Chapter 582: The Test of Heaven

"This can explain many problems." Zhu Zaiyu said, "For example, why the Japanese country and the Great Ming Liaodong are at the same latitude, but it is much warmer."

The core philosophy of the Great Ming Royal Academy of Things is "one who practices it, just believe in reality," and the foundation of standing is Guo Shoujing's "The basis of the calendar lies in measurement and testing, and the instrument of measurement and testing is the first." Carrying out practical, long-term observation and mapping as the practical theme to revise the calendar, and finally expanding from the study of the calendar to the study of the infinite principles of all things.

Since the Great Ming dug out the discussion about latitude from Guo Shoujing's old case, that is, the observation of the angle of the North Pole, a long-standing confusion has been troubling the Five Classics Doctors of the Great Ming. Among these Five Classics Doctors, besides Zhu Zaiyu, Xing Yunlu, Jiao Hong, Zhang Siwen, Huang Zifu, Li Kaifang, there are also Wang Pan, Wang Duozhi, Zhao Kehuai, Wang Zuo, Wu Zhongming, Guo Zizhang, Feng Yingjing, etc.

This problem is that even at the same latitude, the Suiyuan and Liaodong places of the Great Ming will be colder, the wind and snow in winter will be greater, the frost-free period will be shorter, and the frost days will come earlier, which makes the Five Classics Doctors extremely confused.

At the beginning, the Five Classics Doctors believed that it was the result of the cold air mass over the desert north and the warm currents widely existing in the ocean.

"In Nagasaki, you can plant coconut trees, but in Nanjing and Songjiang Prefecture at the same latitude, coconut trees can never be planted." Zhu Zaiyu said with great emotion, "Only cold air from the desert north and warm currents from the ocean, these two reasons are not enough to perfectly explain why the Japanese country is warmer than Liaodong."

"In the study of heating water, we found another factor, which is the huge water body."

"What does Your Majesty think is the source of the Earth's heat?"

"The sun. It starts to heat up when the sun rises, and starts to cool down when the sun sets. Obviously, the heat of the Great Ming mainly comes from the sun." Zhu Yijun said immediately.

"If the ministers do not have the slightest sense of compliance, can't they handle state affairs completely well, so that His Majesty can put more energy into the way of things?" Zhu Zaiyu said sincerely after listening, scolding the group of ministers for not being strong enough, letting His Majesty waste energy on state affairs, and not having more energy to participate in the exploration of the boundaries of human cognition.

The exploration of the boundaries of cognition and infinite principles is a mutually verifying, cyclical, and progressive way, not a way of revealing the tip of the iceberg, breaking a big hole in the boundaries of cognition, and moving forward all the way, but breaking through a little here, breaking through a little there, and then constantly expanding the boundaries of cognition.

And for talents like His Majesty who know a little bit about everything, the Academy of Things is extremely eager.

"Isn't that negligence?" Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Uncle, continue."

Zhu Zaiyu moved the slightly tilted globe in his hand and said sincerely, "We mentioned specific heat before. If water is 1, then the specific heat of mud is 0.2, which means that the heat that water can contain and release is five times that of mud."

"And the Japanese country possesses a huge water body, the vast Cangming Sect Pacific Ocean, which causes the reality that the Japanese country is warmer now. When the water body is hot, evaporation absorbs more heat, and when it is cold, it releases more heat. The overall temperature difference will be smaller."

"Coupled with the warm currents from the equator constantly flowing under the ocean currents, it makes the climate of the Japanese country even warmer."

"Therefore, Liaodong and Suiyuan without huge water bodies are colder, while the Japanese country with huge water bodies is warmer."

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "Tang Pozi?"

Tang Pozi, the Great Ming's hot water bag, but most of them were made of copper and tin, and had been widely existing since the Tang Dynasty. Putting it in the quilt can keep warm. What Zhu Zaiyu said was actually not complicated. It was just that the Japanese country possessed a huge Tang Pozi, the Pacific Ocean, which was constantly heated because of the existence of ocean currents, so the Japanese country was warmer.

Zhu Zaiyu was choked hard and thought about it and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

His Majesty's metaphor is easy to understand. That is what he meant, but it was just using more explicit experiments to verify his conjecture and explain this problem.

The existence of a huge water body is a necessary survival condition to ensure that the climate will not fluctuate violently. If the Earth did not have so much water and was all land, the temperature fluctuation between day and night on Earth would increase by five times. This is what kind of terrifying scene, the Royal Academy of Things did not dare to imagine.

"We found that water carries things with great virtue. In daily life, it is difficult for us to find substances with higher specific heat capacity than water." Zhu Zaiyu said with great emotion.

Water carries things with great virtue in a physical sense.

Specific heat capacity can explain many problems. For example, the Academy of Things improved the thermometer and chose to use mercury instead of the previous alcohol. For example, the heat calculation of coal is also measured by a standard unit of water. For the quality of coal, there is a new definition.

This is also a part of the degree-by-degree connection. The production of the Wanli Reform, under the influence of the degree-by-degree connection, already has the concept of precision measurement, and all things have been defined mathematically, thus becoming more standardized.

"The grassland began to cool down from the Yongle period. From the records of Kaiyuan Guard and the Tatars, we can see that in these 170 years, the frost-free period near Guihua City has been shortened from an average of 102 days to an average of only about 81 days now. The scene of wind blowing grass and seeing cattle and sheep only lasts for less than three months. Most of the time, it is a scene of withered grass and ice and snow." Zhu Zaiyu said with a solemn face, "We are experiencing a huge test."

"The test of Heaven's Luck."

"81 days of frost-free period, this production time is really too short. With the nomadic way, people have no way to create enough material to satisfy the necessities of life for a year in this period."

Heaven's Luck is a general term for the climate change of the Great Ming. This is a topic that has been carried out since the establishment of the Royal Academy of Things, and the test of Heaven's Luck mentioned by Zhu Zaiyu is what later generations often call the Little Ice Age.

People living in this era, before the establishment of the Royal Academy of Things and the beginning of research, did not have a concrete and clear understanding of the impact caused by climate change.

And now, the research of the Royal Academy of Things provides a detailed study, showing that the test of climate on the Great Ming is intensifying.

During the Little Ice Age of the Great Ming, the global average temperature was 2° lower. This doesn't look like much, but because the Earth is a water ball, the impact of the Little Ice Age on coastal areas is not particularly violent, but for Suiyuan, Liaodong, Shaanxi, and other places, it is a natural disaster, a natural disaster like the end of a cold winter.

"Because of the great virtue of water, the farther away from the huge water body, the greater the temperature change will be. Accompanied by cooling, it is the intensification of land desertification." Zhu Zaiyu began to explain the logic.

Actually, it is very simple.

Cooling means that the time of the warm and humid trade winds in the southeast becomes shorter, which leads to a rapid decrease in precipitation. Accompanied by the inevitable shortening of the frost-free period, the water and grass become no longer lush, the cost of production and life intensifies. In order to survive, one has to raise more cattle and sheep to help migrate. The long time of withered grass and the violent strong winds take away the soil, making the land desert, and the cost of production and life further intensifies.

The Little Ice Age added frost to the grassland that was not rich in the first place.

"Therefore, opening the sea is the only way to withstand the test of Heaven's Luck." Zhu Zaiyu said with great excitement, "Actually, when we studied the specific heat capacity of water and got the fact that the temperature of the Great Ming has been falling continuously for 170 years and will continue to fall, all the Five Classics Doctors only had a feeling of despair."

"But soon, we checked the data of grain passing through the Shipping Commission's grain supply hall from the first year of Wanli to the eleventh year of Wanli since opening the sea. What excited us was that the grain entering the pass by opening the sea can withstand the grain reduction caused by the test of Heaven's Luck!"

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "Uncle, have you considered the factor of population increase?"

"Hmm?!" Zhu Zaiyu's face changed, he was stunned for a long, long time, before shaking his head and saying, "No, this..."

Zhu Yijun was extremely good at pouring cold water, pouring a bucket of cold water on Zhu Zaiyu's "only opening the sea" theory, letting Zhu Zaiyu calm down.

According to the approximate model of population doubling every thirty years, by the thirty-second year of Wanli, at the latest by the fortieth year of Wanli, the population of the Great Ming will increase to about 240 million. However, the harsh climate has no signs of ending. The increase in population and the worsening of the weather seem to have become an unsolvable and desperate predicament.

"Therefore, the Royal Academy of Things has a long way to go." Zhu Yijun was extremely optimistic and said, "Life will naturally find a way out. This is a very important result in 'Evolution and Ethics.' As the imperial court, if you don't want to be abandoned by the people, you have to find a way to solve these problems."

After the Great Qin Empire unified the six states, it still did not distribute benefits downward to the old Qin people, which eventually led to the old Qin people abandoning the Great Qin dynasty and choosing to embrace Liu Bang. Under Liu Bang's leadership, the old Qin people conquered the world again.

This is the basic logic. If you cannot meet the needs of the people, the Great Ming imperial court will be abandoned. As the Emperor, Zhu Yijun's first responsibility is to maintain the continuous existence of the dynasty. Even if the result is bad, it is nothing more than a rope under a crooked neck tree.

Zhu Yijun had long been prepared for this.

"The result of water fertilizer is not as expected." Zhu Zaiyu reported another sad news, which is that the appearance of water fertilizer did play a role in increasing production, but it was an increase in order of magnitude, not an exponential increase.

The population growth is an exponential expansion, and the grain increase is still only an order of magnitude. The anxiety about grain security has not been completely solved with the appearance of water fertilizer.

Because a new problem has appeared: lodging.

In the eleventh year of Wanli, there were a total of 300,000 mu of water fertilizer experimental fields. These experimental fields were tested on a large scale with composting, poor fertilizer, half fertilizer, full fertilizer, and rich fertilizer. The result was that in the case of almost no difference in water conservancy irrigation, water fertilizer was not as powerful as imagined.

In the case of half fertilizer, it was not much different from composting. The yield of full fertilizer was not as good as half fertilizer and rich fertilizer.

The result of full fertilizer was that the wheat seedlings were too high and too large, but instead did not bear ears. The wheat seedlings that were half a person high, or even one person high, had small and shriveled ears, and because they grew too high, they were lodged everywhere when the wind blew. This made the farmers responsible for these fields very anxious. The full fertilizer wheat seedlings were taller than people, which was indeed an unexpected problem.

And the agricultural doctors of the Baoqi Division were also overwhelmed. This problem is very difficult to solve. The yield of half fertilizer and composting is equivalent. The result of full fertilizer is that the wheat seedlings are really too high, the stalks are thin and high, the wheat is shriveled and small, and there is large-scale lodging when it is close to the harvest season. These strange wheats made the agricultural doctors look in their eyes and hurt in their hearts.

Under full fertilizer, not only was there no increase in production, but there was a decrease in production. The harvest was only one-fifth of half fertilizer.

As for rich fertilizer, the result was burning the seedlings, and the wheat seedlings had no chance to grow up at all.

As a farmer, Zhu Yijun knew this feeling too well. Hard work, but when it came to harvest, it was this result. Any farmer would be heartbroken.

And the method given by the Baoqi Division was still full fertilizer planting, and in the large-scale full fertilizer experimental fields, looking for individual plants that were still short under full fertilizer conditions for cultivation and transplantation, and then through various breeding methods, cultivating seeds that could still grow short, have full ears, and high yield under full fertilizer conditions.

Breeding experiments once, it takes a year. Only through many years of planting and tireless cultivation, can we finally get the answer we want. Of course, it is also possible that years of busy work will end in disappointment.

To help the Baoqi Division, Zhu Yijun even issued an edict to look for short wheat in all parts of the world to help the Baoqi Division select good seeds. After verification, each kind of short wheat seed will receive a reward of 5,000 silver.

After selecting good seeds, promoting them is calculated in units of five or ten years.

This is a journey that does not know whether it can reach the other shore, and it is full of thorns. But all those who set out have no hesitation. Even if it cannot be completed now, the descendants will have no end. One day, it can be completed.

This is the benefit of the cultural inertia of being responsible for history. Once started, if the timeline is extended to the length of a hundred or a thousand years, it will eventually get a response. This is the romance unique to the long river of history. Back then, Zhuge Liang walked for a lifetime and didn't walk from Chengdu to Chang'an, but now it has become a thoroughfare.

Being responsible for history is the most fundamental source of the Great Ming's high moral advantage. "Your Majesty, no one told Your Majesty about the strange news of a thousand catties per mu after full fertilizer?" Zhu Zaiyu asked curiously. According to the character of the Great Ming officials, this kind of unrealistic boasting should have started long ago.

Emperor Renzong of Song also personally engaged in farming, and after two years it became a face project, because the eunuchs/ministers, in order to please the Emperor, put wheat that bore two ears together in one field, creating a myth of a thousand catties per mu, which made Emperor Renzong only able to stay away from the fields.

Good things, under the operation of base scholars, will become jokes like "The Emperor's New Clothes."

"Junior Grand Secretary Wang dare not do this, because I really farm. The County Lieutenant of Daxing County planned to report such an auspicious sign. The memorial just entered the Cabinet, and Junior Grand Secretary Wang rushed from the Xishan Coal Bureau to the Daxing County Yamen, and severely taught this County Lieutenant a lesson, with fists and feet, bang bang bang, hahaha." Zhu Yijun stood with his hands on his hips and laughed loudly.

He thought of something fun. Only Wang Chonggu himself knew what kind of mentality he had when Zhang Juzheng told him that the Daxing County Lieutenant reported good news.

This is reporting good news? This is simply ringing the death knell for Wang Chonggu's whole family!

So much so that Wang Chonggu, regardless of his old age, had to physically beat this County Lieutenant before he was willing to stop. As the Junior Grand Secretary of the Great Ming, running to the county yamen to beat up a County Lieutenant, it can be considered a small story in the Wanli jokes.

This matter is not easy to operate because the Emperor is really not easy to fool. If you say a thousand catties per mu, His Majesty dares to let the Embroidered Uniform Guards run horses to enclose land and plant another round under the same conditions. If it cannot be reached, then the thunderous wrath is not something people can bear.

Now it is a feudal imperial system. Deceiving the Emperor is equivalent to putting the whole family on the gambling table.

"Very good, very good." Zhu Zaiyu kept chanting, moving the globe in his hand, his face full of gratified smiles.

Zhu Zaiyu obviously had a deep understanding of these tricks of deceiving superiors and concealing subordinates. Back then, his father's unjust case was caused by this kind of deceiving superiors and concealing subordinates.

The meeting between Zhu Yijun and Zhu Zaiyu was each taking what they needed. The Emperor wanted Zhu Zaiyu to enter the capital just to express the affection of relatives. After all, Zhu Zaiyu, who lived in a thatched hut outside the Prince De's mansion for fifteen years, was a very suitable candidate; and Zhu Zaiyu just wanted that precise sextant. People who study calendar laws simply cannot refuse the temptation of the sextant.

Eleven years passed in a hurry. Zhu Zaiyu watched with his own eyes the Great Ming Emperor grow from a little fat man to the current sturdy state, from a child to now having several children under his knees. Zhu Zaiyu saw all the efforts His Majesty made for the Great Ming dynasty.

Eleven years, even a stone was warmed up. His Majesty called him "Uncle" for eleven years. Zhu Zaiyu also worried that this nephew who was out of the five clothes, all His Majesty's efforts, would only be exchanged for greater disappointment.

But now it is okay, at least Wang Chonggu is really afraid of death, dare not deceive the Emperor, and does not let others deceive the Emperor in farming matters.

Zhu Yijun and Zhu Zaiyu talked for a long time about farming, especially about how to increase production.

Two parts planting, three parts management, five parts fertilizer. The only thing that doesn't need attention is three parts management. The production of the Great Ming has never lacked enthusiasm. This is the result of Zhu Yijun's practice of reality.

Wheat seedlings all over the wasteland is the true portrayal of the diligence of the Great Ming people.

On the Zhaoyang Gate, there is always a figure who likes to stand there and watch, watching for a long time.

That is the Great Ming Emperor. Zhu Yijun likes to go to the Wufeng Tower of Zhaoyang Gate to observe the various states of the world.

He saw the rickshaw pullers who worked hard regardless of wind and rain, saw the trackers whose tow ropes were pulled into their shoulders and whose bodies were tilted to the point where they could reach the ground, saw the loaders carrying 180-jin grain bags back and forth at the wharf;

And at the Xishan Coal Bureau, Zhu Yijun saw the kiln workers whose teeth were black, saw the coal washers whose hands were full of calluses, saw the furnace masters and small masters with countless burns on their bodies, and saw the dyers whose hands were dyed by the dye vats in the wool factory.

Is it bitter? Is it tired? Of course it is bitter, of course it is tired, but their life is already the life that countless farmers dream of, because of the four words: "drought and flood protection." A heavy rain, a strong wind, a drought, will make farmers displaced.

One by one, the somewhat thin bodies seem to contain infinite power.

If anyone says to the Emperor that the people are cunning, lazy, and love ease, if it is an individual phenomenon, it must exist. People have inertia. If they want to deny the overall production enthusiasm of the Great Ming people, Zhu Yijun will definitely give him a slap in the face and throw him into the kiln well to work for a few months.

The Great Ming Emperor who farms personally has a very clear understanding of the people's production enthusiasm.

Zhu Yijun only needs to sort out the breeding, fertilizer, and production relations, and the Great Ming people will tell the Great Ming Emperor with diligent labor what is called "human power can overcome heaven."

Zhu Yijun never doubted this.

Zhu Zaiyu reported the progress of each major project of the Royal Academy of Things. Except for the steam turbine progress which was still zero, others were relatively smooth, especially the steam engine. The Great Ming's reciprocating steam engine had risen from the limit of sixteen horsepower to thirty-two horsepower and was still in the stage of test driving. It is expected that by the end of the twelfth year of Wanli, an annual production capacity of 4,000 units will be achieved.

Basically in line with the pace of the Royal Academy of Things, in one to two years, the horsepower will double, and the production capacity will also double.

"Is this the lightning tower?" Zhu Yijun walked out of the workshop and stood in front of two lightning towers that towered into the clouds. Lightning protection can prevent fires and has practical significance. The Academy of Things is also curious about what kind of power lightning is, so it set up two lightning towers in the Academy of Things.

The two lightning towers are 33 zhang high, from thick to thin, straight into the clouds, fixed by several diagonal steel cables, and surrounded by stone fences. In the conspicuous place of the fence, there is a sign: No crossing, avoid lightning and rain.

"Your Majesty, actually, the top of the Bell and Drum Tower of the main yamen also has a similar lightning rod." Zhu Zaiyu introduced the lightning protection design of the Bell and Drum Tower of the main yamen. The Bell and Drum Tower of the main yamen is the tallest building near the Great Ming Palace. Attracting lightning can prevent fires.

Heavenly thunder is the first cause of fire in the palace, and artificial arson is the second cause. After all, Emperor Wuzong of Ming personally lit the Qianqing Palace and moved into the Leopard House.

The exquisite design is already useless. After the Great Ming Emperor stopped living in the palace, the palace became a place like a government yamen. If it weren't for the ministers stopping it, with His Majesty's character, I am afraid he would have started selling tickets to make money long ago.

"Will Uncle's image among the people become Lei Zhenzi in the future?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Zaiyu and said happily.

Lei Zhenzi, the god who controls lightning, and at this time Zhu Zaiyu is doing this kind of thing, trying to control lightning.

"Perhaps." Zhu Zaiyu imagined it a little, laughed at himself, Lei Zhenzi is also quite fun. Zhu Zaiyu was still alive and was made into the North Pole Mysterious Spirit Dangmo, South Pole Red Flame Guangli, Hongsheng Heavenly Venerable, one of the water and fire gods, the Fire God.

When Zhu Zaiyu knew he was one of the water and fire gods, he was as helpless as he is now. He never believed in ghosts and gods. As the president of the Royal Academy of Things, he who studies the power of nature, spent his whole life committed to understanding nature, explaining the strange phenomena that people don't understand, and preventing ignorance from harming people. But becoming one of the water and fire gods, the Fire God, Zhu Zaiyu finally recognized it by pinching his nose.

Water and fire gods actually express the magic of the steam engine to a certain extent, the great power produced by the collision of water and fire.

Lightning is also within the research scope of the Royal Academy of Things.

Zhu Yijun left the Royal Academy of Things with satisfaction, returned to Tonghe Palace, sat by the Dragon Pool, and flipped through the miscellaneous reports in his hand.

"This combat power of Grand Secretary Wan is really powerful." Zhu Yijun looked at the discussion on the miscellaneous reports and said to Feng Bao with great interest.

"That's right, when it comes to scolding people, few people are the opponents of Grand Secretary Wan now." Feng Bao said sincerely. He who practices the "Qi Ren Jing" sometimes has to avoid his edge. Feng Bao misses the Wan Shihe of the past a little bit. At that time, Wan Shihe was really easy to bully.

Now, Grand Secretary Wan is not easy to mess with.

Wan Shihe's combat power is really too strong. Compiling "Annotations of the Hundred Schools of Thought" caused opposition from some people. These people are eagerly discussing that Wan Shihe, as a Confucian scholar, became a Jinshi, but now he is rebellious. This is a betrayal of Confucianism!

But when it comes to arguing, these base scholars simply cannot argue with Wan Shihe, because the way scholars argue is mostly citing classics. In this regard, the base scholars lost, because they really didn't read as many books as Wan Shihe, so they were scolded by Wan Shihe on the miscellaneous reports and couldn't lift their heads.

Originally thought that Lin Fucheng, Li Zhi, and others who could argue with Confucian scholars were already very strong, but now Wan Shihe only needs to make a slight move, and he has already let the base scholars know what is called cruelty.

No matter how they argue, the matter of the compilation of the hundred schools of thought is still in full swing. Wan Shihe opened a compilation hall under the Royal Academy of Engineering, recruiting from all directions to participate in the grand event. The base scholars who were originally waiting to see Wan Shihe's excitement didn't see the excitement. The readers who signed up for the compilation hall were endless, and even had to be examined to enter.

This is completely different from what the base scholars imagined! Confucianism has been a prominent school of thought for 1,700 years. In the eyes of the base scholars, it should be normal that not a single person can be recruited for this compilation hall.

The result is not only that there are, but there are many. Among them, those who govern Legalist masterpieces are the most.

This has a lot to do with the Confucian skin and Legalist bones. When Wan Shihe received the imperial order and set up the flag, these people simply took off the Confucian skin, showed their cards, and stopped pretending. I am a Legalist disciple!

The works of the hundred schools of thought have actually been read by people, otherwise these works should have been lost long ago. For example, the "Zhu Shu" written by Zu Chongzhi and his son was lost because no one could understand it. Later, when Wang Xiyuan's home was raided, a lone copy was found in the sea of books.

Many classics of the hundred schools of thought, when Confucianism was a prominent school of thought, could only wear a layer of Confucian skin to explain.

"Tsk tsk, it turns out that the Great Ming also has many people who are Legalist disciples in their bones like sir, but the situation does not allow it, so they can only dress themselves up as a Confucian scholar." Zhu Yijun looked at the news of the compilation hall.

Zhang Juzheng really deserves to die. The things he did are indeed not what a Confucian scholar should do.

The progress of the compilation of the hundred schools of thought is smooth. The rolling trend of the Wanli Reform is not something that the base scholars can stop by shouting twice.

In the past, the base scholars made moves, and Zhu Yijun could only respond with fatigue. Now it is Zhu Yijun's turn to make moves. These base scholars with deep roots have no power to parry.

"Your Majesty, Junior Grand Secretary Wang sent a memorial, asking Your Majesty to go to the Royal Academy of Things tomorrow to award this year's technological progress award, and then go to the Xishan Coal Bureau to distribute this year's start-of-work silver." Feng Bao placed a memorial in front of His Majesty.

The technological progress award and the start-of-work silver are two ceremonies that His Majesty will inevitably attend after the New Year. This time, the award ceremony is held at the Royal Academy of Things, and the start-of-work silver is also calculated clearly. Each kiln worker can receive a dividend of nearly 11 silver.

Start-of-work silver is one of the important means for the Great Ming to distribute downward. ===== CHAPTER 583 =====