"It's so bitter and cold in Liaodong, and most likely no one will care about it. Otherwise, the old county guard wouldn't have guarded Youzhou for such a long time." Zhang Dashu thought.
Zhang Xiang's face was solemn, "As Xu Jingzong said, the Diplomatic Academy in Liaodong needs to be run, and Zhang Yang also explained that it is very important to the Diplomatic Academy."
The three of them looked solemn and remained quiet for a long time.
Xu Jingzong thought about it, "Da'an was placed in Liaodong because the Liaodong strategy was written during the imperial examination. Your Majesty has just reorganized the civil service, and the imperial examination will be held next year. The fastest way to send people to Liaodong will be next summer.
"
To seize power, we must control Liaodong, and even more, we must develop Liaodong.
The three of them are now facing a very serious problem, that is, how to prevent His Majesty from paying attention to Liaodong and put Liaodong aside in the government affairs.
"I don't know what Zhang Shangshu is doing now." Xu Jingzong said suddenly.
"If he were here, maybe there could be something done?" Zhang Dashu said.
The two people in front of them had great trust in Zhang Yang. They were ministers of the Ministry of Rites and in charge of the Diplomatic Academy. Everyone had to listen to Zhang Yang's orders and arrangements, no matter how they were superior officials.
He was alienated from political affairs. Whenever he encountered any difficult decision, the three ministers would discuss it together.
The three people in the room were still discussing. Dizhisun walked to the door of the Foreign Affairs University. There were more pedestrians on the street than usual. It was the New Year and many families were traveling together.
Looking at the heavy snow, Di Zhisun felt like he had nowhere to go. After thinking about it, he walked back to the courtyard. In the backyard here, there is a row of houses. Many civil servants who can't find a place to live in Chang'an City will live here.
.
You don't have to spend money to stay here. Usually this place seems crowded, but now it is quite empty. There are only three or two beds with quilts on them.
Dixon opened his quilt, took out a volume of books, and sat quietly reading.
One year has passed since Li Chunfeng's armillary sphere was completed last year, and Yuan Tiangang has been exploring a problem this year.
Inside Qintian Prison.
Now Yuan Tiangang has rolls of sand table measurement results in front of him. Iron pestles of the same length were used in all places.
There must be a lot of discrepancies in the results. The places chosen are the most distinctive among the mountains and terrains, and they are also far apart.
Yuan Tiangang nodded and stroked his beard and said, "Where is Zhang Yang? I want to see him."
Li Chunfeng, who was sitting nearby, was studying a math question in front of him. This question was originally given by Zhang Yang to the Imperial College, saying it was a question for the imperial examination.
This question is not difficult at all. It is just a matter of obtaining the result through integer division and conversion of various numbers with different properties.
This kind of questions helps people understand numerology. In the past, he would compete with others on numeracy operations. But now, arithmetical operations are a very boring and boring thing for him, and he prefers to study sequence of numbers.
itself.
"Did you hear what I said?"
Li Chunfeng finally came to his senses, "What did Taoist Yuan say?"
Yuan Tiangang said melancholy: "You were all afraid that I would go crazy. Now I see that you specialize in mathematics and you are already going crazy."
He took two steps forward and then said: "Chunfeng, you were quite intelligent when you were young. Don't you understand it now? Zhang Yang is leading you to an endless realm. That realm is not something you and I can master."
Li Chunfeng put away the book and stood up, "What does Master Yuan mean by the deeper realm of numeracy?"
Yuan Tiangang closed his eyes and said: "As soon as the wind and snow stop, I will go find Zhang Yang and ask him."
It snowed heavily for five days in a row. When the snow stopped, Zhang Yang took his family to Lishan Mountain.
The imperial court is also on hiatus, so I come to Lishan to have a good rest, relax physically and mentally, and build a new home.
Xiao Wu and Xu Hui were very playful when they arrived in the village. Zhang Yang listened to the two little girls cooing while tidying up the furniture, and planned to take the little bear to Lishan to play together, which seemed quite adventurous.
The two aunts were carrying a large box. Inside this box was the gold that had been robbed, and it was also the source of Li Shimin's heartache.
"Your Highness, where should I put this box of things?"
"Now that the new home is not liveable, we definitely can't put it on the mountain. Let's bury it in this yard. It can be used for emergency purposes if necessary."
Seeing the two girls walking up the mountain with the little bear, Aunt Wang worriedly said: "Your Highness, Xiao Wu and Xiao Hui have gone into the mountain."
Li Yue took one look and smiled: "You are very sensible. I will bring them back before dark."
When Zhang Yang walked out of his house, he saw that there were still piles of snow on both sides of the road in the village. The air at the foot of Lishan Mountain was cold. When the weather cleared up for two more days, the snow would have melted.
"Marquis of the County, please go and see His Highness King Wei." Two guards came with sad faces.
"What's up with him?"
"I don't even know about my humble position. Now the King of Wei is crying and howling."
Just be a cash cow for Lishan. As long as this little fat guy makes money, his life won't be any worse.
Li Tai built a small courtyard in Lishan Mountain, which became the new Prince Wei's Mansion.
He would not go back to Chang'an City unless necessary. He said that he felt nauseous as soon as he entered Chang'an City, and he didn't know what was wrong with Chang'an City that caused him to have such symptoms.
"It's my king's money."
Li Tai's cry could be heard in the courtyard.
After another glance at the guards in front of the door, Zhang Yang stepped in and asked, "His Royal Highness, King Wei, how are you these days?"
Li Tai wiped away his tears and choked, "A lot of Turkic cattle and sheep died again. Brother-in-law, we have lost a lot of money. How about we stop taking the contract?"
"Why not contract? We should take advantage of this moment to buy in large quantities."
"What?" Li Tai was so shocked that he even stopped crying.
Seeing his brother-in-law's overjoyed face, he rubbed his eyes in confusion, "What did your brother-in-law just say?"
"I say we should buy in large quantities now to control more pastures."
Li Tai stood up, his expression still a little dazed, "Wait a minute, why did my brother-in-law say this?"
"If something like this happens in the pasture, it will affect the number of sheep in the coming year. If the herdsmen have fewer livestock, they will naturally be willing to sell the pasture to us. Send people to see the situation of the Turks and see if they can collect more pasture. By the way, we will
The pasture that was contracted last year, let’s hurry up and negotiate the contract price for the coming year now.”
Li Tai made some calculations and realized that the most fertile pasture north of Yin Mountain was already in the hands of Li Shan. If he wanted to expand further, he could only choose the pasture west of Yin Mountain.
The little fat man walked back and forth thinking.
"Your Highness, King Wei, don't miss this opportunity before you come back. I have already given the woolen cloth to your father and your mother. I will officially start selling the three thousand feet of woolen cloth next month."
"How much money can you make from three thousand feet of woolen cloth?"
"Just treat it as a luxury item. As long as it opens up a market among the rich and powerful, you won't have to worry about selling it."
"How much silver per foot?" Li Tai asked hesitantly.
"Then it depends on King Wei, how well your father and mother sell our wool. Everyone loves beauty. People wear thick clothes in winter. The biggest advantage of this kind of fabric is to wear the least clothes and enjoy the best.
Warming effect.”
Li Tai looked at his bloated clothes again, and even I didn't use the fabric spun from wool.
"We will arrange for people to go to the grassland to lobby again. If Ashnadur knows about it, I'm afraid he won't be able to do good."
"Don't worry, he won't be able to go to Turks in the next two years."
"Yeah?"
"I arranged it."
Zhang Yang and his brother-in-law were discussing the plan for the grassland. The guards came quickly and interrupted the conversation, "The County Marquis, His Highness the King of Wei, Taoist Priest Yuan and Taoist Li Chunfeng are here."
Li Tai quickly said: "Please come in quickly."
Zhang Yang said with a smile: "Please make preparations early, and I will go back."
"The county marquis stays." The guard took another step forward, "The two Taoist priests are not here to see His Highness King Wei, but to see the county marquis."
Zhang Yang nodded and said: "Then invite people in."
Li Tai was in a good mood, "I heard that because of the sand table incident, the two Taoist priests sent a lot of people to build the sand table this year. I also want to know how the progress is."
People have always been curious about the world.
The time and energy required to explore this kind of truth are unimaginable, and sometimes even require persistence for several generations.
Not to mention Datang without the support of industry.
Not long after, the guards took the two Taoist priests outside the courtyard.
Yuan Tiangang walked into the courtyard first. He did not speak, but sat down cross-legged and took off the baggage from his shoulders, and then slowly opened it.
Seeing the compass and the whisk, Zhang Yang couldn't help but curiously asked: "Does Taoist Yuan also want to perform rituals?"
Yuan Tiangang sat upright, "I never do anything to fool the villagers."
Feeling confused again, Zhang Yang stepped forward to look at him with his hands in his hands and then asked: "You look very solemn when you sit like this."
Yuan Tiangang took out a scroll of bamboo slips and said, "These are the descriptions of the sand table that I sent people to various places, covering thirteen places in the Central Plains. There are people further north who have not sent the results."
"north?"
Yuan Tiangang nodded, "Deeper to the north, I don't know if he died halfway."
Zhang Yang took a breath of cold air. In order to achieve success in life, the ancients could talk about life and death so lightly. If they really died on the way, he couldn't help but sigh: "For the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty."
Yuan Tiangang held a fly whisk in his hand, "These descriptions are all different, but I still can't understand them. I need the guidance of the county prince."
Taoist priest Li Chunfeng also stood aside and saluted.
The attitude of the two of them was very serious. Zhang Yang picked up a scroll on the ground and opened it to read. It was brought from Lingnan. It contains the daily changes of the sand table, recording a total of one hundred and fifteen days.
He picked up another volume and looked at it carefully.
After a while, Li Chunfeng said again: "May I ask the county lord if there are any results?"
Zhang Yang said loudly: "Bring a pen and paper."
Li Tai moved quickly and brought an inkstone, a pen, and Lishan's unique rough paper from the house.
Everyone looked intently and saw Zhang Yang drawing a circle on the paper.
Li Tai confirmed that he had read it correctly, it was just a circle and nothing else.
Li Chunfeng was about to ask something when he saw Zhang Yang starting to write again.
A straight line passes through the center of the circle and comes out from the other end, and another line goes down from the top, and the two lines pass through it.
Zhang Yang continued to draw with a brush, "For example, this is Lingnan, and the sand table traces here are one and a half inches."
After marking it, Zhang Yang picked up another volume and said, "Handan, two inches and seven."
Still picking up a roll, Zhang Yang continued to mark the circle, "Hexi two inches and nine."
"Shuofang, three inches."
After marking the thirteen places, Zhang Yang put down the pen in his hand.
Yuan Tiangang looked at the circle with bated breath, "What does this mean?"
Zhang Yang smiled and said, "Didn't Taoist Yuan notice it? The further north you go, the longer the scratches on the sand table become."
Li Chunfeng nodded, "That's true."
"Are we really on a ball?" Yuan Tiangang said to himself in a daze. Faced with this truth, he felt a chill running down his spine. What have people been pursuing for so many years?
Li Tai ate dried fruits in his mouth, "Why can we conclude based on these that we live on a ball?"
Li Chunfeng explained: "Your Highness, King Wei, if the earth is really rotating, the upward point of the hemisphere will be faster. If a sand table is placed on the upper edge of the ball, the traces on the sand table will continue to draw circles."
Zhang Yang looked at the items in Yuan Tiangang's baggage and said, "Taoist Master Yuan, you have a good compass, can you give it to me?"
Yuan Tiangang's eyes were still on the picture, "Just take it."
Leaving Yuan Tiangang here in a daze, Zhang Yang walked out of the yard with the compass and looked at the wooden compass again. Various labels and symbols were written on the edge of the compass. If he read correctly, this should be an astrological compass.
Used to establish the position of the stars and determine the calendar.
This is a good thing, it will help my daughter-in-law learn the latitude and longitude.
Never underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. I heard that they could use this compass to determine the coordinate system.
Zhang Yang returned home with the compass and rummaged through his wife's box.
This made Li Yue unhappy and said: "What exactly are you looking for, husband?"
"Is the Taichu Calendar volume you read before still there?"
Li Yue opened another box, and all the Chinese books were in this box.
At that time, there was a guy named Gongsun Qing. He and Sima Qian worked together to compile the calendar, which resulted in the Taichu Calendar. This calendar has been revised many times by predecessors since the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is still complete today.
It is rare to find this volume in the collections of the former Sui Dynasty, and it is the only copy among the only copies available outside.
Zhang Yang opened the book and compared it with the symbols on the compass, picked up the pen, took out a roll of paper, spread it out, and started making marks.
If you want to understand the ancients' understanding of astrological coordinates, you must use the ancients' methods to deduce them.
It was a very long process from the time Emperor Zhou established the calendar to people confirming the thirty-two scales.
Seeing that her husband is so attentive, Li Yue doesn't want to be disturbed.
In the evening, Xiao Wu and Xu Hui came back together on a bear. The two girls went to the mountains to play for a day. Their clothes were dirty and their faces were messy.
When it got dark, Zhang Yang put down his pen and looked at the compass he had drawn.
Li Yue took Xu Hui and Xiao Wu to take a bath and changed into clean clothes. She looked down at her husband's drawing and asked, "What is this?"
"Astrological compass, Yuan Daochang's compass is not complete. I added some annotations to facilitate understanding. This is very helpful for you to learn longitude and latitude."
The problem of latitude and longitude has troubled her for three years.
"I always wanted my husband to teach me, but he didn't teach me."
Hearing some complaints in her words, Zhang Yang held her hand and smiled, "There were too many uncertainties before, and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to teach well."
"I will learn whatever my husband teaches me." Li Yue whispered.
The couple walked all the way to the entrance of the village. The starry sky today was very beautiful, and the vast stars were in the dark night sky.
"Countless generations of people have looked up at the stars, and they all want to know the mysteries of the stars. Now I will tell you some of the mysteries."