Bringing the Railway to Daming

Liu Cixin became well-known to the public after his work "The Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award. Among his many science fiction works, the most famous is "The Three-Body Problem", followed by "The Wandering Earth".

Before Liu Kuan traveled through time, he had only known a few of Liu Cixin's science fiction works, such as "The Three-Body Problem" and "The Wandering Earth", and "Moonlit Night" was one of them.

When he heard that Empress Ma wanted to read a science fiction novel, the first thing he thought of was "The Three-Body Problem", after all, this work is such a classic.

But he thought that the content of "The Three-Body Problem" was too complicated, involving too much later technology and even future technology, and it was also too long. Even with his explanation, Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma and others might not understand it.

In addition, the historical background of the first part of "The Three-Body Problem" was rather special and difficult to explain, so Liu Kuan gave up the idea of ​​telling the story of "The Three-Body Problem".

As for the movie "The Wandering Earth", it is exciting, but Liu Kuan has read the original novel - to be honest, unless he can repeat the original novel word for word, it doesn't sound very interesting.

So, Liu Kuan finally found this short science fiction novel "Moonlit Night" from his memory.

When Liu Cixin wrote this story (2008), his imagination was quite creative and the idea was quite novel, but the content was relatively simple.

It tells the story of a protagonist in the early 21st century who received three calls from himself on the Mid-Autumn Night from the 22nd century, namely 2123, 2119, and 2125.

In the first two phone calls, the future protagonist asked the modern protagonist to use future technology to change the energy history of mankind for more than a hundred years. As a result, it was found that human society had become worse than before. So in the third phone call, the future protagonist asked the modern protagonist not to change anything.

There are roughly four ideas expressed in the novel:

“If ordinary people do the key things more than a hundred years earlier, they can play the role of God.”

“It is so easy for humans to take from nature, but so difficult to make amends.”

"He changed human history three times in one night, but in the end he chose to change nothing."

"As long as you understand how insignificant each individual is in the vastness of time and space, you can relax about everything."

"···"

Although this is a short story, because it involves later technologies such as "controlled nuclear fusion" and "photovoltaic power generation", as well as fantasy technologies such as using "silicon plow" technology to capture solar energy and "ultra-deep drilling" technology to mine electric currents deep in the earth, Liu Kuan took more than an hour to make Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma understand the novel.

After listening, the three of them were silent for a long time.

Zhu Yuanzhang then took the initiative to ask, "Liu Kuan, in the piece you described, 'Moonlit Night,' time and space can influence each other. This seems to be different from the parallel time and space you mentioned earlier?"

"Your Majesty, it is indeed different," Liu Kuan explained. "In this novel, time and space are linear. It seems that there are no parallel time and space. Therefore, any action taken by the protagonist in the 21st century could have a huge impact on the future."

"According to my humble observation, the present-day Ming Dynasty and the future world I came from are probably parallel universes. The few times the strange fog appeared before, I and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince watched the news from the future world and didn't notice any influence from the Ming Dynasty on the future world."

"Even in later generations, there are no reports of the cross-river bridge or the Beijing-Shanghai Railway disappearing—this means that the bridge and railway are still in place. This is the best proof that the Ming Dynasty and later generations belong to parallel time and space."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly after hearing this, and then fell into deep thought again.

At this time, Zhu Biao asked, "Brother-in-law, from what I've just read in this novel, even if human society acquires advanced technology, the future may not necessarily get better; it may even get worse."

"Like in the novel, humanity's use of energy sources like coal and oil only leads to global warming, rising sea levels and inundation of coastal areas. However, the use of advanced silicon plows and ultra-deep drilling technology has nearly brought humanity to its knees."

"Now that our Ming Dynasty has obtained a lot of future technology from my brother-in-law, will the future of the Ming Dynasty become worse than the original history?"

Liu Kuan was slightly surprised. He didn't expect Zhu Biao to think of this.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Your Highness, I've pondered this question myself. Although China experienced many hardships after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, including a century of humiliation, it ultimately embarked on the right path and returned to the ranks of world powers."

"Now that the Ming Dynasty has changed because of my humble minister's arrival, and there will be no Qing Dynasty in the future, it is hard to say what China will become in the future."

"But I believe that we have a foundation of thousands of years of culture, and now we have technology that is centuries ahead of the rest of the world. We also value science and are on the path to becoming a technological power."

“Even if things get worse in the future, they won’t be that bad, and there’s a high probability that they will get better.”

Zhu Biao heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this and said, "Now that you say that, I feel a little relieved."

Liu Kuan also breathed a sigh of relief.

He did not tell the truth completely - he was actually worried that the future would go in a worse direction. After all, if the Ming Dynasty was too strong, it might mean that the era of "family rule" would be longer and the feudal society would be more stable, which would ultimately affect the development of future countries.

Although this was just a possibility, it made him worried every time he thought about it, so he didn't dare to think about it anymore.

But now he has subconsciously slowed down the pace of Ming Dynasty's technological development, or has not tried his best to develop Ming Dynasty's technology, especially in terms of weapons. Now, the breakthroughs in firearms of Ming Dynasty after the flintlock rifle were almost all made by other researchers without his guidance.

That's all he can do.

We can't stop the Ming Dynasty from developing science and technology just because of a possibility or some concerns, right?
That would make him feel even more uncomfortable. Later, he simply stopped thinking about this almost philosophical question.

Too much internal friction.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Biao'er, your previous thoughts were really wrong. It's a very simple truth. There are two kinds of food in front of you. One is brown rice porridge that doesn't satisfy your hunger, and the other is rich fish and meat with white rice."

"You are a traveler about to embark on a long journey, encountering enemies and engaging in battle along the way. Are you going to choose to eat brown rice porridge because you're worried that eating too much or too well will harm your body?"

"Let me give you another simple example. You are about to fight an enemy and there is a stick and a sharp sword in front of you. Would you abandon the sword and use the stick because you don't know how to wield a sword and are worried about hurting yourself?"

The two examples given by Zhu Yuanzhang made Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan stunned, and then they couldn't help but smile at each other.

Although the examples Zhu Yuanzhang gave were a bit crude and the principles he expressed were very simple, they were undoubtedly correct.

Seeing the two people's expressions, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and looked at Empress Ma and asked, "Sister, what do you think of the story of "Moonlit Night"?

Queen Ma smiled and said, "It's a good story, but it's a bit hard to listen to, and not as interesting as 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'."

Zhu Yuanzhang also laughed, "You just want to hear how future generations will write about us, right?"

"That's what you said, Chongba. I don't think so."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma chatted and laughed, making the atmosphere in the Dashan Hall relaxed.

After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Liu Kuan, are there any interesting stories or anecdotes about me in later generations that you haven't told me?"

Liu Kuan said, "That's far too many. Your Majesty, you may not know this. People in later generations have done statistics. Among all the unofficial histories, anecdotes, and folk tales about emperors, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty is the most famous, followed by Your Majesty."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly and asked, "Then why is Qianlong ranked above us in this matter?"

Empress Ma, Zhu Biao, Zhu Huilan and others also showed curiosity and waited to hear Liu Kuan's explanation.

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, firstly, Qianlong was an emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the time between him and later generations was even shorter, only about two hundred years."

"Secondly, Qianlong reigned for a very long time, a full sixty years, and later served as the Supreme Emperor for three years. It can be said that he influenced at least three or four generations of the Qing Dynasty."

"Third, Emperor Qianlong toured the south of the Yangtze River six times in history, leaving behind many unofficial histories and folk stories."

"Later, some businesses, hoping to capitalize on Qianlong's fame, fabricated stories about their own dishes and products that were related to him. After all, he toured so frequently and for so long, and he was a master of all things food and entertainment, so it was easy for him to be associated with various foods, leading ordinary people to believe them."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled when he heard this. "This Qianlong is indeed a prodigal son. Doesn't he know that the emperor's tour involves a lot of consequences and will cost the local government a lot of money and grain?"

"And from what you said, this person also enjoys eating, drinking and having fun. He must have a grand and extravagant tour. The manpower, money and food consumed by the tour must be even greater."

Liu Kuan immediately offered his flattery, "Your Majesty, you are right—later generations believe that the serious problems in local finances after the mid-Qing Dynasty were caused by Emperor Qianlong's six tours, which wasted manpower and material resources."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt relieved when Liu Kuan belittled Qianlong on behalf of later generations. He then couldn't help asking, "Then why do we have so many unofficial histories and folk tales? We are not like Qianlong, who traveled around at will."

Liu Kuan said, "Most of the unofficial histories and folk tales about Your Majesty were left behind when you were a wandering monk. After all, your image was closest to the common people at that time, and the people liked to listen to your stories as refreshing novels."

"What is a cool article?"

"It's a simple story that makes people feel refreshed," Liu Kuan said. "For example, there's a folk tale about how when you were a wandering monk, you asked for alms from a landlord. Not only did the landlord not give you alms, but he even released vicious dogs to chase you. So when you became emperor, you had the landlord and his family exterminated."

Zhu Yuanzhang: "This is true."

"Ah?" Liu Kuan was surprised.

Are folk tales actually true?
Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly, "When I was a wandering monk, I was no different from a beggar. I was bitten by the landlord's dogs more than once. But one of those times, I almost lost my life. So after I became the leader of the Red Turban Army, I led my men to wipe out the landlord's entire family."

After hearing this, Liu Kuan came back to his senses and thought to himself, this is indeed something that Lao Zhu would do.

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked, "Do you remember any other unofficial stories about us?"

Liu Kuan said, "There are many unofficial stories about Your Majesty, but I have a vague memory of most of them, or have even forgotten them. The only thing I remember clearly is the story about one dish."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma became interested and asked, "What dishes are they?"

"Pearl Jade White Jade Soup." (End of this chapter)