This day was the day when the railway section from Beijing to Tongzhou was opened to traffic. Zhu Houzhao also got up early and headed to Yongding Gate with a group of officials.

Because of the sufficient slaves, the construction speed of the project was very fast. At this time, there was an additional railway station outside Yongding Gate.

The railway station uses a traditional Chinese building with a double-eaved hip roof as the roof. A total of two locomotives are parked on the rails. Behind the locomotive are five carriages. The carriages are not big, and they are all black like the locomotives. Each carriage is a train wheel, which is firmly embedded on the rails.

Zhu Houzhao and a group of officials were already standing in front of a train at this time.

Zhu Houzhao was fine. Zhang Cong, the chief minister of the cabinet behind Zhu Houzhao, rarely showed a kind smile when he saw the train. He was happier than when he saw his grandson being born. He couldn't help but stretch out his hand to touch the metal texture of the train, but because Emperor Zhu Houzhao was here, he couldn't help but endure it.

"It's incredible and incredible. Thirty years ago, I would never have thought that such a magical thing would appear in the Ming Dynasty. A car cast with iron and weighing more than 100 tons could actually push forward with steam power!"

Xia Yan couldn't help but feel moved.

At this time, Zhang Cong, the chief minister of the cabinet, saw Xia Yan sighing, couldn't help but say:

"Do you think about how Confucian Neo-Confucianism governs the country for more than a hundred years, and the rivers are falling, and people's hearts are not old. Since the sages have flourished and the knowledge of all craftsmen has been fully revealed, the people have not been hungry, and even steam has replaced the fierce horses, guns and cannons to replace bows and crossbows. From then on, the country that manages the study is stronger than the country of reckless men!"

Xia Yan glanced at the electric light on the train and admitted in his heart that since his court officials began to accept the concept of "reason, body, sage, and sage", the empire has indeed undergone earth-shaking changes. These things that were regarded as strange skills and tricks by Confucian ministers in the past can really change this era. He couldn't help but ask Zhang Cong:

"With the meaning of the chief minister, this Neo-Confucianism is really useless. Should it be completely abandoned?"

"Not all useless, it is because people's hearts have changed. Nowadays, there are many rich people, and few poor people. Even small families have accumulated silver for years. They all pursue fame and fortune. It is hard to continue to use Neo-Confucianism to correct people's hearts. Once this steam train passes across the country, it will undoubtedly promote the development of commerce and trade, and the people can stay in their hometowns. The clan is still in name only. It is naturally difficult to maintain the peace of the country by ordering father, son, and grandchildren.

Therefore, I think that Neo-Confucianism is no longer in line with the current Ming Dynasty. If you want to make peace in the world, you can keep up with the times. It is better to innovate than to conserve the old. If you change the idea of ​​the sage and sage use, it will be difficult to change the foundation of the empire. At that time, it will only benefit the scholars and officials, and the poor will still have no place to stand."

After Zhang Cong said this, Xia Yan couldn't help but say:

"But at present, the poor in the Ming Dynasty were not without a place. All the wealth from all over the world gathered in the Ming Dynasty. Except for some Confucian officials in China who had the court's profit-oriented and unkind to the Gentiles' remarks, there was no public grievance."

"But in fact, it is indeed not in line with the meaning of Neo-Confucianism, but plundering from the outside is indeed conducive to educating the people of the country, so that the elderly can have a support and the young can have a good life;

Therefore, I believe that we should abandon the awareness of Neo-Confucianism as the main focus and rationalize and justify the idea of ​​governing the country. Otherwise, if Neo-Confucianism continues to spread, many Confucian scholars in China are afraid that they will really do the work of feeding tigers with their bodies."

Zhang Cong said again, "Your Majesty said that if we want to be capable ministers, we must take the long-term interests of the country and the people of our country. If Neo-Confucianism is not completely eradicated, the technology and industry of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably be restricted by it. The technology of steam power and the new technology of guns and gunpowder cannot be unique to the Ming Dynasty for a long time. Once it is mastered by other countries, and if other countries are still unrestrained by rationalism and enslave the people and plunder of other countries without scrupulousness, then other countries may soon surpass our Ming Dynasty and form a strong enemy of our Ming Dynasty."

"What the chief minister said is very much. Gao Feng, the inner court, has been ordered to take the Ming Dynasty's fine bliss cream to travel to the West. At that time, these Western countries will once again feel the power of the strong ships and cannons from our Ming Dynasty. Perhaps, by then, there will be one or two countries who will awaken them because of this!

Xiaguan went on a tour of the West a few years ago, and learned in detail about the teachings of Western Christ and the literature and art of revival. The place is indeed more open than that of the Confucians in the Ming Dynasty and has a more thorough understanding of human nature. Although it is bound by religion, it gradually got rid of the pursuit of secular freedom of religion at the bottom. His research on science is more hot than that of the Ming Dynasty, and he has never been ashamed of this. However, in our Ming Dynasty, if Your Majesty had not promoted the studies of hundreds of schools from top to bottom and gave the craftsmen the lofty status, the world has only been talented in general poetry and books, and it is difficult to mathematical astronomy as the right path. If the Ming Dynasty was bound by Neo-Confucianism again, a hundred years later, it would be difficult to ensure that these Western countries that were already open and praised the hundred studies have caught up with or even surpassed our Ming Dynasty in national strength. Fortunately, they are not bound by religion yet!"

Xia Yan couldn't help laughing as he said that he was very glad that although he had cut off the Pope in the Western Pope, he did not abolish the Pope in the Western Pope, but instead made him a new one. However, other Western countries did not jointly attack the Ming Dynasty because of the Pope in the Pope. This also forced Xia Yan to admit that the Western countries were indeed gradually breaking away from religious constraints, and religion's control over these Western countries was gradually declining.

Zhu Houzhao walked out at this time and saw Zhang Cong and Xia Yan chatting while waiting outside the Royal Special Hall in the carriage, and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Zhang Cong and Xia Yan answered truthfully.

Zhu Houzhao only nodded at first. He was very pleased that the scholars and officials of the Ming Dynasty were not even pedantic. They also had the ability to think independently and could even smell the changes in the future from the changing situation. Just like in history, a group of enlightened scholars and officials such as Li Zhizao and Xu Guangqi in the middle and late Ming Dynasty also realized the changes in the global situation and began to actively learn and master natural science knowledge, and even write books to promote books, with the focus on writing books. Some scholars and officials of the Ming Dynasty were different from some emperors that they would not let the scientific knowledge of benefiting the people be hidden in the shelf because of selfishness.

What made Zhu Houzhao even more gratified was that there was no Sino-Japanese War in the Ming Dynasty in this era, but reformists such as Zhang Cong still foreshadowed through their own unique vision that after the Ming Dynasty entered the steam industrial revolution, its real opponents did not come from outside, but from internal resistance.

With a clang!

The first steam train in the Ming Dynasty began to start, and a stinging sound rang out, and thick white mist gushed out from the black chimney. The whole train galloped on the rails, like a strong young man running in winter, steaming all over his body and heading towards the distance with agile steps.

Wherever the railway spread, the steam train drove all the way.

On the chilly spring North China Plain, there is another beautiful scenery, and the soft Chinese country has a little more toughness.

Zhu Hou looked at the backward shadows of trees, the factory buildings in the suburbs of Beijing and the farmer working in the suburbs of Beijing, as if he was watching a cross-cut documentary about the current Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say: "The Ming Dynasty is sometimes like this train, and no one knows where he should go in the future. If you think Neo-Confucianism is insufficient, find another science. Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh food. You must follow the trend. You must neither deliberately obstruct nor be eager to advance. You should take the lead first. After Jiaozhi recovers, the chieftains in the southwest have to take the opportunity to deal with it. The times are different, and the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards all forces must also be different."

Both Zhang Cong and Xia Yan bowed to him.

After the steam train arrived in Tongzhou, Zhu Houzhao and a group of officials got off the train. At this time, the officials in Tongzhou had already greeted him here, and the people of Tongzhou City also gathered near the train station to watch. For them, this train was the first time and the emperor also saw it for the first time, so it was naturally very novel.

After briefly interacting with the people, Zhu Houzhao moved into the palace in Tongzhou. Zhang Cong and Xia Yan and other important officials were also ordered by Zhu Houzhao to temporarily live in the palace. For officials such as Zhang Cong and Xia Yan, it was indeed shocking to take the train from the capital to Tongzhou. They seemed to be unsatisfied and eager to let people all over the world enjoy the new means of transportation such as the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, as the central ministers, they were also thinking about what the emergence of steam trains and railways could bring to the Ming Dynasty, and how they, as the auxiliary ministers trusted by His Majesty, could make this new thing beneficial to the country and the people.

Zhu Houzhao was also thinking about this. Therefore, he summoned officials in the palace about railway construction and steam train operation from Beijing to Tongzhou, and expressed his intention to establish a Ministry of Railways, Railway Construction Bureau and a special steam locomotive production factory to be responsible for the railway operation management and construction of the entire Ming Dynasty, as well as train manufacturing and improvement.

The final result of the court discussion was that Qin Yu, the Left Minister of Works, was appointed as the Minister of Railways, and Xu Jie, the Left Minister of Railways, and was also the Admiral of the Railway Bureau, and was responsible for railway construction and operation.

The reason why Xu Jie was held responsible was that Xu Jie was the first to participate in the use of steam locomotives during his tenure as Shuntian Prefecture, and was also the first to be responsible for building and operating railways.

Of course, in the early stages of railway construction, Xu Jie can only temporarily be responsible for the railway operation and management from Beijing to Tongzhou.

The railway from Beijing to Tongzhou was initially responsible for transporting grain, minerals and industrial products. In addition, there were also special trains responsible for carrying people. However, the trains carrying people were divided into four categories: sleeper berths, seats, seats, and aristocratic carriages. Sleeper berths are also divided into soft sleeper and hard sleeper.

The noble carriages were mainly carried by important figures in the empire.

Zhu Houzhao's special train is also being manufactured. In addition, Zhu Houzhao also specially ordered the cabinet ministers and the Privy Councilor of the Guards to have the privilege of a special train to facilitate them to inspect local political and military affairs.

After the railway line between Beijing and Tongzhou, the transportation of goods between Beijing and Tongzhou became much more convenient. From then on, it was not just road transportation, but more goods were transported in and out of the capital in a single day.

The canal transportation between the north and the south has not become busier, and has not been affected too much after the opening of the sea transportation.

At the same time, the manufacturing of steam ships in the Ming Dynasty was also on the agenda. At the large dock base in Yuegang, Fujian, a light gray iron-armored warship is being stepped up. Nearly 100,000 slaves, under the supervision of supervisors, transported high-quality steel from Wuchang, Tongzhou, Shanghai, Taiping to the dock day and night.

Ming engineers who graduated from higher schools such as Peking University and Central University were wearing steel helmets and drawings, directing the high platforms everywhere, directing slaves below to use pulleys and hanging towers to lift these steels to appropriate positions and are welded by Ming technicians. Ming craftsmen on elevated roads are skillfully welding these steels. The development of chemical technology, especially the emergence of organic chemistry, has enabled the Ming Dynasty to master the production and application of acetylene. Coupled with the discovery of electric arcs, the welding technology has been improved a lot, allowing some Ming craftsmen to perform more advanced welding technology.

And the ironclad ship has the possibility of successful manufacturing.

But even so, it has not been successfully manufactured yet, and there are still many technical problems in many details.

In general, the Ming Dynasty has now entered a period of rapid development of science and technology. Because it has upgraded from traditional human and animal power to mechanical power in terms of power, the next step is to apply mechanical power to all walks of life.

Because of this, various steam machines and steam products have emerged.

Zhu Houzhao and the Ming Dynasty were also not stingy and spent money wildly, which made the scientific researchers who developed new industrial products and new technologies very enthusiastic, and even some literati and officials increased their interest in this area.

Because of this, not to mention the development of steam locomotives and steam ships by relying on steam power, some people have even begun to develop steam aircraft. Zhu Houzhao still provides financial support to these people regardless of whether it can succeed. Some people even think that since there are steam locomotives, if you install the cannon on the steam locomotive, you can drive the steam cannon directly.

In any case, after the emergence of the Ming Dynasty, all kinds of new machines from the Ming Dynasty sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

In addition, electricity is also being studied madly. After the electromagnetic induction phenomenon was confirmed by the Ming Academy of Sciences, the Ming Dynasty developers have begun to use motor manufacturing and current applications.

The Ming Dynasty has entered an era of vigorous development of science and technology, constantly refreshing human history. At this time, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Western colonists are still carrying out the most primitive capital plunder in relatively backward ways.

Gao Feng and his Fushou Trading fleet arrived in Lisbon.

Although Portugal's colony was greatly reduced due to the western advance of the Ming Dynasty, and its sphere of influence was limited to some areas in South America, Portugal did not retaliate against the Ming Dynasty, and even banned trade with the Ming Dynasty. It was not that Portugal did not want to retaliate, mainly because Portugal also knew that it did not have this strength.

Moreover, in order to make profits from the huge market of the Ming Dynasty, he had to endure the humiliation brought to them by the Ming Dynasty, continue to trade with the Ming Dynasty, act as a comprador of the Ming Dynasty, and sell the population and raw materials plundered from his colonies to the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, in history, before the Steam Industrial Revolution, the Ming Dynasty did not lag behind the West in military strength, because as a highly developed small peasant economy and society, its productivity represented the highest level before the Steam Industrial Revolution. However, after the Steam Industrial Revolution, human productivity completely underwent a milestone revolution, which led to China beginning to lag behind the West.

It was also after the Steam Industrial Revolution that China began to lose after responding to the aggressive war of Western colonists. Before that, it was a victory or a draw.

Now that Gao Feng's fleet arrived in Lisbon, the Portuguese government in Lisbon began to prevent the Ming fleet from coming here to trade.

Gao Feng's fleet did not force Portugal to do anything at first, and also paid tariffs according to the rules, and began to sell high-quality longevity cream in the international trade center of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

"This is a magical secret medicine for immortality from the East, a high-quality blessing and longevity cream, which can truly make you die in an ecstasy."

The marketing strategy that Fushou Trading Company made after coming to Lisbon was to promote it from the Portuguese aristocratic class, so it also specially bribed some nobles to promote it by them. At this time, a baron named Fesso promoted the fine Fushou cream to his friend Marquis Doxi.

Doxi began to receive injections of high-quality Fushou cream, which was decisive and pleasant, more pleasant than having sex with a noble lady, so he became addicted.

As a result, the high-quality Fushou cream made by the Ming Dynasty spread rapidly in the upper circle of Lisbon.

The Fushou Trading Company made a fortune from the beginning, and the capital plundered by these Lisbon nobles in their colonies also flowed into the Ming Dynasty through this method of absorbing the Fushou Paste.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty's Fushou Trading Company not only sells high-quality Fushou Paste in Lisbon, but also sells high-quality Fushou Paste in Madrid, Rome, Rotterdam and other places. There are dozens of merchant ships from Ceuta to the West every day.

However, it is still the early stage of the Ming Dynasty selling high-quality Fushou cream to the West, so these Western countries have not had any extreme reactions.

What really makes Portugal and Spain helpless is that the Ming Dynasty used the strictest means in history to completely ban the smuggling of Fushou Paste to the Ming Dynasty, causing Western countries to lose the only opportunity to reverse the trade deficit with the Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, Portugal had already experienced the power of the Ming naval battle. In addition, his national strength was limited, so he did not have the courage to challenge the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, Portugal had already lost the route east of the Cape of Good Hope, so the smuggling trade ban on Fushou Paste would definitely not be much damaged.

Spain was the one who suffered the real damage. Taking advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty's control efforts south of the Ming Sea were not strong enough, Spain sent a large number of smuggling ships to smuggle the longevity cream to the Ming Dynasty.

Even the people who were executed in the case of smuggling Fushou Paste investigated and dealt with by the municipal and municipal departments of Daming were mainly Spanish.

Before this, because the Ming Dynasty did not know much about the West, it had always compared Portugal and Spain to both Flangji. Now, as the Ming Dynasty became more and more familiar with the outside world, it has gradually divided Flangji into Spain and Portugal in its official tone.

Turning back, Spain has not suffered any losses at the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and the national strength of his empire was at its peak. Therefore, because of the loss of the trade of smuggling the longevity cream with the Ming Dynasty, the Spanish Empire was extremely unacceptable, and threatened to force the Ming Dynasty to allow Spain to sell longevity cream to the Ming Dynasty.

then.

The Spanish Empire's invincible fleet officially began to prepare for a long voyage in an attempt to teach the Ming Dynasty a lesson.

However, an expedition has never been an easy task, not to mention that it was from the Atlantic expedition to the Pacific Ocean, even the invincible fleet of the Spanish Empire. Therefore, the Spanish Empire said it was an expedition to the Ming Dynasty, but in fact the purpose was to capture the Ceuta area that the Ming Dynasty had already controlled.

Ceuta is now the only colonial stronghold of the Ming Dynasty in the Mediterranean. Every year, a batch of silver and gold mines are transported back to the Ming Dynasty. Now it has become the base for the Ming Dynasty to manufacture high-quality Fushou Paste. Therefore, Ceuta's economic status is very important to the Ming Dynasty, but it is also particularly close to Spain.

The Ming Dynasty also stationed a squadron in the Ceuta area, with a total of two second-class sailing warships, five third-class sailing warships and three supply ships, with a naval force of about one thousand, a marine force of 300, and a military force of 500, specifically responsible for the defense of the Ceuta area.

However, except for the highest military and political head of the Ming Dynasty in the Ceuta area, the prefect of Ceuta and the Guerrilla of Ceuta, Weng Wanda, learned through the Jinyiwei that the Spanish Invincible Fleet would come to attack Ceuta, the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao and his courtiers in the capital did not know that there was a powerful empire in the West that occupied countless territories in North America and eliminated countless civilizations that had declared war on him.

This is also impossible. Before the radio appeared, Weng Wanda could only use his small amount of troops to fight the Spanish Empire.

Ceuta City has now completely become Chinatown.

The first batch of Han people who followed Xia Yan and the subsequent Han people here became aristocrats here, and they were in control of important departments such as military, administration and diplomacy.

The civilians are white people who immigrated from all over the world, and black people also have a small number of yellow people from India, Luzon, Japan, Siam and other places. These people together form the current Ming Ceuta region.

These whites and blacks, as well as natives in Luzon, India and other places, do not intermarry with each other. They are not only the rules followed by these races and also stipulated by the Ming government in Ceuta, in order to prevent these people from becoming one.

In addition, the Ming government gave them the freedom to believe in religion, so these whites, blacks and indigenous yellows would fight each other for ethnic or religious reasons, and even fight and even kill each other.

However, the Ming government would not take care of it unless it was involved in infringing on the interests of the nobles, that is, the Han people, or causing major deaths, after all, these people were the basis for Han people in the Ceuta area to be slave owners.

Of course, the Ceuta government in the Ming Dynasty also hopes to see people of different races or religious beliefs fighting each other in the Ceuta area, so that they can effectively rule Ceuta.

However, because they all had to accept Chinese characters, speak Chinese language, and take Confucianism as the right way, and regard the Ming emperors as the only loyal monarch, these civilians in Ceuta were also quite active in protecting Ceuta civilization.

Because in Ceuta, in addition to the nobles, that is, the Han people and the civilians, there was a scholarly class, namely the Confucians.

Whether white, black or indigenous yellow people received Confucian slave education, they could become Confucian scholars and have the opportunity to rule the civilians for the aristocratic rule.

Therefore, these civilians were very active in becoming Confucian scholars, and actively accepted the Confucian idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor, and were unwilling to lose the opportunity to be a Confucian scholar in the Eastern power because of the invasion of Western colonists.
Chapter completed!