The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 194 The Prime Minister's Heart
Li Si stroked his still gray beard. An emperor is still an emperor. A few years ago, one might have thought that the prince was determined to rise to the top and become the next emperor of Qin.

There must be a second emperor in this world; how could anyone not be tempted?

But the more Li Si realized that the emperor was getting old, the more he felt that he couldn't rush things.

Qin did not have a system of primogeniture; all Qin kings emerged from the struggles within the royal family, and only those who gained power could secure their thrones.

Li Si had experienced the chaos caused by Lü Buwei and knew how many hardships the First Emperor had endured in his childhood and adolescence.

Fortunately, Prince Fusu is currently the most powerful in Qin, and among all the emperor's children, only Prince Fusu is most qualified to sit in that position.

As the emperor and he himself grew older, Li Si felt that it was precisely at such times that they should not be in a hurry.

This year, the young master is twenty-eight years old, the prime of a man's life.

At the height of his life, Prince Fusu never engaged in any scheming or intrigue; instead, he dedicated himself to building up the nation for over a decade.

Li Si was very proud to have a disciple who was devoted to governing the country without studying power struggles and who was devoted to serving the people without manipulating power.

Li Si smiled silently. Come to think of it, what's so fun about playing power games? Lü Buwei back then was really too foolish.

Fusu respectfully served his teacher tea and said, "I don't know anything about taxes. Could you please enlighten me?"

Instead of asking about his ascension to the throne, he is still concerned with governing the country. It seems that the young master is very composed.

Li Si was relieved and replied, "I will think it over carefully and then inform you, my lord."

Fusu took a scroll from Tian An behind him, handed it to his teacher, and said, "This is the taxation method I proposed earlier. Please take a look, teacher."

Li Si nodded, but did not open it immediately.

The autumn rain was still falling outside. Fusu stood up, bowed, and said, "This disciple will return first."

Li Si rose and stepped forward to see him off.

After seeing the young master out of the mansion, Li Si stood at the door watching his retreating figure.

Only when the young master's figure disappeared into the autumn rain did Li Si turn his gaze away. Then, seeing his grandson reading, he remembered that his son Li You was still in the Hexi Corridor and had not yet returned.

With his son guarding the borders for the country, he, as the prime minister, could be considered a role model for the Qin court.

It's good that the Great Qin has such a young master.

Li Si stopped and looked at the rainwater flowing from the eaves, saying, "The emperor often says that people get old before they even reach fifty years old."

The servant stood to the side with his head down, remaining silent.

Li Si then said, "Life is spent in ignorance for more than ten years, then in understanding the ways of the world for more than ten years, then in the struggle for another ten years, and then you get old. Do you think life is long or short?"

The servant naturally dared not answer, and the young servant could not understand Li Si's state of mind at this moment.

Li Si walked back into the house and said in a low voice, "I'm getting old too. This country is not yet well governed, it is not yet firmly established, and I'm already old..."

As he spoke, the prime minister went inside, continued drinking tea, and looked at the book in his hand.

Not long after the young master left, another disciple of the prime minister, Lord Wu, arrived.

Lord Wu was unaware that Prince Fusu had just visited; he had come with documents from the Sanchuan Commandery.

It seems he came to Guanzhong personally from Sanchuan County, and also took the opportunity to visit the Prime Minister.

Li Si was looking at the prince's tax documents and had no time to deal with his disciple, so he had him stand aside and read the documents.

Actually, reading Prince Fusu's book is very mentally taxing, especially since you need to think while reading.

The servant knelt beside him and continued boiling water.

The room was quiet, with only the sound of Mr. Wu reading the documents.

"Did Zhang Liang not return to Sanchuan County this year?"

The teacher suddenly said something that made Wu Gong stop reading the document and then say, "No."

Li Si shifted his reading position, frowning as he said, "Something's not right. We've been investigating Zhang Liang's whereabouts for years, so why hasn't he come to Sanchuan County this autumn?"

Wu Gong suspected that Zhang Liang had actually come, but hadn't noticed.

Seemingly realizing his dereliction of duty, Wu Gong hurriedly bowed and paid his respects.

Li Si then said, "No rush, just leave the document here, I will read it myself."

"Yes." Wu Gong put the document aside and then stood there blankly.

Li Si was deep in thought about the contents of the book when he said, "If there's nothing else, go back home first. Your family has made new clothes for you."

"Thank you, teacher."

"Hmm," Li Si responded, then nodded.

When Mr. Wu came out of the house, he had a smile on his face. His teacher had made him a new outfit, so how could he not be happy?

When he left the Prime Minister's residence, Lord Wu happily departed, clutching the new clothes his teacher had given him.

After Lord Wu left, the mansion fell silent again. The sound of his grandson reading aloud could be heard from outside. He was reading the book of Han Fei.

Li Si was familiar with Han Fei's books.

Prince Fusu's teachers also skillfully used Xunzi's knowledge and Mozi's concept of universal love to teach people in various places.

Li Si put down the book the young master had given him, but he found it too difficult to finish reading it; he only read the first half.

Sometimes, Li Si was quite puzzled. How could Zhang Cang understand the young master's books? Was Zhang Cang some kind of genius?

After thinking it over, Li Si decided to drop the matter of taxes and said to the people around him, "Send the young master's book to Zhang Cang."

"Yes."

After giving the instructions, Li Si picked up the document brought by Wu Gong and looked at it. It recorded the recent population and land income increase in Sanchuan County.

These are all good things; Sanchuan County is developing very well now.

At present, Prince Fusu wants stability. This year, he did not carry out large-scale migrations. Apart from continuing to expand the scale of education support, there is nothing else to do.

Nowadays, Li Si feels that his later years are particularly peaceful. He no longer feels the same way he used to when he was competing with Wang Wan, nor does he have to think about accommodating the scholars from Qi and Lu who have come to Qin.

Everything seemed to have calmed down, and for a moment... Li Si didn't know what to do.

The young master once made a chair that was perfect for the elderly to sit on, enjoy the scenery, and while away the time.

Li Si remembered that he had such a chair in his home, so he had it brought out.

The chair was made entirely of pine wood, and when Li Si sat down, the chair rocked back and forth.

The autumn rain outside continued. Li Si sipped his tea, gazing silently at the pattering rain.

In fact, Li Si was also unwilling. The world was not yet fully built, and this unprecedented country had only just begun to be built. How could he be old already?

While Li Si was still thinking about what the future of the country would be like.

The prime minister's servants escorted Zhang Cang to his residence. Zhang Cang remained seated on a street corner in Xianyang City that wasn't particularly remote, where few pedestrians passed by.

It was a relatively quiet place in Xianyang. Ever since the Prime Minister introduced him to Qin, Zhang Cang had been living in this house and had never left.

The house wasn't big, and the wooden door was so old it looked like it was about to fall off.

Upon entering the house, I saw Zhang Cang alone, reaching into the pot with his chopsticks to scoop something out; it looked like he was taking meat out of the steaming pot.

The prime minister's servants were quite knowledgeable; Prince Fusu had once given the prime minister a pot like this.

However, the Prime Minister never used it after receiving it.

At that time, none of them knew why the young master had given the prime minister such a pot.

The servant now speculates that the prime minister accepted the young master's pot but didn't use it, probably because he didn't know how to use it.

Now, seeing Zhang Cang eagerly scooping up the meat, one understands.

Zhang Cang, who was eating meat, looked towards the door and asked, "What is it?"

The visitor bowed and said, "The Prime Minister has sent a scroll for Prefect Zhang to review."

Zhang Cang continued eating the meat he had fished out of the pot, and pointed to the table behind him.

After the servant understood, he placed the scroll on the table.

Serving as a servant in the Prime Minister's household also has its tiring aspects. Those who interact with the Prime Minister are all important figures, and one must bow to everyone.

Seeing that Zhang Cang was enjoying his meal, the servants didn't want to disturb him any longer and quickly left.

After finishing the meat in the hot pot, I placed a thick cloth under my hands and lifted the pot onto a shelf to the side.

The copper pot was not large to begin with, and it was easy to lift.

They added some more charcoal to the stove to keep the fire burning, and then placed a kettle on the fire to continue boiling water.

So, while waiting for the water to boil, Zhang Cang took advantage of the moment to pick up the scroll that the Prime Minister had sent him.

Upon opening it, I realized it was the young master's book.

This tax law was actually implemented in Weinan. At that time, Weinan was not yet Jingye County. The people in the county were all servants of young masters. The servants did not pay taxes, but the young masters would not refuse to pay anything either.

Therefore, in the past, the "taxes" of Jingye County were decided by the young master.

After a few years, that taxation method was discontinued. Once the residents of Jingye County had shed their status as servants, taxes were levied according to the Qin law.

Zhang Cang thought of the tax law from back then. The "tax" that the young master set on his own was not actually related to the population, but rather to the market price of the harvested grain.

At that time, the tax system for young masters was very simple. The more land a family harvested, the more taxes they had to pay. The taxes increased progressively. A family with three mu of land might only have to pay 10% of the taxes, while a family with ten mu of land would have to pay 40%.

For farmers, it was indeed a case of more work, more pay. In fact, back then, Jingye County would even compare whose family produced the most grain and give some cloth and silk to the family with the largest grain harvest.

To be more precise, what the young master was collecting was not land tax, but a tax on his family property.

No matter how many acres of land your family owns, you must pay taxes based on the amount of grain you produce.

However, the world still operates according to Qin law, and the method that the prince tried in Jingye County was probably unsuccessful.

Only then would they consider revisiting the tax system.

The water in the kettle boiled, and Zhang Cang took out some orange peels from inside the house to make tea.

The imperial physician, Xia Wuqie, suggested that he should drink some tea made with orange peel.

Zhang Cang took a sip of tea and continued reading the book. If what the young master said was true, the state's salary should also be taxed, and the taxes of the Duke of Pinyang should be the highest in the world.

Zhang Cang was still puzzled. How could the young master treat Duke Pinyang like this?

Secondly, the highest tax payer should be the prime minister.

(End of this chapter)