Chapter 217: The Prelude to the Big Bang

Facing the camera, Jiang Zhe began to speak with a serious expression.

"In this episode, I will provide a detailed explanation of the Tianqi Explosion and the Tunguska Event."

"The Tianqi Explosion is also known as the widely familiar Armory explosion."

"This event occurred in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty, which corresponds to 9:00 AM on May 30, 1626, in the capital city of Beijing—a mysterious and highly destructive explosion."

"At the time, Emperor Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao, was on the throne."

"The location: It was in the southwest corner of the capital city, near the Armory. Note: I said near the Armory, not at the Armory itself."

Upon hearing this, the audience could not help but feel puzzled.

They had always believed it occurred at the Armory; could it be that it wasn't the Armory site?

If the explosion didn't happen at the site, could there be another reason?

"Next, let's look at the general outline of this event."

"According to the journal of celestial changes: 'Suddenly, there was a sound like a roar, moving from the northeast to the southwest corner of the capital. Gray mist surged up, and buildings shook.'"

"Then: 'A massive tremor occurred, the sky collapsed and the earth crumbled, everything went dark as night, and ten thousand houses were leveled.'"

"Based on modern calculations, the gunpowder involved in the Tianqi Explosion was approximately 960 tons of TNT—equivalent to 2.19 million jin of black powder exploding simultaneously. Of course, there are other figures suggesting an equivalent of 2,000 to 3,000 tons, but these cannot be verified. We can only find fragmented data in various classics and calculate from there, which places it roughly between 1,000 and 3,000 tons of TNT."

"The disaster area spanned from Shunchengmen Street in the east to Xingbu Street in the north and Pingzemen in the west, stretching three to four li in length, with a radius of thirteen li turned to dust."

"10,931 houses collapsed, and over 10,000 people died in the disaster."

"Furthermore, the explosion caused the Palace of Heavenly Purity, where Emperor Tianqi was eating breakfast, to shake. He quickly fled to the Hall of Union and Peace. Along the way, his personal attendant was struck and killed by flying debris. The infant Crown Prince, Zhu Cijiong, who was less than a year old, was terrified by the explosion and died shortly after."

"After the Tianqi Explosion, the Ming government issued an imperial edict of self-reflection and allocated 10,000 taels of silver from the national treasury to provide relief to the victims."

"This massive explosion caused extremely severe destruction and casualties, plunging society during the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty into panic and chaos, and it also intensified the factional strife within the imperial court."

"This is the general outline of the Tianqi Explosion."

These explanations gave most of the audience a clear understanding of the Tianqi Explosion.

However, it was still difficult to analyze the cause of the Tianqi Explosion based solely on these few recorded outlines.

At this moment, Jiang Zhe continued to explain:

"During the Ming Dynasty, there was a great appreciation for firearms. It wasn't until the subsequent Qing Dynasty, under a series of policies, that firearms began to disappear from public view."

"So, in your previous understanding, it was actually just an explosion at an Armory, nothing bizarre, right?"

After finishing, a mysterious smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

As soon as he said this, a massive wave of comments flooded the live stream.

"Exactly, it was just an explosion at an Armory, there's nothing special about it at all!"

"If it was just an Armory explosion, why do we treat this explosion as something so mystical now?"

"It's simple. It's because this kind of explosion doesn't fit the Ming Dynasty of the 1600s. If an antimatter explosion destroyed a country on Earth today, future generations centuries from now would also wonder: 'Did the Xia Kingdom have antimatter in 2024? That's not scientific!' It's the same principle."

"Oh~ but Teacher Jiang already said it was near the Armory, not at the site. There is definitely more to this than meets the eye."

Meanwhile, in the lecture hall.

Professor Hua Yunfeng and Old Feng scanned the audience and found the historians were discussing it.

A young historian asked curiously: "Seniors, what is the truth behind the Tianqi Explosion? Could it really have not been at the Armory site?"

The group of historians offered similar answers.

"The Tianqi Explosion occurred near the Ming Dynasty's Armory. The Armory was the Ming Dynasty's arsenal, where a large amount of gunpowder was stored. Although the gunpowder at the time was mostly black powder with relatively low power, considering the poor management of the Armory and the possibility of an open flame causing an explosion, it is possible that a small portion of gunpowder stored nearby ignited, subsequently triggering an explosion of the entire arsenal."

"Yes, I think so too; that fits 'near the Armory,' rather than 'at the Armory site.'"

The senior scholars' answers were all more or less the same, leaving the young historian confused. "Is the truth really that simple? What about the series of exaggerated on-site reactions and various data points?"

The middle-aged and elderly scholars looked at the young scholar with disappointment: "Do you really think the Ming Dynasty had nuclear bombs? Is there any other explanation besides an Armory explosion?"

Just then, Jiang Zhe on the big screen provided an answer:

"Yes, I'm afraid many people now believe that the Tianqi Explosion was simply a case of spontaneous combustion of gunpowder near the Armory, which then spread to the site, causing the massive explosion."

He held up a finger and shook his head. "I am not saying it wasn't an Armory explosion, but there are many details involved that cannot be explained by just saying: 'Spontaneous combustion occurred near the Armory, which then caused the Armory to explode.'"

The experts acknowledged this point, but no matter how bizarre it was, the answer to the Tianqi Explosion could not possibly be a nuclear explosion like the one at Mohenjo-daro.

"Now, let us examine the causes and consequences of this massive explosion in detail."

"Actually, there were signs of the explosion starting days before it happened. Note: These omens are not what I believe, but what the ancients at the time believed!"

As soon as he said this, all the audience and experts became even more serious.

There were actually signs days before a simple Armory explosion?

If there were signs, then this matter does indeed seem somewhat mysterious.

"Omens of the disaster!"

"According to the contemporary journal of celestial changes—let me explain, a 'dibao' was a news bulletin specifically used by the imperial court to disseminate political information and government decrees; it was equivalent to today's newspapers."

"Let me also clarify the ancient date of the Tianqi Explosion: May 30, 1626, was the sixth day of the fifth lunar month."

"The journal of celestial changes recorded four days prior: In the sixth year of Tianqi, which is May 2, 1626, four days before the explosion, on the night of the second day of the fifth month: 'Will-o'-the-wisps appeared at the corner of the Qianmen watchtower, greenish and glowing like hundreds of fireflies. Shortly after, they merged, becoming as large as a carriage wheel.'"

"Analysis: 'That night, hundreds of clusters of green-glowing will-o'-the-wisps appeared at the corner of the Qianmen watchtower. The green flickering looked like hundreds of fireflies, and soon these will-o'-the-wisps merged, becoming as large as a carriage wheel.'"

"In the feudal era, everyone said these were 'will-o'-the-wisps,' the flames of ghosts."

"But in modern times, you should all know the reason behind this, right?"

As soon as he said this, the audience chimed in.

For anyone who has received nine years of compulsory education, if anyone says will-o'-the-wisps are a supernatural phenomenon, they must be ignorant!

"Of course we know. Green will-o'-the-wisps are just a natural phenomenon, mainly formed by the spontaneous combustion of phosphine. I forgot the exact details, though."

"It's simple. These green will-o'-the-wisps mostly happen in summer. In May 1626, the weather was already getting hot. When human or animal corpses decay, they generate phosphine gas, and high-temperature conditions make it easier for phosphine to spontaneously combust."

"Moreover, this gas easily reaches its ignition point under high-temperature conditions. When it encounters air, it self-ignites, producing a greenish-blue flame. This is what is known as 'will-o'-the-wisps.'"

Listening to the comment broadcast from Producer Xiao Qian in the control room, Jiang Zhe nodded gently. "It seems everyone is aware of the scientific nature of this matter."

"Actually, that sentence recorded in the journal of celestial changes contains some hidden information."

"The information isn't very important, but it still needs to be mentioned—since ancient people would be afraid and panic upon seeing will-o'-the-wisps, they would definitely run faster after seeing them."

"Let's assume: that night, there were people at the corner of the Qianmen watchtower, and let's say more than one person. Let's assume they were ordinary night patrol soldiers in the capital."

"A few soldiers, or even a dozen, while on night duty, suddenly encountered will-o'-the-wisps. The soldiers felt afraid and ran to the same spot. The wind generated by their running merged the hundreds of clusters of will-o'-the-wisps nearby, which became: 'Shortly after, these will-o'-the-wisps merged, becoming as large as a carriage wheel.'"

Hearing this, the audience's eyes lit up, and two words appeared in their minds: 'deduction' and 'reasonable.'

Because ancient soldiers lacked scientific knowledge, it was normal for them to be afraid of will-o'-the-wisps.

When encountering will-o'-the-wisps, a group of night-shift soldiers would definitely huddle together.

Hmm, very reasonable, but the experts all know that if there were soldiers, the newspaper would have recorded it, so it can only be considered a very scientific deduction!

"Of course, if there were soldiers, the person writing the newspaper would definitely have mentioned it; however, there is no record of any soldiers."

"There were no soldiers at the corner of the Qianmen watchtower on the night of the second day of the fifth month. By the way, the 'Qianmen' of the Ming Dynasty refers to today's 'Zhengyangmen' in Beijing, and the 'watchtower corner' in the record refers to a specific corner of Zhengyangmen."

"So, that night, no soldiers were bored enough to crouch in the corner counting stars and watching the moon. Naturally, we get the answer: that night, there was some wind at Zhengyangmen. Green will-o'-the-wisps suddenly appeared at the corner of the wall. The natural breeze blew the will-o'-the-wisps, gathering them into the corner, eventually turning them into wheel-sized will-o'-the-wisps that were seen by someone and recorded. This is the truth behind the will-o'-the-wisps at the Qianmen corner."

"And the information I mentioned is both important and unimportant—it's just that will-o'-the-wisps appeared in a corner of Zhengyangmen, that's all."

Speaking to this point, Jiang Zhe sighed with emotion. "This record doesn't have much to do with the explosion; it was just a normal ancient chemical phenomenon. But because the ancient people of the Ming Dynasty didn't understand scientific knowledge, they believed this will-o'-the-wisp was related to the Tianqi Explosion."

As soon as he said this, it almost instantly struck a chord with the historians in the lecture hall.

It was because an event had such a huge impact that the common people searched through events before the explosion with a specific purpose, eventually finding some things that made people speculate.

The next moment, Jiang Zhe revealed a mysterious smile again: "But the next record is the true omen before the explosion, and it is universally acknowledged!"