Harem: Biography of Concubine Qin

Chapter 138 Comparing Mathematics
Although Gonzalez didn't know why the emperor was looking for people who could learn arithmetic, he still bowed to the emperor, and then turned to ask those people in Chinese.

"The emperor said, who of you can do math?"

The Chinese proficiency of the envoys behind was obviously not as good as that of Gonzalez, so they had to lower their voices and chattered for a while.

Finally, an older blue-eyed man stood up, knelt down and kowtowed to the emperor.

That means, this person can count?

The emperor took a sip of the teacup and said with a smile: "I heard that Western arithmetic is more sophisticated than that of the Qing Dynasty, so I want to see if it is true."

What did the emperor say, Western arithmetic is more sophisticated than Qing's?
Who did he hear this from?

Gangsa Leiteng knelt down immediately, and all the envoys behind him knelt down together.

"Your Majesty, I didn't say that, we never said such a thing!"

He was so anxious that he spoke faster, and his poorly pronounced Chinese made people laugh even more.

Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty wanted to meet them in order to invigorate the teacher?

They really never said such a thing!
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Nan Huairen, and he thought to himself: There must be some Portuguese talking nonsense in the Qing Dynasty, trying to make His Majesty the Qing Emperor hate Spain!

Spain and Portugal are neighboring countries, and the products of the two countries are similar, including ham, wine, and olives.

It must be that Portugal wanted to discredit them, so as to get more benefits from the maritime trade of the Qing Dynasty.

He was so anxious that he almost burst into tears, "Emperor... His Majesty the Emperor, it's really not what the ministers said!"

Seeing his appearance, Chen Wenxin couldn't help frowning slightly. Does this Gangsaray have any integrity? The emperor didn't say that they said it, and he was afraid of being like that.

It seems that he understands the subtlety of people in the Qing Dynasty, but this time he really thought too much.

The emperor was also a little surprised, and stopped him: "Why did I say that you said it? But I want to see Spanish arithmetic."

Gonzale wondered whether the emperor's words were true, so he slightly raised his head to look at the eyes of the minister of Honglu Temple.

The Minister of Honglu Temple gave him a wink to make him stand up, and he was relieved.

The people in the Ministry of Rituals also didn't want him to run into the emperor, so it must be right to listen to the command of the Minister of Honglu Temple.

"Back to the emperor, then please ask the emperor to come up with a question to test this subordinate, Kaochen."

He studied languages ​​and folklore, and he knew nothing about mathematics, and he didn't know whether Spain's mathematics was better or the Qing Dynasty's mathematics was better.

Should we make Chinsler pretend to be weaker?

Gonzalez hesitated, should he please the Qing emperor, or let the Qing emperor see how powerful Spain is?
Forget it, I heard that His Majesty the Qing Emperor is very smart, he became emperor at the age of eight.

What should I do if I make small moves in front of him and make him angry?
Just let Kessler play at a normal level, whether he is strong or weak, he also wants to see.

The emperor first ordered Li Dequan to take out all the mathematics books in the study and show it to the envoy named Cassler.

Pick out the topics he can do and show them to the emperor.

Because the Spanish envoys did not speak Chinese very well, it was even more difficult to recognize Chinese characters.

The emperor specially sent a little eunuch who waited on the pen and ink to translate the title of the book for him.

Nagasler opened the top book, turned a few more pages, and chose a question.

Two young eunuchs brought a simple desk and the Four Treasures of the Study for the envoy to use.

Gessler sued the emperor, took out a quill from his pocket, and calculated on the paper.

He seemed a little nervous, he paused during the calculation and took a few deep breaths, and then continued to count.

The little eunuch reported a letter to Li Dequan's ear, and Li Dequan walked up to the emperor and said softly, "Your Majesty, he chose the problem of chickens and rabbits in the same cage."

The emperor looked at Chen Wenxin, obviously she also heard Li Dequan's report.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

This problem is not very difficult to solve. It took the time of this Gussler longer than the 11-year-old elder brother. Does he dare to say that he knows how to do arithmetic?

After the little eunuch returned to Kessler's side, he came up to report to Li Dequan again, this time Li Dequan's expression completely changed.

"Your Majesty, Nagasler has done all the titles of a page."

No wonder he has been working on it for so long. It turns out that it is not just a problem of chickens and rabbits in the same cage.

The emperor originally thought that if the Spanish envoy was an idiot, he would let the second elder brother show his face and come and compete with the envoy.

Looking at the appearance of this envoy now, Chen Wenxin may not be able to fight against him.

"emperor."

Chen Wenxin covered her mouth with a veil, looked at the emperor and said: "In the book you put at the top, are there any calculations that are particularly complicated? The ones that have to be multiplied and divided."

"Yes, it's the same topic at the end."

Chen Wenxin had already made up his mind, and lightly patted the emperor's hand to signal his reassurance.

Only then did Nassler put away his pen, put a piece of paper in his hand on that page of the book, and handed it to the little eunuch.

The little eunuch sent it to Wang Xi, and Wang Xi compared it to the book and said, "The calculation is not wrong."

"The envoy Yizhuxiang calculated seven questions, and this speed is quite good."

The emperor nodded and smiled: "Now I will let you and me compete against each other to see who is faster and more accurate, how about it?"

Wang Xi volunteered and said: "I would like to invite you to compete with the Western envoy."

He saw the process of solving the problem by Kessler just now, and asked himself that he could calculate faster than Kessler.

Wang Xi is good at arithmetic, that's why the emperor took him on his southern tour, which can help the river control fortifications.

The emperor shook his head and said: "Aiqing is old, I'm afraid it's not good to bully the young with the big."

He pretended to choose among the courtiers, only to hear Chen Wenxin say: "Your Majesty, why don't the courtiers compare with him?"

As soon as these words came out, both the grand scholars and the envoys were surprised.

For a harem girl, it is good to be able to read a few words, the strongest is nothing but reciting poems and composing Fu.

To learn by trial calculation, can she do it?

Gonzalez was also very surprised. His Majesty's favorite concubine came to compete with them...

It would be terrible if a woman could beat a man.

What's more, this concubine looks so young. In Spain, girls of this age are still playing at home!
The emperor pondered for a moment, and said: "You are playful again, since this is the case, let you go and compete."

Nassler looked terrified and was at a loss for a moment.He looked at Gangsalei for a while, and for Minister Honglusi for a while.

I saw that Gangsalei was also at a loss, but the minister of Honglu Temple completely ignored them now.

The emperor can do whatever he wants, if he wants to let the concubine Qin and the envoy compete, he can't control this.

"Yes."

Chen Wenxin Shi Shiran stepped down from the seat, the wind blowing her skirt, she looked like a fairy.

The little eunuch brought up another desk, and placed it next to Chisler's desk.

Chen Wenxin casually picked up the book just now, and turned to the first few pages to browse.

Those questions in the back have many geometric arithmetic problems, and the calculation process will be a little more complicated.

She will be more complicated than this thornsler.

She smiled and said, "The next topic in this book will be more difficult, let's just ask the envoy to choose a more difficult topic."

It's fine for her to choose, and if the envoys choose, wouldn't the chances of winning be lower?

Many ministers in the seat were a little worried, but seeing that the emperor's face was calm, they didn't speak rashly.

Nacisler thought for a while, and then said: "It's not fair to the empress if I come to choose the topic. Why don't I just say a number and let the father-in-law come to the book and get the topic out?"

This proposal is very fair, no matter which party it is, it cannot be faked.

Chen Wenxin readily agreed, "Okay."

Chessler said: "The last page, the first question."

The little eunuch turned to that page, and copied the topic on a piece of paper for the two of them to read separately.

The topic said: The bamboo is one foot high, and the end is folded to the ground, and it is three feet away from the original. How tall is the bamboo?

The little eunuch translated it into vernacular for Chisler: A bamboo is one zhang long, and it is broken from the middle so that the end touches the ground. At this time, the end is three chi long from the root of the bamboo. How tall is the bamboo?
This is an obvious problem of using the Pythagorean theorem to find the side lengths of a right triangle.

The corners of Chen Wenxin's mouth twitched, the questions were not difficult, but the calculation was complicated, she did not believe that Gussler could calculate faster than her.

Chen Wenxin asked Xixi for a quill pen out of curiosity, and quickly calculated on the paper.

Kessler was taken aback, and quickly started drawing on the paper.

When he drew the picture and started to calculate, he realized that the calculation would take him a lot of work.

The square, the square of three, the square of ten...

While Gessler was still calculating these details, Chen Wenxin had already put down the pen, picked up the piece of paper and blew on it.

Then she smiled at the emperor embarrassedly: "The courtiers and concubines have forgotten that there will be no ink stains on Xishi's quill, so there is no need to blow it."

Kessler stared at the beautifully written paper in her hand, and put down the pen blankly.

She uses an unfamiliar quill to write, and she can write so gracefully and untangle so neatly.

He simply put down the half-understood question, bowed to Chen Wenxin and said: "Ms. Qin has won, I feel ashamed."

"The envoy hasn't read it yet, so how do I know if my explanation is correct?"

Kessler took the paper suspiciously, and the little eunuch came up to read it, and said: "The answer of the concubine Qin is 4.55 feet, please review it, all the senior scholars."

Wang Xi also came forward to read Chen Wenxin's answer, compared it to the topic and praised: "Your Majesty's answer is very correct."

This speed is no worse than him, no wonder the emperor asked the concubine Qin to teach the brothers in arithmetic.

It's just that he can't say this in front of Xishi, so that Xishi thinks that the concubine Qin is only at the level of women in the harem of the Qing Dynasty, not the level of a leader in the court.

Only in this way can the greatest deterrent purpose be achieved.

Although the emperor didn't see the piece of paper surrounded by everyone, he still showed a little complacency on his face.

That pride was fleeting, the emperor coughed and said: "Okay, everyone, return to your seats."

Chen Wenxin walked back to her seat as if nothing had happened, leaving only the pale-faced Kessler staring blankly at the solution she wrote.

(End of this chapter)