While Zhu Ming was looking through the geographical information of the South, he chatted with Zhu Yu about various interesting things.
This little old man is well-informed. Not only has he traveled all over the south, he has also lived in the north for many years and spent a lot of time in Kaifeng.
At the end of the conversation, Ju Ming said: "You first go to the Ministry of Rites and serve as a minister to sort out the sacrifices in various counties in the south. All those messy gods should be banned. Those gods that induce people to do good and benefit the country and the people can be retained.
"
Zhu Yu said: "The first thing to do is to regulate the city gods in various places."
"How do you say it?" Zhu Ming asked.
Zhu Yu elaborated: "The custom of offering sacrifices to city gods arose in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, mainly in the Jiangnan area. Folks spontaneously built temples to worship them. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they were brought under the control of the imperial court and gradually spread to the southwest and north. In the Song Dynasty, city gods had spread all over the north and south, and of course they were most common in the south.
, and there is a set of methods for knighthood."
"However, in the Song Dynasty, the city god was granted nobility intermittently and gradually became unorganized."
"Now it is even more chaotic. For example, in some states and counties, the gentry and wealthy businessmen worship the city god indiscriminately, and even the city god they worship has nothing to do with the local area."
Ju Ming smiled and said: "Give me an example."
Zhu Yu gave an example: "For example, Ji Xin followed Liu Bang to the Hongmen Banquet and was later burned to death by Xiang Yu. He was a Sichuan native who had been fighting in the north all year round. He had never been to the south, and he had not been kind to the people in the south. But from then on, he was burned to death by Xiang Yu.
From Hanzhong to Xiangyang, then to Taiping, Runzhou, Wuhu, Huating... Ten prefectures and counties regard Ji Xin as the city god."
"That's true." Zhu Ming smiled. He had seen the Chenghuang Temple in Hanzhong, and the main god enshrined in it was Ji Xin.
Zhu Yu said: "Many prefectures and counties no longer worship Ji Xin, and the people don't know who Ji Xin is. Instead, they worship wild gods of unknown origin, and even some evil gods. The evil atmosphere disturbs the folk customs."
This is the reason why the royal courts of all dynasties have regulated sacrifices. Faith must be in the hands of the government, and there must be a positive guidance.
The city gods were originally natural gods, but in the Song Dynasty they were generally replaced by historical figures.
When a local official takes office, the first thing he should do is pay homage to the city god, otherwise he will not respect the local customs.
Er Cheng felt that the city god was not in line with the Confucian tradition, and he also proposed to ban the city god from all over the world. Some officials also cracked down on obscene worship and wanted to eliminate the city god altogether, which aroused public anger and caused great chaos.
This thing can only be used for control and guidance, not against the people.
Zhu Yu continued: "The city gods in various places should be mainly capable ministers and fierce generals. For example, in Chongyang County, the gentry and people did not worship the city god, but worshiped Zhang Guiya (Zhang Yong). More than a hundred years later, the people of Chongyang
We all cherish Zhang Guaiya's good governance. In this case, we should make Zhang Guaiya the Chongyang City God and ask away the old City God who people no longer believe in."
Zhang Yong, the ancestor of Zhang Bor, was really awesome. In many places where he ruled, people spontaneously built temples to worship him. After more than a hundred years, the incense continued. Even Zhong Xiang occupied Hunan and did not dare to demolish "Zhang Gong".
temple".
Zhu Yu also said: "There are many witch gods in the south. Good and evil are mixed, and it is difficult for the people to distinguish. In one county, there may be dozens of witch gods. We should choose one or two good gods and build a city god temple to enshrine them, and all the other witch gods should be worshiped."
Ban it. For example, if there is a witch named Lin from the Min people who calls her Mazu, she can be made the city god."
Zhu Yu said again: "There are many battles in the border areas. We should choose loyal and brave generals from past dynasties and build temples to worship the city god, so as to inspire the soldiers and people in the border areas."
Zhu Ming nodded in approval: "This is an appropriate statement. You ask officials from various places to consult the local gentry and choose to establish city gods in various counties and counties. Remember, worshiping city gods should not be extravagant and wasteful, and should be merged with the Spring and Autumn Society."
The main purpose of the Spring Society and Autumn Society Sacrifice is to pray for and celebrate a good harvest. It is a large-scale folk sacrificial activity every year. It also has the significance of activating the economy. Even people in remote areas will participate, which not only provides the people with faith and entertainment, but also
It is beneficial to local business development.
Zhu Yu suggested: "You can set the date of offering sacrifices to the City God on the local Spring Society Day. In this way, you can offer sacrifices at the same time, and you won't waste money."
Zhu Ming said: "A stele should be erected in front of the City God's Temple to inscribe the achievements and virtues of the City God. During the sacrifice, the officials read the inscription to guide the officials and the people to be benevolent, loyal and courageous, and to do good deeds and accumulate virtue. In the City God's Temple, a main god can be erected as the City God, and the person who accompanies the worshiper is the judge.
such as."
"What the officials said is very true!" Zhu Yu said flatteringly.
The reason for entrusting this matter to Zhu Yu is that he is not only proficient in astronomy and geography, but also familiar with the customs and customs of various places, and he also has extensive research on history, Buddhism, Taoism, and witchcraft.
There were many privately built City God temples in the Song Dynasty. For example, when Su Jin died resisting the invasion of Jiaozhi, he was made a City God by the local people. Later, when Jiaozhi invaded Guizhou from the north, people shouted "Su City God has led his troops to take revenge." The Song army immediately became
The morale was so high that Jiaozhi was so frightened that he hurriedly withdrew his troops and fled.
There were also Song Dynasty officials such as Li Yi and Zhao Rulan who were worshiped as city gods by the people immediately after their death.
People know who a truly good official is.
These Zhu Ming plans to formally enshrine them as city gods. While the imperial court controls folk beliefs, it also sets an example for local officials.
After chatting with Zhu Yu, Zhu Ming looked at Li Yaoguang, who had been sitting quietly.
"You brought a lot of mathematical manuscripts?" Zhu Ming asked.
Li Yaoguang held a large pile in his arms and quickly stood up and handed it to the eunuch.
When Zhu Ming opened it and took a look, his mind exploded instantly.
The first page is full of various symbols, and they were created by Li Yaoguang himself. This guy was afraid that the emperor would not be able to understand, so he specially explained them in words next to them.
Many of the contents in it actually already have corresponding symbols, which is the consensus of mathematics researchers in recent years.
Just like Zhu Yu, although he was far away in Hangzhou, he often corresponded with friends in Kaifeng to obtain the latest academic results.
But Li Yaoguang didn't know that he was working alone at home behind closed doors and had long been out of touch with the mainstream mathematics community.
Ju Ming closed the manuscript and said: "First communicate with scholars in the capital and compare these mathematical symbols. Then you make some changes and show what you have studied to other scholars for discussion."
"Yes." Li Yaoguang responded.
Ju Ming asked: "You only study mathematics?"
Li Yaoguang said: "I also dabble in physics, but I am not proficient in it. I studied Confucian classics hard when I was young, but I haven't touched them again in the past few years."
"Forget it, after you get used to it, go to Taixue to be a professor." Ju Ming arranged.
"Yes." Li Yaoguang didn't say much.
This person is too introverted and a bit crazy, so he is not suitable to be a secretary.
The Tongzhengyuan actually had a secretariat, and Zhu Guoxiang also used people from the Tongzhengyuan. After Zhu Ming planned to let Fu Zhirou go, he also selected and transferred people from the Tongzhengyuan, instead of using eunuchs like the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, there are also eunuchs who serve as life secretaries.
As for the Hanlin Academy, which only had literary artists left, there were also literary and artistic advisors to the emperor, who would be recruited from time to time to take charge of some chores.
The two left separately. Housing prices in Kaifeng were very expensive, so Ju Ming arranged official dormitories for them.
It is a gallery house with a small courtyard, where you can not only live by yourself, but also your family members and a small number of servants.
There is a Society of Mathematical Physics in the capital, which was established by Zhu Guoxiang himself. It is not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. It is allocated financial funds from the royal family. It holds regular academic gatherings and publishes a journal every quarter. There is no membership fee, but the journal needs to be purchased.
After Li Yaoguang learned about the situation, he did not communicate with his colleagues, but went to borrow previous issues of the conference journal.
He read several years' journals in a few days, and only read mathematics-related content.
Then, he replaced his self-created mathematical symbols with mathematical symbols recognized by everyone, and then sent all his mathematical results to the editorial office of the society.
About one-third of the formulas and theorems developed by Li Yaoguang have been published by others.
But there are still two-thirds, nearly thirty formulas and theorems, which are currently brand-new results.
The editors of the Society of Mathematical Physics went crazy when they got these manuscripts and checked them one by one. In less than half a month, this young man became famous in the mathematical circles of the capital, and people came to visit him every day to ask for advice.
Of course, it is only famous in the mathematics community, an academic circle with very little influence.
Various natural sciences are still seedlings and need to be cultivated and irrigated by more people.
Even the imperial examination questions and the natural science part did not dare to be too difficult all at once. Otherwise, it would be detrimental to students in remote areas and students from poor families. This thing needs to be done step by step.
Chemistry, in particular, has not yet been included in the imperial examination.
The people who study chemistry now don't even understand it themselves, they are all doing whimsical experiments.
Mathematics has made the fastest progress, and several basic textbooks have been printed. If you study all these textbooks, you will probably be equivalent to the mathematics level of the first grade of junior high school in later generations.
In the most recent examination, among the questions people encountered, the highest level of difficulty only reached the first grade of junior high school.
Moreover, most of the questions are elementary school content.
For the next national examination, Zhu Ming plans to increase the difficulty, remove all elementary school questions, and make all mathematics test questions meet the standards for the first year of junior high school.
The difficulty of teaching materials also needs to be increased. We are currently compiling textbooks covering mathematics for the second grade of junior high schools.
Zhu Ming called Huan Guo and said: "Choose an auspicious day and I will appoint the eldest son as the crown prince."
"yes!"
The State of Huan has no objections. It is of course good to establish the country's capital as early as possible.
Ju Ming added: "When the time comes, the prince will supervise the country, and the emperor will help handle government affairs."
Huan Guo's expression was extremely surprised.
How can you play like this?
Ju Ming said: "I'm going to patrol the Yellow River, take a look at Cangzhou, and then visit the soldiers in the army. In terms of etiquette, please make some arrangements and remember not to waste the troops."
Huan Guo said quickly: "I obey the order."
In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cangzhou once developed into a prosperous commercial city, mainly because of the many salt fields there.
But thirty years ago, the Yellow River changed its course and then burst its banks several times. Coupled with famines and wars, Cangzhou suffered extremely tragic consequences.
There are saline-alkali lands everywhere, and there are not even ten people left. In recent years, except for the slight revival of the salt industry, other industries and agriculture have recovered very slowly.
By the way, Cangzhou mentioned here has a very large jurisdiction.
It borders the sea to the east, Nanpi to the west, Tianjin to the north, and Shandong (including Wudi, Leling and other areas in Shandong) to the south. These all belong to the territory of Cangzhou.
Such a large territory only covers five counties.
In addition, except for salt farms and cities, the rural population is very sparse, and food depends entirely on extensive planting and low harvest. The regional economy is entirely driven by the salt industry, and grain and cloth must be purchased from abroad every year.
Zhu Ming wants to go to Haosheng to check it out and see how he can recover.
In fact, Zhu Guoxiang should go there. The Emperor specializes in agriculture and probably knows how to manage saline-alkali land.
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This chapter has been completed!