Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 159 Ocean Exploration Conditions, Beijing Railway Station! [Please Subscribe]

Zhu Biao was still thinking.

Liu Kuan said, "Destroying the Northern Yuan Dynasty and conquering Korea and Japan are indeed not necessary prerequisites for exploring the Americas."

"But the American continent is far away after all. Even if I can give you a rough route to America, with the current navigation level of the Ming Dynasty, sending people there would be a high risk of death."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "As long as we can bring back new crops like corn from the Americas a few years earlier, the risk of life and death for the exploration team will be worth it. For those who sacrifice their lives in this cause, we will generously provide for their families, and even provide benefits for their descendants."

"We believe that with the generous reward, there are many people in the Ming Dynasty willing to take the risk and explore America. If we send a few more exploration fleets, there will definitely be one that returns successfully!"

After hearing this, Liu Kuan understood that Zhu Yuanzhang had actually made up his mind about this matter.

At this time, Zhu Ying said, "I think what father said is right. Exploring America is related to the eternal hegemony of the Ming Dynasty. Risking one's life is nothing."

Zhu Tan's eyes turned and he also voiced his support. He keenly grasped that the key person who needed to be persuaded was Liu Kuan.

He then said, "Teacher, when you told me about the great voyages of discovery by the Western Barbarians, you praised them for spending hundreds of years and countless people venturing into unknown waters to open up two major routes: one around Africa to the East and the other across the Atlantic."

"If the Western barbarians can do it, can't we, the people of the Ming Dynasty, do it? If so, doesn't it mean that we, the people of the Ming Dynasty, are inferior to the Western barbarians?"

After hearing what Zhu Tan said, Liu Kuan smiled helplessly and said, "If we could open up a route to America a few years earlier, it would be of great benefit to the Ming Dynasty."

"I will compile the relevant information on the North Pacific route and the necessary technology for ocean exploration as soon as possible and submit it to Your Majesty."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "It's good that you can figure it out. If you want to do great things, you can't be too cautious. You need to be bold and decisive."

"As for sacrificing some people, look at all the great ambitions and achievements throughout history. Which one wasn't built on mountains of corpses and seas of blood?"

"Besides, with the information you provided, we will try our best to prepare the exploration fleet and provide them with enough money, food, and supplies. This will not necessarily mean many people will die."

"Once corn and other high-quality American crops are brought back and widely cultivated, the possibility of famine in the Ming Dynasty will be greatly reduced, saving countless lives."

"Isn't it easy to distinguish between the important and the unimportant, the good and the evil?"

Zhu Biao has been thinking.

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, he let out a breath and simply stopped talking about the matter.

Next, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Kuan some specific matters about ocean exploration...
The first condition for ocean exploration is naturally to have a suitable ship.

As a fan of Ming history, Liu Kuan knew that after the opening of the Maritime Silk Road during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, China's navigation technology and shipbuilding industry also developed greatly.

By the Ming Dynasty, China's shipbuilding industry and navigation technology had actually become quite developed and were leading the world.

Without such a strong foundation, Zheng He would not have been able to make seven voyages to the West and sail to Africa.

The Chinese sea vessels of the Ming Dynasty not only had a V-shaped design on their hull that allowed for a deep draft, but their unique design of a pointed front and a wide rear was also a major advantage, making it conducive to riding the wind and waves.

As for the presence of watertight compartments, multi-layer deck structures and elevators, they far surpass the design of contemporary European ships.

Finally, the statement that Chinese hard sails are not suitable for long-distance sailing is not accurate.

Hard sails have two main disadvantages compared to soft sails.

First, when occupying the same amount of space, the hard sail is not subject to as much wind force as the soft sail, which means that its maximum speed when exposed to wind is not as good as that of the soft sail.

Second, hard sails are not as easy to manufacture and install as soft sails. They are heavy, so the masts they support must be taller and stronger, and the upper limit of their application on large sea vessels is lower.

However, Chinese hard sails have more advantages than soft sails.

It is a balanced trapezoidal sail that can be flexibly reeled in and out according to wind conditions. Because it is a hard sail, it requires very few cables, making it much easier to operate than a Western soft sail and more flexible.

Therefore, ships using Chinese hard sails require far fewer sailors than Western soft sailing ships.

Furthermore, a Western soft sail will be useless if it has one hole in it, while a Chinese hard sail can still catch the wind well even if it has several holes in it.

Of course, there are some aspects of traditional Western soft sailing ships that are worth learning from for Chinese sailing ships, such as the triangular sail.

The Chinese hard sail is close to square, and can actually achieve a certain effect of sailing against the wind through manipulation, but it is not as effective as the triangular soft sail.

Therefore, traditional Chinese and Western sea vessels of later generations actually have their own advantages and disadvantages, and it is difficult to distinguish which one is better unless placed in a specific environment.

The ship information stored in Liu Kuan's computer was mainly about later Western soft sailing ships. He had already asked Chunlan and Qiuyue to copy them all down and then hand them over to Lao Zhu.

The Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding industry only needs to absorb the essence from it to become more advanced.

As for the possibility of success, Liu Kuan had no doubt about it because there were successful examples in later generations.

The Manila galleons that sailed the South Pacific route during the Age of Exploration were considered Western ships by the Chinese, but were called Chinese sailing ships in Europe.

Why?

This is because the Manila galleon incorporates too many characteristics (advantages) of the Chinese rigid sailing ship.

It is called the Manila Galleon because it was built in Manila. When the Spanish colonized Luzon, the local shipbuilding industry, mainly Chinese, was already well developed, and these excellent ship concepts and designs were learned by the Europeans.

European shipbuilders were able to integrate the wisdom of China and the West, and naturally Chinese shipbuilders also had this.

The second condition for a successful voyage is navigation.

In this regard, China is also far ahead at this time.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the art of star-pulling had already matured. Its full name was "the art of star-pulling from overseas". Even professional tools such as the star-pulling board were born, which could be used to determine the latitude by observing the North Star.

The nautical compass, which was improved from the compass, has also taken shape.

In addition, there are auxiliary tools such as astronomical rulers and depth hammers, and even navigation creatures such as "compass fish" are used.

Liu Kuan only needed to retrieve the sextant data from his computer and enable sailors to determine latitude during the day, and Ming Dynasty navigation technology would have reached the pinnacle of the sailing age. With ships and navigation in hand, the remaining challenges of long-distance sailing, such as water storage and vitamin production, had long been addressed by ancient Chinese.

With this calculation, the Ming Dynasty at that time did have the ability to explore the ocean within a short period of time.

···
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In late October, the weather is not only cool, but also chilly.

Liu Kuan and Zhu Biao each tied a cloak and appeared in front of the Beijing Railway Station, which had been completed only two days ago.

Zhu Biao looked around and saw that they were in a fairly spacious square.

The ground was not paved with bricks or stones, but gray cement, stretching over a thousand feet in both length and width.

There are horizontal lines on the cement floor, with sewer ditches in between, and the channel openings are inlaid with stainless steel mesh plates.

In the entire square, apart from some cement and brick benches on the edges, there is only a flagpole in the middle - the flagpole stands tall on it, and the red flag with a dragon, sun and moon pattern flutters in the autumn wind, which is extremely eye-catching.

To the north of the cement square is the main building of Beijing Railway Station, a two-story building.

A huge plaque hangs above the building's eight-door main entrance, with a few large characters written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself on it - Beijing Railway Station!

At this time, Liu Kuan introduced, "Your Highness, please look. Although this building's exterior still resembles the current Ming Dynasty architectural style, it is actually constructed primarily of brick, stone, and cement. Key parts even use steel bars and concrete, with only some less important areas using wooden structures."

“That’s why this building and some of the houses around it were able to be built in just over four months.”

In fact, in the eyes of Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan, the building of the Beijing Railway Station in front of them is still relatively simple and rough.

There was nothing that could be done about it - although Zhu Yuanzhang gave his full support and provided money, food, supplies and manpower at his disposal, less than five months was still a bit short, and it was already good enough to build such a decent-looking railway station.

Among the six railway stations on the Xu-Dan section of the railway that is about to open, only the Jingshi Railway Station represents the face of the Railway Bureau and is therefore treated like this.

According to the plan of the Railway Bureau, the remaining five railway stations will now only have a long row of waiting sheds built beside the railway, a number of warehouses nearby, and a large courtyard with a sign saying "such and such railway station", and that's it.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Zhu Biao looked out at the square for a while, then dismounted and walked towards the Beijing Railway Station building accompanied by Liu Kuan, Zhang Jinrao and other officials from the Science and Technology Department.

"Your Highness, please look at the small building to the east. It will be the 'ticket office' once the railway opens to civilian use."

"People must get a pass to buy train tickets there, and then come to the first floor of the building. The six gates on the east side will be converted into three ticket gates in the future. People will have to show their train tickets to the ticket inspectors there before they can enter the building."

As he spoke, Liu Kuan had already led Zhu Biao into the first floor of the building through the six gates on the west side.

I saw that the inside was all cement floor, with nothing in it at the moment, and it looked quite spacious and open.

Liu Kuan pointed to the back of the west gate and said, "Three security checkpoints will be built there in the future. Security inspectors will be responsible for monitoring passengers' luggage to see if there are any prohibited items."

Seeing this, Zhu Biao recalled some scenes from the movie "Lost on Journey" and said, "I remember there should be a special security check machine. Can it be made?"

Liu Kuan said, "Security inspection machines require a lot of technology. We can't produce them right now, and there's no need to do so."

Zhu Biao continued, "I remember there was a device that displayed train arrival times, like a giant tablet. What are you planning to use as a replacement?"

Liu Kuan said, "That's where the trains arrive and depart. We can use a bulletin board instead. We can also send a few loudmouths, with a small brass bell, to loudly announce passengers before the train arrives."

While Zhu Biao was talking with Liu Kuan, Zhang Jinrao walked on the other side without saying a word.

As the head of the Railway Bureau, he had heard most of what Liu Kuan said, but he did not understand a few of Zhu Biao's words, such as the security inspection machine and the extra-large tablet.

Although confused, he was tactful enough not to ask.

As they were talking, the group walked through the back door on the first floor of the building and saw the railway a hundred steps away, as well as the shed-like buildings built next to the railway.

The building was obvious at first glance and there was nothing to see, so Liu Kuan did not take Zhu Biao forward. Instead, he took Zhu Biao to the second floor of the train station building.

"Your Highness, please look here. This will be the office space for the railway station officials—it can accommodate hundreds of people without being cramped."

The second floor of the building is also in an undecorated state.

Zhu Biao discovered that the windows here were larger and more numerous than those in the main hall, and it was foreseeable that the lighting would be very good after the hall was renovated.

Zhu Biao came to a large window and looked to the west. He saw dozens of houses built of bricks, stones and cement. Some of them had very small windows, while others had no windows at all.

"Is that the warehouse over there?"

"That's right." Liu Kuan nodded. "Because of the tight time schedule, we've only built the first batch so far, and we'll add more in the future."

Zhu Biao listened and watched for a while, then said, "In the future, the Beijing Railway Station will definitely be a place where materials gather and transfer. Even if this piece of land is filled with warehouses, it will not be enough."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "When the time comes, we can just tear down a bunch of warehouses and convert them into storage buildings."

Zhu Biao was slightly startled.

At this time, whether it was official or private, most of the buildings were built with the intention of being used for hundreds or even thousands of years. Liu Kuan's "wasteful thinking" of building something with the intention of rebuilding it in the future seemed quite unusual.

But Zhu Biao knew that doing what Liu Kuan did was the best solution, but some waste was unavoidable.

Coming back to his senses, Zhu Biao asked, "Now that the Beijing Railway Station is complete, the Xu-Dan section of the railway should also be opened. Has the Railway Bureau set a date?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Everything is ready for the opening of the Xudan section of the railway. Any day after today will do. Therefore, I will ask Your Majesty to set a date."

"Also, although this section of the railway doesn't start in the capital, this train's first departure is from the Beijing Railway Station. I hope that on that day, Your Highness can come and preside over the railway opening ceremony to enhance its prestige!"

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)