Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 902

Zhang Dai's family has a rich collection of books and such a family atmosphere, so he himself has a wide range of knowledge, including a subset of classics and history, and he should be familiar with everything; astronomy and geography.Although he has no chance of fame, he has the ambition to write a book.He has been working hard all his life.He left behind many works, the most famous of which are "Tao An Meng Yi" and "Night Sailing Boat", which these people have read.

In addition to being rich in knowledge, he is also a playboy who is good at enjoying. He stated in the article: he is rarely a playboy, but loves prosperity very much.What a fine house, what a beautiful maid, what a woman, what fresh clothes, what delicacies, what a horse, what a lantern, what fireworks, what a pear orchard, what advocacy, what an antique, what a flower and a bird, who also abuses tea and tangerines, who is a bookworm and a poet. .It can be said that the extravagant and enjoyable habits of the dandies and the decadent style of indulgence and cynicalism of the celebrities and literati in the late Ming Dynasty are combined.

Such a figure was of little value in the eyes of the Senate.But for the Foreign Intelligence Service, it is an important person.

Zhang Dai was not only a literati with rich writings, profound knowledge and good enjoyment, but also a member of Fushe who had a strong influence on the political situation in the late Ming Dynasty.Although he is not a person who is keen on politics, he has participated in many activities of the Fushe and made friends with many key members of the Fushe—of course, Zhao Yingong thought, such a person is very popular everywhere of.

The Jiangnan area is the basic base of Fushe, and the local forces are extremely strong.Fushe not only controlled the "public opinion" of Jiangnan scholars, but also influenced the governance of local officials in Jiangnan to a certain extent.Many local officials themselves were from Fushe or Donglin.For Zhao Yingong to carry out activities in the Jiangnan area, obtaining the support or acquiescence of Fushe is a crucial part.

Zhang Dai is a "playboy with profound cultural attainments".Apparently, Lingao's "Kat Kat" can impress him faster.Zhao Yingong's eager eyes immediately focused on the building boat in front.

"Where is the destination ahead?" He asked, "Why is Zhang Xianggong's boat leaving in such a hurry?"

Cai Shi said: "If you go back to the master, it's the dragon boat coming out. Everyone is rushing to see it."

Zhao Yingong nodded: "Follow up, we will also watch the dragon boat race."

Dragon boat races in other places are mostly held at the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May every year, while the dragon boat races in Hangzhou West Lake have been held twice a year since the Song Dynasty.In addition to the Dragon Boat Festival, the other time is on the eighth day of February. It is said that it is dedicated to Wu Zixu, and it is said that it is because of Zhang Zhenjun’s birthday on the temple mountain.
The second dragon boat race in West Lake started on the first day of May and did not end until the tenth day of May.Scholars, farmers, businessmen and commerce in and out of the city, as long as they are not at home, they all come to watch the excitement.

Hearing the guest's instructions, the boatman hurriedly poled and rowed towards the Huxin Pavilion where the dragon boat was located.

There are many large and small boats gathered on the lake beside the Huxin Pavilion. In addition to all kinds of pleasure boats, there are also "big watch boats" specially used for ordinary people to watch games. The various boats are almost connected end to end. The scene was very lively.

Zhao Yingong was still looking for Zhang Dai's boat, but at this moment, the sound of drums and cymbals "Dong dong gong! Dong dong gong!" came out.Five dragon boats surfed the waves and appeared on the lake.These dragon boats are all equipped with exquisitely carved dragon heads and tails, each with its head held high and its scales sharp.Each boat is four or five feet long.Different from the canoe-like dragon boats that the elders saw in another time and space, these dragon boats are much larger. The middle cabin has two floors. In front is a dragon head prince dressed as a child and a swing frame with a child on it. Roll over and make various actions.Next to it is a weapon rack, with eighteen kinds of martial arts swords, guns, swords and halberds lined up densely, as well as flags of various colors.There are high and low five-color umbrellas in the middle, and a centipede flag at the end.The lower floor displays drum music, constantly beating gongs and drums.Twenty strong men, bound tightly and mightily, sat in two rows on both sides of the narrow and long cabin.Everyone holds a big oar in their hands, and they rise and fall together in response to the beating of the gongs and drums of their own boats, rowing the boat like a horse running off the rein, like an arrow off the string.The eight or nine-year-old child on the swing frame kept making all kinds of thrilling poses while the dragon boat was advancing at high speed, which made the onlookers feel admiration and couldn't help sweating for them.

It is said to be a "dragon boat race", but it is not as serious as the old time and space, with a starting point and an ending point. The dragon boats sometimes chase each other, and sometimes file forward end to end.Some idlers threw money and playthings into the water, and the sailors on the dragon boat jumped down and dived into the water to pick them up.The sailor who catches quickly and enters the water with the most beautiful and graceful posture will often cause a burst of applause, and of course, more coins will be thrown.

Playing, playing and singing on the cruise ship.It's like blooming flowers and brocade, and the fire is cooking oil.Even the veterans who were used to seeing big scenes were moved by such a prosperous scene.

If you just look at such a situation, there is no sign that the Ming Dynasty is about to perish!It is simply an unprecedented "prosperity".

Zhao Yingong was feeling emotional when suddenly a wet head appeared on the surface of the water, holding a long and bright yellow object in his hand, which immediately reflected a very bright light in the sun.

The elders on the terrace were all taken aback—it was the reflection of the glass!Licensing tensed up:
"Old Zhao! What is that?"

Zhao Yingong didn't speak, and immediately told Cai Shi: get that thing.

Cai Shi immediately went to the bow of the boat to say hello, said a few words, and ran back panting:
"My lord! He insists on a penny, a brass pipe I don't know what to do with it—it's a rip-off..."

Zhao Yingong cut off his words: "Give it to him, bring the things!"

Cai Shi quickly took it again, and after a while, he brought the "copper pipe" over.Zhao Yingong snatched it, put it in his hand and pulled it, then put it in his eyes and looked: yes, this is a monocular.

The finely crafted brass double-section barrel and the hand-polished glass lens all indicate that this is a Dutch-made telescope that was invented not long ago in this time and space.Even in Europe, this thing is quite rare.The Foreign Intelligence Service knew that Tang Yunwen had one, and a few officials and wealthy families in Guangdong also had one.Except for the generals of the Ming Dynasty, most people use it as a rare Western toy.

Unexpectedly, there is such a telescope in Hangzhou!Of course, there is a Catholic Church in Hangzhou, so it is also possible that missionaries used such "uncanny skills and obscenities" as gifts to local gentry officials to gain favor.Just like what Matteo Ricci did in Guangdong and Beijing.

Xu Xu took it over and looked at it: "The magnification is not large, at most it is 1-[-] times."

"This is a Galileo-style telescope." Zhou Dongtian said, "It's a gadget with a very simple structure."

The Galilean telescope is the earliest telescope with a simple principle and easy manufacture.However, the magnification is extremely limited, and there are a series of problems such as distortion. Later, it was mainly used as a children's telescope and a theater viewing mirror.

But in this time and space, this thing is a very useful military weapon.Who on earth would own such an extremely rare Western item?And why did he throw it into the water?
This kind of rare western goods cannot be simply calculated by money.When Zhao Yingong went to Guangzhou for "internship", he saw a Dutch telescope imported from Europe.The price tag is 40 taels of silver.The telescope was just regarded as a "toy" by the people at that time.There is very little market demand.Because the demand is small, unlike glassware, western cloth, spices, ivory, etc., which often arrive, it often takes a year or two to import [-] to [-] pieces.Extremely rare.The master will never throw it into the West Lake for fun.

Zhou Dongtian checked it again and again, and said, "It seems that it has been thrown in the lake for a while, not just now."

The body of the cylinder was already full of water, and there were still traces of silt and aquatic plants, which obviously could not have been caused by being on the bottom of the lake for a while, but fell about a few days ago, and were picked up again today by the sailors on the dragon boat by accident.

Zhou Dongtian suddenly asked: "Old Zhao, what are you looking at? It seems to be words."

Zhao Yingong took it over and examined it carefully.The characters are engraved on the body of the tube in very thin shades, and if you don't look carefully at the light, you can hardly see it.

"Dragon Rest Fool Self-Action Device".

The fonts are all in Xiaozhuan. If Zhao Yingong hadn't practiced calligraphy hard in the training class, these characters would have been written in heaven.He thought for a while, "Dragon Rest Fool" should be someone's account.Judging from the special engraving on the barrel, he cherishes this telescope very much.It's never thrown into the lake for fun, most of them are thrown into the lake by mistake.

Zhao Yingong said with a smile: "It's a pity that I don't know who this Longmian Fool is. But I can deduce the general appearance of this person."

Xu Xu and Zhou Dongtian both laughed: "I didn't expect you to be a great detective, I would like to hear more about it."

Zhao Yingong deduced: This person is a Confucian scholar from a wealthy family - a person from an ordinary family would not spend a lot of money to buy such a rare thing that has no practical use.He does not have a certain level of cultural accomplishment and does not know how to engrave Xiaozhuan on the telescope; this person has a strong interest in new things, otherwise he would not buy an unpopular foreign product. The telescope was lost at the bottom of the lake, indicating that he had been to the West Lake a few days ago. I have seen dragon boats.He should have some contact with the Catholic Church in Hangzhou or the Confucian scholars, and it is likely that the telescope was obtained from them.

"...In the end, I figured he was not very old, probably a young man."

"That's not necessarily the case. Although the people who like new things are mainly young people, Sun Yuanhua and Xu Guangqi were middle-aged when they came into contact with Catholicism and Western science. Have you seen them stick to the old and not change?" Xu said.

Zhao Yingong said: "I think young people will be more willing to show off their new gadgets. You can see that all the people dangling around with IP phones are teenagers. People with more than three cards are not likely to buy an IP all day long. It's in my hand. So I feel that this person's age is at most thirty."

(End of this chapter)