Diqin Designer

Chapter 525 Spreading "Teaching" to the West

Upon hearing the translator's words, Wang Ling laughed and said, "Your Majesty misunderstands. This 'emergence from the mountains' does not refer to Young Master Li Nian residing in the mountains before assisting His Majesty the Emperor, but rather to Young Master Li Nian's mastery of knowledge and his formal appointment to assist His Majesty the Emperor."

The term “出山” can be traced back to the “Biography of Xie An” in the Book of Jin. It is a term that should not have appeared in the Qin Dynasty, but it was brought to Qin by Li Nian.

“I see. I thought Prince Li Nian really lived in the mountains.” Euthydemus I then asked, “The envoy just mentioned that His Majesty the Emperor of your country wants everyone in your country to be literate. But if everyone is literate, who will farm and who will weave? If everyone in your country is a scholar, does your country have that many positions?”

Wang Ling laughed and said, "Reading and writing do not hinder farming and weaving. In fact, reading well may even benefit farming and weaving."

Wang Ling did not explain why good academic performance was beneficial for farming and weaving. The subjects offered by the Qin Dynasty were not limited to humanities but also included natural sciences. After completing their studies, students in the Qin Dynasty would be divided into different streams based on their interests.

Students assigned to natural sciences will be taught agriculture, textiles, and other related subjects, and will work in these fields after graduation.

Moreover, they don't need to worry about being unemployed after graduation, because Da Qin now guarantees job placement!

The Qin Dynasty faces a huge talent shortage, especially in the natural sciences. According to the plan formulated by Li Nian, the Qin Dynasty will focus on supporting the natural sciences in education for the next few decades.

Wang Ling continued in answering Euthydemus I's question, "As for whether Great Qin would have enough positions if everyone were a scholar, Great Qin only fears having too few scholars, not too many. If everyone could truly be a scholar, Great Qin would surely have reached its zenith!"

Wang Ling himself couldn't even imagine what the Qin Dynasty, where everyone was literate, would be like; it must have been extremely advanced and powerful...

"Moreover, with many scholars, there are many outstanding talents who can be selected from among them. If the country is governed by these outstanding talents, it will surely become stronger."

Upon hearing Wang Ling's answer, Euthydemus I noticed a problem: he seemed unaware that the Qin Dynasty selected talent in various ways. He then asked, "How does your country select talent?"

Wang Ling smiled and said, "The Qin Dynasty has three main methods for selecting talent: First, those with a good reputation are recommended by others and then examined and employed by His Majesty the Emperor; second, those who serve in the army and make meritorious contributions; and third, which is also the most important method for selecting talent in the Qin Dynasty today, is to participate in the Xianyang Grand Examination!"

What is the "Xianyang Big Test"?
Euthydemus I asked, "Which of the three laws does the envoy belong to? And what is the 'Great Examination of Xianyang'?"

Wang Ling picked up the wine cup in front of him, took a sip, and put the cup down before replying, "To be honest, I am ashamed to say that I was chosen by His Majesty the Emperor to serve as an official."

To this day, he still doesn't understand why he was suddenly summoned by His Majesty the Emperor to attend the coronation ceremony, and why, after the ceremony, His Majesty the Emperor didn't let him return home but instead gave him an appointment.

There are many others in the same situation as him. For example, Liu Ji, the current governor of the Western Regions, was summoned to Xianyang by the emperor to attend the ceremony before he was crowned emperor. From then on, he was favored by the emperor and eventually entrusted with the important task of governor of the Western Regions.

According to their private speculation, the reason why His Majesty the Emperor summoned them to Xianyang before the coronation ceremony might be related to Prince Li Nian.

In other words, it was Young Master Li Nian who recommended these people to His Majesty the Emperor, and Young Master Li Nian has the favor of recommending them.

But if they were indeed recommended by Young Master Li Nian, how did he learn about them? And why did he recommend them?

As his thoughts raced, Wang Ling continued, "The Xianyang Grand Examination is a talent selection examination established by the Great Qin in recent years. It is held every year and is scheduled for the summer."

The timing of the Xianyang Grand Examination was changed. The first Xianyang Grand Examination was held in a hurry, so the examination time was also quite rushed. It was held shortly after the First Emperor's coronation ceremony.

Things are different now; things that were rushed out back then naturally need to be adjusted.

The current decision is made in summer because spring is for planting, autumn for harvesting, and winter is cold; summer is the only relatively good choice.

"The Great Examination in Xianyang is open to all citizens of the Great Qin Dynasty. Anyone with talent and a belief that they are capable of taking the exam may participate. The examination subjects include history, geography, policy questions, mathematics, chemistry, and physics!"

In the first major examination in Xianyang, history, geography, and policy questions were combined into a single policy question, but now they have been separated. The study of things has also been divided into chemistry and physics, but there is no biology.

Li Nian originally wanted to set up a biology subject, but considering the level of biology at that time, he ultimately did not set it up. He only added some biology-related questions to the policy questions.

The current Xianyang exam is becoming more standardized, but it's not like the college entrance exam of later generations; it's more like the civil service exam, only without the same torment as the civil service exam of later generations.

Of course, for people of this era, the Xianyang exam was still quite grueling.

“Each subject has test questions. Candidates can score points for correct answers and cannot mark them incorrectly. The final ranking is based on the candidates’ scores. The ranking list will be posted in Xianyang. Therefore, being on the list in the Xianyang Grand Examination is also called ‘being on the list’. Those talented people who rank high in the Xianyang Grand Examination will have their names engraved on the ‘Uncle’s Golden List’, also known as ‘being on the Golden List’.”

This is a genuine "passing the imperial examination with flying colors." It wasn't something Li Nian orchestrated; rather, it was something the First Emperor arranged after hearing about the "passing the imperial examination with flying colors" from Li Nian. His purpose was naturally to increase the sense of honor among the candidates taking the imperial examination in Xianyang.

The First Emperor also set a rule that the list of successful candidates in each year's imperial examination in Xianyang would be kept in the palace. The first year's candidates did not have a list of successful candidates, but the First Emperor added one.

When Wang Ling spoke of the imperial examination, his tone was full of envy. He also wanted to participate in the Xianyang examination and have his name on the list of successful candidates.

When Euthydemus I and others heard that the Great Qin was selecting talents through a grand examination in Xianyang, some seemed thoughtful, some frowned secretly, and some looked delighted, but no one jumped out to stop Wang Ling from speaking.

Wang Ling continued, "Those who make it onto the list will be received by His Majesty, who will also bestow upon them clothing and host a banquet, allowing them to ride horses around Xianyang. There is a poem that says: 'Riding on the spring breeze, the horse's hooves are swift, and in one day, one can see all the flowers of Xianyang.'"

As he spoke, Wang Ling expressed even greater regret that he had not been able to participate in the grand examination in Xianyang and, after passing the exam, parade through the streets on horseback.

Li Shiqi, sitting below the royal tomb, stroked his beard and smiled. He had participated in the imperial examination in Xianyang, passed the exam, and been paraded through the streets on horseback. It was a glorious event that he would remember for a lifetime!

While Wang Ling was speaking, he kept observing the expressions of Euthydemus I and others. Seeing that many Bactrian ministers were frowning, he knew that even if he told them about the Xianyang examination, they would not learn from it.

Bactria would find it difficult to develop a talent selection examination similar to the grand examination in Xianyang.

Because almost all of Bactria's ministers came from noble families, their family backgrounds were already established. As long as they survived and grew up, power and status would naturally come to them. Why would they need to take exams?

The Xianyang Grand Examination was open to all talented people in the country, which meant that even those who were not nobles could participate. If these non-nobles were selected, wouldn't that be taking away their privileges?
They'd be foolish to put together a talent selection exam like the Xianyang Grand Examination to claim their own benefits.

This is also a major reason why the ancient West did not have an imperial examination system. It wasn't that they were unaware that a great Eastern power had a method for selecting talent called the "imperial examination," but rather that they resisted it and did not want to implement it. Therefore, Wang Ling wasn't too worried when he talked about the Xianyang examination; even if he did, these people wouldn't be able to learn it.

Those who looked delighted were not happy that ordinary people with talent could participate in the Xianyang examination, but rather they envied the preferential treatment that the Qin Dynasty gave to those candidates who made the list.

The mysterious Qin state in the East was truly a country that respected knowledge and treated scholars well. No wonder the Qin emperor wanted every Qin person to be a scholar. He wanted to establish a country of scholars, and Prince Li Nian should be his chief scholar.

Euthydemus I laughed and said, "Your country's method of selecting talent is quite interesting."

After listening to Wang Ling's words, Euthydemus I quickly pondered in his mind. The Xianyang Grand Examination was beneficial for selecting talents and for the monarch to consolidate power, but unfortunately it could not be implemented in Bactria. If he dared to implement it, he would probably find it difficult to hold onto the throne.

If he could rebel against Theodotus II, then someone else could rebel against him!
Moreover, Bactria lacked the foundation for implementation—there weren't enough literate people.

In Bactria, almost all literate and talented people were nobles, and these people were born to become officials, so they did not need to take the imperial examination in Xianyang.

Euthydemus I sighed inwardly. From the perspective of a monarch, he really wanted to hold a Bactrian Great Examination, but unfortunately, it was not possible.

Euthydemus I then asked, "What are chemistry and physics, which the messenger speaks of?"

Wang Ling laughed and said, "These are two natural sciences that explain the principles of change in the universe, such as why birds fly in the air and why fish swim in the water..."

Emperor Euthydemus I became interested and pressed further, "Does your country have an answer?"

Wang Ling said, "I don't know that. To be honest, Your Majesty, I don't know much about chemistry or physics."

Euthydemus I was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, but then he thought again, it was quite interesting that the Qin people were actually studying these things.

Wang Ling said, "If Your Majesty wishes to learn more, you may send someone to study in Qin. There is a Qin International Academy in Xianyang that specializes in teaching foreign students."

When Euthydemus I and others heard this, they were somewhat displeased. The Qin envoy only mentioned that they could send people to Qin to study, but did not mention that Qin people could come to them to study. Clearly, he thought that their level of knowledge was not as good as that of Qin.

This Qin envoy appeared approachable, but in reality, he was quite arrogant.

Wang Ling, however, did not think he was wrong. How could Bactria's level of knowledge be compared with that of the Qin Dynasty?
Euthydemus I said, “When the envoy returns to your country, I will send someone to accompany him.”

Wang Ling nodded. Although they were sending students to see how Qin was reforming them, they could not learn advanced knowledge and take it away, but they could take Qin's "advanced" ideas back with them.

Euthydemus I then asked, "May I ask which god your country worships? Is it Zeus, the king of the gods?"

This question surprised Wang Ling. Why was he suddenly asked about which god he believed in?
However, having anticipated the questions he might be asked before coming, Wang Ling shook his head and smiled, saying, "We do not believe in Zeus, the King of Gods. The deity we believe in is the Heavenly Emperor Taiyi."

"Taiyi, born before all things, existing before all things, as the poem says: 'First there was chaos, then heaven, and the Heavenly Emperor Taiyi was before that.' Taiyi is the beginning of all things, and also the end of all things; it is the Dao..."

The translator on one side was completely lost; he could barely understand what Wang Ling was saying, let alone accurately translate it for Euthydemus I and the others. He could only translate it vaguely based on his own understanding:
The Qin people worshipped the first sun in the universe, therefore He was the emperor of heaven and earth, and the emperor of the whole world.

When He was born and existed in the world, there was no heaven and earth as we know them today, and even the world before the present heaven and earth did not exist. The people of Qin praised Him in a poem: "Ah, great deity, heaven and earth are very ancient, but you are even more ancient than the world before heaven and earth."

He is the beginning of all things and the end of all things; He is the Lord of all sentient beings and the Lord of all inanimate things…

Although the translation was not entirely accurate, and much of the content was based on the translator's own interpretation, it still stunned Euthydemus I and others.

It sounds like the god worshipped by the Qin people is much more powerful than Zeus, the god they worshipped. It existed before the birth of heaven and earth, and is the beginning and the end of everything.

After being modified by Li Nian and others, the Ancestral God Religion of the Great Qin Dynasty has a rigorous mythological system, which is incomparable to the Greek mythological system that these people brought from Greece.

The Bactrians worshipped the ancient Greek gods, with Zeus as their patron. And what Greek mythology is all too well known.

Furthermore, when Li Nian was fabricating the mythological background of the Ancestral God Sect, he incorporated some elements from later generations. Simply put, he gave the Heavenly Emperor Taiyi an extremely high status.

The purpose of doing this was to completely unite the Heavenly Emperor Taiyi with the Dao, so that he would have no personality but only divinity. That is, the Heavenly Emperor Taiyi is another name for the Dao. He is not a person, and has no human emotions or desires. He is the Dao, in order to prevent anyone from causing trouble in the name of the Heavenly Emperor Taiyi.

The Heavenly Emperor Taiyi has no human emotions or desires, so how could he possess you, appear in your dreams, and issue divine decrees to instruct you to cause chaos? You must be lying.

Since faith in deities is inevitable in this era, Li Nian can only strive to make the gods truly gods, accepting only faith and not interfering in the mundane world herself.

"Taiyi separated chaos, transforming the chaotic world into the present heaven and earth. Feeling the loneliness of heaven and earth, he created the gods Huangtian, Houtu, Nuwa, Fuxi, and others..."

"Though there are many gods, the world remains desolate. Therefore, the two great gods Nuwa and Fuxi created a kind of intelligent being, and this being is us..."

Euthydemus I and others listened with great interest as the royal tombs told mythological stories, even though they were listening to a translated, adapted, and speculative version.

Because the myths told by the king matched some of the myths they knew.

But the myths they heard came from Greece, while the myths Wang Ling told came from Da Qin. One was in the west, and the other was in the east. How could they possibly match up?

What a coincidence!

Euthydemus I and others pondered the matter, but the answer they came up with left them somewhat bewildered.

(End of this chapter)