.xo Constantine Huygens was startled. Christian was his youngest son. He was born in 1629 and was only three years old now. [Full text reading] No one knows about this child except his relatives and friends. I never mentioned him to Mr. Boncourt or anyone else. How could Dr. Zhong, who was thousands of miles away, call out his name so quickly?
He felt a little strange and said, "He's fine."
"Where's Mr. Descartes?"
The philosopher and physicist Descartes was doing research in the Netherlands at this time. Since 1629, Descartes had been living in the Netherlands for more than 20 years, concentrating on writing and research. He was also a friend of Constantin Huygens. Christian would become a physicist and must have been greatly influenced by Descartes.
"He is also very good." Constantine Huygens said, becoming a little wary. How could this gentleman know everything? Although Descartes is not a small figure, he is not a household name in the whole of Europe, let alone in East Asia where the European name is hard to figure out.
Dr. Zhong smiled slightly: "Actually, I have admired Mr. Descartes for a long time. I heard that he is very knowledgeable about optical problems?"
"Indeed, but he is more interested in mathematical problems."
Although Constantin Huygens did not have great achievements, he was still a scientist with extensive knowledge and was certainly no stranger to mathematics. The two of them discussed the analytic geometry problem that Descartes had been studying recently beside the roast duck stove. The two entered the harbor as soon as they started talking. Three minutes later Mr. Huygens was in awe of Dr. Chung.
"You are really a great mathematician!" he said excitedly. "You have easily come up with solutions to problems that Mr. Descartes has never been able to figure out!" He was so excited that he had forgotten what happened just now. , "Do you have any writings that I can take a look at?"
Dr. Zhong smiled and said: "The writings..."
Suddenly Zhong Xiaoying shouted: "Duck! The duck is smoking!"
Upon hearing this, Dr. Zhong hurriedly picked up a fork to flip the roast duck. In the emergency, he did not forget the "abduction" plan and said to Huygens: "I will give you a duck... no, a pamphlet. You can take it back to Di." Mr. Carl, take a look - these are my thoughts on certain mathematical and optical problems."
"That's great." Huygens nodded repeatedly and said, "Your duck seems to be almost roasted..."
Soon. Cretia's fish was cooked, and Zhonglishi's duck was also roasted. With a sharp steel knife and an iron fork in one hand, Zhong Lishi cut the first roasted duck into slices himself and arranged them neatly in rows. He said to Huygens: "You also need to pay attention to slicing roast duck. Every cut must have skin and meat... Then roll the duck meat into the lotus leaf pancake, add scallions and sweet noodle sauce... Come! Try it..."
The flour and sweet noodle sauce were brought by Dr. Zhong, and the green onions were produced by local vegetable farms. Of course they are all the best.
This time, it’s not just Huygens. Even Crédia and Claudia came to watch with great interest. This way of eating is quite novel to Europeans, not to mention that the Dutch at this time were famous for being poor eaters.
Huygens's eyes suddenly bulged out, and he was speechless for a long time.
"How is the taste?"
"It tastes good! It's great!" Huygens praised sincerely, "It tastes much better than roast goose! Well, it's a complex taste."
The banquet was held in the customs hall. The windows on all sides of the hall were open and equipped with iron screen covers, which not only allowed the cool sea breeze to blow in, but also prevented the insects that flourished here from invading moths into the fire.
Gas lamps illuminated the entire hall. Credia quietly walked in and took a look. Seeing that the windows on all sides were densely packed with insects, I couldn't help but feel nauseous. Turn your head quickly. She looked curiously at the cutlery, cutlery and forks on the long dining table covered with white tablecloth. Although most of the dishes are Chinese style. But the format is still a buffet. All the white tablecloths were porcelain and silver tableware - Wei Bachi attached great importance to the pomp of the "Taiwan Governor's Palace" and wanted to show the "majesty of the highest representative of the Senate" at every turn.
"There are so many knives, forks and porcelain...it's so grand..." Credia whispered to her brother.
At that time, the use of knives and forks was not common in Europe. As for chopsticks, she didn't find them strange: she had become accustomed to Chinese tableware in Batavia, and she was eager to try them.
Westley also wore formal attire—and he and his sister were formally invited. This may feel a bit hot - Europeans, especially Europeans of certain status, do not take off their clothes even in the hot Southeast Asia. Their originally red skin becomes even redder, like grilled prawns. .
"I heard that Australians are indeed very luxurious." Westley said calmly. "Father said that Australians are rich in property and have endless wealth..."
As he spoke, he pointed to a mahogany grandfather clock at the end of the banquet hall - the same as the one in Ziming Tower. It is a combination of modern mechanical parts and this space-time casing.
"Sister, look, this is the Australian clock. It's very beautiful, isn't it?" Westley said with relish, "It is very different from the Dutch clock. It is said that it was made by Dr. Zhong - I really want to be able to tell him study."
The two people were talking in a low voice when the big clock rang loudly. After striking six times in a row, music suddenly sounded in the empty banquet hall - this was the welcome song appointed by the Senate: "Beautiful Australia"
Led by Wei Bachi, elders such as Zhong Lishi, Hong Laojun, Shi Dafu, etc., dressed in formal attire, took their seats one after another amid the sound of music. Seacat and Huygens delivered speeches respectively, and then the band played symphony, and the banquet began immediately.
Facing a table full of Chinese and Western delicacies, a group of Dutch veterans and Huygens's companions devoured the food, dripping with juice. But Zhonglishi and Huygens seemed a little reserved. Although they didn't eat much, they kept burping. Wei Bachi felt a little strange and asked Huygens: "Mr. Huygens, isn't the food not to your taste?"
"Oh, so delicious! So delicious!"
Seeing this, Zhong Xiaoying quietly whispered a few words to Credia, and the two couldn't help but laugh. Vetris hurriedly leaned over to inquire, and Credia whispered to his brother: "The two of them were cooking and eating in the kitchen. Each of them ate almost half a duck and two fish..."
On the second day of the banquet, Wei Bachi had his brothers and sisters taken to the Kaohsiung Health Center, where they had their bodies checked and then vaccinated with cowpox.
The reaction to cowpox is very minor and generally does not require much care. To be cautious, they rested for a few days according to the doctor's instructions, and only came out again after the vaccination site was basically scarred. Zhong Lishi gave them several popular science illustrated magazines published by the Great Library to occupy their time. According to the report of the maid responsible for taking care of them: Vetris was fascinated by what he saw and kept trying to understand the Chinese characters explained in the illustrated magazine. He also specifically asked the maid to get a book like a Dutch-Australian dictionary.
Dr. Zhong thought to himself that I do have a copy of the Dutch-Chinese dictionary, but I can't give it to him. I think there must be ready-made copies in big libraries. The problem is that the demand is too small, so it may be difficult to publish and print them specifically.
"Knowledge is power." He thought to himself, as long as you have power, there will naturally be people who want to understand you and learn from you. Come learn your language. Teaching language is also an effective means of cultural dissemination - major libraries should be asked to publish some dictionaries, linguistics textbooks and the like.
He thought for a moment and called Zhong Xiaoying over - he felt that the relationship between his adopted daughter and the two children seemed not bad, and they kept making gestures, talking and laughing at the banquet.
"Father, did you ask me how Credia's Cantonese is?" Zhong Xiaoying made a face, "Her Cantonese is as good as father..."
"Ahem," Dr. Zhong coughed a few times, and Zhong Xiaoying replied honestly: "She can speak simple conversations, and more complicated ones require gestures - but Miss Cretia's ability to learn languages is very good. Strong. She said she can speak several languages..."
"In that case, you should teach her Mandarin well." Zhong Lishi said, "This is the task I give you. And her brother."
"Yes, Father." Zhong Xiaoying said, "But they shouldn't stay here for a long time?"
"They will stay here for at least half a month." Zhong Lizhi had already asked Huygens: they planned to stay in Taiwan for a month. Originally, I planned to live in the city of Relanjia. However, Huygens had informed him yesterday that they hoped to stay in a more comfortable and hygienic Kaohsiung Commercial Hotel - of course, they would pay for room and board.
"I also want to discuss with you day and night problems in mathematics, astronomy and physics." Huygens showed great enthusiasm.
A few days later, the scars of the siblings had healed. Because Boncourt still had company affairs to deal with in Da Yuan, he returned to Da Yuan first and asked the two siblings to stay in Kaohsiung under the supervision of Huygens.
"I'm sorry, where is St. Anthony's Church?" Vestry and Cretia came out of the door. This was the first time they went out in these days, and they were not used to the sunlight.
"On the hillside over there..." the store servant pointed. On a hill next to the street stands a wooden Jesuit church.
This was the first time for Westri and Cretia to go out freely without anyone accompanying them - this was a completely unfamiliar area, so they were a little timid. The two heard that there was a Catholic church here with missionaries from Europe. So I decided to go there and have a look - Credia can still speak a little Italian.
Franz von Boncourt's family is not a citizen of the Seven Provinces Republic. They are Germans serving the Dutch East India Company. They come from the old Hanseatic League cities in northwest Germany. Many Germans in this area work as merchants. and sailors. The Boncourts were actually Catholic.
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