Diqin Designer

Chapter 284: The Huns' "International Students" Arrive (Two in One)

After explaining that the sea is dangerous and why they need to seriously learn and master a lot of knowledge and technology, Li Nian said: "If you have any questions, you can also raise your hands to ask!"

After a moment of hesitation, some students raised their hands. Li Nian pointed at one of them and asked, "What questions do you have?"

The student asked, "Sir, what is the country where the sun never sets?"

When this question was asked, not only other students looked at Li Nian, but even Wang Jian, Meng Tian and others who stayed behind also looked over. It was obvious that they also wanted to know what the country on which the sun never sets was.

Li Nian said: "The country where the sun never sets, as the name suggests, means that the sun will never set on the territory of this country!"

Wei Liao was surprised and said, "I believe what the Shangshu said, but how is this possible? The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and day and night alternate. This is a well-known fact. But according to the Shangshu's meaning, there is no alternation between day and night. This is inconsistent with what we see!"

Li Nian smiled and replied: "The country on which the sun never sets means 'the sun never sets on the territory of this country', not 'the sun never sets on all the territories of this country'."

Before they understood what he said, Li Nian looked at all the students and said, "You will learn about this problem later, but since you want to know, I will tell you in advance. Bring the models of the sun, moon and earth here!"

When Guo Dian led people to move the model, Li Nian continued to say to the students: "'The sun will never set on the territory of this country' means that no matter it is day or night, there will always be a territory of this country shining under the sun. Even if some land is in the night, there are other lands in the daytime!"

Although they understood what Li Nian meant, many students were still surprised and some could not comprehend how it was possible that it was night in some places and day in other places?
A student who was a craftsman asked: "Sir, shouldn't the world be bright and dark together?"

Wang Jian, Meng Tian, ​​Wei Liao and others were thoughtful. Although they still found it incredible, they gradually realized that this must be related to the fact that the world is a ball!

Li Nian said: "Many people feel that the world should be bright and dark at the same time, and even regard it as common sense. However, common sense is sometimes unreliable and may be wrong. It is not the same time for all parts of the world to be bright and dark at the same time."

Before the model was moved in, Li Nian pointed to the world map behind him, pointed to the area of ​​North America, and said, "It is daytime in Daqin. Do you think it is daytime or nighttime in this area?"

Since this person asked this question, the answer must be different from what they usually think. Wang Ben asked: "Does the Minister mean that it is night there now?"

Li Nian said: "Exactly!"

Just when Wang Ben was about to ask the reason, Guo Dian had already brought the model over. This was a set of models made by Li Nian to explain the changes of the four seasons, day and night, etc.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the model. Wang Jian, Meng Tian and others had seen globes, but it was the first time for others to see models of the earth, moon and sun.

Wang Jian, Meng Tian and others showed a look of "As expected!" in their eyes. Just as they guessed, the existence of day and night at the same time in the world was related to the shape of the world.

But, the bright moon in the sky is also a sphere, and the sun is also a sphere? How could the moon be so small and the sun be so big?

Li Nian said: "We all know that there is day and night in the world because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. So how does the sun rise in the east and set in the west?"

"This is the sun, this is the moon, and this is the world we live in, which is the sum of the land and the sea under our feet. All three are floating in the void of the universe. The sun shines its light into the world we live in, so there is daytime. You can imagine that there is light coming from here and shining here!"

Everyone followed Li Nian's words and imagined it. It was not difficult to imagine, but there was a problem.

Wei Liao thought about it and found the problem: "The light comes from the sun and shines on our world, but it can only shine on one side. Doesn't this mean that one side of our world is always daytime, and the other side is always night?"

This does not conform to what we see in reality: day and night alternate, and there is no eternal day or night!

Li Nian smiled and said, "Minister Wei has this idea because he thinks that our world, the moon and the sun are not moving in the universe. However, in fact, they have been moving from ancient times to the present. For example, the world we live in is rotating by itself..."

As he spoke, Li Nian turned the earth model, and Wei Liao immediately understood that if the ball representing their world turned, then the rising and setting of the sun, and the day and night could be explained.

Because the world itself is rotating, the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west. This also means that the sun's light does not always shine on a certain area of ​​the world, but is constantly changing.

Wang Jian, Meng Tian, ​​Wei Liao and others now understood what the "country where the sun never sets" meant. It is not that the sun always shines in a certain place and never sets, but because the world is rotating, there are always lands that are illuminated by the sun. The countries that obtain these lands can be called "the country where the sun never sets"!
Although not all lands are illuminated by the sun all the time, this is also remarkable. To achieve this, there must be lands all over the world so that the sun will never set on their lands.

No wonder Your Majesty wants to make the Qin Dynasty a country on which the sun never sets. This is definitely an unprecedented feat in the entire world!
At the thought of being able to participate in building a country on which the sun never sets, Wang Jian's blood began to heat up and he felt like he was back in his prime.

But to the students, all this was too incredible. The world being a ball was already strange enough, but it was also spinning, which was too amazing...

How come they weren't thrown off when it was spinning like that? Why didn't they feel anything?
A student raised his hand and asked, "Sir, you mean that we are in a ball that is spinning non-stop, so why don't we feel anything and don't we fall from it?"

Li Nian said: "The world is a sphere. There are many ways to verify it. The most intuitive way is definitely to go to the universe to observe it, but this method cannot be done now, but it may be possible in the future."

"The second is to sail around the world. Since the world is a ball, you can start from any point. No matter if you go east or west, as long as you keep going, you will eventually return to the starting point. The third is to choose a high place on the seashore to look at the ships on the sea, preferably a ship with sails."

"If the world is not a sphere but a flat land, then we can see that the ship will become smaller in our sight and eventually disappear beyond our sight, but there will be no other changes."

"But the world is a sphere, so it's different. If a ship is far away, I will see the hull disappear first, followed by the sail. If the ship is approaching, it will be the opposite. The sail will appear in sight first, followed by the hull."

After thinking about it carefully, most people understood what Li Nian meant. It seemed to be like this. Li Nian said again: "Your Majesty has sent people to verify it, and it is indeed so!"

Li Nian was not lying. The First Emperor had indeed sent people to the seaside to verify it. Even an emperor would want to know whether the world he was in was a sphere or a flat land! Besides, this verification would not require much manpower and material resources.

When they heard that the wise and great Emperor had sent people to verify it, everyone no longer had any doubts. His Majesty the Emperor believed that the world was a sphere, so the world was a sphere!

"As for why we didn't fall off the ball, it's because the ball has an invisible force pulling us. This force is hard for us to feel, but it's always there."

"Leaves fall to the ground, water flows eastward, and stones thrown into the sky eventually fall to the ground, all because of this invisible force."

This explanation seems quite reasonable. I never thought that these phenomena that we are used to seeing in daily life actually contain such truths. However, precisely because we are used to seeing them, we think that these are all natural and it is difficult to think too much about them.

Only a person like Master Li Nian would think of this. No wonder he is so highly regarded by His Majesty, and is granted the birth of a master. It was also announced at the ceremony of his enthronement that his daughter would be married to him.

That was the ceremony of His Majesty's enthronement, an unprecedented event since the founding of the Great Qin. His Majesty actually chose to grant a marriage to Master Li Nian at that time. He would only do so if he valued Master Li Nian very much!
"As for why we can't feel the world spinning, it's because we're moving with it. The world is like a huge carriage, and we're sitting in it, moving along with it, so it's naturally hard to feel it."

Not only did I understand what the country where the sun never sets is, I also learned the cause of the country where the sun never sets, why day and night alternate, and that the world is a ball that keeps spinning...

The Empire on which the Sun Never Sets is truly a great goal. All the students were excited, and the blood in their bodies seemed to be boiling. The sentence “whether it is day or night, there will always be territory of this country shining under the sun” was truly desirable.

This was not only the great cause that His Majesty the Emperor wanted to accomplish, but they also wanted to do so. Now they finally understood the high hopes that His Majesty the Emperor had placed on them.

Li Nian continued: "Maybe someone wants to know whether the world is a ball or a ball that keeps spinning. Understanding the principle of day and night changes doesn't seem to be of much use."

"This knowledge is related to astronomy and geography, and will be of great use in navigation. For example, as I mentioned earlier, you will need it to determine the direction at sea. On the vast ocean, you can rely on the stars and the sun to accurately know your position and direction. This is an important subject that you will learn in the future!"

All the students nodded seriously and assured in unison: "Don't worry, sir, we will study hard!"

This was the main reason why Li Nian talked to them about the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets, so that they could realize the role of astronomy and geography in the navy and know that it was very important so that they would pay enough attention to it.

Another student asked, "Sir, there are such vast lands outside of Daqin. Can you tell us what is so different about them?"

The other students also showed curiosity and obviously wanted to know. Li Nian said, "This is what you will learn here, but if you want to know now, I can briefly explain it to you..."

When the Qin Naval Academy opened, a Hun delegation was heading to Xianyang under the escort of the Qin army.

This delegation was larger than the previous Xiongnu delegation that went to Daqin. He Ye was one of its members. He and his companions were leaning against the window in the carriage, excitedly watching everything outside.

Because this is Daqin, which is very different from the grassland and Touman City. It is the sowing season and the fields are full of Daqin farmers who are busy working.

These farmers’ clothes were not actually very good, but compared with the Xiongnu civilians and slaves, their clothes were much better. And how many people were there in the Xiongnu and how many people were there in the Qin?
Moreover, the spirit and energy of these farmers were far superior to that of the Huns. Although they were busy with farm work, they did not have the feeling of bitterness and hatred and hard life like the Huns' civilians and slaves. From time to time, incomprehensible songs could be heard, and the songs were full of hope for the future, as if they believed that their future days would definitely be good.

Occasionally, you can hear dogs barking and chickens crowing, and you can see some Qin children running around. The houses in the village not far away are not much better than the buildings in Touman City, but this is just a village in Daqin.

The team was very large and would naturally be seen by the Qin people, but the Qin people were not afraid at all. Instead, they looked at them boldly and sometimes pointed at the team, as if saying something related to them.

The Qin people gave them a sense of full confidence. They thought they were powerful and proud of being Qin people, unlike them, the Huns!

A group of Qin children noticed that they were looking through the car window and ran over boldly. One of the children even ran to their car window, looked at them in the car, then patted his chest confidently and said something in a language they could not understand.

As if realizing that they didn't understand, the Qin child ran away laughing again, but the confident and proud expression of the Qin child had already remained in their minds.

Only a stable and hopeful environment can produce such confident and proud people, but they, the Huns...

Although they knew before coming, and had witnessed the gap between the Xiongnu and the Qin Dynasty, the Xiongnu teenagers and children in the carriage still felt mixed emotions: unwilling, frustrated, lost, confused, jealous, and envious...

There were so many mixed emotions that it was hard to describe. How great would it be if the Xiongnu were the powerful ones? When would the Xiongnu be as powerful as the Qin? Could the Xiongnu be as powerful as the Qin?

Compared with the Qin Dynasty, the Xiongnu were far inferior, not only in military strength, but also in other aspects. Some ideas sprouted in the minds of some smart Xiongnu teenagers: Going to Xianyang, they must learn the ways of the Qin Dynasty's strength, and then return to change the Xiongnu. If the Xiongnu do not change, they will be in danger, and the greatest danger is the Qin Dynasty, which is now on friendly terms with them, the Xiongnu!

Some people also thought: Daqin was so strong that the Xiongnu would never catch up. Since Daqin and Xiongnu were both Chinese, why couldn't they become the people of Daqin? We were all brothers anyway!

The thoughts of some ambitious people also became more active: going to Xianyang might be their chance to make friends with the powerful people of the Qin Dynasty, to be on good terms with the Qin Dynasty, and then to use the power of the Qin Dynasty to return to the Xiongnu and make those who disliked them pay the price.

Of course, most of the Hun teenagers and children didn’t have any ideas. They just wanted to get to Xianyang as soon as possible to see how prosperous the legendary Qin Kingdom was and what fun and delicious things there were.

These young Hun boys and girls were all from the middle and high levels of the Hun army. None of them were civilians or slaves. They were just a group of people who were not well-received at home. It was precisely because they were not well-received that they were selected and sent to study abroad in Xianyang.

Those who are truly welcomed are still in the Xiongnu. Those people are different. They are being trained as successors of the tribe. How could they easily leave the Xiongnu and go to Xianyang? What if they are killed in Xianyang?
It was because of this that Touman and the Xiongnu leaders chose the descendants they did not value to go to Xianyang, and left the descendants they valued in the Xiongnu.

(End of this chapter)