Officials do not work every day, and they have at least a few days off every month, so they can not be on duty and do not need to work, and today is such a day. Recently, the relationship between Xue Chongxun and Zhang Shuo has entered the "honeymoon period", and the two have a hot fight, and they also make an appointment to play in the city together on the day of rest.

Xue Chongxun rode to Danfeng Street to meet Zhang Shuo, only to see Zhang Shuo turning over from the horse and dismounting, wearing a black gauze hat and cloth clothes, dressed as a civilian. The black gauze hat was not the patent of officials in the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin once said that "since ancient times, the Son of Heaven has worn the black gauze hat, and all officials and scholars have served it." In contrast, Xue Chongxun's robe was more neat and neat. The two clasped their fists at each other across the wide long street, and then came together and laughed.

Then they discussed where to play, and Zhang said with a smile: "There are some new women from the Western Regions in the orchid wine shop, maybe there are some new tricks to see, but we will definitely meet acquaintances when we go, and it will be a little boring to spend time socializing." ”

Xue Chongxun didn't have much interest in the fun of the land of fireworks, it was nothing more than a show, and when he heard Zhang say this, he immediately agreed: "The weather is sunny today, why don't you walk around and meet interesting places to drink tea and listen to music." ”

Zhang said with a smile: "It's good to dare to be affectionate like this." His face is very long, and he smiles more weekly, but he doesn't often smile on weekdays, after all, as a prime minister, there are not many things to ask, and he can't show it on his face when he is happy.

So Xue Chongxun abandoned the car and rode a horse, walking side by side with Zhang Shuo, just chatting while walking. Jixiang led the horse over, Xue Chongxun took the reins of the horse and Zhang Shuoqian gave in, and the two got on the horse one after another and walked slowly along the street. The guards and entourage are not too many to follow, not far away, not close, and everyone is not wearing official uniforms, which can be regarded as relatively low-key, after all, they are out to play. Chang'an has a population of more than one million, and there are very few people who can see the prince and the prime minister in the market, and no one knows them when they walk on the road without official clothes.

After a while, the group walked to a Cao Yun wharf, a large section of the Cao River in Chang'an City was dug by the population, and there are also wharves along the river in the city, which is a busy time. Xue Chongxun seemed to be very interested in the life in the market, so he slowed down when he walked here, watching left and right with interest, and Zhang Shuo had to accompany him to slow down.

At this moment, I saw a grain boat leaning on the shore, and several officials with a group of hard laborers were weighing rice there, Xue Chongxun said to Zhang casually: "Aren't those grains packed in sacks, just count the bags, is the weight of each bag different?" ”

Zhang said: "The warehouse clerk in charge of receiving is afraid of occasional deductions, so he has to take responsibility, so he has to go through the scales one by one for peace of mind." ”

Xue Chongxun nodded, turned around to look at the grain ship, observed the shape of the bottom of the ship, and immediately smiled: "Let's go, let's go help them." ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, what did the two people who held the power of the court do to care about such a trivial matter? But today is the day of rest, Zhang said that he was interested in the trivial matters of life, and it was inconvenient to ruin his interest, so he joked: "Xue Langmo is not going to help them weigh rice, this kind of thing is too boring......

"It's just a matter of two sticks of incense." Xue Chongxun said.

Zhang Shuo shook his head in disbelief: "How did Xue Lang weigh a full ship of grain within two sticks of incense?" Mo is not an immortal method. With that, the surrounding entourage also let out a good-natured laugh.

"We'll find out when the time comes." Xue Chongxun looked at the shape of those ships again disapprenosingly, and said quite confidently.

After a while, Jixiang was sent to find the petty official of the dock, and the guy unceremoniously pointed to Xue Chongxun behind him and said: "My family Langjun said that your method is too stupid, and you can weigh the weight when you have two sticks of incense, do you want to weigh it bag by bag, don't you take off your pants and fart?" ”

The petty official suddenly looked angry, especially the last sentence in front of everyone that he took off his pants and farted was too ugly, and he couldn't hang it on his face. Just as he was about to have a seizure, the junior official saw Xue Chongxun and Zhang Shuo in the direction of Ji Xiang's point, and his face quickly became delicate. He didn't know the big people in the court, but he knew a bit of identity as soon as he knocked on the pomp and circumstance of others, (at this time, productivity was low, labor was expensive, and except for the big families, few people could raise slaves and not engage in labor.) I saw that many of the entourages behind Xue Chongxun and the others were strong men, and their masters must not have some identity? The petty official breathed a sigh of relief, but the people around him were coaxing, it was nothing more than that the work was too boring and something to do.

The dock official did not express his anger, and the petty official only said: "In this case, why not try it in front of everyone, how to weigh these grains in two sticks of incense?" ”

The auspicious hippie like a thin monkey said with a smile: "What I want is your words, wait." ”

When Xue Chongxun and the others came to the side of the boat, the laborers gathered around to see the excitement, and the officials scolded loudly: "Go to work!" The brave one coaxed: "People say that two sticks of incense can finish our work for a whole day, why are we still working blindly?" ”

In the midst of the noise, Xue Chongxun asked for a pair of clothes used by bookkeepers, and the case boards, paper, pens and ink were all available. Seeing this situation, the people on the side smiled and said, "This Lang Jun uses the eight characters of the boat to calculate the weight......

Xue Chongxun was not angry, and said with a smile: "Exactly, take the eight characters of the official ship." "After the joke, the size of the various parts of the official ship came, and I was fooled, and I asked someone to measure the captain to verify it; Then he sent men to bring down the irrelevant things from the grain ship and measure the draft when it was fully loaded. It just so happened that there was an empty ship that had been unloaded on the shore, and the construction was similar to that of old and new. Xue Chongxun had been optimistic about it in advance, and then asked someone to measure the draft of the empty boat.

After recording all the required numbers on paper, Xue Chongxun raised his head and said, "Don't be able to calculate the approximate weight of your ship's grain with a stick of incense, maybe there will be a little error, that's because the two boats can't be completely equal." It would be more accurate if there was more time to move the grain off the ship and measure the draft...... However, this is a bit time-consuming. ”

The junior official said: "You can make a rough calculation, let's say you are God!" ”

Xue Chongxun stopped talking, picked up the pen and calculated quickly. The problem is very simple, the transverse plane of this kind of official ship is approximately trapezoidal shape, and the draft volume will be calculated by drawing the figure; Then multiply the volume by the density of the water, and the whole weight comes out; Then calculate the weight of the empty ship in turn, and subtract it to the weight of the grain. In the end, it was converted into Tang Jin (one catty in ancient times is about one and two catties in modern times).

It didn't take long for Xue Chongxun to report the weight of the official grain, and the officials on the dock were stunned.

"How is it different from the number you have in your hands?" Xue Chongxun asked.

"God...... You didn't know about it beforehand, did you? ”

Xue Chongxun glanced at Zhang and said, "He knows." ”

Zhang Shuo hugged his fists and smiled: "Admire and admire, it is an anecdote to talk to colleagues in the court when you are worth it." ”

Xue Chongxun dipped his pen in ink, wrote a few sentences on the principle of buoyancy on the paper, handed it to Zhang, and said: "Take it to the servants of the Ministry of Industry to see, maybe it will be of some use to save transportation expenses." ”

The dock officials heard their conversation, and immediately understood that these two people must be members of the imperial court, and their attitudes were unusually respectful for a while, and their eyes showed a look of awe, which was not only the relationship of power. And the coolies were just watching the excitement, just a strange thing.

Xue Chongxun and Zhang said that they had enough fun and left the dock, and Zhang Shuo asked curiously, "How did Xue Lang estimate it?" Xue Chongxun naturally smiled and didn't answer, because he couldn't say it at all for a while, and Rao is Zhang said that it was not clear why he was rich and five cars.

In the future, if you slowly explain it to these talented scholars of the current dynasty, you should still be able to accept it. In fact, scholars are very pragmatic, and they are really pedantic, after all, they are a minority...... For example, they are very good at using the ideas of ancient sages to rule over the people, and some things that they themselves do not believe in can make the common people believe in gods.

Zhang said that he didn't want to say more, so it was not good to ask to the end, and soon the two diverged from the topic to talk and laugh about other things, Zhang said that at this time, most of the small things today were regarded as anecdotes, and they were naturally not needed much evidence as the topic of small talk before the court.

As he walked, Xue Chongxun somehow suddenly remembered that Meng Xiaoyu was coming, probably because Zhang Shuo had gone to drink and listen to music, and unconsciously thought of the courtesan. He remembered that he hadn't seen this courtesan for a long time, and if he hadn't remembered it by chance, he would probably have forgotten it...... This woman can always make Xue Chongxun feel the beautiful side of the world, like a chicken soup for the soul. But as he grew older, he became more mature and balanced, and rarely did the bad things that were too dark before, so the role of Meng Xiaoyu in his heart gradually faded. Thinking of this, he felt a little sad.

"Zhang Xianggong wants to listen to music, how about I recommend a place?" Xue Chongxun still had a smile on his face and said to Zhang.

Zhang Shuo naturally agreed: "What does Xue Lang think is good?" ”

Xue Chongxun said: "I live over there in Anyi Fang, there is a green building called 'Shuiyunjian', and there is a courtesan in it who sings the songs of the Jiaofang very well, let's go listen to it?" ”

Zhang said that when he heard that it was a teaching song, his face inadvertently showed a trace of confusion, people who can often enter and exit the Daming Palace have long been tired of listening to those things, in fact, although there are free official kilns, but the ministers are not interested in official prostitutes, and they like to find some fresh fun when they have time.

However, he and Xue Chongxun went out to play together, and they didn't have much fun, and more thoughts were on strengthening the relationship between the two. Therefore, the relief on Zhang Shuo's face was fleeting, and then he looked happy: "The place where Xue Lang built yì must have something extraordinary, and it is rare to coincide with leisure, this is how to see and see?" ”

Xue Chongxun gently kicked the horse's belly and said with a smile: "Let's go, I may not have been to that place for a long time." ”G