China has a population of hundreds of millions, and as long as they are not demented and stupid, they have their own hopes, and farmers hope to harvest a few more catties of rice, make a set of clothes for their mother-in-law, and let their cubs go to the village school to observe a few classes.

The ordinary gentry hoped that their descendants would study diligently and one day be able to inscribe the gold list on the lintel of the light. Businessmen hope to make more money, donate a life for their parents, and have an identity to gain a foothold in society.

Jinshi, who was admitted to the imperial examination, hoped to gain the trust of the king and could implement the ideal of governing the country in his heart. The emperors, on the other hand, hoped that the country would have long-term peace and stability, and that their empire would be able to survive for generations to come.

Everyone has their own hopes and ideals, when Song Yingxing first entered the imperial examination, he also thought about how to be an official in the local area after being admitted, and how to do something for the country and the court. But the reality is cruel, when Song Yingxing really became an official, he found that this officialdom and this society were completely different from what he thought.

It is precisely because of his disappointment with officialdom and society that Song Yingxing put all his energy into compiling the book Tiangong Kaiwu, which is a concentration of Song Yingxing's lifelong efforts, so when Ma Cheng said that he could pay for Song Yingxing to print this book and implement it in the world, Song Yingxing really couldn't control it, and he wanted to agree to all of Ma Cheng's requests recklessly.

But Song Yingxing's self-control of more than ten years of officialdom finally stopped him, Song Yingxing knew that there was no benefit in vain, he and Ma Cheng knew each other at all, and Chen Zilong was not familiar at all, why should people be willing to contribute money and effort for you?

Song Yingxing was afraid of falling into Ma Cheng's trap, and asked cautiously: "Ma boy, there is no free lunch in this world, what do you say you want the old man to do?" Don't use those pretexts of admiring the old man, the old man is still a little self-aware! ”

Ma Cheng didn't fool him when he heard Song Yingxing ask, but said with a smile: "The teacher is really happy, in fact, the kid has some industries, and he encountered some difficulties in the production process, in the past, Brother Chen Zilong and Brother Chen could help, but Brother Chen had resigned two months ago, and now the kid's factory has been in the stage of shutdown, this time I invited the teacher to hope that the teacher will help the kid and resume the production of the factory as soon as possible!" ”

Song Yingxing was relieved when he heard Ma Cheng say this, it turned out that this was the case, and Song Yingxing didn't dare to guarantee anything else, but this organ is a strong point. Song Yingxing also knows that the Ma family is a big family, and this big family has always had its own workshop industry, but this kind of industry is handed over to the concubine to take care of, how can the Ma family take care of it with the concubine? However, although Song Yingxing had questions, he didn't ask, this is all about the Ma family, it doesn't matter what Song Yingxing does, as long as he Song Yingxing solves the production problem for Ma Cheng, he can take the money and leave when the time comes.

Although Song Yingxing hates what Ma Shiying did, but now it is not Ma Shiying who asked him to come out as an official, and Ma Cheng said that as long as the production problem is solved, he will give the money immediately, and then Song Yingxing will take the money home and print his own heavenly creations, and the Ma family will continue to make money from the workshop, and each will take what they need without delay.

Thinking of this, Song Yingxing asked: "This is not a problem, Ma boy, what problems did you say you encountered?" ”

Ma Cheng was stunned when he heard Song Yingxing say this, he had already attached the drawings of the steam engine in Chen Zilong's letter, why didn't Song Yingxing read it?

"Teacher, the kid attached the drawings to Brother Chen's letter, didn't the teacher see it?"

Song Yingxing's old face turned red when he heard Ma Cheng say this, when he saw Chen Zilong's letter asking him to help Ma Shiying's son Ma Cheng, he was so angry that he didn't look at the rest and tore up the letter directly, so he didn't see the drawings behind the letter.

"The old man's hands were shaking at the time, and he accidentally tore up the letter, so he didn't see any drawings."

Ma Cheng heard the old guy say this, and he didn't know the reason there, it must have been that the old guy tore up the letter without reading it. Thinking of this, Ma Cheng had no choice, so he had to ask his subordinates to go to his home to get the steam engine blueprints. Fortunately, Ma's house is not far from here, and the soldiers quickly took the drawings and handed them to Ma Cheng.

Song Yingxing didn't look at it carefully at first after receiving the steam engine drawings, because he thought that Ma Cheng was a rich second generation, and he knew these things about the arithmetic, which must have been made by his craftsmen. In the Ming Dynasty, if you play mechanical manufacturing, there is really no more powerful expert than Song Yingxing, even Xu Guangqi can't, Xu Guangqi belongs to the proper theoretical school, and Song Yingxing is a technical school with practical experience.

But when Song Yingxing saw this drawing, he was dumbfounded, this kind of drawing, not to mention Song Yingxing, is the entire Ming Dynasty, and no one in the whole world can understand it. I saw that this drawing was full of lines, and various numbers were marked on each line. Of course, the numbers used by Ma Cheng are all Arabic numerals, which were not popularized on a large scale after they were introduced to the Central Plains in the Song Dynasty, but Song Yingxing is playing with technology, so he still recognizes this kind of Western numbers. But if you recognize it, you don't know what it means.

Song Yingxing had no choice but to pull down his old face and ask, "Ma boy, what numbers are you marking here?" ”

Ma Cheng was stunned when he heard Song Yingxing ask, isn't this old guy the most famous scientist in the Ming Dynasty? Why don't you know so much about geometry? 88

"Teacher, at this time, the apprentice marked the length and volume with Western numerals, you see, this boiler is circular, and its diameter is four feet five inches, so the volume is four-thirds times the three times the radius."

Ma Cheng said that it was the simplest formula to find the sphere, but Song Yingxing was really confused when he heard it, and quickly asked what pi was and what the cubic was.

Song Yingxing didn't understand the geometric terms of later generations at all, and only after listening to Ma Cheng's explanation did he know that the original pi was the approximate rate, and Zu Chongzhi had already calculated pi to the seventh decimal place as early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but the names of China and Europe were different. As for the cubic side, it was difficult, no matter how Ma Cheng explained it, Song Yingxing didn't understand what it was.

Ma Cheng saw that Song Yingxing, who had high hopes for him, didn't understand these basic mathematical symbols, and the angry Ma Cheng wanted to put this old guy in the prisoner car. However, this is not that Song Yingxing is not knowledgeable enough, but that the mathematical knowledge of ancient China is completely different from that of the West, and what Ma Cheng learned in later generations is Western mathematical knowledge, which is still Song Yingxing's geometry translation of Xu Guangqi, and understands some basic geometric knowledge.

Ma Cheng saw that this was not a solution, so he had to start from the most basic elementary school mathematics teaching, and explain junior high school mathematics and high school mathematics in detail, and explain all important principles thoroughly.

Song Yingxing originally looked down on Ma Cheng, but the more he listened to Ma Cheng, the more frightened he became, don't talk about Ma Cheng with this kind of mathematical knowledge, even Ma Cheng's Laozi Ma Shiying didn't understand, how did he learn it?

Song Yingxing took Ma Cheng's hand and asked, "Ma boy, you tell the truth to the old man, how do you understand all this?" ”

Ma Cheng was stunned, he didn't expect Song Yingxing to ask like this, Ma Cheng hurriedly said: "The kid saved a Franc machine missionary in Fengyang before, and he taught the kid!" ”

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of missionaries went to China to preach, so Ma Cheng's lie is reasonable, but Ma Cheng forgot that his mathematical knowledge is not a little bit, this is the accumulation of human knowledge for thousands of years, and there is an ordinary missionary who can understand. In addition, Song Yingxing is also an expert, and he has also read the geometric originals translated by Xu Guangqi, Ma Cheng's knowledge is more than ten times more than the geometric originals, how can a missionary understand?

Ma Cheng saw Song Yingxing's appearance and knew that he didn't believe it, so Ma Cheng said: "That missionary just taught the kid some skin, and the rest was deduced by the kid!" ”

"Ma boy, can the old man believe what you say?"

Ma Cheng heard Song Yingxing ask this question and said eloquently: "That's no way, the kid is naturally smart, this thing was come up with by the kid overnight!" Ma Cheng scolded in his heart, what is high school math, Lao Tzu hasn't come up with calculus yet, it's hard to kill you old guy.

Song Yingxing knew that this kid didn't tell the truth, but Song Yingxing didn't care about anything else, he had never been exposed to the mathematical knowledge that Ma Cheng said before, and now listening to Ma Cheng's explanation was like an enlightenment, and many problems in engineering were solved in the past.

The old and young began to discuss mathematics in this hall, from afternoon to late night, and from late night to dawn, and finally Song Yingxing finally learned Ma Cheng's high school mathematics. Of course, this is not that Ma Cheng has the quality of an educator, but Song Yingxing is indeed one of the most powerful mathematicians in China in this era.

When Ma Cheng finally finished talking about high school mathematics, the sky outside was already bright, Ma Cheng glanced at the sky outside and sighed: "Teacher, I originally wanted to talk to you about the drawings last night, but it took me all night to explain the principles of various symbols." ”

Song Yingxing's impression of Ma Cheng has changed greatly after this night, and now he hears Ma Cheng call his teacher Song Yingxing said with a smile: "Ma Cheng, why do you call the old man a teacher?" ”

Ma Cheng didn't expect Song Yingxing to ask this, at that time, he called the teacher completely to bring the relationship between the two closer, and wanted to use Song Yingxing to work for himself. Of course, Ma Cheng can't say this to his face: "Teacher, the apprentice admires the teacher's talent, so he is calling the teacher on his own initiative, and if the teacher does not agree, the apprentice will change it!" ”

Song Yingxing likes Ma Cheng's temper very much, and last night the two of them fought for a few math problems, Song Yingxing belongs to the technical school, and he likes Ma Cheng's temper very much.

"Hey, the old man's two sons are both middle-aged, the old man is fifty-nine years old this year, and it is estimated that what he has learned will follow the old man to the grave in the future. If Ma Cheng doesn't dislike the old man's old age, then the old man will accept you as an apprentice, what do you say? ”

Ma Cheng was overjoyed when he heard this, worshipping Song Yingxing as a teacher has a lot of benefits, at least this old guy will definitely be able to work hard for himself, and this old guy has a very good official reputation, and with his help, his notoriety can also be diluted. Thinking of this, Ma Cheng quickly knelt down on his knees and said, "Apprentice Ma Cheng, meet the master!" ”