My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 857 is really exciting!
As the first son born from the marriage of Western industrial civilization and Chinese traditional culture, the significance of the Eco-Tech City has never been solely the emergence of hardware such as factories, large workshops, and advanced science and technology. More importantly, it is to help Chinese traditional culture and plant the seeds of industrial and technological inventions from local culture.

Yin and Yang and the Five Elements are the indigenous scientific knowledge that the Chinese obtained from their observation of the universe, that Wuji gave birth to Taiji, and Taiji gave birth to Liangyi.

Unfortunately, the Chinese used this theory to practice idealism. The most typical example is that every time the emperors and generals came to power, they would use the theory of the five elements to please themselves first and then use it to educate the people.

The Qin Dynasty established a complete and unified China, so it cannot be said that it was without virtue.

The water virtue of Qin is the virtue that the Qin royal family derived from Huangdi as their ancestor.

The derivation process is as follows: Huangdi’s earth virtue → Shaohao’s wood virtue → Zhuanxu’s gold virtue → Emperor Ku’s fire virtue → Emperor Yao’s water virtue → Emperor Shun’s earth virtue → Xia Yu’s wood virtue → Shang Tang’s gold virtue → King Wen of Zhou’s fire virtue → Qin’s water virtue.

The virtue of water is black, so the Qin Dynasty’s ceremonial robes and flags were all black.

Later, Liu Bang violently overthrew the Qin Dynasty. According to the formula of the Qin royal family, the Han Dynasty should be the Earth Virtue.

However, Liu Bang called himself the Black Emperor, which represented the virtue of water, so the system and clothing colors still followed the previous dynasty.

Therefore, the early Han Dynasty can be said to be a continuation of the virtue of water.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, all the serious people came forward to propose that the Han Dynasty should be the one with earth virtue. The reason was that Liu Bang overthrew the Qin Dynasty, and since earth overcomes water, the Han Dynasty should be the one with earth virtue.

Emperor Wu of Han was troubled by their quarrels. Well, let’s just stick to the virtue of the earth!
Wang Mang, the shadow emperor, deceived the world and stole the throne of the Han Dynasty. He was busy "establishing virtue" for his dynasty. Wang Mang felt that he was "virtuous and tolerant", which should be in line with the virtue of earth. In addition, he did not "usurp the throne" but "abdicated" by the Han Dynasty, so he was born, not restrained. Therefore, his virtue of earth must be born from the virtue of fire. So he compiled "The fire virtue of Liu of the Ming Dynasty was exhausted and passed on to the new dynasty."

The Han Dynasty was also cursed with the virtue of fire for no reason. There was nothing that could be done about the three virtues of water, earth and fire in a dynasty.

The formulaic deductions made by Qin Shihuang using the theory of the Five Elements may not actually conform to the philosophical theory of the Yin-Yang School's Five Elements Theory. The mutual generation and restraint of the Five Elements and the replacement of the Five Virtues have certain regularities, but they are not such mechanical formulas.

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties, the Theory of the Five Elements has been the basic theoretical framework for successive dynasties to explain the legitimacy of their regimes.

"Thus, since the Qin Dynasty proposed the Five Victories and named itself after the virtue of water, every country since the Han Dynasty has relied on this theory."

However, after the Song and Jin Dynasties, the theory of the Five Elements, which had been followed for more than a thousand years, was eventually expelled from the mainstream of Confucian political culture and tended to die out.

The Chinese did use the Five Elements Theory, but this is how they used it.

It is obvious that although Chinese culture has advantages, it is inherently deficient in scientific and technological inventions, which has a lot to do with the historical demise of Mohist mechanical engineering.

Many people think they know the so-called Yin Yang and the Five Elements as soon as they hear them, and they don’t need to learn more. That is just what they think they know.

In fact, the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth are the physical exploration of the natural world by the ancients. They are actually the embryo of Chinese native science.

Gold, wood, water, fire and earth are essentially all qi.

Fire is the upward air, water is the downward air, wood is the outward-stretching air, metal is the inward-solidifying air, and earth is in the center.

Gold, wood, water, fire and earth are essentially energy condensed into entities.

This is supposed to be the most practical, rational and applicable subject, but due to its inherent deficiencies, it is impossible to develop chemistry and physics from it.

Just like ancient Chinese astronomy, they invented a lot, but then they were busy "fabricating" the correctness of their rule. Note that astronomy was originally a pure observational discipline, but emperors and generals would never explain the true stars to the public, so there were many cases of falsehood.

Xiangli Che, the man who stood at the crossroads of the times together with Qin II and all the people of Qin.

In the past, wars guided the direction of his inventions and research, and later, Emperor Qin II told him the path of his research. He always had a clear and definite goal.

But now, Fusu could no longer guide him. After all, the emperor was in charge of governing the country. Firstly, he had no time. Secondly, he majored in science and engineering, so the scope of his help to Qin was very limited.

All the responsibilities fell on Xiang Li Che and his disciples.

Qin II left after saying just one sentence, but this was enough to give the elite members of Mo Ge a headache for a month.

They had to turn their attention to the compilation of the various schools of thought by Qin II at the Jixia Academy in Linzi.

At this time, the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements had not yet been derailed by those "professional deceivers of the Qin Dynasty". According to the direction of discipline development set by Qin II, the current Qin Imperial Academy has begun to differentiate into basic sciences, focusing on basic experiments and basic theories.

The most popular among them is the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, because they have practical means and methods of observation.

In other words, in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, among the various schools of thought, the theories that had the greatest advantage in creating value in this era and allowing those who studied these theories to have a lucrative job were the Mohist School, the first largest school, and the Yin-Yang School, which was considered by everyone to be superstitious in the past.

Although the Mohist school was the most powerful, relying on its disciples who were skilled in mechanical arts, it became the dominant school in just one year and dealt a dimensionality reduction blow to the Confucian school.

However, the Yin-Yang School has made the fastest and greatest progress by standing at the forefront of the times.

Because Qin II wanted to do microscopic research, he wanted Qin to develop physical and chemical research.

The Yin-Yang School developed much better in this area than the Mohist School.

The Yin-Yang School quickly washed away its past bad reputation in the world and led its school onto the right track, becoming an official doctrine recognized by the country.

In the past, disciples of the Yin-Yang School were no more than people who performed tricks on the streets and used phosphorous flames to perform fire shows.

Although it is a prestigious sect, its disciples have become typical peddlers in the world.

The Yin-Yang School was originally the lowest nine schools among the Hundred Schools of Thought (not in a derogatory sense).

During the Warring States Period, various schools of thought coexisted, and the major sects had absolute say. The prominent and miscellaneous schools, as well as the three religions and nine schools, were all defined.

The so-called ninth class and vulgar are not insults, but just a normal distinction between high and low, good and bad.

Jiuliu and Xialiu are not the insignificant schools that everyone thinks they are. They are serious schools, but their influence is relatively small.

And the Yin-Yang family is just a poor little thing.

If Qin Shi Huang had not unified the six kingdoms and needed a school of thought to support his governance, he would not have taken a fancy to this small sect. Moreover, the people of this sect had experienced wars and eventually became peddlers in the rivers and lakes and had to live a wandering life. They also wanted a life of luxury.

Therefore, it was a natural agreement for the Yin-Yang School to come to the Qin State and occupy a seat in the court.

Both parties are happy because each gets what they want.

But at that time, Fusu, as the crown prince, was always engaged in academic research.

As a result, some differences began to arise among the Yin-Yang School.

This was a disagreement that spontaneously formed within the Yin-Yang School and had nothing to do with Fusu's guidance on academic classification.

After arriving in Qin, some of the Yin-Yang School's disciples keenly discovered that Qin II was a man of ideas and that the things he proposed were very promising.
It's obvious, isn't it? Phosphorus fire is originally self-igniting. If it is properly utilized for inventions, the future will be bright and their sect can reach the pinnacle.

Instead of playing tricks, making up stories and deceiving the public. Not everyone regards a helpless means of making a living as an honor.

So when some people saw that Prince Hengyang valued their knowledge of phosphorous fire and the flow of the five elements and wanted to apply it to production and manufacturing, they were very happy.

Fusu was like another master of the Yin-Yang School of this era, who pointed out the direction and path for them.

A large number of Yin-Yang School members directly turned to the light. They went deep into mines and bushes and began to explore and experiment with nature.

And these actions are exactly what Fusu expected.

Of course, another part of the Yin-Yang School began to rest on their laurels since they had a life of luxury. They were not willing to work hard and just wanted to live a life of gain without working, so they stayed with Qin Shihuang and continued to compile their theories.

The differences within the Yin-Yang School actually provided impetus for the advancement of the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory.

Sometimes, harmony is not necessarily good, on the contrary, conflict can make people progress.

Of course, at this juncture, many sects began to split internally under the influence of Qin II's governing philosophy.

However, for someone like the Yin-Yang School to stand at the forefront of the times and become a pig flying into the sky, this kind of lucky thing does not happen to anyone easily.

After all, the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theories themselves are theories that study the origin of matter and the flow of energy, and they have inherent advantages.

No school of thought would be interested in the flow of energy. Other schools of thought are too lofty and not interested in the function of phosphorus. They only think about how to become officials and how to make themselves rich.

Who would have thought that God would bless those who like to observe and appreciate nature.

The Yin-Yang School's inherent advantage in studying natural sciences can just make up for the inherent defects of traditional culture after it was castrated.

In this way, Xiang Li Che transformed from a descendant of a great Mohist master to a true leader of the Mohist school. He began to think about how to learn from the strengths of other schools and make the Mohist mechanical techniques and even the Mohist scientific theories more complete.

Xiang Li Che took the lead in studying and researching the existing research results of Yin-Yang School.

If someone is familiar with world history, he should be able to feel that Xiang Liche's decision will drive the culture of an era towards prosperity.

From the moment the leader of the Mohist school took the initiative to learn the Yin-Yang school culture, he smelled a scent of the Renaissance, as well as the burning smell of the rapid development of various disciplines such as management, ethics, and psychology under the industrial civilization of the West in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The discharge of wastewater and waste residue is no small matter.

As we all know, Qin was a country ruled by law.

Quite civilized.

They did not allow people to defecate on the road, and legislated a wide range of laws and regulations for this purpose. In contrast, in the early days of the Western Industrial Revolution, the streets and alleys were full of feces and urine. The difference between the two civilizations in this regard was a full 1,800 years.

The Qin State not only paid attention to the discharge of waste pollutants, but also paid great attention to the disposal of garbage, and also legislated for this purpose. Qin law stipulated that people who dumped garbage on the road would be fined.

The Qin State had too many excellent foundations to support Xiang Li Che in carrying out this research.

At this time, it had been a month since Fusu left the Ecological and Technological City, which later became Chang'an City.

On a grand day, Xiang Li Che announced to all his disciples the inspiration he gained from the Yin-Yang School.

"How do we deal with the wastewater discharged after being dyed with mineral pigments? Of course, we have to purify it."

"As for how to purify it, it depends on the circulation of the five elements. Using the principle of the mutual generation and mutual restraint of the five elements, the waste water can be neutralized into clean water, or burned into gas, and then neutralized into soil."

Of course, what Xiang Liche said is just child's play.

It's a principle that even children know: when enemies come, we will fight them with soldiers; when floods come, we will block them with earth.

When it comes to wastewater discharge, the first thing that everyone thinks of is to mix it with soil. That way there will be no wastewater.

But Xiang Liche didn't intend to solve the problem in this way.

"But whether it's transformed into gas or mixed and condensed into soil, the most important thing is to clean out the toxins and dirt inside and transform them. Those that can't be transformed must be destroyed and can't remain on the ground in some way."

This is a very difficult task.

In essence, this is the real goal of treating the three wastes.

After all, if you neutralize wastewater and soil, isn't the soil still poisonous?

If you evaporate waste water into gas, isn't that still the case of releasing the gas into the air?

As mentioned before, the current Daqin has no exhaust gas.

However, judging from the result of converting water into gas and evaporating upwards, even if Daqin had no industrial waste gas, it would still produce waste gas that would harm human health.

Xiang Li Che was quite capable. He provided his disciples with some ideas and then led them to adopt the strengths of the Yin-Yang School and make up for the weaknesses of the Mohist School.

Just as the new era pioneers of Mohism took a further step on the road of exploration, the Qin State's state-owned workshop factory opened.

Soon, the sound of clicking was heard in the workshop, from dawn to dusk, and only stopped at the hottest time of the day at noon.

The state-owned workshops of the Qin State produced a thousand looms.

The employment problem of one thousand people was solved in this way.

Of course, pieces of fine cloth and strong and sturdy silk threads were also produced.

This workshop is simply a miracle of the times.

It only took one thousand people and one thousand machines, and in just one month, the royal family of the Qin Empire got rid of the huge expenses of asking the people for cloth to make clothes.

It's really inspiring.

The royal family treats the lazy people as parasites...it's absurd and ridiculous.

But the royal family has always been regarded as pests by the people, like rats. There is a song in the Book of Songs called "Shuo Shuo Shu", which is about scolding these bad guys.

Now, starting from Fusu's generation, the Qin royal family no longer has to go through the trouble of collecting cloth from the people at great expense and time.

(End of this chapter)