Chapter 521: Wildfire Cannot Burn It All

Heifu's "theory of historical progress" rang with conviction. In any other dynasty, he would have been cursed to the heavens, but here in Qin, no one rose to denounce him.

Wang Wan and the Erudites, busy saving their own skins, could only glare helplessly. Li Si, too, could find no fault with it, for the Legalists held the same view. Years ago, when Han Fei presented his "Five Vermin," the First Emperor had felt he'd found a kindred spirit upon reading it, and even after all this time, he still often took it out to study.

By this point, the First Emperor had grasped the gist: Heifu's opinion was largely the same as Li Si's. Both leaned toward "modeling the present king," both sneered at Confucians and the Hundred Schools who constantly invoked the rule of Yao and Shun, and both agreed these people needed to be dealt with.

Their only difference lay in the method of handling the matter…

Li Si's method was simple and direct: burn it all and be done. Heifu, however, took a more roundabout path, attacking the problem obliquely.

Heifu continued, "Your Majesty, the reason the realm's scholars believe the present cannot match the past is that they have read the wrong histories and been misled by distorted learning. The Chancellor's desire to stop scholars from modeling the ancients, praising the Three Dynasties, and slandering the present court is well-intentioned. But merely confiscating the histories, odes, and documents to burn them treats only the symptoms, not the root cause."

With ideology, merely discarding the old without producing the new is useless. Scholars will not spontaneously study the laws and ordinances from Qin officials; they must be compelled through teaching.

"To treat the root cause, the court must take up the task of compiling history, supplementing the deficiencies of the *Qin Records*. First, this will let the world know that all the Huaxia share a common ancestor and proclaim that Great Qin is the legitimate successor to Yin and Zhou."

"Second, it will clarify historical facts and expose falsehoods, deleting all the slanders against Qin from the Six States' histories, so the world will know how fatuous and decadent those six kings were, wantonly killing loyal ministers, and how Qin, with its battle-hardened armies, swept away the Six States and punished the violent and chaotic!"

Unlike the Qi historians, who prided themselves on writing the unvarnished truth, Qin historians had "rewritten history" more than once or twice. The *Qin Records* had a very poor tradition of recording only victories, while defeats were taboo and shrouded in mystery.

"Third, by recompiling the histories of the Five Emperors, the Three Dynasties, Xia, Yin, and Zhou, we must tell the realm's scholars that the so-called rule of the Three Dynasties was nothing but an illusion. What the Three Dynasties were truly like, how Zhou perished because of feudalism, and how Qin rose because of commanderies and counties—all this must be clearly expounded in the history books!"

This was meant to settle the debate between feudalism and the commandery-county system once and for all. Those who advocated restoring feudalism were many, and that lot were as stubborn as a turtle biting a scale weight, but it was possible to brainwash the young scholars whose views had not yet solidified.

These few sentences alone were enough to stir the First Emperor's heart, and he nodded repeatedly.

"After a year or half a year, when the history is compiled, it shall be distributed throughout the realm for all students in public and private academies to study… In this way, within a single generation, no one will model the former kings or use the past to denigrate the present!"

Heifu knew the capabilities of Qin court historians well; they were arguably the worst under heaven. The *Qin Records* were extremely sloppy, vague on the time and course of many events, and he had no hope they could compile a monumental work to be passed down through the ages. What Heifu wanted was simply a thin, simple history textbook that scholars could understand. Pooling everyone's wisdom, it should be produced quickly.

And the core value running through this book would be that "the world must advance, and the present surpasses the past." It was laughable that when this principle was raised again over two thousand years later, it was actually in Yan Fu's translation of *Evolution and Ethics*, and the world was stunned as if by a celestial revelation. Little did they know that the Legalists Shang Yang and Han Fei had long taken this as consensus, only they hadn't stated it so plainly. For two thousand years after Qin, people basically took restoring antiquity as their political pursuit, and Chinese history began to enter a cycle of endless repetition.

The dagger was revealed as the map was unrolled; Heifu's purpose was now obvious. He not only wanted to prevent the book burning, allowing those schools with scientific potential to escape this unforeseen calamity and preserving a few seeds for the intellectual world, but also to strike a vicious blow at restorationism!

The culture of court historiography was a unique Chinese tradition. A state should take history as a mirror, but it must look forward, not live in a deluded dream of restoring the past! Heifu believed that two millennia of ceaseless dynastic rise and fall, of historical cycles unable to break out of the circle drawn by the past, was also an old malady of this nation.

But now, everything was different.

"In this way, even if a Wang Mang appears in later ages, he will never again be able to carry out a restoration and reform!"

…

"The younger generation inspires awe!"

Li Si was astonished by Heifu's talent and began to scrutinize this young man anew, filled with lasting admiration—just as Han Fei's "Solitary Indignation" and "Five Vermin" had made him both admire and envy!

This time, Heifu was not merely smoothing things over. He had a logically rigorous strategy for governing the state, and instead of confronting Li Si head-on, he climbed up the pole he was offered. The countermeasure he proposed had been tested in Jiaodong with good results. It could achieve the effect of unifying public discourse while being gentler than Li Si's method and more easily accepted…

Precisely because of this, Li Si's wariness deepened.

He realized the Emperor was deep in thought. In today's debate, he himself was already on the brink of defeat and could only do his utmost to salvage the situation!

So Li Si said, "The Grand Administrator of Jiaodong's strategy is indeed novel, but it will take too long—I fear one or two decades before results are seen. Moreover, the history books issued by the court can only be seen by a small number of academy students. How can they contend with the circulated excerpts and street-corner gossip spread by those with ulterior motives?"

In Li Si's view, books were the source of ideas, but the main channel of dissemination was still popular speech among the common people.

The histories of the Six States had been compiled long ago. Great scholars like Mozi had perused the annals of a hundred states, copying and taking portions out with them, which then scattered among the populace. Folk storytellers and entertainers, after encountering these copied history books, would select the stories within and recount the tales of Shi Kuang, Yanzi, and Chunyu Kun to the masses.

Similarly, the Confucians and Mohists each had their own textual traditions. Clutching their copies of the *Documents*, *Odes*, *Spring and Autumn Annals*, and *Changes*, they would start boasting about the rule of the Three Dynasties, which had deep roots among the common people. For the government's newly compiled history to contend with this learning that had existed for centuries would be truly difficult.

Heifu, however, thought otherwise. Even if old histories still lingered, they were already very hard for ordinary commoners and most scholars to see. As long as the government valued education and started with the children, the people would generally look at whatever the rulers presented to them and learn whatever they were taught.

But Li Si shook his head. "The Grand Administrator of Jiaodong has been secluded in the north and in Jiaodong and is unaware of the situation outside. A new situation has already emerged in the realm!"

Li Si began to report the new developments to the First Emperor: "And much of it is thanks to the hemp paper produced by the Grand Administrator of Jiaodong. In the Central Plains, in the lands of Liang and Chu, the control over papermaking methods was lax, and they have already flowed into the private sector. In the Linzi markets, privately made paper has also appeared. Many scholars east of the Pass, finding paper light and convenient, have copied the miscellaneous histories of the Six States and the *Odes* and *Documents* onto it, then recopied them for each other. As a result, one copy becomes ten, ten become a hundred, and it has already spread like wildfire. At this critical juncture, sifting through them one by one is futile; we must use harsh measures to govern them and burn them all completely…"

"So quickly!?"

Heifu was indeed startled, but on second thought, it made sense. Five years had passed since he made paper in Xianyang. The production techniques for hemp and bark paper were now very mature, and court documents were basically all on paper. Commanderies had also established paper workshops one after another. At first, the government didn't pay much attention, and as personnel came and went and craftsmen left, the process leaked into the private sector, falling into the hands of some powerful and wealthy clans. Seeing profit in selling paper, they set up private workshops.

Meanwhile, scholars of the Central Plains, when traveling to and fro, often carried books with them, their carts laden with heavy bamboo slips—hence the saying "a wealth of learning fills five carts." If switched to paper books, it would take no more than half a cart.

Besides being light, paper also had advantages in writing. In that era, the only way to duplicate knowledge was by copying books. Copyists were mostly impoverished scholars who relied on copying to make a living. Their employers were certain officials and scholars. When the writing medium was bamboo slips, the copyist had to copy slip by slip; if there was a mistake, they had to scrape it off with a small knife and correct it, finally binding them into a bamboo volume. This process was time-consuming and laborious.

Paper was convenient. As a substitute for fine silk, it saved the knife-wielding clerk copyists much effort and time, and as a result, hemp paper gradually became fashionable in the Central Plains.

Consequently, the number of books in private collections had multiplied several times over. This tiny butterfly effect had unexpectedly become the greatest obstacle to Li Si's book burning.

Heifu laughed inwardly. It had truly become a case of "wildfire cannot burn it all, spring breeze blows and it grows again." He said, "Chancellor, in that case, hasn't the difficulty of burning the books increased tenfold?"

Li Si retorted tit for tat, "And the difficulty of compiling history to teach the scholars and replace heterodox theories has increased not just tenfold, but I fear a hundredfold!"

Heifu had been waiting for this very remark. He laughed heartily. "Chancellor, do not worry. This humble official has a strategy that can reverse this hundredfold difficulty in one stroke!"

He carefully drew a sheet of paper covered in writing from his sleeve, first walking over respectfully and presenting it with both hands for Li Si to examine.

Li Si took it and looked. It was a copy of "The Way of the Official," which Ye Teng had promulgated back in Nan Commandery. He looked it over horizontally and vertically, but aside from the brushwork and script being too uniform, with an indescribable strangeness, there was nothing remarkable about it.

Frowning, he passed the paper to the Commandant of Justice, Ye Teng, who was beside him.

Ye Teng glanced at it, equally baffled. He coughed and asked, "Heifu, what is the meaning of this? Are you making sport of the Chancellor and me?"

"How would I dare… Please, Chancellor, look at this sheet of paper."

A second sheet was handed over. Li Si looked at it, and it was still "The Way of the Official," the same opening passage. He couldn't help growing a little impatient.

But in a flash, he spotted the anomaly!

"These two essays are identical not only in content and handwriting, but every character is the same size and spacing, down to a specific erroneous character!"

Li Si was deeply versed in the way of calligraphy. He knew well that although everyone has a unique handwriting style, to write a character with absolutely no difference, as if cast from a single mold, was nearly impossible!

If one character was impossible, how much more so a hundred? As Li Si pondered, the two sheets had been passed to the First Emperor. After comparing the two, it was proven that Li Si's eyes had not deceived him; the words and sentences on them were indeed completely identical.

But the First Emperor could not discern the reason either. He flicked his sleeve. "Stop keeping us in suspense. What mystery is this? Speak quickly!"

"As you command!"

Just as Heifu was about to reveal the riddle, Li Si had already figured it out.

He murmured, "If I am not mistaken, the characters on these two sheets were not written by a person, but were printed using raised characters carved in wood!"

"The Chancellor is correct; they were indeed printed."

"Printed?" Everyone suddenly understood. No wonder the shape of the characters was somewhat odd. But ordinary seals could only print a few characters—this was an entire essay…

Without explaining how it was done, Heifu first asked his father-in-law a question in return: "May I ask the Commandant of Justice, if bronze and iron weapons clash with wooden and stone weapons, which will prevail?"

Ye Teng replied, "The bronze and iron weapons will prevail, of course."

Heifu laughed. "Exactly. Even when the histories of the feudal lords circulate among the common people, most are wooden tablets and bamboo scrolls. Though paper books have appeared recently, they still ultimately rely on hand-copying — writing a thousand characters in a day is already no small feat."

"But recently, the craftsmen of Jiaodong have produced a device! First, have the craftsmen carve a raised-character template, engraving the words and sentences of an entire book onto a wooden board. Once carved, it takes only two men, with enough paper and ink, and the speed of producing books can reach a hundred times that of handwriting. In a single day, one can print a hundred books, amounting to a million words — far surpassing the speed of a scribe's hand-copying!"

Heifu bowed to Qin Shi Huang. "Your subject calls this technique printing — woodblock printing! I now present it to Your Majesty!"

PS: The recent chapters have been hard to write, I'm stuck and can't get anything out. Only two chapters today.

(End of chapter)