Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Yuanzhang's contemptuous attitude towards astronomy was directly reflected in the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

The "Da Ming Code" clearly stipulates that anyone who privately collects mystical artifacts, astronomical prophecies, forbidden books, images of emperors of past dynasties, gold and jade seals, etc. will be punished with a hundred sticks. Anyone who practices astronomy in private will also be guilty of the same crime.

Therefore, it was precisely because of this attitude of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty that Chinese astronomy began to suffer serious regression in the Ming Dynasty.

Regarding the Yuan Dynasty, you can say that the Mongols were bad in all kinds of ways, but one thing is that the Mongolian ruling class's emphasis on and application of natural subjects such as mathematics and astronomy was really much better than that of the later Ming Dynasty.

Although this emphasis was originally for military technology points.

But anyway, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, astronomy has become the privilege of the imperial eunuch and a few people who have a collection of books.

The astronomy of the Ming Dynasty lacked the open academic exchange environment as later in Europe, and it was difficult to study. If people were interested in astronomy, they would face suppression by the rulers.

This further led to a closed-door approach. Such a closed environment was not conducive to the inheritance of academic achievements in astronomy. Therefore, starting from the Ming Dynasty, Chinese astronomy eventually turned from leading to falling behind.

After Zhuo Jing explained a little, this former colleague and current inmate, who had basically never read any astronomy books, finally understood.

Well, in fact, many officials do not read the "Law of the Ming Dynasty". The reason why they do not violate this law is simply because there are no astronomy books on the market for them to read, so naturally there is no way to talk about violating the law.

Just like there are no cars in villages in remote mountainous areas, there is no illegal drunk driving.

Jiang Xinghuo said: "The reason why I say that the basic theory passed down by Chinese literature is not very accurate is because the Huntian theory knows that the earth under our feet is round, but the core of the Huntian theory is the sphere under our feet. , that is, the earth, is at the center of the entire Huntian.”

"What if?"

Zhuo Jing was stunned for a moment. The Huntian theory was actually the mainstream of astronomy in this era. People who understood astronomy knew that the earth was a sphere.

Because of this, Zheng He was not too surprised by the globe.

"History of the Yuan Dynasty, Volume 48, Tianwen 1": Ku Lai Yi A Zi, a geographical annals in Chinese, is made of wood as a round ball, divided into seven parts by water, its color is green, and its color is divided into three parts by fields, and its color is white, depicting rivers and lakes The sea, with its veins running through it, is drawn as a small square well to measure the vastness of the circle and the distance of the road.

In other words, people in the Yuan Dynasty not only recorded that the earth is round, but also accurately recorded that land accounts for 30% and oceans account for 70%. In addition, the latitudes of many cities were determined by drawing "small square wells" and The geographical information of later generations is very close. For example, Beijing is 42° north latitude, Taiyuan is 38° north latitude, Chengdu is 31.5° north latitude, Nanjing is 34° north latitude, Qiongzhou is 19° north latitude, etc.

Moreover, the concept of longitude and latitude was measured by the aforementioned Guo Shoujing of the Yuan Dynasty. He measured the angle of Polaris at the southernmost point to be 15° and the northernmost point in the North Sea. He measured the angle of Polaris to be 65°, further confirming the latitude difference and explaining that the Earth It is not flat. If it were flat, the angle of Polaris would not be so different.

Therefore, what surprised Zheng He was the accuracy of Jiang Xinghuo's ball-shaped sea map regarding the landmark cities of Western countries.

Rather than the earth being a sphere itself.

Jiang Xinghuo took a deep breath and asked a soul question.

"Is it possible that in order to take care of agricultural production, the calendar that has been formulated with the moon as a reference standard for thousands of years has been revised from generation to generation because the moon should not have been used as a reference standard in the first place?"

Hearing this, Zhuo Jing felt confused in his mind.

Ancient Chinese astronomy and calendar were so advanced, why didn’t they know that the earth revolves around the sun?

This is because the ancient Chinese calendar is mainly based on the lunisolar calendar. Due to the angle of observation, it basically ignores the cycle of the sun, and also ignores the revolution of the earth around the sun.

The length of a lunar year is 354 days, which is very different from the 365 days of the earth's orbit around the sun. Therefore, the calendars of the past dynasties have to be patched. This is why.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the "Taichu Calendar" was formulated, and the twenty-four solar terms used in later generations came from this.

In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the famous mathematician Zu Chongzhi formulated the "Da Ming Calendar" that was more accurate and more suitable for the changes in the moon at that time. Because it adopted the calculation of Zhirun, it was equivalent to a patch. It was not until the "Tongtian Calendar" of the Southern Song Dynasty that the accuracy was improved. It was surpassed by the Calendar, and the length of the tropical year was further accurate. It is the same in accuracy as the Gregorian Calendar, which became famous in the West three hundred years later.

The "Time Calendar" formulated during the reign of Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, was used by the Ming Dynasty, which was obsessed with astronomy, until its demise.

"My little friend is saying."

Zhuo Jing suddenly became excited and realized the hidden meaning of Jiang Xinghuo.

"The calendar should be based on the sun as the reference standard?"

"In other words, the earth under our feet, as well as the stars such as metal, wood, water, fire, earth, etc., should move around the sun?!"

Jiang Xinghuo nodded silently.

Zhuo Jing was still in disbelief.

Ancient Chinese astronomy knew that the earth was round, and that stars such as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were all moving in circles, but the problem was that they didn't know that the earth was also moving around the sun!

This has undoubtedly had a huge impact on Zhuo Jing's thinking.

Zhuo Jing felt a little dizzy. The old man put his hand on his forehead and said slowly: "This matter is of great importance and needs to be deduced in detail. However, I have one more thing to ask my friend. Just now, my friend said that astronomy is not only about using It’s explained by mathematics and, more importantly, physics.”

Zhuo Jing asked: "Then what is physics?"

Jiang Xinghuo replied: "The science of the principles of all things, in other words, is the knowledge of principles that can explain things, including the earth under our feet, as well as the movement trajectories of stars such as metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and even the sun. In other words, it is different from astronomy. The basis of it can not only explain the movement of stars, but also explain various things on our earth."

The inmate beside Zhuo Jing suddenly spoke, and he hit the nail on the head.

"Then why has no one noticed it before?"

This is a good question. Why are there so many people in China who have thought about astrophysics, but have not continued to study it in depth, or have studied it but cannot pass it on, and cannot form a theoretical system similar to that of the modern West?

Jiang Xinghuo said sarcastically.

"Because China's imperial examinations, except for the Tang Dynasty examination, usually tested Confucian subjects. All knowledgeable and educated people were attracted to participate in the imperial examination. They were usually busy pondering over the examinations in the piles of old papers. If you learn the Confucian ideas well and take the imperial examination, you can become an official, you can make a fortune, you can honor your ancestors, you can have a wife and a son."

"As for astronomy and mathematics, they are just unpopular small subjects and elementary knowledge. Literati who are determined to pursue an official career can at most study them in their free time. Generally speaking, no one will devote a lot of energy to such things because of the dedication and hard work. The rewards are obviously not proportional, no matter how good your research is, it will be of no use, you will not be able to get promoted and make a fortune, and others will not be able to understand it."

"So, physics naturally cannot develop."

In fact, just like in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, people used wealth as a measure of social status. Those who don't make money are useless. This is the same truth, but it was replaced by being an official in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the root cause is innovation and the lack of profit-driven.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo believes that if we want to promote the six basic natural sciences and then promote the development of manufacturing capacity, then the corresponding treatment system must keep up. Otherwise, it will definitely not work if we just make people work without giving them money, status and other benefits. of.

At the same time, I want to say that the reason why Jiang Xinghuo said before that Chinese astronomy is more like social science than natural science.

That is, not only did imperial power shape astronomy, but astronomy also affected the imperial power of ancient China.

The Chinese people first understood the world as one in which nature and man are one, in which astronomy penetrates into humanities, into temples, and then influences each other. China has a long history of astronomy, rich observation experience, and astronomical calendar data analysis has long been at the world-class level.

But this is not the meaning of ancient Chinese astronomy, it is just a subsidiary effect of ancient Chinese astronomy.

The significance of ancient Chinese astronomy is to guide the operation of the real world. The simplest one is the so-called "Heaven moves vigorously, and a gentleman strives for self-improvement." This is not a metaphor or an exhortation. Behind this is the unity of nature and man, which is the true belief of the ancients.

Ancient Chinese astronomy explored astronomical knowledge and achieved scientific results, such as the extremely advanced astronomical clock-the Water Transport Instrument Observatory, but this is not the essence of ancient astronomy. Ancient Chinese astronomy did not pursue an extremely accurate astronomical model. This is not its ambition.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Emperor Gao, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, smashed the crystal engraving in anger.

"My little friend, why don't you talk about this physics?"

Zhuo Jing was already very curious at this time.

Can it explain the fundamental reasons for the movement of stars?

It really made him feel a little unimaginable.

After all, ancient Chinese astronomy only observed results and recorded data. As for the fundamental reasons for the movement of stars, no one knew at all.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at him, but because the distance was a bit far away, he could only see blurry white hair.

"Old man, you might as well go to bed early. Regarding physics, I will naturally talk about it when I give a lecture next time. If you are interested then, you can come and listen."

After saying that, Jiang Xinghuo put away the globe again and stuffed it into the straw pile while Zheng He looked at it eagerly.

Zhuo Jing opened his mouth, but in the end he was speechless.

Only then did Zhuo Jing realize that what Dao Yan said was true. This young man named Jiang Xinghuo seemed to have great abilities.

Old Man Zhuo tossed and turned on the straw pile for a long time, looking at the starry sky through the skylight.

But couldn't sleep.