"If the elixir cannot be found in the alchemy room, pharmacy, or Yun Zhongjun's bedroom, then we will have to renegotiate this matter." Tianming finally concluded.
Pirate Zhi nodded, "I basically understand. I'll get on the boat and take a trip in the evening."
"By the way, arrange a machine Suzaku for me." He then looked at Gao Jianli and demanded.
Gao Jianli nodded.
Although Master Ban is not here, he still has extra machine pilots under his command, and of course he is prepared for the escape weapon such as the Suzaku machine.
"Let's arrange the matter of stealing the immortal elixir like this for the time being." Gao Jianli started the next topic, which is also the real highlight, "We have to study the Confucian issue."
"Confucianism? Little Sage Village? What happened?"
Tianming and Shaoyu didn't know anything yet, so they were the first to ask questions.
Apart from them, Xue Nu and Robber Zhi also don't know about Little Saint Xian Manor.
"Ying Zheng is visiting Little Sage Village." Gao Jianli replied in a deep voice.
This news shocked everyone and immediately fell into different emotions.
Thief Zhi scratched his head, subconsciously feeling that the news was not good, but he didn't know what the specific danger was.
Yuki Onna is similar to him.
On the contrary, Tianming and Shaoyu were keenly aware of Ying Zheng's evil intentions. Of course, they could not guess the book-burning order out of thin air, but Ying Zheng made it clear in his first public appearance after the assassination that he was going to the small town.
Shengxianzhuang definitely didn’t hold it in well.
The probability of taking direct action against Little Sage Village is low. Most of the time it is to use the topic to force Little Sage Village to take sides or to promote something.
But the biggest problem for Tianming and the others is——
"Can we get involved in this matter?" Tianming asked first, scratching his head.
They could neither prevent the emperor from visiting the Little Sage Village, nor could they meet the emperor on behalf of the Confucians. In general, they could do nothing except watch the play.
If the emperor directly attacks Xiaoshengxian Manor, they can send someone to support him.
Gao Jianli replied in a deep voice, "It depends on what Mr. Zhang San says."
"Third Master? He finally showed up again?" Tianming was delighted when he heard this and asked with a smile.
In the past, Zhang Liang would show up every time something happened, either to provide them with advice, information, or both.
But after the Qinglong Project, Zhang Liang never showed up.
Although the actual time is only a few days, it is already very abnormal.
Gao Jianli nodded, "Mr. Zhang San seems to have been blocked by Mr. Fu Nian, the head of Little Saint Xian Villa, and has been unable to leave the villa. It was not until today that he finally found the opportunity to contact us."
"Fu Nian..." Tianming couldn't help but bared his teeth when he heard this familiar name.
Although it was not Fu Nian who brought him the most pain during his short school days, the most profound torture all came from this rigid and upright Confucian leader.
He was really afraid of Fu Nian.
Just at this time, a Mohist disciple walked into the main control room and reported, "Commanders, I have received news from Mr. Zhang Liang, a Confucian scholar."
Upon hearing this, Gao Jianli directly ordered the pilot controlling the Xuanwu, "Control the Xuanwu to float up."
After receiving the order, the pilots immediately fiddled with the operating platform. Tianming and others then felt a faint vibration. Through the observation window in the central control room, they could also see that Xuanwu was accelerating to the surface.
Soon, Xuanwu emerged from the water, swaying slightly with the waves.
Not long after, Zhang Liang, dressed in a green shirt, walked into the central control room with a smile.
As soon as he came in, he first boasted about Xuanwu:
"As expected of the famous four spirit beasts, Suzaku, White Tiger, Xuanwu, Qinglong... none of them are ordinary things."
"Having such a mechanical fortress that can move freely in the sea will be much more convenient no matter what you do."
Gao Jianli stood up to greet him and said, "The machine Xuanwu is indeed very good, but it's a pity that the Moh family can't build a second one now."
Among the four spirit beasts of the machine, Suzaku and White Tiger are mass-produced machines, while Qinglong Xuanwu only has one.
Needless to say about Qinglong, the Mo family didn't even have the manufacturing blueprints for that thing.
As for Xuanwu, although the Mohists retained basically complete drawings, they were no longer able to build a second one.
The materials needed were too precious and rare, and the Mo family had not been able to accumulate all the materials needed for the second machine for hundreds of years.
Of course, this does not mean that the materials are so rare that they cannot be saved for hundreds of years. The main reason is that the Mohists have never paid much attention to them.
The most important value of Xuanwu is that it serves as the core of the engine city's power system, and only one core is needed. Even if something breaks down, the engine city's pilots can repair it as soon as possible.
Considering the high cost of Xuanwu, there is obviously no need to build a second one for backup.
As for the value of Xuanwu as a black technology of pre-Qin submarines, it is not important to the Mohists, because being able to dive and fight underwater... is really not that important a function.
Even for today's Mo family, although Xuanwu's diving ability can help them hide, its value is very limited. It doesn't mean that without Xuanwu, the Moh family really can't hide.
Not to mention the former Mohists.
As for underwater combat...the empire doesn't have underwater troops. Can it compete with sharks in the water?
Of course, the Xuanwu's combat power on the shore is still very good. Even the top masters can't help it. Their combat power far exceeds that of White Tiger.
However, considering the ridiculous manufacturing cost gap between the two, Xuanwu's price/performance ratio is too low, especially since Xuanwu's offensive power is actually average.
After the machine city is gone, what is needed to make Xuanwu is not only the materials, but also the corresponding equipment.
The Moh family almost completely cut off the possibility of making Xuanwu again, and it was even troublesome to make White Tiger and Suzaku in a short period of time.
Zhang Liang smiled when he heard this and said lightly, "One is enough."
There is really no use if there is too much Xuanwu. It was not very useful in the past and it is not much stronger now.
Sledgehammer, who had a rather impatient temper, interrupted these meaningless pleasantries and said bluntly, "Okay, let's not discuss the machine beast, it is something that no one understands."
"Let's talk about business, Zifang."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Brother Iron Hammer, talk quickly." Zhang Liang smiled solemnly, walked forward, and started talking about the topic, "You should be able to guess more or less,
Ying Zheng’s visit to Xiaoshengxian Manor this time is not a good one.”
Shaoyu interjected and asked, "Why did Ying Zheng suddenly attack Confucianism?"
After all, he and Tianming had been Confucian disciples for a period of time, and were somewhat concerned about the safety of Confucianism.
Even though Tianming was very angry at that time, deep down he still liked Little Sage Village.
"The chivalrous people used martial arts to violate the ban, and the Confucian people used literature to disrupt the law." Zhang Liang replied calmly, "The empire has never had any goodwill towards Confucianism, and the only goodwill it has comes from the eldest son Fusu."
"But now you also know that Fusu has been far away from the center of power."
"Although Senior Brother Fu Nian expressed his intention of obedience to the Emperor on behalf of Xiaoshengxian Village, the Emperor does not seem to intend to accept it."
"What exactly does Ying Zheng plan to do?" Tianming asked.
"There is no clear information at the moment, only a guess, a guess with a high probability." Zhang Liang replied in a serious voice, "Ying Zheng may use the excuse of his own assassination to force Xiaoshengxianzhuang to assist him and promote book burning.
make."
"Book Burning Order!?"
This word shocked everyone, and many speculations came into their minds.
Although they could not accurately determine which three words Zhang Liang was talking about based on pronunciation alone, everyone basically made the correct judgment.
Burning books... For all schools of thought, burning books is an absolutely undesirable behavior... Burning books from other schools is another matter.
Gao Jianli was the first to speak, with a gloomy face and an emphasis on asking, "What on earth does he want to do!?"
"As the name suggests, book burning." Zhang Liang was very calm and said calmly, "Based on the available intelligence, Ying Zheng plans to burn almost all private books in the world, and only Xianyang can keep them as archives.
"In addition, local governments can keep local chronicles and archives, while ordinary people are only allowed to hold medical divination and tree planting books."
Two short sentences, to Gao Jianli and others, it was like the world was shattering.
Even if my husband is as young as the sunrise, it is not difficult to feel how shocking this news is.
"Is he crazy!?" Gao Jianli's cheeks were almost squeezed into the corners of his eyes, and he managed to squeeze out a sentence through his teeth.
"Maybe." Zhang Liang smiled, agreeing with this.
Others followed suit and started shouting. The language was basically criticizing and cursing Ying Zheng. Rough guys like Big Hammer even yelled directly at the other party's immediate family members.
Zhang Liang looked at the chaos in front of him and did not feel that Gao Jianli and others had overreacted.
Even if it was him, his reaction when he first learned about the Book Burning Order was not much different from theirs.
After all, this thing is too crazy and too outrageous.
In essence, what the emperor wanted was not to burn some bamboo slips or papers, but to completely destroy the 'knowledge' controlled by the people, and to have all 'knowledge' in the hands of the imperial court, that is, in the hands of the emperor.
inside.
To all schools of thought, this is tantamount to an act of outright eradication.
Nowadays, most of the hundreds of schools of thought are mixed in culture and martial arts. In other words, they are involved in temples and martial arts at the same time, engaging in both learning and martial arts.
But for any company, the most fundamental thing is their academic philosophy, not their martial arts.
They can sacrifice the Wu part, but the Wen part cannot be shaken.
In a sense, the various schools of thought were unwilling to hand over the monopoly of knowledge to Ying Zheng.
This can be said to be a dog-eat-dog battle of interests, but not entirely.
After all, intellectual property is also a legitimate right, and the knowledge of various schools of thought comes from their sages. They have some inherited power, and at the same time they continue to expand and deepen this knowledge - regardless of whether the direction is right or wrong,
Anyway, they are doing something.
Even putting these aside, scholars from various schools of thought generally do not mind sharing their knowledge with others - they are willing to spread it and hope that their knowledge will spread as widely as possible, but it is limited by reality or objectivity or
He shrinks the power to spread 'knowledge' just to add additional restrictions.
For 'knowledge' itself, and for the common people, it is harmful but not beneficial.
Of course, the vast majority of people today are still struggling with hunger and cold, and are on the line between life and death. Generally, they are not very interested in luxuries like knowledge.
If you have the time, you might help out, but if you don’t have the time, just do whatever you want. Therefore, the book-burning order may cause an uproar throughout the empire, but the only ones who will really fight against the empire for this are destined to be hundreds of scholars.
These are the direct victims.
Of course, the hidden dangers behind it are far more than that simple.
"We must stop him!" Yuki-onna ended the noisy situation and shouted coldly.
"What should I do?" Big Hammer scratched his head and asked, "Find another way to kill him?"
Apart from killing the person directly, Sledgehammer couldn't think of any other way to stop what Ying Zheng wanted to do.
Although his mind was single-threaded, this time, his thoughts were really right.
On the contrary, the smarter Gao Jianli failed to understand this and turned his attention to Zhang Liang:
"Zifang, there should be something we can do, right?"
"Even Ying Zheng can't really go against everyone in the world."
Robber Zhi echoed, "Yes, not to mention the Legalists. Prime Minister Li Si is from the Legalist school. They occupy half of the court. How can they accept it?"
Zhang Liang smiled calmly and responded, "First of all, in the central court of the empire, people from the Legalist school account for less than half, but most of them are high-ranking people. In terms of authority, they account for more than half."
"Secondly, although Legalist classics were also among those burned, for these Legalist officials, Legalist interests were not consistent with their own interests."
"In this matter, the more important label for officials who came from Legalism is that of officials, not Legalists."
The emperor's move was to dig out the roots of various schools of thought, but it did not actually harm the interests of the bureaucrats. In the long run, it was more beneficial - even if they did not have books, they could guarantee their own success by word of mouth.
Future generations receive education.
As one goes and the other goes, no one will be able to compete with their descendants in the future.
"Shit! Did you read all the books and go into the dog's stomach?" Sledgehammer didn't understand much, but he could still understand simple things like profit and gain, so he couldn't help but cursed.
Gao Jianli retorted calmly, "But is the emperor really willing to share his power with them all the time?"
The emperor did need officials, but official positions were not hereditary.
The current Prime Minister is Li Si, but it does not mean that the future Prime Minister will be Li Si's descendant.
What the emperor wants is not to destroy knowledge, but to hold the power of who can obtain knowledge in his own hands.
Of course, he can let the existing bureaucrats share weal and woe with him for generations, but he can also choose to change a group of people.
Judging from the empire's system, the probability of the latter is obviously higher - the only thing in the empire that can be hereditary is the throne, and other than that, the titles that can be inherited are all inherited by demotion.
From this perspective, giving the emperor greater power is absolutely detrimental to the bureaucrats.
Zhang Liang's smile did not change and he replied softly, "Power and power are incompatible, and one waxes and wanes."
"A friend of mine once said that there will always be a conflict between the power of the emperor and the power of his ministers."
"But it's a pity that my fellow 'senior brother' who is the head of the hundred officials, he... haha, he is a wonderful person."
Li Si was an out-and-out official fan, and from this point of view he was worthy of being a disciple of Confucius.
