"Did you see that something happened in the palace last night?"
"No way, the emperor is the True Dragon Emperor, what can happen?"
"Yes, with the Emperor here, how could anything happen!"
"Really, didn't you see it? It was the True Dragon Emperor who showed up. The dragon's eye is very big. Every time it is closed, the dragon's eye can shoot out beams of light straight into the sky! It is said that this is because the emperor was drunk. Be careful with what is exposed. If you were a mortal, would you have this?"
"Hey, you're talking about this, don't tell me, I seem to have seen it too, that bright beam of light turned out to be the dragon eye of the True Dragon Emperor!"
"..."
After such remarks came out, it became more and more confirmed that the current emperor was the real dragon emperor who descended to earth. Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but feel funny after receiving the report from the factory guard. It's just that the prince and his concubines like to play with that electric lamp, they don't have any knowledge!
After thinking about it, Emperor Chongzhen didn't want to refute the rumor. Anyway, the rumor was not a bad thing for him. And as time goes by, the outside world will eventually know what is going on!
At this time, he checked the eavesdropping system and found that Hong Chengchou's headquarters far away in the Tianshan Mountains. Because of his efforts to popularize Sinology among herdsmen, he aroused dissatisfaction from surrounding countries and had already started small-scale wars.
Although the Ming army won every conflict, it was funny that Hong Chengchou received a warning from Ye Bushou that several neighboring countries were preparing to unite to attack Luntai. What they say about telling Ming Dynasty to go back, Tianshan is their Tianshan.
Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sneer at this. They are just nomadic people. In the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was able to expel the Huns to Europe. With the strength of the Ming Dynasty now, not to mention expelling them, they just caught them to build the railway from Gansu to Tianshan. They are short of manpower!
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen did not wait for Hong Chengchou's report and issued an imperial edict to him, emphasizing that all those who dared to offend the Ming Dynasty would be arrested and built railways.
In the past two years, with Emperor Chongzhen personally responsible for infrastructure construction, the railway has developed greatly. At least in places with sufficient manpower within the customs, many towns have already begun to connect at the locations of pre-planned railway trunk roads.
The reason why the efficiency is so high is that Emperor Chongzhen personally took charge of it. After all, officials would not dare to slack off, funds would be sufficient, and manpower would be available. Another reason is that the railway demonstration effect in Beijing and Tongzhou is very good. Whether it is transporting people or goods, it shows great advantages over road transportation.
Especially for businessmen, if the train is built, logistics costs can be greatly reduced, so people like them are the most active people in building railways.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen’s issuance of railway treasury bonds since the beginning of the year to raise funds to build railways has received an enthusiastic response. After all, the future of the railway is in the eyes of everyone. The emperor used the railway revenue as a guarantee to issue government bonds. Coupled with the emperor's prestige, it was much more cost-effective to buy government bonds than to store money in the cellar.
For Emperor Chongzhen, money is never too much. He tried to issue national bonds for the first time, using railway revenue as guarantee. He did not expect it to be so successful, and of course he was happy. As long as there is enough money and private funds can be fully utilized, Ming's infrastructure construction will never be slow.
No, the railway from Beijing to Tianjin was the first long-distance railway completed. The reason why this was completed first is because the Ming Dynasty began to pay attention to maritime transportation under the decree of Emperor Chongzhen in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen.
Tianjin Port is a very important port in the Ming Dynasty. Not only the materials transported from the customs to Liaodong and North Korea will also go out to sea from Tianjin Port, and even the Japanese country, which should be called Japanese Province now, all depart from Tianjin Port. Of course, what's more important is that, as long as they come to the capital from places like Jiangnan, or even farther away from Fujian, Guangdong, Annan and other places, many of them arrive at Tianjin Port by sea-going ship.
Once the railway from the capital to Tianjin Port was built, the distance from the capital to Tianjin was originally more than 300 miles, and it would take three days to reach it by horse-drawn carriage. After all, the horses had to rest, eat, etc., so it actually didn't take long on the road. However, the steam train can run non-stop at a speed of about 20 miles per hour, which means it takes about fifteen hours and can be reached in one day.
After the train started running, not only the transportation time between the two places was shortened several times, but also the number of passengers and goods transported at one time was beyond the reach of horse-drawn carriages. The Tianjin Port terminal immediately became busier, and the city of Tianjin also began to expand rapidly. It can be said that it changes every month. If you have not been to Tianjin for a year, you will probably not recognize Tianjin.
…………
On this day, Emperor Chongzhen was chatting and relaxing with his concubine in the imperial garden. Suddenly, he saw Empress Zhou and Concubine Tian looking a little unnatural. He knew something was wrong at a glance, so he asked: "What's wrong? It's written on your foreheads that something is wrong with you."
Upon hearing this, Queen Zhou stopped caring and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, you see that they are both very old. Although we as mothers hope that our children can always be around, but they are old enough. It’s time to declare vassal status.”
When Emperor Chongzhen saw what she was pointing at, he saw Zhu Cijiong, who was born to Queen Zhou, and Zhu Cijiong, who was born to Concubine Tian Guifei. The two princes, who would have disappeared in 1644, are now almost adults.
Those older than them, the prince has moved to the East Palace, Princess Changping has married, and her husband is Song Yingxing's youngest son, Song Shixue. Both husband and wife like to do scientific research, especially chemistry. Moreover, the couple already had the title of "professional craftsman" at this time. If you produce some more important results, you will definitely be named a "master".
Queen Zhou was satisfied with both of them.
However, she, Tian Guifei and others were worried about the other children. My daughter is a little better, she's not very old yet. Even if you are old, you can just choose a good son-in-law to marry. However, they were very worried about their sons, especially the two sons who had been crowned kings.
It turns out that Emperor Chongzhen had issued an imperial edict before, setting the national policy of descending the titles of nobles and inheriting them from their own sons, which made them a little worried.
Then, the sons were granted the title of king or not, and they stayed in the capital and could not be granted vassal status for a long time. This made Empress Zhou and others feel that the emperor might have some tricks up his sleeve in terms of royal family honors. Come.
Based on Emperor Chongzhen's growing prestige, they did not dare to interfere in politics. However, it was already the 23rd year of Chongzhen. The princes were getting older and older, which gave them pressure and excuses. On this day, they finally couldn't help but speak out.
Although Concubine Tian did not speak, of course she was very concerned about matters involving her son, and she stared at Emperor Chongzhen without blinking. On the other hand, Concubine Yuan Gui was very calm, because she had no son, only one daughter, and she was still young. But after all, this is a big deal, and I am listening with my ears pricked up.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen looked at them and saw their expectant and nervous faces. After thinking for a moment, he asked all the maids and maids to withdraw, leaving only the queen and two noble concubines. Then he said to them: "Taizu Chengzu I believe you have all seen the Zhu family's clan policy that was set at that time, which once put the Ming Dynasty in danger. The country's wealth for a year was not enough to pay for the clan. As a result, the court had no money, and the clan was in a dire situation. Difficulties, there are even cases of being a beggar..."
Emperor Chongzhen had analyzed these matters in detail when he first reformed the vassal policy, and Empress Zhou and the two noble concubines also knew about it. However, upon hearing this opening statement, their hearts sank. They could have a premonition that their guess was correct, and the emperor would take action against Zongfan.
"...Although I have worked tirelessly to open up new territories and expanded the territory, the land area has increased, but there are still not many wealthy places." Emperor Chongzhen patiently told them, "For the sake of future generations, for the sake of the legacy left by our ancestors. In the country of Sheji, I do not intend to enfeoff vassal kings in my own country, and I will even move out all the vassals above the county king level..."
After hearing this, Queen Zhou couldn't help but interrupt Emperor Chongzhen's words: "Your Majesty, where does the mainland refer to?"
"Your Majesty, where are the vassals going to move?" Concubine Tian was also nervous and asked.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at their worried expressions and said kindly: "Don't worry, they are also my children. Don't I feel sorry for you? It's just that for the royal family, the country and the country are more important. But even so, I Your son's treatment will be much better than that of ordinary people, so you don't have to worry about this."
Having said that, Queen Zhou and Concubine Tian were still not happy.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at them and continued: "The homeland is the current territory of the Ming Dynasty. As for where they will move to in the future, I have actually already thought about it for them."
After finishing speaking, he asked Fang Zhenghua, the eunuch on duty, to get a world map. This map has not been released to the public. It is a world map drawn by Emperor Chongzhen based on the memories of later generations.
After spreading it out, Emperor Chongzhen pointed to the location of Australia in later generations and said: "This area is almost as big as the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but it is still an undeveloped area now. No one except the natives knows where it is."
Then, he pointed to the map of North America and said: "You should have heard about this. There are Spaniards in the south, but most of the area is still undeveloped."
Empress Zhou, Concubine Tian and Concubine Yuan all stood up and crowded around the world map. They lowered their heads and looked at the map carefully, paying special attention to the places pointed by Emperor Chongzhen. Because they knew that in all likelihood, the Ming Dynasty clan might want to go to those places.
Miaoshuwu
