The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 178 The Young Master's Laws Are Even Harsher

Lang wrote a letter to a village on the outskirts of Langya County and had it sent to Guanzhong.

This letter was addressed to Prince Fusu. There were many people like Fan Zeng in the world, and Fan Zeng's disciples were all over the Chu Kingdom. He also helped to solve the puzzle sent by the prince.

Today's class had just ended, and Lang had just sent the letter out, but Fan Zeng came again today.

Fan Zeng then brought up Qin's national policy of governing the country, asking, "Does this mean that Qin would not appoint people based on personal connections?"

Lang explained, "Only your Chu state practices nepotism."

"I was asking you, not about the State of Chu."

Lang then said, "That's why your Chu state perished."

Fan Zeng was speechless for a moment, and angrily turned and left. Then the old man stood outside the door and said, "Those who govern the world have feelings, and they will appoint their relatives and friends."

Lang ignored him and let the old man vent his anger.

When Fusu received Lang's letter, winter had already arrived in Guanzhong. Today was an extremely special day in Guanzhong, as Fusu and Zhang Cang were going to build something.

It is made entirely of bronze, and the frame is five feet high. The sphere formed by the various tracks is three feet wide.

Under the winter sun, Fusu pulled the orbiter of the armillary sphere and laughed, "Good, night will fall soon."

Ying Zheng stood below the platform, looking at the huge bronze artifact from afar. Just looking at it gave people a sense of inexplicable solemnity, especially the track in the sphere. Just by looking at its shape, one could tell that its purpose must be extraordinary.

Its purpose is certainly extraordinary; it is used to calculate calendars and celestial patterns.

Strangely, this thing looks like it's used to predict the auspiciousness or inauspiciousness of celestial phenomena; some sorcerers probably believe that's what it is.

However, Prince Fusu believed that this object was only used to calculate the calendar and the laws of the stars.

Ying Zheng could not see the underlying principles, especially this extremely complex formula.

For many years, Ying Zheng had never doubted Li Si's lack of talent, but now he truly felt that Li Si's talent was insufficient.

Even Li Si couldn't solve those mathematical problems.

At night, Zhang Cang would sit under the armillary sphere and repeatedly compare his calculated results with the orbit on the sphere.

Initially, the orbit of the armillary sphere had problems. After several modifications by the craftsmen and another month, the orbit on the armillary sphere was finally able to be matched accurately.

Once it was made, this object became a treasure of the palace, and no one except Prince Fusu was allowed to touch the armillary sphere easily.

On the contrary, after this object was created, Fusu lost interest in the armillary sphere.

There were few people in the Prime Minister's residence in winter, especially in the early morning when there was hardly anyone around. Cheng Miao pushed open the heavy gate and entered the residence, where he first tidied himself up.

Then, he hurriedly walked out alone and took the piles of files and documents outside into the Prime Minister's residence.

These documents were piled up outside yesterday; they are all state affairs that need to be dealt with.

Cheng Miao lit a candlestick, illuminating the Prime Minister's residence. He exhaled a breath of hot air and began writing on documents with paper and pen.

But it was so cold that day that my fingers were sore from the cold that I had to put down my pen.

As he was writing and pausing intermittently, the familiar aroma of pastries wafted over.

Instead of seeing Prince Fusu, we first met Tian An.

Tian An handed over a leather bag and said, "Take this and warm your hands."

Cheng Miao took the leather bag; it turned out to contain hot water, which was indeed warm to the touch.

Tian An explained, "Madam is due to give birth in the next few days, and the young master will stay at Gaoquan Palace to handle state affairs. What documents do you need to take with you?"

Cheng Miao quickly stood up and found a few books.

Tian An had taken the cakes out of the basket and placed them on Cheng Miao's table. Then he used the empty basket to hold documents and left.

After everyone left, Cheng Miao ate his pancake and continued his work.

No one else moved around in the Prime Minister's residence until noon when Zhang Cang finally arrived.

After the armillary sphere was completed, Zhang Cang rested for a few days. When he saw Cheng Miao writing documents, he asked, "You came this morning?"

Cheng Miao nodded.

Zhang Cang also sat down in his seat and said, "It's a time of rest, so it's fine if you don't come. You don't need to come every day."

Cheng Miao replied, "There's nothing to do at home."

"Right."

Zhang Cang nodded in agreement.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Miao countered, "Didn't Wang Ben invite you for a drink?"

“I did look for him,” Zhang Cang replied weakly. “He sent someone to say that he had prepared beautiful women and fine wine at home, and I came here to avoid the wine.”

Cheng Miao continued to write these documents.

Zhang Cang picked up a scroll and opened it to find the current situation in Longxi Prefecture. The first group of people who went to Longxi had not returned. Since the end of the Northern Expedition, the Qin Dynasty had not conscripted any more laborers for several years, and the whole country seemed to have entered a period of rest and recuperation.

Almost every year, tens of thousands of people settle in Guanzhong, and the paddy fields on both sides of the Baiqu Canal have been allocated.

Even so, Prince Fusu still felt that the population of Guanzhong was insufficient.

Although no more corvée labor was conscripted, people were still being relocated. The people who were sent to build Longxi were still building, and Wuwei and Zhangye counties under Zhang Han were completed.

In the past, the states of the Western Regions would never have interacted with Qin.

Now that Zhang Han has conquered the Hexi Corridor and built two counties and three military towns, the Western Regions have actually sent envoys to Qin.

The envoy, of course, did not meet Prince Fusu, nor the emperor, but only Prime Minister Li Si.

In the files of Longxi, Zhang Cang found a record from a conversation in Zhang Han's tent. This conversation was originally a military discussion, and it was recorded for future verification.

One more name was added to the list. This person was not a military general; his name was Chen Ping.

Chen Ping said that the Yuezhi people lived in the Altai Mountains, and that their wealth came from the Altai Mountains because they were a gold mine with inexhaustible gold dust. He requested that General Zhang Han send troops to attack the Yuezhi and prevent the Xiongnu leader Modu from obtaining the mountains.

However, Chen Ping's words were rejected by Zhang Han on the grounds of considering the overall situation.

Regarding this record, Zhang Cang naturally supported Zhang Han.

Zhang Han's position is the same as Prince Fusu's position. Jinshan is there and it won't run away. Wherever the Qin army conquers, everything in that place belongs to the Qin army.

This eliminates the need for such anxiety about Maodun; on the contrary, it demonstrates Zhang Han's composure.

In the depths of winter, the cold winds howled through Guanzhong. Emperor Qin Shi Huang once again went on a hunting trip to the northern suburbs, accompanied by Li Si.

Li Si, whose hair and beard were already white, sat by the fire, warming himself.

He looked up and saw the emperor eating walnuts and reading a book.

Li Si glanced at the emperor, then looked away, gazing down at the fire. They were both getting old… even the emperor was getting old.

Even so, the emperor still did not make Prince Fusu the crown prince.

Li Siduo hoped that the emperor would appoint Prince Fusu as the crown prince, as this would help stabilize the country, but the emperor hesitated to speak.

The cold wind made his beard and hair sway, but that was alright. At least Prince Fusu was capable and had been consolidating his power.

Li Si raised his head slightly, looking at the gloomy sky where snow was falling. He thought that in a few years, when the Qin court was formulating national policies...

Even Li Si has to listen to his son Fusu.

The emperor recently took a particular liking to the examination papers prepared by Prince Fusu, which were filled with questions.

In the past six months, Li Si has seen at least tens of thousands of problems.

How could an examination for selecting officials have so many questions, ranging from classic texts to governance, military strategy, and even astronomy?

Li Si picked up a piece of firewood and put it into the fire to make it burn bigger and warmer.

In Li Si's view, most of the people who came from various places could not answer these questions. Li Si tried to answer one of the papers, and he could only answer three questions in that paper, while there were ten questions on one sheet of paper.

Most of these questions are related to the teaching in Jingye County, especially those involving concepts of family, country, and the world. Some of these questions even lean towards Legalism and Mohism.

If the young master dislikes certain doctrines, those doctrines will not appear in the exam questions, and the future students' choices of what to study will be questionable.

Prince Fusu wanted to use this method of selecting officials to promote the ideals of the Qin Dynasty and his own ideals to the world.

There was no attempt to conceal this behavior, and the young master made no attempt to hide it either.

In fact, Li Si also strongly agreed with the prince's approach. If a person wants to become an official, then he should participate in the construction of the country. If this official cannot learn the philosophy of governing the country, does not agree with the current concept of unification, or even opposes unification, then such a person should not be selected.

The young master might even want to kill all such people, and all those who oppose unification.

Not only that, the prince also wanted to formulate a stricter system for selecting officials. In order to prevent the selection system for officials from becoming a hereditary system for some families, an official could not marry into another family that was also an official, officials could not marry each other, officials could not marry merchants, and if the son of an official wanted to become an official, he had to be transferred to the southern border or the northwest and could not return home without a reason.

Of course, these ideas were only proposed by the young master, as some people felt they were too harsh.

"Lee Si."

Upon hearing the call, Li Si snapped out of his reverie and stepped forward, saying, "Your subject is here."

Ying Zheng exhaled a breath of warm air into the cold sky and asked, "When do you think Fusu's exam will begin?"

Li Si replied, "It will begin in autumn next year and end in winter next year."

Ying Zheng sighed, "I thought this child would be more anxious."

"Your Highness has always acted prudently and often said that one should be down-to-earth in one's actions. I think it is a good thing that Your Highness acts without haste or impatience."

Ying Zheng nodded slowly and asked, "Has anyone in the army returned from hunting?"

……

P.S.: There's one more chapter I owe you, I'll make it up to you when I get the chance.

(End of this chapter)