The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 10 Start Learning!
"Also, I have something to say first."

"I am strict in teaching. You are of a special status. For your future, I will be even stricter with you."

"I have already told you when I came here, you promised to let me do whatever I want, and please don't interfere with my teaching."

"Children's nature is to play, and learning is boring, but we must know that jade cannot be made into a useful tool without being polished, and people cannot become talented without being taught."

"If there is anything harsh, please forgive me, Madam, and please don't stop me."

"Madam, if you don't stop me, the young master will learn naturally in no time."

"If Madam is concerned about the young master and tries to stop him, the young master will know that he has his mother to protect him, and my methods will be ineffective. If that is the case, I cannot teach him."

Zhao Ji said: "That's natural. Although I am a girl, I know that loving mothers often spoil their children, and drowning a child is like killing him."

"For the sake of his future, I will never spoil my son, the prince. Since the child has been entrusted to you, sir, I will not interfere."

"I just don't know if I can sit in and listen while you teach?"

Zhongcang decisively refused:

"If Madam is around, the young master will definitely be affected. Besides, it's just teaching him to read. There's no benefit for Madam to listen in."

Zhao Ji had no choice but to give up and held Ying Zheng's hand:

"Zheng'er, it's not easy to meet a good teacher. You must study hard with your teacher in the future, understand? You must listen to your teacher's instructions."

Ying Zheng quietly rolled his eyes at her, meaning 'Don't get too involved in the play.'

Zhao Ji raised her eyebrows at him quietly.

"I know that I must obey the teacher's instructions."

Ying Zheng bowed to Zhong Cang again:
"Teacher is a great talent. I am very grateful to you for teaching me. Thank you for your hard work. If I behave badly in the future, please discipline me strictly."

Zhong Cang nodded secretly in his heart, feeling surprised and praising: "At such a young age, he speaks appropriately, is humble and polite, which is really extraordinary."

Zhong Cang was originally quite reluctant to come to Zhao State to serve as a hostage enlightenment teacher, as he felt that it was a waste of his talent.

But Zichu was kind to him after all, and treated him with great courtesy and kindness.

This time Zichu asked so kindly, and as a subject and retainer, how could I not comply? I would just consider it a waste of two years.

Yesterday I came to Zhao State to pay a visit to my mistress. I only had a brief meeting with Ying Zheng. At that time, I only felt that the child had delicate features and a handsome appearance.

I accepted this child today, and after just a few words, I really feel that he is extremely talented and has great potential. Given his status, his future is limitless.

Now I feel that this trip to Zhao State may not be a waste of time.

Zhao Ji carefully prepared a study room in the front yard as Ying Zheng's study. To be honest, the cost of studying in that era was too high.

Ordinary people do not have families that allow them to leave their jobs, so they simply do not have the conditions to study.

Even if you manage to leave your job, the first thing you face is that it is difficult to find a teacher.

In this era, anyone who can read is an elite. No matter how poor their background is, they belong to the scholar class.

If you want to ask a scholar to be your teacher, you should first look at your own status.

Otherwise, you are giving too much.

In this day and age, those who can give too much cannot be ordinary families.

An ordinary family may be able to hire a scholar teacher, but it is not very likely to do so.

Even if there are teachers, knowledge is still a big problem. These days you really have to pay for knowledge.

The knowledge engraved on bamboo slips was expensive to produce and was also monopolized by the nobility.

There are very few schools of thought that are not monopolized. Sorry, they don’t recruit people, at most they recruit cannon fodder.

That's it, no matter how many people want to kneel, there's no way.

So, being well-read is really amazing. The difficult part is not that you can learn so much, but where you can learn so much from.

In this era, if someone who comes from a really poor family can really make a name for himself, then this person must be extremely outstanding in some aspects.

It is no exaggeration to say that he is a dragon among men.

Diligence, hard work, self-discipline, natural intelligence, and good luck are all standard.

None of them can be missing.

Of course, Ying Zheng doesn't need to consider these difficulties.

He is the grandson of the King of Qin.

Teacher, I got it. I have reached the level of a dragon among men.

The knowledge in his mind is richer than that of this era. What he lacks now is how to integrate it with this era.

All he needed were characters that could identify this era and all aspects of the entire system of the Qin Dynasty.

There is also some knowledge needed for future martial arts training. There is no such thing as internal force in orthodox history, at least not in his original world.

In the study room, Zhong Cang and Ying Zheng sat face to face, with Yan Jin guarding outside the door.

Zhong Cang spoke first: "Young Master, you are the son of a prince, you are of noble status, and your future is destined to be limitless."

"However, noble status is only the foundation. What determines future achievements is knowledge. If you are ignorant or even go astray, you will only harm others and yourself."

“When it comes to learning, literacy comes first.”

"In ancient times, there was no written language. Knowledge could only be passed down orally, but knowledge passed down orally would always be subject to errors."

“Knowledge cannot be wrong. Wrong knowledge is useless and even harmful.”

"It was not until the ancient sage Cangjie, who created characters under the order of Emperor Huangdi, that people's knowledge could be recorded in a stable and accurate way."

"It is said that when Cangjie succeeded in creating characters, millet rained from the sky and ghosts and gods cried at night."

Zhong Cang asked Ying Zheng with a smile: "Young Master, do you know why when words were created, ghosts and gods cried for them?"

Ying Zheng bowed and said, "I don't know. Please teach me, sir." Zhong Cang smiled and said, "Ghosts cry because writing is the most important product of human beings. It is not only the product of wisdom, but also the way for wisdom to be passed on."

“The old wisdom will not disappear, and new wisdom is constantly being generated. Humans are beginning to emerge from chaos and ignorance and can steadily walk out of our own path.”

"Before this, we were afraid of ghosts. After this, ghosts will only be more afraid of us, so ghosts are crying!"

Nakagura sighed again: "The creation of writing, the establishment and orderly inheritance of knowledge, has led to the gradual enlightenment of the people."

"But the smarter people are, the more deceitful and cunning they become, and the more people lose their morals."

“And going one step further, they are now fighting for power and killing each other.

“That’s why God couldn’t bear it, and that’s why God cried.”

Ying Zheng asked: "Wouldn't the gods also be afraid of this?"

Zhong Cang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter:
"That's right, that's right, young master. People in the world all think that ghosts are afraid of gods and they feel sad. I think ghosts and gods are both afraid and sad."

"After all, they are not human beings. Only we humans can be happy about it."

Ying Zheng continued:
"I don't think that morality has been corrupted because of writing. Before writing, wasn't there deception and harm between people?"

Zhong Cang looked at Ying Zheng and felt that Ying Zheng was so smart and these questions were not something a child could think of.

His face became serious and he no longer treated Ying Zheng as a child.

Zhong Cang thought for a moment and replied:
"I think there must be. Although there is no definite record, before people became wise, they were like beasts."

"I observe the animals in the world. If I say that wild beasts are simple and honest, it is nothing but ignorance. If I say that animals are kind, it is simply ridiculous. What do animals know about kindness?"

"Some people always think that in ancient times, everyone was like a saint. Does that mean that beasts are also like saints? It's simply ridiculous."

"Human nature is evil, and selfishness comes first. This truth is recognized by not only the Legalists but also the Confucians. The one who especially recognized it was Master Xunzi."

Having said that, Zhong Cang smiled.

Then he said: "Among all the princes in the world today, Qin is the strongest."

"The strength of Qin lies in the simplicity of its people and the unity of its people. Is this innate? It was not so in the past."

"Before Shang Yang's reforms, the people of Qin were brave in private fights but timid in national disputes. The strong bullied the weak, and the country was small and weak, which was shamed by the princes."

"However, since Shang Yang's reforms, the national situation has changed. The court has become more clean and the noble officials dare not act recklessly."

"The people became simple and honest, and no one picked up things on the road; the people became brave and although they were afraid of fighting privately, they were happy to hear about war and were brave enough to fight."

"Why?"

"It was because Shang Yang established perfect laws and systems to constrain the people that everyone in the entire Qin State had to abide by Qin law. It was because the use of law constrained human nature that the Qin State was able to transform from a weak Qin State to a great and powerful Qin State."

"Looking at the other vassal states, the people are mostly cowardly and cunning, and the nobles are mostly licentious and cruel."

"Everyone is getting weaker and weaker, and the government and the country are in chaos. This proves that what Shang Yang said is very right!"

Ying Zheng nodded in agreement:

"I have also heard my parents talk about this. I think that just as children need the guidance and discipline of their parents and teachers, adults also need to be guided and disciplined. Otherwise, disaster will surely come."

Zhong Cang clapped his hands and praised: "Young Master, what you said is very true."

"Young Master is indeed precocious and gifted! But you must not become arrogant because of this. Arrogance leads to failure, while humility leads to success. Young Master, please remember this."

Ying Zheng bowed and said: "I will keep your teachings in mind and will never forget them."

Zhong Cang was very happy:

"There is no rush to learn the more profound principles now. Let's slowly explore them after you have learned all the characters and are still learning."

"Let's learn some basics first. We still need to recognize all the characters first."

"In the process of learning to read, you are learning knowledge, because words are the carriers of knowledge, and each word has its meaning."

"Learning the characters means learning the knowledge."

"Just now I said that Cangjie invented Chinese characters, but over the years, as more and more people and countries emerged, the shapes and pronunciations of characters also changed."

"Just as an orange grown in the south of the Huai River is an orange, while an orange grown in the north of the Huai River is a tangerine. Nothing is static."

"There are more than twenty kinds of characters in the world today. The seven largest countries are now, and the characters used most are also those of these seven countries."

"Human energy is limited, and it is impossible to learn everything. There is not much meaning in learning everything."

"Young Master is from Qin, so it's only natural that you should learn Qin characters first. But now you are also in Zhao, so why not learn Zhao characters as well."

"It just so happens that I know the characters of the four kingdoms of Qin, Zhao, Chu and Qi."

Ying Zheng frowned with a serious expression:

"If the meaning of a character is the same, but the pronunciation and shape are different, then there are so many different characters, wouldn't that be meaningless? And it would also bring more inconvenience, right?"

"Why can't there be only one language in the world? Wouldn't that be more convenient for everyone?"

Zhong Cang looked at Ying Zheng and felt that this child was surprising him every moment:
"Young Master, you are right. Differences in language and writing bring about barriers between people, dividing them into countries. It is difficult for them to unite and love each other. After all, it is impossible for people to become good friends with people they cannot communicate with."

"If there really was only one language in the world, perhaps there wouldn't be so many fights."

"But it's not easy to do this. The world has been in chaos for a long time, and many princes are in power. How easy is it to change it?"

"Unless the world is unified and there is only one country, there will only be one language."

"Disciple understands." After saying this, Ying Zheng never asked any more questions.

Zhong Cang looked at Ying Zheng and suddenly had a strange thought in his heart:

'Perhaps this child in front of me can really change the world and make it have only one language.'

'It would be great if this could really be done.'

(End of this chapter)