Chapter 155: Applying Western Learning to Chinese Culture

Spring, the second year of Wanli.

Feng Zijing, assistant censor of Huguang Censorate, was exiled to Baling because of the impeachment of Governor Liang Menglong.

Chen Yisong, the Minister of the Dali Temple, completed the three-year examination and was promoted to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice; Chen Dong, the Left Junior Minister of the Dali Temple, completed the two-year examination and was promoted to the Minister of the Dali Temple with one year of probation reduced due to his merits.

Tongzhengshi He Yongqing retired due to old age and illness and was posthumously awarded the title of Minister of Rites; Zuo Tongzheng Ni Guangjian was promoted to Tongzhengshi after completing nine years of examinations.

Hai Rui, the Chief Censor, completed his one-year examination and was given a two-year reduction due to his meritorious service. He was then promoted to the Right Deputy Chief Censor of the Censorate.

The Imperial Censor Xue Li, who was in charge of inspecting Dongcheng, reported that Zhang Zhong, the eunuch of the Imperial Stables, beat his mother to death, and requested that the emperor order a severe investigation; the Imperial Censor Yan Rongshu, who was in charge of inspecting Guanglu Huke, impeached Wang Chaoyong, the internal official of Shangshenjian, who beat a kitchen servant to death by demanding meat, and requested that the emperor order a severe investigation. All of them were reported to the court in accordance with the law.

Zhu Xixiao, the right commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, cited the example of Zhang Mao, Duke of Ying, and requested that his brother Zhu Xizhong be posthumously awarded the title of king.

The Ministry of Personnel said that Zhang Mao's posthumous title should not be used as an example. Although Xizhong served three dynasties, he was just doing his duty as a minister. He never performed extraordinary deeds on the frontier or fought in the army. He was rewarded for his favor during his lifetime, and his merits after his death were outstanding. Conferring the title of king posthumously is not appropriate.

The emperor replied that since Xizhong had made great contributions, he should not be made a king. However, since Xizhong's achievements were too great to be made a king, he should be granted the title of Earl of Chengguo Mansion, and moved to Nanzhili, where a new mansion was established and stationed at the Longjiang Shipyard.

Zhu Xixiao, who was in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, violated the rules and made frivolous reports, so he was ordered to live in idleness.

When the order was issued, everyone praised the emperor for his clear rewards and punishments.

……

These are the contents of the court newspaper.

In addition, there are some other contents, such as the emperor went to the Huangji Hall to give speeches to congratulate all officials and perform the eight-bow ceremony, promoted Zhang Chen, the deputy general who assisted in guarding the western route of Jizhen, to the position of deputy governor-general, and continued to assist in guarding the town, removed Luo Wen Gu from his post and transferred Li Congshan to his position, and ordered the left governor-general Qi Jiguang to return to Beijing to report on his work.

After Liu Sanpao read it once, he had a general impression of it, then he folded it carefully and put it in the box at hand.

He glanced at the bright sky. It was just past noon, a perfect time to waste time.

Liu Sanpao couldn't wait to take out a stack of new newspapers from the box beside him and put it on the table.

These are the previous issues of the newspaper. I have read all the other contents, but I have left "Heroes of Yuan and Ming Dynasties" unread. I plan to save them up and read them together.

Liu Sanpao finished reading the second volume last time.

It was said that the country was in turmoil and the people were living in misery. Even the Huangjue Temple, which was often visited by rich families and paid tribute to, could not make ends meet. So, the unfortunate Zhu Yuanzhang was sent out by the abbot of the Huangjue Temple to travel around the world and fend for himself.

Zhu Yuanzhang left Huangjue Temple and went south from Haozhou to Hefei, then turned west into Henan, walked all the way north to Ruzhou, Chenzhou and other places, and went east through Luyi and Bozhou, his footprints spread all over the country.

Every part of the journey was full of ups and downs, which made people applaud.

He was shocked and outsmarted the bandits and escaped.

Dangerous, the evil Buddha deceives people and fights against evil cults.

Angry, he joined forces with good men to kill the evil officials.

Good luck, White Lotus is born to form good karma.

The story only comes to an end when Zhu Yuanzhang ends his "growth period" and returns to Huangjue Temple. The ordinary Zhu Yuanzhang in the first volume gradually becomes brave and resourceful.

Liu Sanpao was tortured by the slow pace of updates, and he vowed not to open the book again until he finished updating a volume.

Fortunately, with today's issue coming out, the third volume has finally been completed.

Liu Sanpao took out the latest issue of the newspaper from his arms and placed it at the bottom of the stack of new newspapers.

After checking the order, he rubbed his hands, nodded with satisfaction, and began to read with relish.

But after Zhu Chongba returned to Huangjue Temple, the world was in turmoil. The Red Turban Army rose up and boldly declared themselves king; the White Lotus Sect attacked cities and seized strongholds, and established their own government...

The days when I read novels always pass quickly.

Noon gradually turned into dusk, and the sky, which was bright just now, became dim in the blink of an eye.

creak...

With a groan from the old door, Liu Sanpao's door was slowly opened.

Liu Sanpao was startled for a moment before he came to his senses. He looked up and saw his grandfather standing at the door.

He stood up quickly: "Grandpa."

Liu Daneng rolled up his trouser legs, his lower legs were covered in mud, he held a bucket in his hand, and forced a smile on his face: "We eat fish today, and we will have fish every year."

Liu Sanpao hesitated to speak, but finally couldn't help but persuade him: "Grandpa, the school has distributed a lot of New Year's goods, enough for us to use during the New Year. Don't go picking up other people's fish anymore."

Liu Daneng frowned and said, "That's your wife's money. You don't know how tight the financial situation is. Do you want to be single for the rest of your life and end the Liu family's lineage?"

After saying that, he snorted coldly, turned around and left.

Obviously he was a little unhappy because his interest was spoiled.

Liu Sanpao was already accustomed to this kind of confusing conversation. He began to tidy up the things on the table in silence, then walked out of the room and prepared dinner with his grandfather.

His ancestral home is a farmer in Guangdong, and his family has always been poor.

As for how a poor family could move to the capital...

Liu Sanpao's father was a student at first. After he got married and had children, he continued to study in the official school.

Then he died suddenly.

Birth, aging, sickness and death are the normal state of life.

But after Liu's father died, Liu Sanpao's mother was heartbroken and tried to commit suicide again and again. People from all over the place tried to dissuade her, and finally the county government was alarmed and came to express their condolences.

Unfortunately, he was stopped after more than ten attempts to commit suicide. When Liu's father was buried, his mother failed to stop him when she was keeping vigil alone - she "swallowed a piece of wood and hit the coffin", which means she committed suicide by hitting her head against the wall.

Liu Sanpao was only three years old at that time and experienced all of this personally.

When I thought about this when I was young, I felt only grief in my heart.

When he grew up, he felt somewhat resentful that his mother had left him.

Until... I looked at the memorial archway of a heroic woman at home.

Until he learned that the Archway for Martyrs could exempt one from taxes, corvée labor, and entry into the county government without taking an examination.

Until he remembered his mother's bizarre attempts to commit suicide more than ten times.

Only then did Liu Sanpao understand that there was a reason behind everything that was difficult to understand.

It was also from then on that Liu Sanpao developed an uncontrollable resistance to the so-called chaste and heroic women, the principles of Neo-Confucianism, and even the Four Books and Five Classics.

Once there is a conflict, naturally, classical knowledge will fall into a precipitous decline.

Grandfather Liu Daneng saw it all and was worried, but he heard from somewhere that the provincial and county examinations in Shuntian Prefecture were much simpler than those in other places.

So he sold his tax-free share to local gentry, exchanged it for a large sum of silver, and brought Liu Sanpao to Shuntian Prefecture.

Unfortunately, even though Liu Sanpao’s household registration was changed to that of a superior person, he could not change his resistance mentality.

My academic performance has not improved.

Fortunately, by chance, he was able to get into a new school outside Donghua Gate by using his unconventional talents in mathematics.

This second-best result disappointed my grandfather Liu Daneng for a long time.

Liu Sanpao looked at his grandfather's busy figure, couldn't help but sigh, and walked forward to help his grandfather.

Tonight, according to Guangdong customs, we will make a fish head soup and steam the fish body.

With the grandparents and grandchildren busy together, this first month of the year is not too lonely.

Liu Sanpao has a quick mind and always manages to do two things at once.

He thought again of the article he had published in the New Paper last time.

That was the closest he had ever been to the emperor - the emperor thought his writing was a bit disorganized and personally gave him instructions on how to format and use words.

Unfortunately, there are no stories like those in the storybooks, where one is favored by a noble person, given countless opportunities, and then becomes successful overnight.

Only the publication fee was settled, and no other benefits were received.

Perhaps it was because his thinking about "force" was not accurate enough.

He said at the time that an object is stationary when there is no force acting on it, but the emperor disagreed.

And he asked him in return, if that was the case, then after the force was removed for an instant, the object should stop instantly instead of continuing to move.

This made Liu Sanpao realize that he might have been wrong about something.

Although the emperor finally recognized the inspiration brought by his ideas and included the manuscript.

But afterwards, Liu Sanpao kept thinking about this problem.

What exactly is wrong?

Liu Sanpao casually sprinkled a few grains of coarse salt into the fish head soup.

The object itself is stationary...it only moves when force is applied...so, after the object loses the effect of force, it should immediately return to stationary state.

Why does it take some time to stop?
Could it be that the force was not withdrawn immediately, and the example I thought of contained a mystery?
Or maybe...his premise itself is wrong. An object that is not subject to force is not necessarily stationary?

Liu Sanpao was having wild thoughts.

I had no idea for a moment.

He was still thinking about this question until he finished his meal.

This was when the two of them were cleaning up the dishes.

Benedict.

Tuk-tuk-tuk.

There was a brief, forceful knock on the door.

The grandfather and grandson reacted immediately and hurried to open the door. In the poor alley and shabby house, most of the neighbors would call out or knock on the door, and rarely would they knock politely. In the past two months, only Liu Sanpao's classmates and teachers had acted like rich and powerful in this way.

Liu Sanpao hurriedly wiped his hands on his clothes.

Liu Daneng turned around, tidied his hair and beard, and forced a smile.

Liu Sanpao stood behind Liu Daneng and watched the door being opened. As expected, he saw the division commander standing at the door.

"Teacher Li."

"Master Li!"

Li Chengming stood at the door and nodded to Liu Daneng with a smile: "Elder, I would like to borrow your son for a while."

As he said this, he waved to Liu Sanpao.

Liu Daneng tactfully dodged.

Liu Sanpao pursed his lips, paused for a moment, then lowered his head and walked towards Li Chengming.

Every time this teacher Li came, he never asked for his grandfather's name. Whenever there was something, he never sought his grandfather's opinion and just treated him as a matter of course.

Although he was very polite in his actions and words, the arrogance in his bones was almost overwhelming.

This teacher was born into a royal family, so it was normal for him to be so arrogant, but Liu Sanpao still felt a little uncomfortable getting along with him.

But he is my own teacher.

It's really awkward.

Li Chengming turned around and walked in front to lead the way, asking about your well-being: "Are you having a good time this year? Are you still short of money? The academy can advance you one quarter's share at its discretion."

Liu Sanpao quickly replied, "No need, teacher."

Li Chengming nodded and started talking about other family matters.

He is nineteen years old this year. He has experienced a lot in the past two years and has become much more mature than when he went to Zhejiang at the age of seventeen to acquire a bankrupt maritime merchant.

When they came out of the narrow alley and walked onto the main road, Li Chengming, not expecting that there were eavesdroppers on him, started talking about business: "I called you today for no other reason than to take you to a place."

Liu Sanpao was stunned for a moment.

Curious, "What kind of experiment are you going to do?"

There have always been many experiments in the college.

Things like throwing objects from high places, dismantling water wheels, etc. Li Chengming shook his head and said with a smile: "No, we are going to the Siyi Pavilion."

Liu Sanpao looked confused.

The county school will not introduce the major government offices in the central government.

Seeing this, Li Chengming explained considerately: "The Four Barbarians Hall is for receiving vassal states. There are nine halls, including Mongolia, Jurchen, Xifan, Xitian, and Siam."

"I mainly served as an interpreter for envoys who did not speak the language, and also translated foreign books."

Li Chengming took care of Liu Sanpao's background and gave a brief introduction without making it too complicated.

Liu Sanpao was even more confused when he heard this: "Then why did the teacher take me there..."

Li Chengming was very open-minded and said, "Last time when you were thinking about power, His Majesty said that your desire to explore and curiosity are rare."

"It just so happens that there are some foreign books in the Siyi Pavilion that have similar thoughts. His Majesty asked me to lend you the translated books for reference. I hope you will keep up the good work."

Liu Sanpao was overjoyed and moved to tears of gratitude.

Li Chengming looked back at the young man behind him and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Even though my cousin said that he just happened to have some translated versions, he had actually been secretly collecting them for a year and had sent several batches to the Siyi Pavilion. It was obvious that he was very concerned about them.

Even so, he often privately complains about the slow progress and low quality of the translation.

As for the fact that Tu Xiying, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was criticized so much that he retired and returned home, Li Chengming felt it was hard to say whether there was any connection between the two.

In any case, he never dared to neglect the tasks entrusted by the emperor.

It was the first month of the lunar year, but more and more people came to the capital city after nightfall.

The streets are crowded with people coming and going.

The two walked very slowly.

The guards in front and behind Li Chengming had to stay closer to avoid any omissions.

The Siyi Pavilion is outside the Daming Gate.

It is hard to imagine that the imperial road near the palace is not bustling.

Although the emperor cancelled the Aoshan Lantern Festival in order to save money, he still had some conscience and took out the old gunpowder from the Armory and Military Equipment Bureau to make fireworks, which managed to light up the night.

In the emperor's own words, it was called firecrackers blasting and huge crowds of people.

Along the way, there were playboys parading through the streets, groups of rich ladies, scholars reciting poems and composing essays, little boys skipping and dancing, as well as boat trips, flower shows, lantern riddle guessing, beautiful girls soliciting customers, people performing acrobatics, fighting, and having fun. It was hard to imagine that the scene was not lively.

Liu Sanpao passed by these prosperous places along the way - he would not pass this direction on his way to Donghuamen to go to school.

Not to mention the dazzling atmosphere, just the atmosphere makes one's nose sore.

He stared at a couple with a child for a long time.

The father held the child and sat astride his shoulders, while the mother stood beside him with a beautiful smile. A firework exploded, and the light shone brightly, reflecting Liu Sanpao's envious expression.

Suddenly, Liu Sanpao felt someone patted his shoulder.

"Let's go." Li Chengming withdrew his hand and turned around.

Liu Sanpao finally came to his senses and hurriedly followed Li Chengming.

Not long after.

The two men came to the outside of the Honglu Temple.

A plaque with the words "Honglu" hangs in the government office, and lanterns are hung on both sides of the gate, making the room bright and imposing.

It is the New Year holiday now, but there are still people on duty.

Li Chengming, in favor of his cousin the emperor, marched straight in with Liu Sanpao.

This was an important place in the government office, and Liu Sanpao didn't know the rules, so he had to lower his head and dared not look any more.

Only after he followed Li Chengming into a government duty room did he dare to raise his head and look around curiously.

There was a clerk standing in the duty room. When he saw Li Chengming coming, he stood aside respectfully.

Li Chengming waved his hand and the clerk went to guard outside the door.

In the middle of the duty room there was a small desk covered with books, and a chair was placed perfunctorily next to the desk.

In addition, the entire room is filled with bookshelves.

With the dim candlelight, Liu Sanpao could only see that every book within his sight was covered with crooked words, which were obviously not Chinese characters.

“The books on the bookshelf are all books that have not yet been translated.”

Li Chengming said, and walked to the table and patted the books on the table: "The twenty or so books on the table are the translations."

"The academy has told the Siyi Hall that you can come here to read these books after school starts, but you cannot damage them or take them away."

Liu Sanpao hurriedly followed and cast his eyes on the books on the table.

He was surprised and asked, "There are so many books about power?"

How could such a simple question lead to so many works?
Li Chengming shook his head and said in an elusive tone: "There are even more than these. These are Western books from thousands of years ago. In the future, more recent books will be gradually translated."

"Of course, it's best to only use foreign things as a reference and not believe them completely."

Liu Sanpao was stunned for a moment.

A thousand years ago...that's too long ago, the West was probably not yet civilized at that time.

But he is not the kind of teacher who would make a fuss.

Liu Sanpao picked up a book from the table with curiosity... "On Floating Bodies", the title of the book is very strange.

He looked at the author again. Well, the name was also strange, Archimedes. It sounded like he was not a blessed person.

Liu Sanpao rubbed the cold sweat from his hands, turned to the first page and began reading.

Li Chengming patted Liu Sanpao on the shoulder and said, "Take your time to read it. Tell the clerk outside the door when you are done. I won't accompany you."

Seeing that Liu Sanpao didn't respond at all, he smiled, turned and left the room.

Li Chengming gave another instruction to the clerk outside the door.

He did not leave the Honglu Temple directly, but instead went around to the main hall of the Honglu Temple.

The hall of the Honglu Temple was brightly lit, and two Jinyiwei were guarding outside the door.

Seeing Li Chengming coming, he did not stop him and let Li Chengming enter the lobby.

There was another figure sitting on a chair in the lobby, reading by lamplight at night.

There stood a man beside him, with a strong build and an intimidating presence without even getting angry.

"Your Majesty, I'll take the person over." Li Chengming saluted softly.

Sitting in the lobby of the Honglu Temple was the emperor himself.

At this time, Zhu Yijun was flipping through the "Book of Calculation".

Without even looking up, he hummed, "Tell Xu Jie to follow this precedent in the future. For candidates with sufficient talent, send them to read the foreign translation."

Li Chengming was a little puzzled, but he did not ask any more questions: "I obey your order."

Zhu Yijun looked up at Li Chengming and waved his hand: "Since you came out secretly, don't be so serious. Get up. We are all family. Just ask whatever you want to ask."

Hearing this, Li Chengming slowly stood up.

After pondering for a moment, he asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, I have also read a few copies of Liu Sanpao's translation. Since there is a lot of knowledge out there, why don't you just print another copy for the students of the academy to borrow?"

The emperor suddenly closed the book and said without any context, "Is it really just a stone from another mountain?"

Li Chengming was silent for a moment.

Finally, he replied, "Maybe there are good words, but I don't understand them."

Zhu Yijun laughed, not understanding is the greatest understanding.

He stood up and stretched, then continued with Li Chengming's question, answering, "You must have opened one of your seven senses to be able to see the book as an ordinary one."

"If an ignorant person saw it, he would either throw it away like a worn-out shoe or die immediately."

“Only when you have reached the threshold and then look at these things, can you apply them to your own benefit and bring forth something new out of the old.”

The most important thing is the mind.

If you read these things with the purpose of seeking knowledge, then they are truly a learning experience.

Enlightenment cannot be achieved by cramming. If the basic nature is not changed, reading too much will do more harm than good.

Why is Liu Sanpao the only one who can see it?
Because he really began to think about things in the material world!
Although the thinking is very simple, the summary is clumsy, and there are mistakes and omissions everywhere, this is the sign of enlightenment!

This is a very important premise.

What Zhu Yijun wanted was this kind of student with an open mind, not an academic tailor who read through translated texts.

Did the Ming Dynasty urgently need scientific things to save its life?
Not so urgent yet.

In contrast to the pursuit of quick success and instant benefits, natural philosophy lays the foundation for future generations - he did not have the foolish wish to see the unification of the four fundamental forces in his lifetime.

Since there is no need to rush, we must proceed step by step.

On the one hand, they opened academies and selected students, gave them corresponding social status, and supported corresponding interest groups.

On the one hand, the leader leads the backbone to innovate, evolve slowly, and establish a system based on its own cultural connotations.

Even if you have read Liu Sanpao's content, you cannot show the translated version directly to students.

Only the local culture derived from one's own thinking will be more stable.

If we completely westernize, what’s the point?
Li Chengming didn't quite understand what he heard, nor did he know what "Shang" meant. He just nodded thoughtfully: "No wonder your majesty chose such an old translation. It turns out that he didn't want to affect the students' ego."

Zhu Yijun chuckled: "I, the word is used correctly, it is indeed to maintain the ego, but it is not just for students."

"Also, it's not that I deliberately picked such an ancient time, but Western mechanical thinking has not made any progress in the past thousand years, but has regressed."

"Not much better than us."

At that time, Galileo and Newton were still young.

Natural philosophy has not yet become a system.

It was not until the authority to judge right and wrong was decentralized from the church citing the Bible to scientific argumentation based on philosophical thinking, that is, after it was decentralized, that these people were able to establish their own schools of thought.

This respect is very similar to the Ming Dynasty today.

Zhu Yijun stuffed the "Book of Calculation" in his hand into Li Chengming's arms and said, "After you finish reading "Elements of Geometry" last time, you can read this."

After learning geometry, it’s time to learn Fibonacci’s algebra.

Zhu Yijun glanced at his cousin and thought, what a pity, his talent is limited. He can only learn from his predecessors and cannot innovate. Otherwise, after adding one plus one, he should have started to study algebra and geometry.

Li Chengming, who was being secretly teased, was completely unaware and silently accepted the translation given by the emperor.

Then he bowed respectfully: "Your Majesty, I will escort you back to the palace."

If the emperor sneaked out and didn't go back early, he would be discovered by Empress Dowager Li, and the emperor would definitely not be the one who would be in trouble.

Zhu Yijun was displeased: "We just came out, why are you in such a hurry? I will move to another palace the day after tomorrow, and there will be no chance for this by then."

Li Chengming's face turned bitter and he was speechless.

Seeing this, Zhu Yijun comforted him, "Don't be afraid, Governor Gu and the Jinyiwei are following us, and I won't play any white dragon fish suits."

Li Chengming raised his head and glanced at Gu Huan, the governor of the Beijing camp, who was standing beside the emperor, and forced a curl of his lips.

He looked uneasy and asked cautiously, "Where else is your Majesty going?"

Zhu Yijun had already made up his mind and smiled: "Isn't there a literary gathering at Gu Xiancheng's guild hall tonight? Go find me a private room with a good view and clear hearing, and I will go and listen in."

(End of this chapter)