The tribute scholars in the fifth year of Jiajing period were greatly shocked by the material analysis questions from the essay type.
In the third month of the lunar calendar, the sun is not strong, but many people are sweating on their foreheads and bodies.
At the entrance of the main hall in front, there was the emperor standing in front looking down at them, and the twenty-four counselors behind the emperor.
That's another pressure.
Come on, you guys, it's just out of courtesy that you come here to take a look.
Otherwise, it would be like trying to show off in front of Guan Gong.
In fact, many people don't know how to play it yet.
They can’t answer this question, it’s too difficult!
Now in the question review process, the first material roughly summarizes the tax and corvee system of the Ming Dynasty, and also gives the three major problems that the emperor considered. Guan Tian, Youfu, and Zheyin are all disasters determined by the emperor. You must at least know what they refer to, what specific situations they have, and why they are disasters, right?
The second material is too down-to-earth. What is a friend's name and a unique name? What is dumping and dripping subsidies? What are the sufferings of scale due, fire consumption, and routine, and who are they suffering from? Many tributes who were ignorant of what was going on outside the window and could still talk decently about current affairs policies when they encountered false opinions were dumbfounded at this moment: Who am I? where am I? What am I going to do?
The third piece of material just presents a point of view: Some people believe that silver makes corruption worse. Silver blocks the circulation of copper coins, makes officials treasure them, and makes the people hate them.
Well, expropriation of silver is one of the three major problems of taxation and corvee. Expropriation of silver will cause a lot of procedural troubles and is also suspected of exacerbating corruption. But why is the problem not just about the disadvantages, but the pros and cons? Where's the benefit?
Gong Yongqing looked at the palace examination questions with some fear in his eyes.
With his intelligence and logic, he subconsciously noticed that there was a pitfall.
There is a huge pit like an abyss buried in the test questions of this palace!
There is also material other than the policy topic, which is a rumor that many people usually discuss: I heard that the imperial court is going to abolish banknotes.
No wind, no wave!
Who knows that the imperial court doesn't really have this intention? Let's release some news first to see how the people react?
Don’t you see that the third question suddenly rose to the height of the current pros and cons of money law?
But if the imperial court really wants to bank, why does this imperial examination question talk about the disadvantages of silver?
Sitting under the sun, the new ministers of Jiajing's fifth year saw the questions planned for the imperial examination at this moment. They couldn't help but burst into tears when they thought about what new tricks they would be tested in three years later.
Finally! Finally, I have seized the only opportunity in my life this year. I luckily passed the examination and became a glorious Jinshi!
Still want to join after three years? It’s very difficult!
At this moment, Tang Shunzhi raised his head and secretly looked at the emperor and important ministers a little strangely.
Judging from Wang Sima's "Examination of Practical Studies and Dialectics", one of the viewpoints is that everything has pros and cons, and in its changes, danger may turn into opportunity. The truth is that misfortune lies ahead."
This is a question for the imperial examination... Now it seems that if you are not proficient in practical studies and dialectics, you will probably miss the point and fall into a trap.
You should know that although there are golden mean words in the classics of sages, Confucian disciples are often too clear about wrong and right and wrong. Don’t you see that those in the court are either loyal, righteous, talented and virtuous, or they are treacherous, evil, greedy and erroneous?
So, how to solve such a complicated question?
Tang Shunzhi gently closed his eyes and slowly rubbed his own ink with his hand.
... This question requires the history of the Ming Dynasty to understand how the treasure banknotes at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China turned into this step by step, and why taxes began to be converted into silver.
Things will not become like this for no reason. The word "profit" among the pros and cons of this bank is probably hidden in it.
Since everything always has advantages and disadvantages, I am afraid it is impossible to eliminate the disadvantages. We can only find ways to maximize the advantages and prevent the disadvantages.
Tang Shunzhi opened his eyes and was the first to write and write:
【I am right:】
【I heard that misfortunes and blessings depend on each other, the wise know the way and the way is popular; the cause and effect before and after, the wise king observes the situation and guides it. The popularity of Gai Dao cannot be carried out in times of ups and downs; the guidance of trends cannot be violated unless it is pros and cons. When a sage governs the world, he should observe the ups and downs, understand the cause and effect, and then take advantage of the situation, turn danger into disaster, and bring blessing out of misfortune...]
Having broken the title, what follows is a routine of praise for Emperor Taizu Gao and the current emperor. Everyone had already thought about how to write these contents in advance, so Tang Shunzhi wrote more and more smoothly.
Entering this stage, Zhu Houcong looked at the candidates with different looks, and also looked at a few people in particular, and then left first.
Let them answer.
When they arrived at the Yangxin Hall, Empress Dowager Jiang stepped forward and asked, "How is it?"
Zhu Houcong was helpless: "...Those people are indeed very handsome."
Yes, there is another task today. Empress Dowager Jiang specially told him to take a good look at a few well-known talents in Zhang Zuo's report.
His sister was in love and wanted to get married, so Zhu Houcong didn't bother to worry about it anymore.
It's weird to block anything. Sending his sister's prince-in-law out on business for two years also made Zhu Houcong's words in front of his mother and sister unconvincing: How do you call it a sister?
All I can say is respect the fate of others and get married if you want.
Empress Dowager Jiang was overjoyed when she heard Zhu Houcong's words: "Since a consort can also be an official, that's it. After the palace examination, the emperor will remember this matter and make a decision as soon as possible to avoid being snatched away."
The matter of catching a son-in-law under the ranking can be found in every subject.
The younger sister Zhu Qingyi is a beauty-controller. In the few years when her personality began to develop, she grew up to be a princess in the palace. She is much more daring to express herself than Zhu Houcong's elder sister.
There is nothing wrong with facial control, Zhu Houcong also has facial control.
It's just that reusing the prince's consort will make his sister's family life less happy, so it would be better for his sister's prince-in-law to have a job in Beijing in the future.
In this case, it is strongly recommended that the mother choose someone with weaker talents.
Zhu Houcong first agreed to his mother's words, and then said: "Mother, my son is going to Qin'an Palace."
Just like on the day when the general examination started, Zhu Houcong was going to see Tao Zhongwen again to discuss refining elixirs.
"I heard that Master Shao is also in the capital?"
"...Mother wants to meet him?"
Empress Dowager Jiang lamented: "Your father respected Taoist Shao very much in the past. I also received Taoist Shao's talisman when I was young, and then grew up safely and inherited this great power. Due to emotion and reason, I should fulfill my wish." "
Zhu Houcong thought for a while, and with his current attitude towards the Taoist priests, it would not cause anything to happen if both mother and son showed "advocating Taoism". The Queen Mother only paid homage to the temple and respected the spiritual life of the elderly.
"Then my son will make arrangements later. Mother, please choose an auspicious day to go and offer incense."
After arriving at Qin'an Hall, this is where the business begins.
There are no better tools. Tao Zhongwen's "laboratory" is a set of alchemy equipment that he is familiar with: Danjing, altar, furnace, sacred chamber, kiln, cauldron, ancient mirror, pure sword, incense burner, tripod, trachea, basin, Mallet, bowl, ash pond, pressing stone, bamboo tube, trembling...
Now, there are still a few young Taoist priests working in the Qin'an Palace, and there are also several disciples who "became" Tao Zhongwen's disciples under Zhu Houcong's order - their identities are the first batch of children adopted from the Salesian Home in Huangzhuang. Those who have grown into their teens.
Tao Zhongwen has become more and more strange: now the emperor does come to see him every day and chat for half an hour. But he neither talked about Taoism nor asked for advice on alchemy, and he didn't mention much about the fertilization of golden slag.
At least what Tao Zhongwen did every day could not see anything related to fertilizer production.
The emperor did not regard him as a moral master, as Tao Zhongwen now knew.
He is just a subject who has the abilities the emperor needs.
But to achieve the status and reputation that he wanted, he also needed to be able to make the contributions that the emperor wanted. Nowadays, when trying various things, the raw materials can be easily obtained. This convenience also requires the support of the emperor.
"Your Majesty, what I have been refining for more than ten days is colored glaze, right?"
Tao Zhongwen knew how to refine things, and the way he had been doing it these days seemed to be similar to the method of refining colored glaze.
Zhu Houcong couldn't help but admire when he heard him ask today: "What a great idea. It's just that it's not colored glaze, but glass."
"Glass?"
"Its quality is colorless and translucent."
From the earliest telescopes made of relatively transparent colored glass, which was the simplest, to this day, no truly good transparent glass has been produced.
The people under Alfonso knew about glass, but they didn't know how to make it. After a few words, some comparisons were made, and in the end it seemed that the answer came down to alkali - one person mentioned that it seemed that the glassmakers used a lot of straw ash.
Resources vary from place to place. Zhu Houxun ordered his people to ask a lot. It seems that there is no place in the Ming Dynasty where a large amount of trona ore similar to the alkali powder has been found. Or maybe there is, but it has not been discovered because it contains impurities or other properties and no one cares about them.
In short, alkali is now related to a lot: if glass is made, then telescopes, magnifying glasses, thermometers, measuring cups... are both practical things and allow many studies to truly start quantitative experiments.
Likewise, alkali is related to fertilizers.
Even if there is no way to produce fertilizer, it would be good to smelt alkali with higher purity and use it as a standard to find alkali mines.
Tao Zhongwen confirmed that he was indeed burning colored glaze, and he looked at the emperor with a complicated expression.
Zhu Houcong said seriously: "Master Tao, don't think that I treat you as a craftsman. Now, several supervisory bureaus have received orders to trial-produce this glass. Does Master Tao know how long this order has been in place?"
Of course Tao Zhongwen didn't know. Zhu Houcong stretched out three fingers and said: "Three years. In the past three years, I only knew that sand, lime, alkali powder and other materials should be fired together, but I still couldn't do it. Now, I will bake this glass The reward set for this achievement has been upgraded to a county title."
"...Is it so difficult?"
Tao Zhongwen said it was difficult, but in fact he was shocked by the emperor's emphasis on this thing.
Even colored glaze is just for decoration, isn't it? Fellow Taoists from previous generations have already verified that colored glass clothing is ineffective.
With the emperor attaching so much importance and having clear raw materials, he actually found nothing in three years?
"It's not all nothing." Zhu Houcong shook his head, "I occasionally get it, but the next batch is different. Similarly, how to slowly cool down the hot glass water without bubbling or cracking is a difficult problem. There are many reasons. There are only three reasons why."
"...I want to ask for advice."
"First, it is the same sand, gravel, lime, and alkali powder. Even if you know how much of each to take, it may contain more impurities and have different purity. In fact, the proportion will change again and it is impossible to control. Second, even if you know how much of each should be taken, No matter how much you take, there is still a slight difference in measuring and weighing. Thirdly, how hot it is to burn or remove the heat to set the best shape. Now it is all based on experience and it is impossible to measure that temperature."
"...It's not about color discrimination. How to measure the temperature?" Tao Zhongwen asked a professional question.
The so-called perfection, craftsmen smelting, Taoist priests refining elixirs, observing the color of flames and the color changes of various other things in the fire, that is the basic skill, which is the so-called mastering of fire.
How can this temperature be measured like a ruler?
"Isn't the real person very familiar with mercury?"
Tao Zhongwen expressed that he was very familiar with it: "The "Baopuzi Golden Pill Chapter" says: The cinnabar is refined into mercury, its color is white and turbid, and its sinister poison is serious. It cannot be entered into the abdomen unless it is forged by secret methods. However, after the poison is gone, it is actually Such as elixirs. There is also clear evidence in "Zhang Zhenren's Theory of Gold, Stone and Spiritual Sand": immortality in the world must be based on mercury. Mix yellow and white, and fly to form elixirs. The transformations of gods and immortals are all like sand and mercury."
After speaking, he looked at Zhu Houcong, and Zhu Houcong also looked at him.
The eyes of the two people changed from being serious at the beginning to later:
Tao Zhongwen lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."
Zhu Houcong, on the other hand, went from carefully confirming what he meant to now looking at him with deep meaning until he raised his head again: "I have said that I don't want to live forever. You are a smart man and there will be no next time."
Tao Zhongwen once again confirmed the emperor's attitude and his own value to the emperor. As a wise man, he became humble: "I will keep this in mind. I wonder what this mercury has to do with measuring the temperature?"
"It has something to do with glass." Zhu Houxuan said concisely and comprehensively, "If a real person can figure out how to measure the purity of sand, lime, and alkali powder, how to burn it at what temperature, and how long to burn it, and then burn glass, then you can use glass to make chopsticks. It is an ordinary thin tube with mercury sealed inside it. Based on the real person's familiarity with the habits of mercury, he should know that it expands when exposed to heat and boils when it is extremely hot and becomes gas, right?"
Tao Zhongwen nodded: "The smoke is poisonous and cannot be smelled."
He understood: "Based on the principle that mercury expands when exposed to heat, measure the temperature?"
"There are still many ways to go, and how uniform the pores left is also a problem. But there will be no mistakes in this way. The first thing here is a very important point: from my perspective, all things should have three states, which are solid , said liquid, said gas. If the solid becomes liquid, the temperature is the melting point; if the liquid becomes gas, the temperature is the boiling point. If you want to measure the temperature, you can use the most common things, the melting point and boiling point of water as the basis to measure it. .”
Zhu Houcong talked about physics to the "chemist who has gone astray", but for the sake of his subsequent research: "Just imagine, if the temperature of the fire in the furnace could be measured, wouldn't it be easier to control the temperature? What are the different things? The temperature of the smelting has changed. Wouldn't it be easier to master the trick? If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. What do you think? This glass is transparent and clear, and the mercury sealed inside can be seen at a glance. Then, like a ruler, the outside is engraved with measurement , won’t we be able to know whether it’s cold or hot at any time in the future?”
Tao Zhongwen was shocked: This is the truth.
Let’s take a look at the various tools in this alchemy room. In fact, they don’t reject tools.
However, the same reason why it feels like the Tianling Cap has been lifted today is that the emperor has such a clear idea on how to measure the temperature.
The reason is very clear, and the design is too reasonable. Tao Zhongwen feels that all he has to do now is to bake the glass, and he can become a pioneer in measuring the temperature of fire and a person who controls the temperature.
Our ancestors used flint to make fire. For countless thousands of years, they were just making fire.
But if this thing is done, it will be like a mile and a mile, and you will be able to know clearly in the future: How warm is the fire in the furnace at this moment! It's so cold outside right now!
Farming, doesn’t it also have to do with whether the weather is hot or cold?
How many things do you need to know how hot or cold it is?
His eyes lit up and his heart was filled with enthusiasm: "I understand! Your Majesty is so ingenious that I admire you so much! I know the habits of mercury, but I have never thought of this!"
Zhu Houcong knew that he saw the historical reputation and the importance of this matter, so he smiled and asked: "Tell me, what were the results of yesterday's test? Let me take a look at the records..."
In the northernmost part of the Forbidden City, the emperor and Taoist priests continued to study things that were both physics and chemistry, and continued to look for solutions from Taoist priests who were experienced in "refining" them.
At the palace examination site, Yang Shen, who had been demoted to become the invigilator of the palace examination, only saw one candidate scratching the hat off his head.
The No. 1 Scholar made a sad expression for his junior candidates.
Although the palace examination is not deposed, and although everyone is already a quasi-official, this is the highest stage to prove one's talents after all.
It was precisely because he was not deposed in the palace examination that the emperor asked such a difficult question after the number of tributes increased to 500 and the number of first-level soldiers increased to 24.
He and the tributes below have figured out the actual situation.
At this level of difficulty, only that first-class talent can truly be called a first-class talent.
Unless they are among the best, there is not much difference between them and those who are on the deputy list as Jinshi. They will all start as low-level officials and slowly climb up against the turbid current.
As for the first prize, the first prize, the second prize, and the top prize in this subject, the emperor was obviously choosing the talents of the prime minister.
It's not the kind of prime minister's talent that you brag about, but you have to have a deep understanding and understanding of state governance and practical practices before becoming an official.
Near the end of the palace examination, many people looked up resentfully at the emperor who appeared here again.
To be fair, we were all students before.
Doing things one stage at a time, everyone used to just indulge in learning.
There should always be an opportunity to gradually and slowly develop your abilities! How can anyone get such a solid test right after they get there?
Zhu Houcong looked at the relatively calm expressions of the tributes: Five hundred were taken from the entire Ming Dynasty, but after all, there were still some people who were confident in themselves.
Some people are resentful, but this can only illustrate a cruel fact: even though they are all tributes, the gap between tributes may be greater than the gap between pigs and humans.
How could a true genius monster be afraid of such a challenge?
"The ceremony is over! All the tributes are leaving the palace in formation, waiting for the grand ceremony."
The palace examination was finally over. As soon as he left Chengtianmen, Tang Shunzhi was surrounded.
"Tang Huiyuan, how did you answer?"
(End of chapter)
