The expressions on the faces of each noble were slightly frozen, with a bit of surprise and disbelief.
In official circles, those in lower positions have to guess every word of those in higher positions.
This is not just for promotion, but also for self-preservation.
As soon as it got light and the gates of Xianyang City had not yet opened, the bells for the court meeting rang.
When all the officials arrived at Xianyang Hall, the First Emperor was already sitting on the throne waiting for them.
This shows that the First Emperor did not leave Xianyang Palace at all last night.
Unless the First Emperor returned from Yongdi in the middle of the night, this possibility is extremely low. No matter what era we are in, the road at night is more difficult than the road during the day.
Yesterday, I deliberately suppressed the whole day, and today I took the lead in the court meeting.
The two prime ministers were asked to speak because they didn't know what happened, and someone was deliberately looking for trouble. The First Emperor's intention was known to all the nobles.
Your Majesty does not want to deal with Lord Chang'an...
The nobles secretly thought, and several big nobles who originally wanted to speak immediately kept their mouths shut and looked around, hoping that others would take the lead.
Everyone's idea is very simple.
This Qin sword, which is placed above everyone's heads and may fall at any time, must be destroyed, or at least taken down.
But who will be the one who destroys the sword and the one who holds it? That was the problem, no one wanted to mess with the Emperor.
They did not speak, and the conversation between the First Emperor and Li Si continued.
"High-ranking officials and generous salaries are what all the kings gained by fighting bravely to kill the enemy and serving the Qin Dynasty. You are not as high as others, so you are jealous and insinuations towards them, which is inappropriate."
"Sir is indeed jealous, but what he said is indeed true. There are no less than twenty people with higher titles in the imperial court than Si, but all of them have made more contributions to Qin than Si? You don't accept this."
Li Si bowed slightly to Baili Cheng, the head of the Baili family, who was sitting on the ground without moving.
"He is a fourteenth-class nobleman, and the head of the Baili family is a fifteenth-class nobleman. He has contributed to unifying the world, admonished your majesty to recall all ministers, and established the county and state to implement national policies. I dare to ask the Baili family leader, what does he have in Qin? Gong? How can you be ranked higher than this?"
Is this Li Si a mad dog? Or is it because his words were all given by His Majesty and he insists on reducing our authority?
Combining what Chang'an Lord did yesterday and His Majesty's handling of the matter, it turns out that it was not Lord Chang'an who wanted to take action against us, but His Majesty.
All the nobles were thinking in their minds, thinking about how to deal with it next. They were not named and they still have time.
However, the person involved, Baili Cheng, could not remain silent like others. The fire had burned him and he had to make a choice.
He stood up straight and stared at Li Si with a murderous look.
"The merits of the city are not as good as those of the left prime minister, but the merits of the city's ancestors are far greater than those of the left prime minister. I don't need to say anything about the ancestor Baili's ridicule for Qin's merits. Everyone knows it."
The First Emperor nodded in agreement.
"Yes, there would be no Qin State without Bailizi, and Duke Mu's dominance is all due to Bailizi."
The First Emperor could say this, but Baili City dared not say it. Taking credit and being arrogant is a taboo.
The reason why he did not list Baili Xi's achievements was to contrast with Li Si's list of achievements and to make the First Emperor pay attention to Li Si.
Li Si shouted sharply: "What does Bailizi's achievements have to do with your Baili City? I am asking you! What achievements did your Baili City have to the Qin State?"
Mad dog!
This guy is going crazy!
For your own benefit, you want to trap us all! Why is this guy doing this again!
All the aristocratic families couldn't bear it anymore.
Regardless of whether Li Si's words were a signal from the First Emperor, they had to respond. Li Si's words touched the bottom line of the noble family.
The achievements of the predecessors cannot be inherited by future generations, so the nobility of the predecessors cannot be inherited by future generations.
Title, in the Qin Dynasty, was a symbol of class and meant that one was superior to others. With a salary that is beyond the reach of ordinary people, you can enjoy privileges that ordinary people cannot enjoy.
In fact, as early as Shang Yang's reform, Shang Yang had written that the title should not be hereditary, but the implementation of the policy ended in failure because there was too much opposition.
Many people take it for granted that the titles promoted by the Qin Dynasty's twenty-level military merit system are not hereditary and that Shang Yang's reforms were thorough.
In fact, titles were still hereditary until the end of the Qin Dynasty.
"Historical Records: The Chronicles of the First Emperor of Qin": Constructing Langye Terrace and erecting stone carvings to praise the virtues of Qin was a sign of great pride. Said: The king of Wei Qin controlled the whole world, and he was named emperor. He was to pacify the eastern land and conquer Langxie. The princes of Wucheng, Wang Li, the princes of Tongwu, Wang Ben...
The prince is Chehou, the highest 20th rank in the Qin State. Wang Li was just a child when he carved the monument. Even if he added all his military exploits in the late Qin Dynasty, he was not enough to be named a lord.
Moreover, Wang Li is the son of Wang Ben, but his name was listed before his father when the stone was carved, which shows that Wang Li's title is more valuable than that of his father, Wang Ben.
Whether Wang Jian was granted the title of marquis or not is never clearly stated in the history books, but his sons who were not as meritorious as him were all granted the title of marquis. There is no reason why Wang Jian, who had the greatest military merit at that time, was not granted the title of marquis.
All the facts are in front of us. If they are all true, there is only one possibility. After Wang Jian's death, his son Wang Ben was a prince and did not inherit the title, but his grandson Wang Li did.
Bai Qi, Lord of Wu'an, had outstanding military exploits throughout his life but was not granted a title of marquis, while Wang Li was granted the title of Marquis of Che when a child was born. This is the difference between King Qin Zhaoxiang and the First Emperor.
The fact that the Qin State was able to dominate the world in the generation of the First Emperor is definitely related to the fact that the First Emperor must reward his merits and not be afraid of his ministers' high achievements in work.
If it were King Qin Zhaoxiang who was also a wise king, Wang Jian, whose military achievements were not as good as Bai Qi's, would not only not be able to become a marquis, but would also be settled by the Queen of Autumn. It would be good if he was not punished.
But Wang Jian couldn't be made a prince, and he couldn't seek great benefits for his descendants. It is unknown whether he will teach his son Wang Ben to attack the six countries with all his strength.
The First Emperor conquered the world only after Fen VI, but without the First Emperor, there is a high probability that another king would not be able to conquer the Six Kingdoms.
And now, what Li Si wants to do is to tear down the bridge built by the First Emperor to drive Qin officials to fight bravely and make contributions to Qin regardless of life and death.
The title cannot be hereditary.
It means being an enemy of the world.
Sima Yin, the head of the Sima family, stood up from the banquet. His ancestor was General Sima Cuo who had laid down a reserve granary for Qin to destroy Ba and Shu.
Pointing at Li Si, his hands were trembling: "You want to destroy the Qin Dynasty, which has prospered for thousands of years. Your ancestors fought hard and overcame thorns and thorns. You just lucked out and guessed that the Holy Heart won the left prime minister. How dare you disrespect him here!"
Wei Fa, the head of the Wei family, stood up from the table. His ancestor was Wei Zhang, the general who captured Hanzhong for Qin.
Swinging his sleeves and robe, he scolded in a cold voice: "How dare a scholar talk about the merits of our ancestors? You say that you have great merits in Qin, but you are just talking about it. You are just talking about His Majesty's holy will. How dare you steal the merits for yourself? Don't go to the battlefield. How dare a coward talk nonsense!"
Chuili, the head of the Chuili family, stood up from his seat. His ancestors had conquered Quwo of Wei and Linyi of Zhao, and Zhu Wei Zhang had captured Chuliji in Hanzhong of Chu.
He did not look at Li Si but faced the First Emperor directly and said loudly: "Your Majesty, please kill these people who are deceiving people and stealing the world outside the palace!"
"..."
One noble after another stood up and expressed their opinions on this.
The more gentle ones yelled at Li Si, while the more violent ones directly challenged Li Si to the First Emperor.
They were using their strong and violent emotions towards Li Si to express their dissatisfaction with the First Emperor.
They were 100% sure that the First Emperor wanted to carry out this matter and wanted to centralize power.
If the hereditary system is abolished, Li Si's descendants will not be able to inherit his title and will need to continue to struggle. The person with vested interests in this move was not Li Si, but the First Emperor.
At this moment, they put aside the matter of Ying Chengxiu killing the three major families for the time being.
Things have their own priorities. Ying Chengyu's Qin sword has not yet fallen on their necks, but the Qin sword of the First Emperor has already drawn blood.
"enough."
The first emperor's suppressed angry words instantly calmed down the already noisy scene.
"I'm here to hear what you and Qin are planning, not to hear you and others criticize each other."
The words, which were neither loud nor quiet, made the ministers and servants under the high platform stop talking, waiting for the next words of the First Emperor.
Is the title hereditary or not?
Is Your Majesty stubborn in your opinion, or are you persuaded by us?
"Lee Si."
"I'm here."
"The Prime Minister is busy with affairs. You will hand over the post of Tingwei to Tingwei Zheng, so that you can work in the Prime Minister's Mansion with peace of mind."
"only."
His Majesty changed his mind and the title was retained.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and felt happy in their hearts.
Taking away Li Si's position as Tingwei was nominally to allow him to become prime minister with peace of mind, but in fact it was punishment. This revealed a signal that favored the aristocracy.
Li Si returned to his seat.
The First Emperor glanced at the bottom of the high platform and said: "The chores are over, who will tell me why you are so anxious to find me."
If the first sentence of the First Emperor had been like this, countless nobles would have stood up now, just like they did when the nobles opposed Li Si before.
But when the First Emperor had just been persuaded by a group of aristocratic families and promised not to abolish the hereditary system, the nobles of the aristocratic families looked at each other and wanted each other to stand up.
Politics is about balance, and maneuvering is more about the exchange of interests than life and death.
The nobles had just fought hard to regain the hereditary power they already had. They could no longer speak to the First Emperor and severely punished his younger brother.
Even if they thought so at the beginning, they just couldn't open their mouths at the moment. On the battlefield, when it comes to siege cities and territories, the more victories the better, but this is not the case in the officialdom.
If there is a person who only wins but never loses, and never suffers from losses. Then this person is either a powerful minister who uses the emperor as a puppet, or a lonely minister who uses the emperor as a puppet.
Powerful ministers and lonely ministers will all die.
Xianyang Palace fell into an eerie silence. The golden dragon clinging to the pillars shone with golden light. It was unknown what the group of humans in front of them were hesitating about.
No, that Zhu Zi needs to be solved!
The head of the Baili family, Baili Cheng, saw no one around him showing signs of standing up, so he gritted his teeth and was about to stand up.
Among the heads of these aristocratic families, Baili City wanted to kill Ying Chengyu the most because he was too close to the Meng family.
As long as Ying Chengxuan does not die, his Baili family may follow in the footsteps of the three major aristocratic families, so he is the first to be unable to sit still.
"You are fine, but I am."
The First Emperor waited for more than ten breaths, and when he saw someone standing up in Baili City below, he spoke slowly.
Baili Cheng sat down again after raising his buttocks. He didn't want to confront the First Emperor directly, so it didn't matter if he waited for a while.
"I heard the Queen's personal complaint, saying that three aristocratic families committed crimes and stole national property. They violated the laws of Qin, and according to the laws, the three Yi tribes were punished. Yesterday, they were arrested by Li Si and brought to Tingwei Mansion for execution on the spot."
"His Majesty!"
Baili Cheng's face turned pale and he stood up suddenly.
He couldn't wait any longer. From the tone of the First Emperor, he wanted to finalize this matter.
If the deaths of the three great families are normal, then the executioner Ying Chengxuan is innocent. This time the three major families died, and next time it will be his Baili family.
The other nobles also had very ugly expressions on their faces. They obviously had the same idea as Baili City. The only difference was that they were not as anxious as Baili City.
"I'm not finished yet."
The First Emperor stared coldly at Baili Cheng, who was so frightened that Baili Cheng, who wanted to tell the truth all at once, was so scared that his legs became weak and he almost fell to the ground and made a fool of himself in public.
"Baili City, it's me who speaks first, or you who speak first. Do you want to wait for me, or do you want me to wait for you."
Plop~
Baili Cheng couldn't stand any longer and immediately fell to the ground, hurriedly kneeling down.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
If it were a later dynasty, perhaps the sentence would be that the minister should die, and the minister's crime should be punished by death.
The Qin Dynasty did not have such a mantra, and they were afraid that the First Emperor would take it seriously.
Meng Ao, a veteran who had not been in court for many years, was very surprised by the First Emperor's reaction, but he did not hesitate to poke his grandson next to him with his elbow, his sparse white hair hanging down.
"You're such a scaredy-cat! You asked Nai Gong to find His Majesty last night. The Meng family is responsible for this!"
I don’t know who ran to the Guowei Mansion to stop someone and was knocked unconscious. The Meng family is the pinnacle of military merit, so it’s okay not to have such achievements.
Meng Yi, who was seeking stability, cursed while looking at Meng Ao with admiration.
"My father is still wise."
The First Emperor stopped Baili City's review with a cold look and continued to speak.
"The Lord of Chang'an, Ying Chengyu, was tortured in Xianyang Prison. His retainers wanted to save his master and broke into the Tingwei Mansion, and acted rebelliously, led by Wang Jie. According to Qin law, Wang Jie and the retainers of Ying Chengjiao should all be executed. Lord Chang'an Ying Chengyu was in prison and did not know what was going on outside, so he was taken lightly. He was imprisoned in Xianyang Prison for the rest of his life and was not allowed to be released. He was deprived of his position as captain of the country and prime minister."
If the First Emperor had pronounced his sentence like this at the beginning, all the nobles would have been dissatisfied.
Yesterday, it was not one or two people who saw Ying Chengyu appear in public and take the lead in killing people, but thousands of city defense troops and spies from noble families.
This kind of bad behavior must die!
But at this moment, the nobles who had no hope of Ying Chengyu being punished felt that this punishment seemed acceptable.
What makes all the aristocratic families hesitate now is that Ying Chengyu has dirt on them.
It was not just the three major families who sold used weapons and stole the treasury, but all the Xianyang families headed by the Gan family.
The three major aristocratic families were killed with this excuse. Will they also be killed with this excuse in the future? Was what Ying Chengyu did voluntary, or was it ordered by the First Emperor?
"Shangqing Ganluo, it has been found that he has not committed any crime. Meng Jiakun, Bai Fei, and Xishu framed him. The only ones who stole the treasury were Meng Jiakun, Bai Fei, Xishu and their clan members. After the dynasty was dismissed, Tingwei immediately Release Gan Luo.”
The First Emperor finished these words in one breath, and without waiting for the reactions of his ministers, he looked at Baili City who was still kneeling on the ground.
"Baili City, I've finished speaking. It's your turn. What do you want to do?"
