"Half a day has passed again. What are the movements of the Ming army in the afternoon?" Buyantaiji, who ordered his subordinates to set up tents and prepare for the night, hurriedly found Buyantaiji and asked about the latest situation.
Burihatu was meditating in front of the map at the moment, but he didn't care about the intrusion. After all, this army was mainly Buyantaiji's headquarters, and no one else would dare to break in directly except Huang Taiji. His tent.
However, Burihatu did not reply immediately. Instead, he waved his hand without looking back and said: "Huang Taiji came just in time. Look at this map of the Ming army...it is really detailed."
Buyantaiji stepped forward with some surprise, took a look, and quickly compared the surrounding situation, and pondered: "Could this map be collected from the corpses of the Ming army at night? It's fine, but it's just the area. A little too small.”
"Small dots are natural." Burihatu didn't take it seriously and explained: "The Ming army has a map of a wide area, which is as detailed and accurate as this map. Unfortunately, I have tried my best and failed. Got it.
As for this map, it was obvious that the Ming army deliberately took only a small part of the larger map, which was the area that Ye Bushou could investigate. This was done to prevent the map from falling into the hands of our Mongolians. By the way, does Huang Taiji know who made these pictures? "
"Could it be that Grand Master Gao, too? This guy really knows everything, which is annoying." Buyantai Ji frowned immediately.
"It doesn't matter whether it was done by Gao Rixin himself, but as far as I know, this new map of the Ming army was provided by Jinghua. It can be regarded as the culmination of thousands of years of Han people's experience in drawing maps. It is really remarkable." Buriha Tu Authentic approval.
Buyantaiji curled his lips and said: "Drawing a map of Kanyu is nothing more than sending more people to do it."
Although Burihatu did not look back, he sighed softly, hesitated to speak, and endured it. After a while, he calmly said again: "Smartness may be innate, but wisdom needs to be passed down."
Buyantaiji thought about the meaning of Buyantai being sent to him by his father Khan, so he had no choice but to lower his body and said: "Then what's the point of this Ming Dynasty's Kantu map?"
"When did the Han people learn to draw Kanyu maps? I have not studied this in detail, but it is recorded in "Historical Records of Xia Benji": "The left criterion and the right rule are recorded at four o'clock to open the nine states and connect the nine roads. Pi Jiu Ze, crossing Jiu Mountain'. It can be seen that as far back as the Xia Dynasty, the ancestors of the Han people already knew how to use yardsticks and rules to survey and map terrain."
Buyantaiji was silent for a moment and couldn't help but said: "It's just that I have a good ancestor." After thinking about it, he felt that it was not right to say this in his mouth. Isn't it because he had a good ancestor? What is your current status? So he coughed again and said nothing more.
Burihatu, who is also a descendant of the Jin family, pretended not to have heard what he said just now, but said: "The book "Historical Records" is sometimes too mysterious. It records that the Xia Dynasty would measure mountains and rivers. I thought that in the future You can believe it. However, the standards, ropes, rules and rules mentioned in this sentence are indeed the four tools used by the Han people at that time to measure mountains and rivers."
Buyantaiji didn't have any thoughts, and just said "oh" to show that he heard it.
Burihatu did not care and continued: "The events of Xia Shi are too mysterious and difficult to tell whether they are true or false, so it's okay not to mention them. Documents that are specific enough to prove that the Han people drew maps can be found in the records of the Warring States Period.
For example, "Zhou Li: Local Officials and Situ" says: The position of the Great Situ is to control the map of the land for establishing a state and the number of its people, so as to assist the king in calming down the state. Based on the map of the world's land, we can know the number of vast areas in Kyushu, and identify the names and objects of its mountains, forests, rivers, hills, and tombs. "
Buyantaiji was originally talking about the map, but Buyantaiji had a big reaction this time. Hearing this, he changed his expression and said: "Local official, Da Situ? Isn't that Gao Rixin's job at the moment? I will He said that this picture is very different from what he has seen before, and it is indeed this person who created it. Humph, it is unconventional."
Buyantaiji said calmly: "Rather than being new and innovative, I think it is better to say that it is innovative and unique." But before Buyantaiji could say anything else, he waved his hand and said: "Let's not talk about this for now. Let me put the Han people on the map. Finished talking about Gao Rixin’s previous development.”
Buyantaiji could only say "Yeah" in a muffled voice.
"It can be seen from what I just said that the Han people had a certain understanding of the importance of maps during the Zhou Dynasty, and assigned Da Situ an important responsibility." Burihatu said: "But as for the specific method of drawing maps, Let me talk about a person first, this person is called Pei Xiu."
"Oh..." Buyantaiji thought for a while, but quickly gave up, shaking his head and saying, "I've never heard of it."
"It doesn't matter, I'll explain it to Huang Taiji in detail." Of course, Buyantaiji knew that it was impossible to know this person with Buyantaiji's level, so he quickly explained to Huang Taiji.
The Pei Xiu he was talking about was active during the Wei, Jin and Zen dynasties. He was from Hedong and was the son of Pei Qian. Almost everyone who has read Romance of the Three Kingdoms knows him. This man was originally a willful young man who indulged in uninhibited love and freedom all his life, and he really indulged in uninhibited love and freedom... The celebrities with the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties understood everything.
Later, he, Jia Chong and Xun Yi were active as the troika of the Sima family at that time. The most important thing he did was to propose to welcome Cao Huan after the death of Cao Mao.
In fact, when he was a boy, Pei Xiu was...well, he was a bit of a keyboard warrior and liked to express his opinions on current affairs. There were guests at home at that time, so for his father's sake he would listen to Pei Xiu's talk.
But something happened later, which caused Pei Xiu, who knew nothing about mechanical design, to spray the catapult designed by Ma Jun. Ma Jun, a technical tycoon, is a typical engineering man. He can do things but is not good at debating, so he didn't pay much attention to him.
Of course, although Pei Xiu is relatively arrogant, likes to express opinions, and is an extremely conceited troll, there is another reason besides good family background for people who dare to do this, and that is that they have a really high IQ.
In the fourth year of Taishi, Pei Xiu was appointed Sikong of the Western Jin Dynasty; in the seventh year of Taishi, Pei Xiu drank a large bag of Wu Shi Powder and then drank cold wine, killing himself to death. However, this is not the point. The point is that there was only a short period of three years between when he took office as Sikong and when he "passed away for some reason". However, in just three years, Pei Xiu became one of the most important cartography experts and geographers in Chinese history.
Why is it concluded that he only used it for three years? Because Pei Xiu’s previous work had nothing to do with drawing. The only opportunity he had to get into contact with cartography was during the years when he served as Sima Zhao's junior staff officer, and most of the time he was by Sima Zhao's side, helping to cause harm to others.
However, to introduce Pei Xiu's achievements and contributions, it is necessary to introduce the tools used by ancient Chinese to draw maps. Including the four mentioned by Burihatu just now, there are several types of map drawing tools that can be determined: rules, moments, standards, ropes, tables; measuring poles, compasses, sight tubes, and measuring poles; Lingu cart and measuring cart.
The ancients basically relied on these eleven tools to survey and map the terrain. Among them, compasses, telescopes and watches were used to measure direction, and the remaining eight functions had different functions.
Of course, it is well known that the compass was invented in the Northern Song Dynasty, so it was not available in Pei Xiu's time. They used the relatively more primitive Sinan and Ditang.
What is territory? It is a stone slab with four dimensions, eight stems, twelve branches, and twenty-four directions. Then there is a spoon-shaped magnet called Sinan, which is placed on top, and then...then he smokes it. Draw it until it spins and then stops. The direction it points to is south.
This sounds familiar, right? People of later generations have basically seen it in science and education programs. But in fact, the friction of this thing was too strong, and the error was quite large, so it was replaced after the compass appeared.
By the way, among the eleven tools mentioned above, one was only invented in the Ming Dynasty. It was the last measuring carriage, which was another design combined with a rope ruler. To put it simply, if you carry this car forward, you can more accurately record how far you have traveled.
Going a step further, let’s go back to the Pei Xiu guy I just mentioned. What specific contribution does he make? What qualifications do you have to become one of China's most important cartography experts in three years?
The first achievement of this man was that he drew eighteen chapters of "Yu Gong Regional Map" based on "Yu Gong"; the second achievement was that Pei Xiu formally proposed the theoretical basis for map drawing, the so-called "Sixth Map of Cartography". body".
All eighteen chapters of "Yugong Territory Map" have been lost and are no longer visible. However, the contents of the six cartographic bodies can still be found in the literature. Pei Xiu standardized map production for the first time, providing a very reliable theoretical basis for later generations. And his theory basically covers all the elements that need to be considered in map production. From then on, map production has traces and rules to follow. What's even more valuable is that these theories were all summed up and explored by Pei Xiu himself in practice, so they are particularly reliable.
There is a long ancient description of the above content in the biography of Pei Xiu in "The Book of Jin. The Fifth Biographies". I guess everyone is too lazy to read it, so I won't quote it here. In short, its general meaning is that there are six key points in drawing a map, namely dividing ratio, accurate hope, Daoli, high and low, square evil and roundabout.
To translate it slightly into modern Chinese, there are six principles for cartography: the first is fraction, which is used to distinguish distance and area; the second is quasi-scope, which is used to determine the relationship between features; the third is Daoli is used to measure road mileage; the fourth is Gaoxia, the fifth is Fangxie, and the sixth is roundabout. The last three need to be adapted to local conditions, and are mainly used to correct whether the terrain is dangerous or not. They must be clearly distinguishable on the map.
However, although the above was of great epoch-making significance and extremely advanced at the time, it was not perfect and still had flaws. The most obvious one was that it did not involve the relationship between longitude and latitude.
This is related to the Chinese cartographic thinking. One characteristic of ancient Chinese maps is that the closer they are to the center, the more accurate they are, while the further away they are, the more likely they are to have errors.
why? Because the Chinese cultural center was always inland and far away from the sea at that time, the ancient Chinese did not have the concept of terrain curvature. Originally, this point would not improve until Matteo Ricci came to China and introduced European mathematical theory.
However, now that Ming Dynasty has Gao pragmatism, everything is different. It was no longer improved due to the arrival of Matteo Ricci, but was directly improved by Gao Pragmatic, taking Jinghua as the starting point, and the Jinghua Trading Company, which was responsible for land trade, and the Liangyang Fleet, which was responsible for sea trade, jointly cooperated.
Jinghua's map not only clarified the "up, north, down, south, left, west, right, east" rules familiar to later generations, but also developed systems such as "contour lines" and "latitude and longitude", and even strengthened a stricter scale to avoid There were some problems with ancient Chinese maps in the past, such as cities appearing too large on the map and the proportions being completely distorted.
However, although Buyantaiji patiently explained, Buyantaiji obviously did not appreciate it very much. He frowned and asked: "The map is better. Although it is helpful for fighting, the ruling seems to want to say that this is What an amazing feat... With all due respect, as long as Mongolia rises up again one day and defeats the Ming Dynasty, aren't these things all ours? They can draw pictures, so let them draw them for us. Why be envious? "
Burihatu shook his head, feeling a little disappointed. Compared with Tumen Khan, Buyantaiji is still too naive, or his view of the problem is too simple.
The Tumen Khan clearly discovered the importance of knowledge during these years and his confrontation with Gao Pragmatic, and began to support his own reforms based on certain practices of the Ming Dynasty. However, Buyantaiji's mind was still stuck in the mind of more than 200 years ago, thinking that fast horses and arrows could make the Ming people surrender, and then rule them and use their knowledge for his own use.
Now, only the Great Khan in the whole of Chahar knows about his big plan and has expressed his approval. But if Buyantaiji cannot be persuaded... once the Great Khan's body cannot hold on, can the plan continue?
As the auxiliary minister appointed by the Great Khan to Buyantaiji, although Buyantaiji was a little disappointed, he could only be seductive. Therefore, he suppressed his thoughts and asked: "Huangtaiji, how has the Ming Dynasty changed in the past twenty years?" You’ve also seen it, in what areas do you think they have made progress?”
"Is there any progress? I think it is mainly because Gao Rixin is good at managing money, so now they are able to organize the army and improve the military. Now the towns in Jiubian have a completely new look in terms of weapons and equipment, and the morale of the army has been guaranteed because of sufficient food and pay, so it has changed It’s hard to beat.”
When Buyantaiji said this, he couldn't help but sigh and said: "Sometimes I always think, how about we train some dead soldiers and send them to stay dormant in Mingjing, and find an opportunity to kill Gao Rixin one day? Things might take a turn for the better.”
Burihatu did not take issue with the second half of the sentence, but said: "To be honest with Huang Taiji, I originally believed that the changes in the Ming Dynasty were rooted in Gao Rixin's good fortune."
"Really?" Buyantaiji became a little happy, but immediately thought that there seemed to be something wrong with what he said. What does "original" mean? Don't you see it that way now?
Buriha Turu can read people's hearts and continued: "Yes, my thoughts have changed a bit recently. I think the change in the Ming Dynasty is not just that Gao Rixin is good at managing money, but that he has great knowledge and wisdom."
He finally turned around, looked at Buyantaiji seriously and said: "He is trying to change the old theory that Ming people value virtue but not weapons. He sets an example and promotes the innovation of weapons with knowledge, so that the Ming Dynasty can comprehensively improve in all directions. .”
Buyantaiji frowned and asked in obvious disbelief: "Is it so mysterious?"
"The north of the Ming Dynasty now has cold-resistant rice, tussah, coal kang, corn, and new methods of iron smelting, cartography, firearms, military formations, and horse-drawn carriages; the south has sweet potatoes, and new methods The methods of shipbuilding, sugar making, weaving, and paper making. Looking at the Ming Dynasty, what other new things such as soap and cement are there? Where do these come from?
I think all these things come from knowledge. Although Gao Rixin is very knowledgeable, I thought that he was not responsible for all of the above, so I investigated carefully and finally found something. "
"What discovery?" Buyantaiji immediately asked.
"Jinghua Craftsman School." Burihatu sighed: "Many new things in Jinghua came from this school. Therefore, even if we really kill Gao Rixin with death, as long as his craftsman school is still there, the power of the Ming Dynasty will be greatly reduced." It won't collapse.
What's more... Huang Taiji thought I hadn't considered killing Gao Rixin? I've thought about it and tried it, but I just can't figure it out. There is a group of servants around him who are responsible for his security. According to reports, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Beijing is responsible for management. The leader of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is called Gao Mo. He has been closely following Gao Rixin for more than twenty years. He cannot be bribed or coerced. "
"The government just looked at a map and thought of this much. Isn't it a bit of a fuss? It's just a craftsman school, how can it be so capable?" Buyantaiji originally wanted to say that Buyandi Hatu had other people's ambitions. , to destroy his own prestige, but considering that it was not enough to offend him, he had to change the word.
Burihatu said: "In the past, during our Western Mongolian expedition, if we had not captured a large number of craftsmen in Khwarezm and other places, would we have been able to return with artillery?"
With just these words, Buyantaiji was left speechless. The Huihui artillery played a huge role in the Mongolian conquests, and Central Asian and Arab craftsmen not only brought the Huihui artillery to the Mongols, but many technologies also contributed to the expansion of the Mongols. This is a matter of pride. Buyantaiji, who was once glorious in Mongolia, knew this very well, so it was impossible to refute it.
Since I couldn't refute this, I naturally couldn't refute the core point of view that "knowledge brings progress" mentioned by Burihatu before, so I had no choice but to keep silent, or even start thinking in silence.
Seeing that the time was basically ripe, Burihatu spoke again: "Gao Rixin has great knowledge and wisdom, and he has such an accurate map in his hand. I expected that although he was pretending to be anxious, he actually expected that There must be arrangements... I'm afraid he is not eager to rescue the siege for naturalization, but wants me, Chahar, to concentrate our forces and take the initiative to attack his way."
"The ruling party is saying that this is Gao Rixin's treacherous plan, and he actually wants to use himself as bait to annihilate our army?" Although Buyantaiji has limited other consciousness, he seems to have some military savvy, at least he can listen after being reminded. Understand the meaning.
Burihatu nodded solemnly and said: "Gao Rixin will not allow us to exist in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. This is obvious. Even if the Ming army has not been found three hundred miles away, I am still sure that as long as our army attacks his base, , there must be at least 100,000 Ming troops in the surrounding area who will rush over immediately, trying to encircle and suppress our army near Tumut Guihua."
Buyantaiji said angrily: "I can't fight, but I can't leave, so what should I do now?"
Burihatu said solemnly: "There is only one plan: as he wishes, fake a fight to create opportunities for 'Go'."
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