Chapter 585: Yan's Conjecture and the Tael Bounty
Time flies.

It is already deep winter.

For the vast Ming Empire, the transmission of a piece of news from south to north now takes more than a month to calculate and measure.

That's why.

Even though the city of Beijing had already decided to measure the land in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, when the imperial edict reached the local area, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Hanwen looked up and saw the bleak autumn wind.

Fortunately, land measurement only requires surveying the fields, which can be done at any time.

But progress is slow.

And in the city of Beijing.

The court was still bustling with different activities every day.

Today we are fighting for this place, and tomorrow we are fighting for that place.

After all, politics always operates quietly with human will at its core.

And human will is always filled with selfish desires.

"Don't run!"

"Don't run!"

"Look at my Hunyuan Thunderbolt Palm!"

"..."

"what!"

Paji.

"woo woo woo woo……"

Yan Shaoting was having a headache at this moment.

Looking at the square in front of the academy, he saw his own child chasing the big yellow dog guarding the academy, trying to use some tricks he had learned from somewhere, but in the end he failed to master the skills and stumbled to the ground.

Yan Wuyou's crying quickly attracted the attention of people around him.

But seeing that the Prince's Guard was squatting on the threshold of the academy entrance, people did not dare to step forward to help Master Wuyou up.

Yan Wuyou cried for a while, and seeing that no one paid any attention to her tears, she seemed to feel a little embarrassed. She lay on the ground and turned her head around, only to see that her father had appeared at the entrance of the academy at some point. Her eyes narrowed involuntarily.

The eldest master was made round by his mother's clothes and crawled up from the ground like a cricket pupa.

It was also hard because last year the Changping Public Security Bureau issued the latest health regulations, which did not allow people to raise poultry in the wild. All chickens, ducks and geese needed to be kept in pens and raised.

Otherwise, Young Master Wuyou would inevitably have some chicken, duck and goose droppings on his body.

After standing up, Yan Wuyou did not forget to stick out his butt and pat his legs. Then he turned his eyes away, continued to stick out his butt, and limped to his father while dragging one leg.

Yan Shaoting watched his son's performance silently with a calm expression.

"father……"

Yan Wuyou called out softly, with a hint of tears in his tone.

Yan Shaoting looked up at the sky: "If you don't learn well, you should be punished. If you don't finish your homework, you should be punished. If you are not dressed properly, you should be punished."

Yan Wuyou trembled all over.

In an instant, he lost the idea of ​​pretending to be in pain, and with a sad face, he tried to crawl into his father's arms to avoid punishment.

But Yan Shaoting just stretched out a hand and pressed it on his son's forehead.

"When I came back yesterday, the teacher from the academy came to me and said that you haven't completed your homework recently. Is that true?"

Speaking of this, Yan Shaoting looked helpless.

Even though he was now the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, he could only bow his head to the teachers in the academy when it came to his son's studies. The Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, a second-rank official, was also trained like his grandson.

He still remembers clearly that the great Confucian scholar of the School of Mind, who was of the same generation as Master Nie Bao, was sitting in the lighted preparation room at the time and asked him while he was still standing: "There is no junior protector in the academy, and we don't follow the rules of officialdom. There are only students who don't learn well and parents who don't educate their children well."

This is so true.

So much so that Yan Shaoting was speechless at the time.

Finally, I deeply understood that in the Central Plains, the relationship between teachers, parents and students for thousands of years has been largely passed down from generation to generation.

When the gentleman said, "No matter how busy the Prince's Guardian is, he must care about the children's studies, and parents and the academy must work together to educate the children well," Yan Shaoting could only nod in agreement.

the end.

Yan Shaoting, who is now considered a teacher, was mercilessly mocked by the other party.

He can teach the prince of the current dynasty well, but he cannot teach his own children well.

At the end.

Yan Shaoting almost ran away in shame.

Now looking at Yan Wuyou who was pinned down by his hands, he felt that he was a kind father if he didn't beat him with a whip last night.

Yan Wuyou was held down by his father's hand, so he could only move his hands forward and grab a few times randomly, then explained with a pursed mouth: "I have learned everything, it's just that the teacher doesn't teach new things."

Yan Shaoting was stunned for a moment, then said with a straight face: "Have you finished learning the Thousand Character Classic and the Three Character Classic?"

Yan Wuyou nodded.

Yan Shaoting asked again: "What about the Disciple Rules? What about the words for knowing each other?"

Yan Wuyou rolled his eyes at his father, who was the Prince's Guardian.

Yan Shaoting blinked, not quite sure whether this guy was fooling him or not.

But Yan Wuyou moved faster.

The half-grown boy took a step back instantly, put his two little hands behind his back, and began to shake his head.

Accompanied by the childish voice that belongs only to children.

"When Confucius first served as the governor of Zhongdu, he established the rules for keeping healthy and sending off the dead. The old and the young had different food, the strong and the weak had different duties, men and women had different roads, no one picked up lost items on the road, and no utensils were carved or fake. He made a four-inch coffin and a five-inch outer coffin, and used the hills as his grave. He did not seal it or plant trees. He practiced it for a year, and the princes in the west followed suit..."

As the child's voice sounded, surprise and joy gradually appeared on Yan Shaoting's face.

He waved his hand quickly: "Wait."

Yan Wuyou immediately stopped talking, blinked his round eyes and stared at his father, his mouth slightly pouted, with a look of pride.

Yan Shaoting couldn't sit still anymore and stood up.

"What you just recited was Confucius' Family Sayings?"

Yan Wuyou nodded, then shook his head: "I can recite it, but I can't write it. I don't understand what it means."

Yan Shaoting was completely shocked.

Even though you can only recite it, you can't write it and don't understand the principle behind it.

But this is already amazing.

Since ancient times, people in the Central Plains have had clear procedures for educating their children.

The first books to be learned are Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Names, Thousand Character Classic, followed by books like Prosody Enlightenment and Encouragement to Study Qionglin, and various introductory arithmetic books.

There is only one purpose, which is to enable children to recognize and write, and understand some simple arithmetic problems.

It will be about two or three years after enlightenment that at the age of seven or eight, he will begin to study the Four Books and the Confucius' Family Sayings that Yan Wuyou had just recited, and start to practice regular script.

When children are in their teens, they will start studying books such as Poetry and Ethics, and then move on to the Five Classics and various miscellaneous books covering a wider range of knowledge content.

Yan Shaoting glanced at his son standing in front of him and determined his age.

He quickly inquired, "What is twelve times twelve?"

Yan Wuyou blinked: "One hundred and forty-four."

Yan Shaoting asked again: "One hundred and sixty-two is divided into three parts, how much is each part?"

Yan Wuyou replied with a smile: "Fifty-four for each."

Yan Shaoting was silent.

However, at this moment, Xu Wei came quietly from nowhere.

Looking at Yan Shaoting with a dull look.

Xu Wei smiled, patted Yan Wuyou on the head, and then said: "Wuyou's enlightenment is very fast. He started enlightenment last year. After the Shao Bao led the troops to war this year, he has been studying in the academy. Although he is still young, he has indeed passed the enlightenment stage. It's just that the teachers in the academy are afraid that his foundation is not solid, so they have not let him learn the Four Books. Even arithmetic, Wuyou went to the academy to learn privately from Shuai Jiamo."

"Dean Shuai is really handsome!" Yan Wuyou, who was standing aside, raised his head and interjected with certainty.

Yan Shaoting glared at him immediately, and Yan Wuyou was so scared that he shrank behind Xu Wei.

Xu Wei laughed: "Mr. Zhang is a little angry because he thinks that since Shao Bao has been promoted to the Minister of Rites and is also responsible for the prince's studies, he is unwilling to teach a course in the academy to explain the philosophy of mind to the students."

Yan Shaoting fell silent.

Xu Wei had no choice but to say, "The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the country's education, and the Academy is now in charge of the literary trends of the world's scholars through the Changping Newspaper. Mr. Zhang just doesn't want to say it clearly, so he used Wuyou's homework as an excuse to attack you, the Grand Protector."

Yan Shaoting chuckled: "That wouldn't be necessary for you to scold me like that last night."

If Mr. Zhang was not of the same generation as Master Nie Bao, and if he was not in charge of the School of Confucian Classics, no matter his seniority, age, or status in the academy, how could he, as the Prince's Guardian and Minister of Rites, have to admit his mistakes?

Xu Wei just smiled faintly, turned around and patted Yan Wuyou on the head: "Dean Shuai will bring people to the Arithmetic Institute to talk about how water wheels forge steel today. Go and listen."

After hearing what Mr. Xu said, Yan Wuyou immediately left his father behind and ran into the academy cheering.

Yan Shaoting watched his son run away, but he looked at Xu Wei curiously: "Shuai Jiamo wants to talk about hydraulic production?"

Xu Wei nodded. "In the past, scholars focused on the imperial examinations, and scholars mostly read the Four Books and Five Classics, so they naturally didn't pay much attention to these miscellaneous arts. Now, in Changping Academy, classics are just one of the subjects. Dean Shuai and his group have rummaged through boxes and cabinets over the past few years and found a lot of good things. They are all verifying and improving them one by one. Many things seem to be very consistent with what you, the young guard, have occasionally mentioned to us in the past."

Yan Shaoting's eyes couldn't help but shrink.

I have been focusing on the court over the years and have never thought about leading the Ming Dynasty to carry out real industrial and technological upgrades and update scientific knowledge.

Unexpectedly, people in the academy were already doing this.

Seeing Yan Shaoting's eyes wandering.

Xu Wei whispered, "Since the Junior Guardian has to stay in hiding for a while, he might as well find an opportunity to stay in the academy and do more academic work. In my opinion, it would be best to ask His Majesty to take on the position of the academy's principal. In this way, the Junior Guardian can go back and forth between Wenhua Hall and the academy on weekdays without any delay."

Zhu Yijun had completed his farming lessons at Wenhua Hall not long ago.

For the young prince, it was a great harvest.

There are even rumors in the palace that the emperor was originally hesitant because the prince was too young and wanted to delay the appointment of the prince for a few years, but now rumors have begun to spread in the palace that the emperor will decide on the appointment of the prince next year.

This is directly related to the two pieces of land outside the Wenhua Hall.

Because of this, Yan Shaoting's tasks in Wenhua Hall have been greatly reduced. At least next year he will only continue spring ploughing in Wenhua Hall, and he will not have to intervene after that.

By then he will naturally have time to travel back and forth between Changping and Beijing.

Although there is still some distance between the two places.

But Yan Shaoting nodded.

He also began to think about where to start to promote the development of Ming Dynasty science.

Newton's three laws of motion?

Physics? Chemistry?

After thinking about it, he felt that these were too advanced and it would be better to first point out the basic scientific knowledge.

Reorganize basic mathematics, abandon the cumbersome calculation formulas and formula names used by people in the Central Plains, and replace them with simple and clear numbers and letters.

Then I can figure out how to produce the three acids, and then improve the steel smelting industry and lay a solid scientific foundation. In this way, my role is almost over.

After all, he doesn't understand more advanced scientific knowledge.

But it is possible to put forward propositions one by one.

For example, what is in the air?
What's in the water?
How are clouds formed and why do we have wind, frost, snow and rain?
Who knows, in a hundred years or so, a complete set of Yan's conjectures will be formed.

Just ask the questions and leave it to future generations to solve.

Although it is impossible to give a direct formula, at least it can plan the direction of scientific development for future generations in advance, so that the development route will not go wrong and turn to inexplicable places.

Ever since.

For unknown reasons, Yan Shaoting walked into the Arithmetic Department of Changping Academy with Xu Wei.

In the School of Arithmetic, the young dean Shuai Jiamo is using a small model to illustrate the production method of the Changping Forging Plant.

Things like water hammer.

This was naturally created a long time ago, when Yan Shaoting first came to Changping.

Yan Wuyou, who came over after hearing the news, relied on his thick skin to squeeze to the front.

The other students in the academy usually dote on this junior fellow and let him run around the academy.

Yan Shaoting stood at the back of the crowd, listening silently to Shuai Jiamo's explanation.

When it was coming to an end, he turned to look at Xu Wei beside him and said, "Many of the things are very new and very good."

He gave real affirmation and praise.

For example, Shuai Jiamo just mentioned how to increase the water flow rate to increase the force of the water hammer for forging and stamping, and also gave an example of whether the water source height can be increased or the water volume can be increased.

even.

This young man, who was originally only talented in arithmetic, also proposed whether it was possible to artificially increase the power through some special means without changing the height and amount of the water source.

Based on this, Shuai Jiamo proposed a concept similar to compressed water.

In the School of Arithmetic, many students also used this opportunity to expand their thinking and initiate various discussions.

Xu Wei had a smile on his face.

This is also the reason why he came to Yan Shaoting today.

In his opinion, since there is nothing to do in the court now, it would be better to build more academies.

To some extent, Changping Academy is the foundation of the Yan school.

And wait until Shuai Jiamo in front officially finishes today's public lecture.

Yan Shaoting paced and appeared in the sight of a group of students.

"Young Guard!"

"Young Guard."

Shouts of surprise came from the students' mouths.

Yan Shaoting walked calmly to Shuai Jiamo.

The young dean of the first college of Changping Academy immediately looked shy.

That's just the way he is.

Yan Shaoting smiled and glanced at Shuai Jiamo, then was the first to raise his hands and applaud.

Afterwards, the whole audience burst into applause.

Wait until the noise subsides.

Yan Shaoting looked at the students who were curious and said softly, "Dean Shuai just gave a lecture. I also listened to it for a long time. He said it in a simple and easy-to-understand way. He also said it very well."

Shuai Jiamo lowered his head and his face suddenly turned red.

The students present nodded in agreement.

Yan Shaoting added: "That is why I have a few questions. I would like to invite you to try to answer them in the next class."

All the students bowed and saluted.

Yan Shaoting smiled knowingly.

"First: Why does water only flow from high to low, but not from low to high? And why does fruit only fall from trees to the ground, but not from high into the sky?"

"Second, there are many metals in the world. In a smelter, the smelting time of gold, silver, copper, and iron is often different. What is the reason? Is there a difference in the temperature of the fire? How can it be shown?"

"Third, when many metals are smelted, there is always a residue called slag. But are there any minerals in the slag that we don't know about today?"

"Fourth: People live in the world and sleep in houses. If a fire is lit in the house in winter, there is often a risk of death. Why is this? Is there something harmful in the air?"

"Fifth: When cold water is heated to boiling, water vapor rises and there is a slight lift. What is the cause of this force? If you want to use it, how should you manipulate it?"

Five questions were asked in a row.

There was silence in the Arithmetic Academy.

Yan Shaoting observed the expression of the man and finally chuckled and said, "I am not talented, but I have the ambition to help students. I am willing to pool my family's financial resources and gather friends from all sides to donate. I will set up a Changping Scholarship of 100,000 taels of silver. Anyone who can solve one of the five questions today will be awarded 10,000 taels of silver. If you can create something new to help the people or study a new theory that can be verified, you can be evaluated by the academy and awarded between 100 and 10,000 taels!"

…………

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(End of this chapter)