OBS Chapter 257 My brother-in-law's idea is great, absolutely great!
Chapter 257 My brother-in-law's idea is great, absolutely great!
On the day of Gengzi in the first month of the second year of Hongwu's reign, Emperor Zhu summoned former officials of the Yuan dynasty at Fengtian Gate and inquired about their political successes and failures.
An official named Ma Yi replied, "The Yuan dynasty gained the empire through leniency, and it also lost it through leniency."
Then, two different versions of these words emerged.
One version is from the "Imperial Instructions of the Ming Dynasty": "The Yuan Dynasty lost the empire because of its leniency, and I saved it with severity. The common people only like leniency. I think the Yuan Dynasty lost the empire because it was too lenient. In the past, the Qin Dynasty lost the empire because of its tyranny, and the Han Dynasty rose to power by being lenient. Using leniency to balance severity is how it succeeded. Now the Yuan Dynasty lost the empire because of its leniency, so I am using severity to balance it. The balance between leniency and severity should be appropriate."
Another version is from the "Veritable Records of the Ming Taizu Emperor": "If it is achieved through leniency, it is known; if it is lost through leniency, it is not known... The emperors and ministers of the late Yuan dynasty indulged in pleasure and eventually fell into ruin. Their mistake was in indulgence and laxity, not in leniency. Generally speaking, the way of the sage king is to be lenient but restrained, not to abandon the idea of leniency; to be simple but disciplined, not to be slow and easy. If it is applied appropriately, there will be no harm."
These two copyrights led to the famous online saying "Yuan lost the world because of his benevolence," which was not only taken out of context, but also had the word "benevolence" added by many Confucian scholars.
This is understandable, after all, scholars in the Ming Dynasty dared to write anything, and they spread all sorts of gossip and rumors in vivid detail. Taking things out of context was a trivial matter for scholars in the Ming Dynasty, and they felt no pressure at all.
However, no matter how dissolute these scholars may be, or how much they may abandon their conscience, it cannot change the fact that they are literate and can write.
In particular, among the scholars who were exiled to Ningyang County by Emperor Zhu, there were many students from the Imperial Academy, as well as scholars who had achieved the titles of Xiucai or even Juren.
In terms of calligraphy and painting, there is truly no one in Ningyang County who is better than them.
It would be a tremendous waste to have the hands that hold pens quarrying stones and building roads.
The famously decadent writer, Mr. Jiang Ke, once said that scholars are neither inherently good nor bad; they become bad if misused, and good if used correctly. That's generally how things are in the world.
Magistrate Yang believed that Mr. Jiang Ke was right and decided to take practical actions to prove Mr. Jiang Ke's theory.
For example, let these scholars write down the three thousand characters in the Hongwu Dictionary, and then let them study movable type printing. Once they have mastered it, they can save a few years of hard labor.
For example, these scholars were asked to draw pictures of all sorts of odds and ends, such as harvesters, waterwheels, and brick presses. They were required to draw realistic pictures with data annotations. These drawings were then sent to the capital, where Lao Deng sent people to compile them into a masterpiece like "Hongwu Hundred Crafts" or "Tiangong Kaiwu". After the final draft was completed, the drawings were brought back to Ningyang County for mass printing.
It's much better than letting them continue building the road.
Magistrate Yang smiled and told the three Zhu brothers about his thoughts, but Zhu Biao couldn't help but shudder.
The Hongwu Great Dictionary, the Hongwu Zhengyun Complete Edition, and the Hongwu Great Encyclopedia—these three books alone have already given the officials and scholars in the capital a headache to the point of tears. Now, there may be another book, the Hongwu Hundred Crafts.
My goodness! If this news gets back to the capital, I wonder how many officials will weep with tears streaming down their faces, and how many scholars will be heartbroken.
Zhu Biao had only felt sorry for the officials and scholars in the capital for three seconds when he came back to his senses.
"Brother-in-law's idea is great, absolutely wonderful."
Zhu Biao laughed twice and then said, "These scholars should be given something to do, otherwise it's a waste of their talents."
What's there to feel sorry for? Didn't you hear what my brother-in-law said? Most of the tasks, including writing and drawing, are done by people selected from these five thousand scholars. The officials and scholars in the court just need to organize things. Why should I feel sorry for them?
Besides, even if my brother-in-law were to cause trouble for those officials in the imperial court, it would still be better than causing trouble for me and my father, right?
Just as Zhu Biao was secretly rejoicing that he wouldn't be bothered this time, the county magistrate who was left behind at the county office rushed over and bowed directly to Zhu Biao and Magistrate Yang, saying, "Your Highness, Magistrate, someone from the capital has sent some books, saying that you should go back and take a look."
Magistrate Yang was slightly taken aback, then led Zhu Biao to the county government office.
Someone in the capital sent me a book?
I don't know if it was Jin'er and Yu'er who sent this storybook to help me pass the time, or if it was that old scoundrel Zhu Chongba who sent it to annoy me.
While pondering this haphazardly, Magistrate Yang led the three Zhu brothers back to the county office.
After reading the book personally delivered by Li Xi, a dignified sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites' Sacrificial Affairs Department, Magistrate Yang was overjoyed.
According to Li Xi, the chief of the Bureau of Sacrificial Rites, these books were intended to be used as teaching materials for community schools and county schools. In other words, they were Emperor Zhu's response to the previous memorial from Magistrate Yang, which read, "Respectfully submitted to Your Majesty to designate teaching materials for schools."
Among the materials used as teaching materials for community schools were the "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Surnames" and "Thousand Character Classic" using the "Hongwu Zhengyun" phonetic version, calligraphy copybooks by Yan Zhenqing, and poetry and composition books such as "Dui Lei" and "Lü Shi Xun".
The key is having math!
The community school curriculum includes "Hongwu Suanfu" and "Hongwu Suanjing," which, although less extensive than humanities subjects, emphasizes mathematics from the community school stage, thus cultivating students with scientific thinking.
Magistrate Yang held a copy of the "Hongwu Mathematical Classic" and looked at it again and again. The simple arithmetic problems in it became incredibly beautiful at that moment. Magistrate Yang even wanted to kiss the "Hongwu Mathematical Classic".
It smells so good!
Seeing Magistrate Yang grinning foolishly while holding a copy of the "Hongwu Mathematical Manual," Zhu Biao couldn't help but say, "Brother-in-law, it seems you value the 'Hongwu Calculation Symbols' and the 'Hongwu Mathematical Manual' more?"
Magistrate Yang nodded slightly and said, "Indeed, compared with 'Dui Lei' and 'Lü Shi Xun', I do value 'Hongwu Suan Fu' and 'Hongwu Suan Jing' more."
Seeing Zhu Biao's puzzled expression, Magistrate Yang slowly began to explain.
“If children are taught arithmetic symbols and mathematical texts from a young age, they can learn simple arithmetic, at the very least simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.”
"Once they learn the four basic arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, they will be able to calculate many things in their lives without having to count on their fingers one by one."
"More importantly, once more students have learned arithmetic, some simple but tedious calculations in the county government can be handed over to these students, and the county officials only need to proofread them."
"In this way, the efficiency of the county government office will be greatly improved."
In fact, during the Ming Dynasty, community schools and academies did not only teach humanities subjects; they also offered courses in arithmetic, music, and even musical instruments.
However, it would be too much to ask children in the community school to use "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" as their introductory textbook.
For example, the first chapter of *Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art* is "Square Fields," which involves methods for calculating the area of plane geometric figures. This includes methods for calculating the area of eight shapes: rectangles, isosceles triangles, right trapezoids, isosceles trapezoids, circles, sectors, segments, and annexes. It also systematically explains the four arithmetic rules for fractions, as well as methods for finding the greatest common divisor of numerators and denominators.
Chapter Two, "Millet," mentions the proportional conversion of grains and the proportional calculation method; Chapter Three, "Division," mentions the problem of proportional allocation; and Chapter Four, "Small Area," mentions using known area and volume to find the side length and diameter, etc.; it also introduces the methods of taking square roots and cube roots.
Chapter 5 mentions earth and rock engineering and volume calculation; in addition to giving various solid volume formulas, it also provides methods for allocating engineering work. Chapter 6 mentions the reasonable apportionment of taxes and uses the method of attribution to solve the problem of reasonable tax burden.
Chapter Seven discusses "excess and deficiency," also known as the double-method problem. It introduces three types of profit and loss problems: excess and deficiency, excess and deficiency, and two excesses and two deficiencies. It also provides solutions to several general problems that can be reduced to excess and deficiency problems through two assumptions.
Chapter 8 Equations, Chapter 9 Pythagorean Theorem.
Judging solely from the brilliance of the books, "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" far surpasses "Hongwu Calculation Symbols" and "Hongwu Mathematical Classic".
However, in terms of the ease of learning mathematics, "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" is far inferior to "Hongwu Calculation Symbols" and "Hongwu Mathematical Classic".
Magistrate Yang waved the "Hongwu Mathematical Classic" in his hand and said with a smile, "With this 'Mathematical Classic,' it will be much easier for the children in the community school to learn arithmetic."
Zhu Biao nodded in response, then asked with a face full of curiosity, "So what's next? Can we print these books in large quantities to prepare for primary school?"