future library.

Chapter 14
Baqing's gifts are specially selected, always divided into several sections, and placed in conspicuous places.When looking at the rise and fall of a noble family, one can get a glimpse of it from the selection of children.

The Cheng family is considered powerful in the southwest, but they are not as magnanimous as the nobles in the capital. The four items listed in the middle of the long house are nothing more than a colored inkstone, a book of Annotations to the Four Classics, and a vase of carved white jade lions. , a new yellow-glazed and black-colored bamboo-pattern bottle.

The color inkstone is expensive in its material, but the front is a very ordinary landscape relief. "Annotation of the Four Classics" is a very good engraving. Speaking of it, the quality of most of the books that Cheng Jinzhou has seen in modern times is better. If it is properly preserved, it will be no problem to store it for 200 years. Unfortunately, the current book is a new one. of.

As for the jade vase with lion and bamboo pattern, they are not considered rare.Four items, no matter which one you propose to sell, if you don’t worry, you can get a price of about 50 taels, but in a pawn shop, 100 taels of silver is not bad.

For 100 taels of silver, you can buy four or five acres of not-so-good slope land, which is the entire property of a small family. Unfortunately, it fell into the hands of Cheng Jinzhou and only read 12 words.

Cheng Jinzhou looked around unwillingly.

Just when he was having difficulty making a decision, a voice suddenly came from his ear: "I am Wu Zong..."

"Eh?" Cheng Jinzhou quickly looked around, but there was no one around.

Wu Zong seemed to have anticipated Cheng Jinzhou's actions, and said in a low voice: "I'm still outside, and I want to tell you that among Ba Qing's gifts, there is a gift from an astrologist, which should be the most suitable for you. It depends on your chance. "

After speaking, there was no sound.

Star warlocks still have many more interesting things than technology.

"Sound transmission into the secret, or thousands of miles of sound transmission or something, it should be a problem of the frequency of the sound wave." Cheng Jinzhou gritted his teeth enviously, knowing that it is not that simple, but he still evaluated irresponsibly. No trace of scientific spirit.

Cheng Jinzhou muttered the word "chance" and subconsciously felt that it was a joy to say it from the mouth of an astro-warlock.

The four items in the middle of the longhouse were obviously not given by the astrologist, Cheng Jinzhou moved his feet and walked around to both sides.Even if it was just out of curiosity, he would have to take a look at what the star warlock gave him.

Based on Wu Zong's tone, the so-called Star Warlock must be a Star Warlock with a star rating.There are few things given by such a person that the Cheng family does not put into the treasury, and Cheng Jinzhou does not want to waste the opportunity.

If you think about it carefully, it might be one of the two star warlocks you saw during the sacrifice.

Being in a wealthy family, 100 taels of silver is common, but star warlocks are not common.

The items in the longhouse are roughly arranged in a ring, and Cheng Jinzhou walked around from left to right, constantly filtering the items he saw in his mind.

The gold and silver utensils were not the same, the ceramic carvings were not the same, and the rare paintings were not the same. Cheng Jinzhou turned over the pages and suddenly stopped.

A balance?
Cheng Jinzhou rubbed his eyebrows with his right hand, not sure if astromagus in this era would use this general tool.

In the early days of science, astrophysics, mathematical chemistry, and even biology were not separated. Darwin's naturalist came from here. It is not surprising that a long-lived astrologist has various hobbies.

Cheng Jinzhou carefully removed the balance from the cabinet that looked like a bookshelf, and at the same time took off the small box that was tied together.

This balance is obviously exposed on purpose.

The box is a simple buckle-type iron box, but it is strangely connected to the balance, and the edge of the base is connected to the iron buckle. Cheng Jinzhou tried to open it in a normal way, but failed shamelessly.

"Isn't this going to be a puzzle?" Cheng Jinzhou muttered to himself, looking through the outer ring of the box. Cheng Jinhao was waiting outside anyway, and he was eager to make the other party more anxious.

The tray balance was similar to the one used by Cheng Jinzhou in his previous life, with a standard accuracy error of 0.1 grams engraved on the center.Based on Cheng Jinzhou's more than a month's experience, the labels of the astrologists are basically the same as the world he knows, and the common weights and measures also save a lot of trouble.

The base of the balance is an uncommon rectangular shape, with a weight box attached to one side and numbers engraved on one side, respectively 3 and 4, with a downwards symbol in the middle.

And above the symbol is the center of the dial of the balance.

Cheng Jinzhou curled his lips and said, "Astrologist's riddle."

……

If you see a rectangle and the numbers 3 and 4, what is the first thing you think of?
Some people may answer naturally: "5."

Mathematicians would naturally answer: "5."

But their reasons are absolutely different.

In the eyes of ordinary people, 3, 4, and 5 are normal natural numbers, and there is no difference between the answer "5" and the answer "2".

But in the eyes of mathematicians, 3, 4, and 5 are a series of strange and wonderful numbers—because it is the simplest Pythagorean number in mathematics, and it is the first step for human beings to discover the Pythagorean theorem: the square of 3 plus The square of 4 is equal to the square of 5.A rectangle with a width of 3 and a length of 4 must have a diagonal of 5!

This mysterious conclusion, which is called the Pythagorean theorem by the west and the Pythagorean theorem by the east, is the beginning of human mathematics, and it can even be said that it is the first step of human mathematics.

And the three Pythagorean numbers 3, 4, and 5 are almost as magical as God.Its next group of Pythagorean numbers, whether it is 5, 12, 13, or the better-looking 6, 8, 10, lacks the brilliance of consistency.It is also more difficult to be discovered and understood. There is no doubt that if the first group of Pythagorean numbers is not so simple and dazzling as to be dazzling, the footprint of human civilization can be delayed by another 200 or 2000 years.

The status of the Pythagorean Theorem is also reflected in "Elements of Geometry". Mr. Ou also stands on the shoulders of Greek giants, and one of them is called Pythagoras.

In the eyes of Cheng Jinzhou who re-studies "Elements of Geometry" all day long, most of the astro-warlocks are related to mathematics and physics.He easily opened the weight box connected to the balance, and picked out two little guys marked 5.

First, I put a weight on the right pallet and looked at the iron buckle. It was still locked. When I put the second weight on the left pallet, two metal wires popped out of the rectangle on the bottom line without any warning.

One appears on the diagonal, and one appears in the middle of the rectangle.

At this time, Cheng Jinzhou didn't know what was going on—the simple mechanical lock—immediately stretched out two fingers, and rudely abused the wire on the diagonal.

Rubbing, twisting, and pulling, I don’t know which step it was, but the strong iron buckle popped open.

Cheng Jinzhou grinned twice and looked around contemptuously.Not a single person.

In the small box are a straightedge engraved with degrees, a pointless compass, and a small nine-house abacus—a typical astromancer's calculation bag, and most astromancers use these utensils to Calculate the numerical orientation and manipulate the star array tattooed on the body.

No wonder Wu Zong let himself take it.This is really the most valuable thing in the room. If it is added with the complicated "unlocking ceremony", it seems to have some special meaning.

Not wanting to go out too early, Cheng Jinzhou took out the contents of the adjustment bag one by one, put them on the table in the middle of the long room, and looked carefully.

Among the 4 things, the pallet balance is naturally the most valuable.

Cheng Jinzhou felt that this might be the most accurate balance in the entire Great Xia Dynasty.

Even under modern laboratory standards, a normal pallet balance can have an accuracy of 0.1 gram, which is considered good. If it is used frequently and not maintained properly, there is no need to be surprised if there is an error of 0.5 gram or even 1 gram.

In Cheng Jinzhou's previous life, he did not know how many balances were damaged by his own hands. The weights were inaccurate, or the weights were not smooth. He threw them directly into the public laboratory and took another pair. Anyway, in terms of experimental funds, a few sets of balances are nothing. .

However, under the conditions of the Great Xia Dynasty, there were only two ways to obtain products with better precision—extraordinary excellent craftsmen, or star warlocks with certain skills, and the prices of both were not cheap.

The more backward the era, the more expensive high-precision products will be.

In many cases, due to limited production capacity, high-precision products are priceless.

Whether you are conducting experiments or producing chemicals on a small scale, scales are indispensable.Even without the temptation of the Star Warlock, Cheng Jinzhou still hopes to get this set of gadgets.

The ruler and compass are also very accurate.In the Great Xia Dynasty, a standard ruler with an error of less than 5% and a scale could be sold for more than 20 taels of silver.Its production is far more complicated than the abacus.

I don’t know which star warlock sent me this strange gift.

Cheng Jinzhou couldn't help fantasizing about the life of the astrologists.

In such a backward era, the lives of astrologers may be the closest to the habits of modern people, but even with the wealth of the Cheng family, it is difficult for the children of the Cheng family to get guidance from authentic astrologers.

And astrologers who have no one to guide them are at best just wasting money and entertaining themselves.

Seeing that it took more than an hour to play enough, Cheng Jinzhou just put the device back into the box, closed the iron buckle, and hugged it vigorously.

This little box may make me different from other children in the family.Cheng Jinzhou thought to himself, even the Cheng family children who met at the schoolyard that day after school, who could fly, just bought a set of star arrays at a huge price.

The star array used by a real star warlock is several orders of magnitude more practical.

"It depends on whether you can give me another set of super awesome star formations." Cheng Jinzhou walked out, stroking the box.

Outside the longhouse, the "charity-loving" father and son had long been impatient to wait. The young Cheng Jinhao glared at Cheng Jinzhou without concealing it and walked inward.

As for Cheng Bingshi, who is good at Leshan, he looked eagerly at the balance in Cheng Jinzhou's hand, his face was half red and half white, and he looked overworked.He tried his best, all he wanted was this set of equipment, and watched Cheng Jinzhou take it away, after all, there was nothing he could do.

Cheng Jinzhou's eyes turned quickly and he looked around.

At this moment, encountering a great star warlock who left behind a secret book is the top priority.

However, the Astromancer did not appear for a long time.

(End of this chapter)