162: Chapter 162 Qin Law: Collective Liability

As the sky grew darker, a palace maid entered to light the oil lamps.

Zhao Fusu stopped her.

"Husband..."

Wang Xia looked at Zhao Fusu in confusion.

"Xiaer, let me show you the kerosene pressure lamp I've made."

"Ta-da!"

Zhao Fusu provided his own sound effects as he displayed the kerosene pressure lamp he had worked so hard to complete.

"This is...?"

Wang Xia's beautiful eyes gazed at the lamp with curiosity as she asked.

"This is the kerosene pressure lamp I told you about."

While they were holding each other in bed and whispering, Zhao Fusu had mentioned the kerosene pressure lamp to Wang Xia.

"Husband, how do you use this kerosene pressure lamp?"

Wang Xia's eyes, brimming with a thirst for knowledge, looked at Zhao Fusu as she inquired.

"Come, watch."

Zhao Fusu began to demonstrate for Wang Xia.

He first had someone bring in an alcohol flask and a diesel flask, then said to Wang Xia, "First, add alcohol to the pre-heating cup to heat and vaporize the kerosene."

"Give me a fire piston."

Zhao Fusu called out to a palace maid.

"His Majesty the Head of State."

A palace maid respectfully handed him a fire piston.

Zhao Fusu opened the lid of the fire piston, and it instantly flared up into a flame.

He lit the alcohol lamp inside the kerosene pressure lamp.

"After lighting the pre-heating alcohol, remember not to touch anything above the glass cover to avoid burns."

Zhao Fusu cautioned.

"Alright, I understand."

Wang Xia nodded repeatedly.

"This is the port for adding kerosene."

Zhao Fusu pointed it out to Wang Xia and poured in the kerosene.

After adding a liter of kerosene, Zhao Fusu closed the lid.

"This red-handled pump is used to pump air into the tank. The one-way valve inside ensures that air only goes in and doesn't come out, preventing kerosene leaks."

"Look at this needle."

"There's a red line inside."

"When the air pressure reaches the red line, it means the requirements for using the kerosene pressure lamp have been met."

Zhao Fusu began to pump the lamp and only stopped once the needle hit the red line.

After he opened the kerosene valve, the pressure caused the kerosene to spray out from the nozzle; the interior of the lamp ignited fiercely, erupting with a blindingly bright light.

The kerosene reacted with the thorium nitrate on the mantle to produce thorium dioxide.

This substance emits a dazzling white light at high temperatures.

"Wow!"

"It's so blinding! It's so bright!"

"This is incredible!"

Wang Xia couldn't help but squint, not daring to look directly at the piercing white light.

Not just her, but the palace maids did the same, either turning their heads away or shielding their eyes with their hands.

His Majesty the Head of State is amazing!

The palace maids gazed at Zhao Fusu, their eyes filled with admiration for a powerful man.

In their humble hearts, they thought that if His Majesty could take an interest in them, even for just one night, it would be a blessing earned from their past lives.

Zhao Fusu was also satisfied with the brightness.

This lamp was comparable to a three-hundred-watt incandescent bulb—very bright indeed.

Back before electric lights and flashlights were common, these kerosene pressure lamps were the best lighting tools available.

Whenever production teams held operas or meetings, they would hang several kerosene pressure lamps, and the effect was no worse than electric lights.

It could even withstand winds of level three or four.

Even on a battlefield, this kerosene pressure lamp would be very useful.

Hanging a few outside the camp with a large reflective hood would allow them to be used as searchlights.

If anyone tried to raid the camp at night, they would be discovered instantly with these around.

Zhao Fusu's eyes lit up.

That's right!

By adding a reflective hood and placing the lamp in the center to project the light in one direction, it could be turned into a vehicle headlight!

Whether for future trains or the steam tractor he was about to use to transport five tons of mortar shells north, it would come in handy!

The more Zhao Fusu thought about it, the more excited he became; this solved the problem of lighting for night travel in one stroke.

"Husband, here is the feedback gathered."

Wang Xia handed Zhao Fusu a report.

On the second page of the first edition of the Great Qin Empire Weekly, there was a section established by the Legislative Yuan to collect judicial opinions from the common people.

Zhao Fusu had also ordered judicial feedback boxes to be placed inside latrines, so that if anyone had an issue with qin law, they could put it in the box.

He did this by learning from 'Big Sister Dong'.

When Big Sister Dong was a vice president, she often found that the companies she managed went on strike.

Either the product quality didn't meet requirements, parts were substandard, or employees felt their treatment was poor—strikes were quite frequent.

Later, she discovered that their company also had a 'General Manager's Mailbox'.

However, this mailbox was placed right outside the factory director's office.

As long as an employee was sane, they wouldn't dare complain right in front of the director. One complaint, and they'd be fired the next day.

Therefore, that mailbox was purely for show—it was essentially useless!

After Big Sister Dong took office, she did one thing: she moved the General Manager's Mailbox into the toilets.

Everyone uses the toilet.

Everyone had the chance to drop feedback into the mailbox inside the toilet.

The factory director couldn't exactly squat in the toilet all day to see who was causing trouble.

As the saying goes, if you can't solve the problem, solve the person who raised it.

Since the director couldn't stop the feedback from being submitted, Big Sister Dong received a massive amount of it.

At the peak, she received over 700 letters in a single day!

Through this process, Big Sister Dong discovered many issues.

Zhao Fusu had brought Big Sister Dong's method to Great Qin. Looking at the dozen or so pages in his hand filled with judicial feedback, he knew this method was indeed effective.

Wang Xia's handwriting was very graceful and pleasing to the eye.

As Zhao Fusu read the contents, most of them complained that qin law was too harsh, often imposing heavy punishments for minor crimes.

For example, stealing mulberry leaves could result in thirty days of imprisonment.

If a neighbor committed a crime and one failed to report it, they would be subject to collective punishment.

Many people complained that they didn't even know their neighbor had committed a crime, yet because they didn't report it, they were sentenced to the same punishment as the neighbor.

One person's father was killed because a neighbor committed murder and it wasn't reported. But his father hadn't even known the neighbor had killed anyone, yet he suffered collective punishment and was taken to Caishikou to be executed alongside them.

Zhao Fusu fell silent.

The Legalists formulated qin law so harshly because they believed human nature was inherently evil; without strict legal constraints, people's behavior would lose all discipline, and society would fall into chaos.

By establishing clear and strict legal statutes—defining what behavior was permitted, what was prohibited, and the corresponding punishments—they ensured people knew the boundaries and wouldn't dare violate the law, thereby maintaining social stability and order.

Starting from this logic, the laws they created were exceptionally severe and lacked humanity.