Prime Minister of Great Qin

Chapter 264 "Book of Advice and Disaster Prevention"! (Please subscribe)

Ji Heng seemed to have guessed Hu Hai's doubts, and said calmly: "Politics is the driving force of all reforms, and all reforms stem from political purposes."

"Sometimes right and wrong cannot be defined, and the same is true for good and evil. In other words, it can only be defined in an era. Once it exceeds the era, it is destined to have a certain deviation. This time, Yinghuo Shouxin, The ultimate solution will also come down to politics."

"I have never discussed politics with the First Emperor."

"But given the character of the First Emperor, how could he not notice it?"

"This time, the place where Yinghuo Shouxin separates is in Guandong. In the past, Guandong was at a distance from the imperial court. Through this time of Yinghuo Shouxin, it can greatly weaken the control of theocratic ideas on the people. From many perspectives, what the First Emperor wants to do this time is actually They are all based on political purposes, and the rest will be incidental."

heard.

Hu Hai was thoughtful.

In fact, he didn't understand it very well.

But he also understood one thing, that is, Da Qin seemed to have a plan to deal with it.

He felt at ease.

There was an uproar in the palace and the court, and even he felt panic. Now he heard that there was a solution. Although he didn't know what the specific solution was, as long as this matter could be calmed down, it would undoubtedly be a solution to him. a good thing.

Hu Hai touched his nose and said with a smile: "It will be good if we can solve it."

"Perhaps you don't know that many people in the court have recently written to ask His Majesty to hold sacrifices and pray to gods. Even Zong Zheng is a little shaken. He has been admonishing His Majesty these past few days, and now we have a solution. , I think this trend of panic in the world will also stop."

talking.

Hu Hai also said contemptuously: "Those ministers in the court all claim to be rich in knowledge and intelligence, but when they encounter these things, they still don't come up with any solutions. In my opinion, the ministers in the court are not as good as you. I don't know." Why does Your Majesty value these people so highly?"

Hearing Hu Hai's words, Ji Heng also smiled.

He said calmly: "Those ministers may not have thought of the solution, but they are in high positions and pay more attention to the weighing of pros and cons, so they will become very cautious, especially since the First Emperor's health has shown poor health in the past, which makes the courtiers even more suspicious. Now they would rather be good at everything, or willing to go with the flow, rather than take the lead easily."

"In the old age of the emperor, it is difficult to be a minister!"

Ji Heng could understand the thoughts of these ministers.

He's been through it in the past.

It’s not that he is incompetent, but that his temperament often changes drastically when he is old, and he becomes more moody, and because of his health, he has strong suspicions about the prince and ministers. Therefore, in this case, in order to protect himself, In order not to arouse the suspicion of the monarch, most courtiers could only choose to protect themselves wisely.

The more so.

The gap between monarch and ministers becomes even greater.

In the end, the conflicts between the emperor and his ministers became irreconcilable.

It's often at this point.

These ministers were even more keen to get closer to the prince.

Simultaneously.

They also preferred the death of the emperor.

Love does not mean hating you.

The benefit lies in your death.

The monarchs are also aware of this situation, so they will become very wary of the prince. Once they hear some rumors and are sensitive, the matter of deposing the prince will naturally happen.

This is human nature! ! !
Human nature is self-interested.

The First Emperor was familiar with "Han Feizi" and saw these things clearly.

It is mentioned in "Han Feizi·Binei" that "the trouble of being a master lies in trusting others. If you trust others, you will control them."A minister is not a relative of flesh and blood to his king, but is tied to power and has no choice but to do something. Therefore, a minister who is a minister has a glimpse (chan) of his king's heart. He does not need a moment's body, but the master is lazy and arrogant. , so in this world there are people who rob kings and kill masters. '

The loyalties of ministers are never to the monarch.

It is the power in the hands of the monarch.

heard.

Hu Hai frowned.

Ji Heng did not explain in detail.

Not easy to explain.

The monarch and his ministers were supposed to check and balance each other and compete with each other. The problem of the Qin Empire was that the First Emperor's body had problems, and it was also known to the outside world. In order to protect their own interests and not arouse the monarch's suspicion, the ministers could only Due to caution, the monarch could only continue to support his body in order to maintain his majesty. In the end, the empire's situation deteriorated in just a few years.

Ji Heng put the wine and meat sent by Hu Hai into the kitchen.

the other side.

Li Si has returned to Li Mansion.

Compared to the past, Li Si looked happy.

see.

Li Si's third son, Li Pei, had a strange look on his face. He knew very well that his father had changed a lot in the past two or three years. Even at home, he was not a man of words, especially after the last incident in Liangshan Palace. You are being cautious, lest someone take advantage of you. Why did you go to the court today and your temperament changed when you came back?

He asked curiously: "Father, what's the happy event?"

Li Si glanced at Li Pei, smiled and stroked his beard and said, "It's not that I'm happy, I just feel something in my heart."

"Your Majesty finally came to his senses."

heard.

Li Pei's eyes were even more surprised.

Li Si went to the study, took out a blank bamboo slip, and asked Li Pei to grind it aside. At the same time, he said solemnly: "Since the founding of the Qin Dynasty, we have successively created three major inventions, each of which is an innovation that shocked the past and the present. At that time, all the people in the world were overwhelmed and shocked by the imperial court. At this time, His Majesty was so courageous, transcending the past and the present, and wanted to build a country that lasts for eternity, so he came up with the subsequent grand new policy."

"However, in recent years, His Majesty has lost the majesty and pride of the past."

"Becoming stale."

"Isn't this the blessing of the world?"

"If Great Qin continues like this, it may be more appropriate to choose Lu Buwei's path. However, His Majesty gave up on his own initiative and intended to build a new eternal country. Therefore, Great Qin can only move forward on the road of innovation, but follow Your Majesty. Due to his health condition, Your Majesty is becoming more conservative and seeking stability, and the world is increasingly stagnant."

"Great Qin is actually in danger."

"But after entering the palace this time, His Majesty seems to have rekindled his fighting spirit and regained his ambition to revolutionize the world. Why don't I, Li Si, feel inspired?"

"Haha."

Li Si laughed several times.

The mood is extremely happy and comfortable.

He had not been comfortable in the past few years, and was even in a state of trepidation and fear.Because the First Emperor changed.

Become conservative, become moody.

If it was just these, he could still accept it, but what frightened Li Si the most was that the First Emperor seemed to have begun to think about the pros and cons of the New Deal, and even deliberately made some corrections. If he was just discussing the matter, he would try his best to assist the Emperor in correcting the shortcomings, but from then on Judging from the situation in the past two or three years, the First Emperor was more suspicious of his courtiers.

Why didn't he panic?
He, Li Si, was both one of the overall framers of the Qin New Deal and the actual implementer of the overall implementation. He was one of the most important participants in any overall evaluation of the Qin New Deal by the imperial monarchs and ministers. However, the lesson from ancient times is that the monarch is Never actually takes responsibility for the shortcomings.

The only person to bear the responsibility is the Prime Minister!

But for lack of political integrity, the first person to be blamed is the prime minister.

In other words, if His Majesty really thinks that there are deficiencies in the general administration, then the problem will and can only fall on himself.

It is also destined to be borne by him, Li Si.

There was no problem in taking responsibility. What he didn't want to see the most was the wavering of the First Emperor's will. Especially in the past year, the First Emperor had become closer to Fusu. If the Great Qin really moved closer to leniency, then the New Deal of the Great Qin would start from a certain point. To this extent, it has returned to the kingly method of governing law proposed by Lu Buwei back then.

That's not the rule of law!
When he first met with the First Emperor, he mentioned his position to the First Emperor.

What he studied was Xunzi's study.

Xunzi's teachings express Confucianism and apply law. They respect both benevolent government and the legal system. As far as governing the country is concerned, it is different from the old school of Legalism. It undoubtedly belongs to the new Legalism of the time. At that time, the Qin State was under the rule of Lu Buwei. This book was written by Lu Buwei. "Lu's Spring and Autumn" is also a masterpiece, but "Lu's Spring and Autumn" is different from Xun Xue.

In Xunxue, the rule of law is still the backbone and the ontology.

In "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", the royal way is the backbone and the main body, and the rule of law is only one of the tools of the royal way.

However, his answer at that time was not accepted by the First Emperor. The First Emperor replied: "Xun's theory of the rule of law still contains three parts of kingship and one part of Confucianism. It means kingship and benevolent government to govern the law, and the Qin Dynasty respected it. These are orthodox legalists such as Li Kui and Shang Jun who only follow the law and the legal system is supreme."

When he heard the First Emperor's words, he was also shocked.

However, after hearing the First Emperor's subsequent words, he instantly understood what the First Emperor meant.

The First Emperor said: "He has heard a saying that Xun Xun is not a true Legalist, and even Li Kui and Shang Jun are not true Legalists. Only the teachings of Han Feizhi are the true Legalists throughout the ages."

heard.

Li Si woke up immediately.

What the First Emperor wanted was the absolute supremacy of the rule of law, rather than using the law as a tool of governance.

It was also from this time that he chose to break with Lu Buwei and completely turned to the Dharma of "only obeying the law".

The monarch and his ministers were in harmony, and Li Si rose to great heights from then on.

In the second and third year of Qin's reign, he had already become the leader of Legalism and had no way out. Once the First Emperor's ideas changed and he made a political change for the sake of the temporary stability of the world, Li Si would fall into an endless abyss and become dissatisfied with the Qin government. Anyone who wants to attack him will beat his drum and attack him. At that time, all his achievements will be turned into ashes.

At that time, Shang Jun's merits were as high as Mount Tai, but he could not escape the punishment of breaking his car. Can Li Si's prestige and power really defeat Shang Jun back then?
If the crime of "tyranny" were imposed on him alone, he would probably be infamy for it.

How could he not be trembling with fear?
Moreover, he really did not want to see the imperial New Deal that he had single-handedly planned and implemented eventually lead to the death of the people. Even sometimes, he secretly complained about the First Emperor. How could it be that so many talented people from heaven created such earth-shattering and brilliant achievements? Teach it to suddenly extinguish because of a momentary wavering of ideas?
Is this still the heroic king he expected?
But in the end, the First Emperor did not let himself down.

The First Emperor was still the majestic and wise emperor of the past.

because
This time, His Majesty questioned the ancient saying that "the heart of heaven is the heart of the people". He was even more dissatisfied with the warning of disasters from heaven to the Qin Dynasty. He also asked himself in public about ancient events such as Dayu's control of floods and Emperor Zhuanxu's Jedi Heavenly Passage, etc., and asked him to go down. To prevent possible disasters in Kanto.

more importantly.

The First Emperor himself said the four words "man can conquer heaven".

This is a very strong statement.

He told himself directly that the First Emperor did not care about the sacred aura of the 'divine right of kings' and would not attribute all problems to him alone.

Let him go and do it.

At that time, when he heard these words from the First Emperor, his heart felt sour and hot, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.

The First Emperor was still in his true colors.

And why does he, Li Si, fear the so-called will of God?
What he lacked in the past was the emperor's trust, which was the foundation for his true invincibility. As long as the emperor trusted him and entrusted him with important responsibilities, how could he, Li Si, not act vigorously and resolutely?Have you ever been afraid of anything in the world?And when the gods and ghosts talked about it, he would sneer at it.

but.

These words cannot be explained to outsiders.

Li Li grinded the ink and left the study sensibly.

Li Si sat alone at the table.

He lowered his head and thought for a while, with a trace of hesitation in his eyes.

Although he was excited, he was still a little unsure. He hesitated for a while before slowly writing on the bamboo slips.

'When a person dies, his blood vessels are exhausted, his essence is extinguished, his body is destroyed, and his body becomes ashes. What is the use of being a ghost or a god? Looking at these words, Li Si thought for a long time, and finally erased them with a knife.

Although the First Emperor has expressed his attitude at the moment, there are many things involved in matters of life and death, as well as theories about ghosts and gods. If the First Emperor regrets his words in the future, these few words may bring disaster to him. After all, he still dare not gamble. After pondering for a moment, Li Si resumed After organizing his words, he started writing again.

'Nature does nothing. '

'The freezing rain and dew all come from the ground and do not fall from the sky. '

'.'

Li Si wrote this document refuting gods and ghosts very slowly and for a long time. When the article with only a few hundred words was completed, Li Si breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at it solemnly and considered some of the possible After some modifications were made to the words that caused criticism, and they were confirmed to be correct, the bamboo slip was put aside.

Then he took out another blank bamboo slip and started writing without any pause this time.

"Book of Admonitions and Preventing Disasters".

The minister Li Si wrote: I heard people talking about disasters coming from heaven, and the star officials asked for sacrifices and prayers to the gods. This is a great fallacy in governing the country!
After some impassioned speeches, Li Si also put forward his own suggestions.

That is to create a disaster prevention and relief system across the country, which mainly refers to the 'official responsibility system', 'information reporting system', 'financial support system', 'tax exemption system', 'social participation system' and other effective guarantees for disaster response. Follow support.

After finishing writing this remonstrance, Li Si wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He also breathed a sigh of relief.

He put these two memorials on the record.

But his eyes slowly looked out the window, and a trace of doubt arose in his heart.

Recently, he heard a rumor that there was a strange man in Xicheng who was deeply trusted by the prince. Fusu had to discuss with him every time he encountered problems. Moreover, the rumor also claimed that many of Fusu's decisions were made by this man, and he even started to make decisions with him. The emperor also asked about this person many times. He originally didn't take it seriously, but the change of the First Emperor today made him feel strange.

Are there really such strange people in Xicheng?

Is this person really so talented that he can persuade His Majesty to change his mind?
Li Si still had some doubts in his heart.

He shook his head and didn't want to think too much. He waited for the two bamboo slips to dry, put them in his sleeves, and strode out.

(End of this chapter)