I'm really not doing business

Chapter 948 Practice is the only criterion for testing any truth
Ling Yunyi did not want to completely oppose Wang Chonggu. He wanted to eliminate the accumulated malpractices and allow the government-owned factories to develop better. This memorial was very long. At the beginning of the memorial, Ling Yunyi affirmed Wang Chonggu's contribution.

At the beginning of the Wanli reign, the country was in decline and the world was in danger. Duke Wencheng followed the emperor's instructions, took on the responsibility of managing the mountains and rivers, promoted various craftsmen to fill the granaries, established government factories to benefit the people's livelihood, and endured wind and rain for sixteen years to lay the foundation for the new policy. Factories were lined up, schools were full of music, pharmacies were benevolent, and water plants were benefiting the people. All of this was due to the great blessing of the emperor and the hard work of Duke Wencheng.

The humanistic management style of treating craftsmen as if they were family members is the best way to maintain people's hearts when starting a business from scratch, and the mainstay of promoting industry and benefiting the people when starting a business from scratch.

Ling Yunyi believes that the reason for the problem is very simple:
If the law lasts for a long time, corruption will arise; if sentiment is excessive, the principles will be relaxed. What was once the panacea for starting a business is now the root cause of chronic problems and ills. If sentiment is too intense, corruption will spread; if benevolence is too heavy, the principles will be relaxed.

The problems of government-owned factories mainly include three disadvantages:

Redundant staff are like bones attached to the body, wasting public funds, sitting on the pillars, and wasting national wealth.

The laws become a dead letter, the rules and regulations are gone, the authority is not carried out, and the laws are empty.
The third disadvantage is that the cunning always succeeds, the diligent are obscured by the dust, right and wrong are reversed, and the only thing they care about is profit.

These three drawbacks of government-run factories eventually led to a consensus that "the more honest you are, the more you suffer, and not taking advantage of the government is a loss." If this consensus continues to spread and is not corrected, it will inevitably lead to:
The craftsmen became alienated, power and interests fell into the hands of others, the imperial court gradually lost its arms and legs, and huge amounts of public funds were wasted; still using the old rules with warm and sympathetic feelings to manage the new situation that was spreading like wildfire was like adding fuel to the fire and only festering the boil.

In the face of these three evils, Ling Yunyi and Zhou Liangyin proposed three destructions and three establishments: destroy personal relationships and establish rules; destroy profiteering and establish efficiency; destroy cliques and establish public institutions;
The specific practices of the "Three Destructions and Three Establishments" are: strict performance evaluation to eliminate redundancy; clear rewards and punishments to enforce discipline; checking costs to stop extravagance; establishing schools to pass on skills; transferring officials to avoid relatives; fighting corruption to eliminate embezzlement.

The "Three Destructions and Three Establishments" consists of thousands of words, and each item is described in detail. It conforms to the emperor's requirement of the faithful analysis method of "phenomenon, problem, cause, plan, and review", and gives the specific "when, where, why, what, who, and what to do" six "Whys".

When, where, why, what specific thing, who will do it and how it will be done, these are the six elements that must be present when the officials submit memorials to the emperor to discuss how to improve a specific thing after the implementation of the evaluation system.

If even these six basic elements are not present, then this memorial lacks respect and is intended to deceive Your Majesty.

In the imperial examination, one has to write eight-part essays. After passing the imperial examination, everyone becomes the ruling class who selects officials, and they have to write official eight-part essays! Zhang Juzheng has done all kinds of bad things!

But Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to resort to this formalism, because he had been in the officialdom for so many years and he knew that many officials had not even read the memorials they submitted.

This is very common. Memorials are written by pens, and proofread by legal advisors. Officials don't even need to read them.

Since the chief official didn't read it, the writers and advisors began to do a perfunctory job. In the early years of the Wanli period, some memorials, a short essay of less than 200 words, had five or six typos and three or four incoherent sentences.

The faithfulness analysis method and the six whys method, this kind of official formalism, is to force officials to read the memorials they submit.

Who and when means that the court can review the memorials submitted at any time. Once it is found that they have not been done, the court will hold them accountable. In this case, officials naturally have to read every memorial carefully.

Ling Yunyi and Zhou Liangyin began drafting the "Memorial on the Reform of Accumulated Abuses in Government-Owned Factories" after Ling Yunyi returned to Beijing. The first draft was not completed until early June, and specific people were responsible for each item.

"Approved." Zhu Yijun hesitated for a moment, and finally approved Ling Yunyi's second memorial. In the emperor's opinion, the only problem with Ling Yunyi's memorial was that he was also trying to use a narrative of favor.

Zhu Yijun was not opposed to the narrative of gratitude. Under the feudal monarchy, as an emperor, Zhu Yijun was bound to tell the narrative of gratitude unless he issued an abdication edict and announced the demise of the Ming Dynasty. This was too stupid.

But he also believed that too much is as bad as too little, and that Ling Yunyi had gone a little too far, such as hanging flags and banners to honor his virtues and reciting the Hadith every day.

If one goes too far, it will easily cause people to rebel. Zhu Yijun deleted some of the more excessive descriptions of favors, and the memorial immediately became perfect.

In June of the eighteenth year of the Wanli reign, the Western sailing ships arrived at the new port of Songjiang Prefecture half a month late. This time, there were only three sailing ships, which was the least in the past eighteen years. Even in the first year of the Wanli reign, there were five sailing ships.

The Songjiang Maritime Customs naturally asked the reason. If Felipe didn't want to do business with the Ming Dynasty, the sailing ship shouldn't come. After repeated communication, they found out why such a problem occurred.

There were originally five sailing ships that departed from the port of Lima, but two of them got lost in the ocean.

Felipe lacked sufficient navigators and employed a group of inexperienced navigators, which directly led to the ship's loss of navigation, which was also the impact of the expedition's failure.

Experienced sailors died during the expedition when a violent storm in the Atlantic engulfed the ship and the sailors.

In addition to the treacherous situation, an indigenous uprising broke out again in the rich silver mines.

The silver production of the rich silver mines has dropped sharply. The rich silver mines, which originally produced 6.5 million to 8 million taels of silver annually, only produced 2.5 million taels of silver this year, resulting in the large sailing ships not having enough silver to exchange for Ming Dynasty goods.

Moreover, the Chilean saltpeter mines were also affected, and production decreased, which made the Spanish envoys quite anxious.

However, Songjiang Prefecture calculated the amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty this year. Compared with last year, the amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty from the rich silver mines did not decrease, but increased, from 2 million silver to nearly 4 million silver.

The Ming Dynasty was able to determine the source of silver. One of the important means used by the Imperial Guards in investigating cases was to inspect the silver routes. Silver is a mineral, and there are very subtle differences in silver produced in different places.

Did the rich silver mines really cause an indigenous riot? However, the ships from the Viceroyalty of Peru still brought enough silver.

The Viceroyalty of Peru was becoming disloyal and had its own little schemes, which led to the so-called indigenous riots and a reduction in silver production.

The production of silver did not decrease at all. All the silver arrived at the Ming Dynasty and was exchanged for enough goods. After a cleaning, it became a commodity of unknown origin but very useful.

As for the source of the goods? Of course they were smuggled in by smugglers from the Ming Dynasty!

This Void indigenous riot also caused a reduction in Chile's saltpeter production.

The Ming Dynasty also knew exactly where the Chilean saltpeter had gone.

According to statistics from various customs offices this year, the amount of saltpeter from Chile increased by 2 million kilograms, but 2 million kilograms of saltpeter could only be exchanged for 100,000 kilograms of saltpeter, which was enough for the Governor-General's Office of Peru and Chile to maintain its rule.

When envoys from various countries arrived in the capital by speedboat, Michael Masterlin, the astronomer and mathematician invited by Legazpi, also arrived in the Ming Dynasty as promised and met Legazpi who invited him at the Siyi Pavilion.

"After twenty years, we finally meet again." Michael looked at the Tiqi next to him. On the way here, the envoys who had visited the Ming Dynasty had repeatedly reminded Michael that these people wearing flying fish suits were the most dangerous people in the Ming Dynasty.

"Don't worry about me. I'm in a bit of trouble right now. After meeting you, I'll go back to jail." Li Yashi looked more relaxed. He had changed cells and returned to his own small room, which meant that he had passed the test successfully.

"Is it very dangerous?" Michael was a little worried. Daming seemed to be in danger. He was already considering whether to take a boat back to Taixi.

It was a difficult journey for him, but for the Temple of Science written in Legazpi's letter, Michael still traveled across the ocean to Ming Dynasty.

"It's not dangerous." Li Yashi thought about it and decided to share his experience of being in prison with Michael. It was a rather long experience.

After listening to Li Yashi's description, Michael stared at Li Yashi in a daze for a long time before he said in surprise: "You are not brave, you are challenging the god of death. Is the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty a saint? He actually forgave your rude offense!"

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is the supreme being in the Eastern world. And because there is no god oppressing him, the power of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is like that of a god.

Would Legazpi dare to disrespect God in Thailand? Obviously not.

But Li Ya was really brave and did it more than once, and he survived every time.

"I didn't lie. Everything I said was true." Li Yashi replied stubbornly.

In fact, he also realized the problem. When he met his old friend, he was reminded by his old friend and suddenly realized that he was indeed a little childish. This behavior was very inappropriate, like dancing on the edge of a knife.

Michael was even more confused. He spread his hands and said in confusion, "My old friend, you seem to have become much more childish now. Can you avoid Thunder's wrath by telling the truth?"

"You are a brave sailor. You have traveled through countless mountains, rivers and oceans. You know, usually it is difficult for us to tell the truth."

"Just like now, every court secretary in Spain knows that they should persuade His Royal Highness Felipe to stop the expedition to England, but no court secretary dares to say this, and they even keep echoing the necessity of the expedition to England."

"You can save your own life by making the tyrant who has already lost control less angry."

Michael passed through Spain. Almost everyone in Spain knew that the expedition to England had become a losing business, and the best thing to do was to stop the expedition.

If England could be conquered in one go, the expedition would naturally be a huge profit, but this protracted and tug-of-war expedition would be very fatal to the empire. There were many complaints from top to bottom in Spain, but no one told Felipe, who made the decision.

Felipe has become an out-of-control tyrant.

"Your Majesty is still young." Li Yashi was very relieved. His Majesty was as wise as ever. Although His Majesty was unhappy to hear these words, he would not punish him too harshly.

Michael whispered, “When Felipe was young, he was also very knowledgeable and full of wisdom.”

Li Yashi smiled and said, "When Your Majesty is old, I will have died long ago, and even my bones will be rotten to the point where they cannot decay. I am not worried about the problem you are talking about."

"Okay." Michael smiled when he heard that. Indeed, they were both almost sixty years old. How many years could they live?

"In your letter, you said you already knew why my formula was wrong."

"Tell me, tell me the answer as long as I come to Ming Dynasty. Now, I am standing in front of you, can you tell me the reason?" Michael's face became serious.

He risked his life by going out to sea just for the answer. He wanted to know what went wrong with the formula he had been pursuing all his life.

The emperor was also prepared to keep Michael on the grounds that "since you're already here", but Michael had come to the Ming Dynasty with the purpose of martyrdom and had no intention of leaving.

You will die no matter where you die, but if you cannot figure out where you went wrong before you die, you will not be willing to die.

"Look, you said I was a madman, but you are the same. I didn't even tell you the reason, but you came." Li Yashi shook his head. Michael thought he was a madman, but so was Michael. It was a journey of 100,000 miles from the west to the Ming Dynasty, with huge waves, loneliness, and illness, but Michael was determined. After receiving the letter, he embarked on the journey of seeking the truth.

Everyone has their own obsession.

"The answer is simple, because all orbits are ellipses, and your calculation of the relationship between radius and period using a polyhedron is naturally wrong." Li Yashi pointed to the young man next to him and said, "This is Galileo, and this is Xu Guangqi. The two of them have studied your formula, and you can communicate with them."

"I have to go back to jail, so I won't delay your conversation."

Legazpi had to fulfill his duties as an interpreter in the Honglu Temple, so he was released from prison for a short time. After Michael settled down, he would continue to translate "An Outline of Astronomy", which contained many professional terms, and he needed Michael's help in translating.

Translation was his main job, and making jokes was a side job. After a long time in the Ming Dynasty, Li Yashi also caught the common habit of scholars and officials of criticizing current affairs.

"I've heard of you, Galileo, the star gazer. You were expelled from the University of Pisa for studying the earth's tides. It's really a pity. At the University of Pisa, studying astronomy and geography is not allowed." Michael had heard of Galileo. His theory of the earth's tides caused a lot of discussion in the academic circles of Europe and the United States.

"Actually, I was expelled from the University of Pisa because I told the truth and offended Duke Cosimo of Florence, not because of the theory of earth tides. I studied medicine, and after arriving in the Ming Dynasty, I was still a doctor, working as a physician in a dismemberment hospital. You can call me the Devil Galileo." Galileo introduced himself.

The theory of earth tides was not the reason for his expulsion. Cosmo, Duke of Florence, was an illegitimate child and uneducated. He wanted to build a dredging machine to dredge the silt in the harbor. Galileo was expelled because he said that the machine he designed could not dredge the silt.

Dissecting corpses was considered a blasphemy and a sign of being bewitched by the devil, so according to Tessi's rules for giving nicknames, he should now be called the Devil Galileo.

"This is Xu Guangqi, an excellent astronomy student. Of course, you can call him Farmer Xu Guangqi. He now works as the Minister of Agriculture in Baoqisi and is quite knowledgeable about sweet potato seedling cultivation. He studies astronomy in order to research a more accurate calendar and farming time so that people can farm better." Galileo introduced Xu Guangqi's identity.

Farmer Xu Guangqi, who holds a PhD from the Agricultural College and a PhD in astronomy, is in charge of breeding imported grains at Baoqisi.

"Nice to meet you." Xu Guangqi said with a smile: "Dr. Michael might be curious, are the orbits of planets really elliptical? Then let's set off now and head to the observatory in Beidaying."

Beidaying Observatory, directly under the Imperial Academy of Gewu, was the largest observatory in the Ming Dynasty, covering an area of ​​more than 400 acres. It had 23 astronomy doctors and 500 astronomy students.

Beidaying Observatory, under its jurisdiction, includes Womagang Observatory, Lanzhou Observatory, Songjiang Observatory, Guangzhou Observatory, Manila Observatory, Yehaicheng Observatory and the Dajinchi Observatory under construction. According to the plan, each observatory will be equipped with five observation points.

When the train brought everyone to Beidaying and they took a horse-drawn carriage to the Beidaying Observatory, Michael stared at the observatory in front of him in amazement.

This was the largest, most staffed and most fully-equipped observatory he had ever seen. The huge telescopes reaching into the sky made his hands tremble.

"The place we are going to is the North Pavilion." Xu Guangqi stood in front of the gate. Not to mention Michael, he would be surprised every time he came here. There were seven such magnificent observatories in the Ming Dynasty.

"Did the Ming Dynasty build such magnificent buildings and observe celestial phenomena just to calibrate farming time?" Michael asked in disbelief.

Xu Guangqi nodded as a matter of course and said, "Of course it is to calibrate the farming time. Your Majesty is also a farmer. In addition, it is to study the art of pulling the stars across the ocean so that the Ming ships will not get lost in the vast ocean."

"What are the words engraved on this stone?" Michael asked, pointing to the words on the huge stone in front of the door.

Xu Guangqi said solemnly: "This is the instruction given by His Majesty to us, the Doctors of the Study of Things. It means that people should practice a basic principle throughout their lives, that is, down-to-earth credibility and truthfulness, and never be false. Practice is the only criterion for testing any truth."

This is the most important instruction of the Institute of Gewu, and also the highest principle for studying the infinite principles of all things. Principle gives way to practice.

Led by Xu Guangqi and Galileo, Michael walked through the heavily guarded gate, along the corridors full of flowers, stepped on the spots of light shining through the leaves, with the melodious bird songs echoing in his ears, and arrived at the first observatory in the North Pavilion.

The observatory is three meters high, and the largest reflecting telescope in the Ming Dynasty is located on this observatory.

Mingshan Telescope is the largest reflecting telescope in the Ming Dynasty. Its name means bright eyes and good looks, which means that its eyes are very bright. Its main reflector functions like human eyes. The larger the main reflector is, the clearer it can see, and the smoother it is, the more accurate it is.

The largest reflective lens in the Ming Dynasty was only about one foot in size, which was the limit of the craftsmen. It took more than a hundred craftsmen sixty-four months to polish this one-foot-large reflective mirror.

The Institute of Gewu tried to build a larger reflective lens in the hope of seeing more clearly, but it was difficult. The one-foot mark was like a curse that could not be broken.

The huge telescope, with a diameter of one foot and a length of ten feet, is nested in a giant sextant and celestial globe. It can determine the orbits of stars and planets. The cost of this telescope is 120,000 silver coins, which is equal to the cost of five five-masted ocean-going ships and about one-fifth of the cost of the former emperor's mausoleum.

This is indeed a miracle.

"It's really a magical place, worthy of being the temple of science. Legashi didn't lie to me." Michael's eyes were filled with confusion. He liked the telescope so much.

As long as he had this, his theory, which had been delayed in perfection due to the lack of observation equipment, would be able to be further improved.

"How can I use this magical telescope?" Michael looked at Galileo with burning eyes, as if he was looking at a beauty, with nothing but desire in his eyes.

"If you want to make outstanding contributions to the Ming Dynasty, I think you should start by cooperating with Legashi to translate your book "Outline of Astronomy". Of course, during your time in the Ming Dynasty, the first floor of the library will also be open to you. The second floor is confidential, and the third floor is top secret. Only if you become a Doctor of the Study of Things can you go to the second floor." Galileo explained in detail the authority of Michael for this academic exchange.

Galileo passed the examinations for the Doctor of Gewu degree of the Ming Dynasty, became a Doctor of Astronomy and a Doctor of Medicine, and actively contributed to the Ming Dynasty. Only then could he enter the second floor, but he could not go up to the third floor. He was only allowed to enter with special permission from His Majesty.

By just going up to the second floor, he can still go back to Taixi after going through the complicated process, but the things he carries with him cannot include the results of the Gewuyuan. He can remember things with his brain, but cannot write them down with a pen.

Once you become a Doctor of Gewu, you will enjoy the protection of the Tiqi. This is protection as well as surveillance. Anyone you come into contact with must be protected from assassination and backstabbing, and at the same time, you are not allowed to pass on the news of the Gewu Academy to the outside.

Once you reach the third floor, you can never return to Tessie.

Galileo just wanted to work hard to contribute to the Ming Dynasty. If he could win the Ming Dynasty Chonggu Progress Award and the Outstanding Achievement Medal, he could go to the third floor and get involved in the most cutting-edge projects of the Ming Dynasty, such as the improvement of steam engines, lightning research, steam turbines, gliders, etc.

As for returning to Europe, Galileo never thought about it, because God had abandoned him and he could not go back. His current research, just working in the Institute for Dissection and studying human dissection, would get him sent to the stake.

"Suddenly I feel like there are too many things to do, and five years may not be enough. Galileo, if I want to stay a little longer, is there anything I need to do?" Michael was eager to try.

Galileo said with a smile: "Perhaps you can become a visiting doctor of the Institute of Gewu? I will help you, Dr. Michael."

"This is the temple of science. You can concentrate on studying science. There is no need to worry about religion, funding, or equipment. Everything else will happen naturally once the conditions are ripe."

"Don't worry."

"That's really great. When can we start the translation work?" Michael couldn't wait.

Galileo and Xu Guangqi settled Michael down and told him not to worry, to take good rest, and to have a physical examination by the chief physician before starting work. Amid constant expressions of gratitude, Galileo and Xu Guangqi left the residence prepared for Michael by the court.

"This feeling is very wonderful. Michael can't leave, just like I stay in Ming Dynasty. Did you notice his eyes? He looked at the telescope as eagerly as an ambitious man seeing the imperial seal." Galileo looked back, feeling deeply moved. He had deceived another person and felt that he was not alone.

"Your metaphor is quite wonderful." Xu Guangqi heard it, although it was strange, it was appropriate.

Galileo asked in surprise, "It's strange. Your Majesty's support for science is as fanatical as that of a fanatic. Your Majesty has allocated funds many times, but His Royal Highness the King of Germany has rejected them all. Xu, your Majesty's fanatical support for science, won't the court officials stop it?"

He had seen how crazy those conservatives became and how they would do anything to destroy scholars' scientific research, but the court officials did not correct the behavior of the Ming Emperor.

"The emperor of our Ming Dynasty always has some strange hobbies. His Majesty spends his own money and does not do his job properly. It is difficult for court officials to make suggestions, so they can be silenced by an iron horse." Xu Guangqi did not think it was strange. It would be strange if the emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not have some strange hobbies.

In fact, there were not many flowers in the Gewuyuan, definitely not as many as those used by Emperor Sejong to burn incense.

Galileo thought that the Academy of Sciences might be a means of struggle between the emperor and his ministers, but it had nothing to do with him. He just wanted to focus on doing scientific research.

"Your Majesty's idea of ​​forcing Michael to stay was a miscalculation. Now we can't drive him away even if we want to." Galileo said with a smile.

Xu Guangqi and Galileo completed the tasks given by the emperor, leaving behind more doctors of science to make the Ming Dynasty great again.

The rapid development of astronomy was conducive to the improvement of the Ming Dynasty's technique of pulling stars and crossing oceans, so that merchant ships would not get lost in the vast ocean and could study the infinite principles of all things, which had practical significance.

On the other hand, Zhu Yijun received a piece of news that made him sigh. In December of the seventeenth year, Ming Dynasty's old friend, Antonio's first mate, Marquis of Cascais, and swordsman Marcus, died in an assassination.

The target of the assassination was King Antonio of Portugal, and Marcus died protecting Antonio.

The assassination was carried out by assassins ordered by King Felipe of Spain and took place at the corner staircase of the Chinese Room of the Royal Palace of Sintra.

Marcus had just returned to Lisbon and discussed some of his experiences in China with Antonio. When going downstairs, three assassins suddenly took out their muskets and aimed at Antonio.

Marcus was quick-witted and stood in front of Antonio. After being shot three times, Marcus still stood in front of Antonio to buy time for escape. In the last moments of his life, the sword saint Marcus killed an assassin who pounced on him, but was hit by four more swords and left the world forever in a pool of blood.

Antonio was unharmed.

The reason why Felipe assassinated Antonio was very simple. Felipe discovered that Portugal was selling a large number of gold bonds. In anger, Felipe launched the assassination.

This was not the first time that Felipe used assassination to deal with difficult enemies. For example, William of Orange, the founding father of the Netherlands, died at the hands of Gerard, an assassin sent by Felipe.

After William's death, the Northern Netherlands Confederation passed the "Acts of Abjuration" and fought to the death with Spain. Even if Philip rearmed and occupied, there was the New Netherlands overseas to continue resisting Spain's brutal rule.

"Assassination cannot resolve the conflict. Felipe II has made a mistake once, and he made the same mistake the second time!" Zhu Yijun was convinced that Felipe was now indeed an out-of-control tyrant.

(End of this chapter)