Diqin Designer

Chapter 324: New Year's Greetings from Daqin

When Yao Zhi and others were on a diplomatic mission to the Peacock Kingdom, but had not yet arrived there, Li Nian of Daqin was attending court.

He did not often come to court, but today was different because today was a special day, the first day of December, and it was on this day last year that the First Emperor held the ceremony of becoming emperor.

It represents that one year has passed since the First Emperor proclaimed himself emperor, and also represents that one year has passed since the Qin Dynasty.

This year was a year in which the Qin Dynasty adjusted its national policies, rebuilt its strategic layout, and ushered in new opportunities. As an important designer of the Qin Dynasty's reforms, he naturally had to participate in this court meeting.

Today's court meeting is very different from usual court meetings. The ministers are wearing newly issued court robes, and the patterns and decorations on them are different from last year's court robes.

It’s a new year, so wear new clothes and have a new look.

At the same time, this is also a New Year benefit for the ministers. Li Nian is no exception. He wears the black prince's clothes that the First Emperor has just bestowed upon him.

Today's ministers are also very harmonious, and all civil and military officials have temporarily put aside their past prejudices.

Everyone knows that today is the first anniversary of the First Emperor's enthronement. If you argue today, you will be disrespecting the First Emperor.

Only a stubborn idiot like Chunyu Yue, who doesn't understand the ways of the world, would jump out without considering the situation and ruin everyone's fun.

But according to Li Nian's observation, Dr. Chunyu did not seem to have any intention of jumping out. Instead, he looked quite cheerful.

Over the past year, this person seems to have changed a bit and is no longer as stubborn as recorded in history.

Perhaps it was because of his work at the Media Center that he was able to get more exposure to and understand news from the people, and realized that some of their original ideas were not in line with reality, and that some of the things they thought they had would not be able to govern the country well.

But this is a good thing. From a big perspective, even a person like Chunyu Yue could change, proving that the Qin Dynasty was developing in a good direction. From a small perspective, his arrival saved these Confucian scholars in disguise and averted the tragedy of "burning books and burying scholars."

Even Chunyu Yue was very happy, and the other civil and military officials naturally had joy on their faces as well, creating a joyous and cheerful atmosphere.

This feeling of joy easily reminds people of the modern Spring Festival, but in fact, the first day of December can really be considered the Spring Festival of the Qin Dynasty.

Because when he was crowned emperor last year, the First Emperor designated this day as the New Year.

In the original history, this day was the first day of October, but because of Li Nian, the First Emperor's enthronement was postponed for two months.

Today's court meeting was attended not only by the civil and military officials of the Qin Dynasty, but also by many other people. However, like the civil and military officials of the Qin Dynasty, they did not enter the hall and were waiting outside.

Li Nian saw the Naval Academy team led by Meng Tian, ​​the Liuying Academy team where Han Xin and Ying Shunying were, the team of various schools of thought, the Great Qin Engineer team, the teams of various counties, the representatives sent back by the princes of the Great Qin who were kings in various places, the team of the Great Qin International Academy, the team representing the Xiongnu, the team representing the Baiyue...

In addition to the Xiongnu and Baiyue, some countries such as Donghu, Yuezhi, and Wusun also sent delegations, but they were not numerous and did not formally establish diplomatic relations with the Qin Dynasty.

Qin Shi Huang and Li Nian knew what they were planning. Because of some of the troubles caused by the Qin Dynasty in the past year, they wanted to come and find out the details of the Qin Dynasty.

The people in the Donghu and Yuezhi teams were glaring at the people in the Xiongnu team, but no one ruined the festive atmosphere of the day.

As a eunuch shouted loudly, "The auspicious time has arrived, all ministers come to see the emperor," the civil officials led by Prime Minister Wang Wan and the military generals led by Wang Jian entered the Zhangtai Palace.

I saw that the main hall of Zhangtai Palace had also been decorated, with red carpets laid out and decorations made for many festivals.

For example, the lamps in the hall used red lampshades, on which were painted various patterns of rare and exotic animals that symbolized good luck and good fortune, and inscribed with New Year's greetings left by ministers.

This was of course Li Nian's suggestion. Since it was a festival, there had to be a festive atmosphere. But the effect was surprisingly good, and all the civil and military officials were willing to accept and participate.

After entering the hall, Wang Wan and Wang Jian led all the civil and military officials of the Qin Dynasty to pay homage to the First Emperor and presented him with the New Year greetings that they had prepared long ago.

"Your Majesty, I, Wang Wan, wish you a long life, prosperity for the Qin Empire, and happiness for all the people in the world!"

The First Emperor wore a new robe and sat on the dragon throne, watching his ministers send him New Year greetings. He smiled and said, "Gentlemen, please stand up. The Qin Dynasty is what it is today, and I am what I am today, all thanks to your help. I hope that this year we can still work together to make the Qin Dynasty even stronger!"

Led by Wang Wan and Wang Jian, all the ministers responded in unison: "We will do our best to make the Qin Empire even stronger!"

After all the ministers stood up in the hall, Meng Tian led the students of the Naval Academy into the hall and sent a New Year's greeting to the First Emperor: "All the teachers and students of the First Naval Academy of the Great Qin wish your Majesty a long life, success in everything, prosperity for the Great Qin, and peace for the people!"

Meng Tian was not included in the list of civil and military officials of the Qin Dynasty, but he took the initiative to lead the naval academy team.

The First Emperor smiled and said, "You are the foundation of the future navy of our Great Qin. I hope you will study hard and make progress, so that you can expand the sea borders of our Great Qin and protect the peace of our sea areas!"

Meng Tian led the representatives of teachers and students of the Naval Academy and said: "We will live up to your majesty's expectations and study hard to expand the sea borders and protect the coastal defense for the Qin Dynasty!"

After hearing this conversation, the foreign representatives outside the hall were all secretly moved. The Qin Dynasty was already very powerful, but it still had such high aspirations, which might not be a good thing for them.

Having a powerful neighbor like the Qin Dynasty is like having a tiger next to your bed. Although the tiger has not eaten anyone yet, who can predict what will happen in the future?
Han Xin and Ying Shunying led a group of students from the Liuying Academy into the palace and sent the academy's New Year greetings to the First Emperor: "All the students of the Liuying Academy wish your majesty endless happiness and longevity, and endless achievements and honors. May the mountains and rivers of the Great Qin be safe and the people live in peace in the new year."

The First Emperor glanced at Han Xin, then at his daughter who was the representative of the Imperial Academy, and said with a smile, "Stand up. I once heard Li Nian give a great article called 'On the Youth of China', and some of the words in it are particularly memorable. Today, I will give this great article to you all!"

This made Li Nian, who was in the hall, feel a little embarrassed, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. If this thing was spread by the First Emperor today, people would definitely think that he was the one who did it.

When they heard that it was Li Nian who said this, the representatives of the students of the Liuying Academy immediately became very interested, especially Han Xin and Ying Shunying: one thought it was written by Master Li, and the other thought it was written by her future husband...

The ministers were also very interested and wanted to know what kind of article this Master Li Nian had written that could be called a great article by Your Majesty.

Meng Tian had a smile on his face. He noticed the twitching corners of Li Nian's mouth. This should not have been done by Li Nian, but by someone else in later generations. However, in today's Qin Dynasty, it has to be considered as done by Li Nian.

The First Emperor said: "The word 'China' originated in the Zhou Dynasty. It originally referred to Zhou, but now it also refers to my Great Qin and Huaxia. Could it be that my Great Qin is not worthy of the name 'China'?"

No one answered this question and the First Emperor did not need anyone to answer it. He said, "In this magnificent article, young people are called 'red sun' and 'young tiger'. 'The red sun rises, its path is bright. The river flows out of the hidden stream, pouring into the ocean...'" The First Emperor did not tell the students of Liuying Academy the full text of "On Youthful China" as Li Nian said, but he cut and modified the content. For example, "hidden dragon soaring into the abyss" is not suitable to describe young students in this era.

Dragons are often considered sacred and associated with emperors. Using "hidden dragons" to describe young students means that they have the qualities of an emperor?

But even the revised "On Youthful China" still attracts many people, and the artistic conception of youthful vigor, vitality, and the flourishing of all things can be seen through the words.

It’s great to be young, they have a long future ahead of them, their life journey has just officially begun, and they still have many expectations.

After presenting the revised Qin edition of On Young China to the students of Liuying Palace, the First Emperor smiled and said, "You are the promising young men of Qin. I hope you can live up to my words, 'If the young are wise, the country will be wise; if the young are rich, the country will be rich; if the young are strong, the country will be strong'. You can grow up to be the pillars of Qin and build a stronger and greater Qin!"

The student representatives of Liuying Palace were very excited. His Majesty the Emperor had such high expectations for them that he even gave them this great article as a New Year gift.

There is no better New Year's gift than this!

Han Xin and Ying Shunying led them and said, "We will live up to your majesty's expectations and become promising young men of the Qin Dynasty, working hard for the prosperity of the Qin Dynasty!"

The foreign personnel outside the hall who heard these words felt even more heavy-hearted. This "On the Youth of China" was a good article, but it would have been a pity if it had not happened in the Qin Dynasty.

The Qin Dynasty is already so powerful in this generation. What will happen if their descendants continue to become stronger?

Many of the Xiongnu students and students from the Baiyue tribes in the Daqin International College representative team were envious and thought it would be great if they were also students of the Liuying Academy.

Then they will not only grow up in a powerful country, but will also be placed high hopes by His Majesty the Emperor of Qin. This magnificent article will also be their New Year gift. What an honor it is!

The great masters of Chu Mo and the various schools of thought represented by Zhuang Huang entered the hall.

During this year, all the schools of thought realized that they would eventually come under the management of the Qin Dynasty and that the future model of the Qin Dynasty would accommodate all the schools of thought. The Qin Dynasty would allow them to continue to exist, but would no longer govern the country using only one school of thought.

It is a general trend for the Qin Dynasty to select useful things from the various schools of thought and integrate them, and it will not change according to their wishes.

The idea of ​​"abolishing other families and respecting our own family alone" will no longer be possible. They must make corresponding changes and can no longer stick to the old ways. They must keep up with the pace of Daqin's development.

Otherwise, even if the Qin Dynasty established hundreds of academies and allowed them to exist, they would eventually be eliminated by the times.

Representatives of various schools of thought said in unison: "Taoist Zhuang Huang (Legalist Han Zheng) wishes Your Majesty great success in civil and military affairs, great fortune, and prosperity for the Great Qin Empire, without disaster or calamity!"

The First Emperor nodded and said, "Stand up, you are all useful talents of our Great Qin. Although some of you are not officials, you are also working hard for the Great Qin. Last year's textbooks and dictionaries all have your contributions. I will never forget your contributions, the Great Qin will not forget, and the people of the world will not forget!"

"I hope you will continue to contribute your wisdom and efforts to the Great Qin this year. I also wish you all a happy new year, prosperity of all schools of thought, and that you can continue to write a new chapter for the Great Qin and China!"

The latter sentence "can continue to write new chapters of the various schools of thought for the Qin Dynasty and China" directly touched the hearts of the representatives of the Hundred Schools of Thought. His Majesty the Emperor had too high expectations of them and actually believed that they could continue to write the classics of the various schools of thought.

But no one would say that they couldn't do it at this time. They all said excitedly: "We will definitely live up to your Majesty's expectations!"

Next came the representative team composed of Daqin craftsmen. The idea of ​​having a representative team of craftsmen was proposed by Li Nian.

Because he planned to improve the status of Daqin craftsmen and establish the Daqin Engineering Institute next year, no, this year.

The low status of scientists and engineers is not conducive to the normal development of a country.

If the Qin Dynasty wants to remain powerful for a long time, and if China wants to continue to lead other nations and countries, it must attach importance to craftsmen and make this a custom that future generations can follow.

We cannot feel ashamed when talking about skills, nor can we feel ashamed to be a craftsman, nor can we say "it's a trick" when seeing sophisticated technology.

These craftsmen are basically from the Liuying Industrial Zone. They have met the First Emperor before, but today's atmosphere still makes them nervous.

After entering the hall, the craftsmen representatives hurriedly bowed and offered congratulations: "I wish your majesty good health, happiness and longevity, and I wish the Great Qin a good harvest and happiness for the world!"

Looking at the nervous craftsmen, the First Emperor smiled and said, "Everyone, please stand up! I am where I am today, and the Qin Dynasty is where it is today, all of you have made an invaluable contribution!"

"Some people think that your contributions are insignificant, some people look down on you and think that you are despicable, but I think that your contributions are immense. Without you, Great Qin would not be what it is today!"

"It is because of you that our Great Qin soldiers have excellent weapons and armor. It is because of you that our Great Qin can build palaces and city gates, and have farming tools and transportation equipment."

"I intend to establish the Great Qin Engineering Academy this year. As long as you meet the standards, you can join it and be ranked higher than an official. I want people to know that you are not despicable people, but meritorious officials of my Great Qin!"

This statement surprised some ministers. They did not expect that His Majesty would announce such news at this time. This move was obviously intended to improve the status of craftsmen, but in fact there were signs of this last year.

This matter was most likely brought up to Your Majesty by Young Master Li Nian. From the fact that he brought up the study of things and mathematics, we knew that there might be such a day.

Perhaps in the future of the Qin Dynasty, many officials will be craftsmen.

But the ministers did not have many opinions. The reason was the same: this was an era that was almost like a blank slate. There were not so many constraints in doing things, and people had not yet developed some of the bad thinking habits that would develop later.

When the representatives of the craftsmen heard that the First Emperor wanted to set up the Qin Engineering Academy to restore their reputation, they were very excited.

This is a great thing for them. From now on, not only will their social status be improved, but they will also have a broader path for promotion, which will benefit their descendants.

The craftsmen representatives immediately kowtowed and thanked him: "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Your Majesty, thank you for your great grace!"

The First Emperor said: "No need to thank me. The best way to thank me and the Qin Dynasty is to make better tools and develop better skills for the Qin Dynasty so that the Qin Dynasty will become stronger!"

"I hope that one day, the craftsmen of my Great Qin will be able to build a mountain-like ship that can sail on the vast ocean, a supreme device that can fly in the sky, and a car that can travel a thousand miles a day..."

(End of this chapter)