Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 167: Changing Generals Before a Battle
Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles. But in the Imperial College, Zhang Shou, the Imperial College Doctor who previously managed Jiuzhang Hall and Banshan Hall because of the emperor's golden words, was awarded the sixth-rank Hanlin Shijiang and the Zuo Zanshan of the Zhanshi Mansion for his meritorious service in catching thieves and deciphering secrets. He was still the Imperial College Doctor. This appointment was a stone that stirred up a thousand waves and caused an uproar.
Especially Xie Wanquan, the former head of the hall who had just returned to the Ruxing Hall in a low-key manner in the past few days, was even more ashamed and angry, but he could not use the trick of being sick to avoid trouble. Because of his previous "recuperation", the head of the hall had already belonged to someone else. It was not that Yang Yiming, the doctor of the Imperial College in charge of Ruxing Hall, did not help him, but that was the instruction of Zhou Xun, the chief of the Imperial College.
He had already suffered a huge loss in front of Zhang Shou from Rongshui Village because of being provoked. Now Zhang Shou was not only Ge Yong's last disciple, but also a master-level figure. He had no idea what the outcome of the game at the higher level would be, so how could he dare to act recklessly?
The most ecstatic ones were of course the students of Jiuzhang Hall. Most of them came from poor families and were still a little unsure about their title of students. Now that their teacher Zhang Shou had suddenly been promoted to the sixth rank, everyone had more confidence in their future.
It was the noon break for the Imperial College, and even though most people were dizzy from the boring and repetitive work in the morning, everyone was very serious. Even Lu Sanlang didn't expect that the news of Zhang Shou's promotion would make more than 20 people rush over to continue the task after having a simple lunch.
At this moment, he stood on the podium with his hands folded, and for the first time he felt that being classmates with these people, who he initially thought were less receptive than himself, might not be so bad. Because just like him, who had been used to his father's cold eyes since childhood, each of them had a very clear purpose and was unwilling to give up even the slightest opportunity.
Therefore, when Zhang Shou appeared at the entrance of Jiuzhang Hall, he glanced at Qi Liang who was concentrating on calculating, and hurriedly walked forward, then whispered: "Looking at this progress, maybe they can get some results during the afternoon class. I transferred more than 20 copies of Thousand Character Classic. They marked numbers on each word first, and then checked them one by one, which made the speed much faster."
Zhang Shou nodded with satisfaction, and then instructed Lu Sanlang to collect the numbers corresponding to the poems that had been sorted out, and then copy the first three numbers of each poem on a piece of paper. Then, he took out another piece of paper, which was composed of 64 combinations of numbers corresponding to the twelve characters in the first three rings of the fourteen-ring text.
Just as Lu Sanlang said, by the time the afternoon class in Jiuzhang Hall started, the poems assigned to more than 20 people had been sorted out, and Zhang Shou had a thick stack of papers in his hands. He flipped through them casually , then raised his head and glanced at everyone.
"Everyone should have known about my promotion. Although it may sound a bit self-boasting coming from my own mouth, I have indeed made some small contributions in recent days. One of them is to decipher the secret letters sent by the rebels. Therefore, I have received such a task now, to decipher a fourteen-ring text lock."
When renovating the Jiuzhang Hall, Zhang Shou specially ordered to leave a white wall behind the podium. At this time, he casually used a brush dipped in water to write 64 groups of three numbers on the white wall. When he turned around, he saw everyone writing furiously. Obviously, without his instructions, these people already understood that they should copy down these numbers.
He watched the water marks on the wall gradually disappear, then smiled and said, "Back then, when I was teaching Qi Liang and another student in the countryside, I used this method. The reason was simple, it saved time and money, and it could be used repeatedly. I didn't expect that now in the Imperial College, they would still use this method. Okay, have you all copied it down?"
Seeing that no one hadn't finished copying, Zhang Shou was naturally satisfied, and then he said calmly: "To complete this task, I need to teach you another course in advance, that is, functions."
It would be a fantasy to explain functions in one afternoon, but since what was involved was only the simplest linear function related to a linear equation, it was still within the acceptable range for most of the students. Even so, when Zhang Shou drew a rectangular coordinate system with only the first quadrant, most people were stunned.
Including diagrams and examples, Zhang Shou condensed a course that would have taken at least several days or even more than ten days into one afternoon and forced it into the students' minds. Then he changed the subject and talked about the sixty-four groups of numbers that had just been copied out.
"If we have to verify all the 56 characters in the 14 rings one by one, there are too many combinations. So, we only need to verify the 12 characters in the first three rings. In this way, we only need to verify 64 groups.
For the poems that were assigned to you earlier, you should also take the numbers represented by the first three characters and perform calculations to see if there is a corresponding linear relationship with these sixty-four groups of numbers after regular shifts..."
Zhang Shou explained the corresponding principles of the shift cipher in a concise manner, and then asked questions one by one. After confirming that there were a few people who understood besides Lu Sanlang and Qi Liang, he simply let the wise people teach the confused people. When the sun set, most of the more than 20 people finally understood, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Now that you understand everything, you can start to verify the calculations when you go back tonight. You can also do the same tomorrow morning."
When the class was over, Lu Sanlang saw Zhang Shou walking out, and he quickly rushed over with his rare agility for his fat body. When he turned around, he saw Qi Liang surrounded by people. It was obvious that some people claimed to understand, but in fact they didn't understand at all. He quickly caught up with Zhang Shou and whispered, "Young master, what if the password mapping has nothing to do with linear functions?"
"Then we can continue to try using the quadratic function. Anyway, the shift interval is just a variable increment from 3, 5, 7, 9, etc. to 2, 5, 10, 17. We didn't have enough time and manpower when we were in Shuntian Prefecture. It just so happened that the quadratic function was simple, and we were lucky. Now we have enough manpower. We can calculate it for a few days or even ten days. At least there is a certain probability that we can figure it out."
But at this point, Zhang Shou saw Lu Sanlang nodding his head like a chick pecking at rice, so he shrugged and said, "Of course, if the password designed by Emperor Taizu was not based on poetry or songs, or if it was not based on regular shifts, but randomly selected a dozen numbers as shift increments, then we would have worked in vain."
Seeing that Lu Sanlang was dumbfounded, he smiled and said, "Cryptology is the most difficult thing these days, not to mention Chinese character codes. I have said before that we should try our best to save the situation. This is also a good exercise for them."
"But if we go through all this trouble but nothing comes of it... wouldn't that be embarrassing?" Lu Sanlang stammered out his concerns. Then, fearing that Zhang Shou would think he was underestimating him, he quickly added, "I'm not a pessimist, but since you said there's a possibility..."
"If you fail, it will be my responsibility." Zhang Shou smiled and patted Lu Sanlang on the shoulder, but he thought to himself, if he succeeds, the students in Jiuzhang Hall will naturally be full of confidence in the future, but if he fails, it is only because mathematics is too profound and he does not have enough experience. Anyway, it is enough for him to take the responsibility.
In this way, the attention focused on him after he deciphered the secret letter would be less.
Anyway, he had figured it out when he assigned the task. Success or failure didn't matter, as it was not a matter of life and death!
As if it had come true, they spent a whole day calculating the next day, using up a pile of manuscript paper and hundreds of lines of poetry, but in the end, they came up with nothing, and it didn't fit at all. However, what Lu Sanlang and Qi Liang didn't expect was that Zhang Shou was not only not discouraged, but actually ordered to try the quadratic function without saying anything.
Of course, Zhang Shou spoke for the whole afternoon, and this time the coordinate system was completely useless, but the three-variable linear equation was useful...
On the second night, while the other people in Jiuzhang Hall were tossing and turning in anxiety, Zhang Shou slept well. However, on the third morning, after the first class, before he had time to walk around Jiuzhang Hall to see how the research was going, he saw Qi Liang appear at the entrance of Banshan Hall, with a face full of anxiety.
He was a little surprised and went out immediately. Just as he was about to ask what happened, Qi Liang said angrily, "Lu Sanlang's family sent someone to say that his mother suddenly became seriously ill and called him back in a hurry."
Zhang Shou had a deep impression of Lu Sanlang's mother. He remembered that she was different from Lu Sanlang's father Lu Wan, and was a good mother who loved her young son wholeheartedly. Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, he immediately said in a deep voice: "Go to the Lu Mansion in my name, first to visit Mrs. Lu, and second to tell Lu Sanlang to worry less about other things and serve his mother well first!"
Seeing Zhang Shou calm and composed, Qi Liang's originally flustered heart suddenly calmed down. He nodded quickly.
"After you leave the Imperial College, try calling Ah Liu. If he's there, ask him to go with you. Buy some suitable gifts for visiting the patient. Don't go empty-handed..."
After giving Qi Liang some detailed instructions and waiting for the people to leave quickly, Zhang Shou turned around and looked in the hall halfway up the mountain. Suddenly, he shouted, "Zhang Chen, come here!"
Although the students did not deliberately publicize the topic being worked on in Jiuzhang Hall, other students also heard about it because Zhang Shou did not ask them to keep it secret. At this moment, Zhang Chen was gossiping with Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu about whether it was possible to unlock the fourteen-ring text lock in Jiuzhang Hall. Zhang Wu swore that there was no problem, Zhang Lu thought it was mysterious, but Zhang Chen laughed.
"If you ask me, this time our young master is overconfident. It would be fine if he taught in person, but relying on those Jiuzhangtang students who have only studied for a few days... Haha, I think it's good enough that these guys don't make things worse!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Chen heard Zhang Shou calling him. He immediately thought he was caught speaking ill of him behind his back, and he felt a little embarrassed. It was not until Zhang Shou called him a second time that he hurriedly stood up and rushed over. When he got close, he immediately said unnaturally, "We were just talking for fun?"
I don’t care what you say!
Zhang Shou glanced at Zhang Chen in confusion, then said unhappily, "Lu Sanlang has to go back home for an emergency, so I'm afraid he won't be back today. But as for Jiuzhang Hall, whether it's OK or not, there will probably be preliminary results this morning. Go to Jiuzhang Hall and help me watch a class. I'll make up for the missing parts later."
Zhang Chen tapped his nose in surprise: "Me?"
I wouldn't understand even if I went there!
"Yes, it's you. Just go and see if they have finished their work. Whether it is a success or a failure, I don't need you to verify it! Use your leadership potential and be a good acting head monk. Do you understand?"
Seeing Zhang Chen nodded stupidly, then walked towards Jiuzhang Hall in confusion, Zhang Shou chuckled.
Zhang Chen, a guy who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has always been blessed with everything, it’s time for him to take a look at those who are working hard!
