The silkworm disease just passed, and the summer flood in the south of the Yangtze River arrived.

The rainfall in the fourth year of Longqing was much more than in previous years, but the water level in Taihu Lake has never risen above the warning line.

This naturally relies on the Taihu water conservancy project that Haigong has fully built last winter and this spring. Now Taihu Lake has six major waterways, Huangpu River, Wusong River, Baitu River, Taipu River, Wangyu River and Lou River, which greatly ensures the safety of the flood season along the Taihu Lake coast.

However, the counties of Susong and the two prefectures and counties still dare not be careless because the production capacity of the Jiangnan Cement Plant is limited, and a considerable number of river embankments are still earth dams. Moreover, even if the water surface continues to rise, there is still a risk of overflowing the embankment surface. If necessary, sandbags must be used to increase the insurance.

But as time went by, the newly built dam had withstood the test, and the berth guard team was in a state of nothing for most of the time. So the counties removed the strong laborers from work, replaced the elderly and half-aged men to patrol the embankment, and found danger or the meteorological observatory on the east mountain predicted heavy rain, so the men would go back to the embankment again.

Yes, Wuzhong already has a meteorological observatory, and its full name is the Nanjing Imperial Heaven Supervision Suzhou Meteorological Observatory.

Mr. Zhao’s oldest apprentice, Laudeno... Oh no, Bei Peijia followed him south and served as the Nanjing Imperial Heaven Supervisor for two years.

In the past two years, Bei Peijia, who has completely gotten rid of the heavy and extremely risky stargazing for the court and predicted good and bad luck, can finally serve the young master wholeheartedly and explore the true meaning of the universe.

In fact, it’s just a master who is a cow and a horse...

However, Zhao Hao did not let him be a cow or a horse.

When Mr. Zhao asked Bei Peijia to work south, he actually took a fancy to the astronomical students and Yin and Yang people from Nanjing Imperial Heaven Supervision.

The Imperial Heaven Supervision is in charge of astronomical divination, formulating calendars, calculating solar terms, choosing a day to watch, reporting time and other matters. It is a highly technical department. Because it undertakes the special task of "insighting the secrets of heaven", it is naturally treated specially by the court.

In the sixth year of Hongwu, the domineering president Emperor Taizu stipulated that the Imperial Heaven Supervisor personnel were not allowed to move, and their descendants were only allowed to learn astronomical and calendar calculations, and were not allowed to learn other careers; those who did not learn to be a scholar were exiled to the South China Sea!

Therefore, the officials of the Imperial Heaven Supervision Bureau and the "Astronomy Students" who are responsible for astronomical divination and the "Yin and Yang people" who are responsible for choosing a day to watch the geometry were classified as "Yin and Yang Houses". Their family origins and family careers will never change.

So the seven imperial families of Bei, Wang, Ni, Gao, Song, Yang, and Xu were formed. They have reproduced for seven or eight generations over the past two hundred years, and Dingkou has been thousands of...

The children of these families have practiced astronomy, calendar, arithmetic and divination for generations; they also studied foreign languages ​​to compile astronomical and calendar calculation books from Persian food; and mechanical techniques to repair various complex observations and time-reporting devices of the Imperial Heaven Supervisor... In fact, they know more than scholars in the Ming Dynasty, but they cannot join the army, cannot take the imperial examination, and their employment opportunities are very narrow... In addition to accepting the service of the Imperial Heaven Supervisor in the north and south, they also went to the Yin-Yang Office of the Imperial Heaven Supervisor in the residences of the vassal kings, local prefectures, prefectures, and county yin-yang schools, and received a meager salary.

The responsibilities are limited, but the population of Yin and Yang households is growing increasingly. Nowadays, 70% of idle people can only find ways to make a living by themselves. Doing astronomical calendar calculations for shops; those who learn astrology and divination can tell fortunes and figures for others; those who learn geography can read Feng Shui and choose yin houses; those who learn divination can draw talismans for others to treat diseases... This business is very profitable, but the premise is that you don’t kill people.

In fact, the professional level of these ways to make a living is not important. What is important is that you can fool, you can fool you, and you can fool you, and you can't fool you, but you can't fool you, and you can't kill you. And humans with high-end talent such as "fire" have always been less than one hundred. So 99% of Yin and Yang households have eaten the last meal but not the next meal.

Especially the Yin and Yang households in Nanjing who were completely forgotten by the court were all so poor that they turned the guitar and armillary sphere made by Zhu Yuanzhang back then and sold copper...

When Zhao Hao taught his disciples the first science lesson at Yuhuatai, he had already learned about the miserable state of these people on the side of society. After listening to the basic situation of these people, his tears flowed down the corners of his mouth... These are thousands of science students who have studied astronomy, geography, mathematics, meteorological and geomagnetics, and mechanical manufacturing since childhood.

In the Ming Dynasty, which only gave birth to liberal arts students, it was as precious as the virgin in the Kingdom of Women.

Mr. Zhao vowed to make everyone happy, so he kept these Yin and Yang people in his heart, and sent his disciples to rescue them whenever he had the chance... It was not that he was greedy for them.

But sometimes, ideals are full, reality is skinny...

Although Bei Peijia was born in the Bei family, the first metaphysics of the Ming Dynasty, his family became a Beijinger during the reign of Chengzu. To be honest, he was not aware of the situation of these imperial families in Nanjing.

When he arrived in Jinling, his heart was depressed. Because he had been marginalized for a long time, most of these Yin and Yang people in Nanjing were learning and slutty, and their level was quite insufficient.

What's even more impossible is the attitude problem. After being scrambled for a long time, people are tired. No matter how much Bepejia whipped his lips and shouted, he couldn't wake up these guys who pretended to be asleep.

As a last resort, he had to use his trump card to spread coins!

Bei Peijia applied for a fund from his master, and established the Purple Mountain Astronomical Research Foundation in addition to the already rotten Nanjing Imperial Heaven Supervision.

Because private research on astronomical calendars is a taboo, the foundation is not affiliated with the Jiangnan Group. It is a non-profit organization nominally raised by Beipeijia, aiming to improve the level of astronomical research in Nanjing Yin and Ming Yin and Yang Houses.

Zhao Hao allocates 20,000 taels of silver to Beipejia every year as his daily expenses for operating the foundation. If there is a scientific research project commission, there will be special funds, of course, it will be allocated in the form of social donations. In order to make everything more natural, Zhao Hao also helped Beipejia as patrons such as Wang Mengxiang and Hua Bozhen.

Even famous prostitutes such as Xuelang and Zheng Yanru were fooled by Mr. Zhao each of them... At that time, Zhao Hao released the wind through the Red Chamber Poetry Society. As long as he donated 1,000 taels, the Astronomy Research Association will use her name to name a newly discovered star!

What a romantic thing this is. The courtesan will eventually wither, and the stars will be immortal forever! If you can’t buy a thousand taels, you will suffer losses or be deceived. It’s just a few boxes of fragrant powder and a few sets of jewelry money. How can you miss the opportunity to shine with the Weaver Girl Chang’e?

The female historians of Qinhuai were moved and thought that Mr. Zhao was really romantic to the sky. So they all untied their clothes... Oh no, untied them. As a result, the funds raised by the Purple Mountain Astronomical Research Foundation soared to 80,000 taels.

Okay, the famous prostitutes have not earned a penny from Mr. Zhao, so they have let him open it first.

‘The teacher is so fucked for the Ming Dynasty’s astronomy career, he broke his heart…’

But the old apprentice was happy and a little worried. In the future, there were prostitutes all over the sky. If you were to be poked by the ancestor, you would not be afraid of being killed by the emperor, but you would be afraid of being killed by the emperor...

Zhao Hao scolded him for being timid and insisted on naming him with stars? Are 1.27 million asteroids in the solar system not stars? Not to mention the famous prostitutes in the Qinhuai River, they are just for the young ladies of Taishan, the boat girl in the West Lake, the thin horse in Yangzhou, the wife of Datong... and even the prostitutes in the world... right?

In short, with money, things are much easier to do. Bei Peijia threw the rotten Nanjing Imperial Academy aside and focused on running the Purple Mountain Research Association.

He issued a recruitment order to the major astronomy families without any extra words, only a simple and boring price list:

Recruiting senior researcher, with a monthly salary of fifty taels of silver.

Intermediate researcher, monthly salary of twenty taels of silver.

Junior researcher, monthly salary of 10 taels of silver.

Assistant researcher, monthly salary of five taels of silver.

Graduate students, monthly salary of three taels of silver.

This silver-shining order to recruit talents was like a huge rock thrown into a pool of stagnant water.

After all, even the lowest-paid graduate student has twice the monthly money of a skilled craftsman in Nanjing. Moreover, he will never be owed at the end of the month. He will not be able to halve the wind and rain as he used to set up a stall on the street...

The major astronomical families were sensational. The long-numb Yin and Yang people competed to fill out their registration forms, hoping to become a glorious researcher.

But you have to take the entrance examination first. The examinations are divided into four categories: arithmetic, astronomy, geography, and meteorology, which are all skills for Yin and Yang people to eat. More than two thousand Yin and Yang people signed up with confidence, but only 300 people were admitted.

More than a dozen old Yin and Yang people who are indeed good at this are hired as junior researchers and work under the direct leadership of Bepejia.

Dozens of people with solid foundation, down-to-earth and hard-working middle-aged Yin and Yang were hired as assistant researchers to assist junior researchers in their work.

There are more than 200 people who love this and are smart and capable of creating little Yin and Yang, who become graduate students taught by Beipeijia himself... They are the real hope. As for the researchers recruited, Beipeijia is actually not satisfied with it. Their knowledge system is too outdated, and the older they are, the more stubborn they are, and the more reactionary they are, the more reactionary they are.

Beipejia hired them to buy horse bones with a wealth of money, and to use them as humans first... because the tasks arranged by the master were too tight.

After two months of raid training for these people, he started research projects according to Zhao Hao's order, including:

Use an astronomical telescope to carry out astronomical observations and try to verify the rules of the universe explained in "Mathematical Principles of Natural Science".

Organize the astronomical data of the Imperial Heaven Supervision and try to compile a star table.

Use Pei Xiu’s six-body drawing to repaint the star map and establish a mesh grid system.

Moreover, Mr. Zhao has an old problem of thinking about it one after another. One day, he will ask Secretary Ma to write a letter to add a burden to him.

Later, he sent a trial-produced eight-pointer to Beipejia, compiled the "Astronomy Calendar" that matched the navigation clock, studied meteorological forecasting, and even typhoon warnings and other tasks that were increasingly irrelevant to the Imperial Heaven Survey...

But there is no way, the teacher's fate is like a mountain. Bei Peijia had to grit his teeth and persevere in advancing one difficult task after another. Until now, he has barely achieved fruitful results.
Chapter completed!