Fox of France

　　 A few days later, one morning, Joseph put on a formal suit again, and Napoleon in a military uniform got into a light two-wheeled carriage to participate in the light speed measurement experiment that will be carried out tonight at Burton Castle outside Paris.

　　Fort Burton is the property of the Orleans family, a castle built on top of a hill. This castle is said to be a military fort built in the 12th century, and it has long lost its military value. At the beginning, this castle was almost completely unsuitable for living in order to strengthen its defenses. So now the castle is almost in a semi-abandoned state. However, it is very good for experiments. It is far away from the city and there are few residents nearby. There is almost no light pollution. On the top of the high castle, the fire reflected by the reflector about four or five far away (one fare is about four kilometers) can be clearly seen. This is essential for the evening experiment.

　　 But this place is a bit remote, and it is a bit far from Paris. There is no horse-drawn carriage to get here, so Joseph rented a light two-wheeled carriage to go there.

　　 The chaise walked all morning, and did not reach the vicinity of Burton Castle until about three in the afternoon. Below the hill where the castle is located, there is a manor of the Orleans family, and all those who come to participate in the experiment are staying in this manor. The chaise stopped at the door of the manor. A waiter came up to ask. Joseph revealed his identity to the waiter. After a while, the wrought iron gate of the manor was opened, and the carriage drove into the manor along the stone-paved road, and stopped in front of a large house with an obvious Baroque style. A waiter came up to pull the car door, Joseph and Napoleon came down from above, and an emissary wearing a wig led them in.

　　 The waiter led them through the hall and into the small garden behind. In that small garden, there was a small glass greenhouse. This is nothing in future generations, but in this era, it is not affordable for ordinary people. At this time, several people were sitting inside drinking tea and watching the roses in full bloom. Joseph walked over, and he noticed Condorcet, Lavoisier, Laplace, and Monge. But he did not see the owner, Duke Charles.

　　 "Ah, Joseph, come here, come here..." As soon as he saw Joseph, Lavoisier waved to him. Joseph stepped forward, greeted them one by one, and especially thanked Monge and Laplace for their recommendation. Of course, when Napoleon heard this thank you, it means thanking them for recommending his paper.

Then Joseph introduced his brother to them: "This is my brother Napoleon. He is now studying at the Paris Military Academy. He is also very interested in science, so I brought him here to open my eyes. By the way, why not See His Royal Highness?"

"His Royal Highness was originally there. But not long ago, he was summoned by His Majesty the King... I don't know what it was." Lavoisier said, "But His Royal Highness asked his butler Mr. Will to stay here to assist us. Now In fact, everything is ready, just waiting for the evening."

　　 In the past few days, the people of the Academy of Sciences, with the cooperation of the Orleans family, accurately measured the straight-line distance from the observation tower of Fort Burton to the top of the two nearby unknown hills. In order to keep sight, they also cut down all the trees on the top of the two unknown hills-anyway, it is also the property of the Orleans family.

　　 Now everything is ready, only owed to darkness. Everyone had nothing to do at this time, so they discussed various scientific issues together. Monge and Laplace come together to discuss the expression of the potential function of the celestial body's gravitational component of any particle outside it. Napoleon also leaned in to listen, but only listened. He is not like Joseph, who can say something from time to time.

　　 At this time, people from the Orleans family came to invite everyone to eat. Because the experiment is about to be carried out, the dinner is actually a working meal, and according to the standards of the Orleans family, it is not a sumptuous at all. But even so, many things were eaten by Joseph and Napoleon for the first time. For example, truffle slices sandwiched in bread spread with foie gras and some other things that Joseph didn't even know what they were when he ate them.

　　 After eating, everyone got into the carriage again and drove to the castle not far away. The carriage twisted up the winding road, and soon came under the castle.

　　 Everyone got out of the carriage. At this time, the sun on the west was approaching the horizon, and it was getting bigger and red.

　　 The servants lit their lanterns and led the people from the Academy of Sciences into the castle.

　　 For buildings such as castles, in order to ensure defense, they generally have very thick stone walls, and very small windows, usually inside. Therefore, the ventilation and lighting of such buildings will be very poor, not to mention that it is already evening, even at noon, the inside of the castle is too dark to light up. Therefore, unless the era of war, the nobles are rarely willing to live in the castle. Nowadays, due to the advancement of artillery, these castles no longer have military significance, and the nobles will naturally not live here, and they are even reluctant to continue to take care of them, so These castles are naturally generally dilapidated. Gloomy, even the castles that need lighting during the day, coupled with the dilapidated castles, have become the stage for ghost stories one after another. Including the castle they entered now, there is actually a legend of "the ghost of the castle".

Joseph took Napoleon and followed a waiter carrying a lantern up the winding stone steps. While the waiter illuminated the steps with a lantern, he reminded him: "Sir, the castle is very humid. These stone steps It has moss and is very slippery. Be careful when you go up."

　　 "Thank you, we will pay attention." Joseph replied, lowering his head, staring at the stone steps under his feet.

　　 Soon they came to the observation deck at the top of the castle. This is a small platform about twenty meters long. At one end of this small platform, there is a firewood pile with wood poured with whale oil. As soon as this brazier is lit, it can emit a brighter flame than a normal flame. In dark conditions, this fire light can be clearly seen even in the Nine Fas or even farther away. At the other end of the platform, there is a set of rotatable eight-sided mirrors.

　　 There is also a telescope on the platform. Looking through the telescope, you can see that on the top of the mountain over there, a set of mirrors has been installed.

　　 "Have all these mirrors been adjusted?" Joseph asked.

　　 "It's been adjusted. It can accurately reflect the light to the other side of the eight-sided mirror." Meng Ri replied in a deep voice.

　　 The sun is getting lower and lower, and finally sinks below the horizon. Only a little lavender afterglow was left in the western sky. One after another star appeared in the darkening sky, and after a while, the sky was full of jewel-like stars.

　　 Seeing that the surroundings are dark enough, Lavoisier said: "Okay, it should be possible to start."

　　 A waiter lit a large fire with a torch in his hand, and then a firework rose from the top of the mountain over there. This is to show them that the fire can be clearly seen from the top of the mountain over there.

　　 After getting this response, everyone focused on the other side of the eight-sided mirror. Because according to the experimental setting, the fire light is shot from one side of the rotating eight-sided mirror to the mirror on the other mountain, and then reflected back. If the octagonal mirror rotates by exactly one mirror angle during this time, the reflected light can be seen from the other side of the octagonal mirror.

　　 There is no reflection in that direction. The eight-sided mirror turned faster and faster, but still did not see the fire.

　　 "Faster, faster." Joseph stared at the rotating eight-sided mirror.

　　 The rotation speed of the eight-sided mirror continued to increase, and finally, the flashing firelight began to flicker on the side everyone was staring at.

　　 "Stay steady, hold the speed, good, ok! Quick, quickly record the speed!" Monge shouted.

　　 An assistant quickly recorded the speed.

　　 As soon as the data came out, Joseph, Laplace, and Monge immediately surrounded them. With the light of the fire, the calculation began. Laplace first got the answer, and then Monge also calculated it. As for Joseph, when they all calculated it, Joseph's calculation was only about two-thirds completed.

　　 "Haha, Joseph, your calculation ability is not good enough, it is so slow." Monge laughed.

　　 Napoleon also had a gleeful smile on his face. Looking at his eyes, Joseph knew that this guy was thinking: "My stupid brother, you are sometimes despised by others."

"Such complex calculations were solved by pressing Enter in my last life. Who would use manual methods? I can have this speed. It is already very powerful. It is not good. If I change someone , I might not even finish half of my work at this moment. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com" Joseph thought so, and at the same time replied with a wry smile: "My calculations are not very good, and the speed is not fast. , And if you speed it up a little bit, something will go wrong. I can’t help it.

The people next to 　　 laughed together.

　　 In the laughter, Joseph also completed his calculations. The three people compared the calculated results, and they were basically the same. Joseph silently converted this number into kilometers, and concluded that it was very close to the speed of light measured by future generations.

"It's so fast?" Laplace murmured, "If light is indeed a wave, what kind of peculiar properties should the ether have. It's hard to imagine! But if light is a particle, there is a double-slit interference and a wave. How should Ba Liang spot explain..."

　　 "Let's enlarge our courage. What if the propagation medium of light is not something that we usually think, but space itself?" Napoleon on one side suddenly said.

"Space itself? Light is actually the fluctuation of space?" Condorcet heard it and immediately said, "Ah, Napoleon, you have a talent for philosophy. But if this idea is a scientific conjecture, it is obvious that there is insufficient evidence. Science needs evidence. Just like your brother’s conjecture, there is at least a set of mathematical models to support it. However, this view is really...Unfortunately, we have no available research methods for space itself."

　　 And Napoleon's words also shocked Joseph. He certainly knows that although light ether does not exist, light is not a fluctuation in space. Space can indeed have fluctuations, but such fluctuations are not light, but gravitational waves.

　　 "This guy, this guy is a bit imaginative. Carefully train him, can you train him crookedly, and finally crooked into the emperor of physics?" Joseph couldn't help thinking like this.