Chapter 2114 Flower dispute (twenty-two)

In Japan, tea farmers are required to avoid greasy food before picking tea to prevent the unclean breath they exhale from destroying the aroma of the tea. They also wear gloves when picking tea to avoid direct contact with the tea leaves with their fingers. However, this is not heard in China.

There are these taboos because gloves themselves are a luxury product.

Japan produces tea like China, but it mainly uses green tea, and the technology is mainly based on tea powder and sencha. It is said that this is a technology passed down from the Tang Dynasty and formed after their localization. Europeans generally have no interest in green tea, although

Nick often drank green tea in salons in the past, but the taste was completely different from what he drank in China.

People in Guangzhou drink tea morning and night. Whenever they feel like it, they exile themselves into a small world filled with the fragrance of tea.

Tea was originally the main export product of Guangzhou Thirteenth Line. However, as Wuyi black tea exports increased, Xiamen began to replace Guangzhou and became the main tea trading port. Nick himself guessed that this may be because the water quality in Europe is mostly hard water.

, so making black tea is more suitable for European tastes.

In "A Dream of Red Mansions", it is recorded that a master of tea ceremony named Miaoyu could make tea using snow and rainwater collected from plum blossoms, which was unimaginable in Europe.

There is also the Japanese tea ceremony, which is another thing Nick discovered that is different from China. In front of the Japanese, when drinking tea or soup, you have to make a tut-tut sound. The louder the sound, the more recognition and appreciation of the other party's labor achievements, which means "

"It tastes good." In China, it is very impolite to make noises when drinking tea or soup. Not only does it make you look different, but your elders will point it out and correct you.

Early in the morning after Cao Xi searched Nick's room and took his album away, the admiral sent someone to invite Nick to his house to "drink tea". He got some new Mingqian Longjing and took it with him.

After breakfast, they will participate in the ceremony to worship Mazu.

King Arthur has the Knights of the Round Table, which means that everyone sitting around the round table is equal.

Sitting around a round table with the admiral to eat was not the case. Wan Ning and the admiral's second concubine were standing beside them. They held two wooden sticks in their hands and picked up food for the admiral and Nick from time to time.

Nick had heard earlier that the Chinese would use those two sticks to count the rice grains one by one. He thought it was incredible at the time. Later, when he had dinner with Shuang Guan, he found that this was not the case, and they would do the same.

Open your mouth and eat the rice in big mouthfuls.

But when he arrived at the admiral's house, there were more "rules" and Nick had to imitate the admiral's every move just like Lin Daiyu.

First of all, the admiral would not stand up to pick up the food, so his daughter was responsible for picking up the food. The breakfast at his house was very rich.

Nick is not yet proficient in chopsticks, but they carefully prepared knives, forks and plates. Compared to the food he had at the restaurant last time, the dishes at the Admiral's house were much lighter. Fortunately, the Admiral's soon-to-be son-in-law was not here, it seemed.

He left home early.

The admiral's lieutenant told the admiral that if Nick really had sinister intentions, he could not hand over the note at all, so as to make them unprepared and catch them off guard, so both the admiral and the lieutenant believed Nick.

Cao Xi and the other two officials held the opposite attitude, especially after General Liu's death.

General Liu's death could be an accident, which is why nautical charts are important. Although the compass was first invented in China, waterways need to be accurate to coordinates marked with longitude and latitude. Early Chinese navigators also used nautical charts for navigation.

Some of the charts were drawn on paper, and some were drawn on gourds. The priests speculated that the charts on gourds and pumpkins were more accurate than flat charts.

Zheng He's voyages to the West happened to be during the European Renaissance. Scholars at that time had not given up on Ptolemy's theory and believed that the world was spherical, not flat.

If the map drawn on the circular surface is the longitude and latitude of the globe, then the priests' speculation is acceptable. The world map at that time consisted of several "crescents", and these crescents were spliced ​​to form a globe.

However, in addition to the "earth" theory, Ptolemy also had the geocentric theory, which led to a very complicated star chart for a long time, and sailors needed to use the stars in the sky for positioning, until the emergence of the heliocentric theory.

With the decline of Spain and Portugal, the papal meridian was no longer practical. Britain and France were measuring their own prime meridian. In the 17th century, there was a cartographer, Cassirer, who was a supporter of Descartes' theory.

At that time, there were two speculations in the scientific community. Isaac Newton believed that the earth was an oblate ellipse, with short poles and long equator. Descartes believed that the earth was an oblong ellipse, with long poles and short equator. Neither side could provide evidence to support this.

own point of view.

Until 1735, the first expedition came to the Spanish colony of Peru, and then the second expedition arrived in Lapland in the Arctic Circle. Through comparative measurements of the circumference of 1 latitude, it was concluded that the earth is oblate.

Although the prestige of the French Academy was hit, the debate about the shape of the Earth proved that Cassini's measurement method can be extended to anywhere in the world. Three generations of father, son, and grandson have been engaged in map surveying work, spanning the

Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI and the French Revolution. The initial surveying work started from the prime meridian in Paris, using the triangulation method. However, 7 years after the surveying work began, Cassirer II

He and his son discovered that the difference between the prime meridian measured and the meridian measured by Piccard was 10 meters. This is a small number on the earth, but when accumulated, it will affect the entire measurement, so all measurements were redone. When Cassini arrived,

When King III met with Louis XV, he only completed two maps.

Although Louis XV and his mistresses had countless reasons to squander, he and the chancellor no longer wanted to waste money on drawing a map of France. The nobles were willing to continue to support it, and they publicly supported it through subscriptions

Taking measurements, which even included Madame Pompidou, Cassini ended up raising more money than he actually needed.

By 1756, the first batch of maps were published, and the response was enthusiastic. The accuracy and details of a series of maps produced by Cassini exceeded those of the Netherlands. In order to turn cartography into a science and an art, Cassini began to try

Using public interest as capital, he asked the French public to order maps. They only needed 562 livres to get 180 maps, saving a total of 158 livres. Unfortunately, the Paris elite was not very interested in him;

Farmers and businessmen in the provinces were more interested…

"These maps were taken over by the National Council as state assets." Bonaparte suddenly said, "Cassini IV is still alive, but he has given up on cartography. Now cartographers and engineers are busy making cadastres."

"Where is Berthier?" asked Georgiana.

"I need someone to make military maps for me."

Georgiana turned her attention back to the book.

Printing maps requires engraving. Engraving has exquisite craftsmanship in France, but it is not used in geography. Therefore, Cassini had to train some engravers to make a batch of exquisite templates and let them print black and white with German black ink.

Engraving once again presented a colorful world. To this end, they established a special cartographic language and developed various symbols and fonts to express the land's topography.

Nick is an engraver. He also learned how to use a compass while sailing at sea. In addition, he has the protection of the admiral and can move along the coast of China. He can indeed participate in the surveying and mapping work of the East India Company.

When Emperor Kangxi surveyed and mapped China, all foreigners were used. By Emperor Qianlong, all surveyors became Chinese, and the original foreign surveyors became assistants.

It cannot be denied that the emperor, who also came from a foreign race, was very wary of "foreigners", but the bureaucracy was focused in other directions. The Macartney envoy brought many gifts, including a magnifying glass, which was made of glass.

Yes, when the bureaucrats heard that it was glass rather than crystal, they immediately lost interest in it. They didn't realize how difficult it was to make glass with such high transparency.

They knew how to use a magnifying glass to focus, and He Shen even used a magnifying glass to light a dry smoke, but this move almost set He Shen's sleeve on fire. If Macartney hadn't pushed him, he might have actually lit it, but he didn't seem to.

Sensing danger, he walked away without a care.

Bureaucrats lack research and discussion on natural philosophy and call it "strange and obscene skills".

When craftsmen are making handicrafts, they believe that the best way is to work relentlessly, polishing them over and over again like polishing lacquerware, rather than using technology to overcome difficulties and improve production efficiency.

In fact, lacquerware is being phased out, and Europeans prefer porcelain, but Nick found that craftsmen like to show their skills and patience through these utensils.

This is a characteristic of the Chinese people that Nick discovered. They are very patient. Because of their patience, they can use tools that are much more backward than those in Europe to create such wonderful luxury goods.

The silks worn by the admiral and his family were all provided by Suzhou, but their purses and handkerchiefs were made by themselves. For example, the handkerchief Wanning held had a bright peony embroidered on it. She embroidered it herself. See

It's lifelike.

There are also ivory chopsticks they carry, which also have very exquisite carvings on them.

After they had finished their breakfast and drank what the admiral called Mingqian Longjing, they set off, and she and her "aunt" wanted to go with them.

A busy day has begun.
Chapter completed!