Bringing the Railway to Daming

After everyone was seated, before Zhu Yuanzhang could ask, Liu Kuan took the initiative to say, "Your Majesty, I have prepared six songs again this time, but only three videos and one movie."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Then let's play the song video first."

After speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly sighed, and a look of reminiscence and desolation appeared on his face, which was already covered with many age spots.

Those who noticed this scene understood that Zhu Yuanzhang was most likely thinking of Empress Ma again. After all, in the past, at movie-watching banquets, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma would usually sit together and be the first to see the film.

No one offered Zhu Yuanzhang any comfort, because there was no way to do so.

Liu Kuan quietly brought up a collection of six songs he had prepared, placed the tablet on it, and started playing them using the touchscreen.

He had missed downloading songs many times due to the strange fog, so the songs playing now were naturally ones he already had. And because he no longer had a laptop, even the editing was much rougher than before.

However, these songs and related videos from later generations still enjoy watching them.

About half an hour later, after the song and video compilation finished playing, Liu Kuan finally pulled up the first video he had prepared.

"Your Majesty, this first video is about the Amazon rainforest in South America—the Amazon rainforest is currently the largest rainforest on Earth, and in later generations it will be called the 'lungs of the Earth'."

"In addition, the Amazon rainforest has many mysterious legends—of course, in reality, the Amazon rainforest is home to many species, and this diversity is of great help to some scientific research."

As Liu Kuan explained, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Xiong Ying, and others who had memorized the maps of later generations couldn't help but recall the location of the Amazon rainforest.

Looking at maps from later times, the Amazon rainforest occupies a large area of ​​the South American continent, and with a very long river flowing through it, it is indeed quite conspicuous.

Although only the Yong vassal state is currently in South America, the Yu vassal state will be added next year, and there may be several more vassal states in the future.

Therefore, whether it was Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Xiong Ying, or other princes and grandsons who aspired to establish fiefdoms overseas, or those related to them, they all became more alert.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Liu Kuan touched the screen to play the video.

The video's title is: Is the Amazon rainforest a no-go zone for humans?
The subtitle reads: "17 Days of Exploration in the Amazon Rainforest: We Discovered This Has Never Been a Forbidden Zone for Humans!"

The video begins with a huge planet appearing, half of which is visible. Under the sun's rays, the vast land is a vibrant green, and a great river meanders through the green landscape, creating a magnificent scene.

Then the scene changed to a series of newspapers and news reports, covering the Amazon rainforest in various languages.

Before everyone could understand what was going on, another scene appeared, a real view of the Amazon rainforest from above the clouds, with the camera constantly panning down.

"The Amazon rainforest is a forbidden zone for humans, which is our biggest misconception."

"For a long time, we have given it endless mysterious speculations and endless terrifying imaginations, to the point that many people are still full of fear and misunderstanding about it."

"But the real Amazon is not only beautiful and colorful, but it has been the home of humankind since ancient times. It has even profoundly changed the course of human civilization. Where did all this come from?"

The video footage, accompanied by a man's narration and silhouette, enters the Amazon rainforest.

Then, various snakes, insects, birds and beasts swept by one after another. Although some of them were familiar to Zhu Yuanzhang and others, the vast majority were strange and unfamiliar to them.

Listening to the man's explanation, many people immediately began to grumble inwardly. 'The Amazon, as the largest rainforest on Earth, is said not to be a forbidden zone for humans? Does that mean that if people live in it, it's not a forbidden zone?'

'If Yunnan and the Indochina Peninsula still have many places plagued by miasma, then the Amazon rainforest must have even more dangerous areas like this, right?'

'People from later generations actually climbed up to this place to explore and even recorded videos; they really have too much free time...'

Everyone had their own thoughts, while the video continued to play.

The beginning of the video has passed, and we've entered the second section, "Infinite World".

Another overhead shot reveals the Amazon rainforest stretching out like an ocean beneath a light mist, a sight that inspires awe.

Then, the camera shifts to a city nestled amidst this boundless greenery.

"This is Manaus, Brazil, the largest city in the Amazon rainforest. Standing on high ground and looking into the distance, the green stretches endlessly to the horizon, with no end in sight!"

Then, the iconic image from the videos of the creator called "Planet Research Institute" finally appeared on the screen: a giant Earth suspended in space!

The giant Earth appears on the screen with the South American side showing up, highlighting and labeling the Amazon rainforest.

"The Amazon rainforest covers one-third of the entire South American continent, with an area of ​​nearly six million square kilometers. It not only far exceeds any other tropical rainforest on Earth, but it is also the largest and most continuous forest on the planet..."

After giving a basic introduction to the Amazon rainforest, the video then goes on to explain its origins.

"1.8 million years ago, as plate tectonics continued, the supercontinent gradually broke apart, and the Atlantic Ocean began to slowly expand."

"Oceanic moisture was eventually carried to northern South America by the trade winds, and the Amazon region gradually transformed from an arid inland area into a hot and humid environment..."

Everyone stared intently at the small tablet screen.

On this enormous Earth, a single landmass floating on the ocean deformed and disintegrated, gradually forming the continents we see today. Before this, the Amazon rainforest in northern South America was situated in what was once an arid inland continent!
This is unbelievable to many people.

Especially for those who are learning about continental plate movement for the first time, they never imagined that one or two hundred million years ago, the various continents on Earth were actually a single entity!
After explaining how the Amazon rainforest was formed due to geological changes, the video moved on to its third segment, "Islands in the Great River"!
It turned out that the man who was narrating in the video had reappeared.

He was in the rainforest, pointing into the distance.

"See that little monkey in that tree? It's a squirrel monkey, which is very common in the Amazon rainforest. It's small, has a long tail, and its fur is somewhat similar to that of the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey in China."

At first, everyone was a little puzzled: It's just a monkey, what's so strange about it? There are plenty of places to see monkeys in the Ming Dynasty nowadays.

But when the video changed and the person came to the little monkey, they realized that the squirrel monkey was really small, about the size of a squirrel!

You could say she's incredibly cute!
"As far as we know, there is another group of squirrel monkeys living on the other side of the river, but their fur color and patterns are significantly different from those of the squirrel monkeys on this side, and they look almost like a different species."

"And throughout the Amazon rainforest, more than ten different species of squirrel monkeys have evolved." (End of Chapter)