Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 5079 Buoyancy Principle
Steel... can it really be used to build ships?

All those present were officials from the Ministry of War. They were well aware of the uses of various weapons in military warfare. Even though they did not have the actual weapons yet, they could still imagine the uses and impacts of certain weapons.

Putting aside the question of whether steel can be used to build ships, what would it mean if it could really be built?

It means that the warships of the Tang Dynasty are no longer afraid of the invasion of wind and waves, the beating of raging waves, or the enemy's fire attack. Every warship is an unsinkable fortress floating on the sea!
The pattern of naval warfare will be broken once again!

And the consequence of each technological lead was that the Tang army crushed the enemy. When the technology was ahead of two eras...

Who in the world can rival him?
Everyone's breathing became heavy.

Fang Junze patiently explained: "The reason why an object can float on the water is not only due to its material, but also its shape and structure... Please write down the following sentence."

He pointed at Liu Shi and said.

Liu Shi was stunned, and quickly stood up and stood beside the desk. He spread out the paper, took the brush and dipped it in ink, looked at Fang Jun, and was ready.

Fang Jun took a sip of tea, and then he said leisurely under the expectant gaze of everyone: "An object immersed in a liquid is subject to an upward buoyancy force, the magnitude of which is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by the object!"

Without giving it time to think, Liu Shi wrote down these words on paper.

Cui Dunli and the others pondered for a moment, finding it hard to understand, and asked in confusion: "Is this 'physics' knowledge? But it is not found in the book 'Physics' compiled by the general."

Nowadays, regardless of whether it is Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, Buddhism or other schools, almost everyone has a copy of "Geometry", "Mathematics", "Physics" or "Chemistry". They are amazed by the knowledge contained therein, and learn with an open mind and study with great concentration.

Fang Jun sighed, "Any subject is endless. How can a mere book describe it in detail? The way of nature is the ultimate principle of heaven, and the universe is vast and boundless, which urgently requires our tireless and endless exploration and pursuit. In the next two years, I will calm down and compile a branch of physics, Mechanics, into a book and publish it to the world."

Things like "Archimedes' Principle", "Pascal's Law", "Bomar's Law", and even "Newton's Laws of Motion" were all introduced in the Tang Dynasty in advance.

I just haven’t decided whether to name these laws and principles after myself.

If that were the case, he might become the most powerful physicist a thousand years from now. It was really embarrassing...

*****
The imperial city is outside Chengtian Gate and inside Zhuque Gate. There are five north-south streets and seven east-west streets, which divide the rectangular imperial city into several areas. Zhuque Street is the center and spreads out to the east and west.

From the Suzaku Gate, the first on the west side is the Honglu Temple, and the second is the Zongzheng Temple. Walking westward along the Sixth Cross Street between the Honglu Temple and the Zongzheng Temple, after passing the Zongzheng Temple, you will reach the famous Censorate. After walking a few hundred steps, there is a government office with dense courtyards, lush ancient trees, and a slightly dilapidated look. This is the most mysterious Taishi Bureau in the entire imperial city.

From ancient times to the present, the government offices responsible for surveying imperial tombs, formulating calendars, observing images, and predicting good and bad luck have always been extremely mysterious and obscure. Ordinary people would never get involved in them for fear of committing the crime of "coveting imperial power." Therefore, compared with the prosperous and bustling Censorate just across the wall, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau was deserted and no one cared.

But today, someone came to visit.

The sun shone on the ancient tree in front of the yamen, casting mottled shadows. An old man in his sixties walked over. His dark crimson official robe looked a little old. He wore a fu hat, had a gray beard, and a gaunt face. His broad frame supported his robe, making him look like a general and a warrior. He walked with his head held high and full of momentum.

There wasn't even a gatekeeper at the entrance of the Historiography Bureau. The old man climbed up the steps, pushed open the half-open door with one hand, and walked in.

Walking around the screen wall, you will see a pond full of lotuses in a courtyard surrounded by trees. A middle-aged Taoist priest in a Taoist robe and a wooden hairpin is moving a stone trough to the side of the pond. He is bending over and fiddling with something. He hears footsteps and looks up to see an old man walking into the courtyard.

"So it's Lu Taichang. You escaped by urinating at the last banquet. Are you okay?"

Li Chunfeng stood up, picked up the handkerchief beside him to wipe his hands, and walked forward with a smile.

The old man's smile was a little stiff, and he defended himself, "What do you mean by 'peeing'? It's vulgar! It's slanderous! I just had a bad stomach that day, so I had to leave the table. How can you, as the Grand Historian, not be able to distinguish right from wrong, and turn black and white upside down, and defame someone's innocence like this?"

"Haha, okay, okay, is that right? Then we'll wait until Mr. Lu's stomach is better, and then we'll have another drinking contest! Let's see what excuses you can come up with!"

"I have been in the wine business for half my life, how can I be afraid of a bull nose like you?"

The old man blew his beard and glared, expressing his dissatisfaction, and then pointed at the stone trough and said, "Grand Historian, have you tasted all the delicacies in the world and want to try some pig food?"

The stone trough was square and looked like the equipment used by farmers in the countryside to raise pigs...

Li Chunfeng was not annoyed. He waved his hand with a smile and said, "Come on, come on, Master Lu always boasts that he is a scholar and a master of all schools of thought. Today, follow me to do an experiment to verify a principle and see if you can understand the reason."

"Experiment? Principle?"

The old man was confused and followed Li Chunfeng curiously to the stone trough.

Seeing Li Chunfeng using a ladle to scoop water from the pond into the stone trough, he reminded him, "Don't call me Tai Chang all day long. I am only the Junior Minister of Tai Chang. When I am promoted to the Minister of Tai Chang one day, you can call me that. If others hear it now, they will think that I am obsessed with officialdom and will only make people laugh at me."

While scooping water, Li Chunfeng said disapprovingly, "That old villain Wei Ting is just a dandy boy. He squeezed out Zheng Boling and occupied the high position of Minister of Rites. In the past, he relied on the protection of Concubine Wei to do whatever he wanted, and no one cared about him, so he has been at large until now. However, the six ministries and nine temples in the court have strict assessments, and there are too many people and too few officials. Sooner or later, he will be impeached and dismissed. When that time comes, who else but you will be the Minister of Rites?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Cai nodded in approval, without any modesty at all: "Speaking of this Taichang Temple, it would have to be disbanded without me!"

Li Chunfeng threw away the water scoop and laughed: "If others hear this, they will probably laugh at you for not being modest and overestimating your own abilities, but I know what I said is true!"

In the early years of Zhenguan period, he served as the attendant of Emperor Taizong. Later, he was summoned to the Hongwenguan and was ordered to revise the "Book of Yin and Yang". After the book was completed, he was appointed as the Shaoqing of Taichang. Among his works, "Explanation of the Book of Houses", "Explanation of Fortune and Fate" and "Explanation of the Book of Burials" were widely circulated and regarded as the bible by Yin-Yang scholars since the founding of the country.

This man liked to explore various things. When he was young, he was proficient in the arts of yin and yang, and medical skills. He was knowledgeable and talented, especially in music. He once participated in discussions on music under the imperial edict of Emperor Taizong. After that, whenever Emperor Taizong entertained his ministers, rewarded his neighbors, or composed poems to express his feelings, he would order Lu Cai to compose music and dance according to the poems.

One of his most famous works is called "Seven Virtues Dance". Emperor Taizong thought the name was not good, so he changed it to "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue", which once became the military song of the Tang army...

"Oh, it's actually Mrs. Lu who's here. What a great honor!"

A greeting sounded behind him. Lu Cai turned around and saw an old Taoist priest with white hair and a youthful face, wearing a Taoist robe, walking out of the main hall with a copper scale in one hand and a bag in the other, smiling.

Lu Cai laughed and said teasingly, "I have some free time today, so I came to see if you, the old Taoist priest, are dead! You have retired for many years, but you still cling to these offices in the Bureau of Historians and refuse to leave. Some people are the Grand Historians but still have the Taoist Lord above them. I'm afraid they have cursed you to die soon."

Up to now, those who have the highest attainments in strange skills and the art of yin and yang are all descendants of Taoism.

For example, in the Taishi Bureau, 80% of them are Taoist priests...

The old Taoist priest came closer, threw the brother in his hand to Li Chunfeng, and scolded with a smile: "Even if I die, there is still Brother Tiangang to suppress him. If you want to be the master, you have to wait another hundred years, haha!"

Since he was ordered by Emperor Gaozu to create the "Wuyin Calendar" in the early years of the Wude period, Li Chunfeng later pointed out many errors in it, so he has been recalculating it in the Taishi Bureau, but with little success. In the past two years, he got a book on "Mathematics" and was immediately amazed. After studying it carefully, he improved his own algorithm and gained a lot.

Lu Cai also laughed, then sighed: "It has been more than ten years since I last saw Brother Tiangang. I don't know where you are now. Traveling around the world, eating wind and drinking dew, with the breeze in your arms and the bright moon as your companion, you are really the envy of me!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, he saw Li Chunfeng clean the stone trough and then empty the water in it. He took a small copper basin beside and placed it in the stone trough. He then used a ladle to scoop water to fill the copper basin without spilling a drop. So he asked curiously, "What on earth are you two doing?"

Li Chunfeng opened the bag and took out a fist-sized iron block, a similarly sized wooden block, and a small copper basin. He wiped them clean with a handkerchief and asked, "Mr. Lu, have you ever heard the most popular saying in Chang'an today?"

Lu Cai looked confused.

The old Taoist priest Fu Renjun stroked his white beard and said leisurely: "An object immersed in a liquid is subject to an upward buoyancy force, the magnitude of which is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by the object."

Lu Cai: “…”

He was compiling a book on rituals in the Taichang Temple today, and had not been home for many days. Today, he finally had some free time, so he came to the Taishi Bureau to stroll around and have a drink with his old friends to relax. How could he know what was happening in Chang'an City?
This sentence is so simple and easy to understand, but... I seem to understand it but I don’t quite understand it.

buoyancy?

weight?

What's the meaning? !

Li Chunfeng rolled up his sleeves and said, "Lu Taichang, watch me do the experiment!"

Lu Cai stared at Li Chunfeng's operation with sharp eyes.

Any knowledgeable and talented person must be energetic, have broad interests and be extremely curious. After hearing those seemingly plausible and ambiguous words, and seeing Li Chunfeng fiddling with the instruments with full preparation, his curiosity had already been completely aroused.

So he and Fu Renjun stood beside the stone trough with their hands behind their backs.

Li Chunfeng picked up the iron block and carefully placed it into a copper basin filled with water. The iron block sank to the bottom and the water overflowed.

Li Chunfeng shouted, "Ah! It sank!"

Lu Cai: “…”

Are you hysterical?
It would be strange if it didn’t sink!