Chapter 96 First Lesson

Fu Lin is a native of Lingnan, to be exact, a native of Hainan, born in a local wealthy family, and studied in Beijing for many years with his grandfather, who was an official.

In other words, Fu Lin didn't know Su Baiyi, although he heard some things about Su Baiyi breaking his stomach and taking his son when he arrived in Guide Mansion, he didn't have the kind of worship of the locals in Guide Mansion at all.

Moreover, as a person who has traveled most of the Ming Dynasty, although he is young, he can see a lot of extraordinary things, and he has also accepted a lot of new things, and his thinking is not as conservative as ordinary Ming Dynasty people.

He was a good playmate with the grandson of Xu Guangqi, the deputy cabinet assistant, and he almost became a Christian.

He saw Su Baiyi's gentle gaze, and nodded at him slightly but very confidently, Fu Lin stood up, without the panic of those students seeing Mr., he stood straight, and then said: "Student Fu Lin, offend Mr." Yesterday, the students listened to Mr. Hua's lecture on astronomy and geography in his class, saying that the sky is round and the earth is round; However, according to the "Notes on the Armillary Sphere": the armillary sky is like a chicken, the celestial body is round like a projectile, the earth is like a chicken in the yellow, and it lives alone; Many of you here may have heard of another person, that is, Mr. Xitai, who sailed 90,000 miles during the Wanli period and came to my China. ”

"Mr. Sitai has said that the ground under our feet is a huge ball of earth. What I would like to ask the gentleman is, which statement do you think is correct. ”

Su Baiyi seems to be common sense, but in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, this is a very acute question.

Who is Mr. Sitai?

Matteo Ricci!

This man was a missionary, and when he came to China, he preached the theory that the earth is round, and that China is on the north side of the earth, in a remote corner. This shocked those literati and doctors in the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time, they also started the crazy mode of spraying.

At that time, Wei Jun, an important minister of Wanli, denounced Matteo Ricci's fallacies to confuse the public, and the prince, who was only thirteen years old this year, came to know Matteo Ricci's earth circle and almost went to Europe to dig his ancestral grave.

Even Song Yingxing, a "scientist" who was recognized by later generations as being at the forefront of society in the late Ming Dynasty, openly criticized the earth circle theory in his book "Heavenly Creations", believing that the Westerners' earth circle theory made "the celestial body be falsely accused".

Not only scholars, but also ordinary people find it even more difficult to accept this fact.

Fu Lin asked such a question at this moment, and sure enough, the whole classroom fell silent.

Wang Shouxin looked at Su Baiyi with anticipation, Xin Shuanzi seemed to be smiling, and the old man next to him, who thought that his beard was white, widened his eyes even more, and he couldn't breathe, just waiting for Su Baiyi to speak.

In fact, it was not just the three of them, all the students below were waiting for Su Baiyi to answer this question, especially Fu Lin, don't look at his serious face, their hearts are happy.

Others don't know, including what cabinet scholars are spitting, but he knows it very well.

Who is Fu Lin, a friend of Xu Guangqi's grandson, who was deeply influenced by Xu Guangqi's thoughts, and has long known that the earth is round.

And he also knew something that no one else knew, that is, the Westerners not only put forward the theory of the circle of the earth, but also a man surnamed Mai led a fleet around the land during the Zhengde period to make a long-distance trip, only to find that he had been going west, but returned to his hometown in the east.

Doesn't that prove that the earth is round?

Su Baiyi naturally recognized the sharpness of this question, but he could only tell the truth and couldn't talk nonsense, took a deep breath, pressed the lesson plan in his hand on the table, he squinted his eyes and stared at the person named Fu Lin for a while, and then said earnestly: "Although it is unbelievable, I still want to say that what Mr. Xitai said is actually right, the ground under our feet is actually a ball, round!" ”

Fu Lin smiled, and he felt slightly relaxed.

As soon as Su Baiyi motioned for Fu Lin to sit down, the white-bearded old man next to him slapped the table angrily and got up, and said, "Nonsense", and then walked away.

Wang Shouxin didn't say anything, just stroked his beard lightly, and his eyebrows wrinkled slightly when he looked at Su Baiyi.

Xin Operator is still like that, smiling but not smiling.

There was a lot of noise in the school, and even the students who had always been obedient ignored the presence of the principal and began to whisper about it.

"Bai Yi, the one who just left, is Mr. Hua." Wang Shouxin reminded him, and then said: "Also, your statement is not new, but is it arbitrary?" ”

The doctrine of "heaven and round place" comes from the Book of Shang, and at the same time, it is also the core doctrine of the Yin-Yang family, which is the basis of Tai Chi Bagua.

It can be said that many, many philosophers' thoughts were built on this basis.

Su Baiyi's sentence "The earth under our feet is actually a ball" made these theories collapse in an instant.

Since the earth is round, do you also agree with the saying that China is in a corner of the country?

Therefore, although Wang Shouxin is quite polite now, he is still unhappy with Su Baiyi's statement in his heart.

However, he couldn't stop Su Baiyi's thoughts.

"About one hundred and ten years ago, when we were in the Ming Dynasty, it was about the fourteenth year of Zhengde to the sixteenth year of Zhengde." Su Baiyi said: "There is a country called West Songya in Western Europa, and there is a man named Magellan in its country, who formed a fleet of five ships and set off from the vast sea to the west. How long has it been sailing westward?

Three years!

It took nearly three years to return to his hometown from the ocean to the east. I heard me clearly, I said that I was coming back from the east. ”

"Ah......h

Some students have already reacted.

"Back from the east?"

"How is it possible to go out from the west and come back from the east? He's lost in the ocean, isn't he? ”

"That's right."

"You stupid, if the ground under our feet is really round as Mr. Su said, then if we go all the way to the west, we will come back from the east!"

"You're not right, there are many loopholes, even if Mr. Su is right, the land is round, but the water is always flat, have you ever seen the surface of the water round?"

"Hey, that's right!" The student's eyes lit up and he raised his hand.

After getting Su Baiyi's approval, he stood up and said, "Mr. Su, I'm Chu Lun, just now Mr. said that the wheat started from the west and came back from the east, I think it was made up by those Westerners." ”

"You go on......" Su Baiyi smiled and encouraged.

"Yes, sir!" Chu Lun said: "Even if they are right, the ground is round, but the water can't be round, the water surface is flat, compared to everyone knows, how can it be round?" ”

"Yes sir......"

"yes, I didn't think of that!"

……

Even Wang Shouxin felt that what the student said made sense, nodded and said, "That's right, the water surface is flat." ”

"Is it flat?" Su Baiyi smiled slightly, stretched out his index finger and swung it: "Not necessarily!" ”

"Has anyone ever been to the sea?" Su Baiyi looked at the people in the classroom: "If there is, even if he is not in the classroom, you can invite him over, and I will prove it to you." ”

"Me!" It's still Fu Lin, since he heard Su Baiyi say that the earth is round, he feels that he is the same kind of person as this gentleman, and he is very cordial to him. Think about it, in this Ming Dynasty, how many people can have this kind of insight!

What kind of feeling is this, everyone is drunk and I am sober.

He raised his hand and stood up and said, "Sir, you can ask me, I grew up on the coast of the South China Sea. ”

"Okay, I remember your name is Fu Lin!" Su Baiyi pressed his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then threw the first question at Fu Lin: "If you are standing by the sea and a big ship comes in the distance, let me ask you, what is the first thing you see?" ”

"Yes......" Fu Lin was stunned, "Yes, mast!" ”

This is a very common phenomenon, especially for people by the sea, but Fu Lin has never thought about why. Today, he was a little bit by Su Baiyi, and he instantly understood.

Why do you see the mast when you can't see the ship?

"Yes!" Su Baiyi clapped his hands: "I'm afraid that many of you have never seen the sea and have never seen this phenomenon, but I can tell you very responsibly that the first thing we see in the big ship from afar in the sea is not the hull itself, but the tall mast on the ship, then the sail, and then the hull; In the same way, when a big ship is far from land, the hull disappears first in your sight, and then the mast last. Can ......"

Su Baiyi paused, and then continued: "Why? Why can't you see the hull, can Fu Lin explain it to me. ”

"Because the hull of the ship is blocked by the sea!"

Before Fu Lin could answer, a calm and powerful voice came from outside the classroom door.

Su Baiyi turned his head and saw Yuan Keli who didn't know when he was standing at the door.

When did this old man come to the class?

Yuan Keli walked slowly inside, glanced at the students with surprised faces, and said, "When the old man was at sea before, he saw that the big ship in the distance was indeed this scene, which is true of what the Su family boy said. ”

"This ...... Really fake! ”

"No, the ship is really blocked by the sea, isn't the sea flat, no matter how far you can see the hull of the big ship?"

"Impossible!"

"Who is this old man, and can he be trusted?"

Listening to the whispers and discussions below, Su Baiyi pressed down with his hands and smiled at the people in the room: "Don't doubt it, let me introduce it to you, this is the mainstay of our Ming Dynasty, Yuan Dasima of Suizhou." ”

"Ah......h

As soon as they heard that it was Yuan Keli, the students below immediately started talking again.

Other people's words may not be credible, and Fu Lin is also soft-spoken, but Yuan Dasima has no reason to lie to them.

At the moment when everyone was talking, Su Baiyi had already drawn a beautiful arc on the blackboard as fast as possible, marking the hull of the ship and the sight of the people on the shore.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the reason why the surface of the sea can cover the hull of the ship is not for any other reason, but because we have the earth under our feet, including the vast ocean, which together form a sphere, which I call the earth."

"Of course, you can believe it or not, we can also put aside the controversy for the time being, and it doesn't matter whether the earth we are stepping on is square or round. Because one day, I'll teach you how to do the math little by little. So now, the foundation of everything is mathematics, and those who are interested in studying the way of science and the way of nature with me Su Baiyi will stay, and we will start to study mathematics. ”