Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 141 The Butterfly Flutters Its Wings, Galileo Makes His Appearance in the Rain
at the same time.

On the way back to the capital from Qufu with a large entourage, Zhu Youjian was just beginning.

Subtle changes were also taking place in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

The capital of the Ming Dynasty can now be described as a united and impregnable city.

The main reason is that everyone in the capital had heard a few days ago that His Majesty had led his army to another great victory in Korea and executed Yi Jong, who dared to challenge the might of the Ming Dynasty.

For ordinary people, nothing unites their hearts and makes them feel more proud than a victory.

This naturally led to another round of celebration from everyone.

However, for some high-ranking officials in Beijing these days, life is not so easy.

Wei, Cao, Wang, and Zhang Weixian are alright.

All the tasks they are responsible for are progressing steadily and improving.

For example, Zhang Weixian's Beijing Garrison trained a group of young and strong men, as did Cao Huachun's Imperial Horse Administration and Embroidered Uniform Guard. Wei Zhongxian also cultivated many vicious henchmen.
These people live each day with great enthusiasm and high spirits.

Wei Zhongxian, who was contemplating suicide just a few months ago, is now enjoying a second spring in his life.

However, the civil officials and imperialists led by Chen Xinjia had a completely different mindset from this group.

The civil officials have been extremely busy these days.

Everyone had plenty of mouth blisters.

But they could only watch helplessly as their work progress was pulled further and further behind.

Because the main duties of civil officials were to handle daily administrative affairs and promote new learning.

The former is easier to deal with.

Nowadays, all aspects of life in the capital can be described as peaceful and prosperous, with nothing requiring special attention.

The problem lies with the latter.

Before leaving the capital, His Majesty specifically instructed them to vigorously promote emerging theories such as mathematics and physics in the capital, and even employed some methods to achieve this.

At the very beginning.

Chen Xinjia was also ambitious and felt that promoting new learning was just a trivial matter and not a big deal.

No matter how difficult the ingenious techniques in mathematics and physics are to learn, can they be more difficult than the Four Books and Five Classics?!
Indeed, Chen Xinjia, who had studied the Four Books and Five Classics for decades, would unconditionally carry out His Majesty's orders.

However, he is indeed unable to change his habit of treating these things as crooked paths in a short period of time.

However, when he actually tried to implement these measures, he found that they were incredibly difficult.

The most basic introductory knowledge is not difficult, and can even be considered simple for most people.

After all, for those who could pass the imperial examination, having a photographic memory was a basic requirement.

After learning these basics, Chen Xinjia and the others suddenly felt that what followed was like a book without words.

Throughout history, no dynasty has ever placed much emphasis on mathematics and physics, and this was especially true of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, their learning references can only rely on the wisdom of their ancestors, such as various mathematical classics.

However, since this field of study was not valued by various dynasties, the things recorded in the book were even more obscure and confusing.

Every day when everyone gathered together to study, they all had furrowed brows, looked constipated, and were scratching their heads.
As a result, several middle-aged scholars who had been hailed as child prodigies and geniuses from a young age suffered a complete collapse of their resolve after studying so much.

What?! What?! What is all this?!

Men will do anything to revive the Han dynasty.

But math is something you really can't solve.

No, I just won’t.

There's no way to stop them; killing them all won't work.

Chen Xinjia and others were so busy every day because of this.

Don’t say anything else.

If they want to promote new learning, shouldn't these officials in charge first get to know it firsthand?

Otherwise, wouldn't it be pure nonsense for an outsider to instruct an expert? We can't just drift through life like we used to.

Everyone has a great goal in mind.

But the problem is that they're stuck at this step now.

Chen Xinjia and others had considered other remedial measures, such as selecting people with mathematical talent from among the common people and officials.

They even resorted to the tactic of selecting child prodigies at the academy.

Unfortunately, all the measures ultimately failed.

Either the people chosen are fame-seekers, or their talents are no different from theirs.

In short, they couldn't find a suitable person to lead this work.

Having a leader is extremely important for any undertaking.

Just as without Your Majesty, how could the Ming Dynasty have reached this point today?!

Without a leader, how can we promote the technological development of the Ming Dynasty and realize the great cause of reviving the Han Dynasty that everyone desires?
At this moment, Chen Xinjia was sitting in the hall.

She was so worried that she looked extremely haggard.

It was also at this time.

After overseeing today's training exercises of the Beijing garrison, Zhang Weixian entered the hall.

Looking at Chen Xinjia's worried face, Zhang Weixian cast a sympathetic glance at him.

During this time, he was also thinking about helping his comrade solve his problems, so he would often come here when he had nothing to do.

Only by pooling our wisdom can we better accomplish the tasks assigned by His Majesty.

Approaching Chen Xinjia, Zhang Weixian cleared his throat and asked, "Fang Heng, are you still troubled by those mathematical and logical matters?"

Chen Xinjia gave a wry smile and nodded.

Zhang Weixian stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "I have an idea. I suddenly remembered someone while training the soldiers today."

"As far as I know, wasn't Xu Guangqi, the former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, who was in retirement two years ago due to the death of a parent, quite knowledgeable in mathematics and physics?"

"Why don't we bring him over and have him take charge of the education reform in the capital?"

Listening to Zhang Weixian's words, Chen Xinjia frowned, seemingly searching for fragments of memory about Xu Guangqi.

After some thought, Xu Guangqi's face quickly appeared in Chen Xinjia's mind.

However, Chen Xinjia rejected Zhang Weixian's suggestion as soon as he thought of Xu Guangqi.

"Your Excellency may not know this, but Xu Guangqi comes from a prominent family in Jiangnan. As far as I know, the fertile land in the Fahua Hui area of ​​Songjiang Prefecture (Shanghai) is entirely his family's private property."

"If the Xu family wanted to, changing Fahuahui to Xujiahui would probably be a simple matter of a word."

"Their power far surpasses that of the Xu family, which was once the family of Xu Jie, the Grand Secretary."

"Now that the Ming Dynasty is at odds with the powerful clans and aristocratic families in various regions, it's not a question of whether such a person will come to the capital. Even if he does come, he will probably only cause trouble for the Ming Dynasty in secret."

Zhang Weixian fell silent; for the past two years, he had been keeping a low profile as much as possible.

In addition, the nobles and military officers and civil officials were not on the same page, so he did not know much about Xu Guangqi.

My strongest impression of him is that he is quite knowledgeable in mathematics and physics, and his research has earned him considerable renown.

As for what Chen Xinjia just mentioned, he had not learned about it in detail.

In that case, Xu Guangqi is definitely out of the question.

The capital city today cannot afford to let a powerful mole in and cause trouble.

Xu Ge Lao almost ruined his reputation in his later years simply because he acquired 200,000 mu of farmland for his own family.

The fact that no one in the Xu family of Fahuahui dared to impeach them speaks volumes about the terror they posed.

Even the Xu family at the height of Xu Jie's power would probably be considered a small, insignificant family compared to this Xu family.

If Xu Jie hadn't become the Grand Secretary through his own efforts, people would probably have pointed their fingers at him and yelled, "You dare to use the surname Xu?!"

After Chen Xinjia finished talking about the Xu family's power, he continued, "And then there's more."

"Although Xu Guangqi is quite famous for his mathematical and scientific knowledge, as far as I know, he had been colluding with foreign missionaries for decades."

"The Duke may not know much about this, but many of our students in the Hanlin Academy do."

“In previous years, a very large number of foreign missionaries bought up all kinds of books in the Ming Dynasty.”

"At the time, some people even wrote to the emperor to stop this, but it all came to nothing. Now it seems that the Xu family of Fahuahui was involved in the interference."

Hear this.

Zhang Weixian's eyes suddenly flashed with murderous intent.

Damn it, isn't this a complete traitor?
Sending all sorts of books and historical anecdotes from the Ming Dynasty to foreign countries? That servant deserves to have her family wiped out!

When superiors have a certain preference, subordinates will follow suit to an extreme.

Today, members of the royalist party deeply hate and despise this traitor.

Seeing Zhang Weixian's appearance, Chen Xinjia could only smile wryly and offer some advice:

"Duke, it's not worth getting angry over this person. Let's see if we can select some talented people from the common people in the next few days."

"I have decided to expand the selection scope to include the Beijing Garrison and the Palace. Although those who join the army and enter the palace have never liked studying, there may be good candidates among them who are suitable for studying mathematics and physics."

"After all, these scientific theories are completely different concepts from the Four Books and Five Classics."

Zhang Weixian took a deep breath and nodded: "Fang Heng can do whatever he wants, and I will fully support him."

"But I'm afraid we won't achieve much. Don't have too high expectations. These subjects are too dependent on natural talent. We probably won't see any results for several years."

Chen Xinjia fell silent.

But no matter what, we have to do it first.

Zhang Weixian seemed to have remembered something else: "Judging by the days, His Majesty should be returning to the capital from Korea soon. Why don't you discuss this matter with His Majesty after he returns and see if he can come up with any good solutions?"

Speaking of His Majesty, Chen Xinjia temporarily forgot his troubles and his eyes lit up. "Then, Duke, you should quickly send someone to gather some intelligence. If His Majesty is already on his way back to the capital, then lead troops to welcome him. Right now, the Ming Dynasty is in far too much turmoil."

"Yesterday I heard from our people that there have been a lot of trouble caused by thugs in the suburbs of Beijing near Hebei, and it's been quite bad."

Zhang Weixian nodded solemnly: "Of course, I will take care of it now."

After Zhang Weixian finished speaking, he left without further delay, while Chen Xinjia continued to bury himself in his studies.

What neither of them noticed was...

A butterfly had landed on the bookshelf next to it, where various books were displayed.

This butterfly has a strange appearance and doesn't seem to be a native product of the Ming Dynasty.

And this is indeed the case.

If we were to trace its origins in detail, we would have to go back to Italy.

The magic is right here.

The butterfly first landed on the luggage and goods of a caravan in Italy.

It then followed the caravan aboard a merchant ship, sailing across the ocean to the Ming Dynasty, and finally settled in the capital city.

The butterfly fluttered its wings and flew leisurely away from the book.

And with this flap of its wings.

Meanwhile, in Italy, far across the ocean, a sudden downpour followed.

In heavy rain.

Everyone was taking shelter from the rain.

Only four Catholics escorted an old man with thinning hair and a white beard as he walked in the rain.

The old man in the center is named Galileo Galilei.

The four people around him were there to take him to the local church.

The purpose of going to church was to criticize the faith he had pursued throughout his life—Copernicus's heliocentric theory.

It stands to reason.

Galileo's situation should not have been so precarious.

He is a local celebrity in Italy.

He had been persecuted by the Roman religion for more than a decade.

As a result, he is still alive and well, and is considered a prominent figure in all of Italy.

Not to mention, he also has a personal relationship with the current Italian Catholic Pope, Urban VIII.

The two were already friends when Urban VIII was still a cardinal.

Such a person.

There was no way they should have been taken to church to be criticized in such a disheveled state in the rain.

But it still happened.

The reason is that Galileo is currently writing a book this year—"Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems"

The main content of this book is his constant revival of Copernicus's ideas, that is, his support for the heliocentric theory.

It's the kind of openly summoning spirits.

This blasphemous doctrine is tantamount to digging up the ancestral graves of Catholicism in front of the entire nation.

Or rather, it is shaking the very foundations of Italy.

How could the Pope and the Vatican tolerate this?!
If it weren't for the fact that this old bastard's reputation was too great, killing him rashly would have had a bad impact.

They gave Galileo a little bit of torture to shock him a long time ago.

As for the so-called private relationship between Galileo and Urban VIII.

Even if Galileo was the Pope's father, you can't do this!
What do personal relationships amount to compared to power and national stability?!

It's already a mercy from outside the church that they didn't burn you to death!

now.

Galileo walked in the rain.

Looking at the people pointing and whispering about me on both sides of the street, I felt both amused and pathetic.

Four years ago, in 1623.

At that time, Urban VIII had just ascended to the papacy, and he wrote a book called "The Trial of the Goldsmiths" to subtly (allude to) support the Copernican system.

The book was published with the Pope's permission at the time.

He was overjoyed, thinking that finally a more enlightened ruler had come to power.

Only in a country where the ruler is sufficiently enlightened can he have the opportunity to pursue his own life beliefs.

Galileo hadn't anticipated this.

All of this was just a scheme set up by that bastard Urban VIII!

It's possible that Urban VIII didn't set this up specifically for him, but that's what Galileo thought anyway.

all in all.

As a result, Urban VIII, after ascending the throne, used various pretexts, including Galileo's "The Trial of the Gold," to continue and expand the "Counter-Reformation" movement previously promoted by the Catholic Church.

The so-called anti-religious reformation.

This meant establishing the absolute dominance of Catholicism in Italy and suppressing all dissent.

The campaign, which has continued into this year, can already be described as a great success.

So when Galileo, full of joy, presented his first draft of Dialogue to Urban VIII.

Galileo would never forget the way the other person looked at him.

The meaning in his eyes was clear: You fucking want to die?!

At that moment, a group of bishops stood up and attacked him:

Galileo, what was your purpose in writing these things?
Who is behind this, directing you?

What are you alluding to? What are you trying to subvert?!

answer me!
After a barrage of criticism against Galileo, someone else stepped forward to play the good cop:
Galileo, what's wrong with you? Don't you know that it's only because the Pope took pity on you that you've been allowed to live this long?
Why not write something that will please the Pope and the Vatican?

With your abilities, there's definitely no problem; it's just that your attitude isn't quite right.

Go back and reflect on this carefully.

Think carefully about whether Copernicus's doctrines were reactionary or whether he was an evil heretic!
Faced with all sorts of difficulties, Galileo returned to his hometown without saying a word.

Yes, wouldn't it be fine if we just didn't write those things?

He only needs to turn his head to support the geocentric theory, and he can instantly obtain the wealth and glory that ordinary people dream of.

But Galileo couldn't do it.

I can't stop writing, it's addictive!

For someone who pursues truth and science, he can accept being burned to death or being stoned to death.

But he couldn't accept that he had betrayed his own thoughts!

Upon his return, Galileo was plunged into great anguish.

He began to carefully revise various details in his first draft of "Dialogue," attempting to once again "cleverly" obtain the publishing rights for the book.

But the Vatican has clearly seen through his little scheme.

Recently, Galileo has been frequently dragged to church to be criticized.

Make him admit in front of everyone that the Copernican system is wrong.

Galileo had no choice but to endure the humiliation.

While death would be an easy way out, it would mean that all his pursuits and efforts in the first half of his life would be in vain.

He could have predicted it.

Right now, it's just criticism.

It will probably take a few years for this to slowly evolve into a trial.

Given his reputation, execution is unlikely, but life imprisonment is almost certain.

Galileo did consider traveling to other countries to promote his doctrines.

The problem is that almost all of Europe is now under the control of the various papal courts.

No matter where he goes, no ruler will support his faith.

Moreover, his fate will most likely be to be burned to death.

Thinking about these things, Galileo fell into deep despair.

As if sensing something, the rain began to fall harder and harder.

So much so that Galileo didn't even notice the many unfamiliar figures appearing among the crowds watching the spectacle on both sides of the street.

These unfamiliar figures were the caravan that had traveled to the Ming Dynasty to earn foreign exchange, and among them were several Han Chinese, a rarity in Italy.

Under normal circumstances, Galileo would have certainly given these Han Chinese a second look.

After all, he had read quite a few books imported from the Ming Dynasty over the years.

But Galileo certainly wasn't in the mood for that today.

He glanced at the crowd around him and the four believers escorting him, and a deep-seated contempt arose in his heart.

A bunch of uncivilized monkeys! Rulers who are ignorant to the core! A hopeless nation!
How can you do science when you're entangled with these insects?!

(End of this chapter)