Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 102: Publishing Environment, Natural Sciences [Fourth Update]

This was the first time Zhu Yuanzhang heard the word "publication" and he didn't know what it meant. He spoke in Liu Kuan's accent.

Liu Kuan said: "Publications are like a combination of court gazettes and books. Their content is generally more than court gazettes, but less than most books."

“It can be printed and distributed regularly, with each issue having different content, but limited to a certain field.”

"For example, the publication I want to publish will focus on various natural science-related knowledge and interesting experiments. Of course, to increase its appeal, we can also consider serializing science fiction novels."

A combination of a court bulletin and a book?
After listening to Liu Kuan's explanation of the publication, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao couldn't help but think deeply.

After a while, Zhu Biao said with a little excitement: "Father, according to what my brother-in-law said, this publication is indeed a good thing."

"I believe that publications can be used not only to promote science and technology, but also to publicize the court's policies and spread the virtues of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered, "Publications combined with court reports and books are indeed very useful, but if they are used to promote science and technology, and if foreigners obtain them and use them to develop science and technology and strengthen their country, wouldn't that be aiding the enemy?"

Liu Kuan didn't expect Zhu Yuanzhang to think this way.

He said, "Your Majesty, as long as our Ming Dynasty develops science and technology, foreigners will inevitably discover this and even encourage their countries to attach importance to science and technology - unless the Ming Dynasty prohibits foreigners from entering."

"In addition, I will only publish pure and simple natural science principles in this publication, and will try not to involve the application of natural science. I will not publish scientific and technological information that needs to be kept secret from foreigners."

"So, even if foreigners get this publication, they can only obtain some superficial scientific knowledge."

"Furthermore, in my humble opinion, if a country wants to develop science and technology, the most important thing is the strong support of the emperor and the court."

"If a foreigner obtains a scientific publication, but the ruler of his country does not take it seriously, it will be difficult to strengthen the country through science."

"If Your Majesty is still concerned, you can arrange for special agents to conduct inspections at coastal ports to prohibit the taking of certain Ming goods out of the sea, and severely punish violators."

At this point, Liu Kuan realized that there were many things in customs inspection that needed the Ming Dynasty's attention, such as preventing foreign animals and plants from invading and destroying the local ecology, etc.

However, the Ming Dynasty was still implementing a maritime ban policy on the southeast coast, and the great voyages of discovery had not yet begun. A foreign envoy team only came once every few years, not to mention other foreigners.

Therefore, there is no need to rush to talk about this matter.

After hearing Liu Kuan's words, Zhu Yuanzhang tapped his fingers on the imperial desk and pondered for a while. He said, "What you said does make some sense. Well, I will allow you to establish that natural science journal."

"However, after printing this publication and before distributing it, you must send a copy to the Crown Prince for review to ensure that there is no inappropriate content. Do you understand?"

It's just an audit.

Liu Kuan muttered in his heart, and quickly responded, "I understand."

Since Liu Kuan had the idea of ​​establishing a publication, he took advantage of his work to ask Su Quan and others about the relevant policies of the Ming Dynasty.

Only then did I realize that the Ming Dynasty had no book review or supervision policies, nor had it issued any imperial decrees prohibiting the publication of certain books. The publishing environment was extremely relaxed.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang had only established the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years. The Ming Dynasty was still very young. He was still accumulating experience as an emperor and was unaware of the adverse effects that certain texts and books might cause.

Although there have been cases similar to the "Demon Book Case" of the Wanli Dynasty in some dynasties in the past, they are rare.

Moreover, pens, ink, paper, inkstones, and books only began to become relatively cheaper during the Song Dynasty, and the number of literate people also began to increase relatively during the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, in the past dynasties, even if there were "evil books", they could not cause much or much bad impact.

When such things are mixed in with the vast historical events, they become even less noticeable.

Although Old Zhu had read a lot of books since he started the rebellion, he did not pay attention to this matter.

But in the Ming Dynasty, pens, ink, paper, inkstones, and books really began to enter the homes of ordinary people and enter thousands of households.

Also, since Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty has established official schools and vigorously promoted education. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, most ordinary people were literate and could even read storybooks and novels.

Even among rural farmers, many could read and write their names. This was certainly a good thing for the nation and the country, but it also created the soil for things like the "Demon Book Case."

Although Liu Kuan knew about this, he was not going to say it - he wanted to promote science and he wanted a relaxed environment for book publishing and dissemination. How could he tie himself up in knots?

Besides, it was the early Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang had only established official schools for twelve or thirteen years, and there were not many literate adults in the world.

What he really needs to worry about is how many readers and fans the publication will have after it is released...
Liu Kuan was thinking about the historical "Demon Book Case" and his own publications when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang say, "You mentioned promoting science. I remember something."

"Although we have already ordered the Ministry of Rites to recruit mathematical talents, organize and compile mathematical books, and have local official schools add mathematical subjects."

"However, in today's world, there are still too few qualified math teachers. Local government schools mostly have Confucian teachers teaching math as well, but we can't let Confucian scholars teach math in our main hall, can we?"

"Since mathematics is valued in later generations, and you're a graduate of that university, you must be quite good at it. How about you take on the role of mathematics teacher at the main hall?"

'Not so good,' Liu Kuan thought.

However, before he could open his mouth to refuse, Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "You don't have to be too diligent in this math class, and the workload isn't heavy. Don't refuse again, kid."

Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang say this, Liu Kuan felt a little helpless.

He knew that he would have to be a teacher in this hall.

In fact, he also wanted to do this in his heart - after all, the people he taught were princes, and each of them could have a great influence on the Ming Dynasty.

But asking him to teach mathematics is a bit of a waste of his talent.

After a moment's thought, Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, I can teach in the main hall, but I don't have to teach mathematics."

"Mathematics has long been a Confucian discipline, and every dynasty has studied and advanced it."

"The Ming Dynasty has inherited the legacy of generations of mathematical masters from across China, and the art of mathematics is already quite extensive and profound. Even if there are fewer talented mathematicians, it shouldn't be difficult to find one who can teach the princes."

"After all, if the princes don't want to specialize in mathematics, there's no need for them to have too profound arithmetic knowledge."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but ask, "If you are not going to teach math when you enter the main hall, what are you going to teach?"

You can’t teach Confucian classics, right?
Thinking of Liu Kuan's plain language memorial and the chicken-like handwriting he had written earlier, Zhu Yuanzhang became inexplicably nervous - even though few of his sons were talented in literature, he couldn't let this kid lead them astray.

Liu Kuan was unaware of Lao Zhu's concerns and smiled slightly, saying, "Of course."

"nature?"

Seeing that Old Zhu and Little Zhu were confused for a moment, Liu Kuan explained, "Understanding nature is the foundation for understanding various scientific fields such as physics, chemistry, and biology."

"In later times, when children first started school, they had to learn a course called 'nature', also known as 'natural science'."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded and smiled, "Your idea is very good. Since our Ming Dynasty wants to develop science and technology, the princes must understand this. They should also learn about 'nature'."

"Then how about you go to the main hall every day and give the princes an hour-long science lesson?"

One hour of class every day?
Liu Kuan's scalp tingled when he heard this, and he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Your Majesty, of course you don't need to attend classes so frequently, and each session doesn't need to be so long."

Old Zhu was not so tough at this time and asked, "Then how do you think we should arrange it?"

"One class every three days, half an hour per class is enough."

　The fourth update has been delivered.

　　Although I don’t have any drafts saved, I have managed to write a small burst of 10,000 words. I would like to express my gratitude to all my readers for their support!

　　Thanks to [The Garden of Forking Paths] for the reward of 100 Starting Coins!
　　Thanks to [Bingyu] for the reward of 500 Qidian coins!
　　Just to say, because I don’t have any drafts saved, tomorrow’s update may be delayed until the afternoon.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)