Now Yan Shu is away because his wife is seriously ill, and Fan Zhongyan is now doing Yan Shu's job. Although Fan Zhongyan's ability to react temporarily is not as strong as Yan Shu's, his advantage is that he is mostly taciturn.

Talking less means making fewer mistakes. Even if Zhao Jun took the initiative to chat with him, he would at most say "hmm" or "ah", and would not say anything beyond his own knowledge.

"Teacher Zhao just said that ancient China was unable to establish an industrial revolution because of the lack of a scientific system, as well as the lack of institutional and natural environment issues. We just learned about the scientific system, but what about the institutional and natural environment?"

Fan Zhongyan asked while looking at his notes.

"Yes, Mr. Zhao, we are very curious. Please tell us about it."

"Teacher Zhao is truly knowledgeable and talented. We don't know these things."

"Of course, Teacher Zhao is a top student at Renmin University."

When Zhao Zhen was praising him, he deliberately emphasized the word "National People's Congress", which seemed to have a sense of sarcasm.

In fact, he was not mocking, but gritting his teeth, secretly hating that lousy student from Renmin University who cursed his ancestors every day.

Zhao Jun was so happy to hear everyone's flattery that he couldn't stop smiling.

These days, Yan Shu also understood his temper. He was a kind-hearted and thoughtful young man. The only bad thing was that he was too naive and easily got carried away by success.

This is probably a common problem among teenagers. If others flatter them a little, they will be so happy that they lose their mind and be tricked into saying anything.

Perhaps this is what is called stupidity revealed in clarity.

Seeing that everyone wanted to continue listening, Zhao Jun reluctantly said, "Okay, then. I'll continue. Besides the fact that our ancient scientific system lacked a complete set of norms, which resulted in us being unable to complete the Industrial Revolution despite being over a thousand years ahead of Western civilization, there's also the issue of geographical environment."

"We have a big disadvantage in terms of geographical environment."

"Historian and professor at the University of California, Irving Pomeranz believes that the reason why China could not achieve the industrial revolution was that the distribution of its natural resources was not suitable for efficient exploitation, and it also lacked some key resources."

"None of China's large coal mines are located near river transport routes. The geographical landscape itself has hindered China's rapid industrialization."

"Meanwhile, Chinese agriculture flourished so much in the first millennium thanks to Champa rice that there was an agricultural revolution, and so there was no need for further innovation. In contrast, Europe started from a lower level and therefore had a stronger need to develop technology more rapidly."

"In addition, the four basic industrial raw materials: rubber, steel, coal, and oil are in short supply. We have absolutely no rubber and oil. The first large oil field, the Karamay Oilfield, wasn't discovered until the 1950s, and the Daqing Oilfield wasn't discovered until the 1960s."

"The West entered the colonial era earlier and rapidly industrialized by plundering rubber from South America and seizing oil from Central Asia, using the primitive capital accumulated earlier."

"So, under the influence of the natural environment, unless there is official artificial promotion, such as building canals in coal and iron ore producing areas, searching for rubber overseas, obtaining shallow oil from the Middle East that can be easily dug out with a shovel, and purposefully promoting industrial development, it is impossible to complete the industrial base through the private free market alone."

Speaking of this, Zhao Jun himself felt helpless.

In fact, ancient Chinese technology was not bad. It even had a lot of advanced technology that was a thousand years ahead of the West.

For example, the incense balls popular during the Song Dynasty were actually designed with a gyroscope inside. Su Song's water-powered astronomical clock was the world's first mechanical clock and astronomical observatory. Needless to say, firearms were the forefather of firearms, the musket.

But what was missing was rubber and oil.

Rubber is a component that performs functions such as sealing, shock absorption, and cushioning. It can be used as sealing rings, pipes, etc. in tires and machines. It is especially important as a seal in high-temperature water vapor environments.

Steam engines and internal combustion engines require rubber.

Oil is even more important and has been the most important resource until the 21st century. Mold has been growing everywhere in the Middle East for oil, and it can be said to be the main factor in the chaos in the Middle East.

However, in ancient times, rubber was only found in South America. China did have oil, but it was all underground oil. The Daqing Oilfield was located 1,300 meters deep from the surface.

This location was not at that level in ancient times, not even in the late Qing Dynasty. Xiao Ri used the most advanced exploration equipment, but he could only explore up to 1,000 meters, which was still 300 meters away from the oil field.

So although there were certain sprouts of capitalism in the Song Dynasty and late Ming Dynasty in ancient China, the capital market might have been born, leading to the industrial revolution.

But in reality, due to limited natural resources, this possibility is still small.