"Wai Zhao, am I right in my calculation?"

A technical talent is one who respects people who have better skills than him. When Zhao Hao demonstrated his real skills, Bei Jianzheng naturally changed his title.

"Well, that's right." Zhao Hao felt a little bitter.

Uncle, do you have to be so spiritual?

It’s fine that my disciples have higher comprehension than me, but how come you, a mere extra, are so capable?

But he forgot that he is the director of the National Astronomical Observatory.

"So every 6,585 and a third days, the solar eclipses in the previous cycle will reappear one after another. So as long as we know that a solar eclipse occurred on a certain day in the past, after such a cycle, almost the same solar eclipse will occur again; similarly, if we push forward one cycle, there must be a solar eclipse in the past."

"But because each cycle has a third of a day, this will cause the location where the solar eclipse is seen to move westward by one-third of the earth. So if we want to see the same solar eclipse happen again within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, we have to wait three cycles, or 19,756 days."

After a pause, Zhao Hao declared: "If you want to narrow the scope to the same province, you need to go through a large cycle, which is 6,444 months, or about 521 years and 4 months. If you want to be 100% sure that it is the same city, you have to go through 22,325 months, which is 1,805 years... Of course, the last one is a scientist's obsessive-compulsive disorder and can be ignored."

Then he looked at Bei Jianzheng who was taking notes quickly and said, "How is it? This method is simple, right? We don't have to worry about it anymore. It's impossible to predict it, right?"

Now even the ministers could not help but whisper to each other.

"Does he mean that every five hundred and twenty-one years the eclipse will return to the same place?"

"Is it that simple?"

"Just verify it. It's easy to verify."

Now the problem was finally reduced to the level within the knowledge scope of the ministers, and all the senior officials who had been stunned became active.

Emperor Longqing was also very interested and said, "Bei Jianzheng, bring me all the records of solar eclipses from the Northern Song Dynasty and this dynasty."

In official history books, records of solar eclipses are given particular attention, and no matter the change of dynasties, no solar eclipse will be missed.

Fortunately, Bei Jianzheng was well prepared today and brought all the information he could.

Records of solar eclipses in the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty were soon found in the files.

Then he and his deputy began to copy down the notes.

~~

In the Wenhua Hall, the ministers craned their necks to watch Bei Jianzheng and others copy down the records of the solar eclipse.

Emperor Longqing could not hold back any longer, so he simply stood up and walked to the table to check.

Bubble Bubble also wants to figure it out to see if this is the case.

But it seems a little hard to calculate.

Forget it, just watch it quietly for a while, and then go back and sit down.

Within a cup of tea, Bei Jianzheng and his companion copied the dates of solar eclipses of the two dynasties onto two large pieces of paper.

"Let's see if what Zhao Daizhao said is right." Emperor Longqing, who had already sat back on the dragon throne, gave the order as if nothing had happened.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bei Jian was wiping his sweat and pointed to a record of a solar eclipse.

"Take the solar eclipse on July 11th, the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, for example. This time, it was not seen in Beijing but was seen in Nanjing."

After a pause, he picked up his pen and calculated: "If we count back five hundred and twenty-one years and four months, it would be..."

After calculating for a long time, Bei Jianzheng finally gave a date: "It was March of the first year of Kangding in the Northern Song Dynasty."

Since solar eclipses only occur on the new moon day, it is sufficient to calculate only the month.

The deputy of the Imperial Observatory quickly glanced at the line about the first year of Kangding and immediately opened his mouth as if he had seen a ghost.

Duke Chengguo, who was standing by, couldn't stand this nagging any more, so he snatched the paper from his hand and read aloud:

"On the first day of March in the first year of Kangding, there was a solar eclipse in Jiangning..."

The Wenhua Hall suddenly fell silent. The emperor and his ministers, who had originally had different expressions, all opened their mouths wide.

Only Duke Chengguo was still mumbling with a hint of regret: "It's a bit interesting, but the location is not quite right."

After he finished speaking, he realized that everyone around him had their mouths wide open, as if they were under a spell.

Zhao Hao smiled and said, "Duke, Nanjing was called Jiangning during the Song Dynasty."

"Oh, really?" Duke Cheng laughed awkwardly, "The useless knowledge has increased again."

But then I heard Elder Xu say coldly: "Check another one!"

"Yes, yes, check another one!" The young cabinet minister could no longer hold back, so he walked straight to the table, flipped through the pages himself and said, "Check this one."

"Yes!" Bei Peijia quickly found another date and said, "In the eighth year of Hongwu, on July 23, a solar eclipse will be visible in Beijing."

Bei Jianzheng hurriedly picked up his pen to calculate, and after a while he wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve and said, "That was the eighth year of Dazhong in the Tang Dynasty."

"Go find the one from the Tang Dynasty." Xu Fan shouted coldly, and the deputy of the Imperial Observatory hurried out to rummage through the boxes.

During this time, Xu Fan asked Bei Peijia to calculate the solar eclipse in Shanxi on the first day of July in the 22nd year of Jiajing.

After calculation, the corresponding date is March of the fourth year of Tianxi in the Northern Song Dynasty...

Bei Jianzheng found the record of that year, and regardless of the young cabinet elder's angry expression, he shouted excitedly:

"On the first day of March in the fourth year of Tianxi, there was a solar eclipse in Taiyuan!"

"Wow..." Now all the ministers started to make noises excitedly.

As the saying goes, a single piece of evidence is not enough to prove anything, but double evidence is enough to prove anything.

"It seems that there really is a pattern..." Emperor Longqing was laughing from ear to ear, but when he saw Lord Xu's gloomy face, he quickly stopped laughing.

At this time, the deputy supervisor came back holding the calendar and shouted as soon as he entered the door: "On the first day of the third month of the eighth year of Dazhong, there will be a solar eclipse in Youzhou!"

After saying this, he and Bei Jianzheng no longer cared where they were, and they couldn't help but shed tears facing each other.

It turns out that predicting a solar eclipse is so simple. It’s a pity that we were so worried that we went bald, but we didn’t even think of it…

"In fact, more accurate predictions require more complex data and calculations. If you are interested, I will teach you later."

Zhao Hao spoke gently to the two officials from the Imperial Observatory who were crying like children.

Well, this is science's tribute to the technical talents of the Ming Dynasty.

"Thank you, sir." The deputy supervisor bowed deeply.

"Thank you, teacher, for letting bygones be bygones." Bei Jianzheng actually kowtowed four times to Zhao Hao in front of the emperor.

"Haha, okay, get up."

Zhao Hao was in a very good mood, so he bowed to the livid-looking Xu Ge Lao and said:

"During the previous hot air balloon experiment, I accidentally hit Yuanfu and almost trapped the old man inside. To express my apology to Yuanfu, I have named this cycle the 'Huating Cycle'!"

Xu Jie rolled his eyes secretly and thought to himself, thank you, but I don’t want it.

But the old man had a problem of thinking carefully before speaking, so Emperor Longqing laughed first and said:

"Well, this is a good story."

"Uh..." Now Lord Xu had to accept it even if he didn't want to.

The officials present also flattered him one after another, but they couldn't help but wonder in their hearts, why did they always feel that the old man was being fooled?

"I would like to follow Confucius' example and execute Shao Zhengmao, and behead this beast to set things right!"

Just when everyone was in harmony, a murderous roar was suddenly heard, which frightened the emperor and all the ministers.

ps. Second update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation tickets~~