Prime Minister of Great Qin

Chapter 360 It’s better to suffer at the bottom one more time! (Please subscribe)

"Cultivate human affairs to defeat heaven." Fu Su said in a low voice.

Of course he knows this sentence.

This is the banner that the First Emperor used during this tour, and he has been committed to spreading it throughout the world.

But as far as he knew, the effect was not very good.

How can it be so easy to change customs?

Moreover, the imperial court did not intend to change it directly. It just wanted to let the world know the imperial court's attitude and use it to frighten the nobles and scholars of Guandong.

But why is Ji Heng mentioning it again now?

He didn't ask.

Quietly waiting for Ji Heng's explanation.

However, Ji Heng changed the topic and talked about something else.

He said: "Since ancient times, rulers have always needed to solve two problems."

"Development and maintenance of stability."

"And Da Qin was founded because of its ideals."

"From the beginning to the end, we have followed the path of maintaining stability. The objects of maintaining stability are not just nobles and scholars, but the entire Guandong, and even the entire world. You have been in power for a while, and you should have discovered something. , with the current situation in Da Qin, it is impossible to maintain stability."

"Because there are too many conflicts in the world."

"It's so big that you can't suppress everything arbitrarily by force alone."

"So the head of Guizhou has never been gathered."

"The Qin Dynasty has suppressed the nobles and scholars."

"But power is slowly rearing its ugly head."

"When the powerful forces are suppressed, I'm afraid new forces will emerge. If things go on like this, Da Qin will only be exhausted. Eventually, the holes in the world will become bigger and bigger, so big that they can't be filled at all. Even if the east wall is demolished to repair the west wall, Not enough."

"It comes down to it."

"In fact, it falls in another direction of governing the country."

"develop!!!"

"After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the development of the world has stagnated. There is no development. The land, wealth, and knowledge in the world will only continue to accumulate upwards, and eventually the whole world will exploit the bottom, and the dissatisfaction of the bottom will brew. Success, the bottom moved closer to the local forces, so the powerful began to grow bigger."

"The powerful are now dependent on officials."

"But given time, Hao Qiang embarked on his own official career."

"It will completely become a local hegemon."

"Even the lord."

"Da Qin is now in such an embarrassing situation."

"Targeting the nobles and scholars will lack the energy and thought to target the local areas, and targeting the local areas will give the nobles and scholars a chance to breathe. In the end, the bottom class, who are always running for their lives and are always squeezed by all parties, will only become more and more active. Don’t go down.”

"Da Qin needs to turn around."

heard.

Fusu frowned.

He holds a different view on the lack of development in Da Qin.

He didn't agree with this sentence either.

Da Qin has always been developing.

Otherwise, why did the Qin Dynasty develop water conservancy, dig cities, and unify weights and measures in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, all for the sake of development.

Now that Ji Heng said that Da Qin had not developed, he naturally disagreed.

see.

Ji Heng sneered.

He said indifferently: "I know you may have different opinions."

"But that's the truth."

"The so-called development of Da Qin is actually pseudo-development."

"Because development serves reform, not really for development, and Great Qin spends countless amounts of money on maintaining stability every year. The court has no surplus for further development. In the end, the so-called development has become Squeeze the bottom class and rely on exploiting the flesh and blood of the bottom class to promote so-called development."

"Development is for the benefit of the people."

"And Da Qin's 'development' was achieved by exploiting the bottom class. Not only did the life of the bottom class not improve, but it became increasingly difficult and embarrassing, even to the point where the people had no means of livelihood. Can this really be regarded as development? You may argue, This is an act of random behavior by local officials, a result of good intentions and bad deeds."

"But no matter how you defend yourself."

"The lower level of Da Qin has not been improved."

"This is a fact!"

"I advocate reform, and I also believe that Da Qin should insist on reform. However, when I urge you to promote reform in the world, the first starting point is often not from reform, but from money and food."

"Do you know the reason for this?"

Fusu shook his head.

He is a little confused now.

Ji Heng looked extremely grim and said in a cold voice: "Because the country of Great Qin has been on the road to destruction since its founding, and the reforms that Great Qin has been pushing for are actually just accelerating the progress of this destruction."

"This is not what Great Qin did to revolutionize the world."

"Da Qin's system doesn't allow it either."

"Xia, Shang and Zhou, at the beginning of the three generations, reorganized the world, but the system of Xia, Shang and Zhou was different from that of Qin. By destroying the previous dynasties and other tribes, Xia, Shang and Zhou had accumulated a large amount of money and grain when they founded the country, and they also had enough To shock the world with its strength, Da Qin actually has the same innate conditions, but due to the military merit system, Da Qin distributed a lot of money and food when it was founded."

"There is no way to carry out reforms without a fiscal surplus."

"Going your own way is a recipe for death."

"I admire the First Emperor very much."

"It was not the First Emperor who unified the world."

"It's that the First Emperor really took the right path. In this area where no one before him has set foot, the path he took was basically correct. The only mistake was that the First Emperor was really generous with the money and food when he founded the country. were distributed, so that there was always a huge financial gap.”

"If there was no such vacancy, the First Emperor's revolution in the world would actually be very likely to succeed."

"Revolution in the world."

"The first condition is a high degree of political centralization."

"And this is what the First Emperor has always pushed for."

"The First Emperor basically did it."

"Although power was only centralized in one person, it did achieve absolute political and economic centralization, and the reform would undoubtedly touch the interests of many people, so external conflicts also needed to be transferred. Therefore, the First Emperor launched an expedition on the northern and southern fronts, and the Qin Dynasty pursued What is important is the legal system, and the officials themselves are highly qualified and have sufficient execution capabilities."

"At least Guanzhong is enough."

"Under such circumstances, Da Qin's innovation is actually very easy to advance, at least it will be implemented in Guanzhong. However, the First Emperor himself may be very puzzled. He obviously did everything right, why the world not only did not improve, but became more and more tired. It’s ruined.”

"The reason was known to the First Emperor last year."

Fusu asked curiously: "What is the reason?"

"Military merit." Ji Heng said.

"Military Honor?"

Ji Heng nodded and said with a serious look: "The Great Qin can be said to be a military meritorious for success and a military meritorious for defeat. The whole people are soldiers of the Great Qin. No one in the world can stop it. However, in order to maintain this system, millions of dollars are spent every year. The money and food collected by the Qin Dynasty amounted to half a tael of money, and the money and food collected by the Qin Dynasty were used to maintain the basic operation of the military meritocracy, and then allocated to the salaries of the huge bureaucracy. The government not only had no surplus, but also suffered a huge deficit, so the Qin Dynasty could only Land rents and taxes were levied every year." "In the end, this was the case."

"Da Qin seems to be on the right path."

"But there are too many places that need money and food, and Da Qin simply cannot fill them. It can only go further and further down the road of wasting people and wasting money."

"The army is the foundation for Da Qin to stabilize the world."

"Except for the First Emperor, no one will be allowed to interfere. Anyone who dares to interfere will die."

"But this is the situation. You, a prince, have not only taken over the military power, but also implemented the 'non-commissioned officer transfer' in the army. Do you really think that your suggestion was appropriate?"

"No."

"It was the First Emperor who saw this problem."

"I want to lend my strength and your hands to change."

"The essence of the transfer of non-commissioned officers is to use administrative means to reduce the expenditure of the military merit system."

"This then frees up additional finances for the imperial court."

"This ensures that reforms continue."

heard.

Fusu was thoughtful.

He naturally knew that the transfer of non-commissioned officers would not reduce expenses at the moment, but in the future, if the non-commissioned officers were promoted to nobility, the court would not need to reward them with additional land, money and food. It would only need to arrange them in local places. The higher the title, the more rewards the court would give. The higher it gets, but compared to the huge and bloated military merit system, this change is still minimal.

Unless the soldiers are put back.

Thinking of this.

A look of surprise appeared in Fusu's eyes.

It was only now that his mind finally connected.

Ji Heng arranged for Fan Kuai and others to march. In fact, he wanted to use their mouths to spread the changes in Qin's army to all parts of the world, so as to attract more Guandong people to enter in the future. As long as the number of soldiers was large, the imperial court could garrison these The soldiers were repatriated in batches. As a result, many soldiers who could have been promoted to knighthood in the past were simply discharged from the army.

As such.

Under the military meritocracy, financial pressure was greatly reduced.

Since the soldiers only need to serve for a fixed period of time, they will not have so much resentment. The court will spend less, and most non-commissioned officers can be transferred out. The court's expenditure on the military merit system will be greatly reduced.

The remaining money and food can be used for reform.

All this is actually aimed at saving money.

Fusu said: "Sir, you are a great talent. By actually delegating power and benefit, you can achieve multiple goals with one stone. Not only has it suppressed the nobles and scholars, and reduced the difficulty of cultivating officials in the world, it has also continuously reduced the gap between the Qin people in Guandong and the Qin people in Guanzhong." , and more importantly, it saved the court money and food."

Ji Heng shook his head.

His face was very serious and he said in a deep voice: "This all seems very beautiful, and indeed it can be regarded as killing multiple birds with one stone, but it will take time to implement all of this, and it will even require spending more money and food, and Da Qin has many The policy cannot be stopped, so in the next few years, Daqin’s finances will only become increasingly stretched.”

"Even more impoverished."

“Being able to make ends meet is inevitable.”

"The ultimate suffering will fall on the bottom leaders of Guizhou."

"Bitterness at the bottom."

"It's easy to say this, and it's easy to do it, but the bottom class cannot really endure such oppression forever. Sooner or later, one day it will be unable to support it, and then the whole world will turn against it, and the ground will be on fire, and it will become a reality. "

Fusu's face changed slightly.

Ji Heng sighed softly: "Great Qin has no way out. If it doesn't continue to grit its teeth, the previous persistence will be in vain. But continuing to persist will only make the bottom class more angry and dissatisfied and complain. However, according to the current situation in the world, I am afraid that Great Qin Before the dust settles, the world will have turned against itself."

"so."

"The path Da Qin is taking is not wrong."

"The mistake is that there is no fiscal surplus. Reform without fiscal surplus is a big gamble, betting on the patience of the people at the bottom and betting on the court's support to complete it. But this kind of huge gamble often does not end well with the court because of the The imperial court is not only dissatisfied with the lower class, but also with the old forces. With them coercing each other, Great Qin will not be able to delay it that long."

Fusu was silent.

He clenched his fists tightly, his eyes filled with unwillingness.

But in the end, he sighed softly and loosened his fist weakly.

Was Da Qin wrong?
No.

Reforming the world is the only path Da Qin can take.

But what did the bottom layer do wrong?
nor.

Their only fault may be that they live in the current Great Qin.

In order to promote the reform of the world, the current Qin Dynasty had to work hard, waste money and people, and collect taxes and levies.

Da Qin also had no choice.

He gave a wry smile and said with a dejected expression: "Sir, my opinion is that the world is indeed as he said. All parties are exhausted, but the Qin Dynasty is already walking on thin ice. If you want to ask the Qin Dynasty to lighten taxes and simplify administration, it is simply impossible. The system of the Qin Dynasty means that Da Qin needs a huge governance system."

immediately.

Fusu seemed to have thought of something.

He suddenly looked at Ji Heng and said in a solemn voice: "So Sir, you set your sights on salt and iron again? On the power of the place. Previously, the court made a lot of profits through salt and iron. If it can shake the place, Let some strong men be killed, and the court can also use this to gain a lot of money and food."

"In order to reduce the additional taxes on the bottom class?"

Ji Heng nodded.

He said solemnly: "Any reform in the world affects interests. If the imperial court does not spend enough money and food, there is no way to push it forward. Therefore, if you want to carry out this policy, you can only spend more money and food, and The imperial court has no money or food, so it can only find ways to make money."

"Salt and iron are huge profits in the world."

"But it's not just salt and iron that make huge profits. Tea, wine, vinegar, alum, trade, etc. are also huge profits."

"It's just that these huge profits are currently being operated in the market."

"Controlled by local officials."

"Therefore, if the imperial court wants to promote reform in the world, it must make money from these hugely profitable industries. If the policy is directly forced, the imperial court will not have enough control over the local areas and it will easily backfire. Therefore, it can only change its thinking and make some disguises."

"Get involved by investigating and punishing officials."

"Yantie set up an official office for yourself, so it is easy to investigate and deal with it."

"And other places are closely connected to the local area. It will not be so easy for the court to get involved."

"So there's another excuse."

"Another reason."

"This reason is 'cultivation of human affairs to defeat nature'."

"In order to prevent natural disasters and man-made disasters, Changping warehouses were built in some convenient transportation places to centrally store and transport goods urgently needed by the public. They claimed to the outside world that it was only for emergencies and wanted to conduct an emergency drill to prevent natural disasters and man-made disasters. Once the goods are in place, we will go directly to the corresponding government offices.”

"Thus completely consolidating local financial power."

Ji Heng said very calmly.

But in Fusu's eyes, he saw the bloody storm.

False and true, true and false.

Through some specious orders, local officials were mobilized to transport supplies. When the imperial court controlled a sufficient amount of supplies, it would take action against the localities at lightning speed, and then take back the financial power that had been left to the localities.

But all this may cost a lot of money and food.

Fusu smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid the people at the bottom will have to suffer for this."

(End of this chapter)