Fu Xiaoguan's eyes lit up and a look of joy appeared on his face.
Dong Shulan asked curiously, "Good article?"
"Excellent article!" Fu Xiaoguan nodded, flicked the paper, and said happily, "One of the hundred students produced such a good article. It's worth all my efforts in brainwashing them, er, no, in instilling new ideas in them."
His eyes fell on the end of the article, which was signed by Chen Shu. He remembered this young man. Along the way, Chen Shu showed great interest in studying things. From this article, it can be seen that he put a lot of thought into it.
This article is called "Gewushuo".
It starts with some examples in life, such as making fire and cooking, which every household does.
The burning wood produces flames, but why can this fire boil the water in the pot?
This seems like an extremely simple question to modern people, but in this era, no one has ever thought about why this is the case.
But Chen Shu asked why in this article and gave his answer:
"I thought that fire generates heat as it burns, and we can all feel the heat released by fire. This heat burns at the bottom of the pot and is transferred through the bottom to the water inside.
The water in the pot is heated by the continuous flame and then boils. The ingredients inside are also affected by the heat, so they are cooked while boiling.
To understand this heat more clearly, I borrowed a word my teacher often said: quantification, and named this heat as heat. So how much heat is needed to boil the water in the pot?
This requires experimentation, and this problem will be solved after returning to China.
When the water boiled, another phenomenon occurred - I found a large amount of water mist overflowing from the lid of the pot, which indicates that this heat is being released. If we use a teapot to boil water, we can find that the lid will be pushed open slightly. I think this heat release process generates a force, which we will call thermal force. It is precisely because of the effect of this thermal force that the lid of the pot is pushed open. If we seal the pot to prevent this heat from being transmitted and continue to heat it, will it eventually explode? This question also needs to be verified by experiments, and I will solve it after returning to China.
Since boiling water can generate such a force, if this force is strong enough, for example, as strong as the strength of a cow, can we design an object to replace cows and horses?
…
I think everything in the world has its cause, for example, fire can boil water, boats can float on the water while stones will sink, and the change of seasons is never affected by anyone, and so on.
The teacher said that the so-called "investigation of things" is to pursue the causes of all things, seek the underlying principles, and then apply them to create corresponding tools. I believe that it is the continuous improvement of tools that drives social progress and development!
What I want to study next is how to apply the heat generated by this heat to our daily lives.”
This is a superficial understanding of power, but what Fu Xiaoguan sees in this article is wisdom and hope.
It seems I have to give some advice to Chen Shu. What if he can invent a steam engine? That would be a huge leap in the development of this era!
Have to try it anyway!
If a railway was built from Jinling to Linjiang, it would be so beautiful to think about it and singing songs while riding on the train.
He put the article aside and picked up the rest of the article to read.
Among them, several articles caught his attention. They all expressed the understanding of the study of things. Although they were not as profound as Chen Shu's, they also had their merits.
Then there were a few articles on economics and business, which were quite novel, but not enough to impress Fu Xiaoguan.
He put all the articles that caught his eye on the other side. It was already 3 p.m. when he finished reading, and there were still a few articles left.
He picked up another one, the article was called A Treatise on Money.
Just the name made him happy, and then he read on.
"I believe that the key to standing out in the commercial competition between the two countries is control over currency."
The opening is clear and to the point, great!
"Looking at the world today, there are only three types of coins minted by various countries: gold, silver, and copper. Gold is the most valuable, because its mineral veins are limited and the amount mined is also limited. Silver is second, and copper is the most readily available. Therefore, copper coins are the cheapest and most widely circulated.
Looking closely at thousands of years of history, human trading methods have gradually evolved from the initial barter to buying things with money and selling things with money. Although the barter method still exists, it is no longer the mainstream.
In this transaction, money plays a role equal to that of goods, which I call an equivalent.
Currency facilitates transactions because it is easier to circulate and has been recognized by all countries over thousands of years of history.
If Dayu controlled enough gold and silver, it could purchase the goods it needed from all the nations. Dayu's territory is the largest of the four kingdoms, so there must be many undiscovered gold mines. I believe we should send professionals to explore for them. With gold, we have everything. With enough gold, we could even buy the entire world!
…
So what should Dayu do if no gold mine is found?
I think that we should vigorously develop domestic commercial trade and shift our national policy from emphasizing agriculture to emphasizing commerce. The prosperity of commerce will lead to an increase in tax revenue. Tax revenue will be collected in the form of silver and money, which will result in more silver and money in the national treasury. The country can use this silver and money to buy the goods it needs from other countries.
The vigorous development of commerce inevitably promotes the advancement of the study of things, because merchants need to produce more goods, which requires more advanced tools. When more advanced tools are produced, the output of goods increases, the cost decreases, and they are needed by other countries. Therefore, selling them to other countries can gain more profits. "
This is a lengthy article that indeed discusses the importance of currency and proposes other methods. In Fu Xiaoguan's opinion, there are certainly many flaws in it, but for young people of this era, it is already a good article with its merits outweighing its flaws.
He looked at the signature of the article, which was not Qin Wenzhe, but Shang Liang.
It seems that Zhongshu Ling Shang Yu put a lot of thought into educating his grandson.
After reading the remaining articles, only one of them made his eyes light up again.
This article is short and concise.
"If you want to stand out in business competition, I think you need a strong military!"
"If a powerful army were to directly invade the Yi Kingdom and plunder it, our treasury would surely be filled."
"You can buy whatever you want. If any country dares not sell... then rob them!"
"In this way, Yu Chao will naturally stand out."
Fu Xiaoguan looked at the name of the article - Shangguan Miao, he laughed, and put this article in the selected batch.
This is a very reasonable article. The accumulation of capital has always been bloody.
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