Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 147: The Origin of the Japanese, Weather Forecast [Please Subscribe]

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan guessed that Zhu Yuanzhang probably wanted to enjoy later music with Empress Ma while eating, just like they did at the New Year's Eve banquet.

So he responded, took the tablet computer and went up to the imperial throne and came to the imperial desk.

In other words, the Dragon Boat Festival banquet was considered a "family gathering," which is why Liu Kuan dared to do so. If there were outsiders in a formal occasion, he would definitely not dare to go directly to the emperor's throne.

Old Zhu smiled at him and said, "How many pieces of music from later times have you prepared this time? Play them for the Queen and me to listen to while we eat."

"Your Majesty, this time it will still be six pieces of ancient style pure music." Liu Kuan replied.

"Does that mean the style is similar to the six songs from last time?"

"Yes."

"Then play it."

With the instruction from Old Zhu, Liu Kuan immediately turned up the volume and loop playback mode of the six music videos that had been merged together in advance on the tablet, and then placed it on the imperial desk.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma looked over and saw the titles thoughtfully written by Liu Kuan above the video, which were the names of the six pieces of music.

"Youthful Wanderer," "Zheliu," "Danfeng," "Jiaohong," "Floating Light," and "Human Music," Empress Ma recited the titles of several pieces of music with a smile. "Judging from the titles, the style is indeed similar to last time."

Both Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma liked the six "national ritual music" from last time, so they showed satisfaction before even listening to them this time.

Liu Kuan touched the screen to play, then bowed and retreated.

He stepped down from the imperial steps and turned around. He saw that Zhu's concubines and Lady Lu were behaving alright. The other princes, princesses, and grandchildren all craned their necks to look in the direction of the imperial steps, as if the delicacies before them had no appeal at all.

At the same time, even children like Zhu Zhi and Zhu Yunwen, who were only five or six years old, subconsciously kept quiet so that they could hear some music coming from the imperial steps.

In Liu Kuan's opinion, the main reason was that the Dashan Hall was too large and did not have any echo and sound amplification design like the Fengtian Hall.

Otherwise, with the maximum volume of the tablet, everyone can enjoy these six later-era music together.

In this way, a rather quiet imperial luncheon of the Ming Dynasty began in the Dashan Hall...
Zhu Tan sat between Zhu Zi and Zhu Chun.

He took a few bites of the food and found it tasteless. Then he saw His Majesty Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma enjoying delicious food and wine while watching a music video with a look of joy on their faces, and he couldn't help but feel moved.

So he quietly left his seat, went to Zhu Zi's seat, and whispered, "Spread the word to the side, tell everyone to eat faster, so we can watch a movie together after we finish eating."

After saying that, he returned to his seat for a while, then moved to the other side where Zhu Chun was sitting and whispered the same words.

Zhu Zi and Zhu Chun also wanted to watch the movie as soon as possible - although the music was nice, they couldn't see the video above.

On New Year's Eve, while Lao Zhu was talking to Liu Kuan, they asked Zhu Huilan to play the music video again.

I know that the music of later generations is not only beautiful to listen to, but the "drama" in it is also interesting.

Therefore, now I can only listen to the music from afar, which is naturally not satisfying.

After understanding Zhu Tan's idea, Zhu Zi, Zhu Chun and others immediately spread the word.

Liu Kuan was sitting opposite Zhu Tan and others, but after a while, he received similar words.

Only then did he realize that some of the younger princes had already finished their meal.

For example, Zhu Tan was winking and urging Zhu Chun to eat faster.

Seeing this scene, Liu Kuan couldn't help laughing.

"Do you think you can watch the movie earlier if you finish eating earlier? You are still young and too naive."

Shaking his head slightly, Liu Kuan continued to slowly eat the delicacies in front of him, and occasionally chatted with Zhu Huilan about the food, feeling very comfortable.

Because he understood that Zhu Yuanzhang would never end the lunch just because the princes and princesses had finished their meals - it would definitely not end until he and Empress Ma had finished their meals.

Lao Zhu still has a big appetite now, so he has to eat slowly while watching music videos.

as predicted.

When most of the princes and princesses in the hall had finished eating, Emperor Zhu and Empress Ma were still chewing their food slowly.

In this way, everyone waited eagerly for nearly half an hour. Empress Ma touched Zhu Yuanzhang's waist from under the imperial desk, and Zhu Yuanzhang stopped.

Then, Empress Ma announced the end of lunch and asked the palace maids to come in and remove the leftovers.

Old Zhu called Li Gui and whispered a few words to him, and Li Gui came to summon Liu Kuan.

"Prince Consort Liu, the Emperor wants you to come over and say a few words."

Liu Kuan nodded, completed the ceremony and came to the Emperor.

Old Zhu stood up and leisurely walked to a step higher than Liu Kuan. He stopped and asked leisurely, "Should we play the video first or the movie first?"

Liu Kuan said: "Your Majesty, my humble plan is to play the video first."

"How many videos? What are the contents?"

"There are still three videos. One talks about Japanese history, one talks about American history, and the other talks about river management in later generations."

"Hmm," Lao Zhu said with satisfaction, "These three videos sound very useful. It seems you put your heart into it this time."

Liu Kuan smiled and thought to himself: Old Zhu, since you have spoken, how dare I not take it seriously?
Soon, the palace servants cleaned up the Dashan Hall and even rearranged the tables and chairs as they would be on New Year's Eve.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't wait to watch the videos and movies Liu Kuan had prepared, so he took Empress Ma, Zhu Biao and others to sit down one by one.

After Lao Zhu and his family were seated, Liu Kuan called up the first video and placed it on the small round mahogany table.

"This first video is about a quarter of an hour long and covers a general history of Japan."

Liu Kuan introduced the content of the video in advance and glanced to Zhu Biao's left - Li Wenzhong was sitting there.

Li Wenzhong was not invited to the first two banquets where Liu Kuan showed movies and videos because he was under house arrest and Zhu Yuanzhang was angry with him. After the Lantern Festival, Li Wenzhong, persuaded by Liu Kuan, "admitted his fault" to Zhu Yuanzhang and was appointed as the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Commandery, regaining his position in the army.

In the past few months, during the process of establishing the Naval Governor's Office, he had been communicating with Zhu Yuanzhang on the construction of the navy, which had substantially eased their relationship. That was why he was invited by Zhu Yuanzhang to bring his family to participate in this royal banquet.

In fact, Li Jinglong had watched several movies on his tablet computer several times in the main hall with the help of outstanding students such as Zhu Tan.

Li Wenzhong had heard Li Jinglong mention it a few times before and had always been very curious about tablet computers.

Today I first heard the music playing on the tablet, and now I can see the video. Although I appear calm on the surface, I am very excited in my heart.

After hearing Liu Kuan say that the first video was about Japan, Li Wenzhong became more interested.

The first important memorial he submitted after becoming the Grand Commander was to advise Zhu Yuanzhang not to attack Japan.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang kept this memorial and pretended not to have seen it, his military deployments in the following years showed that he actually accepted this suggestion.

Now, because of Liu Kuan's arrival, both Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Wenzhong changed their idea that "Japan cannot be conquered".

Some time ago, Li Wenzhong and Zhu Yuanzhang discussed the East China Sea strategy, in which conquering Japan was listed as the most important part.

Now that he has the opportunity to learn about Japanese history, Li Wenzhong is naturally happy and looking forward to it.

After Liu Kuan finished speaking, he touched the screen to play.

Li Wenzhong immediately stared at the screen that looked magical.

The picture looked as if a god was looking down at the earth from the sky, the clouds and mist dispersed, revealing a map.

On the left side of the map is the continent, and on the right side is a fat snake-shaped island and some islands.

When Li Wenzhong first established the Naval Governor's Office, he was given a new "Map of the World" by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The terrain of the East China Sea is surprisingly similar to that in the video.

He immediately understood that the "fat snake" in the northeast of the East China Sea was Japan.

Then a male voice appeared, speaking in a similar language to Liu Kuan, speaking slowly and calmly.

"When talking about the origins of the Japanese, many people may think of Xu Fu of the Qin Dynasty. According to legend, in order to find the elixir of immortality for the Qin Shi Huang, he took 3000 boys and girls out to sea, and eventually they arrived in Japan, where they took root and became the ancestor of the Japanese..."

After hearing only this first part, Li Wenzhong, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and others were all surprised.

Is Xu Fu the ancestor of the Japanese?

Then aren’t the ancestors of the Japanese people Qin people?
Just when Lao Zhu and others were thinking this, the video directly denied their idea.

"According to modern research, primitive humans were active in the Japanese archipelago as early as 30,000 years ago..."

The video explains from the perspective of geographical changes that the indigenous people of Japan may have migrated from the northern Ezo Island during the Ice Age.

Another part migrated from the eastern coast of Shenzhou when the sea level was lower and the Japanese archipelago was still connected to the mainland.

After describing the origins of the Japanese, the video goes on to briefly talk about the history of Japan, using Chinese history as a time reference.

When the video talked about the Yuan army's attack on Japan, Zhu Yuanzhang and others did not have any special feelings. They just secretly admired that later generations could have such a comprehensive understanding of Japanese history, which was really amazing.

"During the Kamakura shogunate, the Mongols sent troops to Japan twice, but both times, because they didn't check the weather forecast before departure, they were blown into the sea by typhoons and became fish feed before the battle even started..."

Hearing this, Lao Zhu couldn't help but say, "Pause for a moment."

Liu Kuan immediately paused the video.

Old Zhu frowned and asked, "What's recorded in this video seems to be different from what we know from the Yuan court secret book. How can it be said that the two failures of the Yuan army's expedition to Japan were due to the weather?"

Liu Kuan explained, "Your Majesty, this video was actually created by ordinary people in later generations by consulting materials. What it says may not be correct. For example, what he just said is wrong. Your Majesty should refer to the information he learned from the Yuan Dynasty secret book."

"Of course, most of the content in the video is credible. If there are any major errors, I will point them out."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked, "What exactly do you mean by weather forecast? Are you asking someone who understands celestial phenomena to help you avoid typhoons?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, do you remember what I mentioned during the first natural science class in the Great Hall? Experienced people can predict weather conditions such as rain, sunshine, wind, and snow by observing the changes in the clouds."

"The ancients were able to predict the weather to a certain extent just by observing with the naked eye. Later generations have many technologies to assist them, and even have weather satellites that can observe cloud changes in the sky. Naturally, weather forecasts can be made more accurately and in advance."

"Let's put it this way. Weather forecasting is actually a small branch of natural science."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his eyes lit up, as did Zhu Biao and Li Wenzhong.

Old Zhu said, "Can we understand that if the Ming Dynasty can develop this branch of science, it can also achieve more accurate and advanced weather forecasts?"

Liu Kuan smiled, "Of course."

"Alright!" Zhu Yuanzhang's face flushed, his expression excited. "Let's issue an edict and set up a department dedicated to studying weather forecasting—well, we can put it under your Department of Science and Technology, how about that?"

Liu Kuan was speechless after hearing this.

I wondered why Lao Zhu suddenly became unreliable and stuffed all the positions into the Science and Technology Department?

Coming to his senses, he said, "Your Majesty, I think if we establish a department responsible for weather forecasting, it would be better to place it under the Imperial Observatory."

　First update.

　　Today was the last step of the funeral according to the customs of my hometown, which took quite a while.

　　(Also, my old throat problem has recurred in the past few days, and I've been taking medicine. I went to the cemetery this morning and came back with a cold again. Fortunately, I took cold medicine in the afternoon and got a good sleep, but it's almost healed.)
　　Sorry for the late update.

　　I will try to update the saved manuscripts regularly tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)