Chinese New Year

Chapter 1380 A New Job (Part 1)
At the end of the first month of the fourth year of Zhenming, the Crown Prince received a new assignment: the Emperor entrusted him with the management of the Wanxiang Academy and the Tiangong Academy, and appointed Fan Wang, a staff member of Zhuge Hui, as the supervisor of the Wanxiang Academy, and Cui Tao, the newly appointed tutor of the Crown Prince, as the supervisor of the Tiangong Academy. Before this, these two academies did not have supervisors and were always managed by the Emperor himself.

After the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven was completed in the southern suburbs in early February, all documents were handed over to the Crown Prince.

As one of the few matters the Crown Prince can currently intervene in, he is still quite interested in it.

On the afternoon of the eighth day of the second lunar month, while writing a letter, Shao Jin arrived at the Dragon Scale Hall and summoned the supervisors of the two academies.

Fan Wang and Cui Tao were also newly appointed officials. After a brief introduction, they were suddenly summoned and didn't have much to say. They could only start with the easier things to talk about.

“Your Highness, the Wanxiang Academy currently has three scholars: Ge Hong, Yu Xi, and Shen Shao. Hong currently resides in Wuling, Xi resides in Danyang, and Shao has moved to Donglai,” Fan Wang said. “The imperial court has specially constructed post roads for Ge Hong and Yu Xi, totaling over a hundred routes, with nearly a hundred water and land post stations, accommodating over three hundred and sixty households, and providing over five hundred and ten hectares of farmland, forests, grasslands, and waterways.”

"So many?" Shao Jin exclaimed in surprise.

“Exactly,” Fan Wang said. “The post roads leading to these two prefectures were abandoned for a long time during the Wei and Jin dynasties. To send a message, without a special envoy from the court, it often took several months to travel back and forth, causing considerable delays. When I was in Zhuge Daoming’s army, when I sent messages to Wuling, I often had to send messengers on short notice, sometimes by donkey or mule, sometimes by boat, or even on foot, which was very difficult. The court has now specially opened a post road to Wuling, which is much more convenient and faster. Therefore, officials in the prefectures and counties along the way request that this post road be used for the transmission of official correspondence and for official and private communications between officers and soldiers.”

“That makes sense,” Shao Jin said. “How many post stations are there in the world now?”

"There should only be a few thousand." Fan Wang wasn't in charge of this, so he could only give a rough estimate: "Most of them are concentrated in the north, and it would be good if there were a thousand or so households in the south."

The so-called "post station households" were actually civilians who were engaged in this profession. Most of them were resettlement places for the disabled and retired veterans, along with their families. They were given several acres of farmland and forest land and allowed to operate businesses to undertake the country's post station tasks.

This profession is very ancient and has existed for a long time. The postal system has developed in every dynasty. Generally speaking, the more postal routes, post stations, and post households there are, the more the country spends on it – money, grain, land, livestock subsidies, etc.

This trade reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty, much like the yield per mu in northern agriculture also reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty. At that time, there was an average post station every thirty li on land. These post stations were often built with very nice courtyards (for living), and had attached farmland (for growing grain), pastures (for feeding horses), and woodlands (for gathering firewood and cooking). They were allowed to operate and make money, which greatly facilitated public and private exchanges and the transmission of information.

Many poems from the Tang Dynasty contain the character "驿" (post station), because literati and scholars also liked to stay at post stations. The reason was simple: the environment was quiet and clean, and some post stations even had lotus ponds for sightseeing, and the fees were not expensive.

In the later period, the Tang government could no longer sustain it, so it contracted out the post stations to wealthy local families, charging no money or taxes, but the imperial court no longer provided subsidies. Basically, the post stations had fulfilled their mission of facilitating official travel and transmitting military intelligence very well.

The post stations established since the Han and Wei dynasties were far inferior to those of the Tang dynasty. The entire system was incomplete and the density was not as high, especially in the south, where there were large areas of gaps and deficiencies. In addition, the devastation of war made reconstruction urgently needed—for many counties, this was actually the first time post stations had been built.

"If post stations were set up all over the country, how many post station operators would be needed? And how many horses would be required?" Shao Jin asked.

“If there is a post station every hundred li, there will be at least 100,000 households and 70,000 to 80,000 post horses,” Fan Wang said. “Large post stations will have several horses, while small post stations will rely on people to deliver messages on foot.”

"Impossible!" Shao Jin had a good grasp of numbers and immediately thought it was too exaggerated.

"The Emperor is surveying the fields in the north and eliminating powerful clans; this will be necessary later," Fan Wang reminded him.

This means that if imperial power is weak and local authority is largely delegated to powerful clans, then there will be less need for communication, and the court and local authorities can coexist peacefully, thus eliminating the need for numerous post stations.

To elaborate further, centralized power has its advantages, but it also comes at a price, such as the expansion of the bureaucracy and the establishment of post stations.

These are actually the "infrastructure" of centralized government, which cannot be missing, and the corresponding increase in fiscal expenditure is necessary.

If we had continued with the system established since the Qin and Han dynasties, with only a few thousand or even tens of thousands of officials nationwide, and most of them relying on local autonomy, then fiscal expenditures could indeed be smaller. The Han dynasty had seven or eight thousand officials, the Wei and Jin dynasties had a little over ten thousand, the Tang dynasty had eighteen or nine thousand, the Northern Song dynasty had nearly thirty thousand, the Southern Song dynasty had forty thousand, and the Ming dynasty had over one hundred thousand. The increase in officials meant that things that the court had not previously managed now needed to be managed, and overall it was a gradual process of centralization of power.

With more officials, there will also be more post stations; it's a two-sided thing.

After listening, Shao Jin remained silent for a long time, almost forgetting why she had come here today.

“At the beginning of each dynasty, there are usually not many officials, but the number increases as time goes on. Your Highness should think about this carefully,” Fan Wang said. “In addition, there is a lot of wasteland at the beginning of the dynasty, so we can open up more official land and salary land to grow grain, fruits, vegetables, mulberry and hemp, as long as there are enough government slaves. But as time goes on, there will be less wasteland, and it will not be so easy.”

"What do you mean by that?" Shao Jin asked.

Fan Wang bowed and said, "I am just worried."

Shao Jin looked at him suspiciously.

Fan Wang was arranged by his father, so he shouldn't be against Du Tian; he must be genuinely worried.

"What good ideas do you have?" Shao Jin asked again.

“Your Highness, I pondered deeply last night and think that I might be able to make a point about the Wanxiang Temple,” Fan Wang replied.

"Oh?" Shao Jin became interested and said, "Please speak frankly."

He was willing to try anything that would benefit his rule, especially matters concerning the lifeblood of the court, such as money and grain.

"I've heard that Shen Shao of Yecheng was promoted to academician with his 'buoyancy' and can now guide shipbuilding. It has many ingenious applications," Fan Wang said. "If we have good ships, we can transport spices, sugar, sandalwood, and other goods from Jiaozhou to the north, making profits of no less than ten times, or even dozens of times, which can make up for the country's shortage of supplies." Shao Jin thought for a moment, clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "I eat meat and cannot do without spices. What you say is true."

Fan Wang also laughed and said, "Even if more is transported in the future, the price of spices will be cheaper, but more people will buy them, and the profits will be greater."

“In that case, I am right,” Shao Jin said with emotion. “No wonder His Majesty attaches such importance to the matter of commerce.”

Fan Wang nodded in agreement.

At the same time, he secretly observed the Crown Prince's expression and was relieved to find that he was not angry.

Two years ago, the Crown Prince wasn't particularly interested in these things. Now that you know that debates ultimately come down to eating, things might change.

"How did Yu Xi and Ge Hong become scholars?" Shao Jin asked.

“Yu Zhongning became a scholar through mathematics and astronomy, while Ge Zhichuan became a scholar through medicine,” Fan Wang replied.

Shao Jin nodded slowly.

In his view, Yu Xi's value was much less than Shen Shao's.

His father really liked mathematics, saying it was useful in many ways. Shao Jin agreed, but he felt that the existing mathematical methods were sufficient; was a more complex method even necessary? Would it be useful?

He had asked his father about this, and his father remained silent for a long time before finally saying that he was too materialistic.

He couldn't understand it, but—oh well, he'd just keep him as a freeloader.

Ge Hong's advancement through medicine is indeed quite important. However, my father always emphasizes empirical evidence, and Ge Hong's medical prescriptions probably still need to be refined and purified, as those without empirical evidence are always difficult to verify.

"Each of the three has their own specialty?" Shao Jin asked after gathering his thoughts.

“No.” Fan Wang said, then took out a thin book and said, “This is Scholar Yu’s new work, ‘On Peace and Peace,’ which was published in last year’s collection of articles. At the end of the year, we received comments from Ge and Shen, so a new copy was published. Next month, we will send it to various places by post.”

Shao Jin took it curiously and quickly finished reading it. After finishing, she frowned and read it again, remaining silent for a long time.

The "Treatise on Heavenly Peace" contains many startling and unconventional statements. For example, Yu Xi believed that the universe is infinite, and that the sun, moon, and stars "float in the vast void" and "their radiance is arranged and each moves in its own way, just as the tides of rivers and seas and the movement of all things in nature are like the movement of things."

In summary, the sun, moon, and stars are suspended in the "Great Void" and operate according to their own laws, mainly refuting Zhang Heng's "Hun Tian Theory," and by extension, eliminating the basis for the existence of the "interaction between Heaven and Man" theory.

Moreover, he asked rhetorically, if the earth is truly "like the yolk in a chicken egg, living alone in the sky, with the sky being vast and the earth small," and "the sky envelops the earth as a shell encases the yolk," then "how can the sun, moon, and stars rise and fall in the water?"
Shao Jin then read the rebuttal articles by Ge Hong and Shen Shao and found that both of them believed in the "Hun Tian Theory," which held that the earth was the yolk, the sky was the shell, the sky enveloped the earth, and the sun, moon, and stars were embedded in the shell.

However, in response to Yu Xi's questions, they could not produce any strong evidence and could only cite various myths, legends, and even historical events to support their claims.

Shao Jin actually leaned towards Ge Hong and Shen Shao because he also believed in the theory of celestial sphere and thought that the changes in the sun, moon and stars had their own responsiveness. However, after reading "On the Peace of Heaven", he had some doubts because Yu Xi's questioning was indeed powerful, and he used the positions of the stars he had observed over the years to calculate the scale, which strengthened his argument.

Shao Jin began to waver.

This upheaval is like an earthquake, because many Confucian doctrines are based on the Hun Tian theory or even the more ancient Gai Tian theory.

"Snap!" He put away the collected articles and said, "Is this collected article meant for people to debate?"

"His Majesty said, 'The more a truth is debated, the clearer it becomes.' So don't use seniority, official position, or family background to intimidate people. Speak freely, and whoever has a point can write an article, which he will publish," Fan Wang said.

Shao Jin nodded slowly.

I previously thought Yu Xi's qualification as a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) based on astronomy and mathematics was useless, but I never expected him to write such an article that slapped the Han scholars in the face several times. He practically pointed his finger at me and accused me of making far-fetched connections. He said, "I've calculated it, and it's not like what you're saying at all. The sun, moon, and stars move on their own; what does it have to do with you?"
His uncle must dislike him very much! Shao Jin let out a long sigh, suddenly feeling a little afraid of this Wanxiang Courtyard.

New theories are emerging one after another, leaving one overwhelmed...

It is very painful to deny yourself.

Shao Jin didn't stubbornly deny Yu Xi's theories, because that would be what his father said—using "seniority, official position, and family background to oppress others," which was too ungentlemanly, and he was ashamed to do so.

He then turned to Cui Tao and asked, "How is the Heavenly Crafts Academy?"

(End of this chapter)