The heavy snow that fell on Henan was tantamount to a catastrophe for the homeless people, and all the officers and soldiers of the guards battalion were dispatched, and Xu Ping, Yu Shenhe, and Heibao collectively went into battle to help clear the snow on the road. When Li Zicheng came to inspect, he saw a large number of people staggering with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and the soldiers of the guard battalion did their best to help them, and no one dared to plunder the people like the officers and soldiers.

It wasn't until nearly dusk that Xu Ping rushed back to his camp with the Cavalry Guards, and brought back a little boy.

"The parents froze to death when they picked it up in the snow, and the child escaped from hiding in his mother's arms." When the dying child was found on a field patrol this morning, his father was already frozen, and his mother seemed to have just died. Looking at their outfits, they were also fleeing people, but they did not break into the camp mobilization area, but escaped from the more northern areas, and sporadically Xu Ping found some such people: "The last time the officers and soldiers came to Henan, the new army was fine, and the Zhu Yuanhong department of the Lu army did all kinds of evil, but this time I heard that the officers and soldiers came again, and many people who were far away also began to flee." After the general gave the order to clear the wilderness, the people in some farther places, fearing that the officers and soldiers would have nothing to plunder, went to the places that harmed them, and many of them fled from their hometowns in the heavy snow, some came to us, and some went to Zhili. ”

Li Dingguo's troops have been ordered to search north, if the people flee to Zhili to avoid the military disaster, it will be fine, if they rush to Kaifeng, the army that broke into the camp will provide them with some means of subsistence.

In the past, Li Zicheng always felt that Xu Ping was a former officer and soldier, and thought that he could not understand the pain of the people at the bottom, but now that he sees that he takes care of things in an orderly manner, he admires him very much: "Brother Xu really doesn't look like he came from the officers and soldiers." ”

"The last general was a subordinate of Huang Hou, and the teachings of the Hou Ye have always been kept in mind, please see, if there is no Wenchen to supervise the army, the new army will not disturb the people, but only friendly troops - such as the Lu army, the new army is helpless against their misdeeds."

Li Zicheng said: "Having said that, it is rare for Brother Xu to have this benevolence. ”

"Does the king think that the last will be benevolent?" Xu Ping smiled bitterly, Xu Ping felt sorry and grateful to these people: "Without the help of these people, we would be blind and rootless, and now the new army is deaf and blind; These people provide food and clothing for our army, and let their children serve in our army. Now that the Forces nouvelles are coming, the first thing I have to do is burn their houses to trap them, and it would be too much to say if I didn't do anything to help them. ”

However, in addition to apology and gratitude, Xu Ping has a kind of fear: "The reason why our army can compete with the officers and soldiers here in Henan depends on the fact that the people are separated from the court, and they are attached to me but not to the officials. As long as the people no longer support us, even if they don't help each other, the end of our army will come. How dare the last general not tremble and do his best to please the people. ”

"Please!" Li Zicheng suddenly burst into laughter: "Brother Xu's words won my heart, and so did I." ”

"I'm afraid it's the same with Taizu of this dynasty." Xu Ping suddenly remembered Zhu Yuanzhang: "In the early years of the Hongwu Dynasty, some officials reported that there were bandits in the world, and hundreds of officials offered advice to Emperor Taizu Gao to deal with the bandits. ”

"I heard that Emperor Gao still has a strategy, if the peasants find that the officials are corrupt and oppressive to the people, they can tie up the officials into Beijing by themselves, and they are not guilty." Li Zicheng said.

"Yes, the last general thinks that Emperor Gao seems to be benevolent, but in fact he is also afraid, he has seen the rebels rise up and overwhelm the mountains, and he is afraid that this scene will repeat itself to him or his descendants." Xu Ping thought for a while and added: "Wise and martial like Tang Taizong, he can also say that water can carry a boat and can also overturn a boat, and the last general feels that he is probably the same." Although Li Shimin was not the leader of the peasant army, Xu Ping guessed that Li Shimin, who had seen the ragged peasants rising up to resist, would inevitably think after finally sitting on the throne: If the descendants of the future generations encounter such a catastrophe, I don't know if they can survive it safely.

"That day the king and the last general said that at this time, it would be a deception to say that there is no dissent." Xu Ping asked: "If we lose, it will naturally be a hundred, but if we win by luck, how does the king plan to govern the country?" ”

Xu Ping's guards had already left, and there were only Li Zicheng and Xu Ping in the tent at this time, but this question still made Li Zicheng ponder for a long time, and when he opened his mouth to answer, Li Zicheng seemed a little unconfident, and his tone was a little hesitant: "I don't have too many ideas, and I don't know anything about governing the country, but if I sit in this world, I will definitely be in peace with my brothers, not greedy for pleasure, and not lazy when I come out to do things every day." The people of this world, first of all, are exempt from levy grain for three years, and then levy some, otherwise they will not be able to raise soldiers and officials, but they must be levied as little as possible. ”

After Li Zicheng finished speaking, he thought he was very thorough, but when he saw Xu Ping shaking his head slightly, he asked, "Brother Xu thinks I am not right?" ”

"The king said very well, the heavens are evil, and it is still against them; and they shall not live. Forty years ago, our dynasty was at its peak; Twenty years ago, when today's son ascended to the pole, there were still 2 million officials and soldiers in the sea who swore allegiance to the emperor, and the people wholeheartedly supported them. At that time, the tax source of the Ming Dynasty was still there, and the imperial court was unhindered in the appointment and dismissal of personnel throughout the country. Even if there are hungry people gathered, as long as a scholar like Yang He rushes to announce that the imperial court will provide relief, these hungry people will dissolve by themselves. Whether it is officials, ordinary people, or even rebellious people, they all trust the court. Xu Ping even felt that needless to say, the last kings of the previous dynasties similar to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty handed over the situation when the Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne to most of the emperors who were troubled by warlords and powerful ministers in the middle and late dynasties, and I am afraid that they would all wake up from their sleep with a smile: "But in just 20 years, the world has been full of smoke, officers and soldiers have gone out, and the people along the way have fled, that is, the county seat of the imperial court has closed the city gates and taken strict precautions." ”

"What does Brother Xu want to say?" Li Zicheng did not understand the connection between this passage and his own argument.

"What I want to say is that the current emperor, what he has done Emperor Gao must not agree, and even the emperor's ancestor, father, and first emperor also disagree, but who can stop him?" These days, the words of Gu Yanwu, Xia Wanchun and Xu Ping have been lingering in his mind, and there seems to be no possibility of escaping from the cycle of chaos again and again: "When I received the child who froze to death today, I thought about erecting a stone monument in the place where his parents were buried. If it is really the destiny of the king, this stone tablet can also be passed on to future generations, so that future generations and grandchildren will know that it is not easy to win the world, and warn them not to oppress the hundred."

"I think I understand what Brother Xu meant, Brother Xu is worried that this stone tablet is like those iron tablets erected by the imperial court on the county road, right? Didn't Emperor Gao think of what I said just now? "Those monuments erected by the Ming Dynasty to show the officials are engraved: Erfeng Erlu, the people are fat and the people are anointed, the people are easy to abuse, and the heavens are difficult to deceive. Li Zicheng felt that this thing was useless, and if a new dynasty was really established, it would probably evolve into a group of local officials burning incense and worshipping in front of the monument after a hundred years, and then turned around and continued to collect grain and urge the tax.

Xu Ping briefly introduced some of Gu and Xia's worries to Li Zicheng, and shook his head again and again when the latter listened: "Heaven is evil, and it is still violated; and they shall not live. Li Zicheng repeated what Xu Ping had just said: "In my opinion, the cycle of chaos is a man-made disaster rather than a destiny, but this disaster is unavoidable." At the beginning, Emperor Gao was afraid and treated the people well, and the officials under Emperor Gao were more or less afraid, and occasionally some out-of-the-ordinary things would not be too much, and the people could bear it; Many years have passed, a generation has passed, and the new emperor and officials have become less afraid of the people, they have collected a little more tax, and the people have endured it when they feel that they still have a way to live...... This has been passed down from generation to generation, the officials have continued to succeed, the people have kept patient, and the officials' fear of the people has become weaker and weaker, and they have not been as grateful and guilty as Brother Xu is today. ”

Until one day, the officials became fearless, and the time came when the people could not bear it anymore. The country established by the king, the soldiers and the elders of Henan who are supporting each other in the snow today, one day they will still roar and fight together," Xu Ping asked, "Is this acceptable to the king?" Can the king be content to bring peace to the world for 200 years, and then fall into another cycle of chaos? ”

"Of course I don't want to," Li Zicheng replied without thinking, "Langli Baitiao and six-eared macaque, do you have any progress on these two gentlemen?" ”

"So far, no." Xu Ping shook his head and said, "What they have done now is still what everyone has done before." Now we are struggling to survive, and the people are the foundation of our army's survival, so it is easy to say anything, starting from the king, the last general, and the generals and officials below all know this, and they are all grateful and afraid...... If we are defeated, it is needless to say. But if we do win, alas, the general will not know if there is any way to make the future officials always fear the people, and I wonder if we can find a way to make the officials always afraid of the people...... As the old man gradually leaves, the new generation is always becoming more and more emboldened. The threat of harsh punishment only made the officials fear the emperor and not the people, and sooner or later they would encounter someone as fearless as today. "Xu Ping originally wanted to say that since ancient times, no one has ever found such a way, so why can he find it in the camp? But this kind of remark seemed to be a little too pessimistic, so Xu Ping couldn't help but say it.

"Let the officials fear the people?" Li Zicheng also smiled bitterly: "It's not easy to talk about." ”

"If you can't do it, you won't be able to get out of this cycle, and no matter how strong the foundation of the king is, it will be burned in the next war; No matter how brilliant the king's deeds are, they will be reduced to ashes. ”

……

Cambridge, United Kingdom

After reading the book they had just gotten hungrily, Huang Naiming and his brothers ran to see the headmaster with the translator again, and Headmaster Snow came out to greet them with both hands: "Your Excellency the Viscount, have you come to borrow the book again?" ”

"Yes." Huang Naiming presented the book "On Magnetism" with both hands: "Your Excellency, your school, is really an eye-opener for me. ”

The Headmaster carefully put the book away and exclaimed, "Mr. Gilbert, what a jealous genius, now His Excellency the Viscount must be able to distinguish the difference between electricity and magnetism, right?" ”

"Yes, and I finally understand why we can live on one ball." Huang Naiming sighed with emotion: "Your Excellency, in our Ming Dynasty, there is also a debate about whether the earth is flat or round, I used to be a sailor, I once saw the mast rise before the hull, but I never understood why the water would not flow away from this ball, why we would not fall into the universe, and now I finally understand, as Your Excellency said, Mr. Gilbert's genius really makes ordinary people like me jealous." ”

While Huang Naiming was speaking, the headmaster always smiled politely, and only after the interpreter stopped for a moment did he smile and say, "Your Excellency, Mr. Gilbert's explanation of why we can stand on this sphere is incorrect. Over the past 20 years, countless scientists have tried and tested that even the most powerful magnetic spheres cannot make objects without magnetism show even the slightest bit of adsorption force. Obviously, the force that binds us to Earth is not magnetism. ”

"What's that?"

"We don't know yet, but this force already has a name, and we call it gravity. Presumably His Excellency the Viscount had read in Mr. Gilbert's book, that if the magnetic force was evenly distributed, the more mass there was, the greater the magnetic force. The concept of mass proposed by Mr. Gilbert inspired us, and a young man named Hooke hypothesized that any object with mass would have a magnetic-like attraction, which is gravity. ”

"Mr. Hook?"

"Yes, he is younger than His Excellency the Viscount, and is not yet eighteen years old, and although the magnetic experiment has failed, he thinks that Mr. Gilbert's conjecture is not wrong, that there must be an invisible force that binds us to the earth, and extends to the whole universe, so that our earth is connected to the moon, and even more so to the sun, and to the other planets, and this force is determined only by mass, but very weakly, so that it is difficult for us to find evidence around."

"So it's not verifiable?" Huang Naiming was a little disappointed: "How can it be said to be science?" ”

Huang Naiming's words surprised the headmaster, and instead of continuing the topic just now, he asked rhetorically: "What does Your Excellency the Viscount think of science?" ”

"My father once heard some of the Europa people who came to the Ming Dynasty talk about science and told me about his understanding of science: science is a falsifiable statement. For example, 'London is foggy today', which is a scientific statement, and it can't be a question or an exclamation sentence in the first place, for example, 'Is London foggy today?' Or, 'It's so foggy in London today!' ’； The second is falsifiable, that is, whether it is really foggy, we can check, for example, 'God came to London today, but no one noticed it, and no trace was left'. So since Mr. Hooke's conjecture cannot be falsified, it is not science. ”

"I greatly admire the wisdom of Your Excellency the Marquis." The headmaster's face was full of shock: "To be able to summarize science in such simple terms, even if there are few scientists in Europa, can do it, and I have to say that His Excellency the Marquis has a very thorough understanding of science, and I fully agree with his definition." ”

Huang Naiming smiled slightly: "My father also said that science will one day become extremely powerful, and its enemies will try to disguise it. ”

"This is a compliment on us, and it is too much of a compliment." The headmaster smiled, the servant brought black tea, and after the guest and host drank it, the headmaster said: "Actually, we have found a way to test Mr. Hooke's conjecture, the astronomical telescope invented by Mr. Galileo in Italy, and my school has just succeeded in getting one, and we are using it to repeat Mr. Galileo's observations, and calculate the speed of Jupiter and her moons. ”

"What does this have to do with Mr. Hook's gravitational pull?"

Mr. Hooke's hypothesis that gravity is inversely proportional to the distance between two massive objects explains why comets fly in a nearly straight line when they are far from the Sun, and twist violently in the other direction when they are close to the Sun. We have estimated that in addition to the mass of the large planets, if such a force does exist, and it is really inversely proportional to the distance, then we can find that the observed angular velocity of the satellite is in exact agreement with our calculations. The headmaster asked, "Your Excellency's scientific arguments have been falsified, there is no fog in London today, and we will continue to observe Jupiter in the evening, would you like Your Excellency the Viscount to go and see it together?" ”

"I can't ask for it." Huang Naiming stood up and thanked him: "I really don't know how to thank the principal for his hospitality." ”

"If I go to Daming one day, His Excellency the Viscount can entertain me." The Headmaster laughed, "Or, when Your Excellency the Viscount meets the Lord Protector, you can say a few kind words for us, and we want to set up an academy to record and continue this little hobby of ours." ”

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