"The word Algebra will be translated as algebra from now on, and the word geometría will be translated as geometry from now on. The Ming Dynasty not only needs algebra knowledge, but also geometry knowledge. Cao Zheng, how many people can you find in Gezhi Prison to study geometry?"
"Algebra, geometry? Your Majesty is really wise to summarize these two kinds of mathematics in such concise words." Cao Zheng was stunned for a moment after hearing Yunxi's words, and then praised.
"Did that man named Brunelleschi introduce you to Western works on geometry?" Yunxi, of course, would not pay attention to his flattery and asked again.
"Bolu introduced to the minister a book about geometry written by a Western sage. The minister discussed with him that if it was translated into Chinese characters, he planned to name it "Elements of Mathematics". Your Majesty, I did not expect that Westerners Although they are barbarians, they have a long history. The sage who wrote "Elements of Mathematics" lived about 1,600 years ago, around the end of the Chinese Warring States Period. I didn't expect that Westerners have such a long history." Cao Zheng introduced. road.
After saying this, he thought of something again and said: "Since His Majesty named Westerners' mathematics geometry, and this "Elements of Mathematics" mostly introduces geometry, it should be named "Elements of Geometry"."
"Okay, let's name it "Elements of Geometry"." Yunxi said with a somewhat uncontrollable smile.
"Why is your Majesty laughing? But there is something inappropriate in what I said?" Cao Zheng asked hurriedly.
"It's not that you have anything inappropriate, it's just that, I can't tell you clearly." Yunxi said this and changed the subject: "Cao Qing, as far as you are concerned, should Castile be allowed to The envoys of the Ming Dynasty used the Ming Dynasty Station to deliver messages?"
"I think that although this matter has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty, I think that because the envoys from my country came all the way and were very respectful to the Ming Dynasty, I made an exception and allowed the use of the post station to deliver the news this time." Cao Zheng hesitated and said. Although he had already He regretted asking for Quijano, but since he had already said it, it was better not to give up halfway. 'I will never do anything like this again in the future.' He thought to himself.
But even if he said this, he had no hope that Yunxi would allow this. But unexpectedly, he only heard Yunxi say: "What Aiqing said is true. In this case, I will allow him to use the post to deliver the message." "Huang Cheng," Yunxi loudly called a young eunuch to come in and told him: "Go to the Ministry of Industry first and tell Shangshu that I allow the Castilian envoy to use the inn to deliver a message to Qin Fan; Go to Fanguan again and tell the Castilian envoy about this."
The young eunuch accepted the order and retreated. As he retreated, Cao Zheng kept looking at his back with disbelief, and then secretly glanced at Yun Xi. Although Yun Xi valued him very much, he was not Who is such a big shot? How could Yunxi agree to the request of the envoy from Castile because of his request?
Of course, Yunxi did not agree because of Cao Zheng's request, or not entirely because of Cao Zheng's request. After the battle with Samarkand in the sixth year of Jianye, Yunxi paid a little attention on the way back from the northwest when the army returned Regarding the expenses of the post station system, it was found that the expenses of the post station in the fifth and sixth years of Jianye were huge, exceeding one million yuan. Yunxi was stunned at the time. Although the situation in these two years was quite special, the expenses were also too large. ; and he finally understood why Zhu Youjian wanted to abolish the inn.
Although Ming Dynasty's finances can still bear such a large expenditure, he cannot afford it. However, in view of the huge tragic consequences caused by Zhu Youjian's abolition of the post station, not to mention that the post station is also an important institution for him to control the country, and it must not be abolished. Since it cannot be abolished
, if you can’t reduce expenditures, you can only increase revenue.
Yunxi then came up with the idea of allowing private people to use post stations to deliver letters and transport goods. Allowing private people to use post stations can not only generate income and increase the source of funding for the post station, but also make it more convenient for domestic merchants to transport goods, promote the development of domestic commerce, and at the same time,
It can be said that it can reduce the overall logistics cost, which can be said to kill three birds with one stone. Just after returning from the Western Regions, Yunxi once asked Xu Huizu his thoughts on opening the post station to civilian use, and he came up with this idea at that time.
However, it is not easy to open the post station that has been used solely by the country for more than a thousand years to civilian use. Due to the unwillingness to deal with the government, businessmen may not be willing to use it, and ordinary people will not use the post station to send letters. They would rather ask people to go there.
Merchants who do business in the place where they deliver letters will not let the post station deliver them. It is also difficult to say whether the officials of the post station will shut out private merchants.
Yunxi thought about it for a long time before finally coming up with a way to get the best of both worlds. At this time, Cao Zheng came to him to ask for permission for the envoys of Castile to use the inn. Yunxi just used this matter to let people know about it. In addition to the inn
In addition to delivering official documents from the court, it can also deliver news to other people, thus paving the way for the next step of delivering news to the people.
He then called another young eunuch in, took out a document and handed it to him. At the same time, he ordered: "Send this document to the three auxiliary officials of Xia, Qiu and Dong, and at the same time say to them: 'I am letting you
Please read carefully what is written in the document and report back to me as soon as possible if you have any comments.'"
"Yes, Your Majesty." The young eunuch agreed, turned around and left.
After giving instructions on this matter, Yunxi breathed out, picked up the tea cup and took a sip of tea.
"I thank your Majesty for your kindness." Cao Zheng came back to his senses at this time and saluted Yunxi.
"My grace is not for you, but for the envoy of the Kingdom of Castile. You don't have to thank me." Yunxi smiled and said: "Cao Qing, you won't just do it for Castile."
The envoy from Asia asked me to deliver a message and specifically asked to come to the palace to see me. Now tell me, what do you want to see me for? Isn’t it just that you came to tell me that a man named Berune came from Castile?
Leski’s mathematician.”
"Of course I won't bother Your Majesty with such a trivial matter." Only then did Cao Zheng remember what he wanted to say when he came to see Yunxi. His expression changed quickly, and he said with some excitement: "Your Majesty, I
Discovered a reason that explains why no one feels their body tilts if the earth is a sphere: because there is gravity."
"Gravity? What is gravity?" Yunxi asked with a confused look on his face; but in his heart, he sighed and said very happily: "Finally discovered gravity!"
"Gravity is the power of the earth under your feet to attract people. Your Majesty," Cao Zheng said very excitedly: "If the earth under your feet is a sphere, its attractive force is located in the center of the ball, so everyone standing on the ground
They can all stand very straight instead of leaning at an angle.”
"Your Majesty, in ancient times, people thought that the sky and the earth were round. But since the Three Kingdoms period, ships have been sent out to sea, but when the ships returned, they found that they always saw the mast first, then the hull, and finally the sea surface. After the bottom of the boat, people found that there was a flaw in the theory of a round sky and a square earth, so they said, "The sky is like a bamboo hat and the earth is like a disk." But this statement also has shortcomings, that is, it cannot explain why no one stands leaning; at the same time, he cannot Explain why people can stand on the ground but cannot fly into the air."
"The theory of gravity proposed by me is not only not contrary to what we can see with our eyes now, but can also explain many things that cannot be explained by current theories. I think it should be correct." Cao Zheng couldn't help but talk at length.
"Gravity? The force that attracts people?" Wenyuan murmured: "Is there still such a force in the world?"
Zhu Bao, Wen Yao, Wen Qi and others were also stunned. The theory of gravity involves astronomy, and in ancient times, whether in the East or the West, astronomy was not just astronomy, it was related to philosophy and even to the moral theory of a country. System. Confucians have been proposing various explanations for heaven and earth for thousands of years. If the theory of gravity is true, it will have a huge impact.
Of course, they didn't know that Cao Zheng would soon reveal another theory that would shock the astronomy and philosophy circles of the world.
Yunxi was not shocked at all. He knew about the existence of gravity as early as in his previous life, and although the conjectures about gravity by ancient Greek scholars may not have been rediscovered by Europeans in this era, the theory of gravity was not known in Europe before the Christian era. He had already appeared, and he was not surprised at all.
However, Yunxi still had to pretend to be slightly shocked for a while, and then asked about some details of the theory of gravity, and Cao Zheng answered them one by one.
"Cao Qing, let me ask you one last question. How did you think of gravity?" He was more curious about this question than what he had just asked.
"Your Majesty, I am resting at home for the fifteenth day, but because I still can't figure out why people stand on the ground, neither flying nor leaning, I just admire the plum blossoms in my courtyard and ponder it."
"My son likes to play football. On that day, I invited many people of the same age to play football in my house. One of them accidentally kicked the ball too hard and hit me. When I saw the football flying towards me, of course I wanted to I dodged, but suddenly a flash occurred in my mind, and I thought: Not only can people not fly when they stand on the ground, but everything in the world will eventually fall to the ground no matter how high it flies. It can be seen that the reason why people and everything fall to the ground should be the same."
"But Chen still couldn't figure out why it happened. It was noon that day very quickly. Since it was the Chinese New Year, there were a lot of things going on at home. There were many guests who came to visit. The children who were invited by Chen's son to play football with him all left. Chen returned to their respective homes from their mansions; however, Chen always ate late and the meal had not yet been served at home. Chen’s son was bored and played football by himself. He was worried that he would accidentally kick the football out of the courtyard again, hitting someone else and leaving it on the ground. Drill a nail and wrap the football with a very thin but very strong rope, so that the football will not be kicked out or hit others. "
"When I saw this scene, I immediately thought: Is there an invisible line connecting the earth under my feet, people, and all things to prevent people from flying into the sky? I thought about it again and again, and finally came up with the theory of gravity. "
"Hahaha," Yunxi laughed after hearing how he came up with the theory of gravity: "I advocate playing football and there are such benefits. If I had known this, I should have advocated playing football earlier."
"I also think that Your Majesty should promote football as early as possible." Cao Zheng also said jokingly.
Yunxi joked with him for a few more words, and then said seriously: "Cao Aiqing."
"His Majesty!"
"You are very good at coming up with the theory of gravity. Moreover, this theory is very useful. It is not only beneficial to astronomy, but also very important to Confucianism. I will reward you well."
"I dare not accept it as your Majesty's reward."
"If you have merit, you will be rewarded, and if you make mistakes, you will be punished. Since you have made merit, of course I will reward you. Cao Zheng listened to my instructions and sent a message to Cao Zheng, the deputy supervisor. He studied astronomy and made many achievements. He was awarded the official title of the fifth rank. I admire this."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty." Cao Zheng said immediately. At the same time, he felt happy in his heart. The fifth-rank official title was nothing to him. Even if he was not known by Yunxi, he would be mixed with a third-rank commander in the future. There is no problem with hereditary; but the recognition of Yunxi's achievements revealed in it is very important. This not only gives him a sense of satisfaction, but also lets his family know that the emperor has not forgotten Gezhijian and has not studied him He had forgotten about the things he studied, and he valued the things he studied more, and agreed to allocate more money to him. He had never had any left over from the 'research funds' allocated to him by Gezhijian every month. You have to pay for it every month.
"Cao Qing, please get up. I just gave a verbal edict, not a formal decree. You don't have to pay such a big courtesy." Yunxi said with a smile again.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Cao Zheng agreed and stood up.
"My dear, do you have anything else to tell me?" Yunxi asked again casually.
"Your Majesty, I have one more thing to report to Your Majesty," Cao Zheng said.
"You have something else to report to me? What's the matter?" Yunxi asked doubtfully.
"Your Majesty, I have another study on astronomy, and I have gained something from it. I would like to report it to Your Majesty." (To be continued)
