Chapter 68

Even Li Si began to think!

Wait...

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

Of course he opposed it, but if Facing Ying Su wants to do it, what can be done?

In the end, it comes back to that same point: he is loyal to Facing Ying Su.

There's no way out; he has already offended the First Emperor to death, so now he can only follow Facing Ying Su down this path to the end!

Even if he is unwilling to do it, since Facing Ying Su has said this matter must be done, then as a subject, he can only find ways to make it happen.

Besides the ruler-subject relationship, there is one other thing that shocked him greatly!

That is, eleven years after the Great Qin unified the world, two million people vanished in an era without major wars!

This matter shocked him greatly.

For a moment, he could not help but doubt whether his own persistence was correct!

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

The Great Qin of today actually has fewer people than during the period of the Seven Warring States!

He felt deeply melancholy!

So, at this very moment, he could not help but want to try a reform!

What if?

What if it really works?

After pondering for a moment, he spoke:

"Spreading the head tax onto land is not feasible; instead, we can emulate the grain donations from the period of Shang Yang's reforms. Whenever a disaster occurs, the imperial court should encourage nobles to donate Qian Liang, thereby indirectly weakening the nobles!"

As soon as his words left his mouth, Zhang Liang immediately laughed: "Donating Qian Liang, entirely voluntary; 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 shouted angrily: "How much chaos would directly legislating this cause?"

"Have you considered how strong the nobles' reaction would be?"

Zhang Liang said: "Then what do you think, if it is entirely voluntary, how many people would be willing to donate?"

The two argued endlessly once more, and just at that moment, suddenly, Kill Xiao He spoke:

"Your Majesty, implementing lenient penal laws and noble taxation nationwide all at once has too great an impact; why not first select one commandery as an experiment?"

"Try it in this commandery; if it truly succeeds, then spread it nationwide; if it goes poorly, then stop immediately!"

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

He spoke these words!

And as soon as these words were spoken, Li Si and Zhang Liang's eyes all lit up.

Almost instantly, they all nodded:

"Good!"

"This is excellent!"

Zhang Liang praised: "If one commandery succeeds, then it proves this method is truly effective!"

"And if one commandery fails, then it is of no great consequence!"

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

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

"Your Majesty, this method can be used!"

He shouted and bowed down to Facing Ying Su!

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

Similarly, he also hated Zhang Liang's kind of sweeping reforms the most!

Zhang Liang only saw the benefits of sweeping reforms but never considered what drawbacks would be left behind during the process of sweeping reforms!

Just like Shang Yang!

He made the Qin state powerful, but the noble chaos left behind by Shang Yang's reforms continued to spread for three Qin Wangs!

It was not until the reign of Qin Wang Zhaoxiang that this noble chaos was finally completely calmed!

Wei Wenhou proposed using talent regardless of origin; this indeed caused Wei Guo to explode with countless talents.

For example, Shang Yang, Fan Ju, Zhang Yi, and Gongsun Yan were all results of Wei Wenhou's implementation of using talent regardless of origin.

However, this also caused the Wei Guo nobles to go mad and target the Wei Guo royal family!

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

Otherwise, how would Wei Wei Wuji have died?

Such sweeping reforms show results quickly, but their harm is equally great!

The key is, it will spread; perhaps while Facing Ying Su is alive, they dare not do anything, but what after Facing Ying Su dies?

The nobles will bully the future rulers!

And Facing Ying Su's approach is very good!

If the implementation is good and indeed strengthens the state, then do it!

If the implementation is not good, then abandon it!

No matter how harmful it is, it will be contained within the scope of one commandery!

It will neither expand nor spread!

Even if one commandery rebels, what of it?

There is no need for the imperial court to dispatch a large army!

Sending Li Yuanba alone to the Facing Ying Su Sect would have settled it immediately!

Li Si greatly appreciated this point.

Likewise, even Zhang Liang could not help but glance at Xiao He again and again!

Appreciation!

He truly appreciated this person!

And Ying Su could not help but begin to praise Xiao He; he truly possessed statecraft strategies!

To actually think of this method!

Moreover, this method has a prototype!

In the later Emperor Yongzheng Dynasty, there seemed to be a similar plot!

Emperor Emperor Yongzheng, in order to fill the national treasury, introduced spreading the head tax onto land, returning fire loss to the public, and requiring gentry to serve and pay grain together; he once had Tian Wenjing and Li Wei carry out a pilot project!

Yes, implementing it nationwide directly would trigger a major chaos at the very first moment!

In this way, it is like an airplane crashing, smashing directly onto a concrete floor; the contradiction would explode instantly!

This is the method that maximizes the loss of national strength!

It is the method of 150 fish dying and the net breaking!

Likewise, it is also the most wasteful method!

The most obvious example is actually the State of Chu!

The State of Chu always wanted to become a hegemon state!

After seeing Shang Yang's reforms successfully cause a great surge in national strength!

The King of Chu also vigorously carried out a reform, but ultimately, because the contradictions were too intense and the King of Chu killed far too many people, the reform failed!

Not only did the reform fail, but it also greatly depleted national strength, thereby losing the qualification to contend for the hegemon state!

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

They all once caused their national strength to become weak because their reforms were carried out too ruthlessly!

Thus, they made all other states that wanted to reform dare not reform anymore!

They spoke of reform and felt fear!

This is also the reason why Wei Wei Wuji dared only to act back then, but dared not speak of reform!

Everyone was afraid of reform!

Because reform is truly the easiest way to cause a country to vanish!

Similarly, the Xin Dynasty of Wang Mang also caused a country to vanish due to reform!

It was that the reform was carried out too ruthlessly, directly playing the country to its end!

As for Shang Yang's reforms?