Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

On the outskirts of Nanjing, a steam engine locomotive test site.

The sky shed soft morning light, and in the vast wilderness, a railway track stretched like a giant dragon, shining with a cold metallic luster.

This was the third day after Prince Zhu Gaoxu resigned from the post of supervising the country. Before the impact of the incident was fully fermented, civil and military officials gathered together again.

Their eyes were all focused on a strange machine at the other end of the track.

Today, they will witness an unprecedented miracle.

——The first steam engine locomotive track experiment in the Ming Dynasty.

The air is filled with the unique smell of coal smoke mixed with some kind of lubricating oil. This is a unique fragrance of the industrial era, and it also heralds the dawn of a new era.

The locomotive is like a huge steel monster, lying quietly on the rails. Its body is composed of dark boilers and shiny steel pipes, which looks both rough and mysterious.

The craftsmen shuttled around the locomotive, making final inspections. The expressions on their faces were serious and focused, as if they were performing a sacred ceremony.

The atmosphere was tense and solemn, as if the air was filled with anticipation. The royal family, nobles and civil servants gathered on both sides of the railway track, their eyes fixed on the locomotive.

These distinguished spectators were whispering and discussing whether this unprecedented steel behemoth could operate successfully. Some were full of expectations, others had doubts, but everyone had curiosity on their faces.

As the inspection ended, the craftsmen announced that they were ready to start, which made the surrounding audience stop their discussion and start staring with bated breath. They could only hear the soft sound of the breeze blowing through the fields and the occasional bird song in the distance.

"Woo~"

Finally, a long cry broke through the silence. It was the signal for the steam engine locomotive to start. The sound was shocking, like the roar of dragons and tigers, announcing the awakening of the steel giant.

Under the boiler, blazing flames rose up, swallowing the coal, releasing huge energy. The steam rushed in the pipes, pushing the piston to reciprocate rhythmically, and the locomotive trembled slightly, as if it was accumulating strength for the upcoming run.

With a louder whistle, the locomotive started slowly. It shook awkwardly a few times at first, and then seemed to find its balance and began to accelerate smoothly. The rails trembled slightly under its weight and made a rhythmic sound. The "click" sound seemed to be cheering and amazed.

When the locomotive slowly started to start, everyone from Zhu Di to the surrounding craftsmen was silent for an instant, as if time had stopped. They watched the locomotive speeding up and running on the rails intently, and the expressions on their faces gradually changed from nervousness to surprise and joy. Shocking.

The audience stared at this unprecedented sight in stunned silence. They saw steam spurting out from various gaps in the locomotive, forming patches of gray clouds, which formed a sharp contrast with the blue sky.

They saw the huge steel body running on the rails. Although it only ran a few hundred steps before gradually slowing down and stopping, the power from the machine was enough to shock everyone's heart.

Without any human or animal power, the machine only needs to add coal and water to make it move continuously.

The high-level executives of Ming Dynasty present were not stupid. In addition to Jiang Xinghuo's previous reminder, they quickly thought of the various functions of steam locomotives. These steam locomotives can not only drive things called "trains", but also move along the rails with extremely high efficiency. Transport personnel and materials to all corners of the empire, and can also be mounted on battleships to make the battleships run faster and even ignore the flow of wind and water. Or, they can be loaded directly on tanks and covered with steel armor. , forming an indestructible mobile fortress.

The locomotive slowly stopped after reaching the predetermined distance. The eruption of steam gradually subsided, but its residual power still filled the air.

The audience was silent for a moment, then burst into thunderous cheers.

This moment will forever be recorded in history, and the steam era of Ming Dynasty officially kicked off.

——————

In the thirteenth year of Yongle, Yu Qian won three yuan in a row, becoming the second person in the Ming Dynasty to win three yuan in a row after Huang Guan of the Hongwu Dynasty.

However, Jiang Xinghuo refused Zhu Di's love offer on the grounds that he was too worried and returned to Jingting Mountain in Xuancheng to observe filial piety.

In Xuancheng, a small town near Nanjing, Jiang Xinghuo carefully observed the changes of the times that he had sown and cultivated with his own hands.

The opening of the world market has affected every corner of South Zhili, and every village has joined the commodity trading system.

The reason for this phenomenon is very simple. In today's era, Ming Dynasty does not need to work on the internal demand that has great potential but has not been tapped. Instead, it can devote all its energy to overseas trade. The market owned by Ming Dynasty starts from the United Kingdom in the west. , east to Japan, most countries in the world have entered the trading system dominated by the Ming Dynasty. Since they successfully monopolized the export markets in most parts of the world in a short enough period of time, the Ming Dynasty naturally began to accelerate Expanding its own export industry, and this accelerated expansion made the industrial revolution begin to penetrate every capillary of the Ming Dynasty, an economic giant.

The social class structure of the Ming Dynasty has undergone fundamental changes. Fine division of labor and cooperative production mechanisms have become the mainstream of economic operations, and factories full of machines have produced far more products than in the agricultural era.

The phenomenon of converting rice into cotton, known as "cotton eats rice", is common in Jiangnan. In order to pursue greater economic interests, the landlords and gentry began to join the wave of the new era half-heartedly, converting the land they owned into Part or all of it was converted to cotton cultivation to meet the huge demand for cotton textile production. Agriculture, which once dominated the entire Ming Dynasty economy, began to gradually lose its dominant position.

The cotton textile industry has also seen an astonishing doubling of output. At the same time, with the gradual popularization of various types of steam engines, mechanized production has begun to partially break through the constraints of natural geography. Although it is still inseparable from water sources, for other geographical The conditions can be basically ignored.

Because workers enjoy more meat intake and wealth income than farmers, they obviously have a higher social status than before when they return to their hometowns. This not only brings envy or contempt from farmers, but also brings new problems. rural production methods.

A worker with a bright mind and some money saved from part-time work returned to the countryside and became a small workshop owner.

Thanks to the increasingly perfect cement road network in the north and south of Zhili, the products of small rural workshops can well supplement the upstream and downstream needs of the entire industry. At the same time, the people in the countryside are not bad at craftsmanship, and the remuneration that small workshop owners need to pay is Much less than in the city.

Small workshop owners hire certain types of craftsmen in the village or simply farmers who have never engaged in this craft. They specialize in manufacturing certain products every day in their workshops. They do everything. The export economy of Ming Dynasty developed so rapidly. So much so that in a short period of time there was a phenomenon of “lack of everything”.

Over time, these people working in small workshops transformed from small farmers or craftsmen into rural workers who relied on wages for a living.

At the same time, due to the clan characteristics of many areas in South Zhili, in the agricultural era, people would use their free time or slack seasons to engage in sideline businesses such as spinning, weaving, and mining, based on the products near their villages, under the unified coordination of the clan leader. .

After the advent of the industrial age, these villages naturally developed into small industrial villages employing full-time spinners, weavers or miners through clan fundraising.

In towns with convenient transportation next to the village, merchants are responsible for purchasing products processed in the village, or selling raw materials needed for the village's industrial production. These towns have also begun to gradually evolve into towns full of workshops or primitive factories.

Jiang Xinghuo's decision to establish a cement trade network is undoubtedly a very wise one. This will give certain areas that lack water transportation the opportunity to participate in the entire economic system.

This brand-new economic form resulted in a clear professional division of labor in the villages of the Ming Dynasty, just like the cities. Some villages were responsible for manufacturing certain commodities, some were responsible for producing and providing raw materials, and some were responsible for the production price. Refreshing food.

Industry began to spread widely in the countryside, and its impact was unstoppable. New lifestyles and various new trends in the city also entered the countryside.

In South Zhili, from the 13th year of Yongle to the 16th year of Yongle, the number of people directly or indirectly engaged in the textile industry reached one million, and the number of various types of textile machines also increased sharply from more than 30,000 to 150,000. .

However, this kind of barbaric growth is also chaotic. Due to the fluctuation of market prices, in certain periods, there will always be a considerable number of people engaged in the production of the same commodity. In addition, even the largest textile industry The overall structure of the industry is actually quite fragmented. Spinning mills, weaving mills, dyeing mills, carding mills, bleaching mills, printing mills and other factories are everywhere, and the following sub-categories of goods and raw materials also appear in the economic system. Extremely intricate.

But in any case, this is something that must be experienced in the development of the times. Perhaps in a few years, this phenomenon will change, the division of labor will become more specialized, and the industry will begin to undergo brutal market mergers.

In addition to light industry, the heavy industry sector is also developing very rapidly. The increasing demand for coal for steam engines and the gradual replacement of wood by cheap coal as the main material for fire and heating. These two factors have allowed Daming's coal output to reach millions of tons. .

At the same time, the number of pumping steam engines and textile steam engines in mining areas has also exceeded the one thousand mark, and the first freight railway from Sanwei, Tianjin to the suburbs of Beijing has been built. Although it is not fast, it is of great significance.

As of the 16th year of Yongle, compared with the statistics of the 6th year of Yongle ten years ago, the total population of Ming Dynasty increased from 60608532 to 64331900, the household registration increased from 11537928 households to 12028851 households, and the food tax revenue increased from 41023379 shi. 48,155,680 jins, steel production increased from 26.13 million jins to 55.05 million jins, and fiscal revenue increased from 21.6 million taels equivalent to silver (not actual silver) to 39.83 million taels.

In the 16th year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty produced about 67% of the world's iron, about 95% of its steel, about 85% of its coal, and about 78% of its cotton textiles.

All countries in the world and their future development have been autonomously or involuntarily involved in the Ming Dynasty's trade system. The entire world trade and currency system has been dominated by the Ming Dynasty. This was unprecedented in any empire, not even the Ming Dynasty. What the Mongol Empire could achieve.

And in the future, I am afraid that no one will break this record except Daming himself.

In this era, Ming Dynasty was the only factory in the world, the only world freight country, the only large-scale import and export country, the only fleet power, and the only country with a "world policy."

This absolute advantage comes from exploration, and Ming Dynasty never stopped this exploration.

In the seventeenth year of Yongle, Zheng He's fleet completed a circumnavigation of the world, not only discovered new continents, but also brought back those high-yield crops in the Americas predicted by Jiang Xinghuo.

- Potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes.

Although these high-yielding crops still require soil testing and local cultivation, sufficient food will undoubtedly allow the total population of the Ming Dynasty to slowly begin to move towards the 70 million mark.

Five years later, it was the 22nd year of Yongle.

In the first month of that year, the Tatar Grand Master Arutai, who had recovered most of his health, led his army to invade Datong Town, one of the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty. The general of Datong Town, the three-star Lieutenant General Hou Shengyong of Licheng, failed to respond, resulting in several Ming army border fortresses. The fort was breached.

Zhu Di, who had just moved into the newly built Forbidden City in Beijing, heard about the military situation in Datong Town. He was furious. He deprived Sheng Yong of his title and transferred him to the right governor of the Beijing Rear Army Command. Then he assembled the Beijing camp on April 3. He led an army of 100,000 people out of Juyongguan.

The Ming army had the Shenji Battalion led by Anyuan Hou Liu Sheng as the central army, Yunyang Bo Chen Xu's command as the left wing, Fuchang Bo Fangsheng's command as the right wing, and the British Duke Zhang Fu, who had been transferred back a few years ago, commanded the front army. The Queen of Ningyang is Chen Mao.

On April 25, after learning that Arutai had fled to the Talannamur River, Zhu Di ordered the entire army to pursue him quickly.

Unfortunately, Arutai knew that the Ming army had sharp guns and artillery, and the Tatar tribe was not qualified to fight directly with the Ming army, so he decisively led his army to escape.

On June 17, the Ming army advanced to the Dalannamur River. Three thousand battalions of scouts searched for 500 miles but found no trace of the Tatar tribe. Zhu Di then ordered the troops to retreat.

On July 11, Zhu Di suddenly felt unwell and forced himself to continue riding on horseback.

However, Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor who fought on the battlefield all his life, could not withstand the erosion of time on his way back from the last northern expedition.

On July 17, the army marched to Yumuchuan to camp. Zhu Di was seriously ill in bed, and his life was swaying like a candle in the wind.

He was lying in the imperial tent, surrounded by solemn eunuchs and attendants. In the tent, Zhu Di had a high fever, and his consciousness was wandering between reality and dreams.

Zhu Di dreamed of Zhu Gaochi when he was a child, that chubby child who always ran towards him with a smile. At that time, Zhu Gaochi's legs and feet were quite nimble. In the dream, Zhu Di and his three sons were playing together in the back hill of Prince Yan's Mansion. He was still very young at that time, and laughter and laughter echoed in his ears. However, when Zhu Gaochi's figure gradually blurred, he was replaced by Zhu Yuanzhang's stern face.

Zhu Di was so frightened that he seemed to see himself standing in the gloomy underworld, being angrily scolded and beaten by Zhu Yuanzhang. He was unable to resist and did not dare to resist.

Being beaten so badly by Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di yelled aggrievedly: "Dad! With all the merits of my son and minister in his life, can't he still clear away the charge of usurping the throne?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was startled, his hand holding the whip dropped, and his figure gradually dispersed. Tears fell heavily from Zhu Di's eyes. He hurriedly got up, trying to catch Zhu Yuanzhang's figure.

"Dad! Dad! Don't leave! I'm wrong! I shouldn't talk back!"

"--father!"

Then, the dream changed again, and he saw Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen, the nephew who had been deprived of the throne by him, now standing in front of him strangely and expressionlessly with his head covered in lime.

Zhu Di wanted to shout in fear, but found that he could not make a sound.

He woke up from the nightmare, covered in cold sweat, but his high fever had temporarily subsided, and his energy was much better.

Zhu Di was lying in the military tent, surrounded by dim lights and heavy air.

His face was as pale as paper and his eyes were a little out of focus. No one knew what Zhu Di was thinking.

Zhu Zhanji, who was lying next to the couch, saw him waking up and asked quickly: "Grandpa, are you feeling better?"

Zhu Di didn't speak. After a long time, he said with great effort: "I dreamed about your father."

Zhu Zhanji felt a little sad when he heard this. Qi King Zhu Gaochi, who was in charge of preparing logistics, became ill due to overwork and died of illness in Beijing on the way to the northern expedition of the army.

Zhu Di didn't speak for a long time. He might have thought of his past glory, those days of fighting in the north and south, those mighty and domineering moments, but now he can only lie here and let the disease eat away at him little by little. s life.

Zhu Di rested for a while before continuing to speak: "Back then, in the imperial prison, the Imperial Preceptor said that I was 'born in war and died on the journey.' Now, looking at it, I don't know how the Imperial Preceptor measured the moon. No matter what, It is not a pity to spend a lifetime with such a powerful person."

Zhu Di let out a long sigh. He was already seriously ill and might not be able to return to the Forbidden City in Beijing.

There is a posthumous edict in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and there is also a copy beside him.

Now that the prince Zhu Gaoxu is far away in Nanjing and unable to get back to him in time, Zhu Di knows that his time is running out and he must make arrangements.

"First let someone call the cabinet members who are accompanying you. After calling them, then call the princes in the army."

Zhu Zhanji ordered the eunuch outside the tent to summon someone.

And Zhu Di was so ill that Emperor Yongle, who could once wear heavy armor and fight bloody battles all day long, could not even straighten up from bed.

As a last resort, Zhu Di ordered Zhu Zhanji: "Bring me my sword."

Zhu Di did not call himself "I", but said "my sword".

Zhu Zhanji took out Zhu Di's sword from the knife rest and handed it to Zhu Di.

This sword was the one used by General Xu Da. Zhu Di carried it through the entire Jingnan War. After he ascended the throne, he gave this sword to Jiang Xinghuo, who used it to cut off The head of Ding Meixia, the prefect of Changzhou.

In the thirteenth year of Yongle, before returning to Jingting Mountain in Xuancheng, Jiang Xinghuo returned it to him.

Zhu Di struggled to press the small dragon ball in the mouth of the golden dragon decorated on the outside of the new scabbard. A mechanism popped open, revealing the mezzanine hidden in the dragon's belly. There was only a soft, folded yellow satin in the mezzanine. .

Zhu Di took out the edict hidden in it. The edict was his last edict as emperor and his last expectation for the world.

Zhu Di's hand was very steady, and he opened the yellow satin, with many words densely written on it in red pen.

But Zhu Di didn't read the edict. He just put it on the quilt and pulled out the knife from the sheath.

Zhu Di is a warrior.

"Qiang!" Looking at the knife in his hand, he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the reassuring sound of being unsheathed.

Zhu Di murmured: "The emperor will soon die in Sheji. The descendants of future generations, even if they are not ashamed of me for usurping the throne and ascending the throne, given my current achievements, they will still be in awe of me."

"Grandpa, what did you say?" Zhu Di's voice was so soft that Zhu Zhanji didn't hear it clearly.

Zhu Di didn't get the answer, but he already had the answer in his heart.

He turned his head with difficulty and looked at the north side of the tent, which was in the direction of Langjuxu Mountain.

Zhu Zhanji held Zhu Di's hand tightly, but did not dare to make a sound to interrupt Zhu Di.

Zhu Di tried his best to raise his voice.

"The territory is vast, reaching far away from the Han and Tang Dynasties! The success is so great, so outstanding!"

This is Zhu Di's evaluation of his life.

In his lifetime, he conquered Mobei, defeated Timur, promoted reforms, regulated the Yellow River, compiled the "Yongle Dadian", and sailed the fleet around the world. His achievements have long surpassed Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhu Di, the king of Yan who rebelled, may have been despised by some as a traitor and traitor, but Emperor Yongle and the era he created left only eternal admiration to future generations.

But at this time, suddenly, the whole sky turned dark, and the imperial tent, which was not very light-transmissive, instantly became pitch black.

——The total solar eclipse is coming.

After another moment, Zhu Di didn't speak. Zhu Zhanji seemed to realize something. He suddenly panicked. The tears in his eyes completely blurred his vision. Zhu Zhanji wiped his eyes and tested Zhu Di's breath tremblingly. .

Zhu Zhanji's heart was in his throat. Just when he lowered his fingers and was about to scream, he held it back.

A chill rose up from Zhu Zhanji's back, as if his scalp was about to explode.

Zhu Zhanji bit his lip and took the edict on the quilt with his hand.

There are many arrangements written on it. These arrangements were originally written in duplicate by Zhu Di because he was worried about any accidents during his northern expedition.

These include letting Prince Zhu Gaoxu succeed to the throne, and granting North Korea to Qi King Zhu Zhanji, etc.

Zhu Zhanji's hands were trembling. He closed his eyes tightly. When he opened his eyes again, his eyes became firm and decisive.

Zhu Zhanji sensed an excellent opportunity.

——No one knows what the content of the edict is now.

Soon, following the previous summons, Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong from the cabinet came to the imperial tent.

When Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong arrived, Zhu Zhanji was already ready.

Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong were silent when they saw that the big seal was so bright red that it looked like a bizarre edict that had just been stamped on it. There was only one sentence written on the edict: depose the prince and make Zhu Zhanji the grandson.

"Your Highness, only we know now, it's not too late to turn back."

If the imperial edict is established, Zhu Zhanji will of course be the natural successor to the Ming Empire after Zhu Di's death.

But everyone knows how low the authenticity of this edict is.

In addition, Zhu Di only had Zhu Zhanji by his side before he died, so there was no need to guess what was going on.

Zhu Zhanji gritted his teeth and worked hard to straighten his body. His eyes were firm and powerful, and he only said three words.

"I'm not convinced."

Yes, he refused.

When Zhu Zhanji was a child, he saw the hard work of his father Zhu Gaochi, and he felt that the throne should belong to his family.

Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong felt helpless. The coup was not just a family affair. Now the Northern Expedition Army was composed of nobles who were close to Zhu Gaoxu from top to bottom. Without the approval of the noble military ministers, this imperial edict could not even be sent out to the Yumuchuan Camp. .

What's more, even if they return to Beijing with the Northern Expedition army, there will still be 100,000 Beijing troops left in Beijing.

"The British Duke Zhang Fu has always been close to my father. The same is true for Wei Guogong Xu Huizu, the left governor of the rear army in Beijing. The right governor Sheng Yong is also available! In addition, there are so many civil servants in Beijing who were my father's disciples during his lifetime. So, why can't we accomplish great things?"

"His Royal Highness King Qi, this is rebellion!"

Afraid that Huang Yan, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony and eunuch outside the imperial tent, would hear it, Yang Shiqi whispered into Zhu Zhanji's ear and said these words in an almost "roaring" manner.

"The world belongs to our Zhu family, who did I rebel against?"

Zhu Zhanji held the knife across his neck.

"Two gentlemen, you have the world at your fingertips!"

Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong were half helpless and half haunted. How could they be willing to do so over the years?

Zhu Zhanji acted very quickly. He knew that the opportunity was fleeting, so after winning the support of Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong, he did not hesitate to use the cabinet style to forge Zhu Di's edict again, and stamp it with Zhu Di's personal edict. The jade seal passed down from the country.

The edict written by Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong was much better than the hastily written one by Zhu Zhanji that was full of flaws.

This forged imperial edict did not directly abolish Zhu Gaoxu's position as crown prince, but instead summoned Prince Zhu Gaoxu and Song King Zhu Gaosui to Beijing, and at the same time granted Qi King Zhu Zhanji the supreme command of the Beijing camp.

This move is much more clever.

If the prince is directly deposed, all the noble military officials of the Northern Expedition will be upset. If only the King of Qi Zhu Zhanji is allowed to command the entire Beijing camp, considering the status of King Qi as the prince and the highest-ranking person in the army, and Zhu Di's influence on For Zhu Zhanji's favor, this order is much more reasonable.

After taking control of the military, things will be much easier to handle in the future. Whether it is slowly replacing key positions with your own people, or making some defense adjustments and changes, it is very reasonable.

Summoning Prince Zhu Gaoxu and King Zhu Gaosui of the Song Dynasty to Beijing was undoubtedly the occasion to "invite the emperor into the urn". As long as Prince Zhu Gaoxu was captured and killed in front of the emperor's soul in the palace, the throne would belong to Zhu Zhanji.

Zhu Zhanji's actions did not stop there. He knew clearly that in order to stabilize his position, it was not enough to rely on a forged edict.

So on his way back to Beijing, he began to actively contact military generals, especially those powerful figures who held heavy troops but were not biased towards Zhu Gaoxu.

At this time, Gu Cheng, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, had died of illness. Under Zhu Zhanji's lobbying, the British Duke Zhang Fu, the Left Commander Wei Guogong Xu Huizu, the Right Commander Hou Shengyong of Licheng, and others were gradually persuaded by Zhu Zhanji and agreed to stand on the throne. On his side.

With the support of these generals, and the help of Beijing civilian leader Guo Zi, who was originally Zhu Gaochi's team, Zhu Zhanji's confidence greatly increased. He quickly took control of Beijing and prepared for the next power seizure.

——————

On the day Zhu Di died, thousands of miles away in the Imperial College of Nanjing, Jiang Xinghuo was looking at the sky.

At this time, around him were Zhu Gaoxu, Xu Jingchang and Jiang Xuan, Zhuo Jing, Cao Duan, Xie Jin, Hu Jiya and other father and son, Wang Bin, Cao Song, Huikong and others were also guarding him. Surrounded by Wang Yunsheng, Fan Weixing, Zheng Hanqing, He Shuliang and many other Imperial College teachers and students including international students from various countries, they are all gathered here to witness this historic moment.

In the sky across southern Zhili, the hot air balloons of the Flying Eagle Guards led by Huo Fei and Ding Xiaohong were still floating.

No, this is not accurate. To be precise, there are hundreds of hot air balloons floating at all key points in the entire Ming Dynasty.

With the promotion of science, the existence of gravitation in physics has been recognized by people through torsion scale experiments that have been carried out on numerous tours across the country.

The circumnavigation of the world, which has begun to become the norm, has made people realize that the world is indeed a sphere. Starting from the Ming Dynasty and traveling from east to west, you will still return to the Ming Dynasty.

This caused many theoretical foundations of Neo-Confucianism to be completely destroyed, and the damage was irreversible.

Therefore, after more than twenty years of resistance, Neo-Confucianism finally completely lost its dominant position in the Ming Dynasty's ideological circles, while Xinxue and Practical Studies, as well as the science supporting Practical Studies, gradually became prominent.

But the defenders of Neo-Confucianism still hold on to the last high ground, which is "Li Yifenshu".

As the cosmology of Neo-Confucianism, "Li Yi Fen Shu" firmly believes that the principles of all things come from the laws of heaven, and therefore everything has its own principles based on the laws of heaven.

The reason why a total solar eclipse is measured is because the formation principle of a total solar eclipse is that when the moon is closer to the earth and is located near the ascending node or descending node between the earth and the sun, the moon will completely cover the entire surface of the sun, causing The sun turned into a black disk, leaving only a golden halo.

In this case, only people within the moon's umbra (that is, the darkest shadow) can see a total solar eclipse. The umbral range is usually very small, only a few hundred kilometers wide, and moves very fast, so a total solar eclipse The duration is very short, usually only a few minutes.

The "Yongle Moon Measurement" is to measure the length of the moon's umbra in the shadow area of ​​the earth in just a few minutes, thereby inferring the diameter of the moon, and then using mathematical methods to prove that the massive sun is the earth. and the centers of celestial bodies such as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, to falsify the Neo-Confucian cosmology of "one principle is the same".

In order to measure the length of the solar eclipse shadow zone on the earth's surface, Jiang Xinghuo recreated the feat of Guo Shoujing's "Four Seas Test" of the Yuan Dynasty.

The "Four Seas Test" hosted by Guo Shoujing that year established 27 observation stations in various parts of the Yuan Dynasty, starting from the Korean Peninsula in the east, to the Sichuan-Yunnan and Hexi Corridors in the west, and to Mobei in the north. The measurement contents were numerous, the area was vast, and the accuracy was high. , the number of participants is unprecedented in the history of world astronomy.

And Jiang Xinghuo's "Yongle Moon Measurement" this time is even bigger!

Jiang Xinghuo has established 4,331 observation points and 306 observation stations stretching tens of thousands of miles in a huge area starting from Hami in the west, Japan in the east, Mobei in the north, and Java in the south.

Based on these observation points and observation stations, within the two intervals of the first and last four observation stations illuminated by the shadow of a certain section, using manpower, horse power and ship power to search in time, the specific position and length of the shadow of this section can be measured, and then Through data collection, and then using Guo Shoujing's "arc-circle cutting technique" to project arc segments on the earth's sphere, the length of the moon's umbra in the earth's shadow area can be calculated.

With the accurate data of the length of the moon's umbra in the earth's shadow area, the diameter of the moon can be measured in proportion, and the diameter and area of ​​the sun can be calculated through the relationship between the earth, sun and moon!

In this way, the "different principles" will be completely disintegrated, and a new view of the universe will be completely established!

"Mr. Zhuo, here we come!" Jiang Xinghuo patted Zhuo Jing's sleeve.

Everyone wore head-mounted dark glass glasses tied with ropes. During the total solar eclipse, the ultraviolet and infrared rays of the sun were still irradiating the earth. If you look directly with the naked eye, it is very easy to damage your eyes. At this time, it is best not to even use the astronomical telescope. Wearing glasses to look at the astronomical telescope will still damage your eyes. This is why Jiang Xinghuo has established so many observation points and observation stations.

A strange phenomenon appeared in the sky.

The originally bright sun was suddenly swallowed up by a huge black shadow, and the sky became darker and darker.

The people in Nanjing stopped their work one after another and looked up at the sky. People here were not too panicked, and because it had been publicized in Ming Pao, many people still followed the advice of Ming Pao and did not directly use their naked eyes. Go watch the solar eclipse.

Jiang Xinghuo and the others saw that the edge of the sun was gradually eroded by the black shadow, forming a curved arc. As time went by, the black shadow continued to expand, and the sun's light became weaker and weaker. The entire sky seemed to be covered by a huge black cloth. Shrouded, making people feel depressed and uneasy.

Arutai and his men who had just escaped back to their nest on the grassland were also panicked. The herdsmen began to scream in terror. They thought this was a sign of the anger of the gods and heralded the coming disaster. Some people knelt on the ground. Praying, hoping that the gods can bless them to survive this crisis safely, and some people gathered together to discuss and speculate on the causes and consequences of this vision.

In every corner of the world, everyone stopped what they were doing.

Tang Yin, who was in the Jiangnan Textile Factory, led Zhao Haichuan and others to maintain order in the textile factory to prevent the female workers from panicking; Zhang Yuchu, who was meditating in the Qing Palace in Longhu Mountain, heard the exclamation of Qingfeng Nvguan and suddenly opened his sleepy eyes. ; Xun Zhan, who was teaching in Yunnan, looked at the celestial phenomena and muttered some strange words angrily; Chen Tianping, who was in the Annan Palace, pushed away the concubine beside him and ran out barefoot; Li Zhigang, who was having a dinner with the Chief Envoy of Cochin , Huang Xin, Pei Wenli and others all stopped their chopsticks in unison; businessmen from various countries who were wandering on the sea, including Li Zengzhi, Wu Chuanjia, Jiang Ge, Liu Fuchun, Wang Zhenqing and Fei Fu, were also on the deck watching this rare event. A vision at first sight.

As the total solar eclipse progresses, the sky becomes darker and darker, as if night has fallen.

In Nanjing, the originally noisy streets became silent, with only a few frightened shouts occasionally heard.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, there are still many people whose faces are full of fear and uneasiness. They don't know when this vision will end, and they don't know what they should do.

But more people, especially scholars who still adhere to the Neo-Confucian viewpoint, stare at the total solar eclipse through the dark glasses they purchased.

The detailed principles of measuring the moon, including the calculation formulas of Guo Shoujing's "circle cutting technique" and the geometric diagrams of the earth, sun and moon, have long been published in Ming Pao. Now there is only one initial data missing. The result can be deduced.

And this data is the length of the moon's umbra in the earth's shadow area.

At the moment when the total solar eclipse was completely formed, with the sound of "raising fire", the fire platform at the Imperial Academy observation point was ignited, and flames rose into the sky.

The Eagle Observer in the sky faithfully drew the ground data on the map in his hand with a pencil.

If the viewing angle can be raised higher, if there is a space station at this time, the people inside can clearly see that in the dark shadow area of ​​the earth, a red line of fire rises from north to south! And this line of fire almost coincides with the umbral line of the moon!

"A single spark can start a prairie fire."

Jiang Xinghuo nervously grasped the hands in his sleeves.

Today, he will defeat Neo-Confucianism openly and openly in front of the whole world, and with his new and complete view of the universe, he will become one of the saints!

But at this moment, Zhu Gaoxu's powerful heart suddenly stopped for a moment.

He looked towards the north as if feeling something, and covered his chest.

Jiang Xinghuo saw his abnormality and asked softly: "What's wrong?"

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth blankly, thought for a while, and just shook his head.

"I don't know, but I suddenly feel sad."

Finally, after a short but long wait, the dark shadows began to recede, and the sun's rays shone on the earth again.

On September 11, the 22nd year of Yongle, all the data of the "Yongle Moon Measurement" were compiled, calculated and calibrated jointly by Qintianjian and Guozijian.

Jiang Xinghuo opened up all the observation data on Ming Pao and gave the final calculation results.

——The diameter of the sun is about 2.7 million miles, the diameter of the earth is about 25,000 miles, and the diameter of the moon is about 7,000 miles.

After the "Yongle Moon Measurement", the Neo-Confucian cosmology and the entire theoretical edifice based on it completely collapsed, and science became the only theory to correctly explain the world.

Jiang Xinghuo, whose status has equaled that of the "Five Sons of the Northern Song Dynasty", has also moved from the realm of scholars to the realm of saints.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu was leading a mighty army, marching along the South Beijing Railway, arriving at Le'an Prefecture north of Jinan. From here, you can go straight north to Tianjin Sanwei, and then along the The first official railway in the Ming Dynasty turned to the northwest of Beijing City.

There was obviously something wrong with the imperial edict coming from Beijing, and all the information later passed back by the people on the list left by the old monk showed that Zhu Zhanji was already seeking to become independent.

Under this premise, if you go there with only a small number of followers, you may be directly arranged by the swordsman under the tent.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu did not rush to go, but directly announced his accession to the throne in Nanjing, and then changed his reign name to "Jingqing".

This is because when the Battle of Jingnan ended, the reign name that Zhu Di initially set was actually "Yongqing", but Zhu Di didn't like the word "Qing" very much, so he changed it to "Yongle".

Zhu Gaoxu combined the "Jing" from "Jingnan" with the "Qing" from "Yongqing" to form "Jingqing", which means making the world stable and the world clear, which is similar to the meaning of "Yongle".

As for why Jiang Xinghuo also agreed with this year name, it is unknown whether there is any bad taste unique to him.

After Zhu Gaoxu ascended the throne, he instead ordered Zhu Zhanji, the King of Qi in Beijing, to come to have an audience. Zhu Zhanji naturally refused to comply. fear.

The fleet was on their side, so Zhu Gaoxu began to recruit troops. At the same time, he transferred back some of the garrisons in Japan, Annan, Champa and other countries, and recruited Song King Zhu Gaosui and his troops.

After Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs, allocated money and grain, and Song Li, the Minister of Industry, prepared all the weapons, Zhu Gaoxu led an army of 150,000 soldiers from the south to march in person, including Zhu Neng, the Duke of Cheng, Qiu Fu, the Duke of Qi, Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, Yao Guangxiao, the Duke of Rong, and Dingguo. Gong Xu Jingchang and other famous ministers and generals accompanied the expedition.

Since there are railways that can transport supplies, the army marched along the South Beijing Railway throughout the entire journey.

The army set off from Nanjing and met up with the three guards of Zhou Wang Zhu Youyi at the junction of Shandong and Henan. Finally, it stopped in Le'an Prefecture and waited for the three guards of Song Wang Zhu Gaosui who were sent from the coastal port of Shandong by Pingjiang Marquis Chen Xuan. After the escort, and Jiang Xinghuo, who had arrived from Nanjing after completing the lunar measurement work, continued to go north along the railway unhurriedly.

And along the way, everywhere along the way, Ming troops from all ministries surrendered under the leadership of generals.

On September 25, the 22nd year of Yongle's reign, Zhu Gaoxu's troops arrived thirty miles south of Beijing.

It seems that there are still 200,000 Beijing troops around Beijing, but in fact, when these troops were forced to fight by the British Duke Zhang Fu, Wei Guogong Xu Huizu, Licheng Hou Shengyong and others, their morale was completely lost before the battle started. , have defected in the face of battle.

Although the general officers of the three major battalions, including Anhou Huoli Huozhen, Chengyanghou Zhangwu, and Anyuanhou Liu Sheng, were all stripped of their official posts and placed under house arrest, the troops below were led by Ningyanghou Chen Mao, Yunyang Bo Chen Xu, Fuchang Bo Fang Sheng and other Hou Bo had no intention of working hard for Zhu Zhanji. Zhu Gaoxu was not only their comrade and friend, but also the God of Wealth who had provided them with generous share dividends every year for twenty years.

Zhu Gaoxu has both humanity and interests, and he is justifiable, so why should we rebel against Zhu Zhanji?

Commanders such as British Duke Zhang Fu, Wei Duke Xu Huizu, and Licheng Hou Shengyong could not restrain the army and had to flee back to the city in a hurry. Sheng Yong felt that he could not tolerate Zhu Gaoxu, so he drew his sword and committed suicide.

After hearing the news that Zhu Gaoxu led troops into Beijing, Ji Gang, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, who was imprisoned in the dungeon, was also released by his men. Under the leadership of Ji Gang, a large army surrounded the Forbidden City.

Zhu Gaoxu ordered Jie Jin to write a letter persuading him to surrender, and fired bows and arrows into the city.

Zhu Zhanji knew that the situation was over, and at Zhang Anshi's suggestion, he left the Forbidden City and surrendered.

After Jiang Xinghuo and Yao Guangxiao jointly submitted a letter, Zhu Gaoxu, who was already the winner, did not go on a killing spree, but showed his kindness and forgave his enemies.

King Zhu Zhanji of Qi was demoted from prince to county king. The title of King Qi was inherited by Zhu Gaochi's second son Zhu Zhanju, and Zhu Zhanji's fiefdom was changed to Ceylon.

The British Duke Zhang Fu was demoted to the rank of Xin Anbo and changed to General Zhengxi. He led a "mercenary" force to participate in the war that broke out between the Aries Dynasty and the Black Sheep Dynasty.

The Duke of Wei, Xu Huizu, reduced his title to the people. The Duke of Wei was inherited by Xu Yingxu, the right governor of the Central Military Governor's Mansion. Xu Huizu was appointed as the commander of the Ming Army, Gibraltar's Xuan comfort envoy.

Guo Zi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance in Beijing, and Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong and other cabinet officials were ordered to retire.

——————

The Jingqing Dynasty lasted for thirty-five years. In the eyes of historians, the Ming Dynasty was at its peak. Its military, technological, economic, cultural and other achievements reached unprecedented heights in Chinese history.

During this period, the Ming Dynasty not only achieved prosperity and stability domestically, with a total population exceeding 80 million, but also actively participated in global trade and dominated the global trade system with its open mind and forward-looking thinking. After more than ten years of currency reform, the dual-track silver system created by Jiang Xinghuo finally completed its historical mission and was merged at home and abroad. The silver banknote became an irreplaceable global currency.

At the same time, the progress of the industrial revolution made Ming Dynasty's first-mover advantage more and more accumulated. Countless technological innovations were produced on the land of Ming Dynasty, and the Ming army's fleet also sailed on all important waterways in the world. Its powerful military The strength and shrewd strategic layout made Ming Dynasty powerful on the world stage.

The Ming Dynasty became the first truly global empire in history.

The Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence is so vast that in all the civilized areas in the world, there is no non-Ming Dynasty sphere of influence that can let the sun or moon set at any moment.

The sun and the moon never set, which is called the Ming Dynasty.

——————

In Jiang Xinghuo's eighth life, death that had been delayed for more than sixty years finally arrived.

The moment his body's functions completely stopped, Jiang Xinghuo's world fell into cold and dark chaos.

The familiar feeling of drowning and suffocation enveloped him until an arm pulled him out of this feeling.

When Jiang Xinghuo woke up in a daze, the first thing that caught his eye was a hazy white. He blinked, trying to dispel the fog in front of his eyes.

Gradually, his vision began to focus, and a spectacular picture gradually unfolded before his eyes.

White is the painting color of warships.

A majestic battleship stands in the Yanziji Military Port. Its huge body shines with the luster of steel in the sun. The hull lines are smooth and majestic, and the turrets are lined with them, as if it is a sleeping steel beast. On the deck, there are many Soldiers were shouting and passing through.

At this time, in the blue sky, a pair of propeller fighter jets in double formation roared past.

He saw the name of the battleship.

"Spark".

The river breeze gently brushed his cheek, bringing with it the salty smell of algae and the whistle of distant ships. A large number of memories poured into his mind, such as the Silk War and the change of cabinet in the Ming Dynasty Parliament.

At this time, the person next to him threw something on him, interrupting his thoughts.

Jiang Xinghuo's muscle memory made him subconsciously pick up the thing and pull it with his right hand. Then his eyes caught a glimpse of what it was, and a memory flashed in his mind.

Thirty-three-year-old bolt-action rifle, which was adopted as a standard weapon by the Ming Dynasty after the Fourth Silk War. It has a quarter-inch caliber and weighs eight and a half pounds with a blade. The magazine holds seven rounds. Effective range is one thousand steps.

The person who threw him the rifle seemed a little dissatisfied with his slowness. A pleasant female voice came: "How long are you going to lie on the ground? The battleship Starfire has been captured, and the official operation will begin soon."

Jiang Xinghuo stood up holding a 33-year-old bolt-action rifle and saw a familiar face that seemed familiar to him.

At this moment when he was stunned, the huge-caliber triple main gun of the battleship Starfire beside him suddenly "boomed" and made an earth-shattering sound. The battleship moved sideways for a distance, and the wooden plank road of the dock followed. Shake.

Jiang Xinghuo followed the trajectory of the cannonball and found that the impact point was very familiar to him.

——Nanjing Imperial Palace.

(Complete book)