Infrastructure masters in the red building

"Zhou Dezhang, stop for me!"

When this voice was heard, Jia Fang and the fourth prince had not yet left the palace. They were located between the East Palace and the Chongwen Palace used for political discussions, and they were still in the strict imperial confinement.

Jia Fang was taken aback. He had heard from Jia She earlier that Zhou Dezhang was the name of the fourth prince.

The one who dared to call the prince by his first name in this palace was a Huafa old man in official robes, followed by more than a dozen middle-aged officials.The old man walked all the way in a hurry, and the other officials trotted behind him followed closely, and the other two stretched out their hands to help each other, while speaking to persuade each other.

The fourth prince turned around and looked at the person coming, his face was not sullen, but it was obvious that the veins on his neck were protruding, and he was a little nervous.

"This... is the crown prince Taifu Xia Xingshen, and the rest of the officials are all members of the Ministry of Rites, in charge of the etiquette system and... the method of the school's tribute." Jia Fang heard the fourth prince introduce himself in a low voice, he whispered Thank you, and stepped back a little, standing diagonally behind the fourth prince.

"Fourth Highness... You, don't be offended. After hearing what happened to the East Gate Pagoda last night, the boss was very anxious..."

A group of people ran up to the fourth prince, and while Xia Xing was still panting, an official from the Ministry of Rites hurriedly explained to the fourth prince.

Xia Shengshen hadn't recovered from his breath yet, he stroked his chest and didn't speak yet, but he caught sight of Jia Fang standing behind the fourth prince, and immediately opened his eyes, looked at the two of them again and again, with a look of surprise on his face , unable to speak.

So the fourth prince saluted first: "Teacher..."

Jia Fang saluted behind him, thinking that the title of Prince and Taifu seemed to be worthy of the name, and this Master Xia seemed to be the teacher of the princes.

Xia Shengshen finally came to his senses, turned his eyes away from Jia Fang, turned to the Fourth Prince, and asked breathlessly, "The Fourth Highness went to the East Gate Pagoda yesterday, why didn't you let the people in the ministry know first?"

The fourth prince showed a puzzled expression, and asked, "This... such a trivial matter... why do you need to ask the teacher?"

Xia Shengshen immediately pulled out a booklet from his sleeve, held it tremblingly in his hand, and said, "If your Highness is only going to play in Dongmen City, you can do whatever you want; but His Highness is distributing this to the people in public... Your Highness As the Crown Prince, Grand Tutor and Minister of Rites, how could you not inform me in advance?"

On the pamphlet that the old man took out, there were four large characters-"The Principles of Everything", which were exactly what the Fourth Prince distributed yesterday.

Jia Fang listened behind the fourth prince, and at this moment he understood a little bit. The emotional prince and Taifu came here with a group of officials from the Ministry of Rites to question the fourth prince Xingshi because the fourth prince distributed unauthorized "Non-law" publications published!

The fourth prince finally seemed to feel that he was wronged, and slowly bowed to Xia Shengshen again, and said, "It's the student... who made a mistake. The student should have informed the teacher before sending out the book yesterday, and then went...to go."

At this moment, Xia Shengshen finally managed to catch his breath, but he was choked by the fourth prince's words in an instant, he held back, stomped a corner, and said, "Ah—"

"After hearing about what happened yesterday, Master Xia kept talking nonsense. An iron ball weighing ten catties and a rattan ball weighing one catty were thrown from the east gate pagoda at the same time. How could it be possible that they landed at the same time? Objects fall quickly, light objects fall slowly, this is an inherent principle..."

At this time, a thin middle-aged man next to Xia Shengshen opened his mouth, and he continued to speak in a fluent manner that even the fourth prince could not catch up with.

"Your Majesty is young and vigorous, and has a lot of playfulness. It is human nature to want to play around with this matter and make a lot of money, but there is no need to take this opportunity to distribute banned books..."

Jia thought at ease: This guy is really good at debating.At the beginning, he directly ignored the results of the "experiment" of the fourth prince last night, and directly pointed out that the fourth prince played tricks in the experiment in order to "make a fortune".After that, it was mentioned that this "Theory of Everything" is a forbidden book.

Regardless of whether this "Theory of Everything" is a banned book or not, the person in front of him provoked the anger of the fourth prince with just a few words. Said: "You...you you you you, I..." Unable to complete the words.

"Fourth Highness!" Jia Fang suddenly spoke aside.Xia Shengshen and other officials of the Ministry of Rites in front of him immediately turned to look at him.

"I don't know something about Xiaomin. I beg the Fourth Highness to give you some advice." Jia Fang said loudly, his voice directly overshadowing the middle-aged man opposite him.

The fourth prince took a deep breath and had already recovered, and immediately said: "Speak!"

"Last night, Xiaomin was also at the experiment site of the East Gate Pagoda. He once witnessed His Highness experimenting with his own hands. The experiment process was rigorous and the result was very clear. The two balls did land at the same time..."

The fourth prince immediately understood Jia Fang's intentions, and knew that the other party was trying to save him from a siege—here Jia Fang talked about the process and results of the experiment, and the fourth prince just nodded and shook his head, saying "yes" and "no". .

With such a good helper from Jia Fang, the fourth prince immediately lifted his spirits, and listened carefully to Jia Fang's retelling, while nodding repeatedly.

"Absolutely impossible." When Jia Fang was speaking, the middle-aged man in the etiquette department shook his head while listening, with a distressed expression on his face, as if lamenting that people's hearts are not in the past, and the two young Guijie in front of him For the sake of their own selfishness, the younger generation did not hesitate to cheat.

But Jia Fang didn't finish his sentence: "Your Highness, there are indeed people in this world who have preconceived ideas. Seeing that the feathers are falling gracefully, but the gold and iron are falling straight to the ground, they think that two balls of the same size can come first and last when they hit the ground. Why do they Just imagine, what would happen if these two balls were tied together and dropped from the top of the tower at the same time?"

what will happen ——All the people present listened, and the fourth prince couldn't help but his eyes lit up, he already understood what Jia Fang meant.

"This king didn't expect... What does Zi Fang think?" Hearing these fluent words, the fourth prince's mood has completely stabilized.

Jia Fang raised his head slightly, looked directly at the middle-aged man in the etiquette department who asserted "absolutely impossible" and "must be tricky", and said loudly: "In my humble opinion, if it is according to what the lord said just now, the weight will fall Light objects fall slowly. If two balls are tied together, the light ball will fall behind and drag down the heavy object. The falling speed of the two balls should be slower than that of the heavy ball.”

Jia Fang spoke very clearly, and the fourth prince nodded repeatedly when he heard this - the officials from the Ministry of Rites and Xia Shengshen on the opposite side couldn't say a word of no.

"But the problem is that if the two balls are tied together, the weight will inevitably be heavier than the original heavy ball. If the two fall together, they should fall faster than the heavy ball."

"Everyone, why can this assumption lead to two completely opposite conclusions? Isn't it because the assumption that the lord just assumed that heavy objects fall to the ground quickly and light objects fall slowly is completely wrong?"

Jia Fang refuted the "preconceptions" of the middle-aged man in the Ministry of Rites by reductio absurdum, making the other party unable to refute a single word.The fourth prince was listening beside him, and couldn't help but praise loudly: "Good!"

Those complicated arguments and analyzes were all done by Jia Fang, and the fourth prince only needed to be in charge of likes.As soon as his psychological pressure was gone, he immediately felt at ease.

Looking at the middle-aged man in the etiquette department on the opposite side, after being speechless by Jia Fang, his face turned red, and he didn't know what to say for a while.On the contrary, it was Xia Xingshen who stared at Jia Fang for a while, and suddenly asked Jia Fang impolitely, "Who are you?"

Jia Fang expected this question, so he made a long bow and said: "The son of Rong Guogong's mansion, his surname is Jia, his first name is Fang, and he ranks third."

Xia Xingshen probably searched in his mind, confirmed that he had never heard of such a person as Jia Fang, and immediately ignored him.The old man looked at the fourth prince with a sad face, stretched out his hand and raised the "Theory of Everything" in his hand, and said in a trembling voice: "But, Your Highness, this...is the heresy of Xiang's sinners in the past. The name of 'Xinxue' is used to sway the market and deceive the world...Your Highness, how could you do such a thing? How could you distribute such Jin books in the city at will? You...you are the prince of the prison country If you are inhumane and unrighteous, trap Your Majesty in inhumanity!"

The hat was buttoned quite big, but after the fourth prince calmed down, he was not afraid at all, and cupped his hands at the other party, saying: "... I checked the list of Jin books in the Ministry of Rites, and this "Theory of Everything" is not there. Not in it."

Xia Xingshen didn't finish, he continued to say loudly: "No, this book was published when Xiangshi was in power and became popular in the world. Although Xiangshi excused that it was written by someone else, it was actually borrowed from Xiangshi. This book spreads heresy, its heart can be punished!"

The Fourth Prince suddenly raised his voice and said, "Lord Xia, please respect yourself!"

He was really angry, and the words burst out immediately, how could there be any signs of stuttering?

"The reason why this king praises this book is not because it is teaching the truth to people, on the contrary, it is teaching people not to be deceived by false appearances, but teaching people to do it themselves and prove it one by one!"

"Hearing is believing, seeing is believing! Lord Mao, if you were present last night, you would know that your 'take it for granted' ears are the most vulnerable in the face of evidence!" The Fourth Prince stared closely at the eloquent Mr. Mao, a middle-aged man from the Ministry of Rites, was intimidated by his aura, and he really looked a little "vulnerable".

"That said...that being said--"

That Xia Xingshen seemed to be shocked by the smooth and impactful words of the fourth prince, and after a long while, he said: "...But, the fourth prince really doesn't need to do it in public. For this 'evidence', there is no need to publish this "Theory of Everything" and distribute it to ordinary people..."

Jia thought at ease: This is probably the truest thought of these officials from the Ministry of Rites.They believed that what the Fourth Prince did was taboo, not because he did any "experiments" in the East Gate Pagoda, but because he shared these theories with the common people, and even guided the common people to understand and accept the knowledge.

To put it bluntly, this is a question of the right to speak.

The scholar-bureaucrat class is afraid that once this precedent is set, they will gradually lose their voice in the future, and they will disappear from the crowd. What's the point of studying hard for the title of the gold list?

Unexpectedly, the fourth prince slowly said: "This king is willing!"

There is no doubt that Tianjia's demeanor is full.His attitude was both stern and clear: the royal family and the scholar-bureaucrats share the world and so on—that was the previous dynasty, and this dynasty does not accept this.

Now Xia Sheng is relying on the old man to sell the old man, and he puts up the prince's teacher's score, and on the premise that he can't catch the wrong, he still makes irresponsible remarks on the prince's work, so he no longer takes reason.

"This……"

Xia Shengshen's lips trembled, but he couldn't say anything else he wanted to say.

Jia Fang did not expect that he would accompany the fourth prince and confront a large group of officials from the Ministry of Rites in the palace.And judging from the attitudes of both parties, this matter really does not know how it will end.

"Master Xia, make our family easy to find—"

At this time, a thin voice suddenly sounded.

On the steps, stood an eunuch who looked quite old, with two long eyebrows drooping low, which had turned gray.

Xia Shengshen's eyebrows twitched, showing some disdain and displeasure, but he still had to turn around and greet the voice.

"Eunuch Dai."

He was a minister, and the other party was an eunuch, Xia Shengshen didn't even have to raise his arms, but at this moment, the prince and Taifu still turned around and cupped his hands.Jia Fang reckoned that this Eunuch Dai had a high status in the palace.

"The Fourth Highness is here too!" Eunuch Dai ignored Xia Shengshen at all, but turned his head to greet the Fourth Prince, and then looked at Jia Fang.

Jia Fang felt that the other party looked at him emphatically, but his eyes quickly turned away, and Jia Fang didn't know if it was an illusion.

"Preach the Holy Spirit!" Eunuch Dai didn't spend much time greeting others, and spoke directly.

Everyone who stood in front of this eunuch knelt down, only Jia Fang stood out of the crowd, looking at Eunuch Dai in blank dismay.

Fortunately, Jia Fang came to his senses and shrank directly behind the fourth prince.Eunuch Dai coughed his throat, imitated the tone of others, and said, "Xia Shengshen, I haven't seen you for a while..."

Jia Fang: That's how the eunuchs proclaim their love, this eunuch is very good at parroting tongues!

"Since you compiled the "New Meanings of Confucian Classics" four years ago, no new works have been published. In the past, King Qing was not as old as you, and he had already written a lot of books. You are not ashamed to compare yourself with others— —”

The old eunuch's words caused huge waves in everyone's hearts: the emperor directly named King Qing in the oral order, but just now Xia Shengshen called King Qing a "sinner of the Xiang clan".A comparison of the two attitudes reveals the difference.

Xia Shengshen immediately kowtowed repeatedly and said repeatedly: "I am ashamed, I am ashamed——"

"I know that you are getting old, and it is really hard work to take care of my sons. But you and the ceremonial department you lead should have a little idea in mind. Don't wait for me to be helpless, just Only when the ground shakes you one by one, do you know how to panic."

The officials of the Ministry of Rituals also kowtowed their heads along with Xia Shengshen.

"If this continues, I'll just ask the bookstores in Beijing to help you with your affairs."

After Eunuch Dai finished speaking, he pulled his voice and said: "This——"

The people below kowtow to thank you.The old lady Fu Xiaxing was lying on the ground alone in a daze, with a copy of "The Theory of Everything" in front of him, and the pages of the book happened to be turned by the wind, revealing a line of small characters on the title page, "Printed by Tianyi Publishing Co., Ltd." ".

What else is there that I don't understand, what else is there that I don't understand?

The officials of the Ministry of Rituals beside Xia Shengshen hurried up to help the old man up, and Lord Mao could hear him muttering all the time: "The direction of the wind has changed, it has changed..."

After delivering the oral order, Eunuch Dai hurried down from the steps, supported the fourth prince's hand, turned to Jia Fang, and asked knowingly: "This is..."

The fourth prince introduced Jia Fang, and Eunuch Dai quickly came up to salute, with a smile on his face, and it seemed that he was not the same person as the one who announced the "oral order" with a face of indifference just now.

"Our family has always heard that the third son Jia is repairing Huifang Garden. The emperor has always remembered that garden very closely. Let our family ask the third son, is there any difficulty in repairing the garden?"

Jia thought at ease: Difficulties? …The superiors did not allocate people or money, but just issued a decree and asked him to repair the garden. At this time, come to ask him if there is any difficulty?

But it was really impossible to answer that way. Jia Fang told Eunuch Dai that he had finished repairing the two landscapes of Daoxiang Village and Xiaoxiang Pavilion in a few words.Eunuch Dai immediately said that he would remember it firmly and report it to the emperor who was recuperating in the palace outside the city.

"The emperor hopes that the Third Young Master will finish the Fang Garden as soon as possible. At that time, he will visit the garden in person, stay for a few days, and remember the old man."

This meaning is too obvious.Jia Fang and the fourth prince looked at each other, knowing each other: Since the above risks have gradually begun to change, the "Gezhi" principle, which is very similar to the old Qing Dynasty's new learning, will face fewer obstacles, and it can be gradually implemented here. The world has begun to implement.

- That's good!

For a while, the fourth prince sent Jia Fang out of the house, and the two said goodbye outside the palace gate.When Li Qingsong and Zhao Cheng saw Jia Fang coming out, they had already stood upright, waiting for Jia Fang respectfully.

Li Qingsong had already quietly told Zhao Cheng the identity of the fourth prince, but the young man couldn't believe his eyes now: "Oh my mother, our master actually entered the palace, and it was sent by a prince—— "

His chest was so tall that he probably already considered himself the No. [-] servant in Rongguo Mansion.Jia Fang shook his head and said with a smile, "Is it because of father's face?"

Zhao Cheng's chest retracted all of a sudden.

Jia Fang was in a good mood, and told Li Qingsong to go home first to deliver a letter, and he took Zhao Cheng himself: "Follow me to Baigongfang, there is something important."

The two passed the market near Datong Lane together, and happened to pass by a seller of water chestnut.Jia Fang saw that the fresh water chestnut was bright red and very beautiful, but the flesh of water chestnut was white, tender and crisp when peeled off.In addition, he finally had enough money, so he planned to buy some and bring them back to his younger sister Jia Min.

Jia Min should like this kind of aquatic products from the south.

So he asked for some, and the stall owner tore a piece of paper randomly, rolled it into a roll, and put the cooked water chestnuts Jia Fang wanted in the roll.

When Jia Fang took it, he saw that the paper in his hand was somewhat familiar. After carefully identifying it, he suddenly realized that it was nothing but "The Theory of Everything" broadcasted by the Fourth Prince yesterday.