Chapter 63

Li Si snorted angrily: "Even if the threat within is greater than the threat without, our Great Qin has an army; how dare the scum of the six states rebel?"

"The scum of the six states dare not rebel, then I ask the Prime Minister, my lord: in years past, how mighty was the Great Zhou, and why did it fall to the point where King Ping of Zhou moved east?"

"Was the Great Zhou's army weaker than the feudal lords?"

"Or was the Great Zhou during the peak period inferior to the current Great Qin?"

Li Si said: "Even so, the Great Wall cannot stop being built; if the Great Wall stops being built, the Xiongnu invade, who will resist them?"

"If the Great Wall stops being built, thousands or tens of thousands of Xiongnu reach the border passes, plunder and run, how can we stop them?"

"The Great Wall cannot stop being built; Zhang Liang, do not be so unreasonable here!"

Zhang Liang ignored Li Si no longer, but instead bowed to Facing Ying Su: "Your Majesty, I do not know if you have visited the border, nor do I know if you know how bitter building the Great Wall truly is!"

"But... what I wish to say is, I have seen it; many people can no longer eat their fill, and some cannot even eat at all!"

"Even... already many, many people want to rebel!"

"Do you know why no news of rebellion has spread yet? It is because there are a hundred thousand Qin Army troops suppressing them there!"

"But... I wish to ask Your Majesty one question: how long can this suppression by a hundred thousand Qin Army troops last?"

"This popular resentment grows deeper the more it accumulates, and once it accumulates to a certain degree, it will surely erupt!"

"And once it reaches the point of imminent eruption, this towering popular resentment becomes a huge pile of dry firewood; at this moment, no spark is needed; even if the sun's temperature rises slightly, this huge pile of dry firewood could spontaneously ignite!"

"And once it burns, it will not be a little burning, but will spread; to speak bluntly, however many people are building the Great Wall now, that many people will be in the anti-Qin forces in the future!"

"A rebellion across the entire world is absolutely not an empty phrase!"

"Therefore, the urgent task is that the Great Wall must stop being built; the people must first be given peace; only after the people have peace, and after the people are prosperous, should we discuss building the Great Wall!"

"Moreover, even if the Great Wall is built, it must not be rushed; it requires two generations, or even three generations of emperors, to build it slowly, so that popular resentment will not accumulate!"

"As for the Epang Palace, the same applies!"

"Zhang Liang, though untalented, has seen the blueprints of the Epang Palace!"

"Forgive Zhang Liang for speaking bluntly: it is too large; merely laying the foundation requires six hundred thousand people working for three years!"

"Even to this day, this foundation has not been completed!"

"I dare ask Your Majesty: such a huge palace, merely to display the grandeur of the Great Qin Imperial Palace, is it truly worth it?"

"The people of the entire world suffer hardship, cannot eat their fill or dress warmly, all to build a huge palace for the Emperor; do you think this truly will not accumulate popular resentment?"

"Perhaps the Great Wall is debatable, but... if the Great Qin truly wishes to become prosperous and strong, the Epang Palace must stop construction; at the very least, it must stop now!"

"If you truly wish to build it, you must wait until the Great Wall, the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum, the Dujiangyan, and the Zhengguo Canal are all completed before touching the Epang Palace; or, do not build the Epang Palace at all, and simply expand Outside Xianyanggong!"

"This way, you can equally display the majesty and grandeur of the Great Qin Imperial Palace!"

Zhang Liang spoke while bowing to Facing Ying Su.

As for Zhang Liang's words, did Facing Ying Su agree?

To speak honestly, he did not want to agree!

Because... this was completely an attack on Seeing Ying Zheng.

Especially regarding the Epang Palace matter, it utterly tore Seeing Ying Zheng apart!

It must be known that Seeing Ying Zheng had boasted about the Epang Palace more than once.

Yet now, Zhang Liang had degraded it so terribly!

But... some things cannot be ignored just because he did not want to agree!

Because... regarding the fate of the Great Qin, history books have already written it clearly.

In the second year after the First Emperor's death, Chen Shengwuguang rose in rebellion; within merely a few months, they gathered hundreds of thousands of ordinary people.

Immediately after, rebel armies across the entire world were everywhere!

Seeing Xiang Yu and Liu Bang followed the trend to rebel against Qin.

And they shouted that slogan that has echoed through the ages!

"The world has suffered under Qin for too long!"

Less than a year after the rebel armies rose across the world, the once magnificent Great Qin Empire collapsed with a crash!

And the source of all this was the so-called Great Wall, the Epang Palace, and the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum!

However, as a modern person, he could not fail to understand how great the significance of building the Great Wall truly was!

What the Epang Palace specifically represented, he also knew clearly!

As for the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum... to speak honestly, while the whole world cursed the Tyrannical Qin, most cursed the Great Wall and the Epang Palace; conversely, no one cursed the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum!

Why was this?

At first, Facing Ying Su did not understand.

But later he figured it out: because in this era, everyone would build their tombs beautifully!

Anyone with money would arrange their own grave in advance!

And as the First Emperor, his tomb naturally should be large enough and grand enough; therefore, no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

Everyone thought this was reasonable and proper.

Therefore, even if Seeing Ying Zheng built the tomb more grandly and employed more people, no one cursed Seeing Ying Zheng over this matter!

Even Sima Qian, the Great Qin's number one hater, did not curse Seeing Ying Zheng in the Records of the Grand Historian because of the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum!

But speaking of it, stopping the Epang Palace construction is acceptable, but should the Great Wall really stop being built?

Facing Ying Su pondered, but this matter was too big; he did not want to make a decision rashly, so he turned to Zhang Liang and asked: "If our Great Qin wishes to become prosperous and strong, is stopping the Great Wall construction alone enough?"

"Uh..."

Zhang Liang was stunned, then bowed: "Impossible!"

Facing Ying Su nodded and said: "Then let it continue; today is about raising problems, not solving them!"

"First, let all the problems be stated, and then we will sort them out slowly!"

Zhang Liang bowed down: "As you command!"

After slightly organizing his thoughts, he continued: "I believe that for Great Qin to become prosperous and strong, three things must be done!"

"The first is to stop building the Great Wall and stop building the Epang Palace!"

"Saving these two massive projects can return peace to the people!"

"But... merely stopping the construction of the Great Wall and returning peace to the people is still not enough!"

"Because, even so, the people cannot be at peace, and the reason for this brings us to the second point!"

"Qin laws are severe!"

"Qin laws are too severe; Emperor Ying Zheng, to prevent rebellion in the world, actually forbade the people from freely using kitchen knives; one kitchen knife must be shared by ten households!"

"If one person breaks the law, the whole village is punished!"

"This seems to leave no room for rebellion across the entire world, but... Your Majesty, do not forget, everyone is human; even ordinary people need freedom. If the official regulation on a single kitchen knife is so strict, will this not truly stir up public resentment?"

"Of course, if everyone were like this and everyone had to obey Qin laws, that would be one thing, but... has Your Majesty not noticed? Great Qin's slogan is that if a prince breaks the law, he is punished the same as a commoner, but what is the reality?"

"The reality is... if an Assistant County Magistrate in a county breaks the law, he cannot be punished the same as a commoner, let alone those nobles standing high above!"

"People fear scarcity more than inequality; this is human nature and common sense. Since it is impossible for everyone to obey Qin laws, why not loosen Qin laws and stop being so severe?"

"Such severe Qin laws completely place everyone in the world on a fire to roast, and under such scorching, who would not want to escape this furnace?"

"Similarly, as I said before, if Qin laws are not loosened, the entire world rebelling against Qin will no longer be an empty threat!"

Zhang Liang continued speaking, continuing to bow down!

And these words once again struck Li Si's pain point!

In that instant, without waiting for Facing Ying Su or Kill Xiao He to speak, he flew into a rage!

He roared at Zhang Liang: "You are talking nonsense! You keep saying Great Qin's people will rebel against Qin due to severe laws, but... have you forgotten?"

"Have you forgotten how Great Qin became so powerful?"

"Shang Yang's reforms, governing the country by law, if a prince breaks the law he is punished the same as a commoner!"

"It is precisely because of this that our State of Qin became strong!"

"In contrast, your six states, one by one, did not think of making progress; even after many reforms, none succeeded. Now, you, a person from a fallen state, dare to criticize our Qin laws?"

Li Si was infinitely angry!

Zhang Liang then smiled:

"The State of Qin became strong because of Shang Yang's reforms, but I want to ask you one question: can a country at war and a country not at war be governed by the same system?"

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"Before the Great Zhou, there was still human sacrifice, and no one in the world thought anything of it, but why did Zhou Gongdan insist on abolishing human sacrifice?"

"Because... the theory from the Wu Ding period of the Shang Dynasty, that humans sacrifice to heaven and earth and heaven and earth protect the people, is outdated!"

"Shang King Zhou Di Xin, in order to distinguish the Son of Heaven from the feudal lords, abolished the qualification for collateral relatives to use human sacrifice; except for himself, the feudal lords could no longer use human sacrifice!"