Chapter 78

And at this moment, Ying Zheng looked at the memorials piled up like snowflakes in front of him.

His heart was trembling!

Great Qin noble, the head of the Qiao family, was executed on the spot for resisting tax payments!

Great Qin noble, the head of the Wei family, was executed on the spot for resisting tax payments!

The descendants of the Great Qin's Wu'an Lord, Bai Qi, were killed until only one young child remained because of their fierce resistance!

The descendants of the Great Qin's Shang Yang were killed, leaving no one, because they paid ten thousand shi of grain less!

The descendant of the Great Qin's former Chancellor Zhang Yi, Zhang Cheng, was executed on the spot for delaying tax payments!

The descendants of the Great Qin's former Chancellor Fan Ju were wiped out because they were unwilling to pay taxes!

Great Qin...

Ying Zheng read them one by one, his heart bleeding each time.

One must know... among these... these people, some were old-established Great Qin nobles.

Some were even nobles who had existed since the time of Duke Xiao of Qin!

Some were nobles who had risen through the ranks due to the military merit system!

And others were those he had ennobled himself because he was grateful for their great contributions to the unification of the world.

And without a doubt, these people had, to a greater or lesser extent, made great contributions to the unification of the world by Great Qin!

But now... Ying Su had killed them all.

Without holding back, and without showing any mercy!

Especially... he had also heard!

The head of the Qiao family was executed on the spot just because he wanted a few days' grace!

And the Mi family, that was the most powerful family during the time of Empress Dowager Xuan!

They were the head of the four great families of Qin back then, but now, they had been killed until fewer than three people remained!

"Unfilial son!"

"Unfilial son!"

Ying Zheng's eyes were splitting with rage; at this moment, even his hands and feet were trembling!

He knew Ying Su might kill indiscriminately, but... he never expected him to kill so ruthlessly!

So many people had been killed by him.

And each one was a hero, each one was a top-tier noble of Great Qin.

This was almost like wiping out all the founding heroes of Great Qin!

"Unfilial son!"

"Unfilial son!"

Ying Zheng felt his heart turn cold again and again.

And at this moment, Zhao Gao took out another memorial:

"Your Majesty, the Zhang family of the Xianyang City nobles requests that the First Emperor depose the unfilial son and take back control of the imperial court!"

"There is also our Great Qin scholar Wang Wan, Censor-in-Chief Li Tan, Great Qin Grand Marshal Wei Liaozhi, and Great Qin Right Chancellor Feng Feng Qiji!"

"They have united with the hundred officials to write a memorial, requesting the First Emperor to take back control of the imperial court!"

"Moreover, they stated that they can provide troops, horses, and grain for the First Emperor!"

As he spoke, he held the memorial and bowed toward Ying Zheng.

However, Ying Zheng did not look at it, but threw the memorial aside!

Then, he went back to his room to sleep!

During this period, the implementation of the land tax was very intense!

Huang Chao and Zhang Liang led two thousand people to become special tax envoys!

They were responsible for collecting taxes nationwide.

Wait...

Zhang Liang?

That's right!

Ying Su didn't care whether Zhang Liang was willing or not; he directly arranged for him to work with Huang Chao!

And with Zhang Liang there, this tax collection campaign became even more organized!

The tax-collecting army hadn't moved yet, but the notices were already out!

Before they set off, they would send people to post imperial court notices all over the world!

Informing everyone in the world that from now on, the construction of the Great Wall would stop, the construction of the Epang Palace would stop, and all tax systems would be changed from the current poll tax to a land tax!

No matter who it was, no matter what their status, as long as they had land, they would need to pay fifty percent in taxes!

The moment the notice was posted, all the commoners were in an uproar.

But soon, all the commoners were weeping with joy!

"The New Emperor!"

"Long live the New Emperor!"

"May the New Emperor reign for ten thousand generations!"

"The New Emperor is far better than the First Emperor!"

Wherever the notice went, all the commoners cheered incessantly, even happier than when they heard about the three-year tax exemption!

A three-year tax exemption was only for three years!

And after three years, it would still be the Qin tax, still having to hand over fifty percent of the grain in their hands to the imperial court, and twenty percent of the grain to the nobles!

What they had left in their own hands was only a pitiful thirty percent of the grain!

Thirty percent of the grain—that was barely enough for one person to eat, but for a whole family?

How could that be enough to eat!

And in order to be able to eat, even though the slave system had been abolished, they could only end up as slaves to the nobles!

There was no other way; the land all belonged to the nobles!

If they didn't become slaves, there was no way to survive!

But now, the imperial court's decree had been issued, which meant that those who had land needed to pay taxes, but what about those who didn't have land?

If you didn't have land, then what kind of tax would you pay?

And where would the commoners have land?

No land meant that they would never have to pay taxes again!

At that moment, all the commoners were truly cheering and jumping for joy.

And equally cheering and excited were the stops to the construction of the Great Wall and the Epang Palace!

The Great Wall, the Epang Palace!

In this era, these were truly two great mountains pressing down on the commoners!

Because of the Great Wall and the Epang Palace, every man in Great Qin had to perform forced labor.

Moreover, once the deadline for forced labor arrived, no matter what you were doing, you had to leave immediately!

Otherwise, the Qin laws were harsh, and you would violate them.

The prototype of the famous story of Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall was that on the day Meng Jiangnu was married, her husband was dragged away to build the Great Wall before they could even consummate the marriage.

And Meng Jiangnu, in order to find her husband, traveled thousands of miles to the Great Wall, and upon learning that her husband had died building it, she began to cry!

Later, no one knew how it spread, but it actually became the story of Meng Jiangnu crying down the Great Wall!

Now, they weren't building the Great Wall anymore, and they weren't building the Epang Palace anymore; it truly made everyone cheer and everyone excited!

However, before they could be excited for too long, a noble began to laugh:

"You ignorant commoners, do you really think the New Emperor is so kind-hearted? He ordered a three-year tax exemption, but... he created a 'Filial State Decree,' making you hand over sixty percent of your grain to the state every year!"

"Do you really think you won't have to pay taxes in the future?"

"And stopping the construction of the Great Wall and the Epang Palace—that's because he wants to attack the Xiongnu and drag all of you to be soldiers to fight them!"

At that moment, some nobles laughed disdainfully.

And some commoners, hearing this, changed their expressions instantly.

They immediately thought of that terrifying Filial State Decree!

And the fact that Ying Su wanted to attack the Xiongnu!

Wasn't this clearly wanting them to be soldiers?