On July 1, the second year of Chongzhen, there were a sea of people outside the Desheng Gate in the capital, and there were tens of thousands of people looking around a flat grassland. It is said that the students of Yenching University are going to do an experiment here today, and these people are all coming out to see the excitement. Although they didn't know what today's test was, they did know from the Daming Times that today's test was to prove how powerful the atmospheric pressure was.

Zhu Youzhen walked up to the high platform on the north side of the meadow, which was built so that he could better watch the experiment. After Zhu Youzhen sat down, he said to Zhu Yousong, the prince of King Fu, who was standing in front of him: "I see that the time is almost up, you go and announce the start of the experiment, don't let the onlookers wait for a long time." ”

Zhu Yousong bowed his head and agreed, and then happily stepped down to inform Ouyang Binyuan and Xue Fengzuo, who were presiding over the test. Ever since Chongzhen demonstrated experiments with mercury columns at Yenching University, students at Yenching University have become interested in the role of vacuum and atmospheric pressure.

After Ouyang Binyuan and Xue Fengzuo heard the idea of the Magdeburg hemisphere experiment from Chongzhen, they hoped to verify the experiment in person. However, although they were born into a family of eunuchs and gentry, they were unable to scrape together all the funds for this experiment.

Although there were 2,000 taels of silver allocated by Chongzhen, and the experimental team composed of 8 or 9 students they recruited also made up more than 1,000 taels, a total of more than 3,000 taels of silver was still a drop in the bucket for this hemispheric experiment.

In the end, under Chongzhen's instructions, Zhu Yousong became the sponsor of this experiment. Since King Fu moved from Luoyang to Beijing, King Fu can use more living money than Chongzhen.

In the past, when he was in Luoyang, King Fu was very strict about his own treasury, and even Zhu Yousong, the eldest son and son, could not use more than 1,000 taels of silver. However, in order to move King Fu's Mansion from Luoyang to the capital, King Fu had to hand over the responsibility of carrying it to Zhu Yousong.

Under the persuasion of the central bank's steward, Zhu Yousong handed over the assets of the Fuwang Mansion to the central bank to take care of, and he also took the opportunity to set up a small treasury of 3 or 500,000 taels.

Therefore, with the funding of the prince of Fu Wang, the hemispheric experiment finally continued smoothly. The most troublesome part of this experiment is the sealing and extraction of the air in the hemisphere.

In order to find the right sealing material and the correct sealing method, as well as the equipment for extracting air, the experimental team had to accept Fang Yimian and Huang Tongge, who were craftsmen. After experimenting with hundreds of materials, an elastic material was extracted from a dandelion-like plant emulsion from a salinized meadow.

When everything was ready for the hemispheric experiment, the members of the experimental team had time to worry about the success of today's experiment. They had been preparing for this experiment for nearly a year and had spent a huge sum of 15,000 taels of silver, and if they failed in front of the people of the capital, it would be no less than a great psychological earthquake for them.

After receiving Zhu Yousong's notice, Ouyang Binyuan, Xue Fengzuo, Fang Yimian, and Huang Tongge immediately became busy, and they began to operate step by step, assembling two hemispheres on the square table placed on the grass.

However, Ouyang Binyuan noticed that in addition to Fang Yimian, the hands of the other two were a little stiff, and he couldn't help but stop his movements and said to the three of them: "Gentlemen, please calm down, this is just an experiment." Have you forgotten that we have experimented several times before and have been successful, and today we are just repeating the successful experiment again. ”

Brother Huang Tong's face turned a little pale, and he said with some unconfidence: "But the first few times we experimented, it was only 2, 4 and 8 horses pulling each other, but today there are 16 horses, and they are still good horses." I'm still a little worried about whether today's experiment will be successful. ”

Xue Fengzuo also said with some uncertainty: "Yes, why don't we conduct experiments according to the strength of 8 horses, but double it?" There are tens of thousands of people in the capital who came to watch the experiment today, and His Majesty was also present in person. If we fail, we will lose face. ”

When Ouyang Binyuan was about to continue to persuade, Fang Yimian, who had always been silent, suddenly said loudly: "Since it is an experiment, it is natural to verify the theory we envisioned. According to Xue Gongzi's calculations, 16 horses can't pull away from these two hemispheres in a vacuum. Could it be that because of the number of onlookers, Xue Gongzi, do you think that the result of your calculation is wrong? ”

"Naturally, my calculations will not be wrong, I am just worried that if it fails, not only will we lose face, but it will also affect the reputation of the new school of our school." For Fang Yimian's questioning, Xue Fengzuo immediately felt resentment in his heart, and spoke out to defend his calculation results, and the hesitation he had shown before suddenly dissipated from him.

Seeing Xue Fengzuo regain his former self-confidence, Ouyang Binyuan suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and he hurriedly persuaded him: "Since Yifu is confident in his calculation results, as long as we don't make mistakes in the experiment, today's experiment will not fail." You just need to check your steps carefully and don't have problems.

Today, His Majesty and so many people in the capital are watching, once the experiment is successful, a few of us together with Xinxue will inevitably become famous all over the world, and you will work together. ”

Under the encouragement of Ouyang Binyuan, the three of them finally returned to their usual hearts. When the four of them nervously completed the experimental steps, after returning to the high platform, Zhu Yousong, who was sitting next to the emperor, kept picking up the monocular in his hand and looking down, as if under his attention, the experiment under the stage could improve the success rate of some general.

The nervousness in Zhu Yousong's heart at the moment was not much worse than that of the following experimenters. Funding hemispheric experiments to verify the existence of vacuums and atmospheric pressures cost him tens of thousands of taels of silver, and his name is also associated with this experiment in the Daming Times.

If the experiment is successful, he will naturally receive a lot of praise. If he fails, I'm afraid he will be regarded as the laughing stock of the world's number one loser.

In contrast, when Chongzhen asked him to study the nature and causes of national wealth, his heart did not beat as fast as it did now. Compared with Zhu Yousong's nervousness, Zhu Youzhen's demeanor seemed a little relaxed, in his opinion, this was an outing, the only thing that made it a pity for him was that he couldn't bring a few concubines out to watch the excitement together.

The Magdeburg hemispheric experiment will be successful, and it will only be because the experimental procedures or equipment are faulty, and the principle is not wrong. Therefore, Zhu Youzhen is not worried about the result of this experiment at all, even if it fails, then find out the reason for the failure and then continue the experiment, and this experiment will still succeed after all.

It's just that from now on, the name of this experiment will no longer be called the Magdeburg Hemispheric Experiment, but the name of the Beijing Hemisphere Experiment or something. What he was most interested in about the experiment was the sealing material that the team found, which was almost indistinguishable from rubber and came from a plant similar to a dandelion.

It's just that this plant is abundant in saline-alkali meadows, but the rubber material that can be extracted is only about 10-15% of the milk content. Since the amount of this plant milk is not large, the cost of extracting these rubber materials is even more staggering.

After Zhu Youzhen learned the inside story, he had to admit that the rubber made from these plants could only be used as experimental supplies, and could not be used as industrial raw materials.

In Zhu Youzhen's careless wait-and-see, Ouyang Binyuan and the other four finally completed the pre-procedure of the hemisphere experiment, leaving only the last item, connecting the handles of the two hemispheres with the cables of the horse teams on both sides, and then letting the 16 horses run east and west respectively.

After putting on the rope, Ouyang Binyuan nodded with Fang Yimian on the other side, and the two of them immediately let go of their hands, and then let the drivers in their respective directions drive their horses forward.

Almost simultaneously the riders on both sides gave the command to their horses to move forward, eight horses*, eight horses to the west. When the horses first started running, the momentum was quite amazing. But after running a dozen steps each, both sides were stopped. The iron ball, located in the middle of the two groups of horse teams, was suddenly suspended by the taut wire rope.

From time to time, the onlookers exclaimed in amazement, and if it weren't for the patrolman stopping in front of them, I am afraid that they would all have rushed up at this moment and ran close to watch this miracle.

After all, they all knew very well before that the two hemispheres were not additionally connected with other things, and even if there were, they would be broken in front of such 16 horses. They could see with their own eyes that the riders on both sides were not able to make the horses move forward a few steps.

The sphere of the two hemispheres, under the traction of the horse, moves from side to side, but never separates. After a stalemate of more than ten minutes, Ouyang Binyuan asked the riders on both sides to stop the horses, and then personally untied the ropes on both sides of the iron ball.

After the iron ball with a diameter of 38 cm was placed on the table, Ouyang Binyuan opened the vent on the iron ball, and then the round ball, which 16 horses could not separate, was easily pulled away by him with such a "snap".

Many onlookers stepped forward one after another, asking Ouyang Binyuan and the other experimenters what the reason was.

Therefore, this experiment to verify the existence of atmospheric pressure has become a popular science propaganda. Zhu Youzhen was very happy to see this, and these people did not regard the hemispheric experiment as witchcraft, which was the best result of the spread of new learning in the past year.

Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting on the stage, was looking at the several experimenters who were surrounded by the people and could not come over to salute him, and a guard hurriedly ran to the stage and reported a few words to Liang Yongji, who was guarding the emperor's side.

Liang Yongji quietly walked to Chongzhen's side and whispered to him: "Your Majesty, the Zheng He has returned to Tianjin, and the captain has arrived in the capital, and he hopes to report to His Majesty about his voyage." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the chaos under the stands, and said to Liang Yongji: "Leave a few people to protect those who participated in the experiment and maintain order at the scene." Let's go back first, and I'll summon Edmund Dantès in the Wuying Palace. ”