The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 262

The group of old scholars exchanged glances upon seeing the Grand Tutor, a first-rank official of the court, simply sitting in his study on a bamboo chair, grading his students' homework.

Then, with an air of superiority, he declared, "I am the head of the Hanlin Academy."

He then stepped back.

"I am a Grand Secretary of the Wuying Pavilion." After that, the introductions continued, and finally, the last Grand Tutor stepped forward.

"I am the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince of this dynasty."

After hearing the last person say this, Xu Tian merely stood up and gave a slight bow. This Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince was of a higher rank than him, and Xu Tian didn't even raise his head. The faces of the group of Grand Tutors immediately turned ugly.

"Ahem, we are here on His Majesty's orders to receive instruction."

Xu Tian raised his head and saw that the tutors in front of him were either standing tall and proud or looking down at him. The only one who lowered his head did not look at him at all.

Clearly, these people were not convinced by him at all, so Xu Tian had no choice but to pull out his trump card, and with a cold smile,

"You are all literary giants, do you know why all objects return to their origin?"

"Naturally, it's because the sky is round and the earth is square!"

Xu Tian shook his head: "Wrong! If that were true, the earth would be flat, and you would reach the opposite side instead of returning to the starting point."

"Let me ask you a very simple question: you can see stars at night, but do you know what stars are?"

Before the Grand Tutor could answer, Xu Tian continued, "This star is a meteorite in the Milky Way galaxy, which is divided into the solar system and the Milky Way galaxy! And the planet we live on is Earth..."

Xu Tian talked on and on for half an hour, discussing modern astronomy, leaving the tutors dumbfounded and speechless.

Xu Tian's confidence soared, and he stood with his hands behind his back in front of the Grand Tutors.

"If you don't even know how to teach this, how can you possibly educate the Crown Prince?"

Xu Tian then said, "In that case, I will pose another question: There are 1,300 steps from the Vermilion Bird Gate to the Taiji Hall. How many ways are there to ascend them?"

The Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy was completely bewildered.

“We have never counted how many kinds of methods there are.”

The others also showed curiosity. Seeing that these people had completely followed his train of thought, Xu Tian smiled and said, "There are a total of 120 million methods."

Xu Tian popularized the sequence of numbers that takes the time it takes for an incense stick to burn in ancient times. His explanations of powers, trigonometric functions, and cosine left the group of tutors dizzy and disoriented before they finally stopped talking.

Xu Tian squinted and looked closely at the several tutors in front of him. He saw that they were looking at him with admiration, and Xu Tian chuckled to himself.

The knowledge he learned in modern times is based on a culture that has evolved over thousands of years in ancient times. Why would he be afraid of these two old guys in front of him?

"Now that we've covered mathematics and astronomy, let me talk about literature."

As soon as Xu Tian uttered those words, he saw these tutors, who had previously been so dejected, suddenly regain their former confidence and become incredibly arrogant.

His goal was to help them regain their confidence, and then completely crush it, so that they would submit to him.

"Alas, in our dynasty, the examination essays for selecting officials mostly consist of the eight-legged essay and parallel prose..."