A more outrageous bet would be on which concubine the Emperor favored today—sometimes the Emperor himself was backing these bets, can you believe it?
Basically, other than the succession of the imperial throne, anything could become the subject of a wager.
Therefore.
Something quite miraculous happened:
In the Northern Song Dynasty, until before the year 1023, the name of each person who hit the jackpot annually was recorded.
In the Seventh Year of Yuan You, which is 1092 AD.
A certain Emperor of Europe in Bianjing won more than seven hundred guans of money, and the registered name was Han Gonglian.
Thus, some people in later generations of the mathematical community firmly believe that this Han Gonglian was indeed the mathematician, that they were the same person.
After all, the name Han Gonglian is fairly rare, and the odds of coincidence aren't high.
However, another group of people denied this for lack of accurate records.
