The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 82

[82. Chapter 82 Genius]

When he saw Fang Jifan exposing himself, Zhu Houzhao blushed slightly: “Why are other people’s fathers so good?”

Fang Jifan said in surprise: “I wonder who the father your Highness is talking about is?

” Your father!” Zhu Houzhao glared at him again, then shook his head: “My father is becoming more and more violent. He is obviously so kind to all officials, but he is becoming more and more harsh towards me. I will not be able to survive. Ah.”

Another sigh.

Fang Jifan hurriedly said: “Your Highness has another scar on his body. It’s amazing. This is the mark of a true man.”

Zhu Houzhao squinted, still not seeming to be happy.

It seems that this set has been immune.

Fang Jifan sighed and mourned for him: “Your Highness, getting beaten is a common thing for soldiers. It can strengthen the muscles and bones, and strengthen the body.”

“…”

Fang Jifan suddenly laughed dryly, uh… a little embarrassed… then lowered his head, Looking at Zhu Houzhao’s papers, there were stacks of dense manuscripts. Fang Jifan became suspicious. He had never seen His Highness the Crown Prince working so hard: “What is Your Highness doing?”

“Count it!” Zhu Houzhao suddenly bared his teeth: “I know why yesterday Will you be beaten? Just because of this calculation, isn’t it the end of the year? At the end of the year, the treasury has to convert money and grain, and the Ministry of Revenue has to check the accounts. Yesterday, I accompanied you in the Nuan Pavilion to listen to my father and Master Liu. Speaking of this matter, I thought to myself, this is a good thing. I am also interested in arithmetic, so I told my father to let my son do the arithmetic. When my father heard this, he was not happy and said that I If the palace doesn’t read the Four Books well, what’s the point of studying the classics and arithmetic?”

Fang Jifan couldn’t help but frown, no, although the status of arithmetic in the Ming Dynasty was not high, it was better than those who were ignorant, and they were not ready to be beaten. the point.

When Zhu Houzhao said this, he couldn’t help but patted his face gently, and said with a depressed look: “I am confused…” He became heartbroken and said: “I actually made a mistake and answered my father that this march In war, there is no way to understand the principles of arithmetic. Otherwise, how can we calculate the number of bandits from the marching pots? How can we calculate money and food, and how can we reasonably match the horse and infantry? I told my father that the method of generalship is actually a matter of arithmetic. The law, the formation of troops… is also the method of arithmetic… the result…”

This is because of his low IQ. Fang Jifan looked at Zhu Houzhao seriously and murmured in his heart, maybe His Highness the Crown Prince also has brain retardation.

Hmm…it’s possible!

In this Ming Dynasty, in addition to the great martial arts achievements of Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Wen, especially after the Tumubao Incident, it has become taboo for the emperor to go out to fight. However, the emperor does not think about the art of the emperor, does not study the Four Books and Five Classics, and learns the principles of the saints, but is full of thoughts about fighting and killing. This is even more disrespectful.

This is the current trend and it cannot be changed.

Zhu Houzhao gritted his teeth: “I must calculate it, even if I get beaten, I must calculate it.”

At the end of the year, when it was time to do the calculations, there were specialized personnel at the Ministry of Household Affairs to do the calculations. Fang Jifan curiously took out a book. Browsed through it at a glance.

It’s probably like this: ‘In March of the eleventh year of Hongzhi, 110,000 catties of silk, 330,000 pieces of cloth, 93,423 taels of silver, and 540,000 shi of grain were put into the treasury…”

This dense data made Fang Jifan’s scalp numb. The

so-called taxes in the Ming Dynasty were mainly based on physical objects. Therefore, those who study history take a look at the annual silver that the Ming Dynasty put into the treasury, and it was probably only a few million taels. Shangxia, compared to other dynasties, is shockingly low. But in fact, the tax revenue is only a small part of the small part. What is really put into the treasury on a large scale is silk, tea, grain, and even porcelain. Including countless materials, these various materials are the important financial resources of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the calculation methods of cashiers and accounting in this era are really too primitive. The personnel who check the accounts are just doing the accounting one by one. Add, add, subtract.

But think about it, one Jiangsu government has such a huge amount of calculations, how about putting it in two capitals and thirteen provinces? There are losses. Since there are entries in the accounts, naturally there are also cashiers in the process. Therefore… the account department’s accounts of accounts at the end of the year are extremely huge, and the algorithm of such additions and subtractions may not be accurate and need to be repeated over and over again. As for the calculation of three, because the amount of calculations is staggering, specialized personnel must work separately to do the calculations, and finally summarize them.

Fang Jifan squinted and looked at the stack of books on his desk, and he couldn’t help but get excited. Damn.

Zhu Houzhao’s eyes were bloodshot. He had stayed up all night just to bet on this.

In fact, Zhu Houzhao also had a stubborn side. Historically, he had to sneak away to Datong every now and then, screaming to go .

You can tell it by beating the Tatars.

But… Fang Jifan himself felt numb when he saw the densely packed account books. There were only a dozen or so people in the accounting department, and it took many days to do the calculations repeatedly. , I am afraid that I may not be able to get an accurate number.

How can you, the Crown Prince, calculate it in vain?

As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao buried his eyes on the document again, and he couldn’t help but complain in a low voice: “Just now. Where is the palace? It’s all your fault, Lao Fang, you have taken my heart.

“I’ll do the math!

“

“Fang Jifan couldn’t help complaining about this cheating kid, but he still felt sorry for him. Although the two were almost the same age, Fang Jifan was a man of two generations, and his mental age was enough to be Zhu Houzhao’s eldest brother. Seeing Zhu Houzhao like this, Fang Jifan calmed down and said, “Bring me the account books and show them to me one by one.

Zhu Houzhao looked at Fang Jifan in surprise: “Can you still count?

“

“

“I am a fortune teller! “Fang Jifan sat down and first took out an account book.

In terms of arithmetic level, although Fang Jifan is a liberal arts student, he still has enough advantages to crush people of this era. To put it harshly, he can just throw away a calculus or… The Pythagorean Theorem or calculus were enough to improve the arithmetic skills of ancient people for hundreds of years.

Of course… Fang Jifan did not intend to use arithmetic, because even if he used his special skills to check the calculation, he would have to spend at least a day or two. , in order to sort out these account books, then…how to get the real answer?

In fact, it’s very simple… The annual income and expenses of Hongzhi’s eleven years were already in Fang Jifan’s mind.

Those who study the history of the Ming Dynasty should not only study the characters. As a scholar, simply starting from the characters is at the level of civil science. In the previous life, materialism was advocated. What is materialism? That is to deduce the social background based on the level of productivity. This is what it means to say that the economic base determines the superstructure.

Therefore, to study the Ming Dynasty, we must first understand its productivity. Where can we study the productivity? Naturally, it is derived from the annual revenue surplus of its treasury.

Therefore, a real researcher is different from ordinary enthusiasts. Enthusiasts tend to be more partial to characters and make their own judgments about history based on the quality of the characters. Researchers, however, tend to prefer boring data. The success or failure of Zhang Juzheng’s reforms is actually closely related to the vast amount of grain, silk, and silver in the Ming Dynasty records.

Fang Jifan has a clear memory of these data. On the one hand, he has a good memory, and on the other hand, this is his own job.

But knowing the true figure of this year’s annual income, Fang Jifan couldn’t throw it out in a hurry. Since he wanted to help Zhu Houzhao, then… he had to pretend to be the same.

So he started to look down at the account book and muttered nonsense words like “one three makes three” and “two three makes six”. He looked like an old god was there.

Zhu Houzhao couldn’t help but look a little suspicious, Lao Fang…really knows how to count?

It looks quite professional.

He looked down at the boring book and simply… handed it to Fang Jifan.

As a result, Fang Jifan pretended to check the account books one by one, while Zhu Houzhao happily poured him tea and water: “Old Fang, is it cold or not? Do you want some more coal?”

“Let’s go.”

(End of chapter )

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