Chapter 4: Teasing the Elites of the Ming Dynasty
Every ten days, on the 3rd, 6th and 9th, he would attend court.
Today is the nineteenth day of mid-December. The weather in Beijing was cold. Yang felt like he had worn dozens of layers, but his face and hands still felt cold when they came into contact with the outside air.
Today is the day of the imperial court, and Yang Reform himself also ascended to the throne at nine o'clock, letting those ministers blow in the cold wind for a few hours.
One by one, they knelt down on the ground, then shouted "Long live" and knocked their heads. Yang Reform only let the ministers get up according to the rules.
The biggest thing in Beijing is Wei's case of rebellion, but there is another thing that makes the winter capital suddenly explode.
The emperor had people pursue and capture the corrupt officials, demanding that they pay a ransom to redeem their crimes. They used silver to buy back their lives. This matter was quite astonishing. Some said that the emperor only cared about money and not about face, while others said that the emperor was foolish and incompetent. However, some also said that indeed, next year the emperor would change his reign title, and according to custom, he should grant a general amnesty to the world. Having just become emperor and killing so many people would be quite inauspicious. Pursuing corrupt officials and demanding ransom money wasn't necessarily a bad thing; this emperor still had some benevolent intentions.
In short, the officials were in an uproar and began to discuss and attack each other over this matter. However, Yang Reform didn't recognize any of them and thought they were all NPCs. He felt a sense of alienation as he looked at the crowd below engaged in a heated discussion. All Yang Reform had was unfamiliarity.
After a while, Yang Guang sat on the chair and felt bored. So he opened his mouth to speak: "All of you, I have something unclear now, feel very mysterious, also want to ask all of you to discuss."
The grand hall suddenly fell silent, with everyone staring at the emperor, wondering what kind of question he would ask.
"It was like this, yesterday I had a dream, in the dream, a divine person told me that as long as I could fold an ordinary piece of paper thirty times, I would be able to create fifty Tai Mountains. I thought it was very mysterious and unbelievable, but the divine person told me it was possible. I found it inconceivable, so after thinking about it, I decided to share this problem with all of you, my dear officials. Can anyone tell me why? Is it possible?" Yang said.
As soon as this question came out, all the ministers below were stunned. What kind of problem is this? A piece of paper can also be folded into a height of fifty Tai Mountains. Impossible, absolutely impossible! If that's the case, why bother going to Mount Tai to worship heaven? Can't we just worship heaven directly on a piece of paper?
The ministers all said it was impossible and nonsense.
"You all say it's impossible, but the divine person in my dream told me that it is possible and absolutely true. Could it be that the divine person was wrong?" Yang reform made an impossible expression.
"That divine person told me that practice makes perfect, if you don't believe it, you can try it yourself with a piece of paper." After finishing speaking, Yang Reform waved his hand and the small eunuchs immediately handed out the prepared papers to the various ministers.
"My dear colleagues, to be honest, I also don't believe that this small piece of paper can be folded a few times to reach the height of fifty Mount Taishans. So, my dear colleagues, please try it out for yourselves." Yang Reform said again.
The following dignitaries were all looking at each other, a piece of paper could fold out the height of Mount Tai, and there were still fifty, this was really too hard to believe. Some officials began to fold the paper in their hands.
……
"I report to Your Majesty, this old minister has folded it once, but at most can only fold nine times, no more. This is the result of my folding." After saying that, the elderly official, with a dignified demeanor, raised his hand to show a small white thing - a piece of paper that had been folded nine times.
"I report to Your Majesty, this old minister has also been defeated nine times and can only be defeated so many times."
"I report to Your Majesty, I seem to have failed eight times."
"...Your humble servant has also been eight times."
"...seven times"
The following ministers also spoke out their own numbers in a cacophony of voices.
Yang Reform smiled and said: "You all love to say that it is possible to fold thirty times higher than Mount Tai?"
All the ministers were stunned, looking at the paper in their hands, and couldn't understand how this ball of paper could be higher than Mount Tai?
"I humbly report to Your Majesty, I, your old minister, think it cannot be done."
"I humbly report to Your Majesty, I also think it cannot be done."
"...cannot..."
"...estimated cannot..."
……
The ministers almost all said no, or else they were silent.
Yang Reforms smiled and said: "Since all of you, dear officials, say it can't be done, but that divine person told me it can."
"I implore Your Majesty, you mustn't believe those treacherous words! How can that be? It's clearly a demon trying to deceive Your Majesty."
"......Yes! It's a demon......"
"Monster..."
"......Yes, it's a demon!"
……
All the officials below echoed that it was unreliable to say that she was a demon.
Yang's reform had been prepared for a long time, preparing to discuss some scientific things in this environment where national affairs are discussed, using science to strike at the corrupt, narrow-minded and ignorant bureaucrats. Yang's reform, although completely ignorant of being an emperor, yet far surpasses the scientific knowledge of this era, not showing off this, would he show off the imperial power tactics?
"All of you said it was unreliable, but a certain god proved it to me and made me admire him with five bodies cast on the ground." Yang reform only cared about himself speaking, but didn't know he had misspoken. The emperor's place has five bodies cast on the ground, isn't that for others to kowtow?
Fortunately, the people in the great hall also didn't pay much attention and were all thinking about how the godlike person mentioned by the emperor would prove himself.
Yang waved his hand in reform.
Several small eunuchs hastily carried some things into the Taihe Gate, covered with silk, and it was unknown what was inside.
A small eunuch lifted away the silk, revealing a large stack of rice paper inside.
Yang Reform said: "Everyone, please take a look. This is a stack of paper that is commonly used as Xuan paper. Note that it is tightly compressed. It's about one foot high and has approximately two thousand sheets of Xuan paper, so each sheet of Xuan paper is roughly one-twentieth of an inch high. If you fold it in half once, then this stack of paper will become two feet high, and the height of a single sheet of paper will be two-thousandths of two inches high. The second time you fold it in half, the height of a single sheet of paper will be two-thousandths of four inches high..."
"...by the eleventh time it was probably over a foot high, or more precisely two thousand two hundred and forty-eight inches."
"The twentieth time already had more than two hundred and sixty-two feet."
……
"The twenty-fifth time was probably over eight thousand feet."
……
"The thirty times that, it's already about 268,566 feet, which is roughly 26,000 to 27,000 zhang high. How tall is Mount Tai? It's probably around 400 to 500 zhang high, even if we say it's 500 zhang high, then it would be over 50 times the height of Mount Tai..."
Yang's words had already shocked those officials beyond compare. In their minds, Mount Tai was a symbol of loftiness, but they never expected that a small piece of paper could be as high as fifty Mount Tais if it were folded thirty times.
Actually, this is a math problem. The thickness of a piece of paper multiplied by 2 thirty times in a row. It may seem thin at first, but after multiplying it by 2 thirty times, you'll find that it's actually a terrifying height.
Silence, absolute silence.
Stillness, absolute stillness.
Deathly silence, absolute deathly silence.
A group of senior officials were already stunned by Yang's reform, standing still and unable to move, the shock they received from this matter today was simply too great.
"My dear consorts, which of the gods in my dream do you think is a demon?" Yang asked with a smile.
The ministers below were all silent and still, without a single sound or anyone speaking up.
Yang thought with a sense of complacency, "You bunch of useless goods, I can make you dizzy with just one math problem. Dare to fight me? You'll be done for. In the future, you'd better listen to me more often, or else you'll be done for."
Half a moment later, the ministers came to their senses and stood silently in the great hall, their eyes fixed on the ground in front of them as if they could see flowers blooming.
"Disperse for now, all of you go back and find an accountant to recalculate using my method, see if I made a mistake or not." After finishing speaking, Yang Guifei turned around and left without looking back, as for the government affairs, let's talk about it next time.
Then, in the last few days of Tianqi 7th year, in the heart of the Ming Dynasty, within the capital city, many high-ranking officials who attended the imperial court were at home looking for people to fold rice paper, and then found a dozen accountants to calculate. The abacus was clicking away, and the servants had no idea what their masters were doing. Later, it was learned that the emperor had been taught by a divine person in his dream, telling him of a strange method that could make a piece of rice paper higher than 50 Mount Tais. Good heavens! Fifty Mount Tais! Isn't Mount Tai said to be the highest mountain under heaven?
Emperor.
In dreams.
Godly person.
Impart
This topic became the hottest topic in the capital of the Ming Dynasty on the last day of the seventh year of Tianqi.
