Meng Zhao's gaze fell on the thick booklet. The cover was worn and the corners were slightly curled, indicating that it had been frequently read. Upon taking a look, he discovered that it was full of arithmetic problems or the owner's questions about arithmetic. After reading it, Meng Zhao stared at Shen Qinghe with curiosity.
Shen Qinghe's tone carried a hint of helplessness: "Dean Gu of Mingde Academy has been eager to see you ever since he heard that you came to the capital. At first, you were busy with affairs when you first arrived in the capital, so I declined on your behalf. Later, you fell ill, and he couldn't wait any longer, so he sent over this book of questions he had accumulated in the past. I was negligent and forgot to bring it to you, so I specially brought it to you today."
Looking at the thick booklet in front of her, Meng Zhao's lips twitched involuntarily. Was this so-called dean messing with her? She was busy with the shop right now, how could she have time to do this? So she handed the booklet back, "I'm sick and I have to open the shop, how can I have so much free time to do this? You were able to refuse before, you can definitely do it now. It's yours!"
Shen Qinghe took the booklet and slowly asked, "Do you know who this Dean Gu is?"
Meng Zhao raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.
"Gu Chongshan, the headmaster of Mingde Academy, could read the Four Books and Five Classics by the age of six, and was well-versed in astronomy and geography by the age of ten. At the age of fifteen, he shocked the literary world with his essay "On the Way of Heaven and Man" and was hailed as "the greatest talent in the world". Although he never entered officialdom and had no official title, many important officials in the court were his students, and even the current emperor sent people to consult him."
Meng Zhao nodded, that's quite impressive. Shen Qinghe smiled and continued, "Dean Gu has an eldest grandson who has never liked literature and prefers business since childhood. He is currently the president of the Beijing Chamber of Commerce."
"The Chamber of Commerce President?" Meng Zhao's eyes lit up immediately.
Initially, because merchants were of low status, they were often bullied and extorted. Later, the merchants gradually discovered that if all the merchants in a place were united, they could achieve some resource sharing and even negotiate with the imperial court in many aspects to fight for the interests of the merchants.
In the event of a dispute, the Chamber of Commerce will mediate to prevent the matter from escalating. The Chamber also has the right to formulate industry standards to prevent malicious competition.
Qingshi County is a small place with scattered businesses and no large chambers of commerce. However, in the capital, almost every industry has its own guild, and some large merchants have joined these guilds. If she wants to establish herself in business in the capital, she must go and see what the guilds are like.
Seeing the change in her expression, Shen Qinghe knew that she had already made up her mind, so she took the opportunity to hold up the booklet again. "Dean Gu has high hopes for the questions in this booklet. If you can solve them, you might gain his favor."
Meng Zhao reached out and took it. "Alright, I'm not planning to go out these next few days anyway, so it'll do."
Seeing that she agreed, Shen Qinghe then tentatively asked, "When you are solving the problems, can I watch you? There are some problems in this booklet that I have discussed with Dean Gu, but we still haven't found a solution. I would also like to know how these problems were solved."
Meng Zhao glanced at him and saw his pure eyes and thirst for knowledge. Her heart softened, and she nodded, "Alright, but make sure you're cleaned up before you come over."
Upon hearing this, Shen Qinghe smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go pack right away!"
When he returned to the Shen family home, Afu had already prepared hot water. Shen Qinghe entered the bathroom, took off his dusty clothes, and immersed himself in the warm water.
Meng Zhao returned to the table, opened the booklet, and began to look through it. The first question was:
"General, the Huizhou granary is 300 li away from the front line. It is known that light grain carts can carry 5 shi of grain and travel 50 li per day, while heavy grain carts can carry 10 shi of grain and travel 30 li per day. Every 100 li, the grain carts need to stop and rest for a day. The front line needs 5,000 shi of grain per day. Ask the grain official of Huizhou how many grain carts should be dispatched each day to ensure the army's supply."
Upon seeing the question, Meng Zhao immediately began to calculate. The light vehicle travels 50 li per day, so it would take 6 days to travel 300 li. It needs to rest for 1 day every 100 li, so it needs to rest twice (once every 100 li and once every 200 li), for a total of 2 days. Therefore, the total transportation time would be 8 days.
The heavy truck travels 30 li per day, and it takes 10 days to travel 300 li. With two days of rest, the total transportation time is 12 days.
Light vehicles can transport 5 shi every 8 days, with an effective daily transport capacity of 0.625 shi/day. Heavy vehicles can transport 10 shi every 12 days, with an effective daily transport capacity of approximately 0.833 shi/day.
If all vehicles are light-duty trucks, then 8,000 vehicles are needed; if all vehicles are heavy-duty trucks, then 8,000 vehicles are needed. Light-duty trucks are fast, while heavy-duty trucks have a large carrying capacity, so they need to be used in combination. In that case, we can arrange 4,000 light-duty trucks and 3,000 heavy-duty trucks.
Considering the owner's fondness for the booklet, Meng Zhao did not write directly on it. Instead, he found another piece of paper, wrote down his solution process, marked the page numbers, put it aside, and then continued to flip through the pages.
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