The younger brother of the First Emperor

Chapter 158: Conspiracy? Overt conspiracy!
"You want your son to be the prime minister? This..." Han Wangran looked at his cousins, a little confused.

When did these two discuss this?

"Is it not possible?" Ji Yaoyao raised her almond-shaped eyes and narrowed them slightly: "If Your Majesty thinks it is not suitable, you can also use my brother Li Si. Or, call all the ministers together to discuss it carefully."

Han Wangran glared at his cousin. She really thought he was a fool!

Han Fei, who proposed to appoint his junior fellow student as prime minister, agreed to appoint Ji Yaoyao's son as prime minister, proving that Han Fei thought this move was better. Then why did King Han Ran still choose Han Fei's previous plan?

He also summoned all the ministers to discuss... and asked them how to deal with themselves?

Taking away the power of the prime minister is the first step to consolidate the power of the monarch. The next step is to seize the power of the ministers in preparation for the subsequent reforms.

By summoning all the ministers to ask questions at this time, was he reminding them to unite and resist the royal power?

[Son of Yaoyao...]
King Han Ran pondered in his heart and began to seriously consider whether it was feasible to appoint Prince Chengjiao as prime minister.

[Zhao, Yan, and Chu all appointed their sons as prime ministers.]
[I heard that the King of Wei also gave away the position of Prime Minister, so the position of Prime Minister of Han is a dispensable thing for him.]
[A seven-year-old child, no matter how magical he is, cannot hold power. His age is the key.]
[Who would bet their life on a child under ten years old?]
[No, there is another possibility...]
Han Wangran glanced at his cousin who started playing with the golden seal again.

[They won't go to a seven-year-old, but they might go to a baby.]
[A son relies on his mother’s strength, and a mother’s status depends on her son…]
[Yaoyao's power is growing, will it threaten me? She is too smart.]
Han Wangran lowered his eyebrows.

Ji Yaoyao, who returned to Han from Qin, can now live in the Han Palace, enter and leave the Han Palace freely, and receive courtesy from all parties.

It’s not because Ji Yaoyao is so powerful, but because he, Han Wangran, values ​​this cousin.

If Han Wangran is an ancient tree, Ji Yaoyao is the vine on the ancient tree. If the ancient tree falls, the vine will die.

The same is true for Han Fei, a prince of the Kingdom who also came from a royal family and was in the same situation as Ji Yaoyao.

When the previous king was alive, Han Fei made several suggestions but they were not accepted, so he traveled east in anger and went to the Jixia Academy to study under Xunzi.

Without King Han, Han Fei was either studying at the Jixia Academy or serving as a minor official in Lanling County following Xunzi, who had been appointed as the magistrate of Lanling County by Chunshen Jun Huang Xie.

Status, money, respect... He can give all these to his cousins, but he doesn't want to give them power at all.

These two people are so smart, they are no less intelligent than the deceased prime minister Zhang Ping.

Therefore, he firmly believed that as long as the two were given a chance, they would turn into dragons as soon as they entered the wind and clouds.

He, Han Wangran, does not need two dragons that can call the wind and rain.

"I need to think about this matter again. This is different from what we originally discussed." Han Wangran nodded and pretended to be helpless and said, "I am not as talented as you. I need to think about it more."

Ji Yaoyao sneered and glanced at Han Wangran.

King Han seemed as if he had not seen it.

He knew without a glance that his cousin Ji Yaoyao knew he was on guard, and his cousin Han Fei also knew it.

To be fair.

After Zhang Ping's death, the position of prime minister became vacant, and the best candidate should be Han Fei, who was writing books in Donghai Palace.

Han Wangran could see it, and naturally the smarter Ji Yaoyao and Han Fei could see it too.

Why didn't the two of them bring it up?

Because they both knew that even if they proposed it, Han Wangran would not agree, and it would only hurt the feelings of the brothers and sisters.

Ji Yaoyao said with a sneer on her face:

"Then your Majesty, please take your time to think about it. There is something more urgent.

"I suggest that my country of Han prepare a carriage with four horses and use the highest etiquette lower than that of a king to send all three tribes of Zheng to Qin."

This was the first time Han Fei heard his cousin talk about this, but he had already thought about the plan of controlling the water and exhausting Qin.

He immediately started writing and wrote four big characters on the bamboo slips:
【It should be so. 】

Han Wangran frowned slightly, tapped his knee hidden under the table with his right index finger, and said slowly:
“It’s easy to say and easy to do, but the situation afterwards is very difficult.

"If we don't control the three tribes of Zheng, how can we ensure that Zheng will work for Han?
"You can tell from Zheng Guo's surname that he doesn't consider himself a Korean. He considers himself a Zheng person."

Han Wangran stomped his feet, making a "pa pa pa" sound, and said:
"The land we are standing on now is the land of Xinzheng.

"Yaoyao, Fei, have you forgotten? Xinzheng was originally the capital of Zheng State."

Ji Yaoyao snorted softly:
“That was one hundred and seventy-five years ago.

"Your Majesty, go to the streets and ask if there is anyone in Xinzheng who remembers Zheng State."

Han Wangran dropped his fingers on his knees and did not lift them again. He had thought it through clearly:
“Whether the people remember or not is of no importance, what can they do?

“But whether Zheng Guo remembers it or not is very important.

"A water engineer who hated my Great Han, who had inherited the true teachings of King Yu in flood control, and who had never been recognized for his talent, finally became a useful person for Qin.

"Without the shackles of his tribe, he would not plan the wrong ditch, nor would he deliberately dig it in the wrong direction.

"Whether it was to prove the legitimacy of water control or to avenge his homeland, he would wholeheartedly help Qin build the canal."

Han Wangran looked at Han Fei and Ji Yaoyao, and his gaze stayed on Ji Yaoyao for obviously longer.

He slowed down his speech and said in a deep voice:
"You two, like me, are both from royal families, with the surname Ji.

"The strategy of controlling floods and exhausting Qin was to make Qin waste its national strength, not to make Qin stronger."

With a loud "bang", Ji Yaoyao slammed the golden seal on the table, scaring Han Wangran.

The young woman, who was a wife and a mother, stood up suddenly with anger on her face.

The corners of her phoenix eyes slanted up to the sky, like a pair of phoenixes flapping their wings and flying high, and the sound of her scolding resounded through the East China Sea:
“Although I, Ji Yaoyao, and the king share the same surname Ji, the king can have the surname Han, so how can a mere woman like me be worthy of having a surname?
"I married into the Qin State, so I am a Qin person.

"Although I live in Korea now, I am still a concubine of the Qin Dynasty.

"All I think about is strengthening the Qin State!

"I want my son to be the prime minister of Qin because I want him to steal the power of the prime minister of Han. I want the king to send the three tribes of Zheng to Qin because I want Zheng to devote himself to the flood control and strengthening of Qin!"

Ji Yaoyao pointed at her nose, her eyes blazing with fire:

"Your Majesty, please recognize my face!

“Although I have a Korean face, I have a Qin heart!
"Your Majesty, please don't be fooled by my appearance and treat me as your own!"

Ji Yaoyao left angrily, leaving only a beautiful and strong back to Han Wangran and Han Fei.

Han Wangran gasped, one hand covering his chest, and with the other hand pointed at the Donghai Palace gate that Ji Yaoyao had just pushed open, and said to Han Fei:

"Fei, you saw it! You saw it!

"I have always said that Yaoyao has two minds! Look, she is not even pretending this time!
"She fled from the State of Qin. I knew the King of Qin would not be pleased if I took her in, but I did it anyway.

"I offended the King of Qin because of her, but who knew she was a Qin spy..."

Han Fei remained silent, listening to Han Wangran's chatter.

When Han Wangran's mouth was dry and his mood calmed down, he stopped drinking water.

Han Fei picked up the pen and wrote on the bamboo slips stroke by stroke. This time there was no rustling sound.

He was in a bad mood, he wrote slowly, and he wrote a lot:

【Fei has been saying that we should respect the king and humble the ministers. 】

【The main reason why South Korea has become so poor and weak today is that the country does not follow the rule of law, and the people are not used for what they are not.】【If the country is governed without being committed to establishing and maintaining laws, it will lead to social disorder, and the people will have no law to rely on, and they will not know what to do and what not to do, and the country will not be able to maintain long-term stability. 】

[The wise men cultivated by our country cannot be used by the country, and the people who are used are not the wise men cultivated by the country. This will lead to the phenomenon that our country is becoming weaker and weaker even though the national strength is being consumed.]

[Why does this happen? Because the power of our nobles is too great. ]

[Many nobles violated the law to benefit themselves, and spent the country to benefit their families.]

[They use the power given to them by the state to exclude the wise men cultivated by our country and appoint their own trusted clansmen, thus undermining the interests of our country and enriching their own families.]

[The most obvious one is Zhang Kaidi and Zhang Ping, who served as prime ministers of Han for five generations.]

[Zhang Liang was nicknamed "You Xiang" at a young age, as if he regarded the Prime Minister of Korea as an object in his pocket.]

After finishing one scroll, I started writing the second one:
[If we want to reverse this situation, we must resolutely eradicate and suppress private forces like the Zhang family and powerful officials like Zhang Kaidi and Zhang Ping who are like vicious tigers.]

[We must disband their subordinates and followers, subdue their remaining forces, close their doors, and deprive them of the people and things that assist them.]

【Ultimately, we want to achieve the rule of law, punishing ministers without sparing them, and rewarding common people without sparing them. Before the law, everyone is equal, from the king down.】

[The current king cannot do this because he does not have enough power.]

[The king must first centralize power, just like our country must reform its laws. ]

[The State of Wei became strong after Li Kui's reforms, the State of Qin became strong after Shang Yang's reforms, and our country once had the reputation of being the strongest Han because of Shen Zi's reforms.]

【From this we can see that we cannot use one concept to govern the world, and we cannot imitate the ancients in governing a country. 】

【The times are constantly moving forward. 】

【As the world changes, the principles of governance must also change. Following the old ways will only lead to destruction.】

After finishing the second volume of bamboo slips, I started writing the third volume:
[How will the king centralize power and reform the law? ]

[Centralization means taking power back from the ministers, weakening the power of the nobility and enriching the power of the monarch.]

【Because power is fixed, if the ruler has more ministers, then the ministers will be fewer, and if the ministers have more rulers, then the ruler will be fewer.】

[Now that the most powerful position among the ministers has been vacated, the king does not want to seize it immediately, but instead begins to doubt Yaoyao's motives.]

When Han Wangran finished writing the first volume of Han Fei's bamboo slips, he realized something was wrong.

Can’t even finish writing on a scroll of bamboo slips???

What on earth did Fei write???

When Han Fei was writing the second volume of bamboo slips, Han Wangran began to read the first volume.

When Han Fei had just finished writing half of the second volume, Han Wangran finished reading the first volume, walked behind Han Fei and began to read the second volume.

After Han Fei finished writing the second volume, Han Wangran also caught up and finished reading it.

When it came to the third scroll of bamboo slips, Han Fei was writing while Han Wangran was reading.

When Han Wangran saw the words "Yaoyao Motive", he smiled bitterly and said:

"This... I know Yaoyao is joking, I just want to be more cautious..."

Han Fei paused for a moment, then looked back at Han Wangran with an inexplicable look in his eyes.

After watching for three breaths, Han Fei made up his mind and his eyes were firm.

For Daehan's sake, he could no longer pretend to be ignorant, so he continued writing:

[Your Majesty is good at using tactics to guard against Yaoyao and me, and this is not wrong. ]

[The king believes that Yaoyao chose her son, and I chose my junior brother, because I knew that I could not be the prime minister, so I chose someone close to me to be the prime minister, to test whether I could find another way to get involved in the power of my country, which is reasonable. ]

When Han Wangran saw this, his heart skipped a beat and the bitter smile on his face froze.

Now that this has been said, how will he get along with his younger brothers and sisters in the future?

"You must have misunderstood me. I never thought of that." He hastily explained, "It is true that I am a little worried about Yaoyao, but I never doubted you at all."

After telling a lie that he himself didn't believe, Han Wangran continued to watch his cousin write with peace of mind.

It is important whether what you say can be believed.

Whether the words can be said is important as long as they cannot be believed.

With this sentence as a buffer, although both sides knew the truth, as long as Han Fei did not refute it, they would not appear to have a falling out and could continue to pretend to be submissive.

When you are not capable enough to cut ties with someone you dislike, or when the consequences of cutting ties with someone you dislike are too serious and you don't want to bear them for the time being, you need to take this step and maintain your face.

Han Fei did not refute.

He wrote the truth not to leave King Han, but to enlighten King Han.

He loves his country and he is willing to give everything for its prosperity.

He never stopped writing:
【While the king is thinking about these things, he should also think about what he himself will gain. He should not only look at the disadvantages but also ignore the advantages. This is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.】

[If the king wants the power of prime minister, then appointing Prince Chengjiao as prime minister is the best choice. ]

[A seven-year-old child serving as prime minister cannot hinder the king when he is in our country.]

[When he leaves our country and takes away the Prime Minister's seal, won't our country be like having no Prime Minister? ]

[The king is now in charge of matters that were originally handled by the prime minister. Isn't it reasonable to take back the power that was originally given to the prime minister? 】

[It is true that there will be opportunists who will join Yaoyao's army, but it is also true that the king will centralize power. ]

[Could it be possible that a woman without any foundation could seize power faster than the king of Korea who had been the ruler of Korea for 22 years? ]

Han Wangran's expression changed constantly, he understood what Han Fei said.

However, the shadow left by the old Prime Minister Zhang Ping was too deep, and he really didn't want another Prime Minister with too strong ability to come up.

Zhang Ping served as prime minister for forty-six years.

He had been the prime minister since his father King Xi was alive, and had been suppressing him since the day he ascended the throne, for a full twenty-two years.

After finally escaping from the cage, he didn't want to see the little bamboo sprouts that could be used to weave the cage!

Han Fei knew what Han Wangran was thinking without even looking back.

He had never expected that the king would immediately make up his mind to appoint Yaoyao's son as prime minister.

He spoke clearly because he was afraid that the king lacked thought and might not understand the situation clearly.

For example, Zheng invaded Qin and controlled the floods to exhaust Qin. This strategy did not require controlling Zheng at all!
This tactic is an open strategy, not a secret strategy!
He keeps writing and outputting...

　It’s a masterpiece... It was published two months earlier than I expected. I didn’t expect that a novel mainly based on literary drama could be published so quickly. I am especially grateful to my brothers for their support.

　　As long as the names of historical figures can be found in the text, at least 80% of the restoration degree is guaranteed without affecting the plot and ensuring the coolness of the text. Most of the words written by Han Fei in this chapter are taken from "Han Feizi", which are the concepts proposed by Han Fei two thousand years ago and can be checked.

　　Thanks again brothers.

　　Although I don’t have high hopes for my results now, I would still be extremely happy if my results really improved.

　　The recognition of my work has made me feel very proud. I am even considering quitting my job to concentrate on writing books.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)