Poverty Alleviation in Qin: A Sky-High Review of "I Am the Female Prime Minister of All Time&qu

Xianyang Palace.

The smoke curled gently from the spout of the bronze crane incense burner, rising into the air before slowly dissipating.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang sat upright at his desk, with a scroll of bamboo slips spread out in front of him, but his gaze was fixed on Li Si, who was standing below him.

"Li Si".

"Your subject is here."

"How is the unified edict being implemented in various regions?"

"Return to Your Majesty."

"All prefectures and counties have received the order and are implementing it at each level."

"Officials were ordered to teach Qin script and gradually abolish the old characters of the various states. The imperial highways and straight roads were all repaired according to the new regulations, and local rural roads were also being renovated in batches. Standardized rulers, scales, and measures have been distributed to all prefectures, and the people were ordered to replace the old tools within a specified period."

"In terms of the implementation of government orders alone, things have gone relatively smoothly," Li Si said, covering all aspects, but a hint of worry lingered between his brows.

Ying Zheng, with his keen perception, immediately noticed the anomaly and repeated calmly, "Smoothly? If it's smooth, why do you look troubled?"

Li Si knew he couldn't hide it, and he never intended to deceive anyone. He bowed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not conceal the truth from you. Although the implementation of your decrees has not been hindered, there is still a lot of resentment among the people."

"dissatisfied?"

"Exactly." Li Si lowered his head even further. "There are voices of conflict in the former territories of the six states, with Qi being the most prominent among them."

"Qi..." Ying Zheng slowly uttered the two words, his fingertips lightly tapping the table, making a soft sound.

"The State of Qi was the last to fall, and its surviving people held a deep longing for their homeland."

Li Si was extremely cautious in his wording, "In addition, the writing system, cart tracks, weights and measures in Qi are very different from those in Qin. The people have been using them for generations, and the sudden change makes it difficult for them to adapt. Modifying vehicles and replacing equipment will cost money, so the common people naturally have a lot of complaints."

He used restrained language, only mentioning dissatisfaction and complaints, but never mentioning the unrest.

Although no incidents have occurred yet, the accumulated emotions have already sown the seeds of future problems.

Ying Zheng stood up, put his hands behind his back, and walked to the palace gate.

The Xianyang Palace sits high above the city walls, offering a panoramic view of the entire capital city, with its rows of houses and crisscrossing roads, resembling a well-organized chessboard spread across the land.

"What exactly are they dissatisfied with?"

The emperor stood before the gate, his voice carried on the breeze, revealing neither joy nor anger: "I decree that the whole world shall use a single character, so that people may travel to the ends of the earth and communicate with each other in language and writing, no longer being separated by geographical boundaries."

"Unified track gauge will allow roads to connect unimpeded in all directions, facilitating the flow of goods and the movement of pedestrians."

"Standardizing weights and measures will eliminate the chaos of short-weighting and falsifying measurements, ensuring fairness for everyone in the marketplace."

Having said that, he turned around and looked at Li Si with a deep gaze: "Aren't these measures for the good of the people?"

Li Si bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty is wise. These strategies are based on the overall situation and will benefit future generations."

"A thousand autumns?"

Ying Zheng stepped back to his seat, his fingertips tapping heavily on the table. "I do not wait for a thousand generations; I want to make the world realize one thing in my lifetime."

"They are no longer people of Qi, Chu, Yan, or Zhao, but citizens of the Great Qin."

"The characters have the same shape, the roads have the same rules, the rulers have the same measurement, and the world is of the same mind."

"Your Majesty is absolutely right."

However, Li Si still had many concerns: the people were nostalgic, the old guard was stirring up trouble, and the local officials were acting recklessly, which would only exacerbate the conflicts.

"The decrees shall be carried out as usual." Ying Zheng picked up the bamboo slips again, his gaze returning to the pages, his tone cold and hard. "Anyone who is disobedient may come to Xianyang to see me. Anyone who incites trouble shall be arrested. Anyone who secretly incites unrest or sows discord shall be executed without exception."

"My lord, I obey your order."

Li Si bowed deeply and slowly withdrew from the main hall.

His Majesty the First Emperor was determined to unify the world and wanted to win over the people with a decree and an iron fist.

But people's hearts can never be forcibly swayed by swords and power.

The longing for one's homeland has been rooted for decades; how can it be severed so easily?

Li Si shook his head slightly and stepped down the stone steps.

The majestic palace stands silently between heaven and earth, like a cold and enormous cage, trapping within it all the whispers of complaint and myriad emotions coming from all directions.

The setting sun seeped in through the cracks in the palace doors, gradually swallowing up the light inside and casting a long, heavy shadow of the man on the cold white jade floor tiles.

People only remember the destruction of their homeland, hate the constraints of the new rules, and complain about the harshness of Qin's policies.

Secretly, they longed for the old country, the old customs, and the past that could never be returned to.

He experienced hardship in his youth, and eventually seized power.

Sweeping across the six directions, unifying the eight wastelands.

People only know that the First Emperor was tyrannical, but no one asks him why he insisted on changing words, tracks, and measurements.

No one saw that what he wanted was not temporary power and authority, but a future where there would be no more conflicts between nations, no more endless wars, and no more people being separated by nationality, deceived by standards, or displaced by blocked roads.

A breeze rises, causing the curtains to flutter gently.

The emperor raised his eyes and gazed at the vast landscape beyond the deep twilight.

The royal power of the six kingdoms dissipated, and the entire world fell into Qin territory.

Ying Zheng slightly raised his fingertips and gently brushed across the cold bamboo slips on the table, his eyes showing no anger, no sigh, no emotion.

Let them complain, let them hate.

The merits and demerits of a person throughout history are never to be judged by ordinary people.

Peicheng.

After the imperial court issued new regulations to standardize writing, cart tracks, and weights and measures, Song became even busier.

Every day, in addition to being busy with county government affairs, he also had to run to the street markets and rural fields every day, going wherever there were crowds or where adjustments were needed.

The rulers, measures, and weights of standardized specifications issued by the imperial court were all delivered to Pei County.

Song also instructed Xiao He to count and register them one by one to avoid losing or confusing them.

After that, he simply took matters into his own hands, carrying a large bundle of heavy copper rulers, copper buckets, and copper weights, and went from village to village, street to street, personally distributing them to the villagers.

Upon arriving at the cloth market, she handed the brand-new copper ruler to the cloth seller, casually wiping off a bit of rust with her sleeve, and said, "This is the new, standardized ruler. From now on, we'll use this for measuring cloth and land. Although the old rulers can no longer be used commercially, you don't need to rush to throw them away. You can keep them as souvenirs."

After saying that, Song directly compared the two on the spot, placing the new ruler next to the old Chu ruler that the boss had used for decades. "Look for yourself, the two are slightly different in size. You need to keep that in mind when you buy and sell fabric in the future, so you don't get ripped off because of the size difference and suffer a loss for nothing."

Upon hearing this, the old cloth merchant held the cold new copper ruler, turning it over and over for a long time, comparing it with his old ruler. Having been in the cloth business for twenty years, he could tell the measurement of the old ruler by heart, and now the sudden change to a new standard meant that all his old habits had been overturned.

Starting all over again was incredibly awkward.

But he had no temper at all.

"Sir, these errand-running tasks can be done by your subordinates. Why do you have to personally carry heavy objects and run through the streets?"

"Everyone has their own work to do, and they are busy too."

Song brushed the dust off his knees, turned around and handed the new copper measuring cup and new weights to the farmers selling grain next to him. "Go back and practice more, get familiar with the new weights, so that you don't make mistakes when weighing and selling grain in the future and cause unnecessary conflicts."

For the past two weeks, this has been the scene everywhere in Pei County.

Even those old farmers who lived in the countryside year-round and rarely went to the city were not spared by Song. He directly asked Xiao He to carve many wooden plaques according to the new standards.

Each village hangs one of these signs, so that any household can check the dimensions and weights at any time and learn from them.

The people of Pei County had never seen an official like this before.

Other officials just sit in the county government office and issue orders, simply by talking.

Only Song Ye personally carried the heavy bronzeware to the countryside, teaching everyone how to use the new standards, and even helping with moving and unloading goods, without any airs.

A young man saw Song carrying grain into the warehouse and was so frightened that he quickly ran over to take over, saying, "Sir! This is heavy, please don't carry it!"

Song put down the grain sack, took a breath, waved his hand and laughed, "It's not heavy, only a few dozen pounds. Don't you all carry things like this every day when you work? Officials aren't so precious that they can't touch the ground."

"But you are the county magistrate..."