At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 480 A Gathering of Heroes
At Xiangshan College, supporters of "On the Wealth of the People" gathered together. Most of them were businessmen from the Han Dynasty. Everyone had accumulated a lot of wealth during the industrial revolution. Now they urgently needed a political spokesperson to protect their property. At this stage, Kuai Che was their best choice. As a result, they had just praised Kuai Che, and then Li Si, a big scholar, came up. It was inevitable that they could not avoid such a debate.

Ren Ming said worriedly: "Although Li Si is a low-class person, his knowledge is known to the world. Is Kuai Zi sure?"

They had finally managed to get Kuai Che to speak for them, but if the debate was ruined by Li Si, all their efforts would be in vain.

They disdained Li Si's character, but no one doubted his academic ability. Li Si not only helped the First Emperor establish various systems of great unification, but he himself was also a top master of scholarship. Because he was a disciple of Xunzi, there was no one with higher qualifications than Li Si among the masters of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Most of the Confucianists and Legalists were his descendants. Even with the drag of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, Li Si was the undisputed number one in the academic world of the Han Dynasty.

Especially after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Li Si transformed from a politician to an academic master. He founded the Legal Monthly, gave voice to ordinary people, and reported extensively on local landlords and powerful people, and officials who violated laws and regulations and harmed the people.

Therefore, he accumulated high prestige among the people of the Han Dynasty and was called the Folk Censor. Even in the Han Dynasty, Li Si's prestige was very high. The Han officials were not afraid of him, but they definitely did not want to get along with him.

The Legal Monthly has been advocating for the people for more than a decade, and has become the second largest newspaper in the Han Dynasty. There are branches in all counties and prefectures of the Han Dynasty. When the people of the Han Dynasty are wronged and cannot go through the formal channels, they are willing to go to the Legal Monthly to ask them for help in appealing their grievances.

Thanks to the influence of the Legal Monthly's actions, most of these grievances were cleared up, which in turn further enhanced the influence of the Legal Monthly. The two sides can be said to complement each other. This also led to Li Si's very good reputation among the people, because ordinary people would not know about his past. Even if they knew that Li Si had been the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty, because Li Si was now petitioning for the people, the people also pushed Li Si's dark history onto the First Emperor.

How could such a master who petitioned for the people be so cruel and harmful to the people? It must have been done by the tyrant Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

At the same time, Li Si also began to use his influence to clear the stigma of the Legalists. First, he followed the words of the current emperor and said that Qin law was military law. Shang Yang first presented the imperial way and the kingly way to Qin Xiaogong, but Qin Xiaogong did not like it, so Shang Yang could only offer the hegemonic way.

Shang Yang's reforms turned the entire Qin State into a war machine, and everyone became a part of this machine. In the chaotic world of the Warring States Period, replacing civil law with military law was cruel, but it quickly made Qin State rich and strong, and gradually unified the world over a hundred years. At this time, Qin law had more advantages than disadvantages. It also gave the people of the world a path to rise, which was a progressive existence compared to the hereditary nobles of the six countries.

Therefore, the First Emperor was able to unify the entire Chinese nation with the remaining strength of six generations, creating an unprecedented unified dynasty. However, the unified dynasty was a new thing, and the emperor and the officials of the Qin Dynasty did not know what to do next in the face of this unknown thing and society, so they could only continue along the old path of Qin law.

However, the world was unified and there was no war. The military rule naturally caused dissatisfaction among the people, which led to the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. The first emperor could not change his policies quickly and adhered to the old rules, which led to the collapse of the Qin Dynasty and the establishment of the Han Dynasty.

Qin Law was progressive, but it could not adapt to the development of the times and became a law that harmed the people. However, we cannot deny the merits of the Legalists over the past few hundred years just because of the mistakes made during the ten years of the establishment of the Qin Dynasty. The reforms of the major powers during the Warring States Period were all completed by the Legalists, who changed the slave feudal system in the Central Plains countries to the small peasant economy in the counties.
Then he said that the Legalists were tools in the hands of the rulers. The First Emperor wanted to rule the world with military law, so the Legalists naturally formulated military law for him. The Han emperor put the people first, so the Legalists naturally became a tool for the people of the world to protect themselves.

Li Si even called for the people of the world to become the masters of the Han Dynasty, and they must understand and learn the law. Only by learning the Han law can the people of the world exercise their rights as the masters of the Han Dynasty. If they do not learn the Han law, they will automatically give up their rights as the masters of the Han Dynasty. If you do not master this right, it will be mastered by others, and then their rights and interests will be infringed by others.

This statement caused a sensation throughout the country. Li Si and others who wanted to convert everyone in the world to his Legalist school, as well as many people from various schools of thought, criticized him, believing that he had ulterior motives and wanted to stir up disputes in the Han Dynasty.

However, the emperor highly praised Li Si's articles, believing that Li Si's years of dedicated study had surpassed the level of his teacher Xunzi's thinking, truly achieving the goal of surpassing his teacher.

Since the emperor said so, what else can others do? They can only give up the crusade against Li Si. Of course, Li Si also proved his ability in academics. There are really few masters in the Han Dynasty who dare to say that they are better than Li Si.

That is why the merchants who launched Kuai Che are worried. They just launched a warrior and gave him a few pieces of equipment, and then he went to fight the biggest boss right after leaving the novice village. Who would have the confidence to win?
Wu Yande said angrily: "An old man who refuses to die is a thief. This old man is already over ninety years old, why does he still stay here to harm the world?"

The reason why Li Si had his current status in the academic circles of the Han Dynasty was naturally because of his great knowledge, but the second reason was that all the masters who had a higher status than him or even a status equal to his had passed away, and this was the most crucial thing.

Kuai Che smiled and said, "Don't worry about this debate. I know my own status. This time Li Si came to Xiangshan Academy for a debate. I lost. In the eyes of the world, this is inevitable. But if I win, I can stand on Li Si's shoulders and become the great Han scholar. So no matter I win or lose, I have already won."

Then he smiled and said, "Why don't you take a look at the academy? I have finally fulfilled my mission and established Xiangshan Academy in Jiangnan. Today, my "Fuminxue" has 3,000 disciples and hundreds of wise men. With your support, it will soon become a prominent school in the Han Dynasty!"

Wu Yande and others were very happy to hear this. They praised Kuai Che so much because they hoped that one day the Han court would use "The Study of Enriching the People" to implement national policy. At that time, they could get back hundreds or thousands of times the money they spent.

These people bowed to Kuai Che and said, "We wish that Kuai Zi's teachings on enriching the people will soon become a prominent doctrine in the Han Dynasty."

November 15th, the 19th year of the Han calendar.

The sun was rising slowly, and the Xiangshan Academy Square was already crowded with people. There were students studying here, as well as students from various schools of thought who had heard about the debate and rushed over. Thanks to Xu Fan's promotion of education, there was a huge foundation of scholars, resulting in a large number of disciples from the various schools of thought in the Han Dynasty.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, any school with over a thousand disciples and dozens of sages would be considered a major school. A school like Confucius, who had three thousand disciples and seventy-two accomplished ones, would be the leader among schools. One must know that the scholars of the Spring and Autumn Period were not the kind who were lazy and ignorant of the five grains. Instead, they were involved in both politics and military affairs. Most of the scholars were professional soldiers. This force could subvert a medium-sized country in the Spring and Autumn Period.

But now in the Han Dynasty, there are more than one million scholars. For example, Confucianism, which welcomes all, has more than 100,000 disciples. Other schools, like Mohism, Agriculture, Legalism, Taoism and so on, have tens of thousands of disciples. Therefore, schools with only a few thousand disciples are considered small schools.

At this time, because there were too many people at Xiangshan Academy, they began to maintain order in the academy. People from various schools gathered together, and at the same time they were restricted to bringing only 500 people. The rest of the people could only wait outside the academy.

Of course, among the nobles in high positions and powers in the venue, when Zhou Bo arrived at Xiangshan Academy, the chief in the east and the princes in the south sat in a row, chatting and laughing with each other.

This debate was extremely important to Kuai Che and his "Theory of Enriching the People", but to the princes of the Han Dynasty, it was just a spice in their ordinary lives. Since there was a good show to watch, they naturally didn't want to miss it. It happened that Xiangshan was near the southern part of the Han Dynasty, so Ying Bu and others came to Xiangshan Academy without prior arrangement. Zhou Bo immediately went over and said, "I didn't expect the Grand Tutor to come too."

Zhang Liang smiled and said, "This is a place of learning. There is no need to mention the official position of the court. Just call me Zifang."

Ying Bu smiled and said, "I heard that you are going to be the prime minister. You must take care of us southern princes in the future."

There were only a few people in the Han Dynasty who were qualified to run for the prime minister. Zhou Bo became the fake prime minister of the Han Dynasty a year in advance. The emperor obviously valued him. In addition, his inspection tour of the Han Dynasty almost told everyone that Zhou Bo would be the next prime minister of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, princes such as Ying Bu also had to build good relations with Zhou Bo.

Zhou Bo smiled and said, "Ying~guo has become the richest vassal state of my Han Dynasty. If anyone really wants to take care of me, it should be the Duke of Ying who will take care of me."

Compared with the imperial court's reclamation, Ying Bu has been reclaiming land in the south for fifteen years. Now the land of Britain has begun to show the richness of the south, because of the many specialties and rich per capita resources. In recent years, Ying Bu has developed porcelain, tea, silk textile industry, and sugar industry. In recent years, he has started to deal with canned fruit and developed Britain's rich orange industry. At this time, Britain's wealth has surpassed most counties of the Han Dynasty. Only large industrial counties like Guanzhong, Sanchuan, Chen, and Kuaiji can surpass Britain.

Mei Xuan smiled and said, "No matter how wealthy we are, we are still a small country with few people. How can we compare with the resources mobilized by the court? Recently, someone in Kuaiji County heard that Chen Sheng actually borrowed 20 billion yuan from a bank to build a railway."

The 20 billion industrial development plan launched by Luzon naturally caused a huge sensation in Kuaiji County, especially the first railway track in the entire Han Dynasty, which specifically appeared in Luzon.

Ying Bu smacked his lips and said, "As expected of a wealthy prince, even I envy his wealth."

Ying Bu thought that Chen Sheng was going to spend 5000 billion to build a railway. Ying Bu would never dare to think of such a thing. Although he earned a lot, he also spent a lot. The fiscal surplus of Britain in recent years was only million yuan. This amount of money might not even be enough to maintain a railway track.

Then he looked at Zhou Bo and said, "The rails are better than wooden rails. Does the court have no intention of replacing them? The court has always been the one leading the trend, but this time Luzon State is ahead. Prime Minister Zhou, don't you have a sense of crisis?"

Zhou Bo said: "The court and Luzon have different pursuits. The wooden tracks that run through the entire Han county have not yet been completed. The court will not build luxury items such as railroad tracks for the time being."

It is not true to say that there were no railways in the Han Dynasty. The Bashang Iron and Steel Plant and the Lantian Coal Mine built a railway that was more than ten miles long, and this railway cost more than 7000 million yuan. This scared the then Han Prime Minister Xiao He, who ordered that any plan to build a railway must first be reported to the Prime Minister's Office, and violators would be severely punished.

Zhang Liang said, "We are here to watch the debate. It is better to discuss government affairs in the government office."

Ying Bu, Zhou Bo and others looked at the platform prepared for today's debate.

Ying Bu asked curiously, "Zifang, you are very knowledgeable. Can Kuai Che defeat Li Si in this debate?"

Zhang Liang thought for a moment and said, "In terms of profound knowledge, even I cannot compare to Li Si. Now Li Si has integrated the thoughts of Confucianism, Legalism, and even the emperor, and used them to reform Legalism to adapt to the situation of the Han Dynasty. This alone is enough to make him a disciple. But Kuai Che is a diplomat and is good at debate. Plus, Li Si is old, so it's hard to say what the result will be."

And at this moment the protagonist of the debate came forward, causing a sensation among everyone, and then Kuai Che and a young man were seen walking up to the platform.

Li Si, with the help of several people, sat in the seat prepared by the Legalists.

This scene caused everyone to talk about it.

Zhou Bo saw this and laughed, "Li Si is indeed worthy of being the Prime Minister of the First Emperor. This move has put Kuai Che at a disadvantage."

If Li Si debated with Kuai Che with his current status, it would be a compliment to Kuai Che, but it would be different if he asked a younger person to come up, as it would be a clear message to Kuai Che that his status was not yet worthy of debating with Li Si.

As expected, Li Si said, "This is my youngest disciple. Let him debate with you."

Kuai Che took a deep breath and said, "I, Kuai Che, greet you, brother."

Some of the young men said in panic: "Legalist Zhao Yu greets you, brother."

Kuai Che asked, "Who is going to start the debate?"

Zhao Yu said: "Brother Kuai, you can start first."

Kuai Che took a deep breath and said, "Throughout the ages, agriculture and sericulture have been the foundation, and merchants have been the last. But when our Han Dynasty was established, the old system of the three dynasties was swept away. At that time, the emperor wisely proposed that industry be the foundation, so the workshops that can produce wealth in the world are the foundation. So the foundation of the world has changed. For farmers, being able to produce more food is the foundation, for craftsmen, applying what they have learned is the foundation, and for merchants, organizing production and circulating currency is the foundation. All industries in the Han Dynasty that can produce wealth are the foundation."

(End of this chapter)