I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 882 The Truth is Within Cannon Range

Zhao Shizhen walked to an attendant, leaned over and whispered a few words, then stood up.

"Professor Simplicio and everyone else, please wait a moment. We need to get some information back from the ship and then explain it to everyone."

Simplicio glanced at Vitali and received a nod.

"Okay, we'll wait for your explanation."

Vitali stood up, raised his hands high, and said loudly: "The debate has been going on for a while, and everyone is tired. Let's take a break now. We will continue later."

The people standing in the outer circles dispersed one after another, looking for water and food.

The small and medium-sized nobles standing in the front were reluctant to leave, as if they left they would not be able to get such a good position.

They sent their servants out to get water and food, and then they crowded in and ate and drank standing there.

He couldn't hold back his urgency, so he asked the servant to hold his seat while he squeezed out and found a random place to relieve himself before coming back.

Bruno, Hermann and others were reluctant to leave and quietly moved forward some distance.

They discussed it together, pooled some money and gave it to one of their companions, asking him to go out and buy some water and food.

The young scholars and students around them, who were also reluctant to leave, followed their example.

Servants came in one after another carrying food and drinks and presented them to Gregory XIII, Vitali, Juan and others.

They held cups, drank water, ate food in small sips, and talked softly to their companions.

Simplicio and other 26 scholars gathered together, and they all flattered Simplicio in unison, saying that he had turned the tide and forced the Ming people into a desperate situation, and they could only delay time.

Simplicio laughed and glanced at the Ming envoys from time to time.

Shen Wanxiang and Zhao Shizhen gathered together to talk.

"Envoy Shen, were you the one who just asked someone to notify Commander Wu and Captain Zhu to fire cannons to cheer them on?"

"That's right. I had already told Commander Wu and Captain Zhu to be ready. When I saw that the atmosphere was not right, I sent someone out to give a signal and told them to fire their cannons.

When the cannon sounded, it seemed they all understood! "

Zhao Shizhen laughed and his expression became serious, "Truth is within the range of cannons. Your Majesty's words are truly wise!"

Shen Wanxiang nodded knowingly, glanced at Simplicio, and continued asking.

"Changji, are you sure?"

"In fact, the most closely related to astronomy is the calendar and the measurement.

The surveyors on the ships had all attended classes organized by the observatory and had some knowledge of astronomy. They also had a booklet in their hands.

"What pamphlet?"

“Astronomy booklets compiled by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory provided surveyors with astronomical information when measuring longitude and latitude, so that they could correct errors.

I have seen that booklet. It contains the times of lunar and solar eclipses calculated by the Astronomical Observatory. It is used to calibrate the time. It is very accurate!"

"Correct the time?"

"Yes. For example, when a solar eclipse occurs, people in different locations see different start and end times. The Astronomical Observatory calculates the time at different locations based on the law formula. By comparing the actual time, we can determine how big the error of the marine clock is."

"So magical?"

"It was all thanks to those geniuses in the mathematics department who applied various laws and formulas to calculate it."

"The formula of the law, the three great laws of the Wanli period?"

"Envoy Shen also knows the three laws of Wanli?"

"After all, this is part of the university's public physics course."

"Envoy Shen, it's not the Three Laws of Wanli, it's the Three Laws of Xing Yunlu."

"Xing Yunlu's Three Laws? Who is Xing Yunlu?"

"A divine man!" Zhao Shizhen replied, "Xing Yunlu, courtesy name Shideng, was from Ansu (now Xushui County, Hebei Province). He had a photographic memory since childhood and could recite the Analects at the age of five.

In the university entrance examination in the third year of Longqing, he ranked first in mathematics and was admitted to the Department of Mathematics of the Wanli University of Science and Technology.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, when he was still a sophomore in college, he participated in a project at our Imperial Astronomical Observatory and calculated that a tropical year (solar year) is 365.242190 days*.

After actual measurements by six major observatories, his value is the most accurate.

Based on the three laws of Wanli, plus the observation data of six major observatories over the past ten years, he calculated Xing Yunlu's three laws in the third year of Wanli after more than two years of calculation.

Zhao Shizhen enthusiastically gave Shen Wanxiang some scientific knowledge.

“Xing Yunlu’s first law states that the orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the sun as one of its foci.

The second law states that a line between a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time.

The third law states that the square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its semi-major axis."

Shen Wanxiang rolled his eyes. He knew the meaning of each word, but when they were put together, he had no idea what they meant.

Zhao Shizhen continued.

“After Xing Yunlu proposed the three laws, he calculated that there should be a planet outside Uranus based on its orbit.

Based on the trajectory data he calculated, Xiangshan Observatory found a new planet, which was said to be named Neptune. However, before we set off, we still need to verify it with five other observatories, so we have not announced it yet. "

Shen Wanxiang's eyes widened. "How could there be such a person in the world who can calculate the position of the stars?"

"So he is a god. He was one of the first members of the editing committee for the new calendar."

Shen Wanxiang nodded: "My Ming Dynasty has a population of hundreds of millions, so it is not surprising that there are a group of geniuses.

It’s just that in the past, all the talented people in the world studied the Four Books and Five Classics, and those with photographic memory and mathematical geniuses were lost among the masses.

The emperor has put order out of chaos, put Ming academic research back on the right track, and promoted scientific disciplines that can truly strengthen the country and enrich the people. Over the past ten years, many geniuses have emerged. "

After sighing a few times, Shen Wanxiang turned to the main topic.

"Chang Ji, the imperial court has assigned your scientific expedition team a task, so hurry up and complete it."

"Don't worry, Ambassador Shen. We have been acquiring manuscripts and works by European scholars, paintings and statues by famous artists, numbering in the hundreds, filling up fifty or sixty boxes.

The most valuable among them are Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts and paintings, Raphael Sanzio, Michelangelo Buonarroti's paintings and statues. These things were received from some Italian nobles through Juan and others. "

At this point, Zhao Shizhen looked around and lowered his voice, "These are all on the list of the Shaofujian, and now we are still missing one third."

Shen Wanxiang also lowered his voice and said, "Chang Ji, this list is the emperor's will, you must keep it in mind."

Zhao Shizhen patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Envoy Shen, we will definitely complete the mission.

Now that I have come to Italy, I am still missing a few books: "History of Florence", "The Prince" and "Discourses on Livy's History of Rome".

I asked someone and learned that it was written by a Florentine scholar named Niccolò Machiavelli. Two Venetian merchants patted their chests and guaranteed that the book would be delivered in ten days, and it would be the first edition of that year.

"The Merchant of Venice does things for money, he is a decent person and can be trusted."

"Yes, but there are things they can't do." "What can't they do?"

"The Emperor's catalogue includes several paintings by Leonardo da Vinci.

A painting called "Mona Lisa's Smile" was said to have been bought by the King of France for 10,000 pounds of silver and hidden in their Louvre.

"The Louvre is the French king's palace with human and animal feces and urine all over the floor?"

Zhao Shizhen glanced at Shen Wanxiang and asked, "How come you remember this?"

"Yes."

"Ten thousand catties of silver, almost two hundred thousand silver coins, for a painting. Is the King of France richer than the King of Spain?"

"Maybe it's just some pretentious, show-off thing.

I asked the Merchant of Venice to try to ask, and the King of France was willing to part with the painting that his ancestors had bought, but he asked for 300,000 silver dollars.

“Ask for the sky-high price!”

"Yes, although we can use goods as payment for this much money, the Ministry of Finance did not give us such a large budget.

There is another painting by Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper", which is actually a mural on the wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

I can't ask someone to cut the wall.

There are several other paintings, such as Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna of the Rocks" and Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" which are frescoes.

Michelangelo's David statue weighs more than six tons and is placed in the square, and no one can take it away.
There is really no other way. "

At this point, Zhao Shizhen shook his head and said, "I cannot fully complete the task and fail to live up to the emperor's wishes. I feel so guilty!"

Shen Wanxiang patted his hands and said softly: "Don't worry, there is still a chance."

"what chance?"

"When everything gets chaotic here, our chance will come."

Zhao Shizhen was surprised and asked: "What a mess? When will the war break out? I haven't heard any news."

"There are many conflicts between Catholicism and Catholicism in Europe right now. Spain and France, Spain and Portugal, Spain and Britain, Germany and Italy, and the Ottoman Empire is ready to make a move in the east."

"Envoy Shen, I know all this. But these conflicts in Europe have not been going on for just one or two days. They have lasted for dozens or even hundreds of years. They have been fighting each other for many years, and it has been like this until now."

“That was before, when we didn’t come. Now that we are here, it’s different.

These Western barbarians still lack the spirit of resistance. Look at their common people, how they are oppressed by the nobles and the church, but they dare not resist and just serve as slaves.

We want to impart advanced ideas to them.”

"What thoughts?"

"The prince and general Xiangning is kind!"

Zhao Shizhen took a breath of cold air.

"Envoy Shen, you are going to turn Duizhou into a powder keg!"

"Yes, it is going to become a powder keg. Our diplomatic corps and your scientific expedition team each have their own tasks, and now we need to cooperate sincerely."

"How to cooperate?"

"You must sing well and brilliantly in today's play! In the hearts of the young people in the Western Yi, the Ming Dynasty must be stamped as the beacon of human civilization!

Attract them to study abroad in our Ming Dynasty.

Our debate today is a slap in the face of the Vatican.

Those who cheer for us must be those young talents who are dissatisfied with the Vatican, such as Bruno, who Leon mentioned earlier. He has a rebellious spirit and can become a leader who leads the European people to light! "

Zhao Shizhen swallowed his saliva and said, "What should we learn to attract young people from the Western Yi to study in the Ming Dynasty? Mathematics, physics, those science and technology, I can't bear to let them learn them."

"You must be joking. The Ming Dynasty has a confidentiality policy, so how could they let them learn it? Even if someone among them secretly learned one or two tricks, without the industrial foundation of the Ming Dynasty, what can they come up with?

After being restricted everywhere, they will come to our Ming Dynasty. Attracting outstanding talents from the Western Barbarians and using them for our own benefit has always been one of the strategies of the Ming Dynasty. "

Shen Wanxiang lowered his voice again, "The more important thing for these Western students to go to the Ming Dynasty is to instill revolutionary spirit in them. The Taichang Temple and the Political Work Bureau have long since quietly formed the Sino-Western Friendship Association and have made full preparations."

An attendant squeezed through the crowd, came to Zhao Shizhen, and handed him a booklet and a piece of paper.

"Master Zhao, we have calculated it based on the booklet and the longitude and latitude of this place."

Zhao Shizhen read it twice and understood: "Well, you have done a great job!"

He stood up and said loudly: "Bishop Vitali, the debate can continue."

Vitali jumped up and hurried to the table in the middle space and banged the gavel.

One after another, all kinds of noises filled the hall, and everyone returned to their seats.

After a few minutes, the hall slowly became quiet.

Vitali glanced at them and said loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, the distinguished representatives of the Ming Dynasty have stated that they are ready and the debate can continue."

Zhao Shizhen stood up and said to Simplicio, "Professor Simplicio, what a coincidence! Our Observatory predicts that it will be 2:26 p.m. today."

He took out his pocket watch and looked at it, “That means in one hour and eleven minutes, the partial solar eclipse you mentioned will occur.

The first eclipse occurred at 16:26, the eclipse reached its maximum 31 minutes later, and the full eclipse reached 0.5 degrees 21 minutes later.

Zhao Shizhen raised his head and looked at Simplicio with a smile, "Professor Simplicio, you may not understand our special terms, let me explain it briefly.

First contact is the moment when a partial solar eclipse occurs, maximum eclipse is the moment when the sun is covered by the moon, and full eclipse is the moment when the eclipse ends. The eclipse magnitude is the ratio of the covered part of the sun to the total area.

Simplicio's face turned pale and then green. "Can you accurately calculate the hour and minute of a partial solar eclipse?"

"Anyway, there's still more than an hour left, so let's just wait and see."

Gregory XIII and Vitali and other cardinals held urgent consultations and announced that everyone should wait in the garden behind the town hall.

They moved to the garden in a chaotic manner, and everyone sat and stood according to the designated areas. An hour had passed, and there were only ten minutes left until the partial solar eclipse time that Zhao Shizhen had mentioned.

Everyone was talking, squinting at the sun above their heads from time to time, and asking each other from time to time, what time is it?

Is the time up?

Since the time was based on the Ming Dynasty clock, Shen Wanxiang asked an attendant to hold a pocket watch and tell the time loudly.

"Sixteen twenty-two!"

"Sixteen twenty-four!"

"Sixteen twenty-six!"

Time is up!

Everyone raised their heads and looked at the sky.

The sun is hanging brightly in the west, so dazzling!
(End of this chapter)