Chapter 65

"And noble rebellions are far more terrifying than commoner rebellions!"

"Commoner rebellions take ten years to succeed; noble rebellions can be planned by morning and executed by evening!"

"Not for any other reason, but because they have soldiers, money, and grain in their hands!"

"The total number of private armies held by nobles across the entire world exceeds even the number of our Great Qin Army. How can Your Majesty, the Emperor of Great Qin, bear all of this?"

"Your Majesty, Zhang Liang harbors treacherous intentions; he attempts to deceive Your Majesty into doing something that will destroy the very foundation of our Great Qin!"

"This man must be killed!"

Li Si ground his teeth in fury!

Zhang Liang also ground his teeth: "Prime Minister Li Si, in this world, are there more nobles or more commoners?"

"The private armies in the hands of Great Qin nobles are numerous, but can they outnumber the commoners of the entire world?"

"The statement that commoner rebellions take ten years to succeed is not wrong; the reason for all this is that they have no money, no grain, no land, do not study, and lack wisdom!"

"But... such vast public resentment sits right there; hundreds of millions of resentful commoners are right there. Dare you say there is no one with treacherous intentions in this world who will exploit them?"

"Commoners are foolish, but at the same time, they are easily fooled; as long as someone gives them a tiny bit of favor, they dare to sell their lives!"

"And under the organization of those with ulterior motives, even commoners can overthrow a dynasty!"

"Have you not seen how the great Shang dynasty perished in years past?"

"Indeed, it was Zhou Wuwang Ji Fa who destroyed the great Shang; he was a noble!"

"But who were the ones who carried it out?"

"It was the commoners!"

"It was tens of millions of commoners!"

"Under the leadership of Zhou Wuwang Ji Fa and Jiang Shang, these hundreds of millions of commoners directly became an army; so what if the arrogant great Shang existed? Before this overwhelming power of numbers, it too had to instantly turn to dust!"

Li Si shouted angrily: "Spouting nonsense! Without Jiang Shang and Ji Fa, let alone hundreds of millions of commoners, even if there were more, they would only be a disorganized mob!"

"Have you not seen how the arrogant great Zhou declined? Zhou Youwang played with the beacon fires to mock the feudal lords, causing the Quanrong to rebel and forcing Zhou Pingwang to move east!"

"Have you not seen that after the Zhou royal house grew weak, who was it that oppressed the Zhou royal house? It was the nobles! It was the feudal lords!"

"Just ask the common people: do they have the courage or the ability to oppress the Zhou royal house?"

"The nobles do, and the scholar-gentry do too! Thus, it is clear that rebellions by nobles and scholar-gentry are far more terrifying than rebellions by commoners!"

Zhang Liang said: "Precisely for this reason, we must weaken the nobles!"

Li Si shouted angrily: "What do you think nobles and scholar-gentry are? Are they fools? Just waiting quietly for you to weaken them?"

"The royal house may indeed produce mediocre rulers, but... every current head of a noble family is carefully selected; how could they possibly be incompetent?"

"To speak bluntly, as long as you dare to test them, they dare to rebel!"

"Dare you kill one? Dare you kill a whole nest? Can you kill every single noble in the entire world?"

"Leaving aside whether you have the ability, even if you do, what then? If you kill all the nobles, who will dare to serve you in the future?"

"In the future, when commoners break the law, who will arrest them? In the future, when commoners rebel, who will suppress them? In the future, when commoners suffer disasters and need relief, who will distribute the disaster relief grain?"

"Your Majesty, Zhang Liang only knows how to talk empty theories without looking at actual conditions; this man must be killed!"

Zhang Liang shouted angrily:

"Everything must be judged by its execution; if it were truly as you say, when Zhou Gongdan established rituals and music for the hundred officials, the hundred officials should have rebelled!"

"When Guan Zhong taxed according to the land and its yield, the nobles should have rebelled long ago!"

"When Wei Wenhou appointed people based on talent regardless of origin, he should have been overthrown by the nobles long ago!"

"When Mencius said that commoners are most important, the state is second, and the ruler is least, he should have been cursed to death by the nobles long ago! How could he have been elevated to the status of a deity?"

"Emperor of Great Qin, is this your Great Qin's Prime Minister?"

"His vision is so short-sighted, his selfishness so heavy; how can such a person hold the position of Prime Minister?"

"Even the vision of my grandfather Zhang Kaidi was far greater than his; with a Prime Minister like this in Great Qin, your Great Qin will surely perish sooner or later!"

"You..."

Li Si ground his teeth and shouted angrily at Zhang Liang:

"Your state of Han perished precisely because it had a Prime Minister like your grandfather!"

Zhang Liang shouted back: "My grandfather caused a state to perish, and you will cause a state to perish too!"

"You are spouting pure nonsense!"

"Emperor, Zhang Liang must be killed! He should be executed immediately!"

"Emperor, Li Si is short-sighted and unfit for the position of Prime Minister; replace him! Otherwise, Great Qin will surely perish at this man's hands!"

At this moment, Li Si and Zhang Liang argued so fiercely that they could not be reconciled!

In his furious rage, Li Si even stood up repeatedly, clenched his fists repeatedly, and was about to strike Zhang Liang.

And no matter how they argued, Facing Ying Su remained silent!

At this very moment, he could not help but recall the words Seeing Ying Zheng had spoken again!

Being an Emperor is truly difficult!

It is easy to want to be an Emperor; one only needs good fortune!

Wanting to be a good Emperor is even more difficult!

Wanting to be an Emperor praised by everyone is simply impossible!

Indeed!

Being an Emperor is truly difficult!

Even wanting to be an ordinary good Emperor is really not that easy!

It is just... Facing Ying Su never expected that Zhang Liang would have such foresight, and would even propose a statecraft policy to weaken the nobles?

Then why, after Liu Bang unified the world, did Zhang Liang not speak of this statecraft policy?

Oh!

Right!

After Liu Bang unified the world, Zhang Liang saw that Liu Bang might kill meritorious officials, so he fled immediately, not even giving Liu Bang a chance to kill him!

So, regarding warfare and Liu Bang unifying the world, Zhang Liang had a part in it!

But when it comes to governing the country, Zhang Liang had no part in it.

Zhang Liang's talent was no longer used after the unification of the world!

So, was there any reason in the argument between Zhang Liang and Li Si?

There was reason!

What Zhang Liang said was reasonable, and what Li Si said was equally reasonable!

Zhang Liang said the people's resentment was too heavy, and they were thinking of rebellion at all times; this was a fact!

Li Si said the nobles held troops and Qian Liang in their hands; if you dared to move against them, they would dare to rebel; this was also a fact!

Moreover, what both of them said were all practical problems!

So now the problem arises: should we listen to Zhang Liang? Or should we listen to Li Si?

Judging by loyalty, we should listen to Li Si, because Li Si's loyalty is one hundred percent!

And Zhang Liang's loyalty is zero!

But as a modern person, who dares to say Zhang Liang is wrong?

On the modern internet, countless analyses exist regarding the reason for the Great Qin's fall in the second generation!

And the points most widely accepted are the abuse of the people's labor and the harshness of Qin Fa!

Some even say that it was only because the First Emperor died early; if the First Emperor had lived a few more years, the Great Qin would have fallen in the first generation!

Does this statement make sense?

Regardless of whether it makes sense, Facing Ying Su feels that the Great Qin's fall in the second generation should not be blamed solely on Hu Hai and Zhao Gao.

The First Emperor, Seeing Ying Zheng, should share some of the blame!

The problem remains the same problem!

Who exactly should we listen to?

At this very moment, Facing Ying Su really has a headache!

Because if we listen to Zhang Liang, there is no doubt that the Qin state will face an unprecedented great chaos!

If such a great chaos is not handled well... the fall of the nation?

The fall of the nation is not to be expected!

With Li Yuanba, such a fierce person, in hand, no one can achieve rebellion success under my control..

So, the fall of the nation is not to be expected!