Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Yu Zhengqing stared blankly at the straw paper in Shen Zheng's hand.

I saw a series of "earthworms" drawn on the straw paper, some were standing vertically, some were bent once, some were bent twice, and some were tied in knots.

He frowned, but subconsciously felt that Shen Zheng would not be so bored as to scribble. After all, she was so serious just now that she didn't even pay attention to what he said.

What's on that paper?

Yu Zhengqing moved closer to Shen Zheng again, his eyes shining.

Shen Zheng inexplicably had a feeling that her teacher was checking her homework, and subconsciously covered it with her hand, leaving a large smudge of ink.

"What are you hiding?" Yu Zhengqing asked.

"I don't know." Shen Zheng replied.

"Let me take a look." Yu Zhengqing said again.

Shen Zheng obediently moved her sleeves away, and the ink that had not dried yet became blurred, but the words on the upper half of the paper were clearly visible.

Yu Zhengqing took another careful look and finally determined that this was a writing method he had never seen before. He had no choice but to ask, "Are these 'earthworms' a way of calculating?"

Shen Zheng was a little surprised, but not because she was surprised that Yu Zhengqing guessed the truth, but because she was surprised at how much Yu Zhengqing trusted her.

He was only doubtful at first, but then he immediately confirmed that Shen Zheng was indeed calculating acres. But in fact, people are definitely skeptical about unknown things - they have never seen them before, so they are cautious.

Shen Zheng moved the straw paper towards Yu Zhengqing and nodded, saying, "This is the counting method I saw in the wild book. It is simple and convenient to write, and the wild book also lists some simple calculation methods. You can quickly find the sum and difference by adding and subtracting two numbers."

She was afraid that she hadn't explained it clearly enough, so she added, "It's similar to counting sticks, but it doesn't require bamboo sticks. It's much easier to use when you can't find any tools."

Seeing that she was talking very logically, Yu Zhengqing's mind drifted away. He complained in his heart: These were either ancient books or unofficial books. He had read a lot of books, but he hadn't found a practical book like this that he had never seen before. It seemed that all of them were taken by Shen Zheng.

Seeing him deep in thought, Shen Zheng continued, "Because I practiced this method of calculation when I first learned it, so as long as the numbers are not particularly complicated, I can get the result in my mind and just write it down on paper. In fact, this method is also very efficient when used with an abacus."

Everything she said was methods and approaches that Yu Zhengqing had never seen or even heard of before, which made him feel itchy.

"Zhao Xiu has to travel to several villages and can't come back in a short time. Can you tell me how to count this 'earthworm'?" He asked without any shame.

Shen Zheng had just calculated the total output of a village and seeing that he was interested, she had an idea.

Yu Zhengqing is knowledgeable and experienced. If he can accept this method of calculation and finds it useful, does it mean that Arabic numerals can be widely promoted and used?

But promoting it does not mean overthrowing the entire counting and arithmetic methods of the Great Zhou Dynasty. She never underestimates the wisdom of the ancients, nor would she question the hand speed of a qualified accountant.

Shen Zheng had seen Xu Zhubu fiddling with the keyboard. Amid the sound of collisions, the beads were almost left with afterimages by him. His calculations were no slower than Shen Zheng's mental arithmetic or drafting.

Therefore, Arabic numerals without electronic calculators can be said to be missing half of their soul. From some perspectives, they cannot compete with abacus.

But nothing is absolute. Abacus and Arabic numerals do not have to be on opposite sides - the two can complement each other.

Arabic numerals are used for counting and simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, while the abacus is used for large-scale addition and subtraction.

Once people learn Arabic numerals, they can improve their efficiency whether they are keeping daily accounts or doing household accounting.

After all, the character '壹' has twelve strokes, while '1' has only one stroke.

Shen Zheng's mind also became active. She brought a small stool to Yu Zhengqing, and the two of them sat down in a row.

It has been said before that Yu Zhengqing is a good teacher, and today he is also a good student.

He watched Shen Zheng's expression change obediently, then watched her carry the small stool obediently, and then sat obediently beside her.

Shen Zheng rolled up his sleeves, picked up a pen, and drew a series of "earthworms" on the straw paper in front of the two of them - Arabic numerals from "0" to "9".

Yu Zhengqing stared at the tip of the pen in her hand, silently memorizing the twists and turns of every "earthworm" in his mind.

Shen Zheng pointed to the first number and said, "This is zero."

She wrote a "zero" next to the "0".

Then comes the second number: "This is one."

She wrote another "壹" next to the "1".

Yu Zhengqing's eyes suddenly lit up. What he was sure of was that the "earthworms" drawn by Shen Zheng must have a regular and perfect pattern, the same as their handwriting.

And just from these two numbers, he had already figured out the key.

"It's so easy," he praised. "It saves a lot of work."

"But..." Yu Zhengqing asked uncertainly after a moment: "But some of them are too similar, could it be possible that I am mistaken?"

Shen Zheng smiled when she heard this. Yu Zhengqing's worry was not unreasonable. If the writing was not standardized or the paper was held in the wrong direction, it was really possible to read it wrongly. Otherwise, why did the accounting major in the previous life have to use capital numbers when recording accounts?

"Your Excellency has a keen eye." Shen Zheng pointed at the "1" and "7" on the paper.

Before she opened her mouth, Yu Zhengqing said, "These two, are they "One" and "Seven"? They are somewhat similar."

He knew that "7" is "柒" based on the order of writing by Shen Zheng.

Shen Zheng also nodded, "So you have to write in a standard way, not just randomly write a single stroke. Once you get used to writing and reading, it's actually very hard to make mistakes."

"The flaws do not outweigh the merits." Yu Zhengqing said, "It is undeniable that it is really simple. Apart from these two, it is difficult to misjudge the others. Just be careful."

He pointed at the Arabic numerals one by one and read them out one by one.

After a moment, he pointed at the string of numbers Shen Zheng had written earlier, "If you write them like this, they can be used in combination. This is... '1253', 'One thousand two hundred and fifty-three', right? Even larger numbers can be represented by these characters."

Yu Zhengqing is really smart.

In her time, Arabic numerals had become the default way of writing, and no one would find it difficult to understand.

But it's different now.

Arabic numerals were a new way of writing for Yu Zhengqing. He was able to remember the corresponding characters after only looking at them for a while, and he could also understand the number combinations at a glance.

Shen Zheng praised generously: "Your Excellency has excellent eyesight and memory."

Yu Zhengqing's mouth slightly curved. He coughed and asked, "You just said that they can also seek peace or difference? How do they seek peace?"

"Hmm..." Shen Zheng was thinking about how to teach in her mind.