The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 160 Past Events of the State of Wei

Feng Quji understood the young master's meaning and felt much relieved, so he went to the Prime Minister's residence.

The young master wouldn't have only one teacher, and Feng Quji also felt that Li Si shouldn't get all the good things.

As Feng Quji walked out of the main hall and headed towards the Prime Minister's residence, his mood improved considerably.

"I spoke with the young master about Zhang Er."

Hearing the voices behind him, Feng Quji turned around and glanced at Feng Jie. Seeing that the people around had already gone far away, he whispered, "What did the young master say?"

"Reporting to the Right Chancellor, the young master only heard about this matter but said nothing."

Feng Quji remarked with emotion, "The young master is still very tolerant."

The Minister of Justice, Feng Jie, kept his head down and said nothing more.

Feng Quji continued, "Zhang Liang has been on the run for so many years and his whereabouts are still unknown. It is already very kind of you, young master, not to make things difficult for us. In the future, please help the young master in other matters."

"Yes."

Feng Jie was close to Prime Minister Li Si, but people grow old. As Li Si began to age, many of his decisions became arrogant and selfish.

It's all because Prime Minister Li Si started to distrust Meng Tian; if he does, then future prime ministers will also distrust anyone in the court.

The vast majority of people in the Qin court did not want to be enemies with Prime Minister Li Si.

He didn't want to be involved in the power struggle between Meng Tian and Prime Minister Li Si, a thought that caused Feng Jie immense pain.

This is why Feng Jie frequently interacted with the Right Chancellor Feng Quji and gradually leaned towards Prince Fusu. People only felt at ease when they placed their hopes on Prince Fusu, as he was practically the most perfect heir to the country.

At present, the Qin court, including the emperor, is most concerned about this unprecedentedly vast empire. This country is too big, its land area is the sum of the six states of the past, and in fact, even more.

Because Qin also expanded into the south, northwest and north, although the land was conquered, governing it was a long process, so everything needed to be planned carefully.

It rained last night, but the First Emperor is still hunting north of the Wei River. The sky is still overcast today.

Fusu returned to Gaoquan Palace on the still slightly damp ground. At the beginning of autumn, Tian An cooked some tea eggs.

After lunch, Fusu went to the Prime Minister's residence to oversee the day's affairs.

Every afternoon is the busiest time at the Prime Minister's residence. Today, Cheng Miao went to see Zhang Cang, so many things in the Shaofu (Minister's Office) fell on my shoulders.

Having just finished processing this year's salaries for all the departments, I had the records distributed.

Then they began to check the salaries of officials at all levels this year. This was originally a matter that Prime Minister Li Si was in charge of, but since his teacher and father were away on an autumn hunt, the prince, who was in charge of state affairs, took over the task.

This year, the repair of the Baiqu irrigation canal cost another 300,000 shi of grain. Fusu looked at the account book, stamped it with his seal of the Shaofu (Minister of the Imperial Household Department), and then had the account book filed away.

Then Fusu began to deal with another matter: the Hexi Corridor was to pay 500,000 shi of land tax this year, and the tax was being transported from Longxi to Guanzhong.

In the past, the prime minister was responsible for the operation of the entire country and various scheduling and coordination.

Fortunately, I had read a lot of case files at the Prime Minister's residence and knew how to handle such matters.

This summer, the Qi region experienced another drought, and many refugees left Qi and came to Guanzhong. Now these people are doing hard labor in Tongguan. As long as they have the fruits of their labor, they will have food to eat. Therefore, more than 3,000 households have brought their families to Guanzhong.

With more jobs available in Guanzhong, the improved housing and child-rearing conditions will naturally attract more people.

This theory is applicable to almost any era, but it requires better governance from those in power.

Fusu wrote down the three or five matters at hand, then looked up at the people in the Prime Minister's residence. Tian An was sitting in front of the Prime Minister's residence as usual. Today, he was burning a stove at the gate, stewing tea eggs, so that everyone who entered or left the Prime Minister's residence could eat tea eggs.

Autumn in Guanzhong is short, but for Tian An, the beginning of autumn should be a time to celebrate the harvest, followed by the coming winter. Then, while eating tea eggs, he would hope that more Xiongnu people in the north would freeze to death during the winter.

For Tian An, there was nothing better than freezing the Xiongnu to death without even needing a second Qin northern expedition.

Therefore, sometimes Fusu felt that there were very few things that could make the old man Tian'an feel good, and they were very simple, probably because people in the past lived very cruel lives.

Now, Tian An feels that life is not so cruel. As he gets older, he cherishes those small, beautiful things even more.

Even the number of white-haired people in the Prime Minister's residence is increasing, making people feel that the country is slowly aging before it has even become strong.

Fusu felt that this might be related to the world unified by Qin, which was originally ancient.

This includes many ancient objects from the Spring and Autumn Period and the various states, as well as people's daily routines and lifestyles, which are probably the reasons for this.

Everything here looks old and worn.

“Young Master, these are the land tax ledgers recently sent by Guilin County.” Fusu looked up and saw that it was the Right Chancellor Feng Quji. He reached out and took the ledgers, saying, “My teacher has not been here these days. I am grateful for the Chancellor’s help.”

Feng Quji sat down to the side and said, "I heard that the Minister of Justice and you were talking about Zhang Er."

Fusu nodded.

Feng Quji sighed, "Speaking of Zhang Er, I am reminded of Lord Xinling of the former State of Wei."

"I've heard of Lord Xinling, Wei Wuji."

"Back then, Lord Xinling once saved the State of Wei from a crisis." As Feng Quji said these words, he looked up at the gate of the Prime Minister's residence, his eyes as if he had seen the events of that year with his own eyes. He said, "Later, Lord Xinling, who was valued by the King of Wei, was appointed as the Supreme General. At that time, Lord Xinling, Wei Wuji, united with the other five states to attack Qin and was about to advance into Hangu Pass."

Feng Quji's tone gradually softened as he said, "At that time, Lord Xinling sent envoys to visit the five states. He was almost successful and had almost united the five states to attack Qin. You should know that was almost half of the world's military strength. But in the end, Wei Wuji failed because of the King of Wei's suspicion. The King of Wei suspected Lord Xinling and handed over military power to another general."

Finally, when the King of Wei remembered Wei Wuji, who had once saved the country from peril, he discovered that Wei Wuji was already buried in his tomb, and there was no one like Lord Xinling in the world to save the country.

Fusu stamped the land tax ledgers of Guilin County and included them in the archives of the Archives. The Right Chancellor had also finished speaking.

As for the Right Chancellor, Fusu had already seen it in the classics, and his younger brother, Prince Gao, would also include these things in his history books.

Fusu said, "Right Chancellor, rest assured, I will not become the King of Wei."

Feng Quji bowed respectfully.

Prince Fusu will naturally not become the King of Wei. He has always been a man of his word and keeps his promises. People all over the world would be eager to serve such a person.

Prince Fusu will not become the King of Wei, but the Right Chancellor suspects that Chancellor Li Si will become that kind of person.

To change the situation, the only option is to help the young master so that he can help check and balance Prime Minister Li Si.

The most important statement in the Right Chancellor's words was, "From now on, there will be no one like Lord Xinling to save the State of Wei."

This statement, along with King Wei's suspicion of Lord Xinling, led to the absence of any other renowned scholars or capable individuals willing to serve the state of Wei.

The trust of the State of Wei was gone, and those who remained in Wei were all people who sought personal gain. Thus began the collapse of a nation.

If the King of Wei had continued to trust Lord Xinling, the State of Wei might have truly been able to turn the tide; in other words, there might not be the Qin Dynasty we know today…

"As for Zhang Er, whom the Right Chancellor mentioned, they are also among the old nobles who have survived from the six states. Most of these old nobles who are plotting to overthrow Qin and restore their states were once quite wealthy. Now they do not serve Qin but instead rebel against it. Moreover, they do not work and will squander all their wealth in the future. Gradually, they will be worse off than commoners because they have no household registration or land, and anyone can drive them away."

Fusu said, "I think the rebels are nothing to fear. As long as they dare to rebel, we can just wipe them out. Don't worry, Right Chancellor."

Feng Quji nodded, becoming even more certain that if the Qin court truly wanted to choose a trustworthy person, it would only be this Prince Fusu.

Prince Fusu saw that all the documents for today had been approved, and some reports had been sent to Longshou Plain.

Even while hunting in Longshouyuan, the emperor still had to attend to state affairs, listening to reports on national matters every day, such as what state affairs Prince Fusu had handled or what he had done that day.

In a courtyard in Longshouyuan, the First Emperor has been staying for a month. During this month, in addition to hunting and relaxing every day, he has also inquired about many state affairs.

However, all these state affairs were handled by Prince Fusu.

Today, the afternoon sun shone through the wooden window, and there were no candlesticks or oil lamps lit beside the emperor; he simply listened quietly to the reports with his eyes closed.

The person who reported this was Sima Yi, the garrison commander of Xianyang.

As Li Si sat to one side listening to these reports, he felt that Prince Fusu's recent arrangements for state affairs were becoming increasingly appropriate. It wasn't that he had done a good job from the beginning, but rather that he had made progress step by step and was doing better and better.

Only after Sima Yi finished reporting the day's events did Li Si bow and leave the residence.

This house was recently built and is rather simple in design.

Li Si saw cavalrymen practicing archery in a camp not far away. Meng Tian had indeed trained more than 30,000 cavalrymen in the north. There had been previous military reports that there were 50,000 cavalrymen on the northern grasslands.

These cavalrymen were exceptionally skilled archers, able to draw their bows and hit their targets at any time while the army was moving. It was also possible that the stirrups enabled Meng Tian to train a large number of cavalrymen in the past two years.

Upon seeing Li Si approaching, Sima Yi bowed and said, "Prime Minister."

Li Si said, "Thank you for asking me to inquire about the young master during the court meeting."

"It is what this humble general should do."

Li Si asked in a low voice, "How are the soldiers in the army?"

Sima Yi replied, "I am often at the Lantian camp and have never seen these cavalrymen who have returned from the north have such good archery skills. I am even more impressed by their long spears."

(End of this chapter)