White-robed Minister

Chapter 136 0134 [Xu Lai Gets a Promotion for No Reason]

Korean residence.

Ouyang Xiu went to find Han Qi, but before he could speak, Han Qi said, "Jia Zhiru (Jia An) is dead."

"Wasn't he perfectly fine when he left the capital?" Ouyang Xiu asked in astonishment.

Han Qi said helplessly, "He was already ill when he left the capital."

Ouyang Xiu was deeply worried.

Jia Pei was the head of the Censorate, and Gong Dingchen was driven out of the capital by Jia An. He was the first to lead the opposition to the "Pu Yi" (a policy of dynastic change), and during the flood, he submitted a memorial saying, "The two or three officials established the theory of two rulers and two fathers, so the gods of the seven ancestral temples were angered, and the heavens sent rain to kill the people."

The emperor was furious and ignored it.

Jia An resigned due to illness, and the emperor demoted him to the position of prefect of Chenzhou. Twelve days later, Jia An died, leaving behind a will requesting that the Prince of Pu be honored as the emperor's uncle.

The head of the Censorate, having angered the emperor with his outspoken remonstrances, was demoted to prefect and died en route, his dying words still a desperate plea for justice. The political pressure was immense; Han Qi was stunned upon receiving news of his death.

"Alas, this thing might be useful." Ouyang Xiu pointed to the thing his son had brought.

Han Qi asked, "A telescope?"

Ouyang Xiu said, "A telescope that can be used to observe the moon. Shen Cunzhong improved it a few days ago. According to him, there is no moon palace or cassia tree in the moon, only—"

Ouyang Xiu repeated it in detail.

Han Qi was quite surprised: "You saw it with your own eyes?"

"no."

Ouyang Xiu said, "According to Shen Cunzhong, it can only be seen clearly in the suburbs when the moon is full and the weather is clear. It cannot be seen clearly inside the city."

Kaifeng city was often brightly lit all night, and the entire city used coal for cooking, resulting in severe light and air pollution.

Han Qi thought for a moment and said, "Let the Emperor decide."

"7

The following day, Han Qi and Ouyang Xiu brought Shen Kuo to meet the emperor.

After the three men paid their respects to the emperor, Zhao Shu asked, "Wang Anshi has again refused to return to the capital. Does he dislike me so much?"

Ouyang Xiu said, "Wang Anshi is a very filial man. Although his mourning period has ended, he is still grieving. I request Your Majesty to issue an edict to summon him again."

Didn't Sima Guang say that emperors appoint people based on nepotism and don't select the virtuous and capable? Wang Anshi was a virtuous and capable man, and Zhao Shu was frantically trying to recall him to the capital in order to deal with the criticism.

Zhao Shu, with a hint of resentment, said, "Then promote Wang Anshi to the position of Vice Minister of Works and Drafter of Imperial Edicts, and make sure he returns to the capital to take up his post immediately!"

Zhao Shu and his ministers have been fed up with the censors for the past two months.

Or rather, the problem arose during Emperor Renzong's reign. Initially, there were twenty censors, but this number gradually decreased to a dozen or so, and by the time Renzong died, there were fewer than ten left.

After Zhao Shu ascended the throne, the number of censors was reduced to five. Recently, unable to bear the impeachments from the censors, he directly sent three of them on official business, leaving only Lü Hui (temporarily on a part-time basis), Fan Chunren, and Lü Dafang in the capital.

The Censorate now has only two people left, and Sima Guang has been transferred, while Fu Yaoyu has been sent as an envoy to the Liao Dynasty. This has effectively rendered the Censorate useless.

Han Xianggong is truly ruthless!

The more the emperor and his ministers did this, the more they were criticized for stifling free speech. Even officials who did not serve as censors or remonstrance officials used various unusual phenomena to offer criticism.

Just a few days ago, Venus crossed the Southern Dipper.

Great omen!

Ouyang Xiu introduced Shen Kuo, saying, "Your Majesty, this is Shen Kuo, also known as Shen Cunzhong. He currently serves in the Imperial Academy, assisting Privy Councilor Fu in compiling the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Renzong.' He has been seconded to the Privy Council to improve telescopes and hot air balloons, thus making a difference."

Shen Kuo was promoted by Fu Bi, so logically, he should have consulted Fu Bi immediately after developing the astronomical telescope.

However, Fu Bi fell ill and had been absent from affairs for several months.

Zhao Shu vaguely remembered Shen Kuo: "Have we met before?"

Shen Kuo replied, "I once participated in the imperial examination and was fortunate enough to be tested on my knowledge in person by Your Majesty."

Zhao Shu then asked, "Who is Shen Gou, the acting prefect of Kaifeng, to you?"

"He is my cousin," Shen Kuo said.

Shen Kuo's birth mother was his second wife, and his father was already quite old when he was born. Therefore, Shen Gou, as his cousin, was three years older than Shen Kuo.

Han Qi said, "Your Majesty, Shen Kuo has a memorial that is not suitable for too many people to know, so I brought him here to meet you directly."

Shen Kuo immediately stepped forward and handed the memorial to the eunuch.

Zhao Shu took the memorial from the eunuch. It detailed how Shen Kuo improved the telescope and described the scenery on the moon's surface.

After reading it, Zhao Shu was equally shocked, realizing that this was detrimental to his rule.

But I didn't have a strong aversion to it.

By the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, various ideas had become increasingly active, and ministers were already daring to directly submit memorials refuting the theory of the interaction between Heaven and Man.

Although the law prohibited private astronomical research, it was largely ignored in practice. Those who taught themselves astronomy could even travel to the capital to recommend themselves, and if they passed the examination, they could become astronomers.

Take Shen Kuo from history, for example. Through his research, he deduced that the moon does not emit its own light and can only be seen by reflecting sunlight. He wrote this academic idea directly into a book, and there was no unusual reaction from the imperial court.

"Can you really see the moon with a telescope?" Zhao Shu asked.

Shen Kuo replied, "A special telescope is needed, and it can only be seen clearly on a clear, full moon night in the countryside."

Zhao Shu looked at Han Qi.

Han Qi suggested, "We can first have the Imperial Observatory and the Hanlin Academy of Astronomy verify its authenticity."

The Imperial Observatory was the national astronomical institution, belonging to the outer court, and its observatory was located outside the city.

The Hanlin Astronomical Academy was the emperor's astronomical advisory body, belonging to the inner court and located within the imperial city.

Both institutions were to conduct astronomical observations and verify each other's results to prevent astronomers from falsifying data.

However, they often colluded to fabricate evidence, completely deceiving the emperor and his ministers. This fraudulent practice was later exposed by Shen Kuo, who dismissed six astronomers in one fell swoop.

A few days later, the two major astronomical institutions began observing the moon in the suburbs.

October 14th, bad weather. Can't see clearly.

October 15th, bad weather. Can't see clearly.

October 16th, look carefully!

The astronomers looked at each other, both excited and terrified, and couldn't help but look at the moon again and again.

They stayed up all night, wrote their astronomical observation report, and returned to the city to enter the palace as soon as it was light.

The four prime ministers, Han Qi, Zeng Gongliang, Ouyang Xiu, and Zhao Gai, as well as Shen Kuo, who had caused this incident, were successively summoned by the emperor to discuss matters.

But everyone just stared at each other, unsure of what to do.

After a long silence, Zeng Gongliang said, "Telescopes are military equipment and should not be made by civilians. If they are allowed to be made by civilians, they may fall into enemy hands or be modified for moon-gazing."

Han Qi said, "We cannot issue an explicit ban. If we do, it will become public knowledge, and people will inevitably try to counterfeit this item."

That makes sense.

It's fortunate that it wasn't banned, because hardly anyone knows about it.

Once it's explicitly forbidden, everyone actually knows about it. The more the court forbids it, the more curious people become, and they go to great lengths to build telescopes to play with.

Just like erotic novels, nobody knows when they're not banned. But once they're officially banned, wow, people who don't usually read erotic novels will flock to them to read them.

Zhao Shu was in a terrible dilemma. He desperately wanted Sima Guang and Lü Hui to look at the moon and tell the officials that the idea of ​​the interaction between heaven and man was pure nonsense. But as the emperor, he didn't want this secret to be known by too many people.

Zhao Shu's curiosity was even piqued, and he wanted to see the moon for himself.

Zhao Shu asked Shen Kuo, "How did you come up with the idea of ​​building telescopes and hot air balloons? I've seen memorials from military generals in border regions praising these two items and even requesting the court to build more."

Shen Kuo replied, "I dare not conceal this from Your Majesty. The telescope and hot air balloon were both made by Xu Lai, the top scholar of this year's imperial examination. I merely made improvements."

"Is this also related to him?" Zhao Shu hadn't expected Xu Lai to be involved.

Shen Kuo said, "Although I am more than ten years older than Scholar Xu, we became fast friends at first sight. Scholar Xu's talent far surpasses mine by ten or even a hundred times. Under Scholar Xu's leadership, I, together with Su Song, the judge of the Ministry of Revenue, and Lin Yi, the collator of the Medical Book Bureau, also compiled the books 'Mathematics' and 'Geometry.' I request Your Majesty to include these two books in the official teaching materials for mathematics."

1

Su Song was promoted to Judge of the Revenue Department last month and has ordered the officials under his jurisdiction to study mathematics in their spare time.

"geometry".

As for mathematics, it was a specialized, official arithmetic school. Initially, it was only established in the capital, but Emperor Huizong of Song later promoted it nationwide and created a nationwide arithmetic examination system.

Su Song also submitted a memorial requesting that "Mathematics" and "Geometry" be included as textbooks for mathematics. However, this request was not approved at the time.

Zhao Shu did not immediately agree, but only said, "Bring these two books up."

"As you command!"

Shen Kuo was quite pleased.

Next, the discussion continued on how to handle the astronomical telescope, but no conclusion could be reached.

It can only be kept secret for now.

The astronomical telescope that Shen Kuo made himself was temporarily placed in the Hanlin Astronomical Academy (within the Imperial City). Astronomers were not allowed to use it to observe the moon without permission.

At the same time, Shen Kuo also obtained a part-time position as a Hanlin Astronomical Officer, which allowed him to enter the imperial city to observe celestial phenomena during his night shifts. The emperor planned to wait until spring, when fewer people would be burning coal for heating, and asked Shen Kuo to take him to secretly watch the moon.

Two days later, Su Song, Shen Kuo, and Lin Yi were ordered to present the books "Mathematics" and "Geometry".

Zhao Shu's math skills were so-so, and being middle-aged, he didn't want to learn anything new. He was dizzy from all the numbers and symbols; at first glance, they looked like gibberish.

"Is this the arithmetic book you two co-authored?" Zhao Shu asked, frowning.

Su Song replied, "Your Majesty, it is not an exaggeration of our words, but these two books surpass all mathematical classics of all dynasties. There are already many scholars in the common people who are skilled in mathematics and are spontaneously studying these two books. I request that they be included in the curriculum for teaching mathematics."

Zhao Shu nodded and said, "In that case, let's print some copies so that students of mathematics can study them. You all deserve praise for your contributions to this book."

Mathematics and Geometry were thus adopted as textbooks in official arithmetic schools.

Whether they were officials or commoners, once their books were accepted by the imperial court, the rewards would be very generous.

Take Shen Kuo for example. As a result, his official rank was promoted to the fourth level of the selection process, which allowed him to be appointed as a judge or magistrate in an ordinary prefecture or military region. Su Song and Lin Yi, although they were not directly promoted in rank, also had their official ranks moved up.

Xu Lai is the same!

As the lead compiler of these two books, Xu Lai soon received an imperial edict: he was promoted from Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat to Proofreader of the Imperial Secretariat.

His official rank was not promoted, but his place in the official hierarchy was moved up one position.

Congratulations to Judge Xu!

The officials of Yingtian Prefecture, unaware of the specific circumstances, assumed that Xu Lai had rendered meritorious service in investigating the case and had received a special reward from the imperial court.

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