Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 114 Density Experiment and Magic
On the way out of the palace, Zhu Ying simply lifted the curtains of the sedan chair high, not afraid of being seen by outsiders sitting in the same sedan chair with Zhang Shou. As a result, Zhang Shou was able to look out the window at the many buildings of the northern imperial city along the way.
Moreover, there was the best commentator, Zhu Ying, nearby. While he was listening to her explanation involving many anecdotes and characters, he took a quick look at the exterior of the Six Palaces and those inner court offices.
In this era, the female official system headed by the Shanggong Bureau and the eunuch system represented by the Silijian, at least in Zhu Ying's words, seem to be competing against each other. In terms of numbers, the number of palace maids and female officials is absolutely superior to that of eunuchs and eunuchs. And those female officials who have reached the age limit and are released from the palace are even good choices for the remarriage of officials and eunuchs.
It is said that the reason for this is that Taizu was disgusted with the fact that eunuchs were often used in successive dynasties, which led to countless people committing self-mutilation.
But in this case, Chu Kuan's claim that the inheritance of the torch depends on the eunuch party would be questioned.
Zhang Shou listened to Zhu Ying's introduction and gradually turned the topic to the Gujin Tongjiku that the emperor had mentioned before. Zhu Ying was not like Ge Yong who avoided the topic and immediately snorted and said, "So you mean the inner library, which is behind the inner library hall. I heard it was moved from the south of the palace! There are many manuscripts left by Emperor Taizu hidden there, but they are rarely shown to people."
Upon hearing what Zhu Ying said, Zhang Shou raised his eyebrows immediately: "So, when the emperor told the Imperial College's Grand Secretary Zhou that if he begged, he would let people in to copy, this should be just to comfort the Grand Secretary Zhou for being wrongly accused?"
"Isn't it? Not to mention the Grand Secretary of Zhou, several university scholars had a hard time entering the Ancient and Modern Collection Library, and the people in the Imperial Household Department hated them. During the time of Grandfather Ruizong, there were also officials who were angry that a group of eunuchs controlled the relics of Emperor Taizu, and even Grandfather Ruizong ignored them. In fact, I am also very curious. I sneaked in when I was a child, but I was sent back in a daze."
After hearing this, Zhang Shou felt that the emperor's previous words to him, that only by performing some unquestionable great merit could he be admitted to the Gujin Tongjiku, were probably just a lie.
But the more he thought about it, the more he felt itchy, especially when he thought of the secret letters he had come across before, one of which used binary encoding and the other used shift cipher. He couldn't help but come up with a lot of ideas about the things in the Gujin Tongji Library.
Could it be that the Gujin Tongjiku is said to contain countless manuscripts of Taizu, but in fact they are written in special languages such as English, French, or even Pinyin, or... it simply uses a coding mechanism to keep most people who want to understand it out?
Having said that, although the foreign friends who invented binary system think that the ancient Chinese Bagua is the prototype of binary system, from the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art to the other ten mathematical books, none of them involve the most basic and simple binary principle of adding one every two. He doesn't believe that the previous binary code has nothing to do with Taizu!
At this moment, a voice suddenly said "Stop, stop quickly", and the sedan chair stopped without any warning. Zhang Shou, who was lost in thought, suddenly leaned forward, and Zhu Ying, who was looking at him, was slightly stunned, and their foreheads bumped into each other.
The next moment, Zhang Shou hurriedly stepped back, holding his head, while Zhu Ying rubbed her forehead and leaned out, asking angrily, "Hey, what's going on?"
"Oh my dear, I finally caught up with you!"
The one running over with sweat all over his forehead was none other than Chang Ning, the "little steward" who had once been by Concubine Yu's side. Perhaps because he was running too fast, he had to support himself with his knees and gasp for air, and it took him a while before he was able to stand up straight.
"The Emperor brought with him the Cabinet Grand Secretary Kong, the Ministry of War Minister Lu, the Imperial College Grand Secretary Zhou, the Shuntian Prefecture Prefect Wang, and several other officials to the Ge Residence. Grand Tutor Ge wanted to test Dr. Zhang's method in person. Although the Emperor did not give any orders, Concubine Yu felt that it would be a pity for Dr. Zhang not to go, as the idea was proposed by Dr. Zhang and Grand Tutor Ge was in charge personally. So she specifically ordered me to come and report..."
He had just said this when Zhu Ying started yelling, "What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and go to Grandpa Ge's house! They must be heavily guarded there. Even the Sharp Cavalry Battalion would not dare to stop the Queen Mother's sedan chair!"
Seeing that Zhu Ying had made the decision without paying any attention to him, Chang Ning, who had just almost broken his legs from running, was immediately sad. In this palace, no matter how big or small the eunuchs were , they were not allowed to ride horses or sedan chairs. If they had anything to do, they had to run. Just when he was secretly comforting himself that Miss Zhu had always been like this, he saw a golden light flying out of the window.
He subconsciously reached out and immediately felt something heavy in his hand. He looked again and saw that it was a gold ingot. When he looked up again, he saw a jade-white hand retracting. Was it Zhu Ying?
At the same time, he heard a gentle laugh: "Manager Chang, thank you for making this special trip! If you have any trouble calculating anything in the future, you can always come to me!"
Chang Ning saw Zhang Shou sticking his head out of the other window and greeting him. Thinking that he had received the reward and the face, he finally felt that his trip was worthwhile. He smiled and bowed to see the group off. Then he secretly sighed that it was worth it that he did not use an ordinary eunuch to pass on the message, but chased after them personally. Finally, the other party appreciated his kindness.
Just as Zhu Ying said when he shouted, the emperor and a group of ministers suddenly came to Ge's house, and naturally the nearby streets were directly blocked by the soldiers of the Ruiqi Battalion. And relying on their sedan chair with the Qingning Palace sign hanging on it, and the grooms and guards from the palace, Zhu Ying pulled Zhang Shou and hid in the sedan chair without even showing his face, and actually arrived at the door of Ge's house lightly.
It was not until Zhu Ying was the first to get out of the sedan chair, stepped onto the ladder and landed, and greeted Xiong Wei that she asked in great surprise, "Why is the eldest lady here? Didn't the Queen Mother say that she would summon you and Dr. Zhang to Qingning Palace?"
"That ended early. I heard that the emperor brought a lot of people to the Ge Mansion to check whether the plaque of Jiuzhang Hall was hollow, and he brought Ah Shou here immediately!"
While Zhu Ying and Xiong Wei were talking, Zhang Shou had already gotten down the ladder. When he stepped on the ground, he suddenly realized that there was something wrong with the person who was holding his hand. He turned his head and found that it was Ah Liu. Thinking about the fact that he had entered the palace without stopping and went through Bei'an Gate before, he was even a little unsure whether Ah Liu had also come with him for a half-day tour of the palace.
But at this moment, he no longer cared about whether Ah Liu had sneaked into the palace, because Zhu Ying had obviously convinced Xiong Wei and was waving at him to hurry in. So, without saying a word, he pulled Ah Liu back and quickly caught up with Zhu Ying.
Rather than letting this kid slip away without knowing where he is, it would be better for him to catch him first!
The servants in Ge's mansion were still deaf and dumb as before. Although the Ruiqi Battalion was deployed at the walls and entrances and exits, there were not many people. Especially when Xiong Wei personally brought people in, no one left their posts to inquire. When Zhang Shou passed the study of Ge's mansion and came to an inconspicuous small door on the wall, he heard Ge Yong's familiar voice coming from inside.
"Okay, okay, it's done. Quickly, pick it up, be gentle and try to splash as little water as possible!"
Already started?
Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying exchanged glances. But then, Xiong Wei preempted them and shouted loudly, then stepped forward and came to the door: "Your Majesty, Doctor Zhang from the Imperial College and Duke Zhao's Mansion..."
Before he finished his announcement, the emperor laughed: "No doubt, Yingying must have had a thousand-mile hearing and a wind-catching leg! I arrived just as they came. I was counting on the Queen Mother to trip them up, but now it seems hopeless! Since you are here to watch the fun, come in. The teacher is doing an experiment with the gold from the inner treasury and the Ministry of Revenue!"
When Zhang Shou heard that he would test the gold first, he took a deep breath and thought that it had indeed come to this.
You know, in ancient times, whether it was gold or silver, it was impossible to completely remove impurities, and some people were greedy for profits and secretly mixed other metals in. It can be said that counterfeiting was often an open secret. Now this fig leaf is about to be unveiled in front of the emperor and a group of bigwigs, and who knows how many people will be unlucky.
When he entered, he saw a specially made square wooden basin in front of him. A gold ingot was being carefully scooped up by two servants using a small net. The remaining water droplets were dripping into the basin bit by bit until there was almost no water left. Someone then went to mark the basin wall. Soon, he heard a voice.
"Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Ge, and all the others, the same weight is one pound and two ounces when weighed with a scale. This ingot of gold has less water than the previous one. The previous marks can be seen under the water surface. The difference is estimated to be about two centimeters."
The emperor personally led a large group of people to watch. In an instant, the small wooden basin was surrounded by people. Just when Zhang Shou thought that the emperor would be furious because of the different purity of the gold in the inner treasury and the Ministry of Revenue, he did not expect that the emperor inside said nonchalantly: "Okay, the gold has been tested, and next, throw the silver in. And the copper paperweight and copper block, try them one by one!"
Next, Zhang Shou saw various small gadgets of the same material and weight but different shapes being thrown into a wooden basin full of water, and then various different results were obtained.
There are silvers of roughly the same purity, copper paperweights that are proven to be hollow, and gold jewelry that are proven to be fake...
When all the gadgets used as experiments were almost done, the plaque inscribed by Taizu was finally slowly and steadily hoisted onto a large solid wood water tank that was urgently built in the backyard of the Ge Mansion with the help of various simple pulleys. Before that, the drainage volume of the scraps had already left a clear mark on the edge of the pool.
As the plaque was about to enter the water, Zhang Shou saw that many people around him were watching intently , and he couldn't help but be distracted by the result that was about to be revealed. But at this moment, he suddenly heard a loud voice.
"Your Majesty, once this kind of evil magic spreads, the people and officials will definitely be suspicious of it and no one will trust it anymore. Please think twice and expel Zhang Shou, who has no morals and no talent and is only seeking popularity, from the Imperial Academy immediately. Don't ever blaspheme the imperial pen again!"
Magic? Seeing clearly that the person kneeling down in grief was a white-haired old man, Zhang Shou almost wanted to laugh out loud.
What you don't understand is magic? There are so many magics in the world!
If I throw you into the afterlife, you will either call everything a monster, or kneel on the ground and worship the gods until your head is broken!
For those who are stubborn and cannot accept new things, the only thing left for them to do is to talk nonsense!
