Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 298: Alien Species Invasion, August of the th Year of Hongwu [Please Subscribe]

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Chen Zhongming reported that this expeditionary fleet collected over 30,000 kilograms of rubber from South and Central America, and also brought back many plants that are only found in the Americas."

When Liu Kuan heard that the fleet brought back more than 30,000 kilograms of rubber, although he was not too surprised (he had previously taught the exploration fleet the methods of harvesting and processing natural rubber), he was still happy.

The rubber seeds and rubber trees brought back by the fleet last year have been sent to Hainan and Luzon for planting.

It will take several years for these rubber trees to grow and expand the plantation so that the rubber can finally be harvested.

Now that the exploration fleet has brought back rubber directly from the Americas, it means that the Tiangong Institute can use this rubber to conduct various related experiments this year, and it also means that the Ming Dynasty can obtain some rubber products earlier.

But after hearing the second half of the sentence, Liu Kuan suddenly remembered something important.

He hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, immediately order the exploration fleet not to spread the plant seedlings and seeds brought back from America!"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't expect Liu Kuan to suddenly become anxious and asked hurriedly, "Why?"

"I'm sorry I forgot to mention something very important," Liu Kuan said. "The ecology of the American continent is quite different from ours, which has led to the development of different plants and animals, and even a different ecosystem."

"Most ecosystems created by nature have gone through a long period of time, so they have their own balance."

"For example, on grasslands, rabbits, cattle, and sheep eat grass, while carnivores like wolves eat cattle, sheep, and rabbits. This gives the grasslands a chance to breathe, preventing the herbivores from eating all the grass or even the roots in a short period of time."

"But if carnivores like wolves disappear, herbivores will multiply massively. Perhaps in a few years, the grasslands will exceed their carrying capacity, causing them to degenerate into deserts. The herbivores will then migrate elsewhere or simply die out."

"Conversely, if carnivores such as wolves reproduce in large numbers, the number of herbivores will inevitably decrease. Even without human intervention, the number of carnivores will decrease due to the decrease in herbivores."

"This creates a balance in the grassland ecosystem."

"That is to say, any ecosystem created by nature is mutually reinforcing and mutually restraining, and can circulate and control each other. Only in this way can the ecosystem be maintained in balance."

"If one of these species is isolated and placed in another ecosystem, without natural enemies, the plant might grow wildly, crowding out local plants' water and soil resources; and the animals might multiply in large numbers, destroying the local ecosystem."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang probably understood why Liu Kuan was anxious and frowned.

However, he did not rush to do anything, but listened patiently to Liu Kuan finish his speech.

"After the great voyages of discovery began, people, unaware of this principle, arbitrarily brought species from Eurasia and Africa to places like the Americas and Australia, which had previously been largely isolated from Eurasia and Africa."

"At the same time, it also introduced some species unique to the Americas and Australia to countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some of these species, lacking natural enemies, began to reproduce wildly, destroying the local ecosystem and causing ecological disasters."

"When later generations realized the destructiveness of this ecological disaster, they began to study it and gave it a name - invasive alien species!"

Invasive alien species?

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he had really broadened his horizons.

He had previously only known that foreign tribes such as the barbarians surrounding the Central Plains would invade, but he did not know that animals and plants could also invade.

I couldn't help but secretly sigh that the natural world really contains many great truths that people are ignorant of.

Liu Kuan continued, "For example, there were no rabbits in Australia originally. Later, Europeans brought rabbits, which led to the rabbit plague in Australia."

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but wonder, "Are there too many rabbits? Don't the locals eat rabbit meat?"

Liu Kuan smiled bitterly and said, "Local people naturally eat rabbit meat, but their population is so small that they can't consume much even if they do."

"Moreover, people in later generations pursued a higher quality of life, so they naturally disliked rabbit meat after eating it too much. As a result, rabbit meat became cheap. Once rabbit meat became cheap, naturally, no one hunted rabbits, which led to an even greater rabbit population."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and then asked, "In the future, with more developed transportation and fewer Australians, wouldn't they sell rabbit meat to Asia, Europe, and other places?"

Liu Kuan felt that it was good enough that Zhu Yuanzhang could think of this, but unfortunately his vision was ultimately limited by the times.

He explained, "Your Majesty, first of all, hunting rabbits also requires labor costs, and processing the rabbit meat and then exporting it outside of Australia also requires costs."

"Most importantly, there are plenty of rabbits in other parts of the world. For example, in later generations in China, there were many farms specializing in raising rabbits, which provided food for restaurants and other places."

"Australian rabbit meat, shipped across the ocean, must be quite expensive. How could it possibly compete with local rabbit meat? Therefore, the idea of ​​killing rabbits and selling the meat elsewhere simply doesn't work." At this point, Liu Kuan felt he had strayed from the topic, so he continued, "There are many similar examples. Animals and plants can become a disaster simply by entering a new ecosystem."

"Furthermore, once these ecological disasters get out of control, they are often extremely difficult to deal with and can cause damage to the local ecological environment for hundreds or even millions of years."

"So, in addition to collecting taxes, customs authorities in later generations also had an important task: to inspect imported and exported goods, ships, and personnel to prevent the entry of alien species that could cause ecological disasters."

"Every country has also enacted legislation that explicitly stipulates that anyone illegally smuggling foreign species into the country will be committing a crime and will be subject to criminal penalties."

Liu Kuan only stopped after explaining the issues of "invasion of alien species" and "ecological disaster" clearly.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked, "Are you worried that the plants brought back from the Americas by the exploration fleet will spread out of control in the Ming Dynasty, causing the ecological disaster you mentioned?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "Exactly."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not ask stupid questions like "Why don't corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes cause floods?"

Because Liu Kuan had made it very clear before, it’s just that some species will lose control and become rampant when they arrive in a new environment, but not all alien species will be like this.

Zhu Yuanzhang remained calm despite understanding this. Instead, he smiled and comforted Liu Kuan, "Relax, the exploratory fleet has only been back at the Beiyang Fleet camp for less than two days. According to epidemic prevention regulations, all crew members must be quarantined in a dedicated camp for seven days before leaving the camp."

"Everything on board the exploration fleet will be strictly controlled and will not be used casually."

"Let's issue an order right away, telling them to carefully guard the plants they bring back. Even if there's any leaks, they can be recovered or dealt with. Even if it's just a single grass seed, it'll take several days to germinate, so it won't be too late."

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Liu Kuan immediately felt much more relaxed and realized that he had been a little anxious before - mainly because it was indeed his fault for not telling him in advance. If it brought an ecological disaster to the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, he would definitely feel guilty.

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Time flew by and it was August of the nineteenth year of Hongwu.

On the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, Liu Kuan took his mobile phone and notebook to the cross-river bridge to wait for the opportunity to connect to the future network, and Zhu Biao followed him.

Unfortunately, the two waited from eight to eleven in the morning, but no strange fog appeared. Instead, they were severely burned by the sun.

On the other hand, Qi Tai and four other exiled prisoners who had worked as fishermen and farmers in Dengzhou for another two months left Dengzhou on the fifth day of August, together with the second group of soldiers and civilians from the garrison who immigrated to America, on a large sea ship of the long-distance exploration fleet.

Due to the special identities of Qi Tai and others, Chen Zhongming was worried that if something unexpected happened, he would not be able to report to the court, so he arranged them on the fleet's new flagship, Yingzhou.

About half a day after the fleet left Dengzhou, Qi Tai and four other important exiles were allowed to go to the deck for some fresh air.

Although Qi Tai and others had witnessed the huge size of the Yingzhou when they boarded the ship, they still felt a huge shock when they looked out at the ocean from the second deck.

As a native of Shanxi, Zhang Bing was the most shocked by the giant ship. Looking at the endless sea, he couldn't help but ask blankly, "Brother Qi, this Yingzhou is probably more than 3,000 tons, right?"

"Three thousand tons?" It was Zhou Rui from Zhejiang who answered first. "Definitely more than that. If my estimate is correct, the Yingzhou ship may have a whopping five thousand tons!"

"Five thousand?!" Zhang Bing opened his mouth in shock.

As a native of Shanxi, the largest ship he had seen before going to the capital was only four or five hundred tons. He did not expect that he would have the opportunity to ride on a giant ship ten times larger.

When he thought about the fact that these huge ships were built because the court attached great importance to science, technology and craftsmen, Zhang Bing felt very complicated.

Qi Tai, Yao Shan and Zhou Rui looked at the huge ship that was like a city on the sea, and they all felt a complicated and indescribable feeling.

It was their children who were pointing at the seabirds flying by and cheering - these children had also undergone adaptive training and were not seasick, so they could happily enjoy the beauty of the ocean.

After two days of sailing on the sea, the fleet first arrived at Yingzhou Island (now Jeju Island). After resting for half a day and replenishing supplies, it set sail eastward again.

After more than half a day, the fleet arrived at Tsushima Island.

Here, Qi Tai actually met his good friend Huang Zicheng whom he met in the capital!

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)