Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Under the tree, Old Man Zhuo couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"A talented person from all over the world!"

These words are not used to describe, but have a literal meaning.

Coming from the ups and downs of the Hongwu Dynasty, Old Man Zhuo had never seen such a talented person really exist in the world.

Not only are the ideas in my mind unconstrained and eclectic.

Moreover, he also has a very advanced ability to understand and control the nature and principles of various things.

In Mr. Zhuo's view, Jiang Xinghuo's extremely intelligent brain is simply a treasure of infinite wisdom, which can easily find the answers that people are looking for.

"Old sir, what's wrong with you?"

Looking at the silent old man Zhuo next to him, Jiang Xinghuo was a little confused.

"Oh, it's okay, let's continue talking."

After coming back to his senses, Zhuo Jing waved his hand.

"OK."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and then continued to ask: "We have finished talking about how to locate the position on the globe, that is, the determination of longitude and latitude. Is there anything else you want to ask? If not, get out of class is over now."

After saying that, Jiang Xinghuo yawned, indicating that he was sleepy.

No way, physics and mathematics are indeed easy to hypnotize.

Jiang Xinghuo looked down at the list of formulas listed on the ground and felt a little dizzy.

However, Jiang Xinghuo believes that the significance of this physics lesson is still very important.

There is no other reason. If he wants to give Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism a fatal blow, then Jiang Xinghuo believes that it is more appropriate to start from the perspective of "cosmology".

Why?

Because the cosmology of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism cannot be verified.

In other words, they are all fanciful and cannot be verified.

As for my theory, if it can be confirmed by the cosmology, it is naturally far stronger than what your cosmology cannot.

Again, practice is the standard for testing the truth of things.

My truth is laid out here for everyone to see clearly.

Where is your reasoning?

Is it a natural principle that exists in nothingness?

Sorry, I can't see it.

However, even though Zheng He's hand holding his long beard was numb, he was still in the mood to continue asking questions!

Jiang Xinghuo was so sleepy that his head ached, but he had to bite the bullet and prepare an answer.

"One last question."

Jiang Xinghuo sighed: "Just tell me."

Zheng He probably felt a little embarrassed and said quickly: "This is really the last question."

"That is to say." Zheng He leaned forward cautiously, "Even if you can know the specific latitude and basically accurate longitude at sea, how can you determine where you are?"

Zheng He was very concerned about this issue. The reason why Zheng He took the risk of exposing his identity and continued to ask these questions about navigation was because these questions were likely to save his life in times of danger!

This is no exaggeration.

In the turbulent ocean, positioning is more important than anything else!

However, when Zheng He went to sea, he still used Semu people as navigators.

In other words, the core technology of navigation and positioning is not completely in one's own hands. It needs at least several ocean-going trainings before the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet, which has been banned from sea for many years, can become completely familiar with the routes.

Therefore, as the actual person in charge of the Ming Dynasty's ocean fleet, Zheng He was naturally concerned about this, even if his hands were numb at this time.

Hearing this question, Jiang Xinghuo couldn't help but pinch his eyebrows and asked: "How do you measure speed in navigation now?"

Zheng He said truthfully: "The method used is the flowing wood method."

"Talk about it."

Jiang Xinghuo is not omniscient and omnipotent. He still doesn't understand the specific principles of ancient Chinese ocean navigation technology.

After Zheng He's explanation, Jiang Xinghuo finally understood what this "Liu Mu Technique" was all about.

"Liumu method" first originated in the Three Kingdoms period. At that time, the ships of the State of Wu could already reach the Wanli Shitang area. The people on the ship wrote the book "Nanzhou Foreign Object Chronicles", which contains this record: Throw a piece of wood into the sea on the bow of the ship, and then run quickly from bow to stern. By seeing whether the wood pieces arrive at the same time, the speed and range can be measured, which is the prototype of the "drifting wood method".

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty still uses this ancient method, with only slight improvements, that is, dividing the day and night into ten shifts, burning incense to keep time, or throwing wood into the sea, and then people run with it. If at the same time Arrival is considered standard, and if the person arrives first and cannot be called, the wood chip will be called first.

The distance of each watch is fifty miles (some say sixty miles). In this way, the speed and range of the ship on the ocean can naturally be calculated.

The advantage of the "liquid wood method" is that it can measure distance and speed.

The disadvantage is that it is a bit useless.

After listening, Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a moment and said, "I would like to make a suggestion first."

"Mr. Jiang, please give me some advice."

"Advice is out of the question." Jiang Xinghuo smiled bitterly, "Don't you think this method of measuring speed is a bit useless? Moreover, what if the waves are big? Wooden boards, wood blocks, wood chips, etc., can be destroyed by just one wave. ? It can’t always be calm for you to observe, right?”

Zheng He was also a little helpless and just said: "It has been like this since ancient times, and there is no good way to improve it."

"You can use the knot method." Jiang Xinghuo said.

Zheng He was stunned when he heard this. What is the rope knot method?

It would be great if the knotting method mentioned by Mr. Jiang can avoid the disadvantages of the driftwood method that cannot adapt to complex sea conditions.

After all, there are many people on the boat who can turn back and run, but the biggest disadvantage of the driftwood method is that the wood cannot float smoothly from the bow to the stern in complex sea conditions.

Therefore, Zheng He sincerely hoped that Mr. Jiang could come up with a better solution.

"The first one is that you don't need to use incense sticks to time the time. You can just use an hourglass. You don't have to use a glass hourglass, other things can also be used."

Speaking of hourglasses, they were also called "sand clocks" in ancient China. The manufacturing principle is roughly the same as that of water droplets. Time is also measured based on the amount of water leaking from one container to another.

The reason why the hourglass was invented in addition to the water drop hourglass is because the weather in the north is cold in winter, and the hourglass cannot be used at all and will freeze easily.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty not only had hourglasses, but also a very well-made variety called the "five-wheel hourglass", which was invented by Zhan Xiyuan, a scholar from Zhongshushe in the Hongwu Dynasty, a pioneer of Taige style, and a saint in the early Ming Dynasty.

The quicksand of this "five-wheel hourglass" flows from the funnel-shaped sand pool to the sand bucket next to the primary wheel, driving the primary wheel, thereby driving the rotation of mechanical gears at all levels, and the last gear drives the middle wheel rotating on the horizontal plane. , there is a pointer on the axis of the middle wheel, and the pointer rotates on a scored instrument disc to display the time. This display method is almost identical to the surface structure of a modern clock.

In addition, Zhan Xiyuan also cleverly added a mechanical toggle device on the middle wheel to remind the two wooden men standing on the five-wheel hourglass to beat the drum to tell the time. Every hour or quarter, two wooden figures will come out on their own and beat drums to report the time. This hourglass has become independent of the auxiliary astronomical instrument and has become a mechanical clock structure.

Uh. In fact, if you think of Zhu Yuanzhang's angry smashing of the glass astronomical instrument, you can also think of the ending of this inventive man.

——It was given to me by Lao Zhu.

Oh, by the way, Zhan Xiyuan also has a disciple named Xie Jin.

In short, there is no doubt that Ming Dynasty had an hourglass, and a very good hourglass.

"The second one, which is the knotting method itself, means that while timing with an hourglass, throw the rope tied with painted triangular wooden boards into the sea. The rope will be knotted at a fixed distance. At the same time, the other side of the rope will be tied. One end is wound inside the spindle-shaped storage device. As the ship moves forward, the rope continues to come out of the storage device and passes through the palm of the sailor's hand. As the fixed time ends, the sailor passes the fixed time through the palm of his hand. The number of knots is reported, and this number divided by the elapsed time through the hourglass gives the sailing speed.”

"In this way, after the calculator knows the speed, he can mark the ship's current position on the chart based on the direction of navigation."

Jiang Xinghuo said, looking at the red-faced man thoughtfully.

"Similarly, this fixed knotting method can also use a number of knots as a fixed mileage, so that the longitude and latitude can be demarcated on the map."

Zheng He only realized it now, but his face became even redder with excitement, and he expressed his gratitude to Jiang Xinghuo repeatedly.

Although Jiang Xinghuo's method sounds unremarkable, for Zheng He, it is nothing more than a solution to a huge practical problem.

After all, anyone who has heard it once can understand the practical difference between the "Flowing Wood Method" and the "Rope Knot Method".

The "rope knot method" can not only measure the distance stably, but also ignore most common sea conditions. From then on, Zheng He was not afraid of small winds and waves.

Zheng He became even more excited when he thought that with Mr. Jiang's guidance, he would be able to lead the invincible Ming Dynasty fleet across the world from now on.

Jiang Xinghuo concluded: "The starry sky is boundless and the sea is boundless, but what I want to say is that as long as we use scientific methods, we will be able to do things that cannot be done in traditional concepts."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the sky and suddenly felt something.

"Although people have to worry about the present, they can never forget the stars and the sea in their dreams."

"get out of class is over!"

Several people stood up, but Old Man Zhuo's mind drifted to another place.

Zhuo Jing looked at the sky, looking at the sun hidden in the clouds. After listening to Jiang Xinghuo's lesson, a huge ambition suddenly rose in his heart.

I am chatting, young man is crazy!

If he agrees to Dao Yan's conditions, then it seems that he cannot participate in this unprecedented "measurement of the sun and the moon, the latitude of the sky and the earth"?

Thinking about it like this, Old Man Zhuo became leisurely fascinated.

If only it could be done.