With this background, Xia Nan would guess that George had come to China to preach, not to officiate at a trivial wedding. Although the clergy had a spirit www.biquge.info of sacrifice and devotion, the object of sacrifice and devotion was limited to the Church, so that they would not risk their lives to cross the ocean for the sake of an unrelated person, which was indeed life-threatening at the level of navigation of this time and space.

Xia Nan didn't want to disappoint Maria, but she didn't want her to be used as a pawn by George, and after thinking for a while, she felt that foreigners shouldn't be very good at detouring, and decided to get straight to the point.

In English, he asked, "Father George, thank you for coming all the way to China to witness my wedding to Maria, and I will build the church." But could you please tell me in good faith that there was any other purpose for this trip? ”

Seeing that he promised to build a church, George let go of the stone in his heart and used the wedding of his best friend's daughter to achieve his goal, and he also felt a little guilty in his heart.

"Sir, since you are so cheerful, I will tell you what you want to know. Yes, as you said to this gentleman, I came to Ming Kingdom to preach......"

Xia Nan was surprised and surprised, and glanced at Lin Weiye. Didn't George speak Chinese, so how do you know the content of the conversation between the two? Moreover, did he really confide the truth in order to preach, without temptation?

As if aware of their doubts, George smiled and said, "Sir, oh no, I think it would be more appropriate to call you a general—Maria told me that you are a general appointed by the emperor of this vast empire to guard this island—although I don't know much Mandarin, but I have been a missionary in Manila, where there are many merchants from the Ming Kingdom, and I can understand some of your words, so I understand most of your conversations with Maria and this gentleman." Instead of being suspicious of each other, it is better to be open and honest and increase mutual trust. ”

There is a sentence that George did not say, since the other party is the head snake here, it is more beneficial to proselytize to gain his trust than to conceal the truth.

It's all said that it will be easy to do, and Xia Nan exhaled: "Okay, Father George, I will build the church, because I don't want to leave Maria with regrets, I want to give her a perfect European wedding." But I have to think about whether or not you can stay in Qiongzhou as a missionary. ”

George looked as usual, not at all depressed, it was normal for similar things to happen during the mission, and if everything was going well, the church would not have sent them missionaries. He opened the box he was carrying with him and took out a few things.

"Your Excellency, I have heard Maria say that you have very advanced cannons and muskets, and with them you have defeated ten times the number of enemy attacks, so I think you should be interested in European knowledge and technology. If you can sustain me in preaching here, I think I can help you with my knowledge......" George opened a map, "Like, this is the latest world map, it opens the door to the world to us, and I think you'll need it......"

Xia Nan and Lin Weiye leaned over to take a look, quite disappointed, the so-called world map is only Europe, Africa and Asia, there is no North and South Pole, North America, that is, the West called the "New World" is seriously inconsistent with the actual terrain. For the two traversers, this immature world map is not attractive at all, and perhaps a map drawn by Lin Weiye by hand is much more accurate than this one.

Seeing that they were not interested, George picked up another clock: "This is a clock, the crystallization of European technology and craftsmanship, capable of accurate timekeeping." ”

This can be had, Xia Nan and the others cheered up, took the clock in his hand and looked at it carefully.

It's not so much a watch as an alarm clock, because it's so big. Judging from the scale of the chronograph, there is no essential difference from the clocks of later generations.

George explains: "The clock was powered by a tin clockwork, so it could be made small enough; At the same time, the balance spring is used instead of the pendulum, which can be used as a bag watch for easy carrying. If the vertically placed axle escapement was replaced by a herring-wheel escapement (Note 1), the movement could be made thinner, and the whole timepiece could be made smaller than what you see......"

After listening to his introduction, Xia Nanru listened to the Book of Heaven, and this was the first time after crossing over that he felt that his knowledge was not enough in front of the people of this time and space-Nima, is this a priest or a watchmaker?

Lin Weiye was interested: "Father, why don't you just use the fork escapement?" This reduces the random errors caused by the punching process and allows for more accurate timing. ”

George's eyes lit up, and he couldn't imagine that there was such a talent in the East. He replied: "As far as I know, the I-wheel escapement is the best escapement that can be made at the moment, but it still needs to be perfected. ”

"In fact, to put it bluntly, the working principle of the escapement is similar, what to do is to increase the range of free oscillation, control the swing of the hairspring, and reduce the error caused by energy loss......"

Summer Nan looked up to the sky and sighed, the conversation between monsters is not something that mortals can understand. A 17th-century British priest and a 21st-century Chinese metallurgical engineer gathered on Hainan Island in the late Ming Dynasty to discuss the mechanical principles of clocks and watches, which is a very strange thing in itself, and what is even stranger is that he can understand every word they say, but he doesn't know what the whole sentence means, which is simply an insult to his intelligence.

The discussion between the two was half an hour, and Xia Nan couldn't help but cough deliberately twice, so Lin Weiye had to end this technical discussion.

He excitedly said to Xia Nan: "The priest can make clocks, and if it is improved on the existing basis, it is not impossible to make pocket watches that can be carried with him a century or two in advance......

Xia Nan rolled her eyes: "So what?" Daming timekeeping is still 12 hours, clocks are 24 hours, the standards are different, even if it can be made, who is it sold to? ”

Lin Weiye was so angry that he jumped to his feet: "When you get into the eyes of money, you know how to do business." Can't we use it ourselves? Can't the army be used to fight a war? ”

In the summer, I forgot about the military use of clocks.

"Yes, let's give each officer a piece, military operations can be more efficient and accurate, especially when multiple troops cooperate with each other."

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(Note 1: The escapement of clocks was invented and perfected in the 18th century, and this article brings it back to the 17th century for the sake of the plot.) ）

(To be continued.) )