Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 77: The Myth is Disillusioned, the Truth of Heaven and Earth [Please Read]

The opening credits end and the outline of the earth flashes by.

Because it happened too fast, it did not attract the attention of Zhu Yuanzhang and others.

The opening scene is Liu Peiqiang, his father-in-law and his son looking at Jupiter through a telescope. It seems very ordinary, but when the content of their discussion comes out, it immediately shocks Zhu Yuanzhang and others.

"Wait!" Zhu Yuanzhang shouted.

Liu Kuan paused the movie.

"Your Majesty, what questions do you have?"

"Did this father and son use a telescope?"

"To be precise, it's an astronomical telescope."

"How is it different from the telescope and microscope you brought?"

Liu Kuan said, "The astronomical telescope can see many times farther than the one I brought with me, because it is specially used to observe the sun, moon and stars."

Zhu Yuanzhang was visibly surprised when he heard this. He sat up straighter and said, "A telescope can actually observe the sun, moon, and stars? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Liu Kuan actually forgot, but he couldn't say it directly.

So he said, "The magnification of my telescope is too low. Not to mention viewing the stars, even viewing the moon is not good enough. That's why I didn't say anything."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked directly: "Can you see the Moon Palace with your telescope?"

The others also looked over eagerly.

Liu Kuan immediately understood that Zhu Yuanzhang and others were probably reciting legends about the moon, such as Chang'e, Guanghan Palace, and Wu Gang cutting down the cassia tree.

He thought for a moment and said, "On a clear night, I can barely see the larger craters on the moon with my telescope, but that's all."

"Also, Your Majesty must be mentally prepared—on the moon, that is, above the moon, there is no Guanghan Palace, nor Chang'e, Jade Rabbit, Laurel, or Wu Gang."

"It's similar to the Gobi Desert west of Gansu, or even more desolate than there. Even the air is extremely thin. When it's hot, it's extremely hot, and when it's cold, it's extremely cold. Without some special equipment from later generations, it's impossible for people to survive there, or they will die if they go there."

After Liu Kuan finished speaking, the Dashan Hall became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Obviously, what Liu Kuan said was completely beyond everyone's expectations.

Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses and frowned, asking, "Is what you said true? How did later generations know for sure that there was no Guanghan Palace or Chang'e on the moon?"

Liu Kuan said, "Every word I have said is true. As for how I can confirm this, firstly, future generations have excellent astronomical telescopes that can observe the moon in detail."

"Secondly, China and two other powerful nations have since launched rockets to the moon and deployed instruments for observation. China even brought back some lunar soil."

"The world's most powerful nation at the time even sent people to land on the moon. However, a few years before I came to the Ming Dynasty, some people began to suspect that the story of that powerful nation's moon landing was a fabrication."

"Even so, just observing with an astronomical telescope and landing on the moon with a rocket is enough to understand what the moon really looks like."

Zhu Yuanzhang and others were shocked again.

People in later generations can actually fly to the moon?!

Isn't this a divine method?

Could it be that everyone in the future will be a fairy or god?
But looking at Prince Consort Liu, he doesn't look like a god.

After finally coming back to his senses, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know what to ask - he knew in his heart that since Liu Kuan said so, the true appearance of the moon was most likely like that.

There is no Guanghan Palace and laurel, no Chang'e, Jade Rabbit, and Wu Gang.

Even the immortals, gods, and Buddhas mentioned by Buddhism and Taoism may be fictitious - at least Zhu Yuanzhang, as the emperor, had never seen real immortals, Buddhas, gods, and demons.

Wouldn't his title of Son of Heaven then become a joke?

wrong!

The reason why we were able to establish the Ming Dynasty and own the world was because we led a group of civil officials and military generals to successively defeat Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, expel the barbarians, restore China, pacify the world, treat the people well, and win the hearts of the people!
We know in our hearts that the so-called "Son of Heaven" and "Receiving the Mandate of Heaven" are just a saying, not the truth that allows us to rule the world.

If there really is such a thing as "the mandate of the Son of Heaven", why would the founding emperors of all dynasties need to control a strong army?

Liu Kuan, unaware that Zhu Yuanzhang was pondering the legal basis for his rule, saw him remain silent for a long time and asked, "Your Majesty, can we continue?" Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses, suppressed his turbulent thoughts, and said, "Yes, continue."

The movie continues, and soon it comes time to introduce the background that "the sun will expand and swallow the earth."

Liu Kuan paused the movie and said, "Your Majesty, allow me to explain—the Earth is the land beneath our feet."

"Later generations have proven that the world is not round, but rather an enormous sphere, hence the name Globe."

"How is this possible? Third brother-in-law, please don't talk nonsense in front of our father!" A young man asked loudly. It was the seventh prince Zhu Gui.

Then the Fifth Prince Zhu Su said, "During the Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng proposed the theory of the spherical celestial body. Could it be true? Is the earth really like the yolk in an egg?"

Liu Kuan was slightly surprised. He didn't expect that the King Zhou of the first Ming Dynasty actually knew about the Hun Tian Theory. Although people in later generations knew a lot about the Hun Tian Theory, it was definitely a niche knowledge in the early Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Liu Kuan, please explain in detail how later generations proved that the earth is a giant sphere."

Zhu Yu thought Zhu Yuanzhang was as seriously skeptical of Liu Kuan's nonsense as he was, so he got even more excited and said, "Yes, if the earth is a sphere, wouldn't the people standing on the other side be feet up and heads down? How can they stand?"

The others also looked over, wanting to see how Liu Kuan would explain.

Liu Kuan said, "It's easy to prove that the Earth is a sphere. If you go to the seaside and watch ships sailing eastward, you'll notice that as the ships sail away, their sails and masts sink little by little until they disappear."

"This just proves that the Earth has a curvature and is a sphere overall. It's just that it's so huge and we humans are so small that we can't feel it."

Zhu Yu argued, "Even if it's true, it only means that the earth has a curvature, but it doesn't mean that it is necessarily a sphere, right?"

Liu Kuan smiled. "Your Highness Prince Qi does have some truth in what he said, but there's another way to further prove this. If you steer the boat eastward, you'll eventually return to Daming from the west."

Zhu Yu frowned. "How can we prove this? Who would dare to sail all the way east? What if we get into a shipwreck or can't return?"

Liu Kuan said, "A circumnavigation of the globe is indeed extremely difficult and dangerous, but over a hundred years later, someone from a small Western nation was able to accomplish it. This is all I have to say. If the King of Qi doesn't believe me, forget it."

Zhu Yu was about to argue, but Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and glared at him. Then he turned to Liu Kuan and said, "Then what about the sun expanding and swallowing the earth?"

Liu Kuan said, "Later generations observed through astronomical telescopes and learned that the sun is a sphere many times larger than the earth. However, the sun is not made of earth or rock, but of combustible gas."

"This is why the sun shines and emits heat—whether it's the Earth, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, or Jupiter, they all revolve around the sun in the void."

"Oh right, this just happens to answer a question that His Royal Highness Prince Qi asked earlier: why didn't the people on Earth fall down?"

"It's because every object has a gravitational pull, and the strength of this gravitational pull is closely related to its weight. Later generations called this law the law of universal gravitation."

"An object that is too small has little weight, so the gravitational force it generates is also very small and can hardly be felt."

"But when the weight of an object reaches a certain level, its gravitational pull also becomes very strong. Just like the earth beneath our feet, you can imagine how heavy it is and how much gravity it can generate."

"It is because of this force that we are firmly attached to the Earth, no matter where we stand. It is also because of this force that we fall when we jump upwards, and anything we throw will also fall."

"The Earth has gravity, and the Sun is over a million times larger than the Earth, so it naturally has weight and a strong gravitational pull."

"All the stars we see have gravitational pulls on each other. For the sun, it's because its gravity and that of the surrounding stars restrain each other, forming a balance that forms the solar system."

"That is, a system in which the Earth and the planets, such as gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, all revolve around the sun."

Having said that, Liu Kuan took a breath, giving Zhu Yuanzhang and others time to understand and digest what he said.

After two or three breaths, he continued, "Everything in this world, like humans, is subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death. Even the earth and the sun are no exception."

"In this movie, the sun expands and ages prematurely due to some unexpected factors, and after a while, it swallows up the Earth we live on."

"The sun is so hot that if the Earth were to be swallowed by it, everything would be burned to ashes—that's the cataclysm that people in this movie have to face!"

After Liu Kuan finished speaking, he subconsciously glanced at Zhu Yu and found that this boy was thinking about something. His eyes were wide open and his face was full of fear.

"Could it be that the King of Qi was frightened by his own vision of the sun swallowing the earth?"

Liu Kuan was secretly laughing when he heard Zhu Biao ask in a grave tone, "How can a puny human body handle such a calamity? Can't we just sit and wait for death?"

　Please collect, read and vote.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)