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Page 365

This is a Sanqu from Liang Chenyu's "Jiangdong Baizhu".

Sanqu is different from opera.

Xiqu can be understood as Chinese opera, while Sanqu is a popular song in the Ming Dynasty, which is very pleasant to listen to once you get used to it.

After the song was over, a female official came to report: "Your Majesty, Xu Zhengming brought it here."

"Let him in," Zhao Han said.

The moment he saw the flying chair, Zhao Han couldn't help laughing. It was a helicopter with only seats and propellers left.

"Grassman..."

Zhao Han stopped: "Don't kneel, I'll take a look when you lift it up."

The flying chair moved in front of Zhao Han, he squatted down regardless of his image, and turned the pedals with his hands, and the two propellers turned.

Moreover, it is still an all-wooden structure, and even the gears are made of some kind of hardwood, and a lot of sesame oil is applied between the gears for lubrication.

The whole "helicopter" does not have a single nail.

Black technology!

Zhao Han stood up: "You try to fly."

Xu Zhengming sat in the flying chair and stepped on the pedal again.In front of the emperor, he was so powerful that he flew more than one meter high, flew forward for more than five meters, and then...exhausted and crashed.

This time I flew too high and broke the blades of the propeller.

"Hahaha!"

Both Liu Rushi and Li Xiangjun were amused, and at the same time were amazed by this thing.

Xu Zhengming's son hurried to help him up, and the father and son knelt on the ground.Xu Zhengming explained: "Your Majesty, the Caomin can still improve, and they will be able to fly over mountains and rivers in the future!"

Zhao Han said, "Get up, sit down and talk."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The father and son stood up quickly, and thanked the female officer who moved the chair.

Zhao Han asked, "Are you a carpenter?"

Xu Zhengming said, "Exactly."

Zhao Han asked again: "How is the livelihood?"

Xu Zhengming said: "Thanks to Your Majesty, after losing my carpenter status, I don't have to serve the government anymore. I do some carpentry work on weekdays, but I don't have to worry about food and clothing. The money I earn is used to make wonderful things , Sometimes the family will run out of food and starve.”

"How long have you been doing this?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Zhengming said: "For more than ten years, I couldn't fly at first, and then I fell down as soon as I left the ground. Your Majesty, as long as the grassroots do it for another ten years, they will be able to fly higher than the city wall. At that time, they will be able to fly for Your Majesty." Build hundreds of flying chairs, and fly directly over the city tower when attacking the city."

Zhao Han thought of the scene of Datong soldiers attacking the city in a helicopter... The picture is too beautiful to look at.

Zhao Han asked, "Do you have a sign?"

Xu Zhengming said with a smile: "Caomin is just a carpenter. Although he has read books for a few days, how can he get the calligraphy?"

Zhao Han said: "If the wood is made of rope, it will be straight, and if the wood is turned into fire, it will be bright. You are a carpenter, so why don't you take the word wood virtue."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the words!" Xu Zhengming was overjoyed, jumped up from his chair and knelt down to thank him.

"Get up," Zhao Han said, "let's put this flying chair on hold for now, there's no need to go up to the sky as soon as it comes, but start from running on the ground. Your pedals are very good, why don't you make a car that can run while staring. "

"Car?" Xu Zhengming looked puzzled.

Zhao Han asked the female officer to fetch a pen and paper, drew a bicycle, and said: "People sit on it and step on the pedals to move forward."

Xu Zhengming asked: "Won't it fall? How about making four wheels?"

Zhao Han smiled and said, "If you ride fast, you won't fall over. You can make three or four wheels."

Regardless of the number of wheels, a bicycle without a chain is very difficult to pedal.It was all front-wheel drive, with big front wheels and small rear wheels, and the lack of air-filled tires made it bumpy and uncomfortable.

Zhao Han asked Xu Zhengming to build a bicycle purely because he wanted to exercise.

Zhao Han said: "Take my handbook and go to Qintianyuan to find Fang Yizhi, and learn mathematics and physics from him."

Xu Zhengming said: "Your Majesty, the Mathematics Society."

"You know math?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.

Xu Zhengming said: "Caomin's youngest son is also studying. Caomin took his math textbook and learned it by himself. It is not difficult, as long as you memorize the numbers of the feudal kingdom. Many things are the same as arithmetic."

Zhao Han was even more satisfied, and said: "Then I will give you an errand. While studying physics with Fang Yizhi, I will improve the existing spinning machines and looms. It is best to make a large machine that can spin a lot of yarn at a time." , Weave a lot of cloth! When you finish the machine, I will apply for a patent for you. Qin Tianjian will share [-]% of the money earned from the patent, and you will share [-]%.”

This is not an unfair contract, because the research and development costs for improving the loom are all provided by official funding.

"Follow the order!" Xu Zhengming imitated the accent on the stage.

This guy still wanted to continue researching helicopters, but the money he earned couldn't make ends meet.So he came to see the emperor, and wanted to get some silver rewards to live on.

It's even better now, I have an errand in Qintianyuan, and I can make money while tinkering with airplanes.

Moreover, under the pretext of improving the loom, the "scrap" of good wood can be used for free.

With the introduction of hydraulic spinning machines in Jiangxi, the spinning speed cannot keep up with the spinning speed.Therefore, over the past few years, the spinning machine has also been improved, but the spinning efficiency has only increased by about 20%.

Zhao Han also didn't understand textile machinery. Now that he caught someone who could make a helicopter, of course he had to throw it away and do some serious business.

In an era when the power system cannot keep up, the development of helicopters is indeed "playing with things and losing one's ambition"!

If Xu Zhengming continues to do so, one day he can really fly a few feet high, then sooner or later he will be thrown to death.

After this person left, another female official came to report: "Your Majesty, Hong Chengchou and others have been brought to Nanjing."

"Send it to mine." Zhao Han was too lazy to see these traitors.

A lot of things happened in Shandong, Hong Chengchou and Zuo Liangyu were almost forgotten.It wasn't until Fei Ruhe was ordered to move his army that he suddenly remembered that there were still a bunch of high-level prisoners, and they were hurriedly sent to the Jiangsu border for isolation, and then sent all the way to Nanjing by boat.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to kill Hong Chengchou?

Zhao Han didn't like to mess with Ling Chi, and felt uncomfortable if he cut him off with a knife.Then send them to mines and become a working people. How many years they can live depends entirely on the good fortune of the traitors.

Chapter 443 [Prospecting Team and Pig Tail]

Hunan, Hengyang, Changning.

The exploration team led by Jiangxi's old mining craftsman Cao Jin, travel expert Xu Xiake, and East India Company explorer Abel Tasman has been working for several years.

People often pick up the place where the dog's head gold, two or three counties in a radius have been explored.A few gold veins have been found, but they are all low-quality. It is estimated that the gold dug out can barely recover the mining cost.

The only work result is that Xu Xiake wrote several travel notes, recording the mountains, rivers, topography and customs of those counties.

Until last year, the exploration team finally discovered high-quality gold deposits in Changning County, Hengyang Prefecture.

Historically, this gold mine was discovered in the Qing Dynasty. At the beginning, it was mined secretly by the people, and it was nationalized at the end of the Qing Dynasty.In the 80s of New China, the second exploration of the old mine was carried out, and the largest gold mine in the country was discovered at that time!

As a reward, both Cao Jin and Xu Xiake were given land, and they served as the principal (the seventh rank) and the deputy (the eighth rank) respectively in the Prospecting Institute of the Ministry of Industry.

Abel Tasman also obtained Nanjing household registration, and Zhao Han also negotiated with the governor of Batavia, ordering him to send Abel's wife and children here.As a result, the East India Company sent a letter saying that Abel's wife had remarried ... and agreed to send Abel's son with him when trading horses next time.

When this guy was sad, he married a village girl in Changning County.

The village girl's family still looked down on him, thinking that he was too ugly with red hair and green eyes, and he had no official status or land.

Abel had no choice but to write a letter to Zhao Han, requesting to be given the official status, which can be regarded as an advance payment for the next reward.Zhao Han didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and felt that this person was useful, so he gave it to a low-level official from the ninth rank.

"Dangdangdang!"

Workers of the prospecting team are digging earth and rocks with shovels.

This time it was Xu Xiake who discovered the relevant job, and Cao Jin and Abel determined the excavation site.

A piece of broken stone was dug out. Cao Jin, an old craftsman, picked it up to observe, and then struck the knife in his hand. He said happily, "It's a magnet. There is either copper or gold underneath!"

"Guanzi Dishu Chapter": "Where there is a magnet on the top, there is copper and gold on the bottom."

This is a prospecting method used in China for 2000 years and is useful for vertical ore bodies.Some kind of ore in the outer layer is called "mine seedling" or "mine lead", which has an indicative effect on the minerals in the inner layer.

They can also be identified by plants, some of which absorb minerals and change color or shape.

Abel Tasman, a self-confident and experienced explorer, brought a set of European prospecting methods, but he learned more in China.

Prospectors continue to dig below, and the next step is to try their luck.

Good luck, rich mines, everyone is happy; bad luck, poor mines, nothing to do.

The workers were doing physical labor, while the three leaders sat by to rest and observe.

Abel skillfully took out the Chinese tobacco rod, stuffed the shredded tobacco into the pot, and said in Chinese: "Old Cao, borrow a fire."

Cao Jin had already smoked it, and handed over the unextinguished fire.

Xu Xiake was also puffing. He should have died last year. He suffered from foot disease while traveling in Yunnan, and was carried back to Jiangsu by the chieftain.

Cao Jin asked, "Lao An, how old is your son?"

Abel Tasman, whose Chinese name is An Siwen, replied: "Nine years old, living at Lao Xu's house, and still learning to speak Chinese."

Cao Jin boasted proudly: "My eldest grandson is fifteen this year. Yesterday, I received a letter from my family saying that more than 300 people passed the provincial examination."

Jiangxi was the first to open elementary and middle schools. It has the largest number of students, the highest quality of students, and the most difficult exams. It is already very impressive to be able to take more than 300 exams.

After all, it is the land of Longxing, and there are many candidates, so the top [-] students in Jiangxi this year can go to Nanjing to study as official students.

It will not work next year, Nanchang University is about to be completed, and from now on Jiangxi's government-funded students can only study in Nanchang.

Cao Jin asked Xu Xiake again: "Does Mr. Xu's family also have children taking exams?"

Xu Xiake flicked the shredded tobacco with a dead branch, and replied: "The eldest grandson and two grandnephews are all taking the provincial examination this year, and I don't know how much they passed."

Cao Jin said with a smile: "It happens that the reward silver hasn't been spent yet, so I use all of it to pay for my grandson's tuition. I heard people say that Jinling University was the Imperial Academy of the previous dynasty, and as long as you go to study, you will be a good husband."

The occupation of Hubei was relatively late, and now there are only primary schools, and secondary schools will be established next year—the first batch of primary school students will graduate.

The areas north of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces are similar to the situation in Hubei.This time, all the students who participated in the provincial unified examination were students from the south of the Yangtze River, and all of them were grade skippers.This is also the case in Jinling Prefecture and Fujian Province, because normal schooling is not enough to graduate from middle school.

As for Sichuan, Henan, and Shandong, even primary schools have only begun to be established.

Therefore, in this provincial unified examination, only Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong will participate in the provincial unified examination.

The annual tuition fee of 30 taels of silver for self-funded students is beyond the reach of most low-income families.Some wealthy families can afford it, but not everyone is willing.

The first class of students of Jinling University is estimated to be seven to eight hundred people.

Jinling University, like Daming Guozijian, adopts the credit system and has mid-term and final exams, but cancels monthly exams (Guozijian has monthly exams).You must earn enough credits to graduate, and you can stay in school for at most three years. If you don’t earn enough credits during your stay, you can only get a diploma.

Easy entry and strict exit, graduation is difficult.

Scholars all over the world are very familiar with this set, except for the different subjects, the others are all the rules of the Imperial College.Although Guozijian has no grades, it adopts a promotion system. How many credits are completed, you will be promoted to a higher-level class, and you will be able to graduate after completing all the credits.

The system of the Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty was still very advanced, but it was a pity that it was abolished in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang placed high hopes on Guozijian, invited famous teachers to teach Confucianism, and trained many officials.

But gradually, the imperial examination system kicked the Imperial College away.

No well-educated person would want to be a teacher in the Imperial College, because only management positions belonged to officials.Teachers all want to be officials, so why would they want to teach in the Imperial College?

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, all the teachers of the Guozijian were from Juren background, and they belonged to the kind who could not pass the Jinshi exam by themselves.

Not only the quality of teaching is worrying, but the teachers are also not interested in teaching. They either study hard to prepare for the Jinshi exam, or participate in literary fairs to make friends with colleagues.

In addition, you can donate money and food to serve as supervisors, and the quality of the school's students is also rubbish. As a result, there were tens of thousands of supervisors in the late Ming Dynasty, but they did not go to the Imperial College at all.

Xu Xiake leaned on the tree trunk to smoke, and said: "This Jinling University is indeed like the Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty. What your Majesty did is exactly the same as the Ming Taizu. Sigh, just wait and see, as long as the imperial examinations are restored, within a few decades, Jinling Universities will be abolished like the Imperial College.”

Cao Jin laughed and said, "It's different. Your Majesty doesn't set up lowly households. My ancestors have been artisans for generations. Where can I study and take exams in Daming? Everyone says that Your Majesty is a Bodhisattva who came to save the suffering. We, craftsmen, have finally turned around." Yes, there is hope for this life. Don't count on the sons, and the grandchildren may be able to become officials."

Xu Xiake remained silent, [-]% of his family's property was divided, and life was getting worse day by day.

Well, it can’t be said that way, at least Jiangsu’s water conservancy facilities are improving day by day, and it’s not as afraid of drought as it used to be.In the past years of severe drought, no matter how much land the landlord family had, the land far away from the water source would be left unused.And now the price of food is also stable, even if the price of food has risen sharply because of the war, it is countless times lower than during the reign of Chongzhen.

It's a pity that the farmers are disobedient.

In the family of big landlords, each person can keep [-] mu of land, how can he grow it by himself?The master and wife, the young master's daughter, are not suitable for farming.

Then it can only be rented out, and the rent cannot be set at a high level. If the land rent is higher, no one is willing to plant it, because the farmers also have land themselves.

Landlords in the south gradually forgot about famines and wars as the situation settled down, and also forgot how cruel bandits were to them.They only remember that in the past, there were endless fields and countless servants, and the tenants offered their gods and Buddhas as offerings, and they had to kneel and talk when they met.

Now there is not much left in the land, and the domestic slaves have also become hired labor, and the tenants are still proud.

Landlords that hate!