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

The prime minister, who was the head of all officials in the court, was none other than Wang Wan.

Hearing these words now makes me feel uncomfortable no matter what.

"..."

At this time, Li Si was in charge of the Court of Justice, but he had not yet been appointed by the First Emperor as the future Left Chancellor.

Naturally, he was unmoved by these words.

In the same year, Song also relied on the mature papermaking industry to develop movable type printing, which was then promoted throughout the country.

"???"

Wait, what is this movable type printing?!

The advent of movable type printing significantly reduced the labor costs of copying books. Once the templates were laid out, mass printing could begin, reducing labor costs by 70%.

Movable type printing, combined with inexpensive official paper, complemented each other to form a complete system of written communication, becoming a dual weapon for consolidating the unification of the Qin Dynasty.

[Records of the Grand Historian: When the First Emperor saw this new instrument and its great achievement, he was overjoyed and immediately bestowed upon it one hundred bolts of silk and one thousand acres of fertile land. He also permitted the Song Dynasty to independently establish an official seal-making bureau, directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, and not subject to the control of local prefectures and counties.]

After saying this, Li Si felt his vision go black and black again.

Not long after, Song Ye's power rose to another level.

If I remember correctly, it's only been less than a year!

What Tianmu said next further confirmed Li Si's conjecture.

At that time, Song Ye had only been in the court for six months, and he was already a thorn in the side of many Qin officials.

Li Si and other Legalists: ...We can't take it anymore.

Wang Wan and other conservatives: ...You devil!!

Noble families: Who will care about us?

No one dared to think too deeply: In just six months, this person had successively introduced two new policies that shook the world: the popularization of papermaking and movable type printing. If they were allowed to develop for several more years, would they still have a place in the court?

Although Tianmu didn't elaborate, the old foxes present could easily guess that the successive inventions of papermaking and movable type printing brought more than just easier writing and copying books; they were also gradually eroding the foundation upon which they had relied for generations.

Breaking down barriers to education for the underprivileged...

The rest, no one wanted to think about further.

I just hope that this chapter will end here and that no more hurtful new policies will be introduced.

Fortunately, the sky was able to withstand what followed.

On the sky, Tian Tian's voice paused briefly, and the scene shifted from the interior of the printing workshop to a vast map interwoven with fields and trade routes.

Papermaking and printing solved the problem of "how to transmit information."

But for a large country to truly function, information alone is not enough: money.

How to get money flowing? How to get goods circulating? How to stop local governments from acting independently? These were the next questions Song Ye began to consider after taking over the papermaking and movable type manufacturing business.

[The First Emperor swept across the six kingdoms, unifying writing, cart tracks, weights and measures, and currency, thus laying a solid foundation for the unified Qin Dynasty.]

However, even a skeleton needs flesh and blood to nourish it. Trade, agriculture, warehousing, and water and land transportation are the fundamental elements that keep a nation alive.

[Therefore, after Song Ye had established himself in the court, the first thing he did was to submit a memorial to Qin Shi Huang, proposing three economic strategies...]

Then, three lines of text appeared on the sky:

[I. Currency: Pilot the circulation of government-run, affordable paper products in official paper mills. Stabilize the market with officially backed prices, prevent hoarding and price gouging by the public, and ensure that counties, academies, and military governments can obtain writing materials at a stable cost.]

Corrupt officials: "..."

[II. Trade: Official markets will be established in the former capitals of Xianyang, Luoyang, Handan, Linzi, Daliang, Shouchun, and Jicheng. Weights and measures will be standardized, and price references will be unified. The exchange of goods between different regions will be encouraged, and the exploitation at checkpoints will be reduced. Merchants holding official market documents can enjoy tax reductions and pass through customs.]

Local wealthy business family: "..."

[III. Universal Storage: Promote the community granary system in all prefectures, storing grain in good years, selling it at stable prices in normal years, and distributing relief in poor years, to ensure that people do not panic in the event of disaster and that grain prices do not skyrocket.]

Xiao He: It sounds a little familiar... Let me listen again.

Sweetie's finger lightly tapped the third line of text, as if reciting a record that had been verified many times: "These three points are not earth-shattering innovations."

However, what they have in common is that they do not require large-scale demolition and construction, nor do they require additional conscription of civilian labor. They only need to streamline the existing rules to allow goods and money to flow smoothly where they should.

After Qin Shi Huang approved these three conditions, Song Dynasty doubled the grain reserves in Xianyang's official granaries in less than two years. Merchants from Guandong resumed transporting goods to Guanzhong, and the previously soaring grain prices stabilized.

Upon hearing this, many civil officials secretly breathed a sigh of relief, patting their chests without making a sound, secretly rejoicing.

Thank goodness.

Compared to the previous education and cultural policies that directly eradicated corruption, these three economic strategies at most cut off the gray profits from embezzlement by the lower classes, hoarding by wealthy merchants, and price control by powerful families. They did not truly touch the core foundation of the elite at the top.

As long as their fundamental interests are not affected, and it only involves cutting off some minor, peripheral gains, they are perfectly willing to accept it.

The group of veteran officials exchanged glances, all understanding each other without saying a word.

Okay, we'll just turn a blind eye to this loss.

the other side.

Of course, things didn't go smoothly.

Those officials who made a living by extorting money at the passes, and the powerful families who controlled local prices, have all caused trouble for Song Ye in the past two years...

But in the end, he was either dragged down by Song Ye in officialdom, forced into early retirement by Mou Fu, or reported for corruption and his home confiscated...

Those who ultimately stood against Song and resisted them to the very end were all the top talents of the new generation of Qin.

The veteran officials: "..."

Song Ye: I'm such a thoughtful colleague, even looking out for the well-being of senior employees.

Soon after, the revivalists, represented by Chunyu Yue, reiterated their opposition to the enfeoffment system.

Since the Qin Dynasty implemented the prefecture-county system, Confucian officials who advocated a return to the past never completely gave up. Seeing that the Song Dynasty also successively introduced new policies, central power became increasingly stable, and the local influence of Confucianism was continuously compressed, Chunyu Yue and his group of revivalists could no longer sit still.

They used ancient rites as a basis for their arguments, submitting a memorial in court, strongly advising the First Emperor to restore the old system of enfeoffment from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and advocating for the enfeoffment of members of the imperial family and meritorious officials to govern local areas.

Its core objective was extremely subtle: to use the old enfeoffment system to dismantle the centralized power of prefectures and counties, and to re-decentralize power to local aristocratic families and former noble families, thereby offsetting the central control that Song Ye had been tightening at each level, disrupting the implementation of the new policies, and regaining the diluted privileges and voice.

[The assembled officials, advocating a return to the past, cited ancient texts and the Zhou dynasty rites, vigorously promoting the benefits of enfeoffment and the protection of the imperial clan. They criticized the prefecture-county system as a dangerous policy that isolated the imperial family, leaving them helpless and vulnerable. The call for a return to the past was overwhelming and extremely powerful in the court.]

This heated debate over the restoration of the feudal system, seemingly a Confucian-Legalist contest between Chunyu Yue and Li Si, was in reality the final counterattack of Confucianism.

This led to a bloody purge of pedantic and conservative Confucian officials, a campaign initiated by Song Ye.

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Si secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, it wasn't a massacre of Legalists.

"..." Chunyu Yue, who had been called out, looked helplessly at the eldest son, Fusu.

If you're going to reorganize Li Si and his gang, then do it properly! Why did you suddenly brake on a bend?!