Last year, which was the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shihuang, the most impressive thing that impressed the people of Xianyang was that Wu Shiyan brought envoys from the Western Regions to the capital. The tall and steed "Pegasus", the camels with peaks on their backs, and the bright colors
The melons and fruits from the Western Regions, the white and bright Khotan jade, the Hu maids with tall noses and deep eyes, and even the Daxia people wearing cloth robes with tall noses and deep eyes all made them feel fresh.
In the early spring of the thirty-sixth year, another group of people traveled thousands of miles from Wuguan to Guanzhong. What they brought back once again caused a sensation in the government and the public.
There are two walking elephants at the beginning. These are actually the garrison soldiers heading to Nanjun and Hengshan to rest. They were captured in Changsha County at the request of Deputy Supervisor Jun Ziying, but they were used as Lingnan tribute. There were originally four elephants.
, but unfortunately two of them died on the road. For the people of Guanzhong, where elephants have been extinct for thousands of years, this is a rare giant beast. For a time, thousands of families in Xianyang came out of their houses and crowded in the streets to watch.
There were also two peacocks, one female and one male, in a wooden cage. Unfortunately, the long journey had made them languid. Suddenly, they were surrounded by so many people. The male peacock felt in danger and opened his tail screen. Unexpectedly, passers-by shouted
The sound became louder and louder, making them frightened. They were frightened to death before entering Xianyang Palace...
Fortunately, there are hundreds of colorful kingfishers, which are said to be "emeralds", and their feathers are the favorite decorations of thousands of beauties in the emperor's palace.
The chariot and horses also carried hundreds of polished snow-white ivory tusks, dozens of valuable rhinoceros horns, five hundred tortoise-shell purple clams, several kilograms of pearls, and hundreds of pieces of kapok cloth.
In addition, there were Vietnamese prisoners with tattoos and broken hair, wearing shackles and walking behind.
After the southern expedition army reoccupied Panyu, at the request of the Shaofu, local specialties were sent to Xianyang. Emperor Qin Shihuang was very pleased after seeing this, and had elephants, jade and other products placed in the Twelve Gold Palace in front of the Xianyang Palace.
It is displayed everywhere to promote the great Qin martial arts.
He wanted to tell all those who opposed this war that the area captured by the Southern Expedition Army was so rich and fertile that it was not the "useless land" described by Confucian scholars.
Yes, look at that pearl. It is big and round, and there is nothing like it in the Central Plains.
When you smell the agarwood, the aroma is spread ten steps. The white wood incense trees in the south of Wuling can form agarwood, but in the north of Wuling, it is just an ordinary wood with no fragrance...
Qin did not give birth to any of these treasures, but Your Majesty was pleased with them, so the chariot came to Qin.
The courtiers and officials all praised these treasures, but did not mention a word. These treasures were not needed by ordinary people at all.
Only a passing Mohist disciple couldn't help but shudder when he looked at the countless Lingnan treasures in this bright sunny day.
His master, Cheng Shang, Qin Mo's new "giant" noticed his trembling and turned around to look at him in surprise.
"Shilin, what happened?"
This young Mohist disciple was named Shi Lin, a native of Song Dynasty. His parents were shoemakers and unfortunately died in the Unification War.
After the unification of the world, Qin Mo traveled around the world and often adopted these war orphans. Now, this group of people has gradually grown up and become the new generation of Qin Mo. They are active in Xianyang and various iron officials and mines, setting up "engineering schools",
Teach craftsmen skills.
Shi Lin still couldn't stop his trembling. He crossed his arms and whispered: "Master, I'm scared."
"What scares you?"
Shi Lin said: "I remember the Master told a story when he taught the lesson "Effectiveness"...Zhou is like a chopstick, but a chopstick is scary."
"The ivory chopsticks will definitely not be placed on a clay vessel like xing, but must be paired with a rhinoceros cup. The jade cup with ivory chopsticks will definitely not be used as a container for cabbage leaves, but for holding 旄, xiang, leopard, etc. To eat such delicacies and utensils, one would not wear short brown clothes and live in a thatched hut to eat them. He would have nine layers of brocade clothes, a high platform and a wide room."
"Jizi saw the end when he saw Zhou starting to use elephant chopsticks. In this way, one day, the combined wealth of the world would not be enough for one person to squander. Sure enough, after five years, Shang Zhou built wine pools and meat forests, and set up cannons. Climbing Zaoqiu, the Yin Shang Dynasty perished..."
The two of them had reached the feet of the giant golden man. Shi Lin raised his head and said:
"Today, in the Xianyang Palace, there are high platforms and wide rooms, nine layers of brocade clothes, delicacies, rhinoceros cups, and tortoiseshell and elephant chopsticks. Master, what the Jizi is afraid of is exactly what the disciple is afraid of. The wealth from outside the Kyushu region is concentrated. In Xianyang, he decorates the harem and displays it to entertain the mind and the eyes. But His Majesty is not satisfied. He is still building palaces, mausoleums, and seeking immortality. I am afraid that the Qin Dynasty will be like the Yin and Shang Dynasties. In three to five years, , suddenly capsized..."
"Be careful!"
Cheng Shang quickly stopped this bold disciple and pulled him away from the palace gate where there was an endless stream of onlookers. Public opinion in the Qin Dynasty had already tightened, and since the crime of "slander" was introduced last year, no one dared to If he criticizes the court and the emperor, once this is reported by someone who is interested, not to mention Shi Lin will be punished, the entire Mohist family will also be implicated.
The Mohist family and the peasant family had just managed to survive the catastrophe of the "book ban" a few years ago. Now they had to work for the Qin government, sum up various skills in engineering, and teach them to craftsmen in order to prove that they were "useful".
When the master and the disciple returned home, Shi Lin, who had been holding it in for a long time, whispered: "Master, I just don't understand that spending useless money is the way of the sage king and the great benefit of the world. This is what the Mo Jing said, and it is also what Master said. I taught you Dundun. But why did the imperial court assisted by Qin Mo run counter to Mo’s righteousness?"
"That wasn't the case initially."
Cheng Shang sighed. The principles he and Qin Mo believed in were "officials are never noble and people are never lowly" and "the world is one and the same."
Mozi believed that inconsistent political orders can only lead to social chaos, so top-down management should be implemented and everything should be unified from above. This high degree of totalitarianism coincides with Qin Legalism. Qin Mozi thought We must help Qin to unify the world, let all voices speak with one voice, eliminate wars, and finally realize the ideal of uniting the world.
At the beginning, the Qin State was indeed simple and solemn from the king to the officials. Mohists were very comfortable in this system and single-handedly established the Qin State's efficient military industry system.
But after reunification, the water gradually turned turbid.
"Unfortunately, Xianglishi's words came true."
Cheng Shang couldn't help but think of the conversation he had with the southern Mohist Xianglige outside the small town in Chu when he followed Heifu to attack Chu more than ten years ago.
"The King of Qin was greedy for the reputation of conquering and conquered, and he never stopped conquering. I heard that once he succeeded, he would destroy all his enemies, paint the princes' towers, and build a palace in Guanzhong. Even though it has not caused much damage to the Qin people's livelihood now, That also relies on plundering the Six Kingdoms to compensate. What if the Six Kingdoms are wiped out, but the King of Qin is greedy and continues to fight foreign wars? To prepare for war, you must extract more money to recruit troops and purchase weapons. , I dare to say today that the King of Qin will be generous to the people, rob the people of their food and clothing, rob the people of their use, and destroy the people's benefits. The people will be hungry and have no food, cold and no clothes, and no rest from work. If this continues, even though the country is big, Those who are warlike will perish."
Faced with Xianglige's question, Cheng Shang's answer at that time was: "Qin Mo will try his best to admonish the king, rest with the people, and eliminate military disasters..."
But he was severely slapped in the face by reality. Just look at Xi, who was sent to the frontier last year. You will know that the remonstrator is guilty, and everyone has learned to be smart and keep silent.
Today's Qin Dynasty is really getting farther and farther away from the "universal justice" expected by Mohists. After Cheng Shang succeeded to the throne, he learned from his disciples who traveled to various counties about the rift between the hometown of the Six Kingdoms and the Qin officials and the Qin army.
, getting deeper and deeper. And what Qin Shihuang liked and did was completely opposite to the Mohist still insists on "love all, not attack, use money sparingly, and bury sparingly".
"In my opinion, what your Majesty values most is sex, music, pearls and jade, but what you value lightly is the people!"
The more Shi Lin talked, the angrier he became, and he even began to criticize Mo Zhe's good friend, Changnan Hou Lai, who helped the Mo family survive a few years ago.
"The same goes for the Marquis of Changnan. It would have been a good thing to seize South Vietnam without too many casualties, but how could he offer extravagant things to the emperor and throw fuel into the fire?"
Young Master Cheng Shang had no choice but to explain to his friend: "This has nothing to do with Marquis Changnan. It was requested by the Shaofu and was searched by the two supervisors, Marquis Changwu and Ziying. Marquis Changnan also acted under orders."
Cheng Shang sighed: "Besides, what is the result of the Southern Expedition? He must give His Majesty a visible and tangible explanation."
In Heifu's words, this is a "mid-term project report". You have to tell your boss that everything is going according to plan and the results are remarkable. You should stop sending people to push the progress every month...
"But it's too ineffective..."
Shi Lin was still dissatisfied. In the eyes of this young angry young man, the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty were just sitting there and watching the world deviate and fall into the abyss. Changnan Hou was smart and ran to the south to avoid all this.
Not much better.
He gritted his teeth and asked: "Master, what should I do in this period of time?"
"How to do it? It can only be beneficial but not harmful..."
Cheng Shang felt tired. He never thought that he would be selected as a great man. This may be due to the fact that for ten years, he had tirelessly studied the concepts in the Mo Jing and conducted many experiments to prove the hypothesis proposed by Zi Mozi, which won him great success.
Great reputation is related to it. At the same time, Cheng Shang also led a group of disciples, using water vertebrae as a prototype, to develop hydraulic equipment to the extreme. Now there are waterwheels, watermills, and water drainage all over the world, and the efficiency has indeed improved a lot.
Relying on the skills of skilled craftsmen to promote the "productivity" mentioned by Heifu and bring great benefits to the world may be able to make up for the negative impact of excessive taxes and heavy corvee, right?
Among Mohists, those who agree with this concept account for the majority. When the previous great master, Tang Fuzi, retired in old age, he chose Cheng Shang as his successor according to the Mohist tradition of "promoting the virtuous" and handed over his ruler to him.
But Shi Lin, a disciple of Cheng Shang, does not belong to the conservative faction, but tends to be radical and has his own ideas...
Seeing that the Master was very depressed, he asked no more questions and left silently. After coming out, he said to himself:
"Master, as a great man, you are too inactive. All day long, you just follow the emperor's orders and hope for profit to offset the harm. But this big harm can't be made up for by small profits. In my opinion,
Look, more and more holes are being filled."
He suddenly stopped and said to himself: "In addition to bringing benefits, can't we... eliminate harm!?"
Even though he was a radical among Mohists, Shi Lin was still startled by his sudden idea and quickly shook his head and threw it away.
But when the time came in March, even though Shi Lin tried hard to follow the Master's teachings and make good use of profit while avoiding harm, trouble came to the Mohist family himself.
The Shaofu Yao Jia ordered that the construction period of Epang Palace and Lishan Mountain was tight, and the construction had reached a stage that required exquisite skills. Therefore, the Shaofu requested that Mohists must send people to assist in the construction of Afang Palace and Lishan Mausoleum...
This request caused disputes among Qin Mo. More than a hundred people were divided into two groups, and they became excited and quarreled.
In the end, it was the giant Cheng Shang who reluctantly suppressed everyone and obeyed the government's request.
Shi Linfen went to Afang Palace, where Mr. Fu Su was a prisoner. However, he was not too demanding of Mo Mo and forced everyone to do things that were contrary to his own beliefs.
But something big happened to some of the brothers who were sent to Lishan.
In mid-March, Deputy Supervisor Zhao Gao reported to Qin Shi Huangdi:
Three Mo scholars said that they followed Zi Mozi's teaching of "frequent burial" and refused to provide precise skills for the crossbow arrows in the Lishan Mausoleum. They even spoke rudely and said that His Majesty was extravagant and ignorant of prudence, which was slanderous.
The crime should be investigated and dealt with by Tingwei!
