Bringing the Railway to Daming

"I heard that Jinling Cinema has made another major breakthrough in animation technology, but I don't know if it's true."

A conversation between two more people caught Zhu Yuanzhang's attention.

Another person said, "We'll find out soon enough whether it's true or not. But I really can't imagine what it would be like if animation technology made another breakthrough."

"It's precisely because it's unimaginable that it makes people look forward to it."

"Speaking of which, given this major breakthrough in animation technology, why is Jinling Cinema offering discounted tickets during the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

"Jinling Animation Studio is not short of money, so it's natural to use this to gain some fame. I heard that there is a similar animation studio in Beijing and Hangzhou, and their reputation in the local area is no less than that of Jinling Cinema."

"Hehe, I actually hope that more cinemas will compete to show animated films, so that movie tickets can continue to drop in price."

"···"

After listening for a while, it was finally Liu Ruoyue and Zhu Yuanzhang's turn to check the tickets.

The cinema ticket collector was a young man. After Zhu Yuanzhang handed over the ticket, he looked at it, tore off part of it, returned the rest, and gestured for Zhu Yuanzhang to go in.

After Zhu Yuanzhang followed Liu Ruoyue into the cinema, he found that it was a rather large hall, which could be called a grand hall.

The walls were plastered with cement and painted with a dark blue paint. A ring of lights was installed on the walls, making the interior quite bright.

The more than two hundred seats were arranged in a tiered manner, and at the northernmost end was a large stage, which was currently hidden by a huge curtain, so the situation inside could not be seen.

"Grandpa, come this way."

At this moment, Liu Ruoyue, who was walking in front, noticed that Zhu Yuanzhang had slowed down because he was looking around, so she called out to him and walked into the two seats in the middle to sit down.

Other people entering the theater also took their seats amidst whispers, and before long, all two hundred seats were filled.

After a while, the huge curtain on the stage slowly opened, revealing a huge "white cloth" hanging inside.

Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang noticed that at the southernmost part of the stage, there was a strange machine that resembled an "animation machine." Suddenly, a beam of light shone on the white cloth, and when it shone on the white cloth, it was exactly the same size as the white cloth.

At this moment, many audience members in the theater let out a hushed gasp, followed by a buzz of discussion.

"The animation projector at Jinling Cinema looks really different from before."

"It's different; the stage for playing the animation has been changed."

"Will the animation be projected on that white sheet in a little while? That would be much more eye-catching than before."

"That's quite possible... Why not just play it quickly? It's so slow."

Listening to these discussions, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Ruoyue, is the way these cartoons are being shown really different from before?"

Liu Ruoyue replied in a low voice, "The animation projector at Jinling Cinema back then was not fundamentally different from the one you saw back then, Grandpa. It was just bigger and more sophisticated, and with the added lighting, it was easier to see."

"Oh, there was a major breakthrough, which was the phonograph—it appeared about five years ago and was quickly put into use in animated films, which saved the trouble of having people do the voice-over on the spot."

"It was after that that animated films became popular at an even faster pace. In the past, they required live dubbing, making it difficult to show them in many places and for many screenings."

"As for what this breakthrough is, I'm not quite sure either." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and was about to ask something else when he suddenly noticed that everything went dark—the theater lights had all gone out.

He didn't panic—because no one around him panicked either, clearly taking it for granted.

After the electric lights were turned off, the light shining on the white stage cloth became even more striking.

Then several lines of large characters appeared on the white cloth.

"This film was produced by Jinling Animation Studio. Any imitations will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!"

"This film was specially approved by the Imperial Printing Bureau of Beijing, and its printing number is: Jia 7852."

"Special thanks to the Animation Technology Research Institute of Tiangongyuan for their support, which enabled us to present the story of Yue Fei's victory at Yancheng to the audience with brand-new technology."

After these three paragraphs appeared in succession, the white cloth covered by the beam of light seemed to flash to the left, and several large blood-red characters appeared: The Legend of Yue Fei: The Great Victory at Yancheng!

Immediately, Zhu Yuanzhang heard the shouts of soldiers coming from all four corners of the theater at the same time, which made his skin crawl. He subconsciously reached for a state-of-the-art short gun, or rather, a revolver, in his pocket.

Then he relaxed, and the look of surprise on his face turned into astonishment.

But then, many lifelike little figures appeared on the white cloth, divided into two groups, fighting in constantly changing scenes. Judging from the figures' appearance, one side was clearly the Jin army, and the other side was the Song army.

At the same time, the shouts of killing and the sounds of fighting subsided, and a narrator's voice, sounding weathered and like that of an old general, came from all four corners of the theater.

In the ninth year of Shaoxing, the Southern Song Dynasty signed the Tianjuan Peace Treaty with the Jin Dynasty. However, Wanyan Zongbi's faction gained power in the Jin Dynasty and advocated to launch another military campaign against the Southern Song Dynasty in order to retake Henan and Shaanxi.

"The following year, the Jin Dynasty divided its forces into three routes, starting from the Huai River region in the east and extending to Shaanxi in the west, and launched a large-scale military offensive against the Southern Song Dynasty at the same time."

"The Song court was forced to order all Song armies to launch a resistance."

"Yue Fei also led tens of thousands of Yue Family Army soldiers northward from Xiangyang and Ezhou, quickly entering central Henan..."

Next comes the historical events surrounding the famous Battle of Yancheng.

Zhu Yuanzhang had read this historical material and found that the novel "The Great Victory of Yancheng in the Biography of Yue Fei" was largely based on historical facts, but also made some dramatic adaptations, making the plot more dramatic and exciting. At the same time, it highlighted the roles of Yue Fei, his son Yue Yun, and several key subordinates to a certain extent.

Whether it was because the moviegoers knew the rules or because the animated film was so good, almost no one, adults or children alike, made a sound during the entire screening. At most, they would whisper a few words, which did not affect other people's viewing experience.

This surprised Zhu Yuanzhang quite a bit; he hadn't expected the people of the capital to be so well-mannered.

To be honest, although Zhu Yuanzhang thought this animated film was very exciting, it was far inferior to the later animated film "Nezha" that he had seen.

Putting everything else aside, when the animation was playing, he could clearly feel that the characters' movements were not smooth enough, and he could even vaguely detect the constant horizontal movement of the "screen" (stuttering).

However, Zhu Yuanzhang still watched with a smile, stroking his beard, looking at the old captain with amusement. After all, this was an "animated film" produced by the Ming Dynasty itself.

From the time he discovered Ma Shuangxi until now, only a little over ten years have passed, yet the "animation" of the Ming Dynasty has developed to such an extent, which is something to be proud of.

He believed that as technology continued to develop and advance, the quality of Ming Dynasty's "animated films" would inevitably improve, gradually catching up with later generations. (End of Chapter)