When I was in Qin Dynasty, I really didn't want to make progress

The six departments of Emperor Yan were divided into the Lord of War, the Master of Calendar, the King of Medicine, the God of Grains, etc. There were only departments but no halls. The so-called department means tribe, which is a kind of tribal organization based on ancient times. It is loosely organized, unlike the current six agricultural machinery halls, which have a strict organizational system and an insurmountable hierarchical system.

This is also an important reason why the six tribes of Emperor Yan were replaced by farmers. After all, compared to being a leader in a tribe, being restricted by the tribesmen, it is still more restrictive to be a hall master. Being second only to one person and above everyone else, satisfying personal desires in the process of controlling the fate of others is the most refreshing thing in life.

As one of the six tribes of Emperor Yan, the Bingzhu tribe had many members who practiced the art of military strategy. Of course, when the Bingzhu tribe already existed, there was no concept of military strategy, so it would be more accurate to say that the Bingzhu tribe practiced the art of attack between people. This art of attack could be a fight between people or a war between ethnic groups.

"You did not show up when I was gathering my people in Qi." Yang Chong said. Yan Ju was the descendant of the six tribes of Emperor Yan. Yan Ju did not show up when Yang Chong was gathering his people. But he showed up now. Yang Chong had to think more about the motive behind this.

"At that time, I did not know the master, so naturally I never thought of surrendering. The master also knew that the six tribes of the Yan Emperor had already been struggling to survive under the attacks of the Nong family. The Nong family might allow the descendants of the six tribes of the Yan Emperor to remain alive, but they would never allow anyone to reappear in this world under the banner of the six tribes of the Yan Emperor." Yan Ju spoke freely without any shame on his face.

Only people with simple minds can be purely loyal. Yan Ju is not that kind of fool. He is a smart man. He can see many things that others cannot see. So when faced with the call of the six ministries of Emperor Yan, he chose to wait and see. This was not a question of loyalty or disloyalty, but purely out of rational considerations.

What appeal can a power that has been declining for hundreds of years have? Although there is some appeal, it is not much.

"But it's different now. The lord has enough power now. Restoring Qi is no longer a fantasy, but a real hope for a great cause that can be achieved. It is this hope that brings me here." Yan Ju continued, without any feeling of shame for his fence-sitting behavior.

When Yang Chong was still weak, he turned a blind eye to Yang Chong's call. When Yang Chong had enough strength, he came forward again.

This is a very despicable behavior, but Yan Ju doesn't seem to think so.

"You are right and your reasons are very sufficient, but I don't like this reason." Yang Chong said. He could understand Yan Ju's choice at that time, but that didn't mean he had to accept it.

"My lord has great ambitions for the world, so I don't think he will care about my little thoughts." Facing Yang Chong's doubts, Yan Ju still looked calm.

"This reason is not sufficient." Yang Chong looked at Yan Ju. This person who only left a few words in history books was not that simple. Now Yang Chong also wanted to see what he could say from him.

Of course Yang Chong didn't like Yan Ju's behavior, but that was just dislike. He was now recruiting talents for his own use, not looking for a girlfriend. It didn't matter whether he liked this person or not, as long as he was useful.

And now, Yang Chong is considering whether Yan Ju is usable and sufficient.

"The Confucian Xunzi once said that without the accumulation of small streams, there will be no rivers or seas. Since the Lord has the ambition to reach the sea, he naturally will not care about what this small stream of mine has in mind. The Lord only cares about how much water this small stream of mine can provide." Yan Ju replied.

He is indeed a smart man. Just a few simple words have expressed a lot of confidence. He not only shows his calmness, but also compliments Yang Chong to a certain extent. He can be said to be neither humble nor arrogant.

"It seems that I really have no reason to reject you. Otherwise, wouldn't it mean that I don't have enough tolerance for others?" Yang Chong smiled. Smart people like Yan Ju are indeed rare. As for the issue of loyalty, Yang Chong didn't care.

Only incompetent people would think about gaining absolute loyalty from their subordinates, and only incompetent people need to find the so-called sense of security from the absolute loyalty of others, but Yang Chong does not need it.

It doesn’t matter whether Yan Ju is loyal or not. What matters is that Yang Chong has too many means to prevent Yan Ju from having the thought of betrayal.

In this world, loyalty is an extremely rare thing, and being united based on interests is the bond that maintains the relationship between people.

"My lord, your mind is broad enough to accommodate the State of Qi, so how could you not accommodate a Yan Ju? After all, there are too many people like me in the State of Qi. If my lord abandons me, wouldn't he be giving up most of the State of Qi?" Yan Ju smiled. He knew that his bet was right and his analysis of Yang Chong was not wrong.

When the banners of the six tribes of Emperor Yan appeared again in Qi, he did not respond to the call, but he did not turn a blind eye either. Instead, he kept observing, observing the people of the six tribes of Emperor Yan gathering towards Raoan, observing Yang Chong suddenly becoming the prefect of Jibei County, observing Jibei County using paper to make friends with its masters, building mysterious salt fields on the coast of the sea, and opening up trade routes from Raoan to Zhao, Yan, and Wei with fine wine, and even selling it far away on the grasslands.

But what really made Yan Ju decide to join forces with Yang Chong was the fact that Yang Chong defeated the Qin army in Yecheng. This incident was enough to prove Yang Chong's ability to train troops and his combat capabilities.

Yang Chong was able to train a strong army with the strength of Jibei County in just one year, and was able to defeat the elite Qin army despite being at a disadvantage. Such ability is worthy of Yan Ju's service.

In this Warring States Period, although war cannot solve all problems, it can solve 99% of the problems.

Yang Chong was able to defeat the Qin army with the strength of Jibei County alone. Now he already owned more than 30 cities including Jibei County, Dong'a, Anyang, and Yecheng, with a population of 700,000 and 100,000 soldiers. This strength was enough to plot against the State of Qi.

Yan Ju believed that Yang Chong now had the ability to swallow up Qi State, instead of just having the ambition to swallow up Qi State but not the power to take it down like before.

More importantly, Yan Ju also believed that Yang Chong needed someone like him.

In the future, when Yang Chong invades Qi, there will be too many people like him. Yang Chong can't even tolerate him. What can Yang Chong do when facing those people in Qi who were once loyal to King Jian of Qi? At that time, will Yang Chong hope that those people will surrender to him quickly, or hope that those people will resist to the end? If those people surrender, they are not loyal ministers. Doesn't Yang Chong need such disloyal people?

If those people were all loyal ministers, then if Yang Chong attacked them, he would face endless resistance, which was probably not what Yang Chong wanted to face.

"I like smart people. I hope your intelligence is not just this kind of cleverness of guessing people's hearts, but real wisdom that can be put into practice. The soldiers of Anyang Camp have been recruited, and they are still short of a chief commander. You go there first. If you can train the soldiers of this camp well, when Anyang Camp is formed, you will be the captain of this camp." Yang Chong said.

"Don't worry, my lord. I will never let you down. I also have quite a bit of experience in training troops." Yan Juhui said.

Yang Chong's arrangement for him was not bad, but it was not good either. However, Yan Ju was not disappointed. This was just the beginning. He believed that with his own abilities, he would be able to obtain the position he wanted under Yang Chong's command, or even in Qi State, in the future.

When Yan Ju devoted himself to his career, a group of people dressed in black and white also appeared in Dong'a City.

These people came from the distant Huaisi area, which once belonged to the State of Song and is now divided between the State of Wei and the State of Chu. At the border between the two countries, there are vast mountains and vast water systems. Hundreds of years ago, a world-renowned grandmaster built a city there, a city that only existed in his ideal.

That city is called Mohist Mechanical City, the most mysterious city among the seven countries, a city that is said to never fall.

"Dong'a City, I have been here when I was young. This city was also the western capital of Qi State. After so many years, things and people have really changed. The world has changed too fast." A short and fat old man in the crowd said. He was only over fifty years old, and his hair and beard were half white. In this era, he was already considered an old man.

"The Qi State back then was invincible, not at all weaker than the Qin State today. Unfortunately, it was only glorious for a short time. The prosperity of three generations cannot sustain the decline of one generation." Another person also sighed. He had a very slender figure, and although he was quite old, his back was still straight, and his not-so-strong body still had strong vitality.

Through the efforts of King Wei and King Xuan, Qi State defeated Wei's hegemony and confronted Qin head-on. It was so prosperous at that time. But by the time of King Min, it became arrogant and then self-destructed, resulting in the current closed-door Qi State.

"As the saying goes, it's easy to conquer the world, but difficult to keep it. That's pretty much the truth." As the two were sighing, a man and a woman appeared in front of them.

Faced with the sudden appearance of the man and woman, the taller old man was startled and subconsciously stroked the sword at his waist. The woman was okay, although she was beautiful, but she was just beautiful. But the young man gave him a very different feeling. He felt a restrained sword intent in the young man. That sword intent was extremely chaotic, but in the chaos, there seemed to be a more mysterious sword intent. Although weak, it should not be underestimated. It could actually cause the sword at his waist to resonate unintentionally.

This is a top master in kendo, even as good as the giant.

"Are you the owner of this city?" the old man asked.

"My name is Yang Chong, nice to meet Master Xu, Master Ban and all the senior brothers from the Mohist school." Yang Chong bowed.

These people dressed in black and white are the disciples of Mohism, whom Yang Chong contacted through Confucianism.

The short and fat one is Mo Ban, the master of Mohist mechanical arts, also known as Master Ban. The tall and thin one is surnamed Xu, and his name is Xu Fuzi, and he is known as the Sword Master.

Chapter 222 From the Great Road to the Simple

"So you are the former general of the State of Han and the junior mentor of the State of Zhao who defeated the Qin army not long ago." After hearing Yang Chong's self-introduction, Mo Ban walked forward and looked at Yang Chong with curiosity.

Although Yang Chong's activities were limited to Han and Zhao, his reputation had already spread to the Seven Kingdoms and various schools of thought.

Apart from anything else, whether he was the former general of the Kingdom of Han or the current junior teacher of the Kingdom of Zhao, they have actually stood at the pinnacle of power in a country. No country can ignore such high-level bureaucrats. Of course, if it were just these, it would not attract too much attention from the various schools of thought, but Yang Chong's identity is not just as simple as an official.

Paper and printing technology came into being through Yang Chong. The emergence of these two technologies was too important for the various schools of thought that competed with each other for dominance in the cultural world. Paper and printing technology alone were enough for them to treat Yang Chong as a guest of honor.

As for the reason?

If the various schools of thought wanted to spread their doctrines more widely, recruit more disciples and have greater influence, they needed the support of paper and printing. The emergence of these two things allowed them to reduce the cost of training disciples to a minimum, and the reduction in costs meant that they could recruit more disciples with the same resources.

Although the competition among the various schools of thought took various forms, including literary and physical battles, from the imperial court to the underworld, in the final analysis, all the struggles between them were struggles among people.

With people, you have everything.

There is strength in numbers, and this is not an exaggeration.

"It's just a little fame, not worth mentioning." Yang Chong looked at the people in front of him and was quite satisfied.

This team of Mohist disciples consists of more than sixty people, and they are led by Mohist masters such as Mo Ban and Master Xu. It can be seen that the Mohist school attaches great importance to his invitation.

Nowadays, there are not many people in the Mohist school who can concentrate on studying the various skills left by the founder Mozi. Mo Ban and Master Xu are considered to be the best among them, and the skills they are proficient in are exactly what Yang Chong needs.

Mo Ban is proficient in Mohist mechanical techniques. Although many of them are secrets that are not passed on, Yang Chong does not want those top technologies of Mohist now. He invited Mo Ban to come so that he can use his foundation to manufacture various farm tools that exist in his memory.

In Yang Chong's memory, when he was a child, he had seen various machines used in agricultural production. Those machines were made of simple wood and iron sheets, and had everything from sowing to harvesting. Although they were not very advanced, they were definitely many times more efficient than manual labor.

Yang Chong invited Mohist School to come just for the agricultural machinery that existed in his memory.

The use of machinery can allow more young and strong people to step out of agricultural production. At that time, it will be a good choice for Yang Chong to use this extra manpower, whether for combat or for the construction of various projects.

As for Master Xu, he is equally important to Yang Chong. Master Xu is honored as the Sword Master in the Mohist School, and this title is also recognized by all the schools of thought. He is the only living person today who can forge a famous sword.

What Yang Chong needed was certainly not a so-called famous sword. He already had some Taia swords, so it was useless to have a so-called famous sword. What he wanted was another technology that Master Xu mastered: smelting.

Master Xu is a master swordsmith, but that doesn't mean that Master Xu is not good at smelting. On the contrary, if you want to forge a sword, it's not enough to just hammer it in the sword furnace. That's just one step. In addition, sword-making has to go through a smelting process. After all, the materials for sword-making are not naturally that way. No matter what material is used to forge the sword, smelting is a necessary process to convert ore into metal.

It would be strange if Master Xu, a master swordsmith, said that he did not know the art of smelting.

Although Yang Chong did not need a famous sword, he needed a huge amount of fine iron. Iron is an important criterion for measuring a country's strength even two thousand years later. Its importance is self-evident.

In Yang Chong's memory, there are also many smelting techniques, but Yang Chong only has a general understanding of those techniques. He does not know the specific details. People who are not professionals really do not know those things.

To put it in a less nice way, Yang Chong is good at everything, but he is not good at anything.

Fortunately, Yang Chong does not have to do everything himself. For many things, he only needs to use his knowledge that far exceeds this world. After drawing a direction, he can recruit talents in related fields and use professionals to do professional things.

Just like now he invited all the Mohists to Dong'a City.

When Yang Chong was looking at the Mohist people, they were also looking at their employer Yang Chong.

The young Mohist disciples saw Yang Chong's success and their eyes were filled with envy, while Mo Ban and Master Xu looked at Yang Chong with scrutiny.

Although they accepted Yang Chong's invitation, they were in a collaborator relationship. However, their status in this relationship was equal. As team leaders, they had enough reasons to get to know Yang Chong clearly.

The Mohist School has collected a lot of information about Yang Chong. After all, Yang Chong is now famous all over the world, and it is impossible for the Mohist School not to pay attention to Yang Chong.

It was also during this investigation that Mo Ban and Master Xu learned a lot of things, but they did not know that Yang Chong had killed a leader of the Mohist school in Xinzheng, South Korea.

Back then, Yan Dan intervened in the Nong family's action against Yang Chong without authorization, hoping to win the Nong family's favor. However, he never imagined that Yang Chong, whom he regarded as the prey, was the real hunter. Almost all of their people were wiped out. If it were not for the Mohist leader Six-Fingered Black Knight who was sent by his side to protect his safety, he would have lost his own life.

Although Yan Dan saved his life, the leader of the Mohist School was killed by Yang Chong. Yan Dan could only tell his master Six-Fingered Black Knight about this matter. As for the other people in the Mohist School, Yan Dan did not dare to tell them. Not only him, but even his master Six-Fingered Black Knight did not tell the Mohist disciples about this matter, but chose to conceal it.

As for the reason? We have to talk about the dispute over succession within the Mohist school.

The Six-Fingered Black Knight accepted Yan Dan, a crown prince, as his disciple, and even had the hidden intention of training him to be the next great master. Regarding this matter, there were more people who opposed it than those who supported it within the Mohist school. Even if the Six-Fingered Black Knight used his authority as a great master, he could not unify the voices within the Mohist school.

After so many years of development, the Mohist School is no longer like when it was first established, with disciples coming from the lower classes. Even today, it has recruited children from the royal families of the seven countries, but it has never accepted a crown prince as its disciple, and even wants to train him to be the heir of a giant.

Because ordinary royal family disciples and a country's prince are two completely different creatures. Royal family members are just nice to say, but whether they can get involved in the power field is still a question. But a country's prince is different, he is the one who will inherit the throne of a country.

If a prince of a country becomes a leader of the Mohist school, when he inherits the throne of his country, wouldn't it mean that the ruler of a country has become the leader of the Mohist school? At that time, the Mohist school would no longer be the Mohist school, but a vassal of that king. This kind of thing is unacceptable to the vast majority of Mohists.

Although the various schools of thought had cooperated with the Seven Kingdoms, and many of their disciples served as officials in the courts of the Seven Kingdoms, none of them became a complete subject of one country.

At this time, there were too many people within the Mohist school who were worried that once Yan Dan became a leader of the Mohist school and inherited the throne of Yan, the Mohist school would be completely tied to the Yan state.

That is a situation that none of the Mohist leaders want to see.

Because, when he learned that a leader loyal to him died at the hands of Yang Chong because of Yan Dan, the Six-Fingered Black Knight chose to conceal the matter. He knew very well that once the matter was known by the leaders of the Mohist School, regardless of whether Yang Chong would be hunted down by the Mohist School or not, the leaders who were already opposed to Yan Dan would have even more sufficient reasons, and it would be even more impossible for Yan Dan to inherit the position of the leader of the Mohist School.

As for revenge, the six black heroes, as the last masters who may become masters in the Mohist school in the past fifty years, have enough confidence to take down Yang Chong without the help of the Mohist school.

Therefore, in the eyes of Mo Ban and Master Xu at this time, Yang Chong is a real young talent and someone who can become their Mohist friend.

However, they could hear arrogance in Yang Chong's humble words at this time. Of course, they did not care about it because Yang Chong had enough capital to be proud of.

"If the young master is just a bit of a name, then we, who are already old, would be ashamed." Mo Ban joked. He was a humorous person by nature, not to mention that their Mohist school and Yang Chong would have a lot of cooperation in the future.

"Okay, let's not waste any more time. You all have come from far away, and I have prepared a banquet. If you have anything to say, we can talk while we eat." Yang Chong stepped aside to make way.

“Then it would be disrespectful to refuse.” Mo Ban took two steps forward and seemed to be on par with Yang Chong, but in fact he lagged behind by a little. It can be said that he accepted Yang Chong’s invitation, but did not want to take the place of the host.

It has to be said that a person who has lived to such an old age knows everything. Even if he is a cynical old man in his daily life, it is just that he has not met someone who can make him serious.

The former palace of the King of Qi had been transformed by Yang Chong into an official residence in front and a mansion in the back. The front hall and the attics were the official residences of the six ministries, while the back hall and the palaces were Yang Chong's home.

The place where Yang Chong entertained all the Mohist disciples was in the side hall on the east side of the mansion.

As the host, Yang Chong directly arranged Mo Ban and Master Xu to sit beside him. He knew very well that these two were real technology fanatics. To them, fine wine, delicious food and beautiful women were not as interesting as a few blueprints.

Therefore, although Yang Chong arranged fine wine and delicious food, he did not arrange any beautiful women. Instead, he prepared to use a few drawings to liven up the atmosphere.

"This is..." Mo Ban looked at the simple blueprint in his hand and was quite unimpressed. The machine in the blueprint was too simple. It could only be regarded as a simple machine. Even a disciple who did not need to learn the basics of Mohist mechanical engineering could draw such a blueprint. He was a master of mechanical engineering who could turn decay into magic. How could he take such a childish machine seriously?

However, his indifference lasted only for a moment, and soon he noticed the unusualness in it. If he didn't see it, he would be unworthy of his title as a master of mechanical engineering.

The machine in the drawing was too simple, but its simplicity forced Mo Ban to be more serious.

His attainments in mechanical engineering were certainly very good, but if he wanted to build a mechanical beast, he would have to spend a lot of energy and various precious materials. The mechanical beasts produced by him must be the best of the best.

Mo Ban is very clear about this. There are two reasons why mechanical engineering, a technology that can turn decay into magic, cannot be mass-produced. One is that it is restricted by materials, and the other is that the technology is too advanced and cannot be mastered by ordinary people.

However, the blueprint Yang Chong showed at this time had no such restrictions. The mechanical structure in the blueprint was simple, and the most precious material used was just a few pieces of iron. However, its use...

Mo Ban's eyes subconsciously turned to the several annotations on the corners of the drawing.

This is actually a machine used for farming?

Various information echoed in Moban's mind. Based on his experience, he quickly came to the conclusion that this was indeed a machine used for sowing.

Although Mo Ban had never farmed before, he knew what the farming process was like. He knew that once this kind of machine was really manufactured and promoted, its influence would be much more far-reaching than the mechanical beast he created that was at the level of the Four Sacred Beasts.

"What is this?" Mo Ban looked at Yang Chong suspiciously. How could Yang Chong have such a thing?

"They are just some small designs, but some of the details cannot be perfected by my imagination, so I have to trouble Master Ban to perfect them and help me turn them from fantasy into reality." Yang Chong said frankly.

"I wonder how many people will benefit from Young Master's fantasy." Squad Leader Mo sighed. For a moment, he felt that he had lived a dog's life for most of his life.

These people seemed to have misunderstood the original intention of the founder Mozi in creating the mechanical arts. They only wanted to create mechanical beasts as advanced as the Four Sacred Beasts, and regarded them as the highest realm of the mechanical arts.

But they forgot that the original intention of the founder Mozi in creating mechanical technology was to serve people and to make people live a better life. They also overlooked a truth.

The more advanced and complex the mechanical technology is, the better it is.

As the saying goes, the truth is simple, and the same is true for mechanical engineering.

Over the years, the Mohist mechanical arts could not reproduce the heights that they had when their founder Mozi led the Mohist school. Instead, they lost a lot. Their eyes were only looking upwards, but they ignored the foundation, so that the influence of the Mohist mechanical arts became smaller and smaller, and there was even a trend of being overtaken by the Gongshu school.

Only then did Mo Ban realize that the Mohist mechanical technology had become out of touch with reality.