“So are you willing to follow me on this path?” Niu Tan was direct. He would provide them with benefits and let them see his goals and ambitions. But if they still don’t want to work with him, he wouldn’t beg them to stay.
Before any of them could reply, Wan Niu asked a question, “Can you tell us about this Dao you are seeking? I can only decide if I will follow you after that.”
Niu Tan nodded, “What we pursue is the Dao of Science. Science itself is a way of thinking, a method of study where you verify any truth by observing, experimenting, and testing.
In the Dao of Science, even if the heavens come and tell you that the world is made up of the five elements of earth, air, water, and fire, you won’t accept it without conclusive proof collected through meticulous observation and experimentation.
And one of the greatest tools we use for our pursuit of the truth is mathematics, the language of the Dao itself. It is the numbers and everything that surrounds it. As long as it exists, you can use mathematics to describe it.”
Niu Tan gave the scholars a brief account of what science was and how mathematics could be used in science.
The eyes of the scholars were practically glowing while listening to Niu Tan talk. They were all scholars and every one of them was a genius. They were fascinated by the idea of pursuing the truth on their own and even questioning the heavens.
Wan Niu didn’t wait for Niu Tan, he stood up and bowed. “I’m willing to learn from you and pursue the Dao of Science. Greetings, Senior Brother.” He could practically feel the world itself bubbling with excitement when Niu Tan was speaking, how could he refuse?
But he still didn’t acknowledge Niu Tan as a teacher instead calling him Senior Brother. It was too embarrassing as a 500-year-old man to call someone so young a teacher and kowtow.
The others quickly stood up and followed Wan Niu’s example and bowed. “Greeting Senior Brother.”
Niu Tan didn’t care if they called him master or not, he didn’t even think much of their address of him. He only needed capable people willing to work for his goals wholeheartedly, what they thought of him in the process didn’t matter.
“Good, we are now fellow disciples on the path of Dao. You only have to bow to the truth and nothing else.” Niu Tan nodded. “As fellow disciples, the first thing I will ask of you is to learn martial arts from Wan Niu.”
This stumped the scholars. Why would a scholar need to learn martial arts?
Zhou Yi addressed the confusion, “Why do we have to learn martial arts? And we are already past the age, even if we wanted to learn. It would be hard to make any progress.”
“You are right. But I don’t need you to be a Master martial artist. What I want you from you is to have some capability to protect yourself and enough internal energy to nourish your body.” Niu Tan explained.
Having been a Divine Master, Wan Niu quickly understood what Niu Tan wanted to do.
“You want them to use internal energy to nourish their minds? It is indeed effective but is also very risky.” Wan Niu warned. He could, in theory, modify the technique for internal energy control and minimize the risk enough to make the process safe. But he wouldn’t say it.
Niu Tan smiled, “I understand your concerns but I have already devised a safe way to circulate the internal energy throughout the body without any risk.”
Niu Tan had been studying the flow of internal energy and its effects on each organ. He lamented not having electron microscopes and other tools to study the effects of internal energy on cellular or even atomic levels. But he had still managed to optimize the technique to be safe.
Wan Niu was once again surprised and awestruck by the talent of the young guy who was now his senior brother. He even suspected that Niu Tan might really be a reincarnation of some mighty figure similar to himself. But he wouldn’t voice out these things.
Jia Yang excitedly looked back and forth between Niu Tan and Wan Niu before asking, “What are you guys talking about?”
Wan Niu answered, “You should know about how a martial artists can use internal energy to nourish and strengthen their bodies. So think of what would happen if they did that on their minds?”
Everyone quickly understood. They thought to themselves, I am already considered a genius among scholars but what will happen if my mind is strengthened? Won’t I become the greatest scholar at once?
Zhou Yi on the other hand frowned, “From your discussions, it is a risk?”
Niu Tan reassured, “As long as you have average control over your internal energy, you will be fine. I won’t force anyone to do it anyway so rest assured.”
Zhou Yi nodded in understanding. “That’s martial arts. What about the knowledge you spoke of?”
Niu Tan smiled evilly, “I will give you a few hours of introductory lectures every day from today. After I figure out the improved paper and printing, you will wish there was a little less knowledge to go through.”
The scholars were set up in the same courtyard where they had been staying for the last week. They would get a salary of a gold tael a month as well but none of them really cared about it except for some like Zhou Yi who sent it back home.
Wan Niu was treated as the second senior brother after Niu Tan by default, it was probably his aura of maturity and his martial prowess. And Wan Niu took his role seriously, designing a training regimen suited to each of them individually.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
For the first time, the scholars learned the pain and hard work involved in becoming those muscle-brained battle maniacs. But the pain was offset by the lecture given by Niu Tan every day.
Niu Tan was teaching the scholars from the very basics like his previous life. The difficulty of the content would start from the first-grade level and slowly increase to the high school or college level in the future.
Since they were already scholars and time was tight, Niu Tan did away with subjects like literature and social sciences and only taught math and science.
Niu Tan had discovered a problem though. Did this world work on the same rules and principles as his past one? Since he didn’t know, he decided that he will first introduce the basic concepts to the scholars and have them replicate the experiments on the hypothesis from his past life.
This would help the scholars learn about the scientific way of thinking and science while building knowledge from the ground up.
In a way, I will become the Dao ancestor of science for real due to this. Niu Tan gave himself a pat on the back and slowly started to introduce the different branches of science like physics, biology, and chemistry.
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While the scholars were flexing their minds and bodies to the limits every day, the consortium was busy building the ships. They wanted to get it done as soon as possible so they even mobilized a lot of martial artists in the process.
With the superhuman efficiency of martial artists was on full display as the first ship was already starting to shape within just a week. By Yan Mo’s estimates, they could produce at least 2 ships a month.
If they didn’t have to be so secretive about it and hired craftsmen and workers from outside, the production could be further increased. But they wanted to be in control as much as possible.
Even so, the four large merchant families buying a large number of craftsmen and laborers hadn’t gone unnoticed by the other merchants and martial clans. But when they dug deeper, they found out that in addition to the four family’s guards, a battalion of the imperial army was posted as security for the place where the work was being done.
Looking at the materials like wood and iron being bought by the Yan family and the other three, the outsiders were speculating on what was being built but they didn’t want to anger the imperial court.
No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t think of any reason why these four families, which weren’t even in the top five of the country’s wealthiest and most influential merchants, had managed to rope in the palace to support them.
While the previous commotion hadn’t even died down, the Li family had announced that they were going to sell cheaper and better paper starting next month. This got the other families thinking, were these guys making paper? But then why was only the Li family selling it?
Yan Mo was sitting in front of the cause of all the chaos and confusion. Even though he wanted to make the paper himself, Niu Tan had suggested that Li family which was a little weaker needed some boost so that the consortium can stay strong.
And it’s not like they wouldn’t get anything out of it, the Yan family as the ones who provided the paper-making method would take a 10% cut of the profits. Of the said 10%, half would then go to Niu Tan’s school. Niu Tan didn’t mind giving the Yan family more benefits as long as they did his bidding.
“How is the mechanical press coming along?” Niu Tan asked. He had given the paper-making process to be sold but the printing press would be kept for himself.
He advocated the sharing of knowledge but it mattered who controlled that sharing. Niu Tan knew that the control of public opinion is vital in shaping a culture of a nation. And he didn’t want to let anyone have the tools to do so except himself. The printing press was one of the earliest examples of such a tool.
Yan Mo nodded, “Yes, it should be done within a week. As you suggested, we let the craftsmen work on different parts separately and only the most trusted ones are working on the core parts.”
“That’s good. Send a few trustworthy servants who can read when you send over the machine. Make 10 of them for now but assemble only 5 and send them over to me after each one is done. Keep the other 5 hidden for now.” Niu Tan ordered.
“I will make the preparations.” Yan Qi spoke from the side. He had been handling matters related to Niu Tan and his organization.
Niu Tan gave a slight nod and started going through the other reports that Yan Mo had prepared for him. Since Niu Tan was their appointed consultant, Yan Mo took full advantage of his knowledge to increase his family’s wealth and influence.
“So you will start a mail delivery system first and a month later the other guys will follow along in other regions by setting up similar systems?” Niu Tan asked.
He had told Yan Mo to create a large logistical network where mail and any other things would be delivered by them to any party that paid for it. It was just a rudimentary postal service and logistics company.
Yan Mo nodded excitedly, “I have already told them to start the preparation in their own regions. After two months, our offices and workers will be stationed and operational in all the large cities and towns around the capital. And within a month or two of that, the other three will begin their own offices in the other regions while trying to encroach on each other’s markets.
The royal court will believe that we are competing to set up stores and routes to leverage the use of our ships. This will also put the court at ease showing that we aren’t united. This should buy us more time to develop.”
Niu Tan liked this idea, as a person who had lived in an era where anything he ordered was delivered within six hours, the logistics in this place were too primitive for him. This was also a huge money-making method as well as a method to control the whole nation’s supply channels.
“Since you are doing it, go all in, compete for real. Start with designated territories and after that, you can go all out to take over each other’s territories. Competition breeds efficiency and improvements after all.” Niu Tan added.
This was also a reason why Niu Tan created the consortium of the four families, if it was only the Yan family, sooner or later they would go stagnant due to lack of competition. But with four families, they can control the market while still competing with each other.
Yan Mo wanted to refuse but swallowed the words. He repeated in his mind, don’t get caught up with small benefits, look at the bigger picture!
Yan Qi suddenly spoke at this moment, “What if we recruit the martial clans and sects of each of those regions for security? We won’t have to stretch out our personnel and we can keep them in check since they get some benefits?”
This was a pleasant surprise for Yan Mo. His nephew was growing at a rapid pace and it was gratifying. Being around smart people really rubs off on you, he thought while looking at Niu Tan.
“Brilliant idea. In business, if you tie up the interests of all the parties, you can grow much better. The king gets an efficient logistical system for his army and the prosperity of his people, the people get goods cheaper and faster, and the martial artists get an opportunity to earn money and resources.” Niu Tan gave his thoughts on how to grow effectively.
Both Yan Mo and Yan Qi remembered his words carefully. Although they were already doing it without knowledge, having the knowledge of how and why they were doing it would help them to replicate the same in other situations.
“Okay, this project is very important for other steps to continue so make sure to get it done well. Also, when you start getting goods using the ships, sell them through the other smaller merchants. Let as many of them as possible have a share of the pie.
But make sure to set a price beforehand for all the resellers. The goods you sell should be cheap but also priced uniformly. We want everyone to be on our side. They should want us to grow and be dependent on us.”
Niu Tan was going to bring capitalism to this martial arts world and he would be the largest beneficiary of it.