Bringing the Railway to Daming

Compared to people like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao who had a certain scientific understanding of climate disasters, people like Tang He and Lan Yu were a bit confused.

Therefore, while Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent, Lan Yu couldn't help but ask, "Is global warming really that terrible? Could it be that the legendary drought with nine days in the sky will occur?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "It's unlikely that the sun will be in the sky for nine days straight, but drought disasters will definitely occur more frequently. Most importantly, with global warming, more and more glaciers, ice sheets, and snow in the region will melt."

"The Duke of Liang probably doesn't know that besides the glaciers and snow that have accumulated for countless millions of years in the high-altitude snow-capped mountains on our planet, there is even more ice and snow in the Arctic and Antarctic, that is, in the far north and far south of the earth."

“Especially the Arctic, which is a ‘continent’ entirely composed of ice sheets. Although Antarctica is itself a continent, there is also a lot of ice and snow accumulated on and around its land.”

"As the climate warms year by year, the ice and snow that have accumulated over millions of years will gradually melt into water, and this water will flow into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise."

"As a result, many cities and landmasses along the coast may be submerged in the next few hundred or thousand years. Some scientists even predict that the entire Japanese island will be submerged in the future, leaving only some mountain peaks as small islands in the sea."

"Seawater will also flow through land, causing the land water level to rise. Places like Suzhou, Songjiang, and Changzhou, as well as the capital, the Dongting Lake area in Hubei and Hunan, and the Poyang Lake area in Jiangxi, could all become a vast expanse of water."

Lan Yu imagined the scene Liu Kuan described and was momentarily horrified. She couldn't help but say, "Goodness, if that's the case, then the harm caused by global warming is indeed quite great."

At this moment, Zhu Biao pondered and said, "Some ancient documents refer to the area around present-day Dongting Lake as Yunmengze or Daze. Could it be that the climate was warmer and the sea level was higher at that time, which is why the Dongting Lake area in Hubei and Hunan became Daze?"

Liu Kuan nodded, “It should be related to this. Didn’t I say before that although the main period of human evolution was during the Quaternary Ice Age, the climate during the Ice Age was not always cold, but fluctuated, and there were several periods when the climate was quite warm?”

“In the Tang Dynasty, which was closer to us, the climate was relatively warm. The strength of the Tibetan Empire and the fact that the Tang Dynasty was able to expand its territory to the grasslands and the Western Regions were related to this.”

“In the earlier, warmer climate range of ancient times, elephants lived in what is now Henan, while the area around Beijing and Haijin was also a vast marshland connected to the ocean.”

"This is all due to the climate changes during the Ice Ages—if the transitions between the Little Ice Age and the intermediate Warm Period have such a great impact on landform changes, one can imagine how much impact the transitions between the Ice Age and the Interglacial Period would have on the human living environment."

Upon hearing Liu Kuan's words, those with a longer-term perspective, such as Zhu Biao and Li Wenzhong, couldn't help but show worry, unable to imagine what the Earth would look like if the climate completely exited the Great Ice Age and entered the Interglacial Period.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a very practical person. After thinking about it for a while, he realized that the interglacial period Liu Kuan mentioned was far away from the Ming Dynasty. What the Ming Dynasty really needed to face was the Little Ice Age, which would begin now and reach its peak in one or two hundred years.

If we can weather this mini ice age safely, then perhaps we can consider the issue of global warming.

As for the interglacial period, that's too far in the past.

He then said, "Alright, there's no point in discussing the Ice Age climate too much now. Let's save it for later. Liu Kuan, have you prepared the fourth video?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "We have indeed prepared a fourth video."

After saying that, Liu Kuan picked up the tablet, brought up the fourth video, and started playing it on the touchscreen.

By this time, everyone had seen the video title.

The video's cover title is: It's already 2025, is it still difficult to manage water resources for 14 billion people?
The subtitle above the video reads: "For flood control, the Chinese have created a parallel universe!"
The creator of the video is still [Planet Research Institute].

Liu Kuan had previously shown several videos of China's flood control efforts in later periods, so when Lao Zhu and Zhu Biao saw the cover title, their expectations were somewhat lowered.

But when they saw the subtitle, their anticipation immediately soared—parallel universes, a term they had heard Liu Kuan mention many times. After all, according to Liu Kuan's speculation, the Ming Dynasty at this time was a parallel universe to the original Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, they couldn't help but wonder: Could it be that the technology of later generations has advanced to the point that it is able to study parallel universes?

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, revealing a hint of worry, and wondered: If future generations make breakthroughs in the research on parallel universes, will they use that to send troops to the Ming Dynasty in this universe?
If such a thing were to happen, how should the Ming Dynasty respond?
Just as Lao Zhu was lost in thought, the video started.

As always, it features the signature opening of the [Planet Research Institute] video series: an Earth suspended in the starry sky, and then the camera pans down, continuously zooming in on the ground scenery.

At the same time, a woman's voice narrating came through.

"This is all the freshwater resources on Earth; and this is China's, ranking fifth in the world. Sounds pretty good, right? But what if it were divided equally among 14 billion people?"

"Moreover, of these limited water resources, only 19% are located in the northern region, and 65% are concentrated in the summer."

"In addition, extreme weather has become more frequent over the past four decades. Each time a dot lights up, it represents a drought or flood."

"To this end, China has built the world's largest water conservancy system. However, faced with the challenges of water scarcity, uneven distribution, and frequent disasters, how can this massive water conservancy system be made even more efficient?"

"Next, you will see the answers provided by contemporary Chinese water conservancy workers." "We need a parallel universe; we need to predict the future!"

Throughout the opening explanation, the video is accompanied by images of the Earth and computer-generated special effects to demonstrate China's water resource distribution, water conservancy engineering systems, and so on.

Tang He, Lan Yu, and the others neither understood nor cared about these things, so they just watched the spectacle.

Old Zhu, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiong Ying watched with increasing seriousness—the Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, and water management was a problem that every emperor of the Ming Dynasty had to face every year. Naturally, they hoped to learn more from the experience of future generations.

Moreover, the video itself stated that a parallel universe is needed, and the future needs to be predicted.

This made Old Zhu worry that later generations might actually have discovered the secrets of parallel universes.

However, when the video reached the second segment, Zhu Yuanzhang realized he had misunderstood...

This second section is called "Defending the Great Lake".

"First, let's start with a breach in the dike."

"Dongting Lake, China's second largest freshwater lake, is a golden expanse of rice paddies in the southwestern Tuanzhouwan area, where the wind blows through the rice fields."

"However, in July 2024, this place was a vast expanse of water. It all started with a torrential rain that lasted for more than ten days in Hunan—in just 11 days, the water level of Dongting Lake rose by 5 meters, and the water surface expanded by 1.4 times!"

"Then, a section of the river embankment in Tuanzhouwan suddenly began to seep water, which then subsided, breached, and continued to widen. 10 meters, 50 meters... 220 meters. At this point, nearly 93% of the area in Tuanzhouwan was flooded, with an average water depth of 4.6 meters."

"Looking out, only utility poles and rooftops remain on the boundless water. If the flood continues, the central dike will also be overwhelmed, and the adjacent Qiannanwan may be completely submerged!"

Under the watchful eyes of many, the video, using computer-generated special effects and a real-world map, clearly depicted the later floods of Dongting Lake.

This surprised Lao Zhu and the others. They didn't expect that with such advanced technology in later generations, such a massive flood would still occur.

However, judging from the video, such a massive flood did not cause many casualties. As for the extent of financial and food losses, that remains unclear.

"What to do? If only we could predict the course of the flood. Thus, a parallel universe version of Dongting Lake came into being."

"This is a digital model of Dongting Lake that is 'twin' based on satellite remote sensing images, drone photos, and monitoring data."

"It is like a twin brother to the real Dongting Lake. Through its prediction, people can see the flow trajectory of floods in advance."

"Moreover, as the breach widened, it also calculated the most vulnerable point of the dike and planned a new line of defense in advance."

"So, while the breach was being sealed off at a frantic pace ahead, a dike was already rising from the ground four kilometers away at 'China speed'..."

Seeing this, Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao, and others finally understood that the "parallel universe" mentioned in the video was not a real parallel universe, but a virtual world that was highly similar to reality and constructed by later generations using high technologies such as computers and satellites.

Although it wasn't a true parallel universe, Zhu and the others were still shocked by this method of flood control from later generations.

When the Ming Dynasty was dealing with floods, it could only rely on capable ministers who understood water conservancy to conduct on-site investigations, consult with local people, and then predict the possible course of the floods based on their own knowledge and experience.

The accuracy of such predictions varies from person to person and from case to case, and is therefore not very reliable. Thus, even capable officials in flood control can make mistakes.

In fact, the imperial court usually only built dikes in specific areas after the floodwaters had receded.

Unfortunately, the high-tech capabilities required for the 'twin Dongting Lakes' constructed in later generations would have taken the Ming Dynasty many years to develop.

Otherwise, this method could be used to manage water resources, greatly improving the efficiency of water management.

While Zhu Yuanzhang and others were pondering these matters, the video continued.

"However, the disaster did not end there. At this point, the floodwaters in Tuanzhou embankment had accumulated to the level of nearly 15 West Lakes!"

"The most urgent task now is to drain the water and salvage our homes." (End of Chapter)