Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 849 The Flourishing of Culture and Education Spreads Throughout the North and South

Lu You's departure caused a stir within the Han army, but to everyone's surprise, the upheaval was not as significant as expected.

Firstly, those high-ranking individuals associated with the military governor were well aware that as the territory conquered by the Han army continued to expand, they would inevitably turn against the Song state sooner or later.

Even if the Song state were to adopt a ninja turtle-like mentality and resort to an ostrich policy, the Han army would still take the initiative to turn against them.

For no other reason than unifying the world is the greatest political correctness and the best pretext for declaring war, the kind that wouldn't be afraid of being recorded in history books.

To put it even more bluntly, Liu Huai could have used the famous saying of Zhao Kuangyin, the ancestor of the Song Dynasty, "How can I allow others to snore beside my bed?" to choke the Song Dynasty to death.

Under these circumstances, Lu You's departure was both unexpected and understandable.

Secondly, Liu Huai immediately appointed Zhang Xiaoxiang as the transport commissioner of Hebei and Hebei in Guide Prefecture, which was equivalent to re-establishing a faction within the Song state to appease the former Song officials who were disturbed by Lu You's return to the south.

Lu You's return to the Song Dynasty was a personal decision and had nothing to do with the military governor's office. Those who participated in the Northern Expedition were still family members, and the military governor's office would still trust and employ them.

Zhang Xiaoxiang lived up to Liu Huai's expectations, making no strong statements and immediately went to Daming Prefecture to take up his post.

Despite being recognized as a potential prime minister of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Xiaoxiang still made his choice at this moment.

Thirdly, the newly promoted scholar Lin Fanrong has now attracted the attention of all the scholars and officials in the north.

In order to verify his theory that "different qualities result in the same landing time", this fellow not only wrote a lengthy article in the Gewu Daily, but also extended invitations to all the heroes, saying that he would conduct a complete experiment on the city wall of Jinan Prefecture in June to seek truth through practice, and hoped that all the wise men would join him in this great undertaking.

To be honest, when Lin Fanrong's article was first published, not only ordinary scholars and the general public, but even Zhu Xi, the new editor-in-chief of the Gewu Daily, thought it was somewhat outrageous.

Because this is simply too counterintuitive.

At the same height, which falls faster, a pebble or a feather? Isn't that obvious, something even a three-year-old could know?
Why would I need you to do the experiments?

Immediately, many scholars in Jinan wrote letters to the newspaper to refute these arguments. Zhu Xi selected several substantial ones and placed them on the last page of the newspaper.

In an instant, the newly promoted scholar Lin Fanrong seemed poised to be thoroughly criticized and discredited.

However, at a crucial moment, a scholar with an unusual pen name, 'Galileo the Hermit,' sent a letter proposing the concept of a psychological experiment.

Suppose there are two iron balls, one large and one small. According to common sense, they should fall at different speeds.

However, if the two iron balls are connected by an iron chain, the smaller ball should slow down the larger ball, and the overall falling speed should be between that of the two balls individually.

However, as the chain is gradually shortened until the two iron balls merge into one, the weight of the new iron ball should be the sum of the weight of the two iron balls, and its falling speed should be much faster than that of the two iron balls.

So why do we arrive at such completely opposite conclusions?

Was the common sense that was taken for granted from the beginning wrong?
So shouldn't we follow the principle of "practice makes perfect" in "Investigation of Things" and actually conduct an experiment?

This unprecedented thought experiment truly shocked the great Confucian scholars of the North and also enabled Lin Fanrong to successfully prepare for her experiment.

However, because Liu Huai was still handling affairs in Guide Prefecture, Lin Fanrong, who had some ulterior motives, kept delaying the experiment until Liu Huai returned to Jinan Prefecture before it officially began.

It was already late June. Lin Fanrong chose a midday day and, under the scorching sun, threw down several stone balls of different sizes from the platform that had been temporarily erected on the city wall's arrow tower.

Accompanied by a uniform, dull thud, the onlookers, whether officials, scholars, or ordinary people, all gasped in surprise.

After a moment of astonishment, some local scholars in Jinan even felt a pang of jealousy.

Lin Fanrong has been so old, I never expected that he could have such a remarkable achievement.

After such a unified and synchronized sound, shouldn't Lin Daru's reputation be renowned throughout the world?
Unexpectedly, Lin Fanrong's experiment was not over yet. Soon, several more round stones the size of basketballs were carried to the city wall, but this time they were wrapped in several bundles of varying sizes.

Under the canopy of the military governor, Liu Huai burst out laughing.

He hadn't expected Lin Fanrong to be so quick-witted, actually managing to perceive the existence of air resistance by drawing inferences from one instance to another.

Soon, the stones were pushed off the city wall platform at the same time, but this time, due to the parachutes acting as a buffer, some were pushed off at a faster pace than others.

Because there were no loudspeakers back then, and Lin Fanrong was clearly not a martial arts master with internal energy, he couldn't shout from the city wall to make so many people hear him.

However, he was well-prepared. He sent his trusted nephews and nieces to hire idlers to distribute leaflets to the onlookers after the experiment ended.

"The Prince of Han, my lord."

A guard took a leaflet and handed it to Liu Huai.

Taking into account the academic level of ordinary people, the content of the leaflet was not very complicated. Firstly, it concluded that the falling speed is not related to the weight of the object.

Secondly, she suspected that 'qi' was something invisible and intangible, yet undeniably real. Lin Fanrong not only used the stone ball with the makeshift parachute she had just attached as an example, but also used the feeling of a strong wind rushing towards her face when riding a galloping horse to demonstrate her point.

In fact, this is already considered a war against Taoism, because 'qi' in Taoism is a very mysterious thing and the basis of many theories.

However, the scholars present had been exposed to the teachings of "On the Investigation of Things" for over a year. Even some of the moralists did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, they planned to conduct another experiment to refute Lin Fanrong and prove their own scholarship.

Looking at the leaflet in his hand, Liu Huai smiled at those around him and said, "It seems that Master Lin is indeed very capable. He showed great talent even when he was still young, and he gained knowledge through investigation. He can be called a role model for his time."

After saying that, Liu Huai took the lead in clapping and cheering.

The guards, who were prepared, whistled to the soldiers behind them, then beat their small drums and applauded and cheered.

Led by Liu Huai, the sound of gongs and drums filled the air, and cheers resounded everywhere. Even those who were just watching the spectacle and still didn't understand what had happened started to applaud and cheer.

Standing atop the city wall, Lin Fanrong was completely taken aback by the sensational results. Her face immediately flushed red, as if she were radiating energy, or as if she had drunk ten pounds of wine, making her bones feel three times lighter.

The experiment concluded successfully amidst a jubilant atmosphere.

The Gewu Daily naturally had to report on this matter on its front page.

Surprisingly, in the second edition, editor-in-chief Zhu Xi issued a letter of apology, saying that the newspaper had failed to maintain an objective stance and had hastily rejected Lin Fanrong's previous theories before the experiment, which was truly unfair.

Finally, Zhu Xi made a guarantee that the Gewu Bao newspaper would never repeat this mistake.

The new issue of the "Gewu Daily" sold out as soon as it went on sale. Even ordinary people who didn't understand things would spend a penny to buy a copy to see if there were any new profound truths discovered by clever people.

Due to the limitations of roads and information transmission in that era, apart from Jinan Prefecture where freshly printed newspapers could be purchased on the first day, other places had to wait for messengers to bring the printing plates before they could be printed on the spot.

This timeframe is often delayed by three to five days.

Those powerful and wealthy families, however, had fewer concerns. Some even sent people to guard Jinan Prefecture, just to buy the "Official Gazette" and "Gazette on Things" as soon as possible, and then send them to their masters by fast horse so that they could know the central government's plans as quickly as possible.

The Gewu Daily was newly established, so there's not much to say about it. However, the Dibao (official gazette) had been running for almost a year, which naturally attracted the attention of some outsiders.

Just as this newspaper was fresh out of print, someone bought it at a higher price, wrapped it tightly in layers of oilcloth, and then handed it to a messenger who rushed south.

The crew rotated along the way, and with the utmost urgency, they arrived in Lin'an Prefecture in just six days, appearing on the desk of Left Chancellor Yu Yunwen.

Upon seeing the oilcloth package, Yu Yunwen immediately put down all his work, opened it himself, and began reading it eagerly.

Half an hour later, Yu Yunwen finally sighed and said, "Investigating things to gain knowledge, tsk, Zhu Yuanhui actually accomplished it. A thousand years later, he might be worshipped alongside Confucius and Mencius. It seems that the day when everything has its reason and everyone becomes a sage is not far off."

"If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening. These principles are right before our eyes, so why has no one noticed them before? It's truly strange."

After Yu Yunwen finished his exclamation, he looked at another person in the large hall: "Lord Lu, besides fighting in the north, Liu Dalang has also done a remarkable job in education. He is truly a genius of the world."

Lu You, with a stern face, scoffed at the words: "Does Minister Yu need to say that Liu Dalang is a genius in the world?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Yunwen was not annoyed, but merely chuckled. After a moment, he shook his head and sighed, "Has the situation in the North truly reached the point where even Prime Minister Lu has no choice but to flee south?"

Lu You frowned: "Now, people in Shandong, Hebei, and the Central Plains are spontaneously calling Liu Dalang the King of Han. Although he still refers to himself as a military governor, this title can no longer be stopped. Furthermore..."

Lu You's words became strained at this point: "In addition, Liu Dalang made a world map and pointed to lands outside of China, such as Dali, Goryeo, Japan, and Western Liao, saying that he would grant his generals real titles of kings."

Although on the surface, declaring oneself king was a heinous crime, and dividing up land outside of China seemed unrelated to the Song state, in terms of severity, the latter was far more serious than the former.

Because there were precedents of kings of different surnames within the Song state system, and especially since Liu Huai had not yet officially proclaimed himself king, even if it aroused suspicion in the Song state, it would not completely turn against them.

However, enfeoffing princes in the surrounding traditional vassal states would be tantamount to re-establishing the tributary system, which would be equivalent to taking control of the Chinese system and would be absolutely intolerable to the Song state.

It's no wonder that Lu You was utterly desperate and subsequently went south to return to the Song Dynasty.

Yu Yunwen could only sigh and nod: "It's good that you're back. We're short-handed right now, and Prime Minister Lu can take charge of the military and political affairs of this region."

Lu You's heart stirred: "Does Prime Minister Yu have any major political plans?"

Yu Yunwen nodded slightly: "Yes, and after much consideration, some of it has already been verified."

Upon hearing this, Lu You perked up and straightened his posture.

After many days of running around, I've finally heard some good news.

(End of this chapter)