The Mohists' Bamboo Scrolls

Zhang Xuezhou to the left, Li Shaojun to the right, and Gongsun Hong forward.

The three men held a piece of burning fuel, supported by construction debris, as if they were holding a small torch.

Although the light provided by this fuel was only average, it was sufficient for great cultivators like them, and was no less bright than Li Shaojun's ordinary luminous pearl.

Zhang Xuezhou continued to the left, and after carefully navigating through two passages, he saw the storage room again.

Perhaps because a top-tier mechanical robot like 'Fire' was placed at the entrance, no large mechanical robots appeared in the passage behind, but only ordinary locks were hung on the door.

Zhang Xuezhou reached out and tugged, and the pull-lock was easily opened.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that since the door was too easy to open, it was unlikely to contain anything of value.

But when he entered the room, he saw only a mess of small wooden and copper parts scattered on the floor.

In terms of real-world craftsmanship, these small parts are somewhat crude, but for the technology of this world, they are undoubtedly extremely sophisticated, even difficult for craftsmen to create.

If you're skillful, you can even assemble some small mechanisms from these small parts.

Zhang Xuezhou wasn't interested in any of these things, but after picking up a bamboo scroll from the messy pile of parts, he saw that the scroll was engraved with various combinations of components, the final result of which was a powerful crossbow.

In terms of real-world technology, there are numerous tools for long-range shooting, and various types of firearms are constantly emerging. Similarly, if we want to advance technology, there are also various early rough tools.

However, with different social developments, introducing technology from reality is extremely difficult, and various adaptation and matching problems will arise.

The content on the bamboo slips is clearly entirely localized.

The ink marks on the bamboo slips are quite old; the Mohists may have been practicing this technique for decades or even centuries.

"The name 'Ban' is famous, but we don't know which Mo family ancestor with Mohists surname Ban left it behind. If the craftsmanship had a name and hadn't been passed down, it might have fetched a good price!"

Zhang Xuezhou wasn't interested in the parts on the ground, but he was interested in collecting the materials.

If someone wants it, he will sell it or exchange it for something else.

If no one wants it, taking another scroll of bamboo slips won't be a problem for him.

After casting a spell, Zhang Xuezhou stuffed the bamboo slip into his storage bag.

Realizing that these secret rooms were different from the treasure trove he had imagined, Zhang Xuezhou had no choice but to abandon his get-rich-quick scheme and instead search for any documents or other items that caught his eye.

Although these rooms were designated as government offices, Zhang Xuezhou saw them more as research labs.

If no upheaval had occurred, these research labs would likely contain numerous finished mechanisms and various documents stored within them.

He opened five mechanical rooms in succession. When he entered a relatively large mechanical room, Zhang Xuezhou saw the finished product, apart from the mechanical figures, for the first time.

This is a round clock nearly half the height of a person, with extremely fine hands marking 108 divisions, each division corresponding to a different time segment, refining time to a standard of almost half a second.

After fiddling around for a while, Zhang Xuezhou found the switch, and the round clock immediately started spinning again.

The ticking sound of the gears turning surprised Zhang Xuezhou.

This office was also relatively well-preserved, unlike other offices which were in a state of disarray.

"The Commentary on the Sutras?"

Zhang Xuezhou had previously searched through the machine room and only took a bamboo slip for crafting a crossbow mechanism.

This room, however, contains theoretical content.

Zhang Xuezhou spent a long time trying to identify the book, but he could only recognize the title.

He tidied up and found more than ten scrolls of bamboo slips.

Just as Zhang Xuezhou was about to use magic to collect the bamboo slips as a souvenir, a streak of fire appeared, heading towards the mechanism room in his direction.

"Mr. Gongsun, have you finished your search?"

When they got closer, Zhang Xuezhou could finally see Gongsun Hong's face clearly.

"Don't even mention it! All those puzzle rooms were locked, and I even broke my sword in the process," Gongsun Hong complained. "By the time I finally opened the puzzle room, I hadn't found any treasures, and I couldn't open the rooms behind it either, so I went around in circles and came back to you to open the doors!"

"These locks are all hanging; you don't need to break them. Just shake them left and right, and they'll open!"

Zhang Xuezhou replied with a statement that left Gongsun Hong momentarily incredulous.

He waved the lock on the lock of the room back and forth, and only then did he realize what mistake he had made.

But since he was already there, Gongsun Hong wasn't in a hurry to run back.

"Are there any good things in this room?" Gongsun Hong asked.

"I have a few bamboo scrolls; if Mr. Gongsun recognizes them, he is welcome to take a look," Zhang Xuezhou invited.

"The Commentary on the Sutras?"

Compared to Zhang Xuezhou's laborious attempt to decipher the text, Gongsun Hong's reading was much smoother.

He flipped through it once, and then read it through.

"Strength is what motivates punishment..."

Gongsun Hong's recitation gave Zhang Xuezhou a headache; it was clearly an explanation of mechanical engineering, defining his own content.

This is where the content of each school of thought is most confusing, as the definitions of terms differ, and some content even completely conflicts with other schools of thought.

You say your piece, I say mine, and each school of thought develops in its own way.

After finishing reading one volume, Gongsun Hong picked up the second.

He was clearly dissatisfied with the contents, so he chose to read other bamboo slips to see if they contained any secrets of the mechanical city.

"Regardless of age, status, or social standing, all people are subjects of Heaven!"

The second volume, which Gongsun Hong recited, was filled with preaching, instructing mortals to revere and obey Heaven in order to receive its blessings.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that this was similar to the content of the religious sect.

If you simply replace "heaven" with the god Tu'er, this becomes a relatively advanced preaching material of the Tu'er religion.

He considered its potential use and felt that the translated text could serve as a model for religious texts.

As Gongsun Hong continued to read through it, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but frown slightly, feeling that this was not something an ordinary person could write, as it even involved the content of governing the monarch.

He glanced at Gongsun Hong, only to find that Gongsun Hong's gaze was also fixed on him with a deep, unsettling look.

"This is a record of the Mohist sayings by Xiang Fuzi, the master of Mohists school," Gongsun Hongdao said. "The content is quoted from Mozi, the founder of the School of Mohists!"

"Very interesting content," Zhang Xuezhou replied.

"It's just interesting, but if his approach works, the Mohists would rule the world today," Gongsun Hong said.

"The Mohists's rule?"

Zhang Xuezhou snapped out of his reverie and read a sentence, while Gongsun Hong finished reading this section and then moved on to the next scroll of bamboo slips.

This volume contains information about ghosts, which proves that there are celestial ghosts who govern monarchs, Aristocratic Clan families, and aristocrats. Heaven is responsible for bestowing rewards, while ghosts are responsible for punishments.

In this bamboo scroll, Mozi even argued for the existence of Heaven and ghosts.

"Ghosts... this seems to refer to Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon!"

Thinking of the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought vying for power, recalling the telepathic message from the main hall of the Purple Cloud Palace, and seeing the Mohists's mechanical city with its technology tree so different from that of the Great Han Dynasty, Zhang Xuezhou was momentarily unsure whether some Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon skilled in technology and mechanisms had descended upon this world and then been suppressed and annihilated.

If the Mohists's Mechanical City drifted across the sea in search of those who had been suppressed, and thus collided with the Zixiao Palace, which was seeking to suppress the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, then some things might make sense.