kuan never expected that a simple sign like "Dogs and Chinese are not allowed" would infuriate the Zhu family so much, turning them into menacing individuals.

Taking advantage of the silence, he quickly said, "Shanghai, due to its superior geographical location, became China's largest port city during those decades, and its concession area was also the largest."

“In addition to the foreign concessions, there were also international concessions—places where all countries could settle and do business, and international concessions were jointly governed by representatives from each country and China.”

"This situation made the International Settlement, and even other foreign concessions, a kind of alternative 'sanctuary' during times of chaos. Not only would officials who had committed crimes, fugitive criminals, and disgraced warlords seek refuge in the concessions, but ordinary people would as well."

"At that time, warlords were fighting each other and there were frequent wars. Many people fled to Shanghai to escape the war and made a living in Shanghai and the International Settlement. Shanghai was already an internationally renowned port city with a very prosperous commerce, so it could provide many jobs."

"Among them, the dockworkers who carried bags and the cart drivers who pulled carts on the streets were the most numerous. Both of these jobs were simple and suitable for poor people who had just entered the city and knew nothing."

"When Shanghai became a treaty port in 1843, it had a population of over 500,000. By the time the Qing Dynasty fell 60 or 70 years later, the population had surged to over 1.4 million. More than 20 years later, by the time of the Japanese invasion of China, Shanghai's population had increased to over 3 million!"

More than three million? !
Zhu Yuanzhang and others were shocked when they heard this.

They knew that in later generations, there would be tens of millions of people in first-tier cities, and even more in cities with millions of people.

But Shanghai, which Liu Kuan mentioned, was only a few years after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, yet it had a population of over three million, four or five times the current population of the capital. It was impossible for them not to be shocked.

Liu Kuan continued, "At that time, the Qing Dynasty had only recently fallen, and technology was not as advanced as it is in later generations. In addition, the officialdom was corrupt, and foreigners and Japanese invaders were like emperors overlords. Shanghai also accommodated all sorts of people from all walks of life. Your Majesty can imagine how chaotic Shanghai was at that time." (End of this chapter)