The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Nanzhi, Suzhou

As soon as Wang Wenlong got off the boat at the pier, he saw Xu Guangqi walking happily among the bustling crowd.

Wang Wenlong hurriedly handed over the gift in his hand: "I don't think so. You wait on the pier first. I also said I would call a slider."

"No need to call it a sliding pole. I heard that you, Mr. Jianyang, are here and have already prepared a carriage and horses."

Wang Wenlong was a little surprised when he heard this, "You are actually willing to pay for a carriage?"

Xu Guangqi was not angry at all when he was called Gosou. He smiled and shook his head and said, "If I were here to welcome him, I wouldn't even call him a slider, but there are a few friends here today."

Wang Wenlong saw a young man coming up happily from a distance, and then he bowed to him respectfully: "Mr. Jianyang, Chen Yujie, a late student, finally met Mr. today."

Xu Guangqi pointed to the teenage young man and introduced to Wang Wenlong: "This is my nephew, whose surname is Chen Yujie, with the courtesy name Zhanyi."

Wang Wenlong nodded and said: "Sure enough, young people are talented, so there is no need to be polite."

Chen Yujie's character was obviously fiery. He quickly raised his head when he heard Wang Wenlong's voice asking him to get up, and then looked at Wang Wenlong curiously as he looked up and down.

Xu Guangqi said: "My nephew heard that you were going to pass through Suzhou, so he insisted on coming with me from Songjiang to see you. He admires you very much in Jianyang."

"The three laws of mechanics written by Mr. are really wonderful. They are much better than the red-haired man's method. I used this method to argue with people from the Nanjing Catholic Church a few days ago, and none of them could win my argument." Chen Yujie laughed. He then said, "Not only in Jiangnan, but Wang Liangfu from Shaanxi and I wrote in a letter that my husband was going to Suzhou. He wrote back and said that he was in Henan. After hearing this, he also said that he was going to Suzhou, but he never arrived. "

Xu Guangqi helped his nephew explain: "Wang Zheng, courtesy name Liangfu, is a Shaanxi scholar. He is also very interested in physics. Before we came to Jiangnan, we discussed the three laws of mechanics and mathematical content mentioned by Jianyang. He was very interested in physics. Jianyang, I highly appreciate the scientific viewpoints you put forward."

Wang Wenlong was not surprised by the appearance of Chen Yujie, because in the original history, Chen Yujie studied Western technology with Xu Guangqi, and later became proficient in astronomy, and was familiar with the use and manufacturing methods of Western guns under the teachings of Jesuit missionaries.

The eternal dream of literati and knights, many scholars of this era were also interested in making weapons, and Chen Yujie obviously had such a character.

Chen Yujie's father, Chen Shao, once served as a patrol inspector in Zengcheng County and was killed by bandits on his way home from Nanjing. Chen Yujie, who was only a teenager at the time, recruited strong men and then led the recruited knights to hunt down the enemies who persecuted his father, killing him with his own hands. murderer.

Wang Wenlong also knew that Chen Yujie in the original history resolutely joined the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty after the Manchus entered the customs. He served as the director of the Ministry of War and was responsible for training soldiers to use guns and artillery.

Finally, after the Qing soldiers captured Nanjing, Chen Yujie fought to the death and led his servants to fight the Qing soldiers at Jiming Mountain. Chen Yujie died in the battle. His servant Song Qian collected Chen Yujie's body and returned to his hometown. After burying his master, he also committed suicide beside the tomb. The two of them were in the original history All of them were on the list of ministers who died in the late Ming Dynasty.

Wang Wenlong knew that the young man in front of him was definitely a knight in temperament.

After Xu Guangqi learned basic mathematics and physics knowledge from Wang Wenlong, he returned to Jiangnan. On the one hand, he continued to prepare for the imperial examination, and on the other hand, he concentrated on studying physics and mathematics. Now he has organized a physics club with a large group of science-loving literati.

Several people got on the sedan and went to Xu Shupi's East Garden together. On the way, Wang Wenlong asked about Xu Guangqi's current situation, and found out that his physics club now has hundreds of people. The members are centered in Jiangnan, including celebrities from other places such as Wang Zheng. Came to participate.

Chen Yujie asked Wang Wenlong on the carriage: "Mr. Jianyang, I went to the church to debate with those people before. A missionary said that your acceleration algorithm is wrong. He gave a question that I really couldn't solve."

Xu Guangqi heard this and said disdainfully: "That question is just nonsense. It is purely used by the missionaries to make things difficult for others."

Many of the scientific knowledge Wang Wenlong taught Xu Guangqi are different from today's European understanding of the world. For example, the three laws of mechanics will naturally lead to the heliocentric theory.

This thing is making a big fuss in Europe at the moment. The Catholic Church just burned Bruno to death last year, and now Galileo does not dare to promote the heliocentric theory. When Xu Guangqi said it in Jiangnan, he instantly caused dissatisfaction among the Jesuits in Jiangnan.

Xu Guangqi also had some personal conflicts with these Jesuits during the debate, and now has a very bad impression of Catholics.

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "There are always answers to questions that embarrass people. I'm curious about what questions can trouble everyone?"

Chen Yujie said: "The red-haired missionary told a story:

There is a person walking ten times faster than a turtle. At this time, let the turtle start racing with him one thousand meters in front of the person. After the race starts, when the person runs one thousand meters, the turtle will I also ran a hundred meters. When the person runs the next 100 meters, the turtle runs forward another 10 meters during this time. When the man ran ten meters, the turtle ran forward another meter... and so on. According to this, the man could only gradually approach the turtle, but he could never catch up with it. In this way, our method of calculating speed and distance is wrong. "

This question has troubled Chen Yujie and Xu Guangqi for a long time. They thought that Wang Wenlong would be very embarrassed when they heard it, but they didn't expect that Wang Wenlong started laughing just after finishing the question.

Perhaps these missionaries were really driven into trouble and actually brought up Zeno's Paradox to bully people.

"How difficult is this?" Wang Wenlong said disdainfully. This paradox might have been a real problem in the world before Newton appeared, but in later generations it was not even considered difficult in high school.

"Can Jianyang really solve this problem?" Xu Guangqi was also very surprised. The two of them suddenly stopped walking and asked to stop. Wang Wenlong got off the carriage and found a soft soil place on the side of the road. He picked up a branch and started explaining to the two of them.

Xu Guangqi and Chen Yujie both already knew the usage of Arabic numerals, so Wang Wenlong wrote the formula directly and explained as he said: "This question is asking in disguise 1+0.1+0.01+0.001... what is the sum of this sequence."

"1, 0.1, 0.01...Each item in the sequence is 1/10 of the previous item. We can call it a geometric sequence. The summation formula of the geometric sequence is..."

"So the result of this formula is 10/9."

Xu Guangqi and Chen Yujie were stunned. After Wang Wenlong's explanation, they finally understood that it turns out that 1+0.1+0.01+0.001... the result of this formula is not infinite. If this formula is continued, the final result will be directly equal to 10 /9——Exactly the same as what Wang Wenlong said using physical methods to calculate the time it takes for the character in the question to catch up with the turtle.

"This method is really wonderful!" Chen Yujie couldn't help being surprised.

Xu Guangqi's eyes were filled with excitement as he watched, "So that's it. If Jianyang hadn't come here, how could this confusion be solved?"

Xu Guangqi also struggled with this issue for a long time. Although he knew in his heart that the missionaries were using this method as sophistry, his inability to convince them always made him feel uncomfortable. He always felt that there seemed to be loopholes in the mathematics and physics he had learned.

Now Wang Wenlong's explanation directly solved all his doubts, making him feel that the physics content Wang Wenlong said was still unbreakable. Xu Guangqi was finally relieved.

Wang Wenlong knew that it was impossible for the two of them to figure out the final solution to this equation in this era, because the mathematics at this time was still too primitive, mathematicians were still calculating logarithm tables, and concepts such as calculus, infinitesimals, and infinitesimals were not yet available. It would take decades before mathematicians began to study it in depth.

The solution he used still requires calculus to prove. If you dig into it, it still has flaws in the mathematical argument, but you can already understand the general meaning, and the explanation is clear enough for people in the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Yujie said happily: "Wang Liangfu also said that no one can solve this problem, and he also suspected that maybe our physics club's view is not correct. When I see him one day, I will scold him."

Wang Wenlong and Xu Guangqi laughed loudly when they heard this.

Wang Wenlong was not surprised at all by Wang Zheng's doubts about physics and mathematics.

Because Wang Zheng in history was a bit coy.

In the original history, Wang Zheng was also an official in the late Ming Dynasty who actively studied Western learning and believed in Catholicism. He and Xu Guangqi both made great achievements in the spread of Western learning, and were called the "Kings of Southern Xu and North" by the Jesuits.

In the original time and space, Wang Zheng had been a devout believer in Taoism for more than 20 years and had interpreted many Taoist scriptures. During this period, he continued to fail in scientific examinations but failed many times. He was discouraged. Like Xu Guangqi, Wang Zheng also met Jesus when he was confused and lost. A Christian missionary, he also hoped to find comfort in religion, so he was persuaded by Pontius to become a Catholic.

Eight years after joining the Catholic Church, Wang Zheng finally passed the top three imperial examinations. At that time, he was already a devout believer in Catholicism. He believed that "today's success is a gift from God." From then on, he determined to live completely in accordance with the Catholic way.

But Wang Zheng's character was too coy, causing him to hesitate between adhering to the precepts and his true heart throughout his life.

For example, Catholicism regards concubinage as a serious crime, and Wang Zheng takes this seriously. Wang Zheng's first wife, Shang, once had many children, but due to the great epidemic, only two daughters survived. After passing the Jinshi examination, Shang was old and unable to have children. In this era, she had to rely on concubines to continue her career.

Wang Zheng's whole family wanted Wang Zheng to take a concubine, and even Wang Zheng's wife earnestly persuaded him. Wang Zheng was at first loose-minded, and then he was afraid of being known by people in the Jesuits, and finally took a concubine secretly without making it public.

Wang Zheng had done all the things he was supposed to do, but after he finished, he felt that he had sinned deeply, so he ran to ask a priest to absolve him of his sins.

The Jesuit Jesuit Jinnige asked him to marry a concubine to atone for his sins, so Wang Zheng prepared to marry a concubine, but his wife desperately tried to keep him, and the concubine would rather die than comply.

Then Wang Zheng softened his heart and compromised, not marrying his concubine outside the house, but moving the concubine to a different place and "never enter the inner chamber for life" - his concubine became a widow from then on.

Wang Zheng even struggled with it until his death. At that time, Li Zicheng captured Xi'an and Wang Zheng was living at home. Li Zicheng wanted to arrest Wang Zheng and serve as an official. Wang Zheng would rather die than obey and was determined to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

He had written a suicide note and a tombstone, but Catholicism did not allow believers to commit suicide, so he hesitated for a long time.

When Li Zicheng's envoy came, he first wanted to commit suicide by cutting his throat, but gave up after being stopped, and finally chose the most painful way. He starved to death without food or water for seven days. The important reason was probably that he felt that he would not be able to survive. Starving to death is not suicide.

It’s really confusing.

(End of this chapter)