Chapter 106 It has become the shape of Mohism
In the end, Wang Jing did not choose to take action. He just stood there, looking at Sima Yi calmly, and asked in a light tone: "Do you want to plead for your brother Sima Lang?"

Sima Yi quickly came to his senses, calmed down his fear and anxiety, stepped forward and bowed to Wang Jing, and then spoke: "I believe that Marquis Qi would never kill innocent people. My brother is guilty, but his crime is not punishable by death. As for damaging the school, our Sima family is willing to compensate for the loss. Please show some mercy."

First show great courtesy, then admit guilt and punishment. It must be said that Sima Yi is experienced in handling matters and much more reliable than his elder brother Sima Lang, who was young and impetuous and did ridiculous things in a fit of rage after being bewitched by a few words.

With just one sentence, the bloody conflict was resolved.

The key point is that he relies on the fact that he is a naughty kid, so he dares to say anything. If Wang Jing persists, he will suffer a loss and ruin his reputation.

Obviously, Sima Yi was very smart. He realized that Wang Jing came to the Imperial College this time to take the opportunity to cause trouble.

Sima Lang was about to become a victim of the struggle between Ma Riti and Wang Jing, and between Confucianism and Mohism.

In order to save his elder brother, Sima Yi had to step forward and try to dissuade Wang Jing.

Sima Yi, on behalf of the Sima family, admitted his mistake and responded so politely. On the contrary, if Wang Jingruo continued to add to his criticism, it would seem a bit unreasonable.

After all, only the school building was smashed and no one was injured, let alone killed. The Sima family has admitted their mistakes. We can't just kill the whole family because of this, right?

It doesn't make sense.

Wang Jing had no reason to start a war, but he was not angry. He just looked at Sima Yi deeply and said, "You are so young, but you have such vision and scheming. You are very good."

"Lord Qi, you are too kind. I don't deserve it."

Sima Yi lowered his head very humbly, hiding the pride between his brows very well. Obviously from this moment on, he already had the demeanor of a sinister old man in the future.

Wang Jing looked at him with a smile that seemed meaningless to outsiders: "No, you can afford it. You can afford it very much."

Wang Jing dared not underestimate this old cunning man who deceived Cao Cao, outlasted Zhuge Liang, and ultimately laid the foundation for Sima to destroy Cao.

However, at this time, although Sima Yi pretended to be mature, he was just a naughty kid in his teens after all. He was not even a student of the Imperial College, but just followed his elder brother Sima Lang to attend classes and make connections.

Therefore, facing Wang Jing's meaningful and half-smiley gaze, Sima Yi always felt a chill on the back of his neck, as if someone was holding a knife to his neck. He immediately volunteered to escape as soon as possible: "Marquis Qi, we just want to arrest someone. Why should we trouble the Si Li Xiao Wei for such a small matter? I will go to the Imperial College and persuade my brother to surrender himself."

Wang Jing did not comment: "Well, go ahead, I'll only give you a cup of tea."

Sima Yi was pardoned and ran away in a flash.

Wang Jing was not afraid that the two brothers would run away. After all, the monk could escape but the temple could not. Sima Fang was an official in Luoyang. Unless the whole family could fly, it would be impossible for them to escape from Wang Jing's Five Finger Mountain.

After a while, Sima Yi came out with the dejected Sima Lang.

Sima Lang, now nineteen years old, is tall and looks very energetic, but he is a little too hot-blooded. He was so provoked by Ma Riti's words that he ran to Jinyang Gate and smashed the Mohist school, wanting to vent his anger on behalf of the Confucian school.

Later, Wang Jing came to the Imperial College to arrest people, and he panicked and didn't know what to do. So Sima Yi persuaded him a few times, and he took the initiative to surrender, hoping to seek leniency.

Wang Jing looked at the leader of the "Eight Sima" in front of him and said coldly: "You can escape the death penalty, but you can't escape the punishment of life. I punish you to repair the damaged school building yourself. You must do it yourself and you are not allowed to hire someone to do it for you. Do you have any complaints about this minor punishment?"

Sima Lang dared not put on airs in front of a "murderous devil" like Wang Jing. He quickly lowered his head and admitted his mistake, saying, "Marquis Qi is right. Lang is convinced."

…………

At Jinyang Gate in the south of the city is the Mohist School.

A group of young people were renovating their house, which attracted a lot of onlookers.

Their attire and temperament were very different from those of ordinary carpenters. They all wore a blue shirt, and the scholarly temperament between their brows revealed their identities.

Imperial College student!

The proud man of heaven!

People passing by were immediately attracted and happily became spectators. Some people even started selling snacks and fruits here.

"Aren't these the same people who came here to cause trouble before? What's going on?"

"Hey, I heard that they offended Lord Qi and were captured to repair the school building. They are not allowed to leave until it is repaired."

"I see. No wonder it's so miserable."

When the people heard that they had offended Marquis Qi Wang Jing, their faces immediately changed: "I think they deserved it. Who would offend Marquis Qi? They must not be decent if they offended Marquis Qi!"

Aren't we decent people?
The pointing and criticizing of the people around him made Sima Lang feel uneasy and his mentality almost collapsed. Every unpleasant word went straight to his heart.

The students from the Imperial College who came with him to repair the house were in a similarly bad mood. How proud they were in the past, how embarrassed they were now.

A few were so angry that they wanted to go out and argue with the people.

Sima Lang stopped him and said, "Forget it. They are a bunch of ignorant people. How can they understand what a fight for justice is? It is meaningless for you to argue with them."

Although they are all Confucianists, there are factional disputes among the New Text School, Old Text School and Chen Wei School. Now that Mohism has risen again, the fight for academic discourse power has naturally become more intense and cruel, and even every possible means have been used.

Although Sima Lang admitted defeat, he was not convinced in his heart and looked down on and even had hostility towards the Mohists. He believed that the Mohists had assisted the tyrannical Qin Dynasty in harming the world and that they deserved their failure.

The students who came with him to the Mohist Academy to cause trouble were all radical young people within the Confucian school. They had come to the school before and smashed everything, breaking a lot of the teaching equipment made by Lu Fang and Zhai Jie. Now they had to repair them all and were suddenly overwhelmed.

"How do I fix this crap?"

"That's right, killing people is not enough. Marquis Qi actually asked us to do the carpentry work. This is really too much!"

If you let a group of Imperial College students brag, they can talk all day long without repeating themselves, criticizing current affairs, talking nonsense to the ministers, and acting like they are all masters of Confucianism, as if there is nothing in the world that they don't know.

But asking them to do carpentry work is more painful than killing them.

In the eyes of Confucian scholars, all kinds of craftsmen were menial laborers. Even an instrument with infinite potential, such as the Yanjia technique, was regarded by them as a strange and obscene skill, not to mention other craftsmanship.

How can we, scholars, lower our status and degenerate like this?
It is simply insulting to gentlemen!
So they frantically tried to fix it, but found that they couldn't fix it at all, so they immediately backed out: "Why don't we go to Qi Hou to talk about it? At worst, we can just pay for it. It's just a piece of junk, can't we afford to pay for it?"

"That's what I mean! It's just a little more money, I don't want to suffer this anymore!"

For a moment, they were all very excited and wanted to go to Wang Jing to "reason".

However, Sima Lang stopped him and said, "Everyone, please listen to me."

"Boda, are you going to stop us?"

Sima Lang put down the work in his hands, shook his head and said, "No, it's because I know this move will be in vain, and it is even very likely to cause complications and increase the punishment, so I have to dissuade you from doing so, lest I be implicated by you."

Sima Lang was outstanding in both character and talent, so he was quite famous among the students of the Imperial College. Everyone was willing to listen to his words, but they were still very dissatisfied in their hearts: "Can't we just pay the money?"

"Alas, you think things are too simple."

Sima Lang had acted on impulse before, but now that he had met Wang Jing in person and had calmed down to think carefully, he finally understood the seriousness of the matter and immediately explained to his companions, "Marquis Qi now occupies the Hedong Salt Lake and has a monopoly on salt sales. The money he has earned is incalculable. Does he need our compensation?"

When everyone heard it, they realized it was true.

The snow salt produced in Hedong is pure white and has no peculiar smell. They also buy it at home. A small bowl sells for one tael of silver. This money is easier to come by than robbing. Therefore, Wang Jing is enjoying huge profits just by selling snow salt. It is not an exaggeration to say that he makes a fortune every day. How can he look down on the meager money they have?

"Boda, then tell me, what is the purpose of Marquis Qi detaining us here?"

Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Sima Lang whispered his guess: "I think that Qi Hou's move is nothing more than a small punishment for a big warning. Most of the things we damaged are teaching equipment used by the Mohist school to train its disciples. If we want to repair them, how can we do it without certain professional knowledge? Qi Hou's move must be like forcing a cow to drink water."

"Hiss~ I never thought it would be like this!"

Everyone took a deep breath, obviously frightened by Sima Lang's words, but then they thought about it carefully and felt that it was true: "Then what should we do?"

They were all young and radical members of the Confucian school, and the ideas of loyalty and righteousness were often on their lips. Now Wang Jing actually wanted them to learn Mohist knowledge. This "betrayal" of their own school was tantamount to ideological derailment, which made them feel extremely uncomfortable.

They would rather pay ten times the compensation than suffer this pain.

Sima Lang could only smile bitterly and sigh, saying, "When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. I think we should just study hard."

The other students looked at each other, and finally lowered their proud heads and chose to succumb to reality.

As for the pride of the scholars, we can talk about it later. After all, if they can't repair things, they will never be able to leave here in their entire lives. How can there be any future to speak of?

It’s not that no one asked for help from his family, but it was useless. Their fathers didn’t get any face, so Wang Jing just ignored them.

Some students were even beaten by their elders at home.

Even they don't dare to mess with a ruthless character like Wang Jing. How dare you, a bunch of ignorant brats, come and destroy Wang Jing's place?
What kind of behavior is this?
If you want to die, just jump into the river. Why do you want to drag your family down with you?

As a result, no one dared to negotiate with Wang Jing or reason with him. After all, Wang Jing had never reasoned with anyone since his debut.

Seeing that they had nowhere to turn to for help, this group of unfortunate and miserable students could only choose Sima Lang as their representative and let him contact Lu Fang secretly.

Lu Fang was a few years older than them, but they were of the same generation, so Sima Lang came to him in the name of "communication" to avoid embarrassing everyone.

After all, these people all consider themselves as students of Confucianism, and it is really inappropriate for them to worship a Mohist teacher. It may even become an indelible stain in their lives in the future.

There is absolutely no problem for peers to exchange academic views with each other. Although we are Confucian students, it is reasonable to have some hobbies of our own, right?
Anyway, no matter what, you have to save face!

Otherwise, you will lose all your face and how can you practice Confucianism?
It was with this ostrich mentality that Sima Lang and his friends found Lu Fang.

Lu Fang looked at Sima Lang and the others in surprise: "Are you planning to learn the knowledge in the Mohist Classic from me?"

Sima Lang coughed lightly and emphasized awkwardly: "It's not about learning, it's just about communicating with each other. Do you understand?"

Lu Fang stared at them speechlessly, and finally nodded reluctantly to Sima Lang: "Okay, can you tell me how you plan to communicate?"

After making sure that he would not give anyone a chance to criticize him, Sima Lang secretly breathed a sigh of relief and then began to seriously ask Lu Fang for some relevant knowledge.

Although Lu Fang had no good feelings towards Sima Lang and his group of Confucian scholars who came to challenge him, he still told them everything he knew and taught them all the contents of the Mohist Classic, including the newly added "Mechanics" section.

Compared with the boring Confucian classics and the teachings of the saints that sound profound but are a headache to remember, the Mohism improved by Wang Jing is obviously more vivid and interesting, especially the various refreshing physics experiments. Even Sima Lang, who prided himself on his iron will, felt an eye-opener and his heart was pounding.

At first, Sima Lang went to learn reluctantly, thinking that he would leave immediately after repairing the damaged equipment.

But after the things were repaired, they didn't want to leave anymore.

Going back to the Imperial Academy, you'll spend all day bragging about the hundred ways to use the power of thought. But in the end, you'll have to wait another ten or twenty years to build up a reputation and become a famous scholar before you can use the art of the sacred words as you please?

It’s not as novel and interesting as doing physics experiments every day here!
Young people are always better at accepting new things, and the smarter the brain, the more they like to explore the essence of everything and the laws that govern the world.

Physics is such a subject that reveals the nature of heaven and earth!

Therefore, for young people like Sima Lang who are still full of thirst for knowledge and curiosity about the universe, physics is really very interesting, and doing experiments is more interesting than profound theories.

Now, they feel that they can never go back to their previous muddled life.

One day, Sima Lang came to Lu Fang with a globe and asked: "The earth is round, is it actually a sphere?"

Sima Lang, who had always accepted the idea of ​​"the earth is round and the sky is square", was so shocked by the globe that he couldn't stand it.

After Wang Jing's popular science, Lu Fang took it for granted that the earth is a ball: "It's just a ball, what else?"

"That's unlikely, isn't it?"

Sima Lang was reluctant to believe it because it went against his "common sense".

Lu Fang did not argue with him because Wang Jing once told him that the real truth does not need to be debated, only the facts need to be presented.

Facts are always more convincing than words.

Lu Fang agreed with this statement and decided to put it into practice. He said to Sima Lang: "In fact, the idea that the earth is round is easy to prove. Come with me and I will prove it to you."

After that, Lu Fang took Sima Lang to a small fishing port beside the Luo River.

The two happened to pass by the fish market, where many fishermen were selling seafood along the street, and it was quite lively.

The sanitary conditions in the fish market were quite poor. As the pungent fishy smell drifted to his nose, Sima Lang covered his mouth and nose somewhat uncomfortably. The Sima family was a prominent family in Hanoi. The twelfth-generation ancestor Sima Mao had been conferred the title of King of Yin after following the Overlord of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, to destroy the Qin Dynasty. His family background was extremely prominent.

Therefore, Sima Lang rarely came into contact with this kind of market place and was somewhat uncomfortable with it.

There was a watchtower at the port. Sima Lang followed Lu Fang and climbed to the top of the tower. Feeling the cool breeze, he was confused and couldn't help asking, "Zhengliang, why did you bring me here?"

Lu Fang smiled confidently: "You will know it soon."

After waiting for a while, a merchant ship came not far away.

Lu Fang said to Sima Lang: "Look, a boat is coming from the river. Do you see the top of the sail first or the hull first?"

This question was very simple, but Sima Lang was unable to answer it because he had never noticed such details before. He subconsciously said, "Should he see the entire ship? How come he saw the top of the sail first?"

As the merchant ship approached, Sima Lang was surprised to find that he actually saw the top of the sail first. He was immediately shocked and said, "Could it be that the earth is really round?"

Sima Lang was unwilling to believe such an incredible thing, but the facts were right in front of him, how could he not believe it?

Lu Fang imitated Wang Jing's posture and said to Sima Lang with a smile: "This is what Qi Hou said. Facts speak louder than words. All truths must be personally verified and concluded through thinking. The worst thing to do is to follow hearsay and blindly follow others."

After this incident, Sima Lang completely put aside his contempt for Mohism and his shame. He became a questioner and asked Lu Fang for advice with his questions in mind: "But how can the earth be round? If it is really a ball, wouldn't the people below be afraid of falling into the void?"

Lu Fang explained: "This has been explained in the chapter on mechanics. According to the law of universal gravitation, the earth attracts everything because of its large mass."

Sima Lang was surprised by this viewpoint and said, "Where is this chapter on mechanics? Why do I not seem to see such content in the Mohist Canon that I read?"

"You are reading the old version of Mo Jing. The content of the chapter on mechanics has not been included yet."

(End of this chapter)