The whole body of this large clock is made of wood, but at the upper end, there is a clock face, which is made of transparent things, and the two hands, one long and one short, one thick and one thin, walk around the center of the circle very regularly, and below the clock face, there is a scale-like thing, swinging back and forth, as if it will never stop. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Even though Zhou Yuheng is well-informed, it is the first time he has seen such a strange thing.

Under Matteo Ricci's introduction, Zhou Yuheng realized that this is a timer, and in Western countries, this is called a clock.

Immediately afterwards, Matteo Ricci introduced a series of strange things such as balances, kaleidoscopes, magnifying glasses, etc., which not only opened his eyes, but also developed a strong interest in Western science.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, these things are all new inventions of our Western Ocean, I hope you like them." Matteo Ricci gave all these things to Zhou Yuheng.

Zhou Yuheng did not shirk, it was not the first time that this Westerner sent something.

But at the same time, Zhou Yuheng also knows very well that the Matteo Ricci in front of him is definitely not an ordinary Westerner.

"Mr. Li is proficient in science, and he loves my Damingguo so much, I don't know if Mr. Li is willing to help me develop together with Damingguo." Zhou Yuheng proposed an olive branch to Matteo Ricci, implying that he wanted to give Matteo Ricci an official title.

"Thank you, Prime Minister!" Matteo Ricci seemed to have been prepared, and followed Zhou Yuheng's olive branch and took it.

After confirming that Zhou Yuheng also recognized himself very much, Matteo Ricci listed some Western policy suggestions in combination with the actual situation of Daming Kingdom to Zhou Yuheng many practical methods.

For example, vigorously promote educational reform, such as the development of industry, foundry industry, as well as how to make glass, the implementation of calendar reform suggestions, these are some of the successful experience of the West, for the Ming country, also has a very important significance.

In addition to these, Matteo Ricci also saw the living conditions of everyone in the capital, and suggested strengthening the spread of Western religion to correctly guide the people's outlook on life and values.

And this point won Zhou Yuheng's appreciation.

Zhou Yuheng has actually been looking for good policies, and after thorough communication with Matteo Ricci, he also feels that Western religion is still promising for national governance.

In particular, the idea of "loving one's neighbor as oneself" mentioned in Western Buddhism coincides with Zhou Yuheng's concept of governing the country.

The more Zhou Yuheng and Matteo Ricci chatted, the more they felt that they hated to see each other, and before they knew it, an hour had passed.

Because Zhou Yuheng had other arrangements, this meeting was forced to be suspended, but at the end of the day, Zhou Yuheng still gave Matteo Ricci a reassurance, to set up a special Western-style communication agency, presided over by Matteo Ricci, and at the same time vigorously promote the teachings of Western-style religion, and at the same time, under this communication agency, set up a science and education department to teach and disseminate advanced knowledge of the West.

The wind and the sun are beautiful, the sky is cloudless, and in the east of the capital, under the Bauhinia Mountain, a Western building is quickly built.

Although the materials used are very ordinary, the high sword-like roof still looks very dazzling, and under the sunlight, it flashes a little dazzling light.

This was the first church in the capital, and Matteo Ricci named her "Church of Allah". And on the side of this church of Allah, another three bungalows were built.

These three bungalows were used to teach Western science, and Matteo Ricci named this school "Wisdom Private School." ”

The school is open to all, and education is free of charge.

And this has also attracted a large number of poor peasant families to send their children to school.

In order to encourage Matteo Ricci, Zhou Yuheng also selected a well-known private school teacher in the capital to attend classes, and this attracted more parents to send their children to the wisdom private school to study.

This was unexpected for Matteo Ricci, but he was very happy and couldn't stop thanking.

With the passage of time, Matteo Ricci's reputation spread more and more in the capital, not only cultural people knew about this Westerner, but even the vendors who set up stalls knew that there was a Westerner who ran a school for free in the capital.

As Matteo Ricci gradually became accepted, Western religion also spread rapidly in the capital.

Especially for the children who went to school in private schools, Matteo Ricci gave them the Proverbs and Psalms of the Bible as their daily readings, and the effects of education were evident in these children.

The child who used to like to play and make trouble has become well-behaved; Those who originally liked to steal chickens and touch dogs have also changed their ways; used to like to quarrel with his parents, but he has also become a lot more filial. And there are others, who originally had no thoughts, only brute force, but now, they have also become thoughtful, love to use their brains, and occasionally make some gadgets to come out, which impresses their parents.

These changes turned out to be changes that only took three or five years to learn in an ordinary private school, but in the wisdom private school, it only took less than half a year.

Curious parents began to go to the school to see how this Western gentleman gave lectures, and many parents of children began to like to go to the church with a pointed roof to listen to the lectures.

And this is exactly what Mr. Matteo Ricci thinks about day and night.

When he saw that the parents of the first child were willing to kneel down and pray, Matteo Ricci, who was smiling at the person, also burst into tears of excitement.

Here, Zhou Yuheng has also been paying close attention to the progress of Matteo Ricci's work, and when he saw that the atmosphere in the capital was improving day by day, Zhou Yuheng understood that it was all the credit of Matteo Ricci and the Western religion.

At this time, Matteo Ricci, who felt weak, asked for help from his Western religion and sent more Western priests to Daming Kingdom.

Seeing the benefits of Westernism to the governance of the country, Zhou Yuheng was also more bold to encourage the development of Westernism.

In the west, south, and north of the capital, three more churches were built in one go, allowing Western Christianity to develop rapidly and unprecedentedly.

With the increase in the number of people listening to lectures in the church, there are fewer and fewer gambling houses in the capital, and the Qinhuai River, which originally sang every day, is not so drunk.

At the same time, this group of children and parents who received Western science education began to make bold attempts, and opened glass workshops, clock production workshops, because of Matteo Ricci's strong support and Zhou Yuheng's help, these workshops soon developed and expanded, and the national strength of the Great Ming Kingdom was raised to a higher level.

When the other flowers have faded, a peach blossom is beginning its most beautiful moment.

Along the window, a peach blossom branch reached into the study, as if it had probed over to breathe in the scent of ink.

The flower bones are like small pink flour balls, budding and waiting to be released.

"Madam, this is this month's running account, please take a look." Cuihua handed over a thick ledger, and then stood quietly aside.

Behind the one-foot-wide rosewood table, Yang Duanwu sat on a chair with a backrest, the traces of time did not seem to leave any traces on Yang Duanwu's face, a little powder, Yang Duanwu looked, like the little maid in the house, with a fair complexion, white and red.

According to the custom, Yang Duanwu now comes to this room at the beginning of every month to work.

This room is not big, but it is very special, and every object in the room is personally selected by Yang Duanwu.

In addition to the table and chair in front of him, on the wall of the room, there is also a painting painted by Lin Jing himself, which is a landscape painting that Yang Duanwu likes very much.

On the side, a row of cabinets, is Yang Duanwu to find someone to customize, with moth-proof sandalwood, and in the cabinet, orderly placed the accounts of the past years, a careful look, you will find that the account book is thickening year by year, but now, just one month, the account book has a knuckle thick.

Yang Duanwu trusts Cuihua very much, these accounts are all sorted out by Cuihua, and so far, there has been no big mistake.

These ledgers are divided into several parts according to different trades.

The thickest is still the most primitive line of Yang Duanwu - planting mulberry and raising silkworms.

After decades of development, Yang Duanwu has already become the first silkworm breeding household in Daming Kingdom. Every year, the poop excreted by the silkworms alone can be fully supplied to the use of hospitals across the country.

The mulberry forest is not calculated in acres, but one hundred acres and one hundred acres, and the mulberry fields that belong to Yang Duanwu, in addition to Qinghe County, have already expanded to other counties in Daming Kingdom, almost all over the country.

On the basis of planting mulberry forests, Yang Duanwu also developed an additional mulberry industry, as a kind of fruit that nourishes yin and quenches thirst, mulberries are very popular with Westerners, and people who live in the mainland of Daming, because there are no mulberry leaves, are also very welcome to this fresh fruit.

Yang Duanwu's income from mulberries alone is enough to be called the richest man in the capital.

Not to mention the silk cloth village, there are 200 cloth villages in the capital alone, and there are 2,000 cloth villages across the country.

In Daming Kingdom, for every ten people, there are seven or eight pieces of clothing, which are taken from Yang Duanwu's cloth village, and almost 100% of them are taken from the mulberry leaves planted by Yang Duanwu.

In addition to mulberry forests and silkworms, Yang Duanwu also expanded his business to other places.

In the mulberry forest, Yang Duanwu also raised a lot of chickens, this kind of chicken, different from ordinary chickens, but a kind of chicken with black bones and black feathers.

And the eggs laid by this kind of chicken also have green shells.

Because the eggs laid are particularly delicious, these eggs are chosen as tribute, and the wealthy people in the capital are also proud to be able to eat this special chicken and eggs.

During the fallow period of the mulberry forest, Yang Duanwu also planted fruit trees in the fields, and planted various fruits, including apples, oranges, watermelons and chayote, according to the climate and soil of each place.

And because of the large area, these fruits also occupy the table of almost every family in the capital.

And every fruit seller is a fruit from Yang Duanwu.

With the continuous spread of Western religion, more and more businessmen outside the territory are also eager to do business with Da Mingguo, and these shrewd businessmen soon found Yang Duanwu, hoping to make a big deal with Yang Duanwu.

Among them, a Westerner named Marco Polo was the first to get this opportunity.

One summer afternoon, Marco Polo came to visit Yang Dragon Boat Festival with more than 20 cases of wine, and at the same time, Marco Polo also brought a large number of seeds of foreign fruits, such as grapes, carrots, peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables and fruits.

The sky was thick with clouds, obscuring the rising sun.

The fallen leaves on the ground were also blown around by this strange wind, and this strange wind would suddenly increase its strength, and everyone who blew it squinted.

"Boss Yang, I'm here to admire." Marco Polo got straight to the point, like the vast majority of Westerners, and didn't like to beat around the bush.

Yang Duanwu smiled slightly, nodded and said, "Mr. Mark came thousands of miles to my Daming country to do business, which makes me very admired. ”

Yang Duanwu knows very well that this Marco Polo is a full businessman, and in business, Yang Duanwu also quickly entered the topic.

It's just that this made Marco Polo feel a little surprised, Yang Duanwu is not as subtle as other people in the Ming Kingdom, and it is no wonder that Yang Duanwu can do so much business.

"These wines are my Western specialties, just like the tea leaves of Daming Kingdom," Marco Polo opened a bottle of wine and poured it into two delicate glasses, "I hope Mr. Yang can like this wine." ”

With that, Marco Polo pushed a glass of wine in front of Yang Duanwu.

This is actually a temptation of Marco Polo, to see if Yang Duanwu has enough courage, after all, Marco Polo is not small, behind him, is the largest fleet and material supplier of Western countries, and four-fifths of the merchant ships between Daming and Western countries belong to Marco Polo, and, on land, Marco Polo also has his own huge camel team.

But because there are not enough resources, these merchant ships and camels are often in a state of consumption waiting.

In order to obtain the greatest benefits, Marco Polo wanted to keep the merchant ships in the most loaded state at all times, and this was his original intention to find Yang Duanwu.

Yang Duanwu said with a smile: "Mr. Marco, according to the habits of our Da Ming Kingdom, I can not drink your wine." ”

After that, the smile on Yang Duanwu's face suddenly converged a lot.

And this Marco Polo was also stunned, he didn't expect Yang Duanwu to have such an aura.

Soon, Marco Polo laughed, picked up his glass, and drank it up.

Seeing Marco Polo's momentum, Yang Duanwu felt that this person was also interesting, and accepted Marco Polo's gift very happily.

Especially his seeds, which made Yang Duanwu like it very much.

With so much land, I can finally grow more fruits and vegetables.

With the smooth development of the agreement reached with Yang Duanwu, Marco Polo made more and more money.

Almost every day, there are teams entering the territory of the Great Ming Kingdom, and there are also camel teams to send the materials of the Great Ming Kingdom to all parts of the world.