Chapter 603 0598 [The Son of Heaven Is the Sun? ]

On top of Genyue, a large piece of land has been allocated to the Astronomical Institute, including pavilions and towers that have not yet been demolished.

Ma Hui, the newly appointed dean, is now leading a group of astronomers to observe the stars, and there are two vice deans beside him - Shen Wei and Li Yi.

Shen Wei is the great-nephew of Shen Kuo.

His grandfather Shen Ke was of a very young generation and was always mistaken for Shen Kuo's brother, but in fact he was Shen Kuo's nephew.

Shen Kuo lived a miserable life in his later years. His second wife was irritable and vicious, and even drove Shen Kuo's only son out of the house. Shen Kuo could not resist because he was imprisoned by the court and his second father-in-law was in a high position.

Therefore, Shen Kuo's lifelong knowledge, including his improved movable type printing, was inherited by his brothers and nephews.

Another vice dean, Li Yi, is only 28 years old this year. He used to be a wing soldier who could read a few words. He and several other wing soldiers were rewarded by Song Huizong to Zhu Guoxiang as a close follower, and he has been studying mathematics with Zhu Guoxiang for ten years.

Dean Ma Hui also has a background. His great-great-grandfather was Ma Yize (also translated as Muyiza, Muyizi), who compiled the Yingtian Calendar.

Ma Yize was regarded as an ancestor by many Hui people in later generations. He was born in the Byzantine Empire.

He came to China in his forties. He not only compiled the calendar for the Song Dynasty, but also introduced the week system, revised the twelve constellations, etc. He was then canonized as a marquis by Zhao Kuangyin and took charge of the Sitianjian.

His eldest son also took charge of the Sitianjian, the second son served as the deputy of the Sitianjian, and the third son introduced astrology into the army of the Song Dynasty.

At present, the work of Ma Hui, Shen Wei and Li Yi is to build several astronomical observation instruments based on the heliocentric theory given by Zhu Guoxiang, and to correct and update the star catalogs and star maps.

The astronomical officials under them came from the Sitianjian, the Astronomical Institute and the School of Mathematics of the old Song Dynasty.

"Dean, many officials have come down the mountain!"

"Please ask them to come up."

Ma Hui felt a headache. He didn't want to be disturbed at this time.

From the time Zhu Guoxiang ascended the throne to now, for a full fifteen months, he has been studying mathematics and physics, and studying the heliocentric universe model. Now that he has mastered the new knowledge and is preparing to do a big job, the emperor asked him to give an astronomical explanation to the officials.

After a while of busy work, dozens of officials came over with lanterns.

Shen Wei saw the person in front of him and said happily: "Huang Xianggong (Huang Shang) is here too, so we can save a lot of saliva."

The Northern Song Dynasty conducted six large-scale observations of the starry sky and drew the results into star maps. The latest version of the star map is the "Astronomical Map" compiled by Huang Shang.

With Huang Shang present, it is indeed more convincing.

Prime Minister Zhang Gen walked in front, he bowed to the astronomers and asked directly: "How to determine whether the Hun Tian theory is false?"

Ma Hui bowed in return, but his eyes looked at Huang Shang.

Huang Shang was the dean of the Astronomical Institute last year. He smiled and said: "Does Zhang Xianggong know that the five stars are retrograde?"

"Of course I know." Zhang Gen replied.

The five stars are the five planets, representing the five virtues and the fortune of the dynasties, which is the cause of this court debate.

Planet retrograde was a focus of astrology in ancient countries. The "Mercury retrograde" often mentioned in later generations refers to Mercury retrograde.

As early as the Han Wudi period, the retrograde of the five planets was regarded as a normal astronomical phenomenon. However, the popularity of the theory of heaven and man's induction and Wang Mang's extensive use of prophecies and divinations were a step backward in the development of astronomy.

In the Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo summarized an algorithm that could roughly calculate the trajectory of planetary motion.

Huang Shang drew a heliocentric model on the ground, pointed to two planets and said: "This is the Earth, this is Firefly (Mars), they both revolve around the sun. The Earth is closer to the sun, and Firefly is farther from the sun. When the Earth is ahead of Firefly, if people observe from the ground, they will find that Firefly is retrograde. In fact, Firefly is always moving forward, but the speed is slower than the Earth, so it looks like it is moving backward."

Zhang Gen carefully observed the model on the ground, and soon asked: "According to this statement, Venus revolves around the sun faster, why does Venus also retrograde?"

This is really hard to express verbally, Huang Shang took off his belt and asked two astronomers to simulate the movement of the Earth and Venus. He connected the Earth and Venus with the belt, and drew a trajectory with stones at a certain point on the extension line.

There is no need to explain anything, Huang Shang did not say a word, and everyone understood it just by looking at the drawn trajectory.

Zhai Ruwen asked: "If the sun is the center, do you have a way to calculate the movement of the five planets?"

"There are two." Ma Hui asked his subordinates to bring a stack of manuscript paper.

Zhai Ruwen opened it and saw the three laws of planetary motion.

This was not something that could be mastered in a short time. Zhai Ruwen took the manuscript into the house and studied it carefully by the light of the oil lamp.

Zhang Gen walked to the astronomical telescope, and Li Yi helped him adjust the lens and angle.

Zhang Gen looked closely at the telescope and could not move his eyes away.

"How is it?" Li Bangyan was just here to join in the fun.

Zhang Gen sighed, stepped back and said, "Just watch it for yourself."

Li Bangyan stuck his butt out and observed for a while, and also sighed, "There is no Guanghan Palace, and there is no Chang'e. Now that I have seen the true face of the moon, how can I write poems and lyrics in the future? I don't want to write about the moon anymore."

Zhong Shidao also curiously came over, observed for a moment and then quietly retreated.

One official after another came forward to check.

Today is only the first batch, and they line up according to their ranks. There will be people for the next half month.

Zhang Gen thought for a moment and asked, "In other words, the sun, moon, earth, and five planets are all floating in the void?"

Ma Hui nodded, "Yes."

Zhao Yu, the Minister of War, asked: "Why can it revolve around the sun and not escape in other directions?"

Ma Hui explained: "Zhang Heng's Hunyi Notes" says: 'The celestial body is like a chicken egg, and the celestial body is round like a bullet.' The first half of the sentence may be wrong, but the second half is true. Including the earth under our feet, it is also a bullet in the void. The current Holy Emperor has taught: All celestial bodies have gravity and can attract each other. Everything falls down because of gravity. The sun has the greatest gravity, and the earth and the five stars are attracted to revolve around it."

Huang Shang tied the stone with the belt and pulled the belt to swing it: "My fist is the sun, the stone is the earth, and the stone is the sun. Five stars, and the belt is the invisible gravity. The sun does not move, and the rest rotate around it. "

Chen Dong also came tonight. He clenched his fist and observed for a while, and asked: "Isn't the earth a sphere? Even if the earth has gravity, people on the other side of the sphere will not fall into the sky, but do they have to live upside down all the time?"

Shen Wei smiled and said: "If people on the other side of the earth knew this, they would also have such questions."

Li Yi said: "The earth is big enough, even so big that we don't know it is a sphere. So people in every place feel that they are standing on the earth and the sky is above their heads."

Everyone was thoughtful and it was difficult to accept for a while.

Qin Hui also clenched his fist and observed: "If you sail out to sea in Hangzhou and sail east all the time, can you still return to Hangzhou?"

Ma Hui said seriously: "The government said it is possible."

"What about the moon?" Zhao Ding asked.

Shen Wei explained: "The moon is very small, it revolves around the earth. Solar and lunar eclipses are also caused by this."

Shen Wei lay on the ground, Li Yi went to help, and the two demonstrated the relationship between the sun, the moon, and the earth, and explained the causes of solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and tides.

The officials looked at each other, they wanted to refute, but they didn't know how to refute.

Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, there have been the Hun Tian theory and the Gai Tian theory.

The former can be simply understood as the geocentric theory (actually more complicated), and the latter is the theory of the round sky and the square earth.

The scholars who have a little knowledge of astronomy believe in the Hun Tian theory more, and various astronomical instruments are also made according to the Hun Tian theory.

Now it is really difficult to suddenly let them believe that the sun is the center.

The official prohibition of the Song Dynasty from studying astronomy among the people, but there are many people who secretly study astronomy. At least one-fifth of the dozens of officials in front of them have learned it, and the remaining four-fifths have some knowledge.

Hu Anguo did not speak from beginning to end. After looking at the moon, he stepped aside and listened quietly.

He was thinking that the sun and the moon represent yin and yang, but the sun is so big, and the moon just revolves around the earth. What should be done with this yin and yang theory?

If the day is yang and the night is yin, but the day and night are also caused by the rotation of the earth, this theory is also difficult to stand firm.

Hu Anguo walked under a tree and stared at the sky in a daze.

I don’t know how long it took, Hu Anguo suddenly realized and knew how to explain it.

Yin and yang are metaphysical things, which are elusive and unpredictable.

The sun and the moon, day and night are physical things, which are the embodiment of yin and yang, so they can be perceived.

The whole sky is still like a chicken egg, but the sun is the yolk of the chicken egg, and the saying that the earth is like the yolk of the chicken egg should be abandoned.

Hu Anguo didn’t care about other officials. He walked down the mountain quickly, took a car back home to write articles, and reconstructed the cosmology of Luoxue-

The universe was originally chaotic and empty, that is, the state of Taiji. Taiji evolved into yin and yang, which are elusive and embodied into all things in the universe, including celestial bodies in the void.

The concretized universe is like an egg, with the sun as the yolk in the middle. The earth and the five stars revolve around the sun, while other stars are in the outer layer, and the gods are also in the outer layer of the heaven.

The five virtues of the five planets do not live on the five stars, but the five stars contain their five elements.

The sun is like a father, so it is strong and far away, representing yang. The moon is like a mother, so it is weak and close, representing yin.

Qiankun can also be explained in this way.

Since the sun is the center of the universe, it must be the residence of the Lord of Heaven.

The Son of Heaven is also the Son of the Sun.

No wonder the new dynasty is called Daming. Isn't "Daming" another name for the sun?

Hu Anguo slapped his thighs, feeling that he had figured out the origin of the name of Daming.

There was no Sun Star God in the Song Dynasty, so Hu Anguo directly equated the sun with the Lord of Heaven.

But what about Hou Tu?

The sun and the moon are a pair, so should the sun and the earth be paired as husband and wife?

Hu Anguo began to scratch his head. This was not simply to determine the position of the gods, but also to construct an ideology.

"No, the sky is the sky, it is the universe. The son of the universe is the sun, the son of the emperor!" Hu Anguo slapped his thigh again.

Hu Anguo quickly picked up the pen. The emperor is the incarnation of the sun and the son of the universe.

Anyway, the gods of Taoism can be changed and replaced at will. The emperor can just issue an edict to confer them.

During the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, there were even twelve zodiac gods, which were serious Taoist gods, but they evolved from the twelve constellations in the West. Moreover, astrology was very popular in the Song Dynasty, which was similar to those who play with constellations in modern times.

Han Yu, Su Shi, and Wen Tianxiang were all constellation experts, and they belonged to the most unlucky Capricorn.

Until the late Qing Dynasty, constellations were still used to complain.

Zeng Guofan said: "Your fate is quite Scorpio, it's a pity that you are so sad."

Li Hongzhang said: "You will be able to clear your name after you arrive, and you will be sent to the Scorpio Palace in your old age."

Even the twelve constellations can be absorbed by Taoism, so what's the big deal about changing them now?