Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 11: The value of Xie Xueshi is still increasing

(The postscript was not originally intended to be long. It was originally planned to end within 30 chapters. It mainly uses Xie Yan's perspective to show the Ming Dynasty and the world more than 130 years later. The content of the previous chapter was determined long ago, and similar chapters will be inserted from time to time. But it is difficult to satisfy everyone. Some people say that the previous chapter is better than talking about love, and some people say that they regret subscribing to that chapter. Whether you like it or not, just read it.)

Luoyang, South Suburb.

Li Minqiu stood outside the door and did not dare to go in to disturb him. He just observed secretly out of curiosity.

Inside the house, Xie Yan was lying in front of the microscope, and Li Dunshi stood beside him as an assistant. Even Xie Yan's four male followers and two maids were called to help.

Xie Yan said: "A1, particle size range is less than 1.5 minutes long, specific surface area..."

Li Dunshi immediately picked up a small notebook and used a fountain pen to help record the data.

After recording everything, Xie Yan said, "Come and have a look too."

When Xie Yan left the microscope, Li Dunshi hurried over happily.

Although Li Minqiu didn't understand what he was doing, he was secretly happy, feeling that his son could learn something real.

Xie Yan actually felt very awkward, the Ming Dynasty's measurement was too ridiculous.

The units of length are yin, zhang, cun, fen, li, hao, si, and hu. Since some unit names are the same as weight units, a "long" will be added at the end to distinguish them.

There is a lack of mathematical connection between length and weight!

Xie Yan has decided that when he has achieved some more results and has enough reputation and status, he will apply to the Royal Society to reform academic measurement units.

Take the earth's meridian passing through Luoyang, and one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole as "1 meter". Then use pure water at a certain normal temperature and take the mass of 1 cubic decimeter as "1 kilogram".

In this way, length and weight have a mathematical connection, and it has become more standardized and easy to use.

It's not too late to change it slowly. In another time and space, the time when the international unit was determined was the end of the Qianlong period.

Xie Changshou, a male attendant, walked behind Li Minqiu with finely ground and sieved cement clinker and said, "Please make way."

"Sorry, sorry." Li Minqiu hurriedly made way, fearing that he would delay the experiment.

Li Minqiu continued to work in the house, and he didn't leave.

He stood outside for a long time, and finally saw his son coming out with Xie Xueshi.

A shed was built not far away to block the sun and wind. There were several piles of cement that had been added with river sand and water and mixed and dried there. There were also clocks and thermometers next to them, and the male attendants and maids were always guarding.

Li Minqiu whispered, "Dunshi, come here!"

Li Dunshi turned around and asked, "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Did you learn anything?" Li Minqiu asked.

Li Dunshi's tone was a little excited: "It was only after doing experiments with Xie Xueshi that I realized that cement also has so many principles. In the future, even if I am alone, I can also start to improve cement."

Li Minqiu said: "Then you should catch up quickly, don't delay your studies."

Seeing his son following Xie Yan again, Li Minqiu went home with a smile on his face.

As soon as he entered the yard, Li Minqiu shouted: "Cook two side dishes and take out the good wine I have hidden!"

His wife Guan Xiuniang walked out of the house: "It's too early to eat."

"So much nonsense." Li Minqiu laughed and scolded.

Guan Xiuniang asked, "What's the good news? You're almost smiling."

Li Minqiu said, "I went to see Xie Xueshi's cement kiln today and watched them do experiments."

Guan Xiuniang asked curiously, "Are there any signs of progress?"

Li Minqiu said, "Two days ago, the structures of the three cement kilns were slightly changed. I heard that the feed materials during firing were also changed. One of them fired very well, but Xie Xueshi wanted to continue to improve it, saying that the firing was not uniform enough."

"That's indeed a good news." Guan Xiuniang said.

Li Minqiu smiled and waved his hand, "You women don't understand. Improving cement is certainly worth celebrating, but what we should be more happy about is that our son has learned something. You didn't see that they even used a microscope to do experiments!"

"The kind that can see insects?" Guan Xiuniang asked.

Li Minqiu nodded: "Yes, that's the kind. Dunshi has never been good at studying, and he is just an average person. His only advantage is that he works hard. Even when he went to the Imperial College, I sent him there as a self-funded student through my connections. I'm afraid he has no hope of becoming a Jinshi or an official in this life. But it's different with Xie Xueshi. Maybe he can do something in the future." Guan Xiuniang was overjoyed when she heard this. Although Li Dunshi was born to a concubine, the concubine died of illness a few years ago. Guan Xiuniang's biological son was not at home all year round, so Li Dunshi was no different from her biological son. "Master, someone is delivering a letter, a private letter from Xie Xueshi!" Li Minqiu had just taken two sips of wine when someone delivered a letter. He hurried out to help sign for it in person. The postal system of the Ming Dynasty became more developed as transportation improved, especially in places where railways and rivers were connected. For example, in the city or suburbs, as long as you add money when sending a letter, there is even a door-to-door delivery service. The postman was familiar with the Li family, because Xie Yan had more and more pen pals, and one or two letters were sent every three or five days.

In the evening, Xie Yan came back with a group of followers.

Li Minqiu personally delivered the letter: "Mr. Xie, you have worked hard. I specially asked the chef to add two dishes today."

Xie Yan bowed and said: "Thank you."

He was exhausted during the day and covered with dust.

Xie Yan and several servants took a bath one after another, and then the master and servants ate together at the same table.

There are no such rules for renting a house for singles.

Even Daiyu and Baochai have been helping keep an eye on time and changes in cement these days. They are equivalent to the coolies of Xie Yan's cement project team, and eating together is considered a daily gathering.

The two little girls are very diligent, especially Baochai. If you ask her to read and write, she may be lazy, but if you ask her to do odd jobs in the experimental group, she will work very hard.

As soon as Xie Yan sat down, Baochai brought rice to him, but Daiyu didn't take the job away.

"Lang Jun, it's so interesting to do the experiment..." Baochai started to talk.

Xie Yan smiled and said: "Don't delay your homework. After dinner, go and practice calligraphy by yourself. Daiyu knows more than a hundred characters, how many can you tell me?"

Baochai instantly withered, pouted and stopped talking.

But Daiyu happily picked up her rice bowl, thinking that her husband praised me again, I will practice calligraphy twice as much tonight!

After dinner, Xie Yan began to read the letter.

This letter was sent by Zhu Shirong. He said that he couldn't wait to queue up and had returned to Kaifeng to hire a skilled craftsman to build the scale himself according to the drawings.

He also said that according to an older scholar he knew, the chemists in Luoyang who were lining up to use the scales had done dozens or hundreds of experiments.

These experiments were mostly conducted according to the previous atomic and molecular theories, and the experimental data obtained were very confusing. Two groups of chemists proposed to use Xie Yan's molecular theory to re-experiment, and they are already queuing up to use the scales.

Many scholars speculate that Xie Yan's molecular conjecture may be correct. Some of these scholars are using previous experimental results to make mathematical calculations.

Xie Yan read the letter, wrote a reply, and asked Wang Xing to send it out tomorrow.

Wang Xing and his parents gave him such a name. Wouldn't it be in vain if they didn't use it to run errands and deliver letters?

The next day, Xie Yan came to the experimental site and called the craftsmen who built the cement kiln: "Kiln No. 1, the bell mouth for feeding materials will be expanded by half a foot. Kiln No. 2..."

The error-free version is being read! 6=9+Book_Bar debuts this novel.

…

Like Zhu Shirong, many scholars could not wait to queue up to use the scale and had already left Beijing with the scale drawings.

One hundred skilled craftsmen under the Ministry of Industry were divided into several groups and worked overtime. In the past few days, four balances have been built one after another.

All are more sophisticated than Xie Yan's "Unit No. 1"!

With the five balances, scholars' experimental progress soared. Chemists from different groups even made an appointment to conduct different experiments and then use them to confirm each other.

The Royal Society's finest balance was left here for use.

An old man looked at the experimental calculation data in a daze. He was Wei Renfu, the vice president of the Chemical Society. Xie Yan's molecular thesis was rejected at first, but later he took the initiative to approve the thesis.

Xie Yan's pen pal Cao An said with a dry mouth: "Teacher, Bachelor Xie is right, we are all wrong. Multiple atoms of the same element can indeed form a single substance molecule. An oxygen molecule is composed of two oxygen atoms of."

There were several chemists in the room, all looking at Wei Renfu at this moment.

Wei Renfu said: "You guys get busy, I'll leave first."

Everyone stopped talking and watched Wei Renfu leave.

When he walked out of the building, the sun was so bright that Wei Renfu couldn't open his eyes.

The old man felt dizzy, staggered and was about to fall, but the attendants around him quickly supported him.

After a while, Wei Renfu came to the shade of a tree, his mind going blank and unable to think. At least 80% of his academic achievements in this life were overturned by Xie Yan!

If he is still young, he can naturally start over.

But he was old and no longer had the energy, and his academic life was almost dead.

"Teacher, teacher..."

A burst of shouting brought Wei Renfu back to his thoughts. He turned to look at his students: "Am I like a joke in my life?"

Cao An said: "Teacher has many other achievements and has trained so many students. If the teacher is a joke, then as a student, wouldn't I also become a joke?"

Wei Renfu felt a little relieved and said with a wry smile: "Yes, I still have many students. You are still young, and you can use this opportunity to achieve a lot. I am old, and it is time to go home and raise my grandchildren."

"Teacher, why should you be discouraged? You can still lead us to continue our research." Cao An said.

Wei Renfu waved his hand: "I have thought it through. Our era has passed, and your era has just begun. Let's go, let's go. I will return to Suzhou in a few days. You can help me with my property in Luoyang when you are free. I’ll sell it and I’ll leave you a deed of power to sell the house.”

Cao An tried to persuade him: "Teacher..."

Wei Renfu interrupted and said, "No need to say more. I'll go to the old president's house and leave this place to you. When I leave Beijing, don't come to see me off. Take the time to do experiments and get the results."

Cao An sighed.

Two days later, relying on the five balances, more and more experiments were conducted, and Xie Yan's molecular conjecture was basically confirmed.

Wei Renfu formally submitted his resignation letter and resigned from the position of vice president of the Chemistry Branch.

Some people are sad, some people are secretly happy.

No matter what, Xie Yan's reputation in the academic circle rose like a rocket.

This is not the same as building a precision balance. One of his hypotheses was confirmed. As long as researchers follow this path in the future, the results achieved by scholars will all be related to him!

Enough to start a sect.

The old president received more and more experimental conclusions, and said to himself with a sad face: "We can't upgrade him to bachelor's level this year, and we have to postpone it until next year. How can he be promoted to level four in three years? "

Vice President Lu Gai said: "It is better to reform the bachelor's degree system."

The old president asked: "How to change it?"

Lü Gai said: "Now all scholars have the same bachelor's title. In the future, they can be divided according to the research content, first divided into two categories of bachelor's degrees: liberal arts and science. For the bachelor's degree in science, it can be further divided into academic and technical. Xie Yan previously had a bachelor's degree in technology, and now his achievements are considered academic bachelor's degrees."

The old president was at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "Just because of him, the bachelor's system has been changed?"

"I really can't think of a better way." Lü Gai said.

The old president sighed: "What a young genius!"