Chapter 59

"King Wu's crusade against Zhou, although scolding him for not respecting heaven and earth! But in fact, he was scolding him for not allowing feudal lords to use human sacrifices, making feudal lords lose a privilege!"

"But no matter what, the feudal lords really didn't have the qualification to use human sacrifices from then on!"

"Zhou Zhou Gongdan followed the trend and directly abolished human sacrifices. This allowed the people's wisdom to open! Rites and music, officials, created the peak prosperous age of the Great Zhou!"

"Putting it to the Qin State, it is the same truth!"

"The Qin State before unifying the world, because it was always thinking about destroying the six kingdoms, wanting to unify the world!"

"Therefore, the military merit system of the Shang Yang Reform, strict laws, gave everyone the hope of becoming a noble, so it was worth promoting!"

"But what about the current era without war?"

"Can this set really still be used?"

"Can such harsh laws really make the people adapt?"

"If the Prime Minister is willing, why don't you become a commoner and live for a few days, and see how many Qin laws you will violate in one day?"

"You..."

As soon as the words were out, Li Si gritted his teeth. He wanted to refute, but for a moment he was speechless, somewhat not knowing how to refute!

Yes, before when Chunyu Yue criticized the rule of law, he always used the Shang Yang Reform making the Qin State strong to talk about it!

But now, Zhang Liang criticized the Qin State's rule of law from the perspective of wartime and peacetime, which made him somewhat unaccustomed for a moment.

Suddenly, he really couldn't find a good angle to refute Zhang Liang!

But he was still unconvinced and bowed to Ying Su: "The Qin State's rule of law has always been the case, the rule of law cannot be broken!"

Zhang Liang nodded and said: "The rule of law certainly cannot be broken, but... the set of five techniques for governing the people promoted by Xunzi, Shang Yang, and Han Fei must be abolished!"

"What foolish people, tired people, insulting people, weak people, poor people, this set really cannot be used anymore!"

"If you continue to use it, the Great Qin is really going to be finished!"

"You..."

After a series of words were spoken, Li Si was panting heavily!

And Ying Su didn't pay attention to Li Si, nor did he pick up Zhang Liang's words, but said to Zhang Liang:

"Continue to say the third point!"

Zhang Liang bowed and said:

"The third point, weaken the influence of the nobles!"

"Weaken the influence of the nobles?"

As soon as the words were out, Li Si was stunned, and at that moment his scalp tingled!

Zhang Liang said:

"Since ancient times, no matter what era, the common people are the most numerous, and the common people are the most oppressed, but why has no commoner ever been able to rebel?"

"The reason is that the common people have no money, no land, and no grain in their hands!"

"Without the relief of the nobles, they might not be able to eat tomorrow!"

"Therefore, they never dare to rebel casually!"

"On the contrary, the nobles, why can they succeed as long as they rebel?"

"Even if they fail, they can still live a good life, and can still get what they want?"

"That's because they have money, land, and grain in their hands! Moreover... they also control the life and death of ordinary people, and even more, they raise quite a few private armies!"

"This situation, even in the current Great Qin, still exists!"

"And this problem, not only I saw it, but the sages of the past dynasties, they all saw it!"

"Likewise, since the Zhou royal family became weak until now, every state has carried out multiple reforms because they wanted to become stronger!"

"And every reform, in the final analysis, has one purpose, to weaken the influence of the nobles!"

"Zhou Zhou Gongdan's rites and music for officials, the essence of governing the country by rites is like this!"

"Mencius said that the people are the most important, the country is second, and the monarch is the lightest, it is still like this!"

"Guan Zhong said scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, and taxing based on land, acknowledging private land ownership, letting the people also have their own fields, it was still to weaken the influence of the nobles!"

"Wei Wei Wenhou's employment based on talent regardless of origin, or attempting to abolish the so-called recommendation system, was also to weaken the influence of the nobles in the imperial court!"

"Lord Xinling Jun Wei Wei Wuji, although he didn't propose any reforms, but... he was always thinking of ways to make the nobles pay taxes, always thinking of ways to return the nobles' land to the people, it was still like this!"

"To the Qin State, the so-called Shang Yang Reform, strict laws, the essence was still to return fairness to the people, letting every commoner have the opportunity to be promoted!"

"And although every one of their reforms had successes and failures, there is no doubt that all their reforms made the country rich and strong!"

"If the Qin State wants to walk on the path to true prosperity, it absolutely cannot do without reforms to weaken the influence of the nobles!"

"And this kind of reform, I have already thought about it, land tax based on the number of people!"

"Change the poll tax that the Great Qin currently has into a land tax! Change the tax that every person needs to pay into a tax based on the number of acres!"

"In this way, the nobles are forced to start paying taxes!"

050. That is, Ying Zheng died early, otherwise the Great Qin would have perished in one generation!

"Pay taxes?"

"Let the nobles pay taxes?"

As soon as Zhang Liang said this, everyone was shocked again.

One must know, no matter which dynasty or generation, nobles do not pay taxes!

And now, Zhang Liang actually wants the nobles to pay taxes?

"Your Majesty, this method is absolutely unfeasible. If the nobles are made to pay taxes, then what is the difference between nobles and commoners?"

"This is not only a matter without any reason, but it is also forcing the nobles to rebel!"

"This matter is absolutely unfeasible!"

"And besides this one, stopping the repair of the Great Wall and relaxing the laws are also unfeasible!"

"One must know, the construction of the Great Wall is to lay the foundation for my Great Qin's ten thousand generations of foundation, and even more to guard against the Xiongnu. Even if Your Majesty's generation is not afraid of the Xiongnu, what about the next generation? What about the generations after that?"

"The Great Qin will always have a time when it is weak. By then, if there is no Great Wall, how many soldiers will need to be sent to guard the border line of ten thousand miles?"

"This concerns the Great Qin's ten thousand generations of foundation, it is absolutely impossible to stop repairing!"

"As for delaying a few years, it is also unfeasible, because the bigger the project, the more it should be done quickly. Such a huge project, let one generation suffer, how can we let generation after generation suffer?"

"This is accumulating resentment!"

"And relaxing the laws is also unfeasible. I don't deny what Zhang Liang said, my Great Qin's current laws are indeed biased in terms of the people and the nobles and scholars!"

"But the problem is, no matter which dynasty or generation, it is the monarch and the noble families who share the world!"

"Why did King Huiwen kill Shang Yang? It was because he made the laws too strict, making ordinary people and nobles and scholars share a set of legal systems!"

"If he didn't kill him, the nobles and scholars of the world wouldn't agree!"

"Therefore, he had to die!"

"And this current set of legal systems was formulated based on my Great Qin's national conditions and the countless explorations of the nobles' bottom line by past monarchs!"

"This law must never be broken!"

"As for making the nobles and scholars pay taxes, this is purely nonsense. If the nobles and scholars are the same as ordinary commoners, paying taxes together, then may I ask what is the difference between this noble and scholar and the ordinary commoner?"

"If so, who would still want to be a noble? Who would still want to be a scholar?"

"Could it be... that Your Majesty won't use people in the future?"

"Use a person, let him do a thing!"

"Your Majesty confers him as a noble or a scholar, letting his descendants enjoy the shade forever, they are willing, and Your Majesty is also willing!"

"If there were no nobles and scholars, this Great Qin would be in chaos!"

"Your Majesty, I cannot watch Zhang Liang spread rumors here, and I cannot watch my Great Qin go on the road to decline!"

At that moment, Li Si bowed heavily!

Zhang Liang said angrily:

"The Great Wall stops being repaired, just let the resentment accumulate?"

"The Qin law is not tolerant, just let the resentment rush to the sky?"

"Weakening the influence of the nobles, this is not just done now, it must be done in every dynasty and generation. What are nobles and scholars?"

"Nobles and scholars are parasites attached to the country, relying on the great merits made by their ancestors, starting to suck blood from the country. If you don't weaken the nobles, not only will the people not have peace, but even the Emperor will be controlled by others!"

"And if the Great Qin wants to be rich and strong, these three things must be done!"

Li Si said angrily: "Nonsense, the predecessors of the nobles and scholars were all ordinary people. For example, the Great Qin General Wang Wang Jian, and for example, the Great Qin General Meng Wu, their ancestors were all ordinary people. The reason they joined the army to kill the enemy was just to become nobles, and now, you let the nobles and scholars pay taxes together, isn't that cutting off the roots of my Great Qin?"

"Have you ever thought about how much pressure the new Emperor, who has just ascended the throne, will have to bear if this set of political decrees is pushed through?"

"Originally, the new Emperor is already unpopular in the imperial court, if this political decree is pushed through, I can guarantee that all the nobles in the world will rebel!"