Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 376 Burning the Future

"Zhu'er likes to look at the moon!"

Zhu Youzhu looked up and pointed at the waning moon: "It turns out it's full of holes, so ugly! There's no osmanthus tree, and no moon rabbit!"

Zhu Changluo was delighted: "What else?"

"Hmm..." Zhu Youzhu lowered his head and scratched the corner of his mouth with his fingers. After thinking for a while, he said, "It seems to have always been a big coal ball! Even though there is only a crescent moon now, it has always been a big coal ball! You can see it in the telescope! The bearded man said that it is because the moon has moved to another position, just like... just like... looking at a mountain from the side you see a peak!"

During Erzhuzi's enlightenment stage, he had already started to memorize poems.

Zhu Changluo was greatly relieved: "Erzhuzi not only knows that the moon is like a big coal ball, but also knows that the change of the moon phase means that a mountain looks like a peak when viewed from the front."

"Zhu'er can recite the whole poem!" Erzhuzi received the praise and immediately went into showing off mode.

Unlike him, Zhu Youjian was brought up according to the standards of a crown prince and had a much calmer personality. He acted like a little adult while watching his younger brother reciting in an earnest manner.

Zhu Changluo waited for him to finish showing off his recitation of the poem, then patted his head and looked at the moon again: "In the future, people will be able to go to the moon and find out for themselves what is there."

"Ah?" Zhu Youjian was also surprised. "Flying to the moon? Is that like Chang'e taking the elixir?"

"Zhu'er wants to eat too!"

Zhu Changluo laughed loudly: "How can there be such an elixir? Although there are many Taoists in the Boyan Institute, my father does not allow them to make elixirs there. If we want to go to the moon, I'm afraid we need a rocket."

"...Rockets?" Zhu Youjian was puzzled. "I heard Master Zhang talking about rockets on the way... Aren't they used to kill the enemy?"

"Gunpowder can send people to heaven, and it can also send people to heaven."

Zhu Changluo said a joke, paused and said: "This is just the beginning. You know that I asked them to develop a new gun, and Erzhuzi also knows that the priests and masters of the Institute of Research are tinkering with a new machine under the order of the emperor. The firearms of the Ming Dynasty shocked all the ministries. This firearm burns things, and burns gunpowder very quickly; the new machine burns coal, boils water to drive the machine, and can be used as cattle and horses. Erzhuzi, have you discovered that the Taoist priests of the Institute of Research are also constantly burning things?"

"Yeah, I heard that they often explode things, sometimes bottles and jars, and even kill people!"

"There is a lot of truth in this!" Zhu Changluo looked at his second son first, "Some things will not change at ordinary times, but they will change when heated. Mud becomes pottery and porcelain, iron stone becomes molten iron, and different things can become new things. The Boyan Institute does a lot of experiments, which is to change the environment to see what new changes they will have."

Then he looked at his eldest son and said, "It's the same with human affairs. In normal times, everyone does their job and nothing changes, which is what everyone is most familiar with. But the seasons change, the moon waxes and wanes, sometimes the weather is good, and sometimes disasters come one after another. People are not made of clay, and each has his own behavior. So, in fact, everything is changing."

"If you leave pig iron alone, it will rust. If you leave wood alone, it will rot. It's just a matter of speed. The ministers are doing experiments to actively change the environment and see how they change. When the emperor wants to implement new policies, he is also actively changing the environment to force the ministers to change their minds."

"It's like a palace in the palace. It needs to be cleaned regularly and renovated every once in a while. If you don't do this, you don't know when it will be burned down. If you want to rebuild it, you don't know how much money it will cost. It's easy to rebuild a palace, but it's very difficult to rebuild a corrupt country."

Zhu Changluo said so much in one breath, and Zhu Youjian nodded solemnly: "I will definitely remember what you have taught me."

"You must study your father's theory of seeking knowledge through investigation of things carefully." Zhu Changluo smiled, "Let's talk about something interesting, how to use burning things to send people to heaven and the moon. You have all heard the story of the Great Ming Cannon, right? The telescope is equipped with the Mingwei cannon..."

In the Forbidden Palace under the starry sky, the emperor and his two sons talked about his "guesses" or "ideas".

Nurhaci became the first example of a "precision strike". Now the emperor said that in the future there may be artillery shells that have their own eyes.

Today's gunpowder explodes as soon as it is ignited and burns out in an instant. But in the future, if we can find a way to make the gunpowder burn out slowly, the cannonball will be able to fly on its own. And if it has eyes, can it fly tens, hundreds, even thousands, or tens of thousands of miles to take people's heads?

Since the cannonballs could fly by themselves, the emperor asked, could we send a telescope to the sky and let it fly? If we could make a "wind-hearing ear" and let the telescope tell people on earth what it saw, wouldn't that be a great supernatural power?
Similarly, if shells can be sent into the sky, why can’t people be sent into the sky as well?
"As long as the method of boiling things is powerful, there is nothing that cannot be done!" Zhu Changluo said confidently, "When they make a machine that can boil water, you will be able to see Prime Minister Zhuge's wooden ox and flowing horse, or rather, iron ox and iron horse! Boiling water is a science!"

Boiling water is certainly a science.

If we continue along this path, we will be able to create a future that is hard to imagine for people today.

Now, in the minds of the two children with rich imaginations, there is only an omniscient father who says things that make them feel fantastic.

Zhu Youjian imagined a magical weapon that could take people's heads thousands of miles away. If there was such a thing, why would he need to worry about not being able to take responsibility in the future?
But he was not as knowledgeable and wise as his father, so he looked at his younger brother: this guy was even more excited when he heard it, and said that he also wanted to go to heaven.

"Take it easy, it's very dangerous..." Zhu Changluo quickly calmed down, "It's already amazing to be able to make iron oxen and iron horses, and travel a thousand miles a day. Then if we want to go to Liaodong again, it will only take a few days to go back and forth..."

The emperor planted the seeds for his two sons who would definitely shoulder heavy responsibilities in the future. In this respect, he would be much better than ordinary fathers.

After all, he would not educate his children only according to ethical principles and the Four Books and Five Classics.

The two people are heading in slightly different directions.

He knew that with the usual teachings of his mother Guo Lanzhi and his enlightenment teacher Zhang Sixiu, his eldest son knew very early that he should work hard to be a qualified crown prince. Therefore, at this time when the Ming Dynasty had just won a great victory and his father's military prowess was prominent, Zhu Changluo focused on the potential of technology in the military.

This is simple and clear, and children of this age can easily understand it.

The emperor must be more focused on state affairs, and he cannot provide technical guidance like his father. In the future, the best way is to have a division of labor and let his younger brother become a great scholar like Zhu Zaiyu and become his strong support.

Finally, the young Erzhuzi was carried by Zhu Changluo to Concubine Li's palace. His desire for knowledge was indeed stronger.

Zhu Changluo simply stayed in the bedroom of Concubine Li and continued to talk to him about the future.

"In addition to the iron oxen and iron horses, there are also iron birds and iron ships. When the time comes, Erzhuzi can go to many places. I didn't bring you this time because you are still young..."

Liu Yi feels very safe here at the side.

The emperor seemed to like the second prince more in the past few years, so there was naturally some discussion in the palace, and Liu Yi also thought a lot and worried.

Now she gradually realized it, and people inside and outside the palace had actually realized it.

The emperor was wise and almost omniscient. Apart from government affairs, his scholarship was the best among all the emperors in the Ming Dynasty, and he even wrote a book called "On the Study of Things and the Extension of Knowledge", which even scholars had to acknowledge its value.

Not to mention the knowledge of the great way, when it comes to the specific skills of various craftsmen, the Nine Thunder Gun can be said to be his sole plan. At first, it was thought that it would not be successful, but now, after gathering the efforts of the skilled craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty and spending several years, it was finally made.

I heard that once the drill was conducted in Tongliao, the faces of all ethnic groups turned pale and their fear was evident at a glance.

Such a Son of Heaven is naturally rare, and the emperor must be well aware of this in his heart, so he began to have different training directions for the princes so early.

For example, the people the second prince interacted with most often were Zhu Zaiyu, Xu Guangqi and Wang Zheng. He could leave the palace frequently, and the places he went to were basically the Imperial College to the west of the Forbidden City or the Boyan Academy to the north. So Liu Yi's heart was settled. After the ceremony of enthroning the crown prince this year, his heart was even more settled.

Nowadays, there are three factions in the harem.

One faction was headed by the Empress, and assisted by the concubines who had been female officials. Now, she was getting closer to the nobles from various ethnic groups who were presented to the palace, and she also treated the palace maids from various ethnic groups well.

The other group was the concubines from Shanxi, led by Fan Sirong. They were very cautious in the harem, but they would pay attention to Zongminghao and Changminghao.

The others were those concubines who wanted to go with the flow or simply win the emperor's favor. Since the empress had a hierarchy, she was close to some people and treated others with courtesy, and they were naturally not from Shanxi, so they often surrounded the second prince's mother, Concubine Li.

For example, Li Siqin, who accompanied the emperor on this tour.

The emperor stayed in the bedroom, and Liu Yi was of course happy, especially after they had sex, the emperor praised her again: "Erzhuzi's cleverness is somewhat like yours."

"I am very stupid and dare not take credit for it." Liu Yi leaned against her sweetly, her tone full of admiration, "But if I have a little bit of your Majesty's talent, I will be satisfied."

"That may be difficult, but I am different." Zhu Changluo enjoyed it very much, but also sighed, "But I hope they can all become talents and contribute to the Ming Dynasty in the future."

He doesn't have the qualifications.

And if any of his sons could have even a fraction of his talent in science and technology... he would definitely be a famous figure in history, perhaps even more famous than his son who is the emperor.

Zhu Changluo actually hoped that Erzhuzi would do this.

Now that he has returned to Beijing and a "Prime Minister" will be officially appointed, Zhu Changluo will return to the rhythm he had between the fourth and seventh years of Taichang.

He forced the Ming Dynasty into a new direction, and the next way for him to realize his greatest value was to become an educator.

Of course, this is also part of the reform. Just as Tian Le wanted to do when he resigned in the name of resignation: to cause trouble for Duke Yansheng.

To find trouble with Duke Yansheng is to find trouble with Confucianism and the gentry.

All aspects of knowledge should no longer stick to the old ways.

It’s not that traditional knowledge and culture are bad, it’s just that they can and should be better.

Keep up with the times.

In this regard, Zhu Changluo, who proposed the theory of knowing through investigation of things, should undoubtedly be at the forefront.

So after the court meeting the next day, the news that the emperor announced his decree in court to establish a prime minister certainly caused a sensation in the court and the country. After the emperor retired from court, he went to inspect the Imperial College, Baijia Garden, Boyan Academy and other places, which also made people carefully think about the next step the emperor wanted to take after his "triumphant" return to Beijing.

At this time of year, the earliest batch of candidates preparing to take part in next year's imperial examination have already arrived in Beijing.

Some are candidates who have taken the imperial examination in the past, and some are new candidates from Northern Zhili and neighboring provinces who have just passed the provincial examination this year.

For example, Sun Chuanting.

The results were announced at the end of August. After holding a wedding banquet to thank his teacher and classmates, he set off for Beijing.

Everyone knows that this year's exam preparation will focus on the theory of knowing things through investigation, and of course, the great talents in this area are mainly in the capital.

His Sun family moved from Henan to Daizhou, Shanxi in the early years. Now, Sun Chuanting is the ninth generation. Including Sun Chuanting, there are five consecutive generations who have passed the imperial examination. Isn't this a new and vibrant family in Daizhou, Shanxi?

Besides, Sun Chuanting passed the imperial examination at the age of sixteen, which was the new provincial examination this year that incorporated new knowledge.

However, Shanxi’s uniqueness in the Ming Dynasty had long been different.

Because of the existence of Changming, because of the several nobles from Shanxi in the palace, the Shanxi business community, and the civil and military officials from Shanxi, its influence has been growing over the years.

The reason why the new scholars from Shanxi arrived in the capital so quickly this time was the arrangement of many big families in Shanxi, especially the Ten Families of Shanxi under Changminghao.

Sun Chuanting and others waited in the guild hall for a while, and Wang Zheng finally arrived as promised.

"Your Majesty knew that Wang Xingshou had invited me to give a lecture on the Study of Things to the Shanxi candidates, and he allowed me to come after he inspected the Academy of Research."

Wang Zheng gave Wang Xun face because they had the same surname and because the ten families in Shanxi had never stopped donating to the Institute of Science and Technology. The materials needed by the Institute of Science and Technology were supplied by Changminghao, so they would not be short of money. Changminghao was always able to provide them with various materials in the first place, and the effort spent on this was not small.

The most important point, Wang Zheng immediately said: "You all know that the examination is divided into two categories now, which is exactly what your majesty is eager for. Therefore, although you officials and students from Shanxi are trying every means to improve, your majesty does not think it is a bad thing. But there is one thing, if you can pass the examination, you will be a minister in office and you should be wholeheartedly for the country. You should study new knowledge and be a good official!"

The sixteen-year-old Sun Chuanting was shocked by Wang Zheng's straightforwardness.

He was the top scorer in the last exam. It was a great opportunity for Shanxi candidates to be guided by him. And what Wang Zheng said gave the impression that the emperor was already paying attention to them, the Shanxi candidates.

How can this not make people full of expectations?

The emperor did not seem to be afraid of them "forming a party", but was only afraid that they would not be able to manage the new learning and would not be able to be good officials.

In fact, at this moment, many people have already figured it out or asked about the direction of the wind, so they are not shy about giving advice to the younger generations who are similar to them through face-to-face instructions or written letters.

Before the imperial examination was before the imperial examination, and after entering officialdom was after entering officialdom.

The central government of the Ming Dynasty was planning reforms again, and the court seemed to have found a way to deal with party disputes.

Then isn't it all right as long as there is no cheating in the examination?
They also don't know how this imperial examination can avoid being criticized for suspected cheating under such circumstances. After all, the examiners and other important candidates have not yet been decided.

Zhu Changluo certainly doesn't have to worry about this.

Since he wants to be an "educator", the questions for this examination will be set by him, the emperor, the great Khan Eternal Heaven.

Ask all the questions!

(End of this chapter)