Chapter 198 Mathematical Sciences should be taken seriously
After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the atmosphere of the banquet gradually heated up, and the wine became more intense, which made some people begin to let go of their originally restrained temperament. The atmosphere in the courtyard There was peace and joy.
But some people remained awake. A middle-aged candidate stood up from his seat and said to the First Emperor: "Tonight's banquet is supposed to be a time of joy, and it should not spoil the interest of your Majesty and everyone at the same time. However, if there is one thing I don’t say "If there is a fish bone in the throat, and it is a harm to the Qin Dynasty, it should be reported to His Majesty in time."
Fan Zeng looked at the middle-aged candidate, and he happened to hear his name when he was parading on the horse today. , called "Li Shiqi".
Ying Zheng glanced at Li Shiqi and said, "Since you are harming the Qin Dynasty, let's talk about it!"
Li Shiqi said seriously: "What the people say is the harm of the Qin Dynasty is that this Xianyang exam puts more emphasis on arithmetic and the study of objects, while paying less attention to policy questions. This is extremely inappropriate."
Seeing that Ying Zheng did not stop him. After speaking, Li Shiqi continued: "Arithmetic and investigation are indeed useful, but they should not be overemphasized. It should be noted that they are small ways, and inquiry is the main way."
These words made Ying Zheng interested and asked: "Confucianism has a talk about the six arts of a gentleman, which was established by Confucius and must be learned by Confucian disciples. One of the arts is 'number'..."
Ying The political speech has not been finished, but everyone knows its meaning. "Number" is one of the six skills of a gentleman. It was established by Confucius, the ancestor of Confucianism. You, a Confucian disciple, want to refute Confucius?
Li Shiqi replied: "'Number' is indeed one of the six arts. However, Confucius designated 'number' as one of the six arts so that we can know 'number' and use 'number' in self-cultivation and Qi. To govern a family and a country is to be useful in practice. ”
"The meaning of Confucius is that you must learn 'numerology' so that you can use it to do things tomorrow. However, it is a small way after all. It is enough, but not too much."
"But in this big test, Your Majesty Elevating arithmetic to a position it does not deserve will be harmful if people are incompetent and occupy high positions. The same goes for arithmetic. "Arithmetic cannot be used to cultivate crops and raise silkworms and weave clothes?" Not to mention how useful it is to govern the country and the people, what is its use in daily life? "
"For example, in the arithmetic examination question, what is the relationship between the three sides of a triangle? Is it possible for farmers to produce more grain when cultivating? "
"There is also the question of the pond, which is filled with water and released at the same time. Who would do this on a normal day? "
If you are filling the pond with water at the same time, isn't that because you are full and full? Only a fool would do this, right?
Li Shiqi continued: "The same is true for the study of objects. Although it is useful, it is only of some use and should not be elevated to such a status."
"The people are not talking about it. You can’t learn arithmetic or investigating things. I just want to ask your Majesty to distinguish the priorities of governing a country!”
“Governing a country should be based on charity! Benevolent government and clear etiquette and laws are the main ones. If benevolent government is implemented, the people will follow the will and everyone will obey the etiquette. The world will naturally be determined. Arithmetic and investigation can only be secondary and should not be regarded as too important. "
Li Shiqi's words. Many candidates who participated in the banquet nodded, yes, this is enough for learning. There is no use in going deeper to discover and understand.
However, Da Qin Wenwu who attended the banquet did not nod. He just looked at Li Nian, who was sitting at the same table with the other gentlemen. It was this person who came up with the arithmetic and inquiry questions. It was also this person who juxtaposed arithmetic, inquiry and policy questions. Look at this How to answer.
Ying Zheng did not answer Li Shiqi's question. Instead, he looked at the other candidates and said, "If you have anything else you want to say, please share it with me!"
Again One candidate stood up, holding a cup in his hand, and said sternly: "It has not been half a year since the unification of the People's Republic of China, and many people in the world are still hungry and naked, but your Majesty is using this treasure in a big way. It's too extravagant and too extravagant."
"I am very grateful to you for serving wine to us, but I also hope that your Majesty can see the appearance of all the people in the world, and don't know that the people are hungry and cold in the deep palace. ! ”
Ying Zheng was not angry at all, and he did not think that this person was short-sighted and did not know that this thing was not precious. Instead, he felt that this person was very honest and dared to stand up and point out the problem.
After Li Shiqi and this candidate, other candidates were also attracted and began to speak one after another, turning the banquet into a discussion meeting on governing the country and the world.
At this moment, many of them forgot their former homeland, and also forgot that they were in the Great Qin Palace, and that Emperor Qin was still here.
The opinions raised by these people are also very interesting. For example, regarding the policies of foreign countries, some people think that it is necessary to send troops to conquer and make their lands belong to the Qin Dynasty. Some people think that we should be benevolent and punish those barbarians. Benevolent government allows them to take the initiative to return to their original aspirations because of benevolence.
So, the original intention of speaking to Emperor Qin to point out the problem gradually went astray. These candidates started arguing because of their different opinions.
For example, Zhuang Huang, the top scorer in the comprehensive list, got into an argument with others. Zhuang Huang thought that Li Shiqi was wrong. Learning arithmetic is useful in studying things, and studying things will definitely benefit the world in the future. The giant of Chu and Moh stood behind him This aspect also provides some evidence of the usefulness of gewu in daily life.
But there were not many candidates on their side, and more people supported Li Shiqi's words. The origins of many people were also exposed in the debate. For example, Zhuang Huang was an alchemist who practiced Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism, while Han Zheng was a fellow practitioner of Confucianism and Legalism.
Fusu glanced at Li Nian, who was sitting next to him, with a strange expression. Many things in the Xianyang University Examination came from his future brother-in-law. This group of candidates discussed arithmetic, studying things, and It's related, but this person just sat there eating like a normal person without even raising his eyelids.
It seems that one more look or one more word will make him eat less.
If there weren't other people around, Fusu would like to ask his future brother-in-law: Food is so important, why don't you say something?
After a while, Ying Zheng said: "Li Nian, what do you think?"
As soon as Emperor Qin spoke, everyone stopped arguing and looked at the young man they had seen during the day. The princes of Great Qin stood up at the table where they were sitting.
Bai Ri was still unable to determine the identity of this person, but Emperor Qin had determined for them at this moment that this young man was none other than Li Nian, the target of many people traveling to Xianyang.
Li Niandao: "What you all said is reasonable in some aspects. Are the arithmetic and investigation of things you discussed worthy of being valued? Li believes that they should be valued, and must be valued!"
If you cannot learn mathematics, physics and chemistry, you will either let the whole world play in the mud together, or you will be severely beaten by other countries that develop mathematics, physics and chemistry.
Li Nian didn't want to choose between these two options. What he wanted was for Great Qin to develop mathematics, physics and chemistry and beat other countries violently.
Li Nian picked up the cup in front of him: "The reason why arithmetic and the investigation of things are not considered worthy of attention by everyone is simply because they feel that they are not used in daily life."
"But most people usually do not use it. The fact that it is not used does not mean that the whole country does not need it, and the average person does not usually use the deeper knowledge of arithmetic and physics, but it does not mean that the things created by this knowledge are not used. "
The average person usually uses advanced mathematics. And materials science?
It is indeed unnecessary. You don’t need high math to buy vegetables, and you don’t need to analyze the materials when buying fish. But the mobile phones and computers that people use every day are all created by this knowledge.
"For example, this cup in my hand, someone just used it to advise His Majesty, saying that Your Majesty's excessive use of this thing is too extravagant and extravagant."
"It is true to advise against extravagance, but this advice is not correct. There is only one premise, that is, this thing is very precious.”
“However, this thing is not actually very precious. I want to learn arithmetic and figure things well and want to create this. Calculating things is not that difficult. ”
“But in the process of making this thing, you need to know the properties of the raw materials, the amount, time, and temperature of adding various raw materials... These all require arithmetic and calculation of things!”
“Some people may say that this cup can be used even if it is not used at ordinary times, which is not enough to prove that arithmetic and the investigation of objects are worthy of attention. What about paper?”
"Everyone who has participated in this Xianyang exam, how do you feel?"
The candidates who had just supported Li Shiqi were speechless.
Because of the convenience of paper, they have experienced it personally and its great use in the world.
Li Nian continued: "I heard that in ancient times, people didn't know how to smelt and often made various utensils from stone. They didn't know how to wear clothes and covered their bodies with leaves. They didn't know how to make fire. They drank blood from their hair. "
"But today, our armored soldiers of Great Qin are made of copper and iron, our clothes of Great Qin are made of silk and linen, and we even know how to make fire..."
"All of the above are progresses in the investigation of things. Only by knowing that copper and iron can be smelted can we know that they can be made into armor. Only by knowing that silk and linen can be used for clothing can we raise silkworms and weave cloth."
Someone wants to be born. He refuted that it was important to study things, but arithmetic didn't reflect it, but he thought about what Li Nian said when making the cup, he needed to use arithmetic to calculate the amount of raw materials and control the heat, so he didn't say anything.
“The investigation of things will continue to progress and develop many things that surprise us, and arithmetic will also play an important role in it. You may not think that it is not important because it seems not to be used in daily life!”
The great thing about the era of Da Qin is that many interest groups have not yet been formed. Confucianism is not a single family, there are no clans, no gentry exists, and the division between civil servants and military generals is not so obvious. Although the nobles of the Six Kingdoms exist, they are already a group of withered bones in the grave. .
So it is easier to do certain things than in later dynasties!
(End of this chapter)