Autumn temperatures in Fujian tend to be higher than in spring, and Zhao Jiaren, dressed in cool summer clothes, stands in a classroom after being repelled by mosquito coils.

The students in the audience were of different ages, and the genders were both male and female. Different from the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the Song Dynasty, the reading atmosphere was relatively prosperous, and in line with the attitude that a sheep is a chase, a flock of sheep is also a chase, and it is common for men and women to read together. Women are not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, but it is not uncommon for women to become gentlemen.

The reason why these people came together is because Zhao Jiaren, who is a liuguan, is also a 'liushi' now, and after finishing the lecture this year, he will not continue to stay in Fuqing next year to continue lecturing. Local scholars of all ages and genders came to listen to the narration of the Analects and Zhuzi, who was admitted to the Jinshi at the age of thirteen.

There is basically no interaction of class content in this kind of class, and when Zhao Jiaren finishes a section, everyone will take a break from class. Zhao Jiaren felt quite tired, he didn't treat it sloppily, and if he wanted to make the logic of this kind of class smooth, Zhao Jiaren also needed a lot of thinking.

"Mr. Zhao, I heard you say to the sailors that the earth under our feet is round. We're on the same ball. A teenager stood up and asked.

Zhao Jiaren was drinking tea, and was stunned at first when he heard this, and then continued to drink two sips, and then put down the teacup. At this time, the students who came to listen to the class looked at Zhao Jiaren with burning eyes. Judging from their expressions, this matter has spread in the circle of Fuqing scholars.

Zhao Jiaren said slowly: "It's not that I live on a ball......"

Hearing this, some students looked relieved, while others frowned slightly.

"We're living on a huge ball." Zhao Jiaren corrected the student's relay.

There was a buzz, and the room was lively. The view that the sky is round does exist, and the stargazing official of the Great Song Dynasty of the Song Dynasty was called Si Tianjian, and Si Tianjian has been able to accurately predict solar and lunar eclipses. From a common sense point of view, it is impossible for an academic institution that can make such an accurate prediction to be unaware of the relative rotation of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. Even if this knowledge is a 'celestial phenomenon' and a royal monopoly, this concept of astronomy is not uncirculated among the people.

There are those who support Zhao Jiaren, and there are those who do not support Zhao Jiaren. Since Zhao Jiaren began to lecture in Fuqing County, this is the most lively and interactive class in the classroom.

However, the students had heard such a statement at most, and there was no more real evidence, and the argument did not last long before the debate could not be debated. Zhao Jiaren slapped the table, stopping the two pairs of arguing about their ambitions.

"You must have all been on a boat, water is impermanent. If the earth were flat, we would first see a vague overall shadow when we saw a ship in the distance. In fact, when you look at a distant ship from any direction on the sea, you see the mast first, and the whole ship seems to be coming down from the water. This shows that the water is presented as a sphere. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Jiaren raised his hands and circled a circle. "If the ball is small, of course we can see that it is round at a glance."

Then Zhao Jiaren waved his arm and drew a big circle. "If it's such a big circle, when you see the edges, you probably just think it's not very flat. It may not be immediately apparent that it is part of the whole circle. If this ball is huge, I will see the surroundings and think it is flat. However, when we get to sea, we have a very wide field of vision, so we can see curved surfaces. ”

Looking at the group of stunned students below, Zhao Jiaren made a summary, "So, I said, we live on an incomparably huge ball. ”

Fuqing is a seaside county, and it is not uncommon to travel by boat. These people have more or less seen the written situation that Zhao Jiaren said. Zhao Jiaren's logic is self-consistent, and it is not just empty talk. The students had no way to refute the facts that Zhao had raised. But that wasn't enough, and a man in his thirties broke the momentary silence when everyone looked at each other and opened their mouths, "Is there any other way to prove that we live on an incomparably huge ball than to look at the ship?" ”

"Yes." Zhao Jiaren replied very decisively. The students became interested, and everyone stared at Zhao Jiaren, wanting to hear his methods.

"Send a fleet and keep going east or west. If they can drive back to us again, doesn't that mean that the ground under our feet is actually a ball? It makes sense. At the end of Zhao Jiaren's speech, he recalled the controversy with his classmates when he was in junior high school, and a smile appeared on his face. In terms of the meaning of the word, the opposite means that the idea of solving the problem is completely incorrect. Physically, it's a question of efficiency, not a fallacy of ideas that are completely impossible.

The students in the audience fell silent, stunned by such a simple and crude suggestion. Sitting in the room and discussing anything, Zhao Jiaren jumped out of the scope of the study and directly proposed a real solution to the problem.

There is no need to ask, Zhao Jiaren knows why these scholars are silent, and the circumnavigation of the world has exceeded the limits of their imagination. At this moment, the man in his thirties who had spoken before spoke again, "Mr. Zhao, Zhu Zi said that the Heavenly Principle destroys people's desires, is the world where we are located a round place, or a huge round ball, is this the Heavenly Principle?" ”

Zhao Jiaren's heart was shocked. This question reminded him of the efforts he had made in his previous life to save the Great Song Dynasty. In the face of the Mongol attack, Zhao Jiaren jumped over the wall in a hurry to try to save the Great Song Dynasty by popularizing knowledge. At that time, only a few people responded to Zhao Jiaren's efforts, and their responses were all doubts and even opposition, 'Are you talking about Tianli?' ’

Thinking of the past experience, Zhao Jiaren felt uneasy in his heart. He is about to grind, and it is obviously stupid to pin his future fate on Jia Yidao. Jia Rudao was just a member of the entire Southern Song Dynasty civil and even literati system, and now he hastily introduced his own system, only in vain to provoke opponents.

"This ......" Zhao Jiaren is ready to follow the classic exposition of science and cleverly explain the set of ideas of science. But when the words came to his mouth, Zhao Jiaren couldn't say anything. Let him write an article on the concept of science on the volume, and Zhao Jiaren can do it. Let him explain the concept of science according to the script, and Zhao Jiaren can also do it. can let Zhao Jiaren use the concept of science to explain science, and Zhao Jiaren has a strong resistance from the heart.

"Do you believe that the sun is triangular in this ......?" Zhao Jiaren finally spoke.

There was a burst of laughter below, and everyone laughed, and they didn't even have the strength to refute.

Zhao Jiaren didn't laugh, he asked a question, "If there is a blind man who has never seen the sun, someone tells him that the sun is triangular, someone tells him that the sun is square, and someone tells him that the sun is round. Do you think that blind people should believe in what shape the sun is? ”

Hearing this, one of the students below blushed with anger, and he got up and said, "How can you deceive people? ”

Looking at the young man's simple anger, Zhao Jiaren smiled and said: "You said that you lied, that is because you thought of yourself wrong." We are not the ones who speak, we are the blind ones. ”

As soon as these words came out, several adults immediately stood in awe and subconsciously sat up straight.

"Confucius said that knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is also knowing. We believe that the earth is round, or that the earth is square, and this is our own business, because there is no proof now. When the proof comes out, we will be like a blind man who opens his eyes and sees what the sun looks like. At that time, there would be no more debates about what shape the sun was. Now, we must first be clear, we don't know. When I don't know, of course I can choose what I believe. If you don't know, you don't know......"