Bringing the Railway to Daming

This winter is obviously colder than last year. The temperature in the capital has dropped several degrees below zero, and the water along the Yangtze River has frozen.

Liu Kuan rode all the way here, and although he was wearing warm clothes, he still felt very cold.

At this time, when I followed Zhu Zhi (the previous article had a typo, which has been corrected) into the greenhouse, I immediately felt as if I had entered a greenhouse in the mansion, which was much warmer.

In fact, the greenhouse used for the experiment did use the technology used by the Ming Dynasty to build greenhouses.

For example, two-fifths of the greenhouse in front of you is located underground, while the above-ground part is a light-transmitting greenhouse built with a steel frame and transparent glass.

In order to ensure the temperature inside the greenhouse, the institute not only seals the various connecting parts of the greenhouse with cement, rubber, mortar and other materials, but also uses floor heating, heating pipes, charcoal basins and other methods to artificially increase the temperature.

Of course, since it is an experiment, multiple greenhouses must be built for comparison.

The greenhouse that Liu Kuan is currently in uses earthworms as the main method of heating.

"Teacher, please look, these peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, as well as the water spinach, amaranth, and coriander over here, are obviously dying." Zhu Zhi, who was walking in front, pointed to the rows of vegetables.

At the beginning of the year, he and Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Zan, and Zhu Quan were tasked with setting up a greenhouse cultivation research institute. Afterwards, the four of them brought a group of craftsmen and built several greenhouses on the land they had applied for.

Then each of them was responsible for several greenhouses, and conducted greenhouse planting experiments by creating different conditions in the greenhouses.

The vegetables in this greenhouse were all planted by him and his team, many of them even planted by him personally, nurturing them bit by bit. Now, seeing these vegetables dying due to insufficient temperature conditions, it was like watching a pet he had raised die of illness. It was heartbreaking.

Liu Kuan didn't know how to grow vegetables. He had just read some related knowledge on the Internet. He was probably not as good as the old farmers at that time.

He took off his gloves and felt the temperature in the greenhouse. He felt that the temperature was not too low, so he asked, "What temperature is this greenhouse usually kept at?"

Zhu Zhi directly took out the thermometer built into the greenhouse and showed it to Liu Kuan.

"Teacher, please look, the temperature in the greenhouse is 9 degrees Celsius right now, but at night it will drop to around 4 or 5 degrees Celsius. In other words, the temperature in the greenhouse can only be maintained between 4 and 9 degrees Celsius for the next few days."

Historically, the thermometer was invented by Galileo in the late 16th century, while the Celsius thermometer was invented by the Swedes in the mid-18th century. It mainly uses the different boiling points and freezing points of mercury and water to divide temperatures.

With the current technological level of the Ming Dynasty, although it was still unable to produce the thermometers commonly used in later generations, it was possible to produce larger primitive thermometers.

Because many experiments require temperature measurement, Liu Kuan instructed the craftsmen of Tiangong Institute to produce a Celsius thermometer several years ago.

The reason why Celsius temperature is still used is naturally to make it easier for Ming Dynasty researchers and craftsmen to refer to the temperature-related data in later materials provided by Liu Kuan.

But now it is definitely not called "Celsius", but directly called "degree".

Just like the thermometer in Zhu Zhi's hand, it looks like a glass stick as thick as a finger, with a handle and a base on one end and a round ball on the other end. It has a strange shape.

Liu Kuan checked and found that the temperature was indeed as Zhu Zhi said, so he said, "If you want to save some of the vegetables in this greenhouse, you can consider adding a heating pipe to continue to raise the temperature of the greenhouse."

"However, I've noticed that it's been cloudy or rainy and snowy for several consecutive days recently. Perhaps insufficient sunlight is one of the reasons why these vegetables are wilting."

Zhu Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Then could you please add some lights to this greenhouse?"

"You can try." Liu Kuan nodded, then added, "In fact, most of the time, experimental subjects fail. Their main function is to provide data for research. So, even if these fruits and vegetables die, you don't have to take it to heart, because their death is valuable."

Zhu Zhi listened thoughtfully.

Then, Zhu Zhi took Liu Kuan to visit several other greenhouses with different conditions.

Some greenhouses are buried more than half underground, while others are only buried one-third; some greenhouses are completely heated by charcoal basins, while others are completely heated by heating pipes.

The conditions vary.

After the tour, Zhu Zhi learned that Liu Kuan then went straight back home, and took people to pick some fresh vegetables, fruits and melons that had already grown, and asked him to take them back for his family to taste.

Although these are experimental products, they are not used for chemical or genetic experiments. They are just changes to the vegetable cultivation environment, so there is no need to worry about any contamination issues.

It is not easy to eat these vegetables and fruits in the middle of winter, and they were given to him by students, so Liu Kuan happily accepted them.

When Liu Kuan returned to the mansion, it was almost dark.

"Daddy!"

When Liu Kuan entered the middle courtyard, the first person to greet him was Liu Ruoxue, who was making a snowman with her younger brothers and sisters in the courtyard.

As a child born in the 16th year of Hongwu, according to the Ming Dynasty's custom of calculating age, she was already nine years old, and would be ten years old after the New Year.

"Father is back."

Liu Ping'an, Liu Ding'an, Liu Chang'an, Liu Ruoyue and Liu Le'an also came to pay their respects to Liu Kuan.

Liu Ping'an is only one year younger than Liu Ruoxue (actually, they were born two or three months later), and is now eight years old. In fact, both of them are in the third grade at the First Primary School of Beijing.

Liu Dingan was born in the 20th year of Hongwu. He is only five years old this year and is in preschool.

Liu Changan and Liu Ruoyue were a year younger and hadn't started school yet. As for Liu Lean, he was even younger, not even three years old.

Liu Kuan smiled and picked up the youngest, Liu Le'an, and then pretended to check the snowman they had built. Finally, he said, "It's pretty good."

Liu Ruoxue said proudly: "That's right, it took us more than an hour to complete it."

"Then should I reward you with a little red flower?"

Liu Ruoxue said, "I'm already in third grade, I don't want a red flower - if Daddy really has a red flower, give it to Ding'an. Only preschoolers like that."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "There are no little red flowers, but there are cucumbers and tomatoes!" Then he asked the servant to take out the cucumbers and tomatoes from the warming box brought into the central courtyard - the warming box was also given by Zhu Zhi, and it was actually just a bamboo box wrapped in a layer of cotton clothes.

The children were very surprised to see fruits that are only available in summer in the middle of winter, and they immediately clamored to get up.

Liu Kuan said, "Everyone has it, but you have to wash it clean before you can eat it."

At this time, Zhu Huilan and Su Caiwei came out of the house together.

Zhu Huilan immediately asked the maid to wash the cucumbers and tomatoes that had just been distributed to the children, saying, "What if the children catch a cold by eating these in the middle of winter? It's better to save them for cooking."

Liu Kuan said, "We have cabbage, amaranth and other vegetables here for cooking. The fruits and vegetables can be kept in the house for a while. When they are not too cold, you can give them to the children."

Zhu Huilan smiled and agreed.

After dinner, the family sat in the side hall again, some reading and some chatting - it was not that the other rooms were not warm, but Liu Kuan's mansion had already formed the habit of the family gathering together for a while after dinner.

"Today I went to the palace to visit my mother. She seems to be in worse health than last winter. She caught a cold a while ago and it took a lot of effort to recover."

Liu Kuan was silent for a moment.

After the New Year, next year will be Empress Ma’s 60th birthday, which means she will be 60 years old next year.

Historically, Empress Ma passed away in the 15th year of Hongwu, and now she has lived nearly ten years longer than in history.

Although there has been progress in Ming Dynasty medicine in recent years, the progress is limited after all. Empress Ma's health is getting worse and worse, and it is unknown how many years she can live.

I don’t know how Zhu Yuanzhang would react after Empress Ma died at that time.

Thinking of this, Liu Kuan said, "The day after tomorrow, when you have a day off, I will go with you to the palace to visit the Empress."

Zhu Huilan smiled and said, "Then I'll go with my husband—I can see that my mother also wants to talk to you more."

After saying that, Zhu Huilan wanted to drink tea, but as soon as the cup was brought to her lips, she felt nauseous.

Liu Kuanguan asked, "What's wrong, my lady?"

Su Caiwei asked from the side: "Madam, your period hasn't come yet this month?"

Liu Kuan was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Zhu Huilan and Su Caiwei had such a good relationship that they knew each other's menstrual period.

Then he suddenly realized something, held Zhu Huilan's hand and asked, "Madam, are you pregnant again?"

Zhu Huilan blushed slightly and nodded, "It should be."

Zhu Huilan is 27 years old this year. In an ordinary family, if she gets married earlier, she may become a grandmother in a few years and call herself old.

In addition, she had not been able to get pregnant in the past few years, so she thought she would never get pregnant again. But who knew that she got pregnant again, and she was quite shy for a while.

Liu Kuan was not surprised at all. Zhu Huilan was only 27 years old. If it were in later generations, many girls would have just graduated from college a few years ago and would be in the prime of their life, making them the main force for pregnancy.

He immediately ordered someone to find a gynecologist from the Beijing Hospital.

The servants of the palace went away with the latest model of four-wheeled carriage, and in less than half an hour, they called the doctor.

The doctor took Zhu Huilan's pulse and determined that she was pregnant, and immediately congratulated Liu Kuan.

Liu Kuan was naturally very happy and asked people to pay the medical fees and reward money, and even the servants in the mansion were rewarded...
···
Two days later.

Liu Kuan and Zhu Huilan brought Liu Changan and Liu Ruoyue to the palace to meet Empress Ma - there was no other way, among Liu Kuan's children, Empress Ma now liked this pair of twin brother and sister the most.

The meeting place is still in Dashan Hall.

Now that the Dashan Hall has been renovated and has heating, it is as warm as spring inside even in the coldest months of winter, so Empress Ma and the children don't have to worry about being cold.

"Greetings to Her Majesty the Queen (Queen Mother)." Liu Kuan and Zhu Huilan first saluted Queen Ma.

Liu Changan and Liu Ruoyue knelt behind him and said, "May the grandma be well."

"Chang'an and Ruoyue are here too? Get up quickly, the ground is cold." Queen Ma smiled and came down to pick up the two children with her own hands.

Liu Kuan remembered that every time he came, Empress Ma would always ask him, "How is Kuan'er?" He couldn't help but smile in his heart: I have indeed fallen out of favor.

Because Liu Kuan and Zhu Huilan were visiting as family members, and Empress Ma was a kind person, she immediately asked the palace servants to bring chairs for Liu Kuan and his family to sit down and chat, and even served them hot tea and warm drinks.

Empress Ma first chatted with the two children for a while, and then talked to Liu Kuan.

"It's the end of the year, so Tiangongyuan should have a lot more work to do, right? I finally have a day off, but Kuan'er isn't staying home to rest. Why is he visiting an old woman like me?"

Liu Kuan said, "I heard you caught a cold a few days ago, and I haven't had time to visit you. Now that I'm on vacation, of course I have to come and see you."

Empress Ma said, "I'm old and useless, and I get sick all the time. I can't always ask people to visit me, right? You all have important things to do, so Huilan just needs to come and see me."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "I wanted to chat with you too."

"What do you have to talk about with an old woman like me?"

Liu Kuan said, "Shall I tell you some stories from later film and television?"

Empress Ma nodded and smiled. "Since you're here, you can tell me about it—let's talk about that martial arts drama with the Ming Cult that you mentioned so much last year. I thought it was quite interesting." (End of this chapter)