Hangzhou Mansion. Qiantang County.

Since the thirteenth year of Yongle, roller skates have been born, and this new type of toy has become the favorite toy of rich children.

Especially in the fifteenth year of Yongle, after the main streets of Hangzhou were built with cement roads, the sales of roller shoes made the inner servants of the inner prison make a lot of money.

Hangzhou was originally the land of fish and rice, and now overseas trade is booming, and there are many wealthy local families.

No matter how expensive a pair of roller skates is, it is only two taels of silver, in addition to being a toy for children, it can also be used as a walking tool. And to buy a horse, it costs seven or eight or ten taels of silver casually, and if it is a horse that can be used as a military horse, it cannot be bought at all without twenty taels of silver.

If it is the kind of good breed that can be used as a breeder and a horse, it is normal to have one or two hundred taels of silver.

And if you buy a horse and feed it, you only need a little oil on the roller skates, so in Hangzhou, you can see many young people stepping on roller skates and speeding forward in the streets and alleys.

Now even the errands of some restaurants have been assigned a pair of roller skates by the boss, who is responsible for delivering messages to each family.

In the evening, the gate of Hangzhou Fuxue opened, and a group of Fuxue students wearing roller skates crossed the threshold in a swarm, and slid into the street along the slope of the door.

"Yu Tingyi, wait a minute."

Yu Qian had just slid onto the road, and when he heard the call, he hurriedly crossed his feet horizontally and vertically, and skillfully braked. He turned back and waved at a skinny young man. "Wang Zhaonan, what's the matter?"

Wang Qian and Wang Zhaonan were one of the few students who did not wear roller skates, and their green shirts were washed white, and there were traces of sewing under their armpits.

His family was poor, and his father's death last year plunged his family into the abyss.

Now there are six members of the family, the widowed mother washes the clothes for others, and the four younger siblings are also apprentices and servants, just for him to study.

Because he was selected for Xiucai before, he was excellent in character and learning in the house, and six buckets of rice were distributed every month. Although life is difficult, it can still endure.

And Yu Qian is a different model from him, his great-grandfather Yu Jiusi was the general manager of Hangzhou Road, his grandfather was the director of the Ministry of Industry during the Hongwu period of civilization, and his father Yu Yanzhao lived in seclusion in his hometown Qiantang Bushi.

Although his father is not a good man, because of his rich family background, he has many industries in Qiantang, and he can be regarded as a wealthy family.

In the early years, his father and his friend Dong Yong, a Jishi of Hanlin Shuji, set up a family affair for Yu Qian, but Yu Qian was arrogant and had to wait until he was a Jinshi before he was willing to get married.

In Qiantang, Yu Qian has already been a talented man in Qiantang.

He studied hard as a teenager and had high ambitions. He admired and admired Wen Tianxiang's integrity, and hung Wen Tianxiang's statue on the side of the seat, which has been the same for decades.

When he was seven years old, a monk was amazed by his appearance and said, "This is the prime minister who will save the situation in the future." ”

At the age of eight, he wore red clothes and played on horseback. The old man next door thought it was funny and teased him, saying, "Red boy, ride a black horse through the streets." ”

Yu Qian replied in response: "Red Emperor, behead the white snake." "The lower link is not only neat, but also shows his extraordinary momentum.

Although his family is rich and famous, Yu Qian is not the kind of gentleman. On the contrary, he is very sympathetic to the people, helpful, and has a unique reputation in Hangzhou for a while.

Poor students like Wang Gan rarely take the initiative to greet Yu Qian because of their low self-esteem, and basically only open their mouths when they have something to ask for.

Wang Qian walked up to Yu Qian and bowed for a long time: "Today, Master Xie said that the imperial court will add overseas current affairs and customs exam questions, but the contemptible people are shy, and I want to ask Brother Tingyi to make it convenient to lend me a copy of the overseas overview series." ”

Yu Qian said with a smile: "I thought what was going on...... this overseas overview series, written by Ma Huan, Hou Xian, Chen Cheng, Dian Guogong and others, I have it at home." Come home with me, and I'll lend you everything I've seen. ”

It is precisely because of Yu Qian's character that Wang Qian will talk to him. Seeing that Yu Qian readily agreed, he said again: "Then please return Brother Yu first, I know your mansion, so I can naturally touch the door." ”

Yu Qian thought about it again and said: "This series of books is written by a total of six people, a total of nine, and more than 500,000 words. If you want to copy, you don't know when you want to copy, and it's not good to delay your studies. In this way, Jiusitang has my family, I can let people sell you a set first, and after you are in the autumn, as long as you are on the list, it will be okay to pay back. ”

When Da Ming became a showman, he was able to exempt two people from servitude in the family. If you are hit by the autumn festival, you will become a lifter, and at this time, not only can the whole family be exempted from labor, but even taxes will be exempted.

Wang Qian's studies are good, and he has a great deal of confidence in this year's autumn season. So although he is poor and has some low self-esteem, he is also quite proud in his heart.

If he is promoted, naturally someone will come to vote, even if he is now poor and has no place to stand, he will soon have a house and land.

So although he can't get the money for a few books, he won't care.

Hearing Yu Qian say this, he said again: "Thank you so much Brother Tingyi, the younger brother remembers it." ”

Yu Qian was already half a head taller than Wang Qian, and now he is wearing roller skates, more than a head taller. He laughed and patted Wang Gan's shoulder and said, "You and I are classmates and friends, what are you talking about, come with me." ”

The area around Fuxue is a gathering place for various bookstores, and Jiusitang also has a small store here.

Yu Qian, the young owner, came, and the guy greeted him warmly as soon as he saw it. "Young Dongjia, today is the new book of the internal supervisor, or His Royal Highness Taisun personally made the ......"

Yu Qian was overjoyed when he heard this, and asked, "What kind of book can make His Royal Highness Taisun personally compose?" ”

The guy quickly took out a set of three brand-new books and said, "This is the first genius of the Ming Dynasty, the "Under Heaven" written by Xie Jinjie. It is rumored that in the spring of next year, most of the overseas exam questions will be selected from this. ”

Yu Qian took the beautifully printed book, which had the thickness of five or six ordinary books, and asked, "How much does it cost?" ”

The guy said with some dissatisfaction: "The internal supervisor has issued a death order, and this set of books is only sold at a price of 150 yuan, and if you buy three copies together, you can only sell for 400 yuan." ”

"It's cheap......"

The reason why the people of Daming can't afford to read is because the current price of pen, ink, paper and inkstone is equivalent to a luxury product, and ordinary families can't afford it at all.

A book of 150 wen can buy 50 catties of food, but in the books in the world, it is still cheap.

According to Yu Qian's estimate, the cost of this book is probably 120 yuan, and the remaining 30 yuan will be earned by the bookstore, which is equivalent to the internal supervisor not earning a penny.

Moreover, this is not counting the pen fee for Bachelor Xie, and I am afraid that the book from the internal supervisor will lose a lot.

He took out the first one, handed the second one to Wang Gan, who was watching with a blank eye, and then opened the book.

The first page is the hard pen calligraphy of His Royal Highness Taisun.

Zhu Zhanji's handwriting has also spread throughout the Ming Dynasty over the years, because not only Xie Jin's book, but also the books written by Ma Huan and Chen Cheng are also written by His Royal Highness Taisun.

His handwriting looks ugly at first glance, not quite in line with the aesthetics of the Ming people, but there are gaps between the handwriting structures, full of a sense of grandeur.

In today's Ming Dynasty, many students have begun to learn Zhu Zhanji's handwriting and style.

"Under the sky, under the sky. The country, the home of the National University. China, the state of etiquette. Daming, the country of heaven. ”

In just four sentences, Yu Qianden was like drinking a pot of wine, and couldn't help but say: "That's good!" ”

Wang Qian didn't care to look at the book in his hand, so he also leaned over and saw the top few sentences.

He felt his soul fly up all of a sudden, and his whole body went soft, but there was an indescribable excitement.

He couldn't help but grab Yu Qian's arm tightly, and said excitedly: "Brother Tingyi, who said that His Royal Highness Taisun is talentless?" Your Highness, this is a great talent! ”

Yu Qian was also very excited, nodded and said: "Yes, don't follow the crowd, if Your Highness is not talented, how can Your Majesty let Your Highness directly supervise the country." These few words are really good, and they should be revealed. ”

Wang Gan looked at these words, and his eyes couldn't help but turn red. "I also complained about heaven and people, thinking that my life was not good, but when I saw these words of His Highness, I felt that I was narrow-minded and stupid. This world is the world of my Ming Dynasty, as a Ming student, how can I only think of myself, I should have the world in my heart. ”

Yu Qian touched his body and said, "I still have fifty wen on me, let's go, hurry up and pick up the book, let's go fry a few side dishes and drink two cups." ”

In normal times, Wang Qian would have refused, because he couldn't afford such a treat.

But today, he didn't mean to excuse himself, and said, "So it's bothering." ”

The two chose the nine books they had agreed to talk about, and added this new set of books, which cost a total of nearly two taels of silver.

This was a lot of money for Wang Qian, but Yu Qian agreed to let him return it after the autumn. He is confident that he can make the list, and he can't care so much at this time.

I found a tavern next to the bookstore, and the two of them ordered three dishes and asked for two pots of wine, which just happened to clean up the fifty flowers.

Neither of them could speak, and then they looked at it again.

Although this book was written by Xie Jin, it was actually polished by Xie Jin after Zhu Zhanji determined the content of the book.

Zhu Zhanji couldn't wait for Confucius to expound on the relationship between the state and the nation from Confucianism, and the content of this book does not involve domestic ideological struggles, but is more like a brief history of overseas countries.

Therefore, even if there is some controversy over some content, it will not affect the release of the book.

It's better to have controversy, so that more people can pay attention. When the time comes, the Confucian family will reinterpret the concept of the state and the nation, and at that time it will directly change people's concepts.

In this book, Zhu Zhanji copied many concepts that only later generations had, such as the formation of political systems, such as the environment creating national character, and so on.

If these things were written about the history of the Ming Dynasty, they would definitely be criticized and refuted, but now they are written about overseas countries.

Most of the literati had never been to a foreign country, so he dared to say that this book was not written correctly?

In Europe, there are countries where women are in power, there is a parliamentary system, there is a feudal system, and there is a tribal system. The itinerary of every system must be related to the environment in which it is located.

Most people in the Ming Dynasty don't know about those countries, but Dongying is also mentioned in the book.

Xie Jin explained the extreme and paranoid national character of the Dongying people from the aspects of Dongying's narrow territory, many disasters and difficulties, many mountains and few lands, and a rigid aristocratic system, so that many people could not find fault with it.

Moreover, in the book, Zhu Zhanji also added a lot of descriptions of overseas beautiful scenery and descriptions of overseas wealth. All this is to stimulate the idea of the people of the Ming Dynasty to expand outward.

Yu Qian and Wang Qian were fascinated by it, and it was not until the wine and food were served that the two of them reluctantly put down the book.

Yu Qian raised his glass and said to Wang Gan: "Bachelor Xie is worthy of being a contemporary Confucian, this book will introduce overseas places clearly, just seeing this book, it is like experiencing it yourself." ”

Wang Qian was a little distracted, and touched a glass with Yu Qian and said: "I used to think that Confucian scholarship was the essence of literature, but seeing Master Xie's description of overseas, those countries do not have Confucianism, why can it develop so vigorously?" Does this mean that Confucian scholarship is not very useful? ”

Yu Qian shook his head and said: "This is a big fallacy, it is precisely because of Confucianism that the Chinese people can develop better than other countries." And because we have such a foundation, it is we who conquer them, not them who conquer us.

Silk, tea, porcelain, these trades have made countless profits for my Ming Dynasty, and with these, my Ming Dynasty can now develop so prosperously. ”

Wang Qian said: "But these have nothing to do with Confucianism, Confucianism also reprimands these for strange tricks!" ”

Yu Qian is not the minister who turned the tide in later generations, but just a student. After listening to Wang Gan's words, he couldn't catch it a little.

However, he was quick to think of the difference between the two, and said: "Confucianism is the body, the cultivation is the self, and the others are for use, but the outside." ”

Wang Qian nodded, raised his glass again and said, "Brother Tingyi is high." ”

Having said that, Yu Qian had no doubts in his heart. He didn't doubt the role of Confucianism, but he felt that the role of Confucianism didn't seem to be so important.

As a student of Confucianism, it is a great rebellion to doubt Confucianism. He didn't think much about it, but there were no seeds in his heart that had already sprouted.

After the two drank the wine, they each ate two large bowls of rice, and then they went home separately.

This night, Yu Qian didn't sleep all night, and he read all three books all the time, and he still couldn't sleep excitedly.

From this book, he learned that in addition to the Ming Dynasty, there were thousands of small countries and tribes, and each tribe and each country was different.

He also knew that there were so many places worth visiting outside of the Ming Dynasty, and there were countless ownerless lands waiting for the people of the Ming Dynasty to cultivate.

Hangzhou Mansion has developed since the Song Dynasty, and there have been many people and few places. If half of the people here emigrate, wouldn't everyone have their own house and land, and they would no longer be afraid of natural and man-made disasters?

He thought that the imperial court had been promoting immigration in the past few years, and felt that he was really a little late-sighted.

This is a magnificent era!

And Wang Gan, like Yu Qian, also read until dawn, then got up from the bed, and then went to the ditch to make a face.

In his heart, he is not as worried about the country and the people as Yu Qian thought. He thinks more, and then participates in this era, and changes his situation by the way.

From this day on, the students of Fuxue changed their conversation from autumn to overseas customs.

Whether it is those who are sure of the scientific expedition or those who are not, they seem to have found their own way.

can be admitted to the juren, admitted to the jinshi, and then become an official, they also want to take advantage of their youth to see the customs of overseas.

Even if they were not sure about the scientific expedition, they also wanted to follow the internal supervisor to sell the silk and tea of the Ming Dynasty to various places.

Since ancient times, what is good at the top must be effective at the bottom.

Zhu Zhanji originally thought that he would add overseas exam questions to the spring festival, which would make the students dissatisfied.

However, when this becomes a trend, it becomes a trend.

In any era, college students are the most receptive group to new things. They have enjoyed the dividends of development and seen the benefits of overseas colonization.

Now, there is not much resistance to adding overseas overview questions to the scientific examination.

What's more, this is only added to next year's Jinshi examination, and it will not affect them at all.

Moreover, for more than half a year, they, who think very highly of themselves, do not believe that they will not be able to memorize this.

Except for Zhu Zhanji, no one thought that once this trend was driven, in the tide of history, no one except the emperor could stop it.

As long as the royal family has always needed such talents, there is no need to supervise or spur, and everyone will take the initiative to learn.

Especially those students who are quick in their minds, but have not been able to take the scientific exam, they want to let such exam questions develop as soon as possible, and such exam questions are added to the township exam, the government exam, and even the county exam.

In this way, even if they have no talent in Baguwen, they still have a chance to be admitted to Xiucai and Juren.

Of course, this tide is still in its infancy, and it has not yet exploded into its power.

However, another tide made the Ming fleet suddenly cross the difficulties and dangers and came to the American continent.

In the early years of his exploration, Yixin sent only a few boats and then drew a map along the seashore to record every island in the sea.

So his movements have been very slow, and in three years, he has only explored the sea frontier of Alaska.

But this time, they took Zhu Zhanji's mission to survey the entire Dongzhou continent, and the scale of the fleet was huge, so they didn't stop at all in the already discovered area, and sailed directly along the already discovered Pearl Chain Island (Aleutian Islands) to Dongzhou.

When departing from Daming, the fleet was always downwind, and the speed of the ships was very fast. After arriving at Ezo Island, we first followed the island chain south of Bangchuidao Island (Kamchatka Peninsula), and after arriving at Bangchuijima, we began to sail eastward.

The fleet did not enter the Bering Sea in later generations, but went east along the southern side of the island of String of Pearls, not far from the island.

At this time, the fleet was measuring the wind. But because of the presence of the Pacific current, the speed of the fleet did not slow down.

The Pacific Current is the most stable ocean current in the world, and the entire current is like a clock, turning in a clockwise direction.

The ocean current flows westward from Mexico along about 5 degrees north latitude until it turns north in the waters near Dongying, then flows eastward from the south of the Aleutian Islands, and finally flows back to the west coast of the Americas.

In this era, except for Zhu Zhanji, no one knows such a map of ocean currents. The fleet followed his orders and sailed east along this sea route, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

So, within a month of their departure, they arrived on the west coast of what would become Canada.

All this surprised Yixin, and even more surprised Hou Xian.

This can be said to be the easiest voyage of the Ming fleet, the road is either smooth wind, or smooth water, and there is no storm.

What's more, the speed of sailing on this road is far beyond their imagination, because they sail an average distance of six or seven hundred miles per day, which is a very terrifying data.

Of course, Zhu Zhanji didn't know what they thought, and if he knew, he would laugh at them in his heart. Six or seven hundred miles a day is only more than 300 kilometers, and an average of 15 kilometers an hour.

According to the map and information provided to them by Zhu Zhanji, they quickly located their location, not far from the area where His Highness said that there were said to be Song people.

Once the orientation had been determined, the fleet headed for the island.

When you master the positioning of the sextant, when you have a map of the world, a globe, and most of the area is divided.

Sailing on the sea is still a dangerous path for others, but for the fleet of the Ming Dynasty, as long as it does not encounter storms and big waves, there is not much danger.

However, just as they were about to reach their destination, a storm struck, and the fleet was blown north by a strong wind.

More than 200 ships were divided into three teams and lost contact, and the two main generals Hou Xian and Yi Xin were also blown apart because they were not on one ship.

Because EasyMarkets is at the forefront, it suffers the most when it encounters a storm. His fleet was the least numerous, less than fifty ships, and was blown away until it reached a bay, where it barely landed.

But when docking, a dozen ships were still lost, but most of them could still be repaired.

Yixin did not panic, this situation was already mentally prepared when he went to sea, and the rescue mission was arranged in an orderly manner.

Only then did he have the heart to observe the bay. This is Dongzhou? Or an island outside Dongzhou?

"My lord, we found a few ships, like warships from the Mengyuan era......"

Easy to move in confidence, so easy to find the clue?

It was still raining heavily, but at this time, Yi Xin couldn't take care of it at all, and he didn't even wear the clothes brought by his subordinates, so he got off the boat and ran directly towards the place where Meng Yuan's ship was found.

It's June, and it's the hottest time of summer, so the damage from this heavy rain is not great.

Soon, he saw several ships that had been stranded on the beach, which had decayed, but from the style, it could be seen that it was the style of the Central Plains.

He turned around and said loudly, "When the storm stops, except for sending a fleet to look for other ships, the others will scatter for me to look for the locals." ”