Chapter 279: How to Calculate?
Chapter 279: How to Calculate?
Young Master Bai laughed, “How big is that large stone you want to move?”
Teng Yifeng said, “It’s about two zhang long and one zhang wide—a whole large stone, extremely huge. The laborers couldn’t budge it at all. It really troubled us, and we felt awkward asking the Saint Lady to bother the Deity again. The foreman from Gaojia Village said that Young Master Bai could handle heavy objects.”
Young Master Bai laughed heartily, “Haha, such a small stone! With physics knowledge, we can easily drag it away.”
The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it seriously.
Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing frowned, thinking secretly: To move such a gigantic stone? I do know a method—carve large gears from giant wood, one placed vertically, one horizontally, with the gears meshed. Use oxen to pull the vertical gear, rotating it to drive the horizontal gear, and thus drag the heavy object.
But few know this method. How can this hairless little kid know it? What is this “physics” he spoke of? Should I ask him?
Just as he thought this, Daoist Ma ahead greeted Madam Bai and Young Master Bai, saying, “Ah, isn’t that Madam Bai and Young Master Bai? This humble Daoist offers his respects.”
The mother and son, seeing Daoist Ma, were quite pleased. “Daoist Ma, it’s been a long time. We heard you traveled abroad on the Deity’s orders. Have you returned now?”
Ma Tianzheng smiled, “Fortunately, I didn’t fail the mission. I finally completed the Deity’s instruction. Tomorrow, this humble Daoist plans to return to Gaojia Village to meet the Deity.”
Madam Bai smiled and pointed at the sky. “The Deity is in the county town now. Look up and you’ll see him.”
Ma Tianzheng was greatly surprised. He hurriedly looked up and indeed saw a Sharp Knife Troop of low cloud floating in the sky. He immediately dusted off his clothes, bowed deeply, and said, “Disciple Ma Tianzheng pays homage to the Deity.”
The low cloud gently swayed, seeming to respond to him.
Ma Tianzheng was overjoyed: The Deity responded to me!
Just as he wanted to say more, Song Yingxing grabbed his arm. “Daoist Ma, do you know this young master? Please introduce us. I have much to discuss with him.”
Ma Tianzheng finally recalled the main point. He quickly pulled Song Yingxing over and introduced him to Young Master Bai, while also presenting him to the Deity. “This is Mr. Song Yingxing from Fengxin County, Jiangxi.”
“This is Young Master Bai of the Bai Family Fortress.”
When Li Daoxuan heard the three words “Song Yingxing,” he was immensely delighted: He’s here, finally here, hahaha, the top scientist of the late Ming Dynasty. Now we’ve tricked him in. Once he’s in my sight, he won’t be able to leave—I have countless ways to keep him around.
Very well. Let Young Master Bai chat with Song Yingxing first. Though Young Master Bai had only learned physics up to eighth grade, it was enough to open a new world for Song Yingxing.
Song Yingxing cupped his hands politely toward Young Master Bai. Although the other was nearly thirty years younger, Song Yingxing still didn’t dare disrespect him. “Young master, just now I heard you say you could move such a large stone using physics methods. May I ask what approach you plan to take?”
Young Master Bai sized up the middle-aged man curiously. Seeing his eager, questioning expression, as if very interested in scholarly discussion, he felt a surge of happiness himself. He had learned physics too quickly—no one in Gaojia Village could discuss it with him anymore. Now someone who seemed keen had arrived. He couldn’t resist boasting a bit.
Young Master Bai chuckled and revealed what he’d just learned. “Gears!”
“Is it really gears?” Song Yingxing was thrilled. “Hey, my idea was to use gears too.”
Young Master Bai said, “Huh? You also understand gears? Have you studied the Tome of Physics in the heavenly books?”
Song Yingxing asked, “What is the Tome of Physics in the heavenly books?”
Young Master Bai said, “So you haven’t studied it. Whew, you scared me! I thought someone outside Gaojia Village knew the Tome of Physics too. Hehe.”
Song Yingxing was somewhat curious. “May I ask what the Tome of Physics in the heavenly books is?”
Young Master Bai replied, “That can’t be explained in a few sentences. Let’s go examine that large stone first instead.”
Soon, the group arrived at the site outside the city. They saw a massive stone blocking the middle of the road. The villagers had to either shift it or detour the path. Undoubtedly, for the public sun chariot to run smoothly later, moving the stone was the right solution.
Young Master Bai asked, “Have they studied how heavy this stone is?”
Teng Yifeng answered respectfully, “We can’t weigh such a large stone. We don’t know its weight.”
Song Yingxing smiled inwardly, thinking: This can only be weighed using Cao Chong’s elephant-weighing method… But elephants can move—you can lead them onto a boat. This stone is immobile and can’t be put on a boat, so weighing is impossible.
Just as he thought this, he saw Young Master Bai take out a tailor’s soft ruler, measure the stone’s widest diameter, then grab paper and pen and quickly calculate. Looking up, he said, “About 60,000 jin.”
Song Yingxing froze. “!!!”
Young Master Bai continued calculating on the paper. After a moment, he raised his head again. “To move over 60,000 jin of stone, we need a large gear made with a diameter of XX and a smaller gear with a diameter of XX to assist… Let me check… Mmm… This figure is about right. Call the blacksmith. Make several gears based on my dimensions—only bigger than I specified, not smaller. Otherwise, even two oxen won’t pull it—insufficient strength.”
“Set up the gears here, use oxen to pull, and have workers pry it hard with iron rods on the other side. That’ll shift the stone away.”
Song Yingxing was inwardly shocked: I knew gears could lift large stones, but I couldn’t precisely calculate the gear size or how many oxen were needed—just made them as big as possible. How did this kid calculate so precisely?
Upset by his ignorance, Song Yingxing hurriedly asked, “May I ask, Young Master Bai, how do you accurately calculate how much weight gears of a certain size, pulled by two oxen, can lift?”
Young Master Bai chuckled slyly. “The difference in diameter between the large and small gears determines the multiple by which the force is amplified… Take the approximate strength of two oxen and the diameter difference of the gears to calculate… Oh, it’s hard to explain verbally. I’ll write you a formula to see yourself.”
He picked up the pen and quickly scribbled a formula on the paper.
But Song Yingxing couldn’t understand it at all and froze for a moment.
This was terrible. He’d always thought he knew everything, but coming here had shown him there were higher skies abounding and people surpassing people.
“I have a small request. Um… the Tome of Physics in the heavenly books… might I trouble you to let me read it?” Song Yingxing blushed slightly. “I can pay a handsome reward.”
Young Master Bai didn’t care about rewards at all. As long as someone was willing to learn, the material could be freely taught—that was the Deity’s original words. So he’d just give the book.