Diqin Designer

Chapter 409: Learn from Qin to fight against Qin

Master Maya sighed and said, "That's right! We are going to Pataliputra to inform Ashoka's grandson and other princes of the news about Qin so that they can prepare for dealing with the Qin people."

They cannot fight against the Qin State by themselves. Only if the whole country of the Peacock Kingdom takes action can they resist the Qin State.

But Master Moye, who was well aware of the power of the Qin State, understood that even if they mobilized the entire country and worked together, it was only "possible" but not certain that they could confront the Qin State.

The Qin State was much stronger than them and was still getting stronger. In contrast, the Maurya State not only did not continue to become stronger, but even declined.

During the time of King Ashoka, the Maurya Kingdom was so powerful that no one in the country was disobedient and no foreigners dared to provoke it. But now, Ashoka's grandson's rule over the country is far less powerful than Ashoka's, and some areas in the country no longer obey his orders.

Many people are still lingering on the glory of Ashoka's era and are unwilling to wake up, but Ashoka's glory has already gone away, and even the last bit of afterglow will soon disappear into the night.

On the contrary, the Qin State was different. Although it had a long history and had existed for more than 500 years, it was still full of vitality. It was like a huge sun in the sky, but it could emit even stronger light and heat.

Comparing the two, Master Moye and others were actually full of confusion and pessimism about the future of their Peacock Kingdom. The Qin Dynasty was so strong, how could their Peacock Kingdom fight against it?
However, the Peacock Kingdom is their country after all, and they have to do their best to save it!
A noble from Tammolidi asked, "Master, do you think the Qin people will definitely invade our country?"

Master Moye said: "Based on the martial spirit shown by the Qin people and what we encountered in Qin, I'm afraid it's likely, if not certain."

What happened to them in Qin was clearly intentional by the Qin people, and the Qin people's target was definitely not them, but the Peacock Kingdom where they came from.

The noble asked again: "What benefit will Qin gain from invading our country?"

Master Moye said: "Maybe they want people, maybe they want land, maybe they want us to be slaves. The Qin people are stronger than us. If they invade us and defeat us, then whatever we have, they can take it away if they want."

"Moreover, the Qin people have different cultural customs from us. Don't think that the Qin people will treat us kindly when they come here..."

At this point, Master Moye paused, looked at everyone, and said meaningfully: "If some of the Qin people's cultural customs are introduced to the people, it will be even more disadvantageous to us."

The Qin people do not have a caste system, and the people in the room have their current status and power because they have benefited from the caste system. If the Qin people came and let those Shudras and Dalits know that the caste system does not need to exist in the world.

Then their current status and power will inevitably suffer a severe impact, which may be worse than the Qin people directly threatening them with force.

If the Qin people just defeated them by force, they would at most surrender to the Qin people. It was difficult for Qin to communicate with them, the Peacock Kingdom. Moreover, the Peacock Kingdom had a large territory and a large population. Even if the Qin people sent people to manage it, they could not send too many people. In the end, they would have to hand over the power of ruling and management to them and ask them to hand over some benefits every year.

Although they have a new father, Qin, their status and power are not greatly affected.

But if the Qin State wanted to introduce their cultural ideas, especially the fact that the Qin State did not have a caste system, it would fundamentally shake their status and power.

It is acceptable for the Qin people to invade by force, but it is unacceptable for them to shake their status and power. It is like no matter who becomes the emperor, as long as the interests of our gentry can continue to be protected, it doesn't matter whether he is Li Zicheng or Ye Zhupi.

But Master Moye was just overthinking. The Qin Dynasty would not deliberately revise the caste system of the Maurya Kingdom. Such a "good" system must of course continue to be retained for them. As long as the Qin people belong to the highest level in the Maurya Kingdom's caste system, that would be fine.

Of course, Daqin would not express its support directly. After all, the caste system was ugly, and considering the international image that Daqin wanted to establish, it was not suitable for public support.

Li Nian had already given a solution to the caste system of the Maurya Kingdom. He neither denied nor supported it, but let it remain.

If you ask: Daqin has always boasted of itself as civilized, just, powerful and beautiful, but as the suzerain state of Maurya Kingdom, why did Daqin allow Maurya Kingdom to continue to retain the caste system?
The answer is that the Peacock Kingdom has its own national conditions. Under the special national conditions, it should be handled in a special way. It is not easy for the Qin Dynasty to interfere rashly. Even as the overlord of the Peacock Kingdom, it must show a certain respect to the vassal states.

Everyone in the room understood the meaning of Master Moye's words, and their expressions became more serious. They could allow the Qin people to invade, and at worst they would surrender to the Qin people, but they could not allow the Qin people to shake the foundation of their rule.

But what frustrates everyone is that even if they are unwilling to allow it, what can they do? If they cannot fight against the Qin people, the Qin people will have the final say.

Another official asked: "Master, when do you think the Qin people will invade our country?"

Master Moye thought for a while and replied, "The Qin people are so strong that they have not invaded yet. It is only because the journey is difficult. It will take at least three to five years, or at most ten years. When the Qin people find a way to reach our country, they will send troops. I am afraid that we don't have much time left!"

Another official asked, "Then in your opinion, how can we deal with the Qin people?"

This question is the key. On their way back, Master Moye and others had already thought about what preparations they should make in order to resist the Qin people.

The answer they came up with was to learn from the Qin people's development model, such as popularizing education to make more talented people in the country, improving the status of craftsmen so that they could also make all kinds of wonderful things like the Qin people, and stopping the large-scale construction of temples and the production of statues in the country, and using human and material resources for the development of the country...

They thought a lot and deeply, but the more they thought about it, the more difficult it became to achieve, because it would be tantamount to transforming and reshaping the Peacock Kingdom.

But would the grandson of Ashoka sitting on the throne, the princes, and the Brahmin priests allow it? Even among the people listening to him in the room, how many would support it?
Master Moye sighed in his heart and said, "If we want to deal with the Qin people, we must understand them and learn the ways in which they are better than us. Only in this way can we compete with them and stop their invasion in the future!"

"First, we need to value talents like the people of Qin did. Qin held the 'Xianyang Grand Examination' to gather all the talents in the country and select the best ones to serve as officials, so that all officials in Qin were talented and capable."

"There are many talented people in our country, but they do not serve as officials, nor do they devote their wisdom and efforts to the country. This is a pity. We should try to select them and make them contribute to the prosperity of our country."

"In addition to selecting talented people, we must also actively cultivate them. We must let more people read and write like the Qin people did, so that more talents can emerge. And when cultivating these talented people, we should make them learn mathematics and the study of things like the Qin people did."

Hearing the new term "Gewu", an official of Tanmolidi asked: "What is this 'Gewu'? Why do we need to learn it?" Master Moye said: "It is said that the term 'Gewu' originated from Confucianism and was adopted by that Master Li Nian. Now it has become a must-learn subject for Qin students."

"'Studying things' means to gain insight into the principles of the universe, such as why there is wind, why there is rain, whether the sun is farther away at sunrise or at noon, whether the earth beneath our feet is square or round, and whether it has an end. These are all called studying things."

Hearing this, everyone in the room was surprised and curious. They would occasionally think about these questions when they were bored, but they couldn't come up with any results. Even sages like Buddha and Mahavira could not give definite answers to these questions.

No one in the world would dare to say that they know for sure, but according to what Master Moye said, it seems that the Qin people are exploring and have achieved some results. How can this not surprise them?

The official who asked the question asked again: "Could it be that the Qin people already have definite answers to these questions?"

Master Moye said: "It seems that there is, but I don't know much. I just heard the scholars of Qin State talking about the world under our feet when I was discussing and debating with them. The Qin people believed that we were standing on a big ball."

When they heard that they were standing on a big ball, someone immediately shook his head and said, "That's nonsense. How can we stand on a ball? If we are really on a ball, we must be standing right on top of it. If we are below it, we will fall off the ball, right?"

Master Moye said: "I don't know about this either. The Qin scholar did not explain it to us in detail. He just mentioned it casually when communicating with us. But the Qin people seem to agree with this statement."

The one who shook his head said, "This must be the Qin people deliberately deceiving the master in order to confuse the master's mind!"

Master Moye felt that the Qin scholar was not deliberately deceiving him, but he did not refute his words. He continued, "Whether we are standing on a ball or not, the Qin people attach great importance to mathematics and the study of things. Mathematics and the study of things must be important to the prosperity of the Qin State. If we want to fight against the Qin State, we must learn them!"

What Master Moye did not say was that Qin's mathematics and the study of things had already developed, while they were just beginning to develop. How easy would it be to catch up with Qin?

"Learn from Qin's advanced technology in order to defeat Qin" is easy to say but difficult to do. We want to imitate and learn from Qin, but we don't even know its development direction and goals.

Seeing that no one asked questions, Master Moye continued, "Secondly, we need to value craftsmen like the Qin people did. The reason why the Qin State was so powerful was because it valued craftsmen. The Qin State's craftsmen were treated very well, so they were willing to make the best utensils for the Qin State. Craftsmen could sometimes make many unprecedented utensils, which was why the Qin State had many new utensils."

At this time, a noble asked: "Aren't many of the Qin State's artifacts made by that Master Li Nian?"

Master Moye said: "That Master Li Nian has indeed made many exquisite artifacts, but no matter how talented that Master Li Nian is, he is only one person. After he made those artifacts, other craftsmen had to learn how to make them before they could be popularized in Qin."

"For example, the cannon was first made by Master Li Nian, but how much effort would it take for him to make dozens or even hundreds of them? There must be other craftsmen working with him to make them."

Hearing Master Moye mention that Master Li Nian again, a noble from Tammolidi sighed and said, "Why isn't that Master Li Nian from our country?"

Not only can he govern the country, but he can also make all kinds of wonderful things. It would be great if such a great talent was from their Peacock Country. Then the threat from the Qin State might be easily resolved, or even their Peacock Country might become a threat to the Qin State.

Master Moye did not answer this unrealistic question. "Third, we need to build a strong army. The Qin army is unrivaled in the world. They have fought with other countries for hundreds of years and defeated all the armies of other countries. This is enough to show their power."

"If the Qin army meets our army, I'll be frank, but our army will be unable to stop it, not to mention that the Qin army now has powerful weapons such as artillery."

A nobleman asked, "Master, can the elephant soldiers stop the artillery?"

Yes, they also have elephant soldiers in their country. Elephants are tall and have thick skin and flesh. Once they charge on the battlefield, they are much more terrifying than war horses and almost unstoppable. The Qin army’s artillery can deal with war horses, but not necessarily with elephant soldiers.

But under the gaze of the crowd, Master Moye shook his head and said, "It is unstoppable. The elephant soldiers are indeed powerful, but the artillery is more powerful. Under the artillery, both the men and the horses were crushed. I have seen it with my own eyes. Elephants are indeed taller and stronger than horses, but they cannot withstand the power of artillery."

Once the artillery fires, even an elephant would not be able to withstand it.

"When the cannons were fired, the sound was like thunder. We saw many Donghu horses were frightened and ran wildly on the battlefield, refusing to listen to the knights. If the elephant soldiers encountered the Qin cannons, they would also be frightened and out of control."

This means that the Peacock Kingdom really has no way to resist the Qin Army. As long as the Qin Army arrives, their army will be defeated.

At this time, someone thought of a question: If the Qin people’s artillery is really as terrifying as Master Moye said, then what can they use to fight against it?
Someone raised this question!
Yes, if they cannot deal with the Qin people’s terrifying artillery, then even if they develop and progress, they will still be defeated by the Qin people. So what is the difference between development and no development?
Master Moye said: "To be honest, I don't know how to deal with the Qin people's artillery. Artillery is not only powerful, but also can reach farther than bows and arrows. If we want to deal with artillery, perhaps the only way is to make artillery ourselves."

But the puzzling thing is that they don’t even understand the principles of artillery, so how can they make it?

They had seen the appearance of the Qin artillery, but they had no idea about its internal structure and why it could make a thunderous sound and shoot out iron balls.

I wonder how Mr. Li Nian made it?

At this moment, Master Moye also had the same idea as the nobleman just now. It would be great if the Master Li Nian from the Qin State was a native of their Peacock Country.

Master Moye comforted everyone and said, "We are all human beings. Since Master Li Nian can make cannons, why can't we?"

But Master Maya's words did not bring much comfort to those in the room. People are not the same. Just like there are so many people throughout the ages, but how many Ashokas and Buddhas have emerged?

Just because Master Li Nian of the Qin State was able to make cannons doesn't mean they can do the same. Without solving the problem of cannons, it would be difficult for them to defeat the Qin people no matter how they look at it.

(End of this chapter)