Chapter 170: Science Pavilion and the Double Imperial Edict System
After obtaining the manuscript of the Yanlongtu , Zhu Biao thought he could quickly develop a steam engine or even an internal combustion engine.
But it turned out that he was overthinking it.
Without sufficient theoretical knowledge, the craftsmen had to rely on the exhaustive method to explore, and the exploration efficiency was terribly low.
Although Zhu Biao had some theoretical knowledge, he was alone and had more important things to do, so he could only record the knowledge that might be used in his memory and let others study it.
Zhu Biao is not in a hurry, and there is no point in being anxious.
He had spent many years exploring new firearms before. Now that he had the blueprints, he could wait another ten or twenty years.
Zhu Biao began to develop steam engines and internal combustion engines according to the drawings of Yanlongtu in the 23rd year of Zhizheng, 1363 AD.
It is now February of the third year of Hongwu, 1369 AD (the first year of Hongwu in this time and space is the first year of Wu in the original history).
In five or six years, Zhu Biao changed from a chubby Fuwa dumpling to a handsome young man with baby fat and a baby face but still a stubborn personality.
The steam engine finally appeared.
Zhu Biao was so happy that his head was completely filled with the three words " steam engine " and he had no time to think about anything else.
Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that Zhu Biao would fall if he ran too fast because Zhu Biao had already fallen once after getting the news from Yan Qian, as if he was drunk.
If there were other time travelers at this time, they would definitely find that Zhu Biao's current condition was similar to that of Fan Jin, who passed the imperial examination in "The Scholars".
If Zhu Yuanzhang had not stopped him, the overjoyed Zhu Biao would probably have rushed into the street and jumped from one end of the street to the other like a monkey.
After Zhu Biao changed his clothes and drank a cup of hot water, he couldn't stop laughing again in his hoarse voice.
Song Lian also smiled foolishly, only Liu Ji and Zhu Yuanzhang remained calm.
Liu Ji said, "Stop laughing, stop laughing. That steam engine, that steam engine is already working? It's not in the experimental stage again, is it?"
In fact, some time ago, craftsmen made a large steam engine, but each part required the craftsmen to carefully hand-grind for a long time, and it was very easy to damage. This only proved that the "steam engine" could indeed be made, but it had no practical value at all.
Zhu Yuanzhang pulled the soft flesh on his cheeks several times before Zhu Biao calmed down, but he was not completely calm. He said with a smile: "It can be used! Although it is still very large, it can be loaded onto the ship! Uncle Yan has sent people to test it! The contribution made by Nanjing Women's School this time is huge!"
Song Lian stopped giggling and said, "Nanjing Girls' School?"
Zhu Biao nodded vigorously, his eyes curved as he said, "It's the women's school! Aren't women's schools specialized in math, physics, chemistry, and other subjects that don't qualify them for official positions? They participated in research, undertook calculations, and even built models in the school, deriving variable formulas..."
Zhu Biao talked a lot and made Song Lian and Liu Ji dizzy.
Zhu Biao knew that the two of them didn't understand, he just used these professional terms to express his joy.
As we all know, the development of Western science and technology is due to what they call the Age of Discovery, which was actually the era of great colonization and plunder.
At that time, except for the ancient Qing Empire which closed its doors and dreamed of a beautiful future, the whole world was drawn into the war of discovery.
Western countries attach importance to mathematics, physics, and chemistry, originally just to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells and make weapons more lethal.
At that time, apart from new firearms, there was no need for more cutting-edge technology.
The process of the development of firearms from matchlock guns and flintlock guns to modern guns is the process of mathematics, physics and chemistry laying the foundation bit by bit starting from digging a hole.
Everything started from scratch. If the ancient Chinese nation had obtained this opportunity earlier than the West, could the Chinese nation have seized it?
The eyes of countless people in later generations were fixed on the Ming Dynasty. If there had been more wise emperors at that time, we could have continued to lead the world.
Zhu Biao returned to the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, and obtained the "delusional manuscript" of a scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty. Combining it with the shallow scientific knowledge of modern time travelers, after five or six years of research by craftsmen, and finally with the powerful computing support provided by the Women's School, he finally made the achievements.
Steamboats were built.
With steamships, the Ming Dynasty had the capital to expand overseas. Even if the Little Ice Age was inevitable, the Ming Dynasty had a way out to peacefully exchange resources.
An unexpected planting leads to a great success.
Zhu Biao had never expected that after just a few years of study, that group of wives of noble officials would be able to discover and create mathematical models that could solve practical problems, turning the experiments that the craftsmen could only rely on experience into truly scientific experiments supported by theory.
The theories in the hands of female students are like guiding lights in the vast ocean, allowing craftsmen to set sail towards their destination instead of searching aimlessly for the end.
Zhu Biao didn't expect it, but he was not surprised after it happened.
Not to mention that many great scientists in the West have burst into brilliant brilliance in a very short period of time, especially talented mathematicians, many of whom have achieved world-shocking achievements by the age of 20.
For example, in ancient times, when history did not focus on scientific development, there were also self-taught female mathematicians.
Zhu Biao gave them systematic teaching materials and the shoulders of "giants". They had no worries about food and clothing, and they had the "imperial edict" as a goal that was enough for them to work hard. The female students simply used the knowledge they had learned to create mathematical models that could solve difficult problems. It did not involve any innovation or creation, which was actually not incredible.
It is just that in this era, the first brilliance of theoretical science is enough to be called a miracle.
Zhu Yuanzhang never expected that those girls who were learning arithmetic could have such abilities.
He originally thought that no matter how deeply they studied arithmetic and other knowledge, they would only be able to do accounting and manage the household.
Zhu Yuanzhang was, after all, a man of the feudal era, and his inherent contempt for women was inevitable. However, he was also a powerful and confident emperor, so when the facts became clear, he readily accepted the impressive achievements of the women's school students and formulated plans to support, reward, and motivate them to continue their research.
"Biao'er said that science is the primary productive force. It's a pity that the imperial examination doesn't test these things, so the world's smartest people don't study them." Zhu Yuanzhang was more sad than happy, "Shouldn't the imperial examination system be reformed?"
Zhu Biao shook his head. "The purpose of the imperial examination is to become an official. Officials only need to know the basics of science to broaden their horizons. Aside from a few geniuses, human energy is limited. If you put too much energy into one area, you lose focus on the other. Scientific research requires full dedication. The Ming Dynasty cannot afford to support scientists who are completely divorced from production."
"Noble women don't engage in production, and they have no worries about food and clothing. Are they perfect for science? That's a novel... novel idea," Liu Ji said, stroking his beard. "Then perhaps the children of officials who have no interest in official careers, or whose careers have been unsuccessful, can also be recruited into the scientific research community?"
Zhu Biao nodded: "Of course, they can, but except for those who are interested in it, their motivation to study science is not high."
Zhu Biao sneered and said, "Mr. Bowen may not like to hear this, but noble people are a minority in this world after all. Most people are motivated by interests. Women have very few ways to gain fame, status, money, and other benefits. The more stable the dynasty's rule, the fewer ways they have to gain these benefits. Therefore, a channel that can steadily gain benefits through scientific research will drive them crazy. Women are inferior to men in every way except strength. Otherwise, women would not have been strictly prohibited from interfering in politics throughout the dynasties."
The men present all looked unhappy.
Even though they were not considered to be too discriminatory against women in this era, Zhu Biao's words were still difficult for them to accept.
However, Zhu Biao was a "divine boy", and this was probably true in the eyes of the gods, so they soon stopped caring about Zhu Biao's unorthodox words.
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and said, "This is very good."
Zhu Biao smiled and didn't say anything further.
There are channels that can utilize women's abilities, and there is no need to worry about women interfering in politics. From now on, it seems to be a win-win situation.
But science is the primary productive force. In the not-too-distant future, it will be natural for women who have mastered productivity and earned the initial pot of gold in honor, status, and resources to enter the political arena.
High-ranking aristocratic women had no worries about food and clothing, and could concentrate on studying scientific theories; if middle- and low-ranking women could receive public school education, they could also broaden their horizons, and have the opportunity to enter basic public schools as teachers, further enhancing their "ambitions."
This world is interesting.
Otherwise, if it's all men fighting over each other, with no sense of crisis, the world would be too boring and development would be too slow. Everyone needs to work hard to move forward.
I just don't know if when modern society comes, there will be new discrimination between the arts and sciences in the new China, such as "Men should study liberal arts, the biological structure of their brains makes them unsuitable for studying sciences" and other outrageous remarks.
That's so interesting.
Zhu Biao, who was infected with some of his fun-loving nature by his family, really wanted to travel through time again.
Women's education made great contributions, and after Zhu Biao analyzed the future and prospects of women's education for Zhu Yuanzhang, the voices for abolishing women's education finally disappeared, and the voices supporting the expansion of women's education became louder and louder.
The end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty was a period of reconstruction - not only materially, but also ideologically.
Years of war had decimated the number of young and middle-aged men nationwide, and it was almost entirely women who worked outside the home to support their families. At this time, aside from a few moralists raised by powerful and influential officials who had never paid attention to the common people, there was no voice restricting women from appearing in public.
Even if there were, they had to endure it under Zhu Yuanzhang, who implemented the policy of foot liberation and land distribution for women.
Zhu Yuanzhang has been besieged by traditional literati for so long. Now the literati surrounding Zhu Yuanzhang are like the "purified fans" of later generations. They are highly unified in spirit and extremely aggressive.
For example, Liu Ji wanted to curse one or two people to death every day.
In this environment, Zhu Yuanzhang imitated the honorary titles of civil officials such as the Hanlin Academy and gave women a new set of imperial edicts independent of their husbands, and it was successfully implemented without any opposition.
After that, women could have two kinds of imperial edicts: one was obtained through their husband’s official position, and the other was the title of “Kexuege”.
Like the "Longtu Pavilion" in the Song Dynasty, the "Kexue Pavilion" established positions such as "Bachelor" and "Grand Secretary", whose salaries were equivalent to those of officials of the corresponding ranks, far higher than the imperial edict salary.
Although women could have two imperial decrees, the salary they received was only the highest one. In other words, women who entered the "Science Pavilion" only received the salary of a "Cabinet Elder." This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang was quite stingy.
In addition to establishing the "Science Pavilion," Zhu Yuanzhang also planned to formulate student aid and reward programs, which were, of course, handed over to Zhu Biao.
Although the university system in later generations was imperfect and would lead to corresponding drawbacks such as academic cliques and watered-down papers, it was already advanced enough and sufficient in this era.
The establishment of the Science Pavilion is a feat that can be called a milestone in both Chinese history and world history.
In this day and age, most people don’t realize this.
For the nobles and officials, they were just happy that their family members had other ways to gain benefits besides making meritorious contributions on the battlefield.
Especially when the men in their families were useless, they would urge their daughters to make progress every day, so that they could earn an imperial decree and marry a high-ranking official who was out of their reach. In this way, the useless men in their families could take off by relying on nepotism.
After listening to the gossip half complaining from his mother's mouth, Zhu Biao just laughed it off.
Marrying into a good family was also one of the benefits that induced feudal women to study science, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Men want a perfect wife, and women want a perfect husband. These are basic human desires. As long as they don't hurt others and instead attract more perfect people by becoming more perfect, they should be supported and praised.
Ma Xiuying pondered Zhu Biao's words for a long time, and finally smiled and said, "Biao'er is right. Mother just thinks that some people don't want their sons to make progress, but rely on nepotism to get involved, which makes me unhappy."
Zhu Biao consoled him, "Even if the Science Pavilion incident hadn't happened, those who don't strive for advancement would still be unmotivated and would still seek to cling to connections. If their daughters could study hard and earn an imperial decree, they could at least become the principal wife of the emperor, rather than being sent off to some old master as a concubine."
Ma Xiuying smiled bitterly again: "Indeed."
She didn't mention it anymore.
No matter how many imperfections there are in the world, as long as today is better than yesterday, Ma Xiuying will not frown.
When Zhu Biao was comforting his mother, he learned that it was Empress Ma's idea to allow female students to participate in shipbuilding and steam engine calculation research, and he could not help but admire this woman even more.
He leaned on his father's shoulder and sighed, "The emperor is truly the son of destiny, the embodiment of luck. Not only is he the emperor, but he also has such a perfect queen. How come all good things happen to him?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was proud: "That's right." Not only do I have a perfect queen, I also have a perfect prince, hehe.
Zhu Biao sighed, "Now that the steamship is out, I really want to personally participate in its subsequent research and development. Wow, Uncle Yan is a bad guy. He said he would be my apprentice and my bodyguard, but he ended up staying in the workshop all this time."
After pacifying Zhang Shicheng, the Yangtze River estuary came under the control of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang naturally moved the most core workshops back to Yingtian and built a new shipyard in Nanjing. The shipyard in Guangzhou was only responsible for building ships with existing technology.
Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless: "Wasn't it your order to let Yan Qian manage the workshop?"
Zhu Biao said confidently: "It's my order, so why can't I complain?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while and said, "Okay."
Tsk, this kid said his personality is different from mine, but it’s obvious that he and I are cut from the same cloth!
"If you want to participate yourself, move the workshop to Haijin Town. Haijin Town is also going to build a naval base, right?" Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Although it would cost more money, Zhu Yuanzhang still felt uneasy because the steam engine was built and it was not kept under Zhu Biao's supervision.
Zhu Biao said, "Okay. But we have to keep Nanjing as well. The best women's school is in Nanjing."
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We can open a branch school in Beijing. When officials accompany the emperor north, their wives can also go with them, which will not interfere with their studies."
Zhu Biao nodded: "That's true. Let Empress Ma worry about it, hehe. Empress Ma must be very happy worrying about it."
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed: "Aren't you afraid of tiring Empress Ma?"
Zhu Biao shook his head and said: "As the Queen, if she is not tired, who will be tired? The Emperor is tired, the Queen is tired, and then it is the ministers' turn to be tired."
Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself, if you knew that Empress Ma was your mother, you probably wouldn't say that.
Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Nanjing soon.
Under Zhu Yuanzhang's swift and decisive action, Haijin Town built a new naval base and also built a new Ming Dynasty ship workshop specializing in the manufacture of steamships.
Due to Zhu Biao's limited energy, further research and application of steam engines and internal combustion engines continued in Nanjing, with Yan Qian directly responsible to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Yan Qian has completely taken off his armor and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the unfinished cause of his ancestors.
When the Ming Dynasty was founded, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a general amnesty and pardoned Shao Rong's family.
Shao Rong's eldest son was adopted by Yan Qian as his own son, and he was brought along to pursue his scientific pursuits. However, Yan Qian's biological son, Yan Xiang, was a restless person, preferring battle to calculations. Yan Qian assigned Yan Xiang to serve as a bodyguard for Zhu Biao.
Yan Qian did not tell Yan Xiang Zhu Biao's true identity. But even without telling him, the many halos around Zhu Biao made Yan Xiang excited.
What's more, Zhu Biao was my father's teacher. If Zhu Biao took a fancy to me and accepted me as his apprentice, wouldn't I be my father's fellow disciple?
"What are you thinking? You're a student at Yingtian Primary School, so you're considered my disciple." Zhu Biao dispelled Yan Xiang's wishful thinking. "As for being an admitted disciple, what's your score in math?"
Yan Xiang suddenly didn't dare to speak.
"Hmph, how come you didn't inherit any of Uncle Yan's good qualities?" After bullying the young guard, Zhu Biao went to inspect the shipbuilding workshop with his hands behind his back.
When he arrived at the shipyard, Chen Di, who had just returned from a voyage, was negotiating business with the foreman of the shipyard workshop.
"Sir," Chen Di said excitedly upon seeing Zhu Biao, "Can we now form a long-distance fleet?"
Zhu Biao asked, "You want to set sail now?"
Chen Di smiled and said, "I want to try it."
Zhu Biao inquired about the shipbuilding progress and said, "The Ming Dynasty has no plans for new naval warfare. All four ships built can be given to you. No matter where you go, you must return by the end of next year and give me the voyage data of the ships."
Chen Di immediately said, "Master, don't worry!"
Zhu Biao said, "We won't be doing business on the ship this time. Just bring enough supplies for you. No matter the cost, understand?"
Chen Di patted his chest and said, "I understand! But if you're not careful, you'll still make money..."
Zhu Biao laughed: "If you make money, then you make money. Don't you want the money that's offered to you?"
Chen Di also laughed.
The big profiteer and the small profiteer laughed in the same way. No wonder no one else had ever suspected that Chen Di was a member of the Zhu Biao clan.
Zhu Biao let Chen Di take away the four ships with confidence. In addition to the fact that there was no plan for naval battle for the time being, the capacity design of these four trial ships was relatively conservative and not suitable for installing large artillery, so they could not become warships.
The next ship designed by the Haijin Town Shipbuilding Workshop was a warship. These four ships were originally intended for commercial use.
Then for commercial purposes, wouldn’t it be equivalent to Zhu Guorui and his family helping the emperor use it?
Zhu Yuanzhang had already given these four ships to Zhu Guorui for his use.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very skilled at transferring money from his left hand to his right hand.
Being at sea was arduous, but Chen Di was a natural businessman. He particularly enjoyed business and intelligence gathering, the more stimulating the better. Previously, Zhu Biao had asked Chen Di to conduct business while gathering intelligence on other warlords. Now that Chen Di's business focus shifted overseas, he quickly fell in love with life at sea.
Now Chen Di keeps saying that he should travel more while he can still move.
His eldest son Chen Tai kept saying that his father was about to retire and that he should hand over the overseas routes to him so that his father could stay in the country.
Chen Di's wife always kept nagging her son to study hard and take the imperial examination to become an official, which would be better than being a businessman.
Chen Di’s youngest son said that he didn’t want to study and wanted to go to war.
After Chen Di went to sea, Zhu Biao often visited Chen Di to see if Chen Di's family needed his help. Every time he went to Chen Di's house, he would see Chen Di's wife chasing her eldest and youngest sons with a whip, which was quite interesting.
Zhu Biao did not persuade Chen Di's two sons to study. If they were not talented in the Four Books and Five Classics, although business or military service would be difficult, as long as they followed him, they would have a more direct path to officialdom.
Chen Di also knew this, so he did not restrict his son's dream.
However, even though Mrs. Chen Di knew this rationally, she still responded to her son's dislike of studying with a motherly beating.
Even if you don’t take the imperial examination, you must love reading!
Yunnan.
It is almost June, but Kunming is very cool.
Wang Xi and two deputy envoys and civil servants were boating on the lake, reciting poems and painting, and they were very happy.
He has been in Yunnan for half a year. Every month he sends people to the Ming army camp at the border between Yunnan and Sichuan to report safety, and then he eats and drinks for free in the Prince Liang's Mansion, having a great time.
King Liang was completely confused and had no idea what Wang Xi was trying to do.
