Chapter 36: The Birth of Arabic Numerals

The Qin Empire timeline.

Xianyang Palace.

Ying Zheng stood at the edge of the high platform, the wind stirring his black robe.

The Qin Empire rose on harsh laws and severe punishments.

The Qin Army's weapons already bore the雏形 of standardization.

Each arrowhead, each bronze sword, bore the craftsman's name engraved upon it.

If errors occurred, the entire team was executed.

It was precisely through this brutal system of marking the maker's name that the Qin Army's crossbow formations came to terrify the Six States.

But as Ying Zheng listened to Lin Xuan's words, his face turned as dark as water.

He felt the Qin had not gone far enough. Want to read more novels? Visit ttkstw for endless精彩.

"One percent of a single hair strand..." Ying Zheng's Adam's apple moved, "The Qin craftsmen rely on their eyes, on their hands."

"Inevitably, there are flaws invisible to the naked eye."

He turned and strode into the hall.

The廷尉 and Zuo Shao Fu knelt prostrate on the ground, their court robes soaked in cold sweat.

"Zuo Shao Fu, attend the imperial decree!" Ying Zheng drew the Son of Heaven Sword from his waist, its blade pointing straight at the ground.

"Your servant is here!"

"Remove all wooden measuring rulers. Forge bronze molds for me."

"Every crossbow mechanism, every trigger, every arrowhead must be precisely calibrated using bronze molds."

He stepped forward, killing intent fully revealed.

"Any component that does not fit the mold shall be melted down and recast."

"The Qin Army's weapons must be identical across a million pieces."

"On the battlefield, when a fallen soldier's crossbow is dismantled, its parts must fit perfectly into a living soldier's crossbow to continue killing."

"Anyone who produces a deviation of even a hair's breadth shall be executed on the spot!"

"Not only the craftsmen—supervising officials and their entire clans shall be exterminated!"

Zuo Shao Fu slammed his forehead against the golden bricks, the sound echoing sharply.

"Your servant obeys!"

The Qin Empire's nationwide policies of "uniform cart tracks, unified script" now took its most bloody, yet most advanced step—toward the ultimate standardization of military heavy industry.

……

The Tang Dynasty, Taiji Palace.

Li Shimin picked up a broken wooden fragment from the sand table.

It had shattered when the sand table was overturned earlier.

He held the wood in his palm, feeling the roughness of the break.

"Standardization... modularization..." Li Shimin chewed over these two words repeatedly.

Suddenly, he turned to look at Fang Xuanling.

"The prefectures and counties of the Tang have roads of inconsistent widths."

"Carts and horses jolt and wear out constantly."

"The military commands of each prefecture use wildly different weapon designs."

"When troops are mobilized and assembled, logistics become a tangled mess."

Fang Xuanling bowed.

"Your Majesty's intention is to adopt the methods of the future to govern the Tang's artisans?"

"I intend to govern not merely the artisans—but the rules themselves!"

Li Shimin's eyes gleamed.

"Draft the Tang Construction Code and the Military Weapon Illustrations!"

"Not only draw diagrams—but fix the exact dimensions."

Li Shimin swept his sleeves aside, "Not just weapons. From now on, when the Tang builds bridges, lays roads, or constructs ships, all must follow the blueprints."

"If a part breaks, a replacement can be found anywhere, anytime!"

……

Modern apartment.

Study room.

After finishing his dry lecture on industrial basics, Lin Xuan stood up.

Xiao Sizi placed the Big Wild Goose Pagoda model on the edge of the desk.

She looked up as Lin Xuan turned off the Personal Computer's Monitor, his hands behind his back.

"Lin Xuan, these rules sound simple, yet they conceal a ambition to swallow heaven."

"Only he who defines the world's measurements can rule the world."

Lin Xuan glanced down at her, then pinched her cheek.

"Such a little girl, spouting imperial scheming."

Lin Xuan released her and turned toward the door, "No matter how grand the rules, people still have to eat."

"The iron box runs on electricity; we run on meat."

He glanced at the wall clock.

"Tonight, I'll cook at home—braised pork ribs, made by my own hands."

Xiao Sizi, hearing there was meat to eat, immediately cast aside the dispute over the size of the world.

She took light steps, following Lin Xuan out of the study.

"What is braised pork ribs? Is it more fragrant than mutton?"

"Pork is called 'vile meat' in the Great Tang." Lin Xuan walked into the kitchen and took a box of cut ribs from the refrigerator's fresh-keeping compartment. Chapter update reminder: Chapter 36, Arabic Numerals Appear in the World, reading address. "But in our place, through modern castration techniques and feed feeding, pork has no fishy or gamey smell at all."

Lin Xuan tied on an apron, turned on the faucet, and rinsed away the blood.

Xiao Sizi leaned against the kitchen doorframe, watching Lin Xuan skillfully heat the pot and oil.

She patted her empty stomach, then glanced again toward the study.

The now-silent D Printer and the miniature Big Wild Goose Pagoda stood quietly in the darkness.

About twenty minutes passed.

The rich aroma of braised pork ribs spread through the dining room.

Lin Xuan picked up a rib coated in red sugar glaze with chopsticks and placed it into Xiao Sizi's white porcelain bowl.

Xiao Sizi held her chopsticks with both hands, ignoring the heat, and bit into the edge of the rib to tear it. The meat was so tender it fell off the bone, and salty-sweet juices splashed onto the corners of her mouth.

"Eat slowly, chew thoroughly before swallowing." Lin Xuan pulled out a tissue and handed it over.

Xiao Sizi spat out the bone, took the tissue, and wiped her mouth.

She licked her lips, her big eyes curving into crescent moons.

"This pork has no fishy or gamey smell at all; it is even fatter and more delicious than the roasted lamb legs in the palace." She shoveled two mouthfuls of white rice, her cheeks puffing out.

Lin Xuan held his bowl, his gaze falling on her face.

This four-year-old girl did not panic in the face of trouble and possessed clear logic.

After two days of contact, her speed of accepting new things was extremely fast; her mind spun like a small top.

Watching cartoons and playing games all day was a waste of such a good brain.

Lin Xuan swallowed his food, then put down his chopsticks.

"After eating, wash your hands and come to the living room to find me." Lin Xuan gave the instruction, stood up, and began clearing the bowls and plates before him.

Half an hour later.

Xiao Sizi, wearing slippers, walked obediently to the front of the sofa.

Lin Xuan patted the spot beside him.

"Sit."

Xiao Sizi climbed onto the sofa and crossed her legs.

Lin Xuan took the Tablet Computer and opened a drawing application.

The screen lit up, presenting a pure white canvas.

He held a white capacitive pen in his right hand, spinning it twice between his fingers.

"Your mind is lively; it cannot always be idle."

"Starting today, I will teach you some real skills."

"Class begins!"

Above the Sky Screen.

Lin Xuan's voice rang out.

Great Tang, Guozijian.

Dozens of white-haired great scholars and doctors were gathered in the courtyard.

Hearing that the god from the future was going to give the princess "class," the old scholars promptly adjusted their clothes and caps and straightened their spines.

"The learning of the future age, I wonder which classics it will transmit?" The Librarian of the Guozijian stroked his long beard, his eyes filled with anticipation. "The Analects, the Mencius, or perhaps the Book of Documents?"

Kong Yingda stood aside, shaking his head slightly.

"In his room, not a single scroll of bamboo slips or a single book of paper can be found."

"Judging by his words and actions, he seems more like a disciple of the Mohist or the Syncretist school."

"I, an old man, wish to see what sage's way he can teach if he does not respect Confucius and Mencius."

Civil officials and scholars of every dynasty held their breath, waiting to welcome the ideological baptism from the future.

In the image.

Lin Xuan placed the Tablet Computer on his knee.

The capacitive pen descended.

The pen tip swept across the Glass screen, leaving a trail of black ink.

A closed circle.

Immediately, the pen tip moved.

A vertical line. A curved hook resembling a water bird.

An arc formed by two semicircles joined together.

"0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9."

Lin Xuan wrote ten symbols in a row, lined up side by side.

In the Guozijian courtyard, silence reigned; not a crow cawed.

The great scholars stared with wide eyes at those twisted and strange lines.

There were no horizontal or vertical strokes, no radicals or components.

"This... what kind of ghostly talisman is this?" The Librarian cried out in shock, his fingers trembling. "He does not teach benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom; he does not teach poetry, books, rites, and music."

"He actually teaches the princess to draw these incantations that even the Western Regions' foreign monks do not use?"

Several old scholars stamped their feet and pounded their chests.

"Absurd! Simply misleading students!"

"He understands clever tricks and the art of healing and saving lives."

"But as for the Way of educating and nurturing people, he is utterly clueless!"

The disappointment and disdain of the civil officials' faction spread rapidly across the dynasties.

They had expected to hear profound truths hidden in subtle words, yet they were met with a string of distorted figures they could not even comprehend.