The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 286 An unexpected surprise
Just when Chen Jingke was struggling with the government's work plan, the outside world caused an uproar because of him.

To be precise, it was because of the gramophone.

At first, only a few people knew about this matter, and everyone suppressed it and kept it quiet.

Just like Xu Da and others know very well what natural science means, but they just don't say it.

Sending the child to Luoxia Academy was purely to build a good relationship with Chen Jingke and had nothing to do with natural science.

Please believe me.

Once a secret is known to a second person, it is no longer a secret.

There are not many people who know the secrets of natural science, but they are not few either. There will always be some rumors about it.

But most people chose to ignore it.

For people in classical society, knowledge is the most important. No matter how advanced the natural sciences are, they are still unparalleled craftsmanship.

Even if the news spreads that natural science can create many advanced tools, it cannot change this perception.

It’s not that no one has thought about using other materials. Some people use pottery and some use porcelain.

Even though the structural diagram of the gramophone was circulated, no one believed it.

Can the sound be recorded just by spinning these two cups in a circle?

If it is an invention that is beneficial to agricultural production and cultural dissemination, they will attach great importance to it and actively promote it.

After all, the glass is worth a lot of money.

then……

Unless they can see the greater benefits with their own eyes.

What is true ignorance?
The train was repaired and dismantled on the pretext of shaking the dragon veins.

Naturally, everyone didn’t believe it at first. How could such a thing exist in the world?

When they think that their voices can be passed down to future generations, they are so excited that they can't help themselves.

It's really not something that ordinary people can afford.

Therefore, making phonographs and purchasing gramophones have become the hottest topics nowadays.

I must have this kind of good thing.

As for passing on the sound, it is something they dare not even think about.

But now, news came out that Chen Jingke had created something called a gramophone.

Therefore, it is not surprising that those people nowadays do not pay attention to natural science.

Standing on the shoulders of giants, we cannot enjoy the benefits of the times while laughing at the backwardness of the ancients.

In order to prove that the rumors were false, someone spent a lot of money to make a gramophone.

For people at the time, this was the most practical idea.

If the craftsmanship is too advanced, it will bring variables and destroy people's hearts.

This is the same principle as mining in ancient times did more harm than good.

It was actually made for them.

The true governance of a country depends on knowledge and people's hearts.

It's just that the gramophone requires a glass cup, which is too expensive to make.

Although the recorded sound is very short, the volume is low, and there is some distortion, it really records the sound.

Then they saw it.

Sound can be recorded.

If possible, they would pass on their portraits.

Crazy, everyone is crazy.

It's just that the sound quality is worse. In many cases, you can only vaguely hear people talking, but you can't clearly hear what is being said.

In the eyes of today's people, it is too foolish.

The rumors were true and the gramophone actually existed.

But on the other hand, it’s not like modern people are too arrogant.

Especially the scholars, their eyes were red.

What the hell?

As mentioned before, for Chinese people, leaving a name in history books is the highest pursuit.

If people's hearts are cured, the country will be able to achieve great governance and a world of great harmony will be realized.

In a society based on agriculture, if industry and commerce are too developed, it will destroy people's hearts and destroy agricultural production.

This is to be passed on to future generations, how can it be so vague?

This is ignorance.

Anyone with a bit of money would choose to use a glass cup.

Fortunately, after the salary increase, all officials have become a lot richer, and they can still afford ordinary glasses.

And this also increases the gold content of the glass from the side.

Why can only glass record high-quality sound?

That's because it's valuable.

As a result, the price of glass rose slightly.

Especially the glass cups, the price has increased several times, and they are still priceless.

This made Lao Zhu very happy.

In recent years, financial pressure has increased dramatically due to continuous major changes.

If it weren't for printing money and selling glass, Ming Dynasty's finances would have gone bankrupt.

However, treasure banknotes cannot be printed casually, otherwise it will cause inflation.

Then we can only find a way from the glass, from the original sales of fifty pieces per month to the current number of hundreds of pieces per month.

But fortunately, after the foreign trade channels are opened, the sales of glass will be wider.

Although the quantity has increased, it has not affected the price.

The main reason is that this is a separate business and a monopoly.

If you want high-quality glass, you can only buy it from the imperial court.

If Lao Zhu was in charge, he would definitely increase shipments to solve the court's financial difficulties.

But this matter is now the responsibility of Zhu Biao’s team. They know how to maintain high prices, so they have been controlling shipments.

Now that the demand for glass has increased significantly, they have quietly increased shipments.

But instead of adding it publicly, it was sold privately.

The data on how many pieces of glass the imperial court sold is public. The sudden increase in shipments is a clear indication that there is a lot of this stuff.

It is likely to affect the price.

If it is shipped privately and is sold in a private capacity, everyone will only think that it has been resold by another seller.

There will be no doubt in the court's head.

Of course, the premise is that the shipment volume cannot be too large.

Even so, the court made a lot of money.

The internal funds that have bottomed out are filling up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After Chen Jingke learned about this, he couldn't help but sigh at the miraculous development of things.

Who would have thought that the gramophone would actually boost the sales of glass.

He was not surprised at all that the gramophone information had been leaked.

With so many people knowing, it's impossible to keep a secret.

As for the structural diagram, there’s not much to say.

The gramophone he made was so simple that you could tell what was going on just by looking at it.

What's more, he also explained it at the time.

If the ancients couldn't copy it, they would be looking down upon them.

It is a good thing that more and more people are joining the research. Maybe one day a technological breakthrough will be achieved and a practical phonograph will be created.

With the spread of the phonograph, natural science finally got rid of discrimination.

Of course, it is not enough to stop discriminating and let people of this era recognize its status.

But for Chen Jingke personally, he has completed a reversal in reputation.

No one laughed at him anymore because of natural subjects and because of Luoxia Academy. Although he doesn't care too much about other people's eyes on him - because he firmly believes that history will give him a correct evaluation.

But having a good reputation is always something worth making people happy about.

Zhu Yuanzhang's research class was finally established. He found a dozen top craftsmen and five Taoist priests from Taoism who were good at mechanism skills and refining immortality pills.

There was also a bit of a disturbance.

It is difficult for the emperor to find a Taoist priest who refines the elixir of longevity without causing misunderstanding.

All civil and military officials were shocked, and they all advised the emperor not to indulge in this pill because it was fake and harmful.

The alchemist thought that the emperor was also addicted to immortality, not to mention how happy he was.

Immediately, many people claimed to be true immortals and had immortality pills they wanted to offer to the emperor.

There are also some who claim to have seen immortals and hope that the emperor can sponsor them to search for immortal mountains.

Then they were sent to see the gods by Lao Zhu.

Not only that, Lao Zhu also directly issued an order that the theory of immortality by immortals was ridiculous, and anyone who said this would be arrested and exiled.

Although Buddhism was not banned, the two families were so frightened that they broke into a cold sweat and quickly wrote a letter to apologize.

Speaking of which, because of his experiences in his youth, Zhu Yuanzhang once had great respect for Buddhism and Taoism.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he built temples and temples across the country to elevate the status of Buddhism and Taoism.

Li Shilu, the first Minister of Dali Temple in the Ming Dynasty, was an orthodox Confucian scholar. He had a deep understanding of the dangers of Buddhism and Taoism and repeatedly advised him.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not listen.

Li Shilu had no choice but to resign and return to his hometown. In order to show his determination, he also placed his imperial hut on the ground.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he became angry and ordered the guards to catch him and beat him to death at the foot of the steps.

The matter did not end there. Chen Wenhui, the young minister of Dali Temple, took up the banner of his superiors and continued to write a letter against the promotion of Buddhism and Taoism.

In the end, he was imprisoned and executed because he offended Zhu Yuanzhang.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was not really stupid. He was just a little over the top at the time and gradually calmed down afterwards.

Recalling the virtues of the Buddhist and Taoist families in the past history, he also became suspicious, so he sent someone to investigate what the two families had done.

This check didn't matter, it almost drove him crazy.

Deceiving the people, lending usury, and annexing land... can be said to be numerous crimes.

So an order was immediately issued to clean up Buddhism and Taoism, and a large number of temples were closed.

In general, Buddhism and Taoism did flourish in the early years of Hongwu.

It's a pity that they committed suicide and received an iron fist attack.

This experience only happened a few years ago, but both families still remember it fresh.

Seeing that Lao Zhu was really angry, he naturally didn't dare to mess around again.

After dealing with Buddhism, Zhu Yuanzhang explained to the officials that I was not obsessed with immortality, but that everything was for the purpose of studying the phonograph.

Alchemists deal with gold and stone every day and have rich experience in this area.

We can use their experience in this area to study materials suitable as carriers.

The ministers were still doubtful.

After all, Lao Zhu has a criminal record, and the harm caused by the emperor's obsession with immortality is clearly written in the history books.

Naturally, everyone must be on strict guard.

No one believed it until Empress Ma personally came forward to testify.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry, who was the emperor of Ming Dynasty? You believe the Queen but not me, right?
No, we can't bear this anger in vain.

So he approached Chen Jingke and requested that a practical phonograph must be developed:

"Otherwise, wouldn't our anger be in vain?"

Chen Jingke didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Since Lao Zhu decided to abdicate, he has become a different person, becoming more and more like an ordinary person.

In fact, he didn't have much to teach the craftsmen. The principle of the gramophone had long been an open secret, and they wouldn't understand anything too profound.

What he could do was make some suggestions based on the gramophone he had seen in his previous life.

"The material does not have to be glass, you can experiment with other materials..."

"The carrier does not have to be in the shape of a cup, it can be in the form of a disc, which is easy to make and saves materials."

"If the speaker is made into a cone-like shape, the effect will be better..."

After telling these people everything he knew about the gramophone, Chen Jingke left.

Let them slowly explore and research, maybe they will come up with some results.

It's okay if you can't research it. After a few years of science development, the academy will take advantage of the trend and launch a practical model.

Not only can you build a reputation, but you can also make money.
-
Time always flies by when we are busy, and the beginning of autumn is here in the blink of an eye.

As expected, Yesudier went south to plunder on a large scale after completing the internal integration.

Although Ming Dynasty was well prepared, loopholes would inevitably appear in the defense, which still caused great damage to the border.

Lao Zhu was so angry that he wanted to ask Zhu Fan and Zhu Di to attack and have a head-on confrontation with the opponent.

After being collectively discouraged by everyone, I suppressed it.

"In autumn, grassland horses are getting fatter, which is when they are at their strongest fighting capacity."

"And this is the first time that Yesudier has gone south since he came to power. He will definitely fight to the end."

"If we go out to fight with them now, even if we win, it will be a miserable victory. It is not the behavior of a wise man."

"The best way is to hold on and use our strong city defenses to consume their troops."

"As the saying goes, if they work hard once, they will weaken again, and then they will be exhausted. It won't be long before their morale will dissipate."

"This time he dispatched more than 100,000 troops to go south. People eat what horses chew, and they need to consume a lot of food and grass."

"The looted property is far from enough to make up for the consumption."

"As long as we hold on, victory is ours."

"When spring comes next year, the grassland people who have endured a whole winter will be tired and thin, and their combat effectiveness will be reduced by half."

"And spring is also the time when women and female animals give birth. Migration and running around are the most taboo. That is the most suitable time for us to attack."

Xu Da analyzed.

His words were unanimously recognized by everyone.

People from the grasslands went south to plunder in the autumn, while people from the Central Plains went northward in the spring. This was a rule that was summarized during the Han Dynasty.

It still applies to this day.

Fighting in violation of this rule is not what a qualified leader should do.

Chen Jingke added: "The war between us and the grasslands will not be decided overnight, but a protracted tug-of-war."

"There is no need to fill it with the lives of the soldiers just to breathe out a sigh of relief."

"The one who laughs last is the real winner."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand this truth. He was just angry for a moment, but he calmed down after being persuaded by everyone.

Then he issued an order to the generals in the north to defend to the death and not to fight easily.

But at the same time, he wrote a letter to Zhu Fan and Zhu Di respectively.

I am very angry with you. I must beat them severely in the spring of next year, otherwise I will not recognize you two sons.

The two brothers, who were already dissatisfied with passive defense, immediately became more motivated to fight after receiving the letter.

Then more spies were sent to inquire about detailed information about Mongolia.

In fact, since they received the expedition order in the summer, the two have been collecting various information about Mongolia and mastering each other's whereabouts.

Prepare for the Northern Expedition next year.

After all, the biggest problem in the Northern Expedition grasslands of the Central Plains is finding no one.

The situation will be much better if you gather information in advance.

Naturally, Zhu Yuanzhang would not be so relieved to leave such a big matter to his two young sons, so he sent a veteran general to the army to take charge.

Because Zhu Fan had been in the battlefield for many years and had rich combat experience, he sent Ninghou Zhang Wen and Yongpinghou Xie Ning to help.

Xie Ning, Marquis of Yongping, was the builder of Taiyuan City and Zhu Fan's father-in-law.

Zhu Di was younger and had never been in command, so Lao Zhu transferred Fu Youde back from Sichuan and sent him as deputy commander.

As for why Xu Da was not allowed to take action.

The reason is simple. The first person in the military must be in Luoyang.

Especially since the throne is about to change, Xu Da needs to be in Luoyang just in case.

(End of this chapter)