Since he already knew how the route should be taken, which reduced the cost of trial and error so much, some plans could be carried out simultaneously.
Fu felt an itch in his fingers that spread all the way to his heart. To divert his attention, he asked, "The canals Your Majesty has established seem to have increased in number; do they serve any other purpose?"
Zhu Ci arranged many parallel waterways on the basis of the existing Grand Canal, using the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal as the main artery.
At first, Fu thought it was for transportation, but many of those parallel channels even passed through small towns, meaning that to excavate these parallel canals, people would have to be relocated.
This left Fu somewhat confused.
Zhu Ci gave him a tug, once Fu had successfully bent down, he leaned up to kiss his chin and said, "Back then, we had a project called the South-to-North Water Diversion."
“South-to-North Water Diversion?” Fu could not concern himself with his wandering thoughts, feeling immense surprise at those four words.
Literally, it means moving water from the south to the north, but.. how could that possibly be possible?
You think it's impossible, don't you?
It succeeded?
Zhu Ci paused before saying, "As for whether it's a complete success.. it's hard to say, because I hadn't finished before I came here. The first phase of the eastern and central lines is complete, but the western line is still under research. The first phase of the eastern line took sixty years, the central line took eleven.. This is a long struggle of man against heaven."
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Before traveling through time, I often heard people say that the rabbit crosses the river by riding on the eagle's back. Does my current situation count as crossing the river by riding on the rabbit's back? A cat hugging a rabbit, lost in thought. jpg
Next update tonight at 6:00 PM
Chapter 293
He looked out the window and said, "I likely won't see the day when the water flows through, but I can start implementing it now; let's take it one step at a time."
Fu kissed his forehead and said, "Your Majesty will surely see the day when the water flows through."
Without Zhu Ci needing to say it, he already knew the significance of the South-to-North Water Diversion.
If it could truly be achieved.. At this thought, even Fu felt his heart surging with excitement.
At the same time, he also found it somewhat inconceivable; the gentlemen of future generations.. they truly were.. bold in both thought and action.
Zhu Ci shook his head and said, "It's far from enough. Because of the terrain, we need to build pumping stations to lift the water, for the water pumps.. we can't rely on manual labor forever."
After all, it still comes back to electricity; it's just that even if Zhu Ci were to start making arrangements now, he might not be able to produce truly usable electricity in a short period of time.
The most important thing was that it was useless for him to do it alone; such a massive facility as electricity still required more talent. What he could do now was lay the foundation for everything; as long as the foundation was well-established, it would eventually be realized.
Fu Gang was about to say something when he received a victory report from the Ministry of War: the Prince of Shu had achieved a great victory, capturing one hundred thousand households of Tsangba.
However, this was merely a temporary victory.
Fu placed the victory report on the table and asked, "What does Your Majesty intend to do about that place?"
Tibet is not a particularly good place; the terrain is too high, it is very far from Beijing, then there is the ethnic divide..
Zhu Ci looked at the battle report and said hesitantly, "From my personal perspective, I don't particularly like the Tibetan Buddhist sect."
He frowned as he spoke; he did not know much about Tibetan Buddhism, but he knew of the famous Ajigǔ and some non-human rituals.
Zhu Ci could never understand why some people treated their own kind this way.
Later, after spending a long time undercover, he finally understood that when some people oppress others, those being oppressed are no longer his own kind in their eyes.
They are livestock, they are animals; in any case, they will show no mercy.
Fu Qingmiao said nonchalantly, "If you don't like them, just drive them away."
He had actually intended to say that they should all be killed, but it felt inappropriate to kill so many people at once, not to mention that the reasoning wouldn't hold much weight.
Zhu Ci recalled how Tibet was liberated in later generations, then realized that it seemed.. there was no homework to copy this time.
Because the liberation of that area in later generations was a peaceful liberation, allowing for regional autonomy, followed by negotiations on a multitude of other conditions.
Now that Zhu Ci has already begun military liberation, it will be impossible to back down and allow them to continue their autonomy.
Zhu Ci thought for a moment and said, "Their treatment will be similar to the Torghut Mongols, but.. try not to leave any religious leaders behind."
Don't leave religious beliefs behind; as for religious culture.. those books can be kept, people can study them if they are interested in the future.
In addition to that, there is also defense, economy, educational development.
Serfdom must certainly be abolished, of course, the existing household servitude system of the Great Ming must also be phased out bit by bit; all of this must be done gradually.
“Let's not talk about this anymore. The Prince of Qi and the Marquis of Jinghai have been waiting for a while; let's head over there.”
Zhu Ci pushed all the plans aside; sometimes he also really wanted to sing a line: I really want to live another five hundred years.
There were too many things he wanted to do, he wished he could complete them all in a single day; however, some matters could not be rushed, as taking steps that were too large would lead to trouble. At this rate, even if he worked until he was seventy or eighty, he would still find it difficult to get everything done.
Since he couldn't get it done, he might as well do something else for now.
For instance, acting as a matchmaker.
Strictly speaking, neither he nor Zhu Ci has any direct elders left. While Zhu Yujian and Zhu Yihai could be considered elders, they are too distant in relation and therefore not very suitable.
Fortunately, Zhu Ci himself was the Emperor, so even though his cousin had this status, he could barely act as a decision-maker.
As Fu walked out with him, he said, "The Prince of Qi and the Marquis of Jinghai's families are quite a good match."
Zhu Ci smiled and said, "The Marquis of Jinghai was actually the one who brought it up. In truth, there are many people eyeing the position of Princess Consort of Qi, many people who have been feeding information to the Prince of Qi, but in the end, he still chose the Marquis of Jinghai."
Even Li Zicheng had entertained such thoughts, which just goes to show how popular Zhu Ci is.
Setting aside everything else, Zhu Ci himself is good-looking. There is only him as the legitimate master in the Prince of Qi's Mansion, with no other elders, besides that, his kinship ties are quite simple, as not many people are left alive from the Great Ming Imperial Family.
Not to mention that a daughter would become the mistress of the household upon marriage, but her social connections would also be simple.
How did the Prince of Qi choose the Marquis of Jinghai?
Strictly speaking, Zhu Ci's choice of a wife was essentially a choice of the Yue clan. Before Zhang Huangyan had revealed his intentions, Zhu Ci could not have met the Miss Zhang, so he could only analyze the situation based on Zhang Huangyan's own family.
Zhu Ci thought for a moment and said, "He said that the Marquis of Jinghai is, after all, from a scholarly background, currently does not have many connections in the Military Department or the imperial court. Most importantly, he has inquired and found that Zhang Huangyan was away from home for most of the time back then; his wife died young, he only has one or two concubines in his household. Most of the time, the person in charge of the Zhang family's inner quarters is Miss Zhang."
He said that the Prince of Qi's mansion has few people, while having fewer people has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages. If a Princess Consort who knows nothing were to arrive, he would have to expend great effort to teach her. Looking at it this way, the lady from the Zhang family is the most suitable.
Fu said, "I hope he and the girl from the Zhang family are a good match."
Zhu Ci said nothing. When it comes to marriage, whether it is arranged by parents or chosen for oneself, anything can happen, no one can guarantee anything.
However, seeing the two of them strolling through the lantern festival that day, they seemed to be quite harmonious with each other.
Zhu Ci was delighted that his elder cousin was finally getting married—not, he corrected himself, getting married, but rather taking a wife—so he made an exception and directly granted the young lady of the Zhang family the title of County Mistress.
It could also be considered a way to dispel some of the rumors.
Recently, Zhu Ci has indeed heard quite a lot of rumors; aside from those about him and Fu, there are most about Zhu Ci.
Many people said that the Emperor's previous kindness toward the Prince of Qi was merely to win the people's hearts, now that the world is unified, the Prince of Qi has become dispensable. Given the Emperor's ruthlessness, one never knows when he might take the Prince of Qi's life.
Many people agree with this argument.
Zhu Ci's identity was simply too sensitive; even now, some pedantic scholars still claimed that the Prince of Qi was the legitimate heir, that if the Emperor were sensible, he would abdicate the throne to the Prince of Qi.
Of course, those who say these things are not necessarily pedantic; it is very likely they are merely venting their inner dissatisfaction under the guise of pedantry.
The Emperor decides the overall style of the imperial court. Zhu Ci's style is pragmatic, so the entire court is as well; those who try to idle away their time or slack off simply cannot survive, they are dismissed from their posts without hesitation.
There were also those who considered themselves exceptionally talented in writing and skilled in imperial examinations, possessing full confidence in the civil service examinations, only to find upon taking an exam that the questions were entirely different from what they had previously practiced.
With all these things accumulating, there were always those who were dissatisfied with Zhu Ci.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: I just love it when you can't stand me but can't get rid of me either. Cat pushing sunglasses. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock
Chapter 294
In fact, Zhu Ci didn't care much about such words; no matter what he did, there would always be someone in this world who was dissatisfied. If he cared about that every single day, who would have time for anything else?
As for arrests and such, it's fine to curse the Emperor a few times or criticize current policies a few times, but if you spread rumors, then I'm sorry—you can look forward to going to prison.
However, these rumors will not affect Emperor Zhu Yujian, but they are very likely to affect Zhu Ci.
For example, even though the position of Princess Consort of Qi is highly sought after, very few actually dare to make a move. Do others not desire it? Ultimately, it is because they do not dare, fearing that if Zhu Ci is purged one day, the Yue family will be purged along with him.
History books have written plenty about it, if they were to purge Zhu Ci, a minor charge wouldn't suffice; at the very least, it would have to start with treason.
That would mean extermination of the entire clan!
The wife's clan is included within the nine clans!
Even if Zhu Ci knew what those people were worried about, he could not directly say that he would certainly not move against Zhu Ci.
Perhaps the more he spoke, the less people would believe him, so an opportunity was needed to put everyone at ease, to put Zhu Ci at ease as well.
This marriage would be an excellent opportunity.
Zhu Ci had originally wanted to raise the status of Zhu Ci's wedding, but upon closer inspection, he realized that since Zhu Ci was already a Prince, the wedding's status was already very high; any higher would be the level of a Crown Prince or an Emperor.
Hmm, this still won't work; if he used the wedding specifications of a Crown Prince marrying a consort, it would easily cause misunderstandings.
So, in the end, he decided to make an exception for the girl from the Zhang family.
Of course, there were also those who opposed it; after all, only women of the imperial clan could receive peerages, if the daughters of nobility were granted exceptions, many systemic elements would have to be changed along with them.
Zhu Ci also found these formalities tiresome, so he ultimately decided to simply grant the lady of the Zhang family an honorary title.
When Zhu Ci got married, he also gave lavish rewards and many other things.
On the night of the Prince of Qi's wedding, the entire Beijing turned red.
Although the scale of the ceremony could not compare to the Crown Prince's, the level of excitement was certainly more than enough.
To avoid stealing the spotlight from the bride and groom, Zhu Ci only stayed for a short while at the wedding banquet before leaving.
Fu Chunsheng also found an opportunity to leave.
After the two of them left, Zhu Ci heard his brother-in-law say, "His Majesty and the Grand Secretary are truly inseparable."
Zhu Ci immediately poured him a cup of wine and said, "You've had too much to drink."