After ten years of accompanying me in my studies, the entire court begged me to shut up.

Wuqing County is fifty li away from the capital, which is about half a day's journey.

Yang Shen, accompanied by his steward Lai Fu and Wang Shouren, arrived at the land he had just purchased.

It was late autumn, the sky was high and the clouds were light. As far as the eye could see, 200,000 mu of land stretched flat as far as the eye could see, all the way to the horizon. But this scene was not one of fertile fields, but rather a vast expanse of white, the white frost rising from the saline soil.

Sparse, salt-tolerant wormwood grew on the ground, but it was all withered and yellow.

Laifu looked on with concern and said, "Young Master,...can this land really break even?"

Wang Shouren squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil. The soil was compacted and coarse. When he rubbed it between his fingertips, he could see tiny white crystals.

He was also puzzled and said, "Crops definitely can't grow in this kind of saline-alkali soil."

Yang Shen smiled but didn't answer. He turned to Lai Fu and said, "Lai Fu, we can recruit refugees next. They will be provided with food and lodging, and their daily wage will be twenty coins. Let's recruit five hundred people first."

Lai Fu's hand trembled: "Five hundred people? And that includes food and lodging? How much grain would that take?"

"You don't need to worry about the grain!"

"So, what will they do with the people they've hired?"

"Repair the brick kiln!"

Yang Shen pointed to the winding river not far away and said, "Let's choose a site by the river and build ten kilns first, each capable of firing 30,000 bricks."

Lai Fu kept noting and calculating: "Ten kilns, that's 300,000 bricks... but this clay..."

Yang Shen interrupted him and continued, "We also need to buy a large amount of lime, as much as we can, and pile it up by the river."

Lai Fu was confused but didn't dare to ask any more questions. He just nodded and turned to make the arrangements.

Yang Shen turned around and said, "Director Wang, could you please transfer a few craftsmen from the biogas digester to direct the people in repairing the kiln?"

Wang Shouren asked, "Does Yang, the tutor, intend to treat this saline-alkali soil with lime?"

Yang Shen nodded: "The reason why crops can't grow in saline-alkaline soil is that the soil has too high a salt content and is too alkaline. After lime is calcined, it reacts with water to produce calcium hydroxide, which can react with sodium salts in the soil to form calcium carbonate precipitate. At the same time, it displaces calcium ions and improves the soil structure..."

He finished speaking in one breath, only to find that Wang Shouren was staring at him with a strange look in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Wang Shouren slowly said, "I don't understand."

Yang Shen paused for a moment, then realized he had just blurted it out.

These modern chemical terms, when spoken in the Ming Dynasty, were like gibberish.

He thought for a moment and then put it another way: "It's actually the principle of the five elements generating each other. Salt and alkali belong to earth, and lime belongs to fire. Fire can generate earth. First, soak and stir it with lime water to allow it to react fully, then shape it into a brick and fire it to make bricks."

Wang Shouren seemed to be deep in thought, and took out a small booklet from his pocket.

"Please explain in more detail, Yang, how to do it?"

If others were present and witnessed this scene, they would surely be deeply moved.

Wang Shouren was a newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), holding the positions of Zuo Chunfang (left brigades) and You Sizhi (right clerk), a dignified sixth-rank official of the imperial court.

This status was half a rank higher than the county magistrate in Wuqing County!

Yang Shen was just a commoner. Although he had the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations), it was not worth mentioning in front of the newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest level of the imperial examinations).

The current situation is that Yang Shen is instructing Wang Shouren to do things.

Wang Shouren listened attentively, like a student.

Yang Shen then explained in detail: First, take the topsoil and saline soil, transport it to the riverbank, dig a pond to store water, add quicklime to make lime milk, mix the soil and lime milk, pile it up for several days to allow it to fully react, then take the treated soil to make bricks, dry them and put them into a kiln. When firing, the temperature needs to be controlled, and it should be slightly higher than that of ordinary loess kilns...

He spoke in detail, and Wang Shouren remembered even more clearly.

Occasionally pause to think, look up and ask a question or two about the key points.

After Yang Shen finished speaking, Wang Shouren closed the booklet and remained silent for a moment.

"I've never heard of this method before. Can bricks really be made from saline-alkali soil?"

Yang Shen said frankly, "Whether it works or not, we'll find out by trying!"

Wang Shouren frowned: "What if we're wrong?"

"If you make a mistake, correct it! Try again after you've corrected it."

"What if...it's still wrong?"

"Then keep revising it until it's successful."

Wang Shouren suddenly froze.

He stood there, the autumn wind blowing his robes, the booklet in his hand trembling slightly.

Yang Shen asked, somewhat puzzled, "Wang Sizhi?"

"If you make a mistake, correct it... and try again after correcting it..."

Wang Shouren murmured repeatedly, then suddenly took a deep breath: "Yes, yes!"

He suddenly looked up at Yang Shen, his eyes shining with excitement, and said excitedly, "I have been studying the principles of investigating things to acquire knowledge, always trying to find a foolproof method to understand everything thoroughly before doing it. But how many things in the world can be fully understood? If you are afraid of making mistakes, you dare not do them! If you dare not do them, you will never have a day to verify them, and it will all become empty talk on paper!"

Yang Shen blinked, vaguely feeling that the words sounded somewhat familiar.

Ah, isn't this sentence... just the principle of unity of knowledge and action?

Wang Shouren suddenly took a step back, straightened his clothes, and bowed deeply to Yang Shen.

"Your words today have been truly enlightening, like a sudden awakening; I have learned a great deal!"

Yang Shen quickly stepped aside, saying, "What is Chief Secretary Wang doing? Please rise!"

Wang Shouren straightened up, his expression solemn: "I had long heard of Yang Ban Du's reputation as a child prodigy, but I was not convinced. Even when you demonstrated the method of turning excrement into gas, I only thought it was a strange trick. Today I realize that a true child prodigy is not only intelligent, but also has the courage and insight to act before knowing, and to know before acting. I am truly convinced."

Yang Shen was a little embarrassed by the praise and waved his hand, saying, "Director Wang, you flatter me. We all work for His Highness the Crown Prince, why be so polite? Besides, the bricks haven't even been fired yet. If they fail, wouldn't we be embarrassed?"

Wang Shouren shook his head: "Whether it succeeds or not is no longer important. What matters is that I dare to think and dare to act."

The question of knowing and doing has troubled him for twenty years, and he can't help but think about it every night.

As Master Zhu once said, "Knowledge precedes action," meaning that one must first have the correct understanding before one can act.

The sage's words must be true. Back then, in order to verify this principle, I spent seven days and seven nights studying the bamboo by the gate, trying to find the principle of investigating things to gain knowledge. In the end, I became seriously ill from exhaustion.

At the time, I thought it was because I lacked understanding and couldn't comprehend the words of the sage.

It now seems that there is no question of which comes first or which comes later in knowledge and action; rather, knowledge and action are one!

Only through action can true knowledge be gained, and true knowledge can guide action.

As Yang Shen said, just do it first, and if you find problems, correct them in time.

If you're afraid of making mistakes, you'll never progress, let alone learn or do anything.

This principle is so simple that it has been happening around me every day for the past twenty years, yet I have never paid attention to it.

No wonder the sage said, "The great way is simple," now I understand!

At this moment, all the doubts of the past years were swept away, as if the clouds had parted and the sun had shone through. I felt extremely happy and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Yang Shen quietly took two steps back, thinking to himself, "Isn't this Wang Shouren half a saint?"

Why do you look so neurotic? Could you have some serious illness?