Xiao Ruxun put down the tea bowl, with a mysterious smile on his face, and Matteo Ricci panicked. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Qu Taisu saw that it was not good, and immediately interjected to explain.

"Xiao Hou, in fact, in fact, Luzon has long broken off the vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and there has been no contact for a long time, and then the Francosis came to Luzon to do business exchanges, and also worked with the Ming Dynasty to exterminate the great pirate Lin Feng, who is my friend of the Ming Dynasty."

Xiao Ruxun replied to Qu Taisu with a smile: "Mr. Qu, don't panic, Ben will come this time, not for Luzon, Ben will not be interested in Luzon, just to beg for thieves, in order to clean up the arrogant and ignorant Dongwu Kingdom, as for Luzon, hehe, don't worry, Ben will not attack Luzon." ”

Qu Taisu glanced at Matteo Ricci, Matteo Ricci breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Thank you for the general's understanding, the old man is very grateful to the general." ”

"Thank me for what? I didn't have that intention in the first place, but the Western firearms brought by Mr. Matteo Ricci were very interesting, and I would have been very interested, especially this one, which seems to be different from the gun I used in Daming? ”

Xiao Ruxun looked at Matteo Ricci, and Matteo Ricci immediately explained: "That's the case, this kind of musket is called a flintlock pistol, not with a fire rope for ignition, but with the flint here to rub the ignition, eliminating the difficulty of using the fire rope, but the technology is not very mature, and the production cost is relatively high, so this kind of musket is still not very welcome in the army, and the old man thinks that the general should be very interested in this kind of musket, so he will give it to the general." ”

Xiao Ruxun nodded and said with a smile: "You are right, Ben Jiang is indeed very interested in your Western equipment, in addition to this, do you have any other Western equipment there?" To tell you the truth, Ben has heard a lot of strange things about Western lands along the way, and he is quite interested. ”

Qu Taisu and Matteo Ricci looked at each other, speechless, neither of them expected that Xiao Ruxun was still interested in Western objects other than firearms, which was different from most generals.

Matteo Ricci actually prepared a lot of scientific instruments before he came, but after listening to Qu Taisu's words, most of them didn't bring them, and only a few chapters of "Geometric Originals" translated with Qu Taisu were left, and he didn't know if it was suitable for Xiao Ruxun's appetite, so he took them out.

"The old man didn't expect the general to be interested in these tools, he only has this book on him, I don't know if the general can accept it."

Xiao Ruxun took a look at it, it was a book without a cover, the first page wrote some unknown big characters, to the second page, Xiao Ruxun saw the triangle pattern and corners and other graphics, and some Chinese character explanations, these graphics he was very familiar with in the textbook of primary school, so he further realized that this book is the "Geometric Original" that has not yet been translated.

In the 35th year of Wanli, that is, in 1607, Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci worked together to translate the first six volumes of the Geometric Originals, which ended with the death of Xu Guangqi's father and the death of Matteo Ricci, and the translation of the last nine volumes was not completed until the seventh year of Xianfeng in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and in 1857, the British missionary Wei Liali worked together to complete the translation.

Perhaps it can also be understood in this way, from the 35th year of Wanli to the 7th year of Xianfeng in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, a full 250 years, China's scientific level did not improve an inch, and the great Kangqian prosperity did not seem to have been well confirmed, and it has to be said that it was a cruel joke.

Holding this fragment that had not been translated much, Xiao Ruxun flipped through it, turned to the back, and saw the famous Pythagorean theorem.

"Hook three strands, four strings, five? Isn't this the Pythagorean theory, I remember that it was the Zhou people Shanggao who first proposed it, more than 2,000 years ago, why, Mr. Matteo Ricci, there are people in your place who have found this? ”

Xiao Ruxun talked with Matteo Ricci about the Pythagorean theorem with great interest, because Matteo Ricci was also a person with rich mathematical knowledge, and Qu Taisu was also very interested in mathematics, and with his help, before Xu Guangqi, Matteo Ricci translated the first volume of "Geometric Originals".

Xiao Ruxun felt that it was normal for him to say these things, but in the eyes of Qu Taisu and Matteo Ricci, his speech could be described as horror rather than surprise, and they were so surprised that it reached the point of horror.

"General...... Also know math? ”

Matteo Ricci asked tentatively.

"Mathematics, well, the study of arithmetic is also very useful for marching and fighting, I have studied, because I am interested, so I also know about the previous arithmetic, Shang Gao is one, Liu Hui is one, Zu Chongzhi is also one, Shang Gao is very good at triangles, Zu Chongzhi is on the circle, Liu Hui's "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic Note" is also very good, hook three strands, four strings five, use the length of these two sides to calculate the length of this string, it is still quite interesting, but, this looks, there is no translation?"

Xiao Ruxun looked at Matteo Ricci with a smile, and Matteo Ricci nodded hurriedly: "Yes, with the help of Taisu, I only finished translating the first volume of this book, and I haven't had time to translate the others, this book was written by a very famous mathematician in the land of Taixi, and he was also a figure more than a thousand years ago." ”

"O sages!" Xiao Ruxun nodded, and then returned the fragment to Matteo Ricci: "Let's take it back and finish the translation, and bring it to Ben Jiang after the translation, Ben Jiang also wants to see how the sages of Taixi more than a thousand years ago viewed arithmetic, of course, if there is anything that needs Ben General's help, Ben Jiang will not refuse." ”

Matteo Ricci's translation of the result looked at Xiao Ruxun incredibly, and Qu Taisu's eyes looking at Xiao Ruxun were even more weird.

The veteran who fought on the battlefield still has the knowledge of mathematics, does he not only like war and military affairs, but also like Western science?

After the initial meeting, the two sides talked happily and got what they wanted, but what Xiao Ruxun didn't expect was that before he set off for Siam from Guangdong, Matteo Ricci came to visit again, and this time he brought not the last things, but objects such as globes, Western clocks and glassware, as well as a map of the world, and the news that a Macau Francois asked to meet Xiao Ruxun.

For these familiar and unfamiliar scientific instruments, Xiao Ruxun was very interested, and he was very happy to move the globe, and he was also very fond of Western clocks, but he was a little surprised by the news that the Portuguese in Macao wanted to see him, but he did not object, so he took Matteo Ricci to Macau, where he met the local Portuguese governor and learned of their request.

These Portuguese hoped to accompany Xiao Ruxun to the expedition to the Dongwu Kingdom to make contributions, as for the reason, they said that they hoped to get further favor and cooperation from the Ming Dynasty.