From Chief to Ball

The restaurants and teahouses that were originally full of customers have become increasingly sluggish, especially the newly opened restaurants and teahouses dedicated to the orchid trade. They lost many customers overnight and could only sell poorly.

There are also some small workshop owners who sell their workshops in order to pay back.Under the mandatory law that all futures transactions must be honored on schedule, there is no room for maneuver...

Under the chaos, it seems that many things in Mincheng have become uninterested, and a large amount of redistributed money is cautious, and they dare not invest in other things for the time being.

And Chen Jian also threw out rumors that his own shipping venture capital might continue to raise money or that he was going to sell a part of the shares in the glass workshop, mirror workshop and crucible steel workshop, which made some fund holders hold on to their pocketbooks and had no choice. Turn the money into those courtyard houses or small workshops.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Jian bought a lot of real estate along the coast or near the futures exchange, and actually controlled several textile workshops in the form of helping out with money, and maintained them smoothly. hands.

For this purchase, Chen Jian used part of the cash raised.Anyway, a large part of the cash used for shipping venture capital is to buy glass, sulfuric acid, mirrors, steel ingots, and some manual machinery in their own workshops, which can be used in advance. This is misappropriation, but the current regulations are not strict. Trust him he didn't notice it at all.

The chaos in Mincheng is still going on, but the rest has nothing to do with Chen Jian for the time being. He has to prepare a lot of things that should be prepared.

Soon it was time for the first scientific meeting of the Soda Plant Fund, and he wanted to receive these people.It is also necessary to prepare for the long-distance voyage to Qi to train sailors to map and map, and to buy more than a dozen cannons through legal channels to train a group of long-distance sailors.

It is very troublesome to go to Qi country for trade.

In other words, it wasn't troublesome, it was Chen Jian who was asking for trouble.

Normally, you need to wait until autumn and winter to take advantage of the monsoon and avoid the hurricane period, so that the danger can be minimized.

In addition, there is also a special route to Qi State for trade.

Navigation without the concept of longitude and only latitude, in most cases still relies on previous experience and routes traveled, which makes it impossible to use the simplest way to arrive in a straight line.

Either drive from Mincheng to the mouth of the river, continue northward around the capital, sail eastward from a peninsula for about six or seven days, you will see a big island, and then turn south from the big island...

Or go south from Mincheng first, pass through an archipelago, then turn north and then east from there...

The most accurate statement is this: pass Mincheng and sail thirteen degrees east by south for about four days, throw down the sounding rope, and if the depth of the sea is about [-] paces, continue eastward; If you can't see the bottom of a hundred steps, then go north; if you see the water is pale, then go south...

It can be seen that the words used, except approximately, are estimates, and they all say that it should be possible.Basically this is the highest level hydrographic positioning method under the era.

The reason for such a route is generally because a ship was blown away by the storm and returned to the mainland by luck. Summarize the characteristics of animals and so on.

Specifically, a large number of experienced veteran crew members are needed to estimate where they are based on the experience of their predecessors and some simple hydrological knowledge.

For example, after the tide passes through the island, it will disrupt the original tidal pattern, the color of the sea water near the mouth of the Danshui River is different, the blueness of the deep sea and shallow sea, some characteristics of the reef area, the sediment in the estuary, the depth of the seabed, etc.

Sea tides, wind direction, ocean currents, periods of frequent storms, etc., are all experiences accumulated by countless human lives.

Therefore, Chen Jian invited some literate and hyphenated intellectuals, and used money to hire them in their spare time to analyze the voyage diaries, experience records and other things recorded by the captains and sailors.

Those looking for storms are looking for storms, and those looking for ocean currents are looking for ocean currents... Find similarities from thousands of records.

If a person speaks of a storm he encountered in a certain place in July, it may be a coincidence.

But if dozens of people say the same thing, then it may not be a coincidence. According to the induction method, it can be roughly determined that there will be a storm in this place in July.

A large number of fast readers are hired to do just that, to sort out some coincidences by manual indexing, and compile them into a book, which serves as a written navigation guide for offshore waters, instead of oral experience.

It is impossible to conquer the deep sea with this method alone, so Chen Jian decided to use this opportunity to try to make a big death.

In order to die this time, he needed the help of many people, so before leaving the capital, he invited many people to help, and also invited some people who were not in the school circle to come to Mincheng after the beginning of spring.

No matter what the name is, the gentleman who has been looking at the stars is absolutely qualified to come. Chen Jian had invited him as early as when he was in the capital, and even lured him with the observatory and telescope.

The old man's surname is Yuan, the name of Fangyuan, and the character is Yuanchu.

As soon as February arrived, Mr. Benchu, who watched the stars, brought some disciples and some low-level stargazing technical officials to Mincheng impatiently.

Due to Chen Jian's reminder, the radius and period ratio of the planet's movement were drawn up, and the centripetal force formula developed by Bai Jingshuo and others from the school's mathematics class according to Chen Jian's system, Mr. Benchu ​​basically spent the past six months thinking about the relationship between them.

Originally, this old gentleman had a high level of mathematics, otherwise, it would not be possible for him to calculate the calendar and take charge of exploration and astronomy.

Because of his height, this problem bothered him even more.

Now the debate about attractiveness in the Capital Academy is in full swing, but Chen Jian left those things and hid back in Mincheng, which made many people extremely upset.

So for this invitation, many people went south very early, looking forward to a result of the debate this time, or to hear some new interesting questions.

This Mr. Yuanchu is no exception.

After Chen Jian took people to greet him, Mr. Benchu ​​couldn't wait to discuss with Chen Jian the problems that had troubled him for a long time, but Chen Jian shied away and said that we should wait for everyone to arrive.

"Mr. Benchu, could it be that you forgot about the observatory and the telescope?"

"Then how can I forget? Chen Jian, I have watched the stars all my life, and I most want to know what the stars are. Last time you used your telescope to show me the moon. I couldn't see it clearly but I could see it." Feeling the basin, canyon and high mountain above me makes my heart itch, how can I forget it? It's just another thing...it's also very important. Well, since you said wait for everyone to come, let's wait for everyone bring it on."

"Mr. Benchu, first take a carriage to see the top of the observatory? It's still waiting for you to lay the foundation, and the direction of true south and true north must be measured by you yourself."

"Yeah. How's your bigger telescope doing?"

"It's still early. Some good craftsmen are needed. Besides, it is very troublesome to grind large pieces of glass. Why can it take two or three years to make one that can look at the moon and stars. Doesn't it take time?"

"Yeah, I know that. I'm just anxious. I really want to know what is on the moon. Do you think there is a moon in those stars like Tai Sui and Ying Huo? I have watched the stars all my life. You can use the calendar to see the shadow of the sun and you can know where the north and south are, but you don't know anything about the moon."

Mr. Benchu ​​sighed, and said distressedly: "I just thought about it, but since you let me look at the moon with your small telescope last time, I can't let go of this thought. Besides, there are still four In five years, that comet will come again, and I still want to see what the tail of that comet is. If I miss it again, I will have to wait for five years in 74, how can I live so long?"

Chapter 127 Prime Meridian

Before the complete system of universal gravitation is figured out, there is no way to predict the exact arrival time of the comet whose cycle is affected by Jupiter's gravity.

However, due to the continuous chronology, the early popularization of paper and stargazing records, people who look at the stars all day can still know that this comet will reincarnate once in about 70 years. This is also an induction method.

Regarding this resentment, Chen Jian said with a smile: "You can rest assured that in four or five years, you can get a telescope anyway. But if you can accurately predict the date, it will be a big deal."

"Accurate...it's impossible. I just know a rough idea, but if your attraction system is correct, you can correct some time, whether it's faster or slower. This is also a good opportunity, get it out earlier, use this earlier To prove that opportunities are rare. So you see, the two things I was anxious about turned into one thing in the end."

Mr. Benchu ​​laughed for a while and said, "For us stargazers, what you said is very useful. It's like giving us a new pair of eyes to see the stars."

The two talked and laughed, got into the carriage, and went to a mountain near the sea outside Fujian City.

The mountain is not high, and several huts have been built on it, and some materials are piled inside.

Whether it is from Fengshui or science, the foundation laying of the observatory is very particular, at least it must be in the direction of the south, the north, the east and the west.

This point does not need to be measured by people who look at the stars, but the foundation laying ceremony still requires some heavyweights.

On the top of the mountain, Chen Jian gave a general introduction, and Mr. Benchu ​​also expressed his approval for the observatory made of cement and stone.

Inadvertently, among the materials of the wooden house, Mr. Benchu ​​found a huge wooden ball, which was worn on an iron frame.

The top of the wooden ball is covered with a layer of white paper, and the iron frame of the wooden ball is not straight up and down, but tilted at an angle.

Looking at the stars all day, naturally has a professional sensitivity. This oblique angle immediately reminded Mr. Benchu ​​of the ecliptic plane.

So he approached the ball curiously, and asked, "What is this?"