Wang Pu asked eagerly, "Are you Descartes?" ”

"Oh no." The heretic shook his head and smiled wryly, "My name is Wellington, and Descartes is my mentor, and he is now immersed in the study of analytic geometry in the Netherlands. ”

Although Wang Pu was a little disappointed, he still nodded and said, "Professor Wellington, I am honored to tell you that your research project has passed the review, and when the president of the Academy of Military Sciences comes back, you can come and file and receive funds." ”

With Wellington at the beginning, the remaining pagans also enthusiastically signed up and petitioned Wang Pu for trial.

These pagans have a wide range of academic fields, including heaven, mathematics, and physics, but most of them are philosophical, and although there are no famous figures in history, they do have some real talents, and they are basically well-educated and very good at their respective academic fields.

Since the Renaissance in Europe, the dominance of theology has been seriously weakened, and the natural sciences have developed rapidly, and by the middle of the seventeenth century, astronomy, physics, chemistry, medicine and other disciplines have made great progress, while the Ming Dynasty at that time was disturbed by the construction of slaves and thieves, and has lagged behind the West in academic research.

Fortunately, the gap is not too big, and Wang Pu is confident enough to reverse this situation in a short period of time.

After about half an hour of review, more than 30 infidels received satisfactory answers and went to Yangming University with joy to report to the university, where the campus building had been completed and more than one million books had been put in place, and the first batch of students could be recruited before the official opening of the school.

However, there are only a few deans of Yangming University, such as Sun Chuanting, Song Yingxing, Fang Yizhi, Li Changfu, and more than 30 pagan professors, and the teaching force is a little thin, coupled with the language barrier, the efficiency of foreign professors will be lower.

What's more tricky is that Daming is different from the West, the West has a systematic university education, but Daming does not, "outliers" like Song Yingxing and Fang Yizhi have mastered the knowledge of natural sciences by self-study, and such talents can't be found in the whole country, so the teachers of Yangming University have to be invited from the West.

At least until the first batch of students graduated, the faculty of Yang-Ming University had to rely on the pagans of the Western world.

Wang Pu asked John, and was thinking about how to speak, but John spoke first, and said, "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, the promise you made earlier ......"

Wang Pu smiled and said, "Dear John, as long as you are authorized by the Pope, you are the cardinal of the Ming Empire. ”

John rejoiced, "What about the Cathedral of Our Lady that His Excellency the Governor promised to build?" ”

"Don't worry." Wang Pu smiled and said, "When you return to Nanjing with the Pope's edict and the architect, you can start building the Cathedral of Our Lady, and the Governor will send you enough craftsmen and provide sufficient funds, of course, you had better hire the clergy from the West, the Governor is worried that the people of the Ming Dynasty may not be able to accept the teachings of your religion at once." ”

John happily said, "Your Excellency, your wisdom is enough to illuminate the entire empire. ”

"But......" Wang Pu's tone changed, and he continued, "the Governor has one more matter to trouble the Bishop. ”

John's heart jumped, but his face asked quietly, "Your Excellency the Governor commands." ”

Wang Pu said: "Bishop, can you hire another batch of professors from the West for the empire?" For example, Descartes, who stayed in the Netherlands to study analytic geometry, and Mr. Galileo's students, you tell them that the Ming Empire can provide them with ample research funds and an absolutely free academic atmosphere! Moreover, as long as they are academically successful, they can become lifelong members of the Academy of Sciences. ”

John said, "Willing to serve His Excellency the Governor, but ......"

"Hahaha." Wang Pu laughed and said, "Of course, the Governor will not treat the Bishop badly, so how about giving 10,000 ounces of gold as the Bishop's activity funds first, and then giving 10,000 ounces of gold as a reward after the matter is completed?" ”

Anyway, the Ming Dynasty is a silver standard monetary system, gold has no way to circulate in the country, 10,000 ounces of gold is about more than 280 kilograms, this bit of gold is nothing to Wang Pu, and he gave it away, but for John, a Catholic, 10,000 ounces of gold is an unimaginable huge wealth, enough for him to buy a castle!

"Oh God." John's eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "You are the most generous governor I have ever seen, and your wisdom and generosity will soon spread throughout Europe, and the best scholars in all Europe will bear your name, and they will be more than glad to serve you, and will not hesitate to travel far and wide to the Far East." ”

Wang Pu stretched out his hand and smiled: "Happy cooperation." ”

John held Wang Pu's right hand tightly and said excitedly: "Happy cooperation. ”

■■■

Mandarin Palace.

The official documents that had been backlogged for several days were finally processed, President Sun Chuan breathed a long sigh of relief, leaned back on the Taishi chair a little tiredly, and asked Qian Qianyi: "Elder Qian Ge, the enrollment of Yangming University must be paid attention to, especially the two hundred students of the foreign language crash course must be recruited as soon as possible, and these students will have to be responsible for serving as language interpreters for foreign professors at that time." ”

Qian Qianyi exchanged glances with Lu Daqi and said, "Elder Sun Ge, the subordinates and Elder Lu Ge mean that these two hundred students are best recruited from Fujian and Liangguang, because the students of Fujian and Liangguang have more opportunities to come into contact with Xiyi merchants, and it is easier to master foreign languages than Zhejiang Zhisheng. ”

Sun Chuanting shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's too late to recruit students from Fujian and Guangzhou, Wang Pu means that the foreign language crash course will start within ten days!" ”

"Huh?" Qian Qianyi lost his voice and said, "Then we can only recruit students from the provinces around Nanjing." ”

Sun Chuanting said: "Qian Ge Lao and Lu Ge Lao should take more trouble, this is a big deal, and it can't be delayed." ”

"Master Hou and Elder Sun Ge are very worried." Lu Daqi echoed in a loud voice, "My subordinates will draft a charter with the old man, and at the latest, we will issue an announcement to Yingtian, Changzhou, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Songjiang prefectures, so that these prefectures will be between the ages of eighteen and twenty to enter Beijing for the test." ”

"Well, that's it for the admission of crash course students." Sun Chuanting rubbed his temples and said, "Now let's discuss the matter of silver." ”

Qian Qianyi thought for a while, and said carefully: "Old Sun Ge, the palace is in disrepair, and even the Fengtian Temple leaks every rainy day, so it should indeed be repaired." ”

"Hmm." Sun Chuanting bowed his head and said, "Elder Qian Ge thinks how much silver is appropriate?" ”

Qian Qianyi said: "At present, the treasury is empty, and too much silver will definitely not be allocated, so it's just five thousand taels." ”

Sun Chuanting said: "Five thousand taels is too little, dial eight thousand taels." ”

Lu Daqi smiled bitterly and said: "Elder Sun Ge, Mu Lao, the door has just checked the account books of the household department, and the treasury is empty, not to mention eight thousand taels, even eight hundred taels can't be made up." ”

Qian Qianyi lost his voice and said: "How can this be? Could it be true that the Central Army's salaries should be moved? ”

Sun Chuanting waved his hand and said: "The matter of silver is not a big problem, Wang Pu means that the government-run workshops in Nanjing City will be auctioned in a unified manner, and the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River will take over the operation, first, they can give full play to the production potential of the government-run workshops and promote the prosperity of the Xiyi Liujian newspaper, second, they can give the treasury at least tens of millions of income, and third, they can increase a lot of taxes every year, which can be described as killing three birds with one stone!" ”

Qian Qianyi's eyes lit up, and he said in a lost voice: "Tens of millions of taels of silver? ”

Lu Daqi thought about it, but said worriedly: "Elder Sun Ge, if you really want to auction off the official workshops such as salt, iron, silk, spinning, tea, and porcelain to the merchants, it will be difficult for the imperial court to interfere again. ”

"This old man has already made a preliminary calculation with Wang Pu." Sun Chuanting said, "At that time, the household department should formulate corresponding regulations, which explicitly prohibit merchants from artificially raising prices and making huge profits, and at the same time, it is necessary to set up a commercial department in the household department to be responsible for supervising the business and trade activities of these private workshops." ”

"Yes." Qian Qianyi echoed, "You must supervise them, otherwise if these merchants are allowed to mess around and sell food and weapons to Jiannu or thieves, won't the world be in chaos." ”

Sun Chuanting said: "But this is a big deal, the norms that need to be formulated should also be considered as thoroughly as possible, and the concerns and emotions of businessmen should also be taken into account. ”

"Yes, yes, yes." Qian Qianyi echoed continuously, "This is the safest." ”

■■■

As soon as Wang Pu sent John away, Lu Liu came in to report: "Master Hou, Mr. Song, Mr. Fang, and Mr. Zhen have returned from Jiande, Zhejiang. ”

"Oh?" Wang Pu said happily, "What about people? ”

Lu Liudao: "I'm already waiting in the front hall." ”

Wang Pu didn't say a word, and went straight to the front hall.

In the front hall, Song Yingxing, Fang Yizhi and Zhen Youcai were happily discussing something, and when they saw Wang Pu coming in, the three of them quickly got up and saluted: "See Hou Ye for the inferior rank." ”

"That's it." Wang Pu shook his hand again and again and asked Zhen Youcai, "Youcai, how is it?" ”

Zhen Youcai couldn't suppress the excitement between his eyebrows, and said: "Master Hou, after the humble job and Mr. Song and Mr. Fang went to Jiande for a field trip, they found that the Fuchun River in Jiande was sufficient, so they asked Jiande and Chun'an Zhixian to mobilize 5,000 people to build two embankments, according to Mr. Fang's calculations, the amount of water intercepted by these two embankments is enough for 300 hydraulic drilling machines to be used for one year. ”

"Where's the Arsenal?" Wang Pu hurriedly said, "How is the preparation of the arsenal?" ”

Wang Pu was most concerned about the issue of the arsenal, and the armament rate of rifles has always been a bottleneck restricting the expansion of the Central Army.

When will the output of the arsenal go up, and the central army will be able to get rid of the dilemma of insufficient guns and truly realize the transition from a cold weapon army to a firearms army; When the output of the arsenal goes up, the end of the slaves and thieves should also come, and the restoration of the Central Plains will not be far off.

Speaking of the arsenal, Zhen Youcai's face fell, and he said with a wry smile: "Master Hou, there are no special carpenters in Jiande and Chun'an counties, and they can't build qualified hydraulic drilling machines. ”

At that time, due to the limitations of manufacturing methods, the arsenal could only use wooden hydraulic drilling machines, except for the drill bit used to drill through the barrel, the rest of the components such as the spindle, the base frame, the winch, and the support frame were almost all wooden, wood was easy to process, but also easy to damage, and the requirements for carpenter's craftsmanship were very high.

Let's just talk about the spindle, a carpenter without more than ten years of experience can't plane at all! If the spindle is not round, it will inevitably be disturbed when it rotates, which not only affects the machining accuracy of the drilling, but also seriously affects the service life of the shaft, the same hydraulic drilling machine, the old carpenter in the Nanjing weapons workshop can be used for half a year, and those carpenters in Jiande and Chun'an County can only be used for less than half a month.

Wang Pu said: "Why don't you transfer the old carpenter from Nanjing?" ”

Zhen Youcai said: "I am in a hurry to return to Nanjing this time, and I am here to transfer the old carpenter. ”

Wang Pu's brows furrowed for a moment, although Zhen Youcai did not answer positively, but Wang Pu already knew the answer, the Jiande Arsenal is still in the initial stage, and there is no productivity at all, if you want to use the rifles produced by the Jiande Arsenal, it will take at least more than half a year, and it is now the end of April, which means that it will not be able to catch up with the decisive battle with Jiannu after the autumn in any case.

This means that when the decisive battle with Jiannu was fought in the autumn, Wang Pu could only get a maximum of 5,000 muskets, which was only enough to re-equip a musket battalion, plus the musket battalion under Zhao Xin, the main combat strength of the Central Army still had only one artillery battalion and three musket battalions, and Wang Pu still had to live a tight life.

When I think of this, the preparation for the construction of the Jiande Arsenal is not so eager.

Wang Pu already had a new idea, Yangming University had not yet officially opened, and since the 36 pagans from the West had received a high political axe allowance from the Academy of Military Sciences, they could not let them ponder any philosophy every day, but had to give them something tangible to do.

Wang Pu decided to send them all to the Jiande Arsenal to develop machine tools, lathes, milling machines, grinding machines, planers, boring machines, forging presses are all built, especially the boring machine is the most important, once the hydraulic deep hole boring machine is created, the Ming Dynasty's artillery technology will advance by leaps and bounds, and the range of Hongyi cannons will be greatly increased.

The structural design of these machine tools is not difficult, whether it is in Europe or Daming, there have been corresponding wooden machine tools, what they need to do is to replace the main components of these wooden machine tools from wood to steel.

Looking at Wang Pu's frowning, Zhen Youcai blamed himself: "Master Hou, it's all because of his incompetence and failure to do his errands." ”

"No, you can't be blamed for that." Wang Pu waved his hand and said indifferently, "Let's not talk about this first, if you are talented, Mr. Song and Mr. Fang, I will set up a special yamen for you." ”

"Huh?"

Zhen Youcai and the three of them looked at each other.

Wang Pu smiled and said: "This yamen is called the Academy of Military Sciences, you are the dean, Mr. Song and Mr. Fang are the vice presidents, I also found more than 30 Xiyi scholars for you, you can see them when you go back, hehe, these people are talents, you must make good use of them." ”

(To be continued)