Chapter Forty: Zhao Zheng’s Three Great Inventions

Zhao Zheng exhaled in relief. Though he knew that once the legalist reforms of Wei Yang were unveiled, the rift between the two factions would inevitably tear wide open, he preferred to delay the inevitable for as long as he could.

After a long silence, Zhao Zheng spoke leisurely, "Master Gan, a story just came to mind. I wonder if you would be interested in hearing it?"

Gan Long’s hand, holding his teacup, paused imperceptibly. He looked at Zhao Zheng with a probing gaze. "Please, speak, sir."

Zhao Zheng mused for a moment, his words carrying a hidden weight. "Master Gan, do you know where Master Fan was when Xi Shi was submerged in the lake?"

Upon hearing this, Gan Long stiffened, a flicker of bitterness crossing his eyes.

"He... he was aboard a small boat, drifting carefree among the misty waves of the Five Lakes."

"It is a pity, however, that I am neither Master Fan nor Wen Zhong."

Zhao Zheng understood the implication and said no more. He downed his tea in one gulp, turned the cup upside down on the table, and rose to leave. "Master Gan, I bid you take care of yourself."

Having said all he could, and seeing that Gan Long refused to turn back, Zhao Zheng saw no point in wasting further breath. He stood up and walked away.

Watching Zhao Zheng depart, Gan Long’s gaze grew distant. Zhao Zheng was right, yet this was a path he was destined to walk until the end.

Having dealt with Gan Long for some time, Zhao Zheng did not believe the man was inherently evil, which was why he had tried to persuade him to retreat while he still could, using the examples of Fan Li and Wen Zhong to keep him from obstructing the reforms. Yet, Gan Long would not listen. It seemed the reforms of the State of Qin were destined to be baptized in blood.

***

Inside the Yueyang Palace, Jing Jian and Wei Yang returned to seek an audience with Ying Quliang.

"My Lord, I feel it is inappropriate to strip the Master of his executive power..." Jing Jian could no longer hold back the words he had stifled in the court.

Wei Yang quickly followed, "Indeed, my Lord. The Master has been a benefactor to me; to treat him this way is to put me in an unrighteous position!"

Wei Yang had guessed that Ying Quliang would grant him real power and reclaim the military authority from Ying Qian, but he had not expected the move to promote Zhao Zheng in rank while stripping him of his actual influence.

"I fear the old aristocracy will now use this to manipulate the Master into opposing the reforms!" Seeing that Ying Quliang remained silent, Jing Jian added urgently, "And furthermore..."

"What nonsense are you two spouting?"

Ying Quliang slammed his hand on the table, cutting Jing Jian off with a stern voice. He turned his gaze toward Wei Yang and said coldly, "It is one thing for Jing Jian to speak of Zhao Zheng, but have you, Wei Yang, forgotten who it is that is truly pushing for your reforms?"

Wei Yang was left red-faced and speechless by the retort.

"And you, Jing Jian. You have been by my side for so long; why is your brain still as dull as ever?" Ying Quliang turned to Jing Jian, his expression one of frustrated disappointment. "The Master has rendered great service to Qin. If he did not agree to this, do you think I would be capable of such backstabbing behavior?"

"I am not the King of Yue, and the Master is not the Wen Zhong or Master Fan of old."

Jing Jian’s face flushed a mixture of blue and white, and he wished he could find a crack in the floor to crawl into.

So, it turned out that Zhao Zheng and the Lord had colluded in private, deceiving everyone.

"Get out. The sight of you two infuriates me." Ying Quliang’s good mood had been thoroughly ruined by the pair.

The two felt as if they had been granted a pardon and hurriedly retreated.

"Wait! If you do not produce a satisfactory result by tomorrow, both of you can get out for good." Ying Quliang called them back, his voice chilling.

"Yes... we guarantee your satisfaction, my Lord." The two wiped the sweat from their brows and dashed out of the hall.

***

At the residence of Zhao Zheng, Mo Hao stared at the stack of sketches in the room, his eyes wide with disbelief. Each drawing depicted something of exquisite ingenuity, things the Mohists had never even heard of. Crossbows, repeating crossbows, and even a plow for farming!

"Can this kind of plow be made?" Zhao Zheng handed him one of the sketches.

Mo Hao examined it carefully for a long moment, then shook his head helplessly. "The design of this plow is too ingenious; with the current capabilities of the Mohist school, I fear we cannot produce it."

The plow Zhao Zheng had drawn was different from the ones used in this era. It consisted of four parts: the plowshare, the moldboard, the beam, and the handle. Each part was designed with specific, clever utility.

So, even the Mohists of this era could not craft a curved-shaft plow? Zhao Zheng’s eyes dimmed slightly.

Indeed, the design he had produced was the curved-shaft plow that would not appear until the Tang Dynasty. Zhao Zheng had hoped to use the Mohists to mass-produce these to boost agricultural production as part of the "respecting agriculture and suppressing commerce" policy.

"However," Mo Hao said, his eyes burning as he stared at the sketch, "if we remove a few components, we could make a simpler version. As for producing it exactly as drawn, we would have to gradually improve upon the existing model."

A castrated version? Zhao Zheng felt a surge of joy. Even a simplified version would be far superior to the wooden plows currently in use! Besides, technology must be progressive. The technological foundation of later generations took thousands of years to develop; one could not hope to get fat on a single meal.

"That works!" he said immediately. "As long as it can be made, that is enough."

"How many can you produce in a batch?"

Mo Hao calculated for a moment. "With the blueprints, we only need to mass-produce the parts for assembly. It is quite fast; about seven units in seven days, and we can speed up later."

Seven a week? That was likely the pinnacle of the era’s craftsmanship.

"Then I leave it to the Mohists," Zhao Zheng sighed in relief. He figured that after a week, they could begin trials around Yueyang, and once mass production ramped up, they could promote them throughout the entire State of Qin.

With the curved-shaft plow, agricultural efficiency would skyrocket, greatly increasing Qin’s grain reserves. Then, he could slowly introduce hybrid rice... and once they conquered the fertile lands of Ba and Shu, the granaries of Qin... the thought alone was daunting.

Mo Hao accepted the task solemnly, then turned his attention to the blueprints for the repeating crossbow and the siege crossbow. "Sir, may we take these as well? These designs are simply exquisite! Even the crossbows of the Mohists do not possess such refined mechanisms."

Zhao Zheng’s repeating crossbow was inspired by the Qin crossbows unearthed in future generations, strengthened and improved to reach an astonishing range of three hundred paces. The siege crossbow dated back to the Spring and Autumn period, famously used by Pang Juan to defeat opponents at Maling Road. However, Zhao Zheng’s design was based on the triple-bow siege crossbow of the Song Dynasty, with a terrifying range of 1.5 kilometers.

Given the current state of technology, they could still only produce "castrated" versions of these, but Zhao Zheng did not hesitate. He would have given them to the Mohists eventually anyway, so he might as well hand them over now.

Mo Hao ran off in excitement with the three scrolls of blueprints. For the Mohists, this represented a massive technological revolution!

***

The next day, at the Yueyang Palace.

Today, Ying Quliang was to announce the details of the reforms at the morning court. Not a single minister, including Gan Long and Zhao Zheng, dared to be late.

Ying Quliang swept his gaze over the ministers and looked at Wei Yang. "Left Shu-zhang, is the matter of the reforms prepared?"

The eyes of all the ministers fell upon Wei Yang.

It was here. The prelude to the reforms, the "Decree of Land Clearing," was finally coming.

Zhao Zheng narrowed his eyes, watching Wei Yang while simultaneously observing the reactions of Gan Long and the others.

Wei Yang bowed and stepped forward. "Reporting to my Lord, the reforms are fully prepared."

"Based on the current state of the Qin, I propose that we first prohibit the private sale of grain, monopolize the mountains and marshes, and unify the taxation system."