The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 499: Cognition Determines Vision
Heaven and earth are dark yellow, the universe is prehistoric.

The sun and the moon are waxing and waning, and the stars are lined up.

Wanli read it aloud, then picked up a pen and started writing on paper.

He was forced by Zhang Juzheng and Empress Dowager Li to read books for more than ten years. He knew "Thousand Character Classic", "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Names", and even the Four Books and Five Classics by heart.

And his handwriting is extremely orthodox regular script, and it is really good.

Little Zhu Changxun lay on the side and watched, with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

He was still young and didn't know what calligraphy was. However, calligraphy is an art form. If it is written well, people who don't understand it can still feel the charm of it by looking at it.

After Wanli finished writing, he explained seriously: "The meaning of these two sentences.

The sky was blue-black, the earth was yellow-brown, and the universe was formed in a state of chaos and ignorance.

The sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes, and the stars are scattered across the boundless sky.

Do you understand it? "

I know about the heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, but the question is, what is the universe?
I don't know!

Little Zhu Changxun asked carefully, "Father, what is the universe, and what is the prehistoric world?"

Even if I explain this clearly, you still won’t understand it, so just follow what’s in the book first.

Wanli patiently explained: "This sentence comes from Huainanzi and Taixuanjing.

"Huainanzi" says that the up and down and the four directions are called "Yu", and the past and present are called "Zhou", so the universe refers to endless time and space.

The Taixuan Jing says that this world originated from the prehistoric era, when chaos first began, floods raged, and everything was desolate.

Oh.

Little Zhu Changxun nodded, not quite understanding, and then asked, "Father, why is it not '天玄地黄' but '天地玄黄'?"

You really understood it!

It seems that you really put your heart into it.

Wanli nodded with satisfaction, and then patiently explained: "This sentence comes from the Book of Changes. The Book of Changes says that the sky is dark and the earth is yellow.

As for why it was changed to "天地暗黄", it was to make it parallel with the following "日月盈泽" (sun and moon waxing and waning).

"The sun and the moon are bright, and the word 'Ming' in Daming is made up of the two characters 'sun' and 'moon', did you know that?"

I know this.

Little Zhu Changxun nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, I can write the word 'Ming'. I can also write 'Heaven and Earth', 'Sun and Moon', 'Sun', 'Moon', 'Stars', etc."

Can you write now?

It seems that the Queen has also taught you.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Very good. Today we will learn these two sentences. You will read and write after your father. Once you have learned these two sentences, you can go and play."

Just learn two sentences today?

Very good!
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, okay."

Wanli actually wanted to cultivate his interest in learning. If he taught too much at the beginning, there was a high probability that he would not be interested but would become bored.

Anyway, there are only more than 120 sentences in the Thousand Character Classic. If you learn one sentence a day, you can finish it in more than 100 days. If you know the Thousand Character Classic, you can basically read.

He did not want to teach a juren or even a jinshi. His purpose was to enable little Zhu Changxun to understand books, understand memorials, and understand the deep meaning contained in various articles. That was enough.

As for knowledge, an emperor does not need to study. For an emperor, knowledge or vision is far more important than knowledge.

The so-called well-informed and knowledgeable means that the more you see, the broader your horizons will be, and you will naturally understand more.

For example, weapons and equipment.

If Xiao Zhu Changxun lived in a backward primitive tribe, he would only see the most primitive weapons such as wooden sticks and tree spears.

These weapons are completely useless in front of swords and will break with just one stroke.

If Zhu Changxun lived in a backward country, he would only see things like swords, spears, halberds, and bows and arrows.

Swords, spears, halberds, bows and arrows are equally useless in the face of muskets and cannons. The range determines the outcome, and cold weapons can only be beaten by hot weapons.

If a civil servant came to teach little Zhu Changxun, he would definitely not take the little guy to see muskets and cannons, nor would he teach him that truth is only within the range of shooting.

In this way, it is possible that young Zhu Changxun did not know the power of muskets and cannons, and would not take them seriously.

Therefore, knowledge or vision is very important.

This has been proven by countless facts, and the facts are cruel.

Those primitive tribes who had only seen wooden sticks and tree spears would be plundered or even enslaved when they encountered colonial bandits with muskets and cannons.

Most of the backward countries that only have cold weapons will also be destroyed by colonial bandits.

Even the Middle-earth dynasties in history were bullied by colonial bandits for hundreds of years because they did not attach importance to muskets and artillery.

This is the importance of vision. If you don’t have a broad vision, you won’t know that if you fall behind, you will be beaten.

Little Zhu Changxun was quite smart and, most importantly, very attentive. He learned the sixteen words of these two sentences in just over an hour.

Wanli kept his promise. When he saw that little Zhu Changxun could write out the sixteen words from memory, he actually let little Zhu Changxun go and play with his younger brothers and sisters.

This is just like the bounty of setting up a tree during Shang Yang's reform. If you say you can play with it, then you can play with it. This way, little Zhu Changxun will be more diligent in the future.

Of course, when little Zhu Changxun played with his brothers and sisters, it was purely for fun and had no learning effect. Only when he took little Zhu Changxun out to play did it have a learning effect.

Around noon, when little Zhu Changxun woke from a nap, Wanli picked him up and asked, "Xun'er, do you want to go to the Great Wall and take a look at the world, the vast land, and the vast mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun nodded repeatedly and said, "I think so, I think so."

Then hurry up.

Wanli took the towel handed to him by the palace maid and quickly wiped the little guy's face, then he picked up the little guy and walked out quickly.

At this time, Li Xuancheng and Shan Sinan were waiting outside the door with dozens of light cavalry.

Wanli directly stuffed the little guy into his uncle Li Xuancheng's arms, then jumped on the horse, raised his hand and said loudly: "Let's go."

Rumble, the whole Miyun County was filled with the sound of thunderous horse hooves.

At this moment, the North Training Ground had been evacuated, and the Jinyiwei and the Imperial Guards could only assemble on the streets of the county town.

Tens of thousands of light cavalry gathered into one stream like hundreds of rivers converging into one, and galloped northward along the main road in Yanshan Mountain.

The reason why Wanli took little Zhu Changxun to visit the Gubeikou Great Wall was to broaden the little guy's horizons.

It was only about a hundred miles from Miyun Palace to Gubeikou, and the mountain roads had been built wide and smooth, so it would take less than an hour to get there by galloping on horseback.

Wanli did not wait for a rest, and immediately took Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan, Xiao Zhu Changxun and a group of personal guards to the tall Wangjing Tower.

Then he stuffed a large telescope into his uncle Li Xuancheng's hands.

This means that his uncle Li Xuancheng will help Zhu Changxun to take a look at the surrounding mountains, rivers and lakes.

Little Zhu Changxun was so excited that his face turned red and he held the telescope tightly and refused to let go.

He really didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty's border would be so magnificent.

There are so many city walls and beacon towers here, and they are all built on the mountains. They look so spectacular.

He didn't know how long he had been looking, until his hands were a little sore. He put the telescope down reluctantly and asked curiously, "Father, why are there so few border soldiers guarding the city wall?"

At this moment, the Gubeikou Great Wall is still guarded by border soldiers from Jizhou Town, but there are indeed not many soldiers guarding it.

Originally, the standard configuration here was one garrison with 5,600 people, but at this time there was only one thousand-household garrison with 1,100 people, which looked very sparse.

As for why, it is naturally because this is no longer a border area.

Wanli raised his hand and said, "Unfold the map."

Upon hearing this, the imperial guards hurriedly took off all the long tubes on their backs, took out the maps inside one by one, unfolded them, and lined them up in a row.

Wanli directly picked up little Zhu Changxun from Li Xuancheng's arms, pointed to the first volume of the map with dense city walls, and explained in detail: "Xun'er, look, this is the map of Gubeikou.

When you saw a map before, you couldn’t imagine how big the area on the map was. That’s because the scale of the map was too large.

These maps are drawn according to a certain ratio, which means how many times the size on the map is reduced compared to the actual size.

For example, the nearest city wall in front of us is more than 20 miles long, but it is only more than three feet long on this map. This is the result of being reduced by 10,000 times.

One li is 150 zhang, you know this, more than 20 li is more than 3,000 zhang, and one zhang is equal to 10 feet. More than 3,000 zhang reduced by a thousand times is more than 3 zhang, and reduced by ten thousand times is more than 3 feet.

Do you understand? "

Oh, it turns out that the map just reduces the actual area.

Xiao Zhu Changxun looked at the map, then looked up at the city wall in the distance, and seemed to have really understood it.

Because this map mainly depicts this section of the city wall, the reduction scale is not large and the drawing is very accurate, it looks very vivid.

Seeing this, Wanli couldn't help but say with relief: "Do you understand this map?"

He brought little Zhu Changxun here not only to broaden his horizons, but also to let him see the real mountains, rivers, and the Great Wall. He also wanted him to gradually understand maps.

The terrain here is very unique and easy to recognize. The map is also very vivid and the scale of reduction is not very large, so it is very easy to understand.

Sure enough, little Zhu Changxun nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand, Father. So this is what the map means. I finally understand."

I'm glad you understand.

Wanli carried him to the second map and explained in detail, "Look, this is the original map of Jizhou Town. This area is Yanshan Mountain, here is the Chaohe River, here is the Baihe River, here is the capital, here is the Summer Palace, and here is the Gubeikou Great Wall where we are. This is a 100,000-fold reduction."

The larger the range, the more abstract it becomes. The city wall in front of them is just a three-inch wide mark on the map.

However, after having the concept of zoom in his mind, Zhu Changxun was able to understand it a little bit.

Moreover, they rushed from the capital to the Mountain Resort, and then from the Mountain Resort to the Gubeikou Great Wall. He had some idea of ​​how long these two roads were.

He couldn't help but exclaimed, "Father, Jizhou Town is so big?"

Very good, you almost get it.

Wanli carried him to the third map and explained in detail, "Look, this is the current defense zone of Jizhou Town. This is the Summer Palace, this is Gubeikou, this is Daning City Wall, this is the Beijing Xingdusi, this is the Ximulun River, and this is the original Khorchin Grassland of Tatarstan. This is scaled down a million times."

On this map, the Gubeikou Great Wall has become a dot, and the distance between the Mountain Resort and Gubeikou seems to be only three inches!
How big was the Beijing Xingdusi and the former Tatar Khorchin grassland?
When little Zhu Changxun took a closer look, his eyes widened.

When Wanli saw this, his face was full of relief.

This little guy really understands the map!

It seems that this trip was not in vain, the little guy really broadened his horizons.

(End of this chapter)