"It is straight to use yang to call yang and yin to call yin. This is not what I call Tao." [Zhuangzi·Xu Wugui]
The fourth day of the sixth lunar month in the first year of Jian'an.
The curtains in the Qingliang Hall moved frequently, and wind came through the hall and blew through a large channel of cold well water, causing the temperature of this centuries-old hall to drop a few degrees.
Since the beginning of summer, the emperor has had the habit of taking a nap every day, but at this time he was not lying on the bamboo mat, but was staring at a brief silk book in trance. There was a bowl of chilled well water on the table at hand.
The sour plum soup is so black and shiny that you can't see the bottom at a glance. A thin layer of water droplets appears on the wall of the bowl, exuding a faint aroma, but it looks like a bowl of bitter Chinese medicine.
Mu Shun, the little Huangmen on the side, had already blurred his eyes. Although the weather in the summer afternoon was sultry, it was the most likely to cause drowsiness, not to mention being in a cool and quiet place like Qingliang Hall? He was still trying to hold on to himself.
Yawning, he stood aside like a puppet, glancing at the sour plum soup on the table, thinking that after a while the sour plum soup would lose its coolness, and then give the emperor a new bowl.
Liu Wan, who was kneeling at the lower stage of the mourning platform, waited for a long time but did not hear from the emperor. He couldn't help but quietly raised his head and took a look, and his eyes met Mu Shun's. He and Mu Shun did not have a close friendship on weekdays, and Mu Shun was not willing to take the risk.
Taking the risk to help remind the emperor, who was either distracted or thinking at this time, he pretended not to see the hint in Liu Wan's eyes and quickly avoided meeting his eyes.
The hall is so quiet that you can hear the sound of the wind blowing through the veranda and the noisy chirping of cicadas in the courtyard.
Fortunately, the two didn't wait long. When the bowl of sour plum soup stopped getting cold, the emperor finally spoke:
"How did Gewuyuan build the seismometer?"
Liu Wan knelt down and sat on the banquet. According to his rank, even if the emperor and his ministers issued separate edicts, he could not sit too close to the emperor without permission. Although he was relatively far away from the emperor, he still could not sit too close to the emperor at this time.
You can hear the emperor's calm and clear tone, and his voice seems to have a hint of coldness following the wind.
He looked up and saw the emperor looking at him expressionlessly. Liu Wan immediately took a deep breath and said: "The structure of the seismograph is complicated. The Geoscience Institute has only drawn up the atlas and has not yet fully started. These days, all the work has been done by Tai
Students, Ma Jun and Zhang Gu, the assistant historians of the Gewu Academy, often go to experiment. They are responsible for the imperial edict, and Zhang Gu has a family tradition, so he knows a lot about this thing..."
"That means it hasn't been repaired." The emperor sighed softly, threw the silk book on the desk, and said softly: "A damaged and insignificant thing, somehow touched the spring of the machine, making them mistakenly think
Earthquake. It’s okay for them to believe this. After all, they are young and ignorant..."
The emperor was actually a 'young man', but he said these words in an old-fashioned way, which made Liu Wan feel a little disobedient. But like other courtiers, he was used to the emperor's mature side and did not dare to say it.
What? He lowered his head and listened quietly: "But why did you believe it? You even went out of your way to report it to me. Are you also ignorant?"
Liu Wan was shocked. Seeing that the emperor stopped talking, obviously waiting for him to give a reasonable explanation, he gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "I don't dare! It's just that the matter is big and the earthquake is close."
No one came into contact, and no carriages and horses passed by in the distance. It was revealed for two consecutive days. In this troubled autumn, I did not dare to conceal anything, nor did I dare to make an announcement to disturb people's hearts, so I risked my life to report the matter to your Majesty.
A wise king, no matter whether the earth is really moving or not, he should know it in advance and make predictions in advance."
When bad news like an earthquake is not noticed by the people in Guanzhong, the best thing to do is to conceal it. And since Liu Wan dared to report it, it means that he has done enough homework in advance and prepared
A piece of rhetoric that can save the day from danger.
The emperor was slightly moved. The role of intelligence is to allow decision-makers to take the upper hand in the process of transmitting information. There are more than forty officials in the Lingtai. The sound of the seismometer cannot be hidden from so many eyes. As for whether there is an earthquake, it is not
It depends on the person's mouth and whether the audience is willing to believe it. At this time, Liu Wan first secretly presented the information to the emperor. No matter what the final facts were, the emperor would have enough time to deal with any changes.
"You are a prudent person." The emperor nodded approvingly. He originally thought that Liu Wan was just an official with average abilities. At best, he was more accomplished in the professional fields of physiognomy, prophecy, and astronomy and calendar. He didn't expect that Liu Wan actually had more skills.
With some wisdom: "It's good to know that the matter is important and needs to be kept secret. I already know about this matter, so I won't mention it for now. Don't do anything after you go back. Let Ma Jun and the others do it in person.
Just make some news and dispel other people's doubts."
"I promise." Liu Wan knew that the emperor had already made up his mind and that he would not be able to participate in the next thing, so he agreed and resigned.
The emperor wanted to meet Ma Jun for a while, because Liu Wan told the emperor everything that happened before and after in his memorial, which made the emperor very interested in the simple and paranoid Ma Jun, so he took this opportunity to specially let him
Liu Wan introduced Ma Jun once.
Ma Jun met the emperor for the second time at this time. Compared with the previous meeting at the spiritual platform with simple regulations, this time the summons in Qingliang Hall was extremely formal. He was so nervous and excited that he almost stuttered again.
The emperor was always stern with ordinary ministers, but he was kind to ordinary people, and his smile made people approachable: "Have you ever played the harp?"
"Wei, wei." Ma Jun thought that the emperor would ask him about the seismometer, but unexpectedly he started talking about musical instruments inexplicably.
"Then you should have seen a musician playing the zither. I remember that Taixue teaches six arts. Although it is not required to be proficient in everything, you still need to know the music theory." The emperor smiled easily and tried not to put pressure on the other party: "Every time
If you play it once, will the piano and harp vibrate?"
Ma Jun recalled it and replied briefly: "Your Majesty said yes!"
The emperor then signaled to Mu Shun, who then had two guqins brought in from outside and placed them aside at a distance.
"The strings of these two guqins have been tuned. Let's go over there and take a look." The emperor then asked Liu Wan and Ma Jun to move to sit next to one of the guqins and the other guqin opposite them.
At this moment, a luthier from Yuefu had just sat down next to him, but Ma Jun had an empty lute and no luthier.
When Liu Wan saw this scene, he was thoughtful. He seemed to have heard of it somewhere in his memory. But Ma Jun didn't understand what it meant. He looked at the emperor and then looked at the piano player opposite in the distance. Only the piano player could be seen.
After receiving the instruction, I reached out and plucked a string.
The sound of the piano is like a clear jade spring.
Ma Jun was stunned for a moment, as if he understood something, and immediately lowered his head to look. On the piano placed in front of him, when no one was touching it, one of the strings was shaking slightly!
The vibration was so small that Ma Jun even thought he was dazzled for a moment, but Liu Wan nodded calmly, confirming his suspicion.
When the emperor saw this, he still smiled, turned his head and said to the piano player: "Just now it was 'Palace', this time please try 'Yu'."
‘Gong’ and ‘Yu’ are the highest and lowest of the five tones. The luthier bowed to the emperor and then reached out to press the strings.
This time Ma Jun was well prepared and saw with his own eyes that the other string of the guqin in front of him vibrated when no one was touching it!