Jiang Shuo felt much more comfortable sitting on the ground, hugging his knees and looking around when he suddenly heard a "bang" sound. When he turned around to look, Xiang'er and his grandson had already rushed into the pavilion, and he followed them in. But I saw a faint column of dust floating in the air. There was a hole in a certain small dot on the ground, and some unknown dust spewed out from it and flew into the air, but it has not yet dissipated. Grandpa Xiang'er started digging on the ground, while Xiang'er rubbed his hands excitedly beside him.
After a while, the old man dug out a piece of something and rubbed it in his hand. Jiang Shuo saw that it was a small piece of Keting bamboo. The bamboo tube was about six inches long and only three-thirds in diameter. The old man slowly peeled off the bamboo tube. It is wrapped with a film coating. The film coating is extremely thin and translucent. I don’t know what it is made of. The surface of the exposed bamboo tube is polished very smooth. There are openings at both ends of the bamboo tube and six holes in the tube body. Jiang Shuo said: "Grandpa, I used to make flutes, but the flutes I've seen should have eight holes, one blowing hole and seven sound holes. Why is your flute missing two holes?"
The old man was dusting off the remaining dust from the bamboo pipe, then picked it up and blew it hard, and then said: "What do you know, kid? This is a rhythm flute."
Jiang Shuo asked: "Is there any difference between these flutes?"
Xiang'er interjected: "This is a big difference. The lüdi is a flute that is not played, but used by the law flute."
Jiang Shuo said: "I heard that Xun Xu made a twelve-melody flute with six rhythms and six flutes. Each flute has five tones, a total of sixty rhythms. It turns out that this is what grandpa made."
The old man said: "Hey, little doll is not simple, he also knows Xun Xu... Come on, come out and talk."
He waved Jiang Shuo and Xiang'er out of the pavilion. Jiang Shuo scratched his head and said, "I just heard about it, but I don't know why."
Jiang Shuo had an excellent memory and never forgot what he heard. He once heard Li Taibai chatting with his friends about the Twelve Rhythm Flutes, so he knew about Ke Tingzhu and Xun Xu's making of the Twelve Rhythm Flutes, but that was all.
The old man said: "Xunxu of Jin Dynasty made a twelve-meter flute. He used a nine-inch flute as a yellow bell, and then used the three-point profit and loss method to determine the six rhythms, six grooves and twelve rhythms one by one. He said that the palace and businessmen were harmonious, and it was elegant music. The tune was correct, but the contemporary Ruan Xian said that his new tune was too high-pitched, and there was always sadness in the music, which was not in line with the way of harmony. Xun Xu replied that Ruan Xian was jealous and deliberately picky. Until one day when farmers were plowing Tian Shi dug up a jade ruler from the Zhou Dynasty. Xun Xu used the Zhou ruler to measure his yellow bell and flute, only to find that the Jin ruler was a little longer than the Zhou ruler. The nine inches of the Jin ruler were only seven minutes of the eight inches of the Zhou ruler. As for the tempered flute he made, it is a little shorter than the Zhou flute, so as Ruan Xian said, the temperament he made is less than a half tone higher than the Zhou flute. From this, we know that Ruan Xian's mastery of eight tones is indeed higher than his own."
Jiang Shuo said: "Ruan Xian can tell the difference of three points just by listening with his ears. It's really impressive."
The old man said: "Yes, but how can Xun Xu be sure that the Zhou ruler he got is the most accurate? Or maybe Ruan Xian's ear sound is the most accurate?" The two children shook their heads together after hearing this.
The old man smiled and said: "Yes, the Tang ruler is also different from the Jin ruler. How do I know the length of the ruler Xun Xu used and how to convert it? It is not reliable to rely on personnel after all."
Jiang Shuo asked: "Then how to make it reliable?"
Xiang'er said to the shack, "Oh, God."
Jiang Shuo wondered: "How can you rely on the sky?"
Grandpa Xiang'er replied: "The twelve tones in the human world correspond to the twenty-four solar terms in heaven. People in the Zhou Dynasty regarded November as the first month, and the solar term 'Winter Solstice' in November corresponds to the yellow bell. From then on, each solar term is a semitone, twenty The four solar terms start from the winter solstice and end in the Great Cold, with a total of twelve whole tones and twelve semitones. Among them, the odd months are yang and are called "Liu Lv", and the even months are yin and are called "Liu Lu". Together they are "Shi". Erlu Lu'. Since the Twelve Lu Lu are related to the 'qi' of heaven and earth, the most accurate sound is 'qi'. I used the Zhou people's 'method of weathering qi', taking twelve bamboo tubes and pressing 'three points' Cut it into different lengths, fill the tube with ashes of Chia chrysanthemum, seal it with a very thin bamboo cloth, and bury it in the soil in the mid-winter moon, leaving only the mouth of the tube flush with the ground. On the day of the winter solstice, when the sun rises Initially, the earth's energy rises, and the longest bamboo tube is the first to be affected by the earth's energy, and it will emit jia ash, which is the sound of "Huang Zhong". After that, the earth's energy continues to rise every month, and every solar term will If there is a shorter pipe that sprays out ashes, it will be the same. Until the next year when the shortest bamboo pipe sprays out ashes, it will be the most accurate set of twelve rules."
Jiang Shuo was stunned when he heard this: "It takes a year to determine the twelve laws. It's really tiring."
Grandpa Xiang'er laughed miserably and said, "How can it be done in one year? Do you still remember what I said? The Tang ruler and the Zhou ruler are not the same. No one knows how long nine inches in the Zhou ruler is today. One year, I made more than a dozen bamboo tubes measuring nine inches from Tang ruler and buried them in the ground. I didn't expect any of them to spew out ash during the winter solstice. The next year, I expanded the length range and made more bamboo tubes. As a result, It still didn’t erupt, and it didn’t erupt in the third year. In the fourth and fifth years, I buried more bamboo tubes, but there was still no movement. I suddenly thought that since Zhou Zhijiun was different from today, then Zhou Zhijiu was different from today. The three-thirds diameter of the pipe was different from today's three-thirds. I immediately converted the corresponding pipe diameter according to the length. This time I became cruel and worked day and night to make hundreds of bamboo pipes of different lengths and thicknesses, all of which were buried in the soil. middle."
"Then it must have been successful this time." Jiang Shuo asked. Grandpa Xiang'er shook his head and said: "On the winter solstice, there is still not a single pipe spouting out Jia ash..." Jiang Shuo exclaimed: "It's so difficult to do it, hundreds of It's time to press the pipe..." Grandpa Xiang'er said: "Yes, it should be noted that since the flute is played, it cannot be too thick or too thin, nor too long, otherwise the fingers will not be able to press all the flute holes. Every bamboo flute I make is playable and covers all playable sizes, but none of them can spit out ash."
"Is this just a false rumor?" Jiang Shuo knew it was wrong as soon as he said this. He had just witnessed a bamboo pipe spitting out ashes.
Grandpa Xiang'er said: "I also suspected this at the time. At that time, a bamboo flute suddenly spurted out ash..." Jiang Shuo's eyes widened and he said, "Could it be that the winter solstice is late?" Grandpa shook his head and said : "Otherwise, according to the twenty-four solar terms set by my homemade sundial, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest day, so I will definitely not be mistaken. On the day when the ashes are sprayed out, the day is obviously longer than the previous few days."
As he spoke, he pointed to a stone sundial on the clearing in the forest. The carved lines on the stone plate were evenly divided into twenty-four parts, with a copper needle inserted in the center. The sundial was located in the center of the clearing, and all the surrounding bamboos were cut so that it could not be covered. , it must be accurate. Jiang Shuo knew a little about the calendar and said, "Then it is indeed the winter solstice. What's going on?"
Grandpa Xiang'er said: "I only thought about it for a few days and then I understood. It was because there was a slight deviation in the size of the bamboo flute, which caused the activation time of the earth's energy to be different from the winter solstice. If it was too late, it must be because the bamboo was short, so The scope was narrowed down. I only took the size between the last unsprayed bamboo flute and the last sprayed bamboo flute to make a few more tubes. But this time the size was only slightly different, and I was extremely meticulous. First, I poured millet seeds into the flute that was sprayed with ash, and measured 1,180 grains. The last flute that was not sprayed contained 1,210 grains, so I made thirty pipes, each with the required grains. There was only one grain of millet left, and it only took one year to make it. This time, on the winter solstice, a pipe actually sprayed out the ash, and when I measured it with millet grains, it turned out to be exactly 1,200 grains."
Jiang Shuo sighed: "The creation of heaven and earth is so amazing."
Grandpa Xiang'er nodded and said: "I'm not worried. In the next three years, I made a bamboo flute of exactly the same size and buried it in the soil. For three years, I sprayed out the ashes on the winter solstice. After nine years of this, I Finally, the first sound of the Twelve Rhythms - 'Huang Zhong' - was determined, and the length of the bamboo tube was only six inches and nine-thirds based on today's measurements."
Jiang Shuo was speechless again: "I didn't expect that the current ruler and the Zhou ruler are so different?"
Grandpa Xiang'er said: "This is also expected. After all, the twelve laws were originally established a thousand years ago."
Jiang Shuo said: "With Huang Zhong, the sound behind it should be much easier, right?"
Grandpa Xiang'er said: "I thought so too. According to the three-point profit and loss method, the second sound of 'Da Lu' should be Zhou Chi six inches four quarters. Since the interval was only one month, I only had time to make nine." Pipe bamboo flutes, but in the second month - the time of Xiaoxue solar term, not a single pipe spits out ash."
Jiang Shuo was taken aback and asked, "Why?" Grandpa Xiang'er said, "I didn't know that at the time. I only knew that there must be a deviation. Next month, I made six more tubes of 'Taicu' according to the three-point profit and loss method. , but it didn't work. After that, I skipped the "Clamping Bell" in the fourth month and directly did the "Gu Xi" in the fifth month. However, it also didn't work. At this point, I already knew that the deviation must be too big, and the deviation was too big. It will become more and more impossible to calibrate in the future.”
Jiang Shuo asked, "What should we do?"
Grandpa Xiang'er glared at him and said, "What else can we do? We can only use the original stupid method. We can only prepare for the coming year. I made another sixty tubes in the remaining seven months of this year. But it still didn’t work. The next year I made another hundred tubes, and this time I finally got it right. It turned out that the length of Dalu was seven or nine points shorter than the three-point gain and loss.”
Jiang Shuo said: "It's less than an inch. This is too difficult."
Grandpa Xiang'er chuckled and said: "According to this proportion, the result is too large and not effective. It turns out that the deviation between each pattern is also uneven."
Jiang Shuo exclaimed. Grandpa Xiang'er smiled and said: "There is nothing I can do. I am not greedy. I will set the same length every year. Fortunately, after I set the Taizu, I knew that the actual length was longer than the length calculated by the three-point profit and loss method. That would save half the effort. After more than ten years of this, when the last tube of 'Ying Zhong' sprayed out the ash, it was already one inch, two and three points short of the three-point profit and loss method. If it weren't for my You can't guess it using this stupid method."
Jiang Shuo asked: "Grandpa, how many years did it take you to finally set the Twelve Laws?"
Hearing this question, Grandpa Xiang'er twisted his beard and laughed loudly: "In total, it's twenty-five years."
Jiang Shuo thought that twenty-five years had doubled his age. He couldn't help but admire the old man's perseverance from the bottom of his heart. He looked at Xiang'er and bowed down: "Your grandpa is so awesome."
Xiang'er said: "You come with me."
The three of them came out of the bamboo forest together. They turned around in a large circle and found themselves at the lake again. There was a small sandy beach between the bamboo forest and the lake. A small bamboo building was built near the water. There was a bamboo tower outside. A fence made of a row of bamboo pipes. This fence is very low and uneven in height. The bamboo pipes are inserted closely together to form a large circle. The long ones are no more than nine inches, and the short ones are about four inches. If you look closely, there are blow holes drilled into the tubes.
Jiang Shuo was surprised and said: "These are the abolished laws and regulations, there are so many of them."
The old man smiled and said: "Even the bamboo house was made from the leftover scraps of bamboo flute making. Cai Yong removed the eaves and used bamboo to make flutes. I did the opposite and built a small building while making flutes... You When you look at this fence, it’s just the flute from the first twenty years, but the flute from the next five years has been used by Xiang’er to burn firecrackers and play with it.”
Jiang Shuo was looking at the bamboo tubes. They were indeed yellow in color and obviously old. He suddenly thought of a question and asked: "Then since the twelve laws have been decided, why are there still pipes to spray ash? Is today the last pipe?"
Grandpa Xiang'er said: "That's not true. I used more than twenty flutes measured in cold and heat. Can't I check and verify them? I made twelve flutes according to the specified size and buried them in the soil together for verification. It can also be regarded as a backup. The three tubes have been sprayed out on time before. Today is the 'Xiaoman' solar term in early summer, and the third of the six tubes, 'Zhonglu', has also been sprayed out smoothly."
Jiang Shuo said: "My grandpa has sharpened his sword for twenty-five years, which is really admirable. I wish grandpa this year will go well and he can attain the twelve laws." After saying this, he bowed to the ground.
Grandpa Xiang'er said with a smile: "The little devil knows etiquette, which is better than my granddaughter."
Xiang'er said with a flat mouth: "He will learn some hypocritical etiquette from adults. It's very boring."
While the grandfather and grandson were talking and laughing, they suddenly heard the ethereal sound of a flute coming from the lake.
At this moment, the sun was setting in the west, and the rays of rays were shining on the lake. Jiang Shuo squinted his eyes and looked in the direction where the flute was coming from. In the distance, he saw a light boat coming through the waves very fast from the north, with the bow of the boat coming. There is a person standing, who seems to be playing a flute. Jiang Shuo didn't know the music of the flute, but he only felt that the music was desolate and powerful. Although he was far away, the sound of the flute seemed to come through the clouds and waves, carrying every sound into his ears.
The boat was obviously not coming towards them. It was not close to the lake shore. It drew a long water line in the lake and passed far in front of them. Xiang'er said: "It seems to be heading towards the villa."
Grandpa was standing by the lake listening very carefully. Now he came back to his senses and said, "Let's go and take a look."
