Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 111 The Prince Returns to School, Teaching in the Palace [Please Subscribe]

noon.

Zhu Yuanzhang went to Kunning Palace to have dinner with Empress Ma.

During the meal, Empress Ma asked, "How was Kuan'er's class today? Did he make any mistakes?"

It is obvious that Empress Ma always regarded Liu Kuan as a real junior.

In her opinion, Liu Kuan was young and not familiar with classics. Even if he had a lot of knowledge about later generations, it would not be easy for him to teach the children in the main hall. It was inevitable that his performance in the first class would be unsatisfactory.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "You underestimated him. This kid not only did not make any mistakes in class today, but his lecture was also very exciting. In my opinion, his teaching ability is even better than those old scholars like Gao Xunzhi."

Empress Ma was very surprised when she heard this, "Is Kuan'er so powerful?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "His teaching style is completely different from those old scholars... Wait until his next class and listen to it, and you'll understand."

Queen Ma smiled and said, "Now that you mention it, I'm quite curious. I really want to go and listen to a lesson."

After a while, the two finished their lunch.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not take a nap as usual. Instead, he had someone make him a cup of tea. He sat in a sunny place, frowning and thinking about something.

After Empress Ma had the palace maids clean up, she sat down and asked, "Zhongba, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm wondering if we've been so busy with state affairs that we've neglected our children's education, or if our approach isn't right."

"Why do you think so?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "During the break today, Liu Kuan told us about the fate of the Eighth and Tenth Brothers in later history."

"The end?"

This doesn't sound like a good word.

Empress Ma looked worried - although Zhu Zi and Zhu Tan were not her biological children, as the empress and the mistress of the harem, she was also very caring towards the children of other concubines and just hoped that all the children were well.

Zhu Yuanzhang recounted the story of Zhu Zi's self-immolation and Zhu Tan's absurd behavior, and then continued, "Of the children who have left the palace, the second and third are obviously worthless, the fourth is hard to say, and the seventh is like a playboy."

"Only the fifth and sixth sons seem okay, but I don't know what they are like inside. Will they be like the tenth son? Will their personalities change drastically after becoming a vassal and do things that embarrass the royal family?"

"Although it is said that a dragon gives birth to nine sons, each with their own unique characteristics, how many of our sons can become useful people? I'm afraid it's less than half."

"Sister, tell me, is it that we don't care enough about them, or is it that the way we educate them is wrong?"

After hearing this, Queen Ma also frowned.

She also didn't expect that Zhu Zi would commit suicide by burning himself out of fear, and Zhu Tan would become so ridiculous, it was simply unbelievable.

She had taken care of Zhu Yuanzhang's children for more than 20 years and was originally quite confident in educating her children. However, in recent years, the second and third children had made repeated mistakes. Now, after hearing what Liu Kuan had said about the other princes, she began to doubt herself, just like Zhu Yuanzhang.

She thought for a moment and said, "Speaking of care, you may have looked after these children less, but I and the people in the harem take good care of them."

"Over the years, we've had 20 to 30 children in total, and we've only lost one boy, the ninth one, and two girls, the tenth and the thirteenth."

"The children have been living in luxury since childhood, and all of them are well-developed. Regardless of gender, they all start learning at the age of four or five, and are taught by many famous teachers."

"Looking around the world, there are probably not many families that can take such good care of their children. Even compared to the royal families of past dynasties, our care and education of our children are extremely thoughtful."

"In this case, how can you say that we don't care enough? If there is any fault, it can only be in the way we educate people."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "It seems that my sister thinks the same as me - judging from the second, third, eighth, and tenth children, there is something wrong with our education methods."

"After Liu Kuan mentioned the matter of the Eighth and Tenth children today, I asked him how to raise children. Although he said that later generations have not been able to solve this problem, he did offer eight words of advice."

Queen Ma asked curiously, "Which eight words?"

"Teach students in accordance with their aptitude, with the right amount of intensity." Zhu Yuanzhang paused and added, "Oh, and I also mentioned that we shouldn't have too high expectations."

Empress Ma smiled and said, "Kuan'er is very clever. You hit the nail on the head. Let's not talk about teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. I'm right to advise you to be moderately strict. I've always felt that you were too strict with the children."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about Zhu Tan's change of character and said, "I really should reflect on being too harsh on the children."

"But I also think that the weakness of the Eighth and Tenth Brothers, and the inability of the Second and Third Brothers to understand the suffering of the people, are ultimately due to their being born into wealth and not having experienced much hardship."

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang always made his princes understand the sufferings of the people.

For example, letting the princes return to their hometowns to worship their ancestors and observe the customs of the people along the way.

In the spring of some years, he even asked the princes to farm with him in the imperial city.

When the princes reach the age of sixteen, they will be sent to Fengyang to participate in recruit training.

Moreover, the princes were not allowed to ride in sedan chairs. If they were in the city, they could only walk or ride horses. They could only ride in carriages when traveling long distances.

He originally thought that this arrangement was enough to help the children understand the suffering of the people.

But after looking at the performance of several adult children in recent years and learning about the affairs of the eighth and tenth children, he felt that the "hardship" that the children had endured before was far from enough!
He may have been too strict with his children, but he was also too soft-hearted and loving, and was reluctant to let them suffer.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "I made a big mistake with my children. I was too soft-hearted and didn't want them to suffer like I did when I was little."

"I thought it was good for them, but I didn't expect it would hurt them in the end!"

Upon hearing this, Empress Ma clapped Zhu Yuanzhang's hands and said, "What parent doesn't love their children and want to give them the best? This is not a fault."

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, his deeply wrinkled face showing the same determination he had when he decided to fight Chen Youliang at Poyang Lake. He said, "Fortunately, it's not too late for us to realize this. Except for the second and third children, there is still a chance to teach the other children well."

Empress Ma was displeased when she heard this. "Look at what you said. The second and third sons are a bit bad-tempered, but they are only in their twenties. Why is there no chance to correct them?"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled. "If we want to correct them, we have to make them suffer greatly. Are you willing to do that as a mother?" Empress Ma hesitated for a moment, then revealed a resolute expression. "Parents who love their children will plan for them in the long run."

"Besides, they are not children from ordinary families. Whether they are enfeoffed within the Ming Dynasty or go overseas, they will have to take care of many people."

"Whether they become useful or not is no longer just a matter for our family, but a matter that concerns the happiness and suffering of all people in the world."

"If we didn't know about the mistakes we made in our past education, it would be fine. But now that we know our mistakes, no matter how painful it is, we must let them go!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his rough hand, grasped Empress Ma's sagging hand, and said with a smile, "I knew you were the most reasonable person in the world, haha."

"Tomorrow we will send someone to convey the imperial decree, recalling the second and third sons to the capital, so that they can attend classes with the children in the palace and suffer together!"

···
in the afternoon.

After resigning from his post, Liu Kuan returned home and had a delicious dinner with Zhu Huilan.

Considering that today was a relatively free day and he wasn't feeling tired, Liu Kuan said to Xia He, who was waiting beside him, "Go and call Liu Laifu and the others to the hall of the Second Hospital. I'll give you a lesson tonight."

Xia He had been waiting for this to happen. Upon hearing this, her face was filled with joy. She replied "yes" and hurried to the front yard.

Liu Kuan then asked Qiuyue to notify Su Caiwei and the other two maids.

Soon, the people Liu Kuan had called for the lecture a few days earlier gathered in the hall of the Second Hospital. Including Zhu Huilan, there were ten women and five men.

Fortunately, the hall in the second courtyard is quite large as a place to receive guests in the mansion, and it is still spacious enough to accommodate more than a dozen people.

The servants had already arranged the teaching materials such as the blackboard. After Liu Kuan and Zhu Huilan came over hand in hand, they started teaching directly.

He wrote the ten Arabic numerals from 0 to 9 on the blackboard with white chalk.

"These are Arabic numerals. Although they originated in India, they became popular in Persia. In fact, they were introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty, but they were not taken seriously and are therefore little known."

"As for why I call them Arabic numerals, you don't need to worry about it. You just need to know how to use them."

After the opening remarks, Liu Kuan began his lecture.

Because most of the people attending the class were their own slaves, and most of them had a certain foundation - even the youngest ones, Ah Hu and Ah Rong, were only twelve years old, but they could become servants, and they knew some words and knew a little arithmetic.

So Liu Kuan’s teaching progress is very fast.

It took less than ten minutes to finish explaining the combination rules of Arabic numerals.

Next we will talk about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, the four arithmetic operations.

Because everyone has a certain foundation and can at least do addition and subtraction within ten, Liu Kuan's teaching progress is faster.

"As you just learned, Arabic numerals are simpler and easier to write than Chinese numerals."

"This concise combination allows us to use simpler and more efficient algorithms when performing operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, such as vertical calculations."

As he spoke, Liu Kuan began to explain vertical calculation.

After listening for a while, people like Dongmei, Ahu and Arong, who knew little about mathematics, didn't think anything of it.

However, people like Su Caiwei, Zhu Huilan, Liu Laifu, Xia He, etc., who already had a good foundation in mathematics, quickly realized the usefulness of Arabic numerals and vertical calculations.

As the "professional" with the best math ability among the group, Su Caiwei even had her beautiful eyes shining with joy.

After Liu Kuan mentioned that he wanted to give lectures in the mansion that day, Su Caiwei was only interested in the "double-entry bookkeeping method" and didn't really care about math.

As a female official assigned to be the princess's housekeeper, her math skills are among the highest in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Because of this, she has a better understanding of the current level of mathematics in the Ming Dynasty and knows that some predecessors have made great achievements in this field.

Therefore, she did not think that the counting method taught by Liu Kuan was necessarily better.

She had even thought about it - even if the math method taught by Liu Kuan was mediocre, or even worse than what she had mastered, she would not say it out loud, so as not to embarrass the prince consort.

Now that she had seen the vertical algorithm, this arrogant idea turned into shame, making her wish she could find a hole to crawl into.

"Fortunately, I didn't express this thought before, otherwise I would have made a fool of myself today."

After muttering this in her heart, Su Caiwei listened more carefully.

When she did her daily accounting, she first did mental arithmetic, and when mental arithmetic was not fast enough, she used an abacus.

She only learned about the abacus after she entered the palace as a female official. Very few people in the common people knew about it, and most people were still using complicated counting rods.

After learning the vertical calculation, with her ability, she no longer needs to use an abacus. Even for multiplication and division calculations with large numbers, she only needs paper and pen.

Even using a stick as a pen and sand as paper can be done...

In less than half an hour, Liu Kuan finished the four arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Seeing people like Dongmei, Ahu and Arong who have poor foundation, they are either anxious with sweat on their foreheads or look confused.

Liu Kuan said, "The four arithmetic operations with Arabic numerals still require practice. If you really don't understand something in private, you can ask Ms. Su."

"Next, let's talk about 'double-entry bookkeeping'!"

　First update.

　　A book friend has reminded me that Arabic numerals are easy to tamper with. The author has received this and will write a reasonable related plot. Don't worry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)