latelenovela Chapter 173 The Great Qin Princess (6)
Chapter 173 The Great Qin Princess (6)
In fact, Wangyou knew very well that "two-legged sheep" were actually very common in this era, not only among the Xiongnu, but also among the surrounding Baiyue and Yelang regions.
Especially during times of war, "two-legged sheep" became even more common, with women and children being the most prevalent.
Just like during the An Lushan Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a general named Zhang Xun who, when his food supplies were exhausted, killed his own concubine to feed his soldiers in order to encourage them to defend the city. As a result, all the remaining women in the city suffered. He was hailed as a righteous man both at the time and in later generations, but who thought about what those women thought!
Red marks appeared on Wangyou's palms. She began searching for the Huns who had eaten people and killed them all with a single stroke. Then she found the people who had been kept as pets and released them.
To prevent anyone from waking up midway, Wangyou used a larger version of the sleeping potion. Of course, those who ate the "two-legged sheep" were all killed, and there were very few people left who didn't eat it. Only patches of red marks on the ground indicated that people had died there.
"Let's go!" Wangyou said softly, looking at the woman and child behind her.
They staggered to catch up with Wangyou, and when they returned to the city, the group burst into tears.
"Your Highness, when did you run away? If anything happens to you, His Majesty will tear me apart alive!" General Wang Jian rushed over in a panic upon receiving the news.
"General, please find someone to make arrangements for them!" Wangyou's eyes were a little red. "I'm tired, I'll go back to my room to rest first."
Wangyou ignored him, and the old general had no choice but to quickly have the women and children settled down. He hurried back to write a memorial, as he had to record the events of the night in detail so that His Majesty would not think he had not done his best.
The next day, Wangyou had composed herself. After greeting Wang Jian, she led 10,000 troops to the place she had visited the previous night and brought back a considerable number of cattle, sheep, and horses.
Every night thereafter, Wangyou would begin her slaughter. If the animals were nearby, she would bring people to take them away the next day; if they were far away, she would drive them back herself the next day.
A month later, Wang You wiped out the Xiongnu who were raising and eating "two-legged sheep." The remaining people were taken over and educated by General Wang Jian. At the same time, the various tribes on the grassland were defeated one by one. Without a leader, they all surrendered quickly.
Meanwhile, Wangyou took the lead in establishing a treaty that exchanged cattle, sheep, and horses for grain, which led most of the herders to defect, and the Xiongnu were incorporated into the territory of the Qin Dynasty.
"Princess, how come you can speak the Xiongnu language?" Wang Jian initially had some objections to Wangyou, but now he had no objections at all and was extremely respectful.
“I guess I’m just smarter!” Wangyou said after a moment of surprise.
"Alright, General Wang, you'll have to keep an eye on things over there. I'll take the cattle, sheep, and horses and head out now. Remember to patrol the grasslands frequently."
"Alright, don't worry!" General Wang Jian waved goodbye to Wangyou and her entourage and began to muster his troops to guard the border.
Sitting in the carriage, Wangyou looked at her hands, which were trembling slightly. For more than a month, she had been killing people non-stop. Luckily, there were few Xiongnu people; if there had been more, her hands would have been ruined.
"Princess, what are you thinking about?" Lü Zhi asked curiously.
"I wonder why women and children are the first to suffer when war breaks out? Why? Because weakness is the original sin!"
Empress Lü had nothing to say, because what Wangyou said was true. Women in the Qin Dynasty had a relatively high status, but very few women were able to rise to prominence.
"When I get back, I will establish a girls' school, and strive to ensure that women can stand openly in the court and on the battlefield during the next imperial examination!" Wangyou's eyes sparkled with a bright light, which fueled Lü Zhi's ambition.
After returning to Xianyang, Wangyou began to intensify her efforts to cultivate capable subordinates. She started by selecting suitable women from aristocratic families, since few commoners were literate. Of course, Wangyou also adopted a voluntary approach.
Unsurprisingly, most women are willing to step out of their homes. After all, everyone has ambition, and women are no exception. They just lack a suitable platform, and Wangyou provides just such a platform.
Ying Zheng was pleased with this. Having been emperor for two generations, he knew very well that women's talents were no less than men's, but for thousands of years women had been confined to the inner quarters. Fortunately, it was not too late to start now.
Thus, at the beginning, girls' schools and boys' schools were separate, because there were always some people who felt that the separation between men and women was very important. Those who said this were often the so-called upper class. It was not easy for many women from aristocratic families to go out to teach and study.
But none of that matters. Wangyou has His Majesty the First Emperor behind her. If anyone disobeys, just execute them. No one else is more afraid of death than you upper-class people. After grumbling and complaining, she still reluctantly released her wife and daughter.
Sometimes violence has its advantages. Like in this situation, she didn't need to say anything more; once she showed her strength, the enemy had to obey.
Given the current state of Qin, Wangyou mainly teaches practical skills. As for cultural knowledge, students only need to learn to read. As for other profound subjects, they are not suitable for everyone and need to be selective in their learning.
Just like university graduates in later generations, not everyone can use the things they used when they were in school. At least 80% of them end up working in jobs that have absolutely nothing to do with their major.
Therefore, the "Forget-Worry" approach is to teach according to aptitude. For example, those who are good at farming can learn how to farm, those who are good at raising animals can learn about animal husbandry manuals, and those who are good at handicrafts can learn about various cold weapons. These are all easy to find.
The hardest thing to find were people with a talent for math, physics, and chemistry. Wangyou spent a whole year carefully screening people and only managed to find ten. Of those ten, eight were men and only two were women.
Wangyou sighed. It's better than nothing, isn't it? Wangyou started to personally teach these ten people, including Fusu, the transfer student, and began to explain the knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry to them in a profound way.
With the mineral resource distribution map in hand, Ying Zheng sent many people to mine throughout the year. Coal and gold mines were the basics, a tungsten mine was also discovered, along with several copper mines, not to mention iron mines.
So, after careful research by Wangyou and others, the Daqin brand light bulb was successfully developed a year later.
Wangyou didn't teach them how to make the light bulb step by step; she only taught them the theoretical knowledge, leaving the practical aspects for them to figure out on their own.
Because Wangyou always believed that telling others the answer doesn't necessarily mean you'll learn something, but the process of exploration is definitely very rewarding.
The invention of the electric light seemed to open up a corner of scientific research. A disciple of the Mohist school, based on their mechanical skills and the physics he had learned, successfully built a small, powered tricycle, although it still required human power, similar to a bicycle in later times.
Wangyou rewarded the person who invented the light bulb and the tricycle with money and a sumptuous dinner, which inspired the others and made the research atmosphere even more intense.