Bringing the Railway to Daming

The authors were discussing the matter in a chaotic manner, with all sorts of opinions being expressed.

But Liu Kuan was very patient, listening to the various discussions of the crowd with a smile on the stage. It wasn't until more than ten minutes later, when the authors spontaneously quieted down, that he spoke again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I call this kind of novel about contemporary people going back to the past a 'time travel novel,' which means traveling through time and space."

"There are stories of contemporary people traveling back to a dynasty more than a hundred years ago, or even hundreds of years ago, and changing the course of history. There are also stories of ordinary people being reborn in their childhood or youth to make up for the regrets of the past."

"However, if an ordinary person is reborn into your own body, it can't be called a time-travel novel; it can be called a 'rebirth novel.'"

"For example, a certain scholar may have been quite talented, but because he was playful in his youth and failed to study properly, he wasted his life in the imperial examinations."

"So if he were to return to his childhood, not only could he take advantage of his youthful sharpness to study hard, but he would also bring back memories of most of his previous life, as if he were born with certain knowledge and abilities, thus enabling him to excel in his youth..."

This time, before Liu Kuan could finish speaking, all the authors in the room were already excited.

Ultimately, these authors were also students who dreamed of entering officialdom through the imperial examinations, but they all failed in the end.

If what Liu Kuan said is true, that they could be reborn to their childhood or adolescence, not to mention anything else, they would definitely remember the exam questions from back then, wouldn't they be guaranteed to pass the exam?!

After Liu Kuan finished speaking, the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves again—

"Reborn into my childhood or youthful self? This idea is truly amazing! How come I didn't think of that? No wonder you're the Duke of Ningguo!"

"If I could really be reborn to my childhood, I could not only get into high school, but I could also tell my father to take care of his health, so he wouldn't have died young, and I wouldn't have had to support the family so early, sob sob..." One author couldn't help but cry when he thought about how rebirth could change his fate.

"My family was in business, but we went bankrupt over a decade ago because of a bad deal, and we've never recovered. If I could really be reborn, just a decade or so ago, I could still be the young master of a wealthy family... Sigh..."

"When I was young, I was too playful and didn't know how to work hard. It wasn't until middle age that I realized the importance of striving. Now, I can barely say that I've achieved some success in the world of novels, and I've also built a family business. It's a pity that my parents have passed away. If I could be reborn, I would definitely work hard much earlier and not disappoint them like they did when they died..."

Many authors discussed it and expressed their feelings.

Most of these people are disillusioned—after all, being a novelist is still a niche profession these days, especially for those who create works based on assigned themes; the vast majority of them entered this field simply to make money.

Those who are down on their luck have more regrets in their past lives, so they naturally yearn for a true rebirth.

But they knew that there was absolutely no such thing as rebirth in this world—it was said that the Living Buddhas of Tibet were all reincarnated lamas, but that was just hearsay, and no one knew whether it was true or not.

However, as the discussion intensified, some logically rigorous, or rather, meticulous, authors began to raise questions.

So, just as everyone was quieting down, one of the authors raised his hand and asked, "Duke Ningguo, if time travel and rebirth really exist, and that person changes history, is it possible that his ancestors would no longer appear, and that he himself would cease to exist as a result?"

"But if he didn't exist, how could he travel to another era to change history? Doesn't that create a paradox?"

No one had thought about this question before, but after this author brought it up, many authors immediately felt it made sense and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, what if I were reborn into the past, changed history, and thus ceased to exist?"

"This can indeed easily create a paradox."

"If the logic is inconsistent, then it won't work to use this idea to write a novel."

"···"

Liu Kuan gestured with his hands to quiet the authors before saying, "This question is easy to answer—this time and space is like a long river that never returns. If history is changed because of someone's time travel, then the river of time and space will have a branch, or rather, it will branch out into another river of time and space."

"In this way, the two rivers of time and space will not interfere with each other—in fact, I suspect that the real spacetime is composed of countless branching rivers of time and space."

"They run parallel to each other and do not interfere with each other, so they can be called parallel universes."

Parallel universes?!
Because Liu Kuan's explanation was so vivid, and the authors all had a solid foundation in literature, they easily understood it. And for this reason, they were once again amazed and impressed by Liu Kuan's boundless imagination.

It can be said that with the "setting" of parallel universes, the so-called "spacetime paradox" problem no longer exists.

After everyone discussed it for a while, Liu Kuan said, "I hope that those of you who write about kings, generals, and historical romances will write a few 'time-travel' historical novels later on."

"However, I would like to remind you that it would be best to travel back to before the Ming Dynasty—after all, the Ming Dynasty has only been established for a few decades, and it would be easy to violate taboos if the story is set in the Ming Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, all the authors smiled knowingly.

In fact, most of the novels, storytelling performances, and operas currently available in the Ming Dynasty that are about the current dynasty are produced by the government. Even if they exist among the common people, it is impossible to find out who the creators are.

Nobody was stupid; nobody dared to offend the imperial court.

Liu Kuan added, “As for ‘rebirth’ novels, they are suitable for creators who write about worldly affairs. However, the background is still not suitable to be set in our Great Ming Dynasty. It can be set in the Song Dynasty instead—after all, the Great Ming Dynasty is not far removed from the Song Dynasty, and many customs have not changed.”

Upon hearing this, someone laughed and said, "Our Ming Dynasty was indeed not far removed from the customs of the Song Dynasty more than 30 years ago, but the changes in the last 20 or 30 years have been earth-shattering, and it is very different from the Song Dynasty."

Another person said, "That's true. For example, there are schools, railways, steam engines, and women can go to school and even hold some official positions. These are things that didn't exist in the Song Dynasty."

"Our Great Ming Dynasty is indeed vastly different from all previous dynasties—although the Han and Tang dynasties were prosperous, they did not have such a vast territory or such a powerful national strength as our Great Ming Dynasty does today..."

More authors joined the discussion, and it gradually turned into praise for the current state of the Ming Dynasty, which left Liu Kuan speechless.

We've gone off-topic.

However, what these people said is true; there is indeed no dynasty in history with a background similar to that of the Ming Dynasty today.

After the authors finished their discussion, Liu Kuan said, "Since you all feel that the Tang and Song dynasties are not suitable as the background for a 'rebirth novel,' then we can create a fictional dynasty similar to the Ming dynasty."

"This dynasty is fictional, and the characters and stories within it are naturally fictional as well. This type of novel can actually be called an 'alternate historical fiction'..."

The meeting lasted for three days. During these three days, Liu Kuan discussed many new ideas about novel writing with a group of authors from Qidian Publishing House.

Besides themes like "time travel," "rebirth," and "alternate history," the concept of "science fiction" was also proposed. However, science fiction had no foundation in the Ming Dynasty's novel writing scene, and Liu Kuan wasn't sure if these creators could actually produce a true science fiction novel.

More than a month after this conference, Qidian Publishing House launched several "serialized novels," which are novels that are not yet finished and are printed and distributed by the publishing house one volume at a time.

These novels primarily feature "historical time travel," followed by "rebirth." There are also a few science fiction novels, but they are lost among the many other novels and go unnoticed.

Originally, although the novel writing industry in the Ming Dynasty had flourished in recent years, many people were tired of reading the same stories over and over again.

Nowadays, novel ideas such as "historical time travel" and "rebirth" immediately attract many novel lovers to rush to buy them. New novels from Qidian Publishing House are almost sold out as soon as they are released and placed in major bookstores, creating a situation where they are as sought-after as paper in Luoyang.

However, with the rise in popularity of "historical time travel" and "rebirth" novels, new versions of the story of "Duke Ningguo Liu Kuan's origins" have gradually emerged among the public...

···
The capital city.

Fengxian Hall.

Zhu Xiong Ying held a "public opinion report" sent by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, frowned slightly, and showed a somewhat amused and exasperated expression.

"That teacher is really something, mentioning historical time travel and reincarnation to novelists. Now people are speculating that he himself is a time traveler."

Aren't you afraid this will have some impact on him?

Although Zhu Xiong Ying was somewhat speechless about Liu Kuan's idea of ​​having people write novels after his retirement, he didn't interfere.

As long as Liu Kuan doesn't admit it, so what if some people speculate that Liu Kuan is from another time?

After putting down the report, Zhu Xiong Ying said to the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the hall: "Have that group continue to keep a close watch on the Duke of Ningguo, and pay special attention to protecting his safety."

"Yes."

···
···
In the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed, and it was the twentieth year of Yongle (1425).

Liu Kuan has been in the Ming Dynasty for 44 years and is over seventy years old.

On the morning of the third day of the eighth lunar month, Liu Kuan, who was getting old and needed less sleep, got up early and changed his clothes and washed up with the help of his maids.

Zhu Huilan and Su Caiwei woke up before him and had already had breakfast prepared.

After breakfast, Liu Kuan packed his schoolbag and prepared to go to the bridge. His tablet computer had broken down ten years ago, but he packed all the items he brought from the future, including his laptop, mobile phone, and tablet, into his schoolbag and took them with him to the cross-river bridge every year on the third day of the eighth lunar month.

As they were about to leave, Zhu Huilan straightened Liu Kuan's clothes and said, "In the past two years, many cracks have appeared on the bridge across the river, and it is beyond repair. The imperial court is even considering banning it from use."

“My husband still wants to wait for that strange fog on the bridge, which is really not safe. Moreover, this strange fog has not appeared for ten years, and I’m afraid it will never appear again.”

What Zhu Huilan was talking about was a key topic for the Ming Dynasty court at the time—whether or not to completely close the bridge across the river.

In fact, the asphalt road on the cross-river bridge was closed to vehicles and horses several years ago.

However, the section of the bridge below is necessary for trains to cross the river. If it is closed before the new bridge is built, it means that trains will no longer be able to cross the river.

Although the Ming Dynasty has accumulated a lot of experience in building railway bridges, it has never built a railway bridge across the Yangtze River. If a new railway bridge is built, no one can guarantee whether it will be up to standard.

Although Liu Kuan had been retired for more than ten years, he was still summoned by Zhu Xiong Ying a few days ago to inquire about this matter.

Liu Kuan's suggestion was to "build a new bridge as soon as possible."

Because without trying, the Ming Dynasty would never have the ability to build a bridge across the river. As long as they tried, even if they failed once or many times, they could accumulate experience, improve the relevant technology, and eventually succeed.

Zhu Xiong Ying adopted Liu Kuan's suggestion and has already instructed the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Workshop to jointly initiate a project to first build a cross-river bridge between Wuchang Prefecture and Hanyang Prefecture. After the project is successful, a bridge will be built on the capital side.

However, given the current condition of the cross-river bridge, climbing it is indeed somewhat dangerous, which explains why Zhu Huilan is worried.

Hearing Zhu Huilan's words, Liu Kuan laughed and said, "I go every year, I'm used to it. Besides, although there are many cracks on the bridge, it is repaired every year, and it is far from collapsing."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade Liu Kuan, Zhu Huilan had a change of heart and said, "Then I'll go with my husband this time!"

Seeing Zhu Huilan's resolute tone, Liu Kuan hesitated slightly before nodding and saying, "Okay."

Seeing this, Su Caiwei said, "Master, shall I go with you?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Alright, let's go together."

Afterwards, Zhu Huilan and Su Caiwei made some preparations and then traveled with Liu Kuan by carriage to the cross-river bridge.

Although the bridge across the river was closed, Liu Kuan, given his status, could certainly go up there.

The three men, accompanied by guards and servants, arrived at the bridge. Liu Kuan, as usual, had tables, chairs, tea, and snacks set out, and sat down to wait patiently.

He sipped his tea and ate his snacks, his heart completely unmoved—the strange fog hadn't returned in the past ten years, and he believed it wouldn't appear again.

Before long, Zhu Huilan exclaimed, "Husband, it's foggy!"

Liu Kuan looked and sure enough, a thin mist suddenly appeared on the bridge surface.

While he was still in a daze, the strange fog seemed to be getting thicker and thicker.

Before long, he vaguely heard the sound of cars speeding by and horns blaring through the fog...
···
【End of book】

My new book, "Dynasty Change Begins with Becoming a Grandfather," has been released. Interested readers are welcome to read and support it. Thank you! (End of Chapter)