Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 115: The Principles of the World
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
Seeing Zhu Ying yelling in shock and anger, Zhang Shou smiled and said, "Yingying, stop arguing."
He didn't even look at the old man who turned his head and glared at him. He walked straight to the emperor, bowed deeply, and then said calmly: "I don't know this old man, but when I heard him talk about magic just now, I really couldn't help but speak out. If using a water tank to test the purity of an object and whether it is hollow is a magic trick, I have many more magic tricks."
As Zhang Shou spoke, he glanced at several other acquaintances around him, including Zhou Xun, the Imperial College's chief academic officer, Lu Wan, the Minister of War, Chu Ying, who had obviously come to join in the fun, Qi Jingshan, and other officials he didn't know very well. Then he looked at his teacher Ge Yong and said, "Teacher, may I ask if there are any eggs and salt at home?"
Ge Yongzheng was furious because of the word "demon magic". Hearing Zhang Shou's unreasonable question, he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. After thinking for a moment, he gestured to a mute servant beside him without saying a word. As the man ran away quickly, he said coldly: "You are educated after all, but you are yelling about demon magic like those fools in the folk. You are just a dog!"
The white-haired old man immediately became angry and said, "Ge Yong, others are afraid of you, but I, Zhang Huaili, am not afraid of you! It's all because you were blind and accepted disciples without thinking. How could he deceive the people with his lies..."
"Puh, puh, puh!" Ge Yong was so angry that he rushed forward and spit all over the man's face.
"You are blind, and your heart is blind too! You think you are able to become the Minister of Revenue at such an old age? It's because my favorite disciple has gone to mourn, otherwise it would be your turn! You can't even see the tax figures clearly, let alone remember them. Every time you report to the emperor, you have to stutter for a long time. If I were you, I would have resigned in shame long ago!"
"You... you old bastard who speaks foul language is disrespectful to society!"
Zhang Shou ignored the low-level verbal exchange over there. Seeing that the mute servant had come back with two eggs in one hand and a bag of salt in the other, he was about to step forward to take them, but Zhu Ying got there before him, then turned around and handed them to him with a smile.
He took one of the eggs from the eldest lady, showed it to the others with a smile, then came to the small wooden basin that had been used for density tests on gold, silver, copper, etc., and put the egg in it.
"Look, everyone, the egg has sunk to the bottom."
Seeing everyone gathered around and confirming the result, Zhang Shou took the egg from the water and returned it to Zhu Ying. Then he took the salt from Zhu Ying and poured a lot of it into the wooden basin. Then he rolled up his sleeves and stirred it with his hands.
He didn't put the egg back in until it was almost dissolved. In front of everyone's eyes, they saw the oval egg swaying for a while after falling into the water, and then it floated up!
Seeing a large group of officials around him, some frowned, some were amazed, while the emperor looked calm, as if he had expected it. Ge Yong had already left Zhang Huaili, the Minister of Revenue, who was kneeling on the ground, and came over. Seeing this situation, he was gently pulling his beard and said indifferently: "It's the same water, but the egg sank to the bottom at first, and then floated up. Is this also a magic trick?"
Zhang Huaili, with white hair and beard, was shocked and angry. He immediately stood up and rushed over. After taking a look, he shouted angrily: "Of course it was your magic..."
"In the eyes of Minister Zhang, are those charlatans who perform the trick of taking coins out of boiling oil also monsters who can perform magic? The so-called taking coins out of boiling oil is just because the charlatans put vinegar under the oil, taking advantage of the fact that vinegar has a greater density than oil, so it sinks to the bottom, and the temperature required for boiling is lower than that of oil, so people mistake boiling vinegar for boiling oil, and thus cheat people."
Seeing Zhang Huaili's mouth twitching and his face turning pale, he continued calmly, "This egg sinks in water and floats in salt water. It also uses the different densities and buoyancy of water and salt water. It is similar to the method used just now to determine the purity of gold, silver, copper, iron, etc."
"You read the books of sages, and you think you have learned the principles of all things in the world since you were a child, right? If that's the case, the ideas I proposed before and the experiments that the teacher is doing now are nothing more than the eternal principles of the world. Why do you know nothing about ?"
Seeing Zhang Huaili's face flushed with choking, he said calmly, "If you have time, you might as well read the Ge's terminology manual that will be published soon, and find out what density, buoyancy, volume, and mass are. It's ignorant to shout about magic when you see something you haven't seen before!"
"What an eternal and unchanging principle of the world!" The emperor clapped his hands in admiration and nodded repeatedly, "When I was a child, I heard the empress dowager talk about Taizu's past. I heard that Taizu often lamented that everyone was reading books blindly and few of them understood the principles of the world. Now it seems that even after so many years, it is still the same!"
As he spoke, he scornfully rebuked: "You are an official appointed by the imperial court, but you are shouting about witchcraft when you don't understand it. You are simply ignorant!"
Compared with the emperor's attitude when Zhou Xun, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, was reported to have locked the plaque inscribed by Taizu in the warehouse in order to retrieve the secret scrolls, the emperor's words this time were extremely sharp.
Poor Zhang Huaili, who was already old, first exchanged a few words with Ge Yong, and then was dazzled by Zhang Shou's "eternal truth". At this time, the emperor actually commented that he was ignorant. He was ashamed and angry, and his head tilted, and the whole person fell down limply.
What happened next was something Zhang Shou could not have expected, because the emperor quickly caught Zhang Huaili and then squatted down to lay him flat on the ground.
Then, the emperor said unhappily, "Come here, pinch the Ren Zhong point... No, just bring two people and take turns to do CPR on Zhang Shangshu. It's rare for you to practice the tricks left by Emperor Taizu!"
Emperor Taizu actually left behind cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques...
Zhang Shou saw two middle-aged men who looked like eunuchs rushing out from behind the emperor and squatting next to Zhang Huaili to perform the resuscitation. He couldn't help but cough and then whispered, "Your Majesty, I seem to have heard people among the people mention the cardiopulmonary resuscitation method of Emperor Taizu. Does it involve blowing mouth-to-mouth and then pressing the chest?"
As he said this, he clearly saw from the corner of his eye that the eyelids of the old man lying straight on the ground trembled slightly. Obviously, the man was not really fainted. The words "blow air into mouth" really scared him, but he didn't have the face to "wake up" immediately.
The emperor glanced at him and immediately understood what he meant and said, "That's right, and you have to press the chest hard, otherwise it won't be effective! "
Zhang Shou pretended to be curious and asked, "But I heard that if you press too hard, it seems possible to break the ribs?"
The emperor almost laughed out loud, but he had to pretend to be more serious: "Saving people is like putting out a fire, why bother with so many things! I remember that when Emperor Taizu was young, he once broke five ribs of someone in order to save someone... Quick, perform CPR on me, it's rare to come across such a good case!"
At the emperor's urging, the two eunuchs did not hesitate any longer, and one of them immediately reached out to press Zhang Huaili's chest. However, before he could even exert any strength, the old minister on the ground suddenly groaned extremely loudly, and then sat up with a speed comparable to a carp jumping up. The agility of the corpse-like resurrection almost scared the eunuch who was about to do it.
It was not until he sat up that Zhang Huaili realized that everyone from the emperor to Zhang Shou, as well as the other officials around him, were staring at him. Realizing that he could not hide the truth of his pretending to be unconscious, he could only support himself with a red face and said dejectedly: "Since the emperor does not listen to my loyal advice, then I have no choice but to..."
"If you want to resign, then resign. It has nothing to do with me not listening to your jokes about someone playing witchcraft."
The emperor raised his eyebrows and said in an unusually harsh tone, "There is a problem with the purity of the gold stored in the Ministry of Revenue. I didn't intend to investigate anyone immediately, but since you insist on me investigating, I will fulfill your wish. Someone, go to the Ministry of Revenue and pass on the oral order. Minister Zhang has reported that the gold stored in the Ministry of Revenue is fake. I am determined to investigate it thoroughly!"
Seeing that Zhang Huaili was really pale and shaky this time, the emperor smiled and said, "Everyone else can testify that it was Minister Zhang who personally testified to me, right?"
This time, Zhang Shou only saw a large number of officials looking at each other, but no one stood up to oppose the emperor's blatant lies.
Faced with this heavy blow, Old Man Zhang finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell down holding his chest. This time, without the emperor's order, the two eunuchs who had failed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation just raised their heads and feet and carried the incompetent and tactless old Minister of Revenue away at great speed.
As for whether CPR will continue, only God knows...
Only then did the emperor lazily say, "You are deeply saddened, you are making insinuations, you are exaggerating... and you faint at the slightest mistake. It's been so many years, don't you have any new tricks?"
Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhang Shou was staring at his right hand. It turned out that Zhu Ying was grabbing his sleeve. The emperor couldn't help but smile, and then said, "Teacher, the person who is in the way is gone, let's continue. I want to see if there is a hollow secret compartment on this plaque inscribed by Taizu that can hide something!"
Ge Yong immediately accepted the fact that one of his opponents had been completely eliminated. He had no time to be happy that another student who was about to return from mourning might be able to take charge of the Ministry of Revenue again. He immediately gave an order.
As the plaque inscribed by Taizu that had just been hanging in the air for a while finally fell into the water, a large amount of water overflowed from the calm wooden box. Everyone forgot about the farce that had just happened and focused on watching the scene in front of them.
Because once the plaque is lifted out of the water again, the answer will be clear!
At this time, Zhu Ying, who was radiant, stood beside him and couldn't help but whispered, "Ah Shou, when you were talking just now, you were calm and relaxed, and it was even more fun to act with the emperor."
"That's because the emperor cooperated so well." Zhang Shou laughed, and then he heard Ge Yong's voice of lifting. As the inscription slowly emerged from the water, he immediately made a gesture to Zhu Ying to keep quiet, and then almost held his breath and watched the water level drop little by little. Finally, he heard a clear sound.
"The water surface is below the notch, the difference is estimated to be at least one point!"
Ge Yong was stunned at first, then he said thoughtfully: "This pool is ten feet long and half a foot wide. If one fen is converted into a volume, how many cubic feet would it be... Oh, if you don't understand the terms length, width and volume, you can go back and look at my terminology manual."
"Well, if we use the foot as the unit, the volume should be one twentieth of a cubic foot. If we convert it, this plaque and the scraps of the same weight are at least one foot long, half a foot wide, and one inch high. Of course, it may not be that accurate, but that's the idea. However, for the sake of accuracy, mark the incisions first, measure them with a ruler, and then measure them a few more times!"
