Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1144 Subtle influence
Constantine Huygens was taken aback. Christian was his youngest son, who was born in 1629 and is only three years old now.No one knew about the child except his own relatives and friends.He himself did not mention him to Mr. Boncourt and others.How could Dr. Zhong, who was thousands of miles away, call out his name at once?
He felt a little strange and said, "He's fine."

"Where is Mr. Descartes?"

Descartes, a philosopher and physicist, was doing research in the Netherlands at this time. Since 1629, Descartes has lived in the Netherlands for more than 20 years, devoting himself to writing and researching.He was also a friend of Constantine Huygens.Christian will become a physicist, and should be greatly influenced by Descartes.

"He's fine too." Constantine Huygens became a little vigilant as he spoke. Why does this gentleman know everything?Descartes is certainly not a small person, but he has not become a household name in the whole of Europe, let alone this East Asian region where the name of Europe is unclear.

Dr. Zhong smiled slightly: "Actually, I have known Mr. Descartes for a long time. I heard that he has a lot of research on optical problems?"

"Indeed, but he is more interested in mathematical problems."

Although Constantine Huygens did not have great achievements, he was also a well-learned scientist, and he was no stranger to mathematics.The two discussed the analytic geometry problem that Descartes had been studying recently by the roast duck stove.The two entered Hong Kong as soon as they talked. After 3 minutes, Mr. Huygens threw himself at Dr. Chung.

"You are really a great mathematician!" He said excitedly, "Mr. Descartes has never been able to figure out the problem, you have easily come up with a solution!" He was so excited that he had forgotten what he just said , "Do you have any works for me to look at?"

Dr. Zhong said with a smile: "Writing..."

Suddenly Zhong Xiaoying yelled: "Duck! The duck is smoking!"

As soon as Dr. Zhong heard this, he hurried to turn the roast duck with a fork. In an emergency, he still did not forget the plan of "abduction", so he hurriedly said to Huygens: "I will send a copy of the duck...no, the booklet, you take it back to Di Take a look, Mr. Karl—this is my thinking on some mathematical and optical problems."

"That's great." Huygens nodded repeatedly, and said, "Your duck seems to be almost roasted..."

After a while, Cretia's fish was cooked, and so was Zhong Lishi's duck.With a sharp steel knife and an iron fork in one hand, Zhong Lishi personally sliced ​​the first roasted duck into slices and arranged them neatly in rows.Said to Huygens: "Roast duck is also very particular about slicing. Every cut must have skin and meat... Then roll the duck meat into the lotus leaf cake, add Beijing spring onion, sweet bean sauce... Come! Try..."

The flour and sweet bean sauce are brought by Dr. Chung, and the green onions are produced by local vegetable fields.Of course they are the best top grade.

This time, not only Huygens, but even Clytia and Huo came to watch with great interest.This way of eating is quite novel to Europeans, not to mention that the Dutch at this time are known for eating poorly.

Huygens' eyes protruded suddenly, and he was speechless for a long time.

"what about the taste?"

"It tastes good! It's great!" Huygens admired sincerely. "It's much better than roast goose! Well, it's a complex taste."

The banquet was held in the customs hall. The windows on all sides of the hall were opened, and iron screens were installed to let in the cool sea breeze and prevent the insects that flourish here from coming to the fire.

Gas lamps illuminated the whole hall brightly.Cretia walked in quietly to have a look.Seeing that the windows on all sides were densely packed with bugs, I couldn't help feeling numb.Turn around quickly.She looked curiously at the cutlery, knives and forks on the long dining table covered with a white tablecloth.Although most of the dishes are Chinese dishes, the form is still a buffet.The white tablecloth is full of porcelain tableware and silver tableware - Wei Bachi attaches great importance to the ostentation of the "Taiwan Governor's Mansion", and wants to show the "prestige of the highest representative of the Senate" everywhere.
"A lot of knives and forks and porcelain... What a show..." Kretia whispered to her brother.

At that time, it was not common to use knives and forks in Europe. As for chopsticks, she was not surprised: she was used to Chinese tableware in Batavia, and she was eager to try it.

Westley was also in formal attire -- and he and his sister were formally invited.This will feel a little hot - Europeans, especially Europeans with certain identities, do not take off their clothes even in the hot southeast Asia, and their already red skin becomes more and more red, like roasted meat. prawns.

"I heard that Australians are indeed very luxurious." Westley said pretending to be calm, "My father said that Australians are rich and have endless wealth..."

He said and pointed to a mahogany grandfather pendulum clock at the end of the banquet hall—like the one in Ziming Building, it is a finished product of modern mechanical parts and the shell of this time and space.

"Sister, look, this is an Australian clock, isn't it very beautiful?" Westley said with relish, "It is very different from the Dutch clock. It is said that it was made by Dr. Zhong—I really want to be able to ask him study."

The two were talking in low voices when the big clock rang loudly. After six consecutive strikes, music suddenly sounded in the empty banquet hall—this was the welcome song appointed by the Senate: "Beautiful Australia"

Led by Wei Bachi, Zhong Lishi, Hong Laojun, Shi Dafu and other veterans were seated one by one in formal attire to the sound of music.Haimao and Huygens delivered speeches respectively, and then the band played a symphony, and the banquet began immediately.

Faced with a table full of Chinese and Western delicacies, a group of veteran Dutchmen who accompanied Huygens devoured their food, dripping with juice.But Zhong Lishi and Huygens seemed a little cautious, belching non-stop even though they didn't eat much.Wei Bachi felt a little strange, and asked Huygens, "Mr. Huygens, is the dish not to your taste?"

"Oh, very delicious! Very delicious!"

Seeing this, Zhong Xiaoying quietly whispered something to Cretia, and the two couldn't help laughing.Vetris hurriedly leaned over to inquire, and Cretia whispered to her younger brother, "The two of them were cooking and eating in the kitchen. Each of them ate about half a duck and two fish..."

On the second day of the banquet, Wei Bachi had someone take the Bangkut siblings to the Kaohsiung Health Center, where they had their bodies checked and then vaccinated against vaccinia.

Cowpox reactions are very minimal and basically do not require much care.To be prudent, they rested for a few days according to the doctor's instructions, and they resumed activities after the scars were basically formed at the vaccination site.Zhong Lishi gave them a few popular science pictorials published by the big library to pass the time.According to the report of the maid in charge of taking care of them: Waitris was fascinated by it, trying to understand the Chinese characters explained in the pictorial.He also specifically asked the maid to get a book like a Dutch-Australian dictionary.

Dr. Zhong thought to himself that I have a Dutch-Chinese dictionary, but I can't give it to him.Presumably there must be ready-made ones in large libraries, but the problem is that the demand is too small, and it may be difficult to print them specially.

"Knowledge is power." He secretly thought, as long as you have power, people will naturally expect to understand you and learn from you.Come learn your language.Speaking of teaching language is also an effective means of cultural dissemination - large libraries should be asked to publish some dictionaries, linguistics textbooks and the like.

He thought for a while, and called Zhong Xiaoying over—he found that the relationship between his adopted daughter and these two children seemed to be not bad, and they kept making gestures and talking and laughing at the banquet.

"Father asked me how is Cretia's Cantonese?" Zhong Xiaoying made a face, "Her Cantonese is as good as Father..."

"Cough cough," Dr. Zhong coughed a few times, and Zhong Xiaoying replied honestly: "She can speak simple conversations, but complex ones need gestures—but Miss Cretia's ability to learn languages ​​is very good. Strong. She said she could speak several languages..."

"Since this is the case, you should teach her Mandarin well." Zhong Lishi said, "This is the task I entrusted to you. And her brother."

"I obey, my lord father." Zhong Xiaoying said, "But they probably won't stay here for a long time?"

"They will stay here for at least half a month." Zhong Lishi had already asked Huygens that they planned to stay in Taiwan for a month.Originally planned to live in Zeelandia.But yesterday Huygens had informed him that they hoped to stay in the more comfortable and hygienic Kaohsiung Commercial House—of course, they would pay for board and lodging.

"I also want to discuss mathematics, astronomy and physics with you day and night." Huygens showed great enthusiasm.

A few days later, the scars of the siblings had healed.Because Bangkut still had company affairs to deal with in Dayuan, he went back to Dayuan first, and let the siblings stay in Kaohsiung first, under the guardianship of Huygens.

"Excuse me, where is St. Anthony's Church?" Westeri and Cretia came out from the gate—this was the first time they went out in these days, and they were not quite used to the sunlight.
"It's on the hillside over there..." the shop servant pointed.On a hill next to the street stands a wooden Jesuit church.

It was the first time for Westley and Cretia to go out freely without anyone accompanying them—this is a completely unfamiliar area, so they were a little timid.The two heard that there was a Catholic church here, and there were missionaries from Europe.So I decided to check it out—Cretia spoke a little Italian.

Franz von Boncourt's family is not a citizen of the Republic of Seven Provinces. They are Germans serving the Dutch East India Company. They come from the old Hanseatic League city in the northwest of Germany. Many Germans in this area act as merchants and sailors.The Boncourt family is actually Catholic.

(End of this chapter)