Diqin Designer

Chapter 7 Goodbye to the First Emperor
Until the end of the class, Su Xu was still somewhat surprised. He thought that this barbarian was learning too fast. If it weren't for his inaccurate pronunciation and halting reading that required him to correct him, he would have suspected that this man had learned "The Book of Songs" before and was just pretending to be stupid.

After finishing today's teaching, Su Xu was stopped by a eunuch as he walked out of the palace.

"Dr. Su, the king has summoned you!"

The king summoned me?
Su Xu reacted immediately. He didn't need to think too much about why the king summoned him at this time. It must be related to the person he taught today.

He was even more confused as to who this barbarian was and why he was valued so highly by the king.

Su Xu followed the eunuch to a palace.

In the palace, Ying Zheng was handling government affairs. Seeing Su Xu coming, he casually asked, "How is the lesson you taught today?"

Su Xu said: "This person has made great progress. If it weren't for his inaccurate pronunciation and his stumbling when reciting, I would have thought he had already learned it."

"Oh?"

After hearing what Su Xu said, Ying Zheng became interested. He stopped writing and said, "Tell me in detail!"

"Yes!"

Su Xu told Ying Zheng in detail about his teaching today, and Ying Zheng was quite surprised. He thought to himself: "Is this guy a genius?"

After listening to Su Xu's story, Ying Zheng asked, "When do you think this man will be able to learn my Qin language?"

Su Xu pondered for a moment and replied, "According to my opinion, it will only take one month for this person to read through the Book of Songs, Book of History, Book of Rites, Book of Music, Book of Changes, and Spring and Autumn Annals."

That is indeed not slow. An ordinary person may not be able to recognize all the words in these books in a month, but this person can read through several books in a month.

But Ying Zheng was not thinking about how long it would take Li Nian to read through these books, but when he could communicate with Li Nian.

Only by communicating can we know Li Nian’s origins.

Ying Zheng would not say this to Su Xu, and said, "Good professor, if you do this well, you will be rewarded handsomely. Now leave!"

Su Xu accepted the order and thanked the king: "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will definitely fulfill your mission!"

After Su Xu left, Ying Zheng asked Meng Yi, who was standing by, "What do you think, Mr. Meng?"

Meng Yi said: "I think it may not take more than a month!"

Ying Zheng looked at him, and Meng Yi explained, "Your Majesty wants to be able to communicate with this person, not to make him full of knowledge so that he can be better than the doctors. Your Majesty ordered Dr. Su to teach him so that he can quickly learn the language of our Great Qin. The one month Dr. Su mentioned refers to the time it takes for this person to learn those classics, not the time it takes for this person to talk to Your Majesty. For example, when I was young, I could not read at first, but I learned to speak first."

Ying Zheng understood what Meng Yi meant. Literacy and speaking are two different things. Literacy can help one learn to speak, but one can also learn to speak without being illiterate. It may take a month to learn the words in those books, but it is not necessary to use them if one is only able to communicate with him.

On the other hand, Li Nian was also working hard to learn the language of the Qin Dynasty. The First Emperor was his greatest supporter in this era. Only by learning it early could he communicate with the First Emperor and become a more solid supporter.

Therefore, even when there was no Professor Su Xu, Li Nian was learning from the people around him, such as asking the guards, eunuchs, and palace maids around him about the names of various things, chatting with them, and asking them to correct his pronunciation and sentence errors.

When Ying Zheng learned that Li Nian was studying hard, he smiled and said, "It seems that this person also wants to communicate with me as soon as possible."

Meng Yi said: "Your Majesty is right. This person may have a great background and has a great secret to tell Your Majesty."

How could the secret of someone who could appear out of nowhere in his palace be small?
Ying Zheng said: "I am waiting for his secret here!"

I just wonder if this person's background is what he expected?
In a flash, more than half a month passed. On this day, Li Nian had just finished his breakfast when Guo Dian came to him and said, "Li Nian, the king wants to see you!"

During these days, Li Nian has told other people his name.

Li Nian was not surprised at all that the First Emperor wanted to see him. After all, over the past half month, his Daqin dialect had become better and better, and he could already conduct some uncomplicated communications.

Of course, if you want to speak as fluently as the locals and have no communication barriers at all, that’s not possible. You still need to practice for at least two and a half years.

During this period of time, Li Nian also found out what year it was. The First Emperor had just unified the world. That is to say, according to the original historical trajectory, the First Emperor could live another eleven years.

This was undoubtedly great news for Li Nian, as it meant that as long as he could gain the trust of the First Emperor, he would have the strongest backing of the Qin Dynasty in the next eleven years.

Li Nian had thought about how to win the trust of the First Emperor many times in his mind, and today was the day to put it into practice. Life or death depended on this.

Taking a deep breath and gathering his thoughts, Li Nian followed Guo Dian to the palace he had traveled through.

There were not many people in the palace, at least not in public. The First Emperor did not seem to want too many people to know of his existence. The Qin general who had been seen last time was still there.

Li Nian now also knows the identity of the Qin general, Shangqing Meng Yi, one of the most trusted and close ministers of the First Emperor!

How close and trusting are they?
When he went out, he rode with the First Emperor. When he was at home, he served the First Emperor and never left his side. Unfortunately, he had a bad ending and was killed by Zhao Gao and Hu Hai.

Li Nian didn't dare to look any further, and bowed to Ying Zheng who was sitting high on the throne: "Commoner Li Nian greets the king!"

"Get up!" Ying Zheng said, "You are learning well and making rapid progress."

Without further ado, Ying Zheng got straight to the point and said, "You should know why I summoned you here this time."

Li Nian nodded and said, "I know, but before I tell you, I have something to ask of you, Your Majesty. This matter is extremely important and will be of use to both you and me."

Ying Zheng found it interesting that this person did not tell him his origins first, but instead asked him for something and said that it would be useful to him.

But out of curiosity, Ying Zheng did not refuse: "Tell me, what do you want from me?"

Li Nian said: "This matter cannot be said directly. Please bring me a piece of paper. I will write it to you and then present it to the king. No one else can see it during the presentation."

What is so secretive? It needs to be presented in person by you, and no one else can see it?
This made Ying Zheng even more curious, and he said, "Meng Qing, follow his wishes!"

Meng Yi said "Yes, sir!" and there were brushes and bamboo slips in the palace, which Meng Yi took out and presented to Li Nian. Meng Yi also asked a guard to bring a desk to Li Nian to facilitate his writing.

Meng Yi stood in front of the desk, watching Li Nian write a line of words on the bamboo slips with a brush. The handwriting was very poor, far inferior to his, but the content of the words shocked Meng Yi:

Please ask the king to dismiss his attendants, especially those who are related to Hu Hai, Zhao Gao, Li Si, Chunyu Yue... The common people have important news to report.

The series of names stirred up huge waves in Meng Yi's heart.

Let alone the other three, Prince Hu Hai, the Minister of the Imperial Chariots Zhao Gao, and the Chief Justice Li Si, are all heavyweights of the Qin Dynasty, favorites in the eyes of the king, with tremendous power, and a stomp of their feet could cause an earthquake in Xianyang.

　Note: Hu Hai here is born in 230 BC, so he was already about ten years old at this time. If he was born in 221 BC, he would be only about one year old at this time.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)