Chapter 338: Academy Trends

Jincheng.

A spire-topped building, starkly different from the style of Great Song, stood in the center of the city.

At this moment, in the inner hall of the building, Ivan was using a quill dipped in ink to write on a sheet of letter paper: "My dear brother, I do not know if you will ever receive this letter, but as long as there is a glimmer of hope, I will attempt to send it out; likewise, I do not know if I will ever be able to return."

"After being kidnapped by the cruel, ignorant, and barbaric natives here, I was sent to a place called Jincheng. Here, I am permitted to preach, but the price is helping them manufacture Artillery. I am very sorry; for the sake of preaching and my life, I can only agree to them, but every day spent here is truly detestable."

"This place is simply like a primitive society. Almost everyone is illiterate, except for the nobles. Most people are gaunt and thin, as if they could die at any moment, yet they are still subjected to heavy labor by the nobles every day. People who collapse from exhaustion and are beaten to death by nobles in the street, or who die of hunger or cold, are everywhere."

"It is said that in the south of this kingdom, there is another kingdom called Great Song, where a group of uncivilized, barbaric natives also live."

"However, it cannot be denied that the land here is so beautiful and rich. Just as the Europeans often say, these creatures that can only be called animals with two hands and two feet do not deserve to possess them."

"I have to admit that the Eastward Expansion Movement proposed by our great monarch is so wise. We do not have the advantage at sea and cannot compete with other nations for overseas continents, but here, I hope our soldiers can conquer it soon."

Putting down the pen, Ivan stuffed the letter into an envelope.

At this moment, four Northern Di soldiers pushed the door open and entered.

He knew that today he would have to spend another whole day with those filthy blacksmiths.

Armaments Department.

Technology Academy.

After Xu Ke left, Zhao Xu came here.

Two-plus months is neither long nor short.

It had caused some matters in Yanzhou that required his participation to be delayed.

For example, the lectures at the Three Great Academies.

He had never forgotten that the knowledge in his mind was his core advantage.

Especially under the current predicament,

he must maintain his advantage in this aspect.

After all, with Artillery appearing on the battlefield, all factions would begin to value firearms.

And the use of Flintlock on the Jinzhou battlefield would also promote the change of Great Song's Matchlock from ceremonial use to combat use.

Under these circumstances, with the strength of Yanzhou alone, he must continue to maintain the generational gap advantage in firearms.

At the same time, he must also improve the technical level in all aspects, such as Chemistry, Physics, and so on.

After all, building an industry from scratch requires the coordination of different systems.

For instance, smelting applies knowledge of Chemistry, while machinery requires knowledge of Physics.

At the same time, the calculations for both require knowledge of Mathematics.

"Recite the Periodic Table of Elements." Looking at the students sitting below, Zhao Xu pointed to one of them.

During the two months of fighting, he naturally had no time to lecture.

So he had Wang Chong supervise these students in rote memorization of the textbooks he provided.

He let them firmly imprint the concepts in their minds first.

When he returned, he would let the students raise their questions, and he would explain them.

The Government Academy was the same; only the Military Academy was suspended, as most of the generals were fighting in the war.

"Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon..."

The student who was called stood up, tilted his head back, and recited from memory.

After the student finished reciting, Zhao Xu confirmed it was correct and let him sit down.

Then he called another student and asked him to recite the different concepts of Caustic Soda and Soda Ash.

This student was also able to recite them fluently.

He called on dozens of students in a row; only a few were slightly unfamiliar with his questions, but overall, they had all memorized them.

Regarding this, he was quite satisfied.

In fact, sometimes one cannot look down on the scholars who stood out in ancient examinations.

These people just learned things that were vastly different from the contemporary era; they were not stupid at all, and some were even quite intelligent.

Taking this recitation as an example, many of the scholars in the Technology Academy had quite good memories.

"Very good, it seems you haven't been lazy these two months; that's right," Zhao Xu laughed.

He paused and said: "Currently, you have only mastered things by rote memorization—though, of course, some smart ones have realized some things on their own. Next, I will provide you with a different way of lecturing: this is experimentation. By combining theory with experiments, you will understand the explanations for what you have memorized."

"Is it like the day Your Highness first came to the academy and lit a candle?" Wang Chong stared at Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu nodded, "That's right, but it will be more complex in the future. During the time I was on the expedition, I had the Glass Workshop make some things; these things are the apparatus for experiments."

Nowadays, making Glass in the Glass Workshop was no longer a problem, so things like beakers and measuring cups were naturally not a problem either.

Only by letting the students operate them with their own hands could they have a deeper understanding of what they had learned, rather than just stopping at the textbooks.

Of course, in addition to chemical apparatus, he had also prepared some physics experiment apparatus.

"Besides this, I will also let you personally build something; once this thing is built, it will be a very popular commercial product," Zhao Xu finally said mysteriously.

"A commercial product?" The students were suddenly filled with anticipation.

Who didn't know that the few commercial products created by Yan Wang were famous throughout Great Song?

They didn't expect that they would actually have such an opportunity too.

For a time, a warm atmosphere surged through the academy.

If Yan Wang hadn't been there, they would have loved to stand up and cheer.

Next, Zhao Xu gave the students time to ask questions.

He explained the parts of the textbooks that the students did not understand one by one.

After the lecture at the Technology Academy ended, he went to the Government Academy.

However, just as he arrived at the Government Academy, he smelled a stench of urine.

Quite a few Government Academy students were standing in front of a stove, pinching their noses.

Beside the stove was white slaked lime, and someone was pouring liquid into it and stirring.

This was a vegetable plot opened up by the Government Academy itself, with students responsible for planting and tending to it.

Walking closer, Zhao Xu realized that the person boiling the substance was Zhu Tuo.

"Your Highness, don't come over, it's too smelly." Seeing Zhao Xu approach, some students bowed and waved their hands repeatedly.

Zhao Xu craned his neck to look, and combined with the smell, he roughly understood what these people were up to.

He shook his head and walked forward.

Only then did Zhu Tuo notice Zhao Xu and hurriedly bowed, "Zhu Tuo pays respects to Your Highness."

"All of you, no need for formalities." Zhao Xu wore a smile, "It's not easy; you, a dignified Commandery Governor, are actually boiling urine yourself."

Zhu Tuo had not expected Yan Wang to come to the academy today; he said, "Since I am in the academy, this subordinate is a student, no longer a Commandery Governor; everything should naturally be done through personal effort just like any other student."

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction; to him, sometimes what was being learned was secondary, and the atmosphere of the academy was the most important thing.

With a good atmosphere, those who entered the academy would be subtly changed, integrate into the academy, and solidly master the material in the textbooks.

Although he had been away for these two months, both the Technology Academy and the Government Academy were making progress, which truly gratified him.