Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 242 Gongshu Shi, who is comparable to gods and ghosts
"Are rice and wheat divided into male and female?!" Wang Dayuan said in surprise.

This time, without waiting for Lu Jin to speak, Meng Zhifang next to him explained for Lu Jin.

“It is true that there are male and female plants, but most plants are actually monoecious, and the difference between male and female plants is only in the stamens, so it is difficult for ordinary people to detect. For thousands of years, no one knew about it except the Confucianists of the pre-Qin period and Gongshu. I only learned this after following the commander-in-chief to study the secret book.

"The Gongshu Secret Classic includes all living things, including plants and animals, under one heading, collectively called living things. The book clearly states that farmers in the pre-Qin period knew that plants had male and female differences, but no one passed this down in later generations. This shows that after Confucianism became the only school of thought, it indeed abandoned many of the essences of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

“Alas, although I am also a Confucian scholar, after following the commander-in-chief to study the secret classics, I feel that Confucianism has wasted too long. It has been reincarnated in the change of dynasties for thousands of years. That’s not all, but the classics that Confucianism studies are still the Four Books and Five Classics of the pre-Qin period. There has been no progress in thousands of years, and there is no new classic.

"On the other hand, Gongshu not only incorporates the essence of hundreds of schools of thought, but also continuously innovates. Now, he has even reached the level of being on par with gods and ghosts."

After saying that, he shook his head, which made Wang Dayuan next to him stunned. He felt that Lu Jin and his disciple seemed to be working together to play him.

Wang Dayuan hesitated for a while before asking, "My lord, may I have a look at this Gongshu Secret Book?"

"Sure. Anyway, you have to learn mathematics, astronomy, geography, and probably some physics as well. Otherwise, it will be difficult to travel across the ocean. By the way, I'm afraid you have to learn some shipbuilding as well." Lu Jin agreed without hesitation, then wiped the blackboard clean again before speaking again.

"Do we have to learn shipbuilding?" Wang Dayuan asked in confusion.

Lu Jin nodded, "Yes, build a speedboat. The current Fuzhou ships are good in every way except that they are too slow. They can only run ten knots per hour. I told you before that it would take a year to go to Lizhou and back, but that was based on the speed of the speedboat. It should run at least twenty to thirty knots per hour, which is two to three times faster than the Fuzhou ships. Otherwise, it might take a year to go to Lizhou one way, and two years to go back and forth. Add in the search for those crops, and it might take four years to come back.

“The longer it takes, the greater the risk on the road, so we have to build a fast boat before we can set off.”

Wang Dayuan seemed to understand what he heard, and immediately asked, "My lord, what does this mean? Are there any other lengths and shorts?"

"Yes, a knot is a geographical distance unit used in navigation and aviation. Unlike land transportation, there are no markers on the sea and in the sky to judge distance. Therefore, in this regard, a knot is more practical than miles because a knot represents one minute in longitude and latitude.

"If converted into miles, one minute in latitude is approximately equal to 3.7 miles. The speed of the Fu ship is ten knots per hour, which means it travels 37 miles in one hour. We must at least build a ship that can travel a hundred miles per hour." Lu Jin explained in detail.

"I see. It sounds reasonable. But does the aviation that my lord mentioned really mean the art of flying in the air?" Wang Dayuan asked in surprise.

Lu Jin waved his hand and said, "If you believe it, it exists. If you don't believe it, it doesn't exist. There is no need to ask. You will know it later.

"Alright, the three of you remember what I said. Without my permission, you are not allowed to tell others about Lizhou. As for incorporating Lizhou into our territory, that is something we will consider after the world is pacified. Before we are able to manage Lizhou, we must try to control the scope of all information about Lizhou to prevent other countries from competing with us.

"As for Mr. Huanzhang's concern that the news will be leaked due to the large number of people, that's not necessarily the case. If you three are asked by outsiders, just say that I am teaching you how to build a ship. From now on, Mr. Huanzhang will use the excuse of supervising the construction of warships to build fast sailing ships. I have a lot of naval forces under my command, so no one will be suspicious."

"Yes." The three of them agreed immediately after hearing that. Lu Jinlian had already thought of an excuse and a cover, and had made such thoughtful arrangements, so what did they have to worry about?

The four of them came out of the classroom in Wang Mansion. Yu Tongyuan wanted to follow them to see the car, but was driven away by Lu Jin.

"There are many candidates coming to Luzhou recently, and it's crowded. You should go back to train first, and come back after dark after dinner. Mr. Huanzhang wants to read the secret book, right? You can go read the book in the afternoon, and then come to the Marshal's Mansion for dinner later. Zhifang can go back to teach first." Lu Jin said immediately.

Wang Dayuan also nodded and agreed, "It's all up to you, my lord."

In the afternoon, Meng Zhifang found him a set of the latest edition of the handwritten Gongshu Secret Canon for Wang Dayuan to read. After reading the first part of "Gongshu Zi", he had a clearer understanding of the legendary Gongshu Ban. He suddenly discovered that many things today were invented by Gongshu Ban thousands of years ago, and he was very surprised.

The first part of Gongshuzi mainly talks about the life of Gongshu Ban, the past of Lu Ban and Mozi, and Lu Ban's views and ambitions on the struggle for hegemony among the nations in the Spring and Autumn Period. Of course, these are all Lu Jin's personal opinions. The core of the whole book is of course the two articles on scientific world outlook and methodology.

Wang Dayuan was deeply moved after reading the first part, but he did not quite understand why the world view and methodology of the last two chapters could become the core of the secret book. After asking Lu Jin, Lu Jin explained.

"The core of the scientific worldview is actually just a few words: seek truth from facts and be pragmatic. Gongshu only believes in what he sees. He does not recognize those illusory things, such as the theory of the five elements."

Wang Dayuan was immediately puzzled and asked, "The five elements are mutually reinforcing and mutually restraining. Isn't this also wrong?"

Lu Jin directly refuted, "According to the theory of the five elements, water can overcome fire and water can also generate wood, but I can use water to generate fire. Do you believe it? If you don't believe it, you can go to the iron factory outside the city to see that the iron factory uses water to light lamps every day. I have used real objects to confirm the loopholes of the five elements, which means it is fake. Why should I still believe it?"

Wang Dayuan frowned and said nothing. He had heard too many "deviant" theories from Lu Jin, but Lu Jin's theories were all logically self-consistent and backed by physical evidence, making them impossible to refute. This made him very distressed. On the one hand, his worldview was collapsing, and on the other hand, he wanted to protect his already formed worldview, but had no way to refute it.

Lu Jin continued, "Methodology is a set of rules and methods for doing things. No matter what you do, as long as you can skillfully apply methodology, you can get twice the result with half the effort. This is true for learning, research, working, farming, and fighting.

"Why can these two simple theories become the core of the secret book? That's because Gongshu's doctrine emphasizes the natural way of heaven and the pursuit of knowledge through investigation of things. It is a materialistic doctrine, not the idealistic doctrines of Confucianism, Mohism, etiquette, morality, benevolence and righteousness.

"Don't refute me first. Let me give you an example. Why do you say that Confucianism is against one's will? Take morality for example. What is morality? Confucianism advocates loyalty and filial piety. Loyalty to the king, filial piety to parents, and friendship to relatives. Is that right?"

"That's right." Wang Dayuan nodded immediately. Lu Jin continued, "What about the Kong family in Qufu? The Kong family claimed to be the leader of Confucianism. They were originally conferred the title of Yansheng Duke by the Han monarchs. They were treated well by the Han monarchs for generations. But when the Jin Kingdom came, they immediately surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, first to the Jin Kingdom, and then to the Yuan Dynasty.

"Why do you think he is not loyal to the Han monarch but loyal to the barbarians? He will tell you that if he does not surrender, his whole family will be destroyed. Isn't that unfilial? If he is filial to his elders and protects his family, he cannot be loyal to the monarch.

"So Kong was the first to surrender, and all the scholars in the world followed suit and surrendered with a clear conscience, saying that this was my morality, and if I didn't surrender I would be unfilial. As for loyalty, isn't being loyal to the barbarians not loyalty?"

Wang Dayuan was stunned. He didn't expect that morality could be explained in this way by Lu Jin.

Lu Jin spread his hands and said, "Do you understand? This is idealism. What is morality is just a matter of words. They can interpret it at will. What is in line with their interests is morality, and what is not in line with their interests is not morality. Therefore, Confucianism is the most hypocritical.

"What is Gongshushi's materialism? It is to explore and summarize the principles of nature. Ice and snow are cold, and fire is hot. This is the ultimate truth of nature and cannot be distorted by anyone, and there will be no other result.

"What about Confucian idealism? What is morality, what is propriety? There is no accurate answer to this question. Therefore, whenever Confucianism proposes a new doctrine, various schools of thought will debate it. Only the winner can become a great Confucian scholar, and his doctrine can be recognized by others.

"But Gongshu's materialism is not like this. Even a child, as long as he is good at discovering and summarizing, can discover the truth of heaven and earth, and make it impossible for others to refute it and gain everyone's recognition.

“Thus, although these two theories are simple, like something written by a child, the truth is simple. As long as you understand them thoroughly, you will continue to discover the truth of heaven and earth. Little by little, you will eventually realize the truth, just as water drips through a stone.”

Wang Dayuan suddenly realized, and asked, "Why did Gongshu take the Mathematical Classic as the basis?"

"Because mathematics naturally complements materialism, they are a perfect match made in heaven." Lu Jin picked up a tea bowl from the table and placed another tea bowl next to it.

"Here is a tea bowl, and now there is another one. How many are there in total? This is arithmetic. One plus one is always equal to two. There can never be a second result. This is the same as the principle of heaven and earth. The same thing cannot have two answers. Therefore, arithmetic is naturally suitable for expressing various physics. Do you understand what I mean?"

"So that's how it is. I understand. Then according to what my lord said, as long as we are pragmatic and truth-seeking, good at discovery, and then use methodology to verify, we can obtain an endless supply of the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, and Gongshu's materialism can keep advancing, even without end?" Wang Dayuan said suddenly in shock.

Lu Jin nodded, "In principle, that's right. That's why Confucianism is complacent, but Gongshu's school of thought can keep moving forward, because we know there is a road ahead, and this road has almost no end. If we want to explore, we can only keep moving forward. After thousands of years, we finally have today's achievements."

"And our Confucianism still only has the Four Books and Five Classics." Wang Dayuan murmured in a low voice, thinking to himself, no wonder Lu Jin looked down on Confucianism.

Then he looked at other books in the secret codex and took a quick look at the arithmetic scripture. He found that the Arab numbers and symbols were indeed very convenient to use. After looking at the vertical examples, he felt that this arithmetic was amazing. It was fast and convenient to use. However, the further he read, the more difficult it was to understand. He had to have a master to teach him.

Looking at other books, I find that the first two chapters of physics are relatively easy to understand. The first chapter of physics, "A Brief Introduction to Physics", mainly introduces some basic physical concepts, such as hot and cold, high and low altitudes, fast and slow time, long and short distances, etc. The first element of physics is to define a quantity for various physical phenomena, just like weight. There is no standard for weight. It is only when people set weights that we have a standard for measuring weight.

The second chapter is "Changes in Physical State", which introduces the three phases of objects: solid, liquid, and gas. As for other condensed matter physics, it is too advanced and difficult for beginners to understand, so it is not included.

After watching the three transformations of water, Wang Dayuan suddenly realized that the clouds in the sky were actually small water droplets. Water circulates continuously in nature through the transformations of three forms. The ice and snow melt, gather in rivers, flow into the sea, evaporate into clouds, and then turn into rain when it gets cold and fall back to the earth, or condense into ice on the mountains, waiting to melt again the next year.

Wang Dayuan was still shocked after reading it, and asked Lu Jin for advice, "Boiling salt from seawater is the same as using the principle of liquid evaporation, so the salt that cannot evaporate will remain."

"Yes, then according to this theory, since the sun can also dry and evaporate water, just like drying clothes, can we change from boiling to drying, and make salt by sun-drying? In this way, wouldn't it be possible to increase salt production, reduce salt prices, save a lot of firewood, and save a lot of labor for cooks, improve productivity, and benefit the people?"

Wang Dayuan was stunned when he heard this, "So this is what the lord meant by improving productivity and benefiting the people."

"exactly."

Then Wang Dayuan read the two articles on acoustics and optics, especially the one on optics. He was very interested in the schematic diagrams, theories of mirror reflection, diffuse reflection, refraction, etc. He was even more shocked when he saw the use of Mozi's pinhole imaging to prove the rectilinear propagation of light, and that lenses of different shapes can change the path of light and even be made into telescopes.

"My Lord, is this telescope real? By combining several light-transmitting mirrors together, can it bring distant scenery closer?"

"Of course, I have this now and can show it to you."

So Lu Jin took Wang Dayuan to the city wall and showed him his 75x monocular telescope. Wang Dayuan looked into the city with the telescope from the top of the city wall and could even see the face of a man in the courtyard two miles away. Then he looked towards the direction of the military camp and could see the soldiers' training movements clearly.

Wang Dayuan was so stunned by her beauty that he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

"Clairvoyance! This is truly a clairvoyance! Borrowing the power of heaven and earth, and acting as if it were a ghost or god, this is what it means. This telescope really has the power of ghosts and gods!"

Lu Jin looked at his excitement, patted his shoulder and said, "Since you are interested in optics, you should learn more in the future. You don't have to learn how to make a telescope, but at least you have to learn how to use it. This thing is very useful for stargazing, and the art of crossing the ocean to pull the stars is indispensable. Moreover, when sailing in the ocean, with this telescope, you can also detect danger earlier."

(End of this chapter)