Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 436 Jia Wendao, Di Renjie

Is that Descartes?

Zhu Changluo looked at him. The most noticeable thing about him was his big nose and his two quite big eyes. The more peculiar thing was that he had black hair.

Now he stood there with his head lowered, somewhat stiffly, looking very thin.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty." Galileo spoke fluent Chinese. "I am a quiet and introverted child, but very outstanding. I received a complete education at the Royal Henry College, a famous aristocratic school in Europe..."

Zhu Changluo was not sure either, but he walked towards the experimental hall and asked a few more questions along the way, as if he was quite concerned about the origins of this disciple of Galileo.

Of course, at present he is just Galileo's private disciple, but since the Academy of Sciences is so important and Galileo is one of the first two foreign subjects to be awarded the title of academician, it is normal for the emperor to care about him.

Galileo talked about his correspondence with Descartes, and also explained why Descartes came here.

Since Zhu Changluo gave Matteo Ricci some freedom to preach, the missionaries' missionary work in the East is now underway, but they have inevitably had to adapt to Eastern culture and customs.

Zhu Changluo didn't care about these details. After all, China has its own cultural traditions and civilization genes, and any sect will change its appearance when it comes here.

On the contrary, it was relying on their power that the Ming Dynasty always had this channel of communication with distant Europe: the emperor had clear requirements for the church headed by Matteo Ricci, that they should promote academic exchanges as the core direction and attract research talents in Europe who were suppressed by the church.

In fact, it is quite contradictory. After all, Matteo Ricci is also a missionary of the church. But in fact, he is already like an independent "pope". Wouldn't it be nice to have the support of the emperor in the East and become an archbishop?
So these were just actual tacit understandings in private. On the surface, Matteo Ricci was still a person who had made great progress in missionary work. In this name, his connection with Europe had never been interrupted. Even if the Ming Dynasty and Portugal cut off trade relations first, this did not change this - this was the benefit of the emperor giving him convenience in some aspects.

In short, the Ming Dynasty seemed to have given him a task list: depending on how well they achieved their goals, their church would be allowed to have better missionary facilities.

For example, the latest huge convenience is that they are allowed to build churches in Nandu, and all the believers who come to Nandu will be assisted in management by them.

These are the reasons why Descartes was able to come into contact with Galileo during his studies at the Royal Henley College.

This is not surprising. According to Galileo, the child had a hard life. He lost his mother when he was just over one year old. His father soon remarried after gaining some status. Then Descartes was raised by his grandmother. His father only gave him financial support and the father and son rarely met. Of course, it cannot be said that he did not care about him. He still sent him to a famous school.

But this experience made Descartes develop a silent and withdrawn character. In addition, he was also affected when his mother died of illness. He was weak and sickly since childhood. Descartes spent his childhood and youth with books, reading a wide range of books and thinking a lot, so much so that his father even called him a little philosopher.

The problem was that Descartes was somewhat disappointed with what he had learned, and had seen that many of the arguments were ambiguous and even inconsistent. His interests had previously been very broad, but now he only felt that mathematics was certain knowledge.

He had this feeling, of course, because the "famous schools" in Europe were still under great control of the church. He saw the problem, and naturally knew about Galileo and others - especially Matteo Ricci, who "received the order" to send back the latest academic achievements of Galileo and Kepler in the Ming Dynasty.

These things are poison to the church, but Matteo Ricci has no choice. On the one hand, Europe itself has already begun the religious reform, and on the other hand, Matteo Ricci has performance pressure. Besides, he has been in the Ming Dynasty for so long, and witnessed the changes in the Ming Dynasty with his own eyes, and his original beliefs are also loosening. Instead, it was Zhu Changluo who "bewitched" him: if he can combine the conclusions that can withstand more observation and experimental verification to make a new interpretation of the doctrine, his contribution will be greater and his name will be recorded in history!
Therefore, some of the academic research results of Galileo, Kepler and others in the Ming Dynasty were transmitted back - mainly those about the laws of celestial motion.

Thanks to the support of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, they had no distractions and had huge resources to mobilize. With Zhu Changluo's guidance, this time it was not a speculative argument.

After Descartes came across these "banned books" once, he was attracted by the meticulous mathematical arguments in them. This part was good, and he keenly saw that the observation results and arguments listed in the book must not be fabricated as the church said. With his existing attainments in natural sciences, he actually speculated that Galileo and Kepler, two scholars who were already famous in Europe, must have made great progress in optics and observation instruments.

This is his rigorous side, so he found a way to write a letter and have it brought back by the liaison sent by Matteo Ricci - along with a new batch of missionaries going to the East and the European books and the latest equipment they brought with them.

This is how Galileo came into contact with Descartes.

"...So, you told him about the achievements of the laws of mechanics and optics in your letter?" Zhu Changluo asked Galileo while standing at the door of the experimental hall.

"It did not violate the regulations of the Institute of Research. However, since these contents have already been taught at Minghua University, I thought it should not be a big deal. The letter only briefly mentioned it, and did not provide a detailed proof process."

Galileo lowered his head. "He described his confusion in detail in the letter. He is a very talented young man in philosophical thinking and natural philosophy, and he is also a very pure researcher. His father passed away last year, and he has always wanted to see a bigger world. I hope he can come here to study more freely. It just so happens that he is worried about the future. I think it is a waste of his talent to follow his father's wishes and become a lawyer."

Zhu Changluo was now somewhat certain that he was the Descartes. After all, he was able to move Galileo just through letters.

Zhu Changluo did not want to spread the results of some cutting-edge technology applications so quickly, after all, the Ming Dynasty was not fully prepared. But of course, pure theory should also be taught to cultivate more new talents.

The Ming Dynasty is so big and it is not a closed country anymore. Some things will eventually get out. Zhu Changluo is mentally prepared for this.

So now he did not blame him, but just smiled and said: "I see. Now that we are here, we should make the best of it. Why did you come here with the Dutch?"

Descartes had not yet learned Chinese, so naturally Galileo answered for him: "After the truce between the Dutch and the Spanish, they were recruiting soldiers. Since Descartes had made up his mind to come to Ming to explore the truth, he sold the inheritance left to him by his father. He joined the Dutch army because the Dutch fleet was also actively exploring the South Seas, and it was convenient for him to come here."

What Zhu Changluo didn't know was that Descartes actually joined the Dutch army in history, but he probably worked in some technical positions there. It was during this time that he combined mathematics and physics and finally created analytic geometry. In the end, he spent the rest of his life in the Netherlands.

Now only Galileo and Kepler have come to Ming Dynasty. Many years ago, the wind raised by the wings of this butterfly blew to Europe and brought Descartes, who was just hesitant about the future.

The young Descartes witnessed the horror of the Ming fleet on the Dutch fleet and became a captive as soon as he arrived. Fortunately, he took out Galileo's letter in time, and Fubo Hou Shen Yourong was someone who knew the existence and importance of Academician Galileo - many of the research and development work on naval guns was participated in by the experts of the Institute of Research.

Therefore, the decision was made to send him back to Nandu in advance on the victory express ship.

Now the emperor of the Eastern Empire was right before him, and Descartes had heard from Galileo in his letter that the emperor had unfathomable attainments in many subjects.

He knew that he was being watched by the emperor, so much so that his tutor was explaining non-stop. At this time, the highest academic official of the Eastern Empire, Wang Zhangyuan, introduced by his tutor, patted his shoulder, smiled, and walked in front of the emperor.

"I have also examined it and it is a rough jade."

Zhu Changluo nodded with a smile: "Alright, don't worry about it, I'm just curious. You've sold all your property to come here, so why wouldn't I welcome you? Let's go, it's time to see this latest steam engine."

Entering the test hall, it is filled with various machines.

But the most central one is, of course, the steam engine used to test performance. The surrounding ones are nothing more than machines connected by transmission to test actual effectiveness, or lifting devices, or wheeled devices, and some other machines that are more commonly used in various industries.

The steam engine in front of him was not very big.

There was a worker waiting nearby, holding a shovel and next to him was a large bucket of clean coal.

"Light the fire. I understand."

At Zhu Changluo's command, they started shoveling coal into the furnace and boiling water.

Descartes did not like the noisy laboratory, but Galileo had come to his side and said to him in a rather unfamiliar way: "After so many years in the East, His Majesty the Emperor has taught me a truth."

"What is it?"

Galileo looked at Wang Zheng and the emperor who were talking in front of him: "The pursuit of truth is important, but in order to make everyone believe in the truth, we need to see what the truth can bring to them. Let everyone feel that life can become better and better because of the truth, then the power of truth will prevail over everything, and no dogma can restrain it! When everyone knows the power of truth, scholars will receive the greatest respect, the richest research resources and the greatest freedom!"

Descartes frowned and thought deeply.

Galileo smiled and said, "Your current thinking results are mostly focused on philosophy. Believe me, His Majesty the Emperor is also a great philosopher. You will understand once you finish reading His Majesty's works. Philosophy is the mother of all knowledge, so it is not surprising that His Majesty the Emperor is very innovative and foresighted in so many disciplines."

After a pause, he said, "The laws of mechanics are the inferences that Your Majesty directly told us. What we do is ultimately to prove them through experiments and mathematics. Even this process alone has led to many new concepts such as vacuum and air pressure. For example, the knowledge contained in this steam engine in front of you is far beyond your imagination..."

The first part is Wang Zheng telling the emperor about the improvements to this type of steam engine, and the second part is Galileo explaining the scientific principles contained therein to Descartes.

Zhu Changluo was an expert on the subject. He heard from Wang Zheng that this was a redesigned cylinder shape, rubber was used to improve sealing and ultimately increase the internal air pressure, a pressure gauge was specially designed to provide data indicators for control, and a double cylinder was used to take advantage of the secondary expansion of high-pressure steam to improve combustion efficiency and speed. In addition, the speed regulator that Zou Jin was involved in had stabilized the output power.

Observing test results is a long process, and things like service life are unobservable at least for now.

But the historical inevitability is still here. The steam engine replaced the more inefficient human power, animal power, wind power and water power, so the unit of horsepower was still proposed by them.

"The first model had less than ten horsepower. It was greatly improved at the end of the year before last, reaching nearly thirty horsepower." Wang Zheng pointed at the wheel that was being driven to rotate rapidly. "This model is not only much smaller, but also requires 40% less coal per hour, but the horsepower is nearly 100, and it rotates more than 100 times a minute. We have tried it with heavy wheels before. With the size of this steam engine, it can be used for ships and vehicles. If it is for large ships and large vehicles, we can customize a larger model, and the horsepower may be hundreds or even thousands."

"Take your time." Zhu Changluo was satisfied. "It's not easy to reach that level. We need to find ways to break through the gas pressure inside the furnace, traditional losses, safety and stability. Let's use it first! I will arrange for the Privy Council, the Ministry of Industry and the Institute of Research to discuss this matter."

Looking at the machine whose driving wheels rotated very stably after passing through the speed regulator, Zhu Changluo looked at Zou Jin who came with him and said, "You have made an invaluable contribution! Academicians of the Academy of Science and Technology are not limited to those who specialize in academic research, but can also be awarded the title of great talent in the application of engineering machinery. This type of steam engine is already practical. Even with the current coal price, one machine is almost equivalent to the power of a hundred strong horses, so this account can be calculated. You have made an invaluable contribution, and you can be awarded the title of academician!"

Zou Jin was naturally overjoyed and quickly expressed his gratitude.

Zhu Changluo was in a good mood. After helping him up, he stroked his palm and said, "You have worked hard all these years, traveling between Beijing and Tangshan. Xiao Dehe, you will go to the Machinery Factory of the Machinery Institute and take charge of this matter. If the Ming Dynasty can use 10,000 of these machines, it will be the power of a million strong horses. One hundred thousand, one million, it will be earth-shaking! This is a dramatic change that has not happened in a thousand years, you can all see it!"

Xiao Dehe was very excited. Wouldn't he be promoted if he went to the Government Production Institute? And seeing how excited the emperor was, the position he would get from the Government Production Institute would not be low - he would be in charge of the production of steam engines and their application throughout the Ming Dynasty.

"The first is ships, mining, iron smelting, and the Yellow River Bridge. The next step is transportation and large government-run factories." Zhu Changluo said, already sorting out his thoughts, or telling them the thoughts he had already thought of. "I won't go to Zunhua. The military equipment can be slowed down. First, supply the iron and parts needed for the machinery factory to produce steam engines..."

Descartes only saw the Eastern emperor excitedly arranging tasks, and he was no longer attracting attention, including from his mentor.

"Don't forget that His Majesty the Emperor is still the ruler of the empire, and he is very busy." Galileo smiled at him, "You can get ready now. We will go to the capital of the empire in two days. To the north of the Emperor's Palace is the Palace of Learning. On the top of the mountain there are many stone tablets surrounding the temple, and each stone tablet is engraved with a truth and its prover."

Descartes looked at Galileo, whose eyes were full of expectation: "I believe that there will be a stone tablet belonging to you there in the future. But since you are already here, do you want to take an oriental name? I took an oriental name very late, but they are used to it and call me Galileo instead of Jia Wendao. There is also a joke that I am not a fake explorer of knowledge, a guy who ignored fame and fortune and joined the East."

Descartes did not understand the meaning of this joke for a moment, so he asked, "What Oriental name do you think I should be called?"

"Well...let's call it Di." Galileo explained the meaning of homophones and surnames, and then said, "I am attracted by your talent, and your idea of ​​combining mathematics and physics is also very inspiring to me. There is an old saying in the East, called outstanding people and beautiful land. Now that you have come to this magical and tolerant land of the East, I believe you will become an outstanding scholar. How about calling it Di Renjie?"

"The name you chose must be very good."

"of course!"

So Jia Wendao took Di Renjie and left with the large group. Behind them was Lu Xiangsheng, who heard Galileo pronounce the words "Di Renjie" in a clear accent.

What?
(End of this chapter)