Chapter 39: Measuring the Stars, Mathematics is the Standard of the Universe

The cheerful nursery rhyme melody came to an abrupt halt.

The Tablet Computer emitted two low electronic beeps.

The screen turned black. Several

lines of white English letters flashed by.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

A deep male voice counted down from the speaker.

Xiao Sizi involuntarily straightened her back and pressed her legs together.

She heard an extremely solemn sense of oppression in that countdown.

The screen lit up.

A steel tower frame hundreds of meters tall stood in the vast desert.

In the center of the tower frame, it held a massive white cylinder printed with a red flag.

"Three, two, one, ignition!"

The order was given.

Blinding orange-red flames suddenly erupted from the bottom of the cylinder.

The violent high heat instantly turned the cooling water in the flame trench into a sky full of white mist.

The ground trembled.

The low-frequency roar coming from the screen made the water cup on the coffee table tremble slightly.

A steel giant weighing hundreds of tons rose from the ground.

Dragging a long tail of flame, it tore through the long sky, piercing straight into the firmament.

The speed increased faster and faster, finally becoming a pinpoint of light on the horizon, breaking through the clouds.

Xiao Sizi forgot to breathe, "Lin Xuan... this iron pillar flew into the sky? Where is it going?"

"To beyond the sky, to the places where those stars are."

Lin Xuan pressed the pause button. The image froze at the moment the rocket broke through the atmosphere.

Xiao Sizi turned her head, her eyes full of confusion.

"Didn't you say there are no gods and immortals in this world?"

"With such power to fly and dive, if it were not the magic power of immortals, how could mortals achieve it?"

She pointed at the white paper just now covered with numbers and multiplication tables.

"You just taught me the method of calculating accounts, what does this have to do with that giant pillar flying to the sky?"

Lin Xuan picked up that white paper and folded it in half, then folded it in half again.

"The connection is huge."

"Do you think Arithmetic is only for buying vegetables and cloth so you don't get cheated out of a few coins?"

Lin Xuan slapped the folded white paper next to the Tablet Computer.

He swiped the screen, and the video disappeared.

In its place, formulas, functions, and orbital calculation models densely filling the screen appeared. Complex three-dimensional geometric figures rotated slowly among the numbers.

"Building this rocket requires tens of thousands of engineers, using extremely massive machines, calculating day and night."

"Calculating the thrust of the wind, calculating the thickness of the iron shell, calculating the heat of the burning. Calculating the angle at which it circles Earth after flying out of the ground."

"Miss one number, place the decimal point in the wrong spot."

"This few-hundred-ton iron lump would explode into fragments in the sky, leaving no complete corpse."

Xiao Sizi gasped in shock.

She looked at the symbols on the screen that she completely did not understand, as if looking at a heavenly book deciding life and death.

Lin Xuan switched the image again.

A three-dimensional solar system star map popped out.

The sun was in the center, several planets dragging light trails, revolving slowly in the dark background.

Lin Xuan pressed his thumb on the progress bar at the bottom of the screen and dragged it forward.

The speed of the stars' movement suddenly accelerated.

Lin Xuan let go of his hand, and the starry sky froze on a specific arrangement.

"The ancients observed the starry sky at night and divined good and bad fortune."

"Later generations did not believe in divination; we calculate directly!"

"Use these seemingly insignificant numbers to calculate the time of solar and lunar eclipses, calculate the landing points of stars hundreds of years later, without a single error."

"So, do not treat Arithmetic as a tool for merchants to haggle over trivial profits."

"Mathematics is the universal language of the universe, the cornerstone of modern civilization."

"Without it, building underground iron dragons would derail, building high-rise buildings would collapse."

"All the bustling prosperity you have seen these past few days is built entirely upon these ten symbols and addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division."

Great Tang.

Guoxingtai of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.

The night wind howled.

Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng stood side by side at the edge of the high platform.

Li Chunfeng held an Armillary Sphere made of fine copper in both hands, his face pale as death.

"Calculating the star orbits... without a single error..."

He spent half his life pouring his heart and blood into studying the Book of Changes and the Eight Trigrams.

He tried to glimpse the fate of the Great Tang from the brightening and dimming of the stars.

He believed it was the resonance between Heaven and Man, a metaphor sent down by the gods.

The Sky Screen tore away that veil of mysticism.

"This old man has erred terribly."

Li Chunfeng let go of his hand.

The Armillary Sphere fell to the ground, rolling and clattering far away.

"The Way of Heaven is impermanent; the will of the gods is hard to fathom. That is self-deception!"

Tears streamed down Li Chunfeng's face. "The Way of Heaven is constant! The movement of the sun, moon, and stars is all hidden within extremely rigorous arithmetic principles."

"Those ten symbols are the Great Dao leading to the secrets of Heaven!"

Yuan Tiangang closed his eyes, flicked the whisk in his hand, and summed it up: "The Great Dao is simple."

"We sought mysticism; the future seeks precise numbers."

"This is the root of the Daoist sects' decline and the future's prosperity. Without breaking, there can be no establishment."

Taiji Palace.

The entire court stood in solemn silence.

Kong Yingda and the other great Confucian scholars kept their heads bowed, staring at the golden bricks before their toes.

The Great Tang selected officials based on the classics; Arithmetic was relegated to the miscellaneous streams.

In the eyes of the scholar-officials, those who fiddled with counting rods were merely unsightly clerks or lowly craftsmen.

Tonight, the Sky Screen used that pillar of fire reaching the sky, and that star chart measuring the universe, to rub the Great Tang Confucian scholars' faces in the mud.

Reading a few poems, writing a few fu.

Unable to forge sharp weapons, unable to calculate the timing of Heaven.

Facing the curved blades of the Hu people, writing brushes could not protect the Great Tang's borders.

Li Shimin stepped down from the dragon throne, walked to Kong Yingda, and stopped.

"Kong Jijiu."

"Your subject is here."

Kong Yingda's knees went weak, and he knelt and prostrated himself on the ground.

Li Shimin looked down at this great scholar: "The Confucian school emphasizes cultivating the self, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world."

"I ask you, with the Four Books and Five Classics in your belly, can you calculate the heat required for that flying iron pillar?"

Kong Yingda pressed his forehead tightly against the golden bricks; sweat gathered into drops and crashed onto the ground.

"This old subject... this old subject does not know."

Li Shimin snorted, walked around him, and strode toward the center of the hall.

"Zhangsun Wuji! Fang Xuanling!"

The two chancellors stepped forward.

"Issue an edict from the Secretariat: I intend to reform the imperial examination system."

The ministers' faces changed color.

The imperial examination is the foundation of the state; rashly moving it will surely cause the scholars of the realm to clamor.

But Li Shimin did not care at all.

He saw through the decay of the old system.

"From today, the Imperial Academy will expand the Arithmetic Hall and recruit widely all those skilled in calculation from across the realm."

"Originally, the imperial examinations honored the Classics and the Jinshi degree, with Arithmetic as an appendage."

"Starting from the Spring Examination next year, elevate the status of Arithmetic!"

"Those who pass the Arithmetic examination will be granted official ranks equal to the Jinshi, entering the court to serve as officials together."

"Assign them to the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and the Bureau of Military Equipment!"

"My Great Tang intends to swallow the four seas."

"We cannot rely solely on a group of literary officials who talk endlessly about the mind and nature; I want those capable men whose brains are filled with numbers."

"Use high offices and generous salaries to solidify the foundation of the Great Tang for me!"

For the first time, practical Arithmetic stood upon the political core stage of a feudal empire.

Modern apartment.

Living room.

Lin Xuan watched Xiao Sizi lost in thought, reached out to ruffle her hair, then threw the white paper and marker into the drawer.

"That's enough, stop thinking about it."

"The first lesson ends here. Go brush your teeth and wash your face, then get into bed to sleep."

Xiao Sizi climbed down from the sofa and put on her slippers.

She looked up, watching Lin Xuan pack away the Tablet Computer.

"Lin Xuan, will I learn Arithmetic again tomorrow?"

Lin Xuan unplugged the charging cable. "Tomorrow is the weekend; no class."

"You just recovered from your illness; you can't always stay cooped up in the room."

"I'll take you to the low mountains in the suburbs to hike, get some fresh air, and see the natural scenery."

Xiao Sizi, hearing she could go out to play, nodded repeatedly and ran toward the bathroom with tiny, quick steps.

Lin Xuan watched her back, then turned and walked toward the storage room.

He pulled out a large double-strap hiking backpack.

He stuffed in two thermos flasks, several packs of compressed biscuits, a multi-functional folding knife, and a roll of bandages.

He then took out a lightweight children's windbreaker and draped it over the backpack.

Once everything was arranged, Lin Xuan zipped up the bag and placed it on the shoe-changing bench by the entrance.

All was ready; only the morning sun remained to be awaited.