According to Luo Zhixue's early requirements, the Chu Empire had already set up an Army Officers Academy before the country was officially founded. If we go back further, we can trace it back to the Suiying Academy in the Funiu Mountain period.
The early Suiying School was not only the first school to train military officers in the Chu Empire and even the entire land of China, it was also the first school in the country to adopt a new academic system and teach various new subjects.
The early battalion schools had infantry, artillery, cavalry and baggage departments. These so-called departments can actually be regarded as departments, not a separate subject.
In fact, formal class students in each of the above subjects must learn basic science and engineering knowledge, especially mathematics, as well as astronomy and geography.
Taking formal class students in the artillery department as an example, they need to learn mathematics, geometry, physics, chemistry, and geography. Only after possessing these basic science knowledge can they learn advanced artillery skills, especially the crucial shooting skills. Yuan calculation.
If an artillery officer wants to temporarily calculate the shooting elements on the battlefield, basic mathematics and geometry knowledge are indispensable. Otherwise, there is no way to calculate the shooting elements.
Officers in other departments also need to learn basic science content. Later, due to the demand for manufacturing guns, the battalion school also started an ordnance department to train R&D and production technicians who design and produce various weapons.
This series of subjects were taught by Luo Zhixue himself in the early days. In this way, while cultivating the first batch of military talents for the Chu Empire, he also trained a small number of basic science personnel.
Later, the Suiying Academy was reformed into the Army Officer Academy. The Ordnance Department was divided into two, leaving some teachers and students to stay in the Ordnance Department, while some teachers and students became independent and joined other disciplines. Eventually the Royal Institute of Technology was established, and began to select a wide range of talents to study science and engineering.
At the same time, during this period, the Chu Empire also began to recruit on a large scale all kinds of people who knew science and engineering. During this period, the Chu Empire swept across the Yangtze River Basin and occupied the pan-Jiangnan region. A large number of people came into contact with them. Talents with Western education were recruited and served in the Royal Institute of Technology, the Imperial College or the Education Department of the Ministry of Ethnic Education.
Among them is Song Yingxing, a low-level official in the former Ming Dynasty. His book "Tiangong Kaiwu" is quite good. In the past two years, Song Yingxing continued to edit his work, and adopted a more concise, more detailed, and more scientific attitude. The text is rewritten.
It has been compiled and published, and has become a very good popular science book on science and engineering in the Chu Empire.
However, Song Yingxing himself is not satisfied with Tiangong Kaiwu, because many of the contents of Tiangong Kaiwu have lagged behind the times, and as an encyclopedia of crafts, it is actually too complicated and confusing, and there are many mistakes. Things have no real value.
To this end, Song Xingyu has begun to write a new popular science work. He is very ambitious and wants to popularize the currently known world and some phenomena. He named this book "The Study of Nature"
In this regard, the superiors were extremely supportive and provided a lot of information and personnel to assist him in writing it.
As a popular science book, this book raises a question at the very beginning and provides a basic answer: Why are the tachyons broken when the tachyons are extended into the cup?
This is a very classic and common optical question, and the answer is very simple for future generations, that is, the refraction of light, the refraction phenomenon that occurs when light passes through different media.
Ge Wu naturally responded in the same way.
But as a popular science book, the book does not go into too much detail, such as explaining why light refracts...
It is not easy to explain these problems in detail, and it is even impossible at the current technical level.
With the current level of optical research in the Da Chu Empire, it is impossible to explain why light is refracted. After all, the researchers in the Da Chu Empire don’t even know what a spectrum is... Luo Zhixue never mentioned it when he taught in person in the early days. When Luo Zhixue taught these things in person in the early days, he only briefly talked about the phenomenon of refraction of light. This was for the purpose of manufacturing optical equipment such as telescopes and microscopes.
Otherwise, as the emperor, Luo Zhixue is so busy, how would he have time to teach about optics as a teacher...
Furthermore, anything involving photons is very difficult to do. Not to mention the Chu Empire, which is in its infancy in science and engineering. Even in the 21st century, people’s understanding of photons tends to be superficial, and there are still many optical phenomena. Scientists can't explain it, but it exists in reality.
Song Yingxing is not a researcher, at most he is a hobbyist, and he is interested in many things... This covers a lot of areas, and naturally he does not have enough time and energy to delve into a certain field.
This is also reflected in the books he wrote. The previous set of "King Kong Tianwu" is very comprehensive as an encyclopedia of crafts, but it doesn't actually explain much about the theory.
The popular science books now written for ordinary people will not be very technical books either. They are just popular science books, but they will cover a very wide range and allow people to have a basic understanding of the world they live in. cognition.
For example, you know that the earth you are on is round; the earth flies around the sun, and the sun flies around the center of the galaxy; the air is not empty, but contains various gases and tiny particles; wound infection It is because of bacterial infection. There are many disease-causing microorganisms in raw water. It must be boiled before drinking. Wash your hands frequently to prevent germs from entering the mouth or eyes through your hands. Water at high altitudes can be used at a lower temperature. The temperature is boiling and so on.
It is said to be science popularization, but it is better to say that it is to popularize some scientific common sense that can be used in daily life to the public.
Even Emperor Luo Zhixue heard about this huge popular science book, which is currently under preparation and is expected to take many years to be completed, and personally ordered all departments to provide support and cooperation.
To this end, the Ministry of Ethics and Education also set up a special research laboratory for Song Yingxing, allocating special funds and personnel to compile this important popular science work.
A book that focuses on popularizing science will be of great use to the empire. It can effectively enhance the people's basic understanding of the world and popularize scientific concepts.
However, in addition to the study of Nature edited by Song Yingxing, the Dachu Empire also had a real "Encyclopedia" project.
This project is not presided over by a certain person, but is personally responsible for it by the Ministry of Ethics and Education, with the intention of recording all known knowledge of mankind.
All knowledge is not limited to science and engineering knowledge, but also includes humanities and arts, social sciences, philosophy and even folk customs, entertainment games, etc.
The principle is: record everything, and record it professionally!
And the knowledge it collects is professional, with the intention of providing all known professional knowledge to knowledge explorers.
According to Luo Zhixue's idea, this kind of encyclopedia will continue to be compiled, and new versions will be continuously released as the times progress and knowledge grows.
Until the demise of the empire... Well, for this kind of encyclopedia book, there is a high probability that the Chu Empire has perished, and subsequent empires or republics will continue to compile this set of books until China and even mankind appear. Until the disaster.
Of course, it is unknown in what form it will exist. In the early stage, it will exist on paper, and in the mid-term, it may become an electronic version. What it will become later, only people in the future will know!
This encyclopedia is not only used for popularizing science, but also for recording, and it is also used as a reference book. Luo Zhixue attaches great importance to this.
The compilation of various new books basically shows Luo Zhixue's determination to promote comprehensive new education.
And what is new education?
The academic system is naturally important, but it is not decisive. The most important thing is what you study.
In addition to traditional literature such as the Four Books and Five Classics, the new pedagogy will also include learning about mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and geography.
What is compared with new education is traditional education. What is traditional education?
When I was a child, I read the Three Character Classic and various enlightenment books, and then I studied the Four Books and Five Classics...and then...no more...it was so overwhelming that the students learned arithmetic on their own.
This is because the Ming Dynasty paid great attention to the eight-part essay. In the past two hundred years, students devoted themselves to studying how to write the eight-part essay.
The eight-part essay is actually not all bad, at least it is fair... Because this thing has strict formats and requirements, it can objectively evaluate the level of the essay, which is very important for the fairness of the imperial examination.
In addition, being able to write a good eight-part essay, especially an eight-part essay such as a cut-and-answer question, is actually very demanding for candidates. Not only must they have a strong literary foundation, but they must also be able to talk nonsense, and they must also People who can justify themselves... People with weak brains cannot write.
Therefore, people who can pass the Jinshi exam are actually not stupid... Well, they may just lack other common sense. Exam-oriented education is like this. In order to pass the exam, students will ignore other things and focus on the exam content.
When future generations take the physics and chemistry exam, they will still pass the exam because they lack common sense.
But the biggest benefit of exam-oriented education is fairness!
No matter what test is taken, it is all about brains and hard work. There are also external environmental influences such as teachers, but it is not harmful...
It's better than not even giving you a chance to take a fair exam.
Don't expect absolute fairness at any time!
When you envy and hate your classmates from rich families who have private tutors and can go to a good school district, children from rural areas are still envious that you can go to school in the city; children from poor families are still envious and jealous that children from rural areas can go to school!
It would be good to have relative fairness, and the ancient imperial examinations, the imperial examinations in the Great Chu Empire, and the admissions examinations of the four new colleges were all about maintaining a fair level of fairness as much as possible.
Since last year, the Dachu Empire Army Officer Academy has taken the lead in conducting large-scale regional admissions examinations. This is because more and more students want to apply for the school.
"The Evil God"
The so-called regional examination actually means organizing an examination in each province, and then admitting a certain number of places. Each province has a certain number of places, and candidates in each province compete internally for these places.
This is to avoid some places with better education, whose candidates directly occupy most of the admission places of the Army Officer Academy.
Compared with civilian officials, the military pays more attention to local balance. It is impossible for military students and students from a few provinces to gather together.
Therefore, the Army Officers Academy adopts a very simple principle. Each province allocates quotas according to its population, and then candidates in each province compete within themselves.
This is a similar concept to the northern and southern rankings in the imperial examination system, except that the imperial examination is only a northern and southern ranking, while the Army Officer Academy directly provides a provincial ranking.
Under this model, competition within the Jiangnan region, which has a relatively good reading culture, will naturally become more intense!
In Jiangnan Province, where internal competition is fierce, Fang Beitong failed the exam last year, but he was unwilling to accept it and continued to study hard after failing the exam. He was bound to pass the exam this year.
After arriving in Suzhou, the capital of Jiangnan Province, Fang Beitong and a few friends stayed temporarily at the home of a friend who had already made an appointment, resting and continuing to review.
Not only them, but also some students who had taken the provincial examination in Suzhou did not leave, but were preparing to continue taking the entrance examinations of the four colleges.
This year's entrance examination is a joint examination of the four schools. Anyone who has passed the preliminary examination of the college can participate, and the candidates will be ranked according to their scores in arts and sciences, and the candidates will be admitted according to their own wishes and rankings.
The reason for the joint entrance examination is to avoid duplication of resources and avoid candidates having to go back and forth. After all, many candidates do not have to go to a specific school. If they can be admitted to other schools, they will go to other schools, so they will take multiple exams. school entrance exam.
For this reason, the imperial officials simply held a joint examination for the four schools.
On August 27, not long after the Jiangnan Provincial Provincial Examination ended, the four-school joint examination at the Jiangnan Provincial Examination Center officially started.
Fang Beitong also entered the examination room to take the exam like many other students. Because of the large scale, to facilitate management and to prevent cheating, the exam system was still the same as the traditional imperial examination. Candidates went in for three days and then took different subjects every day.
The examination subjects include classics: The classics test paper has many contents, but the core is to write an eight-part essay. As for why you need to write an eight-part essay for the new exam, you can’t even write an eight-part essay. How will you write various official documents in the future? ah?
In addition to the classics, there are four subjects: physics, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, geography and biology. Each subject has a perfect score of 100, and the five subjects have a total score of 500. They are ranked according to the total score.
Because it was the first joint entrance examination, the government attached great importance to it and mobilized many people to mark the papers. In addition to the eight-legged essay, these papers also had standard answers, so the marking was very fast.
In just a few days, the scores for the joint examination of the four schools came out. Fang Beitong immediately went outside the examination center to learn about his scores and ranking.
With a score of 477, ranking 72nd in the province!
Seeing this score and this ranking, Beitong couldn't help but clenched his fist!
This time, there is hope!
This time, the Army Officer Academy’s enrollment quota in Jiangnan Province is fifty-two!
Although his ranking is only 72nd, not everyone among the more than 70 people plans to apply for the Army Officer Academy.
Although there are many people who aspire to join the military, there are also many who want to go to the Imperial College, and there are also those who want to go to the Royal Institute of Technology, and there are also a few people who want to go to the sea and go to the Naval Academy.
The benefits of these four colleges are actually pretty good. As soon as you enroll, you will be granted official status.
Upon admission to the Army Academy and the Naval Academy, students are awarded the rank of Warrant Officer.
Once admitted to the Imperial Academy, one will immediately be granted the status of Ninth Grade. After graduation, one can directly serve as a Ninth Grade official.
The Royal Institute of Technology is better. A few years ago, as soon as I entered the school, I was promoted to a seventh-grade official, and the salary was paid directly...
Now the salary has been lowered, but there are also those who are admitted to the ninth grade, who are given living allowances, and they can directly upgrade to higher grades. According to the current system, if you successfully graduate, you will be the seventh grade. This treatment refers to political treatment, and then the salary is directly Compared with the Hanlin Academy, it is an absolutely high standard salary for officials, and there are also various subsidies...
If you have strong research skills and make some achievements, you basically don't have to worry about it for the rest of your life, and you will be able to get a knighthood and other things easily.
The benefits in all aspects are much better than directly taking the Jinshi examination, but this school is also the most demanding.
The Royal Institute of Technology also has the smallest enrollment, with only five students expected to be admitted in Jiangnan Province.
In addition to the joint entrance examination enrollment, they will also recruit students independently and directly recruit so-called little geniuses.
Considering the conditions of the four schools, Fang Beitong, ranked 72nd, has great hope of enrolling in the Army Officer Academy.
Sure enough, as he expected, after applying according to his personal wishes, he successfully received the admission notice from the Army Officer Academy.
While holding the admission notice in his hand, he couldn't help clenching his fists and waving towards the air in front of him!
Two years of hard study were not wasted!
——
After registering, Fang Beitong was told that he needed to arrive at the school before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month next year.
Several official schools in the Dachu Empire all start the new school year in the first month of the year, not in autumn... There is no special reason. It is because the school admissions examination period is usually in the autumn, and it is after the provincial examination, and then you have to Allow at least ten days and a half, and as many as two or three months, for candidates from all provinces to go to Beijing to study. They should also give candidates some time to reunite with their families and say goodbye. After all, it is conservatively estimated that it will take many years. Back home...
Therefore, after admission in the fall, candidates will be given about half a year of free time to do whatever they like, as long as they report to school when the semester starts in the first month of next year.
Fang Beitong did not stay in Suzhou for too long. After saying goodbye to a few friends, he returned to his hometown in Songjiang. In the next few months, he would review his homework, exercise, and honor his parents.
