The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 59 Unintentionally changing history

In the next few days, Chen Jingke refined his ideas.

However, he still did not rush to find Zhu Yuanzhang, but first mentioned the importance of arithmetic in front of Zhu Biao from time to time.

Recently, Zhu Biao's main focus has been on the 'baoqian innovation'. He deals with money and food every day, and he can feel the importance of arithmetic more than ever.

Especially when the numbers are wrong, it takes several times more time to proofread.

This made him particularly aware of the importance of arithmetic.

He agreed more and more with Chen Jingke's words.

Zhu Xiongying was with Chen Jingke every day, and under his influence, he regarded arithmetic as an indispensable thing for governing the country.

After more than half a month, he finally decided to take action.

On this day, while his grandfather and grandson were all present, he stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying were refreshed, thinking that he was going to talk about history again.

Every time he did this in the past, he would bring a new perspective and solve many flaws and hidden dangers.

I don’t know what I’m going to talk about this time.

Only Zhu Yuanzhang had a very calm expression: "Oh, I wonder what it is?"

Chen Jingke's heart moved. Lao Zhu's reaction was wrong. He didn't have any expectations at all. Instead, he seemed to be in control.

Thinking of this, he already knew in his heart that Zhu Yuanzhang had already known his plan.

He didn't panic about this. There must be Lao Zhu's informants around him, and there were quite a few of them.

No move or move can escape his eyes.

But it doesn't matter, I won't do anything wrong, nor will I do anything that harms the imperial power and Ming Dynasty.

It was a good thing that Lao Zhu sent someone to monitor him. It could reduce his suspicion and save him a lot of unnecessary trouble.

However, now that he already knows, the rhetoric he prepared before will change.

Otherwise it can easily become self-defeating.

I just don’t know how much he knew. He must have known about the compilation of arithmetic books. He must also have known about the suppression of arithmetic by Confucian scholars.

But he definitely didn't know that he was going to confront the Confucian scholar.

Well, yes, let’s do it.

Thinking of this, he said: "I studied government affairs with His Highness the Crown Prince and witnessed the importance of arithmetic with my own eyes..."

Zhu Biao also nodded and said: "Arithmetic is indeed very important, and calculations of money and food cannot be separated from them."

"It's just that there are too few people in Ming Dynasty who know arithmetic. Many positions can only be filled by scholars who don't know arithmetic, which brings great inconvenience."

"If there are enough officials who understand arithmetic, the work efficiency of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War can be increased several times."

After being in contact with Chen Jingke for a long time, they began to come up with a few new words from time to time.

Such as work efficiency, era, Chinese civilization and so on.

Zhu Xiongying also hurriedly echoed: "Yes, yes, the figures in the account book at the Ministry of Accounts were wrong last time."

"After further investigation, I found out that a clerk who didn't understand arithmetic had calculated the wrong number."

"Just because of a mistake, three or four days were wasted. If the little official knew arithmetic, such a mistake would not have happened."

Seeing that his son and grandson both said this, Zhu Yuanzhang also paid more attention to it.

Chen Jingke gave the two of them a thumbs up in his heart. You two are the best fans of the year.

"I discussed arithmetic with the arithmetic teachers from the Ministry of Household Affairs before, and later the arithmetic teachers from the Imperial College, the Ministry of Works and other yamen also joined in..."

"I just thought that since arithmetic is so important, it would be better to write a book on arithmetic so as to cultivate more people who understand arithmetic."

"It's just that this matter is complicated and important, and I can't complete it alone. I would like to invite all the mathematicians from the Imperial College to participate."

Come on, let's start complaining.

A smile appeared on the corner of Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth, but he quickly covered it up again:
"It's rare that you have such intention. We agree to this matter. If you have any difficulties, feel free to ask."

Chen Jingke said angrily: "It's just that Dr. Cheng told me that arithmetic was suppressed by Confucian scholars in the Imperial College. He wanted to serve the country but was afraid." Zhu Yuanzhang pretended to be surprised and said: "Oh, this happened?"

Chen Jingke said firmly: "It's absolutely true. I dare not deceive Your Majesty."

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped the table and said: "Damn it, these Confucian scholars don't study hard, how can they suppress other schools of thought?"

"I will issue an oral reprimand to them, so that they can no longer suppress arithmetic, let alone interfere with the compilation of arithmetic."

The eye drops were successfully applied.

Chen Jingke was very happy: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Then he tried again: "Your Majesty, I wonder if the imperial examination relies on arithmetic?"

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have just remembered this, and said angrily: "Don't tell me that we haven't thought of it yet. The examination subjects submitted by the Ministry of Rites do not include arithmetic."

"What does Ren Ang, the Minister of Rites, do for a living? He has forgotten such a big thing."

Zhu Biao looked at his father with a strange look. Didn't you say that you only study the scriptures?

However, he naturally couldn't expose his own father's shortcomings, but echoed:
"The Ming Dynasty was inseparable from the calculation officials, and calculations should be included in the imperial examination."

"Moreover, arithmetic has been included in the imperial examinations of all dynasties, and it must have a deep meaning. We cannot abolish it easily."

Zhu Xiongying also spoke actively: "The arithmetic class of the Imperial College is the only place to train arithmetic students, and it must be taken seriously."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him kindly: "It's great that our dear grandson can take care of Grandpa Huang's worries."

"Now that our dear grandson has spoken, the Chartered School of Mathematics can recruit hundreds more students every year."

Chen Jingke was even more happy: "Your Majesty, the students of the Imperial College are all the children of hundreds of officials. They focus on classics and neglect arithmetic. I'm afraid they won't be able to recruit enough students."

Zhu Yuanzhang said meaningfully: "You are worrying too much. Once the subject is opened, even a thousand students can be recruited."

Only then did Chen Jingke realize that he had indeed overestimated the integrity of these scholars.

Next, he did not give any more eye drops to Confucian students. The power of Confucianism cannot be reversed in a day.

Moreover, acting too hastily will only arouse Zhu Yuanzhang's resentment.

This can be done slowly, since there is plenty of time anyway.

However, today's harvest has been great enough. With Lao Zhu's will, those Confucian scholars will restrain themselves.

The most important thing is that the arithmetic subject was restored to the imperial examination.

As Zhu Yuanzhang said, as long as you can become an official, there will be people vying to learn from it.

When the time comes, it will not be so easy for Confucian scholars to suppress arithmetic.

In fact, what Chen Jingke didn't know was that he accidentally saved arithmetic today.

In his previous life, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the imperial arithmetic examination, and arithmetic completely declined.

In the 26th year of Hongwu's reign, Confucian scholars successfully expelled arithmetic from the Imperial Academy.

You know, the arithmetic class of the Imperial College was the only place to train arithmetic students in ancient times.

Most of the planners came from this.

Without this training institution, the quality of Ming Dynasty's planning officials plummeted.

The financial system is in chaos, and the falsification of various data is so serious that it is unbearable to look at it.

Even the most important demographic statistics were only completed once during the Hongwu period.

The population was more than 6000 million during the Hongwu period, 7000 million during the Chenghua period, and still 7000 million during the Zhengde and Jiajing years.

In fact, according to historians, the population of the Ming Dynasty exceeded [-] million at that time.

The gap between the population of 4000 and [-] million is certainly due to bureaucratic deception, but it also has a lot to do with the decline of the official planning system.

Without a strong accounting officer, all data will be chaotic.

And the greater the chaos, the more conducive it is for bureaucrats to pursue their own interests.

So from this perspective, Chen Jingke not only saved the fate of arithmetic, but also changed the fate of Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)