Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 202: Literary Inquisition: Why has China become an infrastructure maniac?

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty is right, but there is a reason why Qing Dynasty scholars did not dare to write novels like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin."

"During the Qing Dynasty, literary inquisitions were rampant. At their worst, any work containing both the words 'Qing' and 'Ming' could be considered by the Qing court to be an attempt to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming Dynasty, or to contain a satirical intent towards the Qing court. The author would be imprisoned, tortured, and convicted."

"Such as 'The breeze cannot read, why is it flipping through books?', 'The moon is affectionate and still cares for me, but the breeze is indifferent and leaves me alone,' and 'A half-moon sinks in the west at night, and should illuminate my home in Chang'an,' their authors were all imprisoned for these lines."

After hearing what Liu Kuan said, Old Zhu was fine and just sneered.

However, his children and grandchildren were all surprised, especially those like Zhu Su, Zhu Zi, Zhu Chun and Zhu Bai who preferred literary matters. They recited the poems Liu Kuan had cited over and over in their minds, but could not see any hidden intention of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, or any implicit criticism of the Qing court.

If you insist on saying there is, that would be far-fetched.

Zhu snorted coldly, "The Manchus came to rule the Central Plains with a minority population, so they are naturally very guilty, fearing that the Han people will overthrow their rule."

Zhu Di asked in confusion, "Then isn't 'Dream of the Red Chamber' set in a similar setting to the late Ming Dynasty, and is it about love? Why was it banned by the Qing court?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Because it actually describes the decline of a powerful family in the early Qing Dynasty. It not only contains implicit resentment towards the Qing court, but also implicitly satirizes some of the bad practices in the officialdom and society at that time."

Zhu Di thought to himself: Is this possible? It seems that this literary inquisition is easy to handle.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao and said, "Biao'er, can you change the background of "Dream of the Red Chamber" to the Song Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty?"

"For example, during the late period of the Yuan Dynasty's rule over the Central Plains, the Han Chinese families that had previously supported the Mongols declined, satirizing the various injustices and vices of the pre-Yuan Dynasty officialdom and society."

Zhu Biao's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he nodded, saying, "That should be possible. I'll find a few talented people to try it out later."

Liu Kuan had a new understanding of Lao Zhu's learning ability.

As soon as I heard what he said, I turned around and wanted to claim "Dream of Red Mansions" as the property of the Ming Dynasty, and also use it to satirize the Mongols, killing two birds with one stone - you are worthy of it, Old Zhu.

The palace servants had already cleaned up the hall. After seeing Liu Kuan finish his lecture on the Four Great Classical Novels, Old Zhu took his children and grandchildren to sit down and prepare to watch videos and movies.

Liu Kuan found the three videos he had prepared on his tablet, put the tablet away, and then introduced them: "The three videos I prepared this time all talk about the affairs of later China."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma, Zhu Biao and others all had their eyes lit up.

Every time they learned about the tip of the iceberg of the future from videos and movies, they became curious about it, even fascinated by it, and naturally looked forward to learning more.

As for people like Zhu Di who were watching videos and movies for the first time, they were naturally more excited.

Lao Zhu smiled and said, "Okay, play it quickly."

"Yes."

Liu Kuan responded and played the first video.

This video was edited by Liu Kuan himself, or to be more precise, spliced ​​together, and it is nearly half an hour long!

The video begins with a line of large characters appearing against a dark background, which is also the name of the video - Why has China become an infrastructure maniac?
Infrastructure maniac?

The only new word in the video title immediately attracted the attention of Lao Zhu and others.

Both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao had heard Liu Kuan mention the term "infrastructure" and knew its meaning, but they did not know why it was associated with the word "devil".

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, words related to the word "demon" all had bad meanings, such as: demon, possessed, obsessed, crazy, etc.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but wonder: Could it be that China's extensive infrastructure construction in later generations was too costly and labor-intensive, and therefore was ridiculed by the people as possessed by demons?

But looking at the way Liu Kuan usually talks about future China, he doesn't seem to be complaining?

Zhu Yuanzhang was confused for a moment.

The video showed images and voices, and saw countless people from later generations gathered together, most of them were young men and women, some of them with children.

Although their clothes were similar to Liu Kuan's when he traveled through time, they were obviously not as good as Liu Kuan's, and most of them had anxious and worried faces.

There were too many people, and the long overhead shot of them passing by made Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others on the other side of the screen feel dry in their throats and nervous.

Zhu Yu couldn't help but ask, "Why are so many people gathered together? What are they doing? Rebellion?"

Just at this moment, some "policemen" from later generations appeared in the video and lined up to intercept these people.

Zhu Yuanzhang's observation further confirmed his previous suspicions. He shook his head and sighed, "I'm afraid the court must have done something in the future to provoke the people into a riot. With so many people, almost all of them young and strong, even the city could be breached if we're not careful."

Hearing this, Liu Kuan almost couldn't help laughing.

Because this video of more than two minutes comes from a later movie called "11 Days of Ice and Snow".

Just at this moment, a large signboard with the words "Guangzhou Station" appeared in the camera, and a sound similar to a news broadcast sounded.

"On January 1, the Spring Festival travel rush kicked off nationwide. During this period, at its peak, more than 23 northbound vehicles were stuck on the Shaoguan section of the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway."

"A large number of passengers returning home for the Lunar New Year were stranded at Guangzhou Railway Station. At the peak of the event, over 700,000 people were stranded at the train station square!"

As the news was broadcast, the camera zoomed up again, covering the entire train station square. It was truly a sea of ​​densely packed heads!

Even Zhu Yuanzhang, who had commanded thousands of troops, had never had the experience of looking down at hundreds of thousands of people from a high altitude. Therefore, like everyone else, he was shocked.

After coming back to their senses, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and others realized that this was a train station in later generations.

So many people gathered together to go home for the New Year, but due to the weather, they were stranded in the train station square.

At this time, the situation in the video became increasingly tense - people were packed tightly together in the square, and some people were even squeezed to tiptoe.

People with children had to lift them up and shouted, "Stop pushing!"

But people have no control over themselves at all, because most of them are squeezed in the crowd and cannot move, and can only go with the flow like water drops!

The fences in the square were squeezed down, and the police were almost invisible in the crowd like sand falling into the sea - the situation was so critical, as if every breath was of vital importance!
For a moment, except for the ignorant children, everyone in the Zhu family was frightened by the scene in the video.

"More than 700,000 people, gathered so densely, this is more terrifying than hundreds of thousands of refugees besieging the city - the refugees are hungry, but they still have a place to lie down, but these people have almost no place to stand!"

"If we fail to control it properly, I'm afraid it will be a tragic scene where hundreds of thousands of people will be trampled to death!"

This was Zhu Yuanzhang’s judgment in his heart.

Zhu Biao also made the same judgment, and even felt anxious for the hundreds of thousands of people in the future.

At the critical moment, large green cars arrived, and soldiers from later generations jumped out of the cars. They lined up and inserted themselves into the crowd like a knife cutting butter, finally managing to bring the situation under control.

During this process, some scenes and dialogues appeared that moved Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others.

These later-generation soldiers did not charge into the crowd, but rather linked their arms without weapons, forming a human wall and entering the crowd.

"You must do this: don't fight back when you're hit, and don't respond when you're scolded."

"Unified command, separate them and then release them!"

The scenes in the video surprised and even shocked Zhu Chong, Zhu Ying, Zhu Di and other people who knew something about the Ming army.

Although the Ming Dynasty also enforced strict military discipline and guided the military's style, it could only prevent soldiers from disturbing the people.

Even so, news of soldiers oppressing local people came out from time to time, and even Zhu Yuanzhang could not stop this trend even with severe punishment.

As shown in the video, demanding that soldiers "not retaliate when insulted or beaten" by civilians is simply impossible, even a fantasy. Old Zhu remained silent—he was doubting the video's authenticity.

"There will be movies in the future, so the scenes in this video may be made up." Old Zhu thought so.

In the video, the train whistle sounded, and the train arrived. The people gathered at the train station were finally able to take the train to go home for the New Year.

Seeing that this part of the content ended and the video cut to another scene, Zhu Yuanzhang signaled Liu Kuan to pause.

He asked, "Liu Kuan, was the video just now a true story from the future, or a movie?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the video footage was taken from a movie, but this movie is based on a true story."

"At the time, Guangzhou was one of the largest cities in China in terms of the number of migrant workers. It also coincided with the global economic crisis that year, and many factories closed down. Migrant workers lost their jobs, and more people wanted to return home for the Lunar New Year."

"Unfortunately, that year, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong were hit by a once-in-a-century snowstorm and freezing rain, which caused railways to stop operating and roads to be blocked."

"The internet wasn't as developed as it would be ten years later. People didn't know the situation and went to the train station to buy tickets as usual. The end result was that 11 to people were stranded at the station for days."

Because Liu Kuan's words revealed a lot of new information for later generations, not everyone could understand them.

Zhu Yuanzhang understood the general idea and was able to grasp the key points.

He then asked, "How did the government handle the real incident?"

Liu Kuan sighed, "Although the government dispatched 40,000 soldiers and police to maintain order, there were too many people trapped in the train station, and the time was too long. Ultimately, more than a hundred people died from illness and other health reasons during the period of being trapped."

"Only more than a hundred people died?" Old Zhu couldn't help but said in surprise.

After he finished speaking, he saw Liu Kuan's expression change slightly, and he couldn't help but explain, "Looking at your expression just now, I thought the government couldn't control it, causing the stampede."

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, medical care is very advanced in later times, and almost all the workers who gathered at the train station at that time were literate. In fact, most of them had attended school for a few years, and many even attended school for ten years."

"Normally, when a group of people like this gather together, even without the military or police to maintain order, there won't be a stampede unless something unexpected causes major chaos."

"But among so many people, there were definitely some who were in poor health or even had illnesses. These people were trapped in the train station, unable to get timely medical treatment when they became ill, and died - this is simply unacceptable in the eyes of future generations."

"So, it's not just me who feels deeply moved by this matter; this incident has even become a painful memory that will be remembered by future generations of Chinese people for many years."

There was so much information in Liu Kuan's words that surprised Zhu Di, Zhu Su and others.

How come almost all of the hundreds of thousands of workers gathered at the train station are literate?

Even how many years of school did most of them go to?

Doesn’t that mean there are hundreds of thousands of scholars?

But if he was a scholar, why did he go to Guangzhou to work? Shouldn't he have been a master in his hometown and prepared to take the imperial examination?
Also, hundreds of thousands of people were trapped in one place for more than ten days, and only more than a hundred people died?

If this happened in the Ming Dynasty, there would definitely be a stampede, and tens of thousands of people would die, right?

Moreover, only a little over a hundred people died, but it became a pain for China in later generations... In the more than ten years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, wouldn't hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of people have died in every flood and drought disaster?

If we follow the way later Chinese people treated pain, I'm afraid the Ming Dynasty would have been destroyed.

Perhaps because this information was too subversive to the Zhu family's common sense, no one said anything for a while after Liu Kuan finished speaking.

After several breaths, Old Zhu said with a faint blush on his face, "Times have changed. We really can't look at things in the future with the perspective of today."

After hearing this, Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, Zhu Tan and other smarter ones knew that Zhu was probably comparing himself with similar things that happened in the Ming Dynasty and felt ashamed, so he came up with such an excuse.

Liu Kuan also heard it, but said seriously: "Your Majesty is right. Times have changed and the situation is very different. It is indeed impossible to compare them."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in satisfaction, but couldn't help asking, "How come so many scholars in later generations went to Guangdong to work? If I understand the word 'work' correctly, it should mean to do work, right?"

"Your Majesty, most of the workers in the video are actually similar to the weavers in the big weaving workshops in the capital, making money by working for others."

"However, Your Majesty, it is inappropriate to call them scholars—Have you forgotten? I once said that in the future, compulsory education will be implemented. Regardless of gender, when they reach school age, they will be supported by their families and the state for at least nine years of study."

"So, although not everyone completed nine years of schooling, and not all workers experienced compulsory education, it is true that almost everyone can read. Those who cannot read are my grandfather's generation, or even older. Most of those people worked as farmers in the countryside."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao looked at each other and found that they were both confused and shocked.

The father and son were confused because they couldn't remember Liu Kuan talking about compulsory education in later generations. They guessed that he probably just mentioned it briefly but didn't go into detail.

The shock is also due to the compulsory education in later generations.

Coming back to his senses, Zhu Biao, who always valued civil governance, couldn't help but ask, "Third brother-in-law, according to what you said, wouldn't more than 1 billion of China's 1.4 billion people be literate in the future?"

Liu Kuan pondered and said, "When I left, I didn't know how high China's literacy rate would be in later generations, but there should be over a billion literate people."

At this moment, everyone in the hall who had some understanding of the significance of this matter was stunned.

You must know that the Ming Dynasty now has a population of only over 60 million.

It is shocking that there are over one billion literate people in later generations!
Liu Kuan was worried that Lao Zhu would continue asking questions - if they wanted to talk about education in later generations, it could take a long time, and he didn't know where the topic had gone off to.

So he asked, "Your Majesty, shall we continue watching the video?"

Old Zhu came back to his senses, a little distracted, and nodded, "Okay, keep going."

The next part of the video shows scenes of a later army marching on the snowy plateau and fighting with another country.

Just when Lao Zhu and others didn't understand, the voice-over explained.

"Sixty years ago, we defeated the invading Indian army and even launched a counterattack hundreds of miles into Indian territory."

"But due to the geographical location of the snowy plateau, supplying the front lines is difficult. Every ration and every bullet requires more than ten times the cost to be delivered by cloud."

"Back then, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and other roads had not yet been built, and many soldiers died while transporting supplies, so we had to retreat."

Then, the video showed the suffering that China suffered in the Western Regions, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places due to transportation difficulties in later generations, as well as how poor the local people were due to the inconvenience of transportation.

After these videos were played, the screen went dark again.

Someone said, "If you want to get rich, build roads first!"

Someone else said, "Only when there are enough roads can the people have a way out!"

Then more and more similar voices appeared——

"Build roads and bridges, get rich quickly, and strengthen the nation!"

“When roads are open, all industries will flourish!”

“Building roads builds people’s hearts, connecting the lights of thousands of homes, and bringing peace to the world!”

When these calls gathered together, the darkness suddenly broke, and passionate background music sounded. The video showed one scene after another of workers, civilians and even soldiers repairing roads, bridges, tunnels and other transportation facilities.

　This chapter was supposed to have some more content, but the nearby construction dug up the cables. Fortunately, I found the cloud backup on my phone, so I posted it first.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)