Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

Solution: Suppose there are X rabbits and Y chickens

X+Y=49

Answer: There are 48 chickens and 1 rabbit.

Moreover, Shangluo did not write Arabic numerals. He knew that the Ming Dynasty used flower codes as the number system, and 49 was written as 〤〩.

Step by step, he solved the whole problem in a very standard way, which took him less than a minute.

However, when she looked up, Qi Yuan on the opposite side had already stood up and looked at her from halfway across the table. Han Xingzhi on the left and Wen Yuan on the right also widened their eyes. Even Lu Liang, who was the farthest away, was looking at her.

"You. Why are you looking at me?"

"Ah," Han Xingzhi rubbed his eyes and confirmed: "Brother is really amazing, amazing."

"What did you write?" Wen Yuan looked at it for a long time. He had some words on his lips but didn't say them out loud.

"What kind of incantation is this?" Qi Yuan blurted out. "What is this? Why did you write all these Latin letters X and Y? What is this cross? What is the word 'one'?"

"Oh, this. I set the chicken to X, so let's set XYZ?"

"Set up XYZ? Set up Heaven, Earth, and Man, big brother! Heavenly Yuan, Earthly Yuan, and Human Yuan. If three aren't enough, set up A, B, and C. And what's this little 'ten'?"

"Ah," Shangluo was stunned, "This is a '+', a plus sign."

"That's how you write a plus sign, big brother!"

Qi Yuan was panicked. She took the pen and wrote a "丄".

"This '丄' is the plus sign, and the minus sign is '丅'. Look carefully, this is not the Latin letter T. This '丅' is pronounced 'xia' when it's a character, and it's a minus sign when it's a symbol. Do you understand?"

"Ahhh."

"It's over!" Qi Yuan covered his head. "Who can understand what you wrote? How do you write the differential and integral symbols? You can't use some weird symbols anymore, right?"

Shangluo's hands were shaking a little. He felt like he had missed a page only to realize in the last ten minutes of the exam.

He wrote the integral symbol ∫ and the differential symbol d.

Qi Yuan turned the booklet to her side. She was much calmer now:

"Here, we write 禾 for integral and 彳 for differential, which are the radicals of the two characters 积 and 微. Where did you learn math?"

"Ah, ah, is there any hope for me?"

"Your math should be fine, but your Chinese is a serious problem! Damn it, you've been using those scribbled characters from the beginning, and the exam's only a dozen days away. I don't know if you can change. By the way, didn't you take math classes at school? Ah! You slept those days, and then you didn't come. Didn't anyone notice before?"

"Oh, that. I've never written an equation in front of someone before. I've never written calculus before."

He did write it in front of Lao Shang, but Lao Shang never corrected him.

"But it should still be possible. There's still hope. Wait a minute. I'll get my brother's elementary school math textbook when I get home. You can read it from beginning to end. It should still be possible. Start from first grade."

Chapter 240: Snacks before dinner

He spent some time reading the content of "Three Years as a Scholar and Five Years as an Imperial Examination".

I can generally understand it. After all, it's all in Chinese characters. Although the mathematical language is relatively simple, I can still understand it based on the questions.

Except for because ∵, so ∴, greater than or less than, braces, parentheses and square roots, all the symbols related to operations are different.

But overall, it's still based on Chinese characters. Writing the plus and minus signs like +- or 丄丅 isn't a big deal, and ∫ only has a few more strokes than 禾. The challenge is that you have to pay attention to the spacing of the characters when writing them. 禾 should be written with the 禾 radical, and the right side should be as beautiful and symmetrical as possible. Because the paper counts for points.

What he wanted to ask most now was why Lao Shang hadn't corrected him. He had clearly solved some equations in front of Lao Shang, but Lao Shang hadn't said anything. He didn't go to school in Yangzhou, so he had no idea that the symbols in middle school and high school were completely different.

Fortunately, it’s not a big problem.

Because mathematical language is universal, only the symbols are different. Although it does take a few more strokes, but since I've already written the melancholy turtle, writing ∫ as 禾 is really not a big deal.

"Well, do you know?"

"Probably no problem." Shangluo was quite confident in his math skills—at least passing the exam shouldn't be a problem. He flipped through the high school exercises, and the difficult parts were indeed difficult. There were also some derivative and limit problems, and some matrix operations were involved.

But generally speaking, it is not beyond his scope, so it is not a big problem.

"I'm glad you understand. Are the other classes any big problems?"

If two people communicate with each other, there will really be no big problem.

Chinese language class, Chinese literature class, the same old stuff. "The next morning, the Duke of Pei came with over a hundred riders to see King Xiang," "There were perhaps a hundred fish in the pond, all swimming in the air, with nowhere to rest." And then there's "Pipa Song," where even the "Pipa playing technique" gag is the same.

Mathematics, still mathematics.

There is no English, but Latin is a compulsory course in college. There is also a corresponding compulsory Chinese course in Rome, and it seems to be earlier.

History is essentially the same. Because the "Great Ming Dynasty" wasn't over yet, there's no Ming History. The period after the Hongwu reign is considered modern history, so it doesn't take up much weight. The main focus is on Shang Yang's Reforms, the Zhenguan Reign, and the Kaiyuan Reign.

What really troubled Shangluo were the social studies and Confucianism classes.

Social studies classes consisted of the Great Ming Code, various laws and decrees, and various imperial edicts, imperial decrees, and memorials. The "Da Jun Tie" (Great Military Notice) and numerous edicts, such as "Listen, students: That Zong Ne was previously the chief priest" and "Our Han people's land lies to the west," required full memorization. Because the text was written in the verbose vernacular of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, memorization was particularly tedious.

The Confucianism course consisted of the Four Books and the Five Classics. However, the exam was very shallow. The Four Books required some comprehension of the text, while the Five Classics only required memorization of the content.

In terms of word count, the "Great Learning" of the Four Books has 1753 words, and the "Doctrine of the Mean" has 3568 words. These two are originally excerpts from the Book of Rites. Neither the Analects nor the Mencius require full memorization; only excerpts are memorized, totaling around 48000 words. The Five Classics, on the other hand, only contain sporadic excerpts, also totaling around words. All told, the total is around words.

Many sections overlapped with Chinese, history, and social studies classes, so for the average student, the actual memorization wasn't too much. It was more difficult for Shangluo, but he'd already known he'd have to take the imperial examination, so he'd already memorized the 40,000 to 50,000 words—and honestly, he felt it was much easier than memorizing the whole "abandon" thing; at least the Analects spoke human language.

In fact, regarding the Confucian studies exam, this amount of memorization, applied centuries ago, in the first few years after enlightenment, would have been far more challenging than the scholar exam itself. But today, the scholar exam is merely a "national benchmark," and the recitation of Confucian classics isn't particularly complex, having permeated various cultural works. On the exam, students can generally rehearse some of the content, contextually speaking.

Adding math and physics to the natural sciences, the overall difficulty isn't that great compared to the previous scholar exams, but from a pass rate perspective, it's much higher.

"Huh." Qi Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. "It's okay, it's okay. If someone in our class fails the exam, it would be my fault as the class monitor. By the way, I've always been curious if your mathematical symbols are based on the Roman alphabet. Because these are all Latin letters."

"Very similar," Han Xingzhi replied. "My uncle is studying Latin, and I've read his book. There are many similarities between it and the arithmetic symbols used in Rome. Well, there are also differences. After all, there are more Chinese characters in Rome than in this heavenly book."

"Wait." Shangluo was stunned for a moment, "Does Rome use Chinese characters?"

"Well, Latin uses a lot of Chinese characters, and the Latin alphabet is used to mark the original pronunciation. People who don't study Latin may not know this. I only learned this after reading my uncle's Latin textbook. After all, there wasn't much communication between us and the Romans. They used Chinese characters as ideograms. They didn't pronounce them according to the Chinese characters, but they wrote them. The way they wrote them was very similar to the Korean way, with a few characters added to the Chinese characters. However, only scholars in Rome would write like this. Writing everything in Latin would not affect the meaning. Anyway, Latin already has a lot of loanwords."

"Why is that? From what I've heard, communication between our two sides is surprisingly rare, isn't it? Aside from technological exchanges, I haven't seen any cultural works passed back or forth."

"It seems to be due to a theory - the Romans believed that Chinese characters were 'Edenic characters', ideographic symbols deeply rooted in human history. Then, referring to the examples of Korea and Japan, they thought there was nothing wrong with introducing Chinese characters into the symbol system. So they introduced them. Therefore, the Latin we learn is also a mixed Latin written in Chinese and Latin, which is not very convenient for reading anything other than academic literature."

"So they independently decided to use Chinese characters?"

"The Roman side always makes some very big moves for reasons that are hard to understand at the moment, and sometimes it does seem a bit strange. But in the long run, it's generally not a problem. For example, when we both use Chinese characters for technical terms, it's very convenient to create words. Without the help of Chinese characters, academic expressions in Latin would be several times longer than they are now. Take, for example, the telephone and the electric light."

"Well, that would be very convenient for us?"

"Indeed. We're the ones who have it most conveniently, while the Romans themselves aren't so convenient. Oh, put away the study materials, dinner's here."

Qi Yuan put the study material back to make room on the table.

"Here are some snacks for you all." The aproned waiter brought five servings of jelly first. "You're still studying before eating. You're really serious. I wish you all good luck on your exams."

Chapter 241 Gaius Pompey Magnus of Columbia

Chapter 241 Gaius Pompey Magnus of Columbia

All five of them thanked me—although it’s hard to say whether studying addition and subtraction signs ten days before an exam counts as studying.

"Well, this jelly" jelly is grape jelly.

You can taste it in Shangluo. It uses very good grape juice and you can taste the Mediterranean sunshine.

The last person who had given him this taste, well, didn't seem to be doing so well. He was still soaking in the tank.

"Ding ding~ Ding ding ding ding~" A ringtone suddenly came from the restaurant's radio.

Everyone raised their heads, and Shangluo also recognized it - this was the breaking news sound, used to report breaking news.

"It's a Level 4 quick report." Qi Yuan recognized it. Many others who had heard it had already started eating.

"How old is level four?" Shangluo asked.

"Level 4 is breaking news. It's so important that it interrupts the current program, so it's broadcast. Generally speaking, it's either not very relevant to us, or it's not a bad thing. Oh, the broadcast has begun."

"This is Yingtian Broadcasting Station. Dear listeners, we have a breaking news report. Gaius Pompey Magnus, the Grand Admiral of Roman Columbia, has just broadcast to the world from New Antioch. After urgent consultation, the cabinet has decided to rebroadcast this broadcast with simultaneous interpretation. The content is as follows."

Then came Gaius Pompey's own Latin voice, followed by a simultaneous interpretation: "Fate has been determined. Those who bravely explored space are buried in space. Our hero, astronaut Shepard, knew that there was no hope of returning home, but he knew that his sacrifice would bring hope to mankind. This warrior died for humanity's most noble goal, which was to explore the truth of space through practice and seek understanding and true knowledge of the world with his own eyes."

"In the past, humans looked up at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. We still do the same today, but our heroes are great human beings of flesh and blood! There will surely be others who will follow them in the future, and they will surely return safely. From now on, when everyone looks up at the sky in the dark of night, they will know that in some corner of another world, the glorious humanity lives on forever!"

"The above is a statement from Grand Commander Gaius Pompey." The broadcast signal switched to the voice of the announcer from Yingtian Broadcasting Corporation. "According to earlier reports, the Roman Governorate of Colombia has just launched the 'Gaia 4' manned rocket from the space center in Cape Magnus, Florida. The plan ended in failure. The rocket entered an unbalanced tumble before breaking through the atmosphere. The escape tower failed, and the rocket exploded, perishing in the flames with astronaut Marcus Shepard. Constantinople declined to comment on this news. This report ends here. Let's continue with the midday news."

Everyone in the restaurant was talking about it.

【Ah, this.】Apollonia was shocked.

"What's going on? Why is Constantinople refusing to comment?"

They... they split apart! This was a unilateral decision made by the New Antiochus, and Constantinople was unaware of it.

"What are they doing?" Wen Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Are they, going crazy? Are they trying to catch everyone off guard and be the first to go into space?"

"I think they are going to have a fight." Lu Liang said in a deep voice while eating jelly.

"Where is our rocket! They failed, so where is our rocket?" other diners in the restaurant shouted.

As if in response, the midday news began broadcasting news about the Shuilong spacecraft. The vessel had arrived at its designated sea area and was undergoing refueling, with launch scheduled for an appropriate time next week. Astronaut Zhang Xuanling, from Wudang Mountain in Hubei Province, would give a special interview tomorrow.

"That's more like it." Everyone in the restaurant felt comfortable and continued eating.

Even though he usually said he didn't care, and the space program wasn't particularly popular, it was still a big deal if someone else snatched the top spot. Friendship first, competition second, for all that.

Shangluo looked at the jelly in front of him. The taste of the Mediterranean sunshine was still on the plate, and he hadn't finished it yet. But he still felt...

It seems that every bite you take will result in one less bite.

[Hmm? A Fetion message came through. Ah! It's Daozu!]

Shangluo quickly pulled out his phone, and it was the same blank avatar chat from last time. No name, no avatar, just the message:

"How was lunch?"

"The food was delicious. So, Daozu, you gave me the meal voucher?"

"I'm just kidding you. When you both go to sleep at night, please keep at least one eye open."

【I was wrong. I won’t do it again next time.】

"Ah, I'm not Zhang Fei, why would I sleep with one eye open?"

"The gods have divine eyes. You will learn them once you learn. But not today. Come quickly after dinner. I have a mission for you."

"Ah," Shangluo thought. He had a movie to watch this afternoon and so many friends to see. He felt a little embarrassed. But since it was a business trip, of course he had to put business first.

"Want to go watch Master Sa's cartoon after noon? I'll change it to next time."

"what?"

"Eat well. Come back soon after dinner."

Daozu closed the chat thread, and it disappeared. There was no chat history, nothing left.

"Call?" Wen Yuan next to him noticed that Shangluo answered the phone.

"Well, what about you?"

"My master also asked me to go back. The cabinet is in chaos; they're in a meeting. The elders are furious. The Guanglu Temple's boxed meals are already terrible, and now they're causing trouble in the middle of the day. I don't know what's going on in Rome. I'm afraid they're having a stroke. But I have a movie this afternoon. I'm so annoyed."

"It seems like the movie."

Before he finished speaking, the person at the front desk came over hurriedly:

"Are you all going to watch the movie 'Invincible Wang Lingguan: Wang Lingguan vs. Yama Puti' later?"

Shangluo nodded. This was a service provided by Nanyang Department Store. The store would let them in from the inner area, and a dedicated person would check their tickets, eliminating the need to queue—which would have been quite a long line.

"I'm truly sorry, but there was an electrical issue at the cinema on the basement floor. This afternoon's screening has been cancelled. Please come back next week at the same time. You can bring your original tickets; no need to exchange. We'll be back at the same time and place. As an apology, here are some meal coupons from the company. Please accept them if you don't mind."

Shangluo took the voucher and took a look—sure enough, it couldn't be the number one voucher. It was just an all-you-can-eat set meal. It was on the first few pages of the menu, 98 wen per person. But since it was Lan Fang Ting, the food was pretty good, and it was all-you-can-eat. There were unlimited refills on the main course.

"Please accept it if you don't mind. Your food is ready. Do you want me to book a taxi for you later?"

Chapter 242 The Coldness of Yuxi Palace