Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 423 The Most Incompetent Undercover Agent
There are relatively few books on the third floor, mainly Western works, art, astronomy, geography, physics, chemistry, military affairs, agriculture, water conservancy, medicine, machinery, etc., can be described as all-encompassing, but the number is not large, and a group of foreigners are holding their heads. Buried in the middle of the manuscript, waving the quill pen and writing quickly on it, I am doing translation!Chen Zilong looked at it, and the "Elements of Geometry" translated by his teacher Xu Guangqi's painstaking efforts was also listed, and there were hundreds of copies in one printing, and almost every copy was slightly damaged due to frequent flipping. Excited.Xu Guangqi cooperated with the Western missionary Matteo Ricci to translate the first six volumes of "The Elements of Geometry". After repeated scrutiny, he has the first copyright for the word "geometry".However, this masterpiece was not popular in the Ming Dynasty. Since the demise of the Song Dynasty, China’s scientific research has been in a steady decline. The once brilliant astronomy, mathematics, chemistry and other disciplines that were beyond the reach of the world have gradually been forgotten. , Countless works that condensed the wisdom of the ancients have been abandoned, and this is true of our own things, let alone Western ones!Xu Guangqi can only look forward to the future, hoping that "this brilliant work of mathematics will surely become a must-read book for students all over the world in the next 100 years."

Xu Guangqi seems to have found a soulmate.The books he has translated and published can be found here, and they are beautifully printed and very popular, which makes Chen Zilong very happy from the bottom of his heart.Yang Menglong took a copy of "Elements of Geometry" and opened it. Chen Zilong and Fang Yizhi discovered that this work was divided into two parts. The first volume was translated by Xu Guangqi, and the second volume was translated based on Xu Guangqi's translation. It has become an easy-to-understand vernacular.He sighed: "It's a pity that there are only six volumes, and there are still nine volumes that have not been translated. I will find someone to translate, but the knowledge of the person I find may be too far behind Mr. Xu. Alas!" He sighed and He handed the book to Chen Zilong and then asked: "Mr. Xu, what manuscripts do you want to publish?"

Chen Zilong took out the manuscript, divided it into three parts, and handed the first part to Yang Menglong: "This is some translation of the last nine volumes of "Elements of Geometry" by my teacher. Due to lack of time, the knowledge of Western priests is not as good as that of Mr. Matteo Ricci. Therefore, the teacher was unable to translate it completely. Hearing that the lord intends to translate the last nine volumes, he asked me to bring these manuscripts here."

Yang Menglong took it and looked at a few pages, and his head grew dizzy, so he took it down and said, "This is a priceless treasure, thank you, sir!"

Chen Zilong pushed the second copy over: "This is "Taixi Water Conservancy" jointly translated by my teacher, Matteo Ricci and Mr. Xiong Sanba. Unfortunately, due to the death of Mr. Ricci, the translation was not completed. He hopes that adults can translate it. After the translation, it will benefit the common people."

Yang Menglong read a small part, and it turned out to be a masterpiece of water conservancy, which introduced in detail western water conservancy engineering practices and various water conservancy machinery, many of which were urgently needed in China.Unfortunately, before the translation was finished, the great internationalist fighter Matteo Ricci died of illness. Xu Guangqi wrote to the Diocese of Macau, hoping that the Diocese of Macau would send someone to help finish the translation. , not to promote Western scientific knowledge, which made Xu Guangqi furious: "What kind of birdman are these!" When he throws out the bait of black tea and rock sugar trade, more foreigners will inevitably come running over. How difficult is it to get a few people from among them to help translate the book?Not willing to cooperate?Well, kneel and lick!
Chen Zilong looked at the last manuscript in his hand, his expression was a little sad, and he handed it over after a long time, and said: "My lord, this is some research summary of the family teacher on agricultural policy. The greatest wish of the family teacher is to make all the common people fully clothed. Sufficient food, decades of tireless research, fusion of eastern and western schools, has made this book. Unfortunately, the court traitors are in power, he is constrained, and nothing can be achieved, but the adults are masters in the development of agricultural administration. He entrusted this book to Give it to adults, I hope it can be used by adults and benefit the common people!"

Historically, this book was called "Nongzheng Quanshu". Xu Guangqi failed to complete the book during his lifetime, and it was published by Chen Zilong several years after his death.Of course, it was different with Yang Menglong here. He would not let go of such a good book. He happily accepted it and said, "Mr. Xu is really thoughtful. I will definitely compile it into a book and publish it." ... We Nanyang people don’t have any other hobbies. We just like to read books when we have free time... Thank you very much!" He scratched his head and said sheepishly: "I have received so many benefits from you, and I will feel bad if I don't repay you. , what should I get in return for you?"

Chen Zilong was stunned for a moment.Publishing a book is probably every scholar’s ​​dream. If you can publish a best-selling book, you will make a lot of money. However, this was not the case 300 years ago. The cost of publishing a book was borne by the author. The more books you sell, the more money you have to pay. You don't have to earn a dime, and you have to lose a lot of money.So publishing a book these days is a hard job. Except for the rich and powerful, eager to be famous, or want to praise some high-ranking person, ordinary people do not have such financial resources to publish a book.Yang Menglong is as happy as picking up a treasure after taking over this drudgery, what the hell, is this guy's brain circuit different from others?
At this time, Fang Yizhi, who had been hugging several books as soon as he came in, finally raised his head, cupped his hands to Yang Menglong, and said, "My lord, I hope I can enter the school!"

This time it was Yang Menglong's turn to be dazed: "You want to go to school to study? Are you kidding me?"

Fang Yizhi looked serious: "I'm not joking! I want to go to school, and tuition fees are easy to talk about!"

Yang Menglong shouted: "No... Although I don't know your background, I also know that you have an extraordinary background. Maybe you are very famous. After you have achieved fame, you still want to come in to study. What are you planning?"

Fang Yizhi lit up the "Celestial Spheres Movement" in his hand, with a fanatical expression on his face: "To tell you the truth, my interest in astronomy, geography, arithmetic and philosophy has far surpassed my interest in poetry, books and articles since I was a child. There are too few people, and good teachers are hard to find! Now Nanyang School has a large number of famous teachers, and there are countless people who are interested in these miscellaneous studies. I am also very anxious, so I want to come in and study, I hope you will help me!"

Chen Zilong exclaimed: "Mizhi, you have to think twice!"

Fang Yizhi looked firm: "Brother Wozi, my little brother has already thought it through very clearly. Hearing the Tao in the morning, he will die in the evening! It is so rare that so many people are here to seek the Tao, how can I miss it?"

Chen Zilong thought for a while, and said to Yang Menglong: "My lord, I intend to organize the manuscripts of my tutor into a book, but my knowledge is still shallow and my skill is insufficient, so I also want to go to school and learn from all famous teachers, so as to fulfill my tutor's wish as soon as possible. !"

Yang Menglong sighed, and said: "Nanyang School is open to the whole country. If you want to come in and study, I can't help it. You just need to pay the tuition fee... But if you delay your studies, don't blame me!"

The two shook their heads in unison: "No complaints, no complaints, absolutely no complaints!"

Yang Menglong said: "Okay, let's go to dinner first, and then go through the admission procedures... You'd better rent a house nearby to live, otherwise it will be very troublesome to run around."

Both of them were overjoyed, thanked them repeatedly, and ran away in a hurry.

Yang Menglong grunted, called an assistant to hand the manuscript to him, and asked him to take it for safekeeping. He shrugged and walked out of the library, muttering as he walked: "It's really strange. You can obviously pass the Jinshi examination, or even Why do the top scorers in high school and those with glorious ancestors think of coming to my school to learn some miscellaneous subjects that have nothing to do with the eight-part essay? Are they not afraid of delaying their studies and being beaten by their families? The behavior of these young people is really shocking. It’s confusing!”

How could he have imagined that these two were actually spies who stole secrets?If he has a little understanding of the history of the late Ming Dynasty, he should know that both Fang Yizhi and Chen Zilong are well-known rising stars in the Donglin Party, and Chen Zilong is the head of the several clubs of the Donglin Party. The two great gods came to Nanyang together, what good things could there be?There is no way, as his reputation grows, the reputation of Nanyang Technical School he created is also getting louder and louder. At the beginning of this year alone, more than 300 young scholars came here to study.

So, Chen Zilong and Fang Yizhi were sent over.

However, Yang Menglong's invincible crow's mouth really hit the mark: these two were obsessed with miscellaneous learning after entering school, and abandoned poetry and essays, let alone the number one scholar, they didn't even pass the Jinshi examination.This bastard caused the Ming Dynasty to lose two Jinshi!
But he also added a scientist who integrated mathematics, astronomy, physics, and chemistry into the Ming Dynasty, as well as an agricultural expert.

(End of this chapter)