Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Like Zhu Yu, who, despite being far away in Hangzhou, frequently corresponded with friends in Kaifeng to obtain the latest academic findings.

But Li Yaoguang didn't know that he was working in isolation at home, completely out of touch with the mainstream mathematics community.

Zhao Yuan casually closed the manuscript and said, "You should first communicate with the scholars in the capital and compare these mathematical symbols."

Then you revise it again, and present your research to other scholars for discussion.

"Yes," Li Yaoguang replied.

Zhao Yuan asked, "You only study mathematics?"

Li Yaoguang said, "I also dabble in physics, but I'm not an expert."

"I studied Confucian classics diligently when I was young, but I haven't touched them in recent years."

"Alright, once you've settled in, you can become a professor at the Imperial Academy," Zhao Yuan suggested.

"Yes." Li Yaoguang didn't say much.

This person is too introverted and a bit silly; he's not suitable to be a secretary.

The Tongzheng Yuan actually had a secretariat, and Wen Huanzhang also used people from the Tongzheng Yuan.

After Zhao Yuan planned to send Fu Zhirou to a post outside the capital, he also selected personnel from the Tongzhengyuan (Court of State Affairs), unlike the Ming Dynasty which used eunuchs.

Of course, there were also eunuchs who served as personal secretaries.

As for the Hanlin Academy, which only housed literary and artistic figures, it also had literary and artistic advisors to the emperor, who would occasionally be summoned to handle miscellaneous tasks.

The two left separately. Housing prices in Kaifeng were very high, so Zhao Yuan arranged official dormitories for them.

It is a covered building with a small courtyard, which can be used not only by the owner, but also by family members and a small number of servants.

The Beijing Municipal Society for Mathematical Physics was established by Wen Huanzhang himself.

It was not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, but was funded by the royal treasury. It held regular academic gatherings and published a journal every quarter.

No membership fee is required, but the newsletter needs to be subscribed to.

After learning about the situation, Li Yaoguang did not communicate with his colleagues, but instead went to borrow past issues of the conference journal.

He could read through several years' worth of journals in just a few days, focusing only on the mathematics-related content.

Then, he replaced his self-created mathematical symbols with universally accepted mathematical symbols, and sent all his mathematical achievements to the editorial department of the society.

About one-third of the formulas and theorems developed by Li Yaoguang have already been published by others.

However, two-thirds, nearly thirty formulas and theorems, are entirely new findings.

The editors of the Mathematical Physics Society went crazy when they received these manuscripts, verifying them one by one.

In less than half a month, the young man became famous in the Beijing mathematics community, and people came to visit him every day to ask for his advice.

Of course, he was only well-known in the mathematics community, a very small academic circle.

Various natural sciences are still in their infancy and need more people to nurture them.

Even in the imperial examinations, the court dared not make the questions on natural science too difficult at once.

Otherwise, it will be detrimental to students in remote areas and those from impoverished families. This thing needs to be implemented gradually.

Chemistry, in particular, was not yet included in the imperial examinations.

The people researching chemistry nowadays haven't even figured it out themselves; they're just conducting experiments based on wild fantasies.

Chapter 3393 A Good Place to Live in Seclusion

Mathematics has actually seen the fastest progress, and several basic textbooks have already been printed.

If you were to study all of these textbooks, it would be roughly equivalent to the math level of a first-year junior high school student in later generations.

In the most recent imperial examination, the highest level of difficulty the candidates faced was only equivalent to that of a first-year junior high school student.

Furthermore, most of the questions are elementary school level content.

For the next imperial examination, Zhao Yuan plans to increase the difficulty by removing all elementary school questions and requiring all math questions to meet the standards for first-year junior high school students.

The difficulty of the teaching materials also needs to be increased. Currently, textbooks are being compiled, and the content is for the second year of junior high school mathematics.

Zhao Yuan summoned Hu Anguo and said, "Choose an auspicious day to appoint my eldest son as the crown prince."

"Yes!"

Hu Anguo had no objection; establishing the foundation of the nation early was certainly a good thing.

Zhao Yuan added, "When the time comes, the Crown Prince will oversee the country, and the Empress will help handle government affairs."

Hu Anguo's expression was one of utter astonishment.

Is this even allowed?

Zhao Yuan said, "I'm going to inspect the Yellow River, and while I'm at it, I'll visit Cangzhou and then go to the army camp to see the soldiers."

"You can arrange the etiquette, but remember not to make a big fuss."

Hu Anguo quickly replied, "As you command."

During the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, Cangzhou flourished commercially, mainly due to its numerous salt fields.

Thirty years ago, the Yellow River changed its course, and then breached its banks several times. Coupled with natural disasters and wars, Cangzhou suffered extremely heavy losses.

The area was full of saline-alkali land, and only one in ten people survived.

In recent years, apart from a slight revival in the salt industry, the recovery of other industries and agriculture has been extremely slow.

By the way, Cangzhou, which is mentioned here, has a very large jurisdiction area.

Cangzhou is bordered by the sea to the east, Nanpi to the west, Tianjin to the north, and Shandong (including Wudi and Leling in Shandong) to the south. All of these areas belong to Cangzhou.

Such a large territory, yet only five counties.

Apart from salt fields and cities, the rural population is very sparse, and food production relies entirely on extensive planting with low yields.

The region's economy relied entirely on the salt industry, and it had to purchase grain and cloth from outside the region every year.

Zhao Yuan wanted to investigate thoroughly to see how it could be restored.

Actually, Wen Huanzhang should go; he's an agricultural expert and probably knows how to manage saline-alkali land.

...

Wangchuan Valley, Lantian County, Shaanxi Province.

When Wen Huanzhang arrived in the valley in person, he finally understood why Wang Wei's villa could stretch for more than twenty miles.

Because the entire valley is located in the Zhongnan Mountains, there is not much arable land along the way, so there are not many people living there under normal circumstances.

Land prices are cheap.

The Wangchuan River flows out of Zhongnan Mountain and heads north, eventually joining the Ba River in Lantian County.

In many parts of the valley, the roads are very difficult to travel.

During the high-water season, it's barely possible to travel by boat, but during the dry season, it turns into a stream.

Wang Wei followed this river and wrote the timeless lines, "Walking to where the water ends, I sit and watch the clouds rise."

"Your Excellency, Wang Wei's tomb has been found!" the head guard reported.

Wen Huanzhang immediately set off south, but because the distance was too far, the children were left in the village.

He traveled on foot with only his four wives, stopping from time to time to admire the scenery.

In the afternoon, we came across another village. Many of the villagers had moved away and settled in a new place outside the valley.

After quickly tidying up the house, they stayed there that night and continued their journey the next morning.

Around noon, they climbed onto a flat area and saw a large foundation hidden by weeds.

The wood and stone used in the original buildings have long been dismantled and taken away, probably by villagers in the valley to build houses.

After observing for a while, Li Qingzhao said, "This may be the ruins of Luyuan Temple."

In his later years, Wang Wei donated his Wangchuan villa and used the proceeds to build the Deer Garden Temple.

The entire valley became temple property.

The incense was quite popular during the Tang Dynasty, but it fell into disrepair after the Five Dynasties period.

Because it's too remote and the roads are difficult to travel!

Perhaps due to war or some other reason, Luyuan Temple no longer existed in the early Northern Song Dynasty.

Wen Huanzhang said, "We can rebuild a school on the site of Luyuan Temple."

"There should be a library, a teaching building, a dormitory building, and a pavilion for leisure and entertainment."

“My lord, look at that tree,” Wen Xiaomei called out.

It was a tall ginkgo tree, planted by Wang Wei himself, and it has been several hundred years since then.

Li Qingzhao said, "If a school were built here, it could be named 'Wangchuan Academy'."

"The pavilion where my husband relaxes can be called 'Wenxing Pavilion'. Wang Wei also had a Wenxing Pavilion."

“These two names are very good,” Wen Huanzhang said happily.

The group continued climbing the mountain and, led by the guards, finally arrived at Wang Wei's tomb.

The grave had long been covered by weeds, and the guards cleaned up the area around the tombstone.

Besides the broken tombstone, there are several stone tablets inscribed with poems.

Those stone tablets and poems were probably left by later generations when they came to pay their respects.

Wen Huanzhang instructed, "We'll repair the grave later."

There was no grand ceremony; Wen Huanzhang simply laid out a few plates of dried fruit and, along with his wives, offered wine to Wang Wei.

On their way down the mountain, they even took some dried fruit with them to give to the children in the valley as snacks.

Chapter 3394 Grain Transport Route

Wen Huanzhang smiled and said to the children, "This is what Wang Wei ate. If you eat it, you will become smarter and you will be able to pass the imperial examination in the future."

The children in the mountains didn't know anything about scholars; they only knew that dried fruit was delicious.

The group continued to wander aimlessly, with Shen Yourong holding a painting of Wangchuan in her hand, occasionally opening it to compare the scenery before her.

“That should be the Bamboo Grove Pavilion,” Shen Yourong said, pointing to a bamboo forest.

There were also people living near the bamboo forest. When they saw the guards behind Wen Huanzhang, they came over to greet him with great fear and trepidation.

Wen Huanzhang said to the farmers, "Since you are willing to stay here, then you should cultivate the land well from now on."

"You can cut down the bamboo on the outer perimeter, but you can't just go in inside."

"There is a period of time each year when we can regularly enter the forest to cut bamboo."

Bamboo groves also need maintenance; regular felling actually helps them grow better.

The farmers thanked them profusely.

An old farmer asked, "I heard from the officials that in the future, children will be able to go to school without paying a single penny?"

Wen Huanzhang smiled and said, "All children born in the valley will be exempt from tuition fees and will be given writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones as a gift."

The farmers were overjoyed and hurriedly knelt down to express their gratitude.

Wen Huanzhang said, "There is no need to kneel."

“You can treat me as your neighbor. If you have any difficulties, feel free to come to me.”

Two small rivers converge in the mountains, forming lakes in the low-lying areas.

The lake is only two or three hundred meters wide, but it is three or four miles long, and it is divided into two parts.

The scenery is absolutely beautiful!

Several women surrounded the "Wangchuan Villa" painting. Wen Xiaomei pointed to the opposite bank and said, "That should be where the Linhu Pavilion is located. You have to take a boat to get there."

"Standing in the pavilion, you can enjoy the scenery of the lake and mountains on both sides."

Li Qingzhao picked up her binoculars and observed, saying, "There are many willow trees on the east side; this should be where Willow Waves is located."