New Shun 1730

Chapter 391 The Dilemma of Science

The emperor is a religious leader in a certain sense. There are some things that the emperor cannot express his position on: the study of farming and the study of villains. There are many witch doctors, musicians and musicians, but a gentleman looks down upon them.

The emperor promoted practical learning with great fanfare. What was he doing?

If the money given is more than that of the Imperial College, and the doctorate level is the same as that of the Imperial College, then the emperor is an unqualified emperor and will be sprayed to death.

He talks about righteousness and thinks about business, but the most fundamental reason is that he is worried about grabbing the quota for the imperial examination in the future.

The emperor wanted to do something but didn't want to cause an uproar, so he could only use this awkward way to declare that the Academy of Sciences was a "second-class person" and was lower than the orthodox Imperial College.

The "revival of practical learning" promoted by the Northern School of Confucianism is also a fool's errand. Just like Dashun gave up on policy and engaged in stereotyped writing back then, if you want to do this, it's okay if you have enough money. If you don't have enough money, it depends entirely on the private sector, so the quota will definitely be monopolized by various associations.

After all, I still have no money.

Since we have no money and we still need to ensure fairness in the distribution of the old pie, we can only engage in unfairness on a small scale.

Practical learning can only be carried out in the capital, Liangjiazi, Songjiang, and Jinghai, and cannot be extended to the whole country.

However, this method is actually not good.

The Academy of Sciences must have money.

The Royal Society, which has no money, not only has little funding, but also has to pay for membership. After Newton's death, it has now become a "noble exchange salon".

Studying theology or law means you have unlimited future and unlimited money. If you do science, you won’t get any money. It’s all based on interest, which is nonsense.

Therefore, Britain, where Bacon and Newton were born, immediately transferred its academic center to France following the death of Lord Ox.

Because...the French Academy of Sciences has an annual allocation.

However, it was impossible for Dashun's Academy of Sciences to receive funding, and the emperor had made it very clear.

It is impossible for the household government to let go. Why should we give money to these people who are studying in practice? With this money, why not build more villages and spread the words of saints?

On the emperor's side, even if there were internal funds, it would still have to be balanced. To subsidize the Academy of Sciences, one must subsidize the Imperial College.

The idea of ​​parents being incompetent can be imagined as a relationship between sisters-in-law. If the sister-in-law's parents-in-law buy gold and silver, but the younger brother and sister-in-law don't, it's okay, as long as the younger brother is not the eldest son, but a concubine; the other way around, it's not okay.

Confucianism is the eldest son, while practical learning is the eldest son. This must be understood clearly. On the other hand, the scholar-bureaucrats would have stopped taking the exam and asked the Qing emperor to side with him.

This is a matter of attitude. Confucian scholars form associations and write newspapers, and public opinion must be prepared for rainy days. The emperor cannot afford to offend, and he does not dare to offend.

The money for setting up practical schools and science academies can be regarded as coming from Japan's future reparations. This can be transferred directly without being charged to the account, but it will no longer be possible later.

Seeing what Liu Yu wanted to say, Li Gan smiled and said: "Aiqing is rich, so he supports practical education and runs workshops in Weihai. If you contribute money, it will be easy for me to talk to you. I also know that you have invested a lot of money in the navy. I remember all this, but I really can’t pay for this matter. If you have the ability to ask the household government to pay for it, you might as well discuss it with the DPRK..."

Liu Yu thought to himself, it would be better if I had that ability.

"Your Majesty, you can either provide money or ask for donations. But what about fame? What common people ask for is fame and fortune. Your Majesty won't give you fame, either? Doctors from the Academy of Sciences, starting from the fifth rank, and then down to the sixth rank as an assistant professor at the Imperial Academy, The assistant professor of the Academy of Sciences is a sixth-grade person, and there is no possibility of becoming an official. If he succeeds, how can he be rewarded with some honors? "

Li Gan asked back: "What name do you want me to reward you with? From the fifth grade, give a third-grade robe according to the third-grade regulations? What about the doctor of the Imperial College? Where is the assistant professor of the Imperial College? I heard that you rewarded craftsmen tens of thousands of taels for a piece of machinery in Weihai. , even if the cannon is drilled out, according to the rules, I can only reward you with five hundred taels or one thousand taels, right?"

"You make a boring machine, and you want to be rewarded with a third-grade robe? Then if the Japanese scholar writes "Mencius' Justice", do I also deserve a third-grade robe? And if the Japanese scholar writes a "Six Edicts and Meanings", do I deserve a reward? Horse riding in the Forbidden City?”

After saying that, he smiled and said: "Aiqing is the heir of an honorable noble. I think Aiqing is too knowledgeable all the way, but you think that the fifth grade is too low? Not low, not low. Not everyone is like you, with beautiful clothes and jade. Even though he is born as a foodie, he still looks down upon the fifth rank even if he does not have the title of Imperial Guard."

"The annual allocation will not be too much. I also know that you encourage practical learning and reward craftsmen in Weihai, which can easily cost tens of thousands. But you can contribute money. It is a donation. In the eyes of the scholar-bureaucrats, it is just like playing for fun."

"Some people spend a lot of money on painting boats, and some people spend a lot of money on the Academy of Sciences. In the eyes of some people, they are all just for fun, and there is no difference."

"Do you want me to be called the 'Carpenter Emperor'?"

"It won't work if I pay you. You are a dead pig anyway. You are not afraid of boiling water. Everyone in the court knows that you are a heretic, so they can make noise and attack you."

"I promise you that when the Nanyang affairs are settled in the future, if there are really two or three Henan tax revenues, we can allocate more money every year. But the name can only be given to this."

Liu Yu bowed his head and said: "I invite your Majesty to see it in person, so that those who have meritorious service can see the beauty of heaven."

Li Gan thought for a while, stood up, walked around a few times, and sighed quietly.

He was actually a little embarrassed in his heart. Liu Yu invested a lot of money in the navy, and also invested a lot of money in training the Qingzhou Army. However, the detailed work said that those people were grateful to the emperor when they received their salary, and they had no selfish motives. Li Gan could trust this.

If Liu Yu really wanted to seize military power or build a private army, he would not promote military reform, nor would he put all his lifelong learning into books, and would not keep anything private.

Is it useful to engage in science?

Li Gan couldn't say much because he had no experience before.

But now, the new cannons have been equipped with the imperial guards, and the taxes collected from new items such as glass and matches are not small. This is obvious.

Liu Yu did not go into the textile industry and caused the handicraft industry to go bankrupt. He was just skirting the rules or creating something from scratch. He did not see the disadvantages of technological progress to the imperial power with small farmers as the best base, but he did see the benefits.

Liu Yu threw a lot of money into Weihai, and the emperor felt a little painful. He also knew that with Liu Yu's temperament, the money problem would not stop. Although he was embarrassed, he accepted it calmly.

Now Liu Yu did not mention money, which meant that the funding was still the same. Now he only sought a name for those craftsmen, which was a bit difficult to deal with.

The Eastern and Western calendar war was already a mess: Why does Your Majesty value the barbarians and despise the Chinese?

Li Gan really didn't want to wear this big hat at all. When he met these craftsmen in person, the next sentence was: Your Majesty, why do you value humble jobs more than gentlemen?

After pacing for several circles, Li Gan finally nodded and said, "Okay, but not now."

Liu Yu didn't know when the emperor was talking about, but he didn't ask.

Li Gan thought, after the war against Japan is over, with the power of victory, I will tour Lianghuai, the Grand Canal, Jiangnan, and Songjiang, and then meet with Confucian scholars, talented children, great Confucian scholars, and leaders of academic societies from all over the country, and then come back to meet these craftsmen. Keeping a low profile may be feasible.

But he wanted to see the things about the Grand Canal, Lianghuai, Jiangnan, and Songjiang with his own eyes, so he couldn't say it at this time, so he didn't say when it would be.

Seeing that the emperor had given in, Liu Yu said, "Then I will thank your majesty on behalf of those craftsmen."

The emperor accepted it calmly, which was also natural under the three views at this time. The emperor was able to lower his face and meet these craftsmen in person, which was already a great honor.

Liu Yu was actually very satisfied to have achieved this.

He knew what the Academy of Sciences was like at that time. The starting point of science had not yet been reached, and science was not technology.

After Newton's death, the Royal Society of England became a social gathering place for the nobility.

The Russian Academy of Sciences had been shining since its establishment a few years ago, but now it has been forced to disperse.

The Berlin Academy of Sciences, which Leibniz advocated for his whole life, did not receive a penny of funding. Frederick I described science as "empty formula waste" and "pointless nitpicking". It relied on "calendar monopoly" to earn funds, and a group of top scientists relied on astronomical technology to sell calendars.

Although the French Academy of Sciences could be regarded as the academic center at this time, when Liu Yu came to this world, the French Academy of Sciences still firmly believed that there was no universal gravitation, and the universe was a vortex composed of Descartes' ether, and it was not gravity that drove the rotation of the sun and the moon.

It was not until the second or third year after Liu Yu came to this world that Voltaire attended Newton's funeral and brought back the theory of universal gravitation. When the Duke of Qi returned from Paris, old Bernoulli sent a letter to Liu Yu from afar, telling him not to believe Newton's nonsense about universal gravitation.

As for the translation of Newton's masterpiece into French for official circulation, it may still depend on Voltaire's mistress. There is probably no French version yet.

Liu Yu blurred the concept of science and technology and kept fooling the emperor. He knew that what the emperor wanted was not science that shook the divine right of the monarch, but technology that could protect the imperial power, so he kept investing money just to get results.

He even spent a lot of money to prepare another way for the future, so that when things went wrong, he would rely on the "Grand Canal that does not require water, only two rails, and can connect the east, west, south and north" as the final guarantee.

Science was really at a particularly embarrassing moment at this time.

At the threshold of quantitative change and qualitative change, the Jenny, steam engine, boring machine, and marine clock have nothing to do with scientists, but are made by craftsmen.

Newton was defeated by the craftsmen who rubbed the marine clock by hand. The power of science is really a joke at this time. But no one would have thought that what Frederick denounced as "empty formula waste" and "meaningless nitpicking" would become the most powerful existence in just a few decades.

At this time, the meaning of science in the West is no different from poetry, songs, ancient teachings, and classics in the East.

Some noble members of the British Society spent their entire lives drawing various mushrooms; Newton quietly denied the Trinity and spent his entire life proving the existence of God; the preface to the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy states that God created the world and the laws governing the operation of the world, and then it was ignored, so all scientific discoveries are proving the laws set by God...

This was originally a game between the clergy and the aristocracy. In Dashun, it was to figure out what the principles, the way of heaven, the qi, and the origin are.

British aristocrats drew mushrooms for fun, and Xu Xiake didn't play too much? Yes.

In terms of behavior, there is really not much difference.

But after playing too much, natural history emerged, and then paved the way for descriptive biology.

So the path of copying is not feasible. Few literati are interested in Xu Xiake's way of playing, so they can only choose Liu Yu's route of starting a new business, changing their worldview, and investing money in technology to see results.

Liu Yu did not expect too much from the emperor. Being able to get this far was really unexpected. It was also a reward for the huge amount of money he had invested before to get the new cannons and glass. Although this had nothing to do with science, Liu Yu pretended that it was related, and the emperor did not understand. He thought that it was necessary to learn science to succeed, so he supported it.

In this case, it is not bad to be able to get such an honor as the "reception" of the emperor, coupled with the official rank of the fifth rank. It is estimated that he can't ask for more, and Liu Yu is satisfied.

The affairs of the Academy of Sciences must be handled by him alone, and he can't find anyone else. This gives him a lot of room for maneuver.

The emperor didn't even mention the nonsense of who will take the lead in setting the regulations of the Academy of Sciences. He said directly: "After these things are done, after you get married, you may as well go to your practical teacher Dai Shilang to talk. How to plan, how much land to occupy, and how to build gardens, as long as it does not exceed the regulations, if you are willing to donate and can get money to expand, it's up to you. I can give the land; I only have so much money."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like