Prime Minister of Great Qin

Chapter 381 I, Li Si, have become a rat in the end! (Please subscribe)
  Li Si's eyes narrowed slightly.

He thought for a moment, then chuckled and said, "I think His Highness has considered it appropriately and handled it appropriately."

"The relationship between the imperial court and the Xiongnu was indeed mutual enmity in the past, but in terms of national interests, there were no real enemies or friends. As stated in the documents sent from the imperial court, the relationship between the Xiongnu and the imperial court was actually similar to the relationship between the princes in the past. It’s a similar relationship.”

"You can be a friend, you can be an enemy."

"Everything must be based on the interests of the country."

"As long as it is beneficial to the Qin Dynasty, it is okay to put down prejudices and hatred. When the interests of the two sides conflict, it will be inevitable to start war again. There are never absolute allies or absolute enemies between countries. "

"The détente between the imperial court and the Xiongnu can give the imperial court a lot of room for maneuver."

"This move will indeed cause dissatisfaction among the people of the North, and will also dissatisfy the soldiers of the Beiyuan Army, but generally speaking, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages for the court. As long as it is beneficial, it will be profitable."

"As for His Highness's other thoughts."

"There are also merits."

"Whether it is building a transit warehouse in Guandong to reduce the loss of money and food on the road, or re-smelting the twelve golden people, it can save a lot of money and food for the court."

"Back then, Lord Shang moved to Mu Lixin."

"What really makes people believe is that Shang Jun really gave the gold."

"The amount of money and food determines the degree of 'public trust'. If the imperial court can fulfill the announced orders in full, how can all the people in the world be unconvinced?"

"So Your Highness starts with money and food."

"It's the most suitable."

Regarding Li Si's answer, Ying Zheng was noncommittal.

He asked again: "Then what do you think of Fusu now?"

heard.

Li Si's expression changed slightly.

He glanced at the First Emperor suspiciously, thought for a moment, and said with an uncertain expression: "Your Highness has begun to look like an emperor, but in many aspects such as the way he conducts things, he still has great shortcomings compared to Your Majesty, but he has begun to show his demeanor as a king. .”

"I congratulate Your Majesty."

"I congratulate Great Qin."

Listening to Li Si's compliment, Ying Zheng smiled indifferently and said coldly: "Li Si, do you know why I trust you so much?"

Li Si trembled, lowered his head and said, "I don't know."

Ying Zheng sneered: "You actually know, and everyone knows it."

Ying Zheng stood up slowly and looked at the trembling Li Si below. A flash of compassion flashed in his eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "Since you, Li Si, have been employed for more than twenty or thirty years, you have always maintained an amazing consistency with me."

"I've been thinking about it carefully recently."

"I really didn't expect that you, Li Si, and I had any big differences."

"I was deeply gratified by this."

"I think this is the lament of a close confidant of kings and ministers like our ancestors Xiaogong and Shangjun."

"So over the years, your Li Si family has formed multiple marriage relationships with many children of the royal family, and I have seen all these marriages. It can also be said that I intentionally promoted them."

"If it weren't for gratitude."

"How can I do so many things?"

"I have never disdained consolidating power through marriage alliances."

"I have never brought this kind of private discussion between monarchs and ministers into state affairs. It's just that you, Li Si, always agree with me on every major event. Sometimes we agree as if we are the same person."

"Among the officials in the entire empire, only you, Li Si, have done this."

"No one else can do it!"

heard.

Li Si's face changed drastically.

Then he knelt down directly on the ground.

Li Si had a look of shock on his face, sweat dripping from his forehead, and his whole body was extremely frightened.

Ying Zheng walked down from the high platform step by step and approached Li Si. He continued: "Let me count the veterans from those days, Wang Wan, Wang Jian, Wei Liao, Dun Ruo, Zheng Guo, Meng Wu, Yao Jia, Wang Bi, Feng Quji, Li Xin, etc., among these courtiers, who has not had any political disputes with me?"

"You are the only one who doesn't have it, Li Si!"

"I used to think that the monarch and his ministers were in harmony."

"But even our ancestors, Duke Xiao and Lord Shang, had differences back then."

"Could it be that the bond between me and you has surpassed that of our ancestors, Duke Xiao and Lord Shang?"

"Is this really possible?"

"Is it really possible for a monarch and his ministers to do the same?"

Ying Zheng's voice gradually became louder.

Li Si's body was shaking even more violently, shaking like chaff, and his face was even more pale.

Ying Zheng added: "Someone once said something to me in the past, and that person said this about you, Prime Minister Li Si, you are too focused on mediation and too selfish."

"I wasn't interested in it in the past."

"Now my health is getting worse and worse."

"I also often think about various things in the past."

"This makes me suspicious. In the past twenty or thirty years, you, Li Si, have been so amazingly consistent with me as the monarch. Maybe this was intentional?"

heard.

Li Si's expression changed drastically.

His lips were already black and blue.

Ying Zheng chuckled and said: "It's just that I don't think so. If it is true, the mystery of this power conspiracy is really incredible. But think about it from another angle, maybe you, Li Si, are not a conspiracy, but just afraid of me. Is this unpredictable monarch deliberately cautious?"

"after all."

"You, Li Si, have never echoed my obvious mistakes, nor have you echoed some not-so-glorious incidents."

"For example, when Li Xin was used as the general to destroy Chu, it was obviously a mistake, but you, Li Si, did not agree. You put the Queen Mother under house arrest, and after destroying Zhao, you also tacitly allowed Zhao Gao to massacre all the families who had enmity against me in Handan in the past."

"And there's all kinds of stuff besides."

"You, Li Si, have never agreed."

"The only real objection you, Li Si, have to you is that one letter of remonstrance and expulsion."

"At that time, you were just a river commander in Xianyang. You had never been to the court, let alone entered the center. You just wanted to stay in Qin."

"The king and his ministers are so unanimous, what can I say?"

"My lord." Li Si opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Ying Zheng walked up to Li Si, looked at the lean old man with gray beard and hair, and let out a long sigh.

He turned around and walked towards the throne.

He said softly: "Li Si, do you know why I don't like you?"

"I don't know," Li Si said tremblingly.

Ying Zheng sat back on his throne, glanced down with a stern look, and said indifferently: "Because you sometimes disappoint me."

"I am incompetent," Li Si said.

Ying Zheng shook his head: "When have you, Li Si, been incompetent? If all the prime ministers of the Qin Dynasty were incompetent, how many capable people would there be in the world? You, Li Si, have never lacked talent, let alone the sharpness to judge the situation. Otherwise, how could you To be able to sit in the high position of Prime Minister of the Empire and achieve the ultimate goal of being a minister, you, Li Si, have never failed to live up to this high position."

"You, Li Si, are not a vegetarian."

"Everyone in the government and in office has done their duty and done their best."

"The whole world can see it."

"But one thing about you has never changed in the past thirty years or even longer."

"May I ask Your Majesty, what is that?" Li Si looked confused.

Ying Zheng said indifferently: "Do you still remember what you said when you were laughing at yourself in the early years?"

Li Si was stunned for a moment.

He thought about it carefully, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

He said solemnly: "I remember."

"When I was young, I was a small official in the county. I saw rats in the toilets of the officials' houses without food, and they were close to people and dogs. I was frightened. When I entered the warehouse, I saw the rats in the warehouse, eating and accumulating millet. They were living under the large veranda. No people or dogs were seen. worry."

"At that time, the minister said: 'The virtuous and unworthy people are like rats, it depends on where they are!'"

"Afterwards, I resigned and studied under Xunzi."

Mention the past.

Li Si also looked impressed.

Forty or fifty years have passed in a flash.

He also changed from the young boy at that time to an old man.

Time flies, I can’t help but sigh.

immediately.

Li Si frowned. He didn’t know why Your Majesty mentioned this matter?

He looked at the First Emperor suspiciously, and saw Ying Zheng looking calmly, as if waiting for Li Si's answer.

It seems that he is using Li Si's own words back then to test whether the monarch and his ministers are really so compatible.

Think of this.

Li Si's heart skipped a beat.

There was even more panic and uneasiness in his eyes.

If what I say is different from what His Majesty thinks, it proves that I have been deliberately cautious in the past, and I have always been good at guessing His Majesty's thoughts. If His Majesty takes this seriously, I may be in disaster.

But this time is different.

His Majesty did not reveal any information.

I just asked him to talk about this past experience and let him speculate based on the current situation.

There is nothing to remind, and nothing to speculate on.

Because it’s only about yourself from beginning to end.

It is simply impossible to infer the First Emperor's current thoughts based on what he said in the past.

Li Si looked bitter.

Her cheeks were even redder and hotter now, and her heart was beating wildly.

He couldn't tell.

Don't even dare to tell it.

I was even more frightened in my heart.

Once you say it out and disagree with His Majesty, you will be doomed, but if you don't say it, you have already answered.

Li Si's lips moved, but in the end he said nothing.

see.

Ying Zheng said indifferently: "Li Si, you don't know what I think now?"

"I dare not speculate." Li Si said tremblingly.

Ying Zheng sneered and said: "You don't need to speculate on mine, just talk about your own. After so many years, it still feels different. I want to hear your thoughts now."

Li Si's lips were dry.

After thinking for a while, he hung his head feebly.

"My mind is empty now."

"Your Majesty, please come down."

"How can I punish you for what you said yourself? What crime do you have?" Ying Zheng said.

Li Si was silent.

He really didn't dare to speak anymore.

Never before had Li Si felt so desperate, so helpless, and so powerless.

No chance of any struggle.

Ying Zheng shook his head, sighed softly, and said slowly: "This is what I don't like about you. You are indeed too focused on mediation and too self-centered."

"I am guilty." Li Si's face was ashen and he had no intention of defending himself.

Ying Zheng calmed down, looked at Li Si below, and said coldly: "A rat in the toilet, a rat in a hamster, they are all just rats after all."

heard.

Li Si was stunned.

There was a hint of surprise and bitterness in his eyes.

"Whether it's a rat in the toilet or a rat in the barn, it's just that one bite of food, but it's only that one bite of food. And what's the difference between you, Li Si, and these rats over the years? From a minor official in the Wei State to the Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty, the same is true You only stared at one thing, and now there is only one thing left in your eyes."

"Li Si, Li Si."

"You still let me down after all."

"My prime minister, the prime minister of Great Qin, cannot have the ambition to be a mouse."

"You can't just focus on that one bite!"

Hearing Ying Zheng's words, Li Siru's face turned pale as if he was struck by lightning.

His lips trembled.

But no words were spoken.

He, Li Si, used to be a minor official in Shangcai, and he laughed at himself as a toilet rat who went around the toilet.

Now, through the help of fate, talent, will, etc., he has finally been promoted to the high position of power as the Prime Minister of the Empire.

but.
  He is still the 'toilet rat'.

It just moved from the previous home to the warehouse.

The mouse is still the same mouse.

He is still him!

The environment has changed, but the people have not.

He, Li Si, has always been just a mouse.

At that time, I laughed at myself and wanted to change, but after decades, nothing has changed.

He was obsessed with power when he was a minor official. Later, he studied under Xunzi, learned the art of emperors, and sold himself to the emperor's family, also for the sake of power. Now that he is a highly respected minister, he still only sees power.

How is he different from that mouse?

All I want in life is to eat.

"I have let your Majesty down."

"The virtuous and unworthy of people are like rats, they only depend on where they are."

"However, if a person always regards himself as a mouse, no matter how many circumstances change, his heart will not change, he will still regard himself as a mouse."

"Li Si is wrong."

"Very wrong."

"I used to wonder why Han Fei was more favored by Xunzi than I was, and was more appreciated by His Majesty. I consider myself to be far more talented and knowledgeable in calligraphy than Han Fei, and was far superior to Han Fei in governing the country. Why did the world admire Han Fei more. "

"It turned out to be this."

"Your Majesty Li Si is indeed inferior to Han Fei."

Li Si closed his eyes and sighed quietly, looking extremely lonely.

He never thought about it.

In fact, when he was a junior official, he had already made his life clear. He thought that he would change if the environment changed, but in the end, it didn't, and he still went back to the old path.

Nothing ever changes.

this moment.

Li Siben's old face looked more and more aged.

He didn't know how to leave the palace.

When Li Si woke up from his confusion, he was already standing outside the palace.

Light rain has begun to fall in the sky.

Looking at the light rain falling in the sky and feeling the touch of the rain hitting his face, his cheeks trembled.

"A rat in the toilet, a rat in the hamster, a rat in the end."

"I'm Li Si"

"I ended up living like a rat."

"Ha ha."

Li Si stepped away.

When His Majesty said the words "rat in the toilet" and "rat in the hamster", Li Si already understood what His Majesty was thinking.

Da Qin does not need a prime minister who is like a rat.

And he
  It was finally time to quit.

In the past, Li Si was very resistant to retreating and tried his best to avoid it. However, after talking with His Majesty this time, Li Si already knew that he had no reason to persist.

He is no longer suitable.

It's just that compared to the past, if he was persuaded to retreat by His Majesty, he would be very resistant and would try his best to stop it, but now, he can face it calmly.

he knows.

My own time has passed.

Next is Fusu, the era of Qin II.

They, the old ministers, all have to leave.

(End of this chapter)