Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 1529

"As time goes by, our railways will be built faster and faster, and more and more smoothly!"

Upon hearing Wei Wu's reply, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in satisfaction.

"Okay, that's good. I'll leave this to you!"

After responding to Wei Wu's remark, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hide his thoughts and spoke up:

"You probably know why we're accelerating railway construction. We'd like to hear your opinion on this matter."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not say it explicitly, the conversation just now had already revealed all his thoughts.

Wei Wu knew very well that what he wanted to ask was about conquering foreign territories and expanding territory, and he was in agreement with this.

So as soon as Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, he immediately expressed his own thoughts.

"Fight! We must fight! Today, the Ming Dynasty is strong and well-equipped, with abundant grain and a full treasury, far surpassing all previous dynasties."

"Among the ancient dynasties, the Han Dynasty was known for its strong military, the Tang Dynasty for its comprehensive national strength, the Song Dynasty for its economic prosperity, and our Great Ming Dynasty."

"Our military strength far surpasses that of the Han Dynasty, our economic prosperity is unmatched by the Song Dynasty, and our overall national strength is even greater than that of the Tang Dynasty. Now is the time to realize our grand ambitions!"

At this point, Wei Wu's tone and voice became somewhat spirited, and he raised his head high as he continued:

"We are the most needed and only beacon for mankind, and we should embrace all rivers and streams, and bring all the land under heaven under the light!"

"Only under the leadership of our Great Ming Dynasty can this world move towards a better and brighter future!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao watched from the side, and when they saw Wei Wu's commanding manner, they both laughed.

But they weren't laughing at Wei Wu's boastful tone; in fact, they shared the same thoughts as Wei Wu.

The Ming Dynasty is now far superior to any of the powerful dynasties of the past in terms of national strength, military power, and financial resources.

They laughed because Wei Wu was telling the truth, and they were also incredibly proud of what Wei Wu had said.

The Ming Dynasty's current strength is due not only to Cao Cao's help, but also to the crucial support of the Wei Kingdom.

Therefore, starting today, the future world order has been preliminarily set.

After their grand pronouncements, Wei Wu and his son Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao continued to fill in the details of their plan to expand the territory.

The three of them chatted so much that they forgot about eating, and the palace servants came several times to ask if they should prepare a meal.

But Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed them all, and in the end, the palace servants had no choice but to go to Kunning Palace to report the matter.

Originally, they wanted Empress Ma to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang, but when Empress Ma arrived, she listened intently from the side.

By the time the four finished their conversation and Wei Wu returned to the Imperial Hospital to rest, it was already midnight.

No one knows what the four of them talked about in the Fengxian Hall, but the next day the Ming Dynasty entered an era of development.

First, the Imperial Guards were mobilized in full force to wipe out the remnants of the White Lotus Rebellion within the Ming Dynasty, thus completely resolving the internal problems.

At the same time, a large number of officials were dispatched by the imperial court to neighboring small countries to take over the territory and educate the local people.

With such external threats properly addressed, and no more internal or external troubles, the Ming Dynasty officially entered a phase of rapid development.

In the same year, Zhu Yuxuan gave birth to a beautiful and lovely daughter for Wei Wu, named Wei Luoli.

Then Wei Wu spent all his time at home, except when he went to the Academy of Sciences to supervise the progress, he spent all his remaining time with his wife and daughter.

Time passed slowly, from the eighteenth year of Hongwu to the twenty-first year of Hongwu, in these short three years.

The Ming Dynasty completed the construction of three railways, which pointed in three different directions.

These routes are respectively from Beiping (Beijing) directly to the grasslands beyond the Great Wall in northern China, and from Yunnan directly to several small countries in Southeast Asia.

The last railway was built from Sichuan to Tibet, and it was also the most manpower and material-intensive railway.

The sheer scale of this railway project alone is comparable to that of the Grand Canal built by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty.

The Grand Canal, built by Emperor Yang Guang, is approximately 2,700 kilometers long if all four sections are added together.

The railway from the Ming Dynasty to Tibet was only about 1,700 kilometers long, but we should not forget that the Sichuan region is mostly mountainous.

Building a railway would take a lot of time just to blast through mountains and clear the way, not to mention the cleanup that would follow.

Therefore, in terms of construction difficulty, it can be said to be much more difficult than building a canal, but fortunately, the Ming Dynasty eventually completed it.

Furthermore, it took Emperor Yang Guang six years to build the Grand Canal, while the Ming Dynasty completed the construction of the railway in just three years.

The key point is that Emperor Yang Guang conscripted a million laborers to build the Grand Canal, and the death toll was extremely high due to the demanding construction schedule. Historical records indicate that four or five out of ten laborers died.

As a result, it was labeled as a tyrannical regime, and this event played an undeniable role in accelerating the demise of the Sui Dynasty.

The situation was different in the Ming Dynasty. After the railway was completed, not only did no one criticize it, but it was also praised.

This is largely thanks to Cao Cao, who wreaked havoc on Japan and eventually destroyed the country.

Those Japanese people who survived all became Japanese slaves, Japanese slaves who voluntarily sacrificed their lives for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the word "voluntary" here is entirely from the memorial Lan Yu submitted to the emperor. Whether it was truly voluntary is unimportant and no one cares.

In order to speed up the construction of the three railways, the imperial ships were running at full speed, and they managed to haul away millions of Japanese pirates from Lan Yu's side.

Meanwhile, under Cao Cao's influence, the Ming Dynasty's construction schedule and targets for the Japanese were so strict that even calling it mistreatment would be an understatement.

When Yang Guang was building the Grand Canal, 40-50% of the conscripted laborers died. This means that approximately 40-50% of the conscripted laborers died during the labor service.

By the time the Ming Dynasty arrived, the Japanese soldiers who participated in the construction of the railway had a mortality rate of around 80%.

The extremely high mortality rate naturally led to extremely high construction efficiency; it was just a matter of a few livestock dying, which was not a big deal.

Anyway, with Lan Yu continuously sending laborers, the railway construction project was completed in three years.

Of course, this railway was not entirely built by the Japanese, and none of the three railways were fully completed.

The railway lines from the three starting points were all built by the Japanese, but from the starting points, the railway would extend into China.

These were built by the people of the Ming Dynasty. They treated their own people with utmost care, providing them with food and shelter.

Moreover, there is no rush to complete the project; the safety of personnel is the top priority, and the goal is to create a large number of job opportunities to increase people's income.

In addition, another very significant achievement occurred during the three years of railway construction.

That means the Academy of Sciences has finally built the ironclad warship.