Chapter 502 The World's Progress Requires the Impetus of War

On July 6, the twelfth year of Qingli in the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty envoy was invited by the Abbasid Caliph to help him defeat the rebellious Seljuqs.

At that time, the Seljuks were at their peak. They first defeated the Ghaznavid dynasty, then occupied most of the territory of the Buyid dynasty, and then defeated the Eastern Roman Empire and the Georgian coalition. They were in the limelight for a while.

Under such circumstances, the Song Dynasty envoy defeated tens of thousands of Seljuk troops with only two to three thousand people. The impact and shock it had on the entire Western world was unimaginable.

After all, the country they couldn't defeat was replaced by the Song Dynasty. They were not even the main force of the Song Dynasty, but just the entourage of the envoys, and they could do things they couldn't do.

This also makes the Western world, including the Middle East, Europe, and the entire countries around the Mediterranean, have to re-evaluate and examine how powerful that distant eastern power is.

Therefore, after the news spread rapidly in late July, various countries were shocked. After assessing the situation, they immediately sent envoys with a large number of gifts to Baghdad to meet the Song envoys.

The supremacy of national strength is an eternal truth. When Wang Xuance went to Tianzhu, although the countries treated each other with courtesy, they only sent envoys with property to prepare to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty with Wang Xuance.

After Wang Xuance went to Tubo and Nepal to mobilize troops to destroy the Central Tianzhu Kingdom due to the rebellion in the Central Tianzhu Kingdom, the other Tianzhu countries were shocked and frightened, and the king personally came with his belongings.

For example, King Xijiumo of Eastern Tianzhu sent 30,000 cattle and horses to feed the army, as well as bows, knives, and precious tassels. The Kingdom of Kamelu presented various foreign objects, sent maps, and asked for a statue of Lao Tzu, etc.

The other kings of Western India, Shiluo Yiduo, South India King Zhelou Qibalapo, North India King Louqinana, and the new Central India King Dipo Xina also came to the court to offer sacrifices.

It can be seen that dignity is always only on the edge of the sword, and truth is only within the range of the cannon.

The same is true at this time.

The distant Song Dynasty was a strange country to them. They could not imagine how powerful the Song Dynasty was, so their attitude towards the Song Dynasty naturally depended on the mood of their king.

But once the Song Dynasty shows its powerful strength that can destroy their country, then they must all stand up immediately, otherwise their country will be destroyed.

So in August, the Fatimid dynasty brought an envoy to Baghdad with a thousand kilograms of gold and silver, eighty thousand kilograms of spices, ten thousand camels, and about one hundred thousand kilograms of various specialties, minerals, and herbs produced in North Africa. .

The Eastern Roman Empire sent envoys to deliver 100,000 jins of oil used to make Greek fire, 800 sets of armor, 10,000 bows, spears, and knives each, 2,000 jins of gold, and other special products.

There are also neighboring countries such as Yemen, Oman, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Ghaznavids, Ibadi, Makuliya and other countries who have sent envoys.

By mid-August, the news even reached the Holy Roman Empire in Europe. The Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Kypros also sent envoys.

These countries may not all express their sincere respect to the Song Dynasty, but they hope to understand the reasons for the strength of the Song Dynasty.

In particular, artillery and rifles have become what they are most interested in.

The envoys will not refuse anyone who comes. As long as they are willing to send envoys to the Song Dynasty and pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, they are qualified to conduct arms trade with the Song Dynasty.

Suddenly messengers and orders came flooding in.

In early July, Baghdad was still in chaos, with many people leaving their homes and fleeing here. In less than two months, by late August, it had become busy and lively.

The mission stayed in Baghdad until August 28. After handling all diplomatic matters concerning the missions of various countries, they set off back on the morning of the 28th.

This time they will no longer stop in various countries. Instead, except for necessary supplies, they will return directly to Guangzhou along the route, and then go to Bianliang City.

Soon, in the early morning of the 28th, amid the farewells of the Abbasid Caliph Qaim and the people of Baghdad, the fleet of the Song Dynasty envoys sailed down the Tigris River in a mighty manner.

In addition to the dozens of ships of the envoys themselves, there were dozens of large and small sea ships following behind them. These were envoys sent by various countries and gifts along with the ships.

They will sail on the sea with the Song Dynasty envoy for more than three months, and finally arrive in Guangzhou, come to the distant eastern country, and see the power of the big country.

In the midst of this commotion, the envoys completed their mission perfectly.

at the same time.

The Song Dynasty, far in the east, is also preparing for next year's grand ceremony.

In early September of the twelfth year of the Qingli calendar, four months before the end of the year, Bianliang City became increasingly lively and prosperous.

Starting from the second half of this year, Zhao Jun plans to focus and energy on three things.

One is agriculture.

Agriculture is the foundation of a country. If the people don't have enough to eat and don't have warm clothes to wear, it is the country's dereliction of duty, so agriculture is the top priority.

The second is education.

Agriculture only ensures the existence of this country, but the popularization of basic education can make the country prosperous and developed, so education cannot be slacked off either.

The third is technological development.

This is also the direction Zhao Jun focuses on.

Because after the British Industrial Revolution, in just two hundred years, science and technology changed rapidly and developed vigorously.

Especially since the end of World War II, industrial civilization has been extremely brilliant in the decades since it has developed into the information age. Human beings have also landed on the moon and even set their sights on Mars.

On the other hand, the Industrial Revolution in the Song Dynasty has been going on for seven or eight years, but basically only the steel production has soared, and the rest of the technology has not developed.

Although the Song Dynasty's industrial development has just started and basic education has not been popularized, the most important thing is that the main development direction of the Song Dynasty court in the past few years was not placed here.

If many things are developed freely by the people, they will naturally be much slower.

But if there is a pioneer who already knows how the future should develop, and he also holds the power of the country, with the whole country's strength, the development will be very rapid.

The most intuitive example is Japan.

Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan was extremely backward. After 30 years of targeted development, after the Meiji Restoration, Japan became the only independently developed country in Asia, able to compete with the old industrial powers.

Although the Meiji Restoration followed the path of the old industrial powers in Europe, it was able to copy and plagiarize an industrial system directly from abroad, allowing Japan to quickly complete the transformation of modern industry.

But Zhao Jun believes that Japan's targeted development with the whole nation's strength is very important. Otherwise, why did the Westernization Movement, which was also a reform, fail?

Therefore, Zhao Jun believes that in the next few decades, in addition to vigorously promoting basic education and cultivating a large number of professional talents, this targeted way of researching in a certain direction with the whole nation's strength is also indispensable.

In this way, daily necessities in all aspects will soon be produced in large quantities, and factories will not be limited to textile factories and steel mills. The emergence of such a large number of jobs will become the cornerstone of the healthy development of the country.

"Is this person Shen Kuo?"

"The author of "Dream Pool Essays", a well-known name."

"Well, he was admitted to Bianliang University with excellent grades, and now he is studying for a doctorate in physics. His future is limitless."

In the Institute of Political System, several prime ministers are looking at the list of doctoral candidates in various majors submitted by the Ministry of Education this year, among which Shen Kuo, who ranks first in grades, is clearly visible.

The doctors in the Song Dynasty now are not the doctors in later generations.

The doctors in later generations cannot be said to be rampant, but at least they are not rare.

It is normal for a key university to have thousands or even tens of thousands of master's students and hundreds or even thousands of doctoral students.

For example, when Zhao Jun entered the class in 2018, there were more than 4,000 master's students and more than 1,000 doctoral students at Renmin University. When he graduated, there were more than 10,000 master's students.

The Song Dynasty was different. There are only more than 50 universities in the country now, of which only Bianliang University is a super first-class university, followed by more than ten first-class key universities and an agricultural university directly under the Ministry of Agriculture.

The rest of the universities are normal schools established in the past two years and employee skill training and literacy night schools run by steel plants.

The former is still a regular university, while the latter can only be regarded as a vocational training school.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty is not only seriously lacking in educational resources, but also very few professional talents.

Even with the current full treasury and fiscal appropriations, it is not difficult to run more schools.

The difficulty lies in the current level of relevant research knowledge in the School of Chemistry, School of Mathematics, School of Physics, and School of Biology, which is generally at the level of high school and university knowledge in later generations.

Only a very small number of professional knowledge has reached the level of graduate students in later generations.

And basic education has not been fully popularized. At that time, 100 primary schools were built nationwide. Now, after more than ten years of efforts, there are only more than 1,000 primary schools, basically, there is only one primary school in each county.

And many counties do not have junior high schools and high schools. There are only state capitals or road administrations, which are equivalent to the cities and provincial capitals in later generations. There are only a few junior high schools and high schools, so basic education naturally cannot keep up.

So the level of doctoral students in the Song Dynasty is not the level of doctoral students in later generations.

But it is the level of being able to access the most cutting-edge scientific research knowledge in the Song Dynasty.

It should be barely regarded as a master's degree in a professional field, or a junior or senior level in some majors with relatively backward scientific research levels.

Even if the majors are divided into more detailed categories, such as thermodynamics in physics, it is not even at the junior high school level, and the scientific research ability is extremely lacking.

But even so, the existing doctoral students are already the treasures of the Song Dynasty.

Among them, the largest number of doctoral students is in mathematics. After all, the achievements of ancient mathematics were not low, and there were many studies in advanced mathematics such as geometry, algebra, number series, higher-order equations, and functions.

After Zhao Jun helped to establish the mathematical system, the School of Mathematics has even developed calculus, and other advanced mathematics are also expanding.

Therefore, the largest number of doctoral students is in mathematics.

This year, there are only more than 60 people on the list of applicants, of which there are only 12 doctoral students in physics, chemistry, and biology. It can be seen that except for the level of mathematics, the other disciplines of the Song Dynasty are still quite backward.

However, Shen Kuo took the doctoral exam in physics.

After more than ten years of induction and summary, the existing physics in the Song Dynasty is still uneven. Some majors can reach the university level, some are not even as good as junior high school, and most of them are at the junior high school and high school level.

According to the reported information, Shen Kuo has a lot of research talent in mechanics, optics, and the most advanced electromagnetism in the current physics of the Song Dynasty, and his grades are also ranked first.

If he could successfully complete his doctoral studies at the School of Physics, then with this degree he would receive significant preferential treatment when taking the imperial examinations. In fact, even if his Confucian studies were only at the level of a scholar, he would still be among the top three.

Therefore, it is enough to see how much the Constitutional Council values ​​such scientific research talents.

"In later generations, doctoral students will be the main force in scientific research, and many breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies will depend on them. It is common for a professor to lead several doctoral and master's students in scientific research."

Zhao Jun said: "In the next twenty years, the Song Dynasty will focus on scientific research, increase investment in scientific research, and use the power of the country to comprehensively accumulate knowledge. I believe that within fifty years, it will not be enough to complete all basic sciences." Difficult matter."

“All basic science in fifty years?”

Yan Shu was surprised: "What Han Long means is to raise the level of all science to the stage of later generations?"

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "You may not know that these basic theoretical knowledge has been completed as early as after World War II. By the time we reach the 21st century, basic science has not made any major breakthroughs for a hundred years, because humans have discovered during that period For all the most basic laws of nature, scientific progress is mainly about using existing knowledge to solve regular problems, rather than solving abnormal problems by changing or overturning the basis of existing knowledge, so basic theories can no longer be fruitful.”

"Such a thing actually happened?"

Everyone was stunned.

"Don't underestimate human intelligence."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Many times, a powerful scientist can achieve major breakthroughs. Newton and Einstein are among them. As long as humans focus on scientific research and give birth to a few powerful scientists, it may not be possible to achieve great breakthroughs in the future." Complete the accumulation of basic science in a short period of time.”

"I see, this may be the big technological explosion mentioned in the movie I watched before."

"What a pity. Back then, Lu Yi Jian often lamented that he was born too early and died too early, and was unable to see many things. He only saw the appearance of the train. Now I can understand this feeling. I really want to see what the world will be like fifty years later. What is Song like?”

"Don't even think about it, you old men. It is estimated that Hanlong will live a few more years and live to be over eighty years old. He may still see such a prosperous age. Let's just go into the coffin honestly."

"Hahahahaha."

Everyone laughed jokingly.

Fan Zhongyan suddenly thought of a question and said: "Can it be achieved by relying solely on national promotion?"

"Of course more than that."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "In addition to subjective promotion, certain objective conditions are also needed. After all, the country can only control the general direction. It is difficult for a country to control all aspects of the real details."

"oh?"

Fan Zhongyan became interested and said, "What are your ideas?"

"Of course."

Zhao Jun looked deeply at the door and said softly: "Remember what I once said? My mentor Professor Wen once said that the birth of modern science was due to war, because Europe had not completed its unification, and in order to meet the needs of war weapons need to develop vigorously.”

"so?"

Fan Zhongyan began to think: "You want to start a war?"

"No."

Zhao Jun looked at him, grinned and said: "I just want to bring peace, peace in the name of the Song Dynasty!"