My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 126: Before meeting Zheng Xuan, he made a great impression

On the first day of October, Bohai Sea, along the coast of Donglai County, Qingzhou.

Zhuge Liang stood on the cabin roof of the Dasha ship with a modified bilge keel, looking at the sea around him, with some excitement still in his eyes.

At first, he was not very enthusiastic about the mission to visit Yuan Shao, as he felt it was not challenging and would take several months.

However, his elder brother's earnest advice before he left piqued his interest. Since this might be the only time in his life that he would be able to negotiate with the lords, he should do it well.

If you become as famous as Big Brother in the future, it will be dangerous to carry out such missions again.

Moreover, the eldest brother also took into consideration that he would be bored at sea, so he prepared a lot of scrolls for him to play with when he had nothing to do.

Zhuge Liang's math and physics skills were already very solid, with math roughly equivalent to the level of a freshman in high school, and physics equivalent to the level of mechanics and optics in junior high school. This was more than enough for people in the late Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the focus of the training materials Zhuge Jin gave him in the past few months has changed again.

There is no need to strengthen the basic mathematical and physical skills. At most, adding some application questions in astronomy and calendar will be enough to broaden one's horizons and inspire one's thinking. Even this is to make it easier for Zhuge Liang to show off in front of Zheng Xuan in Gaomi and help Yuan Tan gain Zheng Xuan's attention and praise.

Many people in later generations' impression of Zheng Xuan remains at the level of "a great scholar of the time, who learned from Ma Rong and it is said that Yuan Shao respected him very much."

This is all because of a side quest fabricated in Koei Tecmo's "Devouring the Heaven and Earth": before Liu Bei went to Hebei to join Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao was angry that Liu Bei killed his brother and did not want to accept him. In the end, he asked Zheng Xuan for a "letter of introduction" before being accepted by Yuan Shao.

But in fact, Zheng Xuan was not just a stereotyped Confucian scholar. His level of mathematics, astronomy and calendar was the highest among the great Confucian scholars of his time. Lu Zhi and Cai Yong were far inferior to him in these fields.

This was all due to the fact that Zheng Xuan studied many subjects when he was young and learned mathematics from Diwu Yuanxian, the descendant of the Diwu family, a family of mathematicians.

It is said that when he later became a disciple of Ma Rong in Chang'an, Ma Rong had so many disciples, thousands of them, that he only taught his most proud disciple personally, and the others had to be taught by him.

Zheng Xuan did not see Ma Rong for the first three years. Later, Ma Rong was asked to solve the calculation problem of the armillary sphere. He could not figure it out. Someone said that Zheng Xuan was proficient in the armillary sphere, so Ma Rong asked someone to call Zheng Xuan to try. Zheng Xuan solved it easily and entered Ma Rong's inner sect.

That's why Zhuge Jin specifically strengthened his second brother's skill points in this area, so that after he meets Zheng Xuan, he can replicate the classic scene of Zheng Xuan meeting Ma Rong.

This was Zhuge Liang's first time going out to sea. Before coming to Guangling, he had never even seen the sea. In the six months since arriving in Guangling, he had only visited the seaside during water conservancy surveys, but had never taken a boat out to sea.

So he was so excited during the first five or six days that he didn't even bother to read. He just looked at the sea view. On the seventh day, he gradually adapted and shortened the time of looking at the sea view to one or two hours a day, and he spent the rest of the time studying his elder brother's secret scrolls, observing the stars at night as a record of his practice, and writing a few poems to express his feelings.

……

That afternoon, as they were getting closer to their destination, Zhuge Liang looked out from the top of the cabin for a while, and suddenly saw Zhao Yun hurriedly coming towards him from behind the boat, so he smiled and asked:
"Zilong, are we almost at Beihai County? I remember you've taken this route before, so you should have an impression of the surrounding terrain."

Zhuge Liang asked, fiddling with the water plate and magnetic needle in his hands to confirm the angle of their current location. Calculated from the slope angle of the protruding part of the coastline, this should be Dangli County, which is the border between Donglai County and Beihai County.

The ancient compass technology, from the late Warring States period to the Western Han Dynasty, used Sinan.

The prototype of the magnetic needle appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but it was still in the shape of a long strip. Historically, the magnetic needle was not mature until the Jin Dynasty, when it completely evolved into a diamond shape.

It was not until the Tang Dynasty that people came up with the idea of adding a water tray under the magnetic needle to allow the needle to float and turn, reducing resistance.

But these are not difficult. It is easy to think of grinding the magnetic needle to be sharper, making the north and south poles more accurate, and adding a water tray. Before his second brother left, Zhuge Jin ordered the craftsmen to make this upgraded magnetic needle.

After filling the water tray with water, I added a Donghai crystal cover on the top to prevent the water from shaking out. This way, when using it in a bumpy sea environment, you don't have to add water every time. If you add seawater, the magnetic needle will corrode quickly.

Seeing Zhuge Liang's thoughtful look, Zhao Yun felt embarrassed to interrupt his interest, so he temporarily held back on reporting the bad news.

When Zhuge Liang had almost finished playing, he heard another bowstring sound beside his ear, which woke him up. Then he was shocked to see Zhao Yun standing on the top of the cabin, holding the bow steadily with one hand, and the bowstring was still trembling slightly.

Zhuge Liang was stunned: "Zilong, what are you shooting at?"

Zhao Yun pointed behind him with the scabbard of his bow: "I hope I am not disturbing you from studying. Actually, I wanted to report that we seem to be targeted by pirates, but seeing you are so focused, I couldn't bear to interrupt you. The pirates' ship is not as fast as ours, so they can definitely run away if they want.

I'm afraid the pirates have other ways to pass the message, and if there are other ships to outflank us, it will be difficult to deal with. If you don't mind riding a horse on the shore, I have a way to lure the enemy, lure the pirates on the boats ashore, and kill them in an ambush - in this sea, we can only shoot occasionally with bows and arrows, which is really difficult to use. "

Zhuge Liang fully respected Zhao Yun's opinion, looked at the map, and said: "We can find a place to dock nearby. Although it is still a bit far from Zibo River, we can change the itinerary plan and dock at Xiami first, visit Zheng Kangchenggong in Gaomi, and then go to Zibo to visit Yuan Tan."

With Zhuge Liang's approval, Zhao Yun did not hesitate and directly ordered the fleet to turn south and dock as soon as possible.

The sailing ships of this era were not far from the coastline and could land in an hour or two at most. So they rushed to drive the ship into the mouth of the Jiaoshui River before dark.

The low pirate ships behind, which were not like the warships, had been following closely. When they saw the fat sheep in front sail into the inland river and disappeared for a while, they could only choose to land at the dock town at the river mouth.

A hundred or so people rushed over directly, as if they were going to search and kill the entire town. It seemed that they were old thieves who were used to committing crimes on the northern coast of Shandong Peninsula.

"Yuan Tan has occupied Qingzhou for more than a year, but he governs the place so poorly? There are even numerous pirates."

After Zhao Yun landed, he found a high place to observe and ordered dozens of elite riders to protect Zhuge Liang and Sun Qian and hide themselves from rash actions. He saw the right opportunity and rode back with his spear when the pirates landed and tried to disperse to search.

It seemed that the pirates were only concerned with whether there were any Yuan troops stationed in the town, and did not care about the existence of Zhao Yun, a lone man, at all. They did not pay enough attention to him even when he was approaching them.

Zhao Yun aimed at his target and rushed to a pirate leader easily. There were only a dozen people around him, and they drew their swords to meet Zhao Yun. Unfortunately, the pirates used short weapons such as ring-headed swords, and very few people used long spears at sea. Such weapons were not long enough to threaten the cavalry generals. Zhao Yun killed four people who blocked his way without saying a word, and then stabbed the pirate leader to death with a spear. Then he took his time to put the long spear on the neck of another pirate and asked coldly:
"Where are you pirates from? What's the name of your leader? Whoever answers first will be spared."

The pirate who was held at gunpoint was so frightened that his pants were wet, and he confessed: "We are the remnants of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou! The brothers on land were chased and killed by Cao Cao and Yuan Tan one after another, and the rest followed the leader Guan Cheng to escape to the islands between Donglai and Liaodong."

This sentence was quite long. While he was speaking, several pirates who didn't realize the situation rushed up and wanted to fish in troubled waters. They were all killed by Zhao Yun. When the tip of the spear left the neck of the pirate who confessed, the pirate couldn't help but raise his head slightly.

But after Zhao Yun killed the man, the spear returned to its original position, exactly as accurate as the undamped pendulum in the physics experiment class.

The neck of the pirate who confessed was lifted forward a little when the spear was moved away. After the spear was moved back to its original position, a deep bloody wound was left on the side of the neck.

The confessing pirate was frightened again and his whole body froze. He endured the severe pain from the bloody wound on the side of his neck and dared not move at all. His ten fingers were nervously inserted deeply into the sand on the beach.

After Zhao Yun heard his full confession, he put away his spear and went to kill the other scattered pirates. In a short while, he killed dozens of them. The rest fled back to the boat and rowed away from the coast. He didn't even have time to put away the anchor stone, but directly drew his sword to cut the hemp rope that tied the anchor stone.

When the pirates were making trouble, the people in the dock town had shut their doors and hid in their homes, trembling in fear. After Zhao Yun had killed all the pirates left on the shore, a few local elders and petty officials came out to thank Zhao Yun:
"May I know your name, General? Are you a member of this county prince's command?"

Zhao Yun picked up a relatively clean piece of the dead man's clothes from the ground and wiped the blood off the spear. "We are not local soldiers. We are envoys sent by General Liu Zhengnan to visit Yuan Qingzhou. We have crossed the sea. My dear father, may I ask where the academy of Zheng Kangchenggong in Gaomi should go?"

Seeing his bravery and might, the three local elders could not help but admire him, and quickly told him the way and recorded the whole story of the pirates. When the Qingzhou garrison came here to inquire about the pirates, they would report the truth.

After Zhao Yun left, the people of Haigang Town who were saved by him were still discussing: "General Liu Zhengnan, could it be that he is the Lord Liu Xuande who once rescued Governor Kong? He is truly a righteous gentleman. He has such a brave general under his command. We in Beihai have probably never seen one before."

"Ah, Liu Xuande's subordinates had Taishi Ziyi and Zhao Zilong back then, both of whom were such sharpshooters and brave. I heard that the Yellow Turban Guan Hai died at their hands, saving the former Governor Kong. After Guan Hai's death, Guan Cheng took over his remnants and retreated to Shanghai Island. This time they met General Liu's former subordinates again. It's not the fate of those pirates!"

……

Zhao Yun assigned some people to guard the boat and contacted the local officials of Xia Mi County to file a record. Then he rode his horse to protect Zhuge Liang and Sun Qian and headed south to find the place where Zheng Xuan was living in seclusion and teaching.

Since the plan had changed, he first convinced Zheng Xuan to go on a trip to Yecheng with him, and allowed several disciples to take up official positions.

In this way, it will also increase bargaining chips for Liu Bei and Yuan Tan when negotiating with Yuan Shao later.

Zhuge Liang didn't know that in history, Zheng Xuan was forced by Yuan Tan to serve as an military advisor, but those things were actually not suitable for Zheng Xuan to do.

For a great scholar like him who is highly respected but old and frail, it is more appropriate for him to teach and educate people. At most, he can move his teaching position from Gaomi Mountain to Yecheng - and this is exactly what the Zhuge brothers hope to promote.

It was already late that day and they could not reach Gaomi County, so they stayed overnight in a small town near Jiaoshui River in the south of Xiami County and continued their journey the next day. Finally, they successfully found Zheng Xuan's secluded place.

The officials of Xia Mi and Gao Mi counties also knew the identities of Zhuge Liang and his party. In appreciation of their contribution in killing the pirates, they gave them some convenience within their power. They also knew that Liu Bei had done a favor to Yuan Tan. When these envoys met Yuan Tan and were willing to speak a few good words for him, the local officials of these counties would definitely benefit greatly.

Among the envoys, Sun Qian was actually Zheng Xuan's disciple, but he left his master and joined Liu Bei four years ago. Liu Bei sent Sun Qian to Hebei this time, also considering this relationship.

So when they arrived outside Zheng Xuan's manor, Sun Qian wanted to volunteer to ask for an audience. But Zhuge Liang dissuaded him, saying, "Brother Gongyou, let me try. This time we want to encourage Duke Kang Cheng to go to Linzi and Yecheng. We cannot ask for his feelings, but we must persuade him with reason and show him the way to study."

Then Zhao Yun went forward and knocked on the door. After a while, a boy came out to ask, and Zhuge Liang explained his purpose and added:
"I heard that Mr. Zheng had received the true teachings of the famous mathematician Diwu from Xijing in the past, and his astronomy and calendar were both first-class in the world. I, a young student from Langya, have studied astronomy and calendar with my brother, the governor of Danyang, and have made some progress, but there are still some things I don't understand, so I would like to ask Mr. Zheng to teach me."

The boy was very contemptuous and just let them enter the front yard and rest under the corridor first. But he obviously had no intention of letting them see Zheng Xuan. He just wanted to go in and tell them the story casually.

Fortunately, the field that Zhuge Liang boasted about was about mathematics. Whether one knows mathematics or not can be known by trying it out. It is not like those liberal arts things that are difficult to judge the depth of at once.

After the boy went in to report, a middle-aged scholar with a beautiful beard and a dignified appearance similar to Guan Yu came out of the inner courtyard soon after. He walked up to Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun with a scroll in his hand, glanced at them with an unhappy expression, and snorted:

"You are here to ask to see Lord Zheng? Lord Zheng has lived in seclusion for many years, and there are many people who come here to ask Lord Ji Chang about ancient texts and classics. You are the first in the past two years to dare to ask about mathematics and astronomy! If you can calculate the astrological problems on this scroll, it won't be too late for Lord Zheng to see you again!"

Zhuge Liang took the scroll while expressing his thanks, and unfolded it. It was just a question about the orbits of the five planets: gold, wood, water, fire and earth.

The above first gives the initial relative positions of the five planets, namely, gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and the time directions of their orbits under the initial conditions. Then the question is how many years it will take for these five planets to return to the same relative positions.

Zhuge Liang smiled faintly. Isn't this just to find the least common multiple of the number of years for the five stars to orbit each other? How dare you use such a question to stop visitors?
The first math scroll his eldest brother had given him last year was much more difficult than this.

While Zhuge Liang was reading the questions, Sun Qian, who had been hiding in the back without saying anything, suddenly stepped out of the crowd and bowed politely to the middle-aged man with a beautiful beard: "I am a junior, and I am here to meet Senior Brother Cui."

It turned out that the man with the beautiful beard was Cui Yan, Sun Qian's senior brother and Zheng Xuan's favorite disciple. He had studied with Zheng Xuan for the longest time and had just been recruited by Yuan Shao many times recently. He had planned to serve Yuan Shao as an official, but had not yet finalized it.

Cui Yan turned his head and looked at him. He was stunned for a few seconds before he asked uncertainly, "Sun Gongyou? Junior Brother Sun? Didn't you follow Liu Xuande?"

Sun Qian quickly explained the whole story: "...I am indeed following Lord Xuande, and I am here to visit Yuan Benchu and his son."

Before Sun Qian finished speaking, Zhuge Liang had already returned the scroll to Cui Yan: "It's over."

Cui Yan was stunned. Sun Qian hadn't even had time to introduce him to Zhuge Liang. But he still subconsciously looked at the numbers and calculation process above and was shocked.

He knew the answer was right, but he didn't know if the solution was correct, because Cui Yan himself couldn't do the math. And he vaguely remembered that even his mentor, Zheng Gong, would never solve such a problem so quickly!
Cui Yan finally put aside his contempt and no longer dared to regard the other party as someone who was trying to gain fame and reputation. He bowed solemnly and said:
"I don't know your name, sir, and where you studied. I am Cui Yan from Qinghe."

"Langya Zhuge Liang, I am your disciple." Zhuge Liang folded his folding fan and bowed politely.

(End of this chapter)