Chapter 180 Educational Issues, Liu Chong is Assassinated The word science originally comes from the Latin word 'scientia', which means knowledge and learning, and refers to the division of disciplines. This is of course an unfamiliar word to Kong Ming! Even someone as knowledgeable as him found it difficult to understand the term science and technology, so he asked: "May I ask you, sir, what is science and technology? How should we understand science and technology as the primary productive force?" Seeing him asking again, Qin Zhen sorted out his thoughts and explained: “Science and technology does not refer to a single thing, but to the total amount of knowledge!” "Kong Ming is well-educated. You should know that when our race first appeared, we ate raw meat and drank blood, just like animals!" "Before this, there was no etiquette to follow and no land to farm." "Productivity at this time is people gathering and hunting to obtain food." "Later, Youchao built houses, Suiren made fire, Zhisheng covered his body with fur, and Shennong made hoes and plows to grow grains, and only then did people have food, clothing, shelter and transportation." “As humans learned to build nests, make fire, grow fur, and grow grains, productivity improved.”

"After the Five Emperors, the Shang and Zhou dynasties used bronze and increased the production of bronze vessels, which saved manpower and enabled the emergence of various industries." "Then in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, until the pre-Qin period, iron tools appeared and a hundred schools of thought contended with each other again." "The craftsmen reformed farm tools, the farmers compiled agricultural science, the Confucians revised etiquette, the Yin-Yangists compiled the seasons, the Mohists added methods for defending cities, the military strategists promoted tactics, and the Legalists formulated laws." "All these things are the foundation for the prosperity of our Han Dynasty!" "All these disciplines and categories have different uses, but they make our species strong, so they are collectively called science!" “The techniques developed through scientific development are collectively referred to as technology.” "Thanks to the continuous progress of science and technology, productivity has continued to improve, so that we can go from eating raw meat and drinking blood to having enough food and clothing and knowing how to be thrifty and polite." “So we know that science and technology are the primary productive forces. Developing science and technology can promote the progress of productivity!” "If Kong Ming wants to seek a way to open up the source of income, he must seek the advancement of science and technology!" After hearing this explanation, Zhuge Liang nodded slowly and said: "Sir, your words are also valuable advice. If you hadn't said it, I would never have considered this matter!" In fact, it is not difficult to find out that science and technology are the primary productive forces. As long as you have a sufficient understanding of the historical development process, you can see that technology is constantly driving the advancement of productivity. However, this was an extremely difficult task for the ancients. Because ancient history never focused on recording science and technology, the existence of the Spring and Autumn style of writing has concealed the fact that technology has promoted the advancement of productivity. Now after Qin Zhen's explanation, Zhuge Liang instantly understood the reason. But after understanding this, he discovered a problem. Since science and technology are the primary productive forces, there is something wrong with their current way of education! Since Dong Zhongshu abolished all schools of thought and promoted Confucianism alone, one could not become an official without reading classics and history. All the children of aristocratic families focused on the study of classics, completely ignoring other subjects that could promote the progress of the times.

Especially in this special era, quite a number of great scholars have made promoting the words of the sages their life goal. If this continues, won’t the growth of productivity gradually stagnate? Thinking of this, he remembered the Farmer's School opened by Qin Zhen in Shouchun, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "So, the reason why you opened the Farmers' College in Shouchun is also to promote productivity?" Seeing that Zhuge Liang understood what he had done, Qin Zhen nodded and said: "That's right! From what I've seen, most of the popular ways today are just empty talk." "Many students only know how to follow the words of others. Learning from this theory is like building castles in the air, which is of no use!" "However, in the time of Emperor Wu, the Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu said, 'All those that are not in the six arts and Confucius' teachings should be cut off and not allowed to advance.'" "As a result, all schools of thought were rejected and Confucianism was the only one respected, which has led to people today being obsessed with this doctrine. I feel deeply sorry for this." "Although it is said that if you do not study Confucianism, you will not know its etiquette, but all schools of thought have their uses. How can we only respect Confucianism and not study all schools of thought?" "So I opened the Agricultural College, hoping to use this as a foundation to establish a new-style school with the knowledge of hundreds of schools of thought, and change the current flashy style of the academic world!" To be honest, what Qin Zhen said now was somewhat outrageous. As the son-in-law of a great scholar, he studied under the great scholar for several years and made progress in this way. Now they are criticizing Confucian predecessors and saying that the theory of Confucianism as the only orthodoxy should be abolished. If an ordinary Confucian scholar heard this, he would probably draw his sword and fight him on the spot. However, Zhuge Liang, who had studied the classics of hundreds of schools of thought, was moved when he heard this and said: "Since elementary school, I have studied the opinions of hundreds of schools of thought and attended lectures by famous scholars from all over the world at the Jingzhou Academy." "But looking at all kinds of people, there is no one who serves the country and the people like you do. I hope you will accept my students' respect again!" Having said that, he bowed to Qin Zhen again. If the previous bow was because Qin Zhen solved the confusion he had been having for many years, then this bow was purely out of admiration for Qin Zhen personally! Because he knew how difficult what Qin Zhen was going to do was! Even he couldn't help but shake his head when he heard that Qin Zhen was going to establish an agricultural college. He secretly thought that Qin Zhen's move was a waste of effort. If he wanted talents, he would be better off finding a few more sons of the gentry to employ. There was no need to spend time and effort to train these children from farming families. But now that he knew the reason, he was moved. It was obvious that Qin Zhen was a man of profound learning and had mastered the fundamental theories of national development, but because Confucianism was prevalent, he could not make his teachings public. The only option is to take a roundabout way to save the country, hiding your ambitions and moving forward alone. Regardless of personal fame and gain, just to change the situation of the country! What a strong will this is? What a great deed this is! For a moment, Qin Zhen's image in his mind became increasingly taller! I feel that compared with Qin Zhen, those celebrities are just in name only and are far from worthy of such a reputation! However, Kong Ming was not only upright but also rational. While he admired Qin Zhen, he raised his head and said in a deep voice: "I think your move is truly an unprecedented feat!" "But if you change your mind like me, I'm afraid you will suffer disaster in the future!" "You must know that Confucianism is very popular nowadays. Sir, you are just building an agricultural school now, and no one will object!" "But if we reopen the Hundred Schools of Thought, we will surely be criticized by great scholars!"

"Liang knows the reason why you acted like this, but those people who don't understand will only regard you as an alien and will eliminate you sooner or later!" "By that time, even if the envoy trusts you, you will still be unable to handle it alone!" Qin Zhen looked at Zhuge Liang's reminder and said with a smile: "I know this myself. Everything I do is just a gradual process!" "The reason I'm telling Kong Ming now is that I want to borrow his power to help me." "I want to first train a group of new students and gradually promote the power of my new learning." "Once we have enough helpers, we can gradually implement the new knowledge!" After hearing this, Zhuge Liang felt relieved. What he was afraid of now was that Qin Zhen's methods were too drastic and would lead to a large-scale resistance among Confucian scholars. But when he thought about it carefully, Qin Zhen was such a smart person who could see through the essence of his country and family on his own, so how could he not know these principles? In a sense, his worries are unnecessary! However, thinking of this, he suggested to Qin Zhen: "Teacher, you have the talent to rule the world, so students don't have to worry too much." "But if you want to start a new school, you should not leave your knowledge untold." "I heard that Mr. Cai had compiled agricultural textbooks. Why don't you continue this work and write books, use Mr. Cai's name to promote the power of new learning." "If you want to carry out reforms, you should do it from top to bottom. Now you only teach the children of farmers, and you will inevitably be alone in the future." "I have seen many children of high officials and nobles in Shouchun City. They all rely on family education to enter school, and none of them are as knowledgeable as you." "Why don't you advise the envoy to build a special school and accept them as teachers?" "In this way, they will learn from you and understand your principles. When they grow up, they can also help you!" He thought that since Qin Zhen wanted to cultivate a group of supporters of the new school of thought, he should also cultivate a group of stronger foreign aid. Although the children of farmers are good, how can they compare to the sons of high-ranking officials in Shouchun City? Anyway, Qin Zhen is now accumulating strength and training these second-generation officials. When these people can stand on their own in the future, they will naturally become Qin Zhen's helpers. By that time, with the support of a large number of people in power, even if those celebrities had objections, they could not resist Qin Zhen's promotion of new learning! After all, no matter how powerful Confucianism is, it is just a group of scholars. How can it be a match for those in power? As soon as he made this suggestion, Qin Zhen's eyes lit up. I thought to myself, Kong Ming is Kong Ming, why didn’t he think of this method! In fact, he also wanted to establish an academy to train the children of the gentry. But after much thought, he felt that the obstacles to training children from aristocratic families were too great, so he gave up the idea. However, Zhuge Liang's idea was very good. Instead of recruiting children from aristocratic families, he specifically trained the children of Liu Bei's ministers. First, among Liu Bei's ministers, there were many meritorious nobles who had no family education. If he opened a school and recruited apprentices, these rough guys would definitely rush over to send them over. Secondly, he was now above everyone else and used his position to directly promote new learning. Even if these ministers knew about it, they would not dare to say much to him. The only thing that needs to be considered is that if there are too many disciples, it will cause others to be wary of them. Although Lao Liu himself doesn't care much about these. But the relationship between master and disciple is too close. If all his disciples are his disciples, such a huge energy will be enough to cause panic among others.

Besides, he is so busy that he doesn't have much time to teach. Thinking of this, he said directly to Kong Ming: "Although I have considered this, it is difficult for me to teach them personally!" Zhuge Liang was very smart, so he knew what the problem would be, and he immediately said with a smile: "Teacher, you don't need to teach them yourself. You just need to serve as the school's chief priest, hire teachers, and compile teaching materials!" "As long as the teacher compiles the teaching materials himself, they can first understand the teacher's principles." "As for how to teach, it depends on how the teacher you hire performs!" "All of this is led by you, sir. Why worry about it?" Jijiu is the school principal of this era. His meaning is very straightforward. If you are afraid of problems, then don't teach in person. Just be the principal, compile teaching materials, and control what students learn! In this way, if there is a problem, it can be blamed on the teacher, and a big problem can be turned into a small one. These people are your own people, and it is up to you to decide how to deal with them! Now that the risk has been transferred, what is there to worry about? When Qin Zhen heard this, he looked sideways at the young Zhuge Liang in front of him, and said in a slightly surprised tone: "Kong Ming's idea is not bad, but I will think about it for a few days before making a decision!" He thought that Kong Ming was indeed a powerful minister in the history and was born a master of politics. This operation of establishing an aristocratic school really has some of the style of the future. However, this matter was not too urgent after all, and he was not in a hurry to act. He immediately turned the topic to the theory of governing the country. Seeing that Qin Zhen did not agree immediately, Zhuge Liang did not ask any more questions. The two discussed for a long time until night fell. Qin Zhen invited Zhuge Liang to have dinner with him and gave him a set of bamboo slips: "This book is what I wrote in the past, called The Wealth of Nations. It contains the way to enrich a country. Kong Ming can go back and study it carefully. If you don't understand, come and ask me again!" "The Wealth of Nations" was naturally not written by Qin Zhen. Its original name is "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". It is an economics work that the British classical economist Adam Smith spent nearly ten years to create. This set of books was also the enlightenment textbook for Qin Zhen to learn economics on his own in his previous life. Among them, the views on market economy system and macro-intervention can be regarded as the foundation of the Western economic system. However, there are a large number of examples cited, none of which conform to the actual situation of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, Qin Zhen rewrote them one by one, and finally obtained this Han Dynasty version of "The Wealth of Nations". Since the rewritten content occupies almost half of the book, Qin shamelessly attributes it to his own work. But Zhuge Liang had no idea of ​​this. He only knew that everything belonging to Qin Zhen was a treasure. After receiving the book, I felt like I had found a treasure. I was moved and grateful. After hesitating for a long time, he finally left leading the donkey carrying the bamboo slips.

From then on, Qin Zhen began to train Zhuge Liang in all aspects. While cultivating his economic concepts, Kong Ming also developed his understanding of the materialist view of history. Of course, other basic common sense teachings are also indispensable. For example, the earth is actually a round spherical object, and Newton's three laws and the geographical distribution of the entire world. Zhuge Liang naturally accepted all the knowledge that came his way. On the one hand, I was impressed by Qin Zhen's profound knowledge, which was beyond my imagination. On the other hand, through Qin Zhen's spirit of seeking truth from facts, the authenticity of the knowledge Qin Zhen said is constantly verified. Then a strange scene appeared in Shouchun City. A tall and handsome man, sometimes he would wander around the streets, recording various phenomena. Sometimes he would stand two sticks under the sun, observe the moving angles of the stick shadows, and then write and draw something, not knowing what he was calculating. Faced with this situation, Liu Bei was naturally very curious! He wanted Zhuge Liang to learn how to govern a country from Qin Zhen, so why is this kid running around everywhere all day long without doing his job? So he called Qin Zhen to his side and asked about Kong Ming's learning progress. In response, Qin Zhen said, "Don't worry, everything is going according to plan." In his own words: "Kong Ming is extremely talented. The one who will inherit my legacy must be this person!" When Liu Bei heard this, he was surprised. He wondered what Qin Zhen had taught Zhuge Liang. Why did he need to observe the shadow of a stick under the sun? Although he was curious, since Qin Zhen said so, he didn't ask any more questions. Then he asked Zhuge Liang to come to the mansion to question him and ask him what he was planning. When Zhuge Liang heard this, he smiled and told Liu Bei that he was calculating the circumference of the earth according to Qin Zhen's method. After calculation, he found that the circumference of the earth was more than li (one li in the Han Dynasty was meters). Liu Bei naturally had no idea what was the point of calculating the circumference of the earth, so he had to ask Zhuge Liang about his learning progress. When Zhuge Liang heard this, he said that the teacher was knowledgeable and had no end to learning. His original words were: "Only by learning from you can you understand the principles of heaven and earth, the origin of all things. Learning is endless, and you will be intoxicated without realizing it!" All in all, he becomes more and more enthusiastic as he learns! Seeing how the two of them were so in tune with each other, Liu Bei finally felt relieved and decided not to interfere any more. In this way, time came to early April, and a piece of news from the north once again broke the peace in Huainan. If we condense this news, it can be summed up in just five simple words: Liu Chong was assassinated! (End of this chapter)