The train represents an extension of central power in a way. In the days when there were no trains, it took two months for an "Imperial Bulletin" to travel from Beijing to Cochin, and the central government decree took an extra month because carrier pigeons could not be used.

Three months is enough time for a lot of big things to happen.

And now the roaring train has extended the arm of the center of the Ming Empire, so that the princes of the court can understand the local problems more quickly, and mobilize troops, food, and goods at a faster speed.

Although it was only a test section and the length was only twenty miles, the thousands of catties of goods carried by the train, as well as His Majesty the Emperor and members of the imperial family, finally arrived at the first station outside Beijing at a faster speed.

"Your Majesty, the maximum speed of the train just now reached twenty-four miles per hour." The professor in charge of the train program reports to Zhu Cihong.

This professor's surname is Tian Mingshuang, only in his early thirties, and he is a proud disciple of Wang Kui Xingong, who is quite accomplished and talented in the field of machinery. If it weren't for Zhu Cihong calling for wind and rain in this time and space, maybe he would be poor, be a man at the age of fifty, and live his mediocre life. However, because of Zhu Cihong, his hobby in his childhood was able to become a lifelong career, and brought him the opportunity to glorify his ancestors.

Zhu Cihong nodded at the young professor and said, "How much load?" ”

"The real yàn goods are six thousand catties." Tian Shuang said: "But the theoretical number is around 12,000 catties." ”

"Because I'm heavier." Zhu Cihong joked.

Tian Shuang also laughed and said, "Your Majesty shoulders the sun and the moon, and holds the country and the mountains, how can it not be heavy?" ”

This time, because His Majesty the Emperor asked to feel the train in person, of course, the carriage could not be fully loaded, and judging from the previous actual situation, the danger of a full load was much higher than that of an empty load. Several accidents have occurred due to overloading.

Zhu Cihong looked at the platform from the window, because he adopted his design concept, so it is not much different from the railway platform of later generations. He asked, "How is Kui Xingong?" ”

Tian Shuang suddenly became depressed and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to see the Beijing-Tianjin line through." ”

Wang Zheng was already extremely long-lived in this era, and at the beginning of the Beijing-Tianjin line, he no longer had the body and energy to be responsible for the actual work. Exceptionally pushed his closed disciple to the forefront, that is, this Tian Shuang. He gave Tian Shuang the honor of building the first railway in the Ming Dynasty, which can show his expectations and attention to Tian Shuang.

This is arguably his greatest legacy.

Zhu Cihong couldn't help but feel a little sad when he thought of his correspondence with Wang Zheng, the step by step from the Technical College to Jingshi University, and even the awarding of the Kwai Xin Award.

"Forget it, I can't go on, let's go back to Beijing after adding coal." Zhu Cihong said.

Tian Shuang was ordered to come out and immediately went to make arrangements.

There were only five princes left in the carriage. The ring sits on the emperor's left and right.

Zhu Hegui looked at his father and felt quite distressed. He thought about it for a while, and finally persuaded him: "Father, don't be sad, the salary is exhausted, and the Duke of Kui Xin will be satisfied to see this train." ”

Zhu Cihong took a breath and said, "It's not sadness, it's just loss." He paused and said, "Heroes are not afraid of life and death. My only regret is that I can't see my career succeeded. Before his death, Li Ge was still worried about whether he would take the old path of death and political rest, these are all loyal ministers. ”

The wax moon of the tenth year of Longjing. Li Yuzhi died at the end of his life, and an hour before he said goodbye, he also met with a visiting official of the Ministry of Officials, and asked in detail about the improvement and implementation of the examination method. The official only visited unexpectedly, and Li Yuzhi also asked about this political matter after Zhishi, and there seemed to be providence in the dark.

The crown prince knew that His Majesty the Emperor was depressed after hearing the news of Li Yuzhi's death, and today he learned that the deadline for Wang Kui's heart was approaching. The originally lively travel has also become depressing.

"Father, the name of Elder Li Ge has not yet been agreed." Zhu Hegui said: "Between Wenzhong and Wenzheng, it seems to be quite controversial. ”

"Why didn't I know there was such a controversy?" Zhu Cihong asked rhetorically.

Zhu Hegui was a little surprised, and said puzzledly: "The Hanlin Academy and the Guozijian have already quarreled, and there is also a ...... in the newspaper How could my father not know? ”

"Father means. There's no need to worry about it! Zhu Heqi, the second son of the emperor, suddenly interjected: "Whether it's Wen Zhong or Wen Zheng, just look at what they report in the end." If it does not conform to the father's wishes, the father can naturally give a text, which is called grace from above; If it is in line with the emperor's wishes, he will naturally push the boat along the river, which is called the expectation of the public. That's right, Father. ”

Zhu Hegui looked at his younger brother coldly and said, "You should be more presumptuous and show your father." ”

Zhu Cihong touched the back of the second child's head: "This is not called presumptuous, he can say it, because you are anxious about being an elder brother." ”

Zhu Hegui was quite reluctant, and his face became more and more unsightly. Although no one told him anything, he felt more and more that his father's love for him was shared with his younger brothers. recalled that he never left his father an inch, and his father accompanied him to play games, but now the people who have been with his father have become the second and third.

The third child is still young, and he doesn't talk about him, but the second child is becoming more and more presumptuous, and he doesn't take him as an elder brother in his eyes.

Seeing that the boss's face was not good, Zhu Cihong said to Zhu Heqi again: "No matter what, there should be no estrangement between brothers, but the way of the monarch and the minister is to be scrupulous." Your imperial brother is the vice monarch after all, even if there is something that you can't worry about for a while, you should pay attention to the way you advise and advise. ”

"He, hehe, there are many places to worry." Zhu Heqi grinned: "And brainless!" ”

"You!" Zhu Hegui was about to get angry immediately, but when he saw his father looking over, he couldn't help but have a seizure.

"How?" Zhu Cihong looked at the second child again.

"The last time I took the math test, he scratched his ears and cheeks over there for a long time. I threw the answer to him, but he didn't know how to copy it. Zhu Heqi said.

Zhu Cihong nodded and said, "This is your imperial brother's honesty, and cheating in exams is not a glorious thing anywhere." ”

Zhu Hegui's face was a little warm, and he said: "It is unwise to deceive yourself, it is insincere to deceive your husband, and it is even more insincere to deceive your father, you are really daring!" ”

"Father, didn't these creeds come up with the corrupt Confucians? As the deputy monarch, the royal brother is still affected by this? Zhu Heqi said dissatisfied.

"What rotten! They are all gentlemen! It's my sir, and it's yours! Zhu and Gui had already screamed.

Zhu Cihong held down his two sons and said, "Don't make any noise, my father has a headache." "The little ones are too loud. The chirp is a real headache.

"First of all," Zhu Cihong turned to Zhu Heqi, "it is definitely not right to call the gentlemen corrupt. As descendants of the Chinese descent, how do we distinguish ourselves from the barbarians? It is because we have great etiquette, inner beliefs, and principles of life. These etiquette, beliefs, principles. It is the rule taught by the gentlemen, to respect the ancestors, to respect the elders, to honor the parents, to love the young, to treat people sincerely...... And so on, once we turn our backs on these frameworks, what difference do we have from the Donglu and the barbarians? ”

Zhu Heqi pursed his lips and hung his head silently.

"As for you." Zhu Cihong turned to the crown prince, "Why are your math, physics and chemistry grades so bad?" ”

Zhu Hegui didn't expect his father to ask this, and it was difficult to answer for a while.

"Do you think that just learning the way of a saint is enough to govern the country?" Zhu Cihong didn't wait for his son to answer, and said: "Where is the root of the way of university?" The four words of Gewu Zhizhi, mathematics, physics and chemistry are all the science of Gewu, and the purpose is still to learn. You can't look at things, you can't know. Isn't it used to fool people in the end? ”

Zhu Hegui lowered his head and said secretly in his heart: I don't know what the gentlemen think. There is no need to use a good good middle difference, but I want to do a 100-point system, which is really disturbing! When I become emperor, gentlemen will no longer be allowed to evaluate students on a 100-point scale.

In fact, the 100-point system was implemented as early as the popularization of Mongolian studies, but it was not used in sectarianism. In earlier royal education, the gentleman was also a courtier. How do courtiers judge their fathers? Therefore, there is no zài exam assessment at all, but the teacher will explain the content clearly and the students can know it.

The culprit behind the implementation of the 100-point system in Zongxue is Zhu Cihong.

He found out from Mr. Zongxue that the liberal arts teacher had a high evaluation of the crown prince, but the science teacher had an average evaluation. It is even more believed that the second prince's Tianzi is higher than that of the crown prince. This is obviously a sign of bias, and it is not noticed by people, and it is precisely because it is not strictly evaluated on a 100-point scale.

From the second half of the tenth year of Longjing, the Zongxue also had to conduct exams and score to master the knowledge of the students. As a result, the crown prince was beaten back to his original form, and his performance in natural science subjects such as mathematics, physics and chemistry was very dangerous.

"Erchen is wrong." Zhu and Gyu readily admit their mistakes. In his early experience, as long as he admitted his mistakes, his father would no longer blame him, and this trick was tried and tested.

"Don't laugh, your grades in Chinese studies are also very problematic." Zhu Cihong turned to the second child and said, "It's very good to be able to score 90 points in history and geography, but why is there only 60 points in ancient literature?" ”

"The teacher is eccentric," Zhu Heqi stiffened his neck, "They all patted the emperor's horses and deliberately didn't give me high marks." ”

Zhu and Gui Deng were not happy at the time, and said: "You let your father see what you wrote, and you want to get a high score if you deviate from the norm!" ”

Zhu Cihong glared at his eldest son, and said, "I really haven't read what you wrote, but Mr. should have integrity." What have you written? ”

"That is, there are a lot of chickens in the neighborhood...... "Zhu Heqi muttered.

Zhu Cihong quickly reacted that this was actually some fable that mocked Mencius.

In Mencius, there is a man who steals a neighbor's chicken every day, and when he is told that stealing chickens is not a gentleman's way, he says, "Then I will steal one every month, and I will talk about it next year." Mencius thought that if he knew that this was wrong, why wait for next year? It should be corrected quickly.

The idea of this story is good, but the point is that the second emperor does not believe that there are so many chickens in the neighbor's house for people to steal.

"There is also that beggar from the Qi Kingdom, who married a wife and a concubine. He said that Mencius was nonsense, how could a beggar have so much money! Zhu Hegui revealed.

Zhu Heqi's eyes drifted to the ceiling, obviously disapproving.

When you meet such a student, it is no wonder that gentlemen have a headache.

"What did the gentlemen tell you?" Zhu Cihong asked.

"They say, it's a parable, and you can't take it seriously." Zhu and Qi Dao.

"Indeed," Zhu Cihong nodded, "Mencius will use exaggerated techniques to bring out the absurdity of some ways of acting in order to reason, which cannot be said to be nonsense. ”

"Isn't he a saint? What if anyone believed it? "Zhu Heqi is still more truthful.

"Yasheng is a descendant. As for the distortion and misunderstanding of the wisdom of the sages, it does not mean that the sages were wrong. Zhu Cihong said.

Zhu Hegui was a little puzzled when he heard this, and secretly said in his heart: His father's attainments in Gewu are praised by the world, but how can he defend the sages? Didn't the emperor's grandfather also say that his father's knowledge was not pure enough and lacked reverence for the ancestors?

"Anyway, I'm bored, and I always use this and that to train people." Zhu Heqi said: "If it makes sense, it is what a eunuch said, I will also listen to it, why bother to carry the 'son' out?" ”

Zhu Cihong smiled and said, "Your attitude is right. ”

"Huh?" And Kei and Qi both let out unexpected exclamations at the same time.

"The truth is there, not because of who said it, but because it is the truth. Obey this principle, hello, hello, hello, everyone. Contrary to this principle, the heavens are angry and people complain that everyone is not good" Zhu Cihong said: "The so-called sages and sages are nothing more than summing up this truth for others to show and enlighten the wisdom of the ignorant, nothing more." ”

Zhu Heqi got the support of his father, and he was quite energetic, and was about to say something deviant, but Zhu Cihong had already slapped his head: "But you are not Kong Feimeng, obviously not because you have mastered a more true truth than Kong Meng, just because you want to do it against what people say!" If you want to be different from Confucius and Mencius, at least find out what kind of person Confucius and Mencius are and what they said. ”

"As for the crown prince," Zhu Cihong turned to his eldest son, "it's good that you are willing to study intensively, but don't be a parrot who only learns words." It is true to have your own understanding, in the end, the world is changing, and it is true that we can learn from history, but we must also take into account the differences of each era. For example, to this day, there are still great Confucians who want to restore the Jingtian system, because the Jingtian system is the foundation of the 800-year-old royal industry of the Zhou Dynasty.

In his opinion, the restoration of the Jingtian system will also restore the hearts of the people, and it will allow the Ming Dynasty to continue for thousands of years. This kind of starting point is good, but can you really use the things of the Zhou Dynasty now? Don't talk about system changes, let's talk about the environment, did the Zhou Dynasty have trains? The North China of the Zhou Dynasty was still rich in water and grass, and the Chu State was already a hot and barren land, but now? ”

Zhu Hegui knew that his father was talking about Liu Zongzhou, and also included many Confucians before Liu Zongzhou. He also thought that the Ida system was a good system, but apparently his father did not agree with it.

"Hegui, you are also older, sometimes you can't simply listen to the truth, you have to practice the truth and understand the truth." Zhu Cihong said: "Do you remember what your father told you about ponies crossing the river?" Doesn't the poem also say: The paper is shallow, and you never know that you have to do it. ”

Zhu Hegui nodded and said, "Erchen knows." (To be continued......)