"Miss Li, I heard that you recently wrote a poem called 'Rumeng Ling: Last Night's Light Rain and Strong Wind'?"

In front of the blackboard.

Upon hearing Xu Yun's words.

Xiaoli's face immediately displayed a trace of visible pride, though she still modestly replied:

"It's just a humble work, not worth mentioning on the stage. Uncle Su's literary talent is truly outstanding."

A few months ago, within a week's time, she wrote two pieces of As if in a Dream.

They are the later famous 'Rumeng Ling: Always Remember the Stream Pavilion at Dusk' and 'Rumeng Ling: Last Night's Light Rain and Strong Wind.'

It was precisely these two poems that suddenly brought Xiaoli great fame, somewhat exemplifying the saying 'one piece to fame.'

The lyrics of the Song Dynasty are different from the poetry of the Tang Dynasty. While Tang poetry can be recited directly, Song lyrics were meant to be sung, with the title indicating the melody.

However, since Xu Yun's intention was to give an example, he began to recite softly:

"Last night, light rain and strong wind,

A heavy sleep couldn't dispel the lingering wine.

I asked the one who rolled up the blinds,

She said, 'Haitang remains as before.'

Do you know,

Do you know?

It should be the green lush, red lean!"

After reciting, he clapped and praised:

"No need for modest words, Miss Li's literary talent is truly admirable. I consider myself inferior.

Especially this last line, Miss Li, I heard that this was a question to your maid?"

Xiaoli nodded slightly, seeming to recall her somewhat careless maid, and her lips curved into a smile:

"Indeed, that day I drank and got drunk, vaguely remembering the rain was light and the wind was strong outside, with calls resounding like tiger roars and dragon groans before falling asleep.

After waking up, I thought about the unprotected Haitang in the courtyard, so I asked Huan'Er about the situation outside.

Unexpectedly, that clumsy girl was rolling up the blinds, yet without looking outside once, she told me, 'Miss, the Haitang is just like yesterday.'

I couldn't help but lightly scold her once.

After all, after a storm, flowers would definitely have been blown to the ground, and there would mostly be only some leaves left on the tree."

Xu Yun glanced at her, his expression a bit wry.

In this era, being in the service of a lady like Xiaoli was indeed a blessing for a maid, wasn't it?

But soon.

He shifted the topic and said:

"Then Miss Li, may I ask another question?"

Xiaoli glanced at him seriously and said:

"Wang Lin, you are now a guest in Uncle Su's house, having left the servant status, so don't refer to yourself as a mere person. Please speak directly."

Xu Yun gave her a slight bow to express his gratitude, then asked:

"Miss Li, since you know that the Haitang outside is lushly green and leanly red, have you ever thought about why this scene occurs?"

A question mark floated onto Xiaoli's face:

"?"

Seeing the somewhat bewildered Xiaoli, Xu Yun continued to ask:

"Miss Li, let me ask you, where did the blown-off Haitang flowers go?"

Xiaoli blinked and the answer slipped out:

"Of course, they fell to the ground."

Xu Yun nodded slightly, then pointed to the sky, then the ground, and said:

"Then Miss Li, let me ask you, why don't these Haitang fly up to the sky but rather fall to the ground?"

Xiaoli was stunned and subconsciously wanted to answer:

"Because... because... "

But after 'because' for quite a while, this young lady was suddenly surprised to find that she couldn't answer this seemingly common question!

Objects at a certain height fall when support is lost, a common knowledge even for a three-year-old child.

Yet, it seemed no one had ever told her why this phenomenon occurred, as if it was a given.

As Xiaoli fell into contemplation.

Old Su and Xiaozhao, who were beside her, also showed different expressions.

Like Xiaoli, Xiaozhao had a slightly open mouth, looking bewildered, as if slightly challenged.

But Old Su was different.

His face, though slightly surprised, was more filled with a thoughtful expression.

After a while, he slowly said:

"Xiaowang, over forty years ago, I had the fortune of meeting Mr. Hengqu.

We hit it off immediately, often talking by candlelight, discussing astronomy, geography, ancient and modern civilization, leaving no stone unturned.

During one conversation about the geographical features, we casually discussed from the phrase 'water flows to lower places' the reason why objects fall.

At that time, Mr. Hengqu believed that the earth's soil possessed a certain magnetic force that actively attracts objects to our feet.

However, such magnetic force is invisible to the naked eye, and since it was a casually mentioned topic back then, it wasn't explored further."

Upon hearing Old Su's words, Xu Yun was slightly taken aback.

Soon, a question in his heart was silently unraveled:

Previously, when Old Su was studying the operation of the generator, upon seeing Xu Yun the next day, he had proposed a principle about 'force.'

That principle, in some sense, was infinitely close to the truth of magnetic-generated electricity.

At that time, while astonished, Xu Yun had a vague doubt in his heart:

That Old Su's angle of approach seemed a bit too precise, directly pinpointing the core of magnetic force application.

However, considering that Old Su is now in a fully mature state, unlike Little Niu in the 1665 dungeon who was still in his youthful version.

Thus Xu Yun once believed that it was by relying on experience that he thought of this aspect, after all, there are too many precedents of sudden insights in scientific history.

But now it seems.

Old Su's exploration of 'force'—or rather the rudimentary recognition—should have begun more than forty years ago.

Mr. Hengqu.

Refers to Zhang Zai.

Zhang Zai is one of the most famous thinkers, educators, and founders of Neo-Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the most renowned among the Five Scholarly Masters of the Northern Song.

He developed the thought of "Qi Monism," becoming the master of the ancient Chinese dialectical "Two-One" theory.

Of course.

Compared to Zhang Zai's name, a sentence he said might be more famous:

"To establish the heart for Heaven and Earth, to set the destiny for the people, to continue the lost teachings of past sages, and to open peace for all generations."

That's right.

This quote, which appears in 90% of pre-Song Dynasty transmigration literature, is from Zhang Zai's mouth.

At the same time, Zhang Zai was also a relatively rare supporter of the round Earth theory in ancient times.

Speaking of the round Earth theory, later generations generally believe that in the 6th century BC, the Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras first proposed the concept of Earth.

By the 3rd century BC.

The scientist Eratosthenes, living in Alexandria, established the concept of Earth using geometric methods, and calculated Earth's diameter.

In ancient Huaxia, there were quite a few supporters of the round Earth theory as well.

The most famous probably belongs to the Eastern Han Zhang Heng in his "Commentary on the Celestial Sphere" and the phrase:

"The whole sky is like an egg. The celestial body is round like a pellet, the Earth is like the yolk inside, isolated within the sky. The sky is large, the Earth is small. The inside of the sky contains water. The sky encases the Earth, like a shell covering the yolk. Heaven and Earth are both held up by Qi, floating on the water."

Also, in the "Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor - Su Wen" Five Elemental Movements and Great Theory, it is recorded:

"The Emperor asked, is the ground then underneath? Qi Bo said, the Earth is underneath man, while at the center of the Grand Void. The Emperor asked, and yet? Qi Bo said, it is lifted by the great Qi."

Which means the Yellow Emperor asked what is beneath Heaven and Earth?

Qi Bo said there is nothing beneath Heaven and Earth, it is a vast void.

Then the Yellow Emperor asked what the vast void is?

Qi Bo said, Heaven and Earth float within that space.

Unfortunately.

Due to various reasons, ancient Huaxia never developed a complete theoretical system of the round Earth theory, with each dynasty having scattered supporters, only starting to truly improve during the Ming Dynasty.

Of course.

Given the current timeline of 1100, it's relatively not too far from the Ming Dynasty (compared to the Han and Tang), so supporters of the round Earth theory were not particularly rare and certainly not considered heretical.

The Zhang Zai mentioned by Old Su was the most famous scholar of the round Earth theory during the Song Dynasty.

In his most important work "Zheng Meng," Zhang Zai once said a few sentences:

"The Earth is pure yin condensed in the center, the sky is floating yang moving on the outside, this is the regular form of Heaven and Earth."

"The stars do not move, purely aligned with the sky, and do not end with the floating yang in motion. The sun, moon, and five planets move against the sky, encompassing the Earth."

"The Earth is within Qi, even if it spins left in harmony with the sky, the stars attached will follow."

Of course.

The "stars" in the second sentence don't refer to stars as we know them but to fixed celestial bodies.

Apart from this.

Zhang Zai also believed that objects fall because 'all things have magnetism':

There is a space deep below the ground where the soil has a special magnetic force, which attracts objects to fall.

And humans aren't completely absorbed into the Earth's core because they are blocked by surface soil.

So he warned later people not to dig too deep into the ground, lest they dig away all the surface soil and cause everyone to be pulled into the center of the Earth.

Frankly speaking.

From the perspective of later generations, many points of Zhang Zai's arguments were actually quite incorrect.

For instance, the force that attracts objects to fall is not magnetism, and the 'surface' beneath our feet is extremely deep, over six thousand kilometers.

Even the future Mao Xiong's Kola Superdeep Borehole reached only 12,262 meters deep.

If we imagine the Earth as a building with thirty floors, each floor separated by 20 steps.

Then future people would only just be standing at the entrance of the top floor, having descended...

A single step.

So, don't worry about collapsing the ground, even if the Earth did nothing and let you dig, humanity could never hollow out the Earth.

But still, the point is.

Judging a viewpoint from a thousand years ago with the relatively formed knowledge system of later generations is meaningless in itself.

The viewpoints of Zhang Zai can be said to have already reached the pinnacle of the time, and in nature, have touched upon the realm of gravity.

Regrettably, Zhang Zai was not a professional physicist and had not gone through much education in physics knowledge.

So after proposing his viewpoints, he didn't have the capability to prove his reasoning, instead turning to speculate on Neo-Confucianism.

However, influenced by Zhang Zai, Old Su clearly possessed some related understanding, which is evidently a good thing.

Therefore, upon hearing Old Su's words, Xu Yun nodded slightly to him, admiringly saying:

"Mr. Hengqu's knowledge is profound, though his notion of magnetism isn't entirely accurate, it's very close to the truth."

Then he stomped the ground, his cloth shoes making a solid and dull contact sound with the surface:

"According to the notes from Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect, the land under our feet is called Earth, a nearly spherical body.

And the force that attracts objects downward is what we call gravity."

........

Note:

Afraid of being accused of padding content, an explanation: these two chapters set up a very long-term foreshadowing, one of the top three in importance in this book, everyone might consider keeping an eye here.

By the way, there should be ten fan titles this month, everyone can pay attention to the comment section, there are four alliance leader bosses, probably only available to helmsmen and above.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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