Bringing the Railway to Daming

For Lao Zhu's family, who have watched the song videos many times, these videos are nothing special; they can simply be played again without affecting their enjoyment.

But for Mu Ying and Lan Yu, who were seeing the song video for the first time, it was incredibly entertaining.

After watching only two songs, Lan Yu couldn't help but exclaim with shining eyes, "The songs are beautiful, and the performers are gorgeous—I never imagined that the songs and dances of later generations could be so good!"

Mu Ying nudged Lan Yu with her elbow, and Lan Yu snapped out of her daze, managing not to say anything inappropriate.

After all six song videos had finished playing, Mu Ying and Lan Yu still felt like they hadn't had enough, as did Xu Da and Tang He.

They wanted Liu Kuan to play it again, but the videos of the six songs totaled half an hour, and they were too embarrassed to bring it up.

Old Zhu, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiong Ying were clearly more interested in the video. Therefore, although Old Zhu guessed that Lan Yu and the others wanted to watch it, he pretended not to know and signaled Liu Kuan to play the video.

After pulling up the first video, Liu Kuan introduced it by saying, "This first video is about astronomy, specifically about one of Jupiter's moons—Europa."

Jupiter's moons?
Europa?
Upon hearing Liu Kuan's words, everyone present showed curiosity.

Unlike in the past, the Ming Dynasty no longer stagnated in the study of astronomy among the common people. However, because astronomy is inherently mysterious and few people in the general public understand it, the need for a telescope to study it scientifically has further raised the bar for astronomical research.

Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty promoted science and opened up astronomical research for more than a decade, astronomy was still mysterious not only to ordinary people, but also to some civil and military officials.

Military generals like Lan Yu and Tang He rarely read scientific journals like "Natural Science," so naturally they knew even less about astronomy.

So, everyone stared longingly at the tablet screen.

"Jupiter has many moons, so why do British experts suspect that there might be a giant octopus on Europa?"

As soon as the video was released, everyone noticed the long title.

Those who have read some astronomy-related articles, such as those by Zhu Xiong Ying, can't help but wonder: Didn't they say that no life outside of Earth has been discovered in future generations? How come they're saying that giant octopuses might exist on Europa?

People who knew nothing about astronomy, such as Tang He and Lan Yu, wondered: Could it be that not only gods and immortals live among the stars in the sky, but also demons?
Then the video started playing. In the pitch-black starry sky, a huge planet slowly rotated. The patterns on the planet looked like the grain of wood. It was obviously Jupiter. In recent years, the Ming Dynasty had developed astronomical telescopes. Emperor Zhu and Zhu Biao had seen Jupiter with astronomical telescopes. Although it was not as clear as in the video, it was indeed like this.

Several small "stars" could be seen floating around Jupiter.

A somewhat strange-sounding (AI) male voice began to explain: "We know that there is definitely no life on Jupiter, but people suspect that there may be life on Europa."

"Furthermore, British scientists recently suggested that if life does exist on Europa, it is very likely to be a giant octopus."

Why such a strange conclusion? Let's analyze it in detail today.

"The main reason why there is no life on Jupiter is that Jupiter has a very large mass. We know that the magnitude of gravity is proportional to mass. Jupiter is the largest of the eight planets in the solar system, so its surface gravity is extremely strong, and ordinary life simply cannot withstand such a strong gravity."

"In addition, due to its immense gravity, Jupiter's atmosphere is more than ten times thicker than Earth's, making it impossible for sunlight to penetrate Jupiter's atmosphere, resulting in extremely low surface temperatures."

"Furthermore, no liquid water has been found on Jupiter..."

The video is accompanied by various images of Jupiter from later generations, such as Jupiter's thick atmosphere and even the surface of Jupiter.

At this moment, even Zhu Yuanzhang could hardly understand how later generations had captured these images of Jupiter. He was also awestruck by the strange landscape of Jupiter and stared at it intently.

The video first introduces Jupiter and explains why life is unlikely to exist on Jupiter.

Then they began to talk about Europa.

"Europa was discovered by humans as early as Galileo's time, but initially people thought it was just an ordinary satellite and did not pay much attention to it."

"But with the advancement of technology, people have more advanced astronomical telescopes, and discovering Europa is not a simple matter."

"First of all, what's astonishing is the thick layer of ice and snow covering Europa, which means that water content on this planet is extremely high. Scientists have calculated that Europa has about twice the amount of water as Earth!" "Water is the source of life, which is why people suspect the existence of life on Europa. But the emergence of life requires more than just water; it also requires suitable temperatures."

"Scientists have discovered that there may be a vast ocean beneath Europa's ice and snow, with a sea temperature of approximately -26 degrees Celsius."

"Although this temperature is not suitable for the birth of life, scientists have calculated that Europa is likely to have an iron core, which is based on the same principle as Earth having a hot core."

"The closer you get to Europa's core, the higher the temperature will be, so if Europa's ocean is deep enough, the seawater will be very suitable for life..."

This popular science video about Europa is more than ten minutes long. In Liu Kuan's opinion, although it seems to be very hardcore and as if it were true.

However, many of the so-called "explorations by scientists" and "calculations by scientists" in the explanations are speculations, not empirical evidence.

Therefore, what exactly lies beneath Europa's thick ice and snow, whether an ocean truly exists and whether life has arisen there, remained a conjecture until his time travel in later generations.

However, Lao Zhu, Lan Yu, and others had completely different ideas from Liu Kuan.

Their thought was: "Later generations are really amazing, they were able to explore the situation on Jupiter's 'moon'!"
Furthermore, they immediately believed what was said in the video—that there might really be life on Europa, and that it might be a giant octopus monster!
Even after the video finished playing, Old Zhu's family, along with Tang He, Lan Yu, and others, were still in shock for a long time.

It was Zhu Xiong Ying, who had a good understanding of science, who was the first to come to his senses and asked, "Teacher, is there really life on Europa?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Didn't the video say that everything is just scientists' speculation, not something that has been proven? Astronomy is a very complex science, and often, due to just one factor, the facts will be completely different from scientists' speculations."

At this moment, Lan Yu remembered the raw octopus she had eaten in Japan, and recalling the description of octopus in the video, she couldn't help but ask, "Lord Jiangning, the video said that the octopus has nine heads and may come from extraterrestrial life. Is that true?"

Liu Kuan said, "Octopuses do indeed have nine brains, which can be known through anatomical research. As for whether octopuses come from outer space, I don't know."

After a few words of discussion about the octopus, Zhu Biao asked, "Brother-in-law, according to the video, it seems that later generations are quite active in exploring other planets, and even preparing to immigrate to other planets. Why is that?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan countered with a question: "Your Majesty, why does our Great Ming Dynasty need to open up the seas and even expand its overseas territories?"

Before Zhu Biao could answer, he continued, "Actually, it's all for resources—the population of Earth in later generations is estimated at 60 billion, and if you include those who are not included in the statistics, the actual total population is even greater."

"In addition, not only do people need resources for survival and life, but technological development also needs resources—the more technologically advanced a country is, the more it craves various resources."

"And the Earth is only so big. If nothing unexpected happens, there will definitely come a day when the population becomes too large to accommodate."

"With the development of science and technology, all kinds of resources on Earth will inevitably be exhausted one day, especially those resources that are difficult to regenerate in a short period of time, such as coal and oil."

"In fact, many countries in later generations faced significant coal and oil shortages and experienced energy crises."

"If all the energy and other vital resources available to humankind on Earth were used up, humanity would face a survival crisis, civilization would regress, and there is even the possibility of destruction."

"Therefore, the exploration of outer space and other planets by later nations is both a precautionary measure and a hope to gain the initiative in acquiring and utilizing extraterrestrial resources before other countries."

"Your Majesty can imagine how much benefit our Great Ming Dynasty has gained from overseas by taking the lead in the Age of Exploration."

"What benefits would a country gain if it were to be the first in future generations to possess the ability to explore and develop outer space?"

After Liu Kuan finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiong Ying, and others fell into deep thought.

After a while, Zhu Biao exclaimed, "No wonder China was so proactive in space exploration and lunar exploration in later generations in the videos I watched before. It turns out there was such a big connection."

Liu Kuan also lamented, "Historically, China suffered a century of humiliation because it missed the Age of Exploration and the first two technological revolutions."

"Given this pain, how could we possibly miss the opportunity to explore and develop outer space and other planets?" (End of Chapter)