Chapter 48 Laboratory

Shen Kuo's "Dream Creek Writings" includes three parts: "Writing Talks", "Supplementary Writing Talks", and "Continuing Writing Talks". By the time it was handed down to future generations, a lot had already been lost.

Among them, there are 26 volumes left in the "Pen Talk", which are divided into 17 sections, which are "Stories, Dialectics, Music and Rhythm, Elephant Numbers, Personnel, Official Affairs, Wit, Art and Literature, Calligraphy and Painting, Skills, Instruments, Magic, Strange Things, Fallacies, Ridicule, Magazines, and Medicine Discussions". There are three volumes left in the Supplementary Writings, including eleven of the above. "Continued Writings" has only one volume, and there is no division. The book consists of 609 articles, covering astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geography, meteorology, medicine, agriculture, engineering technology, history, music, and art. Among these entries, the humanities such as anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, music, etc., accounted for about 18% of the total entries; In the natural sciences, about 36 per cent of the total is in the natural sciences, and the rest are in personnel information, military, law, and miscellaneous anecdotes, which account for about 46 per cent of the book.

In terms of content, more than one-third of the pages of "Mengxi Writings" describe and expound the knowledge of natural sciences, which is rare in ancient writings. The scientific and technological knowledge recorded in the book is of great value, basically reflecting the level of scientific development of the Northern Song Dynasty and his own research experience, so it was praised by the British scholar Joseph Needham as "a milestone in the history of Chinese science", and Shen Kuo as "the most outstanding figure in the entire history of Chinese science".

As for the lost part, it will not be able to be found in the next generation.

From what Shen Yiqiu said, it can be heard that what he studied was the part of natural science known as physical art in ancient times, and his new work "Huiji Writings" is all natural science, isn't it the science encyclopedia of this era?

I've dreamed of it.

In the hundreds of years since the Song Dynasty, European countries have come to the forefront of the world through scientific revolutions one after another.

I hurriedly said, "Sir's "Hui Ji Writings" is the same as what your ancestors said, and it will definitely be handed down to future generations. ”

Shen Yiqiu said: "Your Majesty, this book is in the examination room in the backyard, and the old man will go and pick it up." ”

"Wait, what do you mean by Sir?"

Shen Yiqiu pointed at Quanjue and said with a smile: "This word is still invented by Quanjue, and its function is twofold, one is to verify various theories in the book, and the other is to make some small inventions and small creations. ”

"Isn't this a laboratory?" I laughed dumbly.

Shen Yiqiu, Quan Jue was stunned, and asked at the same time, "Your Majesty, what is this laboratory?" ”

"The laboratory is not only a place for experiments, but also a place for the production of science and technology. For example, if you read in the book that oil can be used for lighting, then you will do an experiment to prove it, and the place where the experiment is done is called a laboratory, which is very close to the meaning of enlightenment. ”

Quan Jue thought for a while and praised: "The name chosen by the emperor is more appropriate, and it will be called a laboratory in the future." ”

I nodded, stood up and said, "Sir, Quanjue, go, I'll go with you to the backyard to see the lab." ”

"This master and apprentice are really talents, they were able to comprehensively revise the natural science part of "Mengxi Writings", and also made a laboratory, it seems that my trip to the meeting is very profitable." Thinking of this, I suddenly thought about Fang Ling again, if Fang Ling heard me say that I made a lot of money, he would definitely say that I was doing business again.

Seeing that I was going to the house in person, Quanjue also felt flattered and hurriedly led the way.

The five big houses in the backyard are what Shen Yiqiu called the examination room, we first entered the rightmost one, and after entering, we saw that it was disorganized, only a small passage could be passed, the table, the ground was full of products of this era, thread-bound books were placed everywhere, glass bottles contained many different colors of liquid, there was fire oil in the barrel, and gunpowder wrapped in oil paper, small detonators, simple astronomical instruments of various styles, precision bows and crossbows, and so on.

This living life is the comprehensive surname laboratory of the future generations.

Shen Yiqiu took out a thick stack of manuscripts from a pile of items on the table and said, "Your Majesty, please take a look." ”

I flipped through a few pages, and they were all natural sciences, but I only knew most of them but didn't know why. I handed this stack of manuscripts to Xiao Qidao beside me: "Put it away for me first, and I'll look at it after visiting this laboratory." ”

I walked slowly along the narrow passages of the room, looking at the objects on both sides as carefully as the manuscripts, which included most subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, geography, most of which I could not name or know what they were, but my intuition told me that they were ahead of their time.

This Shen Yiqiu, Quanjue Master and Apprentice really made me overjoyed, far exceeding my expectations. Like Shen Kuo, Shen Yiqiu is also a great scientist of the era, and he is more focused and practice-oriented.

The second room was almost the same as the first, with things in a mess. The largest and most striking of these is a large sand table stacked on a table, with rivers and forests on it, which is simply a three-dimensional map of the Song Dynasty.

The sand table first originated in the Han Dynasty, but it was only after the First World War that it was really widely used.

Shen Yiqiu and Quan Jue followed me closely, and when they saw that I was looking so seriously, they also introduced to me in detail the production process of this three-dimensional sand table map, and the geographical location marked by this sand table was basically the same as my memory, and I couldn't help but praise myself, accurate.

The other research results, as I suspected, were beyond my knowledge of this era. There are also concave and convex mirrors, compasses, oil lighting devices, etc., in short, it is varied, involving a wide range of aspects, perhaps human and material resources and other problems, most of these finished products are relatively rough, obviously the process is not in place, of course, I will not worry about this, behind my support, the assistance of the whole country, what are you worried about?

These achievements are very common in later generations, but in this era it is a big step ahead, the only shortcoming is that the practical surname is not strong, this should be Shen Yiqiu, Quanjue's era limited surname, if you add my knowledge, then many of the achievements here can become practical things as long as they are slightly improved.

"Official, it's not too early, it's over, let's see it tomorrow." Seeing that it was late, and I was still watching with relish, Quan Jiu came forward to persuade him.

Nearly two hours later, we were only halfway through it, and I knew I couldn't finish it, so I said, "So fast? It's all time, okay, sleep, and I'll see it tomorrow. ”

When I returned to the house, I said to Quan Jiu: "Jiu'er, you have done a great job this time, and I will reward you well when you go back." ”

Quan Jiuqi said: "Official, Jiu'er doesn't understand, and he doesn't want any reward, Jiu'er is useless, I just hope to be satisfied with the official family." ”

"Jiu'er, you don't know, your younger brother and his teacher are both great talents, and the transformation of these research results will definitely bring earth-shaking changes to my dynasty, hehe, let's not talk about this first, you can move to Ningqian Palace after you go back, Ningqian Palace is too big, and I feel that my popularity is too scarce when I live alone."

"Moved to Ningqian Palace?" Quanjiu Leng Road.

"Yes, what, isn't Jiu'er willing?"

Quan Jiu looked at me with wide eyes, didn't speak, two lines of tears flowed from his eyes, threw himself into my arms, and hugged me tightly.