Ding Daquan nodded, and said: "More than ten days ago, the virtuous nephew once said that there is another land in the far west, but it is not the westernmost part of the Great Song fleet, I don't know how far away it is, and how big is it?" Ding Daquan asked about the Americas that Li Xiang mentioned that day. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the eyes of later generations, the Americas should be the closest from the Pacific Ocean, and should be the continent in the East. However, at this time, facing the supply problem of the long-distance fleet, it is obvious that there is not much certainty about sailing from the Pacific Ocean, and if it passes through the Bering Strait along the east coast of Asia, Li Xiang does not know whether he will encounter icebergs, so he only said that there is still a piece of land in the farther west. Now that Ding Daquan suddenly turned his mouth and asked about this, Li Xiang was a little surprised for a while, thought for a while, and said: "Actually, I also heard my teacher mention that land. It is said that from Lin'an to the Great Food Country, it is also half the way. As for its area, it should be much larger than the current Great Song Dynasty. ”

Ding Daquan was taken aback when he heard this, pondered for a long time, and said: "At the court meeting that day, the reason why the old man did not mention this matter to the emperor was because he thought that the most important thing in the Great Song Dynasty at present was to prepare for the war with Mongolia. ”

Li Xiang hurriedly said: "What the prime minister said is true. In that case, let's wait until the matter is calmed down before considering this matter. ”

Ding Daquan shook his head and said, "The virtuous nephew misunderstood." What the old man meant was that although there was no rush in this matter, he could also start making some preparations. Since the virtuous nephew is not clear about the situation on that continent, he can't tell it casually for a while, and only after the fleet arrives and grasps the exact situation can he report it to the court. However, since it is about to arrive, the construction of ocean-going ships needs to be hurried. ”

Li Xiang was stunned, and couldn't understand the meaning of Ding Daquan's words for a while, so he hurriedly said: "What the prime minister said is." In order to prepare for large-scale ocean trade, it is necessary to start renovating ships and preparing trade goods. The modification of the ships is already underway, but the trade is left to Mr. Yang. In fact, Li Xiang also knew that there were still too many things to prepare to go to the Americas, at least to build a sextant or even a gyroscope, draw a detailed chart, prepare manpower, and wait for the right monsoon time, so many preparations could not be completed in a month or two.

Ding Daquan said: "Lu Yu has also learned a lot of terms from his nephew over the past year, and often speaks some words that the old man doesn't understand, it seems that I am really old." ”

After a slight pause, he added: "When the old man assisted the emperor to ascend the throne, I never thought that the Great Song Dynasty would have such an exhibition in less than two years. Now that the emperor admires his virtuous nephew very much, there must be more important things to entrust him in the future. Compared with the virtuous nephew, the old man is indeed a little old. ”

Li Xiang couldn't help but feel gloomy when he heard him mention that he was old twice. I thought: People will get old after all, Prime Minister Shi Cheng was also as young as me, and he must have been full of pride and ambition at that time, but when he was older, he was a little forward-looking and timid. Now that I have suddenly appeared, I have set up a laboratory and a number of factories, and my contribution is obvious to all, and the ministers of the court and China have long regarded me as a close confidant of the emperor. Unconsciously, the emperor already has great decision-making power over the political affairs of the court, which the prime minister did not expect before. But then again, Ding Daquan is also a traitor no matter what.

Thinking of this, Li Xiang said: "The prime minister's words are serious, the emperor is naturally extremely important to the younger generation, but the younger generation has other plans. After defeating the Mongols, the younger generations will not stay in the court for a long time, and it is estimated that they will return to their hometowns when the time comes. ”

Ding Daquan was stunned when he heard this, and suddenly smiled: "The virtuous nephew is so young, how can he talk about returning to his hometown?" However, judging from the current situation, it will not be too long for the Great Song Dynasty to fight the Mongols back, and if the virtuous nephew is unwilling to be an official in the court, is he not afraid that the emperor will be unhappy? ”

Li Xiang said: "Now the emperor is wise and decisive, first regardless of national boundaries to convene all the world's scholars to participate in the debate conference, and want to use science to govern the country, but later due to the emergence of the younger generation, the emperor vigorously developed science and technology. Now that the military strength of the Great Song Dynasty is increasing, the emperor still does not forget to advocate science. A few days ago, the debate conference was held again in Lin'an City, which also just illustrated the emperor's strategy of smelting the country. ”

Ding Daquan said: "At this year's debate conference, the old man has also heard a little. It's just that this year's debate conference seems to be different from the previous ones, and the previous theories of each school have been revised at this time, presumably influenced by some of the theories taught by the virtuous nephew at Lin'an University. ”

Li Xiang said: "It is precisely that at that time, all the theories were discussing the composition of the universe and the laws of the changes of the sun, moon and stars. Later, due to some bold words of later generations and the advent of astronomical telescopes, the schools of thought had perfected their doctrines at this time. Speaking of this, Li Xiang remembered that he talked about some astronomical knowledge at the debate conference last year, but at that time, he was still shallow in the WTO, and if it were today, it is estimated that he would not talk about any 'nonsense' such as the Milky Way anyway.

Ding Daquan nodded and said, "The concept of today's school has changed a little. These days, Si Tianyuan is drawing a new star map, and I heard that the emperor is also extremely concerned about this matter. Li Xiang was silent again. Over the course of the year, he had been worried that some of his astronomical remarks would touch on imperial power. After all, history books always emphasize that ancient emperors often pretended to be some star or a true dragon.

However, since last year's defence-based conference, no one has objected to this. Li Xiang also thought about it many times, and finally came to three possibilities: first, what the history books said was a bit excessive, although the ancient emperor claimed to be the Son of Heaven, he was not as stupid as the book wrote, otherwise someone would not have rebelled every few years; The second is that the Southern Song Dynasty has been in war for many years, and in the late period, no one wants to be the emperor, and even after a few years, he will immediately give way to others, but this reason is a little unreasonable, after all, two years ago, there was no sign of the imminent demise of the Southern Song Dynasty; The third reason is that Ritsune himself is not a legend, so the throne is not justified, and if this matter is pursued at this time, it is obviously asking for trouble.

Ding Daquan said again: "The virtuous nephew went to Lanxi and his party, probably to make some preparations for the ocean-going ships, right?" ”

Li Xiang came back to his senses at this time and said busily: "Don't hide it from the prime minister, the junior did take this matter into account at that time, so he was in a hurry to go to Lanxi." ”

Ding Daquan said with a smile: "Presumably, the virtuous nephew should also know at this time, that Zhao Wenyuan was originally one of my students." Li Xiang nodded, but did not speak.

Seeing this, Ding Daquan smiled silently, turned around and pointed to the south and said: "Nanping Mountain on the south bank of West Lake lies on the south bank of West Lake, and the mountains are green with trees and exquisite stones. Zhang Zeduan once painted the Nanping Evening Bell for this purpose, although this picture is far less famous than his Qingming Shanghe picture, but it is also a treasure. (To be continued.) )