I

Gifts from Portugal and France are stored in warehouses at the port.

When the Chinese envoys return to the voyage, they will not only take away those gifts, but also bring the envoys of the two countries with them. Among them, animals are the most troublesome. The horse breeds sent by France and the sheep breeds sent by Portugal have to be raised by special personnel for a period of time, so they will definitely not be able to travel around with the ship.

Both horses and sheep were purchased on the initiative of the Chinese mission. Upon hearing that the quantity was not very large, the royal families of both countries were too lazy to collect money, and even sent officials to carefully select them.

Come to Grace Port again, across the strait is the United Kingdom.

Not long after the voyage, Song Qin took a French booklet and found Zhang Ruifeng in the cabin: "Ambassador Zhang, I found a good book below. I was not familiar with French before, so I have been relaying it through the translator. The contents of this book , is quite difficult, and the French translator can’t understand it. Up to now, I probably understand a lot. When I return to Nanjing, this book must be presented to His Majesty! It is best to organize missionaries who can understand French. Seriously translate this book into Chinese.”

"What book?" Zhang Ruifeng asked.

Song Qin replied: "The title of the book is very long, and I don't know if the translation is correct. It is called "Methodology for Correct Thinking and Discovering the Truth". The author is a famous French scholar Descartes. Like His Majesty, he actually created analytic geometry. His mathematical theory , is highly respected in France. However, his philosophical thoughts have been besieged by French scholars."

There were four scholars from the two academies who went to sea with the boat, and Song Qin was from Qintian Academy.

He didn't speak much along the way, only observed and recorded the geographical situation, and spent the rest of the time studying Latin. When I arrived in France, I didn’t go to the banquet, but stayed in the Louvre to study French, and occasionally went to bookstores with an interpreter.

Descartes' "Discourse on Method", at this time, only has a French version, and there is no Latin version yet. Although it has been published for more than ten years and the mathematical methods in the book are quite sought after, his philosophical works have been dismissed as worthless.

The ship staggered towards England, Zhang Ruifeng happened to be idle and had nothing to do, so he asked, "What is written in the book?"

Song Qin said: "It covers everything, including mathematics, physics, etc. What is really valuable is to explain how to do academic research. Your Majesty will be delighted to get this book."

Zhang Ruifeng couldn't understand: "Please be more specific."

Song Qin said: "For example, the research of optics, Descartes, and the pedantry of Qintianyuan are consistent in many places. The rare thing is to use the principles of optics to explain how the eyes see things. We all know that when the eyes are dug out, It is a sphere. Descartes believed that the eye is a convex lens... Does Ambassador Zhang know about convex lenses?"

"Ahem," Zhang Ruifeng coughed twice, then smiled, "Go on."

Song Qin said: "The telescopes used by the generals are convex lenses. According to Descartes, the eyes of each of us are a telescope. As for the myopia of scholars, it is because of problems with the convex lens that the optical focus is out of focus. Variety."

"So that's how it is," Zhang Ruifeng didn't understand, but kept smiling, "Go on."

Song Qin said: "Descartes' mechanical cosmology also coincides with some scholars of Qintian Academy. Descartes is even more extreme, thinking that except for thoughts, the entire universe is mechanically moving, and everything can be controlled by mechanics." Elaboration. All animals, including humans, are also governed by complex laws of mechanics. Even more valuable, is the epistemology and methodology of academic research developed by Descartes."

Without waiting for Zhang Ruifeng to speak, Song Qin talked eloquently: "There are three theories of epistemology: first, philosophy is the foundation of all natural sciences, which requires truth and reliability. Basic cognition. Third, the reason for the wrong or unreliable foundation is that the method of establishing the foundation is incorrect, or even there is no method, so there must be methodology. Does Ambassador Zhang know how important these are to Qintianyuan?"

"How important?" Zhang Ruifeng asked.

Song Qin said: "It's just like "Zhu Zi Yu Lei" is to Song and Ming Neo Confucianism."

Zhang Ruifeng was dumbfounded, he knew that the emperor attached great importance to Qintianyuan. But today, the natural sciences of Qintian Academy have not yet been established, nor have they formed a strict system. If it is true what Song Qin said, then take this "Methodology" back, and the knowledge of Qintianyuan will be able to establish a school.

The more Song Qin talked, the more excited he became. Descartes' methodological content gave him the feeling of enlightenment.

Descartes' four principles of methodology:

First, put aside all prejudices and establish rational authority. All knowledge is tested by reason, and the test is clear and beyond doubt.

Second, split the research object into as small parts as possible until the problem can be solved satisfactorily.

Third, to study science, there must be an order, from easy to difficult, from simple to deep. For a research object without a natural order, it is necessary to artificially set a research order for it.

Fourth, when researching a problem, enumerate as many situations as possible. There are answers to some questions that apply to this situation and some to that. To do universal research, make sure nothing is missed.

The three points of epistemology and the four principles of methodology can be said to be building a solid foundation for scientific research.

Without following these, science would be fragmented.

Zhang Ruifeng couldn't understand this either, so he quickly changed the subject: "Since Descartes is so good, why not invite him back to Nanjing to face the saint?"

Song Qin said: "I have inquired, Descartes has been living in the Netherlands."

In fact, Descartes had already gone to Sweden to serve as the private teacher of the Queen of Sweden.

The weather in Sweden is cold, he gets up in the middle of the night every day, and gives lessons to the queen at five o'clock. Blown by the cold wind every day, unfortunately contracted pneumonia and died...

As a Frenchman, Descartes settled in the Netherlands for a long time because his research was too shocking and often challenged the authority of the church and Jesus. Those in the Netherlands believe in Protestantism, so they should be a little more open-minded, so they won't be burned to death for no reason.

Even so, after Descartes finished writing "On the World" ("Principles of Philosophy"), he held back for almost ten years before he dared to publish it.

Because when "On the World" was finished, news came from Italy that Galileo was convicted by the Holy See because he agreed with the heliocentric theory.

Galileo was very popular and had no fear of his life. Sentenced to kneel on a stone slab to sign a statement of repentance, in addition to life imprisonment, all "Dialogues" must be burned, and other books are prohibited from being published or reprinted. Later, life imprisonment was changed to home confinement, and he was kept under house arrest until his death.

Compared with the heliocentric theory, Descartes' "On the World" is more radical, and he fully uses natural science to explain the universe.

Descartes also has an even more outrageous philosophical theory: because of my existence, God exists and the world exists.

It's a pity that the Chinese diplomatic mission could have met the living Descartes in the Netherlands as long as they had come a few years earlier.

In addition to "Methodology", Song Qin also bought other books by Descartes.

He didn't quite understand the French books, but he could roughly understand the Latin books, so he stayed in the cabin and continued to read.

At this time, Song Qin was reading "Principles of Philosophy". This book was originally called "On the World", and when it was published in Latin, it was renamed "Principles of Philosophy".

The book contains the three articles of the Method, with additional additions, dealing with matter, the world, and the earth in general.

In order to gain the approval of the church and prevent himself from being banned, Descartes also claimed in the preface that God is omnipotent and created everything in the universe. Any of his research stems from a God-given ability to think, which is infallible.

But between the lines, it is obvious that Descartes did not believe in God at all. He said that "there is a God" who created everything.

It is intriguing to add "there is one".

The members of the other missions all regarded Europe as a barbaric land, full of disdain in their bones. But Song Qin read Descartes' book, but quickly abandoned this prejudice. He felt that there were still great scholars in Europe.

"Principles of Philosophy" made Song Qin very obsessed, although he didn't agree with some of the content in the book, and even thought it was wrong.

But Descartes said in the preface that all arts are rough at the beginning, but they can be gradually perfected. The same is true for philosophy (science), as long as you have the right method and follow it, you will encounter something of truth.

When the fleet arrived in London, Song Qin was still addicted to the book.

Cromwell was still negotiating with the Netherlands and was busy getting parliament to hand over power. He didn't show up for the time being, and didn't prepare any welcome ceremony, and only sent confidant officials to receive him.

Milton didn't come either, he was blind, probably out of anger.

After living in London for a few days, Song Qin carefully read "Principles of Philosophy". In addition to thinking about the content of the seal, he also followed Descartes' thinking and thought about the origin of the gravity of things.

Although His Majesty the Emperor said that gravity comes from universal gravitation, why does the earth produce universal gravitation?

Grind ink and pick up a pen.

Song Qin frantically wrote: "Everyone in the country wants to build a high-level view when they write books. The same is true for scholars in today's Qintian Academy. They first justify their own theory, determine the origin of the universe, and then proceed to study astrophysics. There is a great scholar in Europe named Descartes , His work made me suddenly enlightened. Why study knowledge from big to small? From small to big..."

The ancient scholars were actually pretty much the same.

First of all, we must determine the cosmology and worldview, such as Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism, that is, non-polarized Tai Chi, Tai Chi divides yin and yang, and yin and yang Qi evolves all things. Only with this big framework can we continue to study.

This is also the case with the Qintian Academy established under the order of Zhao Han. Scientists doubted the "Qi Li Theory" and couldn't come up with any new cosmology, so they argued about the birth and composition of the universe while doing specific research.

Descartes inspired Song Qin, why did he have to confirm these things when he came here?

It is true that there can be a worldview, the universe is material, and that is enough. Since the universe is material, it can be slowly explored and studied. How to study it? The epistemology and methodology can be determined, and they can be continuously improved and supplemented from generation to generation.

After writing a bunch of words and sentences, Song Qin wrote three key words: world outlook, epistemology, and methodology.

Only by confirming these three things can the development of Chinese science be truly systematized and theoreticalized, rather than trying to be lucky.

Based on Song Qin's understanding alone, this trip to Europe is already worthwhile.