Playing intrigue is worse than engaging in infrastructure

All afternoon, Song Qingyuan passed the time by flipping through a travel journal that Jiang Duo was carrying.It wasn't until the palace man in charge of the dinner came and reported that the dinner was about to start that he realized that an afternoon had passed.

The palace man who came to guide them pointed out a side hall for the guests to rest.Jiang Duo led Song Qingyuan in and tidied up his clothes.

The sun had not yet set at this time, but the room was already very dark.Song Qingyuan was not surprised, the windows are generally smaller now.

The reasons for this are not difficult to speculate.At that time, there was no glass, and silk with good light transmission was expensive, costing a few taels of silver per foot, which was about the annual expenditure of an ordinary family.

And if the windows are opened too much, it will be really cold in winter.

The same goes for his study.When the sun is just westward, it is necessary to light the oil lamp to read the words on the book clearly.

As for why not use candles?

Although candles have been invented long ago, they are expensive and are only used during sacrifices or important occasions.

After all, technology is not yet developed, and all candles are made of natural insect wax.Beeswax and white wax worms are the two main raw materials for candles, and the output is not much, and the extraction is laborious.There are also people who use animal fat to make candles, but the smell of burning animal fat is unpleasant, and rich people will not use it.

Therefore, people's lighting tools are still based on oil lamps.

After Jiang Duo arranged Song Qingyuan's clothes with the sun's rays coming in, he straightened up and complained: "Your Highness, this Emperor Hongde is too stingy. There is not even an oil lamp in the hall."

Jiang Duo was wrong to blame Emperor Hongde this time.Emperor Hongde was very generous in banquet expenses.For the sake of ostentation, the extremely precious ash worm candles were lit at the dinner.

As for why the side hall they came to didn't even have an oil lamp, Song Qingyuan explained to Jiang Duo in a low voice: "Today's banquet is very grand, and Emperor Hongde loves face very much. It is impossible for people from all over the world to laugh at such a thing. The only one The most likely possibility is that this place is remote and not luxurious enough, and the people below expected that Emperor Hongde would not come, so they secretly paid the oil money. As for Emperor Hongde's face."

Song Qingyuan chuckled lightly, "Who cares about a slave?"

Jiang Duo suddenly realized, then curled his lips, and sighed: "However, what's the use of spending so much money on such ostentation. At today's banquet, the younger ones saw that the Great Witch of Nanzhao and the King of Mobei were just making peace. Li. In our Yanyun, I have never seen how much the king respects the envoys of the Southern Zhou Dynasty."

Yes, at the border, the Southern Zhou army was defeated and retreated.The people in the country are miserable because of heavy taxes and corvee.In such a country, what is the use of the emperor's extravagant ostentation, but he is treated like a fat sheep and slaughtered one by one.

"It's a pity that no one from the emperor to the officials in the Southern Zhou Dynasty understands things that even you understand." Song Qingyuan shook his head and led Jiang Duo out of the side hall.

At the dinner party, everyone's positions remained the same as they were during the day, without any change.Mobei Wang Liandi, who was sitting opposite Song Qingyuan, was not staring at him as he did during the day.But the glances he casts from time to time still make him quite uncomfortable.

Song Qingyuan looked angrily along the source of his eyes.

Rows of candles have been lit in the hall, and the candle flames dance, casting shadows on the people opposite, giving off a kind of dim yellow haze.The fine rays of light passed through the lampshade, softening the originally hard edges and corners of his face.Seeing Song Qingyuan looking over, he put down his wine glass and smiled at him.

His eyes were clear, and he didn't see the slightest bit of malice.

Song Qingyuan was stunned for a moment, and the original anger dissipated inexplicably.Just when he didn't know what expression to put on, he suddenly caught sight of the shadow in the hall from the corner of his eye.

Yes, why didn't he think of it.

Song Qingyuan suddenly became excited and forgot all the annoyance and helplessness just now.

He can use the shadow to measure the height of the sun at noon!In this way, not only the latitude can be calculated, but also can be used to determine the inclination of the eaves.

Although the sun altitude angle is an inconspicuous thing, its usefulness can be seen.

Song Qingyuan recalled that in his house, some places were covered by the eaves, and the lighting in the house was insufficient; and some rooms were not covered by the sunlight because of the angle of the roof, so at noon, large swathes of sunlight shone in, making the The temperature in the house has risen quite a bit.

In this era, there is no specific research on the angle of sunlight, so when building a house, there is no clear plan for the angle of the eaves. Often craftsmen build according to their own experience, and these problems will inevitably arise.

Inspired by the candlelight, Song Qingyuan wished he could go back and measure the height of the sun now.But also just thinking about it.It's useless to measure the results now.Best to wait until the autumnal equinox.

This is because the height of the sun varies from day to day.

In the places north of the Tropic of Cancer, only on the summer solstice and winter solstice, the sun's rays will reach the highest and lowest values ​​in a year.Most buildings also determine the angle of the eaves and the protruding length according to the solar elevation angle at noon in these two days.

Judging from the plants and temperature in Beijing, Song Qingyuan can be sure that this place is north of the Tropic of Cancer.But the summer solstice has long passed, and the winter solstice is too far away, so he can only calculate the noon sun heights of the summer and winter solstice according to the formula.

The calculation method for the solar altitude angle at noon is "90°-latitude difference".The latitude difference is the difference between the latitude of the desired place and the latitude of the point where the sun directly shines on it.

But the problem now is that no one knows the latitude of Huijing.Song Qingyuan had to wait until the closest day to the present where the latitude of the direct sun point can be determined, that is, the autumnal equinox.

On the autumnal equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the latitude of the point where the sun directly shines is 0°. Therefore, it is only necessary to measure the height of the sun at the autumnal equinox, and then calculate the latitude of Huijing according to the formula.

He was then able to calculate the solar elevation angle at the winter and summer solstices, as well as the angle and length of the eaves when building the roof.

Song Qingyuan calculated with his fingers how many days were left until the autumnal equinox day, and completely forgot about King Mobei who was opposite him.

And King Mobei, who tried his best to release his charm, saw such a scene: the opposite person looked at him with angry eyes, and he froze for a moment when he saw him.But before he had time to express something, the other party lowered his head as if suddenly thinking of something, and ignored him again.

After the banquet, King Mobei and his party left on horseback.

Lian Ti, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped, turned his head to look at Wu Qina, and asked with some dissatisfaction: "After the king came to the Southern Zhou Dynasty, has there been any change in his face?"

"No... no." Wu Qina was taken aback by the king's sudden and strange question, and was very puzzled, so he stammered and replied.

"Then people from the Central Plains don't like the looks of our Mobei people?" Lian Ti continued to ask.

"Not really." Wu Qina replied with some hesitation.Judging from his experience in Huijing in the past few days, the deeper face of the Mobei people is still quite popular with the young ladies of the Central Plains.

And why did the king suddenly pay attention to such things? When he was in Mobei, the king didn't even want to keep a servant by his side. They secretly speculated whether the king had some hidden illness.

Could it be that you met someone you like today?Wu Qina guessed, but after carefully recalling that today in the Southern Zhou Palace, except for the king leaving alone for half an hour in the afternoon, he was by the king's side for the rest of the time, and he didn't find anything unusual.

Of course Wu Zena didn't know, in that short half an hour, their king went to provoke Yan Yun's third prince, His Royal Highness, and successfully got a supercilious look.

"Why is that?" Lian Ti said to himself.

"What did you say?" Wu Qina asked.He was just recalling what happened today, and didn't pay attention to what the king said.

"Nothing." It was obvious that King Mobei had no intention of letting his subordinates know that he tried to seduce the third prince Yanyun with his beauty today, and he seemed to have failed, so he kicked the horse's belly and left.

And Song Qingyuan, who was attempted to be seduced, also collapsed on the bed with Jiang Duo's support.

"Your Highness, do you want the little one to ask the doctor to take a look?" Jiang Duo said anxiously, looking at Song Qingyuan who was obviously pale.

"Don't bother, I'll just rest for a while." Song Qingyuan knew his body condition well.As a sequela of poisoning, he was only a little weak, so he was already very lucky.

On weekdays, he takes a break from time to time, but he still doesn't quite see it.I have been in the palace all day today, so my complexion looks a little pale.Not a big deal, just get a night's rest.

"The young one changed His Highness's clothes." Hearing what Song Qingyuan said, Jiang Duo knew that he had his own way, so he stopped talking.After helping him change his pajamas and extinguishing the oil lamp, he left quietly.

Song Qingyuan soon fell asleep and slept until the sun was high before getting up.

The author says:

His Royal Highness the Third Prince of Yanyun, Song Qingyuan, learned from this chapter: Method 1 to greatly improve the living environment;

The Neglected Mobei Wang Lianti Gain of this chapter: Self-confidence after major setbacks 1