Qin Official

"It was during spring plowing. I went home to help plow the fields, and worked barefoot with my uncle, brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law. When we got home, we also washed the soil with our bare feet. Then I discovered , when we stand side by side, the legs of the three of us are the longest, my sister is the longest, I am the second, and my uncle is the shortest. The same goes for the height, my sister is the tallest, a full eight feet, I am seven feet six inches tall, and my uncle is taller. Seven feet three inches.”

"At this time, I had a sudden idea. I found a Qin ruler to measure the length of my three feet, and wrote the numbers on the wooden board. After I returned to the pavilion, I tried to figure it out over and over again, but I couldn't figure it out. Until last month , there was nothing too official in the pavilion, so in my spare time, I asked for some calculations, and tried to divide the height of the three of them by the length of their feet. The result surprised me, and the numbers I got were surprisingly consistent!"

"Six and three-quarters! Gentlemen, this is the ratio of human height to foot length that I calculated!"

Heifu slowly recounted his "experience" of discovering this matter, and his words were as conclusive as the truth.

In fact, this was just an elective course called "Footprint Studies" taught to him during his three-year undergraduate course at the police academy in his previous life. At any rate, he attended every class and did not return all the knowledge to the teacher...

When he explained this matter, the four of them, Happy, Angry, Le and Anpu, listened intently. Heifu didn't have to worry that they didn't know what "divided by" and "fraction" were. If you really thought so, that would be too much. Look down on the ancients.

The meticulous administration of laws and regulations in the Qin State required a large number of officials who were proficient in mathematics, so there were schools dedicated to teaching "Shu Shu". The petty officials in the Anlu County government, especially Cangcao and Hucao, basically memorize the Qin Dynasty version of the "Nine-Nine Multiplication Table", but they count backwards from "Nine-Nine Eighty-One". There is no way, who makes their daily job is to calculate all kinds of food and household registration.

And these days, there are already rules for calculating fractions, including summation (fraction addition), subtraction (fraction subtraction), multiplication (fraction multiplication), reduction (fraction division), and even lesson points (comparing fractions) , bisection (finding the average of fractions), except that Arabic numerals are not used, there is almost no difference from later generations.

After all, Li Si's junior fellow student, the great mathematician named "Zhang Cang", is now working in the Yushi Mansion in Xianyang of the Qin State. Although the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic was written in the Han Dynasty, it was actually born out of the Qin State. Years of practical mathematics accumulation...

Since everyone present has some mathematical foundation, Heifu's explanation will not be so tiring. He put forward the figure of six and three-quarters concisely and concisely. The next thing to do was to verify whether this ratio was reliable.

Everyone was still hesitant. After all, although Qin Guolingshi recorded the size of footprints when handling cases, most of them compared the size of the footprints after catching the criminal, but rarely used the footprints to arrest the criminal.

So Heifu smiled and said: "I have tried it on several people in Huyang Pavilion in the past few days. Without exception, their height and foot length were divided and they all got this number. If you have any doubts, why don't you tell me Try it too?"

"Okay, Chief Heifu, please use the length of my feet to calculate my height!"

Wei Shi Anpu was the first to stand up. He took a Qin ruler, took off his boots, measured his feet, and reported his foot size: "No more, no less, exactly one foot and one inch!"

Le was the best at numeracy among several people, so he used the arithmetic chips to calculate. The arithmetic chips are small sticks and are quite complicated to use.

Heifu saw that it was difficult for him to calculate, but he did not throw out "Arabic numerals" and "vertical arithmetic" rashly. He knew that now was far from the time to offer them.

The system of Qin is too special and different from that of previous dynasties. Those things from later generations are only worth dedicating if they can maximize the benefits...

It took a while before Le finally came up with the result: "Is Wei Shi's height seven feet four inches?"

An Pu was still a little unconvinced at first, but when he heard the result, he was slightly stunned: "It's almost the same!"

"Come try mine!"

As a commander, Nu had been dealing with footprints for so many years, but this was the first time he learned that the height of a murderer could be determined by using footprints, and he couldn't help but be very interested.

Soon, the heights of Nu and Le were calculated from the length of their feet, and they were indeed similar to their original heights.

"Although it's not exactly the same, it's still very close. Chief Heifu Pavilion, you have discovered an incredible skill in solving cases..."

Xi watched from the sidelines for a long time. While confirming Heifu's discovery, he couldn't help but sigh: "If this technique had been available a long time ago, then many of the cases I have handled over the years would have been solved faster and with fewer cases." The vicious thief managed to escape and committed another murder."

Now that Heifu's "footprint method" has been proven to be reliable, the next step is to call up the "Sealed Clinic" recorded by Sun Wrath to see the footprints left by the murderer.

At this time, An Pu also pointed out that although height can indeed be calculated based on foot length, will there be a deviation if shoes are worn?

Heifu looked at the deerskin boots worn by An Pu for riding horses and said with a smile: "Wei Shi, those criminals and thieves are not as good as officials. They can't wear good shoes, let alone boots and boots. They can only wear hemp shoes." .”

It turns out that the shoes of this era mainly came in the form of xì, boots, and shoes. Xi was a wooden-soled shoe sewn with brocade embroidery, and was worn only by nobles who were not engaged in production. The boots are made of leather, and they only became popular after the Warring States Period with the Hufu riding and shooting, and were common among officials and riders.

Most of the soldiers in Guizhou still wear straw sandals and cloth shoes, commonly known as shoes. Since the shoe is a shoe that only covers the foot, the error in shoe print and foot length is relatively small.

The "Sealing Clinic" was quickly obtained. According to the records of that day, the footprints were one foot and two inches long...

"According to the Qin system, one foot is equal to 23.1 centimeters. A thief can wear size 44 shoes. What a pair of big feet..." Hei Fu cursed.

On the other side, Le also calculated the thief's height and said in surprise: "I figured it out. After multiplying by six and three-quarters, the thief's height is about eight feet and one inch!"

"At 1.87 meters, even in later generations with better nutrition, he would still be called a burly man..."

When the truth came to light, Hei Fu could not help but whistle. Now it was easy to find. There would be no more than fifty people of this height in Anlu County!

The height of the Qin people is not shaped like the terracotta warriors and horses. They are all nearly 1.8 meters tall. Maybe that is the standard figure of the Guanzhong people?

Anyway, in Anlu County, Heifu found that his height of 1.75 meters was already considered outstanding. Most men in the county were under 1.7 meters. In rural areas, those with poor nutrition had even many people who were only 1.6 meters tall.

It’s no wonder, after all, the Qin State’s adult standard is “six feet seven inches”, about 155 centimeters...

After calculating the height of the "murderer", Le was delighted. The long-standing mystery finally made a breakthrough.

Wei Shi Anpu was also gearing up, preparing to lead the county soldiers to search for a tall and tall person wearing a sword. Even if the person threw away the scabbard and the sword inside, it would be useless. With their methods, they would definitely be able to find flaws.

Angrily looked at Heifu with more and more admiration. He even felt ashamed that he had been making history for so many years, but Heifu kept coming up with new ideas. He subconsciously felt that whether it was the protection of the site or the footprint method, it should be recorded and reported to the county government and court officials, so that they could become a routine or even a law and spread throughout the country!

Only Xi was very cautious. He took over Le's calculations, and after doing the calculations himself, he found that the number "eight feet and two inches" was correct, but instead of being happy, he was worried, and his brows furrowed even more tightly.

"So, there is a new problem."

He stared at the crowd and said:

"How did a tall man, eight feet two inches tall, manage to leap into a window that was only three feet wide and commit murder?"

Heifu also discovered this flaw at this time, and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, realizing that he had overlooked an important issue.

The footprints were very fresh and were indeed left on that day, but were they really left by the murderer?

If not, why didn't the murderer leave his own footprints when he climbed up from the mud to the window?

Everyone felt as if a ladle of cold water had been poured on them. The excitement just now disappeared immediately, and they all frowned and thought hard.

"There is another possibility."

Heifu thought quickly and blurted out: "We thought of this case too simply before."

"There is probably more than one culprit!"