The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 330 Second Grade

The newly appointed top scholar, Yan Chengping, is preparing to depart for Chuzhou to take up his official post.

In the Song Dynasty of the past, a newly appointed top scholar would not be able to become a prefect directly. He would have to undergo various trainings before he could have the opportunity to become a local official.

But the Northern Song Dynasty is short of people right now!

Moreover, even if Yan Chengping's personal abilities are weak, it doesn't matter, because he has a powerful and influential family behind him, the Yan Clan. This is enough to support Yan Chengping in completing very complex and difficult tasks.

This Yan family is no ordinary family...

The earliest trace of the Yan family in Shandong can be traced back to Yan Hui, a disciple of Confucius.

Throughout history, the Yan family has produced many talented individuals.

The most famous figure closest to the Song Dynasty was Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty.

When Yan Chengping took office, he brought quite a few people with him.

He brought his wife, two concubines, a young child, a little daughter, maids, servants, guards, clerks, retainers, and guests—a massive procession of over two hundred people.

Yan Chengping rode a tall horse among a large group of sanitation workers—reading a book!
That's right, it's reading books.

His horse was being led by a servant, while he himself held a book in both hands, namely "Elementary School Mathematics".

Although he ultimately achieved the top rank in the previous imperial examination, it was based on his ranking in the previous exam. His failing grade in the final examination left him deeply ashamed. He even misread the question, writing an essay on "national treasury revenue exceeding expenditure," thinking it was excellent and submitting it early to show off. Afterwards, he almost wanted to disappear.

The day after the palace examination, Yan managed to obtain all the textbooks from the Jimo Elementary School.

He casually flipped through the Chinese textbook, briefly learned about the pinyin, and then didn't need to read it anymore. To him, Chinese was like a baby book.

But mathematics is something he can learn.

"I see... I see..."

Yan Chengping danced wildly on horseback...

Seeing his action, a servant immediately picked up a board with a piece of paper pasted on it. Yan Chengping immediately took a pen from another servant and scribbled a line of words on the paper in a flamboyant style: "38÷2=19".

He finally solved the problem about filling and draining the pool.

However, he was very dissatisfied with his calligraphy.

Arabic numerals are very rounded, and the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal strokes he usually uses in calligraphy practice are all useless when writing Arabic numerals, so the mathematical formulas he writes are not very beautiful.

Yan Chengping shook his head: "If my grandfather (Yan Zhenqing) saw this line of writing, he would probably break my legs."

The servant whispered, "Even Yan Zu has never learned to write such strange numbers, so his writing probably won't look good."

Yan Chengping angrily said, "Ancestor Yan is omnipotent. He can write any character beautifully as soon as he picks it up. It's my cultivation that's insufficient."

The servant's attempt to flatter backfired, so he quickly shut up.

As the two were talking, Yan Chengping's son suddenly came skipping over, holding a book in his hands. It was a second-grade elementary school Chinese textbook. He looked up at Yan Chengping and said, "Father, there is a part in this book that I don't understand."

Yan Chengping was a little unhappy: "This is only a second-grade elementary school textbook, and you can't even understand it? We members of the Yan family should be able to understand a sixth-grade elementary school textbook at a glance. What you learned in your early childhood was much more difficult than what's in this book?"

The son was a little embarrassed by being scolded right from the start, but he still forced himself to say, "It's this one... Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant..." Yan Chengping picked it up and immediately froze: "Buoyancy?"

It turns out that there are hidden secrets in elementary school Chinese textbooks.

This story, "Cao Chong Weighs the Elephant," uses a term that every modern child understands: buoyancy. However, for the ancients, this term was somewhat...

In fact, ancient China had always been "applying" knowledge related to buoyancy. For example, the ability to build ships demonstrated an understanding of the practical application of buoyancy. Even the Jin army's use of door panels and pillars to cross the river was an application of buoyancy.

However, they only applied it; no one summarized or analyzed it, and no one studied buoyancy in detail.

To put it more formally, ancient Chinese science leaned towards "applied science," but was relatively weak in "basic science."

Yan Chengping's son said, "The explanation in the text says that you put the elephant on the boat, record the waterline on the boat, then move stones to press down to the same waterline, and then weigh the stones to know the weight of the elephant. This is because of buoyancy... What is buoyancy?"

Yan Chengping laughed awkwardly, "This is it, I can't answer this."

But don't panic!

Lao Tzu was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), and he was full of knowledge. I can force myself to understand his meaning from the literal words.

In an instant, Yan Chengping forced himself to understand a whole bunch of things, and then began to explain: "Buoyancy is the force that lifts things up. You see, when you throw a branch into water, it floats, right? That's because there's a force lifting it... This force lifted the elephant and the boat, and it also lifted the same number of stones. So if you take the stones out and weigh them, you can tell how much force the water used to lift the elephant, and that's how you can weigh the elephant."

Yan Chengping's son said, "Father is truly learned; no wonder he was able to pass the imperial examination with top honors."

"Hahaha, that's natural."

Yan Chengping wiped away a cold sweat. Luckily, he managed to fool the situation. He didn't know if his attempt at deception was even correct. He almost lost face as the father of a top scholar in front of his son.

The embarrassment subsided, and calm thinking returned to my mind.

Only then did he suddenly realize why the government was so determined to push this new-style primary school forward.

It turned out that this new-style primary school had mixed a lot of random things into its textbooks, which seemed to be telling the stories of all things in the world.

The government doesn't want officials who are just bookworms!

What we need are officials who understand the ways of the world!
"Young Master, Chuzhou City is just ahead."

A servant called out...

Actually, he should be called "Master" now, but the servant still called him "Young Master," which shows that the servant has some seniority in the Yan family.

Yan Chengping looked up and saw the city walls of Chuzhou City in front of him.

He was greatly encouraged: "Hahaha, this is the city under my jurisdiction."

The old servant whispered, "I heard that the people in this city have been almost completely slaughtered, nine out of ten are gone. Now, most of the people in the city are prisoners captured by the Grand Councilor from Li Cheng. I'm afraid their evil deeds will be hard to eradicate and they will be difficult to manage."

These words startled Yan Chengping again. He had no experience as an official and was being put in charge of this kind of place right away.
What a huge pressure!
The old servant said, "Before he left, the master said that the young master's most important task was to preserve the Yan family's position in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was willing to do everything in his power to make sure the prefectural governorship is well-run. I have a letter here... The master told me to give it to you when we arrive in Chuzhou."

Yan Chengping was greatly encouraged. He took the letter and read it. The head of the Yan family wrote: "Give him 200,000 strings of cash and let him spend money in Chuzhou! Spend money, spend money! Spend money! Spend money!" He was willing to spend his own money to repair bridges and roads, and even pay taxes for the people. He was determined to complete all the tasks given by the higher-ups and bring honor to the Yan family.

(End of this chapter)