Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 88 Arabic numerals? Trade secrets!

Outside the Hanlin Academy.

Hua Lun and others walked out from the high wall one after another.

They have been working there for two months and have begun to come into contact with certain political affairs.

Lian Zining and Hua Lun walked side by side. Lian Zining seemed to have thought of something and said, "If I remember correctly, today seems to be the day when Xia Zhibai's salt shop opened."

Hua Lun nodded and said, "It seems so."

Huang Zicheng sneered, "I really don't know what Xia Zhibai is thinking. He doesn't want to be an editor in the Hanlin Academy, but wants to go into business, and even causes trouble for us."

"It is said that His Majesty originally intended to directly entrust our class of Jinshi with important tasks, just like the first batch of Jinshi."

"But because of Xia Zhibai's incident, and because we were inspired by Xia Zhibai's words during the palace examination, we stood up and were all arranged to be in the Hanlin Academy to prepare for the study of talents."

Huang Zicheng looked depressed.

After the palace examination, the successful candidates in the first imperial examination were directly entrusted with important tasks and appointed to serve in the six ministries.

The Jinshi candidates of this session were originally given high hopes, but because of this incident, they were all thrown into the Hanlin Academy. Although it was not bad, there was still some gap.

Especially since he was pushed down to the first class.

I felt even more unhappy.

Hua Lun and Lian Zining looked at each other and couldn't help but frown.

Huang Zicheng really has a lot of resentment.

It has been two months since this happened, but Huang Zicheng still can't forget it and is still fighting for justice.

Hua Lun looked at Lian Zining, not knowing why Lian Zining suddenly brought this up, and asked curiously, "Do you have any plans?"

Lian Zining said: "No matter how bad Xia Zhibai is now, he is still the top scholar of our class. If he is bullied by merchants, it will also damage our reputation. So I thought about it and decided to help him."

"Help? How?" Hua Lun frowned even more tightly.

Lian Zining smiled, a shrewd look flashed in his eyes, and said, "Of course I'm going to buy some salt."

"We can't let Xia Zhibai look too bad."

Hua Lun seemed to be thinking about something.

In fact, they are not optimistic about Xia Zhibai's business.

There is no reason to be optimistic.

Not to mention the low status of merchants.

Even if Xia Zhibai, a man who had never done business before, suddenly started doing business, how could he compete with those cunning and experienced businessmen?
Moreover, starting from scratch is bound to be difficult. If you want to make a profit, you can only sell at a high price.

How can this be sold in large quantities?

Failure is a foregone conclusion.

Lian Zining also looked helpless as he said, "Xia Zhibai, the top scholar, is free and at ease, doing whatever he wants, but he has also implicated us, lowering our reputation again and again."

"You should have discovered it during this period of time."

"Although we are the editors of the Imperial Academy and handle relevant political affairs for His Majesty and His Highness, we are often looked down upon by the court officials."

"And this has something to do with Xia Zhibai."

"Xia Zhibai's intention to abolish the 'scholar' system caused dissatisfaction among many officials, and we also suffered an undeserved disaster."

"Now, whether I am willing or not, I have been dragged into this by Xia Zhibai."

"If he fails in business and is labeled as ambitious but incompetent, we will be affected to some extent. At least during the period of time when the Imperial Academy is preparing for the creation of talents, we will inevitably be ridiculed by some officials."

"The court is a place of controversy."

“It’s hard for us to really stay out of it.”

"Now if we can help as much as we can, we will do our best."

"We can only be completely free of it after we leave the Imperial Academy."

Hua Lun and Huang Zicheng were silent.

How could they not understand this?
Especially since His Majesty is very cold towards scholars, if they are looked down upon again and again by His Majesty because of Xia Zhibai's matter, they might really be suppressed in the Hanlin Academy for many years. Is this what they want?

Now they can do.

Just try your best to help Xia Zhibai.

So that Xia Zhibai won’t end up in a bad situation in business.

Eventually it drags them down.

Hua Lun nodded and said, "Just follow Brother Lian's advice."

"This Xia Zhibai has really done a lot of harm to us. Letting him become the top scholar has really screwed us over."

"If I hadn't..."

Before he could finish his words, Hua Lun seemed to have thought of something and smiled awkwardly. If he hadn't marked the papers again, things would have been worse than they are now.

Now it’s just a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.

But when they thought of Xia Zhibai's lawlessness, they all felt a headache.

"Going together?"

"Go together."

Hua Lun looked at the others and invited them to go together.

When a group of six or seven people arrived at the salt shop of Kyoto Salt Industry, they were shocked by the scene in front of them.

I even doubted whether I had come to the wrong place.

There is no trace of depression in sight.

There were clearly huge crowds of people and it was very lively.

"Is this the Kyoto Salt Shop run by Xia Zhibai?" Huang Zicheng was a little confused.

When they arrived, they expected the place to be deserted and with few people in front of the store, but the result was exactly the opposite.

The crowd was full of people.

If there hadn't been a 'Beijing Salt' flag flying in front of the ten-foot-wide shop, they wouldn't have dared to believe that this was the grand scene Xia Zhibai had created when he just opened the shop.

"How did Xia Zhibai do this?" Lian Zining was also a little stunned, and said: "Although I heard that his salt will be reduced in price, it will not be reduced too much. Moreover, I have heard some news privately that many salt merchants in Yingtian Prefecture are also preparing to lower the price today. This..."

"What's going on here?"

Lian Zining was a little confused. This was completely different from what he had imagined.

The others were equally stunned and stood there, not knowing what was happening.

Hua Lun suppressed his shock, looked around, reached out to stop a man, and asked, "Excuse me, sir, why are there so many people buying salt in this shop? Is the price very low?"

Being stopped, the old man immediately showed displeasure, but when he turned around and saw that he was stopped by a group of people in brocade clothes, he quickly smiled flatteringly: "Sir, we are naturally trying to get him a bargain."

"Fifteen cents a pound, which is half the price of other salt shops."

"Fifteen cents? So low?" Hua Lun was shocked again.

"How dare I lie to you about such a thing? But if you buy it individually it's eighteen cents, and fifteen cents is the group price for ten people. But there are no restrictions on place of origin, age, number of times, etc. It's basically fifteen cents per pound, and the salt is good, fine, white, and salty enough." The old man explained with a smile, his eyes full of joy.

"Won't he lose money?" Lian Zining asked the question that was in his mind.

The old man chuckled and shook his head, saying, "I don't know. I just heard that the salt seller is the top scholar of the current dynasty. He is a good official and a good person."

The old man looked ahead and said nervously, "Sir, I have to queue up now. If I don't queue up now, the store will be closed soon. I advise a few gentlemen to get together ten people and buy a few kilograms. This salt is really good, better than many refined salts out there."

"The salt sold by the top scholar must be of good quality."

Hua Lun nodded.

Seeing that Hua Lun did not ask any more questions, the father-in-law trotted a few steps and returned to the queue.

Hua Lun looked at the others, full of confusion: "What on earth is Xia Zhibai thinking? Fifteen cents? Isn't this price too low?"

"If the salt was of poor quality, I would understand why it was sold at such a low price, but judging from the looks of it, the quality should be OK."

"What is his plan?"

Hua Lun really couldn't understand it.

The others were equally puzzled, but they didn't think too much about it. They pulled a few people from the crowd around them who had not yet formed a team, formed a team of ten, and prepared to go and find out what was going on. Then they would know the specific situation.

The queue wasn't long.

While waiting in line, Hua Lun saw the number card at a glance.

He looked at it suspiciously for a few times, and asked Lian Zining behind him: "Brother Lian, look at that big sign, does it look like a Hu character number?"

Lian Zining raised his head and looked over. After looking back and forth for a few times, he said in a deep voice, "Looks like it."

“It’s just that this set of digital symbols is not taken very seriously.”

"Why is Xia Zhibai being used?"

And how did Xia Zhibai know this set of numerical symbols?
They knew about it from reading books in the palace. It was originally introduced into the country by the Hu people during the Tang Dynasty. However, China has had its own arithmetic method since ancient times, namely counting rods, so this set of numerical symbols has rarely been used.

It is also rarely known to the outside world.

Hua Lun and others actually did not have a very intuitive understanding of this counting system in the past, and rarely studied it seriously. After all, what good could there be about something that was abandoned by the ancients?

But when such a large counting board was hanging in front of them, it gave them a very strange feeling.

It is this counting system that seems to have its merits.

At least it's clear at a glance.

"What on earth is Xia Zhibai doing?" Lian Zining asked this question again.

He was becoming more and more confused.

Xia Zhibai does things in a completely unconventional way.

It rarely falls into a rut.

Time and time again, Xia Zhibai seemed to have no end in sight and always managed to come up with some new tricks.

It's refreshing and creepy.

soon.

It was Hua Lun and others' turn next.

They originally wanted to buy several kilograms at a time, but when they heard that they could only buy one kilogram at a time, they couldn't help but frown and a strange look appeared on their faces. Is there any businessman who doesn't want to sell more?

And it’s just a matter of queuing a few more times, what does Xia Zhibai think?
Compared to Huang Zicheng and others who didn't care, Hua Lun's eyes were always on the counting card.

The more he looked at it, the more he felt that this counting system was unusual.

He had a hunch that Xia Zhibai had a deep understanding of this counting system, which made Hua Lun somewhat excited.

Many of the political affairs he is currently responsible for are related to data.

This counting system is obviously more intuitive and easier to count than counting bars. If this system is combined with counting bars, will it greatly improve the speed of political processing?

Hua Lun was secretly calculating in his mind.

Instead of going with the others, he found an excuse to leave.

When the salt shop closed, Hua Lun appeared again and pointed at the tally board and asked, "What is this?"

“The number of kilograms sold in a store in a day.”

"What is this number?" Hua Lun asked solemnly.

Fang Mo looked at it suspiciously and said, "Arabic numerals? This was taught by Commander Xia. Commander Xia felt that the previous counting with abacus was too troublesome. There were too many strokes when counting with words, and the counting process was also very cumbersome, so he deliberately simplified it. This counting system is said to have been introduced by the Hu people."

"This '1' is one, and this '2' is two."

Fang Mo explained patiently.

Hua Lun kept these statements in mind.

"Where is Xia Zhibai?" Hua Lun had an idea and wanted to go see Xia Zhibai and ask about the situation with the number.

"Our boss is out on business." Fang Mo said with a smile.

"On business?" Hua Lun looked stunned.

Fang Mo nodded and said, "The specific business we are running involves commercial secrets and cannot be disclosed."

Hua Lun's eyes moved slightly, he hesitated for a moment, and said slowly: "When he comes back, remember to tell him that Hua Lun has something to ask."

Then, he added: "The editor of the Hanlin Academy should look for him."

"Hanlin." Fang Mo's pupils suddenly brightened.

Hua Lun didn't want to say anything more and just walked away.

He planned to go back and look through the information to see whether the counting system Xia Zhibai had come up with was really the one introduced by the Hu people.

(End of this chapter)