"Xiao Du!" Du Wen shouted. She was used to working at night, so the people around her had to become night owls with her. Du Mei naturally couldn't sleep until the leader went to bed, so she would be drowsy.
On the wooden sofa in the office, when I heard the chief's call, I quickly got up and wiped the saliva from the corner of my mouth, quickly trimmed my hair, trotted all the way to Du Wen's desk, and stood at attention.
Dumei did not wear the unwritten uniform of life secretaries - the maid uniform, but she wore the standard uniform of the general civil servants of the Senate: a cotton "people's uniform" with only two pockets. There was an identification strip on the chest.
"Call me right away and tell the office that I need to move."
Du Mei had long been accustomed to Chief Du's working style and knew that the chief's order must be "unconditionally and promptly fulfilled." However, at this moment she could not help but express her dissent: "Chief, it is now eleven o'clock in the evening.
…”
"Call the duty room of the general office. How many times have I told you that the Senate will never fall asleep!" Du Wen raised his eyes coldly and said.
"Yes, Chief." Du Mei didn't dare to argue anymore. In fact, there was no difference between calling now and calling tomorrow morning. The clerk in the duty room just recorded it. But she already knew the temper of the female chief. Hurry up.
He asked for instructions again: "Excuse me, where are you going, Chief? On what day?"
"I'm going to Jeju. I'm going to prepare a ship. The time is within a week."
"Yes, Chief."
At this moment, even kilometers away from Lingao, there is a place called "Hutou Village" in the west of Chengmai County. The light of electric lights is shining in the dark night.
Although Chengmai has been a "blue zone" since the victory of the second anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, it was also the first place to establish preliminary county-level political power. However, the Senate's institutions here are still very few. Most of them are concentrated in
Around the county and in the vast rural areas, grassroots political power has just begun to be established.
In this darkness, the lights of Hutou Village appear very abrupt. It is surrounded by water on three sides, and only the east side is connected to the land. When the Lingao-Chengmai highway was being built, a branch road was specially built to connect here. However, the branch road
The road came to an abrupt end when we reached Hutou Village - a trench was dug where it connected to the land, separating it from the land and becoming an "isolated island" connected only by a suspension bridge.
As if the blocking ability of the trench is not strong enough, there is a high earth embankment behind the trench. There is a barbed wire fence and a watchtower standing on the earth embankment. The electric light shines brightly on the only entrance and exit on the earth embankment - a tightly closed
There is a wooden fence gate. There is a wooden sign hanging on the fence gate. On it is the word "restricted area" in two big ink letters.
On the coastline of this small "isolated island", the numerous reefs act as natural defenses, and the watchtowers guard against all threats from the sea. As long as sea conditions permit, Coast Guard patrol boats guard the surrounding waters 24 hours a day -
- Vessels without permission are not allowed to approach this place.
The sentries changed their posts every hour, and the patrols with dogs on leash patrolled the seaside, looking for any sign of suspiciousness. They had no idea what they were defending against the enemy, and most of the soldiers were on guard throughout their duties.
During this period, I have never entered the core area: the compound on the hillside of this small island.
The compound is very large, and the walls are made of local stones. The walls are high and thick. From the outside, you can only see the roof and towers protruding above the walls.
The compound is also heavily guarded. Except every few days, some boxes will be transported by land or sea, and some boxes will be transported away. Apart from this, the door is almost never opened. However, the soldiers sometimes hear noises coming from the courtyard.
Come the loud bells.
Some people said that the courtyard was an "Australian Temple". However, the bells did not ring as punctually as in the temple, and they could not see anyone who looked like a monk.
"Don't listen, don't see, don't ask, don't teach", the eight-character mantra is painted on the wall with lime water, which adds to the mystery here.
This is the Hutou Village Observatory, the timing center of the Senate.
In an era without satellite navigation and positioning, timing was a crucial technological point for a regional hegemon like the Senate that relied heavily on shipping. Ships sailing on the sea must accurately position themselves and determine the route.
Depends on latitude and longitude calculation.
Dimensions are easy to measure because latitude is determined by natural laws. The equator is zero latitude and the poles are 90 degrees, which is the same no matter where. Positioning through astronomical observations: whether it is a sextant with the height of the sun as a reference,
Or a star board for observing the position of stars. Both can determine the dimension of the ship quite accurately. But the longitude is different. The earth is always rotating. There is no natural way to determine the position of zero longitude. It can only be determined artificially. Similarly,
There is no celestial body that can be used to visually display the difference in longitude.
So people began to try to use time to test longitude very early. People at that time already knew that the earth rotates 360 degrees every 24 hours. Each hour is equivalent to 15 degrees of longitude. As long as you know the time difference between the two places, you can know
There is a difference in longitude between the two. If we know that 12 o'clock noon in a certain place is exactly 10 o'clock in the morning in London, then it means that this place is 30 degrees east of London. Therefore, the longitude problem is converted into an equivalent problem.
:How to measure the time difference between two places.
In 1530, the Dutch mathematician Gemma Frisius proposed using a clock to measure the time difference to infer the longitude of the location. According to his idea, a clock would always keep the time in a certain place (such as London), and then bring
Follow it to a new location, use the height of the sun to measure the local time, and then compare it with the clock in London to know the longitude difference between here and London.
This idea was simply impossible to realize due to the technical level and longitude of the clock at the time, but it had initially proposed the epoch-making concept of a marine clock.
Before the satellite positioning system was put into use, it was precisely because of this idea that sailing ships could break free from the shackles of sailors who had to rely on coastlines and island chains for thousands of years to sail anywhere in the sea.
The Senate had no satellites to use, so it became urgent to equip fleets and merchant ships with navigational clocks.
Every ship that crossed over on D-Day was equipped with multiple additional nautical clocks, but the ever-expanding fleet and the requirements for accurate timekeeping in all walks of life have a strong demand for clocks. For now, the Planning Institute
There are a lot of clocks and accessories stored in the warehouse, and some elders also bring a large number of private watches, but relying on reserves is not a long-term solution.
As soon as the Ministry of Science and Technology was established, the two primary tasks assigned to Zhong Lizhi by the Executive Committee were precise timing and radio technology. Zhong Lizhi, as the People's Commissar of Science and Technology, decided to go into battle personally to solve this problem.
To accurately time the clock, you first need an accurate time-measuring mechanism, which requires an observatory.
The Senate once planned to build an observatory in Gaoshanling, but Zhong Lishi believed that the location of the observatory was not good. By comparing maps and field surveys, he chose the longitude 110 degrees east longitude as the meridian to determine local time.
The most suitable land observation point on this meridian is this place called "Hutou Village". This Taipei Observatory with an altitude of 15 meters cannot be called a formal observatory, it is just an institution for measuring time. This place is also
It is not an ideal observatory site. The altitude is too low, there are many typhoons and the rainy climate makes Zhong Lishi very headache.
According to the development plan he submitted, this place will only be used as a time measurement platform during the 1525 period. After the 25th Five-Year Plan, another suitable location will be selected - if possible, it would be best to capture Greenwich.
"If you give me an invincible fleet, the country I most want to attack is Britain, and the place I most want to occupy is Greenwich Village."
——"Time and Longitude"
Academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, written by Dr. Zhong Lishi
Taibai University Press, first edition in 1645, second edition in 1655, 178th printing
When there was no Greenwich as an observatory, Hutou Village was still useful. It had convenient sea and land transportation and was close to Lingao. It was the core area of the rule and was convenient for security. The observatory needed to house a large number of "black technology" products brought from the old time and space.
, safety work is the top priority.
After the construction of the Hutou Village Observatory started, a certain elder and literary youth felt that the place name "Hutou" was silly and crude. So based on the coincidence that this place is located in the west of Chengmai, and the legendary Western spiritual beast white tiger, he changed "Hutou" to "Hutou".
"Taibai", gave "Tiger Head Observatory" a name that made Dr. Zhong almost wet his bed - "Taibai Observatory".
The astronomical observatory is equipped with a celestial instrument, an astronomical clock, a shortwave timing radio and many other equipment. Among them, radio timing is a black technology that only Lingao Navy flagships are entitled to use. Radio technology solves the problem of the accuracy of navigation clocks from another aspect.
.
This is also the location of the clock and watch workshop of the Ministry of Science and Technology. There are four clock towers in the compound for testing hammer-powered clock machines. Lightning rods are installed on the clock towers. Zhong Lishi's home "Taibai Mansion" is also here. Later, he relied on Taibai
The Observatory developed a university - "Taibai University".
"Father, Father." A slender hand gently pushed on Dr. Zhong's shoulder.
"Well... I can't eat anymore..." Dr. Zhong muttered, and his clothes fell to the ground.
"Father..." There was a hint of helplessness in his voice. The owner of the delicate hands knelt down, picked up the clothes and put them on him again, "The executive committee is holding an enlarged meeting!"
"Huh?!" Dr. Zhong froze and his eyes opened suddenly, "Tell them to wait, I'll go right away!"