Ouyang Xiu was able to come to Xianwei to listen to Zhao Yan's lecture, naturally he got the news from Ouyang Wanling, since he learned Arabic numerals from Ouyang Wanling that night, as well as the method of using tables to keep accounts, the next day when he took what he learned to the political hall, it immediately made Han Qi and the others greatly admired, and they all said that they must promote this method, after all, they were also frightened by the account books sent below.

It was precisely because of the above reasons that Ouyang Xiu was also full of interest in Zhao Yan, and when he learned from Ouyang Wanling that Zhao Yan was going to give a public lecture in the microscopic middle school, he immediately notified some people privately, some of these people were his friends, some were his students, and some were juniors he valued, and there were even a few people who were proficient in arithmetic.

Speaking of these people who came with Ouyang Xiu, many of them were reluctant to come at first, after all, in their opinion, although Zhao Yan had changed a lot, he was still a hairy boy who was less than twenty years old, what knowledge could such a person have? However, after Ouyang Xiu told these people about the symbolic mathematics and the method of table bookkeeping, those reluctant people were finally a little surprised, and at the same time became a little interested in Zhao Yan, plus it was not easy to refuse Ouyang Xiu's kindness, so they came to listen to the class with him, but even so, there were still quite a few people who were a little suspicious of Zhao Yan.

Zhao Yan vaguely guessed that Ouyang Xiu's arrival was likely to have something to do with Ouyang Wanling, but he couldn't guess that there were so many twists and turns in it, but now was not the time to think about this, what he was thinking about now was how to teach this first lesson well?

Today, Zhao Yan does not plan to talk about mathematics, but plans to directly talk about geography and astronomy, that is, the earth where they are located, and the entire solar system beyond the earth, after all, compared to some boring mathematics. Astronomy and geography are more attractive, and these are also things that human beings have been exploring and pursuing since the birth of wisdom, especially Taoists, who are more interested in these questions, and even make many specious conjectures.

Of course, Zhao Yan also knows. There may not be any geographical knowledge on its own, but astronomical knowledge may conflict with some Taoist theories, such as there is no heavenly palace in the sky, and there are no immortals to be found, the moon is a lonely big rock, the sun is a huge fireball, and the earth is inconspicuous among the planets of the black line sun, etc.

All of the above may have a huge impact on the Taoist theory of immortals, you must know that European Catholicism has killed people for these doctrines, but Zhao Yan is not worried. Because this is the Great Song Dynasty and not Europe, the divine power has always been tightly suppressed by the imperial power, and he is not an ordinary person, even if these doctrines are propagated, no one dares to do anything to him.

In addition, the most important thing is that Zhao Yan wants to test the minds of Cao Tong and these Taoist priests, and see what kind of reaction they will have when they hear about their own "heretical" doctrines. If they can't even accept this, then there is no need for them to go on and talk about it.

It is precisely because of the above considerations. So when Zhao Yan first started his speech, he immediately asked Ya'er to take out two pictures from the textbook. Then he hung it on the blackboard, the first one was a map of the world he drew from memory, of course, it was certainly not accurate, but at least the approximate location and shape of the seven continents and four oceans were not wrong, and the other was a planetary map of the solar system, which marked the orbits of the sun and the nine planets.

For the two pictures that Zhao Yan hung on the blackboard. Naturally, no one understood below, and even many people were confused, but Zhao Yan began to talk about the original round sky, and then talked about the further Hun Tian theory.

In fact, the ancient understanding of the earth was not as primitive as later generations imagined, starting from the Tang Dynasty. The armillary theory has occupied the mainstream, but this doctrine is mainly circulated among poets and scholars, and ordinary people can rarely come into contact with it, and the armillary theory also has its own shortcomings, and many celestial phenomena cannot be explained, but this statement is at least one thing correct, that is, the earth is a sphere.

Cao Tong and Ouyang Xiu and the others sitting below naturally knew how to say that the heavens were tall, and they also knew that the earth under their feet was a sphere, but when Zhao Yan pointed to the earth he had drawn and told them that this was the earth where everyone was, these people were still a little incredible, because according to the earth painted by Zhao Yan, there was almost all water on it, which was completely different from the situation where they imagined that there were all 6 places.

However, although Cao Tong and they had doubts in their hearts, no one dared to stand up and question without authorization, because in this kind of lecture occasion, Zhao Yan's identity has temporarily overridden everyone present, even if Zhao Shu is here, he has to listen honestly, it can be said that without Zhao Yan's consent, if the people below stand up rashly and question, it is an extremely impolite move, whether his questioning is right or wrong, he may be expelled in the end, and only when Zhao Yan finishes speaking, the following people have the opportunity to stand up and ask questionsThis is also a kind of expression of respecting the teacher.

Zhao Yan pointed to the earth graphics on the blackboard, first starting from the direction of the Great Song Dynasty, then the surrounding Liao, Xia and Dali and other countries, and then slowly began to radiate outward, the main general introduced the customs of the two continents of Asia and Europe, and then began to talk about the hot African 6, and the ancient Egyptian civilization on the big 6, and finally crossed the Atlantic Ocean to North and South America, began to talk about the Mayan civilization there, as well as the rich local specialties, and finally specially pointed out, Corn and sweet potatoes are two important crops that come from the Americas6.

Cao Tong and Ouyang Xiu and others heard Zhao Yan's introduction in such detail, and the place names and customs of various places were even more at their fingertips, especially the introduction of the two continents of Asia and Europe, many of which they had also heard of, but they were not as detailed as Zhao Yan's introduction, as for the distant Africa, America and other big 6, although it was a little incredible, it definitely didn't look like it was fake, which made them look at each other for a while, and most of the doubts about Zhao Yan in their hearts had been dispelled, after all, it was impossible for someone to make up a lie so true.

Zhao Yan finally introduced the general situation of the earth, and then began to change from geography to astronomy, first talked about what happened to the moon closest to the earth, how it revolved around the earth, and by the way, he also talked about the principle of gravitation from this gravitational force of the earth and the moon.

It's just that when Zhao Yan said that the moon was actually a big desolate rock, Cao Tong and Ouyang Xiu and the others below obviously showed shocked looks, and even some of the people listening to the lecture were even a little commotion, if it weren't for the fact that it was too rude to stand up and question directly, I'm afraid that someone would have wanted to ask a question a long time ago.

Zhao Yan also saw the situation below very clearly, and knew that the people below were a little unacceptable to the true face of the moon, but he didn't give them a chance to ask questions, because he still had the entire solar system to talk about, so he turned a blind eye to the commotion of the following people, and went on to talk about the nature of the sun, as well as the laws of the nine planets, and so on.

If Zhao Yan's explanation of the earth can still make Cao Tong believe it, then the explanation of the moon and the entire solar system is too incredible, no matter how detailed he says, no matter how reasonable the results of the operation of the celestial bodies are, but there are still many people who can't accept it, after all, these are far beyond their imagination, but what makes Zhao Yan satisfied is that from the time he started to speak, no one has stood up to question it, which shows that whether it is Taoism or Confucianism, the tolerance for this new doctrine is still relatively high, At least it's much more tolerant than Catholicism.

finally waited for Zhao Yan to finish the content prepared today, and then saw Zhao Yan on the stage take a sip of tea, and then finally spoke: "Okay, that's all for today, if you don't understand anything, you can stand up and ask questions, but you have to be one by one, don't be too messy!" ”

As soon as Zhao Yan's words fell, many people immediately stood up, but these people knew how to be humble, and soon most of them sat down again, and then saw Cao Yan, who was standing in the front, speaking first: "Your Royal Highness, just now you said that the moon is a desolate big stone, and there is no moon palace and no jade rabbit on it, are these true?" ”

"These are all true, if you don't believe it, I can let you see the true face of the moon with your own eyes, but this still needs the help of your Daomen, and it will take a while to prepare." Zhao Yan said with a smile, Daomen has already made lead glass, with this kind of glass, it will be easier to make a telescope, and it will not be difficult to observe the surface of the moon at that time.

"Wow~" Hearing that Zhao Yan actually said that he could let them see the true face of the moon, the people below were also in an uproar, most of them had doubts about the moon, and the best way to dispel this doubt was naturally to take a look with their own eyes, but is this possible?

"King Jun, just now you said that the sun is a huge fireball, emitting heat all the time, and the earth and several other planets where we live revolve around the sun along their respective orbits, forming a solar system, so I want to ask, what is beyond the solar system?" At this time, I saw Ouyang Xiu also stand up and ask questions, although he was old, he had an open-minded attitude towards all kinds of doctrines, and he was not exclusive to what Zhao Yan said, and even wanted to know more.

"The solar system is already very big for us, as for the space outside the solar system, although I know some, but it is also very limited, if Ouyang Xianggong is interested in these, we can talk about it privately." Hearing Ouyang Xiu's question, Zhao Yan also pondered for a moment before speaking, regarding astronomy, he only planned to talk about the solar system, and as for things outside the solar system, he felt that there was no need to talk too much, because those were too far away. (To be continued!)

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