Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 162 Days and Holidays

The Qintian Prison will keep the solar calendar settings strictly confidential without Zhu Youjian's instructions.

Because the calendar has always been a sensitive issue, many people in the past have lost their heads because of it.

The reason why the officials of Qin Tianjian did not object to this solar calendar was because the current calendar of the Ming Dynasty had too many errors. As a result, they often make miscalculations on celestial events such as solar and lunar eclipses, and are therefore often punished and even lose their heads.

The emperor proposed a solar calendar, so let's try it out for a while. Anyway, in addition to the "Datong Calendar", the Qin Tian Jian also uses the "Hijri Calendar" internally. There is no hindrance in using one more Solar Calendar.

However, many Qintianjian officials still disagreed with the emperor's simple determination of a year as three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days. Supervisor Ye Zhenchun said for a long time in various terms, meaning that this time is not accurate and the solar calendar is likely to have errors.

Zhu Youjian's head suddenly became heavy as he listened to various terms. How could he understand these astronomical terms used by the ancients in a short while?

However, he is educated after all and is not a novice who doesn't understand anything. He roughly understands the meaning of the precession mentioned by Ye Zhenchun:

"Isn't it just the difference between a sidereal year and a tropical year? Why are you talking about so many complicated and difficult terms? 』

"These people make astronomical knowledge very mysterious. Do they want to fool laymen?" 』

Zhu Youjian did not approve of the level of Qin Tianjian. Because if the level of these people is really high, they will not make mistakes often.

He decided to use the knowledge he had learned to shock these officials and let them know that they could not be fooled casually and not to use complicated terminology to explain themselves.

Zhu Youjian remembered the basic geographical knowledge of sidereal years and tropical years very clearly, and immediately told these Qintian Supervisor officials:

"A year is three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days, to be precise, 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 10 seconds. This is a sidereal year."

"But the time from the winter solstice to the winter solstice is 365 hours, 5 ​​minutes and 48 seconds on the 46th day. This is the year of return."

“太阳历按365.25日、也就是365日6时计算，每年会和回归年产生11分钟14秒的误差。”

"How many years do you think the error will be by one day?"

The Qintianjian officials couldn't believe such an accurate time for a while, but they didn't dare to ask the emperor how he knew it. This error can only be calculated according to the time proposed by the emperor.

This kind of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division is still very simple for them. Someone soon calculated that the error is about one day in 128 years.

In other words, if we continue to keep leaps every four years, after 128 years, the actual time of the winter solstice will move forward one day, from the st to the th.

In order to fix the date of the winter solstice, someone immediately proposed that a leap year should be reduced after 128 years.

Others believe that after 32 years, the deviation will reach six hours. At that time, the winter solstice dates in the four years will not all be on the st. The leap year should be adjusted at that time and the leap year should be pushed back one year.

After 128 years, the leap year will be pushed back four years, which is equivalent to one less leap year. And keep all winter solstice dates on the st.

But this method of changing the leap is too troublesome. Zhu Youjian did not want the leap year to change again and again, saying:

"As long as the error is within twelve hours, the almanac can be adjusted as needed and set to the previous day or the next day."

“32年误差6个小时，64年就是误差12小时。那就64年改一次闰年，把闰年往后推一两年。”

"64 years is about a period of time, which is called a leap year. Every period of time determines a new leap year."

This is still very troublesome, but it is more accurate. The winter solstice date will not deviate by almost one day, and it is still set on the 21st in the calendar. That kind of self-deception will be laughed at by knowledgeable people.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian assigned a task to Qin Tianjian, which was to calculate the solar term time every year. The specific time should be accurate to minutes and seconds, so as to facilitate the adjustment of the leap year in the next Jiazi.

The people from Qintian Prison accepted this task and felt that they had an extra layer of responsibility. Once there is a problem with this calendar, they will be punished.

Zhou Changgeng was very excited, feeling that after the precession was determined, the solar calendar distance had taken another step forward to become the mainstream calendar. Thinking of the emperor's proposal to change the period of Jiazi to leap year, Zhou Changgeng said:
"I think that every month in the solar calendar has thirty days, which is suitable for counting the signs of the zodiac."

"The first days of January, March, May, July, September and November are all the days of Jiazi."

"I believe that the calendar of stems and branches should also be used in the solar calendar."

This is based on the original calendar, because birth dates and horoscopes are all calculated according to the zodiac signs. If the zodiac calendar is changed to the solar calendar, shouldn’t the fortune-telling method be changed? Shouldn’t the advisable and taboos in the almanac be calculated based on the solar calendar?
So someone immediately proposed that the first year of the year is the first day of the lunar month, but after the leap five or six days, it will not be the next year. Therefore, the zodiac calendar cannot be used in the solar calendar.

Zhou Changgeng, however, was fully committed to using the solar calendar as a basis for advancement. Looking at the emperor's encouraging and approving eyes, he said:

"Leap days are the celestial time, just use the celestial stems to record the days. They are called A day, B day, C day, D day, and W day. In leap years, add Ji day." "In this way, in the next year, it will be the first day of the lunar month again. There was no confusion at all.”

"As long as you tell the date, you can know the stems and branches. You don't have to count your fingers to calculate which day corresponds to the stems and branches."

This calculation is convenient, but there is no mystery about it. Someone immediately said:
"The period of the solar calendar is not the first day of the new moon."

"Will Jiazi Shuo appear again in the future?"

Another question related to Zhengshuo was raised proactively. The Qintian Supervisor officials looked angrily at this official who raised a sensitive issue. The man shrank his neck, feeling chilly, blaming himself for being so quick to raise such a sensitive issue.

Zhou Changgeng had the support of the emperor, but he was not afraid. He immediately shouted angrily at him, refuting Jiazi Shuori's statement:

"The calendar has small advancements and major advancements, ranging from the 29th or 30th day of each month."

"Is the first day of every month also the Jiazi Day?"

"How many first-year junior high schools are there this year, which happen to be Jiazi?"

The man was silent now, because according to the traditional calendar, not every first day of the lunar month is Jiazishuo. Can he still say that the calendar currently used has always been wrong?
Besides, if we continue to debate things like Zhengshuo, we might lose our heads. There is really no need to fight for this kind of thing with your life.

After successfully refuting this person, Zhou Changgeng said to the emperor:

"Jia Zi is the first of the stems and branches and should be designated as the first day of the lunar month."

"The solar calendar is more suitable than the original calendar."

Seeing the successful separation of Jiazi and Shuori, Zhu Youjian saw the hope of Zhengshuo's separation, and immediately nodded and said:
"It will be tried out within Qintian Prison and Zhou Sili will carefully perfect it."

"If the solar calendar is more accurate, we will use the solar calendar in the future."

"The calendar time used now is so uncertain that even Xiumu is difficult to arrange."

"If we follow the solar calendar in the future, we will take a regular break on the fifth and twentieth day of the lunar month, and then connect them with the four o'clock and eight o'clock periods."

"Wouldn't everyone be happy if this makes things easier for both the government and the people?"

Linking the calendar with holiday time is Zhu Youjian’s trump card.

Because the Ming Dynasty officials had very little vacation time, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was a workaholic and only gave five days off on Zhengdan and three days off on Winter Solstice, for a total of eight days of vacation. He had to work at other times.

Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di thought this was not a problem, so he gave a ten-day holiday for the Lantern Festival to facilitate officials to celebrate the festival.

By the time of Emperor Xuanzong and Xuande, officials were allowed to take ten days off, and officials had more holidays.

However, there are no arrangements for many festivals during such holidays.

The consequence of not making arrangements is that when officials arrive at the festival, some will still fulfill their duties, and some will just drink with friends to celebrate the festival and no longer deal with official duties.

Wanting to deal with them, these people still plausibly believe that celebrating the festival is official business and is carrying out enlightenment.

Zhu Youjian wanted to improve the official evaluation system and allow officials to do their official duties well, so he had to make arrangements for vacation time. So that after official duties are issued, officials are celebrating the festival.

Not to mention that Zhu Youjian had also read the records and knew that during Chengzu's reign, he easily won a battle by taking advantage of his opponent's lack of equipment during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In order to avoid similar things from happening in the future, Zhu Youjian believes that holidays must be held. He should let most people take holidays, arrange for some people to be on duty, and clarify relevant responsibilities——

Lest no holidays turn into full holidays, with no rules at all.

Therefore, after seeing that the solar terms calculated using the solar calendar were mostly around the fifth and twentieth day of the lunar month, Zhu Youjian decided to link the holidays with the solar calendar to facilitate future implementation.

We will have holidays and festivals according to the solar calendar from now on, let’s see who will object.

　"History of Ming Dynasty":
　　On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, there was no equipment and was attacked by King Yan. Nine thousand people died.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)