Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 181 Research Institute

Zhang Yifan remembered that Deng Yu, a famous general in the founding generation of the Ming Dynasty, contracted an illness while on duty and died.

However, there is no record in history of what disease Deng Yu contracted and died of.

Thinking of this, he remembered something again and asked Zhu Biao: "What disease does my sister-in-law's father have?"

Historically, Chang Yuchun, who had the same ending as Deng Yu, also died suddenly on his way back from the war.

There is a conspiracy theory in later generations, saying that Zhu Yuanzhang thought that their achievements were so great that they could not be sealed, so he killed them.

Zhang Yifan doesn't think so. No matter how powerful these generals are, can they be more powerful than Xu Da?How come Xu Da didn't die of a sudden illness?
Besides, Zhu Yuanzhang himself said publicly that the most important figure in the founding of the Ming Dynasty was Li Shanchang, and he was fine. In history, it would be until Zhu Biao died and a young successor was appointed, and Zhu Yuanzhang himself was running out of time. , Only then did Li Shanchang be killed.

Therefore, when the former Yuan Dynasty was still very powerful, Zhang Yifan did not believe that Zhu Yuanzhang killed Chang Yuchun and Deng Yu because of his great achievements.

At this time, Zhang Yifan thought about it and wanted to know what the answer was?
After hearing this, Zhu Biao didn't know why he suddenly asked about this matter, but he immediately replied: "It was because he contracted smallpox during the war."

At this point, he said gratefully: "Thank you for solving the smallpox problem. Otherwise, we don't know how many people would have died due to the smallpox!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yifan suddenly remembered that like Chang Yuchun, a famous Manchu general in the late Ming Dynasty, an important figure in the Aixinjueluo family, and the most famous son of Daishan, Yue Tuo, also contracted smallpox during an invasion of the pass. It is recorded in history that he died and failed to come out alive.

From this point of view, if someone gets smallpox, it is really not a question of who is strong or not, but a blind box and bad luck. Military generals with the strongest physical fitness can easily die in their prime.

From this perspective, is it possible that Deng Yu also died of smallpox?
Zhang Yifan thought of this and quickly asked: "Have all our Ming army been vaccinated with cowpox?"

Zhu Biao listened, nodded and replied: "Since you proved that vaccination with cowpox can prevent and cure smallpox last year, my father was the first to vaccinate the frontier army with cowpox..."

Having said this, he paused and felt that there was nothing to worry about in front of his brother-in-law, so he revealed the news: "I also asked the border people to spread the smallpox plague to the enemy. The same is true when you and the fourth child are competing. , the border commander can rush back to the capital to watch the battle with peace of mind."

"..." Zhang Yifan was speechless after hearing this.

My father-in-law's sense of smell is really sensitive. From the fact that the border troops can be protected from smallpox by vaccination with cowpox, he immediately figured out the advantages of the Ming army, and then caused trouble for the enemy.

He is truly worthy of being the founding emperor. He was killed in a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​​​blood. He was able to quickly seize and use any opportunity he had.

Thinking like this, he asked Zhu Biao: "Then this also means that everyone on Duke Wei's side has also been vaccinated with cowpox!"

"Of course!" Zhu Biao nodded and said, "Even Xiangshan County, which is as remote as here, was vaccinated against cowpox before you came. Do you still have to worry about the border troops?"

After finishing speaking, he felt that what he said was a bit serious, so he explained: "The smallpox plague, as long as it is a human being, will be afraid. There is a solution. Who doesn't want to solve it immediately? Isn't it?"

"By the way, regarding this matter, my father issued a strict decree at the beginning. If there is still a smallpox outbreak in the local area after a month, the local officials will be held accountable."

Zhang Yifan felt relieved after hearing this. In this way, no one would die from smallpox in the Ming Dynasty.

Will that classmate Wei Guogong change his destiny?

Thinking of this, Zhang Yifan suddenly remembered that Queen Ma also died of illness. Although there was no record of Queen Ma's illness, it was said that Queen Ma got sick while sleeping. He knew that this disease could not be cured, so he did not let Zhu Yuanzhang vent his anger on him. Royal physician.

There was a TV series in later generations, which speculated that Queen Ma also died of smallpox.If that were the case, Queen Ma wouldn't have to die at the age of 51!

However, Zhang Yifan was somewhat suspicious of this cause of death.

Both Chang Yuchun and Deng Yu were in their early 40s, and died suddenly when they were in their prime.It stands to reason that their bodies are strong, and ordinary diseases are not easy to kill them.

The most important thing is that if the two of them died of smallpox, and a few of the bodyguards around them died, it would be okay if no records were left in history. After all, they were just bodyguards and had no reputation at all.

But Queen Ma was different. She was in the deep palace compound. Where did smallpox come from?And if she got smallpox and people around her were infected, such as other concubines and even Zhu Yuanzhang, then it would be impossible not to record this in the history books, right?
Therefore, Zhang Yifan did not believe that Queen Ma died of smallpox.However, he was not a doctor, so he didn't know what illness Queen Ma might have died from?
While he was thinking about this, Zhu Biao no longer thought about smallpox, and he no longer even mentioned the matter of the prime minister. Instead, he said to Zhang Yifan: "The shares you mentioned to my father are the common interests mentioned just now. Is it about dividing the dividends and money?”

"Well, yes." After hearing this, Zhang Yifan explained, "In this way, the court can use other people's money to do things that would otherwise require a lot of money. And because of the binding of interests, Things will be done more efficiently.”

With reference to bank loans, for example, the county government in Xiangshan County built so many cement houses, but only paid a small part of the money. Zhu Biao could already understand this matter, so he answered Zhang Yifan: "Okay, this I understand the matter, and I will explain it in detail to my father when I get back."

Having said this, he immediately went on to the next topic: "Also, what patent did you mention to my father? My father has concerns about this matter and feels it is difficult to do."

"Huh?" Zhang Yifan was a little confused after hearing this.

When Zhu Biao saw it, he explained to him: "The main reason is that you mentioned this unique skill. How can you prove that it is his unique skill? Maybe people in Jiangxi can do this, and people in Shandong can also do this. If the court recognizes people from Jiangxi, What about the Shandong people?"

"Also, if a powerful person usurped someone's unique skill and came to the court to admit it, would that person even have to look at the powerful person's face for his own unique skill?"

"The most important point is that since it is a unique skill, why should you tell the court that you can keep it and pass it on to your descendants? The court only protects it for a few decades, so how can it be better to pass it on to your descendants?"

"..."

Listening to what Zhu Biao said one by one, Zhang Yifan could confirm that the father-in-law and the eldest brother had indeed given careful consideration.Judging from the situation they summarized, they thought it was simple.

Good things in the future may not be suitable for this time.

Listening to what Zhu Biao said, there is actually another problem, that is, the people's distrust of the court.

After a while, Zhu Biao had almost finished speaking, and asked Zhang Yifan: "Look, this patent matter is not easy to handle? Do you have any other ideas?"

I didn't reply to Zhang Yifan before, firstly because Zhu Yuanzhang was busy at the time, and secondly because communicating by letter was too troublesome. Now that Zhu Biao is here, face-to-face communication will be much easier.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan spoke out what he had just considered: "Brother, look, how about we change it like this?"

"Say it!" When Zhu Biao heard this, he was immediately happy. He could tell that his brother-in-law still said this after knowing about these problems, which meant that there were ways to solve these things.

So, Zhang Yifan said to him: "Take the cement workshop as an example. The cement workshop we are currently firing should actually have areas that can be improved, such as the formula, is it fired after adding other things? Cement, will it be better and have more applications? Or, will it be cheaper in terms of cost..."

Zhu Biao actually thinks that this cement is very good!

However, after Zhang Yifan raised various possibilities, he was not sure whether there would be better cement.

Therefore, he listened carefully to see what Zhang Yifan wanted to say.

"...So, I plan to set up a research group within the cement workshop, which is to recruit people who are proficient in cement firing and have brains to try how to improve cement. I think this money and manpower are necessary to spend."

"Furthermore, the fish floss workshop has also set up a research group to see how to make it cheaper and more delicious? We can't always rely on Jing Jing, we have to have other people do this." "Also, In terms of agriculture and the cultivation of rice, fruits, etc. in Lingnan, research groups have also been set up to study how to increase yields."

Zhang Yifan cited several examples in one breath, and then concluded: "If these research groups have achieved results, then reward them heavily and encourage them to keep up their efforts; if the method is useful to the whole world, then the court should also protect it and reward these workshops." , which is equivalent to encouraging these workshops to do these researches. This can also be regarded as patent protection, but the target is not ordinary people, but workshops. After these have been implemented for a long time and they are familiar with it, and then promoted to the private sector, it may be feasible. .Look, how about this?"

Zhu Biao listened, nodded and said, "If you say so, I think it's okay."

However, he then changed the topic and said: "But, can those craftsmen produce any results? With their knowledge, can they innovate and create something better than the current one?"

This is indeed a key point. After hearing this, Zhang Yifan replied to Zhu Biao: "Indeed, the possibility of getting results is very low. However, if we train them to read and read more, read more and analyze more, and make them more knowledgeable, isn't that right? Is there a greater possibility of getting some results?”

If an experienced farmer comes to do research, he will only know what he knows. Even if he is good at thinking, it is equivalent to working behind closed doors. It is really difficult to achieve results.

This principle is also suitable for research in other industries.

This is why, in ancient times, scholars have always been respected, because through reading, they can understand more, open their horizons, and naturally it is easier to introduce new ideas.

If he were in other places, Zhu Biao might still have doubts, but after visiting Xiangshan County in the past few days, he immediately understood Zhang Yifan's intention, and immediately asked with a little surprise: "So, are you working hard to make people happy in Xiangshan County?" If the common people are literate, do they have this consideration?"

Ordinary craftsmen must have low creativity, but educated craftsmen have high creativity. This is something that can be naturally expected!

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan immediately responded: "That's right, and what they study is best not traditional books such as poetry, songs, and the Four Books and Five Classics, but miscellaneous studies, those related to their work among hundreds of scholars. In this way Then it will be easy for them to know what is going on and why, and then they can learn from the strengths of other schools, and it will be easier for them to achieve results.”

Having said this, he paused and then added: "I thought of some of it, summarized some rules, wrote a book and put it in the library, but no one is borrowing it yet. Mainly because the level of knowledge here in Xiangshan County is still poor. Very low, in the process of becoming literate.”

When Zhu Biao heard this, he immediately became interested, stood up and said, "Let's go and have a look at your library."

When we visited before, we didn't go to the Library Pavilion. Of course, Song Lian and the others went there by themselves, but Zhu Biao didn't go anyway.

Compared with other emperors, Zhu Yuanzhang is definitely a pragmatic emperor, and it is only the tenth year since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang is still looking for what kind of theory should be adopted for his philosophy of governing the country?

Under his influence, Zhu Biao was naturally a pragmatic prince.After visiting Xiangshan County, he felt the prosperity of Xiangshan County. After listening to Zhang Yifan’s explanation, he felt the economic benefits of the so-called miscellaneous studies. Of course he was interested.

Zhang Yifan saw Zhu Biao's interest, and he was naturally happy. Of course he was accompanying him, so he stood up and said, "Then say hello to my sister-in-law and tell her we're going out."

"Haha, no need, just let them toss around there!" Zhu Biao just smiled and replied.

In the backyard of the county government office, Zhang Yifan dug a small swimming pool and taught Zhu Jingjing to swim; now Zhu Jingjing has become the instructor and is teaching the princess and Zhu Xiongying to swim.

In the weather like Lingnan, playing in the water is actually a kind of enjoyment. Even if you can't learn how to swim, you can still have a great time.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan said to Zhu Biao: "Brother, you can learn how to swim later. You can easily learn to swim. When the time comes, it will be the same whether I teach you or ask my sister-in-law to teach you."

If the Ming emperors could swim, there would probably be fewer emperors who fell into the water and died.In the original history, Emperor Zhengde and Emperor Tianqi seemed to be related to falling into the water.

After hearing this, Zhu Biao just smiled and did not reply to this matter.

He has been in Xiangshan County for a while, and he can't stay in Xiangshan County forever, but everything in Xiangshan County is too novel. There is still a lot to see and think about, so he is busy!
........................

The library is not far from the county government office, just a few steps away.

What Zhang Yifan and Zhu Biao didn't expect was that Master and Disciple Song Lian, who was out for a walk, was actually in the library reading room.

When Zhang Yifan built this library, he built it in the style of a later library, with a reading room where you can read quietly.

Moreover, he has very high standards for this library. For example, the ice cubes that can only be enjoyed in the county government are also available here.

In this way, on such a hot day in Xiangshan County, Zangshuge has become a popular place to escape the summer heat. It is free, but the premise is that you must read carefully here, otherwise you will be kicked away.

It is also for this reason that Zangshuge is famous in Xiangshan County and even other places. Many people are willing to come to Zangshuge to read books even if they want to escape the summer heat, which invisibly promotes the literary style of Xiangshan County.

There are three places in the reading room, two of which are places for quiet reading, and the other is separated by a baffle to allow quiet discussion of problems encountered while reading.

As soon as Zhu Biao and Zhang Yifan came over, someone from below came over to report that master and apprentice Song Lian were discussing issues.

However, Zhu Biao did not go there immediately. Instead, he first looked at the two reading rooms closest to him and found that many people inside were reading seriously. So, he did not go in and went to the library to check the size of the library. .

The library pavilion is divided into two floors: an inner one and an outer one. Borrowers can browse the books they want to read by themselves. If they feel they want to read them, they can take the books to the administrator to complete the procedures;

On the inner floor, borrowers cannot browse and can only see the introduction of the corresponding books. If they want to read them, they need the help of the administrator to pick them up.

Zhu Biao took a look and saw that there were a wide variety of books here, from collections of classics and history to religious classics, to hundreds of schools of thought, poems and songs, etc., but in terms of volume, they were really not very large.

Zhang Yifan accompanied Zhu Biao and said to him, "This is the result of the reward. I also sent people to buy all the bookstores in Guangzhou. If I want to continue to expand the scale of the book collection, I'm afraid I have to go to Jiangnan to collect it." OK."

Starting from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, especially the southward migration of the Song Dynasty, brought about the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River and the prosperity of the literary style.After all, other places cannot compare to Jiangnan.

Although Zhang Yifan felt that he was still not satisfied, Zhu Biao was very surprised and praised repeatedly: "It is amazing that there is such a library here in Lingnan."

After finishing speaking, he asked curiously: "Didn't you say that there are many books written by you? Why didn't I see them?"

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan smiled bitterly, pointed to a large empty space on the side and said: "Most of the books are there, borrowed by others!"

When Zhu Biao saw it, he was very surprised and said: "What kind of books are those that are so popular?"

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan replied: "One set of "Legend of Sword and Fairy", one set of "Zhu Xian", and one set of "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness". Anyway, it was Jing Jing who wanted to hear the story. She wrote it down and printed it. Book, some sold, some collected here."

One thing he didn't expect was that "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" was more popular than other fairy tales.

Zhu Biao had read some "Legend of Sword and Fairy" and discussed the writing style with his father. However, he was busy with political affairs, so even if he was interested, he would not have the time to read these idle books.

When he heard Zhang Yifan's words, he smiled and said to him: "You are still free. You have such a good mind. If you have time to think about these things, you might as well think about other useful things!"

When Zhang Yifan heard this, he disagreed.

(End of this chapter)