Chapter 492 A special number? A sudden mission to Mars

After finding these mysterious characters hidden in the ancient Mayan script, Lin Xiao was not in a hurry to leave here, but waited for Liao Cheng to find domestic linguists who knew the ancient Mayan script.

There are many well-known linguists in the country, but there are very few people who understand ancient Mayan writing.

After all, this is the text of ancient foreign civilizations. It is a problem for domestic people to start preliminary study, let alone the various ancient classics that are necessary to study ancient texts.

Therefore, there are only a handful of masters in this area of ​​research in China.

As a result, it didn't take long for Liao Chenggong to find a retired Renmin University linguistics professor named Ji Yang who is 83 years old through various channels and connections.

Then, Liao Cheng contacted Ji Yang through online video.

"Professor Ji, hello, hello."

After connecting to the video, Liao Cheng said hello politely.

The old man on the opposite side of the video also nodded and said with a smile: "Are you Mr. Liao introduced by Professor Tao? Professor Tao said that you want to ask me about the deciphering of ancient Mayan characters?"

"Yes." Liao Cheng said. He did not use his real identity when contacting him, but temporarily asked for advice as a private researcher.

"This ancient text comes from the Mayan ruins in Mexico. Maybe you have seen it before. I heard that when you were young, you often went to foreign ancient ruins to investigate, and you also went to the Maya."

"Of course." Ji Yang said with a smile: "This Mayan ruins is such an important place, of course I have to visit it with my own eyes and do some research."

When Ji Yang was young, that is, around the 1960s, he studied ancient linguistics abroad. Then he gradually became such a master, and has been conducting archeology in various ancient ruins abroad. , who studied various texts of ancient cultures, did not choose to return to China to teach until the 1990s because his physical functions gradually weakened.

To a certain extent, Professor Ji can be regarded as a great explorer.

At this time, Liao Cheng also smiled slightly, and then said: "That's really great, Professor Ji, please take a look at these photos."

Liao Cheng then took out several photos taken by their team members and sent them to Ji Yang.

The photo Lin Xiao found was included in it, also to avoid making Ji Yang suspicious.

After Ji Yang received the photo, he picked up a pair of reading glasses from the side and slowly looked at it. Everyone else present also remained silent and did not speak.

Soon afterwards, Ji Yang started to say with a smile: "Mr. Liao, it seems that you are new to the study of ancient linguistics. The things in this first photo are very simple..."

Then Ji Yang started to talk about what the Mayan characters in the first photo meant.

Professor Ji is indeed very famous. After reading it for a while, he easily translated most of the content above.

Of course, there are still a few characters that have not been fully deciphered, but this is not a big problem. After all, nearly one-fifth of the Mayan characters have not been fully deciphered, so Ji Yang does not recognize some of them. Not surprising.

In this way, the translation of one photo passed, and finally, it came to the fifth one, which was the one containing the mysterious characters.

Professor Ji Yang, who had been carrying out the deciphering work very vigorously before, frowned tightly at this time, and then said: "Mr. Liao, did you take this photo yourself?"

Liao Cheng replied: "No, in fact, these photos were taken by several of my friends who traveled there, and then they sent them to me."

"Travel?" Ji Yang raised his head, glanced at Liao Cheng, and then said with a smile: "The content in your photo is a little bit confusing to me."

"In other words, half of the words in your text belong to an unsolved mystery in Mayan writing."

Hearing Ji Yang's answer, Liao Cheng was stunned, "The unsolved mystery in Mayan writing?"

Everyone else present was also stunned, and Lin Xiao also frowned.

"Yes, many of the characters here are unsolved mysteries, and what's amazing about them is that they show a form of combination of pinyin characters and hieroglyphics."

Everyone present was shocked. Pinyin text? And combined with hieroglyphics?

Pinyin text, that is, different forms of letter combinations are used to express the meaning of the text. English is a pinyin text.

However, Mayan writing is a kind of hieroglyphic writing. How come the pinyin writing appears among the hieroglyphic writing?

No matter how you think about it, this is a bit too magical.

It's like writing Chinese characters with a few English sentences mixed in. It looks like there is some kind of big disease.

Of course, there is another thing that everyone present attaches great importance to. Their previous guess about the form of those mysterious characters is Pinyin characters.

After all, there are only 77 kinds of mysterious characters in total, and the 77 kinds of characters are arranged and combined to form various mysterious strings, which are difficult to understand. This is also likely to be Pinyin characters. form.

But now the old professor Ji Yang said that the text on this photo shows the form of pinyin characters. Could it mean that the ancient Mayans really knew these characters, and then based on this, they formed Ji Yang The combination of hieroglyphics and pinyin in the professor's mouth?

Liao Cheng obviously thought of this, and then immediately asked: "In that case, does Mr. Ji Yang know how to translate this Mayan pinyin text?"

Ji Yang smiled and said: "I know, but I don't know many, only a few of them."

Liao Cheng's eyes brightened, and then he said: "Please ask Professor Ji to impart knowledge."

However, at this time, Professor Ji said: "It doesn't matter if I tell you, but Mr. Liao, you are a little dishonest."

Liao Cheng frowned and said, "Professor Ji, please tell me where I am dishonest."

Ji Yang said: "You said this photo was taken by your friend after traveling there, but I don't know. This photo should belong to a non-open area at the Mayan ruins, and you need relevant permissions and qualifications to enter. , if I guess correctly, you should have taken this photo in an underground ruins in the ancient city of Chichen Itza, right?"

"I remember that the underground ruins are in a pit. Because it is inconvenient, it is not open to ordinary tourists."

"And you guys probably filmed it there, right?"

"In addition, I also heard that a few months ago, a cultural exchange group in our country reached cooperation with Mexico, and then this exchange group went to the Mayan civilization ruins in Mexico?"

After hearing Ji Yang's words, many people present suddenly widened their eyes. Good guy, they were exposed like this?

Especially Professor Ji who was able to tell where the photo was taken based on the photo?

You have to be very familiar with the Mayan ruins to be able to do this.

Moreover, Professor Ji Yang actually knew about the exchange group.

Liao Chengyepo was surprised, and then he said with a smile: "Since Professor Ji Yang has also seen it, I don't need to talk nonsense. I now officially invite you to join us."

For Liao Cheng, they don't have to worry about their identity being exposed at all. After all, they are serving the country and it is national public office, and it is not something shameful.

Of course, before fully telling Professor Ji Yang their identities, they also need to wait for Ji Yang to agree to join them.

But Ji Yang didn't expect that after exposing the lie that Liao Cheng had just told, he didn't show any panic at all. Instead, he directly turned against the guest and invited him to join?

"Mr. Liao Cheng, please tell me first, who are you?"

Liao Cheng smiled slightly and said: "Professor Ji, I can't say too much right now. All I can say now is that we are affiliated with the National Security Bureau and what we have to do is to serve the country. As a linguistics expert, you A master in the field may be able to help us.”

Now Ji Yang was even more confused, "National Security Bureau? Serve the country? You serve the country, why do you want to find me, an old man in his eighties?"

"Professor Ji just needs to say if you want to join us."

After Ji Yang thought for a while, he finally nodded and said, "Okay, I want to see what secrets you guys keep up."

Then Liao Cheng smiled and said: "That's good. In that case, Professor Ji, then I will ask our national security personnel to pick you up now. When you arrive, you can introduce us in person."

After hearing what Liao Cheng said, Ji Yang quickly asked: "Pick me up? Where are you going?"

"You'll find out later when you get here."

Liao Cheng said with a smile, and then he hung up the phone.

Then he looked at the people present and said with a smile: "Okay everyone, let's celebrate first. We are finally going to join a 'Chief Lin' in linguistics."

Everyone present laughed.

In this way, a few hours passed, and Professor Ji Yang was brought directly in front of them.

At this time, Ji Yang's old face was also full of wonder. Obviously, when he came down from the top, he had no doubts at all, and he was completely impressed by such a mysterious place.

"Oh my God, if my grandson knew that I came to a place like this, he would have to pull my beard to come."

Entering the conference room, Ji Yang saw Liao Cheng and recognized him. After all, he had been video chatting with Liao Cheng just now, so he recognized him quickly.

The next moment, he saw Lin Xiao next to Liao Cheng, and his eyes suddenly widened: "Is this Chief Scientist Lin Xiao?"

Lin Xiao nodded with a smile and said, "Hello, Professor Ji, it's me."

"I really didn't expect that I could still see you here." Ji Yang sighed: "If my grandson finds out about this again, I'm afraid he will have to pull a few more of my beard."

"That boy admires you very much. And because of you, Chief Lin, he studies seriously every day now, and his grades in school have improved a lot."

Lin Xiao smiled and said, "I'm very happy to hear this kind of news."

"Ha, that's good." Ji Yang laughed, and then said without any nonsense: "Okay, you came to me, don't you just want me to help decipher the Mayan text? Show me the photo again, let me Let me recall."

Hearing Ji Yang's straightforward approach to the topic, Liao Cheng nodded, and then handed the previous photo to Ji Yang.

Ji Yang took out the glasses case from his arms, took out his reading glasses, and started to look at the photos.

Then, he said: "In this photo, based on the arrangement of these characters, I can temporarily analyze that the more than one hundred characters in it represent ten words."

"Just like English words, which are made up of multiple letters, so are the Mayan words on this."

"According to what I know...these words roughly mean 'a number of what kind'."

After hearing Ji Yang's words, everyone present was stunned.

"What kind of number?" Liao Cheng asked with a frown.

"Yeah." Ji Yang nodded, "It means a rather special number... Well, since I don't know a few of the more important words, I don't know yet what the specialness of this number is. "

"And about this, I might be able to ask another friend of mine."

"Back then, I went to the Mayan civilization ruins with my good friend. He had done more research on Mayan writing than I did."

"Then I'll trouble Professor Ji."

"Haha, you don't need to thank me. After all, I have joined you now, so of course I have to do my part." Ji Yang nodded and said with a smile: "But now, can you also let me know what your purpose is? "

"Of course." Liao Cheng nodded, and then told Ji Yang their purpose concisely.

After Ji Yang heard this, as an old man in his eighties, he was shocked from ear to ear by the news for a while.

A mysterious rock on the moon?

And there are mysterious ruins on the earth?

Finally, he couldn't help but said: "I didn't expect that an old guy like me, who has studied ancient linguistics all his life, would still be exposed to such things before I was buried."

"Director Liao, tell me now, what work do I need to do?"

Liao Cheng then smiled and said: "Professor Ji just needs to help us try to decipher these mysterious words."

"Okay, this is just in line with my major." Ji Yang nodded immediately and accepted the task.

"Then, everyone, let's continue our work now." Liao Cheng nodded and then announced.

Others nodded and left the conference room, including Ji Yang, and some staff took him to his office.

At this time, Liao Cheng said to Lin Xiao again: "By the way, Chief Lin, there is one more thing I need to tell you."

Lin Xiao nodded, "What's the matter?"

Liao Cheng said: "First of all, I would like to congratulate Chief Lin for successfully developing the Tianan space plane. This can be regarded as an important step in our Yueshi Division's space layout."

Lin Xiao smiled and said: "The main thing is the magic of YB-1."

Liao Cheng smiled. Of course he knew that although the material of the moon monument was very powerful, the main reason for its research was Lin Xiao.

However, he didn't say much more about this, and then asked: "According to the report given by Chief Lin, Tianan actually still has the ability to go to Mars?"

Lin Xiao nodded and said, "Yes."

The nuclear fusion engine used by Tiannian has super endurance. Going to Mars is completely a matter of ease.

"That's good." Liao Cheng nodded and said: "Last time, the conjectures of you and the three academicians Zhang Ming were taken seriously by the higher authorities, so we are now preparing to send the Tiannian there during the next landing window. Mars mainly accomplishes two tasks. The first is to leave three rovers and three artificial satellites on Mars."

"The second mission is to leave a rover and an artificial satellite on each of the two satellites of Mars."

Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow, "Do you also want the satellites of Mars?"

"Yeah." Liao Cheng said: "Since we found the moon monument on the Earth's satellite, maybe there is one on the Mars satellite too?"

"I understand." Lin Xiao nodded slightly, but then asked: "Why should there be a next window period? Can't it be done next time?"

Liao Cheng shook his head and said: "It will take at least six months to prepare so many exploration vehicles and satellites, and the next window period is not long."

However, at this time Lin Xiao shook his head and said: "No, for the Tiannian, the window period is not March and April of 2029, but July and August of 2029."

Liao Cheng was stunned, "What?"

Lin Xiao smiled slightly, "Because, for Tiannian, it only takes two months to cross 55 million kilometers from the earth to Mars."

…

After leaving the headquarters of Yueshi Division, Lin Xiao couldn't help but smile. Thinking of Liao Cheng's shocked expression just now, he found it interesting.

In his report about the Tiannian, he did not write down the maximum speed that the Tiannian could reach, because he was afraid that writing it down would scare people.

As long as the Tian Nian continues to throw in hydrogen pellets to cause nuclear fusion explosions, the Tian Nian's speed will only get faster and faster.

As long as you can carry infinite hydrogen pellets and have enough time, accelerating to sublight speed is not a problem.

Of course, if it is a reasonable speed range, it is almost 60,000 kilometers per hour to 70,000 kilometers per hour.

This speed seems very incredible. Of course, there is no need to be too surprised, because 60,000 kilometers per hour is equivalent to 16.7 kilometers per second, which is only equivalent to the speed of the third universe and slightly faster than the speed of the second universe. 5.5 kilometers per second.

Spacecraft departing from the earth must reach at least the second cosmic speed to escape the earth's gravity and then reach Mars.

In other words, other spacecraft that have traveled to Mars will at least reach the second cosmic speed of 11.2 kilometers per second, which is almost equivalent to 40,320 kilometers per hour.

But what is different from other rockets is that if they want to go to Mars, other rockets need to follow the most fuel-efficient path, so for this kind of rocket, they do not use the straight-line method, but follow the Hohmann transfer orbit method to arrive. , whose path is a curve.

Because of this, it takes a long time for ordinary rockets to go to Mars. Otherwise, according to the shortest distance between Earth and Mars, which is 55 million kilometers, and the speed of the second universe is 11.2 kilometers per second, it will take about 56 days. It takes far less than six or seven months.

For Tian Nian, since fuel is not a problem, it can completely reach Mars in a straight line. Therefore, excluding some acceleration and deceleration time, Tian Nian can easily reach Mars within two months. .

It is precisely because of this that Liao Cheng made an immediate decision just now. In June of this year, they will launch the Tiannian and go to Mars.

"If that's the case, then won't we have to have a space race with the Americans?"

And let the Americans run for three months first?

Thinking of this, Lin Xiao smiled again. It will take more than six months for the American Saturn 9 to reach Mars.

But the Tiannian only took two months.

By then, which country will be the first to leave footprints on Mars, but it may not be the Americans.

At this time, Lin Xiao was already looking forward to it.

But then, he recalled Professor Ji Yang's interpretation of the mysterious writings in the Mayan ruins.

A special number?

What could that be?

What you need to know is that according to records, the Mayans had relatively high attainments in mathematics, and they were the first civilization to use "0".

However, in that piece of Mayan text, what special numbers are worth recording?

Finally, Lin Xiao shook his head, and then gave Xiaomi a task, that is, let Xiaomi try to decipher other undeciphered Mayan characters.

Maybe this will help them.

Xiaomi also readily accepted this task.

…

In this way, time passed quickly.

Three months later.

Tiannian's moon landing mission is about to begin.

Of course, the United States’ Mars Project is also about to start.

There was less than a month difference between these two events, and they immediately attracted the attention of the world.

Is the moon landing plan here more powerful, or the moon landing plan over there?