Han officials

Chapter 317 Golden Terrace

The peaches and plums do not speak, but they create a trail of their own.

The Zhixing Academy gradually awakens to the chirping of birds in the early morning, and even the high walls cannot block out the sound of students reading aloud.

This is the scene that Zhang Song, Pang Tong, and Wang Can, who had traveled a long way, saw when they stepped off the carriage.

Upon seeing this, Wang Can immediately narrowed his eyes with a look of enjoyment, and said in rapture:

"How splendid is the literature!"

This phrase was originally used by Confucius to praise the rites of Zhou.

Confucius said: "The Zhou dynasty drew lessons from the two preceding dynasties, and its culture was truly magnificent! I follow the Zhou."

The gist of it is, "The Zhou Dynasty's etiquette system was based on the Xia and Shang dynasties, and it was so rich and perfect! I choose to follow the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty."

However, centuries later, Confucius's words resonated deeply with Wang Can's feelings.

Perhaps in Wang Can's mind, the traditional Chinese learning transmitted by Wei Zhe was already what he considered "the rites of Zhou"!

Zhang Song and Pang Tong had long since grown accustomed to Wang Can's occasional bursts of excitement.

Compared to Wang Can, who was looking at Zhixing Academy with a "pilgrimage" mentality, Pang Tong and the other man were more curious at this moment.

From Jingzhou to Jizhou, they heard far too many rumors about the academy along the way.

Even in places like Yanzhou and Yuzhou, which had just experienced the land survey turmoil, local gentry were still vying to discuss Wei Zhe's doctrines, a complex and contradictory phenomenon that evoked a myriad of emotions.

Sometimes these scholars would nitpick at Wei Zhe himself, but they would always add that "his scholarship is quite good."

There was no other way; the Central Plains had experienced too many disasters and wars in the past ten years.

Having endured much hardship, they naturally came to understand that society indeed had serious problems that urgently needed to be addressed.

If they can't solve it, and the existing theories can't solve it, then they can only hope for a new system.

At present, it seems that only Wei Zhe has the best chance of success.

After all, he has done something tangible, both in theory and practice, giving people hope.

As I said before, no one wants to live in a chaotic world, including the gentry!
……

"Is this an academy?"

When the group actually arrived at the gate of Zhixing Academy, Zhang Song and the other two stared in astonishment.

The guards outside didn't seem to care; they were used to this kind of scene.

In fact, every outsider who sees Zhixing Academy will have such a feeling.

The reason is simple: it is a tall and thick brick wall!

Don't underestimate this small, seemingly insignificant blue brick; in reality, it is used most often only in imperial tombs.

Apart from the imperial tombs of past dynasties, only the imperial palace and a very few other city walls could be covered with bricks.

Most of the ancient cities and even the Great Wall that we can see in later generations are actually based on the Ming Dynasty style.

The Great Wall of the Qin and Han dynasties was not as luxurious as that of the Ming dynasty. It didn't even have many blue bricks, let alone stone slabs.

The Great Wall built during the Han Dynasty was mostly constructed using rammed earth, reeds, and sand and gravel.

Only the Ming Great Wall used blue bricks, stone blocks, and lime as materials to build its walls and fortresses.

This is the fundamental reason why the sand and stone wall of Yumen Pass is three meters high, while the brick wall of Shanhaiguan is as high as eight meters.

Ultimately, the main problem is that the current brick kilns are too outdated and have too low output.

Before Wei Zhe extensively mined coal in Liaodong and used coal as fuel, kilns in the Han Dynasty relied on manual feeding of firewood, which led to large temperature fluctuations and poor kiln temperature stability. Bricks fired under these conditions either cracked or lacked sufficient hardness.

A higher scrap rate naturally leads to higher costs.

Basically, for every 10,000 bricks fired, a traditional kiln needs to consume about 20 tons of wood.

When all these human and material resources are combined, there are not many people who can afford to use blue bricks.

Furthermore, the mortise and tenon joint construction technique in China was already quite advanced, so there was basically no need for blue bricks.

Whether it was the emperor's villa or the manor of the gentry, pavilions and towers had long been accustomed to being made of huge timbers.

Wei Zhe didn't know much about brick making to begin with, and as a liberal arts student, he had nowhere to learn about it.

From selecting soil, preparing clay, and shaping blanks to loading the kiln, firing it, and soaking it in the kiln, he didn't even know as much as the old craftsmen of the Han Dynasty.

However, industrial development always seems to emerge from chance into inevitability.

When primitive industries reach a certain scale, all sorts of unexpected results are likely to occur.

For example, this batch of Liaodong blue bricks was an unexpected product of the large-scale mining of coal and iron ore in Liaodong and the smelting of iron plows.

At first, it was just blacksmiths figuring out how to continuously improve the process of smelting furnaces.

If the furnace temperature wasn't high enough, they racked their brains trying to find the most heat-resistant bricks and stones.

Over time, the kaolin from Changbai Mountain, the clay from Buyeo Kingdom, and the black pottery clay from Goguryeo were all collected.

Iron officials from all over Liaodong tried every type of soil they could find.

That's the good thing about having a stable rear area; it allows people inside to work without interference.

As a result, they failed to produce refractory bricks, but stumbled upon a method for mass-producing blue bricks.

According to the new type of brick kiln developed by the Liaodong Iron Official, the output of each kiln of blue bricks increased almost tenfold in the same amount of time.

When the governor of Liaozhong, Shi Yi, reported this to Wei Zhe last year, he was overjoyed.

Because Wei Zhe didn't interfere at all from beginning to end, this was entirely the result of independent research and development by the Liaodong coal and iron system... even if it was an accident.

This is enough to prove that ancient Chinese civilization possessed sufficient creativity and pioneering spirit!

Therefore, Wei Zhe immediately ordered the five prefectures of Liaozhou to continue to expand coal production in order to supply the large number of newly emerging brick kilns.

For this reason, he specifically ordered the establishment of a kiln official in Liaodong, on par with the iron, salt, and coal officials, to coordinate and manage them as a whole.

As for the first batch of blue bricks produced, they were transported by sea from Liaozhou to Ji County, and then traveled south along the inland river, entering Jizhou from Youzhou and arriving at Ye City.

After receiving this generous gift, Wei Zhe did not use it to build a mansion. Instead, he ordered the Construction Department to build the Zhixing Academy at the foot of a rocky mountain south of the Zhang River in the northern suburbs of Ye City.

In order to properly preserve the Luoyang collection of books, the academy abandoned the traditional mortise and tenon wooden structure and used brick and stone for everything that could be used. Only the roof, doors and windows were made of wood.

It is only because the production of blue bricks has skyrocketed that Zhixing Academy enjoys such treatment, which is comparable only to the imperial palace and imperial mausoleum.

However, Zhang Song, Wang Can, Pang Tong, and others were unaware of the inside story and still thought that the blue bricks were as precious as before.

Therefore, when they entered the academy and saw that all they could see were brick walls, they felt a pang of heartache.

Zhang Song even exclaimed repeatedly that it was too extravagant.

In his view, no matter how much the Duke of Wei respected and valued the virtuous, there was no need for such waste.

Instead of indulging in such extravagance in their living quarters, they should expand their operations and recruit more scholars.

Despite the complaints, Wei Zhe's emphasis on education won the hearts and minds of the three!
"King Zhao of Yan once built the Golden Terrace in Ji City to attract wise men from all over the world; this must have been no more impressive than this." Walking through the academy, watching the Confucian scholars coming and going, Pang Tong couldn't help but exclaim sincerely, "Duke Wei truly has the spirit of the ancients!"

(End of this chapter)