Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 586: Walking into a Trap
Seeing the round-faced boy Ye Mengqiu opposite him with a confused look on his face, but coming to his senses, he walked solemnly to the blackboard and looked at the question carefully, and then wrote something thoughtfully on another blackboard: "Li Tianyuanyi is someone..." Lu Sanlang could not help but sneer.
Are you pretending to use the quaternion method to solve the problem? Do you think I don't know what the level of mathematics is these days?
You know, as the first head of the Jiuzhang Hall, I suffered a lot. When the teacher was not available, I went to find the founder Ge Yong, in order to really study the Ten Mathematical Books, because although he claimed to have read the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art at a young age, in fact, at his level at that time, he was still a little far from the level of understanding every question in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.
As for the other nine books among the ten mathematical books, such as the "Zhuishu" which has been lost, where can he learn it? Even the "Ji Gu Suanjing" is far from his previous level. So Zhang Shou did not follow these old tricks in Jiuzhang Hall. He often went to Ge Yong to study hard at night, from Tianyuanshu to Siyuanshu, but found that Ge Yong only knew the basics!
Thinking back to the time when he saw the first edition of Zhu Yuanjie's "Si Yuan Yu Jian" from the Yuan Dynasty at Ge Yong's place, there was a period of time when he was amazed by Zhu Yuanjie, the inventor of the Si Yuan method, but he only hated that this great mathematics scholar did not explain it in detail.
However, when he went to Zhang Garden to meet Zhang Shou privately one day, he got a new volume of manuscript of "Ge's Mathematics New Edition" in Zhang Shou's study, which had not yet been published. The main content of the manuscript was the elimination method for solving high-order quaternary equations, which was easier to understand but somewhat similar to the quaternary method. If he had not secretly learned from Ge Yong before, the fat boy would have really thought that Zhang Shou's book was written by Ge Yong.
But because Ge Yong had lamented to him that the Tianyuan and Siyuan methods were too difficult to understand, he had mentioned to him that the use of the series of digital symbol systems in "Ge's New Compilation of Mathematics" should be able to simplify the Tianyuan and Siyuan methods that ordinary people could not understand. Therefore, when he found that the elimination method described in Zhang Shou's manuscript was easy to understand, he realized who the real author of "Ge's New Compilation of Mathematics" was.
Because the symbol system is more concise and clear, the fat boy who had suffered from Tianyuanshu and Siyuanshu in the Ge family almost easily understood the essence of the elimination method. Therefore, in his mind now, the young master is on the same level as Master Ge.
At least in mathematics, the young master has surpassed his teacher. As for Zhang Shou's claim that he borrowed some foreign mathematics, in his opinion, that is nothing. If these guys were placed in front of foreign books, would they read them? Would they understand them?
At this moment, seeing the round-faced boy Ye Mengqiu concentrating on solving the problem, he didn't care whether the boy was pretending or really had the ability, but said to the three elders behind him with a half-smile: "Since you all came here with this Mr. Ye, it would be boring to just sit here and watch your companions solve the problem."
"It just so happens that the first batch of students in our Jiuzhang Hall have just learned how to factor quadratic equations. Would you like to give it a try? The teacher has assigned us a hundred or eighty exercises in one go."
"Oh, I forgot that you should disagree with the mathematical symbol system promoted by Emperor Taizu and vigorously advocated by my ancestor Ge and teacher. It just so happened that I had nothing to do before, so I re-explained these 180 questions using Tianyuanshu."
Hearing this, even Zhang Shou couldn't help but twitch his lips. Factoring a simple quadratic equation and rewriting it as a question using the extremely troublesome explanation of Tian Yuan Shu, you call this having nothing to do? This is called being bored to death! He was about to laugh and scold, but he saw Ah Liu, who had just stood beside him, come in again from outside!
However, this time, Ah Liu did not bring in two blackboards easily, but came with a thick stack of manuscripts in his hands, and with a serious face, he presented the manuscripts to Lu Sanlang with both hands.
But Lu Sanlang didn't even look at it, and said with a smile: "You three may want to take a look. This is our Jiuzhangtang's homework. In fact, these 180 questions can be almost finished in one hour once the students are familiar with them."
The three people who came with Ye Mengqiu were now taking the exercise books handed over by Ah Liu and looking through them with gloomy faces. When they heard Lu Sanlang say that it would to finish the 180 questions, their faces all turned pale.
Even Ye Mengqiu, who was trying hard to solve the problem, almost couldn't hold the white pen in his hand.
What a joke! When solving problems with Tian Yuan Shu, shouldn't you feel relieved and happy after solving a problem? How come it becomes a 180-question problem that can be solved casually? Also, shouldn't the meaning of 180-question problem be 100 questions or 80 questions? Anyway, it's not a literal meaning. How come it suddenly becomes 180 questions when it comes to Lu Sanlang?
Seeing the four people rushing in aggressively, one of them was standing in front of the blackboard with a gloomy expression, and the remaining three were flipping through those thick books, their faces uglier than each other. Minister Liu could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He was not worried that his future son-in-law would be too powerful, so his daughter might be bullied after marrying him. He was only worried that his future son-in-law would be too useless, so his daughter would not be able to hold her head up in front of her sisters-in-law. So, seeing that Lu Sanlang had just answered fluently under the embarrassment of others, but now he was in a dilemma for others, he could not help but give Lu Wan a thumbs up.
Although Lu Wan was laughing heartily with an expression of pride, he made a gesture to a trusted follower at the door when no one was paying attention.
Even if the emperor had given instructions in advance, he anticipated that there would be uninvited guests, and most likely they were evil guests looking to cause trouble. However, without him knowing anything, someone actually broke into the place where the banquet was to be held after the ceremony of coming of age. Has his Lu family become a sieve where anyone can come and go?
It would be fine if it was found out that it was deliberately arranged by the emperor, it would be fine if it was designed by Zhang Shou, but if it was arranged by the Lu family themselves, no matter if it was his other two sons or the crazy Lu Sanlang who wanted to show off, he would not forgive them!
Lu Sanlang didn't know that his father was already furious and was going to investigate the incident of the four people trespassing. He was standing there with his chest and belly protruding. In the eyes of the emperor, he was just like a fighting cock that won the first battle after a small trial.
Although it was a little funny before that Lu Sanlang used the opportunity of screening others to highlight his talent and ability, the emperor no longer thought so. As an emperor with a master of mathematics as his teacher, he certainly dabbled in Tianyuanshu and Siyuanshu when he was studying under Ge Yong, and then... Of course, there was no more.
Most of the mathematical classics handed down by the ancestors of mathematics in the past dynasties, as far as the books he read, have the same purpose: that is, I am only responsible for raising a very difficult problem, and then briefly mentioning the solution, and then giving you an answer. As for you not understanding it, it is because you are not talented and have no ability, and it has nothing to do with me.
Those mathematical classics were never intended to be understood by ordinary people! So when they were passed down to the end, there were often only two words: lost.
Therefore, although he knew clearly that there was a problem with Zhang Shou's lineage, and that Zhang Shou was able to use a set of symbol systems of unknown origin in addition to the Arabic numerals promoted by Emperor Taizu, and that Ge Yong was covering up for Zhang Shou, he still chose to ignore these things, because he vaguely felt that these things were very useful.
The emperor not only gave the third prince to Zhang Shou to teach, but also studied on his own with great interest, so as to tutor his two sons. At this time, seeing Lu Sanlang shaking his head and using the Tian Yuan method to explain the problem that Ye Mengqiu was solving, including the Tian Yuan, Di Yuan, Ren Yuan, and Wu Yuan, he laughed.
"Okay, Gao Yuan, don't use your expertise to bully us ignorant guests. I have read every volume of Ge's New Mathematics. Although the foreign numerical symbols in it are indeed difficult to accept and understand at first glance, as long as they are used properly, they are much simpler and easier to understand than counting sticks and those expressions such as heaven, earth, man and things!"
"This lord is wrong!"
Beside Ye Mengqiu, a middle-aged man who was frowning and flipping through the exercise book in his hand suddenly looked up and said in a deep voice: "As Confucius said, it is better for the barbarians to have a king than for the Chinese to have no king! By the same token, the mathematics of the barbarians is far inferior to that of the Chinese..."
This time, before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Zhang Shou's sneer: " Sir... I will respect your age and call you Sir. You are taking his words out of context and misinterpreting the words of the sage. The sage said that the barbarians' rulers are better than the Chinese without rulers. That is because the barbarians are rude, so even though they have rulers, they are not as good as the Chinese without rulers, but with etiquette still preserved."
"But now we are not talking about etiquette, but numerology." Zhang Shou slowed down his speech and said word by word, "The progress of numerology is not only related to itself, but also to the accuracy of the calendar, the waxing and waning of the sun and the moon, whether the movement of the stars can be accurately calculated, the hydrology of the great rivers, whether water conservancy and water transport are convenient, and the surplus of the national treasury and whether the income and expenditure of the account books are balanced."
"Didn't the Tianyuan and Siyuan techniques of the Yuan Dynasty surpass those of the great masters of previous dynasties? But now, can this young man who admires Wang Xiaotong of the Tang Dynasty solve the cubic equation in the Jigu Suanjing? Of course, it should not be called this in the Jigu Suanjing. I think you should know what it is after reading the book. And how long will it take you to solve it?"
"Nowadays, the Four Books and Five Classics are deeply rooted in people's minds. Even a seven-year-old child can recite a few lines of poetry. But how many people in the world can understand the books of the great mathematical masters in the past?"
"The Zhuishu was lost; the Xiahouyang Suanjing was lost; the Wujing Suanshu was almost lost if Emperor Taizu hadn't ordered people to search for and copy it again; this was once one of the ten books of mathematics. The Siyuan Yujian and Ceyuan Haijing of the Yuan Dynasty were also promoted by Emperor Taizu after being recommended by the ancestor of Master Ge, but astronomy and numerology were banned for a time, and they were almost lost among the people."
"Although the ban has been lifted, ordinary scholars cannot understand it. Bookstores cannot make money and are unwilling to print it because few people are willing to buy it. The palace library has put it on the shelf. Scholars who really want to study the mathematical classics can't even find a decent mathematical classic. So, this is not just a problem of the music being too highbrow for the masses!"
"Since this gentleman has just turned over the exercises that Lu Gaoyuan explained using the Tianyuan method, I would like to ask, how many of them can you solve?"
Seeing that the middle-aged man was speechless due to his rapid-fire questions, Zhang Shou sighed and said, "From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and then to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, countless books were lost, but that is understandable because books at that time were mostly copied by hand rather than printed."
"It was not until the late Tang Dynasty that woodblock printing became more common. In the Song Dynasty, movable type was used, so bookstores flourished and ordinary people could afford to buy books. At this time, those mathematical masters who left their names in history had works handed down, but eventually their manuscripts were lost. Isn't this a warning to us younger generations?"
He paused, thought about it and decided not to criticize the imperial court. In fact, the most important reason why mathematics was not popular was nothing else but that the imperial court strictly prohibited mathematics while prohibiting astronomy! If it were not for the high pressure from the imperial court, why were all mathematicians officials? Why did mathematical talents and achievements drop off a cliff today?
The fat boy pricked up his ears to listen to Zhang Shou's words. Seeing that Zhang Shou had already killed the enemy and made them flee in disarray, he immediately shouted to finish him off: "I heard that the Tianyuan Technique and the Siyuan Technique were invented by the Yuan Dynasty mathematics masters and they are very good at them. However, there are many self-proclaimed mathematics masters in this dynasty, but few of them are good at them!"
"No, I can't say I'm not good at it, I should say I just... can't do it!"
"You...are so arrogant!" The middle-aged man who had just criticized Zhang Shou with Confucius was finally completely enraged. He threw down the book in his hand and protested angrily, "You are in the capital, in the family of officials, and you are close to the water and the moon, how can you know the hardship of learning mathematics among the people! Even the "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" was collected with great difficulty, so where can you go to read other books!"
"You are blessed but you don't know how to appreciate it. You have access to the mathematical classics of all the great masters of the past dynasties, but you don't know how to cherish them or put your heart into them. Instead, you study the mathematical classics of some foreign country. This is simply a waste of God's gift!"
After he expressed his deepest resentment in a rage, he saw that the brightly dressed guests in the four seats were looking at them with very subtle eyes, and he suddenly felt disheartened.
He said listlessly, "Among the four of us, only Meng Qiu is gifted and can use the Four Elements Technique to solve the simplest problems. He is completely unable to solve more complex problems. Our ancestor once served as the director of the Imperial Observatory during the reign of Emperor Yingzong, but left the capital in disgrace when the princes were in chaos. The technique was passed down from one generation to another, and finally we have disciples like you."
"What we have learned is nothing but manuscripts, all of which he painstakingly memorized! Now the emperor is gradually lifting the ban on astronomy and numerology, and Dr. Zhang, you clearly know how many mathematical classics have been lost throughout the ages. Why can't we carry forward these things of our ancestors, but instead learn those things that are not worthy of being taught in the halls of a foreign country!"
At this moment, Zhang Shou finally understood that the words these four people said when they broke in were not just a prelude to provoke a fight, but were actually sincere words from the bottom of their hearts. Chinese mathematics is unique in the world, this is their simple and stubborn understanding! It's a pity that the mentality of being the only one who is superior to others is really unacceptable, whether in academics or in governing the country!
