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Text Chapter 226 The sextant was successful

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    Outside the Mingde Gate of Chang'an City, there is a straight cement avenue. It is also the starting point of the cement road from Chang'an to Songzhou.  After this cement road came out of Mingde Gate, it went straight south until three miles away, and then it began to turn with the terrain. At the turning point, there was an extremely important standard building.

    Chang'an Observatory, or Meridian Observatory.  This observatory was originally proposed by Li Min and designed by Li Chunfeng himself. It was originally built under the leadership of Yu Wenhu, but because of the military academy, it had to be handed over to others. In addition, it collided with the construction of the military academy.  As a result, there was a shortage of workers and materials, which made the construction very slow. It was not until the opening day of Li Min's marine life exhibition that the construction was finally completed.

    Li Min rode out of Mingde Gate with the purpose of coming to the observatory. The three-mile journey almost passed by in a flash. When the straight cement avenue began to turn, in the direction opposite to Mingde Gate, there was a  Fortress-like buildings rise from the ground.  This is Chang'an Observatory.

    The main body of the observatory is a cylinder like a turret, with a hemispherical shape like a pot lid on top. The entire body is made of the best cement and steel bars. Although using steel bars seems a bit luxurious, in order to make the observatory durable  , Li Min didn't care about the cost at all, and he even subsidized part of the funds.

    In addition, the colors of the observatory are also very interesting. The east side is white and the west side is black, which represent day and night respectively. At the intersection of black and white, there is a metal line made of bronze, which starts from the wall of the main building.  extending to the ground.  It is located exactly in the middle of the cement road, and extends forward for dozens of meters until it disappears under a high platform.

    The high platform in front of the observatory is even more interesting. Originally, when the observatory was built, there was no such high platform. Even this high platform has just been built, and the cement on it has not yet dried.  The reason for building this new high platform.  In fact, it is to place one thing on it, which is the skeleton of the whale.

    After the Lantern Festival, all the whale meat was eaten by the people of Chang'an.  However, the bones were preserved, and Li Min had even instructed the cooks in advance to try not to damage the bones when cutting the meat.  Therefore, the skeleton of this whale is very well preserved.

    Originally, according to Li Min's intention, he wanted to build a cement platform in Zhuque Square and put the whale skeleton on it to commemorate the significant event of the Marine Exhibition. In his opinion, such a complete whale skeleton  , itself an unparalleled work of art.

    "It's a pity that Li Min's advanced aesthetic vision was not feasible in the Tang Dynasty. As soon as his suggestion came out, not only Li Shimin frowned, but also the civil and military officials below expressed their opposition.  After all, Suzaku Square is a place of great political significance, and it has a sacred and solemn meaning. If a skeleton is suddenly placed on it, it would be unseemly, and it would be too unlucky!

    Since all ministers are opposed to it.  Li Shimin naturally rejected Li Min's proposal.  But Li Min is not discouraged. Since you have no vision, then this good thing belongs to me. If you don¡¯t let it go in the square, I will let it go at home. Think about it, putting a whale skeleton in your own garden will definitely be very bad in future generations.  A matter of honor.

    It¡¯s a pity that although his idea above is good.  But it didn't work, because both Wen Xin and Xi Jun, and even Wen'er and Hua'er, who had always been well-behaved, objected. The reason was that if such a scary thing was placed at home, they would not dare to play in the garden in the future.

    Well, Wen Xin and the others have very good reasons for their objections. After all, Li Min is not alone in the family. Wen Xin and the others are also family members, and they are also in charge of family affairs, so this matter is not within Li Min's authority.  Guilty, so he put the whale skeleton at home also declared bankruptcy.

    In desperation, Li Min had no choice but to give away the whale skeleton. Unfortunately, he asked Li Ke and his brothers, as well as Cheng Huailiang and Li Jingye, no one was willing to have this thing. After all, in their aesthetic view,  Come on, I really don¡¯t see what artistic value this skeleton has?

    Li Min, who felt that he was a little too high-minded, was very sad and angry. Although he had good intentions, he could not appreciate him at all.  Fortunately, at this time, someone took the initiative to come to the door to take away the whale skeleton. This person was Li Chunfeng who lived at the observatory.  Li Chunfeng is an astronomer with forward-looking vision, and he is also a great mathematician. Generally, people like this are different from ordinary people. What makes Li Chunfeng different from others may be his aesthetics, which he is just like Li Min.  He was a close friend. Hearing that the other party was selling his whale skeleton everywhere, Li Chunfeng immediately came to the door to take the thing away, and then placed it right in front of the observatory.

    When Li Min rushed to the observatory, the first thing he saw was this whale skeleton with its head raised and wagging its tail. In normal times, he would have dismounted and admired this exquisite work of art. Unfortunately, all he could think about today was  It was someone sent by Li Chunfeng.He didn't know what he was doing, so he didn't stop under the high platform at all. He rushed to the entrance of the observatory, jumped off his horse and rushed in.

    "Chang'an, 0 degrees; 34.33 degrees north latitude. Luoyang, 3.32 degrees east longitude; 34.27 degrees north latitude"

    As soon as Li Min broke in, he immediately saw Li Chunfeng and several officials from the Taishi Bureau reciting and recording the longitude and latitude of several cities. As soon as Li Chunfeng saw Li Min coming in, he immediately put down his pen and stood up and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness King Qi.  Wait a moment, the longitude and latitude of several cities around Chang'an will be verified soon."

    Although Li Min was anxious, he also knew that Li Chunfeng and the others were making calculations without making any mistakes, so he did not disturb them and found a seat to sit down. After a while, Li Chunfeng and the others finished the calculations. At this time, everyone's faces  They all showed a look of ecstasy.

    "Your Highness, I am very happy. We calculated the longitude and latitude of several cities around Chang'an, and then measured it with a newly made sextant. We then compared the two results and finally found that they are almost exactly the same. From this point of view, this  The sextant has finally been successfully developed!" Li Chunfeng held two pieces of paper filled with numerical symbols and danced to Li Min and shouted.

    When Li Chunfeng and Li Min lost their bet, they ended up helping Li Min do two things. The first was to help Li Min determine the longitude and latitude lines of the earth, and the other was to make a sextant to determine the longitude and latitude of the surveyor.  The first thing was not difficult at all for Li Chunfeng, it was just some calculations that were not too difficult.  The second thing is a bit troublesome. Li Chunfeng has been busy with this matter since Dengzhou, but unfortunately it has never been successful. Later, Li Chunfeng returned to Chang'an and has not put down the development of the sextant. Now after nearly two years of research,  , finally got the sextant out.

    In fact, the sextant had been made years ago, but Li Chunfeng did not alarm Li Min at that time. After all, this thing was only theoretically feasible and had not been measured on the ground. So after he made the sextant, he sent  Several groups of people went to the surrounding cities of Chang'an, measured the longitude and latitude of these cities with sextants, and then sent the results back to Chang'an.

    Li Chunfeng finally received the results this morning. He then calculated the previous measurement data of several cities and obtained the actual longitude and latitude of several cities. He compared this data with the measured data and found that the error was extremely small.  This also proves the accuracy of sextant measurement.

    "Quickly, show me the sextant!" Li Min also rubbed his hands excitedly. With a sharp tool like the sextant, he no longer has to worry about getting lost at sea, and this is also a sign that he is looking forward to it.  The prelude to that great era of navigation is finally about to begin!

    Seeing Li Min¡¯s eager look, Li Chunfeng laughed, turned around and picked up a strange instrument from the table next to him. It was as big as the palms of two adults and was made of brass. It looked extremely beautiful.  I saw that the main body of the sextant is a 60-degree sector, with scales marked on the side of the arc. There is a monocular telescope and a small translucent mirror at the two radii of the sector.  It's just that Li Min has been fiddling with it for a long time, but he doesn't know how to operate it, but he actually doesn't care about this, as long as this thing is easy to use.

    "Brother Chunfeng, it shouldn't be difficult to make a sextant. Can it be mass-produced now?" Li Min asked impatiently. He now wished that all the ships in the Tang Dynasty would use this thing. After all, there are  With this magic weapon, maritime merchants will have a life-saving weapon. They will be more courageous to sail on the sea in the future, and the opportunities to open up new routes will also increase accordingly.

    However, after hearing Li Min's question, Li Chunfeng showed a wry smile and bowed to answer: "Your Highness, there is no problem with the production of the sextant, but the problem is the operation of the sextant. Although it does not have the same requirements for the user,  High, but at least they must have a certain foundation in mathematics and be able to do some simple calculations. However, there are very few people like this among people sailing on the sea now, so even if they have a sextant, they don¡¯t know how to use it!  "

    Li Chunfeng¡¯s words can be said to hit the point. Li Min has never paid much attention to the issue of education. In his view, as long as the people become rich, the issue of education will naturally be solved.  But now that sea trade wants to develop, it has put forward a requirement for the cultural level of the crew. To solve this problem, it seems that we have to educate a group of crew members who know arithmetic.

    Thinking of this question, Li Min was silent for a long time, and then he said to Li Chunfeng: "Brother Chunfeng, I am leaving Chang'an soon, but the sextant is very important, so you should discuss it with Wang Zihao in my house first.  He will first open a factory to specialize in the production of sextants. As for the training of users, I will take care of this, but you first send me some people who can operate sextants!"

    "That's no problem. I just want to send a few disciples to practice on the sea. Just let them go with you. As for the arrangements, it all depends on His Highness!" Li Chunfeng was also very generous. He vaguely felt that,  I am helping LiLet¡¯s create a great era!
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