Xianyang Palace.
Only one day later, Ying Zheng summoned the two prime ministers Li Si and Feng Quji.
Inside the palace.
The monarch and his ministers sat looking at each other.
Ying Zheng looked at the two important ministers calmly and said slowly: "I heard that Fusu summoned you these days and decided some things because of it. Is this true?"
Li Si was tense and did not dare to be negligent. He quickly said: "Your Majesty is aware of this."
"His Highness has indeed summoned us and discussed some matters with us. However, the ministers and others only discussed the matter and had no other thoughts."
Ying Zheng smiled, rolled his sleeves and said, "I don't mean to blame. I just want to know what you discussed. I also want to know what you think of the so-called result of the discussion."
Li Si and Feng Quji looked at each other, with a hint of hesitation in their eyes.
a long time.
Li Si bowed and said, "Return to Your Majesty."
"His Royal Highness is determined to solve the long-standing shortcomings of the military merit system, and has proposed other ways to cash in the land and house rewards. There are three main ones, namely, schooling, becoming an official, and conferring surnames."
"I think His Highness is far-sighted and these suggestions are also very inspiring."
"I really admire you."
Ying Zheng sneered and said calmly: "There is no need to tell me such nonsense. What I am asking is your specific views on this suggestion."
"I want to listen to what is in your heart."
Hear the words.
Li Si and Feng Quji's eyes narrowed slightly.
They were a little unsure of the First Emperor's thoughts for a while.
However, they did have some opinions on Fusu's suggestions.
After hesitating for a while, Li Si spoke first.
Li Sidao: "I believe that His Highness's suggestion seems to be unique, but in fact it is difficult to implement it, and it is somewhat divorced from reality, and it is not really that comprehensive."
"Furthermore, His Highness's suggestions cover too broad a group of people, and it is actually difficult to predict what will happen next."
"I am worried."
Ying Zheng nodded.
He asked: "Tell me more about it."
Seeing that the First Emperor was not angry, Li Si felt calm.
He knew that the First Emperor's suggestion to Fusu was not so recognized.
Li Sidao: "His Highness's idea is based on the army. However, the army is the foundation of the Qin Dynasty and cannot be easily changed. Once these three decrees are issued, it will have a huge impact on the army."
"First, it comes at the expense of troop numbers."
"Of course the sergeants in the army have more choices, but at the same time the court should also note that once this move is issued, the morale of the army will even be shaken. This is not a good thing, because these policies not only affect the army, but also affect the army. It will also affect the remnants of the Six Nations and the scholars of the world. By then, the number of troops will be reduced, and it may be difficult to support the implementation of the New Deal."
"If there is a recurrence in Kanto, the imperial military strength may still be stretched thin."
"I am not optimistic about this."
At this time.
Feng Quji also said: "Your Majesty, I also have some opinions on this."
"Your Highness seems to have underestimated the old Qin people's enthusiasm for the fields, and also underestimated the Qin people's desire to stay in their hometown in Guanzhong. If you want the old Qin people to leave their hometown so easily, I think it is not enough to just provide two qualifications: schooling and being an official. .”
"Perhaps it's because of these considerations."
"Your Highness just turned around and added another given name, but this is destined to be just a false name. Da Qin has always been pragmatic, and I am afraid that it will have little effect. Opposition will arouse the resentment of the scholars and the remnants of the Six Kingdoms towards the imperial court. In comparison, I think this move Some of them are inappropriate and may even do more harm than good.”
"in addition."
"If the imperial court officially issues an edict, it will undoubtedly directly indicate something to the military."
"The imperial court is unable to honor the reward."
"This is a very dangerous signal in my opinion."
"And the attitude of the sergeants will also become difficult to understand."
"I think it's a bit risky."
"Perhaps some soldiers in the army who are aware of current affairs can understand the difficulties of the imperial court, but these soldiers are destined to be in the minority. If this arouses dissatisfaction among the soldiers in the army, it will be self-defeating and completely destroy the originally stable military morale. Destroyed."
"Otherwise."
"This move by the imperial court has undoubtedly damaged its own prestige."
“If you don’t have credibility, how can you convince others?”
"Even if the imperial court gives a solution, how many people in the army will be convinced? How many soldiers really believe that Chaotian Palace will allow their children to go to school, and will agree to let them go to Guandong as officials?"
"These are actually huge hidden dangers."
“If you don’t believe, you won’t be able to succeed, and if you don’t believe in anything, you won’t succeed.”
"The imperial court is trying to force the soldiers to accept another thing by destroying its existing credibility. This is a bit hard to do, and I don't like it very well."
Feng Quji also expressed his attitude.
He shared Li Si's view that Fusu's view was too idealistic.
It’s too much to take for granted.
But governing the country requires being down-to-earth and based on the fundamentals. Just relying on some whimsical ideas cannot solve the problem, and may even exacerbate the problem.
Fusu's suggestion is certainly very innovative.
But he underestimated the military's ability to accept it and its impact on the world.
But both cannot be ignored.
And once the soldiers are given another choice, what views will the soldiers in the army hold? Even if the military morale is barely restored, if a rebellion occurs in Kanto, how the court will deal with it will still rely on the army in the end.
But were the soldiers at that time still willing to fight?
Are you still willing to quell the chaos?
This is actually an unknown quantity.
In the past, the Great Qin army only did one thing, which was to fight.
Now that the army has another place to go, the impact on morale is really unpredictable.
Li Si continued: "As Prime Minister Feng said, if the imperial court wants to issue these decrees, it must win the trust of the military. In addition, it must also show the imperial court's attitude to the world. However, after giving the family name, the imperial court may have quarrels with the world's scholars. , How many scholars will be willing to serve Qin then? Will they be willing to serve as tutors in various junior schools for Qin?"
"There are millions of soldiers in the army."
"Once the imperial court establishes its prestige, many people will be tempted. How will the imperial court provide so many official positions?"
"These are all things the court needs to resolve."
"It must also be solved."
"But these things require a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, which the current court cannot provide at all. His Highness's move seems to be reducing the burden on the court, but in fact it will only increase the loss of the court, and may even cause more losses than gains."
"Aggravating the turmoil in the world."
"I believe that His Highness's method is not advisable."
immediately.
Li Si also felt that he had said something a little too harshly, so he quickly said: "However, if His Highness's method can really be implemented, the benefits to Da Qin will be obvious. It will not only expand the scope of military merit and nobility system, but also Let the imperial court conduct a certain investigation on the status of the granting of titles in the world. The status of titles in Guandong has been relatively unclear in recent years."
“Through this method, we can indeed understand some situations.”
"also."
"If these methods really work."
"The gap between Guandong and Guanzhong will continue to decrease. As His Highness said, the reason why the world has always been divided into new and old Qin people is that there is injustice. Once these policies are implemented, the original injustice will be wiped out. , under the rule of Da Qin, there will no longer be distinction between old and new Qin people, they will all be the people of Da Qin."
"In addition, the nobles and scholars of the Six Kingdoms will also completely fall into the quagmire, and there will be no chance of recovery. However, this will also cause the remnants of the Six Kingdoms and the scholars who opposed Qin to deepen their resentment towards the imperial court. At that time, the world will surely Caught in turmoil.”
Ying Zheng listened quietly without saying anything.
See this.
Feng Quji added: "In my opinion, His Highness may want to supplement the Qin people from Guandong into the Qin army, but after all, the Qin people from Guandong are not as good as the old Qin people, and they may not be loyal to the empire."
"The army cannot be in chaos in the past few years."
"Otherwise, if you want to fill the vacancies in the army, you can only stop some major projects to release a certain number of people, and then let these released people fill the army. However, these people are already exhausted and have been assigned If I go to guard the border, I may complain to the court. It is precisely because of this that I am not optimistic about His Highness's methods."
"I think His Highness's idea is really inappropriate."
Li Si and Feng Quji both stated their opinions directly.
They are not optimistic about this.
I don't agree with it either.
The reason why they didn't tell Fusu directly at first was because Fusu was the crown prince for the first time and it was the first time he summoned ministers. They had to consider Fusu's face to some extent, and they knew very well that no matter how fanciful Fusu said, No matter how many courtiers can be persuaded, the final decision-making power does not lie with Fusu, nor with them.
But on His Majesty.
As long as His Majesty does not relent, these policies will not be pushed back.
From beginning to end, they only had to explain clearly the pros and cons to His Majesty.
at this point.
The two of them knew each other well.
The two meetings with Fusu were more about deepening mutual understanding.
After listening to what Li Si and Feng Quji said, Ying Zheng also nodded slightly. Fusu did consider it a bit one-sided. He only saw the benefits of execution, but did not see the difficulty of execution and the impact on the world after execution.
Fusu couldn't consider it, but Li Si and others had to.
They also have to be thoughtful.
But Fusu told Li Si that that was not all.
Ying Zheng looked at the case and handed one of the bamboo slips to the eunuch at the side. The eunuch immediately understood, reached out and took the bamboo slips, and sent the bamboo slips to Li Si and Li Si.
See this.
Li Si also quickly stood up and took it.
Feng Quji also stood up from the table at this time and moved to the side of Li Si's case. The two of them read the contents of the bamboo slip intently. After reading it all, there was not only a strange color in their eyes.
Feng Quji was surprised and asked: "Your Majesty, I dare you to ask who wrote this memorial?"
Ying Zheng smiled and said, "It's Fusu."
Hear the words.
Li Si and Feng Quji looked at each other slightly.
Because the content on this bamboo slip is different from what Fusu said yesterday.
The difference is not even small.
The two looked at each other, then both smiled bitterly.
They still didn't understand that Fusu might have had reservations about what he said to them, or even deliberately exaggerated some things to observe their reactions. In fact, Fusu had already known the pros and cons of these policies, and had already understood them. They responded accordingly, but did not tell them the truth.
They thought that their meeting with Fusu was to deepen their impression, but for Fusu, it might not be the case.
Think of this.
Both of them felt deeply sad.
This is completely different from the Fusu they remembered.
The depth of his thoughts is truly horrifying.
Li Si cupped his hands and said: "The ministers in front of me looked down upon Your Highness. Your Highness thought carefully and did not want to directly issue a decree to the Qin army. Instead, he relied on the generals in the army and made certain changes to the generals. Change the current military situation and use this to test the military's reaction. If the military's reaction is not strong, it will gradually be expanded to the entire military."
"Your Highness is a great talent."
Li Si couldn't help but praise.
This memorial also states "enrollment", "enrollment" as an official, and "given a family name", but it proposes to divide it into batches, starting with the generals in the army, not from important positions such as generals, but from the bottom one hundred generals, five hundred generals, etc. Lord, two to five hundred officers, whose military rank is not high, but a relatively large number, set out to propose transfers to these officers.
Or quit the army directly and obtain the qualifications for children to enter.
Or be transferred to a local official position.
at the same time.
If there is no clan name, the court will grant it.
Through the so-called job transfer, officers with titles such as "Shangzao" and "Hairpin Niao" will be dealt with to a certain extent, and they will be relatively blurred and will not be told to the army so bluntly. This not only ensures the safety of the army's lower-level officers. The flow also solves certain merit and reward problems. In addition, because it is done in batches, it will not cause the army's combat effectiveness to drop too much.
The goal was achieved quietly.
The method is extremely clever.
in addition.
All measures were limited to the military.
It will not be known to the outside world.
Even if the nobles and scholars of the Six Kingdoms knew about it, they would not think too much about it. However, when the imperial court takes more and more actions, the number of soldiers who have acquired clans will definitely continue to increase. At the same time, through the recruitment of Kanto soldiers, it will also It will gradually affect Kanto, and through this quiet method, the problem of merit and reward will be gradually solved.
Until then.
The matter has been decided and cannot be changed.
Ying Zheng looked at Li Si and Feng Quji and asked again: "What do you think now?"
Li Sidao: "I think this strategy is a good one."
"The initial impact on the army was only tens of thousands of people. It was just the transfer of tens of thousands of people, and there were many options. The pressure on the court was not very great, and because 'transfer' was used, it would not cause any problems. Too many people pay attention and are vigilant, but it can be implemented well. In addition, even if the Kanto Qin people are added in the future, most of these Kanto soldiers start from the bottom, the number will not be too large, and the impact on the army will not be too great."
"Overall it's a good idea."
Feng Quji also smiled and said, "It's not just that."
"What happened to Mr. Hu Hai in the South China Sea may be related to the alienation of the army's generals. The generals above are not easy to make big changes, but replacing some of the junior generals below can effectively reduce the instability factors of the army and have a great impact on the stability of the army. It’s helpful.”
"This strategy is very clever."
Hear the words.
Ying Zheng also showed a satisfied smile.
He said in a deep voice: "Since none of you have any suggestions, then just do what Fusu wants."
"Your Majesty is wise." Li Si and Feng Quji said in unison.
(End of chapter)
