Sitting in the office of the School of Astronomy of Beijing Normal University, Zhu Cihong was slightly surprised. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

This is actually because his memory is confused. He remembered that East Asia began to retreat because of the changes in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and gradually fell behind the West among the nations of the world.

Therefore, Zhu Cihong also guessed that during this period, the Western navigation methods had also surpassed the sea path needle meridian and the transoceanic star pulling technique at this time. Unexpectedly, at this moment, Westerners still have not mastered the method of determining longitude during sea voyages.

Seeing that Zhu Cihong was deep in thought, the other people in the room were also fighting their own little Jiujiu in their hearts.

Obviously, there were other people in the house besides Zhu Cihong and Li Tianjing. Moreover, both of them are blonde foreigners.

In later generations, it was not easy for China to meet a foreigner, and it is even rarer to meet a foreigner in these years.

Of course, in the Academy of Astronomy, it was very common.

Because, this year is the time for the West to learn from the East. And a few people are also the existence of future generations. Both were missionaries to China, one was named John Tang and the other was Nan Huairen.

John Tang is an old man in his fifties, with a gentle temperament and a smile that makes people feel only amiable and respectable when they see him. What is amiable is John Tang's temperament, and what is respectable is John Tang's bachelor.

Clearly, John Tong was the main one among these missionaries. And by John's side, there was also a foreign missionary: Nan Huairen. Nan Huairen is obviously younger than Tang Ruowang, full of energy, and even a little bold, quietly looking at Zhu Cihong, his eyes are quite presumptuous.

The 22-year-old Belgian went all the way to Beijing, but he was used to hearing Zhu Cihong's prestige.

This noble emperor, who relied on his military exploits to consolidate his authority and became the ruler of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, is really easy to arouse the curiosity of countless people.

The curiosity of most Ming people is overshadowed by admiration, and Nan Huairen is a little more daring in comparison.

At first sight, Nan Huairen was actually a little disappointed. Perhaps the expectations were too high, in his expectation, this Emperor His Majesty should probably be the kind of martial artist, with a general's belly, a sword at his waist and hips, and a majestic and unsmiling appearance.

However, he never expected that the emperor Jingshi who appeared in front of him was a gentle and elegant scholar, a young scribe with a good upbringing, and a temperament more like a learned nobleman than a soldier.

There are too many such scribes that Nan Huairen has seen all the way up and down the Jiangnan. But apart from admiring these people's pursuit of quality of life, he has nothing more to comment on. Or, to paraphrase an old Chinese saying, it can be aptly expressed: gold and jade are ruined on the outside.

At this moment, seeing that Zhu Cihong also had such a temperament, Nan Huairen was a little disapproving. It's just that if this emperor is just like those young scholars, there is something wrong.

In the eyes of those young scholars, Nan Huairen saw more fanaticism for fame and admiration for power. And this one, but he can't see anything special in his eyes. Calm, indifferent, calm, with a strong sense of confidence.

"His Majesty the Emperor also knows something about the techniques for determining longitude at sea?" Nan Huairen said in the official language of the Ming Dynasty with some voices, made a similar salute, and asked.

Zhu Cihong slowly bowed his head: "If you want to establish the direction on the earth, you naturally need to determine the latitude and longitude before you can locate it. Sea navigation, can determine the latitude and longitude, can avoid the worry of getting lost, is a key technology that can live hundreds of millions of people, open up sea routes. ”

Listening to Nan Huairen's question, Tang Ruowang took a closer look and slightly guessed Nan Huairen's thoughts. He was a little worried that the young assistant's post would anger the emperor, whose temperament was not yet known.

But apparently, the results were good. Zhu Cihong did not feel presumptuous about asking questions.

This made Tang Ruowang's heart relax a little, and after a little thought, he let Nan Huairen continue.

In the final analysis, John Tong and Nan Huairen were missionaries. They came to China not for travel and fun, but for what they believed in their hearts: to preach. They want to spread the gospel of God to the land of China.

Thanks to the efforts of Matteo Ricci and other predecessors, John Tong understood that China was a power society after all. In a centralized state, all power is in the center, and the greatest power in the center is obviously the supreme emperor.

Therefore, when Li Tianjing of the Beijing Normal University invited Tang Ruowang to come to the Beijing Normal University Hall to serve as a teacher, Tang Ruowang came immediately without saying a word.

Because, he had already heard of Zhu Cihong's speech in the hall of Beijing Normal University, and even heard that Zhu Cihong would occasionally listen to lectures in the hall of Beijing Normal University in his spare time.

Hearing about this made him keenly aware that this was a great opportunity.

If you can gain the trust of His Majesty the Emperor, then the missionary cause will obviously be greatly improved.

So, what can be done to gain trust?

It is hard to believe that religions, which had been an obstacle to the development of science in the Middle Ages, had come to the East as leaders in the dissemination of advanced science. Every missionary who came to China had to search his stomach and spread the knowledge of the West to the East, as a stepping stone to the approval of the scholars and doctors, and finally to the favor of the high-ranking officials in power. There is no doubt that Xu Guangqi was an outstanding representative before.

It's a pity that Xu Guangqi has already passed away, and in the past few years, John Tang has been trapped here, and he has also felt depressed and can't see hope.

How can you let go of this opportunity at this moment?

Even at this moment, seeing Nan Huairen taking risks, he couldn't take care of it. The missionary mission can only be developed if His Majesty the Emperor is made aware of the value of their missionaries.

"The problem of longitude...... I happen to know that. Nan Huairen paused and spoke eloquently.

Compared to latitude, which is easier to obtain latitude by measuring the height of the stars with a quadrant, longitude is much more difficult to measure.

Because the Earth is always rotating, no celestial body can be used to visually show the difference in longitude

"However, there is a way, but it is extraordinarily simple!" Nan Huairen said and swore an oath: "This is the clock law." The twelve hours of the earth are autobiography of one week, three hundred and sixty degrees in a week, and one hour is thirty degrees. You only need to measure the time difference between the two places to understand the longitude. It is only necessary to simply estimate the time of the voyage and compare it with the correct time at the base time point to determine the longitude position of the ship! ”

When Li Tianjing heard this, he suddenly realized.

Another Catholic beside Nan Huairen, Li Zubai, Tang Ruowang's apprentice, couldn't help but exclaim when he heard this: "How could I not have thought of such a wonderful method? ”

"At this point, the Dutchman Gamma more than 120 years ago? Frisse brought it up. All you need to do is make a clock that always keeps the time in Amsterdam, take it to the ship to measure the local time, compare the time difference to get the longitude difference, and then calculate the longitude at the time of sailing. Nan Huairen said, and couldn't help but look at Zhu Cihong's eyes.

By disseminating Western knowledge, Nan Huairen has seen expressions of surprise, incredulity, and amazement in the eyes of many Ming scholars. Of course, there are also those Taoist gentlemen who say sour things and sneer at them, thinking that this is a trivial way. For such a person, Nan Huairen understands it very well.

These people are not their target group at all, and since they are not interested in the natural sciences of the West, they do not understand the great value of them.

But apparently, this Emperor His Majesty is not such a person.

Whether it is Emperor Chongzhen or this new great emperor, they all have one thing in common: pragmatism.

Emperor Chongzhen's pragmatism was still relatively simple, and he just asked Tang Ruowang to supervise the construction of artillery, because they understood that the Westerners had the technology to build artillery, which was extremely powerful.

Similarly, Zhu Cihong also saw the achievements of Westerners in natural science. For this reason, Nan Huairen believes that Zhu Cihong must also understand how profound the meaning of the clock law is.

Especially this kind of thing that is simple and easy to understand, and contains huge technical content, is even more suitable for shaking His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom.

It's a pity......

Zhu Cihong met Nan Huairen's gaze leisurely, still calm, calm, and unhurried, not only with the kind of confidence that seemed to be engraved into his bones, but also with a rather playful look.

Such a look made Nan Huairen feel bad.

I only heard Zhu Cihong say: "It's indeed a good idea." ”

Li Zubai's eyes lit up, and he heard Zhu Cihong's appreciation. But John Tang is well-informed, has experienced a lot, is no longer young, no longer simple, and hears the different meanings. He pulled Nan Huairen and didn't let him continue to open his mouth in a hurry.

Sure enough, Zhu Cihong said: "It's a pity that it's such a good idea, but it has been more than 120 years, but it still hasn't been able to do it." ”

Tang Ruowang sighed and said, "Shengming has no Son of Heaven. Your Majesty, the Emperor, this is not our intention to deceive you. It was too difficult to create a clock that was accurate and not affected by the shaking of the ship. ”

In this regard, Zhu Cihong expressed his understanding. It's the Ming Dynasty, if you want to recognize the time, you also rely on the sundial.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cihong suddenly remembered a story of the Qing people that was circulated in later generations.

The British envoy planned to send a gift to the Empress Dowager Cixi to celebrate her birthday, but in view of the fact that Margani was criticized by the Qianlong Emperor for being useless when he met with him, he thought that China was so big that it could do everything. So the British envoy arrived at something particularly unique: the clock.

In later generations, although clocks and watches were flying all over the sky, quartz watches and electronic watches were cheap. With a mobile phone and computer, everyone doesn't need to worry about not being able to see the time.

But at the time, it was still very difficult to figure out what seconds you were.

Relying on the sundial during the day and the husband at night is a very primitive way.

In this way, the British envoy thought of sending a clock.

After choosing a gift, I happily sent it over.

But when she received the gift, the Empress Dowager Cixi was furious.

Zhu Cihong still remembers that in the film and television image, the eunuch with a thin voice pinched his throat and said: "Lafayette, the foreign devil sent a clock, this is to send you to the end......"

The Empress Dowager Cixi was furious, but Zhu Cihong sighed that the backwardness and ignorance of the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not see the meaning of an accurate clock at all.

Obviously, until the 19th century, clocks were an advanced existence. Then, before Huygens wrote the Pendulum Clock and invented the pendulum clock and made the first chronograph in history, it was clear that this era could not create a clock that could sail the seas without error.

"Therefore, relying on the clock method, we can only do it theoretically, but we really can't do it practically." Zhu Cihong couldn't help but sigh.

Li Tianjing couldn't help but ponder. He only pondered for a moment, and then suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he saw a person sneaking in through the crack in the door, and opened a small note to him.

At this moment, Zhu Cihong was talking with Tang Ruowang and Nan Huairen, and no one dared to disturb him.

Li Tianjing took a slight look, and sure enough, he saw a few people behind the crack in the door. It was Qi Yuan, Lu Zhongyu, Chen Xinmo, and Wu Wanying, who followed with a small tail. After reading the note, he was surprised to Zhu Cihong, and after getting the answer, he let a few people in.

Wu Wanying, who followed all the way, was well versed in the ability of the army elite, and was not discovered by a few people who said that he could rise.

This kind of discovery made Wu Wanying a little complacent and a little arrogant, and he planned to flow directly into the office of the dean of the School of Astronomy to listen to the lectures of these gentlemen.

So, Wu Wanying pretended to be a guard and planned to continue to follow a few people in. He pulled out his military ID and shook it for a while, intending to continue his entry.

Unexpectedly, at the door of the conference room, which was still calm and could not see a trace of strangeness, suddenly I don't know from which pimple corner countless strong men popped out.

The first person is the post in front of the door, and at this moment, he cheers up, and a pair of eyes are like fiery eyes, which makes people panic.

Ning Wei grabbed the military ID card when Wu Wanying was about to take it back, pulled it over to take a look, and stopped the movements of several guards who threw Wu Wanying to the ground: "Wait, the action is light, it's really a real thing." of the First Army? Huh, medics? Yo, Wu Wanying. The name is familiar...... Someone, go and give me that copy of the Beijing Times newspaper. Is this man...... Just press the ...... first Hiss, remembered. Escort down and ask, what is a serious battle hero sneaking over for. I'm going to tell Your Majesty about ......."

Wu Wanying, who was thrown to the ground by countless guards, was confused, but she just felt that her eyes were shining with gold, and she was really suffering. Just as he was wondering, he suddenly heard Ning Wei's words: Your Majesty......

Your Majesty......

Your Majesty......

I actually ran into His Majesty the Emperor!

……

At this moment, seeing that Zhu Cihong knew the goods and understood the problem of the clock, Tang Ruowang couldn't help but feel depressed, he understood that this emperor not only knew the goods, but also knew how to do it.

In this way, just by seeing and hearing these false things, I am afraid that I will not be able to impress His Majesty the rich and far-sighted Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!

Just when Tang Ruowang was about to continue to throw out what he was thinking, Zhu Cihong spoke first, which suddenly made Tang Ruowang get up in shock. (To be continued.) )