The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Wang Wenlong roughly understood the current situation within the physics club and asked: "So both sides of the fight are raising issues now? Brother Zixian, can you tell me what they are specifically?"

"There are all kinds of issues, but they have become more and more intense and dangerous recently." Xu Guangqi said with emotion, "The Zhejiang Party is currently investigating the funeral of Master Zibai Zhenke. Some Zhejiang Party members in the Physics Society want to introduce the power of the imperial court into the Physics Society. Come on, tell me that there are people in our club who are related to Zibai Zhenke."

Wang Wenlong took a deep breath after hearing this, "What happened next?"

Xu Guangqi said: "In order to keep the radical forces of the Zhejiang Party away, Fang Zhonghan took the initiative to hold a physical society meeting at Huqiu Mountain Temple. Therefore, even he was opposed by people in the Zhejiang Party."

Wang Wenlong smiled bitterly and said, "They don't even listen to Fang Zhonghan?"

Xu Guangqi said angrily: "More than that? In order to find evidence of Zibai Zhenke's crimes, these Zhejiang Party members came to Huqiu Mountain Temple in the past few days, but they did not actively participate in the discussion. Instead, they all went to see the entrance in the temple. The big bronze bell left by Master Zibai Zhenke, and someone also rubbed the inscription inside, as if they want to find some evidence from it."

Wang Wenlong sighed.

The management of monks in the middle and early Ming Dynasty was very strict. The earliest Buddhist policy formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that all monks should be registered as monks in three categories: Zen, teaching, and lectures. Zen masters and lecturers could only practice meditation and study classics in temples. Only teachers can go to the world of mortals to teach the Dharma. Therefore, there are few records of eminent monks traveling to and from the world before the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not until the Jiajing and Wanli years that the management of the monks gradually relaxed, and a large number of monks went to secular activities, and then a large number of eminent monks emerged who were known to the world.

The four eminent monks of the Ming Dynasty were all from the Jiajing and Wanli years.

Zibai Zhenke's experience of becoming famous is that he started to travel far and wide at the age of twenty, covering half of the Ming Dynasty. It took him "no more than thirty years" to understand the classics of various schools. After that, he continued to travel far and wide while spreading the Dharma, and he lived in the south of the Yangtze River. He built more than a dozen Buddhist temples and carved sutras on a large scale, and many of his followers were high-ranking officials. At that time, it was recorded that "there were many disciples of Zhenbai who entered the world."

Moreover, Zibai was deeply involved in current affairs. He traveled far and wide and was well aware of the sufferings of the people.

The Buddhist scriptures commonly used by Emperor Wanli were curled and stained because they were read frequently. Wanli specially sent a eunuch to ask Zibai Zhenke: Will using such scriptures harm his merits? Zibai Zhenkou knew that if the royal family wanted to use new scriptures, it would inevitably consume a lot of people's energy, so he wrote a reply: "The drops of imperial sweat, the beams of eternal generations, the infinite treasure of Dharma, let this light shine."

Emperor Wanli was overjoyed when he saw this. So they continued to use the old scriptures and did not ask for new ones from the local government.

Of course, this is also because Wanli himself is a frugal character in small things. Wanli specially sent someone to ask the monk because he was reluctant to change. Otherwise, he would have just changed the scriptures himself, and there would be so many things.

When Wu Baoxiu, the prefect of Nankang, was falsely accused by the tax supervisor and was arrested, Zibai Zhenke recited sutras to him every day, hoping to keep him safe.

Zibai Zhenke often said to his disciples: "If the mining tax continues, I will suffer a great loss in saving the world." Therefore, he has a close relationship with Yu Yuli and Guo Zhengyu, members of the Donglin Party who attacked the mining tax policy.

Zibai Zhenke was originally from Wujiang, Suzhou. He received his ordination at Huqiu Mountain Temple in Suzhou. He also found someone to beg alms and cast a large copper bell weighing 10,000 kilograms in the temple.

Because of this, he has long been targeted by the Zhejiang Party. This time, Zibai Zhenke was arrested and tortured by the Ministry of Punishment because the Zhejiang Party caught Zibai Zhen, but he was a "lecturer" and not a "teacher". According to the law, he could not go down the mountain to preach, and it was even more illegal to come to the capital. , took it directly to others.

The Zhejiang Party did not have a bottom line in coming up with this law. If the legal requirements were followed, more than 90% of the businessmen and monks in the Ming Dynasty would have been punished.

Although Zibai Zhenke is now dead, the Zhejiang Party's liquidation of him has not yet ended. A large group of officials from the periphery of the Zhejiang Party are flipping through "The Complete Works of Zibai Zhenke" to find evidence that he colluded with officials. Someone also specially rubbed the inscriptions on the bronze bell, thinking that some evil words could be learned from them.

Xu Guangqi said: "It was Shen Shangbao who saw that these people had gone too far, so he stopped them, so that they did not disrupt the Huqiu Mountain Conference of the Physics Society." Wang Wenlong also sighed after hearing this: "I finally understand. As for what the Physics Society will do specifically, let’s not talk about anything else. Let’s first let the party disputes in the society calm down.”

On August 25, the first Huqiu Conference of Jiangnan Physics Society started as scheduled. More than 100 colleagues from the Physics Society were present to participate in the grand event. The committee meeting of the Physics Society was also held in the side hall of Huqiu Mountain Temple.

The Physics Society selected a total of more than twenty local liaison officers, and the only members who finally reached the general level were Xu Guangqi, Chen Yujie, Wang Wenlong, Wang Zheng, Fang Congzhe and Shen Taihong.

Fang Congzhe and Shen Taihong were able to become general committee members because of their great backgrounds.

After all, Fang Congzhe was a Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli, and he also served as the director of the Imperial Academy and the priest. Although he was released because he offended the eunuch Tian Yi, the eunuch Bingbi, he was released after being in the opposition. A big shot is much higher.

Ten years later, Ye Xianggao recommended Fang Congzhe to become an official. In just half a year, Fang Congzhe directly entered the cabinet.

Needless to say, Shen Taihong is Shen Yiguan's son.

This time, there is a high degree of overlap between the members of the Physics Society meeting committee and the main leaders of the Physics Society. Wang Wenlong, as the honorary president of the Physics Society, is in charge of presiding over the meeting.

After everyone came in and sat down after the ceremony, Wang Wenlong first asked Wang Zheng about his work last year: "How is the research on the elbow-operated coin minting machine going?"

Wang Zheng was responsible for the research and development of the coin making machine. He stood up and reported to everyone: "The machine has been trial-produced three times in total. Some precision iron parts could not be made. In the end, they had to be modified or replaced with wood. Now it can suppress silver coins. The speed is Much faster than minting coins.”

Wang Wenlong knew that the design of this machine was based on the industrial level of the 20th century. It was normal that small parts could not be processed in this era. He nodded and said: "Some designs of the coin making machine did not take into account the actual production difficulty. Replacement Components are inevitable. But will the durability of the machine be reduced too much after replacing wooden components?"

Wang Zheng said: "We used iron sleeves in all areas of friction and contact, and put wooden shells on the outside. Some gears used wooden cores with iron sheets on the outside. There have been no problems during the operation of the experiment. This time When we came to Huqiu, we also brought the machine into parts and assembled them in two days, so everyone can see the results."

Even if there are drawings for this coin-making machine, it took more than half a year to make it. It can't be imitated at a glance, and it doesn't matter if it is shown in front of everyone.

Wang Wenlong suggested: "If the machine can operate normally, we should consider opening another mint under the Physics Society to specialize in making gold and silver coins."

Shen Taihong, who had been silent at this time, suddenly asked: "If this machine is really effective, should we sell it to others or directly contribute it to benefit the country and the people?"

He really wasn't trying to make a point, but he asked a question that the physics club members had wanted to know for a long time.

In the past, the knowledge of geometry, algebra and even mechanics disseminated by the Physics Club was to directly inform the world of the results. Many Physics Club members also agree that the Physics Club should persist in research out of interest and ultimately implement actions for the purpose of benefiting the people. Way.

Some members believe that the research of the Physics Club, including the research and improvement of preparation machinery, should be for the purpose of benefiting the people and the research results should be directly made available to the public. But on the other hand, the Physics Club has its own industry and needs to make money by printing books and other methods. Some members have disputes about whether the Physics Club should make a profit.

(End of this chapter)