Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"So the path of evil cultivation is actually quite tempting." Zhu Xianfen shook his head, "In the final analysis, Tao has two sides, yin and yang. The righteous way is Tao, and the evil way is also Tao. No one says that evil ways cannot ascend, and no one says It is said that the righteous path of accumulating merit will definitely lead to ascension. After all, even if it is the righteous path, who can dispatch generals without restraint?"

Chapter 640 Vulcan Core

He looked at Shangluo: "So, I leave this to you, Shangluo. Take the key, and then wind up your Vulcan core."

Shangluo took the key.

He looked at Zhu Xianfen: "Speaking of which, senior brother, are we on the right path? Or is it something else?"

"This is the only thing I am certain of." Zhu Xianxen said sternly, "Our way has nothing to do with good or evil. The water in the Yangtze River is clear and the water in the Yellow River is turbid. These are the lifeblood that nourishes billions of people here. We can only not be influenced by the river water. The only way to use the pure and partial is because of the turbid water of the Yellow River. Therefore, whether it is good or evil, it has nothing to do with us. As a heavenly court, what we have to do is to allow the que in the middle, to be peaceful and yin and yang. This is The way of heaven.]

hum-

The chime sounded. The self-explanatory phrase "good saintly grandson" is contained in it.

"Well" Shangluo nodded, "Since everything is for the sake of heaven, let's use it. It's not bad to be a bad guy occasionally. After all, the court was not born to do good things. If we start from Dayu's flood control, our The imperial court has been charged with a mission since its birth - to unite all of us to face problems that cannot be solved by independent individuals. In the time of Dayu, it was a flood. In our time, that is what Zi said on the river: Passing away He is like a man who never gives up day and night.'. What we have to resist is the time when Confucius also looked at the river and sighed."

"Do you think we can be considered people of Dayu's generation?"

"Ha." Shangluo said with a smile, "How do you read that poem: If there was no water palace dragon boat incident, there would not be much discussion about Yu's merits - Dayu was not that difficult to learn. The Sui Dynasty did not engage in the water palace dragon boat incident. Emperor Yang will be fine. After all, Dayu is also a human being, and there is nothing he cannot learn. Comparing himself to the ancient sages should be the root of etiquette."

"Okay, okay, then let's be a wise king in ancient times. We have all caught up with the good time, and it is the right time~~"

"Then I'll take it back and use it?"

"Yeah." Zhu Xianfen nodded, "Speaking of which, how do you plan to use it?"

"No matter what, you should use it for that first."

After getting off work at the Golden Arches, Phaethon appeared at the door on time. Before entering the door, she checked the mailbox, took a list, glanced at it, and sighed.

"Shang Luo, look at this." When she walked in, she was stunned.

All the lights in the house are on. The TV is also on, and the laundry, rice cooker, and oven are all on. The electric heater is also on. It's not very cold yet, but the temperature in the room has risen enough to wear short sleeves.

Shangluo, who was lying on the sofa, was looking sideways at the TV. The little people on the TV were broadcasting the news.

"What are you doing? Is something wrong?" Phaethon called him just now, and he raised his head and replied.

"Electricity. You can't use electricity like this anymore. The bill from the Power Supply Bureau was just sent over, saying that the experimental power supply in this area has ended, and that electricity meters will be installed on every household soon. From now on, electricity bills will be charged. This electricity bill is so expensive! According to your usage, it may cost eight to nine hundred yuan, or even more than a thousand yuan, in electricity bills every month!"

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter." Shangluo waved his hand, "Our house no longer has an electric meter."

"Are you planning to return to your ancestors?"

"Tsk." He pointed to the table over there, "Look for yourself."

"What is it? A clock?"

Clocks were placed on the table. Typical Roman style, it was a writer's clock, a very common gift. As long as the clockwork is wound, the bell-shaped doll on it can write the pre-programmed words. But this writing clock is particularly exquisite. At first glance, it can be seen that it is not just something you can buy in a gift shop, but is a first-class national gift. The base is also engraved with a golden monogram.

Phaethon recognized the sign at once. That was the coat of arms of Emperor Victoria's father: Emperor Agathocles of the Palaeologus-Isaurian dynasty. It was a national gift given to Zhu Xianxian by Victoria's father. And inside the clock's casing, there are

"That's the Omega-level Vulcan core!!! Why is this thing moving! Why is it moving! Wait, are you using it to connect to household electricity! Are you using it to steam steamed buns??? "

"Why not?"

"This thing is a national treasure! It is a national treasure! And the Vulcan core is very dangerous! Currently, Vulcan cores of this level are used for military purposes, and there are only a few in the entire Roman Empire. Why do you use it to steam steamed buns? "

"Then I should find an altar to worship and then steam the wowotou?"

"Wait a minute. Hey! Wait a minute! This usage is wrong!" Her eyes focused on the writing clock, and the clock puppet on it also looked at her. Beyond the limitations of its mechanical structure, the doll's neck was twisted to an angle enough to meet her gaze, looking directly into Phaethon's eyes.

Soon enough, Phaethon put down the grain he bought, stepped forward, randomly pulled a black strip of cloth from the tablecloth, and blindfolded the puppet's eyes.

"Phew, okay."

"This is how this clock is used?"

"Originally, it doesn't need to be used. But just in case, you still have to cover the eyes of the bell doll on top and don't let it move. This kind of thing is very dangerous, how can you just give it as a gift?"

"Good guy, what you said is a bit scary!"

"Taoist Priest, are you still afraid of this? If you're afraid, don't wind it up. You have to take it out and use it yourself."

"Tsk, do you want to use some formation? Or, can the Vulcan core be taken out and used?"

"Okay, that's fine. But the puppet on top is also very important. I covered its eyes, just to prevent it from squinting and not seeing things it shouldn't. When using it, the puppet above is indispensable. Yes, because you have to give instructions through that puppet. Hmm."

Phaethon stood beside him with his hands on his hips: "This thing is a bit dangerous no matter how you think about it. Are you sure you want to use it? Do you want Victoria to replace it with something else? For example, you can exchange it for some money."

"It's not like she recycles gifts. Besides, this thing was used by the Lei Department for office use, and it's not my personal property. I can't just dispose of such a national gift. Use it for experiments, and for everyone." Planning to provide assistance is what we should do now.”

"The assistance you are referring to is steamed steamed buns?"

"Tsk, keeping me working is also an indispensable part of the big plan. Rather than this, you better lift your feet first, you stepped on the wire. Let's go back and smooth out the wires here and organize the wires. Then I thought about it and saw if I could carry this thing on my back. By the way, can I bring a desk clock with me during the exam? Is it OK? Is it OK? "

Chapter 641 Scholar

At four o'clock in the afternoon, after completing the last subject of "Integrated Science", Shangluo walked out of the examination room. Today is not a college admissions test, it's just a children's test. The more important test will still be in a few days.

He was lucky. The exam room he had been assigned was in his own school, so he didn't have to rush to various nook and cranny exam rooms early in the morning to "rush for the exam."

The Children's Examination is an examination for selecting talents - although it is called a "selection", the pass rate of fresh graduates is over 85%. In places like Beijing, Fujian and Huguang that are good at exams, the pass rate can often reach over 90%.

After all, the content of the exam is quite simple for a high school student, because it is actually just knowledge points from junior high school.

But although it is simple, the meaning of this test is very important. Only those who have passed the scholar examination can be regarded as part of the "scholars". This is very important. There are a large number of ancient laws in the Ming Dynasty Code that were inherited from the Tang Code, which strictly differentiated the political treatment of scholars and people.

This did not cause any problems in the early days of the dynasty such as the Hongwu Year, because it was not even the early modern period at that time, and it was quite appropriate to call it "ancient times". According to ancient ethics, it is reasonable to distinguish between scholars and common people, and this has been the case since ancient times. But after entering modern times, such laws became inappropriate as cities expanded.

In particular, when the imperial court exempted all corvées and the tax base gradually shifted from rural to urban areas, many of the laws used to restrain peasants became completely unnecessary. On the contrary, it will increase the cost of agricultural production and reduce the already low production enthusiasm.

So several generations ago, a key reform was issued from the cabinet: the passing rate of the scholar examination was greatly improved. From 10% at the beginning, it has gradually increased to nearly 90% now. Those who fail to pass the exam in one year can continue to take the exam until they pass. As long as you are admitted as a scholar, you can be treated directly according to the treatment of scholars.

In this way, governance methods could be adapted to the new trends of thought that were rapidly expanding due to industrialization at that time without the need for large-scale changes in laws. Because in terms of setting, scholars naturally have many privileges. For example, a scholar can unconditionally receive a subsidy from the place of residence; a scholar can directly submit a post to the county government; a scholar as a scholar can meet an official without kneeling; a scholar cannot impose corporal punishment; a scholar can wear scholar clothes, etc.

If these were practiced one by one, it would be a rebellion against Tiangang, and even Xiaoling Mausoleum would emit black smoke. But after such a compromise, everyone felt comfortable. Moreover, with the popularization of compulsory education, it is in line with the historical process to grant academic degrees to most people.

As long as everyone is a scholar, and every man, woman, old and young is a scholar, the feudal etiquette will not be eaten by others - at least it will not be easy to be eaten like those "little people" in ancient times.

However, this is a case of passing the exam - if you fail, even though there is only a small probability of failing, then the problem will be big.

"Ha." He came out of the Shangluo examination room and shook his head, "It's a settled matter, although there is nothing to worry about."

[By the way, what will happen if you fail the exam? 】

"It would be great fun if you don't pass the exam! Those who don't pass the exam may not even have the opportunity to have an independent household registration and can only follow their parents. This will cause many problems, such as property being calculated according to the family instead of the individual. , if you don’t have the right to open your own door and set up a household, even basic social activities will be a problem. After all, in the imperial examination republic, the imperial examination republic, the first step of the imperial examination cannot be done, and it is even difficult to be a human being."

[Hey guys, who are those people who are not scholars? ]

"Those who committed crimes and were stripped of their official titles would be sent to Haozhou. It's tragic, considering it's the equivalent of being expelled from the human race. Then there are the barbarians who don't even have citizenship. If they're not Chinese, they're not even eligible to take the exam. And then there are those who truly can't pass the exam, like those with mental disabilities. These are the ones who are truly blocked from the system."

[This is nothing, after all, you have to live with your parents. 】

"Indeed, but considering very few cases, such as severe dyslexia. There are actually many people with dyslexia, but not many people are serious enough to be judged as alexia. These people have normal intelligence but just don't have it. If you can't take the exam, it's life-threatening. Although this situation is very rare, but judging from the scale of billions of people, there are still tens of thousands of people trapped in this situation. I heard the other day that the imperial court planned to An examination room where you answer the questions directly from your mouth. Tsk"

He shook his head: "The world will take another step forward soon."

Suddenly, the phone rang.

"Have you finished the exam?" Zhu Xianxian asked on the phone, "How do you feel?"

"The call you made was really timely. I was just thinking about it. It didn't really matter before I met it, but I didn't think about it until I passed it myself. Now we use the junior high school level 'Xiu Cai Examination' to award scholars. Qualifications, right? But there is always a 'natural failure rate', and some people just can't pass."

"This number is 4.21%." Zhu Xianxen replied, "I remember it very clearly. We have been trying to reduce this number. Compulsory education has been spread to all places as much as possible. Now even the mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou can provide complete Compulsory education - of course we took the opportunity to engage in a new round of reform and return, but that is another matter. But, you also realize, right? Our society based on the imperial examination republic will probably be upgraded to a cultivation republic in the future. If you are not a Qi practitioner in the future, I am afraid it will be difficult to keep up with others."

"Um"

"So, do you have an estimate for this? The natural failure rate is the same as the natural poverty rate. It is a natural law. We can only find ways to reduce it. There is no way to make this number disappear. This in itself is not a big problem. But if people who can cultivate immortality Too little, and our society may return to the early modern period, or even the deconstruction of ancient times.”

"Speaking of which," Shangluo asked, "in ancient times, how many talented people were there in the country?"

Shangluo planned to use the ratio of scholars to measure whether the scale of Qi practitioners was appropriate. After all, no matter how bad it is, we can only go back to Hongwu Year, which is not impossible. The Immortal Cultivation Clan would be doomed if it really became a powerful clan in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

"Let me put it this way, at that time, the number of scholars admitted every year only accounted for one ten thousandth or even one ten thousandth of the total population, which was even less than the proportion of doctors admitted now. Now there are only one person with a doctorate in the country. Hundreds of thousands, which is almost the proportion of scholars in early modern times.”

"Good guy, it turns out that it was as difficult for a scholar to take the first step in the imperial examination as it is to be admitted as a doctoral student now?"

Chapter 642 Exam

"Indeed. So things like Fan Jin's election now seem outrageous, but not outrageous. What's outrageous is that it's hard to imagine that privileges were only granted within such a narrow range in the past - many rights are now basic Citizenship rights. What is not outrageous is that we are not outsiders. Everyone knows what it was like in the past by reading history books. Just looking back at the past from the perspective of modern people will indeed be a bit emotional. "

"Then if the rate of becoming Qi practitioners is not high enough."

Zhu Xianxian continued: "There will be big problems. Really big problems may even completely tear apart our harmonious world. So although the ratio can be lower at the beginning, it cannot be too low."

"Senior brother, how much do you think is appropriate?"

"At least from the beginning, at least 30% of the people must be able to become Qi Practitioners - that is, try to ensure that there is one in each family. As long as there is only one in the family, then it is not a big problem. When we promoted the Xiucai Examination, we did the same thing at the beginning . At the beginning, we must first ensure that there is only one scholar in the family, and at least one person in the family can stand out, and then slowly broaden the horizons. But from the perspective of an alchemy researcher, the current situation is not that optimistic."

"You mean, aura?"

"That's right. That's right. Even if we collect the moon's spiritual stones, from my point of view, it may be difficult for 10% of people to successfully reach the level of Qi Practitioners - one or two thousand people can be the same as a scholar. Thank God if there is one inside, it is already ridiculously high. After all, this is a Qi practitioner, a master of Taoism who can use magic."

"So, where is the bottleneck?"

Zhu Xianfen replied: "First of all, it's production. As mentioned before, we couldn't supply unlimited amounts of spiritual energy from the beginning - it's like, back then, we couldn't open up the scholar's supply to everyone from the beginning. Privileges are the same. The current situation where everyone has fame is the result of our persistent efforts for more than a hundred years. Although the Pure Land provides everyone with the ultimate comfort in time, letting everyone know that they will have a chance sooner or later, after all, there are A time difference.”

As he spoke, he asked: "I've always been curious, how did you manage to have more than one billion Qi practitioners over there?"

"No, I told you that they are not Qi Practitioners. We just have mobile phones."

"You can be considered a Qi practitioner if you can use spiritual weapons. But how is this done? Why can so many people use such a powerful device as a 'mobile phone'? It is a remote communication device with integrated computing power."

"Because of infrastructure." Shangluo replied, "We have signal base stations everywhere, and the information usage fee is not expensive. And we can make things like mobile phones ourselves. Chips are nothing more than digging sand, just digging sand. So With our level of industrialization, it’s easy to do this.”

"Ah" Zhu Xianxin sighed, "It seems that we still have a long way to go if we want to catch up with Bi Zhongguo. So you thought of the physical training route, right?"

"You could call it physical cultivation, or you could call it instrument cultivation. But in essence, it's just using technology to improve the living standards of ordinary people. Isn't that the case now? In the past, you had to have a laundry servant to automatically wash your clothes—and that required two things: first, you had to be able to hire a servant, and second, you had to have someone to serve as a servant. But that's no longer necessary. Now, anyone can buy a washing machine. As long as it has electricity, anyone can have their clothes washed automatically outside of their working hours."

"You know this, right?"

"No problem. I actually gave it a little try in today's exam. Although casting spells in such a basic exam felt like using an anti-aircraft cannon to swat mosquitoes, the effect was really good. I have never practiced my spiritual consciousness. , but my consciousness is now comparable to that of a mysterious cultivator like Han Xingzhi. Although it only looks like this, at least it can be used."

"So, what about looking to the future?"

"Look. The most typical characteristic of the so-called Qi Practitioners is that they can use spells or magic weapons, right? As far as what I have been doing from the beginning: Fetion cards do not necessarily require Qi Practitioners to be used. Use technical means , it allows ordinary people to easily access the spiritual network and communicate with Qi practitioners on the same platform, which is very important. Take the laundry slave as an example - "

He paused and continued: "Even if there is no washing machine, there are always some people who can have their clothes washed automatically through laundry slaves. Even if there is no radio or TV, there is always someone who can call the troupe to perform at home. . Even if there is no forum, someone can always invite a group of guests to come to their home to chat with them. However, all of these can be answered through technological means. If you want to find Qing guests to chat with you, you can't, but you can find a few netizens to chat with you. It’s quite easy, we just relieve each other’s boredom.”

"That's fine." Zhu Xianxian nodded, "Why do I nod to you over the phone, as if you can really see it. But if we can ensure the smooth flow of information, this will solve a large part of the problem. . But there are other issues, such as the convenience of using magic weapons?"

"This should be the same. You can also do it with Tianyi Nobleman - the key to this technology is that Tianyi Nobleman can act as an intermediary between the extraordinary world and mortals, just like a washing machine."

"Then, there is the last question, which is life span." Zhu Xianxian replied, "Although Qi practitioners cannot live as long as heavenly beings, it is not difficult to live to the upper limit of human life span. Is this possible? ?”

"It should be possible to do it with technical means. And we can think about this further: What really threatens human life are serious diseases and serious diseases, and serious diseases do not happen every day, so there is no need to prepare them for everyone every day. It can be solved from a high level - let professional doctors deal with it. For doctors who have entered the Qi practitioner level, or even higher realms, ordinary people's diseases are not difficult."

"Ah, this is true." Zhu Xianxian nodded, "The medical problem that is difficult to solve now is how to ensure the patient's vital signs during the operation. In fact, I can solve it with just one pill, which is the ones you often take. . If the number of Qi practitioners increases by an order of magnitude compared to now, and the number of alchemy cultivators also increases by an order of magnitude, then it will not be difficult to solve all these problems. Well, it is indeed not difficult."

He pondered: "I actually have many ways to solve many major diseases today, and the ones I can't solve are the minority. If there were 10 me, 100 me, or 1000 me, we would be almost done here in the capital. Just Just open a specialist clinic. Yes, yes, this can be done."

Chapter 643 Mission

After returning from the exam, Phaethon was sitting on the sofa - the washing machine was on, the rice cooker was on, the oven was on, the TV was on, and the lights were on. She has accepted the situation and started using unlimited household electricity.

"How's it going?" He sat up straighter, but still leaned on the sofa.

"How can this be done? The most basic test subjects are not just junior high school questions, but also very simple junior high school questions. The questions are very simple. The multiple choice questions are basically three long and one short, or three short and one long deconstruction, which is very There are few misleading options. And the math questions will not give you more than two detours. If it were not for the possibility of exceeding the outline, in fact, if students in the first semester of the second grade of junior high school were to do it, they would almost be able to get very high scores."

"Ah" Phaethon shook his head, "I wonder if I am considered a barbarian. I have no right to take this exam at all."

"The Romans are not considered barbarians, but we have no intention of leaving a place for the Romans in the system, so you are having a hard time here - after all, the Romans have their own place to go, and there is no need to hang out here with us. Oh, that's right."

He looked at Phaethon and said, "I see you are usually very busy. Why do you have time to watch TV today?"

"I don't even know what I'm going to do. In fact, all the work has household electrical appliances. Sometimes I just think that the clothes may not be clean in the washing machine. It's mainly my own clothes. Because your clothes are usually washed casually. Water is enough, and usually there is no need to wash it. But now that the power is unlimited, I don’t even need to wash it by hand. It’s not necessary at all. I can’t wash it clean if I wash it once, and I can’t wash it again. Anyway, the electricity bill is free.”

Phaethon had entered a dazed state. She really didn't know what she was going to do, because she couldn't do more than a washing machine or a rice cooker.

"Only the job of sweeping the floor will not be replaced now. But I clean it every day, and you don't get dust on your body. It's actually very clean here. I originally planned to use a broom to show off, but I just leaned here and watched TV. Shangluo Sir - this is simply an omnic crisis! It’s terrible! It’s terrible!”

"Calm down. Calm down. In fact, you can do nothing."