Ming Dynasty: Teaching The Prince Dragon-Slaying Skills At The Beginning

Final Chapter: The Ming Dynasty Heading Into A New Era [End Of Main Text, Additional Chapters To Fol

After visiting the boiler car, Zhu Biao returned to the passenger car and sat down, and couldn't help but sigh:

"A new era has arrived!"

Yan Changqing, who was standing at the front, also nodded and couldn't help but sigh:

"Yes, a new era has arrived."

"Before the invention of steam engines and steam trains, China could be said to have been in an agricultural era for more than two thousand years."

"In the agricultural era, all activities were basically based on human power, supplemented by extensive force."

“For example, in agricultural production activities, a series of tasks such as reclamation, sowing, fertilizing, and harvesting of farmland are completed using pure human power.

"Either use the power of cattle, horses and other livestock to complete farmland plowing, transportation and other related work."

"It can be said that the labor force of the common people is the basis of agricultural production, and the efficiency and output of agricultural production are directly affected by the quantity and quality of the labor force."

"Another example is commodity circulation activities, which are also mainly based on human transportation, supplemented by cattle, horses and livestock transportation. There is a lack of a more efficient, fast and convenient transportation and logistics system."

"This has led to a narrow range of agricultural products sold by people in various places, and they mainly rely on local self-sufficiency."

"Whether it is the grain crops grown by the people or the poultry and livestock raised by the people, they are mainly used for household consumption. Only a small amount of the remaining parts will be exchanged or sold locally."

"At the same time, there are few types of agricultural products suitable for long-distance sales. There are only pickled products such as salted fish that can be stored for a long time.

"Only products such as cloth that can be stored for a long time can be sold to other places through the transportation of cattle, horses and livestock."

"Another example is foreign war activities, which are either infantry based on manpower or cavalry based on animal power."

"The limits of human and animal power often represent the limits of an empire's effective territory."

"The limit of an empire's rule depends on how far its infantry and cavalry can reach within a hundred days."

"Because once it takes more than a hundred days for the imperial army to arrive at the place of rebellion, then even if the imperial army finally arrives, it will be three months after the rebellion broke out."

"In these three months, the local rebels have either grown in strength and become a force, or they have already fled and disappeared.'

"So places that are more than what the imperial army can resist within three months are basically places that the imperial court cannot effectively rule. At most, they can only rely on the power of the imperial court to overwhelm the opponent."

"But this kind of intimidation generally only exists in the heyday of the central dynasty. Once the central dynasty declines, the other party will become disobedient again and even rebel."

"For example, this was the case in the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, and even the Yuan Dynasty in the past."

"Under normal circumstances, the infantry's daily marching speed is about 20 kilometers to 30 kilometers, and the cavalry's daily marching speed is about 40 kilometers to 60 kilometers."

"In other words, within a hundred days, the infantry army can probably travel about 2,000 kilometers to 3,000 kilometers, and the cavalry army can probably travel about 4,000 kilometers to 6,000 kilometers."

"The current territory ruled by the Ming Empire is more than 7,000 kilometers long from east to west and more than 6,000 kilometers long from north to south."

"If the troops are mobilized in the center of the Ming Dynasty, then the infantry can just reach the current four-sided border by walking for a hundred days.

"And if we move troops from the east to the west, or from the south to the north, then the cavalry can arrive within a hundred days."

"In other words, the territory of the Ming Dynasty has now reached the limit of the territory of the Ming Dynasty's effective rule, which is the so-called extreme limit of imperial rule.

"As for the areas beyond the extreme limits of the Ming Empire's rule, such as the northern Xinjiang grasslands, or the Central and South Asian regions, it is basically difficult for the Ming Dynasty to bring them into the effective scope of its rule."

"At most, it is to rely on the current power of the Ming Empire to overwhelm the other party, thereby forcing the other party to surrender to the Ming Dynasty and become a theoretical vassal state of the Ming Dynasty~"

"Or we can adopt the dual system or enfeoffment system to quickly expand the scope of the country's rule."

"For example, His Majesty now has a large court in Yingtian Mansion that rules the Central Plains, and then His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also established a small court on the Northern Xinjiang grasslands that rules the Northern Xinjiang grasslands."

"Through the two large and small imperial courts, the scope of rule of the empire called Ming Dynasty was further expanded."

"But this method also has a drawback, that is, if there is disharmony between father, son, or brother, it is very likely to cause uncontrollable civil strife in the country."

Hearing this, Zhu Biao and the Dukes of the Six Ministries, Nine Ministers and Ten Kingdoms felt the same way.

In these years, after successively annexing vassal states such as Koryo, Wa, Annan, Chenla, Siam, and Champa, East Asia was almost unified.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty was so large that it may still be a little behind compared to the Mongol and Yuan Dynasties in the past.

But compared to the territory of the Tang Dynasty during its peak period, it was not inferior.

However, such a vast territory also brings about a very serious problem, that is, how to effectively govern it.

Nowadays, the Central Committee of the Ming Dynasty issues an edict to the four borders. In urgent cases, it will take at least one and a half to two months to deliver it.

If it is not urgent, it will take three to four months.

The local government then feeds back the relevant information to the central government. Even if it is urgent, it will take three to four months. If it is not urgent, it will take six to eight months.

The longer it takes for the imperial court and local edicts to be communicated back and forth, the lower the administrative efficiency will be, and the weaker the central government's control over local borders will be.

Therefore, in recent years, there have been some voices in the court, hoping that Emperor Zhu Biao can entrust other Ming vassal kings to go to the border areas of Ming Dynasty to establish their own country and guard the four sides for Ming Dynasty.

The reason why there is such a voice is in addition to the reason just mentioned that the central government of the imperial court has failed to manage the borders of distant places.

On the other hand, the reason was stimulated by the enfeoffment of feudal states in other overseas continents by vassal kings such as King Zhu Di of Qin, Lord Zhu Nan, and King Zhu Di of Yan.

For other vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty, although they did not have the opportunity to enfeoff to other continents overseas to establish kingdoms.

However, there are examples of vassal kings such as King Zhu Fang of Qin, King Zhu Fan of Jin, and King Yan Zhu Di who established kingdoms. In their hearts, they also hoped that they could build their own country on the border of Ming Dynasty and become a true local emperor.

At least it is better to be a local emperor who also keeps his word, than to be a wealthy but no real power in the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the voices of these feudal kings were silenced by Zhu Biao.

For Zhu Biao, he can let his brothers establish states in other continents overseas, and is even willing to strongly support his brothers in establishing states in other continents overseas.

But he will never let his brothers establish kingdoms around the Ming Dynasty, otherwise the Ming Dynasty will inevitably be another vassal rebellion in the future!

In addition, although steam engines and steam trains were only invented now, Yan Changqing briefly mentioned the role of steam engines and steam trains to Zhu Biao as early as five years ago, or even seven or eight years ago.

And Zhu Biao was also willing to believe that Yan Changqing could develop the steam engine and steam train he mentioned.

As long as Yan Changqing can develop the steam engine and steam train he talks about, then the Ming Dynasty's inability to manage the border will no longer be a problem.

Therefore, Zhu Biao would rather wait for Yan Changqing to develop the steam engine and steam train than enfeoff the other ten generations of vassal kings to the borders of the Ming Dynasty to establish states in all directions.

And now, he has waited, and the waiting time is not too long.

"And the Ming Dynasty after the invention of steam engines and steam trains, I would like to call it - the steam age!"

"In the steam age, all activities will no longer necessarily be dominated by human power and supplemented by animal power; instead, they will be dominated by steam power, supplemented by human power and animal power."

"For example, in agricultural production activities, the Wanmin Academy of Sciences can use the current steam engines and steam trains as models to further develop agricultural machinery engineering vehicles that also use steam as the source of power."

"The steam tractor, which is currently under development and planning, only needs one person to operate it [it can replace dozens or hundreds of people and animals who have not completed the agricultural work] sowing, fertilizing, harvesting, transportation and a series of related tasks." "

“The efficiency is dozens or hundreds of times that of today’s traditional agricultural production activities!”

"There are also steamships that are also under development and planning. Currently, the Academy of Sciences of the People plans to use steel as the body and steam engines as the source of power to build a new type of sea ship."

"By default, the speed of this new type of steel sea-going ship will be three to five times that of traditional wooden sea-going ships, and its ability to withstand wind and waves will also be several times stronger than that of wooden sea-going ships. It can carry people and passengers The number will be several times higher than that of wooden sea ships.”

"Even the amount of seafood caught by ocean salvage will be several times more than that of traditional wooden sea ships."

“Another example is commodity circulation activities, which will no longer be dominated by traditional human and animal power, but will be dominated by steam trains powered by steam engines.

"For example, the distance from Yingtian Prefecture to Songjiang Prefecture is only a short distance of more than 300 kilometers, but before there were steam trains, the people of Yingtian Prefecture wanted to eat fresh seafood from Songjiang Prefecture.

It can be said that it is difficult to do so.

“This is because His Majesty spent a lot of manpower and material resources to specially transport a batch of fresh seafood from Songjiang Prefecture to Tianfu for Taishang Emperor Low Grade to taste.

"As a result, only one or two of the seafood was still alive when it was finally transported to Yingtian Mansion, which shows how difficult it was."

"But after the steam train became available, people from Yingtian Prefecture took the steam train to Songjiang Prefecture to eat seafood."

"Songjiang Prefecture will quickly transport the fresh seafood caught by the steam train to Yingtian Prefecture for sale, and it only takes about half a day or so.

"The emergence of steam trains powered by steam can be said to have greatly expanded the sales scope of fresh seafood in Songjiang Prefecture."

"."The sales of fresh seafood in Songjiang Prefecture are no longer limited to the local area, but can also be sold to further places, allowing the people to obtain more benefits.

"There are also other various commodities in various parts of the Ming Dynasty that were originally difficult to preserve for a long time. They can also use steam trains to further expand their sales scope, so that people everywhere can get more benefits."

"By then, even people in the far west can easily buy fresh seafood from the far east."

"Even the people in the far north can easily buy fresh fruits from the far south."

"And with the prosperity of commodity trading, the imperial court's commercial tax revenue will naturally increase accordingly."

"Another example is foreign war activities. Before the advent of steam trains, the current Ming Dynasty had basically reached the extreme limit of imperial rule.'

“If you want to further annex the northern Xinjiang grasslands, or annex Central Asia and South Asia, it is only possible to adopt a dual system or a feudal system.

"But with the steam train

Later, steam trains were used to transport soldiers in large quantities. "

"Then we calculate it based on the fact that a steam train can run 24 hours a day and night, and can travel 1,500 kilometers to 2,000 kilometers."

"As long as the railway tracks are built outward, to the grasslands of northern Xinjiang, to Central Asia, and to South Asia."

"Then even if it is the northern grasslands, or Central Asia, or South Asia, the Ming Dynasty can still bring it into the effective scope of imperial rule in a unified and centralized way.

Inside!"

"By then, the railway tracks all over the world will be like chains, tightly binding all parts of the Central Plains, as well as the northern Xinjiang grasslands, Central Asia, and South Asia into one

A whole, making it difficult to fall apart. "

"At the same time, the railway tracks will be like the blood vessels of the Ming Empire, supporting and supporting the entire Ming Empire to make great strides forward in the new era!"

"Until one day the Ming Empire crosses the steam age and enters a new era again!"

At the end, Yan Changqing's gaze wandered, as if he saw through the void that after the Ming Dynasty entered the steam age, it entered the electrical age and the information age...

Until Daming (Wang Nuozhao) headed towards a new era that even he could not predict.

【End of text!】

PS1: Thank you dear readers for your continued support of "Da Ming: Teaching the Prince Dragon Slaying Techniques at the Beginning". The text of Dragon Slaying Techniques is officially over here.

.

Because if we continue writing, there will be various research and inventions on how to enter the steam age, electrical age, and information age, as well as how other lords conquered and constructed.

It’s about other overseas continents.

However, I will not continue writing these.

The various social conflicts and class conflicts in the early Ming Dynasty have been basically resolved at this point. When the Ming Dynasty in this world enters the middle and late stages, new ones will definitely appear and break out.

Class contradictions and social contradictions are welcome.

But at that time, both Yan Changqing and Zhu Yuanzhang and others were already dead.

The dead cannot solve the problems of the living. After all, the living may not listen to the dead, let alone follow the development path set by the dead.

Therefore, the social conflicts and class conflicts in the middle and late Ming Dynasty should be left to the people in the middle and late Ming Dynasty to solve.

After the main text is completed, some various extras will be written, such as a short story about a group of vassal princes who went to sea to establish a kingdom and were reborn into a parallel world in the original history.

For another example, the Ming Dynasty in this world will develop to three hundred, eight hundred, or even one thousand years later.

For another example, later generations of this world excavated the oracle bones and bronzes buried by Yan Changqing, and interpreted some strange contents from them.

When the time comes, just write whatever comes to mind. It will probably add up to tens of thousands of words of extras.

In addition, various respiratory diseases have been prevalent recently. Everyone should take care of themselves and wear a mask when going out to crowded places.

Finally, I wish you all: Good health! Get rich! Get rich! Get rich!