October 23, Sunny, Chang'an Royal Academy of Sciences.

"I heard that a while ago, the learned Confucianism from Daqin was speechless to refute everyone's Chinese studies in our Qi country?"

Qi Weiyuan, the crown prince of Great Qi, reached out and picked up a beaker on the experimental table, looked at the small half bottle of unknown liquid inside with great interest, and then shook it lightly a few times, and immediately showed several different colors.

"Your Highness, this is to debate Confucianism, how are those scholars of our Qi State the opponents of the Qin people." Kong Dingwen, the head of the Royal Academy of Sciences, took two steps forward, carefully took the small bottle of beaker containing liquid from the prince's hand, and then put it back on the experimental table, "Those people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should invite those people from the Qin State to the Academy of Sciences, and ensure that all of them don't know how to speak!" ”

"These strange and ingenious things of your Academy of Sciences, don't pollute the eyes of the Confucian scholars of the Great Qin!" Qi Weiyuan smiled and teased: "Dean Kong, I'm curious, is your ancestor a disciple of Shandong Confucius?" I lost my ancestor's knowledge for no reason, and came to my Qi country to make these messy things! ”

"According to my grandfather, our branch is really a descendant of Confucius, but it belongs to a branch that is too far away. Otherwise, my grandfather would not have been able to go to Penglai, and then boarded the immigration ship of our Qi country and drifted all the way across the ocean to Hanzhou. Kong Dingwen shook his head and said: "As for the ancestor's knowledge, I am ashamed to say it, I really know very little, and Confucianism such as Jing Shi Ziyi is not as good as a student in Chang'an University." ”

"Alas, this is about cultural prosperity, after all, our Qi country is not enough, and compared with the Qin country, it is really too far behind." Qi Weiyuan sighed and said, "I'm wondering if next year's cabinet budget will be tilted slightly towards culture, education, and Chinese studies. In this way, we will increase support for the development of China's cultural undertakings and prosper the domestic cultural market. ”

"Your Royal Highness, Emperor Taizu once said that science and technology are the primary productive forces." When Kong Dingwen heard this, he was immediately a little anxious, "As for the development of the cultural market, let's go with the flow." Our Qi State is only more than 80 years old, and the historical background is not yet profound, even if we support it more, we may not be able to compare with the Qin State. The ancients knew etiquette, and knew honor and disgrace when they had enough food and clothing. As long as our country's science and technology have been progressing, and the industrial and agricultural economy has been developing, this style of writing will naturally prosper, and there is no need to promote its development artificially. With this extra fund, it is better to invest it in my Royal Academy of Sciences, and maybe we can create some beneficial technologies and inventions for our Qi country every year. ”

"Dean Kong is hinting to me that he wants the royal family to increase the amount of budget allocation for the Academy of Sciences next year?" Qi Weiyuan smiled.

"Your Highness is wise." Kong Dingwen said with a smile: "Electromagnetism, chemical industry, metals, smelting, materials, medicine, as well as the improvement of steam engines, internal combustion power, etc., many of these research projects have reached an extremely critical stage and require a lot of manpower and material resources to actively support. ”

"Dean Kong, although the annual income of the royal family has increased year after year, the various expenses are also extremely huge. Nursing homes, mutual aid societies for the disabled, women's support cooperatives, disaster relief assistance from local and overseas consulates, royal weddings and funerals, and rewards from lords do not cost a lot of royal money. In this case, your academy of sciences also needs to be careful and do what you can, and don't blindly be greedy for more and always ask for an increase in the amount of funding. ”

"Your Royal Highness, Emperor Taizu once said......"

"Alright, alright......" Qi Weiyuan interrupted Kong Dingwen's words with a wry smile, "Dean Kong, you don't always have to use Emperor Taizu's words to pressure me." As for the amount of funding for next year, the Royal Wealth Management Committee will carefully review and decide on the basis of your research projects. Tell me, our royal family earns tens of millions of dollars every year, but my father wants to build a Taiyi Palace, and it hasn't been built for ten years, isn't this a lack of money! ”

"The Taichu Palace is good, why do you have to repair another palace room." Kong Dingwen muttered quietly.

"When farmers in the countryside have money, they know how to build a new house and enjoy it. Shouldn't my royal family spend some money to build a palace, build a courtyard, and improve the living environment? Qi Weiyuan said angrily.

It is said that decades ago, when the Qi State built the imperial palace in Chang'an, it fully borrowed and referred to the layout and design of the Forbidden City in Nanjing and Beijing, and added a large number of planning requirements of Emperor Taizu, making the entire Taichu Palace not only magnificent and magnificent, but also perfectly integrated with the geography of mountains and rivers, which can be called a model of palace construction.

However, in order to show the majesty of the emperor, this imperial palace continues the traditional layout of the Chinese palace, that is, sitting in the north and facing south, overlooking all living beings.

However, Hanzhou is located south of the equator, and with this palace layout facing south, all the palace doors and windows will be open to the south side of the sun, giving people a dark and oppressive feeling.

When it was first built, some people felt that it was inappropriate, but considering the royal traditions of the previous dynasties, and the fact that many of the architectural elements and layout of this palace were designed by Emperor Taizu himself, he chose to keep his mouth shut and complete the construction of this palace with his head down.

The two emperors Taizu and Taizong lived in this palace successively, although they also felt that this layout was a little awkward, but these two were not particularly particular people, and they continued to live here with their noses pinched.

Of course, a large number of transparent glass is used in many palace doors and windows of the Taichu Palace, which can still ensure that the interior is well lit, and the Hajj, etiquette, daily office, and living and resting are not afraid that the interior is dim and cannot see clearly.

When Emperor Taiping succeeded to the throne, he had the idea of building another palace and preparing to build a brighter residence.

In fact, there were no hard and fast rules on the geographical layout of the palace more than 1,000 years ago, and it had to be built according to the layout of sitting north and facing south.

So why do most of the palace rooms sit in the north and face south?

Because the northern throne is the emperor's throne.

"The Duke of Zhou returned to politics and became a king, and he became a minister in the north."

"Wang Nanxiang, Sangong is north and east."

"The Son of Heaven shall stand according to it, and the princes shall face north and see the Son of Heaven, and shall make pilgrimage; The Son of Heaven should stand in peace, the princes to the east, the princes to the west, and the dynasty. ”

The Son of Heaven is in the north position, facing the south, and the courtiers are in the south position, facing the north, and the north and south positions are originally the ancient monarchs and ministers. In ancient times, the imperial power was strengthened all the way, so the north-south direction representing the throne of the monarch and the minister would continue to be consolidated.

Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty was sitting west to east, but since the Eastern Han Dynasty, it has become a pattern of sitting north and facing south, and in most cases after that, it has been laid out like this.

But there were exceptions in later dynasties.

When Zhao Gou rebuilt the Great Song Dynasty and built the capital Lin'an, he almost repaired the entire palace to Phoenix Mountain - well, this layout should have defensive considerations (after all, Zhao Gou was also afraid of the Jin people), that is, the pattern of sitting south and facing north.

You must know that the layout of the palace in Kaifeng City of the Great Song Dynasty was to sit in the north and face south, and when Zhao Gou arrived, he sat in the south and faced the north, how to explain this to the ancestors and ancestors, after all, the north is the honorable position!

The people of the Southern Song Dynasty had their own methods, and they engaged in a set of precursor metaphysics, "the mountains come from the northwest, such as dragons and phoenixes dancing, soaring down, to the Phoenix Mountain...... The harbinger of this was when the eastern capital was a mountain".

Look, no matter where the palace is facing, you can actually find something to say.

Later, the capital of Mengyuan and Yuan Dynasty also sat in the pattern of facing north from the south, but people considered the development of the transportation system and the economy.

Therefore, the setting and orientation of the palace are strongly related to the geographical environment, external environment and policy purpose of the location, and the so-called ritual culture is only one of the influences.

A country like Qi that does not attach much importance to traditional feudal etiquette and culture, naturally wants to build a new palace that highlights the charm of a great country according to the geographical environment of Hanzhou.

The North is honored?

Oh, in this era, we should respect our strength!

Dean Kong,...... Oh, His Royal Highness the Prince! A senior academician of the Academy of Sciences hurriedly barged into the room with a look of ecstasy on his face, "Longyuan County (now Charlton Town, Toowoomba City) has just replied!" After the encoding and translation, it can already be confirmed that the messages sent by each of us are accurate and word for word. …… The Clairer project was a success! ”

"Your Highness!" When Kong Dingwen heard this, he was also overjoyed, and turned his head to look at the crown prince Qi Weiyuan, "Our Academy of Sciences has finally realized the legendary Qianli Ear today!" ”

"Hahaha......" Qi Weiyuan laughed, he came to the Academy of Sciences today to witness the successful trial operation of the "Thousand Miles" project.

Over the past decades, from the theoretical research of electromagnetism to the development of physical objects, the "thousands of miles of sound" that Emperor Taizu had mentioned was finally obtained. As the future successor of the empire, no one understands better than him how positive and significant the success of this telegraph experiment will be to maintain the effective rule of Qi and its continued colonial expansion.

"Reward! …… All researchers in the Miles project will receive numerous awards from the Royal Science Fund. Moreover, I would also like to propose that this project be applied for the highest Royal Prize for Scientific Achievement of the year, at which time His Majesty himself will present them with an honorary medal as a token of merit. ”