Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 107 Inference, Careful [Subscription Request]

Liu Kuan nodded. "In addition to lightning fires, there are also wildfires caused by dry and hot weather. In some places, there are also volcanic eruptions, which can also bring fire."

"Although Zhu Tan's explanation wasn't comprehensive, he did correctly identify one of the primary methods used by our ancestors to obtain fire. Five points awarded."

Seeing the points behind his name increase to 9, which put him on par with Zhu Xiongying, Zhu Tan was finally happy and bowed, saying, "Thank you, teacher!"

After Zhu Tan sat down, Liu Kuan said, "Based on the answers given by several students just now, we can draw the following conclusions."

"In the ancient times, countless years ago, our ancestors ate raw meat and drank blood, were ignorant and stupid, and like wild beasts, they were filled with awe at the flames born between heaven and earth. They regarded them as divine and dared not approach them."

"Later, through long-term observation, people developed the wisdom of making fire, and then they kept fire and used it to cook food, keep warm, and drive away wild animals."

"Today, people have not only invented tools like the flint that allow people to easily obtain fire, but they can also use fire to smelt metals, burn ceramics, and perform many other ingenious applications."

At this point, Liu Kuan smiled slightly and said, "Fire is one of the natural phenomena of heaven and earth, but it is relatively magical. Similar to it are wind, light, clouds, fog, rain, snow, thunder and lightning, etc."

"So, can we use a similar process to observe wind, light, clouds, fog, lightning, etc., understand their principles, and apply them to our own benefit?"

"Li Jinglong, you answer this question."

It was rare for Li Jinglong to listen attentively in class. Unexpectedly, he was suddenly called and stood up with a start.

After bowing, he touched the back of his head and actually tried to think about it, saying, "Teacher, that shouldn't be possible, right? If a person could control wind, clouds, thunder and lightning, wouldn't they become gods in the storybooks?"

Liu Kuan couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "Li Jinglong, the teacher called your name to give you a chance to earn credits. I didn't expect you to be so useless that you even got such a simple question wrong."

Upon hearing this, Li Jinglong's handsome face flushed. He then couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, where did I go wrong? It's impossible for humans to control wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning. Fire is on the ground, and wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning are all in the sky. Humans can't fly, so how can they be used for their own benefit?"

Liu Kuan was slightly surprised. He didn't expect that Li Jinglong could think of a clever idea in a hurry and say something insightful.

He smiled and said, "You're not stupid for saying that last sentence. But in fact, we have already mastered some of the subtle principles of natural phenomena such as wind, clouds, thunder and lightning, and even utilized them."

After hearing this, some of these princes looked thoughtful, but most of them were confused.

I thought, have we mastered the wind, clouds, thunder and lightning?

I do not know how?
Do the gods in the legends really exist?

Are we actually descendants of gods, but we haven’t yet awakened our talent for cultivation?

Then, they could see Liu Kuan pick up a folding fan from a pile of items he had brought with him on the teaching desk, and open it with a rather chic gesture.

November is already winter, the weather is very cold, and there is even a biting wind outside.

But there was no wind in the main hall.

When Liu Kuan waved his fan, the wind blew the inch-long sideburns that were exposed outside his official hat and the lapels of his clothes.

He laughed and said, "See, isn't this a kind of mastery of the wind?"

Then he put down his folding fan, picked up a candle, lit it with a lighter, and walked among the students holding the candle.

"If it were night, I would light this candle, and it would emit light, illuminating this place. If I extinguished the candle, this place would be plunged into darkness again. Isn't this a kind of mastery of light?"

“As for clouds, when we see a clear sky, we know it will be sunny; when we see dark clouds gathering, we know it will rain.”

"People who are familiar with celestial phenomena, or even some experienced elders, can even predict tomorrow's weather based on today's clouds. Isn't this a kind of mastery of the clouds?"

"Let's talk about the fog." Liu Kuan returned to the desk and opened the thermos he had brought with him. Suddenly, wisps of mist rose from it. He smiled and said, "Doesn't this count as creating fog?"

At this moment, the students in the main hall all opened their eyes wide, with a look as if their worldview had been overturned.

Li Jinglong had the same expression at first, but after he came to his senses, his face was full of dissatisfaction.

"Teacher, you're being quibbly. Your fan is so small, and the mist you create is so tiny, practically useless. How can you call that mastery? And observing the clouds to judge the weather is even less of a mastery!"

Liu Kuan, however, asked a question he didn't want to ask, "Has your Confucianism teacher ever taught the book Xunzi?"

Li Jinglong looked confused, as if he had never heard of "Xunzi".

Liu Kuan noticed that Zhu Tan looked strange, so he called out, "Zhu Tan, you answer."

Zhu Tan stood up and bowed, then said, "Teacher, Teacher Gao once mentioned that Xunzi's scholarship was a Confucian facade, and that he was a traitor to Confucius. Therefore, he didn't teach us about Xunzi, but only told us that if we were interested, we could read it to broaden our horizons."

Is this how Confucian scholars in the early Ming Dynasty viewed Xunzi?

Liu Kuan was a little surprised.

However, after hearing what Zhu Tan said, it reminded him of some related memories - Xunzi's knowledge was indeed not accepted by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

The early Ming Dynasty was not far from the Southern Song Dynasty, only about a hundred years ago, so Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was the mainstream Confucianism at that time.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang restored the imperial examination system and set the Four Books and Five Classics as the mandatory subjects, but Xunzi had no part in them.

Therefore, it is normal that people did not know the content of "Xunzi" at that time.

Understanding this, Liu Kuan said directly, "There's a very good article in Xunzi called 'Encouraging Learning.' Some of the principles in it are quite similar to scientific principles. You can copy it out and recite it after class."

"There's a sentence in this article: 'When earth accumulates to form a mountain, wind and rain arise; when water accumulates to form a deep pool, dragons are born; when good deeds accumulate to form virtue, the gods are content and the sage's heart is ready.'" "Thus, without the accumulation of small steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles; without the accumulation of small streams, one cannot form a river or sea..."

Liu Kuan just memorized a few sentences and that was it - he had already returned the rest to his high school Chinese teacher.

Fortunately, these were the only few quotes he needed to make.

"What does this passage from Xunzi's Encouragement to Study illustrate? It illustrates that to achieve great things, one must start small, gradually accumulating experience and wisdom, and ultimately achieving great things."

"Then you think that the examples you just gave of the use of wind, clouds, light, and mist are insignificant and cannot be considered mastery. Have you ever considered that human control of fire also began with ancient ancestors borrowing a little fire from heaven and earth?"

"So, our current understanding of the wind, light, clouds, and mist may seem insignificant, even negligible, but as long as we accumulate little by little, we may be able to better control the wind, light, clouds, and mist in the future, just like we can control fire."

After listening to Liu Kuan’s talk, most of the students became thoughtful and began to accept the truth behind it.

Li Jinglong argued, "Teacher, what about thunder and lightning? Thunder and lightning are so terrifying, it's definitely not something humans can control, right?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Today, people's understanding of lightning is indeed very limited. It's almost like the ancient people's understanding of fire. They don't know why it appears or why it disappears, but they only know that it is extremely powerful."

“Therefore, people regarded thunder and lightning as divine creatures, and even imagined gods like Lei Gong and Dian Mu.”

"But if we uphold the scientific approach, carefully observe during thunderstorms, reason boldly, and verify carefully, we can understand how lightning is created."

"Although it is a sunny day, students can also recall the scene of a thunderstorm and make bold guesses about how lightning is produced."

"Now, let's give everyone a quarter of an hour to think about this problem. You can discuss it with other students, but please don't make any noise. Class monitor and discipline committee member, please keep discipline in place."

Liu Kuan stopped talking here.

Because Li Gui and a few eunuchs who had taken things had been waiting outside the door for a while.

He came to the door, and Lao Zhu and Xiao Zhu followed him out.

Looking at the black cloth in the young eunuch's hand, Zhu Biao asked curiously, "What does my brother-in-law want these black cloths for?"

Liu Kuan said, "I'm going to do two experiments later, and they require a pitch-black environment. Originally, night would be best, but since the timing is not right, closing the doors and windows and covering the light-emitting areas of the hall with black cloth will also work."

After saying this, he ordered Li Gui and the eunuchs to go into the hall to make arrangements.

Taking advantage of this time, the king and his two ministers started chatting outside.

Old Zhu looked at Liu Kuan with a rather different admiration than before, and said with emotion, "Liu Kuan, your science class was truly unique. Not only were the principles you presented profound and easy to understand, but they were also vivid and interesting, making every child listen and learn attentively."

"The later mention of Xunzi's "Encouraging Learning" has benefited me greatly. Although I knew about this book before, I had never read it. It seems that I was fooled by that corrupt scholar Kong Keren."

Kong Keren?
Liu Kuan looked confused after hearing this.

Zhu Biao explained, "Kong Keren is said to be the 55th generation grandson of Confucius. He was a teacher at Ningling during the late Yuan Dynasty. About 20 years ago, he joined my father's tutelage and read to him the 'Zuo Zhuan' and other Confucian and historical classics."

Twenty years ago?

At that time, Zhu had probably just separated from Guo and started working on his own not long ago?

Liu Kuan was secretly shocked when he heard this.

In this way, Kong Keren can be regarded as one of Zhu Yuanzhang's Confucian teachers.

But from what Old Zhu said just now, he didn't respect this person. Most likely, this person did something bad later, which made Old Zhu unhappy.

Old Zhu didn't read much when he was young, so he was relatively easy to fool in terms of cultural knowledge. It was normal that he was fooled by Confucian scholars and ignored "Xunzi".

Old Zhu did not talk about Kong Keren's intention, but brought up another matter.

"Look at the shifts you assigned Xiongying and the others to, each one seems to have a deeper meaning."

Liu Kuan smiled and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty has a keen eye. I do have a reason for making this arrangement."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I can guess a little bit about your arrangements for Xiongying and Jinglong."

"Letting Xiongying be the squad leader, firstly, can train his ability to lead the overall situation; secondly, it should be to make others develop the habit of following his lead."

"Letting Jinglong be the study committee member should be to use this position to urge him to study hard."

"This child wasn't particularly studious, and he was always prone to taking shortcuts and being superficial in his dealings with others. The fact that he was repeatedly defeated by the fourth child in later life also proves that he was a useless person."

"If he continues like this, he will only be a playboy. If he can study hard and learn some knowledge, even if he can't lead an army in the future, he can still achieve something meaningful."

"Are we right?"

"Your Majesty truly sees my intentions clearly."

"What do you mean by clear and obvious?" Old Zhu waved his hand. "We don't need your flattery. Tell me, why did you let Old Eight and Old Ten be the Discipline Committee and Labor Committee members? Do they have some kind of warning for future generations?"

　First update.

　　Thanks to Heinrich Himmler for the 200 Qidian coins reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)