Sword Xia of the Shu Mountains Chapter 27: Western learning goes east
After eating and drinking, Chang Lingyun and Matteo Ricci sat in the living room and sipped tea together, discussing how to make Chinese people generally accept Western religion, culture and scientific knowledge. /
"Mr. Matteo Ricci, what do you think is the key to allowing the people of Ming Dynasty to absorb and accept your Western religious culture and science?"
"I think the first step is to open a school for Chinese people to spread our Western knowledge, to have a deep understanding of Western culture, and then publish a book to attract Chinese knowledge-loving readers to buy; Politically, officials of the Ming Dynasty have been encouraged to learn Western culture one after another, thereby driving the public to learn and understand Western culture.”
"Well, good idea, good idea"
When Chang Lingyun said this, he thought of the imperial examination system, and he decided to reform the imperial examination system now
“We in China have a system for promoting talents by examinations, called the imperial examination system; it originated in the Sui Dynasty, and its inventor was Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty. It has been improved and is still in use today. Although the imperial examination system has always been improved, the content of its examinations is always inseparable from the "Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean" and "The Analects of Confucius", while other practical things such as science and agriculture But there is not one, so that many of our officials in Daming are mediocre, so I think it is necessary to change the subjects of the imperial examination and cultivate a group of all-round talents for Daming.”
"Well, Mr. Chang's enlightenment makes Matteo Ricci really admire. If Mr. Chang doesn't mind, he can use our Western scientific knowledge as the content of the imperial examination. What do you think?"
After listening to Matteo Ricci's words, Chang Lingyun nodded slightly and said
"Well, that's what I mean; but if you want to add your Western scientific knowledge to the imperial examinations, you should first publish a few scientific works of your Westerners as a basis, otherwise you will let those examinees What are you going to take the test with?"
Speaking of this, Chang Lingyun had an idea in his heart
"Why don't you do this? I appoint you as the Minister of Rites, responsible for reforming the culture and education of our Ming Dynasty and cultivating more talents for our Ming Dynasty; from today, you will be responsible for writing and publishing some works related to your Western studies. to the people”
After listening to Chang Lingyun's words, Matteo Ricci said this seriously and gratefully
"Thank you Mr. Chang for giving me this opportunity, I will definitely work hard"
At this moment, Hai Ning, who served as the commander of the Jinyi Guards and the chief of the guards of the Ministry of War, hurried in from the courtyard of Chang Lingyun's mansion. , he has been working for Chang Lingyun, monitoring some corrupt officials inside and outside Daming who use the name of taxation to extort money from the people. Once he finds corrupt officials, he will report to Chang Lingyun as soon as possible; when he ran to Chang Lingyun When sitting with Matteo Ricci in the living room, he hurriedly arched his arms and said hurriedly
"Report, sir, the lower official heard that the **** Ma Tang was in Linqing to collect people's wealth in the name of taxation, and also robbed Mr. Matteo Ricci and put him in the Tianjin prison, and has now caught him Waiting for Mr. Chang's release"
In order to confirm the truth, Chang Lingyun asked Matteo Ricci
"Mr. Matteo Ricci, may I ask you about this"
Ricci nodded and replied angrily
"Yes, that's right, Ma Tang wanted to get jewelry from me and robbed me in the name of inspecting the goods. Later, because he did not receive jewelry from me, he took me to the crime of murdering the emperor with Western witchcraft. Sent to Tianjin prison, I almost never see you, Lord Chang"
After listening to Matteo Ricci's words, Chang Lingyun slapped the wooden table hard and said angrily
"It's really unreasonable, I can't imagine that there are corrupt officials like Ma Tang in Daming under my management"
After finishing speaking, Chang Lingyun said to Haining with an angry expression on his face
"Go, take me to court, I'm going to interrogate him myself"
After he finished speaking, he asked Matteo Ricci to go with him as a witness to the corruption charges of Ma Tang;
"Ascension..."
"Mighty..."
When Chang Lingyun sat on the seat where the officials were trying to judge the prisoners in the court, he ordered the officials to bring Ma Tang out of the dungeon
"Passing the Prisoner's Horse Church"
After a while, Ma Tang was **** by the officials and brought to the court; Ma Tang's attitude at this time was still so arrogant and domineering, no different from when he was in Linqing to collect people's fat and people's ointment, because he When Haining ordered him to be taken into the prison, he had already arranged for an **** beside him to inform the emperor that the emperor would come to rescue him in a while, and he was the most favored **** of Emperor Wanli. He would just die like this; after taking this reassurance pill, Ma Tang didn't even care about Chang Lingyun, who was sitting on the court to try him, and he didn't even kneel down for Chang Lingyun; Ling Yun asked with a serious expression
"Why don't you kneel when you see this official?"
Ma Tang stared at Chang Lingyun and replied
"I, Ma Tang, is the person by the emperor's side, I only kneel to the emperor"
"Do you know what crime you committed?"
Ma Tang said lightly
"I don't know"
"You have committed the crime of embezzlement. You relied on the emperor's favor for you in Linqing's place in the name of taxation. Do you know the crime?"
"I know, I know, isn't it just taking the broken money from the common people?"
"Then, do you know how I made the laws of Daming? According to the newly revised "Statutes of Daming", embezzling a penny is also a capital offense. As a **** trusted by the emperor, you know the law and break the law, not only robbing the people of Linqing You also falsely accused Matteo Ricci that he wanted to use witchcraft to murder the emperor, you not only committed the crime of embezzlement but also of false accusation , this officer will sentence you to death today; but before you die, you will have to draw a deposit on this paper"
After Chang Lingyun finished speaking, he ordered Haining who was standing beside him
"Haining, go and give him the paper and let him draw"
"Yes, my lord"
After Haining finished speaking, he forced Ma Tang to the ground and asked him to draw on the shape paper; what Chang Lingyun unexpected at this moment was that Ma Tang actually picked up the pen and calmly wrote on the shape paper After drawing the bet, he said very arrogantly
"What if I draw a bet, if the emperor protects me, I won't die at all"
And his arrogance can't save him at all, even if the emperor supports Chang Lingyun, he will still be sentenced to death
"Don't think that I dare not kill you with the support of the emperor. Since you have violated the laws made by me, Chang Lingyun, I will have to deal with you. Even if the Jade Emperor protects you, I am not afraid"
After speaking, he dropped a token and shouted
"Execution"
After a while, the official took out a tiger-headed guillotine from the court and placed it in front of Ma Tang. Ma Tang immediately broke out in a cold sweat and thought to himself: It seems that he is coming for real
"This tiger-headed guillotine is specially used to guillotine you, a corrupt official. Today I will let you splatter your blood on the spot and execute it"
At this time, Ma Tang immediately knelt down and cried and begged Chang Lingyun to be merciful. The arrogant arrogance just now vanished. In order to survive, he could only lose his dignity like a dog, lying on the ground and begging Chang Lingyun's forgiveness
"Lord Chang spare your life, I won't dare next time, Lord Chang spare your life, Lord Chang spare your life"
At this time, Chang Lingyun still kept the serious expression on his face when the case was concluded, and he never wavered in his heart of compassion for wanting to execute Ma Tang
"Where did your arrogant arrogance just now go; I said that Daming under the management of Chang Lingyun will never allow a corrupt official like you who dares to act indiscriminately, and you will never be able to do it again. , come here, give me his head with a tiger's head."
"Yes, my lord"
After that, the two officers in charge of the execution rudely moved Ma Tang's body slowly in the direction of the tiger's head and the guillotine, while Ma Tang desperately moved his body in the opposite direction. Don had to make the final struggle of his life for this. At this moment, Emperor Wanli walked into the court under the leadership of two eunuchs under Ma Tang.
"Leave people under the knife"
He shouted loudly, and after shouting, Emperor Wanli said loudly in front of everyone in the court who participated in the trial and judgment of Ma Tang's corruption case
"Ma Tang is my favorite eunuch, whoever dares to kill him will kill him"
After listening to the emperor's words, the officials were all stunned, and they didn't know what to do for a while; The rope on Tang Tang's body, and Ma Tang, like a special lover of Emperor Wanli, suddenly fell into Emperor Wanli's arms and cried aggrieved, while choking and shouting
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty"
Emperor Wanli patted Ma Tang's back lightly
"Alright, alright, it's alright, as long as I'm here, no one will dare to hurt you, go back with me now"
When Emperor Wanli was about to take Ma Tang out of the court, Chang Lingyun ordered behind Emperor Wanli
"There are people here, stop them for me"
As a result, the officials stopped Ma Tang and Emperor Wanli at the door. Emperor Wanli turned around and pointed at Chang Lingyun angrily
"Chang Lingyun, you dare to stop me, do you want to rebel?"
After listening to Emperor Wanli's words, Chang Lingyun walked down from the case hall and said to Emperor Wanli
"Wei Chen dare not. If the emperor wants to leave, Wei Chen will never stop him, but Ma Tang must stay, because he committed the crime of embezzlement and robbery, and should be executed according to the "Da Ming Law" formulated by me. , please don't interfere with Wei Chen's trial of this case"
"What if I have to take away the horse hall"
"Then ask the emperor to kill Wei Chen and step over the body of Wei Chen"
"You..."
At this moment, Emperor Wanli turned blue with anger at Chang Lingyun's words. He pointed at Chang Lingyun's nose and saw that his attitude was so resolute. He didn't know what to do for a while; He arched his arms and said to Emperor Wanli
"Your Majesty, please stop being obsessed. Ma Tang used your name in Linqing to plunder people's wealth, and robbed and framed Mr. Matteo Ricci; according to the "Da Ming Law", he committed a capital crime, If the emperor insists on protecting him like this, doing so will not only damage the status and dignity of the emperor in the hearts of the people, but also make my "Da Ming Laws" useless. "Regulations", please think twice about the emperor"
But at this time, Emperor Wanli did not focus on state affairs, regardless of his personal image as the king of a country, and insisted on keeping Ma Tang's life
"You shut up, the world of Daming belongs to me, I am Daming, I am the emperor; no matter what I say today, I will take Matang away, and if you dare to stop it, it will be against me and against Daming "
In order to maintain the "Da Ming Law", Chang Lingyun could not let Emperor Wanli take Ma Tang away no matter what
"Then ask the emperor to kill Wei Chen first, then it will be regarded as Wei Chen's betrayal of Ming. In any case, Wei Chen must execute Ma Tang today. If the emperor does not leave, Wei Chen will have to use force. "
"Chang Lingyun, you are so bold, you dare to use force against me, if you dare to touch a single hair of me, you can try"
Chang Lingyun didn't say a word at this time, and used the space point acupuncture technique to hit the dynamic and dumb points of Emperor Wanli's body, so that Emperor Wanli could neither speak nor move, and then he ordered the officials
"Execution now"
When the two officials forced Ma Tang's head to the tiger's head, Ma Tang still had a glimmer of hope for Emperor Wanli and kept shouting
"Your Majesty, save me, Your Majesty, please save me"
At this time, the guillotine was closed, and Ma Tang's head was cut off on the spot by the ruthless guillotine, and blood spattered on the ground. At this time, Chang Lingyun untied the acupuncture point on Emperor Wanli's body and watched the **** he loved being stabbed to death right under his nose. Emperor Wanli felt an indescribable sadness in his heart, and he fainted after a while. .
After waking up, Emperor Wanli found himself lying in his bedroom, and the imperial doctor was taking his pulse; and Chang Lingyun was standing beside the imperial doctor at this moment. When Emperor Wanli woke up, he hurried to Emperor Wanli. Please sin.
"Wei Chen's reckless actions frightened the emperor, please forgive me"
Emperor Wanli waved his hands weakly and said
"It's okay, it's okay, Ma Tang is guilty of his own, and you should have killed him. I was just confused and shouldn't protect a guilty person like this"
"It's great that the emperor can think like this. In order to prevent the people from thinking that the emperor favored traitors and disregarded the "Da Ming Regulations", Wei Chen had no choice but to make this decision. I hope the emperor will forgive me"
"Okay, okay, I know you're doing this for my own good, I don't blame you now"
"It would be great if the emperor could understand. You can rest in peace and recuperate here, and Wei Chen will retire"
After Chang Lingyun finished speaking, he left the palace of Emperor Wanli; what Chang Lingyun never expected was that Emperor Wanli was not as open-minded as he thought, because of the Ma Tang case, he had already made up his mind to get rid of it Abandoning Chang Lingyun, looking at Chang Lingyun's back when he left, Emperor Wanli gritted his teeth and said secretly in his heart: Chang Lingyun, please remember, I will kill you sooner or later
After leaving the emperor's palace, Chang Lingyun returned to his residence in the palace with a melancholy face. Although Emperor Wanli had apparently forgiven Chang Lingyun's tough attitude in handling the Ma Tang case, Chang Lingyun had not been From the emperor's eyes, he could see that Emperor Wanli still cared about him from the bottom of his heart; after all, he was the king of a country, and he couldn't even keep a favored **** beside him, which really humiliated the emperor's self-esteem. However, in order to establish the prestige of "Da Ming's Regulations" in front of the tens of millions of people in Daming, Chang Lingyun had to do this again. Long before he was appointed as the chief assistant of the cabinet by Emperor Wanli, Su Ziyang had told him that Zhu Yijun was not a A good emperor, even if he assisted him, he would not be able to become a wise monarch; in retrospect, Su Ziyang's words were indeed correct; at this moment, Chang Lingyun suddenly felt that it was much more difficult to assist a faint monarch than a wise monarch. Just when he looked melancholy, Wu Ruoyun quietly walked to him from the house and asked
"Brother Lingyun, what's the matter with you?"
Chang Lingyun slightly tilted her head to Wu Ruoyun and said lightly
"Yes, that's right"
"Tell me if you have something on your mind and see if I can think of something for you"
At this time, Chang Lingyun needed to find someone to confide in his dissatisfaction with Emperor Wanli, so he explained the process of hearing Ma Tang's case in court today, and how Emperor Wanli was in court today. Wu Ruoyun told Wu Ruoyun the whole process of preventing him from executing Ma Tang. After he finished speaking, he lowered his head and was silent for a while, and then started to complain.
"I just don't understand why the emperor couldn't think of my tens of thousands of people in the Ming Dynasty, but for the sake of a **** he favored, he didn't even care about the "Daming Regulations", and he didn't think about what would happen if he did so. Such consequences. Assisting a faint-hearted ruler is really harder than ascending to the sky.”
After listening to Chang Lingyun's words, Wu Ruoyun immediately pulled up Chang Lingyun's arm and said
"Brother Lingyun, can you accompany me to a place, you will understand after you go"
As a result, Chang Lingyun took Wu Ruoyun on the giant sword and found a piece of Beijing outside Beijing in the direction directed by Wu Ruoyun
The woods found a dead tree that, although withered, had new branches and green leaves. After coming here, Chang Lingyun couldn't help but ask
"Xiao Qi, why did you bring me here?"
Wu Ruoyun said Chang Lingyun with a smile while touching the new branches growing on the dead tree
"Brother Lingyun, look at this dead tree, what is growing on this dead tree?"
Chang Lingyun looked at the many new branches and green leaves and replied
"Isn't this just the new branches and green leaves?"
"So can you see anything in it?"
Wu Ruoyun's question made Chang Lingyun completely stunned. He looked left and right and couldn't see anything from the new branches and leaves. After a while, he touched his forehead. I don't know what medicine Wu Ruoyun sells in the gourd
"Xiao Qi, what are you trying to say to me?"
Wu Ruoyun asked with a smile
"Brother Lingyun, have you ever heard an idiom called "Withered Trees Meet Spring?"
"Withered trees meet spring? I understand this idiom"
After Chang Lingyun finished speaking, he glanced at the few new leaves and branches in front of him, and suddenly realized that
"Oh, you're describing the branches and leaves, aren't you"
"I'm not just describing these branches and leaves, I'm trying to tell you a truth"
"What's the point, Xiao Qi?"
"Today's emperor is just like this dead tree. Although the tree looks dead or withered, it can grow new leaves and branches. Brother Lingyun, you are the twigs on this dead tree. And young leaves, as long as they keep growing, they can turn this dead tree into a new one. This is the same as the principle of governing a country. Since the emperor has become what it is now, even if he persuades him to let him be diligent in government affairs To no avail, since you cannot change the current emperor, then let the power in your hands continue to change the fate of the Ming Dynasty; after your governance, the current Ming Dynasty is developing towards the glorious direction my father Zhang Ju was creating during the reform period. , and the current prince Zhu Changluo is my student. I will teach him how to be a good emperor who is loved by millions of people in the future, instead of being lazy like his father. If he inherits the imperial industry in the future, he will definitely Diligent in government affairs, cherishing the people, advocating frugality, cherishing and inheriting the prosperity you created for the Ming Dynasty and creating a brand-new Ming Dynasty, why do you worry about the incompetence of the current emperor?"
After listening to Wu Ruoyun's words, Chang Lingyun finally understood the purpose of Wu Ruoyun's bringing him here this time, and finally understood Wu Ruoyun's good intentions, he excitedly held Wu Ruoyun's hands and said gratefully
"Xiaoqi, thank you, I will work hard to leave the prince a prosperous Ming"
At this time, Wu Ruoyun wanted to experience the pleasure of flying from the sky to this place just now
"Brother Lingyun, take me to fly a few more laps in the sky. After a few laps, we will return to the palace"
"Good"
Therefore, Chang Lingyun threw the Lingyun sword in his hand into the air again until it became larger, then took Wu Ruoyun's hand and flew the giant sword, and finally rode the enlarged Lingyun sword in the sky freely. Flying, the two of them flew back to their residence in the palace after flying in the sky for nearly an hour or two.
Since then, Chang Lingyun never cared about Emperor Wanli's personal behavior and habits, let alone what Emperor Wanli did in the palace; he governed the country wholeheartedly and was determined to leave the crown prince a prosperity Under the guidance of Wu Ruoyun, the crown prince Zhu Changluo studied hard, and the knowledge and homework he learned improved day by day. Without Chang Lingyun's intervention, Emperor Wanli had more fun in the harem. Apart from visiting the concubines in the harem every day and every night, he was busy inviting the Taoist priests in the palace to make alchemy, doing delusional tricks. His dream of immortality in the Spring and Autumn Period has further alienated the relationship between the monarch and the ministers of Chang Lingyun; ever since the Ma Tang case Chang Lingyun made him disgraced in front of the ministers, he has held a grudge against Chang Lingyun, although he is sluggish and lazy. , but he also understands the truth. Because Chang Lingyun has managed the Daming country in an orderly manner, the country has become more prosperous, and he is loyal to Daming. He is embarrassed to express his dissatisfaction to Chang Lingyun, so he can only Bury this bad anger in his heart, in order to try not to let himself meet Chang Lingyun, the relationship between him and Chang Lingyun will gradually deteriorate and affect the national fortune of Ming Dynasty, he will be an emperor. In addition to the imperial decree All the powers of the Ming Dynasty were handed over to Chang Lingyun, and he completely became the nominal head of state of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, Chang Lingyun had already started to implement the educational revolution plan to bring Western thought, science and culture into China and widely publicize and study among the Chinese people. With the support of Chang Lingyun, Matteo Ricci created the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid's book "The Elements of Geometry" in Chinese, and also drew a new world map "Kunyu Wanguoquantu" as well as Western physics, medicine and biology. After the work was completed, in order to test the results of his creation, Matteo Ricci invited Chang Lingyun to read these works in person; Chang Lingyun read "The Elements of Geometry" and several other books on physics and medicine for a while, and read silently. After a while, it was gently put down, and Matteo Ricci asked at this time
"Lord Chang, what do you think about the books I wrote? If there is anything you are not satisfied with, please let me know"
After listening to Matteo Ricci's words, Chang Lingyun replied
"Your writing is very good, and it contains very detailed introductions to your Western academic content, but I am afraid that our scholars in the Ming Dynasty will not be able to accept your writing style."
After listening to Chang Lingyun's words, Matteo Ricci asked in confusion
"Why?"
So, Chang Lingyun explained to him patiently
"Some of the styles created by you Westerners are not suitable for our Chinese scholars. We Chinese scholars generally like to read some styles of structures like the Four Books and Five Classics and the Analects, and don't like to see the way your Westerners seem to speak. If you can write these works in the creative style of our Chinese scholars, it will be acceptable to our Chinese scholars.”
And Chang Lingyun's words made Matteo Ricci a little troubled. For a foreigner like him who is not very familiar with Chinese culture, he can learn Chinese language and communicate with others. It's already very good, so how can I use the Chinese writing style to create. Just when Matteo Ricci felt helpless about this, a person suddenly came to his mind, so his heart lit up and said to Chang Lingyun
"Hey, yes, there is someone who can help me. This person is Xu Guangqi I met when I was in Nanchang. He is a scholar. I can ask him to help"
Ricci's remark made Chang Lingyun's heart suddenly excited
"That's great, you can ask Xu Guangqi to translate your works according to the style created by our Chinese. Do you know where he is now?"
Ricci shook his head and replied
"I don't know, I haven't seen him since he left Nanchang to take the exam last time"
At this moment, an examiner in the imperial palace who was responsible for reporting the jinshi and the first list of the imperial examination came to report, and he presented a list to Chang Lingyun and said
"Sir, this is this year's Imperial Examination Jinshi and the list please take a look"
Chang Lingyun took the list and opened it. He was excited to find that Xu Guangqi's name was on the list of Jinshi and No. 1, so he happily pointed to Xu Guangqi's name and said
"Ah, Xu Guangqi"
Then he asked the examiner who sent the list
"Where is the guy named Xu Guangqi above?"
"Sir report, he is from Shanghai County Fahuahui"
After hearing the examiner's report, Matteo Ricci said excitedly and excitedly
"Ah, this is exactly the Xu Guangqi I'm looking for, yes, it's him"
After listening to Matteo Ricci's words, Chang Lingyun smiled happily for a while and said
"This is really nowhere to be found after stepping through the iron shoes. It takes no effort to get it. Mr. Matteo Ricci, the person you are looking for has finally been found"
After speaking, he ordered the examiner who sent the list
"Call Xu Guangqi, a Jinshi Jinshi, to come and see me here"
"Yes, my lord"
Therefore, the examiner who sent the list withdrew respectfully; an hour later, Xu Guangqi was led by a **** to Chang Lingyun's mansion. Lingyun shouted
"Master Shoufu, brought by Xu Guangqi"
Chang Lingyun and Matteo Ricci walked out of the mansion at this time. After the **** who led the way left, Matteo Ricci quickly took the initiative to hold Xu Guangqi's hands and said excitedly
"Brother Zi, I didn't expect that I would meet you here again. We haven't seen each other for three years since we parted in Nanchang"
"Yes, yes, when I returned to my hometown from the capital south of the capital because of my failure in the imperial examinations and wanted to go to Nanchang to find you, I learned that you also went to the capital, and I didn't expect to see you in the imperial court for three years. It’s time for the book”
"Haha, thanks to the enlightenment of the chief minister of the cabinet, Mr. Chang, I was fortunate to be able to participate in the court's ritual affairs. We are planning to enable the Chinese people to learn and accept our Western scientific knowledge and culture. In that case Our missionaries in the West can safely preach here in China.”
After listening to Matteo Ricci's words, Xu Guangqi asked
"What? You said that you and Lord Chang are reforming my Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Rites?"
"Yes, Mr. Xu"
Chang Lingyun arched his arms and said to Xu Guangqi
“We want to let the people of Daming begin to understand and contact the world outside Daming, so that the Ming Dynasty can follow the trend of the times and not lag behind Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands; this time I invite you to come here because I have something to think about. Mr. Xu, please do me a favor"
"May I ask Mr. Chang, what's the matter?"
"This is a long story. Please Mr. Xu enter the mansion with us and wait for me to tell Mr. Xu slowly"
After Xu Guangqi entered the mansion with Chang Lingyun and Matteo Ricci, in a study, Chang Lingyun gave Xu Guangqi some books written by Matteo Ricci describing Western medicine, culture, science, geography, mathematics, etc. After looking at these works of Matteo Ricci, Xu Guangqi expressed the same opinion as Chang Lingyun.
"Your writing is good, but your style seems to be a talking style. We literati in the Ming Dynasty must be not used to this style of writing"
Chang Lingyun said to Xu Guangqi at this time
"I thought so too, so I would like to ask Mr. Xu to help translate these works of Mr. Matteo Ricci into our Chinese style, so that our scholars in Daming can accept it"
"Well, Lord Chang's proposal is good. Since it is Lord Shoufu's opinion, I, Xu Guangqiding, are bound to do so"
"Okay, since Mr. Xu is willing to work for the reform of the Ministry of Rites in Daming, starting today, I will appoint you as the Minister of Rites to help Mr. Matteo Ricci, the Minister of Rites, in charge of the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College to reform my education in Daming"
At this time, Xu Guangqi hurriedly knelt down, arched his arms and said excitedly
"The minister Xu Guangqi will go all out to assist the chief minister of the cabinet to complete this plan"
Chang Lingyun quickly helped Xu Guangqi, who was kneeling on the ground, and said politely
"Mr. Xu, please get up quickly"
A week later, with the help of Xu Guangqi, Matteo Ricci completed a series of books on Western science, culture, medicine, physics, biology and navigation knowledge in a style suitable for Chinese reading. He is famous for his re-edited "Elements of Geometry". Matteo Ricci wrote emotionally in his personal diary "China Zhaji": Xu Guang used clear and beautiful Chinese characters to creatively solve the terminology in translation. Problems range from points, lines, faces to parallels, diagonals to triangles, quadrilaterals to similarity, tangent, and more. These words created by Xu Guangqi have been in use until now, and have had a profound impact on the learning and application of mathematics by future generations. After the book was completed, Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci invited Chang Lingyun to the academy responsible for binding and publishing educational books in the imperial palace, asking Chang Lingyun to personally test the results; "Original" was presented in front of Chang Lingyun and said
"Lord Shoufu of the Cabinet, take a look at my "The Elements of Geometry", which was created by Xiaguan with a lot of hard work"
"Oh, is it? There are creative styles suitable for our Chinese literati to read"
"Of course, you'll see"
Therefore, Chang Lingyun opened the Chinese character version of "The Elements of Geometry" in front of Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi and found that it was actually created in Chinese style, not Ricci anymore. The Western-style vernacular style made him very satisfied; after reading for a while, he put down the book and said happily
"That's great, Mr. Xu deserves to be my first jinshi in the Ming Dynasty, and the translations are really good; good, good, I will take the books you translated and teach me thousands of people in the Ming Dynasty. Open-minded literati”
After speaking, he turned his attention to Matteo Ricci and said to him
"Mr. Matteo Ricci, you are responsible for teaching at the Hanlin Academy and Guozijian with these books translated by Mr. Xu. The rise and prosperity of the Ming Dynasty depends on you two"
Ricci and Xu Guangqi arched their arms together and said to Chang Lingyun in unison
"I will go all out to fight for the rise of Ming Dynasty"
A few days later, when Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi jointly published a book on Western studies, Chang Lingyun ordered a large number of publications and distributed them to large private academies, which quickly attracted the interest and attention of open-minded scholars. Among them, Gu Xiancheng, the leader of the Donglin Party, was one of them; on the other hand, Matteo Ricci, on the order of the cabinet chief minister Chang Lingyun, was lecturing in the Hanlin Academy for ministers of the Central Court of Rites, when he encountered an ironic incident. thing.
"You Chinese have always believed that the sky is round and the earth is square. These concepts are actually wrong. Because the sky is round and the earth is round, the whole world is round"
When Matteo Ricci said this, he turned a globe on the desk for a while and then continued
“The world we live in is called the earth, and it is like this. The reason why we often encounter day and night is because the earth rotates every day, and the sun is always shining on our earth. Where we are now is here"
Speaking, he pointed to China's position on the earth; however, at this time, an ignorant minister interrupted Matteo Ricci's lecture
"Mr Matteo Ricci, I want to ask you something"
Ricci said politely
"If you have any questions, feel free to ask, you're welcome"
"Okay, then I have to ask; Mr. Matteo Ricci, you said that we, Daming, are in the position you pointed to, so we should also stand in this position now, since you said that the sky and the earth are round , is the earth you just said; but why I can't feel that I am falling into the sea, but I feel that I am standing upright, you said that the earth is round, what should the person standing on the side and the bottom do? The gecko climbs on the wall and stands horizontally, or hangs upside down under the floor? The water in the world flows from high to low. Mr. Matteo Ricci likes whimsy. Have you ever seen sea water floating on the wall without flowing down? The Chinese are all standing on the earth, and the Westerners are submerged in the water below the earth. If there are only fish and turtles in the Western Ocean, then Mr. Matteo Ricci is no longer human.”
The official's words immediately caused a burst of laughter from the surrounding officials, and then another official said
"It seems that our China's theory of a round sky and a place is more realistic, do you think so?"
After a while, all the officials answered in unison
"Yes"
At this moment, Xu Guangqi walked in from outside the classroom and said to them
"Don't underestimate Western science, Western science is more practical and effective than our Ming science; you Confucian scholars who came here through examinations and titles only know that the knowledge in books is the main thing all day long, and never Putting it into practical application, although the Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, from whom did you learn that there is a bigger world besides the Ming Dynasty, and who explained to you why there are days and nights between heaven and earth? If Can you understand those truths just based on the knowledge in your books? Without the knowledge brought by Mr. Ricci, how can we know the world? Some illusory knowledge is useless, we should learn some Practical things, learn some things that can change our lives, make inventions and creations more useful in daily life, what kind of things can you get from reading the Four Books and Five Classics all day long, and follow the wisdom of the ancients all day long. If we don’t think about alternatives, are we really willing to rest on our laurels and lag behind the West like we are now? The so-called useless use is the foundation of all uses. From now on, you must listen to Mr. Matteo Ricci’s lectures and learn from Mr. Ricci, so that We Daming will no longer lag behind the Western countries”
Since then, some Ming officials in charge of the Ministry of Rites, under the encouragement of Xu Guangqi, the Minister of Rites, devoted themselves to learning Western knowledge and culture. A variety of ideas about cultural reform were discussed. One of them, Hu An, an official of the Ministry of Rites, proposed to Chang Lingyun that a large Western-style school should be established to attract all open-minded readers to teach Western knowledge. It was adopted by Chang Lingyun, but he thought it was not enough, because he had a bigger plan, which was to reform the imperial examination system. A month later, Chang Lingyun ordered the addition of Western knowledge of navigation and other knowledge to the subjects of the imperial examination, and abolished the "Four Books" and "Five Classics", merged the contents of the "Four Books" and "Five Classics", and added some Western Literary works were compiled into a new scientific examination course, and Chang Lingyun named the newly compiled scientific examination course "Chinese" and used it as a sub-topic of the imperial examination. His actions aroused strong dissatisfaction among many Confucian-born officials in Daming. A Daming political official named Yang Bin led several other ministers to the harem to find Emperor Wanli, expressing their thoughts on Chang Lingyun's reform of the imperial examination system. Strong dissatisfaction with exam subjects
“Your Majesty, the chief assistant of the cabinet, Chang Lingyun, modified the examination items for the imperial examination without authorization, combined the Four Books and the Five Classics into one, and added the works of foreigners into a sub-examination titled “Language” and added some Western knowledge. Regardless of the practice of Chinese Confucian scholars in learning traditional culture, I have to force my Mingming students to learn those nonsense Western knowledge, Wei Chen urges the emperor to dismiss Chang Lingyun and investigate.”
At this time, another Daming political official named Xiao Jun arched his arms and knelt down and said to Emperor Wanli
"Your Majesty, what Mr. Yang said is very true. Chang Lingyun destroyed the practice of my imperial examination system and ignored the knowledge of etiquette and law of the ancestors. I ask the emperor to order this person to be dismissed and investigated, and he can no longer be allowed to do anything wrong."
Then several other officials echoed in unison
"I beg the Emperor Chang Lingyun to be dismissed and investigated, so as to set an example"
After listening to the words of the ministers, Emperor Wanli was silent for a while, with a worried expression on his face; as I said before, although Emperor Wanli was stupid, he was a very reasonable emperor. According to the current situation, The power of the imperial court has been completely controlled by Chang Lingyun. If he offends Chang Lingyun by listening to the opinions of several of their Confucian ministers, it will be very unfavorable to him. Maybe Chang Lingyun will abolish him one day. The throne, not to mention that Chang Lingyun has managed the country with all his heart and has never done anything wrong with the country and the court, because the reform of the imperial examination questions requires that such a minister who is loyal to the country and loyal to the court should be dismissed and investigated, which is a bit unreasonable.
"You should let me think about it. After all, Chang Lingyun, as a loyal minister of my Ming Dynasty, did my best to assist me in governing the country. The reason why my Ming has become so strong and rich is all because of Chang Aiqing's credit. The reason why he did this naturally has his reasons, let me think about it for a few days and then give you a satisfactory answer"
Faced with the compromise and concession of Emperor Wanli, Yang Bin and Xiao Jun seemed a little stubborn. After all, they both came to this position after ten years of hard study from Confucianism. For them, the imperial examination system was extremely sacred, so they tolerated any behavior that violated the dogma of the imperial examination system. They could not accept Chang Lingyun's reform of the imperial examination system anyway. So, Xiao Jun arched his arms and continued to speak to Emperor Wanli
"Your Majesty, since you can't dismiss Chang Lingyun for investigation, then I beg the Emperor to order Chang Lingyun to stop reforming the imperial examination system"
At this time, Yang Bin also said
"Your Majesty, what Mr. Xiao said is that since the establishment of the imperial examination system since Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, the subjects of the examinations have remained unchanged. Chang Lingyun wants to reform the imperial examinations so that the scholars will not learn the Four Books and Five Classics and the Tao of Confucius and Mencius, but those who study Westerners are unreasonable. It is a complete insult to the ancestors, please ask the emperor to order Chang Lingyun to stop reforming the imperial examination system"
Emperor Wanli really couldn't resist these two stubborn and pedantic Confucian officials, so he had no choice but to ask Chang Lingyun to ask what happened
"Alright, alright, you're right, I can't tell you anything about you; I'll call Chang Lingyun over in two days to ask what's going on, all of you go down, don't interfere with my alchemy again"
After listening to the emperor's words, the Confucian officials led by Xiao Jun and Yang Bin all raised their arms and shouted in unison
"Yes, Wei Chen retire"
After they pushed them down, Emperor Wanli shook his head and sighed helplessly. On the second day, Haining, the commander of the Jinyi Guards and the head of the internal guards, told Chang Lingyun exactly what happened. The pedanticness of the two ministers, Jun and Yang Bin, is funny
"These two pedantic Confucian scholars have read the dead books all their lives. It's no wonder that I have such pedantic officials in my life. It is no wonder that I will lag behind the Western world; well, in this case, I will let them both experience Western science. The importance of knowledge"
"My lord, these two people have assembled many Confucian scholars who opposed your reform of the imperial examination system to impeach you in front of the emperor. I am afraid it will be detrimental to your reform of the imperial examination system. In the opinion of the lower officials, it is better to dismiss them all and expel them from the palace. Appoint some more open-minded bureaucrats to fill their places"
"No, no, no, that's bad"
Chang Lingyun hurriedly shook his head and waved his hand to Haining. After speaking, Chang Lingyun expressed his thoughts
"If all those Confucian scholars who had served the imperial court so much were thrown out of the palace for this matter, wouldn't I be a tyrannical traitor? I can't bear this crime, Chang Lingyun, instead of punishing them It would be better for them to join us than to expel them from the palace, which would be more conducive to our reforms.”
"But those pedantic Confucian scholars who have read dead books all their lives only agree with some knowledge passed down by their ancestors. It is impossible for them to accept the knowledge from Western studies. It may be more difficult for you to let them join our team than to ascend to the sky."
"Even if it's harder than going to the sky, I'll give it a try, don't worry, I have my own way"
One day later, Emperor Wanli issued an oral decree to Chang Lingyun, requesting Chang Lingyun to rush to the Qianqing Palace to see him; but this time Chang Lingyun did not rush to the Qianqing Palace according to the scheduled time, but went to the Qianqing Palace with Matteo Ricci, Xu Guangqi, Hai Ning, and several court guards around him carried a few Western items wrapped in red cloth into the Qianqing Palace, making Emperor Wanli wait for half an hour; seeing Chang Lingyun arriving so late , Emperor Wanli said to him angrily
"Chang Lingyun, I called you to rush to the Qianqing Palace to see me, but you made me wait for you for half an hour, and you dare to despise my will, what's the crime?"
After listening to Emperor Wanli's words, Chang Lingyun arched his arms and said to Emperor Wanli
"Because Wei Chen was busy at home carrying these Western objects of Mr. Ricci to the palace, he was delayed on the way to the palace, and I hope the emperor forgives his sins"
"Okay, okay, I don't blame you; but I don't understand what you're doing with so many Western things?"
"Back to the emperor, Wei Chen heard that two officials in the imperial court, led by Xiao Jun and Yang Bin, impeached me in front of the emperor. I think the emperor called me to the Qianqing Palace today for this reason"
After listening to Chang Lingyun's words, Emperor Wanli replied
"Yes, that's right; here they are"
At this time, two officials in blue official uniforms and a black gauze hat introduced themselves respectively
"I am Xiao Jun"
"I am Yang Bin"
After the introduction, Xiao Jun said
"I heard that the first assistant in the cabinet is going to reform the imperial examination. Originally, the lower officials did not object to this matter, but Mr. Chang wanted to bring the messy and useless things from the West to the examination questions of the imperial examination, and Combining the Four Books, the Five Classics, and Western writings into the Chinese Language as a sub-subject of the imperial examination questions to the ancestral etiquette, even if the adults want to punish the lower officials, the lower officials will never tolerate the misbehavior of the chief minister of the cabinet.”
Yang Bin then followed Xiao Jun's words
"Yes, that's right. We China has been a kingdom of heaven since ancient times. Our China's technology has always been the best in the world. We don't need to learn from Fanbang at all. The inferior culture of the state is categorically unacceptable to inferior officials.”
At this time, Emperor Wanli raised his right arm and pointed at Chang Lingyun.
"Chang Aiqing, I'm looking for you today because I want you to tell me the reason for your reform of the imperial examination system. If you have any reason, just tell me, I'm the master for you"
After listening to Emperor Wanli's words, Chang Lingyun bent down and cupped his hands and said
"Wei Chen thanked the emperor"
After speaking, he immediately turned his face to Xiao Jun and Yang Bin and said to them both
"Master Xiao, Master Yang, both of you were born of Confucian scholars. Only by reciting the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" can you have the opportunity to enter the court and become an official. I understand you very much against me, but today is different from the past. Countries such as Spain and Portugal are rising day by day, their ships can sail to any corner of the world, and they can destroy a weak country without breaking a sweat. The reason why they are very strong is because of the development of navigation technology; The world has entered the era of great voyages, and all countries in the world are entering the pace of development and improvement. Only by learning the knowledge and culture of the Western Ocean will we not fall behind the Western Ocean and lag behind the world. Now the Western Ocean is in science, technology, ideology and culture. Ahead of the world, if we Da Ming continue to rest on our laurels so blindly and consider ourselves a kingdom of heaven, one day the strong ships and cannons of the Western Ocean will blow open the door of our China.”
However, Xiao Jun didn't listen to Chang Lingyun's words, he walked to Chang Lingyun angrily stared at Chang Lingyun's eyes and cursed
"It's just nonsense. We China is the world and the world is China. China has been a developed country since ancient times. It is impossible to lag behind the world, let alone learn from Fanbang"
"I want to ask Mr. Xiao, what does the world look like in your eyes? Have you ever seen a world other than China"
After listening to Chang Lingyun's words, Xiao Jun answered Chang Lingyun's question with some very one-sided geographical knowledge he had learned as a scholar
"We in China have always said that the sky is round and the place is round. This world is a world with China as the center. Only our Ming Dynasty is the only major country in the world. This is a book of geographical knowledge left by our ancestors, and there is no room for doubt. "
After listening to Xiao Jun's words, Chang Lingyun said with a big laugh
"Hahaha, I'm just a frog in the well, shortsighted"
When Xiao Jun heard this, he immediately said angrily
"You... what did you say?"
"I said you are short-sighted, Mr. Xiao; since you are so ignorant, I will show you the real world map"
After speaking, he ordered Ricci
"Mr. Matteo Ricci, quickly bring the "Kun Yu Wan Guo Tu" you drew to Master Xiao for a look"
"Yes"
Therefore, Matteo Ricci immediately tore off the red cloth, took out the "Kunyu Wanguo Tu" drawn by him, walked to Xiao Jun and slowly unfolded it in front of him. After the map was fully unfolded, Chang Lingyun Point out the location of the Ming Empire to Xiao Jun on the map, and show it on the map
"Here is where my Ming Dynasty is located, and to the north is Mongolia, which has always been entrenched in the north, here is my Ming Dynasty's vassal state Korea, and to the east of Korea is Japan; now the war of Japanese pirates invading Korea has not yet subsided, and my Ming soldiers are still In helping North Korea resist the invasion of Japanese pirates, if I can train a navy as powerful as Spain and Portugal, and then lead this navy to attack and occupy Jeju Island and Busan from the south of Korea, block the Tsushima Strait and cut off the reinforcements of Japanese pirates. , we can help North Korea defeat the Japanese pirates and end the war. In addition, Mr. Ricci's home is in a small country in Europe called Italy, more than 10,000 kilometers away from our Ming Dynasty"
When Emperor Wanli heard this, he was surprised, so he asked Matteo Ricci
"Mr. Matteo Ricci, your country is so far away from my Daming, how did you get to us from your country?"
"Back to the Emperor, I took a boat across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and then via India to Guangdong and China"
"Oh, is that right? But I'm surprised. Your country is so far away from my Daming. Why did you come to us by sea? Why didn't you take the Silk Road to find a shortcut through the Western Regions to reach my Daming territory?"
"Back to the emperor, you don't know, the Silk Road has been cut by the Ottoman Empire, so we Europeans have started to get in touch with you in Asia by sea; in some of our European coastal countries, almost all of them sail to the world. Our fleet has sailed to every corner of the world, from Columbus' discovery of the American continent to Magellan's trip around the world, all countries in the world have entered the age of sailing; Your Majesty, I think what Chang Lingyun just said is right, Daming It is necessary to form a huge fleet like Spain and Portugal, and then develop the ocean together with us in Europe, and establish a colony of its own in the ocean area, and earn more silver and gold in the colony, then Daming will definitely become the conqueror of the world. the overlord"
Unfortunately, Matteo Ricci's words did not arouse much interest in Emperor Wanli, because he didn't care about politics at all, he only needed to concentrate on alchemy to seek immortality and protect the land that his ancestors laid down.
"I don't want to be the overlord of the world. I don't need to establish any overseas colonies because of my vast land and resources. I only need to wholeheartedly protect my Ming Dynasty for my ancestors. I don't care about other people's land at all. Okay, You guys should continue to chat with Xiao Jun and Yang Bin, the two loving gentlemen."
In desperation, Matteo Ricci shook his head slightly and sighed softly; Xiao Jun's thoughts changed a little after reading this "Kun Yu Wan Guo Tu", he was surprised say
"I've read books for so many years, but I still don't know the world is so big. It seems that the knowledge of Westerners is really amazing. They know so many places"
But Yang Bin is still so pedantic and stubborn, he smiled slightly, looked at the map sideways for a while, and said coldly
"Hmph, isn't it just a broken picture? Westerners can draw whatever they want. I don't know if the world really looks like this"
After hearing this, Matteo Ricci quickly retorted
"This is a fact that we Westerners have carefully drawn out through careful calculations and nautical measurements, not by imagination"
At this time, Chang Lingyun made a cold joke to Yang Bin
"Mr. Yang, if you don't want to believe it, you can take a boat and go around the world to see if the world is like this, and see if what you have learned is accurate or beneficial Matthew's drawing is accurate"
After Yang Bin heard this, he immediately lowered his head and remained silent. So Chang Lingyun asked Xiao Jun again
"Sir Xiao, come and see these Western things I brought, and let all the officials under you who have impeached me come and see, and open your eyes"
Driven by curiosity, Xiao Jun and his ministers who had impeached Chang Lingyun stepped forward one after another, playing with the Western things brought by Chang Lingyun, Matteo Ricci, and Xu Guangqi; Xiao Jun took a ruler, a triangle and a protractor and asked
"What are these three things?"
Xu Guangqi explained to him
"This is something used in Western mathematics, through which the height of buildings can be accurately measured"
After listening to Xu Guangqi's words, Xiao Jun continued to ask
"Can the height of the Forbidden City wall be accurately measured?"
After listening to Xiao Jun's question, Matteo Ricci replied
"Of course, I can assure Mr. Xiao that the height of the towers of the Forbidden City can be measured within half an hour"
"Is what you said true?"
Xiao Jun looked into Matteo Ricci's eyes with a puzzled face, as if he didn't quite believe in Mr. Matteo Ricci's answer; in order to convince these nerd ministers who only read dead books to Western science, Chang Lingyun decided to Arrange a showdown between traditional Chinese mathematics and Western mathematics
"If Mr. Xiao doesn't believe it, I will let Mr. Xiao open his eyes tomorrow"
After finishing speaking, Chang Lingyun arched his arms and said to Emperor Wanli
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen will arrange a competition between traditional Chinese mathematics and Western mathematics at the gate of the Forbidden City tomorrow. If the Emperor is interested, you can have a look with Mr. Xiao and the others"
"Oh, is that so? I also really want to see what Western mathematics is like. If that's the case, I'll go with you tomorrow"
In the evening, Chang Lingyun and Wu Ruoyun stood in the courtyard with peace of mind, holding hands and talking about their relationship
"I can finally enjoy today's beautiful night with my loved one. Usually, I rarely have time to accompany you because of the important affairs of the DPRK, Xiaoqi, you won't blame me"
Wu Ruoyun lay in Chang Lingyun's arms, raised his head and looked up at the beautiful night sky tonight and said with a smile
"I know that you usually don't care to accompany me because you are busy with important affairs in the court. I won't blame you, but tonight you took the time to watch the night with me. I know that Brother Lingyun is actually in his heart. I have"
After talking about this, Wu Ruoyun remembered something
"Brother Lingyun, when can we get married?"
"Come on, come on, now Daming is under my governance, and it is slowly starting to become prosperous and strong. If it develops at the current rate. In three years, Daming will almost usher in its rebirth again. In a heyday, and I fulfilled my long-cherished wish to protect the Ming Dynasty for my ancestors. At that time, I will train my ministers to continue my reforms and then resign to the emperor. Finally, I will marry you and become a happy couple of immortals. couple”
"Three years is a long time for me, but I am willing to wait like this because I know that Brother Lingyun is the only one in my heart"
"That's right, Xiao Qi, I only love you one in my life, Chang Lingyun"
Speaking of this, Chang Lingyun also remembered something
"By the way, Xiaoqi, how is the prince studying with you? He is the future emperor of Daming, and it is related to Daming's future national fortune, so you must teach him well"
"Don't worry, Brother Lingyun, the prince is talented, intelligent, diligent and eager to learn. He will definitely become an excellent emperor in the future"
"Xiao Qi, what books do you usually teach the prince to read?"
"I usually teach him some "Four Books", "Five Classics", and some knowledge and content that my father taught the current emperor to read before"
After listening to Wu Ruoyun's words, Chang Lingyun shook his head and said with a sigh
"You let the prince read useless books. If you teach the prince like this, the prince will definitely make you a nerd"
After listening to Chang Lingyun's words, Wu Ruoyun gently left Chang Lingyun's arms and looked into Chang Lingyun's eyes in confusion and said
"Brother Lingyun, what are you talking about? These books are all books that we readers want to read. How can you say that they are useless"
So Chang Lingyun explained to Wu Ruoyun
"I don't think it's necessary to read books other than books on benevolence, righteousness and morality"
After he finished speaking, he turned his back to Wu Ruoyun and continued to speak
“Although the Four Books and the Five Classics are the most valuable educational knowledge handed down by our ancestors, these can only make our Chinese knowledge and thinking stay under the monarchy of feudal rule forever and fail to achieve the same level of knowledge. To a new height, do you know why Westerners surpass us in science and knowledge? That is because the opening of new waterways makes Westerners face the world and go out of the world to expand their horizons, so they are more advanced than us. It wasn't that I met Mr. Matteo Ricci, but I am still in the dark. If our students in Daming were still blindly learning the things of our ancestors without thinking about ways to expand their horizons, our Daming would have been lagging behind the Western countries."
After finishing speaking, Chang Lingyun turned around and looked at Wu Ruoyun's eyes seriously. Seeing that Wu Ruoyun was looking at him blankly at this time, he didn't seem to fully understand why Chang Lingyun was so behind about Daming's lag behind Western countries. She lamented; as a woman, although she didn't care much about national affairs, she had an intuition in her heart, and this intuition was that no matter what Chang Lingyun said, it would always be right in her eyes.
The next morning, at the foot of the gate of the Forbidden City, there is a math competition between the East and the West to measure the height of the Forbidden City wall. This competition is not only a competition of technology and civilization between the Ming and the West, but also an old era of the past. With the alternation and collision of the arrival of a new era, the Ming Dynasty at this time has stood at the crossroads of destiny. The success or failure of the competition determines the fate of this dynasty's progress and regression. It is a closed-door country and contempt for Western civilization. The pace of development in the last era is still opening up to the outside world, keeping up with the pace of the new era, accepting Western technology and ideas to develop into a capitalist power, just between Matteo Ricci and Hua Rong's competition. Hua Rong is a representative of traditional mathematics in the Ming Dynasty. He has been familiar with Confucianism since he was a child, and he also has an attitude of disapproval, skepticism and rejection of foreign cultures. After all, Chinese civilization is far ahead of the world for thousands of years. In the eyes of pedantic scholars who understand the outside world, the technology and culture of the West are simply a small measure of the barbarian state. How can they be compared with the superb technology and civilized technology that our Chinese Empire has benefited the world. Half an hour later, the game officially started, and Chang Lingyun started to announce the rules of the game at this time
"Today's competition is a competition between our traditional Chinese mathematics and Western mathematics. This competition is not based on the accuracy of measuring the height of the Forbidden City wall. The key to the competition is the length of time used in the measurement process. Lima Dou measures the left side of the city wall, Hua Rong measures the right side of the city wall, if one takes the shorter time and can accurately measure the height of the city wall, which one will win, do you all remember?"
After listening to Chang Lingyun's words, Matteo Ricci and Hua Rong answered in unison
"Remembered"
Then, Chang Lingyun turned to face the Wanli Emperor and cupped his hands to the Wanli Emperor
"Your Majesty, you can call down to announce the official start of the game"
Then the Emperor Wanli sat on the dragon chair and summoned
"I announce that the competition officially begins"
With the edict of Emperor Wanli, the gong sounded instantly, Hua Rong glanced at Matteo Ricci who was standing opposite him, his eyes were full of extreme contempt, and then turned his body and mind without looking back. He secretly muttered: "You western hairy kid, you want to challenge me, Daming Technology, out of your own power. Today, I will make you believe in your defeat; while Matteo Ricci walked in the other direction of the Forbidden City wall without making a sound. At this moment, Wu Ruoyun took the prince Zhu Changluo out of the Meridian Gate. When the prince Zhu Changluo saw his father, the Emperor Wanli, he was very happy. He immediately ran to the dragon chair of the Emperor Wanli and said
"My son's minister greets the father and king"
And Emperor Wanli also loves his child very much. Although he has many other children now, Zhu Changluo will always be number one in his heart.
"Chang Luo, why are you here?"
"Mr. Wu brought me here, and Erchen really wants to see Western technology with his own eyes"
"Okay, Chang Luo, sit next to the father and watch the game with the father"
After speaking, Emperor Wanli made room for Zhu Changluo to sit on the dragon chair he made, and his eyes showed the flesh and blood between father and son. After Zhu Changluo sat next to Emperor Wanli, Emperor Wanli asked
"Is Mr. Wu here?"
"Here she is, right there"
Emperor Wanli looked in the direction of Prince Zhu Changluo's finger, and saw a beautiful woman wearing a green silk dress and black hair walking slowly in the direction in front of Emperor Wanli. When the emperor was sitting in front of the dragon chair, he quickly knelt down and saluted the Emperor Wanli
"People's daughter Wu Ruoyun sees the emperor"
"Mr. Wu doesn't need to be polite"
When Wu Ruoyun raised his head, he was immediately attracted by Wu Ruoyun's fairy-like temperament and beauty. This was the fourth time he saw Wu Ruoyun, and it was the fourth time he saw Wu Ruoyun's beautiful face. The first three times were brief and brief. The hasty meeting was because she was the first and auxiliary minister of the cabinet, which made Emperor Wanli unable to leave a deep impression in his mind, but this time, the meeting made Emperor Wanli deeply engraved her appearance in his heart. He had always been interested in seeing the color, and regardless of the bottom line of ethics and morality between the monarch and his ministers, he immediately swore in his heart that he would definitely get this woman; when Emperor Wanli made a solemn oath in his heart, he immediately ordered one of his eunuchs: /
"Here comes, give Mr. Wu a seat"
"Yes"
When Wu Ruoyun sat down, she arched her arms and said to Emperor Wanli
"The girl thanked the emperor"
"Mr. Wu doesn't need to be more polite. Since you are the prince's teacher, you don't need to call yourself a woman. Thank you, Mr. Wu, for his dedicated guidance to the prince over the past few years. Afterwards, I will definitely ask him not to forget your kindness"
"The emperor's words are serious. Ruoyun only wants to be loyal to the emperor and Ming with my future husband. I dare not ask for anything in return. It is enough to ask the prince to become my wise king in the future"
"Hahaha, Mr. Wu's loyalty to my Ming Dynasty will definitely be remembered in my heart"
Speaking of this, Emperor Wanli suddenly thought of a question
"Mr. Wu, did you let Chang Luo come here?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, the Crown Prince wanted to see Mr. Matteo Ricci's Western Studies with his own eyes today, so I brought him here"
"Oh, so it was"
At this time, the competition between Matteo Ricci and Hua Rong is in progress; Hua Rong adopts the traditional Chinese method of measuring height. After the stacks on the city wall, he climbed up hard while he climbed and drew lines on the city wall. During the process of drawing the lines, he also took out a large ruler to measure the drawn lines. This measurement method was time-consuming and laborious. I can see that Matteo Ricci kept shaking his head; and Matteo Ricci's measurement method looked a little weird. He asked his assistant Xu Guangqi to throw a long rope from the city wall, and then he pulled another part of the rope under the city wall. One end ran in the opposite direction of the city wall, and stopped when it was confirmed that the rope was at a 60-degree angle to the ground, then made a mark in the direction he was standing, and then used a two-meter-long ordinary wooden stick. The distance between the mark and the city wall was measured, and after the distance between the mark and the city wall was accurately measured, a careful calculation was made. After a while, Matteo Ricci quickly calculated the answer to the height of the city wall; so he Then he reported to Chang Lingyun
"I figured it out, the height of the Forbidden City wall is 38 meters"
After he reported the answer, Hua Rong continued to climb and laboriously measure the height of the city wall; and Matteo Ricci's measurement speed made Chang Lingyun instantly feel incredible
"What did you say? You have measured the height of the city wall"
"Yes, that's right, the height of the city wall is thirty-eight meters, you can't go wrong"
Ricci answered confidently, but Chang Lingyun was skeptical of Ricci's measurement
"Your speed is a bit faster, but whether the answer is correct or not will have to wait for Hua Rong to measure it"
Half an hour later, after careful measurement, Hua Rong also came up with the answer that the height of the city wall is 38 meters; when a guard showed the standard answer in front of the audience, including the emperor Everyone including the prince and the prince were stunned. It turned out that the correct answer was really 38 meters. According to the regulations of the competition, Matteo Ricci's measurement time was too short, so the winner of this competition was Matteo Ricci. . After the victory, Matteo Ricci was ecstatic, and he happily raised his arms to celebrate the victory of the game; Western geometry finally defeated the backward traditional Chinese mathematics, and the moment to decide the fate of Daming finally arrived; seeing Matteo Ricci After the victory, Xiao Jun was completely convinced by the advanced mathematics of the West, he hurriedly ran to Matteo Ricci and asked
"Mr. Matteo Ricci, how can you measure the height of the Forbidden City wall so quickly?"
Ricci replied with a smile
"This is the geometry of our western ocean. If you want to make progress in China, you must learn the geometry of our western ocean"
After hearing this, Xiao Jun sighed and said
"There are people outside people, there are days outside the sky, the world is really big"
After he finished speaking, he immediately arched his arms and knelt down in front of Emperor Wanli and said
"Your Majesty, Western mathematics is so powerful that Wei Chen dare not object to Lord Chang's reform any more. Lord Chang is right. We, Daming, can only progress by studying Western mathematics. We are all wrong"
Then, several Confucian scholars led by Yang Bin all knelt down beside Xiao Jun and said in unison
"Your Majesty, Lord Chang is right. We are willing to support Lord Chang's reform and revitalize Daming, and be loyal to the Emperor"
Then, a loud shout came from outside the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City
"Rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty and be loyal to the emperor"
At this time, Emperor Wanli laughed happily
"Hahaha, well, all of you are my loyal ministers, and I will definitely reward you well"
After speaking, Emperor Wanli said to Chang Lingyun again
"Chang Aiqing, you will have the final say in everything in the future of my Ming Dynasty. You are the optimist of my Ming Dynasty. I believed in you"
Chang Lingyun hurriedly arched his arms and replied
"Chang Lingyun will definitely not let down His Majesty's high expectations, and will do his best to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, revive the dynasty, and long live my emperor"
Then, all the other ministers, eunuchs and guards all knelt down in front of Emperor Wanli and shouted in unison
"Long live my emperor, long live"
At this time, Emperor Wanli became more and more happy. He smiled and said to everyone who knelt in front of him
"Hahaha, good, good, good"
Since then, Chang Lingyun has done his best to carry out his top-down reforms in education and culture, so that all scholars inside and outside the Ming Dynasty thoroughly absorb and accept Western knowledge while learning traditional Chinese Confucian knowledge The addition of two ministers, Xiao Jun and Yang Bin, made too many intellectuals in Daming follow the lead of Western academics, setting off waves of learning Western knowledge and culture within Daming; With the birth of and the reform of the imperial examination system, thousands of scholars in the Ming Dynasty regarded Western physics, geometry, geography, biology, agriculture, and medicine as the compulsory courses for the imperial examination, which led to the emergence of the Ming Dynasty. A large number of astronomers, agronomists, Western medical scientists, etc., specializing in the study of Western knowledge, have been produced, which has greatly improved the development of trade, economy, agriculture and other industries in the Ming Dynasty, and the budding of capitalism is gradually emerging. Formation, this period was called by later historians as the eastward spread of Western learning.