The Young Dragon of the Ming Dynasty: Bound to an Industrial Blueprint from the Start

Time slowly passed in the baby's life of eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, and being forced to accept all kinds of manipulation.

Zhu Zhanji has basically adapted to his new identity as an "infant," or rather, he has adapted to maintaining the thinking and observational skills of a modern adult while still in the body of an infant.

He learned to control when he cried, mainly to express his most basic needs and dissatisfaction. He learned to look at the world with innocent eyes and to internally rant.

"This brocade robe is beautiful, but the material is too stiff and it rubs against my skin."

"The wet nurse's incense is a bit too strong today, ouch!"

"Here we go again, you cheek-pinching monster! If you weren't my mother..."

His greatest achievement was that he was finally able to "read" the resource diagrams and technical drawings in his mind relatively fluently.

He also discovered that the map's clear boundaries seemed to be related to the geographical areas he had actually reached or clearly recognized through descriptions by others.

Now that he is confined to the Prince's Palace, the brightest focal point on the map is naturally Beijing; when his wet nurse holds him in the garden to bask in the sun and tells him stories of distant places, the edges of the map will glow faintly and slowly spread outwards.

The technical drawing library remains mostly locked, with only the initial few basic agricultural tool and smelting drawings clearly available.

He also figured out the basic situation around him: this was the Prince Yan's Mansion in Beijing, and the Jingnan Campaign, which would change history, was about to begin.

His father was Zhu Gaochi, the future emperor. Although his grandfather Zhu Di seemed to favor his second uncle Zhu Gaoxu, his mother, the Crown Princess Zhang, was virtuous and capable. His grandfather Zhu Di should be on his way to conquer the south at this time.

He himself, Zhu Zhanji, was the highly anticipated eldest grandson of the emperor.

The attention this identity brought far exceeded his expectations.

On this day, winter arrived in Beijing, and the first snow fell in abundance.

Zhu Zhanji is one year old.

The baby's first birthday celebration was solemnly held at the Prince of Yan's residence.

A large red carpet was laid out in the main hall, covered with various items: a replica of an imperial seal, a writing brush, books, a bow and arrow, a small wooden sword, an abacus, gold ingots, an official seal, rouge (which Zhang insisted on removing and replacing with pastries), and so on.

Zhu Zhanji was placed at one end of the blanket.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he crawled slowly, but his mind was racing: the imperial seal was too conspicuous, and bows, arrows, swords and knives did not fit his future persona of "revitalizing the country through science and technology".

The ingot-shaped abacus seems vulgar, while books and pens appear to be the safest and most suitable for the early image of a "studious" imperial grandson.

Just as he was about to climb toward the book of the Thousand Character Classic, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a small, exquisitely crafted brass key left behind by some careless servant at the edge of the carpet.

key?

Zhu Zhanji's heart stirred.

What is the foundation of industry? It is resources, factories, and warehouses! A key symbolizes unlocking and control, which is more subtle and profound than a book.

Moreover, this was purely accidental, which further demonstrates the "will of Heaven".

He immediately turned around, and amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, resolutely crawled to the lone bronze key, stretched out his little hand, grabbed it, clenched it tightly in his palm, and grinned, his toothless mouth, towards his parents' direction, giggling twice.

The room fell silent for a moment, then various auspicious greetings rang out.

"Hey, grab the key! This means we're going to take charge of the treasury and unlock the treasure vault!"

"This child will surely be adept at managing finances and assets in the future, bringing wealth and stability to the nation!"

"The golden key brings good fortune and great luck!"

Zhu Gaochi's chubby face beamed with joy, and Zhang Shi also smiled, seemingly quite satisfied with the outcome.

Only Zhu Di, sitting at the head of the table, stroked his short beard, his sharp eyes shifting between his innocently laughing grandson and the key, lost in thought.

Shortly after the baby's first birthday celebration, Zhu Di seemed to want to take a closer look at the administration of Beijing and enjoy some rare family time. As a result, Zhu Zhanji's "chance encounters" with his grandfather increased significantly.

Sometimes, in the garden, after Zhu Di finished practicing his swordplay and was steaming hot, he would pick up Zhu Zhanji, who was wearing a thick cotton-padded coat and looked like a little dumpling, and weigh him in his hands: "Hmm, he's heavy! He's a member of our Zhu family!"

Sometimes, when Zhu Di was tired from dealing with official documents in his study, he would call his wet nurse in if she was carrying his grandson, regardless of whether the child could understand what he was saying.

Pointing to the map on the wall, he would say things like, "This is Nanjing, the capital city, but it's not very peaceful lately. My nephew keeps clamoring to reduce the power of the feudal lords," and "This is the northern desert. As soon as it gets cold, a bunch of Tartars appear."

Zhu Zhanji opened his big, dark eyes and listened "attentively," occasionally letting out a couple of "ah ah" sounds, as if in response.

Zhu Di found this grandson particularly pleasing to the eye, unlike his father Zhu Gaochi who was weak and frail when he was young; his eyes held a cleverness.

On this day, Zhu Di summoned Zhu Gaochi to inquire about matters related to land reclamation and grain transport in Beijing, while Zhang Shi held Zhu Zhanji beside him.

After finishing the story, Zhu Di was in a good mood, playing with his grandson. Suddenly remembering something, he smiled at Zhang and said, "I heard that Zhanji picked up a key during his first birthday celebration? That's quite unique."

It seems he's destined for wealth; as his grandfather, I should give my grandson a small gift as a token of our meeting.

He pondered for a moment: "There are many Wangzhuang and Guantian estates around Beijing. Since Zhanji likes the 'key,' let's grant him a small estate as a fief. The annual income won't be much, but it's still a token. The eldest son can help choose a suitable one."

Zhu Gaochi quickly expressed his gratitude.

Zhu Zhanji's heart pounded faster than usual as he lay in his mother's arms.

An opportunity! An opportunity to legitimately own your own business!

He immediately pulled up a resource map in his mind and quickly filtered out places around Beijing that belonged to the imperial estates or areas that could be granted resources, and that were close to resource points.

Soon, he locked onto a target: a village called "Gray Mountain" at the foot of West Mountain.

The village is small, and the land is not particularly fertile, but the key point is that it happens to encompass most of the area marked as "shallow high-quality anthracite, reserves of top-grade, easy to mine" on the resource map!

Moreover, there is a small river next to the village, making water conservancy convenient.

The question now is, how can we select that "just right"?

Zhu Zhanji's mind raced.

While Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi were discussing the details of the Grand Canal transport, Zhang Shi carried him and gently walked to the window. Suddenly, he pointed his little finger at the western sky and started making excited "ee-ee-ya-ya" sounds.

Looking in that direction, Zhang saw the winter sunset painting the clouds in the western sky a golden-red hue, a truly magnificent sight.

"Does Zhanji like watching the sunset?" she asked softly.