Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 164: The First Lesson of the Jiuzhang Hall
Yesterday, he irresponsibly gave Lu Sanlang the one-variable equation to teach. That afternoon, Zhang Shou directly threw out the two-variable first-order equation. If he were in the future, he would be criticized by countless educators for his fast progress. But now, facing a group of students who are at least sixteen years old and the oldest is nearly forty years old, he has no burden at all.
You are all adults who have been baptized by the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art. I spend half a day explaining to you what primary school students can master in half a month or a month. If you can't understand it, then you are stupid!
However, he did not simply talk about theories, but used various problems as examples, such as chickens and rabbits in the same cage, measuring the depth of a well with a long rope that Wang Jie had given in the last test in Shuntian Prefecture, and knowing the monk by the bowl, etc., to fully demonstrate to the students the flexible application of linear equations with two variables in practical problems.
Sure enough, when these students found that various problems that were once considered difficult were so easy to solve by just writing an equation, they were all very excited. However, when the two classes were about to end, Zhang Shou suddenly assigned a completely unrelated homework.
"Some of you may not have memorized the Four Books and Five Classics, but you should have read the Thousand Character Classic for enlightenment, and you should have read quite a few Tang poems, Song lyrics, and Han Dynasty folk songs. After you go back, recall what you have learned and see which sentences in poems and songs are all from the Thousand Character Classic, and then write them down. This assignment is limited to five days, and you can hand it in at any time within five days."
The other students thought that Zhang Shou just did it on a whim, and his purpose was to let them review their poems and songs while studying mathematics, but Lu Sanlang didn't think so at all.
Zhang Shou did not tell him the purpose of Zhang Kang's invitation the night before, but he and Zhang Kang had known each other for a long time. Ever since he returned to Beijing and was praised by the emperor for his talent in mathematics, Zhang Kang asked him to try to open the secret box.
As a result, Lu Sanlang failed as expected. Without even a clue or lead, what a joke...
Therefore, when he followed Zhang Shou back to his dorm, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Young Master, do you have any clues about the fourteen-ring key?"
"Oh, you've tried it too?" Zhang Shou asked with a smile. When Lu Sanlang said awkwardly that he had no clue, he shrugged and said, "I don't have any clues. I'm just trying to see how many famous poems and verses can be combined with the 1,000 words in the Thousand Character Classic. Then I'll try my luck with the same algorithm that Wang Dayin asked me to decipher the secret letter."
At this point, he shrugged and said, "If it works, it works. If it doesn't, there's nothing I can do about it."
Lu Sanlang was stunned at first, then he slapped his thigh and said, "Why didn't I think of this? This is indeed a solution! Young Master, you should have told me earlier to see which words in the poems are from the Thousand Character Classic. Weinan Bo has already asked someone to do this, but because it doesn't match the fifty-six words, it was left aside. Wait, I'll go to him and bring you the transcripts of those poems!"
After hearing this, Lu Sanlang started to run away. Zhang Shou suddenly reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
There are over ten thousand Chinese characters in total, and the most commonly used characters are later counted as 3,500. However, statistics show that in daily data, 98% are the most commonly used 1,000 characters, and 99% are the most commonly used 2,500 characters.
The Thousand Character Classic also has 1,000 characters, but there are many rare characters among them, so the coverage is not that wide. However, it should be no problem to find dozens or even hundreds of poems from ancient times to the present. Of course, the Thousand Character Classic does not contain commonly used characters in poetry and songs, such as shuang, if, single, edge, north, smoke, etc., which will definitely reduce the number of poems that meet the requirements.
But no matter what, even if they racked their brains to sort out which poems were written entirely in the Thousand Character Classic, they would not be able to match the decades of unremitting efforts of Weinan Earl Zhang Kang, who was pursuing the secret of the secret box. However, the Jiuzhang Hall had a large number of people and strength, so it might not be impossible to do this.
Such a thought flashed through Zhang Shou's mind in a flash. When he saw Lu Sanlang looking at him in confusion, he smiled.
"Since you are going to see Weinan Bo, please ask him for me whether the matter he asked me to do can be used as a subject and provided to the students of Jiuzhang Hall. My ability is limited. I cannot do what Teacher Ge and other masters cannot do, but if more people participate, I may have some ideas."
Lu Sanlang opened his mouth and wanted to ask those students who had to work hard to understand and comprehend even equations how they could help Zhang Shou, but in an instant, he understood what Zhang Shou meant.
Apart from anything else, these people might be able to find poems that Zhang Kang had not discovered before; what's more, it would take some human effort to sort out which characters in these poems correspond to which characters in the Thousand Character Classic, and he was not willing to count them one by one himself! Of course, the most important thing was that even the dumbest people might sometimes have a flash of inspiration and come up with a line of thought that smart people had not thought of.
Of course, the premise is that the secret code is really related to the fourteen-character poem, rather than just a random sentence...
He immediately held his head high and said, "I know, I'll go right away! Don't worry, young sir. If Weinan Bo doesn't agree, we can just fool him casually. Anyway, this is his Ordnance Bureau's business and has nothing to do with us!"
Zhang Shou was of course very appreciative of Lu Sanlang's vigorous and resolute spirit, so he nodded and signaled for him to hurry up. An hour later, he saw Lu Sanlang pushing the door in excitedly, and directly presented a dozen sheets of paper.
"I said, go ask Weinan Bo for these things, he must have them. After he found out that the characters on the fourteen rings all came from the Thousand Character Classic, he urgently ordered thirty or forty of his trusted followers to search through all the poetry collections to find the verses. It took more than half a month! Of course, we can't say that there were no omissions, but those famous poetry collections should have been searched, and he didn't have time to figure out the next step."
"Also, young sir, you mentioned earlier that this should be a research topic. Earl Weinan has also considered it carefully . He was a little hesitant at first, but after thinking it over, he seemed to have figured it out and said he was willing to give it a try. Anyway, once the box is opened, it is said that a new key can be reset, so there is no need to worry about not being able to use it in the future."
That box even has a password reset function? Pretty advanced!
Zhang Shou thought so and took the paper and started to read. After just one glance, he found that it was probably because it was not easy to find poems with all fourteen characters from the Thousand Character Classic, so he had to settle for the next best thing and even included poems and songs with seven characters that matched the description.
For example, the Yellow River comes from the sky. The first character of the second sentence, “奔”, is not in the Thousand Character Classic, so the second sentence is not included.
For example, since ancient times, all things are flowing away like flowing water, and the same is true for the previous sentence, "the pleasures of the world". If the second word "间" is missing, the previous sentence will not be included.
For example, "I wish the moonlight could shine on you", the word "望" in the previous sentence "At this time, we can see each other but cannot hear each other" is not included, and the previous sentence is not included.
Looking through the poems on those pieces of paper, there are very few that meet all fourteen requirements. Even five-character poems, or lyrics, songs and fu whose word counts are not strictly matched like quatrains and regulated verses, have quite a few. It is obvious that Zhang Kang's people have put a lot of effort into this.
Lu Sanlang also explained: "As for the fifty-six words on the lock, none of them can form a poem."
Zhang Shou nodded, and after a quick glance, he said to Lu Sanlang, "Tomorrow morning, check in Jiuzhang Hall to see if anyone has handed in their homework. If the poems are different from the ones above, include them in. If they are the same, don't bother. Then, say that this is to help the Military Equipment Bureau solve a problem, and ask them to pick out the numbers that each word in these poems represents in the Thousand Character Classic..."
Lu Sanlang nodded as he listened, and finally walked out in high spirits. However, Lu Sanlang, who was the smartest man, did not eat alone. Now he, the head of the dormitory, was responsible for presiding over the morning class, while Qi Liang was responsible for chatting with each person in his spare time to understand their personal situation and character. So of course he would not leave Qi Liang alone for such a big task.
As for Zhang Shou himself, after Lu Sanlang left, he spread out paper on the desk and patiently replaced the fifty-six words on the fourteen-ring text combination lock with corresponding numbers, then tapped his nails thoughtfully.
"Instead of simply substituting the numbers to verify, why not talk about functions? If it is a linear function, draw a plane rectangular coordinate system and substitute the numbers before and after it? This way, you can also talk about analytic geometry, which is clear at a glance... Well, it's a bit advanced, and it wastes paper..."
When Zhang Shou was about to use the considerable number of people in Jiuzhang Hall to start a major decryption campaign, Weinan Earl Zhang Kang's urgent report was also delivered to the emperor's desk. The emperor was not as obsessed as Zhang Kang about the box that had lost its key since the reign of the previous emperor Ruizong, but he was also curious, so he was not annoyed by Zhang Kang's behavior of killing first and reporting later.
"We've only had classes at Jiuzhang Hall for a few days, and Zhang Shou has actually made a big project out of the fact that Zhang Kang asked him for help. This kid is interesting." The emperor stood up and ignored the cloak that Chu Kuan sent him. He actually paced around the room with his hands folded in his pockets. "I heard that the second son went to see Zhang Kang? Does he know about this?"
“I guess… I don’t know, right?” Chu Kuan tried his best to make his answer seem a little uncertain, and then he said cautiously, “After all, the second prince went to the Weinan Marquis’s residence to meet the Weinan Marquis the day before yesterday morning. The time was exactly different from the two times the Weinan Marquis met Zhang Shou before, and the time when Lu Sanlang went to meet him today…”
"Okay, no need to say more." The emperor interrupted Chu Kuan and said lazily, "The eldest and the second have been fighting since they were young. Now that they are older, it's not surprising that they have other thoughts. The eldest at least knows how to be a little restrained. He is looking for a noble like Zhang Chuan, the Duke of Qin, who studies books and doesn't care about state affairs. The second dares to reach out to the Military Equipment Bureau directly."
Chu Kuan wanted to say that they probably wanted to show you your ability, but when he saw the emperor's sarcastic expression, he dared not say anything more. Especially when he saw the emperor suddenly walk out, he had originally planned to wait for the emperor to go to the Queen Mother in Qingning Palace to faint, so he hurriedly chased after him, and caught up with the emperor in front of the palace gate, and put on the thick fox fur cloak for him.
"You are the chief secretary of the Imperial Household Department, not the manager of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. There is no need for you to follow me around all day long." The emperor said this without even turning his head. Chu Kuan was in a dilemma, but after watching the emperor walk a dozen steps away, he finally caught up with him again.
Sure enough, the emperor never chased him away again, even after he entered Qingning Palace. When he saw the emperor casually bowing to the empress dowager and saying goodnight, and was about to leave after sitting for a while, he just breathed a sigh of relief, but he saw the emperor who had just stood up suddenly asked two questions with a smile.
"I heard that the Queen Mother praised Zhang Shou in front of the eldest and second sons? Is that interesting?"
