Chapter 162 Cloth Dyeing, Astronomy, and Calligraphy
In the following days, Su Ze and the Cai family began to fight fiercely. The Cai family filed a lawsuit against Su Ze and "Surprise at the Case" to the county government. Chen Chaoyu and Fang Jing were in the hall. There was a war of words, but Baizhi County kept delaying.
Are you saying "Surprise" is defamatory? But the newspaper didn't say that the Cai family is your aunt Cai's family.
These days, there are no regulations in the Ming Dynasty law. What should you do if you slander someone in a newspaper?
Baizhixian is a motivated Ming Dynasty bureaucrat.
As a motivated bureaucrat, Baizhixian's biggest wish is to prevent trouble in his own place.
For local squires like Cai Yuanwai, Baizhi County generally stays on the same page with them.
Feihu Casino Baizhi County turned a blind eye. Under normal circumstances, Baizhi County would also facilitate the Cai family.
Everyone is a scholar and an official, so naturally they are all members of the same family.
But facing a lot of things caused by Cai Yuanwai, Baizhi County was also secretly angry.
The gambling house matter was not brought to the fore, but Xiong Yue's matter was indeed suppressed by the county. If the matter really got serious, a comment from Baizhi County that created an unjust, false and wrong case would not escape Shangguan's side.
Of course, Baizhi County was also angry at the trouble Su Ze had caused him. In the final case, both parties had a fifty-fifty fight. "Surprise" wanted to declare in the newspaper that the Cai family in its article was not Cai Yuan's family, and it had to compensate Cai Yuan's family. The family has twenty taels of silver.
Yuan Cai did not allow any more complaints. Both parties signed the agreement. Su Ze smiled slightly. Would anyone believe this statement if it was published?
Of course, the Cai family is not willing to accept defeat. If they don't report this matter, they will naturally report the actual matter.
However, the Cai family soon fell into another trouble, and this trouble was related to the foundation of the Cai family. Cai Yuanwai soon began to give up his pursuit of Su Ze.
The Cai family’s dyeing shop is out of business!
Indigo dyeing is needed by ordinary people and lower-class scholars. The dyeing workshops scattered throughout Nanping County are the Cai family's largest industry.
This is also the most important source of income for the Cai family besides the tea garden.
The dyehouse's income dropped sharply, and the Cai family spent a lot of money in litigation with Su Ze, and soon they were stretched thin.
Cai Yuanwai was no longer as calm as before. He personally went to the largest dyeing shop in his family and began to check the recent accounts.
The shopkeeper stood aside with his hands down tremblingly. After reading the two accounts, Cai Yuanwai pointed at the account books for the past two months and said, "Tell me! Why have there been so
few people dyeing cloth in the past two months? Even if it's because of the Japanese pirates, we Everything in Nanping City is safe, and there are fewer people dyeing cloth this month than when Nanping was besieged by Japanese pirates! Are you lining your pockets?" The shopkeeper is a domestic
slave of the Cai family, and his status is outside the Cai family. In his hand, he knelt down with a frightened voice and said:
"Dad Cai! It's not like a villain is greedy for ink. All seven of our Cai family's dyehouses are like this. We can't all make false accounts together!"
Mr. Cai didn't say anything. Although the shopkeeper has some unclean hands and feet, Cai Yuan is an official in the household department and is best at keeping track of accounts, so his subordinates don't dare to go too far.
It is also common practice for all shopkeepers to take some money from it.
But the sudden drop in sales can probably not be explained by the shopkeepers of the seven dye houses being greedy for ink.
"What's going on?"
the shopkeeper said with a sad face: "Last month, the Yu family's cloth shop sold a kind of blue cloth that said it would not fade even after being washed and exposed to the sun. At first, I thought it was the Yu family's propaganda. How can there be dyed fabric that does not fade in this world?"
"But since last month, our business has started to decrease. The younger one went to buy a foot of blue cloth from home." The
shopkeeper stepped out from under the counter. Taking out a foot of blue cloth, Cai Yuanwai looked at the bright blue color, but he didn't care.
In fact, the color dyed by indigo is also very bright, and Prussian blue fabric does not have much advantage in color.
But the next thing the shopkeeper said was that Cai Yuanwai's expression changed.
"Dad Cai, this piece of fabric has been starched and washed ten times."
Cai Yuanwai grabbed the fabric and found traces of rubbing and washing on the fabric. However, the entire piece of fabric was still dyed evenly, and there was no color after the indigo water system. uneven situation.
Cai Yuanwai immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. If all of Nanping County wore clothes made of this dye, would his own dyeing shop still have business?
"How much does this fabric cost?"
The shopkeeper lowered his head and said, "It's no different from ordinary blue cloth."
Cai Yuanwai held back his dizziness and said, "Why didn't you report it last month?"
The shopkeeper quickly said, "Last month There isn't much new blue cloth in the Yu family's cloth shop. Although it sells well, it can't sell enough fabric for a few clothes in a day, so it didn't report it to the government." "What about
this month!?"
"The new blue cloth in the Yu family a few days ago . Suddenly there was enough supply, and a new dyeing business was even opened, allowing old clothes to be dyed with new blue dye..."
Cai Yuanwai could not stand and almost fainted.
Cai Yuanwai naturally knows the meaning of a dye that is not easy to fade.
If they only sell fabrics, the Cai family still has time, but if the Yu family's cloth shop also dyes cloth, the Cai family will be completely out of business.
If other shops were doing this, Cai Yuanwai would have already found a way to attack it.
However, Commander Yu is not an ordinary person. Even if he is a noble civil servant and a third-rank official who has retired from the country, he is not something that he, a fifth-rank official, can handle at will.
"Where did this cloth come from? The business of the Yu family's cloth shop has been bad, right?" The
shopkeeper said quickly: "According to the information I got from the Yu family, this cloth was sent by Changning Wei."
Changning Wei!
It's Changning Guard again!
Cai Yuanwai's teeth were about to break, but he quickly figured out a way. As long as he found a few rotten men to make trouble in the Yu family's cloth shop, saying that there was something wrong with the Yu family's dyeing, he would definitely be able to suppress the Yu family. momentum.
Trying to steal the recipe for dyeing cloth again, Cai Yuanwai didn't believe that his seven dyeing houses could not compete with each other's cloth shop.
But the shopkeeper's next words made Mr. Cai feel cold again.
"I heard that the recipe was invented by the mine supervisor, Eunuch Hu."
The mine supervisor, Eunuch Hu.
Naturally, Cai Yuanwai knew about this strange eunuch outside Nanping City. Although Eunuch Hu was not famous, the eunuchs in the palace could reveal secrets to the emperor!
No matter how courageous Cai Yuanwai was, he would not dare to offend such a person.
Cai Yuanwai sat down on the ground. The cloth dyeing business was gone. What would happen to the food and drink for dozens of people in the Cai family?
It's only October now, and the tea gardens have to wait until the spring tea is released around the Qingming Festival to have any income. Is it possible that the whole family has been drinking northwest wind for the past six months?
But I'm afraid Cai Yuanwai didn't know that this was just part of Su Ze's series of slaps.
Dealing with Cai Yuanwai has entered the stage of cutting flesh with a soft knife.
Su Ze has temporarily calmed down these days. He goes to the nursing home to give lectures to the children every day, and then practices calligraphy and solves math problems.
Now Su Ze has three skills that have reached Lv4, namely:
Calligraphy: Lv4, 360/400
Mathematics: Lv4, 152/400
Medical skills: Lv4, 95/400
The children in the nursing home are all sick after being seen by Su Ze. Medical skills It's still early for the skill to reach Level 5. Su Ze is planning to return to Changning Wei for another round after the Yuezhong County School Lecture, and conduct a round of inspections at Changning Weibei Mountain Village and Mining Village, and he should be able to upgrade to Level 5.
Father Pierre who relies on all his mathematical skills. The old priest searched his memory and wrote a collection of mathematics problems he encountered. Su Ze had been studying this collection of mathematics problems these days, and finally reached 152/400 in mathematics.
But Su Ze had already wiped out all the Chinese and foreign mathematics books on hand.
Su Ze had asked Lin Deqing to look for a book on arithmetic when purchasing goods. If that didn't work, he would have to go to Yuegang to buy books.
I heard that there are all kinds of books in Yuegang, even foreign language books. Su Ze can learn them just by brushing up on his language skills.
If you can't find it again, you will have to go to Macau to find Jesuit missionaries.
Speaking of missionaries, the overall impression is naturally that of religious lunatics, backward and ignorant bastards.
But in fact, since the Middle Ages, clergy have always been the class with knowledge.
In fact, if we understand Confucianism as Confucianism, we can also understand the status of the clergy in politics in the West.
For example, in France a few decades later, Richelieu and Mazarin, the two French prime ministers, were both priests.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many missionaries also entered China. These Jesuit missionaries entered Qintianjian and promoted the exchange of Eastern and Western mathematics.
Wait, astronomy!
Su Ze suddenly thought that astronomy also has a large part of mathematics. Aren't the problems of the movement of celestial bodies just natural mathematical problems?
How about going back to Changning to build a telescope?
No, it was illegal to study astronomy privately in the Ming Dynasty.
Qin Tianjian was an internal court official in the Ming Dynasty. The so-called internal court officials were the emperor's personal ministers.
The responsibilities of the Qin Tianjian include "speculating on the seven political latitudes, latitudes and constellations, eclipses of the sun and moon, five stars, four seasons of celestial phenomena and compilation of calendars". At the same time, he is also "on duty to lead the astronomy students to conduct day and night inspections, and the resulting images are analyzed every day." "Report every day", and finally "calculate auspicious days, plan weddings, and explore the feng shui of mountains and hills" for the royal family.
Since Dong Zhongshu proposed the induction of heaven and man and tried to use prophecies of celestial phenomena to limit imperial power, feudal rulers of all dynasties began to fight for the right to interpret celestial phenomena.
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, centralized rule reached its peak. The Ming court had the power to interpret astrology, and Emperor Jiajing used astrology to suppress courtiers many times.
To blame the court ministers for celestial abnormalities and disasters, and to remove the court ministers through horoscope abnormalities, naturally requires the cooperation of Qin Tianjian.
Yes, telescope.
Stargazing through telescopes is naturally not only for brushing up on mathematics. Astronomy is of great significance in navigation, navigation and positioning, map drawing, and calendar compilation. Without exception, these things are extremely critical.
People need to determine the dates of farming in the four seasons according to the calendar. The current calendar "Tatong Calendar" has not been revised for more than a hundred years, and the calendar is no longer accurate.
Of course, this is definitely not what Su Ze can do now. Privately practicing the calendar is a more serious crime than privately testing the astronomical phenomena.
You already want to revise the calendar. Should you revise "History of the Ming Dynasty" next?
But the important role of optical astronomy in navigation positioning and nautical charting forced Su Ze to study it.
When I go back and build an observatory, I should be able to learn astronomy skills. Wouldn't it be wonderful to study astronomy and mathematics at the same time?
Su Ze was still immersed in his blissful imagination, when Fang Ruolan opened the door and walked in.
Fang Ruolan walked up to Su Ze pretending to be casual. She took out a beautifully bound book from her sleeve and handed the book to Su Ze casually.
"Your calligraphy and literary talent are too common. You may be rejected when you take the provincial examination." "I'll
lend you this copybook for a few days to copy. Anyway, my family won't need it for the time being."
Su Ze took it and took a look. "Yang Wenzhen's Metric Letters" "Orthodox"?
I only saw that the characters on this copybook were square and square, each character was horizontally and vertically, neatly written, and written like woodblock printing. This was the official font required for writing in the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty - "Taige style".
Duke Yang Wenzhen was Yang Shiqi, a famous official in the early Ming Dynasty. He was the master of the Taige style of the Ming Dynasty, and he rose to the rank of chief minister of the cabinet.
Yang Shiqi is a master of calligraphy. Although this book is a copybook of rubbings, it is also a very precious collection of books.
Su Ze had already guessed about Fang Ruolan's identity. The only person in Yanping Mansion who was qualified to collect this book was Fang Zhifu, who was a Jinshi.
Sure enough, Su Ze turned to the back and saw a collection stamp of "Xu Yashan Ren".
Su Ze heard that after taking office as the governor, Fang Zhifu renovated the pavilion in the back house and personally inscribed "Xu Ya Pavilion". This seal must be Fang Zhifu's collection seal.
Su Ze raised his head and looked at Fang Ruolan and expressed his gratitude to her: "Thank you Mr. Fang for the book." "It's
a borrowed book. This book is for you to copy. You will have to return it to me in a few days!"
Fang Ruolan finished speaking . , picked up the calligraphy that Su Ze had just written on the table, frowned and said: "Although this reed pen is easy to use, it will easily become crooked if you write too much. You will take the county examination next year, so you have to practice hard."
Su Ze didn't care about Fang Ruolan's nagging. He naturally knew that Fang Ruolan was doing it for his own future.
The brush pen is fine for writing text, but it is not as convenient as the reed pen for writing numbers and calculations.
After the invention of the reed pen, it was basically used by the swordsmen and pen clerks in the yamen or the accountants, and was looked down upon by mainstream literati.
After all, no matter how good you are at mathematics, you cannot be an official.
Su Ze was not prepared to change Fang Ruolan's concept.
Fang Ruolan said again: "I have proved the method of pushing the steps to the top!"
Fang Ruolan took out a piece of paper, which was a geometry question, and she looked at Su Ze proudly.
A few days ago, Su Ze was explaining arithmetic to the children. Fang Ruolan also became interested and listened to a few sessions.
Later, when she saw Su Ze doing arithmetic problems, she started doing the math too.
Fang Ruolan is indeed talented and intelligent. She quickly mastered Professor Su Ze's mathematical symbols and was able to solve the problems Su Ze left for the children.
After discovering the joy of arithmetic, Fang Ruolan began to beg Su Ze to give her questions.
The push-to-top method that can measure land, also known as Gauss's shoelace theorem, is the mathematical formula that Fang Ruolan is most interested in. After Su Ze threw a bunch of basic mathematical formulas at her, she actually derived the formula abruptly.
Fang Ruolan had a "praise me" expression all over her face, and Su Ze praised: "Master Fang is really talented in arithmetic!" Fang Ruolan
raised his head proudly, and Su Ze wrote down another question: "I still have another question. , does it count?”
Fang Ruolan thought about the days when she stayed up late to do math problems, but she had a temper that refused to admit defeat.
She immediately said: "Forget it!"
(End of Chapter)