Chapter 63

Even Li Si started to think!

Wait...

Wasn't he firmly opposed to this kind of revolution?

Of course he was opposed, but if Ying Su wanted to do it, what could he do?

Ultimately, it came back to that one point: he was loyal to Ying Su.

There was no other way; he had already offended the First Emperor to the point of no return, and now, he could only follow Ying Su to the end!

Even if he didn't want to do it, since Ying Su had said it would be done, as a subject, he could only think of ways to do it.

Besides the relationship between ruler and subject, there was another thing that had a huge impact on him!

That was that Great Qin had lost two million people in eleven years of unification during a time without major wars!

This matter had a huge impact on him.

For a moment, he couldn't help but doubt whether his persistence was correct!

If it was correct, then why did the population decrease instead of increase after the world was at peace?

The current Great Qin actually had a smaller total population than during the period of the Seven States' hegemony!

He felt very melancholy!

Therefore, at this very moment, he couldn't help but want to try a revolution!

What if?

What if it really worked?

After pondering for a moment, he said:

"The 'taxation based on land' is not feasible, but we can imitate the grain donation during the Shang Yang reforms; whenever a disaster occurs, the imperial court encourages nobles to donate money and grain, so as to weaken the nobles in a disguised way!"

As soon as he spoke, Zhang Liang immediately laughed: "Donating money and grain depends entirely on willingness; what if the nobles refuse to pay?"

"This matter must be legislated; only by relying on the law to force the nobles to pay will they have no choice but to pay!"

Li Si said angrily: "How much chaos will direct legislation trigger?"

"Have you considered how great the reaction of the nobles will be?"

Zhang Liang said: "Then do you think that if it depends entirely on willingness, how many will be willing to donate?"

The two argued endlessly again, and just at this moment, Xiao He suddenly spoke:

"Your Majesty, the two matters of relaxing criminal law and noble taxation are too influential to be pushed across the country all at once; why not pick a county to experiment with first?"

"Try it in this county; if it is truly excellent, then promote it to the whole country; if it is handled poorly, then stop it immediately!"

"In this way, whether it is good or bad, there will be a buffer!"

He spoke!

And once these words were out, Li Si and Zhang Liang’s eyes both lit up.

Almost instantly, they both nodded:

"Good!"

"This is excellent!"

Zhang Liang praised: "If it succeeds in one county, it means this method is truly effective!"

"And if it fails in one county, it won't do any harm!"

"At worst, we can think of other methods!"

Li Si also praised: "This method is very clever, steady!"

"Your Majesty, this method can be used!"

He shouted and bowed to Ying Su!

At the same time, he kept looking at Xiao He, truly appreciating this man more and more!

Likewise, he hated Zhang Liang's drastic reforms the most!

Zhang Liang only saw the benefits of drastic reforms, but never thought about what kind of drawbacks would be left behind in the process!

Take Shang Yang, for example!

He made the Qin State powerful, but the noble chaos left behind by the Shang Yang reforms spread through three generations of Qin kings!

It wasn't until the reign of King King Zhaoxiang of Qin that this noble chaos was finally quelled!

Wei Wei Wenhou proposed employing people based on talent regardless of their background; this indeed caused a burst of many talents in the Wei State.

For example, Shang Yang, Fan Ju, Zhang Yi, and Gongsun Yan were all results of Wei Wei Wenhou's implementation of employing people based on talent.

But this also caused the Wei nobles to crazily target the Wei royal family!

So much so that after Wei Wei Wenhou died, the successor of the Wei royal family was actually controlled and held by the nobles!

Otherwise, how could Wei Wei Wuji have died?

This kind of drastic reform has quick results, but the harm is equally great!

The key is that it will spread; perhaps while Ying Su is alive, they won't dare to do anything, but what about after Ying Su dies?

The nobles will bully the future monarchs!

And Ying Su's approach is very good!

If it's implemented well and can indeed strengthen the country, then do it!

If it's not implemented well, then abandon it!

No matter how harmful it is, it will be controlled within the scope of one county!

It will neither expand nor spread!

Even if one county rebels, so what?

There's no need for the imperial court to send a large army!

Ying Su can just send a Li Li Yuanba over, and it will be quelled directly!

Li Si appreciated this point.

Likewise, even Zhang Liang couldn't help but look at Xiao He again and again!

Appreciation!

Truly appreciating this man!

And Ying Su couldn't help but start praising Xiao He; he truly had the strategy for governing the country!

To actually be able to think of this method!

Moreover, this method also had a prototype!

It seems there were similar plot points in the later "Emperor Yongzheng Dynasty"!

In order to fill the national treasury, Emperor Emperor Yongzheng introduced the "taxation based on land," "returning the fire-loss to the public," and having the gentry serve and pay grain together; he had once let Tian Tian Wenjing and Li Wei carry out a pilot project!

Yes, pushing it across the country directly would trigger chaos in the first instance!

In this way, it would be like a plane crashing directly onto a concrete floor; the contradictions would explode instantly!

This is the way to maximize the loss of national strength!

It is the way to have both fish and net perish!

Likewise, it is also the most wasteful way!

The most obvious example is actually the Chu State!

The Chu State had always wanted to become a hegemon!

After seeing the Shang Yang reforms successfully increase national strength!

The King of Chu also vigorously carried out a revolution, but in the end, because the contradictions were too intense and the King of Chu killed too many people, the revolution failed!

Not only did the revolution fail, but it also greatly depleted national strength, thereby losing the qualification to compete for hegemony!

At the same time, there were also the Qi State and the Yan State!

They all caused their national strength to weaken because their revolutions were too intense!

Thus, all other countries that wanted to reform were scared away from doing so!

They feared even talking about reform!

This was also the reason why Wei Wei Wuji only dared to do things back then but didn't dare to talk about reform!

Everyone was afraid of reform!

Because reform is truly the easiest way to destroy a country!

Another country destroyed by reform was Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty!

It was because the reform was too intense that the country was directly ruined!

As for the Shang Yang reforms?