Chapter 34 Zhu Qing'ai: Let's teach them to shout slogans. If they can't learn, they're theirs...
Qin was not embarrassed at all by being praised for his kindness and accepted the compliment without any embarrassment. Regardless of his previous nationality, he held goodwill towards his people who had joined him. How could that not be considered kindness?
In the first year of King Zhuangxiang's reign, Ying Zichu officially ascended the throne. In the same year, Meng Ao attacked Han, forcing the King of Han to cede Chenggao, Gong and other places. Also in this year, Lü Buwei and Taishu Jiu led troops to conquer and destroy the Zhou state.
Furthermore, as the Qin state expanded its borders, Ying Zichu established the Sanchuan Commandery.
After Prince Chu of Qin officially established the Sanchuan Commandery, Ying Zheng also noticed that the embroidered patterns on the clothes of his motherland had an extra decoration.
At first glance, it doesn't seem like anything special, but upon closer inspection, it looks like a map of Sanchuan County, only it has been abstracted and beautified, so you can't tell unless you look closely.
That same year, Ying Zheng secretly made a decision in his heart: he would make sure that his mother could wear clothes embroidered with embroidery in the future!
If Qin knew about this, it might stop Ying Zheng from having this idea. After all, a riot of flowers doesn't necessarily mean it's beautiful. Just thinking about a fully embroidered, curved-hem robe makes one's scalp crawl.
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With the establishment of Sanchuan County, under the suggestion and guidance of Zhu Qing'ai, Taishu Jiu petitioned the emperor to exchange his deserved reward for the establishment of a school in Xianyang City. The first batch of students to be recruited tended to be members of the Mo family and ordinary craftsmen.
In addition to the courses he taught himself, he also hoped that the King of Qin would send someone to teach the illiterate craftsmen to read.
The reason is obvious: if those craftsmen are illiterate, their workload would be too great, and they would be difficult to manage.
Prince Zichu of Qin agreed to the request out of self-interest. He was well aware of the benefits that Taishu Jiu would bring, and it was not a difficult matter. Moreover, the opposition from the court was very low.
Which of them doesn't wear pants invented by Taishu Jiu now, or sit in chairs invented by Taishu Jiu at home?
Even if it's just for their own benefit, so that the craftsmen can learn and better serve them, they have no reason to object. After all, the schools there don't even have any proper books; they're all miscellaneous books, mainly for teaching people a skill.
Why should these self-important people compete with a group of artisans for a living? They are kind people.
Zhu Qing'ai understood these people's thoughts, so the first step in establishing the school was to set up a school for craftsmen/alchemists, teaching only the skills relevant to their jobs and not involving any classics. This way, those so-called wealthy and powerful families wouldn't be too wary, and they wouldn't want to compete with the craftsmen for this opportunity.
Recruiting members of the Mohist school was just a side effect. Relying on Taishu Jiu's reputation in Xianyang and throughout the Qin state, they received quite a few people, including members of the Mohist school.
When Zhu Qing'ai went to 'instruct the work', she even discovered a group of reluctant alchemists.
"Was this alchemist sent by Ying Zichu?"
Taishu Jiu nodded as he sorted through the list in his hand, saying, "Yes, they just sent people over this morning."
"What, none of them want to come?"
Zhu Qingai thought about it and agreed. At this time, the materials for alchemy were very expensive. Even if the alchemist himself did not come from a wealthy family, he was still much better off than the artisans at the bottom of society.
Making them learn alongside lower-level artisans is practically killing them!
She thought that if it weren't for Taishu Jiu's great reputation and the King of Qin keeping an eye on things, these people might have run away on the spot.
“Those people…” Taishu Jiu rarely showed such a troubled expression. He sighed and said, “It’s not that they’re completely unwilling, it’s just that they’re unwilling to learn what I want them to learn. They insist on asking me how to summon heavenly lightning…”
Zhu Qing'ai was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "...It's not the one with 'left zero, right fire', is it?"
Tai Shujiu nodded with a somber expression, then complained to Zhu Qing'ai with a wronged look, "They don't even look at the teaching materials I finally finished writing. They're all thinking about 'Left Zero Right Fire, Thunder God Help Me'."
Zhu Qing'ai raised her hand to her forehead, so retribution has finally come... In ancient times, you really couldn't just shout slogans casually.
She quickly banished the thought from her mind. What retribution? Today, she was going to make these sorcerers pay!
She said, "Then you should teach them left zero and right fire, isn't that just making sure they're eager to learn physics?"
"But I don't know how, and even if I learn it, I still won't be able to summon heavenly lightning."
Zhu Qing'ai explained patiently, "You're still too honest. From now on, no matter what you teach, just tell them that learning 'left zero, right fire' is a necessary prerequisite. If they don't believe you, just lead them in chanting the 'left zero, right fire' slogan before class."
"If they later find that they can't summon heavenly lightning, then it's their own fault for not being skilled enough, and it's their own problem, not yours."
"By the time they actually grasp the basics of chemistry and physics and discover that the 'heavenly lightning' is a lie... they'll be trapped. With sunk costs so high, would they still dare to raise their voices at you?"
After a pause, Zhu Qing'ai concluded, "What are you afraid of? Don't be afraid, teach boldly!"
In this day and age, anyone who rebels against the arrangements made by the feudal lords could really be dragged out and beheaded. Not to mention that the projects here are of great importance to the Qin state, and if anyone rebels, the outcome will almost certainly be unpleasant.
Taishu Jiu nodded in understanding. He then drew inferences from one instance to another: "In order not to be abrupt, other classes should also shout 'No,' we can't just have the chemistry students shout it."
Zhu Qing'ai thought about it and nodded in agreement. After all, she wasn't the one shouting slogans first thing in the morning, so there was no need to object.
****
So the recruited 'students' were divided into three classes: the Mohist class, which had fewer students and did not need to start learning to read; the artisan class, which required half of their time to learn to read; and the chemistry class, which consisted of alchemists and also did not need to start learning to read.
Under the leadership of Principal Taishu Jiu, the three classes had to shout slogans before starting a new lesson each day.
The artisan class and the Mohist class have a fairly normal style of "study hard and make progress every day," while the alchemist class has a rather unique style.
They got their wish and lived a happy life where they would chant "Left zero, right fire, thunder god help me, three phases, four wires, lightning goddess appears" every day before studying.
Whether this brings happiness or not remains to be seen.
What the three classes would learn in their first lesson was decided by Zhu Qing'ai. She insisted that all three classes learn how to make paper together, otherwise the batch that her host, Tai Shujiu, made by himself wouldn't be enough for so many people.
Tai Shu Jiu also agreed. He thought that he opened the school to teach his students how to make paper and various simple tools, as well as how to develop gunpowder through chemistry, so that he could be a little freed up.
Taishu Jiu has already seen his future of returning to the fields. He no longer needs to idly think about how to make paper, how to improve writing brushes, whether to arrange cement production, or why there are problems with the smelting plant. He is a farmer and really doesn't care about iron smelting.
In order to escape his misery and return to farming as soon as possible, Taishu Jiu set goals and rewards for the three classes. The process was similar to the tasks he used to assign to his hosts, which was something he was extremely familiar with.
He felt somewhat guilty, knowing that the academic affairs were all handled by his system, Qing'ai.
Despite its rudimentary appearance, the school managed to operate under the watchful eyes of both the government and the public, and it's truly a miracle it didn't go bankrupt.
Moreover, Zhu Qing'ai discovered that after shouting slogans every morning, the sorcerers were like they had been injected with chicken blood, and their learning progress was now soaring. They accepted whatever Taishu Jiu taught them and learned it all.
After surveying the area, Zhu Qing'ai remarked that sometimes shouting slogans can be quite effective.
Watching these sorcerers think they're cultivating Taoism, her conscience feels no pain whatsoever, because she's not human; she has no conscience! (crossed out)
Of course, it's because chemistry is a discipline, so don't look down on it!
She apologized to Laozi and Zhuangzi in her heart, saying, "I'm sorry, you two. Your Taoism needs to be converted to science."
****
When Ying Zheng, as the Crown Prince of Qin, led a large group of ministers to inspect the area on behalf of the King of Qin, 'Qin' also accompanied them. She even mentioned to Ying Zheng with a smile how the people here loved to shout slogans in the morning.
Ying Zheng didn't find it particularly funny; instead, he was concerned about whether the 'spell' was actually effective.
Therefore, Qin said decisively, "Those incantations don't exist. Even Taishu himself couldn't summon heavenly lightning. The heavenly lightning that's been circulating is actually fireworks."
"But these sorcerers are so convinced of it, it's good to shout it in the morning, just to wake them up and prevent them from dozing off in class."
She had also seen Taishu Jiu teaching chemistry or physics to those alchemists. Thankfully, this was ancient times; those alchemists would study diligently, even to the point of exhaustion, to learn how to summon heavenly lightning. If this were in modern times…
She had no doubt that Tai Shujiu's monotonous teaching style could make a large number of people fall asleep. When she passed by, she herself felt sleepy after ten minutes of persevering, which shows how terrifying chemistry and physics are.
Leading the group were Ying Zheng and the Qin official in the same row, with the remaining officials following behind. They looked left and right as they walked through the strange and unusual school, exclaiming in surprise every now and then. There were so many novel things here.
If His Highness the Crown Prince hadn't been right in front of them, some of them would have been tempted to touch him.
"It's paper!"
"So white! So thin!"
Upon hearing this, the alchemist who came to see the paper he had made rolled his eyes at the person and muttered under his breath, "Ignorant fool."
Accompanying official: ?
No, what about your fear of officials? Forget being afraid, at least show some respect!
Ying Zheng and 'Qin' also noticed what was happening here. Ying Zheng changed the subject and said, "Speaking of which, this paper is indeed much whiter than the paper that Mr. Taishu took out before."
The arrogant alchemist glanced furtively at Ying Zheng's attire, observed the respectful manner of the officials towards him, and recalled the principal's advance notice from the previous day. He guessed that this was the Crown Prince of Qin!
The Taoist priest smiled and replied, "Your Highness, I have learned that this paper is whiter than ordinary paper because I have added sulfur to it."
Ying Zheng nodded approvingly and asked, "You're not bad. What's your name?"
The alchemist suppressed his surprise and quickly bowed, introducing himself briefly and emphasizing his position as class monitor: "My name is Xu Fu, and I am the class monitor appointed by Master Taishu in the chemistry class."
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The author notes: In ancient times, when making paper, the wet paper was placed on sulfur, which was then ignited. The sulfur dioxide produced by the combustion of the sulfur dioxide bleached the paper. This practice is still used by many unscrupulous merchants today.
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From now on, the academies in this world will only be divided into two types:
Other colleges: Study hard and make progress every day.
School of Physical Chemistry: Left Zero, Right Fire, Thunder God Help Me!
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