Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 585: Who stumped whom?
Even though he only heard the voice but didn't see the person, Zhang Shou could still picture a young man who was unruly and domineering. The voice was a bit hoarse, and it was hard to tell the age at first, but based on the timing and the tone of the person, he roughly inferred that it was the hoarseness of a teenager during the voice change period.
If he remembered correctly, the man's voice should change between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. Of course, some people change earlier than others, but the latest should not be later than sixteen to seventeen. In other words, the person who came might be the same age as Lu Sanlang and him, or slightly younger.
He soon found out that he was right. Among the four people who walked in with their heads held high, the one who walked in front with a proud look did look very young, and his figure was very different from the fat boy's round figure, but was well-proportioned and upright. If it was just that, it would be fine, but the person had an excellent figure and a very pleasing round face.
This was different from Lu Sanlang. Lu Sanlang used to be arrogant and domineering, but now the round-faced boy was obviously smiling all the time, and even had two dimples on his face. His cheerful image was not consistent with the way he was walking in the front in a swagger, and was even more inconsistent with his provocative behavior.
The round-faced young man seemed to have noticed the expressions of the people looking at him. His eyes were a little vague. He cleared his throat and then said, "I am Ye Mengqiu from Guangping Prefecture! I know that I came here in a presumptuous way today, but I heard that Dr. Zhang of the Imperial Academy who is in charge of Jiuzhang Hall was here today to crown the head of Jiuzhang Hall, Lu Zhu, so I came in rashly!"
"The emperor has issued an edict to summon talents who are proficient in astronomy and mathematics. He wants to revise the calendar. I heard that he wants to cancel the leap month. May I ask, Dr. Zhang, is this true?"
Zhang Shou was speechless. He glanced at the emperor and saw that the emperor was drinking the sweet rice wine as if nothing had happened - after all, according to etiquette, this was what people drank at the banquet after the coming-of-age ceremony - and avoided his gaze. How could he not know that this ridiculous rumor was spread by the emperor!
I think he had joked that the calendar should be changed to 365 days a year, with 31 days for each of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th months, 28 days for February, and 30 days for the rest of the months. Every four years, one day would be added to February, and every hundred years, the number of days in February would be determined by calculating 400 times the initial year... In short, it was the Gregorian calendar. But he only mentioned it once and then forgot about it.
Because in the later era when weather forecasting was well developed, the traditional lunar calendar had few uses except for the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, and the waxing and waning of the moon on the new and full moon days. People did not really need to check the solar terms to add clothes or sow seeds. But in today's era, the lunar calendar with an extra leap month is troublesome, but it still has practical significance.
The emperor is simply misleading!
He didn't even know how the emperor had spread the news, or what he had said. If he wanted to deny it, these guys had come here aggressively, and if he tried to evade the question, it would seem like he was showing weakness. So, after a moment's thought, he smiled and said, "Gao Yuan, you should tell me."
Lu Sanlang was so angry that he was fuming after being called the name he disliked the most by a completely unrelated person. Therefore, when he heard Zhang Shou's high-pitched voice, he felt as comfortable as if he was soaking in a hot spring.
He immediately pressed the table, stood up suddenly, and shouted in a stern voice: "The emperor has revised the calendar, and has summoned talents who are proficient in astronomy and numerology. This is a rare event since the calendar was revised during the reign of Emperor Taizu of our dynasty, so it is inevitable that all kinds of rumors will be spread . Because these rumors, whether true or false, have intruded on my coming-of-age ceremony and questioned my teacher, your Excellency is too arrogant!"
He didn't care how the person got in - whether it was those servants in the Lu Mansion who disliked him, or whether he was instructed by his brother and sister-in-law to come in; or whether his father had some plan and deliberately let the person in; or even what arrangements Zhang Shou or the emperor had, he didn't care - what he cared about was the attitude of the person who didn't take him seriously!
If you don't take Zhang Shou seriously, then you are not taking him seriously!
After shouting, before the other party could gather his strength, he spoke rapidly, "My teacher is a doctor of the Imperial College and a lecturer in the Eastern Palace, but he is humble and seconded the request of Yue Shanzhang, suggesting that the emperor summon all the mathematical talents in the world to gather in the capital to prepare for the revision of the calendar. Even if he has a proposal, it is out of public interest for the emperor to ponder and refer to. I have never heard of canceling the leap month!"
Lu Sanlang denied it outright and quickly glanced at Zhang Shou. He thought that canceling the leap month was such a serious matter. No matter whether Zhang Shou really said it or not, he would help others to refute it first. Otherwise, not to mention these people, even the old officials in the court would bombard him.
"Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, Chinese mathematics has produced many famous scholars and countless classics, so it is naturally unique in the world. From the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin and Han Dynasties to the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, mathematics has been continuously developing. However, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was said that the Imperial Academy added mathematics courses and even approved ten mathematical books. However, in fact, it was not until the Song and Yuan Dynasties that it reached its peak!"
The little fat man was so excited that he unconsciously revealed some of Zhang Shou's remarks on the history of Chinese mathematics. When he said this, the round-faced boy Ye Mengqiu, who led the way in, immediately became unhappy.
Those words before were taught to him by a senior brother behind him. Although he knew them by heart, it was still a bit awkward to say them out loud because they did not suit his personality. But when Lu Sanlang said that Sui and Tang mathematics were not good, he immediately exploded.
"The Sui Dynasty fell, but it also produced a famous mathematical expert named Wang Xiaotong. In the Tang Dynasty, not to mention the ten imperial mathematical books, Wang Xiaotong entered the court. He and Li Chunfeng were both the most outstanding mathematical masters!"
"Mathematical masters are bullshit!" Lu Sanlang didn't care that the emperor was still sitting there, and his father, teacher, relatives and friends were all there, and he cursed directly, "Li Chunfeng is fine, but Wang Xiaotong said that Liu Hui of the Wei Dynasty 'did not become a Si Nan, but he was also unique at the time', and said 'People praised the exquisiteness of "Zhui Shu" at the time, but they didn't realize that Fang Yi's method was completely wrong, and the logic between Chu Ting and Fang Ting was not exhausted.'"
"He even had the nerve to say, 'The likes of He Xun, Xu Yue, Wang Biao, and Zhen Luan are few in number. But the old classics are incomplete and have omissions. From Liu Hui onwards, there is even less to mention.' It seems that Wang Xiaotong is the only one in the world who is capable of this! He even boasted that he 'drew into the mysteries and left nothing unturned. There was no one who understood him in every generation, and he ended up being unpopular.' Tsk tsk, why didn't he say that he was the most powerful master of mathematics throughout the ages!"
"Oh, he has said so. Otherwise, he would not have written a book called 'Ji Gu Suan Jing' and told the emperor proudly that he wanted someone to read it and would be willing to pay a thousand gold coins if he changed a single word... Bah, his 'Ji Gu Suan Jing' deliberately flaunts its difficulties and is far less profound and easy to understand than 'Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'. He cannot understand the works of his predecessors and denounces them as absurd. I think he is absurd!"
The round-faced boy Ye Mengqiu was caught off guard by Lu Sanlang's words. He had never had a verbal fight with anyone in his life, especially one that denigrated someone's character. Even if he admired Wang Xiaotong, he couldn't keep all the quotations of Wang Xiaotong like Lu Sanlang did - especially when the person hated such quotations, but he could recite them by heart, which was beyond his expectation.
Although he also felt that if Lu Sanlang had not fabricated the quotations, Wang Xiaotong, the great mathematician of the early Tang Dynasty, was indeed a little too arrogant, he still couldn't help but say, "But do you dare to claim that you can solve all the twenty questions in Wang Xiaotong's Ji Gu Suan Jing?"
"Of course I can do it! If you don't believe me, just ask me! With his small contribution to mathematics, is he worthy of bragging about it?"
Seeing the fat boy raised his eyebrows proudly, Zhang Shou was speechless. In order to be a good doctor of mathematics in Jiuzhang Hall, although he used the brand-new textbooks compiled by himself under the name of Ge Yong, he also read the Ten Mathematical Classics in order to be a good doctor of the Imperial College. Although he did not agree with the arrogance of Wang Xiaotong, a mathematician in the early Tang Dynasty, he could not deny his contribution to mathematics.
Moreover, Zu's "Zhuishu" was lost, but "Ji Gu Suan Jing" was still preserved. The twenty questions were not as simple as some of the questions in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, but they were very confusing right from the start - Wang Xiaotong was showing off right from the start, and there were no simple questions suitable for ordinary people in the twenty questions! It was also Wang Xiaotong's first invention to use geometric methods to write equations!
You know, the first question in the Ji Gu Suan Jing is to find the equatorial longitude of the moon at midnight! How many students who are good at advanced mathematics can solve this? Lu Sanlang hasn't even learned astronomy yet, how can he brag about this?
Next, Ye Mengqiu asked questions and Lu Sanlang answered. Lu Sanlang's performance made him amazed, because Ye Mengqiu asked the first five questions of "Ji Gu Suanjing" in one breath, and Lu Sanlang actually explained Wang Xiaotong's ideas for solving the problems in detail.
Faced with the little fat boy's eloquent confidence and attitude, even he couldn't help but touch his chin in surprise, but suddenly he realized that someone was looking at him.
He looked in the direction of the gaze and saw that the emperor had a strange expression on his face, while Zhu Ying beside him was laughing secretly. He knew that the emperor must be both angry and amused by Lu Sanlang's behavior.
I want you teachers and students to help me identify these talents who have been summoned, not to let you show off!
Lu Sanlang was indeed in the limelight at this moment. Seeing that Ye Mengqiu had to skip questions after the first five, he still answered calmly. It was not until the round-faced boy stopped talking with a depressed look on his face that he laughed proudly.
"It is not surprising that modern people are worse than ancient people, but it would be a great shame if modern people were not as good as ancient people! Because we eat better and wear better clothes than ancient people, if what we research is not as good as ancient people, wouldn't it be a shame for our good life now?"
"As for whether the arithmetic of foreign countries is worth learning... Who doesn't know that my great master, Grand Master Ge, hated those Arabic numerals ? Even though Emperor Taizu started to promote them and they have been used all over the world for so many years, they can be said to be deeply rooted in people's hearts, but he was reluctant to use them at first. But once he found that those symbol systems were helpful for calculations, he immediately used them without a second thought!"
"Not only did Master Ge use them, he also studied all those Yuan Dynasty books in the Gujin Tongjiku, those books that were put aside. It is said that they were translated from foreign mathematical classics by the Semites during the Yuan Dynasty, but they were put aside from the Yuan Dynasty to this dynasty!"
"Take the essence of others and discard the dross, this is the attitude of doing solid learning! Do not blindly believe in predecessors, do not despise foreign countries, discard the dross and keep the essence, this is the attitude of being a man! Just want mathematics to enter the homes of ordinary people, this is the attitude of being a teacher!"
Even Minister Liu of the Ministry of Works, who knew Lu Sanlang well, couldn't help but feel that his future son-in-law was really dazzling at this moment. If the round-faced boy hadn't been defeated by Lu Sanlang and seemed to be crying, and if the elders behind him hadn't looked gloomier than each other, he would have even thought that this was a play arranged by the Lu family father and son.
After seeing Lu Sanlang's performance afterwards, he finally became more certain that this was definitely not planned!
Because, after Lu Sanlang casually answered Ye Mengqiu's ten questions, he suddenly changed the subject at the end and said, "My dear brother, you have been questioning me for so long, isn't it my turn to ask you now? Since you are a talented mathematician who has been summoned to the capital and is proficient in astronomy and numerology, then I think some simple questions should be no problem for you."
The little fat man smiled like a smiling Maitreya Buddha, and even clapped his hands. However, what came with his clapping were two blank blackboards!
Ah Liu, who was delivering the blackboard, saw Lu Sanlang staring at him with wide eyes, then he smiled and said thank you, brother Liu, and took the pen from him with a happy expression, then strode forward and began to write on one of the blackboards. Seeing this, he retreated quietly - but he did not leave the house, but retreated directly to stand beside Zhang Shou.
Seeing these two people working in perfect harmony, Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh: "Ah Liu, besides informing Lu Sanlang, you also colluded with him in advance?"
"When the master is busy, shouldn't the disciples do the hard work?" Ah Liu said seriously at first, and then added, "The disciples are in the limelight, and the master is even more in the limelight."
Zhang Shou smiled immediately. Very good, this boy who always seemed honest and simple in Rongshui Village has become more and more sinister now!
As for the others, seeing Lu Sanlang writing all over the blackboard, with almost no Chinese characters, they began to doubt their lives. Even Lu Wan, the father, and Liu Shilang, the future father-in-law, could not help but rub their brows.
In the future, you must remember that you should never mess with the fat guy’s expertise in areas like mathematics... because you really can’t afford to mess with him!
When Ye Mengqiu saw Lu Sanlang, whose face was rounder than his, casually threw away his pen and then personally moved the blackboard in front of him, his face flushed red. Sure enough, Lu Sanlang clapped his hands and then pouted at the blackboard with a smug look on his face.
"I just answered Wang Xiaotong's ideas for solving the ten questions in the Ji Gu Suan Jing, and I also gave the specific answers. Of course, you can also think that I memorized them. This question is from the Si Yuan Yu Jian. I know it's difficult to solve it in three minutes. Please explain to everyone on the spot how to use the Si Yuan method to solve it."
At this point, he smiled widely and said, "If you can't do it, the people behind you can help you!"
