Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Jiang Xinghuo did not dwell on this issue that could not be confirmed for too long, but continued.

"But what I want to say is that if it is only used to observe the sun, the moon, and the five celestial bodies of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, then the heliocentric theory is definitely more accurate than the geocentric theory."

"How do you say it?" Zheng He asked curiously.

In the Ming Dynasty, as long as astronomy can be integrated into the realm of heaven and man and does not pose a threat to the legal rationality of imperial power, then it doesn't matter whether you are geocentric or heliocentric, Huntian or Gaitian, whatever you want to say.

"At most" he was slapped with a hundred slaps from the government.

This is much better than the West at the same time. Of course, Bruno was tied to the stake not only because he spread the heliocentric theory, but also spread some kind of Sun worship in ancient Egypt through the heliocentric theory.

Returning to the present moment, Jiang Xinghuo said: "For example, the simplest example is also a question that all Chinese imperial guards have been avoiding."

Jiang Xinghuo coughed lightly and raised a soul question.

"The five celestial bodies of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth sometimes go retrograde. How to explain it?"

"In particular, Mars retrograde, also known as Mars retrograde, is the most common and cannot be concealed at all. The most common observation of Mars' motion trajectory is that it moves from west to east, but it is observed that it moves from east to west every two years or so. It runs westward for a while, and then turns back again after a few days, returning to west to east again.”

Zhuo Jing was silent for a while. This kind of unsolved mystery has indeed never been explained clearly.

Therefore, since the explanation is not clear, the imperial guards of all dynasties have chosen not to explain.

Anyway, astronomical phenomena cannot be explained clearly, so we can just blame the human world.

Occasionally the celestial body goes retrograde, so just take two steps back when you feel tired from walking forward without affecting other things.

Seeing that Old Man Zhuo was silent, Jiang Xinghuo said: "This is the disadvantage of the geocentric theory. Then if we regard the sun as the center, the earth, the moon and the five celestial bodies of metal, wood, water, fire and earth will all revolve around the sun, similar to Yinghuo retrograde motion. The phenomenon of celestial retrograde is easily explained.”

"How to explain?" Zheng He asked curiously.

"Because the Earth and Mars are both moving, and their moving speeds and positions are different, there will be retrograde motion of celestial bodies when the Earth is the observation point, which is caused by changes in relative speed." Jiang Xinghuo explained.

But Old Man Zhuo frowned and said, "That's not right either!"

Jiang Xinghuo said nothing and continued to draw on a small branch on the ground.

Jiang Xinghuo wiped away the original ○, leaving the · pattern in the middle, and then drew circles and circles of elliptical patterns around ·, representing gold, wood, water, fire and other celestial bodies. With the earth as the center, he drew another The path of a moon.

"Is it right now?"

Zhuo Jing twirled his beard and thought deeply.

"right?"

"wrong!"

"wrong?"

"right!"

Zhuo Jing finally shook his head and said: "No. This sun-centered trajectory is perfectly drawn, but there are two problems that cannot be explained."

"Which two? Tell me."

Zhuo Jing drew a △ pattern on the ground, and then drew a 丨 pattern in the middle of the pattern.

"My little friend, is this how distance is measured?"

Zheng He replied first: "That's how it was measured."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu was confused, Jiang Xinghuo explained to the eldest disciple: "This is the simplest method to measure the distance of celestial bodies. It uses the so-called [triangular parallax method]. This method is a method often used to measure the earth. Guo Shoujing This is how the length of the earth is measured.”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded in understanding, but he still didn't understand how a triangle and a vertical line could measure distance.

"The principle is that if there is a distant object, such as the vertex of a triangle, and we cannot directly measure its distance from us, we can use this method, that is, first draw a baseline, and then draw a baseline on both sides of the baseline. Measure the position of the object separately from both ends, so that we can get the angle the object makes to this baseline."

After saying that, Jiang Xinghuo made a gesture with the curve of a tiger's mouth, and Zhu Gaoxu finally understood what it meant.

"As long as we get the angle of the object to the baseline, and then measure the length of the baseline in the triangle, we can use the [trigonometric parallax method] to find the distance between the distant object and us, that is, the 'baseline length' divided by the 'object's angle to the baseline' angle'."

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu still didn't understand.

Jiang Xinghuo showed no signs of being discouraged.

Smart people have teachings from smart people.

People who become wise only after the second time have the teachings of those who become wise only after the second time.

There are no stupid people in this world, only suitable teaching methods.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo used the simplest example to help Zhu Gaoxu understand.

"Stretch out your right arm, raise your right thumb, and face your fingernails toward yourself."

Then, Jiang Xinghuo placed his small branch behind Zhu Gaoxu's right thumb as a reference.

Zhu Gaoxu did as he was told.

"Close your left eye, open your right eye, and look at your right thumb."

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu closing his eyes, Jiang Xinghuo said again.

"Remember this position, then open your left eye, close your right eye, and look at your right thumb."

"Huh?"

Zhu Gaoxu made a confused sound in surprise.

"Mr. Jiang, why did the position of my right thumb and the branch move? I obviously didn't move, and Mr. Jiang's branch didn't move either!"

Jiang Xinghuo put down the branch and said simply: "This is due to the change in the length of the baseline and the relative distance to the object. In other words, your left eye and right eye form different baselines due to different observation angles. Understand Is there any principle behind this?”

After saying this, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly realized.

Zhu Gaoxu, who has a lot of bright ideas, even thought further: "Then what I want to ask is, if the sun is the center and the earth is in different observation positions, the sun should also change? This principle is the same as the position of the thumb when looking at the left and right eyes. Different, but the same!”

"Yes, that's what I wanted to ask."

Zhuo Jing glanced at Zhu Gaoxu suspiciously. He had only heard that this man was extremely brave but had a reckless temperament and lacked wisdom. Why did he seem like he was not a top-notch smart person, but he was very knowledgeable and not stupid at all!

"If the sun is the center, why doesn't it change when we look at it at different locations throughout the year? If the parallax method is OK, then the sun should change."

"Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Jiang Xinghuo laughed extremely happily. When the laughter subsided, he picked up a pebble from the ground.

The pebble was tightly squeezed by two fingers in Jiang Xinghuo's hand, tracing circles in the air.

"Do you think that if the sun is the center, the earth should be stationary around the sun?"

Zhuo Jing nodded matter-of-factly.

If the earth itself was moving, wouldn't they all fall from the ground?

So the earth can move around the sun, but it certainly cannot move.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't say anything. Instead, he kept rubbing the small stone between his thumb and index finger, rubbing the small stone in circles.

"Why can't the earth itself move? If the earth is also moving, do you think solar parallax is not a problem?"

"impossible!"

"No way!"

This time not only Zhuo Jing, but also Zheng He also opposed it with one voice.

"Mr. Jiang, if you explain it this way, it is equivalent to solving a problem and creating a bigger problem! If the earth itself is moving, wouldn't we all fall down?" Zheng He said.

"and."

Zhuo Jing asked: "When we throw stones into the sky, if the earth is moving, then the stones we throw will fall behind, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, it sounded very reasonable, and the reasoning process was impeccable.

Zhuo Jing also picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it upwards. As a result, the small stone fell on the spot.

"How do you explain, little friend?"

Zhuo Jing proudly twirled his beard and looked at Jiang Xinghuo.

If Jiang Xinghuo proposed that the earth itself was moving in order to forcefully explain the solar parallax, then the problem of the stone not falling behind would definitely not be explained.

And if we can't explain why the stone fell behind, the so-called heliocentric theory will naturally be defeated.

Zheng He also quickly realized the interlocking logic in this.

Heliocentrism-solar parallax-earth movement.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't explain, but stood up and kicked Xin Wai Neck Tree.

It is now early November, and the leaves that were already withered and yellowed to the point where there are not many leaves left suddenly "swirly" fall.

"do you understand?"

The three of them were confused.

What do you understand?

"Why do the leaves fall down instead of up?" Jiang Xinghuo asked.

"Because the leaves are supposed to be pointing down."

Jiang Xinghuo interrupted unceremoniously: "Is it really what it was supposed to be? How did this originally come about?"

"Snapped!"

Zhuo Jing's twirling beard was suddenly torn off by himself.

There was an extremely complicated look in his eyes.

"Little friend, are you saying that there is some kind of force sucking on the ground?"

"Otherwise?" Jiang Xinghuo asked, "The Mongolian cannon can throw stones high and far, right? Then why don't you see Mongolians throw stones into the sky and not come back?"

silence.

Crows flew overhead.

Still silent.

Jiang Xinghuo's amazing way of justifying himself greatly impacted Old Man Zhuo's worldview.

Zhuo Jing began to question and think about himself in his heart.

‘Could it be said that the Huntian theory, which has lasted for thousands of years since the Eastern Han Dynasty, is partially wrong? ’

‘The earth is indeed round, Guo Shoujing has measured it, there is no doubt about it. ’

‘But our earth is not the center of the universe, but the sun is currently the center of the universe. ’

‘Solar parallax does not exist because the earth is also rotating simultaneously. ’

"The stone that rotates synchronously will not fall behind because there is an invisible force coming from the ground, which pulls everything in the world from being thrown out. ’

‘But how to prove the existence of this force? ’

Old Man Zhuo looked at Jiang Xinghuo and asked his question.

"How do you prove that there is some kind of force on the ground that absorbs everything in the world?"