My brother Ying Zheng, who dares to kill me?.

Chapter 985 The king has a long life, and the ministers have power! Lose both money and food or gain both money and food?

Ying Zheng's words were quite arrogant.

Just six years?

Ying Zheng has been in power for seven years, plus six years, which makes it thirteen years in total. This is a long reign that the Qin kings of recent generations would never dare to dream of, and it is more than 1,500 times the total reign of King Xiaowen of Qin!
But in Ying Zheng's mouth, the result was just 'a little bit'?

However, Ying Chengjiao nodded and said, "What the king said is not false."

"Your Majesty's life span is limited, but it is only six years. It is nothing more than that to Your Majesty."

The breathing of court officials such as Lü Buwei and Wei Zhuang suddenly quickened. Ying Zheng laughed out loud, looking down at the officials and asking, "With what Lord Chang'an said, are you still worried?"

"There is no need to rush the construction of my mausoleum."

"May my life be long and everlasting!"

"I shall rule the Qin Empire for a long time, serve the people for a long time, and work with you, my dear ministers, to accomplish unparalleled achievements!"

If only Ying Zheng said this, the ministers would think without hesitation that Ying Zheng was avoiding talking about matters of life and death. Most of the ministers would obediently nod in agreement on the surface, but would not care in their hearts. However, a very small number of court officials, such as Lu Buwei, would sternly advise Ying Zheng to face up to matters of life and death.

If Zheng Anqi and other immortals said so, the ministers would have more doubts in their hearts. On the one hand, they thought that the immortals might really be able to help Ying Zheng live long and healthy lives, but on the other hand, they were worried that this was just a lie from the immortals. Doctors such as Chunyu Yue would even more radically advise Ying Zheng to respect ghosts and gods and stay away from them, and not to believe the words of the immortals easily.

But when Ying Chengjiao said this, the ministers were only shocked and had no doubt in their hearts!
On the mysterious side, Ying Chengjiao has established a terrifying credibility with his abilities that far exceed the limits of a great wizard and his style of doing what he says and never speaking nonsense.

In this world, only Ying Chengjiao dared to mention the matter of life and death to Ying Zheng, and only Ying Chengjiao was not afraid to anger Ying Zheng by stating the date of Ying Zheng's death. Ying Chengjiao had no reason and no possibility to deceive Ying Zheng with such an important matter as his lifespan.

Now Ying Chengjiao said with certainty that six years was nothing to Ying Zheng. Could this be false?!
"Six years is nothing more than this, six years is nothing more than this?" Lü Buwei muttered twice before laughing loudly: "Your Majesty has a long and healthy life, which is a great blessing for the Qin Dynasty!"

Finally! Finally, I don’t have to worry about the king I assist collapsing in a few years!

I only need to worry about whether my own longevity can realize my wish, and I don't need to worry about my great cause failing halfway due to the king's quick death.

Moreover, as long as the king enjoys a long life, even if I die soon, my thoughts and spirit can be passed on through the king.

And the country of Great Qin will continue to be protected by the king, so there is no need to worry about any storms!

At this moment, Lu Buwei felt a long-lost sense of relief, and he bowed to Ying Zheng loudly: "I, your servant, congratulate the king! Congratulations to the Qin!"

It wasn't just Lu Buwei who was happy.
As the saying goes, a new emperor appoints his own ministers. Every change of the throne is accompanied by a major change in the court, and the death of every great ruler will lead to a turning point in the direction of a country's development.

Wei Zhuang, Wei Liao, Li Si and other ministers are undoubtedly Ying Zheng's direct forces. Only if Ying Zheng continues to serve as the King of Qin can they continue to hold high positions. Only if Ying Zheng continues to serve as the King of Qin can the Great Qin have the motivation, strength and possibility to develop into what they have always dreamed of.

The long life of Ying Zheng means that their power will be effective for a long time, and they will have plenty of time to pursue their ideals. They don't need to worry that their current efforts will be wasted due to the change of royal power!
All the court officials stood up spontaneously and shouted excitedly:
"I, your humble servant, congratulate the king! Congratulations to the Great Qin!"

At the same time, many court officials also looked at Ying Chengjiao with gratitude.

After hearing Ying Chengjiao's words, they felt much more at ease!
Ying Zheng smiled happily: "This is indeed something we should celebrate!"

"Yes! This matter concerns the country and the heavens. It is the secret that my brother has just stolen at a huge cost and with the help of twelve immortals!"

"I have great confidence in you, my dear friends, so I share this good news with you."

"My dear ministers, please do not spread this matter!"

The ministers were still waiting for Ying Zheng's final words.

What kind of punishment would he face if the news got out? Would he be dismissed from office or expelled, or beheaded immediately, or would he be punished along with his entire family?
However, after waiting for a few moments, the ministers still did not see any punishment measures from Ying Zheng, they could only see Ying Zheng's smile.

At this point, Li Si and other court officials had already understood.

The Qin Dynasty did not believe in the idea that if the punishment was unknown, the power would be unpredictable. Since Ying Zheng did not specify the punishment measures, it meant that there was no punishment.

Obviously, Ying Zheng did not ask his ministers not to leak the matter to the outside world, but only prohibited it from being spread through official channels!

That’s right. There must be a reasonable excuse for stopping the construction of the royal mausoleum, so as to avoid letting people in the world misunderstand the national conditions of our Great Qin.

Moreover, how could such great news not spread throughout the world, making those who are loyal to the king feel extremely happy, and making those who are against the king feel terrified!
All the court officials smiled and bowed in unison, saying, "Yes!"

Ying Zheng nodded slightly, then asked with a smile: "So, are there any of you who would like to object to my order to stop the construction of the royal mausoleum?"

The ministers bowed their hands again and shouted excitedly: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Ying Zheng smiled softly and said in a deep voice: "Pass on my order!"

"Stop the construction of my mausoleum. The prisoners who were doing the construction will be temporarily transferred to the Ministry of Works to be used to build cement roads, canals and other infrastructure. They will be released from labor service and returned to their hometowns to save the labor service for the Qin Empire!"

Zhao Zeng and Zhang Han stood up at the same time and excitedly bowed: "As ordered by the king!"

Ying Zheng nodded slightly and said, "In that case, this is the plan." "Do you have any good ideas, my dear ministers? You can all submit your suggestions!"

Ying Zheng's attitude was quite nonchalant, as if nothing big had just happened.

But the officials could not calm down their excitement.

Knowing that Ying Zheng's life span would far exceed six years, the ministers were relieved and excited to learn that the Qin Dynasty would break away from the vicious cycle of replacing a king every few years or even days, and instead enter a long-term, relatively stable, virtuous cycle.

Ying Zheng took the initiative to stop repairing the royal mausoleum for the sake of national affairs, which made his ministers feel guilty and blame themselves!
With the combination of the two factors, the thoughts of all court officials unconsciously turned radical.

After a moment's thought, Lü Buwei said in a deep voice, "We, the Great Qin, know that grain production will decrease next year, so we want to stockpile grain and grass, but this news has not spread widely."

"I think that our Great Qin can spend a lot of money to buy food and grass from abroad to meet our Great Qin's needs!"

Ying Chengjiao shook his head and said, "I have already made it clear to the Dai Kingdom that there will be a severe drought next year, with almost no harvest, in order to alienate the loyalty of Dai Wu'an Jun to Dai."

"Whether the plan of sowing discord will succeed or not, I don't know yet, but the King of Dai must have known the disaster that will befall the Dai Kingdom next year, so he will not sell grain to other countries, and may even compete with the Great Qin for grain and grass."

As he spoke, Ying Chengjiao showed no sign of guilt.

The frank confession to Li Mu about the disaster in the Ming Dynasty was a strategy decided after Ying Chengjiao communicated with Ying Zheng, and it was not a decision made by Ying Chengjiao in a fit of rage.

Since the court agreed to Ying Chengjiao's strategy, it must have anticipated this long ago.

As expected, Lü Buwei chuckled and said, "Dai is poor, and has just experienced a landslide. Regardless of whether there will be a disaster next year, the King of Dai will do his best to purchase grain from outside."

"Yan and Zhao are also poor. Even if the kings of Yan and Zhao did not know that there would be a severe drought next year, they should know that a war was imminent and would strictly control food and grass."

"Even if Great Qin spends a large sum of money to buy food and grass from Dai, Yan, and Zhao, it will be difficult to get anything."

"Therefore, I believe that if Great Qin wants to purchase food and grass from abroad, it should turn its attention to the Baiyue, Xiongnu, Dongyi, Yuezhi and other places!"

Han Cang was stunned: "Purchasing food and grass from the four barbarians?"

Although the four barbarians, namely Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong and Beidi, have quite good fighting capabilities, they are also synonymous with poverty.

The people of the four barbarians often don't have enough food and need to invade the Central Plains to plunder food in order to survive. Now Lu Buwei is preparing to purchase food and grass from the four barbarians?

The more I listen to this, the more outrageous it seems!
Lu Buwei nodded slightly and said, "Yes, it is to purchase food and grass from the four barbarians."

"Although the land of the Four Barbarians is barren, it is not without food. It's just that more food and grass are controlled by the powerful people of the Four Barbarians."

"As long as the price offered by Great Qin is high enough, the nobles of the Four Barbarians will take food from the mouths of the common people of the Four Barbarians and sell it to Great Qin!"

Han An frowned and said, "This is difficult."

"If the powerful people of the Four Barbarians take food from the mouths of the common people of the Four Barbarians, it will definitely lead to instability within the Four Barbarians, and there may be a danger of internal strife."

"If we want the nobles of the four barbarians to sell food and grass to our Great Qin at the risk of internal strife, our Great Qin must pay several times or even dozens of times the price, only then will it be possible to persuade the nobles of the four barbarians!"

"And the four barbarians have no virtue."

"After selling their grain, the four barbarians will most likely shift the burden of their food shortage to our Great Qin, and order their tribesmen to invade our Great Qin to seize grain for survival."

"If this is the case, then our Great Qin will lose both money and food!"

Lu Buwei said in a deep voice: "Now our Great Qin is at a critical moment. Even if we buy grain at several times or even dozens of times the price, it will not be a loss as long as it can enhance our Great Qin's national strength."

"As for the four barbarians invading our Great Qin?" Lü Buwei smiled softly: "As long as we can prevent the four barbarians from starting a war before our Great Qin war, what does it matter if they start a war afterwards?"

"Our soldiers are worried about where to get military merit!"

Ying Chengjiao looked at Lu Buwei suddenly, and said tentatively: "I have sent many alchemists to the four barbarians."

"Today, the alchemists have brought back the Kunyu maps of the Yuezhi, Xiongnu, Dongyi, Donghu, and Baiyue."

"Although the coverage is not wide enough, it is quite detailed and may be used by our Qin envoys."

Lü Buwei also turned to look at Ying Chengjiao, his lips curled up slightly: "Lord Chang'an ordered the Taoist priest to make the Kunyu map. Is it really for the use of the envoy?"

Ying Chengjiao also smiled and said, "It also helps my Great Qin gain both money and food!"

Wei Liao's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Wei Liao vaguely discovered that he seemed to have become a conservative again!

(End of this chapter)