My Imperial Advisor is ChatGPT

Chapter 71: When two iron balls land at the same time, whose knees are shattered?

Xianyang Palace, side hall.

Night had fallen, but the side hall was still brightly lit.

Ying Zheng sat behind his desk, slowly sipping a cup of warm water. Opposite him stood Wang Jianguo, whom Fusu had just brought with him.

"Sit down," Ying Zheng said, gesturing to the chair opposite him. "I don't have so many rules here."

Wang Jianguo hesitated for a moment, but then sat down.

He sized up the legendary First Emperor. Although he had gained some understanding of him through several days of contact, he could still feel the imposing aura emanating from him whenever they faced each other alone.

"Mr. Wang, how was today's class?" Ying Zheng put down his water glass and asked casually.

"Your Majesty, it went relatively smoothly," Wang Jianguo replied. "Although the students were somewhat resistant at first, they gradually began to accept the new concepts."

"That's good." Ying Zheng nodded. "I heard that when you said 'the earth is round,' several old Confucian scholars cried on the spot?"

Wang Jianguo smiled wryly: "Yes. One of the old gentlemen, surnamed Kong, said something about 'the heavens being round and the earth being square,' which was the word of a sage. But when I said the earth was round, he immediately knelt down and wept bitterly, saying he was 'sorry to our ancestors.'"

Ying Zheng couldn't help but laugh: "Interesting. I'd like to see if he'll still cry when he sees the experimental evidence with his own eyes in a few days."

"Experimental evidence?" Wang Jianguo asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Yes." Ying Zheng stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the towering observatory in the distance. "I want you to do something."

"What is it?"

"Conduct an experiment." Ying Zheng turned around, a glint of shrewdness in his eyes. "An experiment that can completely shatter the 'common sense' of those Confucian scholars."

"Just like Galileo did at the Leaning Tower of Pisa?"

Ying Zheng raised an eyebrow: "Galileo? Who's that?"

"Uh..." Wang Jianguo realized he had let something slip and quickly explained, "It was a scholar from my time. He once conducted an experiment that proved that heavy and light objects will fall to the ground simultaneously in a vacuum."

"Landing at the same time?" Ying Zheng mused. "Interesting. You mean, a large rock and a small rock, dropped from the same height, will land at the same time?"

"Theoretically, yes. But in reality, there might be slight differences due to air resistance."

"Very well." Ying Zheng slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Tomorrow, I will have you conduct this experiment. The location will be the observatory. The audience will be those old Confucian scholars who still question whether the Earth is round."

Wang Jianguo hesitated, "Your Majesty, isn't this... too stimulating? What if they can't handle it..."

"If they can't accept it, then they can't accept it." Ying Zheng sneered. "I've given them a chance to learn, but if they insist on clinging to those outdated ideas, then don't blame me for being impolite."

"Remember, Wang Jianguo, what Great Qin needs now is not bookworms who can only recite 'Confucius said' and 'The Book of Poetry says,' but scientists who can understand and transform this world."

"Scientist..." Wang Jianguo murmured to himself.

"Yes, a scientist." Ying Zheng walked up to him, looking down at him. "It's people like you. You're the kind who can verify the truth through experiments, who speak with data, instead of relying on 'the words of sages' to judge right and wrong."

"This is the hope for the future of the Great Qin."

Wang Jianguo fell silent.

He could sense the determination and expectation in Ying Zheng's words. This ancient emperor was attempting to usher in a new era of scientific civilization in an almost fanatical way.

But the question is, is doing this really the right thing to do?

"Your Majesty, aren't you worried that after you teach them scientific thinking, they will question the imperial authority?" Wang Jianguo couldn't help but ask.

Ying Zheng laughed: "Question?"

"Yes. If they all learn to doubt everything, will they still obey you?"

"Wang Jianguo, Little G asked me the same question," Ying Zheng said, sitting back in his chair. "Do you know how I answered?"

"What was your answer?"

"I say that true authority is not built on fear, but on strength."

"If you can prove that your rule will bring a better life to the Qin Dynasty, then even if they learn to doubt, they will choose to obey. Because doubt is not the same as resistance; doubt is merely the beginning of thought."

Wang Jianguo seemed to be deep in thought.

Indeed, Ying Zheng was right.

If a ruler can prove his correctness with tangible results, then even if the people learn to think independently, they will not easily rebel.

On the contrary, it is those rulers who only use violence to suppress the people who are truly afraid of the awakening of the masses.

"Understood." Wang Jianguo nodded.

"Very well." Ying Zheng stood up. "Then tomorrow, we'll see how you perform. I will summon all the students from the Academy of Sciences, as well as those stubborn old Confucian scholars, to watch this experiment together."

"Remember, what I want is not persuasion, but a shock. I want them to understand that the laws governing this world cannot be explained by 'the words of sages.' Only through experimentation and verification can true truth be obtained."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wang Jianguo got up to take his leave.

Stepping out of the side hall, he took a deep breath, feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders grow even heavier.

Tomorrow's experiment will not only be a scientific demonstration, but also a revolution in thinking.

If successful, the Qin Dynasty's knowledge system will completely shift towards scientific rationality.

If it fails...

Wang Jianguo shook his head, shaking off those negative thoughts.

We cannot fail.

Failure is not allowed.

This is because it not only concerns his teaching results, but also whether Ying Zheng's reforms can continue.

This is crucial to whether the Qin Dynasty can truly usher in a new era.

……

The next morning, at the Star Observatory, the tallest building in Xianyang City.

This tower, originally used for observing celestial phenomena, has now become a huge experimental site.

The observatory was thirty zhang high, with a spacious platform at the top. At this time, the platform was already crowded with people.

There were students from the Academy of Sciences dressed in white robes, scholars in dark gowns, and ordinary people from Xianyang who had come to see what was happening. They crowded around the edge of the platform, craning their necks to see what was about to unfold.

Ying Zheng stood in the center of the platform, followed by Fusu, Li Si, and several important ministers.

At the very edge of the platform, Zhao Gao was shivering as he held two iron balls.

"Your Majesty, these two balls, one weighing ten jin and the other one jin, are both made of pure iron," Zhao Gao said in a trembling voice. "Do I...do I really have to throw them down from such a height?"

"Otherwise what?" Ying Zheng glared at him. "Do you expect me to throw it myself?"

"No, no," Zhao Gao quickly shook his head, "It's just... I'm just worried that it might hit the flowers and plants below, or hit someone..."

"Don't worry, I've already cleared the area below the observatory," Ying Zheng waved his hand. "Furthermore, I've notified the nearby residents to stay away. Just go ahead and throw it away; if anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."

Despite saying that, Zhao Gao was still afraid.

He was holding two iron balls, and it felt like he was holding two mountains. Especially the ten-pound iron ball, which he couldn't even hold with one hand; he had to use both hands to support it.

"Wang Jianguo." Ying Zheng looked at Wang Jianguo standing to the side, "Are you ready?"

"Ready, Your Majesty." Wang Jianguo took a deep breath, walked to the edge of the platform, and looked down.

The observatory is indeed very high. Looking down from a height of thirty zhang (approximately 133 meters), people on the ground appear as small as ants. Below the observatory, a clearing has been created, with a circle drawn in white lime to mark the landing area.

"Alright, let's begin," Ying Zheng said. "First, explain to these people what we're going to do today."

Wang Jianguo nodded and turned to face the crowd of onlookers.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he cleared his throat, his voice amplified through a makeshift megaphone, "today, we're going to conduct an experiment."

"This experiment will verify a physical law: under ideal conditions, objects of different masses, dropped freely from the same height, will reach the ground simultaneously."

The audience erupted in uproar.

"What? Landing at the same time?"

"Impossible! The heavier one will definitely fall first!"

"Yes! That's common sense! How could a large rock and a small pebble land at the same time?"

An elderly scholar with a white beard stepped forward, pointed at Wang Jianguo, and said in a trembling voice, "Absurd! Utterly absurd!"

"In my seventy-plus years of life, I have never heard of such absurd logic!"

"Heavier things sink, lighter things rise—that's a matter of course! How dare you say that heavy and light things will land at the same time?"

Looking at the agitated old man, Wang Jianguo felt somewhat helpless.

He had anticipated this reaction.

"Sir, you're right, this does indeed defy common sense," Wang Jianguo said calmly. "However, science is sometimes meant to challenge common sense."

Common sense tells us that the sun revolves around the earth. But science tells us that the earth revolves around the sun.

Common sense tells us that the earth is flat. But science tells us that the earth is round.

"Common sense tells us that heavier objects fall first. But science tells us that heavier and lighter objects can fall at the same time."

"Then let's use an experiment to verify whether common sense or science is correct."

The old Confucian scholar was so angry that his beard trembled: "You...you are challenging the words of the sages! You are challenging the Way of Heaven!"

"No, sir," Wang Jianguo shook his head, "I'm not trying to challenge the Way of Heaven; I just want to understand it."

"To understand the true laws governing the operation of Heaven, rather than being misled by some erroneous common sense."

"You...you..." The old scholar pointed at Wang Jianguo, too angry to speak.

A young scholar nearby quickly steadied him, glancing angrily at Wang Jianguo: "Mr. Wang, even if what you say is reasonable, why throw it from such a height? What if it hits someone?"

"Don't worry, we've already cleared the area below," Wang Jianguo replied. "Besides, this experiment needs to be conducted from a sufficiently high place to eliminate interference from other factors."

"A sufficient distance is needed to make the experimental results more obvious."

Ying Zheng listened from the side, a slight smile playing on his lips.

This Wang Jianguo certainly knows how to talk.

This way, he could neither directly provoke these Confucian scholars nor lose face, while still maintaining his own views.

Moreover, he was clearly stalling for time, letting the dissenting voices erupt before refuting them with his experimental results.

This is much more effective than conducting experiments directly.

Because the stronger the doubts, the greater the shock when the truth is revealed.

"Alright," Ying Zheng said. "Wang Jianguo, the explanation is almost complete. Let's begin the experiment."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wang Jianguo walked up to Zhao Gao and took the two iron balls from his hands.

One weighs ten pounds, and the other weighs one pound.

He weighed it in his hand to confirm that it was correct.

Then, he walked to the edge of the platform and took a deep breath.

"Please look, everyone," he said, holding up two iron balls so everyone could see them. "These are two iron balls, one weighing ten pounds and the other one pound."

"Now, I will let go at the same time and let them fall freely."

"Please observe carefully and see which one lands first."

Everyone in the audience held their breath.

Some people were looking forward to seeing Wang Jianguo make a fool of himself, some were worried about the dangers of the experiment, and others were wondering what it would mean if the two experiments actually landed at the same time.

Wang Jianguo glanced at Ying Zheng.

Ying Zheng nodded.

"three."

"two."

"one."

"start!"

Wang Jianguo then released his hands.

Two iron balls begin to fall simultaneously from the same height.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the two rapidly falling black dots.

A ten-pound iron ball.

An iron ball weighing only one pound.

They fall faster under the influence of gravity.

It's getting closer and closer to the ground.

Getting closer.

Then--

"boom!"

A loud bang was heard.

The two iron balls hit the ground almost simultaneously.

No, not almost.

It is truly simultaneous.

Even the most observant person cannot tell which landed first.

Because they did indeed crash into the open ground below the observatory at the same instant.

The wind seemed to have stopped in the square in front of Xianyang Palace.

The two iron balls—one weighing thirty pounds and the other only three pounds—sat quietly in the sandpit, no more than half a foot apart. The dust that had risen around them had not yet completely settled, like two wisps of ghosts that had just dispersed.

Below the high platform, thousands of Confucian scholars and doctors from the Imperial Academy, as well as onlookers, were frozen in place, their mouths agape and their eyes wide, yet they could not utter a sound.

Dead silence.

A suffocating, deathly silence after a worldview has collapsed.

Just moments before, they had been confidently mocking and swearing that the heavier iron ball would fall first. This was "common sense," the teaching of the sages, a truth universally acknowledged for centuries. How could something heavy possibly run as fast as something light? Wouldn't that disrupt the proper order and violate the fundamental principles of society?

But now, the truth is like a resounding slap in the face, hitting everyone hard across the cheek.

"Clang!"

Someone dropped a bamboo slip on the ground, breaking the terrible silence.

Immediately afterwards, the crowd erupted into a frenzy.

"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Chunyu Yue's face flushed red, and disregarding his composure, he rushed out of the crowd and stumbled to the edge of the sandpit. He lay down on the ground and touched the two iron balls with trembling hands, as if trying to find some kind of mechanism or secret passage.

"A magnet! It must be a magnet!" Chunyu Yue shouted hoarsely. "Your Majesty! There must be a magnet buried underground, attracting the lighter one... no, attracting the heavier one... no, that's not right either..."

His speech was incoherent and his logic was flawed. Because no matter how you explain it, without external interference, the heavier component should have hit the ground first!

Ying Zheng looked at the chaos below the stage, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

He had anticipated this outcome.

Wang Jianguo had told him that under ideal conditions, objects of different masses would fall to the ground simultaneously. This is a physical law, an objective fact.

But he did not expect that the results of this experiment would have such a great impact on these Confucian scholars.

Looking at the weeping old scholars and the confused young students, Ying Zheng felt a mix of emotions.

On the one hand, he was excited about the experimental results. This showed that science can indeed reveal the true laws of the world, even if these laws contradict people's common sense.

On the other hand, he also felt helpless about these people's reactions. They believed in those outdated ideas too much, so much so that when faced with the facts, they would rather believe it was "magic" than accept reality.

"Dr. Chunyu".

On the high platform, Ying Zheng's voice, transmitted through a simple amplified copper pipe (Zhao Gao's latest invention), carried a chilling calmness throughout the entire arena.

"Did you touch a magnet?"

Chunyu Yue, his hands covered in mud and sand, looked up blankly. The pit was filled only with sand; there was no magnet to be found.

"No……"

"Is that sorcery?" Ying Zheng continued to ask.

"This..." Chunyu Yue looked at the iron ball that gleamed with a cold metallic luster in the sunlight. It was a solid lump of iron, without any trace of any talisman. "It doesn't seem like it either..."

"Since it's neither a magnet nor sorcery," Ying Zheng slowly descended the steps of the high platform, his black imperial robes fluttering in the wind like a giant black bird overlooking its territory, "then there's only one explanation left."

He walked up to Chunyu Yue and looked down at the old man who represented the authority of knowledge in the old era.

"You are wrong."

These four words, though seemingly simple, carry immense weight.

"They simply follow the laws of physics. The laws of gravity. It has nothing to do with their weight or their size. As long as they are at the same height, they will fall at the same time."

"This is the truth. This is how the world works."

You may not believe it, you may question it, you may cry, but the facts will not change because of your emotions.

"The truth lies in that resounding crash of the earth hitting the ground. Did you hear it?"

The audience fell silent.

Ying Zheng continued, "Just now, someone even knelt down, saying they were sorry to our ancestors."

"I want to ask you, in learning the truth and understanding the world, what have you done to offend our ancestors?"

"Your ancestors were also human; they made mistakes and were misled by common sense. Are you going to abandon the pursuit of truth because of their errors?"

"If your ancestors were wrong, then admit they were wrong. Then use the right knowledge to change the world and create the future."

"This is the best way to respect our ancestors. It's not about clinging to their mistakes, but about using scientific methods to achieve the ideals they couldn't realize."

"For example, ensuring the people have enough to eat. For example, making the Qin Dynasty stronger. For example, freeing humanity from the shackles of ignorance and delusion."

"These are what our ancestors truly wanted to see."

The expressions of the Confucian scholars below the stage gradually changed.

From shock to confusion, and then to reflection.

They are thinking.

I'm wondering if Ying Zheng is right.

I'm wondering if I really made a mistake.

I'm wondering if science is really more reliable than the words of sages.

……

Wang Jianguo stood aside, watching this scene, his heart filled with emotion.

He never expected that Ying Zheng would say such a thing.

These words not only explain the experimental results, but also expound a new worldview.

A worldview based on scientific rationality.

A worldview that does not blindly follow authority, but seeks truth through experimentation and verification.

This was no easy feat for an ancient emperor.

Because this means that he must relinquish a portion of his "absolute authority" and allow science to become the new authority.

This means that he must accept that some truths are determined not by him, but by experiments.