Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhu Guoxiang does not interfere with scientific researchers.

For example, when Zhang Lixiu talked about the interaction between yin and yang, Zhu Guoxiang did not refute his point of view, but just interrupted the topic to let him talk about something else first.

Why?

Because among the mainstream concepts of the ancients, the theories of the two emperors Zhu were more like nonsense. The interaction of yin and yang and the creation of heaven and earth were in line with the cognition.

The enthusiasm of explorers cannot be dampened!

Therefore, after the lecture, Zhu Guoxiang affirmed some of Zhang Lixiu's achievements and tried to avoid talking about his scientific yin and yang hypothesis.

As long as Zhang Lixiu is not stupid, he can understand what the Supreme Emperor means.

At the same time, Zhu Guoxiang also guided: "Your discovery is very useful. The existing barometer is not sensitive enough. Can a more sensitive barometer be made to use the phenomenon of different air pressures on the mountain and up and down to measure the actual pressure of a mountain?" What’s the height?”

Zhang Lixiu's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he drew inferences: "As water flows downward, and all rivers return to the sea, it can be seen that the height of the sea surface is the lowest. Using the height of the sea surface as the benchmark, the relative heights of different areas and the sea surface can be measured through air pressure. Of course, it must be The barometer has been improved to be accurate enough, otherwise it would be difficult to measure an altitude difference of tens of feet."

Zhu Guoxiang was extremely pleased that Zhang Lixiu had great ideas.

In fact, Zhang Lixiu is not a genius.

Not only was he partial to subjects when he was studying, but his grades in the subjects he was good at were not among the best.

One of the most important prerequisites for his current academic achievements is that his family has money!

His father hired the best teachers to educate him and paid for him to attend the best academy, but among the academy students he was neither above nor below.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, natural subjects were introduced into the imperial examination. His father also spent money to send him to a government school as a self-financing student, and also paid heavily to hire teachers to teach mathematics, physics, and astronomy.

After expending so much effort, Zhang Lixiu still achieved mediocre results.

Then, his father continued to spend money to let him go to Taixue University as a self-financed student, but his grades were still average.

This is very strange. Whether it is the academies of the former Song Dynasty or the Kaifeng Fuxue and Taixue of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Lixiu can be average and neither good nor bad.

Just like a chess player who wins and loses half the time in the amateur ranks, he still has half the wins and losses in the professional ranks.

You can't figure out where his lower limit is, nor how high his upper limit is.

Fortunately, the Imperial College at that time was not so demanding, otherwise Zhang Lixiu would not be able to graduate successfully.

After that, he failed all normal imperial examinations. Thanks to Ju Ming's reform of the system science, Zhang Lixiu was admitted to the imperial examination and became a magic officer.

Even after joining the Ministry of Industry, Zhang Lixiu was still ordinary. He was transferred to participate in the research and development of steam coin machines and steam water lifters, but he still behaved ordinary.

He could keep up with his colleagues' progress, but he never stood out.

So much so that Zhu Guoxiang met this person twice and didn't leave any impression at all.

The Supreme Emperor borrowed a waist knife from the guard and used it to draw pictures on the tamped mud in front of everyone: "This is the sea surface. Due to the influence of tides, waves and many other factors, the height of the sea surface fluctuates and has errors. We You can take an average value and call it sea level, or sea level height.”

Zhu Guoxiang drew another mountain peak: "The vertical height of this mountain peak to the sea level is called the altitude."

Zhang Lixiu clapped his hands and praised: "The words sea level and altitude used by Your Majesty are precise and appropriate."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Go to Luoyang Imperial College, give lectures to the teachers and students there, and then write a paper for publication."

The teachers, students, and officials present all cast envious glances at Zhang Lixiu.

He was actually recognized by the Emperor and was appointed by the Emperor to give lectures at the Imperial Academy. With such an honor, even if he cannot be called a great Confucian from now on, he can still be regarded as a famous Confucian of his generation.

Well, the world today also calls famous scientists great scholars and famous scholars.

There are quite a few such great and famous Confucians, each of whom has made breakthrough discoveries, and more than 80% of them graduated from Taixue.

Zhu Guoxiang added: "After the lecture, you take the lead in improving the barometer. I will ask the Ministry of Industry to allocate funds to you and give you some manpower. When the barometer is improved to be precise and sensitive enough, you can take people to measure altitudes across the country." "

"Yes!" Zhang Lixiu accepted the order.

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said: "While measuring the altitude, if you are still free, you can also study the local geology. Especially those cliffs are the most intuitive. The rock soil on many cliffs is layered, and there are also the ancient creatures you mentioned. Wrecks. Let’s just call them fossils.”

Zhang Lixiu became even more excited.

In the past, he could only conduct research at his own expense, and he was surrounded by his own followers. When he encountered difficult problems, he had no one with whom he could discuss them.

Especially after his father passed away, his brother had a bad attitude, complaining that he would not do anything even if he had an official position, but would waste money running around. Not only does it not help the family, but it also wastes the family's money.

Now I'm fine, I have everything, and my brother will definitely welcome me with a smile.

Zhu Guoxiang took his wife and children to rest. Before they could go far, Zhang Lixiu was surrounded by teachers and students.

Although many scholars still regard the study of natural subjects as a minor path, and only regard mathematics, which is required for regular imperial examinations, as a major path. But after all, the two emperors support this stuff, and awesome scientists will still be sought after.

Moreover, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the younger generation of scholars had to take mathematics and even physics for a few years because of the imperial examination. Many of these scholars have already become officials, and there are also a large number who have not yet become officials in their twenties and thirties. They may not be so enthusiastic about natural science, but they will basically no longer discriminate.

Concepts have gradually changed.

Among them, there are also the influences brought by telegraph and steam engine. Even academic bureaucrats like Hu Anguo believe that natural sciences are very useful and cannot be simply regarded as the study of craftsmen.

In the high-end dormitory of the academy, Zhu Guoxiang intends to write a letter.

Li Qingzhao helped to grind ink beside him, Shen Yourong asked the female official to make tea, and Wen Xiaomei asked other concubines and children and grandchildren to go out so as not to disturb them.

Li Qingzhao was still thinking about the content of the lecture: "Is the earth really surrounded by layers of air, and the universe outside the air is a vacuum?"

Yu is the side of the house.

Zhou is the beam of the house.

In the pre-Qin era, Yu was space and Zhou was time.

Even as early as in "Zhuangzi", the universe had the meaning of infinite time and space, and it completely evolved into a scientific term after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Guoxiang wrote as he wrote: "The universe is so vast that there must be other gases outside the earth's air. But that gas should be very far away from the earth, otherwise it would be sucked in by the earth's gravity. Therefore, it can be said that there is a vacuum outside the earth's air."

Li Qingzhao suddenly had an idea: "I have also seen the moon with a telescope. The surface of the moon is bumpy. There are no trees, flowers, or people. Is there air on the moon? Is it because there is no air that there are no living things on the moon?"

"Maybe." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Li Qingzhao became more and more fascinated as she thought about it, and then she was inspired to write poetry. She ran to another room to spread paper and grind ink, and used lyrics to express her yearning for the mysterious universe.

Shen Yourong was not very interested in this. She sat next to him and read a novel, and she also wore a pair of reading glasses.

Zhu Guoxiang was writing a letter to his son.

He planned to let his son formally establish the Royal Society, which would not only absorb natural scientists, but also experts in literature, history, and art.

For example, those who study gold and stone need to be proficient in history, inscriptions, and many other knowledge. The current research scope has expanded from traditional jade, tripods, and mirrors to bricks, seals, military symbols, and funerary objects... Zhu Guoxiang tried to guide them in the direction of archaeology.

In the letter to his son, the framework of the Ming Royal Society is as follows:

One president, three vice presidents. One secretary general, three deputy secretaries general. One chairman, six vice chairmen, and several directors.

It has three categories: the study of things, literature and history, and art.

Select various famous people who have made outstanding achievements as the first batch of members of the Royal Society, all of whom are granted the title of baron, and let them vote for the president, vice president, etc. A small symbolic membership fee is collected.

A group of new members are recruited every year, but no title is given.

A national conference is held every five years, and gold, silver and bronze awards in three categories are selected based on academic achievements. Members far away do not need to be present in person, but those who are eligible to vote must write letters to vote for the candidates (primary election).

The winner of the gold medal must be granted the title of baron by the emperor.

If there are multiple major achievements at the same time, the emperor can give several gold medals at his discretion, or give the silver and bronze medal winners a title.

If a member with the title of baron wins the gold medal again or makes outstanding contributions, the emperor can upgrade his title at his discretion.

These titles cannot be inherited, but they have titles and salaries.

When the number of members increases in the future, the members will be divided into three levels, and waist badges (jade pendants) of different levels will be made to wear.

Even for members without titles, as long as they wear the society's waist badge, officials at all levels must show respect. Moreover, they are eligible to write directly to the emperor, and no organization, including the cabinet, can stop them.

What Zhu Guoxiang did was naturally to encourage academic progress.

In the future, the Four Books, Six Classics and Mathematics will be used to select administrative officials.

All other knowledge, in addition to being used to select art officials (including Hanlin officials), must be given full honorary status through the Royal Society, an organization.

There are only three categories at the beginning, and they can be split and added in the future.

In addition, the society will also establish three authoritative journals, tentatively scheduled to be published once every quarter. In the future, it can also be adjusted to bimonthly or monthly.

The funds of the society are provided by the royal family. If members have major projects, they can also apply for relevant funds from the royal family.

The current Ming Dynasty royal finances have long been separated from the national finances.

There is absolutely no confusion allowed.

The royal family has some industries in Luoyang and Kaifeng, which are considered the royal family's private land.

Zhu Ming even invested in the fleet of the treasure hunting trio, but it is not convenient to send someone to manage the accounts for the time being, because once a supervisor is sent, the fleet will not dare to explore easily in the future. The official parachuting of financial personnel will inevitably lead to risk avoidance, which goes against Zhu Ming's original intention of overseas exploration.

Every year, the national treasury allocates 1 million guan to the royal family. With the continuous increase in fiscal revenue and the increase in the number of royal family members, Zhu Ming plans to increase the fixed allocation to 1.5 million guan.

How much the fixed allocation of the national treasury can increase in the future depends on the ability of the emperor's successor.

The tributes from the vassal states, rare treasures belong to the royal family, and general goods are handed over to the court. The definition is not very strict. Because the amount is too small, the emperor and officials do not take it seriously.

The income from overseas territories is too high in the early stage, such as sending troops. Therefore, the ministers do not want the court to spend money in the early stage, but the emperor will make the most money in the later stage, so adjustments have been made.

The national customs revenue, including the port tax of overseas territories, is changed to a unified 5% profit distribution to the royal family.

Domestic franchise income, except for the salt tax, which needs to be distributed, all goes to the national treasury. 2% of the national salt tax belongs to the royal family.

The Ming royal family is very rich!

The emperor can only be strong when he has money, and he has the confidence to do things.

Of course, it can also be said that the Ming imperial family was very poor.

Because in other dynasties, the imperial family and the national treasury often did not distinguish between public and private. When the emperor's treasury was short of money, he would directly reach out to the national treasury. The officials were resentful but dared not say anything.

In addition, since the finances of the imperial family and the national treasury are separated, don't think of asking the emperor to pay for large-scale sacrifices and rewards to the army.

The most important affairs of the country are sacrifices and military affairs.

In all dynasties, large-scale sacrifices and rewards to soldiers, no matter who paid in the end, were generally allocated in the name of the treasury. To put it bluntly, the emperor must master the status of "sacrifice and military affairs".

Don't even think about it in the future. The emperor will not be a sucker, and the national treasury will pay for it honestly.