Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 195 The Law of Fire
On the second day, Lu Cai came to the Hall of Liangyi and waited patiently. After Li Shimin had dealt with all kinds of things, he announced that Lu Cai entered the hall.

The surrounding ministers who assisted Li Shimin in correcting the documents frowned unconsciously when they saw Lu Cai coming.

After all Li Tai left, Gao Ling naturally calmed down, but seeing Lu Cai now, he naturally thought of Li Tai.

Li Shimin said kindly to Lu Cai: "Qingque used the method of proving Taoism in Youzhou to figure out what kind of sun-dried salt method can produce a large amount of coarse salt, so I asked the head of the Gaoling Academy to come over to explain the confusion!"

When Li Shimin said this, he asked his servant to deliver the letter from Li Tai to Lu Cai.

After Lu Cai received the letter, he saw Li Tai's explanation of the principle of the sun-dried salt method, which is the combination of the law of the sun and the law of water.

These are natural scriptures for those who have not been in touch, but for Lu Cai, he understands what the law of the sun and the law of water are.

Then he calmed down and said, "The method of drying salt is based on using the heat from the sun to build a flat salt field by the sea. When the water evaporates in the sun, what remains will naturally melt into the salt in the water!"

Hearing Lu Cai's words, not only Li Shimin, but also the ministers present understood this point.

Li Shimin said, "Is this the method of proving the Tao that has been discussed in your school?"

When Lu Cai heard this, he quickly replied: "Reporting to the saint, this can only be regarded as the application of the method of proving the Tao.

The way of proving the Tao first observes the phenomena, then summarizes the laws, and then uses mathematics to calculate. Only after the data obtained by mathematics are correct can the preliminary laws be counted.

The next thing to look at is whether it has a guiding function, and it is a rule that can be verified and applied in life through this rule!
For example, the law of the sun and the law of water mentioned in the method of drying salt.

It means that the longer the sunlight is exposed, the higher the accumulated temperature will be.

For example, the evaporation rate of water is directly proportional to the surface area of ​​the water and the temperature of the water. "

Lu Cai paused at this point, and continued, "Simply put, the method of proving the Tao is a continuous process of proving the Tao and falsifying it, and then resummarizing and re-proving the Tao. The purpose is to make us more See the world objectively."

"This so-called way of proving the Tao, can there be any false ones?" Li Shimin was a little surprised when he heard Lu Cai's words.

Lu Cai quickly replied: "Reporting to the saint, because the method of proving the Tao has only been one year since it was proposed and put into practice.

We haven't even concluded that the method of enlightenment itself has formed a perfect system, we can only say that we are still groping.

Perhaps with the continuous accumulation of experiments, a complete theoretical system can be truly summed up, so that the truth can be quickly proved!
Hearing Lu Cai's words, Li Shimin was thoughtful, and felt that this subject seemed to be quite alive.

After all, this thing is not perfect from Lu Cai's mouth, but this completely imperfect thing has already achieved the results of the sun-salt method, so what will be gained when this thing is completely perfected in the future?

"Qingque used the law of the sun and the law of water to come up with the sun-dried salt method, so what about you? Have you researched anything?"

Li Shimin was somewhat interested in this so-called method of proving the Tao, and asked Lu Cai.

Lu Cai replied: "Reporting to the saint, I have some attainments in music, and rely more on my own spiritual talent.

So instead of letting me show it, let Sun Shenxian show it.

Recently, he has put all his thoughts on the study of the law of fire. Compared with me, he knows more about the law of enlightenment!
When the minister came, he asked Sun Shenxian to wait outside the palace, and asked him to bring the experimental utensils. If the saint has any doubts, he can find Sun Shenxian. "

"Oh... go announce Sun Simiao!" Li Shimin couldn't help saying that he didn't expect that even Sun Simiao would join in.

After Sun Simiao came, he saluted all the ministers, and then made a request.

Because the Hall of Liangyi is too majestic, I dare not conduct experiments here, can I move to the door.

It was just a matter of these few steps, and the ministers present wanted to see what Sun Simiao was up to, so he agreed.

At this time, Sun Simiao took out two covers made of ice, and prepared candles inside.

All the ministers took a breath when they saw the two items that Sun Simiao took out. Although these items were not too expensive for the ministers present, whether it was the ice cover carved to the point of hollowing out or these candles, Those are extravagant things!

The ice cover was made a bit slender, and one ice cover was completely sealed when it was covered, while the other one was covered with a hole the size of two little fingers.

"Because King Yan proposed the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, among which gold, wood, water, and soil are all naturally occurring materials that can be touched by human hands.

But only fire is not, so Chen's research is to determine whether this fire is a substance or not! "

Sun Simiao explained, "And now it is to prove that the flame cannot survive in a sealed environment."

Following Sun Simiao's words, he saw Sun Simiao lighting a candle and covering the ice cover.

All the ministers looked at Sun Simiao curiously, and they all surrounded him. After a while, the candles in the completely sealed ice cover burned for a while and then went out, while the candles in the ice cover with two holes remained the same. Burning normally.

"What does this mean?" Li Shimin looked at the scene in front of him and asked curiously.

"This proves that combustion requires an invisible medium that we cannot see with the naked eye, maybe it is the air we breathe!" Sun Simiao said,
"If this is the case, then fire is probably not a substance, and that invisible medium is the fifth element of the five elements.

It's just that it is invisible to our normal eyes! "

"There really is such a medium? Could it be that you guessed randomly, or even the flame was eroded by the cold in the curling, so it went out!" Soon, some courtiers couldn't help it.

However, Sun Simiao was fearless, and he studied this to prove that the flames of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth are not materials, but just a process. He would not be afraid of others' criticism, so he said, "Let's change another experiment."

Soon, these two ice caps were directly discarded by Sun Simiao, and Sun Simiao replaced them with two new ice bottles.

Mercury was poured into one of the ice bottles, as well as special ice pipes, and some joints were wrapped with cowhide.

Soon, Sun Simiao's candle in the ice bottle was lit again, and everyone looked at the candle curiously again!
Sun Simiao said, "Everyone, it's not the candle, but whether the tribute liquid in the ice pipe is moving!"

Everyone couldn't help looking at the mercury, and sure enough, the mercury began to suck back into the bottle connected to the ice pipe.

"It's moving, it's moving, it's really moving!" A group of ministers also saw the tribute liquid and began to suck up.

Sun Simiao stopped after doing this experiment, and said, "This experiment proves that during the combustion process, a part of the gas that we can't see is burned, and the mercury will fill this vacancy, but I don't know how much it is." I no longer know.

You put an egg in the mouth of a bottle of suitable size, and when it burns, you will find that the egg will fall.

It shows that the burning will make a part of the inside empty, and there will be a force from the outside rushing into the burning bottle mouth. "

Following Sun Simiao's words, the ministers present showed a look of sudden realization, and looked at Sun Simiao with some respect.

Although this kind of thing looks simple, it is really a kind of wisdom, but people don't know what is the use of this kind of wisdom.

"At the end of the day, this is just a strange skill, whether it is used to govern the country or to govern the family, it seems to be useless."

Tang Jian looked at the scene in front of him. Although he was a little confused, he still felt that it was too big and useless.

"Exactly!" Although Wen Yanbo was shocked, he nodded at the moment, after all, this thing is really useless.

Sun Simiao saw that many ministers said so, and obediently came to the side and said:

"The method of proving the Tao is to constantly eliminate interference and prove the truth.

And the experiment I designed is just to prove that combustion requires a certain medium in the air.

Although I don't know what it is, it proves that this thing is the real substance that burns, and the flame is just an appearance! "

Sun Simiao didn't explain anything further. After all, knowing how the flame burns is the only way to make the flame burn at a higher temperature.

Like these things, Sun Simiao must give Peacock a copy of the research results.

And Peacock is now researching how to burn coal more comprehensively, and even researching how to make the steam engine exert greater power through further combustion.

Whether or not the peacock is used for slow experiments does not necessarily know the answer, but these researches by Sun Simiao are very important to Li Tai's entire industrial system.

Because of Li Tai's own knowledge, the use of steam engines and coal mines has avoided a lot of detours.

But these detours are just Li Tai's knowledge as a traveler, and to some extent they are the stunt of "word of mouth".

These things are likely to be lost after Li Tai's death, but now with the supplements of these basic theories created by Sun Simiao, many things that are known but not understood, will all make sense after being confirmed by theories. Once you learn, you will understand.

And what is the foundation, this is the foundation.

At that time, even if Li Tai is dead, even the method of proving the Tao will be absorbed by Confucianism.

But these things that already have basic principles will continue to be passed on.

Because this path has already been passed.

Although Li Shimin didn't understand the significance of Sun Simiao's study of the so-called law of fire, and what benefits it could bring to Datang.

But Li Shimin also admits that this is a way of understanding the world, and even gives people an intuitive knowledge.

The greatest significance of Li Shimin is that he has a general understanding of what the method of proving the Tao is.

It's just that Li Shimin felt that if he really took this way of proving the Tao, wouldn't he have to prove all the three thousand ways.

How much effort does this take.

You must know that today, just to demonstrate the law of fire, ice sculptures, candles, and other extravagant items are used, and even the experiment needs to be demonstrated smoothly in the colder weather of the twelfth lunar month.

What about summer?Wouldn't it be more expensive to prove it again.

In this world, I am afraid that only Li Tai has money and leisure, so let's go to such troubles!

When Li Shimin thought of this, he felt that he wanted to support this theory, but he didn't know how to support it.

After all, Li Shimin definitely can't do it if he spends money in this academic field for a long time.

In the end, they gave Lu Cai and Sun Simiao a hundred pieces of silk each, as an expression of their heart.

Everyone in the room felt that this so-called method of proving the Tao was a strange skill, and even if it wasn't a strange skill, the cost would be too high.

And this kind of high-cost thing, basically you can't play it anymore after playing it, so you don't pay any attention to it.

It's just that Fang Xuanling watched Lu Cai and Sun Simiao leave thoughtfully.

He naturally understood that this method of proving the Tao must have been created by Li Tai, and only with Li Tai's extravagance can Sun Simiao devote himself to research like this.

The existence of such things as the sun-salt method shows the value of this research, but Fang Xuanling also knows that if this kind of theory wants to develop, only rich masters like Li Tai can spend money like crazy, so it will definitely develop. It is difficult.

But after putting on Li Tai's thinking, Fang Xuanling suddenly discovered that the so-called method of proving the Tao is just an appearance, and this is Li Tai's tool to deal with Confucianism!

That is to use the truth to the fiction, not to play any debates, but to use experiments made with thousands of dollars to deal with other people's words.

No matter how much money is spent here, in short, I just want to come up with an experiment that can be understood by individuals.

At that time, I will touch the words in "The Analects" a little bit.

As long as one sentence is proved to be false, then the book "The Analects of Confucius" will have problems, and the words of the sages will become a joke.

And if there is something wrong with the words of the sage, it will naturally shake the foundation of the entire Confucianism!
"King Yan wouldn't use such the most stupid method!" Fang Xuanling was startled when he thought of this idea.

After all, how much resources would be invested in such an idea, and how much luck would be required.

More importantly, the book "The Analects of Confucius" has been passed down from the Spring and Autumn Period to the present, and it is naturally the foundation of the entire Confucianism.

So many wise people have read it, how can there be mistakes in this book, even if there are loopholes, it is impossible to have it? !

But if Li Tai used the idea of ​​debating the classics to find loopholes in the Analects, Fang Xuanling would not have the slightest worry. After all, if Confucian students can't even argue with Li Tai, then there is no point in passing on Confucianism.

But if Li Tai looks for flaws in the Analects of Confucius from various experiments, this is the way King Yan is best at.

Now that Du Ruhui is going to lead the construction of the Grand Canal, isn't it because Li Tai first tested the "Water Transport Plan" in the Weihe River, and then took it to the Grand Canal for implementation!

I want to find out the mistakes in the Analects of Confucius through this kind of practical experiment. To be honest, Fang Xuanling is really not sure that there is no problem with the Analects of Confucius.

Because this is not a normal debate, but an experiment!
"What a headache!"

Fang Xuanling pressed his head, he really didn't expect that even now King Yan is still staring at Confucianism.

How much enmity and resentment there is, do you need to remember it for a lifetime!
However, it is fortunate that King Yan is staying in Youzhou after all. Even if there is a method of proving the Tao, at least it will not cause any serious impact in a short period of time, but he can only take one step at a time.

"Or is it possible to arrange for a group of people to enter the agricultural school... Yiai's age seems to be about the same, and it doesn't seem very conspicuous to enter the agricultural school." Fang Xuanling stroked his beard, thinking that he seemed to be able to arrange it.

Li Tai didn't know what happened in Chang'an. For Li Tai, the most important thing now was to build the road beside the Youzhou Canal.

However, this road cannot be repaired in a short period of time. With the arrival of the New Year's Eve, the convicts were sent home one after another, and the construction of the entire road also came to a standstill.

However, Li Tai was not idle, and began to celebrate the arrival of the New Year with everyone.

(End of this chapter)