"You still have something else to tell me? What is it?" Yunxi was confused. He asked, "Ai Qing, do you have anything else to tell me?" This sentence was just a casual comment. A new discovery can be made in a short time. It was very difficult, and I didn’t think he would have another one. But Cao Zheng seemed to have been silent for a long time and was about to burst out, and revealed the second new discovery.
"Your Majesty, before, Chief Si of Sichengtang introduced to the ministers and others that there was a sage who proposed the theory of eleven levels of heaven. The sky is divided into eleven levels, namely the moon sky, the mercury sky, the Venus sky, the sun sky, and the Mars sky. Heaven, Jupiter Heaven, Saturn Heaven, Star Heaven, Crystal Heaven, Supreme Heaven and Pure Fire Heaven, each layer of heaven wraps a sun, moon or stars. All the sun, moon and stars are constantly moving around a smaller circle, and every day The center of the circle moves on the circle with the earth as the center. The circle that this person revolves around the earth is called the deferent wheel, and the smaller circle is called the epicycle. It is also said that the earth is not in the center of the deferent wheel, but slightly offset. In addition to moving as above, the sun, moon and five stars also rotate around the earth together with the stars every day."
"I dare to ask, does your Majesty still remember this inference?" Cao Zheng finally asked.
"Of course I remember." Yunxi nodded: "I not only remember this inference, but also remember that you were very happy when you first heard this inference." Yunxi smiled. Although the multi-layered sky theory is complicated, the basic principles are very clear. , unlike traditional Chinese astronomical theories that are obscure, and can explain some astronomical phenomena that traditional Chinese astronomical theories cannot explain. When Cao Zheng first heard about it, he happened to be the one who summoned him. Zhou Wei and Sichengtang planned to establish Gezhijian. At that time, he saw Cao Zheng's performance in his eyes.
"I made a lot of mistakes at that time. Please forgive me." Cao Zheng smiled shyly and continued: "Yesterday, I discussed this inference with Borunevsky, and Borunevsky said it was them. This inference was put forward by a sage named Ptolemy from an ancient European country, not by cannibals. I don’t know who he or Si Zhubu was right in saying and who was wrong.”
"However, this does not affect my research on this inference. In the fifth year of Jianye's reign, I combined the multi-layered sky inference with the Gaitian theory that I already knew, and came up with a new inference, which is very consistent with the stars observed in those two years. I think This makes perfect sense.”
"But later I gradually compared it with the astrology of the Yuan Dynasty and the Hongwu period, and found that there were some problems. If based on the multi-layered sky inference, many stars require too many epicycles. After calculation, I found that some stars actually have to have It takes more than eighty epicycles to make its motion trajectory consistent with the multi-layered heaven inference."
"That's all. But according to his explanation of the movement of the moon, he finally came to a very absurd conclusion: the size of the moon is not fixed, it is bigger and smaller at times. The moon is largest when it is full, and it shrinks to its smallest when it is new. ."
"How could this happen?" Wen Qi muttered in a low voice. In fact, he didn't understand a few words that Cao Zheng said just now. Not only him, but Wen Yuan, Wen Yao and Zhu Zhu didn't understand much either. If it weren't for Yun Qi On the side, he must have fallen asleep; but he could still understand the sentence "The size of the moon is not fixed, it sometimes gets bigger and sometimes gets smaller", and he immediately started muttering.
His muttering voice was not loud. It was probably about the same volume as when he usually whispered to his classmates during class. It was at the level where the teacher could see the movements but couldn't hear what was said; but the room was so quiet at this time, and he sat far away from Yunxi. It was so close that it was heard immediately.
"Wenqi!" Yunxi immediately turned his head and shouted.
When Wen Qi heard the sound, he felt something was wrong. He immediately stood up, bent down and said, "Father, my son knows he was wrong."
"Since you know what you are doing is wrong, why do you still do it!..." Yun He scolded.
Among the other people present, Cao Zheng did not dare to say anything to the emperor and taught the prince, so he could only sit aside and remain motionless; although Yunxi was usually gentle with his son, they were also very scared when he was angry. Wenyao and Wenyuan He didn't dare to speak; only Zhu Bao, who had enough status, was young, and was not Yunxi's son, could persuade him. He waited for Yunxi to say a few words, and then persuaded: "In the official family, the third prince is still young, and he is not the right person. It was an honest mistake, definitely not intentional, so there is no need to be harsh on it; not to mention being angry hurts the liver, so officials should not be angry just for the sake of their own health."
After listening to Zhu Xi's persuasion, Yun Xi stopped what he said and turned around to ask Cao Zheng about another new discovery he had made. Wen Qi did not dare to be dissatisfied with Yun Xi's reprimand. After all, he had made a mistake first; But he was not happy, so he turned all his attention on Cao Zheng. "What's the use of this astronomy and the like that you talked to your father about? It's of no use to the country! Even if it's a small benefit to the court, why bother dragging my father along?" Keep saying? As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, does my father need to know this?' He thought angrily in his heart.
Of course, Yunxi and Cao Zheng didn't know what Wenqi was thinking, and Cao Zheng didn't expect that the third prince would hate him. If he knew, he would probably be very frightened, but he didn't know, and still took it lightly Excitedly continued to introduce his new discoveries to Yunxi.
"So I think that the multi-layered sky inference should also be wrong. This leads me to have a suspicion: Since the multi-layered sky inference is wrong, the basis of its argument is also the basis of many Chinese literary inferences. The earth is motionless, but Really still?"
"After I had this idea in my mind, I felt that I was very ridiculous, and it was impossible to talk to Zhou Wei about him."
"Ke Chen hypothesized that the earth does not move, but rotates according to certain laws. He continued to observe astronomical phenomena and found out the correspondences of previous generations. Finally, he came to an inference that was very absurd, but consistent with almost all astronomical phenomena: As a sphere, the earth under your feet is not stationary, but is constantly rotating around the sun. According to the multi-layered sky theory, the earth is not the center of the universe, but the sun is more likely to be the center of the universe."
"Heliocentric theory replaces geocentric theory?" Yun Xi murmured.
"What your Majesty said is very subtle!" When Cao Zheng heard this, his eyes immediately lit up and he couldn't help but said: "I have thought of many concise words to describe it, but I still can't do it; Your Majesty can't do it after hearing my inference for the first time. A concise and concise summary, truly talented and outstanding!”
Yunxi didn't pay attention to what Cao Zheng said. He just said in his heart: "How did you discover the heliocentric theory just like this? A moment ago, he was still contending with the theory of gravity discovered by ancient Greek scholars more than a thousand years ago. In order to discover gravity, And I was overjoyed; the next moment, I discovered the heliocentric theory and was ahead of Europe. It's really absurd.'
But no matter how absurd he thought it was, this was really happening in front of his eyes, and he couldn't have just hallucinated it.
As Yunxi confirmed that this was really happening, he gradually became ecstatic. Since the study of astronomy began many years ago, China has lagged behind the West. At the beginning, it lagged behind ancient Greece. The great cannibalism came from Byzantium.
After taking away many documents of ancient Greek scholars, innovating and promoting them, they fell behind the cannibals. Historically, China has always been in a backward state, and when he came to this life, he was still more powerful than the most powerful country in the West.
He was a little behind; but in this life, through his efforts, he was ahead of the West!
Yunxi suddenly had the urge to jump up and laugh three times. You must know that astronomy is the origin of modern science. It was driven by astronomy that promoted the development of mathematics, physics and other subjects, and prompted Newton to establish a modern scientific system.
It is an exaggeration to say that all subsequent scientific progress was possible only with astronomy.
In addition, theories such as heliocentric theory that are more correct than before also have certain practical significance. With the help of more correct astronomical theories, we can more accurately calculate time, calculate longitude and latitude, and calculate calendars. Although it is not very useful, it is still useful.
Of course, in addition to these, some people have developed other uses. Yunxi was very surprised when he heard about them, and felt that they were dumbfounding. This was beyond his expectation.
Yunxi had to endure it again and again to resist the urge to jump up and laugh loudly, but his face also became full of joy. He asked about the principle of the research again, listened half-understanding, and asked him if he had made any other discoveries today.
You have to tell yourself that after receiving a negative answer, Yunxi smiled and said: "Cao Qing, you really gave me a big surprise."
"This is my duty. I dare not be praised by Your Majesty." Cao Zheng said immediately.
"What is your duty? If everyone in Gezhi Prison can do their duty as well as I love you, I will be very happy every day." Yunxi said with a smile, and then said: "Fortunately, I have given you an oral edict.
I haven't had anyone prepare the edict and issue it yet, otherwise it will be repeated. A small fifth-grade official title cannot reward you for such great achievements."
"Cao Zheng listened to the title: I will grant you the title of Imperial Censor of the Fourth Rank of Qiandu. You will be granted the title of Zhongshun Doctor at first, then promoted to Zhongxian Doctor, and then Zhongyi Doctor. I will also give you the hereditary title of Commander of the Third Rank of Zhengdu!"
"Your Majesty!" Cao Zheng was stunned when he heard this reward. After a while, he knelt down and shouted.
"Why, you are not satisfied with my reward? I also know that this is a bit light, but the supervisor of Gezhi Zhengyang Shiqi is the fourth rank, and he has no rank, let alone hereditary or honorary rank. I will give you the hereditary commander of the third rank.
That's all, after all, it is a military attache title, but if you are given a civilian title of fourth grade or above, how will you salute Yang Shiqi when you see him? So I can only reward you like this." Yunxi explained.
"Your Majesty, I am not dissatisfied with your Majesty's reward. On the contrary, I think your Majesty's reward is too generous," Cao Zheng said.
Of course, the heliocentric theory has practical uses, which have been listed before, but these uses are not worthy of such a generous reward; as for the future, for Cao Zheng, who does not have the ability to know five hundred years later, he cannot imagine the great significance of the heliocentric theory in later generations and the consequences it will cause.
Science was developing rapidly, so I couldn't guess why Yunxi was so happy and rewarded him so generously, so he was very frightened and refused the reward.
It's not that he doesn't like receiving rewards, but what if His Majesty gave him such a generous reward because of a temporary impulse, and regretted it later? He would definitely be embarrassed to take it back, but he might be dissatisfied with himself for not declining the reward at that time.
.Just in case, he could only refuse.
"I know what you are thinking, dear, but don't worry, dear, I am definitely giving you the reward because I think your discovery is worthy of such a reward, and I will never think it is unworthy in the future. You don't have to worry." Yunxi thought for a while. , also knew what he was worried about, and said again.
But Cao Zheng kept rejecting it and refused to agree. It was not until Yunxi said that if he didn't agree, he would be punished for resisting the decree, that he agreed.
"Aiqing, please go back now and tell your family the good news." Yunxi said again. He also knew that Cao Zheng's family did not understand, did not support or even strongly opposed Cao Zheng's research before, and now he needs to Let him inform his family of the good news, slap those who are waiting to see his joke in the face, and let them know that there is a future in studying science.
"I thank your Majesty for your grace." Cao Zheng thanked him again and left the Qianqing Palace in a hurry. He was also eager to go back and tell his family the good news. He was not holding back a slap in the face, but wanted to immediately reassure himself that he was not taking the right path. The very sad mother told her: 'You can also have a future by studying astronomy.'
After Cao Zheng left, Yunxi was still very happy. He smiled even as he ordered his servants to do things, which surprised everyone in the Qianqing Palace: "Your Majesty, what happened today? Did Cao Zheng develop the elixir of life? Otherwise, why would you be so happy?"
Until noon, when it was time to eat, Yunxi was still very happy when he arrived at the dining table. Xiyao and others were very happy talking.
"Uncle Shi, my nephew would like to ask Uncle Shi. Although the heliocentric theory has its uses, it is not very useful. Why are you so happy that Deputy Supervisor Cao has discovered the heliocentric theory?" In the end, Zhu Bao couldn't help but asked.
"What heliocentric theory?" Wen Yin, who was concentrating on the rice in his bowl, asked.
Zhu Bao roughly explained and talked about what happened in Qianqing Palace today. He turned his head and continued to look at Yunxi with burning eyes. Not only him, but also Wenyuan, Wenyao, Wenqi and others looked at him like this, Only Xiyao remained calm, but she was also very curious.
"This, even if Uncle Shi told you, you don't understand. You just need to remember one thing. The things I asked Gezhiyuan to study are all useful and beneficial to the Ming Dynasty." Yunxi said. He I couldn’t explain it clearly, so I just said this.
"Is there anything useful?" Wen Luo suddenly said in a coquettish voice. She was too young, only four years old this year, and didn't understand the conversation between her father and her brother at all, but she understood the last sentence in a daze. asked.
"When you grow up, you will understand. Those things are very useful, and those who study them are doing business for the court." Yunxi picked her up, kissed her and smiled.
"Then Luo'er also wants to study these things." She said in a coquettish voice.
"Okay, Luo'er will also study it in the future." Yunxi smiled casually. (To be continued)