"This Brother Cao is from the capital, and he is a friend that the student met when he was wandering around Beijing yesterday, and he hit it off at first sight, because the student has something to do with Brother Cao after a while, so he also brought Brother Cao." Zhou Shu's younger brother Zhou Wei said.

"I don't know what Brother Cao's identity is?" Although these people couldn't tell that he knew martial arts, they could also feel that he was different from them, so someone asked.

"He is a hereditary military general of the Beijing Guard, not a person who studies and takes the imperial examination." Cao Zheng said.

The man choked. According to Confucius's original intention, reading is for reason, but now people study for the sake of being officials, because the road to becoming an official in the imperial examination is the smoothest, so they take the imperial examination, and they can't get into the Jinshi to enter the country.

Since the words are not speculative, they will not talk to Cao Zheng, but only talk to the Zhou Shu brothers about the topics of this year's hall examination.

Cao Zheng didn't care about himself, sat down at a small table, asked for half a pot of wine and two snacks and drank by himself; However, although Zhou Shu didn't have much friendship with Cao Zheng, he felt very unhappy, and he kept looking at him when he talked to them.

After a while, Zhou Shu talked about the topics of these several policy discussions, and Zhou Wei also roughly said his understanding, so he stood up and said: "Brother Li, friends, if you still have something to do today, you will leave first." ”

Of course they want to keep it. But although Zhou Wei's attitude was gentle, his tone was very firm, and they looked at Zhou Shu and saw that he had no intention of stopping him, so they no longer forced him to stay.

Zhou Wei said goodbye to them, walked to Cao Zheng's table and said with a smile: "Let's go." ”

Cao Zheng put down his wine glass, and loudly beckoned the inn's junior second to come over to settle the bill and leave the inn with him.

While walking, Cao Zheng also said: "These are all Jinshi of your department, you don't have much to deal with them, and our affairs will not be delayed for a day." ”

"If it weren't for my family forcing me to take the exam, I wouldn't have come to take the exam." Zhou Wei said: "Although I had to study hard under the pressure of my family, I had no interest in being an official. ”

"As for my family's expectations, my eldest brother is there. He is not only good at figuring out His Majesty's thoughts, but also good at making friends, and he will definitely be able to become a great official in the future. I'll be a petty official in the capital or in a local area, and I'll just study what we like. ”

"If I go to a foreign country next year, you should write to me often." He ended up half-joking.

Cao Zheng thought in his heart when he heard this, and was about to speak, when he suddenly noticed something, raised his head and looked ahead, and saw two big men in strong suits standing in front of him, blocking their way.

"The road is so wide, what are you two standing here!" Zhou Wei immediately reprimanded.

The two of them ignored him. Zhou Wei was unhappy in his heart, and was about to scold him again, when suddenly Cao Zheng grabbed his arm and said to the two big men in his puzzled eyes: "I don't know what happened to the two of us stopped by the two adults?" ”

"You recognize us?" One of the big men asked.

"I've seen it in Annan in the next."

"If you know us, it's even better." The big man said, "Come with us." Then the two big men turned around and walked towards an inn, not worrying at all that the two of them would not follow.

Cao Zheng's body trembled slightly, and he pulled Zhou Wei to follow.

After a while, they came to another inn, and the big man asked for an upper room, and took the two of them up, and let them stay in the room and not go out, and then closed the door and left.

At this point, Zhou Wei saw Cao Zheng's nervous look, and immediately asked, "Cao Zheng, what is going on?" ”

"I don't know exactly what the situation is. But there should be an adult who wants to see the two of us. But I don't know the purpose of his desire to see the two of us. Those two people just now are the guards of this adult. Cao Zheng said nervously.

"My lord? There can be such a guard, if it is not a general who is in charge alone, or a high-grade civil official among the scholars, what do such people do when they see the two of us? Zhou Wei muttered to himself, and asked Cao Zheng again: "Cao Zheng, who is this big man?" ”

Cao Zheng was very hesitant and didn't know whether to talk to him; But at this moment, I heard a 'squeak' The door was opened, and three people who were like the big man in the big suit just now walked in surrounded by a man who looked like a noble son and was quite imposing.

When Cao Zheng saw this person, he immediately forgot his own calculations just now, and knelt down as soon as his legs were weak and said: "Minister Cao Zheng has seen Your Majesty, long live, long live, long live!" ”

'Is this Your Majesty?' Zhou Wei listened to Cao Zheng's words and immediately stayed in place. Although he had seen the emperor once during the palace examination, his ranking in the examination was not high, and he stood at the back, and he couldn't keep staring at the emperor, and he didn't remember the emperor's appearance, and now he knows what the emperor looks like.

After a while, one of the guards scolded: "Don't see Your Majesty yet!" Zhou Wei reacted, and immediately trembled and knelt down and said: "The student has seen the emperor, long live, long live, long live!" ”

"Flat." Yun Xi sat down and said to the two of them.

After the two of them stood up, Yun Xi said gently: "Cao Aiqing, Zhou Jinshi, you don't have to be nervous, I summoned the two of you just because I was a little curious. Cao Aiqing, your family is noble, you also saw me when you were a child, and now you are a military general in the guard; Zhou Wei, you are the second-class jinshi I just ordered, and you are from Jiangxi, and it stands to reason that you have nothing to do with Cao Zheng, how are you two so good? ”

This reason can be barely explained, but the two of them are still puzzled: 'How can the emperor care about such a trivial matter?' ’

However, Cao Zheng immediately remembered that his father's face in his family was not very good-looking a few days ago, and he muttered with his eldest brother all day long, as if the matter was involved in the struggle in the court, and immediately thought that the reason why Yun Xi cared about his relationship with Zhou Wei was that he was worried that he was trying to win over the new Jinshi, after all, although Zhou Wei's own ranking was not high, he was also a second-class Jinshi, and his brother was even in the middle of the third yuan, which was worth wooing.

"Bang bang bang" Cao Zheng thought of this, immediately kowtowed three times, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the minister has made friends with Zhou Wei and Zhou Jinshi, and it has nothing to do with the identities of the two of us. ”

"The minister likes to study some extraordinary things since he was a child, and Zhou Jinshi is also similar to the minister, so the minister and Zhou Jinshi met by chance a few days ago, so they made friends."

Zhou Wei also said: "Report to Your Majesty, the student didn't know what his identity was before he met Cao Baihu by chance, and even now he only knew that he was the hundred households of the Beijing Guard, and the rest didn't know anything, and they did make friends because of similar interests." ”

Yun Xi didn't say anything, but just asked, "What are your two similar interests?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister likes to study geography. However, unlike ordinary generals who study geography, they like to study why the terrain is like this, why there are earthquakes, and why there are volcanic eruptions. ”

Saying that, Cao Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "The minister also studied astronomical things. I wonder why the sun, moon and stars hang in the air and don't fall. Chen had carefully studied the ancient Gaitian theory and the Han Dynasty Zhang Hengzhi's Hun Tian theory, but neither of these arguments could explain the matter. Moreover, even if we don't talk about why the sun, moon and stars hang in the air and don't fall down, neither the heavenly theory nor the heavenly theory can explain why the sun, moon and stars move like this. "The minister is quite fascinated by astronomy and wants to solve these two questions, and it just so happens that Zhou Jinshi is also similar to the minister, so the two of them hit it off at first sight."

"The minister knows that the study of astronomy is a taboo, please punish your majesty." He thought to himself that he had talked to others many times about his love for astronomy, and if the emperor sent someone to investigate, he would definitely be able to find out, so it was better to confess and be lenient and ask for guilt on the spot.

"Your Majesty, students also like to study astronomy, please punish Your Majesty." Zhou Wei also said.

Cao Zheng said these words, and thought that Yun Xi would immediately reprimand himself for not doing his job, and studied the official forbidden astronomy, and then forgave himself and Zhou Wei for what reason after reprimanding. But after a long time, he didn't hear Yun Xi's voice, and he was secretly surprised, but he didn't dare to raise his head, just knelt.

How did he know that Yun Xi was already surrounded by huge surprises at this time.

Yun Xi was very surprised why he appeared there after seeing Cao Zheng in another inn just now, and after listening to it for a while, he understood that it was this new science and technology scholar named Zhou Wei and Cao Zheng who hit it off at first sight because of their common interests and hobbies, and they had to do something with him in a while, so they brought him over.

Hearing this, Yun Xi immediately thought about it and sent someone to call the two of them over.

Yun Xi wanted to summon Cao Zheng as early as when he was in Annan. Astronomy and geography and mathematics are the two major origin disciplines of modern science, and the development of all other scientific disciplines is closely related to this.

But Yun Xi later thought again: although Xu Jingchang would not tell lies in front of him, but just ordinary curiosity and serious study are not the same thing, the real purpose of studying the principles of astronomy, and the ultimate goal of studying astronomy is also very different from studying philosophy, the former is like Ptolemy put forward geocentrism, and the latter is like the church using geocentrism to support theology.

And Yun Xi rashly summoned Cao Zheng to the palace for an audience, and there were also problems. If he was just an ordinary hundred, the minister would not care even if he didn't understand; But he is the son of Cao Xing, and Yun Xi's unprovoked summons is likely to cause a lot of speculation among the ministers and lead to political struggles. Even if Cao Zheng went back and told others that the emperor had summoned him to chat with others, others would not believe it.

As a result, Yoon-hee had planned to visit his guard one day, and at the same time, seemingly unintentionally, asked him about astronomy to determine if he was really studying astronomy.

But just now, Yun Xi had already determined that Cao Zheng was indeed really studying astronomy. It is of philosophical significance to care why the sun, moon and stars do not fall and to study the laws of their motion, but it is of no philosophical significance to study why they move the way they do.

What's more, Yun Xi also found another person who was also keen on astronomy. Since Zhou Wei was able to meet Cao Zheng at first sight, it means that Zhou Wei could not study astronomy for philosophical purposes.

So Yun Xi suddenly found two people who could become astronomers, or even more so the founders of modern Chinese science, how could he be unhappy?

After a long time, Song Qingshu, the guard standing beside Yun Xi, had to lean down and whisper: "Your Majesty, even if Your Majesty wants to punish Cao Zheng and Zhou Wei, you don't have to let them kneel for so long. ”

"Ahh Yun Xi Muran, who was immersed in his own thoughts, was awakened, and reacted and said, "You two get up." ”

Cao Zheng and Zhou Wei stood up uneasily. Just now, the emperor made the two of them kneel for such a long time, and he didn't know how to punish them. 'Isn't it not only to dismiss me from my position as a hundred households, but also to go to prison? Cao Zheng thought.

But Yunxi's next words were beyond their expectations. "I will not punish you both."

Cao Zheng and Zhou Wei couldn't help but glance at each other. Why is the emperor so tolerant of them?

"I won't punish you for this, and I'm not giving preferential treatment to the two of you," Yun Xi, who saw what the two of them were thinking, said: "Since ancient times, the reason why all dynasties and dynasties have forbidden people to study astronomy is because they think that they can judge good fortune and bad fortune with astrology and know the general trend of the world. But I couldn't be more wrong with that. ”

"If you can avoid disasters and know good fortune by studying astronomy, then how can Meng Yuan perish? He could have known where someone was about to rebel through Qin Tianjian watching the stars at night, so he could kill that person in advance, wouldn't it be fine? ”

"In the same way, it can be seen that if you can really know the general trend of the world by watching the stars at night, then in the Song Dynasty, after Yan Agu raised the army, he should know that it should be a big trouble in the future, and he will not join forces with him to destroy Liao and ruin the country."

"From this, we can know that astronomy is astronomy, and astronomy is astronomy, and we can formulate a calendar according to it, and know what season there will be a southeast wind and what season will have a northwest wind, but we can't know the good fortune and misfortune and the general trend of the world."

Yun Xi must break the rule that prohibits the study of astronomy among the people. As the origin of modern science, how can astronomy be developed if it cannot be dismantled? If astronomy could not develop, geology, mechanics, and geometry would not be able to develop, and the science of the Ming Dynasty would always lag behind until it was knocked on by outsiders.

"Secretary Qing, after I return to the palace, I will announce that from tomorrow onwards, the system of strictly prohibiting the practice of astronomy and astronomy set by the emperor in the "Da Ming Law" will be abolished." Yun Xi instructed Song Qingshu again.