Diqin Designer

Chapter 536 The Beginning of Qin's Use of the West

Archimedes was indeed alive in this era, but he was already very old.

The disciple from Xinmo asked, "Where does this Archimedes scholar currently reside?"

Scholars who can conceive of the principle of buoyancy must be extraordinary. If possible, they would like to pay them a visit in person. If they truly possess extraordinary talent, they could invite them to serve the Qin Dynasty.

The Bactrian scholar said, "Archimedes lived in Syracuse, which is quite far from here."

The disciple from the new school nodded and then asked, "Did Archimedes have any other knowledge?"

The Bactrian scholar scratched his head and replied, "It seems there are more, but I don't know much about them. I only learned about the theory of buoyancy while chatting with someone."

"It is said that the King of Syracuse commissioned craftsmen to forge a crown of pure gold for him, but after the crown was completed, the King of Syracuse suspected that the craftsmen might have embezzled the gold, and that the crown might not be pure gold..."

The Bactrian scholar began to recount a strange little story he had heard, to which another scholar, who had never heard of it before, remarked, "If the craftsman had embezzled the gold, wouldn't it have been simpler to just weigh the crown?"

The Bactrian scholar telling the story said, "The crown weighed the same as the gold the King of Syracuse gave to the craftsmen, so we couldn't get a result by weighing it directly. And the King of Syracuse didn't want to destroy the crown that had already been made."

In other words, it is indeed difficult to determine whether a crown is pure gold without damaging it.

"This problem stumped the King of Syracuse and the scholars of Syracuse, but it did not stump Archimedes. One day, while taking a bath, he saw himself sitting in the tub and the water overflowing from it, and he came up with a solution."

"Afterwards, Archimedes went to the palace and put the crown and an equal weight of pure gold into two basins of water. He compared the amount of water that overflowed from the two basins and found that more water overflowed from the basin containing the crown, thus proving that the crown was not pure gold and that the craftsman had embezzled the gold."

The disciple of Xinmo said, "If the crown were also made of pure gold, then the amount of water overflowing from the two basins should be the same. The difference in the amount of water proves that the crown is not pure gold."

"My Qin Dynasty's Young Master Li Nian also proposed the relationship between buoyancy and the volume of an object. It's truly remarkable that Archimedes could think of the same thing as Young Master Li Nian!"

This seems to be praising Archimedes, but it's actually praising Li Nian more: Hehe, Archimedes is indeed good, but he still can't compare to our young master Li Nian.

If Li Nian herself heard these words, she would definitely find it hard to keep her composure: it's completely contrary to reason, the law of buoyancy was proposed by Archimedes.

Compared to other ancient Greek philosophers, Archimedes was more pragmatic, with less speculation and conjecture. His theories were supported by rigorous and precise proofs, unlike some of Aristotle's theories which were overly influenced by "I think, I feel, I believe."

After the Bactrian scholar finished telling the fascinating little story about Archimedes, another Bactrian scholar spoke up: "I've also heard a story about Archimedes!"

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, the scholar said, "It is said that King Hyvillon built a ship for King Ptolemy, but because the ship was too big and heavy, it could not be put into the sea, so he consulted Archimedes."

"Archimedes really came up with a solution. He had the craftsmen install a very ingenious set of pulleys and levers at the front, back, left, and right of the ship. After the installation was completed, he called more than a hundred people to stand in front of the ship, each of them holding a rope connecting the pulleys and levers."

"He told King Hyvilon to grab one of the ropes as well. King Hyvilon and the others simply pulled the ropes in their hands, and the large ship was lifted up and placed into the sea."

Many scholars in the Qin scholar group exchanged glances. This Archimedes was indeed quite something; he even knew how to use pulleys and levers.

A person who can figure out the principles of buoyancy and leverage on their own would be a top talent in the Qin Dynasty. If possible, we should bring them back to the Qin Dynasty.

The members of the Qin scholars were unaware of Archimedes's significance. He was known as the "Father of Mechanics" and was ranked alongside Gauss and Newton as one of the world's three greatest mathematicians.

In hindsight, what Archimedes studied may seem rudimentary, but it was remarkable more than two thousand years ago, when 99 percent of the world was still in a state of ignorance.

Creating a road where there is no road ahead and following an existing road are two different things.

However, it is unlikely that the Qin scholars will be able to bring Archimedes back to Qin, as the old man is not only very old, but also extremely loyal to his homeland.

When Rome invaded Syracuse, Archimedes did his best to defend his homeland, but Syracuse was no match for the rising power of Rome.

Ultimately, Syracuse was conquered by Rome, and Archimedes was killed by Roman soldiers.

The Xinmo disciple said, "The ship is too big and heavy to be lifted directly by people, but the pulleys and levers can save a lot of effort, which is why more than a hundred people were asked to pull the ropes to lift the ship."

The scientific principles behind the rumors may be true, but the rumors themselves are most likely artistic embellishments.

The answers from the disciples of the Xinmo School gave the Bactrian scholars a deeper understanding of the Qin state's level of scholarship: the Qin people were able to directly discern the doctrines in the hearsay, which clearly indicated that they possessed doctrines of equal or even greater advancement, and the Qin people were indeed far superior to them.

After the first day of academic exchange, the scholars from the Bactrian delegation were generally in low spirits, as they had been unilaterally and thoroughly outmatched by the Qin people throughout the day's academic exchange.

No matter what ideas they put forward, the Qin people could always find them in their own collection of the Hundred Schools of Thought. No matter what theories they put forward, the Qin people could always find a way to refute them, especially in the fields of natural philosophy and mathematics, where the Qin people would directly point out that some of their theories were wrong.

These theories were often things they had firmly believed in for many years, but they were overturned by the Qin people in one fell swoop. One can imagine the feeling of their faith collapsing.

In the end, they dared not mention natural philosophy and mathematics to the Qin people anymore, and could only discuss human nature, morality, and ethics with them.

Even in these aspects, they could not out-argue the scholars of Qin.

The most frightening thing is that, according to the Qin scholars who communicated with them, they were not the most learned scholars in Qin. Those Qin scholars who were more learned than them were still in Qin, making Qin stronger.

After the banquet held to conclude the academic exchange, the Qin scholars had already gone back to rest, while Euthydemus I and the Bactrian scholars remained.

Euthydemus I looked at the group of scholars, all of whom were the best scholars in the country that he had selected. However, they were utterly defeated by the scholars from Qin, especially the chief scholar whom he had personally appointed.

He appointed him as the chief scholar for their Bactrian exchanges with the Qin people because he valued this man who had studied Aristotle's teachings for many years, had studied at the Lyceum in Athens, and was a true successor of Aristotle.

He hoped this person could open the eyes of the Qin people and show them that Bactria also had capable people with profound knowledge.

However, after being thoroughly refuted by the Qin scholars, this man feared that if word got out about his exchange with them today, even the great Aristotle would fall from his pedestal, and the academic world of the various countries (in the West) would undergo a tremendous change. Thinking of this, Euthydemus I suddenly understood why the Qin envoy had requested an academic exchange with them.

The Qin people wanted to use this opportunity to promote their own doctrines, as well as to suppress those of other people and even demoralize their scholars.

One can tell by looking at the elderly man whom he appointed as the leader of the scholar group, who is still absent-minded.

The old man had spent most of his life studying the teachings of Aristotle, which had become his deep-rooted belief and even integrated into his life. But today, his belief was ruthlessly destroyed by the scholars of Qin.

The things he believed in for most of his life were wrong; he has become a ridiculous joke for most of his life!
He once insisted that those things were right, and he argued fiercely with others to defend them. He was once proud of them and felt that the theories studied by other scholars were not as good as his own, but now they have all become a joke.

The people of Qin had malicious intentions. They wanted to establish that Qin's scholarship was the most correct and that scholars of the world should respect Qin's scholarship. This was intended to crush the mentality of scholars from other countries, making them feel inferior to Qin and submit to Qin's knowledge.

The people of Qin wanted to establish a system of knowledge with rules set by them, just as Alexander the Great wanted to transform the conquered territories into a unified system.

The Qin people used the same methods as Alexander the Great, only in a different direction, but their ultimate goal was to make their system a consensus among all the states, which all states had to abide by.

Alexander both succeeded and failed. He failed because the Macedonian Empire quickly disintegrated after his death, but succeeded because although the Macedonian Empire collapsed, Hellenization had already influenced other countries.

It was easy to see through the Qin people's intentions, but extremely difficult to stop them. The most brutal way was to wipe out the entire Qin delegation and strictly ban the ideas and doctrines spoken by the Qin people.

But this would offend the Qin state, whose power was obvious.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, by this time Euthydemus I was fully aware of the relative strengths of his Bactria and the Qin Dynasty: even if there were three or four more Bactria, they would still be no match for the Qin.

He was beginning to believe what the Qin envoy had said: that the Qin state had defeated the Donghu and Yuezhi peoples with few casualties.

The Yuezhi people were decisively defeated by the Qin people, and they were terrified of them.

It would be easy to wipe out this Qin delegation of just over a thousand people, but it would attract the Qin army, and then it would be up to the Qin army to wipe them out.

Although they were quite far from Qin, and it was not easy for Qin to send a large army, the Qin envoy had said, "Those who insult our Great Qin, though far away, shall be punished," so Qin was very likely to send troops.

Euthydemus I was smarter than the Dayuan Kingdom in history. Why did Emperor Wu of Han send troops to conquer Dayuan back then?
In fact, Emperor Wu of Han did not initially intend to conquer Dayuan.

At that time, Emperor Wu of Han heard that the country of Dayuan had fine horses, so he sent envoys with a large sum of money to buy them. The King of Dayuan and his ministers discussed the matter and felt that the Han Dynasty was far away from them, and it would be difficult to send even a few hundred envoys, let alone a large army. They believed that even if they did not sell the horses, the Han Dynasty could not do anything to them.

Therefore, not only did they refuse to sell the horse to the Han, but they also treated him quite badly.

Upon seeing the attitude of the King of Dayuan, the Han envoy, in a fit of anger, smashed the golden horse he had brought in front of the Dayuan king and his ministers.

Then, the king of Dayuan did something that other small countries would avoid at all costs: he sent people to wipe out the Han delegation.

Upon learning of the annihilation of the mission, Emperor Wu of Han was furious. Despite the fact that Dayuan was indeed far away, he still sent troops to conquer it. If one attempt failed, he would try again.

The Han's domineering attitude frightened the Dayuan people so much that they killed their king and sent his head to the Han army.

If Euthydemus I had dared to annihilate the Qin delegation, his fate would not have been much better than that of the King of Dayuan during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han.

Of course, this thought only flashed through Euthydemus I's mind; he did not intend to actually do it, and he was quite interested in the doctrines of the Qin Dynasty.

He wasn't very interested in theories of natural philosophy or mathematics; what interested him most was the Confucian school of thought in the Qin state.

Although Qin scholars have not fully explained Confucianism today, they can sense that the ideas of this school of thought can be used to govern the country, or more precisely, to consolidate the position of the monarch.

He only felt this way about Confucianism because the Legalist disciples in the delegation were Neo-Legalists; otherwise, he would have felt that both Confucianism and Legalism were suitable for governing the country.

What Euthydemus I didn't know was that his belief that Confucianism was suitable for governing the country was also one of the mission's objectives; he had already fallen into the mission's trap.

This was also one of Li Nian's tasks for the mission: to attract the interest of the monarchs of the Western countries. Once these Western monarchs took the bait, they would be given the Confucian doctrines that were beneficial to the monarch's rule.

The more intelligent and wise the monarchs of Western countries are, the easier it is for them to fall into the trap. This is because the more intelligent these people are, the more they care about the stability of their throne and the more they hope to be above everyone else both before and after their death, and for their kingdom to last for thousands of years.

The stronger one's ambition to be a monarch, the stronger one's ambition to be a tyrant, and the more likely one is to fall into this trap. When they learn about the system that Li Nian gave them, which was later used by the Chinese dynasties, they will become more and more obsessed with it and unable to extricate themselves.

The idea of ​​"dismissing all other schools of thought and exclusively honoring Confucianism" cannot happen in China, but Li Nian would have no objection if it happened in Western countries.

If Confucianism could defeat other schools of thought in the West and become the only dominant school of thought there, that would be absolutely wonderful.

Euthydemus I planned to summon the Qin deputy envoy to the palace for a detailed inquiry to see if Qin's Confucianism could be of use to him.

After thinking it over, Euthydemus I glanced at the group of scholars and said, "Compared to us, the learning of Qin is indeed worth learning. I wish to send someone to Qin. Who is willing to go?"

If he had previously wanted to send people to the Qin Dynasty simply to take a look, now he genuinely wanted to learn something from the Qin Dynasty, especially Confucianism.

Upon hearing Eusidmus I's words, the old man, who had seemed to have lost his soul, finally regained some color in his eyes. Disregarding his status and etiquette, he rushed directly to Eusidmus I.

"Basellus, please, you must send me to the Qin Kingdom!"

Euthydemus I looked at the old man and advised, "You are old, and our country is far from Qin. If you go..."

Before Euthydemus I could finish speaking, the old man said, "Baselus, if I do not go to Qin, I will not rest in peace even in death."

Today, the Qin scholars have dealt him a huge blow. The things he has believed in for most of his life have been overturned by the Qin scholars. Even if he dies on the way to Qin, he must go!
(End of this chapter)