Everyone saw Chu Zhen's sudden silence. Lin Daiyu even stood up and wanted to apologize for what she just said.
"Sit down, it's none of your business."
Chu Zhen asked Sister Lin to sit down again, paused, and then said to Zhu Yuanzhang and the others: "The West can build Western clocks with exquisite structures. With them, they can knock on the door of the Ming Dynasty palace and start to appoint officials and preach. However, Confucianism, which dominates the mainstream of thought, Thinking of these as miraculous tricks, looking through the Four Books and Five Classics to find the principles of governing the country and bringing peace to the country, it led to——"
Chu Zhen shut up.
He is a bit cynical now.
The technological backwardness at the end of the ancient feudal dynasty was not caused by Zhu Yuanzhang alone. He was not even able to bring the Confucius tablet out of the Confucius Temple. He was 1,800 years behind Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Qingzhao and Sister Lin were not responsible.
The appearance of Western clocks and Western watches in Dream of Red Mansions marks that Western technology, which has lagged behind the East for thousands of years, has finally begun to make great strides forward.
When Chu Zhen looks back at the Dashun Dynasty where Sister Lin lived, he will inevitably sigh for it.
Attributing the backwardness of modern science and technology to the kings and Confucianism is only one-sided.
The Dashun Dynasty where Sister Lin was located replaced the Qing Dynasty, and there were not many restrictions, so it might be possible to catch up.
"Chu, Mr. Chu?"
This was the first time Li Qingzhao saw Chu Zhen losing his composure. He had always laughed and cursed before, saying that there were no taboos here.
Even the previous criticisms of the Holy Duke Confucius were not as poignant as those words.
"fine."
Chu Zhen quickly calmed down and said to the three of them: "I'll tell you how to use these things. The first is the telescope. Turn this to adjust the field of view..."
Let them try it out as you talk.
"These 'wonderful skills and tricks' appeared in the late Ming Dynasty? Did the Yi people still get official positions?"
Zhu Yuanzhang held his watch and asked Chu Zhen in a surprised tone.
Western missionaries to the barbarians used Western bells to knock on the doors of the Ming Dynasty Palace, and were granted official titles by the Ming emperor, allowing them to preach.
"Matteo Ricci, who was the first to come, had no official position, but he had a good relationship with the chief ministers and other ministers of the cabinet. Later in the Qing Dynasty, Western missionaries generally held the position of Imperial Supervisor because their astronomical observations were more accurate and they could Accurately predict solar and lunar eclipses.”
Chu Zhen's words made Zhu Yuanzhang frown deeply.
No wonder Chu Zhen asked him to reform the Qintian Prison and allow people to learn astronomy and observe celestial phenomena. It turned out that the Chinese calendar began to lag behind the Fanyi in the late Ming Dynasty.
Lin Daiyu said: "I accidentally heard my father mention that the imperial court had a dispute over the compilation of the almanac, and opposed Western missionary foreigners entering the Qintian Prison to hold official positions."
Chu Zhen nodded and said: "You can tell your father that if you have the ability, translate more books from Western astronomy, geography and craftsmen. For other memorials and other things, it depends on his ability."
Lin Ruhai was a fourth-grade official and was restricted in everything. If Chu Zhen gave him something, he would be like Li Shimin and depend on the emperor's support.
It's good that Lin Ruhai can use his influence to do something a little bit.
"Are all these things made by Western Fanyi?"
Zhu Yuanzhang took his watch and telescope and asked Chu Zhen.
"It is made domestically. We have fallen behind and been beaten before, but now we have caught up. Recently, another jewel in the industrial crown has been missing."
Chu Zhen smiled and mentioned the recent news.
He originally wanted to drop the topic, but when he saw that even Li Shimin, who was still conquering the world, was looking at him, Chu Zhen said again:
"Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, China has been far ahead of the barbarians from all over the world. We can be proud of ourselves, but we cannot be complacent. A sea that is open to all rivers is a great place. Only by absorbing and learning useful knowledge from outside China can we maintain the greatness of China."
Zhu Yuanzhang fell into thinking, and Li Shimin saluted him: "Mr. Chu's teachings, the people of the world will keep them in mind."
"It's far from teaching. It's just inspired by the thought of China's modern history."
Chu Zhen wanted to change, but found it difficult.
It was difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to shake Confucianism. He was still hesitating about Hu Weiyong's affairs. Taxation and finance were also in poor condition. There was no war in Liaodong and Japanese pirates were rampant. Many things needed to be changed and he had to do it.
Even if he promotes some technologies, as soon as he dies, the people will die and the government will die.
The development of modern science and technology cannot be accomplished by promoting one or two books or building one or two factories.
Li Shimin is even worse. He can't even use a flashlight secretly. How can he engage in technology?
As for Li Qingzhao and Lin Daiyu...
It's better not to embarrass them.
What Chu Zhen said was just to plant a seed for the Tang and Ming dynasties. Whether it can take root or sprout depends on the follow-up.
"You guys should explore it yourself first."
Chu Zhen gave Li Shimin and Zhu Yuanzhang the compound bow, watch, compass, telescope, etc. and let them explore and use them.
He and Li Qingzhao went to Sister Lin and picked up the Hu Weiyong article in front of her to read.
Li Qingzhao handed the telescope to Sister Lin, briefly taught her how to use it, and then went over to look at the policy with Chu Zhen.
She had already read the previous pages, and now Chu Zhen was starting from the second page.
She discovered something that surprised her:
Chu Langjun reads the article so quickly!
Much faster than she was, she glanced at it a few times before turning to the next page, and quickly finished reading the first memorial about the relationship between a married woman and her mother.
When he started to look at the integrated payment of grain by officials and gentry, Li Qingzhao couldn't keep up.
"Look at these."
Chu Zhen handed her what he had read.
After all, he has done a lot of reading comprehension and can automatically ignore the nonsense in the memorials and the content that praises Zhu Yuanzhang.
Talented woman Li could read sentence by sentence, word by word, but of course she couldn't read it faster than him.
After reading three articles by Hu Weiyong, Chu Zhen looked up and saw Sister Lin holding a telescope, standing by the window and looking into the distance.
Look as cute as you want.
"How's it going? Is there anything you don't understand?"
Chu Zhen stood up and asked Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Thank you Mr. Chu!"
Li Shimin, who had fully learned these things, happily saluted Chu Zhen again and said with a smile: "I came in a hurry this time, so I went to Jincheng to drink. The next time I come, I will select some good trophies and send them over." Give it to Mr. Chu!”
"Okay, I won't be polite to you." Chu Zhen smiled and asked him: "What do you want me to buy? Just ask."
Li Shimin hesitated for a moment and said: "The best thing is a telescope and a compass, but it is not advisable to take too many back. The compound bow is powerful, but too delicate. It is okay to give it to close friends if you have twenty or thirty, but too many will lead to disaster." . On the contrary, you can easily buy a lot of armor and spearheads from Mr. Chu."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "You have to turn in the armor when you take it back, and it will be under the unified control of the Ministry of War."
During his years in Wude, Li Jiancheng frightened Li Yuan by trying to hide some of his armor after a battle, and almost deposed him as the crown prince.
Li Shimin thought for a long time and finally gave up.
He couldn't explain where these rust-proof armors came from. For three or five pieces, clothes could be sewn on top of the armor to cover up. If there were more, they would be discovered.
Chu Zhen said: "I will rent a warehouse and buy a few hundred units to store them first. I will give them to you later if you want."
Maybe Li Shimin doesn't want to be the King of Qin in the future.
"..."
Li Shimin did not refuse, saluted and thanked him, then packed his things in a box and prepared to say goodbye and leave.
"Wait, there's something else."
Chu Zhen threw a few bags of tea, some packaged fruits, and a book on Barefoot Doctor into the box and asked him to take it away.
"Thank you Mr. Chu!"
After thanking and saying goodbye, Li Shimin took away a bunch of things, a box in each hand, and a set of armor, spearhead swords, etc.
Chu Zhen looked at his back dragging the box away and then realized that he had forgotten to buy two trolleys.
