Diqin Designer

Chapter 383 The Danger of Cultural Invasion

Just as Li Nian was about to continue speaking, the First Emperor suddenly said, "It's getting late, let's eat first!"

The sudden words of "eat first" from the First Emperor almost made Li Nian sprain her waist. This turn of events was so sudden!
Only then did Li Nian realize that after entering Zhangtai Palace, he had been talking for a long time without realizing it, and it was indeed getting late.

The First Emperor glanced at Li Nian and said, "'Man is iron, and rice is steel. If you don't eat, you will be hungry', 'Only when you are full and full can you have the strength to do things', it's still what you said."

Wang Jian smiled and said, "I didn't feel hungry just now, but now that your majesty is talking about food, I really feel a little hungry."

Feng Quji also said: "I feel the same way. Your words are so wonderful and better than delicacies. When we listen to them, our hearts and minds are full and we naturally don't feel hungry."

The First Emperor said: "However, no matter how rich Li Nian's words are, they cannot really satisfy my hunger. I still need food to enter my stomach. My friends, please follow me and eat together!"

After several ministers in the hall thanked the First Emperor, eunuchs began to serve the meal. This time the meal was served separately, with each person having four dishes and one soup, three meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, a plate of seasonal vegetables of this season, a plate of cold shredded tofu, a plate of steamed fish, a bowl of chicken soup, and a plate of venison.

Although there are four dishes and one soup, the portions are not large, enough for a normal adult to eat without causing too much waste.

This does not seem to meet the royal standards. Even if there are not a hundred or eighty dishes, there should be at least a dozen to demonstrate the royal dignity and uniqueness.

If it were the First Emperor of Qin at this time in history, he would be very particular about ostentation and thus wasteful in many aspects, but the First Emperor's ambition for achievement was greater than his concern for ostentation!
He now dreams of turning the Qin Dynasty into the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets, and of becoming a truly unrivaled emperor throughout the ages, with achievements that would be difficult for emperors and monarchs of later generations to achieve. Of course, he could no longer be the same as the historical self that Li Nian knew.

What's more, Li Nian also gave him some health care precautions. If he wants to live healthier and longer, he should not eat and drink too much and should plan his diet reasonably.

So under these factors, the First Emperor took the initiative to cut spending, resulting in the current scene that does not seem to be in line with the standards of an emperor.

The saved money can be used to strengthen the Qin Dynasty, allowing it to realize its dream of becoming the empire on which the sun never sets sooner. It will also allow future generations to praise him as a frugal emperor, and it will also make him healthier. Why not do it?

The First Emperor not only reduced his own expenses, but also reduced the expenses of other people in the palace, and set corresponding expense standards according to status, age, etc.

The First Emperor looked at Wang Jian and saw him eating a piece of venison. He said, "It is said that Zhao Yan wanted to use the veteran general Lian Po because of the Qin Dynasty, but he was worried..."

Zhao Yan is King Zhao Daoxiang. He was of Ying surname and Zhao clan. His name was Yan. He was the son of King Zhao Xiaocheng. Because the Qin royal family also had Ying surname and Zhao clan, Qin Shi Huang called King Zhao Daoxiang Zhao Yan to distinguish them.

Moreover, the First Emperor had now made "Ying" a surname unique to the Qin royal family, and he did not want to use it to call King Zhao Daoxiang.

The Qin royal family was surnamed Ying and Zhao, and the Zhao royal family was also surnamed Ying and Zhao. This is one of the reasons why many people believe that Qin and Zhao were originally one family.

When the First Emperor suddenly mentioned King Zhao Daoxiang and Lian Po, all the ministers stopped eating to listen to the First Emperor's speech. Seeing that all the ministers stopped, the First Emperor said, "You all continue eating. There is no need to be polite. Just eat and listen!"

"Zhao Yan wanted to use Lian Po to fight against the Qin Dynasty, but he was worried that Lian Po was too old and weak to be used, so he sent an envoy to see if Lian Po was still useful. The Zhao envoy met Lian Po, who ate only a bucket of rice and ten pounds of meat, and put on armor and mounted a horse. When I saw the old general eating venison, I thought of this matter..."

The ministers wondered in their hearts, could it be that His Majesty wanted to use this incident to say that he was different from King Zhao Daoxiang and that he would not make the same mistake as King Zhao Daoxiang?

Li Nian thought that was not the case. He probably guessed what the First Emperor was going to say. Sure enough, it was exactly as he thought. The First Emperor said, "Lian Po can eat a dou of rice and ten kilograms of meat, so the old general must be no worse. Is the food you serve enough for the old general?"

It turns out that when Your Majesty mentioned King Zhao Daoxiang and Lian Po, he was not saying that he was wiser than King Zhao Daoxiang and would not make the same mistake as King Zhao Daoxiang, but was asking whether the food provided for Wang Jian was enough and whether he could eat his fill?
Except for Li Nian, several ministers did not expect that the First Emperor would go through so much trouble just to ask this. Even Wang Jian was stunned.

The First Emperor was somewhat pleased to see the performance of his ministers. He said with a smile, "If the old general is not full here, and word gets out, others will think that I am mistreating my meritorious officials. If the food is not enough, the old general must tell you that there will be enough vegetables and meat, and the same goes for you ministers!"

Wang Jian glanced at the food on the table in front of him and replied with a smile: "This food really can't fill me up!"

Several ministers thought to themselves that compared to a year ago, their Majesty had changed just like the Great Qin. Come to think of it, if their Majesty had not changed, it would probably be difficult for the Great Qin to change either.

After Qin Shi Huang's words, the atmosphere in the hall became much more relaxed, and there was a lot more meat on Wang Jian's table. Although he was not young anymore, he was in excellent physical condition and his appetite exceeded that of ordinary people.

After the meal was over, the eunuchs cleared away the bowls and dishes and served tea. The First Emperor looked at Li Nian and said, "Continue what you just said!"

Because of Li Nian's existence, there is naturally tea in the Qin Imperial Palace, but it is also a scarce commodity.

Li Nian thought about it and continued, "In terms of culture, the Book of Changes says, 'The interweaving of hardness and softness is astronomy; civilization is the end, which is humanity. Observe astronomy to observe the changes of time, and observe humanity to transform the world.' This explains culture."

"Culture is something created by people, so different countries, different ethnic groups, and even people from different regions of the same country and ethnic group will have different cultures. Daqin will come into contact with many countries in the future, and their cultures will also come into contact with Daqin and flow into Daqin. Their cultures will definitely have an impact on Daqin!"

Li Nian said solemnly: "Gentlemen, please do not underestimate the influence of culture. It has the power to subvert a country. If you use it as a weapon, you can overthrow a country without even a single sword or gun. Culture includes but is not limited to living customs, religious beliefs, and ideological concepts..."

"People from the Peacock Kingdom have been in Daqin for some time. Your Majesty and the other gentlemen have also been wondering what is going on with the Peacock Kingdom. I would like to ask your Majesty and the other gentlemen, would you allow Buddhism and Jainism to be introduced into Daqin?"

There is no need to ask more questions about this. Of course, it cannot be allowed. If it is allowed to spread to the Qin Dynasty, it will definitely become a disaster for the Qin Dynasty in the future.

"If only the foreigners' eating habits, clothing styles, and utensils were introduced into Daqin, it would be acceptable, but in the future, these will not be the only things introduced into Daqin!"

"Among the cultural influence invasions, religious belief invasion is often one of them. For example, Tammo Lidi sent monks to our Daqin in order to spread the religion they believed in to Daqin. Religious belief is the thought they believed in and practiced. Once successfully introduced to Daqin, it was localized under the influence of Daqin culture, and in turn had a profound impact on Daqin and China." "Buddhism is still acceptable among many religions, but some religious beliefs are anti-human and anti-intellectual. Once introduced, the impact and damage it brings to Daqin will be greater. In the worst case, it will make Daqin lose its vitality and become a stagnant pool. The people only know that there is a religion, but not a country. The church is higher than the court, the church rules are higher than the national law, and the pope is higher than the king."

Li Nian deliberately said that "the church is above the court, church rules are above national laws, and the pope is above the king." His purpose was to arouse the disgust of the First Emperor who was a king.

As expected, after Li Nian said that, the First Emperor frowned. None of these three points were acceptable to the First Emperor, especially the one that "the Pope is above the king."

"Pope" must refer to the head of a sect. As the head of a religion, he is worthy of being called "Emperor" and is higher than him?
Li Nian continued: "Religion will also make them loyal only to the religion, rather than to the king or the nation. If there is an order from the religion, they will not hesitate to betray the nation and sell out the interests of the country and nation they were born into."

"Each country has its own religious beliefs. If Great Qin communicates with them, the religious ideas they believe in will most likely be introduced into Great Qin, thus affecting the people of Great Qin and turning them into people without relatives, a country, or a king."

Perhaps in the eyes of modern people, religious beliefs should have little influence on a country. However, most of the people in the Qin era were illiterate. Without restrictions and controls, there is a high possibility that they will be led astray. Even if this possibility is not high, Li Nian still has to do his best to prevent it.

There have been countless cases of using religion to cause harm in Chinese history. Moreover, the Qin Dynasty is still in contact with various countries and states, and it cannot allow some bad religions to be introduced to cause harm. He does not want the China in this world to change color.

Li Nian added, "The main influence of cultural invasion is ideology. In fact, religious belief is also a special kind of ideology. However, although the one I am going to talk about now has not become a religion, its influence is only higher than that of religion, and it has the ability to subvert a country!"

Hearing Li Nian's words "capable of overthrowing a country", the First Emperor and others were very alert and listened carefully. Li Nian asked: "I would like to ask your Majesty and the gentlemen a few questions: Who is stronger, the Qin or the Xiongnu?"

Is there any need to ask this? Of course, Daqin is stronger, but Li Nian asked such a superficial question, which is definitely not about the question itself. We must look through the question to see the essence.

Wang Jian replied without hesitation, "Of course the Qin is stronger!"

Li Nian smiled and asked another question: "Why is the Qin stronger than the Xiongnu?"

Now, everyone started to think: Why was the Qin Dynasty stronger than the Huns?

There are many possible answers to this question.

Wang Wan answered this question. He looked at Li Nian and replied, "Of course it is because the previous kings of the Great Qin were wise and virtuous, and they accumulated the foundation for the Great Qin generation after generation. However, even if the previous kings were wise and virtuous, if it were not Your Majesty but someone else as the king, I am afraid that the foundation accumulated by the previous kings would not be able to be brought into play."

Times can create heroes, and heroes can also create times. In some cases, replacing a person may not necessarily achieve the same thing. For example, when the Qin State and the Zhao State fought the Battle of Changping, if the Qin State had not replaced Bai Qi as the general, it might not have won the Battle of Changping.

Wang Wan continued, "It is because of your majesty's wisdom and leadership that the Qin Empire is where it is today!"

Wang Wan's two answers were not wrong, and they could indeed be used as reasons why the Qin Dynasty was stronger than the Xiongnu. However, after listening to Wang Wan's words, the First Emperor shook his head and said, "It is not only the merits of the previous kings and me, but also the dedication of the ministers of the Qin Dynasty, the courage of the Qin Dynasty soldiers to risk their lives, and the hard work of the people of the Qin Dynasty..."

"The reason why the Qin Empire was stronger than the Xiongnu was that the Qin Empire was stronger than the Xiongnu as a whole. It was because the Qin Empire was stronger than the Xiongnu in many aspects. It was not the result of one person or one aspect."

Li Nian nodded and said, "Your Majesty and the Prime Minister are both right, but what will the Xiongnu think? They also know that the Qin is better than them, so what will they think and what will they do?"

Everyone fell into deep thought again, thinking from the perspective of the Huns why the Qin Dynasty was so strong and why it was stronger than them?

Not long after, a flash of inspiration came to everyone's mind, and they all understood what Li Nian meant. It turned out that this was what Li Nian wanted to say.

Li Nian smiled and said, "It seems that Your Majesty and the other gentlemen have understood that when the Xiongnu see the power of the Qin Empire, they will naturally think about how to pursue the power of the Qin Empire, and regard the success of the Qin Empire in all aspects as a model, and follow the Qin Empire's path. Then..."

Li Nian's smile faded, and he said seriously, "What if the Qin Dynasty spreads propaganda to them that a certain idea or system can make them powerful?"

Wang Jian said in a deep voice: "This idea will spread quickly among the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu will even believe it very firmly!"

Feng Jie continued, "And if this idea was fabricated by the Qin specifically for them and was not applicable to the Xiongnu, it would cause endless harm to the Xiongnu, and even cause civil strife and subsequent collapse."

Several ministers looked at the arrangements made by Daqin in the past year through what they heard now, and those parts that they could not see clearly in the past were now clear to them.

For example, the Daqin International College is where Daqin implements this method. Daqin wants to train pro-Qin personnel there, and spread Daqin's ideas into their hearts so that they will believe in them firmly, and then return to their respective countries or tribes to subvert them.

Li Nian said: "That's right! The Huns saw that the Qin was stronger than them, and they also learned that the Qin had implemented a certain ideology or system to become stronger, so they would definitely want to implement it in their own country."

"But they don't know that what is suitable for the Qin may not be suitable for them. If they learn from them, it will not only be useless, but will cause great harm."

Feng Quji looked at Li Nian and said, "So, Daqin can induce them to learn these?"

Li Nian said: "Not only that, we can also make up some things that seem to be beneficial to them but are actually harmful, and praise those among them who have learned the most from Daqin, so as to strengthen their confidence and make them feel that Daqin is willing to support them."

"When these people return to their countries, they will take the initiative to put into practice what they have learned. They will also firmly believe that they are right and suppress opponents, thus causing civil unrest in the country."

"To be honest with you, Your Majesty, there are countries like this in the future. They are influenced by the cultural ideas of Western countries and believe that as long as they implement the Western ideas in their own country, they will be able to take off overnight and transform from a weak country into a strong country. The people will be healthy and happy, and the country will be prosperous and strong!"

(End of this chapter)