Chapter 54: The Beast of Burden, Shen Kuo (Manuscript in Progress)

While Wang Pang was organizing people to gather evidence of Li Changan’s alleged crimes, Li Changan’s thoughts had already drifted to the realm of human mathematics.

Without mathematics, humanity was little different from erect apes who merely used knotted cords to keep records—it was a distinction of hair density rather than substance.

Under the Qin system, this land was a saline-alkali desert for mathematics. After more than two thousand years of development, precision measurement had actually regressed.

The goal of being an emperor was simply to rule a flock of illiterates; it was undeniably a culture of the monkey troop.

Fortunately, heaven be praised, two hundred years of chaos had shattered numerous shackles. In the era of the Great Song, civilization was once again encountering a spring of germination.

As long as Wang Anshi—that totalitarian obsessed with "restoring antiquity"—was overthrown, everything would still be possible.

The current problem was how to lure Shen Kuo out to establish a mathematics research institute.

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Shen Kuo was a genius.

His family had long resided in Jiangnan, and for several generations his ancestors had been bureaucratic scholar-officials of Wu and Yue—he was a genuine official-dynasty descendant and a wealthy-dynasty descendant.

He was a rather peculiar person, far too intelligent, to the extent that he looked down upon everyone else.

Whether it was astronomy, geography, military strategy, essays, or the commentaries on the classics, he only needed to glance at them to grasp their underlying principles; a single day of his study was equivalent to three years for ordinary people.

His eyes were set above the crown, disdainful of mingling with vulgar people, and his arrogance knew no bounds.

The sole goal of his life was to become a "sage."

The turmoil of the late Tang and the Five Dynasties had spanned two hundred years.

The orthodox lineage of teachings had been lost, Confucianism had been rendered useless, and various heterodox learning had arisen. The geniuses of this era all wanted to accomplish one thing: to continue the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties and become the teachers of future generations.

With a cultural fault line of two hundred years, whoever stepped forward now would secure a place in the Imperial Ancestral Temple for posterity.

Ever since Fan Zhongyan, figures such as Zhang Zai, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, and Cheng Hao had all been pursuing this grand goal.

To be the teacher of ten thousand generations and the sage of the contemporary era.

It was just a pity that Shen Kuo was too flighty; he always scratched the surface when studying things, and combined with his aversion to socializing, his learning soon reached a bottleneck.

At the age of twenty4, following the death of his father, he entered officialdom through hereditary privilege as the Registrar of Shuyang, stepping onto the career path he despised the most.

During his tenure as registrar, he accomplished only one major deed: taking the Great Yu as his idol, he harnessed the waters.

The Shu River was a plain river that inevitably flooded every summer, encroaching upon people's fields and homes, bringing disaster to the common folk under his governance.

River regulation was a project that heavily emphasized the comprehensive qualities of the chief official: astronomy, geography, hydrology, stellar astrology, civil engineering, labor coordination, collective epidemic prevention...

Disregarding the objections of colleagues and friends, he resolutely launched the great Shu River Regulation Project.

Over five years, he constructed over three hundred miles of dikes, dredged thousands of channels, dug countless ponds, and finally tamed that unruly river, adding tens of thousands of qing of fertile, easily irrigated farmland to the locality. To this day, Shuyang still retains stone tablets and temples built in honor of Shen Kuo.

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In five years, he had put all his ideas into practice, becoming the sage of that time and place. Everything had been worth it.

Just as his superiors were recommending him for promotion, Shen Kuo submitted his resignation. Hereditary official posts were transferred once every three years; at that rate, he would never become a chief councilor in his lifetime—it was simply too slow.

He needed to head to the capital for the imperial examinations, win the title of top scorer, and accelerate his career progression.

With his father gone, the head of the Shen family was his eldest brother, Shen Pi, who was then serving as the Magistrate of Ningguo County in Jiangnan Donglu. He took in his younger brother.

However, Shen Pi encountered the exact same problem as him: water disasters.

Ningguo County had over four hundred rivers of various sizes. Once the rainy season arrived, the hilly county transformed into Lake Ningguo.

If his eldest brother wanted to achieve political accomplishments, he had to regulate the waters.

Thus, after several investigations, he devised a water-control plan for his brother modeled after the polder fields of Wu and Yue—the Wanchun Polder.

This project took another three years, allowing his eldest brother to successfully pass his evaluation and be promoted by three official ranks. Meanwhile, Shen Kuo had finished his review and was full of certainty about winning the top spot in the imperial examinations.

Therefore, in the eighth year of Jiayou, Shen Kuo headed to the capital to participate in the autumn imperial examination, preparing to seize the crown in one stroke.

Unfortunately, although his literary skills and policy essays were exceptionally brilliant, he had forgotten an even more important matter—publicity.

He was far too aloof. While others attended poetry gatherings every day and sought out influential patrons everywhere to submit their introductory scrolls, he cooped himself up in his room reading books, or went to the Ministry of Works to review hydrological archives.

Although he passed the palace examination and became a presented scholar, he failed to place among the top six and could only wait in reserve for a vacant post.

This was the first time in his life he suffered an intellectual blow; there were actually people better at exams than him! When he saw the scholarly lineages of the top three candidates, he was furious.

A bunch of vermin who stained fairness—despicable!

During his year of waiting for a post, he made extensive friends and devoted himself to studying astronomy and calendar systems, wanting to write an almanac that would surpass his predecessors.

To become a sage, after all, there was more than one path.

As his waiting period expired, he was instead assigned to Yangzhou as a Military Legal Adjutant, in charge of criminal law and judicial matters.

After a year of serving as a judicial leader, the people around him simply could not endure him any longer, so they wrote countless glowing evaluations for him and shipped him back to the capital, dumping him in the Zhaowen Academy to compile books in an idle position.

Life had its drastic ups and downs. Seeing that Su Shi, Wang Pang, and Sima Kang—all younger than him—had already achieved success and were far ahead on the path to deification,

Shen Kuo was extremely annoyed. If he continued to languish like this, his dream of achieving apotheosis and becoming a sage in life would be hopeless; after all, the Imperial Ancestral Temple had limited space.

While idling away his days, he often pondered a question: How should he spend the rest of his life?

"Cunzhong, someone is looking for you!" A colleague walked in from outside and shouted to Shen Kuo, who was in a daze.

"Hurry up, a young man with a child. Don't let something happen at your home!"

"Ah!" Shen Kuo let out a startled cry, exerting force with his hand and tipping over the inkstone box, staining his clothes with a large blot of dark ink. Ignoring it entirely, he hurried toward the door.

Both parents were gone, and his eldest brother was far away. With only a few family members around him, nothing must go wrong.

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Running outside the main gate, he only saw two figures dressed in eccentric garments—one large and one small—without catching sight of his son.

"Shen Kuo!" the older eccentric waved, while the smaller one was clutching a sugar figurine.

"Hey! Who are you?"

"Your interview has passed, and I've come specially to notify you of your admission. Don't you remember me? Li Changan, the president of the Great Song Financial Weekly!"

Shen Kuo was momentarily bewildered. He was a dignified academician compiler of the imperial library, and his next step should be drafting imperial edicts; why would he need to go out looking for a job?

He had indeed heard of Li Changan's renowned name; it seemed to be connected to the Qian family descendants, and he had previously thought of seeking out the Qian clan to establish connections.

"Admitted to what?"

"Instructor, researcher, senior scholar! The school has just been established and teaching hasn't started yet, but I plan to set up several teaching and research groups first. If you're willing to join, you can immediately become the inaugural head of the science research group at Bianjing University."

A flurry of terms that Shen Kuo could not understand left him completely unable to grasp the main point.

"Right, Lord Ouyang serves as the honorary chancellor, Su Shi serves as the libationer, and Lord Cao, the imperial brother-in-law, serves on the board of trustees. We are the first formal institution of higher learning in the Great Song."

Shen Kuo was even more dazed. Where on earth in Bianjing was there an institution of learning outside the Imperial College?

"The salary is one hundred guan per month. In addition, we provide research funding, transportation subsidies, high-temperature allowances, full-attendance bonuses, research achievement awards, and so on. There is also paid annual leave."

He wouldn't be tempted by anything else, but when it came to money, Shen Kuo hesitated.

During his days living in the capital, life had grown increasingly difficult. The imperial court was in arrears with salaries, and his family lacked deep financial foundations, making him on the verge of falling into hardship.

Approaching the Qian clan earlier had also been out of a desire to lean on hometown connections and scrape together some silver to survive.

One hundred guan—that was the official salary of high-ranking officials of the third or fourth rank!

"Empty words are no proof!"

"As if I would trick you! Furthermore, I'll add this little one here to be your student, with a monthly tuition of twenty guan. He is Su Zhan's only son!"

One hundred and twenty guan a month—who the hell would still work for free for the emperor? Done!

"Wait a moment, I'll go inside and draw up a contract!"

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"Uncle, why did you make me follow this bookworm?"

"Well... fate, I suppose. He shares a destiny with your father!"