My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 821 I Want to Issue National Debt

Fusu looked at the ministers below, and slowly he felt that the pain in his abdomen was not as severe anymore.

He felt his eyes slightly moist, but he was the emperor. How could an emperor shed tears? Only cowardly and incompetent people would shed tears.

Qin II raised his head and fluttered his eyelids, trying to hold back the emotion that was about to burst out.

Fusu really wants to say something: you guys really touched me today.

Fusu silently remembered everyone's kindness to him and their persistence in the empire today.

The three of them had already stood up. Feng Quji did not dare to hesitate any longer and stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to pay five million yuan."

"three million……"

This was definitely an astronomical figure in that era.

This is a figure that common people would never dare to think about in their lifetime, but under the circumstances at that time, as a noble family that surrendered from Korea, with a family heritage of at least seven generations, with a deep accumulation and years of military exploits, this amount of money was indeed a huge sum for Feng Quji, but it was less than one-tenth of his family's wealth.

As the most supreme and respected prime minister of the Qin Dynasty, every word Feng Quji says and every thing he does carries considerable weight.

However, his ministers had neither awe nor admiration for him.

Because he expressed his position too late, if he had stood up to support earlier, the Zong Zheng and others would not have deliberately spoken like that to challenge the emperor. But now, the words have been spoken and there is no room for maneuver.

Xiao He looked at Feng Quji and calculated this astronomical figure. He felt that there was something wrong behind this number.

Although Meng Tian was also surprised, when he thought that there was a Feng family behind Prime Minister Feng, he felt that everything was normal and reasonable.

As a result, the person who paid the most money not only failed to win everyone's respect, but instead made everyone feel disgusted.

It seems that the Feng family should pay so much money.

No one thought that Feng Quji's behavior was great, as if he was just supposed to donate the money.

Feng Quji naturally realized that as a prime minister, his ministers' reactions made him feel very embarrassed.

Could it be that he did something wrong...

Seeing that no one was interested in his father-in-law, Fusu still said a few words symbolically, "The left prime minister is worthy of being the emperor of a country. He is dedicated to the country. The huge investment today will surely make the soldiers grateful to the prime minister."

Feng Quji felt much more comfortable after receiving the emperor's approval, and he sat down calmly.

The other ministers all looked at the emperor...

After the meeting, Zong Zheng and several others slipped away with their tails between their legs, and the other ministers also looked disappointed.

After all, those were shining gold coins, and the amount was not small. When they went out, everyone felt a chill in their hearts, as if a piece of flesh was missing from their bodies.

Meng Tian comforted himself that one must give up something in order to gain something, and when the empire's situation improved in the future, there would be no shortage of gold and silver.

Xiao He was thinking about how to face his wife when he returned home. A few days ago, his wife told him that the cost of living in Xianyang was too high.

Feng Quji was praised by the emperor, and he was as proud as a rooster, walking away with big strides.

Feng Jie tried hard to catch up, but his father's steps were too brisk. He didn't understand why his father could still maintain such energy at such an old age.

When the queen heard about this, she kindly expressed her willingness to give out her savings.

When Qin Shi Huang was in power, he withheld his son's salary for no reason and even took money and food from Fusu's fiefdom. Fusu was angry but dared not say anything.

But towards his daughter-in-law, Ying Zheng had a different attitude.

After having a daughter-in-law and a legitimate grandson, Ying Zheng felt that Fusu was not pleasing to the eye. But he treated his daughter-in-law differently. Not only did she give him a grandson, she also spoke nicely, was sensible and gentle, and had no ambition for the imperial power.

Therefore, Ying Zheng often gave Lady Gan Tang generous rewards, but he was not very kind to Fusu.

I never thought that I could now use the reward from my father that I could never get in the past.

The queen gave Fusu a huge sum of money. Although the queen was kind-hearted, Fusu always felt something was wrong.

He was an emperor, but he actually went to the extent of asking his wife for money.

Moreover, word got out that the Qin Empire was running out of ammunition and food, and the emperor asked his ministers and wealthy businessmen for money. Although the wool came from the sheep, Fusu always felt that it was not appropriate.

This is not in line with his style of governance.

This was in ancient times, more than two thousand years ago, when a man spending a woman's dowry was not a good idea in itself.

Regarding dowry, the ancients had their own logical system, and the connotation of its principles is still profound. Generally speaking, it is to protect the interests of both men and women. Given the level of productivity in ancient times, in order to ensure the birth rate, the rulers would try every means to maintain family stability.

So don't use today's concept to substitute the marriage gift and dowry of that era. Just a few words, according to the marriage customs, the woman will not spend that money, and it will basically be passed down.

In short, according to the marriage customs of that era, if a man started spending his wife's money, it meant that the family was extremely poor, so he needed to spend his wife's dowry or even the secret savings.

As the supreme ruler of the world, Fusu thought that doing so would make him lose face.

The Feng family had better pay attention to their reputation. I spent the Feng family's money this time, which will definitely make them feel that I am inferior to them.

Not only does it sound bad in name, but when it gets to the ears of my subjects, it makes me seem like I'm very poor.

You see, even when Qin Er was facing major national affairs, he couldn't get rid of his personal emotions and likes and dislikes.

Qin II did not accept the Queen's kindness.

Moreover, after seeing that some ministers were willing to give him money while others were unwilling or even resistant to it, the young emperor, who was very concerned about his reputation, began to question the proposal itself.

Cutting off someone's source of income is already a capital crime in the eyes of others, and now I'm asking them to return the money.

The emperor always felt that this matter was unreliable.

Moreover, fundraising is not a long-term solution. Besides, this little money can only be used to equip the army. The empire will have many more places to spend money in the future. The currency circulation market is still in chaos economically, and there is no place to pay factories, not to mention the little money given for building highways.

The problem of the Qin State was not a shortage of currency, nor of daily necessities and large commercial goods and materials, but that the money did not fall into the hands of the people, and the materials could not be sold in the hands of the merchants.

The people were in distress, the merchants were starving, and the country was in depression.

The amount of money required to solve Qin's economic problems was very large. It was not something that could be solved by simply raising some money like conquering a small border country.

"This fundraising matter is of great importance. If it is not handled properly, it may cause bloodshed."

"What do you think?"

In Zhangtai Palace, the emperor called another group of people to discuss this issue.

The ministers who came this time included Zhang Cang, Cao Shen, Meng Yi, Chen Ping, and Shao Ping.

After all, a think tank is different from the three dukes and nine ministers in the court.

They only needed to stand firm and serve the emperor's will, and everyone gave advice to Fusu alone.

But on this matter, they remained collectively silent, which is rare.

In fact, what the emperor said was correct. This matter did have a huge impact, and if it was not handled properly, someone would lose their head.

There are no naive idealists in Fusu's think tank, at least there is no minister like Zhufu Yan.

Or maybe it was because the emperor was such an idealist that his think tank officials were all extremely vigilant out of a sense of crisis.

When faced with the idea of ​​raising money, the first thing they thought of was that someone might die.

Xiao He still thought too highly of people, or rather, he thought that the worst people were the ones he had caught and put in prison. There was nothing he had not seen, and nothing he could not accept.

But in reality the bad guys who are on the loose are behind the rule makers.

Xiao He did not understand enough about the darkness of human nature. He was not a political master, but he had too many excellent qualities.

However, these people in the think tank have seen the bloody storms in the Xianyang Palace and know too well that political changes are unpredictable.

Today someone may be a favorite of the emperor, enjoying treatment that is envied by others, but tomorrow he may disappear from the world forever.

Maybe some people were just inconspicuous coachmen or eunuchs cleaning the floor yesterday, but in a few days they will become celebrities in front of the emperor.

Contrary to what some common people imagine, the emperor does not eat with golden bowls and chopsticks, nor does he plow the fields with a golden hoe.

The closer one is to the emperor, the more powerful one is, the more awed one is by the world. They do not look down on the poor, nor do they dislike the rich. It is not an exaggeration to describe the high positions of any era as trembling with fear, treading on thin ice, and facing the abyss.

Because it is with this quality that they have become evergreens, active in the business world and even in the political arena for a long time.

It is not what some common people imagine, that those bigwigs and powerful people regard human life as worthless.

This is not the case. The higher one’s position, the more knowledge one controls and the more access one has to the truth and high-level intellectual elites.

Therefore, they are often very sensible and often push the blame onto others so as to avoid getting themselves stained with blood and leave blessings for their descendants so that their family can be passed down from generation to generation.

The thousand-year-old family is not just a boast.

They are often the first to learn about social and political changes, and they are also very clear about human nature.

Chen Ping and Meng Yi belong to the two camps mentioned above. They are true elite intellectuals and true aristocratic families.

How could they not see the complex intertwined interests involved?

If the new emperor was a powerless person, they didn't even know how long Xiao He could live.

If Xiao He was not the Chief Justice, perhaps some worrying things would have happened faster.

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No one spoke up to support this matter, and no one said that what Xiao He said was wrong.

Xiao He just said what everyone else dared not say.

Everyone knows exactly who got the money.

Now that the empire needs money, some people will definitely have to spit out the money.

It's something that everyone knows.

But why didn't anyone mention it to the emperor before, and why was Xiao He smarter?
how is this possible.

There were tens of millions of people in the Qin Empire, and the country's top elites were all in front of the emperor. The emperor wanted money, and only Xiao He came up with a good idea.

How could he be so smart?

This is what makes Xiao He worthy of admiration from other ministers.

He dared not do something for himself.

He also cannot overcome the weakness deep within himself, and he can never be a ruthless person.

But he dared to do something that no one else could do for the sake of the people - give up his own desires.

He dared not kill people or disrespect the powerful.

But in order to ensure that the people have clothes to wear and food to eat, he can go without food and clothing himself.

He can face a mountain of gold without taking a penny, and he can face overwhelming power with calmness.

What kind of person is he?

Coward or strong man?
The people in the hall fell silent.

The emperor looked at his ministers.

"Well, everyone finally revealed their true colors."

"Aren't they all very talkative on weekdays?"

"When hard times come, everyone becomes mute again."

"I don't know you guys, you are all well-educated, how could you not know this?"

“No one can be relied upon now.”

The emperor looked at Chen Ping and said, "Even you have lost your sincerity."

Chen Ping looked confused, "Your Majesty, I did nothing."

"I'm scolding you because you didn't do anything." The emperor pointed at Chen Ping.

Chen Ping looked at the emperor obediently, with injustice written in his eyes.

At this time, Zhang Cang, who was originally embarrassed to speak, saw that the atmosphere today was not very good, and the righteous spirit surged in his heart again.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report."

It didn’t matter if Zhang Cang didn’t speak. As soon as he spoke, everyone looked at him.

Because Zhang Cang always has his mind on one thing and one thing on another, the last time he made a remonstrance, people still feel confused.

It’s only been released for a short time this time and it’s about to start again.

Zhang Cang didn't care about other people's opinions. He said bluntly, "Your Majesty, I think this is not appropriate. Normally, when it comes to fundraising, the ministers should take the lead, followed by some wealthy businessmen."

"But I'm afraid that after all the fundraising, not only will the money collected be small, but it will also cause dissatisfaction among local tyrants and wealthy businessmen."

"As for those treacherous ministers in the court, there is no need to explain. Your Majesty would understand even if I didn't say it."

"If we do this openly, someone will definitely do something bad. When I was working in the Shaofu Temple, no one ever fought against me. They always fought in secret."

Chen Ping said, "How can they fight with real weapons? They can only achieve their goal by using knives secretly."

Zhang Cang's face suddenly turned black with anger.

Everyone chuckled.

Shao Ping stood up and said, "Your Majesty, fundraising is ultimately just a temporary measure. It is certainly okay to use this plan temporarily."

"I'm afraid there is no long-term plan. If we want to revitalize the economy of Daqin, this amount of money is not enough."

"Especially since Your Majesty insisted on reducing taxes, the empire's revenue was directly halved."

Meng Yi suddenly stood up and said, "From a while ago, I was thinking, can we use the method of borrowing and repaying to make the wealthy businessmen and local tyrants willingly take out the money, not only this time, but also in the future."

Zhang Cang shouted, "How is this possible? It's like trying to get the skin of a tiger."

Meng Yi said firmly, "The treasury has only a few sources of income. If Your Majesty is unwilling to take it from the people, then you can only plunder it from merchants and powerful families."

"Since ancient times, collusion between officials and businessmen is nothing new. Officials and businessmen are one, and power and money are traded."

"If we don't take it from the people, then we can only take it from the officials, merchants and gentry. But taking money from those people for free means that they will spit out the money themselves, which is tantamount to killing them."

"Besides, taking it once is not enough, we need to take it frequently in the future. What can we do? We can only borrow it."

Zhang Cang was furious. "What? We need to borrow money? They took the people's hard-earned money, and now we have to borrow money to pay it back. Does that mean the country will have to pay them back in the future?"

Meng Yi replied, "Why not? My three-year-old son knows that a loan can only be renewed if it is repaid."

Zhang Cang was speechless.

Chen Ping got an inspiration as he listened.

"In my opinion, this method might actually work. Not only should we lend them money, but we should also give them interest to encourage them to lend money to the empire."

Zhang Cang's eyes widened. "That's nonsense."

He thought hard about this matter, and suddenly an idea came to his mind.

"This……"

Meng Yi smiled and said, "I think this method will work."

Then they all looked at the emperor.

Fusu naturally laughed, "That's the way. I will issue national bonds, set interest rates, and open them to everyone in the country."

"I just don't believe that the economy of the Qin Dynasty can't survive."

(End of this chapter)