Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1104 1099 [The Supreme Emperor - Yao and Shun of the Time]

The first railway is 50 miles long and will be in the trial operation stage for the next two to three years.

The Ministry of Industry will leave technical officers here to constantly discover problems, solve them, and try to continue to improve the performance of the train.

Once the technology has been accumulated to a certain extent, we will prepare for the construction of the second railway.

The site for the second railway has been decided: Nanyang-Fangcheng-Ye County.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, an attempt was made to build a canal along this route to connect the Yangtze River and the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Once the water system was opened, materials from Sichuan, Hubei and Hanzhong could be directly shipped north to Kaifeng.

Unfortunately, the construction was started, stopped, started again, and stopped again, and it still could not be completed after decades of intermittent repairs.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Guoxiang was the emperor, he asked water conservancy experts to conduct on-site inspections, and the final conclusion was that it was still difficult to repair.

Now we have a new idea, connecting directly by rail!
At that time, the county seat of Ye County was in Yeyu Town, which was more than 28 miles further south than later generations. There was a Lishui River that led directly to Yancheng, and then connected to Caihe River to Kaifeng City.

After the completion of this railway, Sichuan's money and grain were first transported to Jiangling for storage, then moved north along the canal in the Jingjiang section, and then the ships turned into the Han River and arrived in Xiangyang. From Xiangyang, they went along the Baihe River to Nanyang. When they arrived in Nanyang, they were transported by train, passed Fangcheng to Ye County, and then went by water again, and were transported by ship to the treasury warehouse outside Kaifeng City.

The railway is not long, only about 180 miles.

But it can save the materials from Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan and Hanzhong from traveling more than 2,000 miles by water, without having to go through Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Huai'an and Shangqiu!

If the Dali Kingdom had been destroyed ten years later, Duan Yu would have been escorted to Luoyang and would have taken this train.

Why did the Northern Song Dynasty spend decades trying to build the "Nanyang-Ye County" canal? It was to save more than 2,000 miles of travel.

This is the real use of railways in the early stages of development, namely to connect various water networks at key locations.

A huge profit!
At present, prospectors are frantically exploring for coal there.

If the Pingdingshan coal mine is found, the railway plan will probably be changed again, that is, to extend it to the north for dozens of miles to the vicinity of the coal mine, where there is also a river that can connect to the Cai River to reach Kaifeng.

……

The test run was successful, and Zhu Guoxiang returned to Luoyang happily. Civil and military officials all came to greet him upon hearing the news.

They really missed the emperor.

Even this kind of longing is not mixed with much interest, it is purely respect for the emperor.

Especially for the middle-aged and young officials in their thirties and forties, some of them have never seen the emperor, but they have already deified him in their minds. The modern Yao and Shun!
"Your Highness, I bow to you!"

They had agreed not to kneel casually, but a dozen young officials actually knelt down in the street and kowtowed to Zhu Guoxiang. Their eyes were filled with tears and their voices were trembling as if they had seen an elder who had passed away.

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "Stand up and talk. Kneeling and crying, it won't be too late to perform such a grand ceremony after I die."

"Don't dare!"

The officials who were performing the kneeling ceremony were so frightened that they quickly stood up and took a peek at what the emperor looked like.

The wharf was temporarily blocked by soldiers, and the common people were stopped from coming. People stood on tiptoe and looked far away, and from time to time, people standing at the back would jump and stretch their necks to look forward.

Zhu Guoxiang turned around and bowed to the crowd in the distance, and countless people immediately shouted "Long live the emperor!"

This situation made the officials sigh and think that the ancient sage kings were no more than this.

Accompanied by civil and military officials, Zhu Guoxiang arrived at the East Gate of the Imperial City, then took the Imperial City carriage and headed straight for the Chuigong Palace. Liang Yi and other close officials were invited by Zhu Guoxiang to ride in the same carriage, which moved them to tears.

Inside the Chuigong Hall, Zhu Ming was busy reviewing memorials.

As soon as Zhu Guoxiang arrived, the eunuchs, female officials, and civil servants all left, even the recorder who wrote the daily records withdrew.

Taking off his hat and throwing it aside, Zhu Guoxiang asked, "Have the Dunhuang manuscripts been sent back to Luoyang?"

Zhu Ming took a quick look and said, "You have more white hair. Last time, you only had gray hair on your temples, but now your hair is almost completely white."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I can't really tell how old I am. Anyway, my energy and physical strength have been declining in the past few years, and the wrinkles on my face have gradually increased. Last winter, I caught a cold and it took me a month to recover even after taking medicine."

Zhu Ming said: "When I sent you the telegram, the Dunhuang manuscripts had just been transported to Chang'an. It will probably arrive in Luoyang in a few days."

Jingzhao Prefecture has been renamed Chang'an Prefecture and did not adopt Zhu Yuanzhang's Xi'an Prefecture.

In fact, it doesn't matter how it is changed. There has never been a "Chang'an Prefecture" in history. From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there has always been "Chang'an County". The only difference is that "Jingzhao Prefecture" was changed to "Anxi Road" and then to "Xi'an Prefecture".

When the population of Ningxia Province recovers a little, Shaanxi and Ningxia will be split again because these two provinces are too large!
The entire Hexi Corridor, plus Bayannur, Alxa, Baotou, Ordos, etc., all belong to Ningxia Province, and the Hexi Corridor must be split out. And the northeastern region of Qinghai, including Lanzhou, Tianshui, Qingyang, Longnan, etc., all belong to Shaanxi Province, and some of them must also be split out.

The territory split from the two provinces was naturally set up as Gansu Province.

Moreover, the Gansu Province established by the Ming Dynasty in the future includes the essence of Qinghai Province in the future. Even Xining, the capital of Qinghai, belongs to Gansu Province! The imperial court will also hand over all the Tibetan and Uighur tribes in Qinghai to Gansu Province for management, and only major events will require the imperial court's opinion.

After talking about some administrative division issues in the northwest, the father and son started talking about Yunnan and Guizhou.

Bai Qi was transferred to the title of King of Qian, with an additional 3,000 households and an additional 2,000 households. He was also promoted to Grand Tutor and Shangzhuguo, and his military rank was also raised by two levels. He was also specially appointed as the General of the Southern Expedition.

In addition, his descendants were granted the privilege that once their titles were reduced to marquis, they would not have to reduce their titles any further. If they made the slightest contribution, they could be re-ennobled as county duke, county duke, state duke, or even prince of a county.

This is the court encouraging Bai Qi's descendants to make achievements and get promoted, especially encouraging them to continue to expand the territory to the south!
In history, the Mu family not only guarded Yunnan, but also encroached on foreign lands in the south. However, the newly occupied lands often became the private lands of the Mu family, because they were too wild and barren for the imperial court to set up officials.

Why was a prince who had ruled Yunnan for generations not named King of Dian but King of Qian?

Just look at the Mu family in Yunnan and you will know that the Mu family inherited the title of Duke of Qian, not the title of Duke of Dian.

The imperial court would never allow a prince, duke or duke with military power to live in his fiefdom for a long time. Therefore, Bai Qi could only guard Yunnan as the King of Guizhou.

Generals such as Yang Zaixing and Lin Chong were also rewarded. Yang Zaixing's rank was even raised to the second rank, just slightly lower than Lin Chong's second rank.

This is extremely rare, as Lin Chong was a nobleman, while Yang Zaixing only joined the army when Zhong Xiang was destroyed.

Zhu Ming suddenly said, "Things are going to change in Japan."

"Japan?" Zhu Guoxiang was quite curious.

Zhu Ming said: "Taihara Kiyomori, who studied in Kaifeng and Luoyang for several years, not only gained a lot of official positions by suppressing pirates last year, but also took control of the Seto Inland Sea. From now on, half of the profits from Sino-Japanese trade in Japan will be taken away by the Taira clan. If the Taira clan continues to develop for another ten years, its strength will probably increase sharply to the point where it can suppress the Japanese king."

Zhu Guoxiang understood instantly: "Japan is going to start a civil war."

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "The King of Japan must be afraid of the Taira clan, and will most likely instigate the Minamoto clan to fight the Taira clan. Once the conflict between the two sides is completely intensified, the Taira clan and the Minamoto clan will have to turn from political struggle to military confrontation. The King of Japan cannot fall, and Japan must have a single dynasty for all eternity, otherwise Japan will be able to break free from its shackles."

If the normal historical trajectory had been followed, the Japanese emperor would naturally have continued to exist, and the Genpei War would have simply created the Kamakura Shogunate.

But now it is different. The Taira clan, which controls the Seto Inland Sea, can earn more profits, smuggle weapons and equipment from the Ming Dynasty, and acquire various scientific and cultural technologies.

Zhu Ming even suspected that Taira no Kiyomori was secretly developing firearms.

The butt determines the head. Taira no Kiyomori controls the Seto Inland Sea, so he must support Sino-Japanese trade and must be a staunch "pro-Ming" element. Moreover, after studying in China for several years, Taira no Kiyomori highly praised everything about China.

If this guy overthrows the Minamoto clan by force, will he get carried away and force the Japanese emperor to abdicate?
After all, Taira no Kiyomori’s current idol is Zhu Ming.

Taira no Kiyomori knew very well how Emperor Zhu seized power. He wanted to learn from Emperor Zhu, and he had a higher starting point than Emperor Zhu because the Taira clan itself was a branch of the Japanese imperial family.

If the situation really develops to that point, the Ming Dynasty must send troops to intervene and cannot let the Japanese emperor, who has become the king, fall.

Since the Ming Dynasty saved the emperor, shouldn't Japan give something in return? It wouldn't be too much to cede Kyushu Island to the Ming Dynasty, right? There are many gold, silver and copper mines there.

Zhu Guoxiang was speechless and complained: "Ceding the entire Kyushu Island is equivalent to crippling Japan. You really have a big appetite."

"The main reason is that I'm attracted by the mines there. There are gold, silver and copper mines there, and there are more than one or two," Zhu Ming said. "Japan's prospecting technology is not well developed, so there are so many mines that can't be discovered right under our noses. It makes sense for me to do a good deed and send people to explore and mine."

What America are you exploring?

Digging up the douxiang straight from Japan.

As the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade prospered, not only did inflation not occur, but metal currency was always in short supply, and deflation even occurred in some areas, which was counterintuitive. On the one hand, this was because big merchants hoarded large quantities of metal, and on the other hand, neighboring countries adopted Ming currency one after another.

Zhu Ming could only continue to issue more banknotes to regulate the money market.

Who knew that because the credibility of Ming Baochao was so high, those guys even hoarded the banknotes, and even Ming Baochao could be traded without any obstacles in Southeast Asia. If Zhu Ming didn't dare to issue banknotes indiscriminately, he would have to make a big profit.

In order to destroy the Dali Kingdom, besides expansion, the most important thing is to take over the Yunnan copper mines.

In the future, interfering in Japan's internal affairs and forcing Japan to cede Kyushu Island is also for the gold, silver and copper mines there. Otherwise, what is the use of that broken place?
Zhu Guoxiang chatted with his son for a while, then went to Luoyang to take his grandson and granddaughter.

A few days later, the Dunhuang manuscripts were brought to Beijing.

(End of this chapter)