Bringing the Railway to Daming

After listening to Xu Da's question, Liu Kuan pondered for a moment and said, "The video said that China developed a maglev train that can run at 620 km/h in 2021, but because it requires an additional cooling system, it is still in the verification stage and has not been put into commercial operation."

"But I came to the Ming Dynasty in 2024. Fifteen or sixteen years have passed since then, and about twenty years have passed since the maglev train was developed in the future. If nothing unexpected happens, it should already be in commercial operation."

After listening to Liu Kuan's explanation, Li Wenzhong couldn't help but exclaim, "At a speed of 620 kilometers per hour, that is, 1240 li. With such a speed, it would really take less than two hours to get from the capital to Beiping."

"It's hard to imagine that a train can reach such a high speed—to be honest, I didn't quite understand why the Marquis of Jiangning suggested that the court vigorously develop science and technology before. I thought that no matter how good science and technology were, they shouldn't be ranked before Confucianism."

"Now it seems that the path of science has become powerful, and it truly has the ability to change the world."

Zhu Xiong Ying said, "As my teacher said, the saying 'a nation strong in science and technology' has been recognized by countries around the world, and there is also the saying 'science and technology are the primary productive forces.' From this, we can see that it is absolutely right for a country to attach importance to the development of science and technology."

"As for managing a country, it can also be done using scientific methods—am I right, teacher?"

Liu Kuan nodded, “Although later generations also emphasized core ideas in governing the country, the methods they used were indeed mainly based on science.”

"With various technological means and machines, coupled with scientific methods, it is possible to achieve refined management of all aspects of the country."

"For example, our Ming Dynasty now has nine ministries. Although this is three more than the previous six ministries, it is nothing compared to later dynasties—later dynasties often had dozens of ministerial-level organizations."

Dozens of departments?!
Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

Tang He couldn't help but exclaim, "My goodness, wouldn't the imperial court in later generations have dozens of ministers? That's more than His Majesty appointed two to four ministers to each of the six ministries back then!"

Liu Kuan explained: "Since later generations have implemented more refined management of the country, they naturally need more officials."

Upon hearing this, Li Wenzhong frowned and asked, "Wouldn't the government's fiscal expenditure on officials' salaries be enormous in later generations?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Actually, I have discussed this issue with His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty before. When a country develops to a certain level, if it wants to continue to improve its national strength, it must have more officials involved in management."

"As for the extra salaries of officials, they are equivalent to the cost of investment—generally speaking, compared to the benefits of meticulous governance of the country, this amount of salary is nothing."

The older generation, such as Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da, were still pondering the grand question of "how to better govern the country."

The younger generation focuses more on concrete matters.

Zhu Xiong Ying couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, when do you think our Great Ming Dynasty will be able to develop a maglev train?"

Liu Kuan smiled wryly upon hearing this, "Your Highness should have basically understood the scientific content in that video, right? You should know that maglev trains rely heavily on electricity and require many sophisticated electronic instruments."

"Our Great Ming Dynasty currently only has electricity in a few cities such as the capital and Beiping, and it is currently limited to the use of a small number of electrical appliances such as electric lights and electric fans."

"Even if subsequent technological development proceeds smoothly, it would probably take at least three or four hundred years, or even longer, to lay the foundation for the development of maglev trains in later generations."

Although Zhu Xiong Ying had some guesses, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed after hearing these words.

He had indeed basically understood the video's educational content, but because of that, he thought the principle of maglev trains was not complicated and that it would not be difficult to implement.

In retrospect, that was clearly naive.

Or perhaps they don't know enough about science and technology.

Thinking of this, Zhu Xiong Ying secretly decided that when he ascended the throne as emperor in the future, he would definitely make greater efforts to develop science and technology!

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his gray beard and sighed, "Magnetic levitation train—Liu Kuan, besides magnetic levitation trains, airplanes, and ships, are there any other incredible modes of transportation in later generations?" Liu Kuan thought to himself, "Old Zhu is really something else; even his questions are so unique."

He thought for a moment and said, "Actually, there are only three modes of transportation: sea, land, and air. Compared to now, the only difference in later generations is that there is air transportation."

"In addition, we need to make transportation faster and more convenient."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little disappointed after hearing this.

He thought that this question might reveal some novel mode of transportation—if so, it would not only satisfy his curiosity but also point out a new direction for transportation development in the Ming Dynasty.

After a while of discussion, Zhu Yuanzhang finally said, "Liu Kuan, shouldn't we be preparing a movie for this?"

Liu Kuan replied, "Your Majesty, preparations have been made."

"Then let's show a movie."

"Yes."

Liu Kuan picked up the tablet, found the movie he had prepared, and put it back on the table.

He then explained, "This movie is a blockbuster produced by the United States of America in later years, called 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'—it was made into a series like 'The Wandering Earth,' and what we are showing now is the first one."

Everyone was looking at the tablet screen, which displayed the name "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".

That's why Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes? Why is it called that?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Compared to the various types of films I have shown before, this film is a new type. The content of the film is not difficult to understand, so please allow me to keep you in suspense for now—you will know why it is called 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' after Your Majesty has watched the film."

After saying that, Liu Kuan touched the screen and started playing the movie.

Although the others had doubts, they immediately shifted their attention once the movie started.

Especially Xu Da and Tang He—Xu Da was alright, only in his sixties, and because he paid attention to health, his eyesight wasn't bad. But Tang He was over seventy and already had presbyopia; even sitting in the front row, he had to squint to see.

The first Rise of the Planet of the Apes is set in San Francisco in the early 21st century.

A geneticist named Will Romand developed a gene therapy to study treatments for neurotrophic diseases in humans and conducted experiments on chimpanzees.

Then he discovered that this drug could actually significantly improve the intelligence of chimpanzees!

The chimpanzee in the experiment later gave birth to a baby chimpanzee. In an attempt to protect her offspring, she attacked the staff and was subsequently shot and killed.

Will Romand's experiments were thus forced to stop.

Will adopted the baby gorilla to save him and named him Caesar.

While feeding the baby gorilla Caesar, he met zoologist Caroline Alanha and fell in love with her in order to treat Caesar's injuries.

The story of the first Rise of the Planet of the Apes officially begins with the happy life of Will's family... (End of this chapter)