Diqin Designer

Chapter 192: The Study of Things, the Final Exam is Over

After the mathematics exam, there was two quarters of an hour for a break, so Fan Zeng left the exam room, relaxed his tense mind, and prepared for the final exam on physics.

Many people make the same choice as him.

It was different from the time after the policy test. After the policy test, most people looked relaxed, and some acquaintances gathered together to discuss the test results. But this was after the academic test. Although some people still gathered together to discuss, many people did not look as relaxed as before, and it was obvious that they did not perform well in the test.

Mathematics is actually not that difficult to learn, as many schools of thought today require it to be studied.

There is no need to explain the Mohists much; when a military strategist leads an army into battle, he needs to calculate food, fodder, weapons, and armor, as well as the distance between the enemy and us, so how could he not understand that?

Taoists and alchemists often need to make calculations when refining elixirs and medicines, and the art of "number" is also one of the six arts of Confucian gentlemen.

Candidates who come to Xianyang for the examination all know something about mathematics. The only question is whether they are proficient in it and have a deep understanding of it. In Fan Zeng's opinion, mathematics only needs to be applicable in practice and there is no need to go into depth.

However, this may not be the case!
The term "ge wu" should come from the Confucian "Book of Rites. Great Learning" "To acquire knowledge, one must investigate things", which means "to investigate the principles of things". How should this be tested?
Should we examine the things of Mohism? Or should we examine the things of Taoism?

If these are seriously tested, it will be a difficult exam for many candidates!

Because most of them only study the contents of their own school. Although they know about other schools, they mostly know about other schools' ideas of governing the world. They don't know much about things like Mohism's "When the scenery arrives, there is a beginning at noon, and when the scenery grows, the saying is at the beginning" and "Force is the reason why punishment is so exciting"...

This is also the shortcoming of some schools of thought, which focus on academic ideas rather than actual scientific discoveries. Sometimes they even link scientific discoveries with the ideas of their own schools, either to prove the correctness of their own ideas or to criticize and refute the enemy's theories.

Two quarters of an hour passed, and with the familiar "ding" sound, Fan Zeng and many other candidates returned to their respective examination rooms.

Sitting in his seat and looking at the test paper that was handed out, Fan Zeng knew that he would not be able to finish answering all the questions in this examination.

What he guessed happened, and it really tested the principles of things.

What did the Emperor of Qin want to do through the Xianyang Examination, or what did Li Nian want to do through the Xianyang Examination?
Fan Zeng had the answer to this question in his mind. He probably wanted to select out talented people with a talent for mathematics and the study of things through this exam. But what would it matter once these people were selected?

Do the Emperor of Qin and Li Nian have to rely on them to govern the country and make Qin strong?

The Mohist School has existed for so many years, but has not been able to make any country strong. How is it possible that Qin can be made strong by selecting a group of people through the Xianyang examination?
To govern a country, one still has to rely on military strategists, legalists, Confucianists or Taoists, but definitely not Mohists. Those Mohists are fine as craftsmen, but forget about governing a country and its people...

With these thoughts in mind, Fan Zeng looked at the test paper. The first type of questions was still multiple-choice questions, and the first few were still easy-to-scoring questions: Question: "Classic of Mountains and Seas" says, "Three hundred miles to the southwest is the Nüchuang Mountain, which has a lot of red copper on the sunny side and a lot of stone on the shady side." Which of the following objects is made of stone?
1. Honeycomb; 2. Honeycomb briquettes; 3. Tofu; 4. Charcoal.

But after the easy questions, the difficulty starts to increase, like the one Fan Zeng is looking at now: As shown in the figure, push the wooden ball at point A down, and ask how the wooden ball moves after entering the horizontal plane? (Note: Both the inclined plane and the horizontal plane are absolutely smooth, with no air resistance.)
1. It will stop moving immediately. 2. It will keep moving at a certain speed forever. 3. It will keep accelerating and keep moving forever. 4. It will stop moving after a period of time.

Fan Zeng noticed the words within the “()” symbol, but didn’t understand why it noted that the inclined plane and the horizontal plane were absolutely smooth, and that there was no air resistance.

He thinks about this in relation to the reality of daily life:
It would definitely be wrong to stop immediately. He had seen things rolling down a slope. They would not stop, but would stop after rolling for a certain distance.

From this perspective, the answer should be "four", but the note obviously has a deeper meaning, so the answer may be different from "four".

Therefore, "one" and "four" can be ruled out, leaving only "two" and "three". But how is it possible that the wooden ball would keep moving forever after rolling down the slope?

Objects rolling down a slope tend to roll faster and faster, so the correct answer should be "three".

Fan Zeng picked up his pen and wrote "three" on the answer sheet.

The middle-aged man on his right side fixed his eyes upon seeing this question. Wasn't this question testing exactly what their Mohist doctrine of "force is the reason why punishment is so effective"?

After the wooden ball enters the horizontal plane, there is no force acting on it, so it will not continue to accelerate. The correct option should be "2".

The middle-aged man became more and more convinced that Li Nian was a disciple of the Mohist School. It was a pity that even if this person was a disciple of the Mohist School, he was definitely not Chu Mo, but probably a member of the Qin Mo School.

His desire to meet Li Nian became stronger and stronger.

This person was able to gain the trust of the Qin Emperor as a disciple of the Mohist school. Even though he was born in Qin and Mo, it was a great thing for the Mohist school. Perhaps he could reunite the Mohist school and restore its glory.

As he continued to read the questions, the middle-aged man felt surprised and ashamed.

Because some questions were beyond the content of Mohism that he had learned, he couldn't answer them, which made him think that Qin Mo had quietly developed to this level, far better than Chu Mo...

After finishing the Gewu exam, Fan Zeng was still thinking about some questions on the test paper when he left the examination room. Except for the multiple-choice questions, he did not finish answering any of the fill-in-the-blank questions and short-answer questions. Do those questions really have answers?

Especially the additional questions, for example, one question borrowed the article "Two Children Arguing about the Sun" written by Lie Zi, asking who is right and who is wrong between the two children?
How does he know whether the sun is closer to people when it first rises and farther away when it is at its zenith, or whether the sun is farther away when it first rises and closer when it is at its zenith?
Is there really an answer to this question that even Confucius didn’t know the answer to?
Is this also called "studying things"? You even know whether the sun hanging in the sky is far or near?

If we really knew, Li Nian's knowledge can only be said to be unfathomable, perhaps even more powerful than the ancient philosophers. He is a living philosopher of their time, and perhaps in the future there will be one more school among the Hundred Schools of Thought.

But the more outstanding and talented Li Nian was, the more complicated it made Fan Zeng and many others feel. Why would such a person support Qin?

And living in the same era as such people, should I be happy or sad?
Because this person is too outstanding, the little light they emit will be overshadowed by this person's brilliance. When history is recorded, that person will be listed in the main position, and they will only be supporting roles.

Fan Zeng also noticed that after the examination, many people were not in high spirits. Apparently, he was not the only one who found the examination difficult, as others did as well.

Before coming to Xianyang for the exam, many people thought they were very talented. I looked like I could pass the Xianyang exam easily. But after three exams, I realized that I wasn’t that talented after all…

Before leaving, Fan Zeng and all the candidates were notified to go to the training grounds. There, a young Qin general stood on the platform and announced to them, "Everyone, please pay attention. The results will be announced in ten days. Don't miss it!"

"After the results are announced, His Majesty and Master Li Nian will invite you. Please do not leave during this period of time!"

"It's late today. We will escort you back to Xianyang!"

Ten days?
He could wait. He wanted to see who would get first place in the Xianyang exam. What exactly did Emperor Qin and Li Nian want to do with this exam?
(End of this chapter)