Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 377 The Four Schools of Mohism, Powerless to Help

Learning from books is never enough; true understanding comes from practice.

If you only look at the original storyline, you might think that the Mohists were a staunch anti-Qin force.

But if you really delve into the Mohist school, you will find that this long-standing school of thought is actually divided into several different factions.

Once any force is established and developed, it will inevitably be divided into various factions based on the different interests and demands of different people.

The most widely spread doctrine in the world is undoubtedly Confucianism, which is prevalent throughout China and various countries.

However, different countries also have different schools of Confucianism.

The Qin state was the birthplace of Confucianism, which could be divided into eight major schools, known as the Eight Schools of Confucianism.

It should be noted that these eight schools are only the eight major schools of Confucianism. Other minor schools are often overlooked because of their smaller influence.

This is still considered good, after all, it is the birthplace of Confucianism. Although the Confucian doctrines of the eight major schools are different, they have not deviated too much from the original purpose of Confucianism.

However, the Confucianism inherited from the Qin Dynasty, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and even the more distant Ming, Song, and Qing Dynasties, was completely different. Apart from bearing the word "Confucian" in their names, it had little to do with the original Confucianism.

Even if Confucius were to be resurrected, upon encountering these Confucian ideas, he would still have to ask, "Who are you?"

The same applies to the Mohists. Within the Qin state, they at least retained some semblance of a school of thought, but outside of Qin, the Mohists were basically equated with craftsmen.

The Mohist school within the Qin state was also divided into many factions.

First, there are the explicit and implicit schools.

The so-called "manifest school" refers to the numerous disciples of Mohism who appeared in the world, traveled among the seven states, and attempted to persuade the rulers of each state to accept Mohist thought.

In order to gain acceptance from the rulers of various states, these Mohist disciples also modified some of the Mohist ideas, thus forming the three major schools of Qin Mohism, Chu Mohism, and Qi Mohism.

Qin Mo advocates pragmatism and focuses on technological development.

Chu Mo advocated protecting ordinary people, opposed wars waged by the powerful and wealthy, and favored wandering knights.

Qi Mo advocated opposing war and all violence through gentle means, especially through debate.

Beyond these three, there is the Hidden Sect.

Its core is naturally the mechanical city.

They advocated seclusion and asceticism, and did not participate in any disputes between the seven kingdoms.

For a long time, the Mechanical City was a retreat route for the disciples of the Mohist school.

Once you retreat into it, there's no way to ever return.

From this perspective, the Mechanical City is more like a Buddhist temple than the Shaolin Temple.

Of course, what we are talking about here is the old mechanical city.

As Qin conquered the six states, the ideological trends within the Mohist city gradually changed. After all, most of the Mohist disciples who retreated from the outside world to the Mohist city came from the six states, transforming from the explicit to the implicit faction.

Among the Qin state's Qin Mo, virtually no one has retired.

After all, given the chance, who would want to retreat to the mountains and forests?
It was simply that his ideas and beliefs were not valued by the monarch, and in his disheartened state, he chose to retire.

However, the previous rulers of Qin were all wise and virtuous, and Qin Mo was given important positions by them to a certain extent, so he naturally would not retire.

On the contrary, the rulers of the other six states were generally incompetent and tyrannical, which disheartened many Mohist disciples. As a result, the vast majority of Mohist disciples in the Mohist Mechanized City were from the six states, with very few from Qin.

With Qin's conquest of the six states, the people of those states naturally harbored resentment and hatred towards Qin after learning of the destruction of their countries.

On the other hand, Qin destroyed the six states and launched wars one after another. The Mohists were most opposed to war, so many of the old Mohists in the city of the Mohists had no goodwill towards the Qin state.

This change in thinking was merely an idea during the time of the previous leader of the Mohist school, Six-Fingered Black Knight; it was not actually put into action.

However, after the new leader of the Mohist school took office, the Mohist school completely transformed into an anti-Qin camp.

After all, this newly appointed leader of the Mohist school is none other than Prince Dan of Yan.

How could he remain indifferent when the Qin state destroyed his Yan state?
After assuming the position of Grand Master, Yan Dan not only failed to curb this trend of thought within the Mechanized City and restore it to its original state, but instead continued to guide the expansion of this ideology and actively rescued anti-Qin righteous men from the outside world to come to the Mechanized City.

The arrival of these anti-Qin patriots further fueled the anti-Qin sentiment.

Even now, the entire Mohist school is basically a staunch anti-Qin faction.

Even the old Mohists like Master Xu and Master Ban would not, and could not, stop others.

For hundreds of years, the Mechanical City, known as a paradise on earth and a demonic realm beyond the heavens, has been drawn into the turmoil of the world under the leadership of the new leader of the Mohist school, and can never return to its former glory!
Of course, Yan Dan was just bad, not stupid.

The anti-Qin righteous men he saved were true anti-Qin righteous men, not those nobles from the six states who talked about opposing Qin but did nothing, at most just providing some financial support.

At the same time, Yan Dan was also well aware that the Mohist school alone could not possibly stand against the entire Qin state.

There is no sect in the world that can stand against a nation.

Therefore, Yan Dan only regarded the Mo Family Mechanical City as a retreat route, a fortress, and a production base.

He never intended to lead the Mohists in a direct rebellion against the Qin Dynasty.

That's pure suicide.

Therefore, the Mo Family's Mechanical City was able to maintain peace.

But this is only on the surface.

Yan Dan overestimated himself and underestimated the emperor of Qin.

How could a domineering person like Ying Zheng allow a piece of land that he couldn't control and that was on the anti-Qin side to exist even though he was lying on the ground?
The order has been given, and the troops have already set off.

He didn't even try to hide anything; anyone with a discerning eye could immediately figure out where the First Emperor's target was.

The people in the Mo Family's Mechanized City are probably unaware of this matter.

In this city that had sheltered their peace, they talked loudly about rebelling against the Qin Dynasty, completely unaware that they had dragged this city, which had been peaceful for hundreds of years, into the flames of war.

Perhaps some people are aware of this, but are powerless to do anything about it.

or……

Master Xu patted Wu Liangtian on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, this mechanical city is the culmination of the hard work of countless Mohist disciples. It is indestructible. No one in the world can break through the Mohist Mechanical City!"

Wu Liangtian shook his head: "Master Xu, you always say that my ideas about mechanisms are fanciful and that I should be more down-to-earth. But isn't your blind trust in the mechanisms just another kind of fanciful idea? Why don't you be more down-to-earth? Is there really such a thing as an impregnable fortress in this world?"

Under the midday sun, the shadow of an eagle was cast into the mechanical city. Wu Liangtian looked up at the eagle and said, "Light can shine in, water can get in, even an eagle can fly in, let alone a person?"

"Light...water...eagle..."

Master Xu muttered these three words: "Leaving aside light, water is the core of the entire mechanical city's operation. If someone were to tamper with this, it could indeed affect the operation of the entire mechanical city."

As for eagles... my Mo family has the Vermilion Bird, a mechanical bird that can fly. The Gongshu family also has mechanical wings, which, although they can only ride the wind, still have the ability to fly, and perhaps they can use them to infiltrate the mechanical city.

These two problems are something we must guard against. It seems I need to find a way to address the weaknesses of the mechanical city.

Wu Liangtian said speechlessly, "Old Xu, you're really stubborn. Can the problems of the Mechanized City be solved by simply making up for these shortcomings? That's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause!"

Master Xu smiled wryly: "I understand, but I am powerless to address the root cause of the problem; I can only patch up some superficial loopholes."

Wu Liangtian chuckled: "You talk as if you have the ability to solve those superficial loopholes. Come on, tell me, which aspect of the Mechanized City do you want to start with?"

"Uh..." Master Xu was speechless.

The Mechanical City was originally built by Mozi and his disciples. Over the centuries, countless masters of the Mo family have worked tirelessly to improve it, resulting in the current operational system of the Mechanical City.

If you try to work on this system, you might accidentally destroy the entire city before you even have a chance to fix its flaws.

Let alone a swordsmith like him, even Master Ban, who is currently the most skilled in mechanisms in the Mo family, can only repair the existing mechanism system of the Mechanism City at most.

Renovation?
You don't have that ability, do you?

Overall, this conversation was completely useless.

After discussing it for a long time, I realized I couldn't do anything about it.

Like two old farmers in the fields, they chatted for a long time about the state of the world, worrying about the country and its people, before turning back, one carrying water and the other hoeing the field.

The two were actually the same; after their discussion, one went back to blacksmithing, while the other continued to study the mechanism.

However, Wu Liangtian discovered the next day that this discussion still had an impact.

"Old Xu, didn't you say you'd only give me one piece of Five Metal Essence? Why did you change it to Innate Iron?"

Master Xu stroked his beard and sighed, "I thought about it all night, and I only felt that I was too weak. Faced with the crisis of the collapse of the Mechanized City, I had almost no way to deal with it."

If the Mechanized City falls, these rare iron pieces I've been hoarding will also fall into the hands of the Qin army. In that case, we might as well use them ourselves.”

After thinking it over, he still felt that the mechanical city could not possibly stop the Qin army.

How powerful and formidable was the Qin army?
In the process of conquering the six states, more than 600,000 troops were mobilized at one point, and at the same time, they also had to face the dual threats from the north and the south.

Its total troop strength even exceeds one million!
And this was only during the time of the conquest of the six states. Now that the six states have been destroyed and Qin has unified the country, if it were to conscript soldiers, the number of troops could increase dramatically.

Let alone the now-declining Mohist school, even the Farmer's School, which had the largest number of members and claimed to have 100,000 disciples, did not dare to confront the Qin state head-on.

Inside the city of government offices, there were only a little over a thousand people.

Its only advantage is that the Mechanical City is located among towering mountains and is protected by countless mechanisms built over three hundred years and the four sacred mechanical beasts left behind by Mozi.

But when the First Emperor ordered the mobilization of 100,000 troops, they were capable of leveling mountains, let alone a mechanical city.

Since the city of mechanisms can't be saved, what's the point of keeping these strange iron pieces hidden?
That's why he was so generous, directly opening his secret chamber, which he used to store various kinds of strange iron, to Wu Liangtian.

Inside the secret chamber, there were piles of strangely shaped iron pieces, which reflected a metallic gleam under the candlelight.

"Old Xu, everyone says your family is a family of sword forgers, but even after coming here, I truly understand what it means to have the profound heritage of a family of sword forgers!"

Master Xu smiled smugly: "That goes without saying!"

The Qin Dynasty is a land of swords.

In other countries, swords are indeed widely used, but none are as ubiquitous as the Qin Dynasty, where everyone from royalty and nobility to commoners used swords as long as they could acquire them.

Aside from generals and soldiers on the battlefield, it's difficult to find any other weapon besides a sword in the martial arts world.

Such a huge market demand also gave rise to a large number of swordsmiths, and there were even sword appraisers who specialized in judging the quality of swords.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a man named Feng Hu Zi in the State of Chu. He was a famous sword appraiser and swordsmith who assisted Ou Yezi and Gan Jiang in forging the famous Longyuan, Tai'a and Gongbu swords.

Throughout his life, he saw many swords, evaluated their merits and demerits, and compiled them into a sword manual, which gained widespread recognition in the martial arts world.

To this day, every generation produces its own famous swords, all based on the Feng Hu Zi Sword Manual, competing for rankings within the manual.

Master Xu's father forged the famous demonic sword Shark Tooth. Because of its unique design, it could be said that it was specifically forged to destroy other swords. Therefore, it was rejected by all sword appraisers and swordsmen, who refused to include it in the sword manual.

This matter became a source of great distress for Master Xu's father, leading to his eventual death from depression.

Excluding human factors, the quality of Shark Tooth itself is enough to rank it among the top three in the sword manual.

Master Xu's mother had only one famous work, "Broken Rainbow," which was a sword used by Jing Ke to assassinate the King of Qin.

After the failed assassination attempt on the King of Qin, the Broken Rainbow was obtained by the Qin state and was modified by the best swordsmiths, forging it into the 'Yuanhong' sword, which is now ranked second in the sword manual!
Master Xu himself also forged a famous sword called "Shuihan," which was ranked seventh in the sword manual.

The family of three all produced famous swords, and each of them was ranked in the top ten of the sword manual.

This demonstrates the exquisite nature of their family's traditional sword-making techniques.

Master Xu was also the most outstanding swordsmith of the Mohist school. In addition to his own family's inheritance, he also had the help of Mohist disciples to search for rare irons from all over the world, which is why he has such a profound foundation.

As for why so much strange iron was accumulated but not used, the reason is quite simple.

Can't waste it.

To forge a world-class sword, one must consider the right timing, the right location, and the right people.

Sometimes, the cooperation of a powerful swordsman is even required.

For example, when the Water Cold Sword was being forged, Master Xu asked Gao Jianli to cooperate with him. In the end, the sword was forged into a famous sword, which matched Gao Jianli's sword technique, Yi Shui Han, and thus became the eighth sword in the sword manual.

If any of the above key points are missing, the final result may only be a slightly more powerful sword.

A famous sword, however, is impossible.

The materials were clearly capable of forging a famous sword, but in the end only a sharp sword was made. For the swordsmith, this was a serious waste of materials.

Therefore, the Xu family collected a great deal of rare iron, but could not produce many famous swords.

It was only through continuous accumulation that this entire secret room of strange iron came to be.

(End of this chapter)