Diqin Designer

Chapter 96 I, the Executive Vice Emperor of the Qin Dynasty?
When the bamboo slips were delivered to Liuying Palace, it was already evening. Li Nian had not yet rested and was writing on the bamboo slips at his desk. The information he wrote was about talents in the early Han Dynasty who could be employed by the First Emperor.

Yesterday's lecture mainly talked about Xiao He, Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Fan Kuai, Wang Ling, etc., but there were more talents in the early Han Dynasty, there were also Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, Xiahou Ying, Guan Ying, Cao Shen, etc.

Li Nian also came to his senses. The First Emperor might really want to learn from him about some talents that could be used by the Qin Dynasty, but the real purpose was most likely to show off.

The First Emperor probably wanted to bring the founding group of the Han Dynasty to Xianyang to participate in his enthronement ceremony, to show off his achievements in front of these people and satisfy his vanity.

After figuring it out, Li Nian was speechless.

Thinking further, the idea of ​​bringing the founding group of the Han Dynasty headed by Pei Gong to Xianyang to watch the ceremony probably did not come to Qin Shi Huang yesterday, but was born after he learned of Pei Gong's existence.

Even though the First Emperor had already decided in his mind how to deal with Pei Gong, he deliberately asked him yesterday, making him worry that Pei Gong would be killed because of him.

The emperor's mind is indeed difficult to understand, fortunately his answer yesterday was quite good.

However, although the First Emperor did this mainly to satisfy his vanity, it did concentrate the talents of the early Han Dynasty in Xianyang and was indeed beneficial to the Qin Dynasty.

Vanity and showing off do not affect the benefits to the Qin Dynasty; one can have both.

Li Nian didn't think there was anything wrong with recommending these historical celebrities to the First Emperor.

These people have been tested in history and have proven their potential. If we don't use them, do we have to select a group of unfamiliar people to employ?
He not only wrote about the people who founded the Han Dynasty, but also other talents who could be used by the Qin Dynasty, such as Ji Bu under Xiang Yu, whom he is now writing about.

Guo Dian walked into the hall and saw Li Nian writing seriously. He wanted to avoid startling Li Nian and to hear Li Nian's voice at the same time, so he said:

"Sir, the king sent someone to deliver a batch of bamboo slips."

Li Nian raised his head. The First Emperor sent bamboo slips? Was it the same bamboo slips he sent last time?

"Since it is sent by the king, take it into the palace quickly."

Soon, a pile of sorted bamboo slips were delivered to Li Nian's desk.

Li Nian picked up the first scroll of bamboo slips, opened it and saw that it was different from what he had guessed. This time the bamboo slips recorded what happened in the court of the Qin Dynasty.

"I have given the tables, chairs and new plows to the First Emperor for such a long time, but he is only thinking of spreading them to the world now."

Not to mention tables and chairs, the new plow can be beneficial to farming. The sooner it is promoted, the sooner it can take effect and people can enjoy the benefits brought by the new plow.

Li Nian originally thought that the First Emperor had already spread the new plow throughout the world, but he did not expect that he would only show it to his ministers today and decide to promote it.

"If it weren't for what I said yesterday, the First Emperor would probably have delayed the promotion of the new plow until the day he became emperor."

Seeing that the minister pointed out that the method of making salt should not be passed on to the people and should be a state monopoly, Li Nian frowned. He certainly did not agree with this view. He took out the method of making salt so that the people of this era could eat better salt and live a better life.

If this law is only controlled by the Qin court, it may not be a good thing for the people.

At this time, Li Nian also understood the purpose of Ying Zheng sending these bamboo slips, which was to let him check for omissions and fill in the gaps, and to judge the gains and losses of these political decrees as a future person.

"Will the First Emperor always ask me to review every important decree? Wouldn't that make me the vice emperor of Qin?"

As soon as this thought came to mind, Li Nian suppressed it. You can't think like this. If you let it slip, you will be killed.

Looking at the bamboo slips, Li Nian pondered for a while, took a blank bamboo slip, and started writing.

Salt, a necessity of life, will eventually be under state-owned monopoly control.

Because it is so easy to use to collect taxes, and as the financial pillar of the country, no feudal emperor can resist such temptation, unless the emperor is a fool.

Li Nian's original intention was not to go against this trend. He did not think of asking the First Emperor to relax the control over the salt industry and allow the people of the world to make salt privately. He just wanted the people to master the method of purifying crude salt so that they could taste better when they eat it.

Since the general trend cannot be violated, we should just go with the flow and make it happen ahead of time to reduce the harm to the people.

But this would be difficult to achieve unless there was a more stable and lucrative source of tax revenue than salt.

But even if another source of taxation was found, given the greed of the feudal rulers, would they give up using salt to exploit the people and give some benefits to the people?

No, they will simply seize all the new sources of tax revenue and salt profits.

What Li Nianxian wrote was the salt industry policies used by later dynasties. He wanted to tell the First Emperor through these policies:

The salt industry can be monopolized by the Qin Dynasty, but if the people are exploited too much by relying on the salt industry and cannot afford to buy salt, it will inevitably cause resentment among the people, affect social stability, and allow private salt to proliferate, which will in turn damage the Qin Dynasty's interests in the salt industry.

After finishing writing the bamboo slips about the salt policy of later dynasties, Li Nian rubbed his swollen temples and continued to read the bamboo slips sent by the First Emperor. When he saw the Xianyang test proposed by the First Emperor, his face couldn't help but look strange.

What is the Xianyang Examination? It is clearly a modified version of the imperial examination.

However, Qin Shihuang's idea was not wrong: first, it could slightly alleviate the problem of talent shortage in the Qin Dynasty; second, it could eliminate the unstable factors of these remaining talented people in the opposition.

These wise men in the opposition would not just go to sleep after eating every day. They would discuss state affairs, comment on the gains and losses of the First Emperor, and even collude with anti-Qin forces, which would be detrimental to the Qin Dynasty.

If they took part in the Xianyang examination and obtained the title granted by the First Emperor, it would be equivalent to obtaining benefits given by the First Emperor.

As the saying goes, "A man who eats someone's food is soft-hearted, and a man who takes someone's favor is obliged to return the favor." How dare you go out and make up stories about the First Emperor and rebel against the Qin Dynasty?
The First Emperor is bullying the honest people and deceiving the gentlemen!
In this era when Sima Yi's oath at Luoshui had not yet taken place, people attached great importance to oaths and promises, that is, to face. Sometimes they would risk their lives and travel thousands of miles to keep a promise.

Once those talented people in the opposition came to Xianyang to take the exam, they would be in the Qin Shihuang's sight. How many people would refuse to come? This was a great opportunity to become famous all over the world.

Even if people guessed the First Emperor's purpose, many people would still come. This is "fame". How could it be so easy to see through and let go?
Moreover, those schools of thought would think that this was a good opportunity to showcase their schools to the king and compete with other schools. Any school of thought that had ideas about governing the country would definitely send people to participate.

Thinking of this, Li Nian suddenly realized that Qin Shihuang's Xianyang test would also be beneficial to what he was going to do.

During the big exam, hundreds of talented people gathered in Xianyang, and he could take this opportunity to convene a conference of all schools of thought.

According to his plan, he wanted to unify all the characters in the world into simplified characters, and also compile dictionaries and textbooks. All of these would require manpower, preferably people with a certain level of cultural literacy.

Aren’t these the talented people who came to take part in the Xianyang examination?

　Thank you for subscribing! I am still passing stones and cannot sit for long, so I am typing on my phone.

　
(End of this chapter)