Chapter 66

But... the decline of the Great Qin's power is inevitable!

As Li Si said, none of the nobles are fools; if you dare to test them, they will dare to rebel!

And after they rebel, should I kill them or not?

Will killing them affect the nation's power? These are all questions!

Besides that, there is the current world's promotion system!

Everyone wants to become a noble; what are the benefits of becoming a noble?

Isn't it just not paying taxes?

If they pay taxes along with the common people, then what noble are they? Who would serve you in the future?

So, listen to Li Si?

But as a modern person, knowing full well that the Great Qin will perish in the second generation, who dares to listen to Li Si?

The Great Qin perishing in the second generation means Li Si will have to take the blame!

This has little to do with whether Li Si is loyal or not.

It has very little to do with ability either!

Rather, the current Great Qin faces a great change unseen in a thousand years!

Yes!

Since Xia Qi usurped the throne and turned the public world into a private family world, all Emperors have had to enfeoff vassal lords; throughout Chinese history, it has always been a situation where multiple vassal states coexisted!

And unifying the world like this, although it was proposed during the era of Shang Yang.

But at that time, it was merely theory!

The one who truly put it into practice was the First Emperor, Seeing Ying Zheng.

He unified the world; he made this Chinese land have only one nation!

And unifying the world naturally faces all kinds of problems.

For instance, the people of the various states miss their former countries; for instance, they are not adapted to the various rules and systems of the Qin state!

And for example...

There are many problems!

Even for someone as powerful as the First Emperor, these problems could not be made perfect!

Li Si?

It is very difficult!

Without great resolve, without possessing formidable ability, one simply cannot solve these many problems!

Facing Ying Su was silent; he was still thinking, wavering back and forth!

Although he agreed with Zhang Liang's words in his heart, he could not make up his mind for a long time.

Mainly because... these matters are too huge!

Let alone making the nobles pay taxes or relaxing the laws, such big matters, he could not make up his mind!

Even stopping the construction of the Great Wall, he could not make up his mind!

The Great Wall!

That is the Great Wall!

What does the Great Wall guard against?

Now it guards against the Xiongnu!

But the Xiongnu are just the current name!

To put it plainly, it still guards against the northern grassland tribes!

In this current life of his, he is not afraid of a Xiongnu invasion; he even wants Han Xin to destroy the Xiongnu!

But... all of this is only for this current life of his.

What about afterwards?

Kangxi shamelessly said he would never build the Great Wall in his lifetime, but when facing Galdan, didn't he rely on the Great Wall?

When facing the Russian invasion, didn't he still have to rely on the Great Wall to guard the border?

The Great Wall is too great!

It does not just guard against foreign invasions during the Great Qin dynasty!

In the various foreign invasions over the next two thousand years, 0.8 played a key role!

Now that Zhang Liang proposed stopping the construction of the Great Wall, he really could not make up his mind.

And that so-called leniency in penal laws; this matter is easy to say, but how difficult is it to actually implement!

Why did Seeing Ying Zheng enforce strict laws?

Was it not because the hearts of the six states did not belong to them, and they had to use harsh penal laws to bind them so they would not dare to rebel?

If the laws are relaxed, when the nobles of the six states rebel, isn't that providing natural convenience?

And making the nobles pay taxes...

Facing Ying Su had a headache time and again!

All these problems are truly too huge.

Wanting to do it is very difficult!

Wanting to do it well is even more difficult!

And at this very moment, it was not only Facing Ying Su who had a headache over these matters.

Zhang Liang and Li Si were arguing constantly over these matters!

At first they were quite polite, only discussing state affairs, but later it escalated to personal attacks!

Now, they were already pointing fingers and cursing each other's ancestors!

Li Si cursed Zhang Liang's grandfather for being incompetent in governing the state; the Han state he belonged to was nothing but trash, with a trash king, a trash chancellor, and a trash nation, thus ruining a perfectly good Han!

Zhang Liang cursed Li Si, saying the reason he defended the nobility was that Li Si himself was a noble!

The fact that Li Si could ascend to the position of Chancellor was entirely due to the support of the large crowd of nobles behind him; therefore, he fought desperately to protect the interests of the nobility!

The two argued endlessly!

They were even... about to start fighting!

Ying Su had a splitting headache!

And just at this critical moment, Xiao He, who had remained silent all along, finally spoke:

"Your Majesty, the Emperor, this subject believes Zhang Liang is right. If Great Qin wishes to become prosperous and strong, or even if it wishes to avoid the destruction of the nation, it must follow Zhang Liang's lead!"

051. Destroy the Xiongnu! National Policy!

"What?"

"Great Qin wishes to become prosperous and strong, or even wishes to avoid the destruction of the nation, so it must follow Zhang Liang's lead?"

As soon as Xiao He spoke these words, Ying Su was stunned, and Zhang Liang was stunned as well.

But the most surprised of all was Li Si!

At that moment, he looked at Xiao He with immense anger!

One must know that he had highly valued Xiao He, especially since Xiao He had consolidated the Neishi Department, and he had even helped him!

But now... he was actually backstabbing him?

Li Si was very angry.

Ying Su then asked Xiao He, "What do you mean by this?"

As he spoke, his instinct told him that since Xiao He dared to say this, there must be his own reasons!

Xiao He bowed and said:

"Replying to Your Majesty, in recent days this subject has been responsible for re-statistics of Great Qin's Qian Liang and population, and discovered something truly shocking. I originally intended to report it directly, but I have not yet had time to finish writing a memorial to the throne!"

"This matter is... after Great Qin unified the world, there were only thirty-six million!"

"Hmm?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Si and Zhang Liang were bewildered.

Ying Su was also somewhat bewildered, not understanding what was significant about this.

However, Xiao He's next sentence left everyone present utterly stunned!

"And in the eleventh year since the First Emperor unified the world, the total population of Great Qin was thirty-six million!"

"What?"