Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhang family.

The servant quickly ran into the study and panted: "Mr. Lang, the craftsmen who are polishing glasses in the city already have errands to do. I heard that the Prime Minister of the current dynasty wants to polish crystals, and they are all willing to do it for us first. Work, but I have to polish the lenses under my eyes before starting work."

"Where is the craftsman who polished the bronze mirror?" Zhang Yan asked.

The servant replied: "They are all busy."

Zhang Yan lamented: "There are so many people in the city grinding lenses, so we can only wait slowly."

Fan Jun put down the "Tao Yongce" in his hand and couldn't help but ask: "Are so many people studying optics in physics?"

Zhang Xuan explained: "I am not studying optics, but I want to use an astronomical telescope to see the moon."

"Look at the moon?" Fan Jun didn't understand.

Zhang Yan said: "The current official said that the sun is in the middle, and the earth and five stars revolve around the sun. There is also an astronomical telescope that can see the true face of the moon and five stars."

"Is this happening?"

Fan Jun's first reaction was not to question, but to become excited.

He had no interest in becoming an official through the imperial examination and had liked studying messy things since he was a child.

Zhang Xuan said: "In the past two months, officials have been allowed to go to the Astronomical Academy and use astronomical telescopes for observation. They lined up according to official grades. Almost all the officials of the imperial court have gone. Then scholars were allowed to go to see it. Many scholars have already seen it. After returning home, they all wanted to build their own telescopes."

"Doesn't the imperial court prohibit this?" Fan Jun asked.

Zhang Xuan said: "Not only did the officials not ban it, they also announced the method of making the astronomical telescope. Many officials opposed making it public, thinking it would undermine the dignity of the emperor and the court, but the officials made it public despite all objections."

Fan Jun exclaimed: "Guan Jia is truly a saint in this world!"

"You think you are a saint by doing this, but many officials are going crazy." Zhang Yan smiled bitterly.

Fan Jun asked: "Who made the astronomical telescope?"

Zhang Xuan said: "Li Xiang (Li Bangyan) is the quickest to start. He invited several craftsmen home and polished many lenses day and night. I heard that he has successfully built a telescope. Now those who want to see the moon, Either queue up at the Astronomical Academy, or go to Li Xiang's home. Li Xiang no longer goes to Fanlou. He holds a banquet every night to entertain guests. After having a good time, he invites the guests to watch the moon together."

"We might as well go too!" Fan Jun said excitedly.

Zhang Yan shook his head: "I am the son of the Prime Minister. Even if I want to watch the moon, I have to queue up at the Astronomical Academy. How can I go to Li Bangyan's house?"

Fan Jun asked: "Is it easy to enter the Astronomy Academy?"

Zhang Yan said: "The Astronomical Academy thinks that there are too many people and it is too noisy, which affects their observation of astronomical phenomena. Now only five people are allowed to visit every night. Of course, my father is the Prime Minister, so I don't have to queue up."

That night, Fan Jun dragged Zhang Yan to the Astronomical Academy to watch the moon, and at the same time asked for advice on heliocentric theory.

I went there for several nights and became familiar with the astronomical officials, recording hundreds of pages of content.

During this period, Fan Tower took the lead in launching moon viewing services and placed astronomical telescopes on the corridor. VIP customers who spend money on the top two floors can use astronomical telescopes for free. Unfortunately, it was a scrapped lens bought from Li Bangyan. The observation effect was extremely poor, and I couldn't even see the moon clearly.

Fan Jun studied continuously for half a month, and the day and night were reversed, and his mind was completely confused.

He slept until noon that day and decided to go out to relax and enjoy the Tokyo street scene along the way. Unknowingly, he came near Li Bangyan's mansion.

As a cabinet minister, Li Bangyan usually lived in the official residence next to the imperial city. But his previous residence was not taken back, and all the banquets were held in the old residence. It had no other meaning. It was just that the old residence had a larger area.

Fan Jun saw many people queuing up and couldn't help but stroll over, but he came to line up to hand over a medal.

There were not only scholars, but also servants sent by officials.

Standing next to a young man dressed as a scholar, Fan Jun said: "I am a scholar from Zhejiang. Will you all come to Xiang Li's home to watch the moon?"

The scholar said: "It's not just about watching the moon, but also discussing astronomy. With the support of the officials and the court no longer prohibiting it, astronomy will definitely be a prominent place in the future."

Fan Jun studied for half a month and wanted to discuss it with someone, so he rushed to queue up.

After queuing for twenty minutes, we finally arrived at the side entrance.

Someone was responsible for the registration and asked: "Whose last name is that, where is your place of origin, and is there anyone in the family who is an official?"

Fan Jun replied: "Fan Jun of Lanxi, twelve of his father's uncles are officials, seven of his brothers are officials, and there are countless brothers from the clan who are officials."

The registrant was in awe: "But after the former Changshe County Duke?"

Fan Jun said: "The Duke of Changshe is our grandfather."

"Please come to the party tonight!" The registrant respectfully handed over an invitation.

Fan Jun took the invitation and left, and others looked at him with envy.

Those who line up here to submit their cards may not necessarily have the chance to be invited. Many of them leave their addresses first and then go home to wait for news.

Towards evening, Fan Jun arrived again.

After submitting the invitation, he was taken into the house by the servant.

Most of the guests were low-level officials in the capital, or descendants of officials' families, and there were also some Jinshi who stayed in Beijing to observe politics.

There are very few ordinary scholars.

Why did Li Bangyan dare to entertain officials every night without fear of being impeached and forming a party?

This guy is taking pictures of the emperor’s horses!

He knew that he had no other ability but to engage in crooked ways, and the emperor happened to be promoting astronomy.

After some innuendos when he entered the palace, he understood the emperor's intentions, so he kept hosting banquets and astronomical gatherings.

Of course, due to the large number of guests, one still has to be careful about the impact.

Li Bangyan did not dare to invite officials who were qualified to sit in court, but only dared to receive their descendants.

The guests sat in separate seats, and Fan Jun was placed in the middle and front position.

But Li Bangyan came out wearing casual clothes. After sitting down, he said: "Today's officials are scholars of heaven and man. They pioneered the heliocentric theory and directly followed the three generations of saint kings. Today's banquet is for nothing else, but to invite you. Discuss astronomy. In the past, astronomy was a forbidden study, but today astronomy is the study of the emperor. You don’t have to worry about anything, you can speak freely if you have any ideas."

Li Bangyan tugged on his clothes and scratched the itch, exposing the tattoo under his neck, and said with a smile: "I will have someone record your wonderful speech, and then submit it to the official after sorting it out. So, what you say may be The officials saw it.”

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was excited and wanted to perform well.

"Pop!"

Li Bangyan clapped his hands, the band began to play music, and several actors and actresses entered the stage, but they first watched the drama created by Li Bangyan.

This bitch can't stop eating shit. As a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he not only insisted on writing scripts, but also filled it with a lot of pornographic jokes.

The drama reached a happy point, with all kinds of dirty jokes, making the drinking guests laugh.

Fan Jun didn't know whether to laugh or cry. For the first time, he experienced Xianggong Li's vulgar taste.

After having had enough wine and food, the actors left the stage.

Li Bangyan held up a lantern and said, "Everyone, come with me to watch the moon."

Most of the guests had not seen the moon with a telescope, so they followed Li Bangyan to the courtyard with great interest.

Soon the scene became more lively, and some guests even shouted: "Ugh, Guanghan Palace is gone, where can Fairy Chang'e go?"

"Why is there such a huge crater on the moon?"

"It must be that in ancient times, there were immortals fighting on the moon, and those big holes were made with magic!"

"The moon is quite impressive, so can I use an astronomical telescope to see the sun?"

"Haha, someone has seen the sun and was almost blinded by the strong light."

"..."

Gradually, someone finally started discussing the planets in the solar system.

Fan Jun listened for a while and felt disappointed because it was all superficial and far inferior to what he had learned from asking for advice at the Astronomy Academy.

Suddenly someone said: "Poetry has a poetry club, how about we also form an astronomy club?"

"This is a great thing to say!" Someone responded immediately.

Li Bangyan's eyes also lit up after hearing this. He has been in the cabinet for more than a year and his presence in the cabinet is becoming less and less important.

In fact, sometimes it is difficult to handle official duties, and I have to rely on the help of people in Zhongshushe.

Many of the officials he used to win over and support have changed their positions, and if this continues, they will be completely marginalized.

The emperor's promotion of astronomy was a good opportunity.

He had to follow the emperor's footsteps closely and make Tokyo's folk astronomy impressive.

Well, he can't personally participate in this matter, lest he be impeached for forming a party.

He only needs to guide by the side, give some help secretly, and then report the situation to the emperor, so as to gain the emperor's appreciation.

"Ahem!"

Li Bangyan coughed twice and said with a smile: "You are keen on astronomy and want to form a society, that is great. But you must remember one thing and do not say anything slanderous about you. I suggest that you discuss and study astronomy on a regular basis. You can write the results into articles. Just like the Poetry Club does anthologies of poems, it also makes an astronomy collection. One episode is produced every six months... half a year is too long, so one episode is produced every three months. I will help you submit it to Your Majesty has taken a look."

With the support of cabinet ministers and the article being read by the emperor, everyone present was immediately in high spirits.

"Brother Maoming, do you want to join the club?" asked someone next to him. This is a friend that Fan Jun just met, Tang Songnian, this year's top three Jinshi.

Fan Jun thought for a while, nodded and said, "That's fine."

After saying that, Fan Jun went to Li Bangyan again, reported his home and suggested: "Li Xiang, there are many people who don't understand astronomy, let alone the heliocentric theory of the officials. This collection of the founders of the astronomy society is not as good as Please ask the Institute of Astronomy to come forward and write some basic articles so that members can study and understand them seriously."

"This is a good idea!" Li Bangyan agreed immediately.

Of course he wanted to please the emperor. If the first issue of the Astronomical Society published all basic theories, it would be equivalent to popularizing the emperor's knowledge to the public.

The emperor will definitely be very happy!

(Alas, a single chapter has been opened, but there are still many big brothers who don’t understand it.)

(China's twelve constellations were originally divided along the equator, and only began to be divided along the ecliptic in the Tang Dynasty. Although the sky is divided into twelve equal parts, the day of the week is set to 365.25 degrees. The twelve zodiac signs from the west, It was roughly set to 360 degrees. These are completely two systems.)

(When the calendar was formulated in the late Ming Dynasty, the two were confused for the convenience of calculation.)

(These two systems represent the different astronomical concepts of the East and the West. To say that the Zodiac was invented by China not only fails to add luster to ancient Chinese astronomy, but also digs into the roots of ancient Chinese astronomy.)

(The consequences began to show up in the late Ming Dynasty. Nowadays, many so-called masters of Feng Shui and astrology rely on the 28 zodiac signs plus the precession of the zodiac mixed with the West to deduce. They follow the path of 360 degrees between the week and the sky. This is different from China before the late Ming Dynasty. Astronomical Feng Shui is a departure. At that time, the equatorial twenty-eight constellations were used, and the path of 365.25 degrees around the sky was followed.)