Chapter 546: Treasuring One's Own Battered Broom

"The Commandery Governor wants the Mohists to take the lead in establishing technical schools, teaching the skills and knowledge from the Mohist Canon to craftsmen?"

Cheng Shang was full of misgivings. After pondering for a long while, he shook his head and said, "The Mohists in Xianyang will probably never agree."

Over the past three months, Mohist Cheng Shang had already made one trip to Xianyang, teaching Guanzhong officials how to operate the printing apparatus. He had only just returned to Jimo when he heard that Commandery Governor Heifu had submitted a memorial to the First Emperor, requesting the establishment of "Schools of Agriculture and Industry" in Xianyang — with the Agriculturalists handling agricultural education and the Mohists handling craftsman education. He immediately rushed over to pay a visit.

It so happened that Heifu had just finished entertaining his father-in-law Ye Teng and was drinking into the night with his good friend Zhang Cang — which led to this scene of Cheng Shang declaring that the Mohist teachings could not be lightly imparted to others...

Cheng Shang had his reasons. The Mohist organization was tightly disciplined, its leader titled "Grand Master." It was less a school of thought and more a military organization. Its disciples also had to meet the following criteria before they could be recognized as Mohists: unafraid of hardship and danger, never shirking toil, shunning empty talk, daring to go through fire and water — and most importantly, embracing the Mohist ideals!

"Universal Love and Non-Aggression, Exalting the Worthy and Conforming to Superiors!"

In short, one had to stand before the Grand Master, swear an oath to the ghosts, spirits, and the Will of Heaven, and dedicate one's entire life to the Mohist cause of Universal Love and Great Unity.

It was precisely because of this strict selection that the early Mohists could each, for the sake of their ideals, charge into fire and tread on blades, never turning back even in death, leaving behind many moving and stirring tales. In the eyes of the Mohists, those people were all "revolutionary martyrs."

In short, joining the Mohist school in this era meant countless layers of trials awaited you — far more difficult than joining a political party in later ages...

Therefore, although many Mohists came from petty craftsman backgrounds, not all craftsmen could become Mohists!

Over the past two hundred years, the Mohist school, having endured several brutal schisms, also most feared the infiltration of people like Sheng Chuo and Master Cao from Mozi's time — those who "betrayed righteousness for the sake of official salaries."

Thus, the Qin Mohists adhered to the principle of "rather go without than admit the unworthy" when recruiting. In recent decades, they had even adopted a master-apprentice inheritance model, much like the small handicraftsmen they represented: each person took only two disciples, who would kowtow and bow deeply upon entering the school, forbidden to betray their master or abandon the Mohist school.

Accustomed to one-on-one instruction, Cheng Shang found it somewhat hard to accept that Heifu was suddenly telling them to open large classrooms and teach the knowledge the Mohists had so carefully passed down to outsiders.

"Didn't the Mohists willingly teach the water mill and printing techniques to ordinary craftsmen? And don't Mohists preach Universal Love and Non-Aggression to everyone they meet?"

Heifu expressed his incomprehension. In his view, the Mohist school should be one that valued practicality. Why was it so difficult to get them to take the lead in establishing "technical schools"?

Cheng Shang explained, "The water mill and printing techniques were things the Commandery Governor asked craftsmen to build; the Mohists merely improved them. They were never Mohist property to begin with — why would the Mohists hoard them? As for Universal Love and Non-Aggression, those belong to the Inner Canon, which is different from the Outer Canon."

Cheng Shang then explained to Heifu the hierarchy of Mohist knowledge. Concepts like Universal Love, Non-Aggression, the Will of Heaven, and Understanding Ghosts were called the "Inner Canon." These were what Mohists repeatedly preached to others — their core doctrines. The Mohists would not hoard these; they only feared people wouldn't listen.

But chapters like "Preparing the City Gates" and "Preparing Against High Assaults" were treated as the Outer Canon, which the Mohists guarded with extreme secrecy, because they involved military offense and defense. A single black-tech device could change the course of a battle. The Mohists mastered these to stop wars, but if they fell into the hands of someone like Gongshu Ban, wouldn't they become lethal killing tools?

By the same logic, the "Explanations of the Canon," dealing with optics, mechanics, levers, and the like, was also deeply hidden, because this was what Mozi painstakingly researched in the latter half of his life. Successive Grand Masters believed that Mozi's great learning was concealed within — akin to the art of dragon-slaying — and could not be lightly revealed to others.

Only outsiders considered "friends of the Mohists," like Heifu and Fusu, were permitted to borrow and read them.

In short, over the past decade, although the Mohists had aided Heifu's endeavors, their help had actually been quite limited. It was basically always Heifu taking the lead on something, explaining its benefit to the world, and only then would the Mohists readily lend a hand.

But they only helped with the techniques, never the theory.

To get them to hand over the knowledge they kept at the bottom of the chest, Cheng Shang felt, the Qin Mohists would have to convene all their members and thoroughly discuss the matter.

Cheng Shang's attitude immediately made Heifu gnash his teeth in anger. He thought to himself, "No wonder Mozi's learning, though ahead of the world, saw the Mohist circle grow smaller and smaller. In the end, the Confucian school, equally a prominent philosophy, flourished more and more, while the Mohists ultimately faded into oblivion, their knowledge completely lost."

Heifu had initially thought it was due to external factors, but on reflection, the Confucians taught everyone without distinction, while the Mohists were picky about accepting disciples and guarded their own doctrines and knowledge with extreme secrecy — that was also part of the reason.

"If even the Mohists, who daily proclaim their desire to 'promote the world's benefit,' are this evasive and obstructive, what about the rest of the craftsmen?"

Heifu's brother-in-law was registered as a craftsman, so he understood very well: ancient craftsmen had one defining trait — they treasured their own battered brooms!

In later ages, technical learning had schools, books, and once you entered a factory, a master to guide you. There were only skills you didn't want to learn, never skills that couldn't be taught. But the Qin dynasty was not like that.

Qin craftsmen, if they had even a tiny bit of unique skill, would hide it and keep it secret, deathly afraid that others would find out and cut off their family's livelihood.

When later generations look at ancient handicrafts, they always exclaim that they are works of surpassing ingenuity — and then note that the craft was lost... Why was it lost? A major reason is that the craftsman hid this unique skill, and then his descendants either couldn't learn it or he didn't have time to teach it, and so it was lost.

So it's hardly surprising when a certain craft suddenly vanishes or regresses by decades or even centuries.

"I've heard that Mozi once spent three years meticulously developing a wooden kite that could fly, and he could build a cart carrying thirty dan that ran swiftly yet effortlessly. But later, all of it was lost. I'm afraid it was because the later Mohist disciples, of all things to learn, ended up learning the craftsmen's habit of treasuring their own battered brooms..."

This was probably the limitation of ancient schools and the groups they represented. The Confucians had the vices of the stinking ninth-rank scholars, the Agriculturalists had the shortsightedness of the small peasant class, and the Mohists had the petty nature of small handicraftsmen.

"No one is perfect in every way — they all need me to give them a kick in the rear!"

Heifu, already well warmed by wine, now saw that Cheng Shang failed to understand his painstaking intentions and was hesitating. He instantly flared up, slammed the armrest table, and roared:

"Everything I've said was for the good of the Mohist school. How can you not understand? Wife, have someone bring the blackboard! Today, I'm going to give this stubborn ox Cheng Ziyin a proper lesson!"

Ye Zijin had long since retired for the night. Hearing the noise and the maidservant's report, she sighed and thought to herself, "My husband is going to lecture someone again..."

She was seven months pregnant, her belly large. Although this was her second child, the pregnancy symptoms were just as strong, and her temper correspondingly poor. She had no inclination to deal with these drunkards. She had the maidservant fetch the items Heifu wanted to the guest hall and set them before the three men.

Zhang Cang, who had been dead drunk and sleeping off to the side, was also woken by Heifu's table slam. He tilted his head and stared for a long while before saying, "Isn't this the object we saw at the public school the day before yesterday?"

Indeed, this was another new thing produced in Jiaodong. Although the addition of paper, that divine tool, to the classroom had greatly improved teaching efficiency, there were still times when the master dictated and the students took notes, but due to accents and such, the disciples couldn't quite grasp what the master said. The master could only write the words on paper and pass it around the whole class — time-consuming and laborious.

After Heifu sat in on one of Xiao He's lessons, he had the commandery craftsmen make blackboards and chalk.

The blackboard was not difficult. Carpenters were directly ordered to plane several smooth boards, apply several layers of black lacquer on top, and after air-drying, they were ready.

Chalk was a bit more complicated. Fortunately, thanks to the alchemists of Jiaodong, they had already discovered raw gypsum and regarded it as a medicinal ingredient, deeply fond of it and considering it a common material for refining pills.

While Heifu had tricked the alchemists into going to the salt fields to research salt-sunning methods, he had also recruited a few into the commandery governor's mansion as retainers. He had people purchase some raw gypsum from around Jiaodong, heat it in a cauldron to a certain temperature to partially dehydrate it into plaster of Paris, then mix the plaster of Paris with water into a paste, pour it into molds to solidify — and thus obtained chalk...

The blackboard and chalk, as the most universal educational tools, had dominated the most important position in the classroom since their invention. Even in the electronic age, they still stubbornly served, very hard to eliminate, and thus found use in Jiaodong's classrooms.

As for why the Commandery Governor's mansion had this item? According to the household stewards, Heifu had recently become obsessed with a new thing called "prenatal education" and always liked to lecture Ye Zijin when he had nothing else to do. It was only because he had gone to accompany the First Emperor on the fengshan sacrifices and inspection tour that things had quieted down for three months...

At this moment, the rough-and-ready Heifu grabbed a piece of chalk, tapped the blackboard, and said to Cheng Shang, "Cheng Ziyin, watch closely!"

With that, he swiftly wrote four crooked, ugly characters on the blackboard. Without Xiao He or Chen Ping to write for him, and being tipsy on top of that, his handwriting was truly an eyesore.

Zhang Cang, however, was in no state to mock him. Straining his eyes to look closely, he had drunk so much that he couldn't even tell whether it was four characters or five. He just mumbled, "Learning... learning for..."

Cheng Shang saw clearly. What was written on the blackboard were unmistakably four clerical script characters!

"Learning for practical application!"

PS: Second chapter in the afternoon.

(End of chapter)