Chapter 222: Another wonder is to be built
“One hammer, two hammers, three hammers...”
The manor needs to repair the fence, which gives Frederick the opportunity to apply what he has learned, Pousse Ask him to hammer a wooden pile, use anti-gravity when lifting the hammer, and increase gravity when the hammer falls.
This is not over yet. When working, you still need to count how many times you hit the hammer. Count from 1 to 10 in cycles. Between 2 and 8, you need to put on a set of ice armor. When the number is odd, the hammer is enchanted with fire. , even number enchanted lightning.
Everyone in the manor now knows that the master and Ming Xiao are both easy to talk to. They just don’t mess with the beautiful brown-haired female teacher. See how she bullies the master so much that she even beats wood on a hot day. pile.
As soon as he finished his day's work, Christian came with a middle-aged man with a slightly high hairline.
Christian quietly made a gesture and told the leader that this man was here to solicit sponsorship.
After taking a brief bath, Frederick met the middle-aged man named Bohard in the living room.
“An observatory?” Frederick paused as he raised his tea cup, “Is there an observatory in Hanma City?”
Bohard replied a little awkwardly: “Yes, it’s just ours. The observatory is too small, and the bright lights in the city have seriously affected our work, so we plan to build a new observatory outside the city. ”
Frederick understood that Hanma City had imported a lot of magic street lamps in the past two years. These lamps were meant to stay on all night. The current telescope technology was not good enough, so they suffered from light pollution.
He took a sip of tea leisurely, and then said: "How about moving to Weissen State? We have a mountainous area there that will be a pine forest area in the future. Unless there is a forest fire, there will be no fire for a long time in the future. There will be no light pollution during the day.”
Bohard drank tea in silence. He just wanted to move the observatory outside the city, but never thought of moving it that far.
Seeing his reaction, Frederick continued: "I have a plan, which is to unify the time."
"Have you heard about the recent broadcasts in the city? I want to be at the observatory. After the daily time is determined, it will be broadcast by radio. To this end, I plan to build a broadcast tower for the observatory. By then, all radios can hear the current time, whether it is the North Sea or the inland sea. "
Frederick was already very skilled at deceiving people by drawing a big scallion pancake, and Bohard was stunned by his plan.
However, Frederick's ambitions did not stop there. He also wanted to capture something - the prime meridian.
Now everyone knows that the earth is a ball, but currently only Psyche is estimated to be able to complete a round-the-world journey. The dangers at sea are beyond people’s imagination. No matter you are a magic god or a sword master, there are no ships on the vast sea. If you should drown, you will drown.
A problem arose when promoting the maritime positioning system this time. There is currently no unified standard for longitude and latitude. After getting a navigation chart, you must first figure out which place's longitude and latitude is used on it.
Latitude is measured against the stars in the sky. There is no Polaris here. Different stars are used in different places, so the final values are also different.
Longitude is even more troublesome. It is determined by calculating the time difference at noon between two places, which requires the prime meridian. Nowadays, the prime meridian used by different countries is different.
Now Frederick planned to use the opportunity of promoting the positioning system to promote his own system of longitude and latitude, and at the same time draw new nautical charts, which required accurate clocks and an observatory to determine the time of noon.
Precise clocks of this era have appeared in Wesson. The lever escapement "invented" by Frederick has replaced the existing crankshaft escapement. Professor Ogilvy has come up with an invention that can The steel of clockwork, coupled with the use of vernier calipers and lathes specialized in producing gears, greatly improved the accuracy of clocks and greatly reduced their size.
However, the price of this kind of clock has not come down yet. After all, when Frederick was born in his previous life, there was a watch in the "three turns and one ring". For a long time, the clock and the clock under development were Pocket watches are still a luxury item.
But shipowners are not short of money. An accurate navigation clock that can calculate latitude is still very cheap compared with a ship that crashes into a reef due to inaccurate positioning.
So all Frederick needed now was an observatory.
Not long after the spring plowing began, a local gang robbed a "passerby" one night two streets away from the Hanma City Observatory. The robber was stopped by a Wesson Army soldier who happened to be passing by and fled. The soldiers failed to catch up with the robbers because the local streets were too dark and they were unfamiliar with the roads. Frederick found out about this later, so he gave a low-interest loan to Hanma City for a "lighting project". The roads in the city were brightened and the security was improved, but the street lights around the observatory were brighter than in other places. .
For a time, Hanma City was known as the "city that never sleeps", and the night market prospered, driving a large wave of night economy.
Not long ago, several young people at the observatory encouraged Bohard to move the observatory to a place with less lights. If you don’t have money, you can try to find Duke Wesson. These people all have a Wesson University certificate at home. Admission notice, personally signed by the principal.
Bohard didn't know the way behind it, and said with some embarrassment: "I admire Duke Wesson's ambition very much, but the investment in building a new observatory is huge."
"I also heard that a broadcast tower is very It’s expensive, I’m afraid it’s hard to get a return on this money.”
“Twenty thousand florins.” Frederick held out two fingers, “I invested so much money in three years to build a new observatory. , the later operations and new investments are funded by the Wesson state government, the salary of all personnel is three times the current level, and housing is free, and the children of regular employees also enjoy the educational rights of Wesson children.”
“ Now the best glass production areas in the entire Rhineland are in Weissenburg and Nuremberg, where there are also excellent lens-grinding craftsmen who produce microscopes and can produce larger and better astronomical telescopes."< br>
Bohard's eyes suddenly widened. This condition was far beyond his imagination.
Among other things, observatories everywhere are now privately sponsored. If you can't get sponsors, everyone will drink the northwest wind together. And Frederick agreed to provide funding from the government, which meant that everyone would immediately have an iron rice bowl and their lives would be guaranteed.
Bohard was a little moved. In addition to the treatment, he also had the glass production area and lens grinding craftsmen that Frederick mentioned. Maybe he could make a better telescope.
Seeing that he was moved, Frederick made the final blow: "I wrote the book "The Nature of Light". I have an idea for a new astronomical telescope, but I don't have time to take care of it myself. , we are in need of experienced people to host it.”
“What kind of telescope is it?” Bohard asked a little excitedly.
Astronomers are also academics. They believe more than others that Frederick was possessed by an angel, otherwise he would be a monster.
In his previous life, Frederick had been playing astronomy with his friends for a while in college, so it was not a problem to draw a reflecting telescope.
Bohard didn’t understand it at first, but after Frederick explained it carefully, it seemed reasonable.
“I want to think about it.” Bohard still hesitated, “I want to discuss it with other people to see if they agree.”
“Don’t worry, this telescope is I will not leak the plan."
Frederick smiled and replied: "It doesn't matter, I'm waiting for your good news."
After Bohard left, a smile appeared on Frederick's face.
He spent so much effort to build the observatory and determine "Wesson time" and the prime meridian not just to calculate economic accounts, but to build the observatory and subsequent projects as spectacles, just like Philosopher The Cathedral of Manchester is the same as the Edelweiss Great Library.
Spectacles can increase the visibility and prestige of a territory on a large scale, letting people far away know that this place has such a powerful existence, and gradually form the idea that this place is very powerful. This is how soft power gradually increases. of.
If the observatory is won, Frederick will have the wonders of Germaine's Cathedral plus faith, the Edelweiss Library plus culture, the observatory plus navigation, and there will be more wonders to come. establish.
(End of this chapter)