A More Perverted Fanfiction

Author: Fei Zai Shu (Fatty Shu)

In 1663, the Senate even published a 15-volume Latin edition of “Overview de natura et scientia” (An Overview of Nature and Science) in Europe under the pretext of “commemorating the first anniversary of Mr. Pascal’s death.” It contained mechanics, mathematics, optics, and even electricity, which was unknown in Europe at the time. The section on mechanics not only included the content of the future “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica” but also further extended it to the motion of celestial bodies, which was in fact the content of Euler’s laws of motion and Laplace’s “Mécanique Céleste,” just published under the names of some native scholars of the Aus-Song Empire.

This set of books greatly excited Isaac Newton, who was still an undergraduate at Cambridge. In the distant land of China, there were actually people who understood European mathematics, and quite a few of them at that. Even more bizarrely, though they were thousands of miles away, they also used the Cartesian coordinate system invented by Descartes. They used “f(x)” to denote functions and “∑” for summation, which was clearly a European style. Although their achievements showed that these Eastern scholars were more advanced in metaphysics than European civilization, the text indicated that they leaned more towards logical positivism. He planned to travel to the East after graduating from university to witness its civilization and knowledge.

At the same time, the 20-year-old Robert Hooke was shocked beyond words by the content about biology, cells, and microscopes in the “Overview.” At this moment, Hooke not only lacked the funds to “build a microscope,” but even his livelihood was a problem. He was then the Curator of Experiments for the Royal Society, responsible for maintaining experimental instruments and demonstrating experiments. As the Royal Society was newly founded and had no source of funding, Hooke received no salary and had to rely on his work in a choir to get by. He also planned to take a passenger ship of the Great Wave International Shipping Company to the East.

Hooke even almost persuaded his boss to go with him: the famous amateur scientist Robert Boyle. The latter had published “The Sceptical Chymist” two years prior and was also captivated by the discussion of elements in the “Overview.” However, he could not abandon his work at the Royal Society to go with Hooke. But his lifelong best friend, Edme Mariotte of the French Academy of Sciences, despite his high position and “advanced age” of 45, resolutely decided to go to the East.

The then 17-year-old Leibniz also decided to go to the East. However, he had to travel from Leipzig to France, then cross Spain to reach Gibraltar, which was the only way to board a Chinese ship. He was very interested in the “I Ching” and the bagua system introduced in the “Overview.” The exposition of logic and topology in it also coincided with what he had been pondering.

The 36-year-old Huygens also planned to go to the East. He was stunned by the enormous astronomical telescope pictured in the “Overview.” He had just become a member of the Royal Society that year and wanted to know how the Chinese in the East had built such a huge telescope. Compared to it, the telescopes he ground himself were like toys. Furthermore, compared to the results in his “De ratiociniis in ludo aleae” (On Reasoning in Games of Chance) published a few years ago, the Chinese had gone further. They had already proposed the probability density function and obtained its integral, proving that their research on random variables was far ahead of Europe.

After these great minds enter the country, will they be surrounded and beaten up by the Elders who were tormented by failing advanced mathematics in the old timeline? Hmm, are there no great minds in mathematics, physics, and chemistry among the 500 losers? Will they be instantly exposed as frauds in front of these masters?

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

First, please allow me to thank you for your generous funding, which has enabled me to come to China, this country full of novel knowledge, to study. Next, I would like to report to you and the other scholars of the Royal Society the incredible things I have seen and heard in this country.

We set out from London on the Chinese clipper “Australia” bound for China. As you know, Gibraltar and Sardinia have become Chinese colonies, which has led to rampant rumors on the European continent of the Tartars making a comeback. But in my humble opinion, based on my observations these past few days, these Chinese in Europe are different from those barbarians. They are very restrained, very disciplined, and one might even say courteous.

I had long heard that the Chinese had dug a canal in Egypt, connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. I thought it was a rumor until I arrived at the mouth of the canal and witnessed this miracle, comparable to Moses parting the Red Sea. It cleverly utilizes Lake Manzala, Lake Timsah, the Great Bitter Lake, and the Little Bitter Lake to connect the sections of the canal, greatly reducing the amount of work. But even for the Chinese, this was a project that required the strength of the entire nation, which shows that their ambitions for Europe are not small. Moreover, the Chinese use of the forces of nature is superior to that of Europe.

Port Said is now occupied by the Chinese, as is the port of Suez at the other end of the canal. This was my first sight of a large Chinese city. The entire urban area is estimated to be 4,000 to 5,000 acres, guarded by magnificent coastal artillery fortresses. The buildings in the city are four to five stories high, similar in style to European ones but more concise, completely different from the Baroque style. It has little decoration, and everything is based on practicality. I initially thought these were buildings for the poor or lower classes, but later, when we went to pay our respects to the local ruler—the Governor-General of Egypt for the Aus-Song—we found that his residence and office were in the same style, and his attire was not much different from that of his entourage. This is somewhat similar to the Puritans.

This respectable gentleman would be considered learned and talented even if he were born in London. He speaks fluent English, but it is not quite the same as “our” English. It took me quite some time to understand that his “you can” is what we would say as “thou canst.” This gentleman claimed to have some research in chemistry, and from him, I heard the theory of “atomos” composing all things in the world. This is truly interesting; the Chinese results coincide with your research. According to him, the Chinese have made great achievements in natural philosophy, but everything is based on whether it can be applied in practice.

But God did not give me much time to communicate with this learned ruler. The “Australia” set off for the East again after replenishing its water and food. We passed through the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. In India, we did not stop at the British trading posts but at the former Portuguese colony of Ceylon, which has also become a Chinese colony.

The ship itself is also worth investigating. The “Australia” does not use sails, but it is the fastest ship in Europe. The source of its power is a mystery; the Chinese have been keeping it a secret. It actually relies on an automatic machine they call a “triple-expansion steam engine.” Its principle is the same as the aeolipile invented by Hero. It relies on the burning of coal to heat water, which turns into steam, generating powerful pressure to push pistons, which in turn drive the propeller at the stern of the ship through a long shaft. This is a powerful argument in support of your theory that “at a constant temperature, the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume.” This also explains why their trading companies in Europe purchase large quantities of Welsh coal, and why they take on far more fresh water than the crew needs when they stop to replenish supplies.

Although I know the principle, the Chinese technology for manufacturing steam engines is very advanced. The parts they call “boilers” and “cylinders” need to withstand enormous internal pressure. Unfortunately, we in Britain are unable to manufacture such parts, which means we cannot yet replicate their machines.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society:

From Ceylon, I set out, passing through Temasek and then turning northeast, heading for a Chinese port called “Hong Kong.” This is one of the largest ports in southern China, occupying the left bank of the great Pearl River, while the Portuguese Macau occupies the right. But this was not the end of my journey. Following the respectable captain’s advice, after entering through Hong Kong, I needed to take a train north to the apex of this river delta—Guangzhou. This vehicle, called a “Train” (they seem to have an English name for every invention), also uses steam engine technology and runs on rails extending from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. If the Chinese ships were still within my realm of understanding, the sketch of the train attached to this letter is far beyond my imagination. I had seen steam engines operate before, but the rails the train runs on are truly incredible. These rails are all of the same width, and even after extending for nearly 100 miles, they remain the same! The 100-mile journey took less than 4 hours, including several stops along the way.

Hong Kong is just a foreign trade port, while Guangzhou is the center of Chinese rule. They use Guangzhou as a starting point, radiating out to the whole country, building countless miles of such railways. At every major city, a train station is established. If there is a large river or mountain, they will build a great steel bridge or blast a tunnel through the mountain. Judging from the canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, there is nothing the Chinese cannot do.

Guangzhou was the final stop of my trip. As Guangzhou is the hub of all railways, the Guangzhou railway station is particularly huge. A steel truss roof spans 8 railway tracks, and the station hall is as magnificent as Westminster Abbey.

According to the Chinese officials at the immigration office, the best scholars in China are currently studying at “Desi University” and “Qianzhu University.” I can’t wait to join them.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

I am writing to you from Guangzhou, China, to report on all that I have seen. The application process for “Desi University” was very smooth. As a foreign student, I can study alongside Chinese scholars. However, the spots are limited, so I can only enter the Applied Mathematics department first. Of course, before that, I need to learn the Chinese language. The Chinese are very friendly and have assigned me a dedicated Chinese teacher. A gentleman who is said to be a member of the Senate is also guiding my studies—Elder Dongfang Ke is very young but has profound attainments in mathematics. He is one of the deans at Desi University.

I guess he probably passed the imperial examinations. I have heard about China’s imperial examination system. If only our British Parliament had such a qualifying exam, the House of Commons and the Privy Council would be filled with learned scholars instead of politicians.

Because I don’t understand Chinese, I must first study in the university’s affiliated language school for a period. But during this time, I can still be accompanied by Chinese officials for a series of whirlwind tours, which have been very fruitful. For example, last week I finally saw something extraordinary in the biology department laboratory at Desi University. It was a microscope. I was very interested in this kind of magnifying optical device when I was in England. Through a set of precisely ground objective and eyepiece lenses, it can magnify objects about 1000 times. Its shape is like a monocular telescope fixed on an iron stand. For the first time, I saw the structure that the Chinese call a “cell.” The Chinese believe that all living things are composed of cells. It’s truly amazing.

It is said that in China’s middle schools, all have biology laboratories equipped with microscopes. I never thought the Chinese had already invented it and were mass-producing it. I hope I can bring one back with me when I return home.

I must mention China’s middle schools. The closest equivalent in our country would be a public school or a grammar school. Most of its graduates become lower-level government officials, but the curriculum is more focused on teaching science and engineering, which is very similar to private academies. I was told that all secondary schools are state-run and charge only a small fee. Students here learn mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. A considerable amount of time is also spent on labor practice. “He who does not create shall not eat” is the motto of all middle schools. This may explain why the Chinese are so good at manufacturing.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

Thanks to you, my Chinese has made some progress now. I am trying to read the mathematics books recommended by Elder Dongfang. What first surprised me is that the Chinese system of numeration is roughly the same as in Europe, but much more complete. This can be seen in the mathematics and geometry volumes of the “Overview de natura et scientia.” “Higher Mathematics” is an interesting book, but unfortunately, there is no English version. It systematically organizes the problems of finding special areas that we have been working on. Please allow me to explain one or two points to you:

It first introduces the concept of a function, which means that each input value corresponds to a unique output value. The standard notation for the output value of a function f corresponding to an input value x is f(x). The set containing all the input values of a function is called the domain of the function, and the set containing all the output values is called the range. In short, a function is a “rule” that assigns a unique output value to each input, as well as the set of these output values and their corresponding input values.

The concept of a limit is used to describe the trend of the properties of the elements in a sequence as the index of the sequence becomes larger and larger. A limit can also describe the trend of the corresponding function value as the independent variable of the function approaches a certain value.

Continuity is a property of a function. Intuitively, a continuous function is one where the change in output is also sufficiently small when the change in input is sufficiently small. If a small change in the input value produces a sudden jump or even an undefined output value, then the function is called a discontinuous function.

The above concepts are all important concepts in higher mathematics. Only after mastering these concepts can one study further. But when I asked Elder Dongfang about these questions, he was a bit impatient. He said that when he was studying higher mathematics, it was very difficult, and he never wanted to touch these problems again. But he was interested in discussing probability with me.

Elder Dongfang said that there are several other foreign scholars on their way to China, one of whom is Mr. Isaac Newton from Cambridge, and another is Mr. Leibniz from the University of Leipzig in the Holy Roman Empire. After they arrive in China, they will be in the same class as me. I don’t know why, but Elder Dongfang seems to be looking forward to their arrival, but not in a joyful way.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

I have been studying in Guangzhou, China for some time now. Apart from the hot weather, everything else is quite good, especially the food. Although rice is the staple food and bread is not often available, the Chinese are obviously very skilled in cooking. I have gained at least fifteen pounds.

Of course, my studies are as busy as ever. Elder Dongfang has recently been promoted to the head of the Applied Mathematics department at Desi University, and also the head teacher of the foreign student class. Mr. Newton and Mr. Leibniz are also very diligent and intelligent people. Of course, the Chinese classmates in our class are also very outstanding. However, whenever the Elder adults are our teachers, they are always particularly strict with the foreign students in the class. I mean, to the point of being somewhat harsh and nitpicky. The adults will always ask this or that question, requiring us to answer within a limited time, otherwise there will be punishment. It is said that this is a method used by ancient Chinese educators to promote the growth of their disciples.

The punishment is a common physical activity in the university: freestyle fighting. It is a fierce form of competition where two opponents, with or without protective gear, fight each other without any restrictions on a designated square ring until one side falls and admits defeat. This is also a popular sport in China, with a huge audience. It is said to express the great courage and wisdom of the Chinese ancestors in conquering nature. “It is through every punch and every strike that you express your inner self.” But I always think of the gladiators of Rome.

For example, once, Mr. Newton was asked by Elder Dongfang: “The pattern of the appearance of prime numbers has always puzzled me. Looking at them one by one, there is no pattern to the appearance of prime numbers among the positive integers. But looking at them as a whole, the number of prime numbers actually follows a pattern. So, does a function exist to reveal this pattern?”

And the question Mr. Leibniz was asked was: “For every positive integer k not equal to 1, does there exist a positive integer g(k) such that every positive integer can be expressed as the sum of g(k) k-th powers?”

Thank God, the Elder did not question me. The homework time he reserved for the two gentlemen was one week each.

Of course, a week later, Elder Dongfang did not get a satisfactory answer. So the two gentlemen were forced to “express their inner selves.” During this time, our fighting skills have greatly improved. Including me, each of us has learned the techniques of at least two to three Chinese martial arts schools. It seems that it won’t be long before we become masters of freestyle fighting.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

I believe that by the time you see this letter, Christmas will have already passed in England. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I wish your wife eternal youth.

This is my second Christmas in China. Although most Chinese are not religious, or rather, their “Heaven,” “Earth,” and “Gods” are just a kind of pantheism, they are clearly tolerant of all religions. There are even Christian and Catholic churches here, both of them. Every Christmas, there are still Mass activities just like in Europe. However, we still know nothing about their religions, such as Chinese Buddhism and Taoism. What ignorance this is.

Chinese Buddhism and Taoism are more of a philosophical thought than a religion. Mr. Leibniz and Mr. Newton have recently become fascinated with Chinese Taoism and are considering whether to convert. We now have a new classmate, Mr. Huygens from the Netherlands.

Mr. Leibniz’s change is particularly great. He cut his hair and styled it into the hairstyle of a Chinese Taoist monk, and comes to class every day wearing a holy robe with a Taiji pattern.

He found a way to become an assistant in the department’s computing laboratory. In addition to bringing him a monthly stipend of about 12 to 15 pounds, he can also stay with those Chinese-invented computing machines without restriction.

The inventor of these machines is a Chinese man. Interestingly, the inventor’s identity is the Prime Minister of the Chinese government—Lord Ma Qianzhu. I cannot imagine that our Lord Chancellor Hyde could also invent such a machine. Below are some pictures of the machines. The details of these pictures are so amazing, mainly obtained by using some advanced optical and chemical technology, which I will explain to you in detail later: Ma-series Computer No. 1 (actually a Monroe calculator, 1912) Ma-series Computer No. 2 (actually an adding machine, 1920) Ma-series Computer No. 3 (the famous Difference Engine) Ma-series Computer No. 4 (the Curta calculator) Ma-series Computer No. 5 (the Comptometer)

You may have heard of Oughtred’s slide rule or Napier’s bones, but the precision and speed of these machines invented by His Excellency Prime Minister Ma are such that even Professor Pascal’s rolling wheel adder and Schickard’s calculating clock cannot compare. Especially the Ma-series Computer No. 3, which, like the Chinese ships and trains, is driven by steam power and has a very powerful computing capability.

In fact, the Chinese noble class—the Elders—are not idle like the nobles in England or France. The Chinese lords are madly busy every day, either managing this surprisingly large country, or giving instructions in factories, or leading troops on the front lines, or engaged in teaching activities—the professors at Desi University are all nobles.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

I am writing to you from Guangzhou, under the rule of the Great Song Empire. I wish you and your wife good health.

Thank you very much for your generous financial support. Thanks to another Chinese lord, I have become the instrument keeper of the laboratory and have also received a scholarship from the Great Song Ministry of Education and Desi University. Therefore, I think I can now repay your support for me. Enclosed with the letter is a bank draft from the England branch of Delong Bank, which you can exchange for pounds sterling at Delong Bank.

Recently, in addition to my research in physics and mathematics, I have also picked up biology, which I had neglected since coming to China. The diagrams attached to the letter are a series of schematic diagrams of the various stages of mitotic cell division that I drew myself. It is truly incredible; nature is far more mysterious than we imagined.

The reason why the Chinese can use their invented telegraph to send messages to every corner of the earth in an instant is by relying on submarine cables for wired transmission, or by using radio waves, which utilizes the effect of electromagnetic induction. I once envisioned setting up a series of structures on large buildings, using these structures to arrange letters to form words to express information. However, the Chinese telegraph is much faster and more accurate. Compared to the telegraph, the “semaphore machine” I envisioned is not much better than the beacon towers built on the Great Wall by the Chinese two or three thousand years ago to defend against the Huns.

But last month, Elder Dongfang came up with an even crazier idea. He believes that the current telegraph has weaknesses. Wired telegraphs can only be transmitted to places where the lines are laid, while wireless telegraphs are blocked by the curvature of the earth. Although the atmosphere can be used, long-distance transmission requires very powerful transmitters and very sensitive receivers.

He said he wanted to use a giant rocket to send an automatic transmitting/receiving machine to a height of about 36,000 kilometers above the ground. This automatic machine could stay there and orbit the earth with a period equal to the earth’s rotation period, and in the same direction, with its orbital plane coinciding with the earth’s equatorial plane, meaning its position relative to the ground would remain unchanged. Then, with just a few such machines, Asia, America, and Europe could communicate by telegraph without any hindrance, completely abandoning those impractical submarine cables.

He showed all the physics students an exquisite rocket model, which was the “big ship” to send the machine 36,000 kilometers into the sky. I assure you, this is by no means the toy propelled by black powder used by European armies. If it were scaled up proportionally, it would be an iron tower 125 feet high standing upright. The fuel has a special storage tank, and after being burned in a furnace into high-temperature gas, it is ejected from a specially made bell-shaped valve to propel the rocket.

Elder Dongfang claimed that this was by no means a madman’s ravings, but the painstaking effort of the lords of the Senate. The goal of all scholars and engineers of the Great Song is to make it a reality—to manufacture this rocket and the automatic transceiver. The Senate is planning to build a new city on Hainan Island—their first territory—a city to launch these machines one by one into space. This work will be an epic masterpiece lasting more than 50 years. Mr. Huygens from the Netherlands fainted with excitement when he heard that the goal would include launching an automatic astronomical telescope into the sky. Undoubtedly, if we can get closer to those stars, we can observe them better.

Last week, several Europeans were accused of espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Chinese spies they hired pitifully held small notebooks near the Chinese army’s garrison, futilely recording the number of soldiers, the weapons used, etc., with those ridiculous strokes. You should know that the Chinese can do the same thing effortlessly. Their latest model of camera is only 10 inches in size. You just need to adjust the distance of the lens and press a button to get a negative.

The negative is made of a substance synthesized from nitrocellulose and camphor, coated with a substance called silver bromide. After light is projected onto the negative through the lens group, the silver bromide reacts to the light and precipitates silver. The negative is then processed with a solution of sodium nitrite and other substances to obtain a photograph, just as you see in a mirror. Currently, there are only black and white photos, but the people at the Great Song Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering are trying to develop color photos that can be restored using the three primary colors. You see, even in terms of spying, Europeans are far from being a match for the ingenious Chinese.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

Enclosed with the letter are several Chinese “stamps.” This kind of paper is one of the tools that connect me with England. In China, the postal service is entirely state-owned, not run by the dukes and earls of various places like in our England. The “stamp” is a proof of postage issued by the Chinese postal authorities. For example, if I need to send a letter from Guangzhou to London, I just need to buy stamps of sufficient face value according to the postage rate table shown by the post office, stick them on the envelope, and then hand it to the post office clerk. Because it is very beautifully printed (it is said that the printing factory for Chinese banknotes and stamps is the same one), many people in China compete to collect them. The postal department probably goes with the flow and issues more stamps on different themes. No one would be willing to use this kind of stamp issued for collection to send letters. I think it should be no difficulty for us in England to learn from this.

Some time ago, we foreign students visited the “Great Song National Computing Center.” In my imagination, it should be a large factory with thousands of people working together using the mechanical computers designed by Lord Ma Qianzhu that I mentioned before.

But in fact, its interior is very clean, and the outside is even shaded by green trees, much like the campus of Desi University. However, it is heavily guarded, with more than a dozen companies of soldiers guarding it. The machines used inside are completely different from the previous mechanical computers. It has no exposed gears and levers, but large and small boxes and plates. It should actually be an electric computer. That is the energy we rely on for lighting at night and for power in factories.

The Chinese Senate has an unusual preference for the term “computing power.” Lord Zhong Lishi invented a device called a vacuum tube. It is said that when the vacuum tube was born, it caused a sensation in the entire Senate, and it was proposed that the day of its invention be the second most important official commemorative day in China. The vacuum tube is very similar to the light bulb I mentioned before. Inside these boxes, the vacuum tubes are organized according to a certain pattern to complete logical operations. Data is input and output using rolls of paper tape.

There are a total of 10 such machines in the computing center, used in industry and population statistics. But we were told that they can also be used to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells, the orbits of planets, and to predict the weather. Mr. Newton and Mr. Leibniz were amazed.

Unfortunately, we know very little about this kind of machine. At present, the Great Song is keeping it a secret from us. “Science has no borders, but scientists have a country,” this is the statement of Elder Dongfang. For the more advanced scientific and engineering research of the Great Song, only Chinese people are accepted. Unless… a foreigner renounces his original nationality, cuts off his allegiance to his home country, and serves the interests and honor of China.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

My studies have been going very smoothly recently. Our foreign student class has officially started the electromagnetism course. If geometry, algebra, mechanics, and astronomy are courses that both Europe and China have, and it’s just a matter of different paths leading to the same goal, then the key to electromagnetism is only in the hands of the Chinese. I hope to truly master it.

Our first lesson was conducted on a stormy, rainy day, and began with a shocking experiment. The Elder who taught electromagnetism, Dr. Zhong Lishi, showed us a metal cage placed in the courtyard. Inside the cage was a properly restrained puppy. A kite was connected to the top of the metal cage. In addition to the rope that held the kite itself, there was also a metal wire. We all witnessed a strange scene. Lightning struck the kite and traveled down the metal wire or rope to the metal cage. A terrifying light sparked on the cage. Under the eaves, I smelled a strange odor. I have seen animals struck by lightning on a rainy day in the countryside of Wright Island, and the sight was too horrible to bear. Yet this puppy was completely unharmed!

Lord Zhong Lishi shouted to us: “Look, this is the result of mastering the power of electricity!” His hair flew in the wind. At that moment, we really thought of him as Zeus on Mount Olympus, who controlled thunder and lightning. Next, we will learn how this power is generated and how to use it correctly.

In addition, my British compatriot, Mr. Isaac Newton from Trinity College, has been doing very poorly recently, always looking lost. As one of the few Englishmen in Guangzhou that can be counted on one hand, I have a responsibility to care for him. I walked up to him and only heard him muttering to himself, “I can’t believe it.” When I asked further, it turned out that Mr. Newton was shocked in the chemistry class a few days ago. Lord Ji Situi began to teach the basic structure of matter. According to the Chinese theory of matter, the basic structure of matter is a particle called an “atom.” It has a nucleus composed of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons, and is surrounded by negatively charged electrons. A chemical element is defined as a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances. In other words, one chemical element cannot be transformed into another.

Silver is one substance, and gold is another. They are different because their number of protons is different. To convert other substances into gold, you need to convert each of its atoms, increasing or decreasing the number of protons in their nuclei. Lord Ji Situi said that the energy required (this is a physical quantity invented by the Chinese, used to calculate the ability of a physical system to do work on other physical systems) exceeds the energy of God’s creation. Therefore, “Don’t even think about hiding in your house and using mercury or some other pots and pans to refine gold!” Lord Ji Situi said very sternly.

But Mr. Newton has always believed in the existence of God and alchemy. But now, well, we have an energy that exceeds God’s creation, and alchemy has been denied. Therefore, I can feel the blow he has suffered. This is ten thousand times more painful than the “Leibniz heavy punch” in the freestyle fighting match. I don’t know what to do either.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

I have to mention to you that we several foreign students have unanimously agreed that for the glory of science and reason, we will all renounce our original nationalities and swear allegiance to the Great Song. For me, this was a difficult decision that I considered over and over again. It means I have to give up my obligations and loyalty to my home country. I hope you can understand.

For the Great Song, it also has its position: Elder Dongfang, the representative of the Senate’s Ministry of Education, said that the Great Song has opened its treasure house of knowledge to the outstanding talents of the world, selflessly sharing with the smartest people in the world (God is my witness, this is true). But the Great Song also has its own interests. It needs to cultivate its own talents, so the higher research institutes are only open to researchers with Great Song nationality. For the sake of truth and knowledge, we have to temporarily put the issue of nationality aside.

Therefore, after the swearing-in ceremony last week, Mr. Newton, Mr. Leibniz, Mr. Huygens, and I from Wright Island became Chinese citizens—the Great Song does not recognize dual nationality, so we could only renounce our original nationalities.

And the Great Song National Research Institute granted us the title of assistant researcher. The stipend has also been greatly increased, and we now receive a salary—according to the Great Song civil servant grade salary scale, it is the initial 24th grade, which is about 12 pounds a month. However, accommodation and meals are all provided by the research institute. The scientific institutions of the Great Song, in addition to the various universities, also include the National Research Institute and the National Engineering Institute. They invest a lot in scientific and philosophical research, but do not pay much attention to theology, art, and drama. But I was surprised to find that Shakespeare’s “King Lear” also has a Chinese version, where the story of King Lear, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia takes place in the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty in China.

Last month, the Chinese army launched an expedition against Japan. This was because the Chinese railway engineering team in Japan was attacked by some armed elements loyal to the former shogunate. As a result, the Chinese railway engineering team won an Agincourt-style victory. Although the Japanese also used firearms, they were simply no match. Enclosed is a copy of the “Lingao Times National Edition” that published this news.

Speaking of Mr. Leibniz, he is highly regarded by Elder Dongfang. He completed the elementary number theory and classical mechanics courses at an astonishing speed, but recently he has become fascinated with binary. This is a bit like the Baconian cipher. This number system is the basis of a universal arithmetic machine in China—the computer. It is called an arithmetic machine, but with proper combination and arrangement, it can complete integral calculations. In fact, countless Chinese engineers have countless engineering problems that need to be solved with the help of computers, and computers are limited—it is too expensive to build a computer—they first have to apply for the problem to be calculated, then wait for the research institute to approve, and then get a limited few hours of use time according to the approval. So Mr. Leibniz has to study this binary machine in the dead of night under the pretext of maintaining the computer system.

In Chinese universities, there are many things to do besides academics, including military training, physical training, sports competitions, and labor practice. Sports competitions are encouraged activities. Every four years, sports enthusiasts from all walks of life in China are mobilized to participate in the national sports meeting—the “Australian Games (Aus-Games).” It is called the Aus-Games because this tradition comes from the common hometown of all the current members of the Senate—the mysterious overseas territory of Australia. It is regarded as the highest temple of Chinese sports competition. Generally speaking, each province sends a representative team according to the sports events they participate in, while the school system, the military system, the railway and aviation, and the shipping departments each form their own teams, selecting the best players in their departments to compete. Of course, in order to achieve good results, it is inevitable that they will compete for athletes to serve in their departments in order to show off every four years. With the national strength of China, this is a harmless activity.

Military training is a compulsory subject for every student in a Chinese public school. Don’t forget that the ancestors of the current Elders once owned a wealthy empire, which was eventually annexed by the Mongols. Therefore, the Senate is mindful of danger in times of peace and has implemented a universal compulsory military service system. The only difference is that the object of allegiance is not the dukes and lords but the Senate, which is no different from Europe. And once the compulsory military service is completed, it is rarely necessary to continue to serve. For students, it is replaced by military training upon admission.

Here is some background information, completely unrelated to the great minds.

Reportage: “South China in Great Change” Excerpt (“Lingao Times - National Edition” 1663)

Author: Ding Peier

I stood in Chairman Wen Desi’s office on Shamian Island, looking out the floor-to-ceiling window. Below, Shamian Island was lush and green. When Guangzhou was liberated more than twenty years ago, Shamian Island was just a small sandbar. In order not to compete with the people for land, the Great Song spent a year filling it in to form an island.

With the unfolding of the mainland strategy, the state organs of the Great Song gradually moved from Hainan to Guangzhou. A large number of buildings were constructed on the 0.3-square-kilometer island for use by various ministries and commissions. The new Executive Committee building is ten stories high, equipped with elevators and air conditioning. The offices of Chairman Wen Desi and Premier Ma Qianzhu are on the tenth floor, facing each other, which has been jokingly called the “Tenshukaku of Guangzhou City” by some wags.

In those days, the vast majority of buildings in Guangzhou were single-story houses. The several-story-high Zhiming Tower was already a very eye-catching building, so ten stories were enough to have a panoramic view of Guangzhou. After moving to his new office, Chairman Wen developed a small hobby of using a high-powered telescope to overlook Guangzhou in his spare time, as a diversion from his busy work.

Looking through Chairman Wen Desi’s telescope, the city of Guangzhou to the west seems to have completely changed. There are chimneys standing in the city, and the old city walls are scattered and incomplete. Since the Fubo Army officially announced its crusade against the Ming government on behalf of Heaven, the “Second Battle of Guangzhou” only took a few days, and Guangzhou surrendered. The corrupt Ming officials had no courage to fight to the death. Not a single one died for their country. Most of them chose to receive a considerable severance pay from the Great Song government and disappeared into the sea of people with their families. They knew that the Great Song would not re-employ these incompetent officials.

The Fubo Army’s original worst-case scenario of a “two-pronged siege” was not needed. Afterwards, the Fubo Army occupied Guangzhou without bloodshed, which was a manifestation of the Great Song government’s compassion. Subsequently, the Great Song government, full of ambition, began to build a new Guangzhou. First, it broke the barriers of the city walls. Some local old forces, such as the Chen Zili brothers, went to the temporary command post of the Fubo Army at the time—the Guangzhou government office—to submit a petition, tearfully explaining the various vital points and kowtowing in bitter persuasion. But our Great Song puts the welfare of the nation first. The Guangzhou city walls were still demolished, and the East and West Moats of Guangzhou were also filled in one after another.

The narrow streets in Guangzhou were widened into roads bit by bit, using the method of land acquisition and permanent relocation. What can reflect our Great Song’s love for the people as if they were our own children is that there were almost no scenes of violence. First, the people of this era supported the Great Song government that liberated them from the corrupt Ming. Second, the compensation from our Great Song government was relatively generous. Except for the Planning Committee feeling heartbroken about the compensation payments, in general, both the officials and the people were happy. It can be seen that our Great Song would rather the government suffer than the people.

If you look to the southeast with the telescope, you will find an even more amazing scene. If the chimneys in the city are just a few scattered ones, then the Henan area, commonly known as Longdao Village in Guangzhou, is a forest of chimneys. Entire factories are lined up along the “Industrial Avenue,” first the steel plant, then the power machinery plant, the bearing plant, the standard parts plant, the instrument plant, the shipyard, the gas plant, the sulfuric acid plant, the rubber plant, the paper mill… Connecting these factories are railways. Two trains pulled by steam locomotives undertake the tasks of transporting raw materials, large components, and commuting for employees.

Connecting the two banks of the Pearl River are two riveted truss steel bridges named Haizhu Bridge and Huimin Bridge. These were built by the Great Song government out of consideration for the hardship of the people traveling between Henan and Hebei. The middle is for the train tracks, and the sides are for cars and pedestrians. Although a large number of “workers’ new villages” have been built in the “Henan area”—named after the factories they belong to, such as “Guangzhong New Village,” “Guangchuan New Village,” etc.—a large number of employees living on the north bank of the Pearl River still have to cross the river to go to work every day, especially now that the government has put forward the slogan “Grasp construction, promote production, and build a Chinese Australia.” The factories basically implement a three-shift system. So these two bridges are almost always bustling with traffic day and night.

The surface of the Pearl River is another scene. Small tugboats, puffing black smoke and burning firewood, chug along, pulling barges behind them, shuttling back and forth between the factory docks along the coast, delivering coal and iron ore from all over to the mouth of the coal-iron complex, like groups of worker ants feeding a huge queen ant. But the appetite of this “master” is indeed astonishingly large. It seems that its stomach can never be filled. This is just a microcosm of the industry of the Great Song Empire. Of the coal sent from the numerous small and medium-sized coal mines near Shaoguan in the north of Guangdong, only the selected coal suitable for coking will be used by the factories. The lower quality coal will be sent to several thermal power plants in Guangzhou as power coal.

After decades of construction, Guangzhou is now known as the “city that never sleeps” in southern China. After the Guangzhou city walls were “demolished,” the residential area outside the West Gate merged with the city. The introduction of street lights has made residents feel unprecedentedly safe. What’s more, the “Australian police” as the people used to call them—now called the “Great Song Guangzhou Municipal Police Department”—patrol day and night without slackening. The shops that used to close their doors around youshi (5-7 pm) have also started to operate at night. In addition, several large state-owned cooperatives and department stores of our Great Song have opened one after another in the west of the city, which soon attracted many local merchants to open businesses around them. Then the Westerners also built their commercial buildings here. The Dongmen Market model has once again achieved success in Guangzhou. It and Chengxuan Avenue in the city are known as the two major business districts of Guangzhou.

The lives of the residents have also undergone great changes over the years. First is the introduction of electric lights. According to old Wang, one of the earliest local employees of the Public Utilities Bureau:

“The Australians first enclosed a piece of land at Wuxianmen in Guangzhou and built a large house. At the pier at the entrance, steamships towed barges to deliver coal day and night. Large poles were erected in the streets and alleys of Guangzhou, made of Australian ‘cement’ with iron inside. What was even stranger was that all the poles were connected by iron ropes, and at intervals there were large iron boxes. The residents of Guangzhou really couldn’t think of any use for this foreign thing other than drying clothes.”

“Needless to say, strange things happened later. The Australian commercial firms were brightly lit at night, such as Zichengji, Zhiminglou, and the cooperatives and department stores in the west of the city. At first, we thought they were Australian kerosene lamps, which was the limit of our knowledge of Great Song technology at that time. But the light was brighter than countless Australian kerosene lamps. Looking from a distance, the Zhiminglou shone like a glazed pagoda. Later we learned that the Australians called this kind of lamp an electric lamp. There were many types. In addition to the ‘tungsten incandescent lamp’ that could illuminate a room as bright as day, there were also ‘neon lights’ that could emit colorful lights. The signs of Australian commercial firms were mostly outlined with neon lights at night, making them recognizable from other commercial firms at a glance.”

“Soon, those wealthy households quickly inquired with the Australians about the price of these electric lamps and the monthly consumption of ‘electric oil.’ The answer was that it was billed monthly. The gentry and wealthy households both hated the ‘Kun thieves’ (a derogatory term for the Great Song leaders at the time) for their skill in accumulating wealth, and could not resist the temptation of the light. Therefore, the first batch of electric lamp users were large merchants like the great official Gao Ju. They began to show off their wealth by the number of electric lamps used in their houses—the direct reason being that the price of electricity was not cheap. It was charged according to the electricity meter installed outside the house, at half a tael of silver per kilowatt-hour. It took the Australians a long time to make those people understand what a ‘kilowatt-hour’ was.”

“Imitating the ‘Australian lifestyle’ became a hot trend for the wealthy in Guangzhou to chase fashion. Some even hired thugs to intimidate their neighbors to make way for the laying of water pipes in order to get the running water pipes installed in their courtyards as soon as possible.”

Background Information 2: “History of the Aus-Song Empire: Social Volume” AD 1655-1660

In the core ruling areas of the empire, the standard of living approached that of the 1950s to 1960s in the old timeline. Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and other places became exceptionally prosperous cities. Under the Senate’s land reform and agricultural innovation policies, a large number of landless peasants became the working class. At the same time, a cadre class of naturalized natives also emerged. The original landlord class was being eliminated step by step, and the merchant class was controlled by the empire, attached to the empire’s wings, relying on the technology and equipment provided by the transmigrators to work as downstream contractors for state-owned enterprises.

Only a very small number of stubborn people still maintained the so-called Ming Dynasty attire. The government did not force them to change clothes. But most men began to wear their hair short and wear the clothes of the former “Kun thieves.” And some women also began to dare to wear skirts that exposed their calves. In the Aus-Song of 1650: the employment rate of women reached 30%—our country advocates for women’s liberation. Although it has met with some social resistance, women’s labor is also an indispensable and important resource.

Road and rail transport have begun to become popular. By 1650, the completion of the entire Beijing-Guangzhou railway marked the entry of the Aus-Song into the railway era. By 1660, civil aviation had also opened airship or airplane stations in important major cities.

The media is controlled by the empire—radios and newspapers (the literacy rate of the new generation of Aus-Song citizens is 70%, and many of the older generation of former Ming subjects can already read newspapers after attending literacy classes) almost non-stop instill the empire’s power and its benevolence towards the people.

The marriage conditions for naturalized families with greatly increased incomes have also been raised: the man’s side is also required to have the “three turns and a sound” (bicycle, sewing machine, electric fan, and radio) plus a house allocated by the state, or at least be relatively high on the housing allocation list. Most of the older Elders can’t help but sigh, “They are Chinese after all!”

The element of “fashion” has begun to seep into the blood of the Great Song. Pei Lixiu, Panpan, Mendoza, and several other female Elders with no special skills were the first to start fashion magazines and fashion brands. Originally, the Senate intended to shut them down—promoting luxury and fashion among the naturalized and ordinary citizens in the early stages of establishment was not in line with the values of the Aus-Song interests. But at the same time, the Senate found that this helped to withdraw currency from circulation and dig out money from the hands of large households. Second, foreign merchants were very interested in luxury goods. Third, this greatly improved the fashionableness of the maids. So the Senate and the Executive Committee adopted a turn-a-blind-eye attitude.

In the cities of the empire’s core area, one can probably see the following scene: the government’s various bureaus and offices are housed in a large compound with N signs, usually the product of rebuilding on the original site after tearing down the old yamen. All middle schools and primary schools are only numbered: for example, No. 1 National Primary School, No. 1 National Middle School. The city center will definitely have a square, one or two cinemas, and a “Xinhua Bookstore.”

Of course, there will be various state-owned and private restaurants, hotels, food stalls, and breakfast shops, as well as ear-picking, foot-massaging, massage, and barber shops, grain stores, farmers’ markets, department stores, and gas stations. Governing these businesses is the usually inconspicuous Industrial and Commercial Bureau building tucked away in a corner. These commercial areas are usually densely deployed on the roads connecting the long-distance bus station and the central square, forming a business circle.

The local branches of Delong Bank, as well as the various People’s Hospitals (also numbered), Chinese medicine hospitals, and health centers under the Ministry of Health are also an indispensable sight. Along with the bank, Xinhua Bookstore, and the department store, the post and telecommunications building, which was reformed from the Qilin Escort Agency and the former Ming post stations, is usually one of the four most imposing buildings in the city. Although three- to four-story buildings are everywhere, only these four departments have the financial resources to support a facade of more than five stories. The most effective way to identify these four buildings, besides looking at their height and number of floors, is to look at the stone lions in front of their doors—only these four buildings will have a pair of super-imposing stone lions in front of their doors.

The roads are an endless stream of traffic. In Guangzhou, the concepts of sidewalks and roadways have already appeared, but there is no division between motor vehicle lanes and non-motor vehicle lanes. On the road, you can see ox-carts, walking tractors—these are the vehicles of peasants coming into the city; bicycles, only 26-inch men’s bikes and 24-inch women’s bikes, these are the vehicles of the urban commoners, basically supplied by ration tickets; then there are various motorcycles, these are the vehicles of the Australian Six Doors (police); if it is a relatively high-ranking official, such as a provincial governor or a department head, they have cars to ride in for official business, and their entourage is only a driver (called a siji in Australian), and a page (called a work secretary in Australian). Ordinary people can also take a ride. There are public buses that can carry many people, with a stop every kilometer or so. For just a few jiao of circulation coupons, you can stand all the way to the end of the line.

Of course, the nouveau riche still want to show off, so there will also be human-powered sedan chairs appearing on the dusty streets, carried by two bearers panting and puffing. Later, the state-owned Qilin Taxi Company appeared. This was an idea that the Senate came up with after seeing the nouveau riche’s desire for ostentation, in order to squeeze out the last bit of their money. It was a very expensive service. Including the driver and the car, the daily rent was equivalent to a worker’s monthly salary, and it only provided services to those former gentry.

In the peripheral areas of the empire’s rule, such as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Temasek, the quality of life is lower. But the basic elements: communication and transportation are complete. Docks, railways, and telegraph and telephone offices are all there. The empire lists these areas as “areas to be revitalized.” In the future, there may be factories producing consumer goods, but they are basically still dominated by agriculture, let alone the empire’s core high-tech factories. The empire operates them as directly administered overseas provinces, providing industrial goods in exchange for agricultural products and human resources.

For example, the Wen Desi Canal Zone and the Gibraltar Special Zone are special cases. They belong to the frontier reclamation areas. Basically, the central government of the empire provides them with blood transfusions for a period of time. After they have their own blood-making ability: agricultural self-sufficiency and basic industrial production, and trade operations have been launched, they are then left to be managed by the local authorities. Then there are the frontier regions of the empire, such as the oil-producing regions of the Middle East and the South Seas, and Africa, where a predatory management policy is basically adopted.

For a long time, the empire’s borders stopped at the Mediterranean and did not touch old Europe. The reason is that the industrialized Aus-Song Empire expanded too quickly, and it needed time to digest the achievements accumulated in the first thirty years. It needed to continue to build the core areas of the empire to provide industrial goods and an industrial population, and slowly raise the level of those overseas provinces incorporated into the territory to a level close to that of the core areas. The frontier regions needed a large number of colonists for development. Both materials and people needed time to accumulate.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

Last time you wrote to me, you mentioned that several lords of the British Privy Council are very interested in China’s wealth and hope to learn the Chinese way of getting rich. I am just a person interested in the nature created by God, and I really know nothing about how to make money.

But I can talk about my understanding of how the Chinese create wealth. In a word, the Chinese method of creating wealth is to “found the nation on technology.” Most of the executive committee members of the Great Song Senate are from engineering backgrounds, with a few who understand accounting and law. The founding fathers of the Third Great Song Empire (there was a First Great Song Empire with its capital in Bianliang and a Second Great Song Empire with its capital in Hangzhou before), in view of the tragic fate of the first and second empires being conquered by barbarians, came to the conclusion that mastering a scientific level that surpasses all countries of this era is one of the necessary conditions for survival. As long as they master a scientific and engineering level that surpasses all countries of this era, it is an easy matter to either defend their territory or create wealth. Therefore, in the hundreds of years before the Third Empire returned to the mainland, these remnants and their descendants turned Australia into a great university. It is said that two things were advocated in the holy land: “a Spartan-like austere life and the academic atmosphere of Athens.”

Take the beverage Coke, which is now sold all over the European continent, for example. It involves a great deal of engineering technology. It’s hard for you to drink cold Coke in the summer on the European continent, right? But here it is a very cheap thing. Lord Ji Situi discovered elemental fluorine and elemental chlorine, as well as the organic compound methane. Then on this basis, he synthesized dichlorodifluoromethane (the molecular formula and structural diagram of the above substances and the laboratory preparation method are still confidential, so I cannot provide them). It replaced the flammable or toxic ammonia and sulfur dioxide of the past to become a new generation of coolant—it absorbs a large amount of internal energy when it vaporizes, making the surrounding environment cold. On the basis of dichlorodifluoromethane, Lord Zhan Wuya further manufactured a machine that uses this coolant—the compressor. This has made refrigeration technology at room temperature very simple.

In addition, what you see most often in Europe is Coke in glass bottles. Another type of Coke packaging is a metal can made of an alloy called aluminum. Previously, iron was used as the can body. The aluminum alloy makes Coke easier to carry and store. In addition, the reserves of aluminum in nature are also very rich, and in some occasions it can be used as a substitute for steel. Before the problem of mass-producing aluminum was solved, Coke in aluminum alloy cans was only enjoyed by the 500 Elder families. Ordinary citizens could only buy Coke in glass bottles. But now, “Hott brand” aluminum alloy canned Coke is sold at least in southern China, and the price is similar to that of glass bottles.

If you have read the facts I have stated above, I believe you will surely come to the conclusion that the wealth and power of the Great Song, in addition to its monarch’s pursuit of science and technology, the key is how to transform scientific discoveries into commodities. Otherwise, science is just a game for scholars. From scientific discovery to commercialization, I think this is the Great Song’s way of making money.

Unlike Europe, the Great Song does not attach much importance to the accumulation of gold and silver. Its currency circulates on the guarantee of the government’s credit. Its banks are not filled with gold and silver as Europeans imagine. An Elder in charge of government finance even said: “Even if there is not an ounce of gold or silver in the treasury, Delong Bank can operate as usual.” In comparison, Mr. Jean-Baptiste Colbert is like a vulgar country landlord.

To the esteemed and wise Mr. Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society,

Previously, you mentioned your question to me, as you were puzzled: China is a country ruled by Confucianism, which does not pay much attention to these devices and inventions. And the Senate has only 500 gentlemen. How could they transform China into a country far superior to Europe in terms of invention and mastery of nature in just a few decades?

Regarding the first question, according to my observation, the current Great Song is more like a country ruled by Mohist and Legalist thought. In the history of the Central Empire, there have been many schools of thought. Confucianism is just one of them. The objective spirit advocated by the Mohists and the spirit of the supremacy of the system advocated by the Legalists are obviously more revered by the current Senate. I asked Elder Dongfang, and he replied: Before being conquered by the barbarians, the Northern Song and Southern Song dynasties were ruled by Confucianism, and as a result, the country was lost. After that, the exiled Song government summarized the lessons and decided to adopt the doctrines of Mozi and Han Feizi. Now that the country has been restored, what do you think?

As for the latter question, the 500 Elders can indeed greatly enhance the civilization of the Chinese people. The answer is the government’s ambition and the use of devices.

In China today, there is such a consensus that education is not a luxury, but an obligation. It is the responsibility and obligation of the state to provide this education to its citizens. The Elders believe that every citizen should have a certain level of civilization, such as literacy, numeracy, understanding of natural sciences, etc. The minimum level of education that the Great Song provides to its citizens is called compulsory education, and it is completely free. Compared to the education acts passed by the Scottish parishes in 1616, 1633, and 1646, it is more comprehensive and holistic—the Scottish Act of 1616 only required it for the children of gentry and freemen. If one considers the ambition of implementing this among the hundreds of millions of citizens throughout the empire, it is even more commendable.

The Great Song has established many schools called normal schools, which are very similar to the normal schools in France, and not very similar to the church-dominated schools in England. It mainly trains and educates teachers, some for primary schools, and some for secondary and vocational schools. The Elders train a large number of teachers, and these teachers then pass on knowledge to the students.

For the training of engineers, accountants, and doctors, schools also recruit people who are willing to engage in and have the potential to do this work, then train them, and then send them to the corresponding institutions for practice. After passing the examination, the government issues a graded qualification license to permit them to engage in this work.

In addition, the Chinese education system has another little secret:

Every community has a public facility called a cinema. I have mentioned in previous letters that the Great Song has devices for recording images and devices for recording sound—the device for recording images is made using the principle of the reaction of silver compounds under light that I mentioned to you before. Of course, the Great Song also has a device for restoring it.

The interior of the cinema is a hall equipped with these restoration devices. In the evening, the citizens of the Great Song will go to the cinema in groups after dinner to watch a play called a “movie.” And there are not so many theater troupes here. In fact, they record the performances of the theater troupes in advance with special devices, including sound and image, and then copy many copies and send them to the various cinemas in the city for replay. The audience can get an experience as if they were in the theater.

Therefore, in China, only a few public theater troupes are needed. But there are many institutions that create these “movies.” Compared to the drama that the British are keen on, it is an art that emphasizes realism. But this is not what I want to talk about.

During the day, most citizens need to go to factories or other institutions to work or make a living. At this time, the cinema has no business. The education institutions of the Great Song provide subsidies to the various cinemas, turning them into half-day classrooms for some schools to use. The only difference is that they do not replay various dramas, but replay the process of the Elder lords personally giving lectures. That is to say, a wise and learned Elder can appear in every corner of the empire at the same time to teach a math or physics class to students across the country! The only fly in the ointment is that students cannot ask questions.

I have watched two very lively physics classes in the cinema. One was about the measurement of the speed of sound, and the other was about the measurement of the speed of light. The philosophers of the Great Song believe that the speed of light is not an instantaneous effect, it can be measured. And in most cases, its propagation speed is so fast that the action time is approximately zero. The measurement of the speed of sound is based on this principle. A measurer holds a precise pocket watch and observes the firing of a cannon from a pre-measured long distance. He starts timing at the moment he sees the flash of the muzzle, until he hears the roar, and calculates the time. In addition, there is the measurement of the speed of sound in water, which uses two small boats, an underwater listening device, a bell, and a cannon to complete the measurement.

For the speed of light, since a distance of hundreds of miles is still too short relative to its amazing speed, the scholars of the Great Song use a series of devices to measure it, such as the rotating cogwheel method: light is reflected from a semi-silvered surface, passes through a high-speed rotating cogwheel to a reflecting mirror, and then returns along the original path. If the time it takes for the cogwheel to turn one tooth is exactly equal to the time it takes for the light to travel back and forth, then the light can be observed through the semi-silvered surface, and the speed of light can be calculated from the rotation speed of the cogwheel. The rotating mirror method: this instrument consists of a light source, a reflecting mirror, a rotating shutter, and a reflecting mirror fixed 35 kilometers away. When the light from the light source is emitted through the gap of the rotating shutter to the distant reflecting mirror and is reflected back, it can only be detected again through the shutter at an appropriate rotation speed.

The above are the measurement methods learned by middle school students. In the university, there are more precise methods, such as using a multi-faceted reflecting mirror instead of a single reflecting mirror. Light is emitted from a slit-like light source, reflected on one surface of a rotating eight-sided prism, and then reflected by two fixed plane mirrors to a large concave mirror. The large concave mirror turns the light into parallel light and sends it to another large concave mirror about 35 kilometers away. These two large concave mirrors are similar. The light converges on a small plane mirror, and from here it passes through the large concave mirror again and reaches the observation surface of the prism, and then reaches the observer’s eye. In this device, if the eight-sided mirror happens to turn 1/8 of a circle in the time it takes for the light to travel back and forth, that is, the surface adjacent to the observation surface just turns to the position of the observation surface, then even if the eight-sided mirror is rotated, the image of the light source seen at the observation point does not move. In this way, using a rotating eight-sided mirror can measure time more accurately than using a cogwheel, and at the same time, it is not necessary to measure the displacement of the image of the light source.

In the experiment, the rotating prism was accelerated from slow to fast. When it reached a rotation speed of about 528 revolutions per second, it was found that the image of the light source was nearly stationary. The distance between the two large concave mirrors was very accurately measured using geodetic triangulation. The result was that the speed of light was 299,796 ± 14 km/s.

In the above discussion, it is actually assumed that the speed of light in air is the same as the speed of light in a vacuum. However, this is not entirely correct, because the refractive index of air is slightly greater than 1, and the speed of light in a vacuum is slightly faster than the speed of light in air.

In a strict case, the speed of light measured in air must be converted to the speed of light in a vacuum using the known value of the refractive index of air. However, in an experiment like this, the light path is very long, and the actual conditions of the temperature and pressure of the air are difficult to determine. Therefore, it is difficult to correct the directly measured value of the speed of light. Another method of measuring the speed of light to avoid this difficulty is the light shutter method, which shortens the light path while improving the accuracy of measuring small time intervals.

But some of the recent optical experiments are really strange. Mr. Newton and I have different views on light. He believes that light is composed of tiny particles, so he can naturally explain the phenomenon of reflection. And, he can also explain the refraction phenomenon of lenses, and the decomposition of sunlight into a rainbow through a prism, albeit with a little more trouble. And my view is the same as Mr. Huygens, that light is a wave phenomenon. Mr. Huygens can give a qualitative explanation of the linear and spherical propagation of waves, and derive the law of reflection and the law of refraction; but he cannot explain why light deviates from a straight line when it encounters an edge, an aperture, or a slit.

And the experiment designed for us by Elder Dongfang first completely destroyed Mr. Newton’s belief, and then mine and Mr. Huygens’—this is the double-slit experiment and the photoelectric effect experiment. The basic instrument setup required for the double-slit experiment is very simple. Take the double-slit experiment of light as an example. Coherent light waves are shone on an opaque screen with two slits carved into it. Behind the screen, some kind of detection screen is placed to record the data of the light waves passing through the slits. From this data, the physical properties of the light waves can be understood. The wave nature of light causes the light waves passing through the two slits to interfere with each other, creating bright and dark fringes on the detection screen. This effectively supports the wave theory advocated by Mr. Huygens. Another bright spot experiment also well illustrates that light is some kind of wave: when a light wave is shone on a small circular obstacle, there will be a bright spot in the center of the shadow it forms.

Mr. Newton lost the first round, but we couldn’t laugh at the later experiments. When light shines on a metal, it will knock electrons out of its surface. The electrons that were originally bound in the atoms on the surface of the metal, for some unknown reason, when exposed to a certain light, flee outwards like startled birds. Elder Dongfang called this interesting phenomenon between light and electricity the “photoelectric effect.”

Regarding some basic properties of this phenomenon between light and electricity, we have done many experiments and learned two basic facts: First, for a specific metal, whether light can knock electrons out of its surface is only related to the frequency of the light. High-frequency light can knock out higher-energy electrons, while low-frequency light (such as red light, yellow light) cannot knock out a single electron. Second, whether electrons can be knocked out is not related to the intensity of the light. Even the weakest high-frequency light can knock out electrons from the metal surface, while even the strongest red light cannot do this.

Increasing the intensity of the light can only increase the number of electrons knocked out. For example, strong violet light can knock out more electrons from the metal surface than weak violet light. In short, for a specific metal, whether electrons can be knocked out is determined by the frequency of the light, and how many electrons are knocked out is determined by the intensity of the light.

For a wave, the intensity of the wave represents its energy. We can all easily understand that electrons are bound inside the metal by some kind of energy. If the external energy given is not enough, it is not enough to knock out the electrons. But, logically speaking, if we increase the intensity of the light wave, we are increasing its energy. Why is it that for red light, no matter how strong the light is, it cannot knock out even a single electron? And frequency, what is frequency? It is nothing more than the frequency of the wave’s vibration. If the frequency is high, it means that the wave vibrates more frequently. Then logically, a frequently vibrating light wave should knock out a larger number of electrons. However, all experiments point in the opposite direction: the intensity of light determines the number of electrons, and the frequency of light determines whether electrons can be knocked out.

Mr. Newton believes that this is by no means a property that a wave should have, so he does not consider himself to have lost. So far, Elder Dongfang is not willing to give his opinion. He wants us to argue and think for ourselves.