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Chapter 292 Zu Chongzhi

Zhang Heng could be admired by later generations, which many people in all dynasties and generations did not expect.

In the eyes of ancient people from all dynasties, Zhang Heng's greatest achievement was his literary attainments. After all, the names of the four great masters of Han Fu are still very famous.

As for Zhang Heng's achievements in science, no one paid much attention to it.

But according to what the anchor means now, the reason why Zhang Heng can be famous throughout the ages is all due to the scientific achievements that everyone ignores.

And what makes everyone most envious is that future generations will name stars after Zhang Heng. What an honor this is.

As a result, many people with scientific attainments in all dynasties and generations became excited instantly.

Since Lu Ban and Zhang Heng can be remembered by future generations and become famous throughout the ages, will they also have this opportunity to leave their names forever?

Thinking of this, some people who were very confident in themselves asked the anchor on the barrage.

Su Chen took a general glance and noticed one person in particular, it was Zu Chongzhi whom he was going to introduce next.

Zu Chongzhi was an outstanding mathematician and astronomer during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. His main achievements were in the three fields of mathematics, astronomy, calendar and mechanical manufacturing.

But what Zu Chongzhi is most well-known for must be the pi calculated by Zu Chongzhi to seven digits after the decimal point.

Zu Chongzhi's achievement in pi, π, was more than a thousand years ahead of the West, which shows how powerful Zu Chongzhi was.

It is precisely because of Zu Chongzhi's outstanding contributions to pi that people named a circular valley found on the back of the moon after Zu Chongzhi.

"During the Southern and Northern Dynasties in 429, Zu Chongzhi was born in Jiankang County, Danyang County, the political and economic center at that time."

"From the late Western Jin Dynasty to the Sixteen Kingdoms period, large-scale wars occurred in the north."

"Zu Chongzhi's ancestors migrated from Fanyang County to Qiu County to Jiankang, the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and settled there."

"Zu Chongzhi's great-grandfather Zu Taizhi once served as a minister and Guanglu doctor in the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

"My grandfather Zuchang was a great craftsman in the Southern Dynasty, managing the civil construction projects of the imperial court."

"My father, Zu Shuozhi, was quite knowledgeable and was often invited to attend royal ceremonies and banquets."

"The Zu family has been in charge of the calendar for generations. The family has a deep academic background and attaches great importance to the study and research of astronomical calendars."

"Zu Chongzhi received a good family education since he was a child. His grandfather taught him about the passage of time, and his father led him to read classics."

"The influence of my family, the influence of my ears and my own hard work."

"Zu Chongzhi developed a strong interest in natural science, literature, philosophy, especially astronomy, and gained a reputation for erudition in his youth."

Xu Guangqi: It's a pity that Zu Chongzhi's mathematical monograph "Zhu Shu" has been lost.

In the words of later generations, he and Zu Chongzhi were both top talents in science.

As his senior, he respected Zu Chongzhi very much.

In particular, Zu Chongzhi's mathematical monograph "Zhu Shu", which brought together Zu Chongzhi's mathematical research achievements, impressed him even more.

"Zhushu" has five volumes, and according to historical records, there are dozens of articles.

It was completed by Zu Chongzhi and his son based on the annotations of "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", which includes Zu Chongzhi's calculation method of pi and so on.

The content is so profound that even the officials in charge of astronomy and mathematics in the Sui Dynasty could not understand it. It is the highest-level mathematical work from the Han and Wei dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The content of the book is divided into three parts. The first is to determine that pi is between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927, accurate to six decimal places.

The second is to find the side length or the diameter of the circle from the area difference, and to find the side length or the diameter of the ball from the volume difference.

The third is the finite difference method in astronomical calendar. Many of his studies on astronomy borrowed this method.

In the Tang Dynasty, "Zhu Shu" was included in the official "Ten Arithmetic Classics" and became a must-read textbook for the Imperial College. It requires four years of study and is the longest study period for an arithmetic book.

After the Tang Dynasty, wars continued, and many arithmetic books were lost. "Zhu Shu" was also lost during the Northern Song Dynasty.

Although it is no longer possible to know the specific content of "Zhu Shu", its academic value can still be imagined from the years of study of the book in official scholarship in the Tang Dynasty and the related sporadic records in history books.

"Zu Chongzhi once said in his writings that he has been interested in mathematics and astronomy since he was very young."

"He collected and investigated almost all the documents, records, and materials from ancient times to the time when he lived."

"At the same time, it is advocated that one should never be bound by the outdated and erroneous conclusions of the ancients, and one should personally conduct precise measurements and careful calculations."

"Due to the favor of his father, Zu Chongzhi entered the Imperial College when he was young and studied astronomy from his grandfather's friend, the astronomer He Chengtian."

"Due to Zu Chongzhi's reputation as an erudite scholar, he was sent by Emperor Xiaowu of the Southern Song Dynasty to the Hualin Academy of Sciences, the academic research institution of the imperial court at that time, to engage in literary and historical writing and calendar research."

"Zu Chong later came to work at Zongmingguan. At that time, Zongmingguan was the highest scientific research and academic institution in the country, equivalent to the ancient Chinese Academy of Sciences."

"Zongmingguan has five disciplines: literature, history, Confucianism, Taoism, and Yin and Yang. It implements a teaching system by subject. Famous scholars from all over the country are invited to teach, and Zu Chongzhi is one of them."

"Here, Zu Chongzhi came into contact with a large number of national collections, including books on astronomy, calendars, and arithmetic, which provided him with the prerequisites for reference and expansion."

"It was also during his tenure as General Mingguan that he read extensively and wrote the masterpiece "Daming Calendar" that lasted for hundreds of years."

Zhu Di: The "Da Ming Calendar" was never adopted by the court before Zu Chongzhi's lifetime. Presumably Zu Chongzhi was full of regrets before his death.

Although Zu Chongzhi compiled the "Da Ming Calendar" very early, it was a pity that the monarchs in the Southern and Northern Dynasties were incompetent and it has been delayed.

Throughout the Southern and Northern Dynasties when Zu Chongzhi lived, society was in turmoil.

After the death of Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun, the cruel and dissolute Liu Ziye succeeded to the throne.

A year later, seventeen-year-old Liu Ziye was killed by his uncle Liu Yu.

After successfully usurping the throne, Liu Yu became as cruel and ruthless as his nephew Liu Ziye.

The political situation changes at any time, the country is turbulent and unstable, and the monarch is ignorant and unruly.

As a result, Zu Chongzhi's "Da Ming Calendar" was never promulgated and implemented by the imperial court during his lifetime.

Perhaps at that time, Zu Chongzhi had already given up on this unrealistic thought when faced with one unfaithful king after another.

It was not until the ninth year of Liang Tianjian, ten years after Zu Chongzhi's death, that Zu Chongzhi's son wrote three times to Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan.

Only then did Zu Chongzhi's lifetime wish finally come true, and the "Da Ming Calendar" was officially adopted by the imperial court.

That year, it had been 48 years since Zu Chongzhi compiled the "Daming Calendar".

The Daming Calendar, which was commissioned by Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty Xiao Yan, was subsequently used for nearly 800 years through the Chen, Sui, Tang and Song dynasties.

It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that Yang Zhongfu created the more accurate "Tongtian Calendar", and the "Da Ming Calendar" was officially stopped from use.

Zu Chongzhi's "Da Ming Calendar" has gone through nearly eight hundred years of glory, silently guiding and serving the people's production and life.

He couldn't help but guess that Zu Chongzhi would be extremely happy if he knew something from the spring.

"In the fifth year of the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, Liu Ziluan of the royal family became the governor of Southern Xuzhou."

"Zu Chongzhi served as an official in the governor's office of South Xuzhou, and successively served as an official in South Xuzhou and joined the army in the government office."

"Although Zu Chongzhi's life was very unstable during this period."

"But he continued to pursue academic research and achieved great results."

"In the sixth year of the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, Zu Chongzhi served in Southern Xuzhou."

"He systematically read astronomical classics and used the armillary sphere clepsydra to measure the sun's shadow himself."

"Using the method invented by Zu Chongzhi to determine the time of the winter solstice using a standard table, we found that the previous calendars had great errors."

"There is a growing gap between calendar calculations and actual celestial phenomena."

"Zu Chongzhi also discovered that the so-called six calendars in ancient times were not written by the ancients in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. They were all forged by later generations and came into being on the weekend of the early Han Dynasty."

"During the Liu and Song Dynasties, the "Yuan Jiali" used by the imperial court also had errors."

"Based on this calendar, plus his own careful research and actual observations, Zu Chongzhi compiled the "Da Ming Calendar" and completed the calculation of pi at the same time."

"In the same year, 33-year-old Zu Chongzhi presented the Daming Calendar to Emperor Liu Song."

"At the same time, the table requested that the calendar be discussed and promulgated, but it was opposed by Dai Faxing, a favorite of Emperor Xiaowu of the Song Dynasty."

"All officials in the court were afraid of Dai Faxing's power, and most of them agreed. Zu Chongzhi wrote the famous "Rebuttal" for debate."

"Dai Faxing believes that the annual apparent motion of the sun will never change, and the winter solstice will always be in the same place."

"Zu Chongzhi used the four lunar eclipses that occurred in the 23 years from the 13th year of Yuanjia to the 3rd year of the Ming Dynasty to test his "Da Ming Calendar". The times of the four lunar eclipses and the position of the sun in the sky at that time were consistent with the "Da Ming Calendar". The calculation of "Da Ming Calendar" is consistent."

“Although the Daming Calendar was relatively scientific, the imperial court at that time was still unwilling to adopt it.”

"The following autumn, the imperial court conferred the title of Situ to Liu Ziluan."

"Liu Ziluan trusted Zu Chongzhi and asked him to concurrently serve as the Situ Mansion in charge of civil affairs in the central court."

"So Zu Chongzhi began to work between Zhenjiang and Nanjing."

Li Shimin: Zu Chongzhi’s debate failed because Zu Chongzhi thought politics too simply.

The calendar used in his Tang Dynasty was Zu Chongzhi's "Da Ming Calendar". Naturally, it was clear what kind of resistance Zu Chongzhi would encounter when the "Da Ming Calendar" was proposed.

Zu Chongzhi served in Zongmingguan, and later followed the prince Liu Ziluan in southern Xuzhou.

After five or six years of hard work, I devoted myself to studying ancient calendars including the "Yuanjiali" and found that there were many errors in them.

It was precisely for this reason that Zu Chongzhi determined to formulate a new calendar.

Soon after arriving in southern Xuzhou, Zu Chongzhi worked out a way to avoid previous calendar errors.

As soon as he heard that Zu Chongzhi had made important research results, the young prince Liu Ziluan was so happy that he made sure to report it to Emperor Xiaowu so that he could be rewarded.

So, in the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty, Zu Chongzhi brought his "Da Ming Calendar" and Liu Ziluan to the court of Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun.

However, literati and children alike think of politics too simply.

Thinking that if you master the truth, you will be able to respond to everything and gain both fame and fortune.

As everyone knows, in many cases, it is much more difficult for the court to recognize the truth than to discover and grasp the truth.

Emperor Xiaowu sent his powerful minister Dai Faxing to hold a public debate with Zu Chongzhi on the old and new calendars.

The two sides exchanged words and exchanges, and the debate was extremely fierce and exciting.

Because Dai Faxing was a popular and powerful minister at the time, Zu Chongzhi must have lost the outcome of this debate.

Zu Chongzhi and the young prince's dream that Emperor Xiaowu would adopt the new calendar they developed was of course in vain.

However, what is gratifying is that in the end, the "Da Ming Calendar" was adopted and has been used for eight hundred years.

"In the eighth year of the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, after the death of Emperor Xiaowu of the Song Dynasty, the prince Liu Ziye succeeded to the throne." "Liu Ziye killed his younger brother Liu Ziluan, and there was internal strife in the court. Zu Chongzhi was pushed out from Xuzhou in the south to Lou County, five hundred miles away from the capital, to serve as the county magistrate. "

"For the next fifteen years, there were successive struggles for power within the royal family."

"Four emperors were replaced, and three of them were usurped. There was no time to take care of Zu Chongzhi's transfer and promotion."

"Zu Chongzhi continued to do research during this term, and finally proposed the Zu's principle together with his son Zu Xunzhi."

"In the third year of the rise of the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the Southern Qi Dynasty destroyed the Liu Song Dynasty, and Zu Chongzhi was transferred back to the capital."

"According to the instructions of Qi Gaodi Xiao Daocheng, he began to imitate the compass and trial-produced wonderful machines such as the wooden ox and the flowing horse, the thousand-mile boat, and the water mill."

"Zu Chongzhi spent a lot of energy on studying mechanical manufacturing, and finally built a compass driven by copper parts."

"He invented the thousand-mile boat that can travel hundreds of miles a day, the wooden ox and the horse, the water mill that uses water power to process grain, and he also designed and manufactured the clepsydra for timekeeping."

"With these achievements, Zu Chongzhi was entrusted with important responsibilities in the officialdom, first as a servant, and later as a school captain."

"Zu Chongzhi's later years coincided with the late Southern Qi Dynasty."

"The internal conflicts within the ruling class are sharp, the politics are dark, and the society is in turmoil."

"In this case, Zu Chongzhi's research direction has changed a lot."

"He focused on literature and social sciences, but was also more concerned with politics."

"Between the first year of Longchang and the fifth year of Jianwu, Zu Chongzhi held the official position of Changshui captain."

Su Shi: After meeting Qi Gaodi Xiao Daocheng, Zu Chongzhi had a smooth journey for the rest of his life.

In addition to his strong interest in astronomy and calendars, Zu Chongzhi also tinkered with various small inventions and developed various new things all day long.

In the war-torn Southern Dynasty, after Liu Ziye was killed, Liu Yu, who succeeded him, named Xiao Dao and became the general of the auxiliary country.

Xiao Daocheng, who has long been ambitious, knows the importance of reaching a high position and recruiting talents in order to achieve great things.

Therefore, under Xiao Daocheng, who controlled the appointment and dismissal of officials in the DPRK, Zu Chongzhi also served as the magistrate of Lou County, until he was finally appointed to important positions such as Yezhe Pushe and Changshui Xiaowei.

Under Xiao Daocheng, Zu Chongzhi's first invention was the compass.

When Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty conquered Guanzhong, he captured a compass made in the Later Qin Dynasty.

This compass is constructed like a drum cart, with wooden figures raising their hands to indicate the direction.

However, after the car turned, the direction of the wooden man's fingers remained unchanged, requiring manual steering.

This is a huge delay when marching and fighting are extremely urgent.

Therefore, Zu Chongzhi followed Xiao Daocheng's order to rebuild the compass.

Zu Chongzhi switched to a copper mechanism with built-in wheels that can automatically adjust the direction of the finger. This fully reflects Zu Chongzhi's ingenuity in designing exquisite mechanical devices.

After the news came out, a big northern man came to compete in the ring.

As a result, a scene similar to that of the old and new calendar debate occurred again.

However, this time, it is not a competition of words, but a competition of skill.

Under the auspices of Xiao Daocheng, this craft product competition officially started in Leyou Garden.

Both sides took out the compass cars they had built, and rode freely across the vast Leyou Garden.

The result of the competition was the compass car developed by Zu Chongzhi, which always pointed south automatically and accurately.

However, the compass of the Northern Han Dynasty was pointing in a wrong direction, and the result was naturally a complete victory for Zu Chongzhi.

In the end, Xiao Daocheng burned the northern Han's compass on fire in public.

Zu Chong became famous in one battle, and Xiao Daocheng's fire lit up half of Zu Chongzhi's remaining life.

Since the successful development of the guide car, it has made its fortune in Leyouyuan.

Zu Chongzhi continued his efforts and began to develop water mills again.

This water mill, as the name suggests, is a tool that uses water power to grind rice.

If Xiao Daocheng had not died early, perhaps Zu Chong's subsequent situation would have been very different.

It's just a pity that during the turbulent period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Zu Chongzhi's fate could only drift with the tide and end sadly.

"At that time, Zu Chongzhi wrote an article called "Anbian Lun", which suggested that the imperial court reclaim wasteland, develop agriculture, enhance national strength, stabilize people's livelihood, and consolidate national defense."

"After seeing this, Emperor Qi Ming wanted to order Zu Chongzhi to build civil engineering projects that would benefit the people. However, the rule of Southern Qi could no longer be maintained."

"The state power is on the verge of collapse, coupled with the years of war between the Northern and Southern Dynasties."

"Zu Chongzhi's good political ideas cannot be implemented within the country, let alone realized."

"So Zu Chongzhi retired from officialdom and amused himself by writing."

"Under the influence of Qi and Liang literary trends, Zu Chongzhi studied philosophy, literature, and music and wrote many works."

"Together with the mathematical works "Zhu Shu" and "Jiu Zhang Shu Yi Annotation", they were compiled into 51 volumes of "The Collection of Changshui Xiaowei Zu Chong".

"The "Collection of Changshui Colonel Zu Chong" was later lost and was finally compiled by Zu Chongzhi's son Zu Xunzhi."

"Including all of Zu Chongzhi's works, as well as Zu Xunzhi's research results, it is a complete collection."

"In 500 AD, the outstanding great scientist Zu Chongzhi passed away at the age of seventy-two."

"600 years later, in the third year of Daguan in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zu Chongzhi was named Fan Yangzi and enjoyed the title of Viscount."

"After Zu Chongzhi's death, his son Zu Xunzhi further studied the Daming Calendar."

"It also proved that the Daming Calendar was more precise and reliable than other calendars, and repeatedly made requests to the Liang court at that time to abolish the Yuan Jiali calendar and use the Daming calendar instead."

"Starting from the end of 509, scholar Dao Xiu and others conducted practical tests on the Daming Calendar and the Yuanjia Calendar at the same time, and the results proved that the Daming Calendar was precise."

"The Daming Calendar was adopted by the imperial court in 510 and was used until the year 589 of Empress Chen. It was used in the Southern Dynasties for eighty years."

Zu Chongzhi: There are only two years left before the deadline, but it’s a pity that we didn’t wait for the ideal prosperous age.

Throughout his life, he had a lot of heartache, but he was unable to do anything about it.

The bloody court struggle that began in the Liu Song Dynasty once again spread like a cancer in the Southern Qi Dynasty after a brief pause in the Southern Qi Dynasty.

Because I don’t pay attention, don’t participate, and don’t take sides, even though I am in the government and the opposition.

He can also watch the fire from the other side and avoid harm all over his body.

And because of his outstanding talents, he was always appreciated and reused in the Southern Dynasties controlled by the Xiao family.

At the age of 36, he became an official and came to visit Pushe.

This visitor, Pushe, is the chief steward of the emperor's travels.

At the age of 65, he was promoted to the rank of captain of Changshui, becoming one of the eight major captains of the Southern Qi Dynasty. He was a fourth-rank official in the court and held a high position of authority.

However, this wealth and splendor seemed dispensable to him.

When he was young, he immersed himself in scriptures, wrote books and developed new calendars, and was very ambitious.

When he was middle-aged, he was obsessed with inventions, and he never tired of it, such as guiding wheels, water mills, and thousands-mile boats.

Now that he is old, he no longer has the high spirits and diligent pursuits he had when he was young.

Facing this chaotic world with frequent wars, he no longer had the energy to study astronomy, calendars, and inventions. Instead, he saw endless royal disputes, internal strife, and rebellions.

At this moment, in his eyes and heart, there are only the common people and the common people in the world.

He began to think about ways to save the people from fire and water and save the country from crisis.

He wrote a long political essay "Anbian Lun" to advise Emperor Qi Ming that he wanted to restore the farming system that had been established in the Han Dynasty.

Let the poor people have their own land, thereby restoring agricultural production and saving the people and the country.

Due to successive years of war, in order to restore agricultural production in the early Han Dynasty, the farming system was implemented, which used soldiers and farmers to cultivate wasteland.

The imperial court dispatched agricultural officers and field captains to recruit people to cultivate the fields, which were called civilian villages.

His original intention was just to gather farmers displaced by the war so that they could have land and houses, which would not only support the whole family but also slightly boost the social economy.

The wish was of course a good one, and Emperor Qi Ming agreed.

He also plans to send him to inspect the four directions to create a great cause that will allow the people of the world to have enough food and clothing, live and work in peace and contentment.

At that moment, he saw his younger self, as if he was back.

At that moment, he was an old Lian Po, but he could still fight the enemy with one meal and ten pounds of meat, put on armor and mount a horse.

But now, he is 70 years old.

However, even though he had the ambition to be honest, he ultimately failed in the troubled times of the Southern Dynasty.

Because of the war, Emperor Qi Ming, who valued him, died on the battlefield.

At this point, his last political wish in his life has come to nothing.

After Emperor Qi Ming, his second son succeeded to the throne, but he was a foolish and unprincipled lord.

This country changed hands, regardless of whether its surname was Liu or Xiao.

This fatuous lord seems to have always been with me and never left.

After changing the stage, they changed their appearance and made their debut again.

The troubled times in the Southern Dynasties seem to have no end, and neither does the suffering of all living beings.

In this Northern and Southern Dynasties where the average life expectancy of people was less than forty years old, at the age of seventy, he had already lived through his own era.

Looking back on this long life, he thought that the world was always moving forward.

Although it is extremely difficult and slow, we are moving forward bit by bit.

But now, in his twilight years, he suddenly woke up.

It turns out that the world is not a straight line, but a winding road.

Two years later, he will complete his life devoted to scientific research and diligent pursuit.

What makes him a little regretful is that he will not have the chance to see the day when the war ends.

(End of this chapter)