Chapter 19

Although there are the Three Councillors and Nine Ministers to assist, it is still very tiring!

Ying Su really admired Ying Zheng; he was just one person, how could he manage so many things?

Of course, while he was understanding the current situation of the country, he found that it was not all Ying Zheng's credit!

Likewise, there were also dark spots!

One of the biggest dark spots was that Ying Su agreed with the saying spread by Ying Zheng's haters on the modern internet!

The Great Qin flourished under the First Emperor and perished under the First Emperor!

Yes!

He agreed with this sentence!

Why?

A very simple reason!

Taxes!

Very heavy!

How heavy?

Half of the harvest!

In other words, half of the harvest obtained by ordinary people farming was used to pay land taxes!

And this was just the land tax!

In addition to land taxes, there were poll taxes and labor service!

This was something every Great Qin citizen had to face!

No one could escape!

And in addition to land taxes, poll taxes, and labor service, the people also had to face a huge problem!

That was paying land rent to the nobles!

Yes, in this era, although it is said that all land under heaven belongs to the king, the ownership of the land was not the emperor's, but the nobles'.

If the people wanted to farm, they could only rent from the nobles.

And the grain produced each year was counted as rent.

As for how this rent was collected, it all depended on the nobles' own wishes, but most nobles collected 20%!

In other words, at least 70% of the grain obtained by all the people farming each year had to be given to others.

Only the remaining 30% was their own!

Is this harsh?

In the eyes of modern people, it is very harsh!

It has even reached the point where they could rebel!

But in Ying Su's view, this was nothing!

Because, it was not just the Qin Dynasty that collected taxes like this!

Reducing taxes, one-tenth tax, that was something after Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang.

One-fifteenth tax, one-twentieth tax, that was something after Emperor Jing of Han and Emperor Wen of Han!

Before the Han Dynasty, all dynasties collected taxes like this!

Therefore, there was no big problem with such taxes!

In an agricultural civilization, as long as the people have something to eat, they will not choose to rebel!

But... the problem is that when heavy labor service and heavy taxes appear at the same time, it is a huge problem!

For example, King Zhou of Shang's Star-Plucking Tower and Deer Terrace aroused great public resentment!

And in the Qin Dynasty, there were indeed four such huge projects!

Moreover, none of them could be compared to the Star-Plucking Tower and the Deer Terrace!

Yes, building the Great Wall, building the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum, building the Epang Palace, and the Dujiangyan Zheng Guo Canal!

These were the four major projects of the current Great Qin!

And these four major projects consumed a total of more than 3 million people's labor!

With such heavy taxes and consumption of labor, the people might already have nothing to eat!

What? You say there was money and grain distributed for these huge projects?

Buddy, how old are you?

Are you naive?

Even in modern society, there are projects where money is exploited layer by layer, and a 1 billion project budget ends up with only 1 million in the hands of the contractor, resulting in shoddy construction.

Let alone in ancient times?

How do you think ancient times were so clean?

The Qin Law is harsh!

But... no matter how harsh the Qin Law is, it needs someone to supervise its execution!

I haven't heard much about corruption cases in the Qin Dynasty; it's not that there weren't any, but they weren't exposed!

In other words, they weren't discovered at all!

If they weren't discovered, how could they be executed?

Ying Su could imagine that when the money and grain reached the people, less than one-tenth remained, or even none at all!

And at this time, public resentment had already begun to accumulate!

But due to the pressure of the First Emperor, no one dared to rebel!

And when the First Emperor died, with no one to suppress them, wouldn't they rebel?

How do you think the Dazexiang Uprising came about?

Do you really think Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were full and had nothing to do, so they chose to rebel for fun!

Faced with this level of taxes, huge projects, and personal survival pressure, very few people would choose not to rebel.

And from this perspective, the saying "The Great Qin flourished under the First Emperor and perished under the First Emperor" is not wrong at all!

Could the First Emperor Ying Zheng realize this problem?

Or rather, did he think of these problems?

Ying Su felt that he should have discovered and realized it.

Otherwise, was he crazy, unifying the world for eleven years and touring five times?

Five tours, seven detours to look at the Great Wall!

Do you really think touring the world is a good job?

Just bumping around in a carriage for a year is not something an ordinary person can bear.

Moreover, he had to visit and handle various government affairs in the carriage!

This is really not something an ordinary person can bear.

It is even less the toil that an emperor should bear!

This tour of the world was, firstly, to intimidate those in the six states who were not submissive, and secondly, to warn those who were corrupt and lawless.

To tell those people, don't think that heaven is high and the emperor is far away, and that I don't know anything; the emperor is always by your side!

As for stopping these projects, or slowing them down? Or perhaps, being stricter, catching those who privately took money and grain, and punishing them directly!

Ying Su felt that it wouldn't work.

Since things were done, they must be done in one step; dragging them out would only lead to trouble!

By then, the Great Wall, the Epang Palace, water conservancy, etc., would be unlikely to continue construction!

Likewise, punishing them severely wouldn't work, because of that saying, "Water that is too clear has no fish"!

If you get rid of all the corrupt officials, who will do the work for you if there's no profit?

Under their supervision, although the people were in deep water, the quality of the project could be guaranteed!

Without their supervision, haha... the Great Wall standing for five thousand years?

I'm afraid that if Meng Jiangnu cried a little longer, the Xianyanggong would collapse!

As for when to change these?

Ying Su, based on the national situation he mastered, the actions taken by the First Emperor, and even the speculations of some people in later generations.

He personally felt that the First Emperor's plan should be to wait until the Great Wall, the Epang Palace, and the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum were all completed.

By then, changes should be made.

At the very least, the people should not be allowed to suffer like this anymore.