The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"Qin has the ambition to occupy the world, and its capital is located in the upper reaches of the world. It has established laws and regulations but does not enfeoff its sons and daughters, so that the princes and common people are all brave in public wars. Every time it seizes a piece of land, it abolishes the feudal lords and establishes counties, so Qin becomes stronger. This is the power of the whole country as a public weapon..."

"It is not the case with Chu. There are too many feudal lords and the nobles are too powerful, and Wu Qi cannot control them. In the battle of Yan and Ying, Wu'an Jun led his army alone, but the feudal lords of Chu were attached to their families and fled. As a result, Chu became increasingly weak. Although it had a territory of 5,000 miles and a million spears, it could not defeat Qin's 100,000 elite soldiers. Why? This is why the power of the country is divided and becomes a private weapon."

"So enfeoffment will weaken, and counties will strengthen. Although your Majesty has unified the country, if you divide most of the world into feudal states, who knows that a hundred years later, your descendants will repeat the Zhou Dynasty?"

After reading the memorial submitted by Li Si overnight, Qin Shihuang rarely smiled.

"Li Si, Li Si, you have written another good article that can be passed on to the world."

No, it should be said that as long as Li Si's articles are written with heart, people can read them unconsciously and applaud after reading them. He is worthy of being Xunzi's disciple.

But in terms of the position in Qin Shihuang's heart, another disciple of Xunzi is higher.

Li Si is just a great talent who can help him become an emperor, and he is very satisfied with it, but the words written by Han Fei can be followed as the way of being a king.

Qin Shihuang remembered that when he first saw "Five Vermin" and "Lonely Wrath", he was shocked by the beauty and exclaimed: "Alas, I can see this person and travel with him, and I will not regret dying!"

Unfortunately, things are not always as expected.

Qin Shi Huang dispelled his distracting thoughts and looked at the memorials piled up in front of him. Except for Li Si, Wei Zhuang, Wang Wan, Feng Quji, the nine ministers, and the internal historian Ye Teng all wrote their memorials overnight and handed them in. Although they were much less literary than Li Si, at least they did not remain silent.

Some of them, like Wang Wan and Zong Zheng, insisted that feudalism was good, while others, like Feng Quji, held a similar view to Li Si.

Only the old prime minister, Wei Zhuang, dared to say ambiguous nonsense, because he knew that the emperor kept him as prime minister not for his talent, but for occupying the position above the people and delaying the handing over to the next person.

In the eyes of the emperor, the prime minister was just a piece of meat bone to lure the hounds to perform hard in hunting.

Qin Shi Huang had already made a choice about the feudalism and county debate. He let the court debate and watched Wang Wan and Li Si wrestle, just to see what the ministers thought.

If everyone is inclined to feudalism, it will be dangerous...

However, the situation is similar to what he expected. The Confucian scholar doctor came from Shandong. He was stupid because of reading. He stuck to the Zhougong's politics that Confucius admired and was conservative.

Among the court officials, the civil officials had their own side, and the military generals had their own selfishness. They were eager to confer titles on the sons as kings, so that they might be able to restore the actual titles that had been stopped and split the land into princes.

Everyone was guessing the emperor's thoughts while putting forward their own opinions, and Li Si was no exception.

After reading all the memorials, Qin Shihuang raised his head, rubbed his sore neck after staying up late at work, asked the attendant to put on a fox fur coat for him to keep warm, and asked the usher:

"Who is on duty tonight?"

...

Langwei had to keep his eyes open all night and be on call at any time. If he fell asleep, he would be severely punished. So after being summoned, Heifu quickly followed the usher in.

It was already quiet outside Zhangtai Palace, but in the inner court, there was a bit of busyness in the silence. Heifu saw the usher carrying bamboo scrolls in and out, probably the memorials sent by the counties.

Heifu had only been a guard for a few days, but he had heard that the emperor's habit was not to rest until he finished the government affairs of the day. Now it was past the fixed time (23:00 to 1:00), and ordinary people had already had several dreams. Who would have thought that their emperor was still working hard at the desk.

"The reason why Qin Shihuang did not live long was probably because he died of overwork?"

Thinking so, he also stepped into the depths of the inner court. The eunuch on duty saw Heifu being brought in, and with a soft cat-like movement, he gently rolled up the curtain and asked him to bend down to go in.

A faint fragrance sprayed out from the beast stove and filled the bedroom, probably the incense to wake up the brain.

After passing another wooden screen, Heifu finally saw the emperor, who had taken off his crown, wearing a dark suit, sitting at the desk, flipping through the bamboo slips. Two palace maids were waiting at the side of the desk, making the huge hall look unusually spacious.

The usher led Heifu to the emperor and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Zhonglanghu summoned Heifu!"

"Your humble servant Heifu, pays respects to Your Majesty!"

Heifu bowed. At this time, the emperor finished reading another bamboo slip, leaned over the desk, sucked the ink, and wrote something. He did not raise his head, but just moved his head slightly to indicate "I know", and waved his hand gently to let Heifu excuse himself.

Qin Shihuang seemed extremely serious when he was working, frowning or nodding, so that for a long time, he forgot the existence of Heifu beside him.

The emperor was speechless, and Heifu could only stand there watching, not daring to breathe. He felt that Qin Shihuang must be a person who hated being interrupted in his work process...

It was not until he had read through three more bamboo slips, written his instructions, and had no more work to do that the emperor raised his head and said:

"I ordered the ministers to discuss the title of the emperor before, and Heifu's memorial was quite in line with my wishes. I realized that you, a military officer from the humble background, actually have some writing skills. Today, the ministers are discussing feudalism and counties. What do you think?"

"Your Majesty."

Heifu hurriedly said, "I am no longer a counselor, but a household magistrate. I am only responsible for guarding the palace and dare not discuss politics!"

Heifu had heard that Dian Guan covered Han Zhaohou with clothes, but was punished together with Dian Yi afterwards. In the eyes of the Legalists, dereliction of duty is a crime, and exceeding authority is also a crime! As a supporter of Han Fei's theory, Qin Shihuang should also hate people who exceed their authority. The court in Xianyang is treacherous. It is enough to get real benefits after being in the limelight once. What Hefu needs now is to talk less and watch more, rather than to meddle in other people's business.

"No problem."

Qin Shihuang put down the bamboo slips and pen: "I asked you to speak!"

Although not exceeding authority is the principle of Qin officials, when the emperor gives an order, the dog that should watch the house has to learn to catch mice, and the hen that should lay eggs has to learn to wake up.

This is the supreme monarchy. If the emperor asks you to speak, you have to speak.

Fortunately, after listening to Li Si and Wang Wan's debate today, Hefu also thought about it after coming down, and he still has some ideas in his stomach.

The so-called feudalism is that the monarch divides the land to the royal family or meritorious officials, and it can be inherited. The recipients enjoy the right to rule in the fiefdom. This is a real seal. Another type is fictitious fiefdom, where no fiefdom is given, but only titles, salaries and privileges are given to the nobles.

The central government divides the territory into counties and prefectures, appoints county governors and county magistrates to govern, and has a term of office, not hereditary.

The Zhou Dynasty was a typical feudal system, and the Qin Dynasty was a typical county system.

In terms of historical development, the transition from feudalism to counties is an inevitable process, but the pros and cons of this process have been a topic that has been discussed for two thousand years. It is often said that the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty was related to the lack of fiefdoms, and this will lead to countless controversies.

Standing at this historical turning point, Heifu is not thinking about how to come up with a complete strategy for the Qin Dynasty, but is considering his own gains and losses...

"Qin Shihuang must be inclined to counties and prefectures. My answer may not have any major changes to the national policy, but it has a great impact on my personal career."

Heifu doesn't think that a small person like him can change Qin Shihuang's mind by saying a few words.

So the next words must follow several principles.

First, you can't offend Li Si! You can't let the emperor feel that Heifu deviates too much from what he thinks.

But he can't completely agree with Li Si, he has to have his own opinions and let the emperor remember them deeply!

After sorting out his thoughts, Heifu bowed his head and said: "I am of humble origin and served as an official in Nanjun, so I know what counties are. I saw Hu Jun Dou Ran and Qin Jun Sun Feng in the war against Chu, and I knew what feudalism was when I fought with them. Therefore, I really don't know how good the feudalism of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties mentioned by the left prime minister today is, and I dare not speak rashly about the good and bad of feudalism and counties."

"It's better not to know, just say what you think, don't worry."

Qin Shihuang stroked his beard and thought to himself that he had heard the political opinions of almost everyone, including royal family members, civil officials, military generals, and doctors.

Although he had made up his mind and planned to agree with Li Si's advice, abolish the old system, completely cut off the wheels of feudalism and division, and let the world drive towards a brand new road under his own driving!

But this time, he also wanted to know how a young man who rose from the humble and fought two wars to destroy Chu and expanded his territory for thousands of miles thought about this matter?

This is not consultation, let alone questioning, but to examine the young man's political views and character.

Everyone is an artifact with different functions.

Confucius said that Zigong is a coral, a ritual vessel for the ancestral temple, and a talent for governing the country.

In Qin Shihuang's talent pool, Wang Jian is a strong bow for shooting the sun, which can be used to shoot down strong enemies, but after the swans are hunted, they must be put aside. Those crows and sparrows that occasionally fly by are not worth using.

Li Xin was originally a sharp blade for slaughtering cattle, but it was accidentally broken once, and now it can only be used as a knife for killing chickens.

Li Si is a rope, with a straight wood in the middle, which can be bent into a wheel. It can be used to restrain lawlessness and bring order to the world, but one end of the rope must be firmly held in the hand.

As for Han Fei, it is a tortoise shell enshrined in the temple for Qin Shihuang to read at any time. The divination text engraved on the tortoise shell can help him achieve the way to the south, but the tortoise shell is only useful when the tortoise is dead...

The rest of Meng Tian, Meng Yi, Li You and others are all artifacts.

Hei Fu has already caught Qin Shihuang's eye, but this boy is a little strange. He seems to be both civil and military, but he seems to be proficient in neither. Sometimes he has novel ideas, and sometimes he performs mediocrely. What kind of artifact is he?

"I think..."

After hesitating for a long time, Hei Fu finally gritted his teeth and said, "In my humble opinion, feudalism and prefectures and counties may seem contradictory, but in fact, they can coexist. Why not..."

He glanced at Qin Shihuang's face, neither happy nor angry, and said boldly, "Why not, like the Qin ancestors over the past hundred years, feudalism and prefectures and counties coexist, and implement one country, two systems!"