Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 385: National Glory or Pseudoscience? The Plight of Future Workers [Subscription Request]

"National pride or pseudoscience? The 'seismograph' that was deleted from textbooks."

Seismograph?
Noticing the keywords in the video title, everyone, regardless of whether they had heard of the seismometer before or not, was stunned and surprised. They didn't expect that the second video would be about this.

Zhu Biao had heard of the seismometer, but he only knew that it was invented by Zhang Heng in the Eastern Han Dynasty and could sense earthquakes.

For the rest of the people, even Zhu Yuanzhang was hearing the name of the seismometer for the first time.

After all, although the seismometer became famous in later generations, it only occupied a few words in the vast historical books before the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not rush to ask, but watched the video first.

"In the southern suburbs of Luoyang City, there is a building called Lingtai, standing in the wilderness. For nearly a hundred years, the Han Dynasty's Grand Historian has been stationed here."

The video begins with a series of cartoons accompanied by explanations to facilitate understanding.

"I don't know when this strange instrument appeared here. Nestled among the carved beams and painted buildings of the Lingtai, this massive, dark yellow object seems to have come from another time and space."

"Beside the instrument, Zhang Heng was looking at the bead in his hand, trembling. Just now, a copper bead on the instrument suddenly slipped out of the dragon's mouth. As the instrument's maker, he knew exactly what this meant..."

After watching for a while, Zhu Biao, Zhu Biao and others finally understood that this video used an earthquake event in the Later Han Dynasty (Eastern Han Dynasty) as an introduction to the murky court politics in the middle and late Later Han Dynasty, as well as the situation of Zhang Heng, who invented the seismometer.

After reading this opening paragraph, Zhu Yuanzhang began to wonder: Is there really such an instrument that can detect earthquakes thousands of miles away? What exactly does this seismograph look like?
The following video gives him part of the answer.

"Outside are eight dragons, each holding a copper ball in its head; below is a toad, opening its mouth to receive it."

"The image of this instrument has been seared into the memories of countless Chinese people. It is the seismometer."

"In April 1952, Pictorial published an article that devoted an entire page to a detailed description of the structure and workings of the seismometer. This technological achievement of an ancient civilization began to become known to the public..."

Next, the video tells a series of events from how the seismometer first became known to people in the Xin Dynasty of later generations, to its entry into the United Nations pavilion and being displayed alongside the lunar minerals brought back by the Bald Eagle Country after its moon landing, until it was included in the textbooks of later primary and secondary schools.

Seeing this, Zhu Biao and others felt both proud and amazed at the wisdom of the ancients.

However, both Zhang Heng in the video animation and the seismometer of later generations suffered almost devastating blows.

"'Who do you think I should depose the most?' In the hall, the emperor asked Zhang Heng in front of all the officials. He desperately wanted to get the answer from this man who could 'listen to the will of heaven.'"

"For hundreds of years, the Han Dynasty has been dominated by the 'theory of divine punishment,' believing that justice is lacking on earth, and that heaven has sent down calamities as punishment."

"So, whenever a natural disaster strikes, the emperor's most important task is often not to provide relief to the victims, but to issue a self-criticism edict and dismiss the relevant officials in an attempt to appease the wrath of heaven and correct the mistakes made in his administration..."

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but shook his head and sneered.

Although the video describes the affairs of the court too simply, it also shows that Dong Zhongshu's theory of divine punishment and other ideas about the interaction between heaven and man can easily become "weapons" for scholars to hold the emperor hostage.

Especially when the court is dark and the emperor is incompetent.

From this point of view, it was undoubtedly correct for him to abandon the rhetoric of "harmony between heaven and man", "mandate of heaven" and "punishment of heaven" that had been followed by previous dynasties to shape the rationality of ruling law in order to promote science.

In the video animation, Zhang Heng became the target of public criticism because he detected an earthquake thousands of miles away with his seismometer. He was eventually dismissed from his official position and left Luoyang in disgrace.

Then, the scene changed, and it was shown that a seismometer from later generations was questioned during an exhibition in Japan.

Then, international voices questioning the authenticity and functional effectiveness of the seismometer came like a wave, and even in China, there were people called "Zhouzi" who questioned and criticized the seismometer.

Also, the seismometer used for overseas display was indeed made in later generations and was just a model. It did not have the same function as Zhang Heng's seismometer in history. As a result, the seismometer, an ancient technological crystallization that once brought glory to the Chinese people, was suddenly relegated to the dust and became pseudo-technology.

Seeing this, many princes and grandchildren became angry.

"It's Japan that's causing trouble again. How despicable!"

"The Japanese are simply a poisonous snake. They will bite us at any time. We should destroy them as soon as possible!"

"That Zhouzi actually took the lead in publicly criticizing the seismometer. He's a complete traitor to the country!"

"···"

Of course, there were also relatively calm people, such as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, who thought: With the technological level of later generations, it should not be impossible to restore the seismometer invented in the Later Han Dynasty.

Could it be that... Zhang Heng's seismometer is really just a name in name only, and just a decoration as that boatman said?

The video then tells the story of how scientists from the Xin Dynasty later copied the seismometer, showing that the seismometer was indeed inconsistent with what was described in historical books.

Many scientists have studied the seismometer, but none of them have been able to successfully produce the seismometer described by Zhang Heng in history books.

The video then switches back to animation. Decades after Zhang Heng's death, Dong Zhuo led his troops into Luoyang. During the chaos of war, Dong Zhuo set a fire on his way out of the city, destroying the Lingtai (spiritual altar) and the seismometer inside. Zhang Heng's seismometer was lost, preserved only in historical records.

Seeing this, the hearts of the Zhu family sank.

Soon, the video came to 2003, when the Xin Dynasty once again started the restoration work on Zhang Heng's seismograph, and this time they finally used the "pendulum model" to produce a seismograph with functions similar to those recorded in historical books.

However, five years later, the content related to the seismometer was completely removed from the textbooks.

It turns out that the design of the new seismometer was not recognized by the academic community, and many people believed that its "suspended pendulum model" design did not match the description of the seismometer in history books.

Because the incident has repeatedly caused controversy, the relevant content about the seismometer has been removed from the textbooks.

At this point in the video, some members of the Zhu family had given up hope, believing that Zhang Heng's seismometer might be fake or exaggerated.

However, at the end of the video, things took a turn for the better.

An old researcher from the Academy of Sciences of later generations, after years of low-key research, finally solved the main problem faced in verifying the "upright rod model" seismometer, and also provided strong evidence for the authenticity of Zhang Heng's seismometer.

"The seismometer is like an untouchable dream in the vast history of China. Perhaps we will never know what it really looked like."

"But 1800 years later, Zhang Heng's successors have assured us that the nameless flower that blossomed in Luoyang that year is still swaying on this hot land."

The video, which lasted more than ten minutes, ended here. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Liu Kuan and asked, "Can this seismograph really sense earthquakes that occur thousands of miles away?"

Liu Kuan said, "Although this matter had not yet been finally determined by later generations before I came to the Ming Dynasty, as the video says, at least someone has proven that it could indeed exist."

"Personally, I am willing to believe the records of such things in our history books. I am also willing to believe that our ancestors had the wisdom and ability to invent and create these miraculous things."

"For example, the 'Water-Powered Astronomical Observatory' invented during the Song Dynasty was not only a sophisticated astronomical instrument, but also the world's earliest astronomical clock, hundreds of years ahead of the West."

"It was stolen by the Jin people during the Jingkang Incident and abandoned decades later due to transportation difficulties. The related manuscripts that accompanied the Zhao Song Dynasty southward were not replicated because no one understood the production method, so this advanced instrument was lost."

"It wasn't until the establishment of the Xin Dynasty that a group of scientists were organized to successfully restore it and verify its existence."

Old Zhu, Zhu Biao and others nodded after hearing this.

Because this water-powered astronomical observatory had been restored by the Tiangong Academy - the Ming Dynasty obtained much more Song Dynasty-related historical materials from the Yuan court in the early Ming Dynasty than in later generations. In addition, with Liu Kuan's guidance and the mobilization of skilled craftsmen from all over the country, restoration was no problem.

The successful development of the water-powered self-ringing clock is also related to the restoration of the water-powered astronomical observatory.

Liu Kuan added, "For example, Zhang Heng's other inventions include the water-powered armillary sphere, the compass chariot, and the solitary flying wood sculpture. Later generations considered the solitary flying wood sculpture to be a mechanically powered aircraft, what later generations commonly called an airplane."

"It sounds incredible that the Han Dynasty could invent an airplane, but through theoretical deduction and experimental verification, it was possible to create a simple airplane that could store mechanical energy to fly high into the sky and glide for miles."

"Later, gilded bronze propellers unearthed from tombs of Cao Cao's clan also proved that solitary flying wood carvings were indeed produced in the Eastern Han Dynasty."

At this point, Liu Kuan expressed regret. "However, whether it was the seismometer, the solitary flying wood carving, or other ingenious inventions by our ancestors, they were all temporary, the product of individual ingenuity. When dynasties ended and wars raged, they were all lost in the dust of history."

"It's either unknown to future generations or questioned by others. How tragic is that?"

"I believe that this kind of thing happened because these dynasties didn't attach importance to preserving scientific and technological achievements, and also because they didn't systematically develop science and technology."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang also sighed and nodded, saying, "I understand what you mean. Don't worry, our Ming Dynasty will definitely firmly promote the path of science and will also try to preserve all scientific and technological achievements."

The reason why Liu Kuan chose this video related to the seismometer was not only because he thought the content was interesting, but also because he wanted to use it to remind Zhu Yuanzhang.

Now that the goal has been basically achieved, I won’t say anything more.

Zhu Yuanzhang discussed a few more things related to Zhang Heng and the seismometer with the princes and grandchildren, and then let Liu Kuan continue to play the next video.

Liu Kuan played the third video he had prepared.
When the tablet was placed, the title of the video appeared on the screen, looking very ordinary.

"Workers are facing frequent employment difficulties. What are we going through in this era?"

The term "working man" is understood by Zhu Biao and other people who have more contact with Liu Kuan, because Liu Kuan occasionally calls himself a worker of the Zhu family.

So what is this video about?
What are the employment difficulties faced by workers in later generations? What lessons can the Ming Dynasty learn from this?
With this question in mind, Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and others watched the video patiently.

At the beginning of the video, with heart-pounding background music, a man's voice was heard explaining, "What's the standard of living with a monthly salary of 10,000 yuan?"

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)