Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 282: Everything in the East

Of course, there was no Inquisition in the East that Galileo was worried about now, but there were secular emperors in the East who held military power. Buddhism and Taoism were all under the jurisdiction of the non-core departments of the Monks' Records and the Taoist Records under the Ministry of Rites under the Jinxianyuan, and the high-level officials there were only of the sixth rank.

Among all religious figures in the country, only Zhengyi Zhenren of Longhu Mountain is listed as the second rank.

Moreover, all Buddhist and Taoist officials not only did not receive any salary, but also had to be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites.

In the East, if you want to become a monk, you must obtain a certificate of ordination, both monks and Taoists. If you become a monk without a certificate, it is illegal.

This power is also in the hands of the secular emperor and is managed by specialized officials.

Whenever the imperial court was in financial difficulties, it would petition the emperor: Should we allow more people to become monks?

If you want to become a monk, you need to buy a certificate!

Matteo Ricci suddenly looked at Galileo with some vigilance. After all, he heard the emperor's first question to Galileo, and then he asked him if he was worried that the results of his observation would bring disaster.

After so many years in Ming Dynasty, Matteo Ricci's understanding of Galileo was limited to the fact that he was a well-known scholar.

But Matteo Ricci certainly knew about the church's concerns and resistance to heliocentrism.

The emperor asked that question, and when he asked Galileo, Galileo denied it, but the emperor still asked the question.

He asked Deng Yuhan a few questions quite seriously, and Zhu Changluo said indifferently: "Li Gongfeng, you and Deng Yuhan are both proficient in Chinese."

Matteo Ricci looked at the emperor and took a moment to react before he said, "I was impolite for a moment. Your Majesty, please forgive me."

Zhu Changluo looked at Deng Yuhan, only to see that Deng Yuhan was quite hesitant, but did not take the initiative to speak.

"Li Gongfeng has made great contributions, and he is awarded thirty taels of silver." Zhu Changluo said, "Wang Zheng, you should take Li Gongfeng and Deng Yuhan to settle down first. Since you have been examined, I think you are both very talented. Deng Yuhan can be accepted as a Gongfeng of the Academy of Research, and his monthly salary will be the same as usual. Li Gongfeng, find someone else, there should be more scholars than priests."

"...I understand."

"I heard that there are more than ten people coming here. Doctor Xu and Dean Wang think that there are only two people who can be interviewed by me. You are more concerned about preaching, and I understand that. But you must remember that I invite you to serve the Institute of Research for the sake of natural philosophy and the mysteries of the universe, not doctrine. You can leave first. Zixian and Professor Galileo will follow me to the Holy Temple."

"...I retire."

Matteo Ricci looked at Galileo worriedly, then left without hesitation and fear.

Zhu Changluo stood up and headed south, and on the way he instructed Xu Guangqi: "What does Professor Galileo usually say? Find an interpreter from the Siyi Hall."

"Yes." Of course he had asked for this information before, and he immediately told Liu Ruoyu so that he could send someone to the Siyi Hall to find an interpreter.

It was obvious that Matteo Ricci was capable of serving as an interpreter, but the emperor sent him away. Xu Guangqi silently pondered the reason.

Walking all the way to the top of Wansui Mountain, Zhu Changluo had a smile on his face.

Obviously, the church happened to suppress the heliocentric theory, he happened to have a heavy financial burden, and he had to spend a lot of money to develop a sophisticated telescope to prove the topic. It happened that Xu Guangqi promised Matteo Ricci a resettlement allowance of more than 1,000 taels of silver per person, and there was also the connection with Deng Yuhan.

Zhu Changluo then asked Xu Guangqi: "Then what is the mirror that Deng Yuhan said Professor Galileo was trying to make? Do you know what it is?"

Xu Guangqi quickly replied: "I understand. I'm afraid it is a telescope. Ever since Dean Wang summarized the three laws of optics of Mo Sheng during his study in Baijiayuan, Your Majesty has ordered the development of this device. Although it has not been completed, we have already obtained a sample."

"Oh? Have you already obtained the first sample?" Zhu Changluo paused and looked at Liu Ruoyu, "Why didn't I hear your report?"

"…Your Majesty, I see that the thing is still quite crude and cannot be held in the hand and viewed from afar as Your Majesty said, so I just ask the attendants and the master craftsmen to carefully polish the glass…"

Liu Ruoyu has little experience. Apart from being in charge of memorials, his only external responsibilities include some matters such as the Institute of Research and Development.

Although Xu Guangqi had gone to the Ministry of Rites to work as a doctor, he was still involved in some projects, and this telescope was one of them.

This topic is very important as it can not only be used as a powerful tool for intelligence gathering in the military, but can also help in astronomical and calendar research, and can also drive the improvement of glass technology and precision manufacturing technology.

The Ming Dynasty was able to produce colored glaze, but Zhu Changluo did not understand the details of how to make better quality glass. He simply arranged for the research to take place, but no progress was made.

"Do you have a sample?" Zhu Changluo looked at Galileo. "How thick is it? Can it be moved?"

"It's as thick as a basin, but not too heavy. Two people can carry it." Liu Ruoyu looked at the Wansui Mountain in front of him and asked, "Your Majesty, do you want me to order someone to carry it to the Wansui Mountain?"

"Then bring it up. If you want to see far, it's better to go up high."

During the whole process, Galileo didn't quite understand what was going on. He just followed the emperor and climbed up the steps on the mountain at the instruction of the Eastern official, whom Matteo Ricci respected very much.

After reaching the top of the mountain, in front of a solemn oriental building, the view suddenly opened up. The first thing that came into view was of course the Forbidden City. Galileo already knew what that place was, the palace of the oriental emperor, the center of power of the entire empire.

After landing in Guangzhou, Galileo had already felt the vastness of the Eastern Empire.

Despite such a long distance, it did not split into many kingdoms, but instead used the same writing system and followed the same system.

At this moment, the youth of the Eastern Emperor is very specific.

On the way, Galileo listened to the story of the emperor from the priest who accompanied them and taught them oriental languages. He heard that the young emperor quickly grasped the power that belonged to him and made bold reforms to the senior officials and power centers of the empire.

To this end, even a small half of the emperor's palace was opened up so that the empire's highest-ranking officials could communicate with the emperor more closely and handle major affairs of the entire empire more efficiently.

Now the emperor looked south silently, standing there without saying a word.

The emperor waited until someone came over before turning around. After receiving the man's salute, he motioned for him to stand up and said a few words.

Then, Galileo heard him say in words that were familiar to him: "His Majesty the Emperor ordered me to be your translator and teach you the language and writing of the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible. Now, the Emperor wants to speak to you."

"It's my honor. Thank you very much." Galileo then realized that the emperor was waiting for the translator to come. He also realized that the emperor specifically asked Schreck and Matteo Ricci, the highest religious official of the church in the East at that time, to leave.

Zhu Changluo smiled at Galileo, pointed to a place, and walked over: "Let's take a look at a stone tablet first. I believe you will be interested."

Galileo followed the translation and came to the side of the stately building. In the flat courtyard under the big tree, there was a solitary stone tablet with some pictures and words engraved on it.

Zhu Changluo walked in front of the stone tablet, feeling a little sad, and then he said, "There used to be many countries on this land, and one of them eventually unified the others and established the Qin Dynasty. About two thousand years ago, long before the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, a man left behind some of his discoveries about light. It was a description of the observed phenomena and some preliminary summaries of the principles behind them."

Galileo listened to the translation and looked at the stone tablet in a bit of astonishment. He saw some arcs, broken lines, as well as words and numbers.

He just listened to the emperor talking for a while and then pausing for a while, waiting for the translator to speak to him. In this way, Galileo heard the emperor talking about the discovery of light by the oriental scholar two thousand years ago.

After Zhu Changluo finished talking about Mozi's eight principles of optics with some emotion, he looked at the stone tablet and said, "Two thousand years later, by comparing water, glass and many light-transmitting substances, and after a lot of experiments and calculations, the Wang Zheng you just met obtained the rectilinear propagation of light, the law of reflection and the law of refraction, and obtained these mathematical formulas to express the relationship between incident light, reflected light, refracted light and angle, and the refractive index of different substances."

After that, Zhu Changluo explained these formulas.

The mathematics of the Ming Dynasty had its own mathematical language. From numbers to expressions, the professional terms used were different from those that Zhu Changluo was familiar with.

Arabic numerals are not used in the mathematics of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Changluo does not have the energy and ability to work with them to build a more efficient mathematical standard system.

So, now he is the first translator, and the interpreter of Siyi Hall is the second translator.

Fortunately, Galileo himself was a geometer, and despite two translations, he finally understood it.

Galileo was of course very excited when he learned that it was a research result about light.

In Europe, the study of light has always existed. Galileo knew that it was Bacon's idea of ​​using a lens group to find the focal position of the lens that inspired him to think that a telescope was possible, so he prepared to make one.

Porter's paper "The Magic of Nature" appeared only eighteen years ago and discussed the combination of convex lenses and convex lens groups.

But so far in Europe, no one has been able to elaborate these laws in detail through mathematical formulas, taking into account the different lens media.

Galileo also thought of his good friend Kepler, who he knew was currently researching and writing about the laws of light refraction. To be honest, the one he was most reluctant to leave behind was Kepler, because by communicating with him in a timely manner, he would be able to learn about his research results in refraction optics in the first place, which would help him make a telescope more quickly.

And now, behind the palace of the Eastern Emperor, Galileo actually saw this stone tablet here.

The Eastern Emperor said, here are the three basic laws of light and the mathematical expressions related to them.

And their foundations were proposed by Oriental scholars two thousand years ago.

Galileo squatted down for a moment, looking at the stone tablet, looking at the unfamiliar mathematical formulas and patterns on it.

He wanted to test and verify it as quickly as possible. He hoped that Kepler would be here as well. He also hoped to make a telescope as soon as possible - with the funding from the Eastern Emperor.

Then, he heard more voices, and saw several people carrying up a huge conical tube that was thick on one side and thin on the other.

Zhu Changluo looked at him with a smile and said, "Galileo, come and take a look. Is this the telescope you wanted to build?"

After hearing the translation, Galileo stared at the thing being set up in a daze, then turned to look at Zhu Changluo.

What did you say? Telescopes already exist in the East?

(End of this chapter)