Chapter 92: Cao Chong's Xiangxiang and Archimedes' Law
When the emperor asked, the tragic situation of Zhou Xun offering wine in the Imperial College was suddenly ignored, and the atmosphere became more lively than ever.
After all, such a group of young people who come from noble families or officials usually avoid the academic officials even if they are looking for fun. They have been scolded for being ignorant and incompetent. I hope they can sympathize with Zhou Xun. Then
It's impossible.
Especially Lu Sanlang, who was looked down upon by others all day long, was the first to speak out: "Your Majesty, I dare not say that there must be a secret scroll hidden in the plaque inscribed by Taizu, but I know that Emperor Taizu is unfathomable.
, always taking precautions, it can be said that he is a rare sage since the beginning of the world, anything he does is possible!"
When Lu Sanlang spoke, Zhang Chen also echoed in fear of chaos in the world: "That's right, Emperor Taizu's deep meaning is beyond the reach of mortals like us!"
The representatives of these two dandy boys gave their opinions, and naturally the others were not to be left behind, rushing to express their admiration for Taizu, and at the same time quietly slandering the Imperial College.
For them, who have accumulated resentment for many years, this is almost an instinctive choice. Even Zhu Er, pushed by Zhu Ying, coquettishly expressed that Taizu had inscribed a plaque to hide the secret scroll, maybe, probably, or...
…Probably!
Seeing that these supervisors from noble backgrounds were all adding insult to injury, Luo Siye wanted to help his master Jijiu get out of trouble, but he couldn't find a good reason, so he could only stand a little further away and worry. As for Zhou Xun himself, that was not the case.
His whole body was shaking like chaff, there was no trace of blood on his face, and his lips were trembling and he couldn't say a word.
Amidst the commotion, the emperor smiled, but looked at Zhang Shou, who was silent, and suddenly asked with interest: "Zhang Shou, why don't you speak?"
Zhang Shou said calmly: "Reporting to the emperor, I am wondering what material Taizu inscribed on the plaque is made of."
"Oh? Are you actually thinking about this?" The emperor raised his eyebrows thoughtfully.
"If I remember correctly, it is made of Yinchen wood. It was shipped to the capital as a treasure by the local officials. Taizu's records record that there are more than a dozen pieces of Yinchen wood, except for the parts that look like black charcoal.
, the texture is fine, as hard as copper and iron, and it sinks when it enters water. Therefore, after the construction was completed under the supervision of the Imperial Academy, the plaques in the Suanke Hall and Gewu Hall were all made of sunken wood."
"Emperor Taizu required thick materials, so each plaque was very large. It would take several people to carry it. If he wanted to do it again, it wouldn't be enough. The rest were leftovers. Today, there are still some treasures hidden in the inner treasury of the palace.
Quite a few, so I only let people carve some small ornaments. Although dark wood is occasionally found in various places, it is rare to see such good quality."
"Moreover, sending this all the way to the capital is a waste of people and money. Emperor Taizu collected the things back then and gave orders to the ministers, so now no one goes all the way to the capital to send this. Even so, there were still people who felt that it was dark and dark.
It was too heavy, but Emperor Taizu said that the Imperial Academy’s yang energy was heavy, and yin and yang were just the right balance, so he blocked it back.”
Seeing Zhang Shou still frowning in thought, he simply waved and said: "If you are curious, you can come over and knock it. The sound is very special."
Now that the emperor had spoken, Zhang Shou was of course not polite. He immediately stepped forward, knelt down and tapped the edge and center of the inscription with two fingers. Finding that it was indeed difficult to tell whether it was hollow or not, he pondered for a moment and straightened up.
Come face the emperor.
Before he could speak, the emperor smiled and asked: "I ask you, is there a way to identify whether there is a secret scroll of Taizu in it without destroying this plaque inscribed by Taizu?"
Zhu Ying was startled, and was about to open her mouth to recommend this difficult task to Zhang Shou, but she didn't expect that Zhang Shou turned his head to look at her and actually smiled at her. Although he didn't say anything, she couldn't bear it in her heart.
An idea came to her that surprised even herself.
Could it be that Zhang Shou really has a solution?
"Your Majesty, can I ask a few words for this handyman who first criticized Da Sicheng?"
Seeing the emperor wave his hand with a self-indulgent expression on his face, Zhang Shou bowed and thanked him with a smile, and then walked towards the servant who was also kneeling on the ground. However, he was still three or four steps away from the person.
, but he stopped, and he didn't really feel relieved until he saw Ah Liu quietly moving to his side from the corner of his eye.
There is no way, once someone is shot by an arrow, everyone is an assassin... You can't blame him for being too suspicious!
He knelt down and looked at the servant with straight eyes. When he saw the bachelor's expression on his face, he asked kindly: "Since you said that Da Sicheng racked his brains to get a plaque inscribed by Emperor Taizu.
The secret volume in the book, how did you know about it?"
"I saw with my own eyes that the chief minister went to the Imperial College warehouse every day. Every time he would wander around the plaque, fascinated, he would often tap it with his fingers and mutter something. I once heard the word "Secret Volume" with my own ears!
"
"Oh, then how do you know there are one hundred secret volumes?"
"In the past three years, Da Sicheng sent people to collect a lot of unofficial histories about Emperor Taizu, and put them all in the library of the Imperial Academy. When I went to clean them, I turned to a page that he had marked, and it was exactly the first secret volume of Taizu.
Hundreds of articles! And I sneaked into the warehouse and knocked on the plaque! If the middle part of the plaque hadn't been completely hollow and a large piece was missing, I wouldn't have missed the clues when I knocked on it!"
As he spoke, the handyman turned his head and looked directly at Zhou Xun without hesitation, and said word for word: "If you don't believe me, you can ask other people in the Imperial College whether Da Sicheng goes to the warehouse every day if he has nothing to do! In addition to the warehouse in the Imperial College,
This plaque, nothing else, is worth visiting every day!"
As soon as these words came out, not to mention Zhang Chen, Lu Sanlang and others all suddenly realized it, even Luo Siye couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
He and Zhou Xun have worked together for more than three years. To say that Zhou Xun took off the plaque inscribed by Taizu is pure nonsense, but Zhou Xun always hangs around the warehouse where the plaque is stored. That is true. He just
Saw it several times!
He asked curiously once, but Zhou Xun said that he was looking at Emperor Taizu's calligraphy, but he didn't take it to heart after thinking about it.
Could it be that Zhou Xun had read too many official and unofficial histories somewhere, so he actually believed the lie about the secret scroll hidden in the plaque?
The problem is that if you want to uncover the secret scroll, you must destroy this precious plaque inscribed by Taizu. And what do you want to do?
This is not one of those legendary stories with ghosts and ghosts. There are treasure maps or secret vaults in the plaques!
The emperor also said with a half-smile: "I didn't expect that there was such an inside story, Zhou Xun, what do you say?"
"It's absolutely not the case, it's absolutely not the case!" Zhou Xun, who was ashamed, angry and frightened, seemed to have no idea how to defend himself. He just kowtowed with tears and repeated these four feeble words.
When the emperor saw that Zhou Xun could not ask anything, and Zhang Shou had stood up and slowly walked towards him, he smiled and asked: "Zhang Shou, you have finished asking, what can I do?"
"Your Majesty, I have an idea."
With an affirmative tone, Zhang Shou said calmly: "If the emperor said that the dark wood that was used as the inscription of Taizu no longer exists, then I would naturally be helpless, but since there are still many old treasures in the palace,
Scraps, then I have an idea. May I ask, Your Majesty, if all the scraps taken together are as heavy as this plaque inscribed by Taizu?"
"Well..." The emperor hesitated slightly, then looked at Chu Kuan.
Chu Kuan immediately apologized and said with a smile: "Those scraps are so big. Although I haven't weighed them, I think they should be there. However, although the old and new Taicangs have large scales for weighing grains, how can we weigh such a piece?"
The weight of the plaque, and by analogy, it may not be accurate to weigh the scraps of the same weight."
Zhang Shou nodded: "It doesn't matter if you can't name it. The emperor's erudition should have heard the story about Cao Chong calling an elephant in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms."
"Oh, that's natural." The emperor smiled more and more happily.
Zhang Shou said calmly: "Since it takes several people to lift this plaque, it is naturally difficult to weigh it accurately. In this case, treat it like a giant elephant and place it in a calm pool with a special one that is about the same length and width as the plaque.
In the boat, make a score according to the draft position. Then move the plaque out and put in the scraps of sunken wood one by one until the draft is even with the score."
"Since it is a small piece, it is relatively easy to accurately determine the number of scraps with the same weight."
The emperor couldn't help but nodded slightly: "Well, good, what's next?"
Zhang Shou glanced at the people whispering in the other compartment, obviously exchanging the allusion of Cao Chong's title of elephant, so he continued.
"Then, tie the Taizu inscribed plaque with a rope and sink it into a completely filled pool. When the plaque enters the water, there will be corresponding water discharged. After the water surface is completely calm, pull the plaque out and write down the plaque
After the water comes out, the water surface in the pool is highly scratched. Next, the pool is completely refilled, and equal weight of sunken wood scraps are wrapped in a fishing net and put into the water."
"Next, fish out those pieces of wood one by one to see if the water level after drainage is the same as after the plaque was fished out. If it is flush, it naturally means there is no difference between the two, and the plaque inscribed by Taizu is solid..."
This time, before he finished speaking, Lu Sanlang suddenly understood.
"I know! If there is a significant difference between the last carving and the previous one, it means that the same weight of things are different in size. Naturally, the inscription is hollow and contains something mysterious!"
Zhang Shou had always taken a high look at Lu Sanlang's mathematical talent. Seeing his reaction so quickly, he smiled and nodded: "Yes, you can know whether it is hollow inside without destroying the plaque inscribed by Taizu.
Is there a so-called secret volume hidden in it?"
In fact, for such a large plaque, the theoretical method that can be achieved under pure and perfect conditions is actually not accurate, because the possibility of splashing water is very high, the accuracy of the notching is difficult to guarantee, and the center of gravity is difficult to say. What's more,
, two pieces of dark wood that appear to have the same appearance may not actually have the same density, let alone a pile of scraps that may have different densities.
Therefore, by combining Cao Chong's method of weighing elephants with Archimedes' law, we can measure the excitement.
However, the emperor's attitude was very suspicious, so he suspected that the emperor just wanted to hear a solution. As for the final measurement result, he actually didn't care much...
Zhu Er, who was squeezed to the back by Zhang Chen and others, could hardly open his mouth. It was amazing that Zhang Shou could come up with a solution, but how could Lu Sanlang understand it so quickly? He was not the same as Zhang Shou.