Bringing the Railway to Daming

Liu Kuan was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang would actually notice this sentence in the video. He was really perceptive.

He thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, when the Xin Dynasty was established in the future, the population was 5.4 million, and ten years later, the population was close to 7 million."

"However, hybrid rice wasn't developed until almost 25 years after the founding of the Xin Dynasty, and wasn't widely used until 28 years later."

"Also, although the population of the Qing Dynasty exceeded 400 million, famine had been a frequent occurrence in China since the middle of the dynasty. By the late Qing Dynasty, internal corruption and external extortion by Western barbarians had driven the people to extreme poverty. Even as the Qing Dynasty began its transformation into a modern industrial nation, starvation was still widespread."

"By the Xin Dynasty, even with clean governance and vigorous industrial development and agricultural promotion, feeding a population of 700 million was almost at its limit."

"Furthermore, the country was internally stable at the time, and the population was growing rapidly. It was foreseeable that in ten or twenty years, the population would inevitably increase. And indeed, this was indeed the case. Thirty years after the establishment of the Xin Dynasty, the population was approaching one billion."

"Your Majesty, consider this: if it weren't for the invention of hybrid rice and the Xin Dynasty's transformation of many lands previously unsuitable for farming, what kind of situation would a country burdened with a billion people be facing?"

"Not to mention, the international situation was extremely complicated at the time. The country was essentially trying to survive between the Soviet Union and the Bald Eagle."

After hearing what Liu Kuan said, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiongying and others imagined the scenario of agriculture stagnating after the establishment of the new dynasty, and they couldn't help but feel horrified.

Zhu Biao then took a deep breath and said, "With powerful enemies and powerful neighbors outside and the burden of a billion people at home, if there are no breakthroughs and achievements in agriculture, I am afraid China will fall into an irretrievable situation."

Liu Kuan smiled with a complicated expression, and couldn't help but say, "I was born later in the future. Although the people were poor at that time, they had already solved the problem of food rations. Therefore, I have never felt real hunger since I was a child."

"However, during the first thirty years of the Xin Dynasty, hunger gripped the people of the country, so much so that it was etched deep into their bones."

"My parents' generation was fine. Most of my grandparents' generation valued food very much. Even when the family had more food than they could eat and could eat meat every meal, they still cherished food immensely."

"As for those who were born a few years later than me, they have absolutely no idea what hunger is. However, perhaps this is a kind of happiness."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao did not expect that the Xin Dynasty would be so powerful in the future, but it was still shrouded in the crisis of famine for twenty or thirty years.

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also understood why the video said that the agricultural achievements of later generations were not a blessing in disguise, but a change of fate against the will of heaven - in such a critical situation, it finally solved the food problem for more than one billion people, wasn't it a change of fate against the will of heaven?

And it is an unprecedented change of destiny!

Afterwards, the Zhu family talked about other things in the video for a few more sentences, and Zhu Yuanzhang then signaled Liu Kuan to play the third video.

The title of this video is - "How did humans take the first step in technological development?"

How important technology is? Now, not only Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and others, but even the concubines and palace maids who have been in the deep palace for many years know it.

Therefore, when people saw this title, their attention shifted away from the previous video and they began to look forward to the content of this video.

“What exactly is technology? That’s not an easy question to answer.”

"Because technology is a very broad concept, and the time span it covers is also very long. From the first time our ancestors used stones to crack nuts to today's cutting-edge artificial intelligence, all fall under the category of technology."

"In the millions of years of human evolution, almost every leap forward has been accompanied by technological progress. In other words, it is precisely the advancement of technology that has in turn driven human development."

“Therefore, understanding how human scientific discoveries and technological inventions have evolved and progressed is an important part of understanding human history and is also an important part of guiding us to see the future of the continent.”

"Because in today's world, the speed at which technology is updated has surpassed the speed at which most people update their knowledge."

"Virtual reality, driverless cars, gene editing, big data, blockchain, nuclear fusion, artificial intelligence and other new technological terms are constantly emerging, making people dizzy..."

Virtual reality? Autonomous driving? Gene editing?

Zhu Yuanzhang, who thought he had a lot of knowledge about later science and technology, stared in amazement and thought: Not only are people in later generations dazzled, I am dazzled too.

He turned his head to look at Zhu Biao, and saw that Zhu Biao was also frowning with a look of surprise on his face. Only then did he feel a little relieved.

"It seems that Biao'er doesn't understand these terms either."

"We thought we'd exhausted Liu Kuan's knowledge of future science and technology over the years, but now it seems there's still a lot to be discovered."

"Even if the Ming Dynasty cannot access these cutting-edge technologies now, we can record them in the "Huang Ming Zu Xun" (secret book) and leave them to future generations as a guide."

The video begins with various scenes of scientific discoveries and technological achievements in later generations, accompanied by commentary, to illustrate the importance of human cognition of the essence of science and technology, especially in today's world where technology is updating very quickly.

"...In fact, all the scientific and technological achievements we enjoy today have a very clear development thread from beginning to end, which is to obtain energy more efficiently and transmit information more quickly."

"It can be said that it is the constant pursuit of these two goals that has continuously driven the advancement of human science and technology, and the development of civilization." "So, let's start from 176 million years ago and walk through the magnificent history of human science and technology!"

The video scene suddenly changed, and a group of people with their buttocks wrapped in simple animal skins and holding simple wooden spears were walking on the prairie.

"Almost all animals living on Earth rely solely on their bodies for energy, while only humans and a few of our close relatives, such as chimpanzees, have the ability to use tools."

"However, as to when and how humans learned to use tools, it is difficult for scholars to give a definitive answer because the time is so long ago."

"One reasonable guess is that early humans may have accidentally used stones to crack nuts or kill wild animals, and gradually learned to use stones."

"During this process, humans gradually discovered that the edges and corners of some stones could be used to cut animal skin or chop down trees, so the uses of stone began to diversify."

"However, since stones at this time were obtained from nature rather than manufactured, this does not mean that humans had fully mastered stone tools."

"Until one day, people discovered that after being smashed, stones could be transformed into some other shapes and have new uses. This was a great moment for mankind..."

In the video, the author first uses the examples of monkeys using stones to crack nuts and orangutans using sticks to dig out ants to speculate on the scenes of human ancestors' initial use of tools.

Then there are scenes of human ancestors in different periods using stones, until human ancestors began to actively make stone tools by throwing and smashing.

In these scenes, humans have thick hair and their faces are obviously different from those of modern people. They are somewhat similar to apes.

Fortunately, the Zhu family had heard from Liu Kuan that humans evolved from apes, otherwise they would have been shocked at this time.

The video then describes how our ancestor, Homo erectus, evolved into Homo habilis by learning to use and make simple tools like stones and sticks. It then learned how to use them and, millions of years later, evolved into Homo sapiens.

"Cooked food was crucial to human evolution – when humans were still eating wild fruits, they would have spent almost ten hours a day searching for and eating food. This made it difficult for humans to migrate long distances, let alone change their surroundings."

"But with the advent of cooked food, humans were able to obtain energy much faster and their lifespan was extended, giving them more time for activities other than cooking and resting."

"In addition, cooked food made human teeth less sharp, which left room for brain development. Other activities promoted brain development, and the nutrients in cooked food that were more easily absorbed provided the basis for brain evolution."

“Thus, humans gradually evolved from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens…”

The video then tells the story of how our ancestors initially borrowed natural fire, then learned to preserve fire, and finally learned to make fire with flint and drill wood, which is the process of making fire.

Fire not only allows humans to eat cooked food, but also helps humans drive away wild beasts, explore caves, and then live in caves, obtaining a more stable and safer development environment than before.

Next, it tells how humans began to build houses and how they learned to make clothes...
As the Zhu family watched the video showing the history of human evolution and learning various skills, they couldn't help but sigh: It is really not easy for human beings to evolve to this point today, and they have a lot of luck.

"It's an interesting question: did humans leave Africa after they started wearing clothes, or did they start wearing clothes after leaving Africa because it was cold? This question has also puzzled anthropologists for a long time."

"However, later scholars speculated that humans began wearing clothes around 72000 years ago based on the time when humans lost their body hair. This time coincided with the second time when modern humans left the African continent..."

Next, the video tells the story of how humans, after leaving Africa, fought against other humans, mainly Neanderthals, and ultimately won through the two major advantages of weapons and language.

After finishing this paragraph, the video also reached the end.

"Looking back at prehistoric human development, we can see that the use of tools and fire has greatly improved the efficiency of human energy acquisition."

"The invention of houses and clothing allows humans to effectively reduce energy consumption, store excess energy, and actively change the surrounding environment."

"The invention of weapons gave Homo sapiens an advantage in competition with other humans, while the emergence of language allowed Homo sapiens to communicate more effectively with their peers and organize themselves to complete large-scale tasks..."

The video is over.

Compared with the previous video, the production level of this video is obviously not as good. It did not shock the Zhu family much, but it made them more clear about the origin and evolution of mankind.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "In my opinion, the most memorable line from this video is 'The development of human technology is all about obtaining energy more efficiently and transmitting information more quickly.' This directly points to the essence of the relationship between humans and technological development."

"Your Majesty is right." Zhu Biao nodded.

Zhu Xiongying couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, did all humans really migrate out of Africa? Then why are most people in Africa black, while most people in Europe are white, and we are yellow-skinned? Is it really just because of different living environments?"

The others also looked over, waiting for Liu Kuan's answer.

Apparently, they also find it difficult to accept that humans originated in Africa. (End of this chapter)