On this day, it was the day when the railway section from Beijing to Tongzhou was opened to traffic, and Zhu Houzhao also got up early in the morning and went to Yongdingmen with a group of officials.

Because there are enough slaves, the speed of project construction is very fast, and there is an additional railway station outside the Yongding Gate at this time.

The railway station is a traditional Chinese building with heavy eaves and the top of the mountain as the roof, a total of two locomotives parked on the tracks, behind the locomotive are five carriages, the carriages are not big, and the locomotive is the same black body, each carriage is under the train wheels, firmly embedded in the rails.

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

Zhu Houzhao is okay, Zhang Xuan, the first assistant of the cabinet who followed Zhu Houzhao, showed a rare kind smile when he saw the train at this time, and he was happier than when he saw his own grandson born, and he couldn't help but stretch out his hand and wanted to touch the metallic texture of the train, but because Emperor Zhu Houzhao was here, he couldn't help but endure it.

"Unbelievable, unbelievable, thirty years ago, I would never have thought that such a miraculous thing would appear in the Ming Dynasty, a car made of iron and weighing more than 100 tons could be propelled forward by steam power!"

Xia Yan couldn't help but sigh because of this.

At this time, Zhang Xuan, the first assistant of the cabinet on the side, saw Xia Yan sighing and couldn't help but say:

"Are you thinking about it, how can Confucianism govern the country for more than 100 years, the rivers are declining, and the people's hearts are not ancient, and since the holy study of Dachang, the study of a hundred crafts has been fully revealed, so that the people of Li have no hunger, so that steam is used for horses, guns and cannons are used instead of bows and crossbows, and the country of learning is stronger than the country of reckless men from now on!"

Xia Yan glanced at the electric lights on the train, and admitted more and more in his heart that since his courtiers began to accept the concept of "rational and holy use", the empire has indeed undergone earth-shaking changes, and these things that were regarded as strange and ingenious by Confucian ministers in the past can really change this era, and he couldn't help but ask Zhang Xuan because of this:

"In the sense of the first thought, this science is really useless, and it should be completely abandoned?"

"Non-science is useless, it is the people's hearts have changed, now there are many rich and noble, and the poor are few, even small families also have years of silver, all of them are chasing fame and fortune, only science is correct people's hearts are really difficult to continue, once this steam train passes through the country, it will undoubtedly promote the development of commerce and trade, the people can stay in their homeland, the clan exists in name only, and the relationship between father, son, son and grandchildren is naturally difficult to maintain the peace of the society;

Therefore, the old man thinks that the science is no longer in line with the current Ming Dynasty, and if he wants to make the United States peaceful, the study of governing the country must keep pace with the times, it is better to be conservative than to innovate, and the idea of rational body and holy use must be changed, if it is not changed, it will be difficult to change the foundation of the empire after all, and it will only benefit the scholars and doctors at that time, and the poor still have no place to stand. ”

As soon as Zhang Xuan said this, Xia Yan couldn't help but say:

"But right now, the poor people of the Ming Dynasty are not without a place, and the wealth of the four seas is gathered in the Ming Dynasty, except for some Confucian ministers in the country, who have the remarks of the court that are mercenary and unkind to foreign countries, there is no public resentment."

"But in fact, it is indeed not in line with the righteousness of reason for the imperial court to plunder abroad, but it is indeed conducive to the education of the people of the country, so that the old can be supported and the young can grow;

Therefore, the old man believes that we should abandon the consciousness of science as the mainstay, and let the behavior of foreign plunder be rationalized and legitimized in the ideology of governing the country, otherwise, if science is allowed to spread in this way, many Confucian scholars in China are afraid that they will really do things to feed tigers. ”

Zhang Xuan said and said: "Your Majesty said, if we want to be able ministers, we must take the long-term interests of the country and its own people in mind, if science is not completely eradicated, the science and technology and industry of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably be limited by it, and 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 unfettered by reason, unscrupulously enslave the people of other countries and plunder, then other countries may soon surpass my Ming Dynasty and form a strong enemy of my Ming Dynasty." ”

"What the first man said is very true, at present, Gao Feng, the great master of the inner court, has been ordered to sail to the Western Ocean with the Ming Dynasty's fine Fushou ointment, and then these Western countries will once again feel the power of the strong ships and cannons from my Ming Dynasty, perhaps, when the time comes, these Western countries will really have one or two countries awakened because of this!

Xiaguan went out to the West a few years ago, and learned in detail about the doctrine of Western Christianity, and learned about its revival of literature and art, the place is indeed more open than the Confucianism of the Ming Dynasty, and has a more thorough understanding of human nature, although it is bound by religion, but at the bottom it is gradually free from the religious pursuit of secular freedom, and its study of science is more enthusiastic than the Ming Dynasty, and has never been ashamed of it, and in my Ming Dynasty, if it were not for His Majesty's top-down promotion of the hundred schools of learning, to give the craftsman a high status, to now the world is only to learn about poetry and books as talented, It is difficult to mathematics and astronomy as the right way, if the Ming Dynasty is bound by science again, a hundred years later, it will be difficult to ensure that these Western countries that are already open and advocate a hundred studies will catch up with or even surpass our Ming in terms of national strength, but fortunately, they are not yet bound by religion! ”

Xia Yan couldn't help laughing as he spoke, he was very glad that although he had cut down the Western pope, he did not abolish the pope of the Western Papal State, but let him establish another one, but the other Western countries did not jointly attack the Ming because the Pope of the Pope of the Pope State was killed, which also made Xia Yan have to admit that the Western countries have indeed begun to gradually get rid of the shackles of religion, and the control of religion over these Western countries is gradually declining.

Zhu Houzhao walked out at this time, and saw Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan chatting while waiting outside the royal hall in the carriage, so he asked, "What are you talking about?" ”

Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan answered truthfully.

Zhu Houzhao just nodded at first, he was very pleased that the scholars of the Ming Dynasty were not pedantic, they also had the ability to think independently, and even could sniff out the changes in the future situation from the changing situation, just as in the middle and late Ming Dynasty in history, Li Zhizao Xu Guangqi and a group of enlightened scholars and doctors also realized the changes in the global situation and began to take the initiative to learn and master the knowledge of natural sciences, and even wrote books to promote, focusing on book promotion, Some scholars and doctors of the Ming Dynasty, unlike some emperors, would not let the scientific knowledge of the people be hidden in the high cabinet because of selfishness.

What made Zhu Houzhao even more pleased was that there was no Sino-Japanese War in this era of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhang Xuan and other reformist officials still foreshadowed through their own unusual foresight that after the Ming Dynasty entered the steam industrial revolution, the real opponent did not come from the outside, but from internal resistance.

Bang!

The first steam train of the Ming Dynasty began to start, the sound of stabbing sounded, the thick white fog gushed out from the black chimney, and the whole train galloped on the tracks, like a strong young man running in winter, steaming all over his body, and driving into the distance with vigorous steps.

Wherever the railroad spread, the steam train went all the way.

On the North China Plain, which is cold in spring, there is another beautiful landscape, and the soft Chinese rivers and mountains are also a little tougher.

Zhu Hou looked at the shadows of the regressing trees, the factories in the suburbs of Beijing, and the farmers working in the farmland on the outskirts of Beijing, as if he was watching a cross-cutting documentary about the current Ming Dynasty.

And at this time, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say: "Daming is sometimes like this train, no one knows where he should go in the future, if you think that science is not enough, and then find a study is, governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, you must take advantage of the trend, neither deliberately obstruct nor rush forward, first step by step, and so on after Jiaozhi is recovered, the southwest Tusi also has to take the opportunity to deal with it, the times are different, and the attitude of the Ming Dynasty towards all forces must be different." ”

Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan both said yes.

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

Zhu Houzhao and the people did a simple interaction and then lived in the palace of Tongzhou, Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan and other important ministers were also subject to Zhu Houzhao's holy decree to temporarily live in the palace, for Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan and other officials, it is indeed a very shocking thing to be able to take the train from the capital to Tongzhou, they seem to be unfinished, and they are also eager to let the whole world enjoy the new means of transportation of the Ming Dynasty.

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

Zhu Houzhao was also thinking about such a thing, so he summoned the officials involved in the railway construction and steam train operation from the capital to Tongzhou in the palace, and said that he would set up a Ministry of Railways and a railway construction bureau and a special steam locomotive production plant to be responsible for the railway operation management and construction of the entire Ming Dynasty and the manufacture and improvement of trains.

In the end, the result of the court meeting was to let Qin Yu, the left waiter of the Ministry of Railways, serve as the secretary of the Ministry of Railways, and Xu Jie, the left waiter of the Ministry of Railways and the commander of the Railway Bureau, was specifically responsible for the construction and operation of the railway.

The reason why Xu Jie was put in charge was because Xu Jie was the first official to participate in the use of steam locomotives during his time as Shuntianfu Cheng, and he was also the first batch of officials responsible for the construction and operation of railways.

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

The railway from Beijing to Tongzhou was originally mainly 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: sleepers, seats, no seats and noble cars, and sleepers were also divided into soft sleepers and hard sleepers.

The noble carriages were mainly used by important figures of the empire.

Zhu Houzhao's special train was also being manufactured, and in addition, Zhu Houzhao also specially ordered the cabinet ministers and privy envoys of the Guards to have the privilege of a special train, so that they could inspect local political and military affairs.

After the railway line between Beijing and Tongzhou is much more convenient for the transportation of goods between Beijing and Tongzhou, and from then on, it is not only road transportation, so that more goods are transported in and out of Beijing in a single day.

As a result, the north-south transportation has become busier and has not been greatly affected by the opening of sea transportation.

At the same time, the manufacture of steamships in the Ming Dynasty was also on the agenda, and at the large dockyard base in Yuegang, Fujian, a light gray ironclad warship was being intensified, and nearly 100,000 slaves were working day and night to transport high-quality steel from Wuchang, Tongzhou, Shanghai, Taiping and other places to the dock under the supervision of the overseers.

The Ming engineers who graduated from Beijing Normal University, Central University and other institutions of higher learning are wearing steel helmets and holding drawings in various high platforms to command, directing the slaves below to use pulleys and pendants to lift these steel to the right position by the Ming technicians for welding, the Ming craftsmen on the elevated everywhere are skillfully welding these steels, the development of chemical technology, especially the emergence of organic chemistry, has made the Ming Dynasty have mastered the production and application of acetylene, coupled with the discovery of the arc, The welding technology has improved a lot, so that some Ming craftsmen can carry out more advanced welding technology.

And the ironclad ship has the possibility of manufacturing success.

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

In general, Daming has now entered a period of rapid development of science and technology, because the power has been upgraded from traditional human and animal power to mechanical power, so the next is just to apply mechanical power to all walks of life.

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

Zhu Houzhao and the Ming court were also not stingy and frantically threw money, which made the scientific research personnel who developed new industrial products and new technologies highly motivated, and even some scholars and doctors increased their interest in this area.

Because of this, not to mention relying on steam power to develop steam locomotives and steam ships, and even some people have begun to develop steam planes, Zhu Houzhao still gives financial support to these people regardless of whether they succeed or not, and some people even feel that since there are steam locomotives, if the cannon is installed on the steam locomotive, it is not possible to drive the steam cannon car directly.

In any case, after the emergence of the steam industrial revolution in the Ming Dynasty, all kinds of new machines of the Ming Dynasty sprung up like mushrooms.

In addition, electricity is also being studied frantically, after the electromagnetic induction phenomenon has been confirmed by the Daming Academy of Sciences, there have been Daming developers in the manufacture of motors and the use of electric current applications.

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

Gao Feng and his fleet arrived in Lisbon.

Although, Portugal greatly reduced its colonies because of the west of the Ming Dynasty, and finally its sphere of influence was only limited to some parts of South America, but Portugal did not retaliate against the Ming Dynasty because of this, and even banned trade with the Ming Dynasty, not that Portugal did not want to retaliate, mainly because Portugal also knew that it did not have this strength.

And in order to make profits from the huge market of Daming, he also had to endure the humiliation brought to them by Daming, continue to do business with Daming, act as Daming's comprador, and sell the population and raw materials plundered from his colonies to Daming.

In fact, in history, before the emergence of the steam industrial revolution, the Ming Dynasty did not lag behind the West in military strength, because the Ming Dynasty as a highly developed small peasant economic society, productivity represented the highest level before the steam industrial revolution, but after the steam industrial revolution, the human productivity completely underwent a milestone revolution, so China began to lag behind the West.

It was also after the advent of the steam industrial revolution that China began to lose in the war of aggression against the Western colonizers, and before that, it was still a victory or a draw.

Now that Gao Feng's fleet arrived in Lisbon, the Portuguese government in Lisbon did not prevent the Ming fleet from trading here.

Gao Feng's fleet did not use force to force Portugal to do anything at first, but also paid customs duties according to the rules, and began to sell high-quality Fushou paste in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, an international trade center.

"This is a miraculous secret elixir from the East, a high-quality Fushou ointment, which can really make immortals want to die."

After coming to Lisbon, the marketing strategy of Fu Shou was to promote it from the Portuguese aristocracy, so it also specially bribed some nobles to promote it themselves, and at this time, it was a baron named Fiso who promoted the fine Fu Shou paste to his friend Marquis Doxi.

Docsi also began to receive injections of fine Fushou cream, and he was very happy, even more pleasant than when he cheated with a noblewoman, so he became addicted.

As a result, the high-quality Fushou paste made by Daming spread rapidly in the upper circle of Lisbon.

The Fushou Commercial Bank made a lot of money from the beginning, and the capital plundered by these Lisbon nobles in their colonies also flowed into the Ming Dynasty through this way of absorbing the best Fushou ointment.

Of course, Daming's Fu Shou Firm not only sells high-quality Fushou paste in Lisbon, but also sells high-quality Fushou paste in Madrid, Rome, Rotterdam and other places, and 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 paste to the West, so these Western countries have not reacted excessively.

Now what really makes Portugal, Spain and other countries helpless is that the Ming Dynasty used the strictest means in history to completely ban the smuggling of Fushou paste to the Ming Dynasty, so that the Western countries lost the only opportunity to reverse the trade deficit with the Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, Portugal has already learned the power of the Ming Naval Battle, and coupled with his own limited national strength, he does not dare to challenge the courage of the Ming Dynasty, and Portugal itself has lost the route east of the Cape of Good Hope, so the smuggling trade ban of Fushou paste is definitely not much damage to him.

Spain took advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty's control over the south of the Ming Sea was not strong enough, and sent a large number of smuggling ships to smuggle Fushou paste to the Ming Dynasty around South America.

Even the cases of smuggling Fushou paste investigated and dealt with by the provinces and cities of Daming were mainly executed by Spaniards.

Prior to this, because the Ming did not know much about the West, so it has been Portugal and Spain on the spot, and now as the Ming has a deeper and deeper understanding of the outside, in the official tone, the Franc machine has gradually been divided into Spain and Portugal.

Turning back to the words, Spain has not suffered a loss in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and the national strength of his empire is at its peak, so because of the loss of the trade of smuggling Fushou paste to the Ming Dynasty, the Spanish Empire is extremely unacceptable, threatening to force the Ming Dynasty to allow Spain to sell Fushou paste to the Ming Dynasty.

Thereupon.

The Spanish Empire's Armada began to prepare for a voyage in an attempt to teach the Ming a lesson.

However, an expedition has never been an easy task, not to mention an expedition from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, even the invincible armada of the Spanish Empire can't do it, so the Spanish Empire said that it was an expedition to the Ming Dynasty, but in fact the purpose was only to capture the Ceuta region that the Ming had already controlled.

Ceuta is now the only colony of the Ming in the Mediterranean, and every year a batch of silver and gold mines are transported back to the Ming Dynasty, and now it has also become the base for the Ming to make high-quality Fushou paste, so Ceuta's economic status is very important to the Ming, but it is also very close to Spain.

Daming also stationed a detachment fleet in the Ceuta area, a total of two second-class sail warships, five third-class sail warships and three supply ships, with about 1,000 navy personnel, 300 marines and 500 army personnel, specifically responsible for the defense of the Ceuta area.

However, except for the supreme military and political head of the Ming Dynasty in the Ceuta area, that is, the prefect of Ceuta and the guerrilla of Ceuta coastal defense, Weng Wanda, who learned through Jinyiwei, that the Spanish Armada would come to attack Ceuta, the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao and his courtiers in the capital did not know that in the west, a powerful empire that occupied countless territories in North America and wiped out countless civilizations had declared war on him.

There was no way around it, and before the advent of radio, Onwanda could only use his small number of troops to face the Spanish Empire.

Ceuta has now become a Chinatown through and through.

The first Han people who followed Xia Yan and others and those who came here later became the nobles here, and they controlled important departments such as military, administrative and foreign affairs.

The commoners were whites, blacks, and a small number of yellows from India, Luzon, Japan, Siam, and other places, who together formed the present-day Ming Ceuta region.

These whites and blacks, as well as the natives of Luzon and India, did not intermarry with each other, and the rules observed within these races were also stipulated in the Ming government of 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 because of race or religion, and even fight and even kill each other.

However, the Ming government did not care, except when it involved infringing on the interests of the nobles, i.e., the Han people, or causing a large death, after all, these people were the basis on which the Han people in the Ceuta region could be slave owners.

Of course, the Ming Huuta government also wanted to see people of different races or religions fighting each other in the Ceuta region, so that they could effectively rule Ceuta.

However, because they had to accept Chinese characters and speak Chinese, and because they had to take Confucianism as the right way, and regarded the Ming Emperor as the only monarch they were loyal to, these commoners of Ceuta were also quite active in protecting the Ceuta civilization.

Because, in Ceuta, in addition to the nobility, that is, between the Han Chinese and the commoners, there was also a class of scholars, that is, Confucianism.

Whites, blacks, and indigenous yellows received Confucian servitude education, and as long as they achieved fame as a student in the imperial examination system in the Ceuta region, they could become Confucian scholars and have the opportunity to rule the commoners on behalf of the aristocracy.

Therefore, these commoners were very active in becoming Confucian scholars, and they were also very active in accepting the idea of Confucian loyalty, and they were not willing to lose the opportunity to be Confucian scholars in the East because of the invasion of Western colonizers.

When Weng Wanda had just learned that the Spanish Armada had gone to sea, he got the news that a black family in Sichuan Fang, Ceuta had wiped out a white family, and a large-scale black-white brawl broke out.