In the autumn examination last year, Yufeng Academy had 86 new successful candidates, and Xiangshan Academy had 20 successful candidates.

Together with the 36 people who had passed the imperial examination before, a total of 142 disciples from the School of Science were qualified for this imperial examination.

However, there were five people including Jiao Hong who had to give up the exam and mourn for their parents and grandparents who suddenly passed away. They did not go to Beijing for mourning... Such a high mourning rate is not a problem with the feng shui of the science school, but a normal phenomenon.

People in this era had a short lifespan, so by the time their children passed the imperial examination, they were already quite old. After they passed the imperial examination, they were overjoyed, feasted and drank excessively for days, and naturally, their happiness turned to sorrow.

Therefore, 137 disciples finally participated in the examination, accounting for 7.2% of the total number of examinees.

The admission rate of the imperial examination in the fifth year of Longqing's reign was 21%, which means that one out of five candidates became a Jinshi.

But the students of the science department received an admission rate of 59.1%, which means that nearly three out of five candidates became Jinshi...

Such a terrifying admission rate completely proves that science is the study of the imperial examination. Even if it is not specially designed for the imperial examination, it can definitely greatly improve the imperial examination results. Now, no matter how much Mr. Zhao explains that their science has nothing to do with the imperial examination, no one believes it...

Of course, information flow was slow in that era, unlike in later generations, when there would be experts who would thoroughly investigate three generations of scientists on the day the results were announced.

With Zhao Hao's deliberate low-key handling, the terrifying admission rate of the Science School disciples was not noticed until half a year later. Then the doors of Xiangshan Academy and Yufeng Academy were flooded with scholars seeking to study...

Therefore, at this time, Xiangshan Academy still maintains its usual tranquility.

In the academy, the eighty-one Chinese candidates had no time to celebrate before they began their long-awaited ultimate special training, making final preparations for the palace examination on the fifteenth of next month!

Moreover, Mr. Zhao will, as promised, personally serve as the main lecturer of the ultimate special training!

Many Chinese candidates could not help but burst into tears of excitement when they thought that they were finally qualified to listen to the teacher’s personal lectures.

It’s not that the senior brothers didn’t teach well, but as disciples, they were never qualified to listen to the master’s teachings, which made them always clearly and painfully aware that they were just insignificant nominal disciples… nominal disciples, not real disciples. At least disciples that were not taken seriously by the teacher!

Now, they have finally passed the imperial examination and can become formal disciples, listening to the teacher's teachings in person. Is there anything happier in the world than this? No!

Mr. Zhao will never admit that he is playing tricks on you...

~~

Although the Xiangshan Mountain in spring is not covered with red as in late autumn, it is still equally gorgeous and eye-catching with flowers of various colors everywhere.

Because Xiangshan was a royal property, felling of trees was prohibited, so the beautiful forest-like environment was preserved. On both sides of the mountain road leading to Xiangshan Academy, towering trees shaded the sun. Mottled sunlight penetrated through the dense branches and leaves, and sprinkled on the unknown wild flowers on the roadside. The gentle breeze rustled the tender green leaves, and the faint sound of gurgling streams made pedestrians feel very happy.

Master Zhao got off the car at the foot of the mountain and chatted happily with Yu Youding, Wang Wuyang and others who came to greet him as they walked slowly along the stone steps towards the gate of the academy.

Everyone was an old acquaintance, the only one worth mentioning was Yu Youding. His nickname was Tonglu, and he was the third place winner of the imperial examination of Shen Shixing. He had been in the Hanlin Academy for many years, and he had a close personal relationship with Shen and Wang. Moreover, he was from Ningbo, Zhejiang, and Ningbo had always wanted to join the integration of Jiangnan and did not want to be marginalized.

At that time, although Mr. Zhao had set up a Jiangnan Economic Mutual Aid Association and added several prefectures such as Ningshaotai, Huichiguang, etc. to it, this peripheral organization was obviously not doing its job. After a year, as expected, all industries in the ten prefectures of Jiangnan were thriving, the market was booming, and scholars, farmers, merchants and businessmen all benefited greatly. The entire integrated area was like a magnet, firmly attracting people and money from surrounding areas, and rapidly flowing to the ten prefectures of Jiangnan.

Those peripheral prefectures can also benefit from it to offset the outflow of population and wealth, but it is impossible for them to keep up with the changes in the ten prefectures in Jiangnan.

People in Shaoxing, Taizhou, Huizhou and other places think this is not bad, but Ningbo is suffering.

Ningbo originally had a Maritime Customs Office, which was the center of foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty and one of the most prosperous commercial cities. However, after the tribute dispute, the imperial court closed the Maritime Customs Office. Later, the international trade center built by Wang Zhi in Shuangyu was destroyed.

After these two heavy blows, Ningbo was severely damaged and became the main target of looting by Japanese pirates. As a result, the rich people in Ningbo fled north to the provincial capital, Suzhou, and even Nanjing to avoid disaster. Merchants went south to Fujian and Guangdong to continue smuggling. Ningbo was completely devastated and finally withdrew from the ranks of the first-tier cities of the Ming Dynasty. Even after so many years of suppressing the Japanese invasion, there was no improvement at all.

Seeing that the ten prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River were developing at a rapid pace and leaving Ningbo further and further behind, the wealthy people in Ningbo were anxious and were the most eager to board the Jiangnan ship.

Yu Youding was old enough to have experienced the 40 years when Ningbo went from prosperity to decline. He also wanted to help his hometown, so he wanted to take the opportunity to persuade Zhao Hao to be magnanimous and allow Ningbo to join. Therefore, he responded to all requests from Mr. Zhao and taught his disciples everything he knew.

Such a good friend who takes the initiative to help, works hard and has a bright future will naturally gain the respect and friendship of Mr. Zhao.

"I'm really sorry to trouble Brother Tonglu again this time." Zhao Hao said with a smile to Yu Youding, who was in his forties beside him.

"Ah, sir, you are right. I am honored to be hired as a tenured professor and contribute to the academy." Even if Yu Youding had to ask for help, he could still remain calm and elegant and said, "Besides, I am a poor Hanlin, and I also need this generous gift."

"It's just a joke." Young Master Zhao laughed. Yu Youding was a generous person, especially fond of entertaining guests, and not cunning. If such a person says he is poor, you must not take it seriously.

Because there is a kind of poverty, not earning too little, but spending too much...

After laughing for a while, Yu Youding couldn't help but sigh: "Young Master is devoted to every disciple, preparing golden dishes and jade dishes for them, but asking for nothing in return. The peaches and plums do not speak, but people come to them of their own accord. It's really admirable."

"Yes, much better than our teacher." Wang Xijue said carelessly on the side.

"There's definitely no comparison." Yu Youding had a similar temper to him, and immediately nodded in agreement.

"Alas, the teacher has passed away, so let's not talk about the past anymore." Although Shen Shixing spoke cautiously, he also agreed in his words.

The teacher who had received unanimous negative reviews from the three was the head of their department, Yuan Wei, the 'Qingci Prime Minister' who entered the cabinet by writing Qingci.

At that time, Yuan Wei was already old and had little energy, and he could not write good articles. So whenever he had to write for social events, or to write poems for Emperor Jiajing, or even official documents for the cabinet, Yuan Wei would ask these three top-ranking students to come to his private residence to draft them for him. If they were not satisfied with the writing, they would first scold them harshly, and then speak ill of them. Especially since he and Yu Youding were from the same hometown, he was even more uncivilized when he scolded people.

Once, Yuan Wei was dissatisfied with his writing of Qingci, and even scolded him: "How did you get the name 'You Ding'? You should call him 'Yu Baiding'!" Then he kept calling him that, and even now some people still call him 'Yu Baiding' behind his back.

Yuan Wei was also extremely stingy. Sometimes when he went to the West Garden, he would lock the door and leave without even preparing food or drinks. The three of them were hungry from morning till night, and always returned home empty-handed...

However, their revolutionary friendship was also formed at that time. The fact that they could enter the cabinet together was unprecedented in the future, and it is not ruled out that it was due to Yuan Ge Lao's "hell training", although that was not his original intention.

~~

As they chatted and laughed, they arrived at the gate of the academy, which was hidden among towering ancient trees.

There are numerous tall magnolias planted around Xiangshan Academy, some of which are dozens or even hundreds of years old, adding a bit of heritage to this young school. The school's gate is simple and rustic, with two cylindrical gray granite columns as the base and an isosceles triangle with the same material and carved patterns as the top.

The four characters "Xiangshan Academy" carved on the door are rigorous and unpretentious, but they are written by the current emperor himself.

Walking into the geometric gate, you will see a wide expanse of playground. In the middle of the playground, there is a tall tower with white walls and black bricks, and composed of square and circular patterns. It was the bell tower of the original temple...

According to Mr. Zhao's plan, Wang Wuyang, who was in charge of the supervision, doubled the height of the bell tower. A clock room was installed on the top of the bell tower, and two-meter-diameter outward-facing circular clock faces were installed on the north and south sides to tell time for the academy day and night.

Although Western clocks had become standard equipment in the homes of the richest people in the Ming Dynasty, it still took the disciples more than half a year to copy their structures. Currently, 90% of the parts in the clock room are made of hardwood. However, the error does not exceed five minutes a day, so it should not be a problem to use it for a few years.

After thoroughly understanding the principles of clocks, the genius disciples also made a huge globe out of brass and installed it on the top of the tower. The globe can rotate with time, making one rotation per day.

So Wang Xijue, a liberal arts man, called this tower "Science Ball".

Because Zhao Hao spent a huge amount of money to build this clock tower, not just for telling time, he also installed a huge Foucault pendulum inside the clock tower.

It has always been Mr. Zhao's long-cherished wish to install a Foucault pendulum in each academy as a symbol of science.

This object is just a simple pendulum, and its purpose is to prove the rotation of the earth. But in order to achieve the observation effect, it must be built large enough.

The long pendulum is twenty feet long, and the weight of the pendulum is fifty-six pounds. It is hung on the beam at the top of the tower. The connection between the beam and the pendulum is specially designed to reduce friction to a minimum.

This pendulum has large inertia and momentum, so it is basically not affected by the rotation of the earth and swings on its own, and the swinging time is very long.

There is an iron pen cast at the bottom of the pendulum, and each swing will leave a scratch on the flat white sand plate below.

According to people's experience, the pendulum should always swing back and forth on one plane, so only a scratch is left on the sand table.

But by observing its actual swing trajectory, people will find that every time the pendulum swings, it will deviate slightly from the original trajectory and rotate.

Moreover, the rotation period is different at different latitudes. For example, in Beijing, the pendulum's trajectory is clockwise, with a cycle of 30 hours.

The further south you go, the smaller the rotation amplitude and the longer the period. You can observe a clear difference in Nanjing and Guangzhou. If you build a Foucault pendulum at the equator, it will not rotate. If you build one in the southern hemisphere in the future, the rotation will become counterclockwise, thus simply and clearly proving that the earth rotates around its axis.

However, only Yufeng Academy has another Foucault pendulum. When the disciples from Kunshan found that the rotation period of the Foucault pendulum of the same size in Beijing was shortened by 18 hours, which was completely consistent with the result calculated by the formula in the book, the disciples were convinced that the earth is a sphere rotating around its axis.

Because those who still don't believe will be fired...