Our construction of this world is our process of understanding it. Because we discovered coal mines, we know they can produce fire, provide warmth, and be used as energy.
Because we discovered iron ore, in the process of understanding it, we learned it has various wonderful uses.
Advanced technology can only be mastered by certain people. She brought Lady Beigong and Beigong Tuanyuan here to tell Beigong Chun through them that their understanding of the world was deepening. This world would get better and better and change greatly. He must heed the court’s words to prevent Bingzhou from going astray.
There were many good things in the workshop. Just the explosive research classification in the Ministry of War’s Bureau of Investigation had eleven items. Fu Tinghan said, “The newly selected craftsman officials want to research everything. This space will soon be insufficient.”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Then select a site and rebuild. Some more dangerous experiments need to be separated from other Bureau of Investigation sites.”
Fu Tinghan nodded. “I thought so too, but much research requires water power. We’ll need to build two more water-powered forging workshops.”
Fortunately, this was Luoyang with the Luo River beside it. If it were another place, they might not be able to establish this experimental base.
Zhao Hanzhang formally named these scientific workshops the Bureau of Investigation, independent from each ministry. She established the Academy of Investigation outside the Imperial Academy and Grand Academy as a university equal in status to the Imperial Academy and Grand Academy, transferring students studying investigation from the two schools to the Academy of Investigation to study.
The Academy of Investigation, as its name implies, was for seeking knowledge.
The Book of Rites states: “The extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things; when things are investigated, knowledge is extended.”
Isn’t humanity’s ultimate goal to explore the world, seek the world’s origin, and then share the world’s longevity?
So the importance of the Academy of Investigation became apparent.
After graduating from the Academy of Investigation, students could enter the Bureau of Investigation through examinations, following a career path different from other officials.
The Bureau of Investigation was independent from the Three Departments, equal in importance to them. Fu Tinghan served as Director of the Bureau of Investigation. Issued together with this appointment was the promotion of Zhao Ming to Left Vice Director of the Secretariat, while he continued to concurrently serve as Minister of Finance.
All officials then knew that Zhao Ming would be the next Minister of the Secretariat, or perhaps there would be no Minister of the Secretariat, but the Secretariat would be under his charge.
“I sensed it before the New Year—most Secretariat affairs were handled by Minister Zhao. Minister Fu only appeared two or three days every ten days. I thought Her Majesty didn’t want the Imperial Consort in the front court and wanted him to return to the rear palace. Now it seems there was a Bureau of Investigation waiting for Minister Fu.”
“But the Bureau of Investigation really suits Minister Fu. I heard many things were devised by him.”
“How is his brain structured? Last time the Bureau of Agriculture and Sericulture reported on the newly expanded horse pasture, several hills within it didn’t belong to them. The boundary with farmland had seven corners. After it was reported, Ministry of Finance people went to measure the land to make deeds. They measured for ten days without calculating how large it was. But after Minister Fu arrived, he had people use horses to pull ropes to walk several lines. Once the data was reported, he immediately calculated it.”
A nearby official felt the same. “I know—I’m from the Ministry of Finance. Because of this, all Ministry of Finance officials attended his lecture. Minister Fu taught it once, but in the end, only five people learned it.”
The others, including him, all belonged to the “heard but didn’t understand” category.
They clearly weren’t inferior—they might not dare claim mastery of the Nine Chapters on Mathematical Art, but they could at least generally solve it. How was the gap so large?
Throughout history, all dynasties had researched and made progress in investigation, but no dynasty had ever separately extracted it from government affairs.
No official would specifically do this work.
Literati of this era and earlier were broadly learned. They would seek knowledge in the process of serving as officials, but except for a very few who would systematically summarize and write down the “knowledge” they gained, the vast majority placed it within politics.
Those who understood and applied the material world most were actually craftsmen—the Mohists.
But Mohism gradually disappeared during the Han dynasty, and craftsmen’s status slowly declined.
You must know that before Han, the five schools most valued by states were Dao, Ru, Mo, Fa, and Bing. After Dong Zhongshu’s “dismiss the hundred schools, revere only Confucianism” and a hundred years of operation, all four schools began to decline, though Dao, Bing, and Fa fared better.
Because governing the country couldn’t be separated from military affairs and law, they remained as active in court as Confucianism.
Daoism need not be mentioned. Though Emperor Wu exclusively revered Confucianism, Huang-Lao studies flourished in the Han dynasty. From ruler to ministers, all rather promoted governing by non-action—this was Daoist thought’s influence.
Only Mohism truly declined when it declined.
Over the following centuries, people used craftsmen to cure illnesses and fix things, yet suppressed craftsmen’s status to the lowest.
Until now, when Zhao Hanzhang opened a new dynasty.
Though the court still revered Confucianism and governed with virtue supported by law, Mohist tools and thought were slowly reappearing.
Especially before the Bureau of Investigation was established, no matter how Zhao Hanzhang issued announcements seeking Mohists, few responded.
Many craftsmen came to pledge allegiance, but when asked if they came from Mohism, all shook their heads, saying they were merely independent craftsmen.
But as soon as the Bureau of Investigation was established, over three hundred craftsmen in the Bureau of Investigation by the Luo River gathered together to confess to Fu Tinghan that they were Mohists, and moreover, they were willing to seek out the Mohist Master on behalf of the Emperor and Fu Tinghan.
A gray-bearded craftsman pulled Fu Tinghan’s hand and cried profusely. “It’s not that we didn’t trust Your Majesty and you, sir. It’s that people in the world are fickle. When they need siege weapons, they reward us Mohists heavily. When they need city defense treasures, they treat us with courtesy, making us many promises. But once it’s over, whether successful or not, they dismissively say, ‘Just craftsmen, not worth consulting.'”
“Even so, we Mohists haven’t changed our original intentions. We strictly follow ancestral teachings to love all people universally, so we’re willing to serve the people but no longer trust the court.”
So when they came to work under Zhao Hanzhang, they would shed the Mohist name. After all, they didn’t come out to promote Mohist thought or strengthen Mohism, but to earn a living.
Originally, they planned to secretly take disciples, pass on their skills, and tell them their identity. But… Zhao Hanzhang gave too much.
She had established the Bureau of Investigation and made it independent from the Secretariat, Chancellery, and State Affairs departments. She even had Fu Tinghan oversee the Bureau of Investigation. How could they remain unmoved?
In the hearts of the Bureau of Investigation’s craftsmen, Fu Tinghan was the undisputed god. Who couldn’t admire his abilities and character?
Moreover, like them, he was obsessed with Mohist learning. That’s right—to them, what mathematics, physical mathematics, chemical mathematics, and materials science were all part of Mohist learning.
Of course, though these skills were important in their eyes, they weren’t enough to make them completely submit to Fu Tinghan from their hearts. What truly made them acknowledge him was something he once said:
Mathematics is the foundation of all things in the world.
In their view, this statement was equivalent to: Mohist learning is the foundation of all things in the world.
If not for the fixed rules of Mohist Master succession, they would have immediately wanted to make him the Mohist Master.
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