Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2422: The Duke is not an assistant, but a regent (Thirteen) Palace Examination Essay

In the east warm room of the Qianqing Palace, sandalwood incense filled the air. Ye Xianggao, the Minister of Personnel and the chief examiner of the imperial examination, stood with his hands down in front of the imperial desk. On the desk were three piles of examination papers mounted with yellow silk. The top one, "The Overall List of the Imperial Examination in the First Year of Taichang", had three eye-catching red circles outlined with cinnabar - these were not drawn by Ye Xianggao, but by Gao Wushi - and now only he, the chief minister of state, could use the cinnabar pen at will.

"Master, this time the examination enrolled a total of 360 candidates, of whom four scored 70 out of 100 in the eight-part essay, 127 scored 65 or above, and three scored 30 out of 100 in the elective subjects, and 21 scored 25 or above."

Gao Youshi looked up from the Anxi Military Report, the light from the gilded charcoal basin dancing on his face. He noticed that the hem of Ye Xiang's official robe was stained with ink - it must have been stained during the overnight review.

Ever since the imperial decree on reforming the imperial examination system was issued, the old pedants in the Ministry of Rites have been in a state of panic. Over the past month, countless impeachment letters have been sent to the Ministry of Public Security... and then kept by the Cabinet without being issued.

"Sit down." Gao Youshi pointed to the rosewood armchair, but he just looked at the disciple in front of him calmly.

Ye Xianggao pressed the gilded copper ruler against the edge of the list, glanced at the three names circled by the teacher, and said, "According to the new system, the scores of the eight-part essay and the selection test are added together. Sun Chengzong ranked second with 95 points. The last question in his mathematics paper, which is the question of "self-expression", actually calculated in detail what distance between soldiers should be used for the Wanli Type 3 rifle to achieve the maximum bullet delivery density under the current actual combat reloading speed of our army without affecting the front and back interweaving of the formation during the three-stage attack."

Gao Fusi nodded slightly. He didn't expect Sun Chengzong to be concerned about military affairs so early. His eyes swept over the three words "Sun Chengzong" and suddenly the figure of the old general who built the Ningjin Defense Line in the history books of his previous life appeared in front of him. He tapped twice on the "30 points in mathematics" with his fingertips and asked, "Is this person's hometown Gaoyang, Baoding?"

"Master, I have heard your words." Ye Xianggao pulled out his resume from his sleeve. "Mr. Sun was a juren in the sixth year of the Wanli reign. He failed the imperial examination three times, but this time he has achieved great success. Not only is his writing excellent, but he also scored full marks in mathematics." He flipped open the book, revealing a note with wet ink at the foot of the page: "The Ministry of War asked Qi Yuanzheng of the Military Academy to review it. He determined that Mr. Sun's calculations are quite consistent with war examples and can be considered for inclusion in the Military Academy's textbooks."

There was a rustling sound of snow outside the window, and Gao Youshi suddenly felt a slight dampness in his palms. In his previous life, the elder Sun, who had been dealing with the Jiannu in Liaodong for more than ten years, stood out in this life because of mathematics. The long river of history had created a strange vortex here, which was really interesting.

"The 85th one is Mei Zhihuan..." He lowered his eyes and pointed at the red-lettered mark "Agriculture 29 points", "But is it the Mei family of Macheng?"

"That's right." Ye Xianggao bowed slightly. "Mr. Mei lamented in his agronomy exam paper that 'seven or eight out of ten farmlands in Chu are owned by clansmen and wealthy families' and suggested that triangulation be used to replace the traditional bow measurement when re-surveying the land." He suddenly lowered his voice. "But his essay only scored 64 points, and the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan commented on it when he reviewed the paper: 'The writing is brilliant but the meaning of the classics is a little weak'."

Gao Fusi chuckled and stroked Mei Zhihuan's eight-part essay with his fingertips. The four characters "君子施根" (a gentleman should focus on his basic principles) were so powerful that they could be seen through the paper. It reminded him of the iron-willed censor who dared to flog the eunuch party at the Meridian Gate during the reign of Chongzhen in his previous life. Now, he was caught by the agricultural science. Fate really played tricks on him.

When Gao Youshi saw the last name circled in red ink, "Xu Guangqi, No. 112", his hand paused. Next to the red note "30 points in the study of things" on the list, there was a piece of qingtan leaf stuck on it - this was a special anti-counterfeiting mark made by the Ministry of Industry's examination room.

"Mr. Xu from Shanghai is well-versed in both Chinese and Western learning!" Ye Xianggao showed a rare excitement, pulling out a specially bound booklet from the pile of test papers. "The last question on his Gewu test paper was a design of an improved telescope, with the tube marked 'crystal lens curvature 1/4, with copper focusing knob'. What's even more rare is..." He turned to the last page, revealing a meticulously drawn lens production diagram: "He also attached a method of burning paper, claiming that it can make glass more transparent. After testing, the Ministry of Industry confirmed that what he said was true."

Suddenly, there was the sound of children playing outside the warm room. The little emperor ran through the corridor holding a gilded warm stove, followed by his study companion Gao Luo holding the Thousand Character Classic. Gao Fusi looked at the shadows swaying outside the glass window, and in a trance, he seemed to see his childhood with Zhu Yijun.

"Inform the Ministry of Rites." Gao Youshi suddenly stood up, startling Ye Xiang's sandalwood leaf, which fluttered to the ground. "Three days later, the palace examination will be held. This department will set the questions on the spot on behalf of the emperor."

Outside the palace, the north wind blew hard, blowing snowflakes and extinguishing the palace lanterns on the eaves. But in the palace, the newly made glass lanterns lit up one after another, illuminating the flying eaves and multi-story buildings of the Forbidden City as bright as day. These glass lampshades, made with exquisite craftsmanship in Beijing, were like the best footnotes to Xu Guangqi's examination papers.

Gao Fusi had already exhausted all the technical ideas he could provide for the development of glass. Unexpectedly, just when he was worried about the lack of successors, Xu Guangqi, a scientific giant in the late Ming Dynasty, appeared on the list of the imperial examination.

Three days later, the palace examination was held as scheduled.

Twelve golden ribbons hung from the Panlong caisson in the Baohe Hall. Xu Guangqi was kneeling in the third row at the east end, with a bracelet made for an armillary sphere by the Nanjing Imperial Astronomical Observatory in the 30th year of the Wanli reign. This was a medal awarded by the Jinghua Group to him when he participated in the revision of the Ming Huanyu Calendar last year. Thanks to the reforms of Gao Gong and Gao Youshi, candidates now had much more opportunities to participate in actual work, and Xu Guangqi was no exception.

When the Chief Minister Gao Youshi appeared in a scarlet silk dragon robe and an eight-beam crown of a duke, Xu Guangqi noticed that this minister, who was called an assistant but was actually a regent, was younger than he had imagined, but his manners were more calm and his bearing more majestic than those of all the veteran ministers present.

"According to the imperial edict, the question is about 'revitalizing the country through science and technology'. Students can express their ideas freely." Gao Youshi's simple opening remarks made the old officials' pupils shrink slightly, but made most young candidates eager to try - express their ideas freely? When has the country ever been so open-minded!

Sun Chengzong was inspired by hearing this, and at the beginning of his policy paper he quoted the chamber pressure formula from the "Firearms Chapter" in the "Wubei Zhi", which was an algorithm that had been verified with blood by military academies on battlefields across the country.

Xu Guangqi's wolf-hair brush moved like a dragon on the gold-sprinkled paper. In his essay "On the Improvement of the Timekeeping Method of the Armillary Sphere", he cleverly combined Guo Shoujing's simple instrument algorithm with the escapement gear developed by the Jinghua Optical Institute.

When writing about the relationship between farming and farming seasons, he specifically quoted the "layered storage and drainage method" proposed by his teacher Xu Zhenming when he first managed paddy fields in Nanji, but added a new discovery in small regular script at the foot of the page: "Now we are trying to grow Nanyang Champa rice with Taihu silt, which has increased production by 30% compared to traditional paddy fields."

With a "click", Mei Zhihuan's sweat formed ripples on the paper. He was bitterly expounding on the "malpractices of mulberry ponds in Huguang", and the data he cited came from the trade account books of Jinghua Commercial Society - he was born in the Mei family of Macheng, and his family had a lot of cooperation with Jinghua.

When he proposed in another chapter that "a new type of steam reeling wheel may be used to replace manual work", the accompanying picture was actually the improved hydraulic machinery in "Wang Zhen's Book of Agriculture", except that the water wheel was replaced by a new type of pressure valve from Jinghua Boiler Factory… The examination took a very long time, but Gao Youshi insisted on reviewing the papers as soon as they were handed in, and he personally reviewed the policy essays - he had not read any of the eight-part essays in the previous examination, but he had read all the high-scoring "electives", so reading the policy essays at this time was even more meaningful.

It was not until the afternoon, when the sky gradually darkened, that Gao Yuanfu was carefully studying Xu Guangqi's armillary sphere blueprint. The parameters of those precision gears clearly matched the parts of the "Wanli Instrument" in the Nanjing Observatory - but Gao Yuanfu smiled, because the error correction formula marked on the edge of the blueprint came from "Three Essentials of Xuanji Error" published by Xu Guangqi in the Beijing "Science and Technology Monthly" a few months ago.

"Great job, Xu Zixian!" Gao Fushi clapped his hands in praise, "He used the Pythagorean theorem and the square of the circle from the Zhoubi Suanjing to solve the problem of equatorial mount drift that had troubled Western missionaries."

The candlelight suddenly jumped somewhere on the drawing, where a line of small characters was hidden: "Refer to the fourth volume of Mengxi Bitan·Xiangshu Pian", which was Shen Kuo's ancient method of drawing star maps. Gao Youshi was very pleased. Some colonialists in later generations always said that China had no science since ancient times - it was so funny. If ancient China had no science, other civilizations of the same era would probably only be worthy of sitting at the same table with trees and monkeys.

The sun was completely gone, and countless glass lanterns lit up, illuminating the outside of the Baohe Hall. It seemed that even the weather was not so cold anymore. Gao Youshi, who had finished marking the papers, stood on the steps with his hands behind his back. The golden dragon on his python robe seemed to be swimming under the reflection of the twelve bronze armillary spheres in the hall.

Now is the time, and we should take this opportunity to explain our intentions to those who hope for the future of the Ming Dynasty.

"Do you know why the treasure ship of the eunuch Sanbao was able to cut through the waves 200 years ago?" His voice resounded under the dome of the Hall of Preserving Harmony, and his fingers suddenly clasped the navigation compass on the table that was imitated from the Yongle period. "It was not due to any magic weapon of the immortals, but the watertight compartments, the star-guiding board and the 30,000 measured data in the Zheng He Navigation Chart!"

The old scholars in the Hanlin Academy changed color when they heard this - this compass was the forbidden item that Liu Daxia had burned back then. Was it rescued from the pile of old papers in the Ministry of War by Yuan Fu, or was it made by Jinghua himself?

They didn't know that the same compass had already been embedded in the command cabins of various new ships produced by the Jinghua Shipyard.

"Today's policy question of 'revitalizing the country through science and technology' does not mean that we should become alchemists with strange and cunning skills!" Gao Youshi suddenly raised his voice. "In the 38th year of Jiajing, when Qi Nantang used the tiger squat cannon to blast away the Japanese pirates' speedboat in Taizhou, he relied on the gunpowder formula in Wujing Zongyao; in the 8th year of Wanli, when Pan Jixun diverted the Yellow River, he used the ancient method of 'dredging and blocking at the same time' of Jialu in the Yuan Dynasty - but are these enough?"

He suddenly ordered someone to unfold a huge silk painting of "Kunyu Gezhi Tu" and hang it behind him. The painting marked the overseas experimental fields of Jinghua Trading Company with red ink: "Why can the Champa rice of Siam increase its production in Shuntian Prefecture? Because Jinghua has improved the varieties, fertilizers and the Han Dynasty's method of replacing fields; why is the range of Malacca's Francophone cannons thirty years ago far inferior to the products of Jinghua Arsenal? Because they don't understand the "live kiln quenching technique" recorded in "Mengxi Bitan", and they don't know how much research Jinghua has done to improve artillery and how many processes have been updated!"

Three hundred and sixty glass palace lanterns swayed at the same time in the hall, as the eunuchs were lighting the wicks according to the instructions of the prime minister in advance. These lampshades were all made in Beijing, and were painted with beautiful patterns by the Shimazu family. As for the three hundred and sixty lanterns, that was the number of candidates taking the palace examination today.

"The science and technology that this cabinet wants to develop the country is to let the "Qimin Yaoshu" meet the breeding technology developed by Jinghua Agricultural Science, and let the "Yingzao Fashi" talk with the steam engine transmission mechanics!"

Gao Youshi grabbed the blueprint of the armillary sphere from Xu Guangqi's exam paper and said, "Take a look at this improvement plan - use the equatorial ring of Guo Shoujing's simple instrument from the Yuan Dynasty for calibration, use the gear transmission of Su Song's water-powered astronomical observatory from the Song Dynasty, and finally install the glass eyepiece from the Jinghua Optical Institute! This is the knowledge that my Ming Dynasty should have!"

He suddenly shook out three imperial edicts from his sleeves and threw them on the table: "The Ministry of Industry said that the Patent Law would make craftsmen uneasy - then why can Songjiang cloth monopolize the Japanese market? Because the descendants of Huang Daopo used automatic jacquard machines!

The Ministry of War said that flintlock rifles sometimes failed to fire and were not as reliable as bows and arrows. Then why did the barbarians from all directions succumb to the sight of the Ming army? Even the Ministry of Revenue said that land surveys would hurt the foundation of the country. Then according to Mei Zhihuan's Huguang Fish Scale Book, the hidden land of the Chu Palace was 37 times more than that during the Hongwu period. Wouldn't that not hurt the foundation of the country? "

The Hall of Preserving Harmony fell into silence, with only the copper ball of the armillary sphere slowly rotating under the drive of the clepsydra. Gao Youshi picked up Sun Chengzong's border defense geometry map and said to Wang Tingzhu, his classmate who had just been transferred back to Beijing as the new Minister of War, "Bujihatu revived the Western Regions. It is said that his cowhide shield can block firearms from a hundred steps away. Then I would like to ask, can it block the parabolic shooting of the Beijing cannon improved according to the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art?"

He did not stop, and took out Mei Zhihuan's agricultural policy paper and slapped it in front of the four vice ministers of the Ministry of Revenue: "Do you know why the hungry people in Shaanxi rioted after the disaster last year? What they lacked was not the relief grain, but the 'high-rotating drum cart' recorded in Wang Zhen's Agricultural Book but lost, so they could not divert the water of the Jing River to the mountains!"

"Today's top scholar examination will not test poetry or prose, and will not consider one's character. All you need to do is answer these three questions well—" He waved his sleeves and pointed at the sundial hanging high outside the hall. "The first question is, how can we increase grain production? The second question is, how can we make guns and cannons more powerful? The third question—" He poked his finger heavily on Xu Guangqi's test paper. "If the tools are not refined, how can the truth be revealed?"

After finishing his words, Gao Youshi gently placed his right hand on Xu Guangqi's test paper: "Please remember what I said today. To develop a country through science and technology is not to forget the roots and pursue the new, but to let the thousand-year-old wisdom of China be in the hands of you..." He waved his hand suddenly, and the eunuchs who had already pushed out two mechanical giants on the carts - Jinghua's latest steam locomotive and water-powered loom. "Innovation brings forth new buds, and old trees sprout new ones!"

After saying this, Gao Youshi left behind the old ministers and new nobles who were still in shock, and turned to leave. The eunuchs accompanying him hurriedly followed with all kinds of ceremonial guards - at this moment, Gao Youshi was representing the emperor to preside over the palace examination, and the entire set of ceremonial guards were the emperor's ceremonial guards, which could only be removed after Gao Youshi went to the emperor to report.

After the Yuanfu left, the candidates finally couldn't help whispering, especially Xu Guangqi and others who had just been named by Gao Youshi. They were congratulated by the other candidates, saying that since they had caught the Yuanfu's eye, it was a sure thing that they would be ranked first among the "heavenly gods".

Gao Youshi naturally wouldn't care about these things. Anyway, he would definitely focus on training Xu Guangqi and others. It didn't matter whether anyone talked about it or not. The more crucial thing today was the speech just now.

There isn't much left for me to do and to do...
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PS: I burned two fingers on my left hand with my own cigarette butt while typing today, so my speed has slowed down a lot and the update is a bit late. I’m very sorry.

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