My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 709 Guanzhong Population Census
Ren Xiong cried and said a lot.

But he still annexed Zhao Tuo's fiefdom.

At the moment, he was holding his own hands and crying in front of the soldiers, "I wish I had a heart like you. You are truly loyal to the Empire, but I am like a traitor."

The soldiers listened and cast strange looks at Ren Xiong.

Zhao Tuo's eyes moved, and he said, "Don't you feel that you can't take care of yourself? In my opinion, it's better for you to stay and serve His Majesty here with me. Then, His Majesty will take care of you personally."

Ren Xiong stopped crying immediately. "Oh, forget it. I'm just saying it, don't take it seriously. Why should I be a general when I can be a king?"

A burst of laughter broke out among the soldiers.

Zhao Tuo stood on the carriage and waved goodbye to Ren Xiong.

Ren Xiong stood on the car, and together with his brothers and their families, they held the document seal to their chests and waved towards the direction of Xianyang.

Zhao Tuo also stood on the chariot, and both sides shouted, "Goodbye!"

Ren Xiong had been gone for a while when the soldiers around him asked him, "General, you can become a vassal. Why don't you do it? Will you really not regret it in the future?"

"Yes. But compared to losing the chance to become a vassal, I am more afraid of becoming someone who will oppose Your Majesty in the future." Zhao Tuo looked at the sky above Xianyang. I am a soldier of the Qin Dynasty, a native of Qin. I will never point my sword at the Qin people. "

Zhao Tuo's words were like branding iron, deeply engraved in the hearts of every guard.

Zhao Tuo got off the car and looked back to see the saxaul trees on both sides of the road outside Xianyang city.

Winter is here, and the dates on the saxaul trees are falling to the ground one after another.

The yellow grass was covered with small red fruits, and there were traces of shepherds leading their sheep around. Tiny balls of sheep dung were scattered everywhere, mixed in the grass.

The ancients had deep feelings for herding.

In that era when most people had no chance to receive education, young people did not need to study when they were young, and almost everyone was grazing on the hillsides.

Cattle and sheep are their closest companions, and hunting dogs are their most effective assistants.

By following the sheep's buttocks every day and observing the color of their feces, you can determine whether the cattle and sheep are healthy.

Every teenager spends his time like this.

In the Guanzhong land of Qin State, the Qin people have been happy for the past hundred years.

Every household has cattle and sheep, abundant resources, and a large population.

In a land not disturbed by war, people who do not have to participate in battles live extremely happy lives.

Herding is the happiest time for every man in his youth.

Riding cows, riding sheep, hunting dogs, catching rabbits in the fields.

For the ancients, sheep dung balls were by no means dirty things.

The Weishui River is still flowing.

Zhao Tuo couldn't hear clearly whether the Wei River was crying or laughing.

Looking at the bare, ugly saxaul tree, and the saxauls, sheep dung, grass and footprints under the tree.

Zhao Tuo suddenly remembered something. He jumped off the car, dug something out of the ground, and put it in his clothes. "Quick, catch up with Ren Xiong."

Fortunately, Ren Xiong and the others didn't walk very fast.

If you travel with your family and there are elderly, weak, women and children in the car, you naturally can't go fast.

Ren Xiong thought that Zhao Tuo had some urgent matter, or that Zhao Tuo had changed his mind and wanted to go with him.

He told the soldiers, "Faster, faster! Don't let them catch up."

But the soldier told Ren Xiong, "General, this is not a good idea. Besides, General Zhao has already seen us. We can't say we didn't see them and deliberately didn't wait for them."

Ren Xiao patted his forehead and stopped.

As a result, Zhao Tuo, sweating profusely, chased after him and just said to Ren Xiong.

"I'm asking you to do me a favor."

Ren Xiao suddenly felt that it was a false alarm, but the sweat on his back had already soaked his underwear.

"What's the matter? Just send a soldier to chase after him and tell him. You are a general after all. Look at the trouble you have made yourself." Ren Xiong jumped out of the car himself.

Zhao Tuo spread out his clothes, and found a pile of soil, some saxaul trees, grass roots, and sheep dung balls inside.

"What are you doing?" Ren Xiong looked at him with disdain. He was such a great general, but still so childish.

"I have chosen to stay in Xianyang. I am afraid I will never be able to go to Minzhong again. Please take this handful of soil back with you and mix it with wine to comfort the hundreds of thousands of Qin soldiers who died in Minzhong."

"These soils were originally nurtured by the water of Qin State, and the saxauls were also grown on the soil of Xianyang."

"Don't let them feel lonely. They can't come back, but we can take the Qin soil with us."

Ren Xiong's heart suddenly contracted, he staggered twice, his eyes quickly turned red, and he opened and closed his lips again and again, but his throat seemed to be pinched by something, and his throat was stuck again and again, and he couldn't speak.

Ren Xiong turned around, jumped into a car behind, rummaged through the drawers, and took out an exquisite jewelry box.

Ren Xiong's daughter exclaimed, "Father, this is what you just bought for me."

Ren Xiong just said, "Shut up. Do you need me to teach me how to do things?"

The little girl shrank back in the car.

Ren Xiong stuffed the gold and silver objects inside into another large box.

Then he came down with the empty box.

"Zhao Tuo! I'm really fed up with you on this point. You're so nagging." Ren Xiong said as he opened the brocade box and put the soil in the box together with Zhao Tuo.

Ren Xiong sealed the box.

The two looked at the box and were speechless for a long time.

Zhao Tuo's dark big hand rested on the box. He looked at Ren Xiao and said, "Please take good care of my brothers for me."

Ren Xiong's throat tightened again.

"Don't worry. Even if you don't tell me, I will visit them often."

Zhao Tuo looked at Ren Xiong and bumped his chest with him.

"Go."

Ren Xiong looked at Zhao Tuo and said, "Why didn't you give me something as a parting gift? My brothers all have some, but I don't. If I die there, no one will visit my grave."

Ren's sons and daughters were in a state of panic, shouting in the car, "Father, we are here to visit your grave."

Ren Xiao shouted, "Get lost!"

Zhao Tuo and his soldiers couldn't help laughing.

Zhao Tuo looked around and ordered people to bring Qin State Laofeng wine. He then went to the river himself, took the mud and sand from the banks of the Wei River and put it in the wine cup.

"After this farewell, I'm afraid we may never meet again in this life. Drink this cup of wine, and in the next life we ​​will be born together in Qin and be brothers again."

In broad daylight, Zhao Tuo, Ren Xiong and a group of soldiers drank the wine together, facing the sky, the Wei River and the city of Xianyang.

The friendship forged on the battlefield is sometimes better than the grace of being raised by one's own parents and the loyalty between a ruler and his subjects.

Ren Xiong looked back again and again, but this time, Zhao Tuo and his men left cleanly and efficiently.

It seemed that for Zhao Tuo and his men, nothing else mattered except the heroic souls buried in the mountains of central Fujian.

Ren Xiong packed up the brocade box and valuables together. He looked at the endless land, the withered ghost trees, the dry saxaul trees, the bare willow trees, and the apricot trees that had lost all their leaves.

Ren Xiao looked at the trees and listened to the gurgling sound of the Wei River.

Some soldiers behind him jumped off the car and took the initiative to pick up the seeds under the trees. Some picked up dry branches, and others stole soil and bricks from the city wall.

Some people took the opportunity to break the law, carving words on bricks and stones and leaving their names on trees.

In broad daylight, a team of several thousand people marched slowly and majestically towards central Fujian.

Ren Xiong sat in the chariot, and when he arrived at his fiefdom, he would be a king worshipped by thousands of people.

But for some reason, the farther he got from Xianyang, the colder he felt, as if he was going to a world where he was the only one left.

However, the wheel heading towards tomorrow keeps moving forward.

Whether a person likes it or not, fate has already come upon him.

Ren Xiong will always be grateful for the glass of wine that Zhao Tuo invited him to drink today. If not for this, he really doesn't know how he would have survived the days when he was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea due to the unfamiliar climate in Fujian.

Ren Xiong also put the soil in his arms and the seeds in the soil to good use.

Never underestimate the Chinese people's obsession with land.

They believe that they will only feel at ease when they have solid ground under their feet and their names are clearly written on the house deeds.

Not to mention that heaven and earth gave birth to all things, the earth has always been like a mother, giving mankind the most solid embrace.

Ren Xiong and the country he governs will face unprecedented tests in the days ahead. From a general to a vassal, did he gain more or lose more?
Wang Ben and his son heard the news that the Meng brothers, Li Xin and Zhao Tuo declined to accept the fiefdom.

Wang Li laughed and said, "Father, I have always felt that the Meng brothers are pedantic. General Xin only knows how to fight, and Zhao Tuo was born in a poor family and has no ambition."

"See, I was right."

Wang Li's mouth opened wide.

However, what he waited for was not his father's approval, but a cold face.

Wang Ben looked at the boy in astonishment. He never expected that his son would be like this.

Wang Ben tried to comfort himself, maybe he was just too surprised and spoke nonsense. After all, everyone would say something that was not what they meant.

"Do you really think so?"

Unexpectedly, Wang Li laughed and said, "Of course I really think so."

Wang Ben closed his eyes helplessly.

"I think our Wang family is finished."

Wang Li couldn't help but think of what his grandfather said, "Wealth does not last for more than three generations."

Wang Li brought up the past again, "Grandfather said that I would be the one who ruined our family in the future. I don't think so. In the future, the Wang family will become an existence that everyone in the world will be terrified of."

Wang Li looked up at the sky. In his heart, there was nothing worth awe.

In the past, he would still fear power, but now it is different.

"From now on, Your Majesty will not be able to control us. Father, you can do whatever you want in the fiefdom."

"Shut up!" Wang Ben scolded.

Wang Li was stunned for a while, but he soon stopped taking it seriously. Since he was born, his father had never treated him well.

Wang Li turned around and left on his horse, and on the way he met the princess's carriage.

When Wang Li saw the princess's carriage, he was so angry that his teeth gritted together.

Naturally, his subordinates advised Wang Ben not to be angry.

Wang Ben said with great remorse, "My father and I have been away at war for many years and neglected to discipline this child. I wanted to make amends later, but I didn't expect that when I looked back, it was too late."

"This child is beyond saving."

People at that time did not take it seriously, thinking that Wang Ben had just said a few words out of anger.
-
On the land of Qin, the sky is still as high and as far away, and the earth is still as solid.

When each general left, he bowed deeply in the direction of the Yuzhen Palace.

The cold winter of Qin is coming!

Everything returned to silence.

On the Qinguo Dam, there was only a desolate scene, and the red maple leaves had disappeared.

The empire has experienced so much in this year.

Fortunately, everything settled down in the end.

Fusu sat in the Zhangtai Palace, carefully reviewing memorials.

Wang Wan, in the prime minister's residence, brought a group of veteran ministers to assign prime ministers, senior ministers and other talents to the princes to follow up.

At the same time, they wanted to recall a large number of Qin officials.

Wang Wan quickly came to congratulate Fusu, "Your Majesty, a large number of Qin officials will return to the enfeoffed lands next spring. By then, we can send more people to various places to strengthen the rule of law."

"Good." Taking this opportunity, Fusu told Wang Wan his thoughts again, "I have always believed that it is not enough to govern a country by relying solely on laws. As human beings, we are emotional."

"I was thinking whether we could let the scholars join the army or even the judicial ranks to make adjustments."

"At the same time, some cumbersome and overly harsh laws should be abolished. For example, if someone dumps garbage on the road, there is no need to punish him severely, such as corporal punishment. Instead, his property can be confiscated. If he refuses to change his ways, the punishment can be increased as appropriate."

After Wang Wan heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's fine. In this way, more officials will be sent from the local areas, and the management of the local areas will naturally be more direct and effective."

Fusu: "That's what I mean. All along, our Great Qin Empire has been too greedy. I think if we can completely control Zhao, Han, and the eastern Chu area within ten or twenty years, the world can be peaceful for at least thirty years."

Wang Wan admired Fusu's pragmatic spirit.

"Your Majesty can think like this and act like this, which is a blessing for the people of the world."

"I plan to conduct another census of the people in Guanzhong and distribute land to them according to the number of households and population. I will also conduct a census of the amount of land owned by local nobles."

"If the local Qin officials can implement all these things, the consequences and effectiveness will be incredible."

"But I'm afraid I'll have to trouble the Prime Minister for this matter."

Wang Wan bowed and said, "This is my duty as a minister."

After Wang Wan finished speaking, he looked around, as if he had something to hide.

Fusu dismissed his attendants and said, "Prime Minister Wang is highly respected and fair in his conduct. No one in the court disagrees with him. Is there anything difficult about this?"

Wang Wan was still speechless.

Although Fusu was famous for his good temper, the emperor was still the emperor after all. With power, people would change.

What's more, the people he once served pretended to be better and more beautiful than Fusu; regardless of whether Fusu was pretending to be respectful or not, he could not say it directly, so as not to make Fusu feel that he was not respectful enough to him as the emperor.

"Your Majesty, please look at what is in the palm of my hand?" Wang Wan spread out his hands and showed them to Fusu.

Fusu stared at the hand for a long time, "Meat."

Wang Wan turned his hand over again and let Fusu look at the back of his hand.

"Then what is on the back of my hand, Your Majesty?"

“It’s still meat.”

"Then may I ask, Your Majesty, why do you only use the palm of your hand and not the back of it?"

This question left Fusu confused for a while.

"Prime Minister, what do you mean?"

Wang Wan knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I heard that whenever there is an important matter, your Majesty always summons Xiao He, Cao Shen, Chen Ping, and Zhang Cang to handle it. I wonder if your Majesty still remembers their positions?"

"Of course I remember."

"Then may I ask your Majesty, do you still remember what positions Zheng Guo, Mao Jiao and other officials held?"

Fusu placed his hands flat on his knees and said with a slightly impatient tone, "I know."

"Then may I ask your Majesty, why don't you consult with these ministers and entrust them with the task, but instead only use Xiao He and the other four?"

Fusu was speechless for a moment.

Of course it’s because they are easy to use and obedient.

Wang Wan said earnestly, "Your Majesty, we are all human. Xiao He and the other three are dedicated to helping your Majesty solve problems; but none of the other ministers of the retired emperor have second thoughts about you."

"Everyone is waiting for His Majesty to implement great governance, so they can contribute a little."

"But now that Your Majesty has entrusted all matters to these four people, has Your Majesty ever thought that this is harming them?"

"Your Majesty thought he was just using them, but in the eyes of others, it was Your Majesty who deliberately alienated others and distributed the credit to these few people."

Fusu's face darkened. "I have never thought of this."

Wang Wan advised sincerely, "Your Majesty has never thought about it, but there must be many people in the court who will maliciously speculate that Your Majesty is deliberately promoting these four people, so he is alienated from others."

Fusu looked at Wang Wan, and soon he understood.

Why did Wang Wan gesture his palms to him?

"I understand. From now on, these major matters will be discussed by all the ministers in the court. When it comes to implementation, the ministers must also work together."

Wang Wan cupped his hands and said, "I, your humble servant, thank your Majesty on behalf of all the other ministers."

Wang Wan left trembling with fear.

Fusu sat alone in the spacious Zhangtai Palace, listening to the dripping sound, with indifference in his eyes.

Could it be that he changed many people with his actions, making them want to contribute to the cause of world peace?

However, if we want to contribute to the cause of world peace, we must curb our own selfish interests.

Wang Wan reminded himself that perhaps it was just for the purpose of winning over other ministers so as not to lose them.

However, to implement a new governance, we must be honest in our work.

How should he decide and deal with this matter?
Except for those four people, Fusu now does not believe that the high-ranking ministers in the court can be honest and serve the public.

(End of this chapter)