Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 178 The Yellow River Becomes Clear! Digital Life [Subscription Request]

Although Liu Kuan spoke hesitantly, Zhu Yuanzhang made the decision without hesitation. He waved his hand and said, "Since we can do it, we must do it!"

"As for how to do it, after the court opens in the first month of the year, you can discuss it with Biaoer and arrange things as soon as possible."

It can be said that since the birth of Chinese civilization, famine has been one of the major problems plaguing the Chinese people.

Throughout the dynasties, whether it was the Han court or the ethnic minorities who ruled the Central Plains, they were all very concerned about increasing grain production.

Of course, in terms of the degree of importance, the Han court still attaches more importance, after all, the Han court is centered on the farming areas.

Even in later times, when the Chinese were preparing to land on the moon, they did not forget to consider farming on the moon.

Similarly, after Yuan Sheng, China did not stop its pursuit of increasing grain production. Research in various aspects is still ongoing and has achieved a series of results.

Zhu Yuanzhang came from a small peasant family and had experienced more than one famine before he achieved success. Even after he established the Ming Dynasty, famines occurred in some places almost every year due to poor harvests.

Therefore, although he had planned to send people to America in advance to introduce new crops from America as soon as possible to increase the total grain output of the Ming Dynasty.

But when I heard that there was rice that could yield over a thousand kilograms per mu, I still wanted to get it.

Liu Kuan and Zhu Biao naturally also hoped that the Ming Dynasty could research hybrid rice - even if it could not produce 1,200 kilograms per mu like in later generations, even if the yield was only increased by 200 to 300 kilograms, it would be of extraordinary significance to the Ming Dynasty.

What's more, hybridization technology can also be applied to other aspects, bringing certain benefits to Ming Dynasty's agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry.

After hearing Lao Zhu's instructions, the two of them immediately bowed in agreement.

"Play the next video."

After Lao Zhu gave the order, Liu Kuan picked up the tablet and found the third video he had prepared to play.

The video is still produced by the "Planetary Research Institute" and is titled: How difficult is it to change the Loess Plateau?

The subtitle is: The Loess Plateau is green!

The opening sequence shows a helicopter flying over a vast green landscape.

The vegetation was not lush, as if it had only grown for a few years, and the ground was covered with thousands of ravines and gullies.

"Someone once described the Loess Plateau as the world's least habitable place. But right now, the area beneath my feet is covered in vast forests, with almost no exposed land."

"Can you imagine? This is the Loess Plateau!"

Seeing this, Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao, Zhu Ying and others were all shocked.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had never been to Shaanxi and Gansu, he had heard generals such as Li Wenzhong and Mu Ying describe the Loess Plateau there many times.

According to these generals, more than 70% of the areas in northwest Shanxi, northern Shaanxi and Gansu (the Loess Plateau region in a narrow sense) are bare loess, either in the form of plateaus or gullies. Although the soil is suitable for farming, it is difficult to retain water, and droughts occur frequently. Even drought-resistant crops such as millet and sorghum often suffer poor harvests.

It was also difficult for the people to collect firewood and graze livestock because there were too few trees and grasslands.

He also told Lao Zhu with certainty that under such circumstances, the Shaanxi-Gansu region could not support many people.

But the video said that the large area of ​​land that the plane flew over was the Loess Plateau. How could Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and others not be surprised?
Those with sharp minds immediately recalled the previous video's later transformation of the sandstone landforms in China.

It is normal that the barren sandstone landform can be transformed into green mountains and clear waters, and that the Loess Plateau can be covered with large areas of vegetation again.

Then, the video briefly describes the arduous journey of China over seventy years and several generations of people to continuously transform the Loess Plateau, and the remarkable achievement of increasing the vegetation coverage rate of the Loess Plateau from 6% at the founding of the People's Republic of China to 50%, and even to 80% in some areas!
The video then officially begins, describing the specific methods used by China in later generations to increase the vegetation coverage rate on the Loess Plateau.

"···Pinus tabulaeformis and Platycladus orientalis are common tree species in the Loess Plateau gully area. After special treatment, the gum on the surface of the seeds is removed, making them more conducive to germination."

"Besides, their individual seeds are heavy enough to easily sink into the soil after being scattered, making them an ideal choice for aerial seeding..."

As the video told how China later used aerial seeding and nursery planting to increase vegetation on the Loess Plateau and achieved good results, Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and others were not shocked.

Even a thought came to my mind: That's it?

If the barren sandstone land can be transformed into green mountains and clear waters, it is no big deal to increase the vegetation cover of the already fertile loess soil.

But just when Lao Zhu and others were thinking this, the video entered the second part - desertification control!
With two plants, Larix gmelinii and Caragana korshinskii, as the main characters, large areas of green have appeared in the Mu Us Desert!

Next, large fish-scale pits were built on the cliffs along the Yellow River using the method of adding soil to stone pits to plant trees, making the barren Yellow River banks in Shaanxi and Shanxi green again!

Finally, later generations of China used fish scale pits, dry-land terraces, and silt dams to transform the Loess Plateau, which used to lose water, soil, and fertilizer, into a land that conserves water, soil, and fertilizer!
After this major project to increase the vegetation coverage rate of the Loess Plateau was carried out, the final results finally stunned the Zhu family again.

"With the increase of vegetation on the Loess Plateau, soil erosion has been brought under control, and the sediment content of the Yellow River has decreased by 80% compared to when the People's Republic of China was founded. The water in the Yellow River, once turbid with half a bowl of sediment, has gradually become clear."

As this explanation appeared, aerial footage of the Yellow River in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Gansu regions appeared in the video.

The banks of the Yellow River were covered in green vegetation, and the water of the Yellow River, as shown in the video, changed from turbid to clear light green!

Under the shocked gazes of Lao Zhu and others, the video reached its last part, with the subtitle: The Never-Ending Struggle.

"Both now and in the future, there are still many problems waiting for us to solve on the Loess Plateau."

"But more importantly, no matter how science and technology develop, or how advanced our governance equipment and tactics become, we must learn to live in harmony with nature, a philosophy that will not change with the passage of time or human development."

"I hope that in the future, when our children and grandchildren come here and live here, they will see a fertile land that is far more lush and abundant than it is now."

"And it is called the Loess Plateau!" The video ended with an exciting and stirring soundtrack, but the Zhu family couldn't recover from the shock for a long time.

After several breaths, it was Zhu Xiongying who spoke first to break the silence.

"Teacher Liu, has the Yellow River water really become clearer in later generations?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "The water in some sections of the Yellow River has indeed become clearer, but to make the entire Yellow River clear, even in later generations, China still has a long way to go."

After this conversation between the teacher and the student, everyone else came back to their senses.

Zhu Biao sighed and said, "It is like a miracle that the Yellow River can be made clear by later generations."

Old Zhu was more practical. He asked thoughtfully, "This video says that when the Xin Dynasty was established in the future, the vegetation coverage rate of the Loess Plateau was only 6%?"

Liu Kuan nodded. "The vegetation coverage rate of the Loess Plateau has been decreasing. According to later calculations, the vegetation coverage rate of the Loess Plateau in the early Ming Dynasty was about 30%."

"But historically, the Ming Dynasty enjoyed peace for over 200 years, and its population exploded, perhaps exceeding 200 million at its peak."

"During the Qing Dynasty, the population exploded further due to the introduction of American crops, reaching a peak of over 400 million people."

"Furthermore, the Ming and Qing dynasties didn't implement governance measures on the Loess Plateau, and there weren't even laws to protect vegetation. Naturally, this led to a continuous decline in vegetation cover on the Loess Plateau, increasing sediment levels in the Yellow River, and worsening siltation in the middle and lower reaches."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "It would have been fine if we didn't know about it before, but now that we know about it, we will naturally try to increase the vegetation on the Loess Plateau and control soil erosion."

"It's difficult for us to carry out aerial seeding in a short period of time, and it's not cost-effective to spend a lot of manpower to plant seedlings."

"However, it is feasible to order the people to plant more Chinese pine and arborvitae to stabilize the soil and water."

"And those fish-scale pits, silt dams, and dryland terraces are a great way to maintain the soil and fertility of the loess. And since they can be managed by local governments independently, there's no need to mobilize too many people at once, which is quite useful."

"The Mongolian Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica in Liaodi is drought-resistant and suitable for the northwest. Next year, when we have conquered the entire Liaodi, we will send people to collect these tree species and spread them to Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Gansu."

"Well, the use of caragana can also be instructed by local agricultural officials to inform the people to plant more in sandy land..."

Old Zhu obviously has a good memory. He wrote down all the useful information about Yu Daming in the video and already has an idea of ​​how to arrange it.

In fact, if Liu Kuan traveled back to the end of the Ming Dynasty, he would not care about the environment at all, and development would be the priority.

But since he had traveled back to the early Ming Dynasty, these things could be done easily, so he naturally wanted Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to do it.

For example, the soil erosion problem on the Loess Plateau will definitely be easier to control the sooner it is dealt with.

Besides, the siltation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River did cause many problems for the Ming Dynasty. If it could be solved through decades or even hundreds of years of governance, it would be a great achievement for both the present and future generations.

Therefore, Liu Kuan was very happy to hear that Lao Zhu had picked out useful governance methods from the video and was ready to apply them to the Ming Dynasty.

There was not much content to expand on in the third video, so Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan chatted for a while and ended the topic.

Without Lao Zhu's instructions, Liu Kuan picked up the tablet and turned on "The Wandering Earth 2" under everyone's expectant gaze.

"Let me tell you, this "The Wandering Earth 2" tells the story before "The Wandering Earth."

Because he was worried that others might not understand, Liu Kuan explained it before playing the movie.

"The Wandering Earth 2" begins with an Indian scientist recording a VCR to illustrate the superiority of digital life.

Old Zhu, Zhu Biao and others were all very confused and didn’t understand it for a while, until they saw a word appear in the subtitles - eternal life!
Old Zhu's pupils shrank, and he shouted directly: "Pause!"

Liu Kuan paused the movie.

Old Zhu pointed at the tablet screen and said, "This person said that by turning people into some digital life form, they can gain eternal life? Is this all fabricated, or did you already have a clue about it in your later life?"

Liu Kuan was secretly surprised. He didn't expect that Lao Zhu noticed this at the beginning of the movie.

"It seems that Old Zhu may have had the thought of pursuing immortality."

After secretly sighing, Liu Kuan explained, "Your Majesty, transforming humans into digital life forms to achieve immortality is just a fantasy of future generations based on scientific development. I'm afraid it may not be realized even after a few hundred years of development. As for the Ming Dynasty, it is even more impossible to achieve it now."

"Also, the immortality of digital life is not considered by some people in later generations to be true immortality."

Liu Kuan stopped talking and didn't say much.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed with regret after hearing this, then laughed at himself, "It seems I'm no exception. I've overthought... Let's continue playing."

The movie continues, and the scene changes. The third scientist has a stubble on his face. He looks into the camera and says he doesn't understand why the Alliance prohibits research on digital life.

Then, the screen changed again, and it was the classic opening line of the "The Wandering Earth" series -

"At first, no one cared about the disaster..."

　First update.

　　There was a delay, so the update is late.

　　Correct typos later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)