Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that his descendants would be stronger, wiser, and even have better character than others, but he would find it unacceptable if they turned into inhuman monsters.

Liu Kuan then added, “In fact, before I came to the Ming Dynasty, some scientists had already conducted gene editing experiments on animals—these animals either became deformed or their bodies became more fragile, and they died at an age far below their lifespan.”

"Human genes have evolved over millions, even tens of millions or hundreds of millions of years."

"It is very difficult for humans to truly understand all the mysteries of genes. If we only grasp a small part of them and then try to manipulate them, we will most likely suffer the consequences."

"Of course, gene technology is not entirely harmful—many countries in later generations have supported the use of gene technology to treat some diseases, especially incurable diseases."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh, "If the Ming Dynasty had gene therapy technology, our sister's illness should be curable, right?"

Liu Kuandao said, "The Empress Dowager's illness does not involve genetic issues. With the medical technology of my time before the Ming Dynasty, I can almost cure it and at least extend her life by several or even more than ten years."

Whether it was the genetic technology of later generations or the advanced medical devices and technologies, they were all things that Zhu Yuanzhang could not obtain, so he became somewhat depressed when he heard this.

He then asked, "Is there any other news?"

Liu Kuandao said, "There is another news item—a domestic intelligent robot company has created a lifelike robot that looks almost identical to a real person and is also very close to a real person in terms of interactive performance."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I remember you mentioned this before, it doesn't seem like news, does it?"

Liu Kuan said, "Indeed, later generations have been developing intelligent robots that mimic human beings, but before I transmigrated, all the known intelligent robots, whether in appearance or intelligence, still had obvious differences from real people and could be easily distinguished from them."

"But I just watched the video of that news report, and the lifelike AI robot in it looks almost indistinguishable from a real person."

"This is quite similar to the background of a game that came out in the United States decades ago."

"How did this involve games again?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked, puzzled.

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "In fact, many of China's technological developments in later generations are related to the fictional 'future technologies' in American films and games, such as the drone swarms that I showed in the video, as well as electromagnetic guns and laser weapons."

"The game about intelligent robots in the United States is called 'Detroit: Become Human,' which is about a future world where humans have invented realistic intelligent robots that are very close to humans in intelligence, and even surpass them in intelligence."

"Then some of these robots, for various reasons, broke through a certain boundary and gained true intelligence, that is, autonomy like other life forms, and were no longer under human control."

"Subsequently, in order to resist human oppression and control, the robots in the game staged one uprising after another, which eventually developed into a war between robots and humans."

Robot riot?
Zhu Yuanzhang imagined a scene of a machine rebelling against humanity, and for a moment his expression became extremely strange.

He then remarked with emotion, "The things that will happen in later generations are truly unimaginable at this time."

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "I have also seen an even more incredible news report - that a research institute in Europe has made a major breakthrough in the field of 'artificial wombs', which means that mankind is one step closer to controlling reproduction."

"An artificial womb?!" Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened.

The meaning of the word was immediately obvious, which was why he was shocked.

Liu Kuan explained, "Some pregnant women may give birth prematurely due to physical reasons, accidents, or other reasons, even if the fetus is not yet full-term."

"Premature babies will either die immediately or be weak and sickly. When medical conditions in later generations reach a certain level, they will simulate a woman's uterus, that is, the womb environment, so that premature babies can continue to develop in a womb-like environment for a period of time."

"Before I traveled to the Ming Dynasty, even premature babies who were only five or six months old could survive using this technology."

Premature babies born at five or six months can survive?!
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's old eyes widened as big as copper bells.

Liu Kuan continued, "Therefore, later scientists wondered if it was possible to create a human womb environment through technology and directly use machines to nurture the fetus."

"In this way, not only can women be spared the pain of pregnancy, but even unmarried men can raise their own children through technology."

"Before I came to the Great Ming, this science and technology was still far from success, and it also involved some ethical issues that were not accepted by many countries and societies."

"However, as the birth rate in various countries has become lower and lower, perhaps one day, when the technology matures and the social environment is suitable, artificial wombs may indeed be used to nurture children."

"After all, in some science fiction novels in later generations, humans are no longer born of parents, but are uniformly produced by the state using collected sperm and eggs in womb factories."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but widen his eyes and say, "In that case, wouldn't everyone become an orphan?"

"Besides, if I remember correctly, since sperm and eggs are provided by people, then the people produced by the uterus factory should also have blood parents, right?"

"They don't know who their parents are. Aren't they afraid of creating ethical problems?"

Liu Kuan said, "In the science fiction novel I saw, all the blood relatives of the characters were disciplined and made aware of their parents." "But because these people were neither born of their parents' ten months of pregnancy nor raised by their parents, they actually had no kinship with each other and might never even see each other in their entire lives."

"By then, society will not only no longer have clans like the Ming Dynasty where people of the same surname live together, but even three generations living under one roof or two generations living together will no longer exist. There will only be couples or individuals."

“It’s even possible that the marital relationship will no longer exist, and only individual relationships will remain—the social ethics of the past may change a lot.”

Liu Kuan stopped here.

Zhu Yuanzhang, imagining the kind of society Liu Kuan described, was at a loss for words.

He quickly shook his head and chuckled, "Forget it, the kind of future you're talking about is probably unattainable for our Great Ming Dynasty. There's no point in thinking about it."

"Among the news reports from later generations that you just read, was there anything of reference value to the Ming Dynasty?"

Liu Kuan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "There really isn't—after all, the level of technology and the social environment in later generations are too different from those of the Ming Dynasty at this time."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt quite regretful upon hearing this, but he did not pursue the matter further.

As the carriage was about to enter the city, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the first video he had downloaded and said, "I saw a video on that crappy website that commented on our construction of the Fengyang Palace. I only watched it for a short while because I was afraid of wasting time, but I'm very curious. Can we take a look now?"

What are later generations' comments on Zhu Yuanzhang's construction of the Fengyang Imperial Palace?
Liu Kuan was slightly taken aback, then thought to himself that it was probably not a good review.

Although the laptop was quite old, it still had enough battery power to show Zhu Yuanzhang a video.

He immediately turned on his computer and found the video titled "Even unofficial histories wouldn't dare to write it like this."

The video begins with a cartoon image of Zhu Yuanzhang, which is very popular online, accompanied by a sarcastic male voice.

"When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang had a very strange idea: he wanted to make the capital of the Ming Dynasty in his hometown of Fengyang."

"To be honest, this idea is very problematic."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, somewhat regretting downloading the video.

But he's the one who wants to watch the video, so even if he's unhappy about it, he has to keep watching.

"Fengyang is located in the northeast of Anhui Province today, on the south bank of the Huai River. The Huai River basin has been one of the areas most frequently affected by droughts and floods since ancient times."

"If the Huai River dikes hadn't been destroyed by floods that ruined farmland, Zhu Yuanzhang's parents wouldn't have starved to death..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but say, "That's utter nonsense—our parents clearly died of illness and starvation because of the consecutive years of drought, locust plagues, and epidemics that had plagued Fengyang. It wasn't because of any floods!"

The video continues.

In short, based on analysis from various aspects, we can conclude that Fengyang is simply not suitable to be a capital city!
Later, it was said that Liu Bowen and others had tried to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang, but the frugal Zhu Yuanzhang insisted on his own way, gathering hundreds of thousands of people and craftsmen, spending a lot of money and grain to build a palace in Fengyang that was larger than any other palace in history!

Then the "nightmare" incident occurred, and Zhu Yuanzhang abandoned the palace that had been built with the labor of hundreds of thousands of people, the cost of countless amounts of money and grain, and the time it took six years to complete.

The video has now come to an end, and the uploader begins to summarize this historical event.

"In any case, Zhu Yuanzhang's plan to establish the capital in Fengyang has fallen through. This magnificent palace is no longer habitable and has been abandoned."

"When people read history today, they can't help but be surprised—could an emperor really waste such a huge amount of money and the sweat and blood of countless craftsmen on such a trivial matter?"

"What seems unreasonable to us is quite reasonable to Zhu Yuanzhang. The so-called Son of Heaven is the one who holds supreme power over the world. In that feudal era, as Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, no one could disobey or change his mind..."

After watching the video, Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned red with anger, and he retorted, "Nonsense—who said that the Fengyang Palace was completely abandoned? Aren't we living in it now?"

“Even before I abdicated, I would return to Fengyang every year. Which of my sons didn’t train in the Fengyang army or live in the Fengyang Palace?!”

Liu Kuan actually felt that what the old lady said made some sense—Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed willful when he built the palace in Fengyang.

On the contrary, it is understandable that the palace was later abandoned because of the "nightmare" incident.

But of course he wouldn't openly criticize Zhu Yuanzhang. Instead, he comforted him, saying, "Your Majesty, since it's just the nonsense of later generations, why take it to heart?"

Zhu Yuanzhang realized he had lost his composure and said, "You are not allowed to show this video to anyone else—no, since it is just nonsense from later generations, you should delete it later."

Liu Kuan chuckled inwardly, but replied aloud, "Your subject obeys." (End of Chapter)