Chapter 621: Hu Hai

In the fourth year of the First Emperor of Qin, early in the fourth month, the Young Master Fusu was building a city in a foreign land, rising before dawn and eating after dusk, hunting enemies and giving chase — yet inside the Xianyang Palace, the mood was one of leisurely indulgence and pleasure.

At a lavish imperial banquet, a young nobleman dressed in a vermilion-and-black deep robe and wearing a long-distance traveling cap stood among the seats, hands clasped behind his back, speaking with great confidence, as if reciting something from memory…

"When profit comes from a single channel, the state abounds in goods; when it comes from ten channels, the state is poor in goods. One who upholds a single standard governs well; one who upholds ten standards brings chaos."

His eyes were bright and brimming with confidence. What he was reciting was precisely the "Weakening the People" chapter from The Book of Lord Shang. Not only could he recite it, he also offered his own interpretation.

"Take Chu, for example. The land of Chu was not small, its people were not few, its armor, weapons, wealth, and provisions were not lacking — yet it lost battles and could not hold its defenses. This is what arises from lacking law…"

When he finished, Young Master Hu Hai beamed with delight and cupped his hands toward the imperial throne, where the First Emperor, looking a few years older than he had the year before, sat. "Father Emperor, how did I do?"

When the First Emperor faced Fusu, his expression was always stern, but toward his youngest son, Hu Hai, he stroked his beard and smiled with satisfaction:

"Recited well, and spoken well. A wise ruler scrutinizes the law, so that within his borders the people harbor no deviant or licentious thoughts, wandering scholars are pressed into the battle lines, and the common folk labor fiercely at plowing and war — that is what a strong state does! And it is the very foundation by which Qin unified all under Heaven!"

With that, he pointed at the two slightly older sons seated at the end of the row — Young Master Gao and Young Master Jianglü — and said, "At the very least, far better than your stammering and stumbling."

Young Master Gao and Young Master Jianglü had also just recited the laws and ordinances they had studied, but far less smoothly than Hu Hai. Now, under the First Emperor's criticism, they hastily rose and said:

"Father Emperor's reproach is just. Your sons and subjects are none of us as bright as Hu Hai…"

The two young masters were trembling with fear; they were both somewhat afraid of the First Emperor. In the imperial family, the hardest relationship to navigate was also that between father and son… Of the emperor's dozen or so sons, only two did not fear him: the eldest son, Fusu, and the youngest son, Hu Hai.

Compared to Fusu, who dared to remonstrate directly, leading to frequent disputes between ruler and subject, father and son, Hu Hai was a different type entirely. When he was young and ignorant, he had dared to tug on the emperor's beard! The emperor did not get angry, and even lowered his head to let him tug. As Hu Hai gradually grew older, the imperial favor he enjoyed never waned.

The other young masters held the status not only of sons but also of subjects. Hu Hai alone possessed only the familial bond of a son, without the formal distance of a subject — and this was perhaps what the emperor liked most about him.

At this moment, the First Emperor once again lavished praise on Hu Hai without restraint:

"Whether Hu Hai is the brightest, We do not know…"

"But he is certainly the most diligent. Since childhood he has loved play and pleasure, yet when he received Our command to study laws and ordinances under the Prefect of the Palace Chariots, he applied himself honestly. We once went to observe — when Zhao Gao was lecturing, Hu Hai was at his desk scratching his ears and cheeks, looking all around, wishing with all his heart he could go out and play to his heart's content in the spring weather outside. Yet in the end, he restrained himself and quietly finished learning the law…"

His words brimmed with gratification. The First Emperor looked toward Zhao Gao, who stood behind Hu Hai. "Prefect of the Palace Chariots, you have taught him well!"

Zhao Gao hurriedly stepped forward from the ranks. "Your subject merely acted on orders. The young master is gifted and sharp; he learns anything quickly."

During the assassination attempt at Ju'nan that shook the realm, Zhao Gao had been injured by a panicked horse while protecting the First Emperor and lost the use of one arm. From that point on, he could never again personally drive the First Emperor's chariot.

But his post as Prefect of the Palace Chariots was retained, allowing him to enter and leave the palace at any time. At the same time, he received a new assignment: to serve as Hu Hai's teacher!

Calligraphy, laws and ordinances, and adjudicating cases — these were the essential basic skills of a Qin clerk.

But in the Qin dynasty, the young masters also had to master these skills and understand the importance of "law" to the empire!

That Qin could produce six generations of worthy rulers was a matter of great fortune, but it was also inevitable! No matter which young master became the new sovereign — even King Huiwen of Qin, who detested Shang Yang himself — he could kill the man, yet he could preserve his laws.

It was only a pity that an anomaly like Fusu had still appeared. The First Emperor had learned his lesson and further strengthened the legal education of all the young masters.

And these three areas happened to be precisely what Zhao Gao excelled at. Moreover, he had his own set of methods to make the pleasure-loving Hu Hai obediently absorb the lessons.

This shower of praise made Hu Hai the protagonist of the banquet, and the emperor also agreed that today Hu Hai could drink a few extra cups.

Hu Hai was naturally delighted. He rose and toasted the First Emperor, wishing him long life. After drinking, however, like an eager young student, he posed a question.

"Father Emperor, though I have thoroughly studied the laws and ordinances, there is still one matter I do not understand."

The First Emperor no longer drank heavily as he once did. He merely took a light sip, suppressed the urge to cough, and asked, "What matter?"

Hu Hai said, "The Book of Lord Shang says, 'When profit comes from a single channel, the state abounds in goods; when it comes from ten channels, the state is poor in goods.' That is why Great Qin must suppress merchants and promote the fundamental occupations. Yet recently I have heard that a 'Hai Dong Trading Company' has been established in Jiaodong, encouraging thirteen great merchant houses of the Qi region to engage in trade. This matter was approved by Father Emperor, yet it differs from Lord Shang's words. Why is that?"

The First Emperor merely smiled and pointed at an ornament on Hu Hai's waist. "What is that?"

Hu Hai picked up the gorgeous pendant at his waist. "This is a night-luminous bi disc."

The First Emperor then pointed at the hairpin atop his head. "And the hairpin on your head — what is it made of?"

Hu Hai laughed. "Father Emperor, this is an ivory hairpin."

The First Emperor continued asking, "And the cup in your hand?"

Hu Hai glanced down at it. "A rhinoceros-horn cup."

The First Emperor nodded. "Do you know where all these objects come from?"

This time Hu Hai could not answer. The First Emperor had Zhao Gao answer on his behalf.

Zhao Gao was broadly learned and thus said, "The night-luminous bi comes from Sui County in Jianghan; the ivory hairpin is produced in Yuzhang; and the rhinoceros-horn cup is a tribute item from Changsha Commandery."

The First Emperor nodded. "Not only these objects. The fine steeds and swift mounts We just allowed you all to go pick from the outer stables — they come from beyond the northern frontier. Look at the palace maids around you. The fine silk garments they wear come from Xue Commandery and Jibei. The hairpins set with Wan pearls come from Nanyang. The brocade and embroidered ornaments are produced in Shu."

"Beyond these, there are also metals and tin from Jiangnan, and cinnabar from Ba Commandery. All of the above are products transported here from every corner of the realm. But Hu Hai, do you know — aside from a portion that are tribute goods, who transports the rest, the greater part?"

Hu Hai thought for a moment. "Could it be… merchants?"

The First Emperor said, "Exactly — it is merchants. The items above are all luxury goods favored by the nobility, mostly transported to Xianyang by merchants. Beyond these, there are also the five grains, mulberry and hemp, livestock, furs and hides — goods essential to the common people's clothing, diet, sustenance in life, and proper burial in death. And how do these come about? They wait for the farmer to grow them for food, the forester to bring them forth, the artisan to finish them, and finally, the merchant to circulate them!"

"When merchants do not circulate goods, the three treasures are cut off. We deeply concur with this. Therefore, merchants may be suppressed, but they cannot be cut off entirely! Thus, beyond the frontier and among the southwestern barbarians of Ba and Shu, there are also merchants like the Wu family's Luo and the Ba widow Qing, who transport wealth and goods for the government."

In his laws and ordinances, Shang Yang had lowered the status of merchants, imposing heavy taxes on them to suppress this group, as if telling the people: Merchants are all base, crafty, and do not engage in proper work — they are no good; do not become merchants!

Yet the First Emperor held a different understanding. He felt that the key point lay in whether merchants could be controlled by the government and whether they were useful to the state…

As a ruler who had personally supported and honored two great merchants, the First Emperor understood very clearly in his heart: Are merchants harmful to the state? Yes, they are — they can easily weaken the fundamental occupations. But are merchants beneficial to the state? They are beneficial as well. It is not only about exchanging what one has for what one lacks. From his early use of the Wu family and the Ba widow, the First Emperor had discovered that when matters of trade and wealth multiplication were entrusted to merchants, not only were the profits greater, but the operations were also more convenient.

Especially in the lands of the barbarians — the Rong, Di, and other tribes — the First Emperor had entrusted the northwestern trade to the Wu family, the southwestern trade to the Ba family. Near the Great Wall in the north, a merchant named Ban Yi had recently risen to prominence, conducting trade with the Eastern Hu on behalf of Meng Tian. And as for the remaining eastern direction, the lands of the eastern sea, there seemed to be potential there as well…

Regarding Heifu's proposal, the First Emperor did not cite the laws and reject it outright. Instead, he agreed to let him try it out in Jiaodong, this "special zone." After all, Heifu had guaranteed that he could earn even more money than the merchant wealth tax.

And those thirteen merchant houses were merely tools being used by the government — they could be discarded at any time, or slaughtered for their eggs!

"Moreover, the Qi region esteems trade, which is indeed somewhat different from the Guanzhong heartland. Did Lord Shang not also say, 'There is no single fixed way to govern the age; to benefit the state, one need not imitate antiquity'? If we rigidly clung to old laws, would we not become like Gan Long and Du Zhi?"

"What Your Majesty says is absolutely correct!"

The First Emperor finished his explanation. The assembled ministers all clicked their tongues in amazement — was this still the emperor they knew? Had any other young master asked such a question, the emperor would probably have cast a cold glance and told them to get out and figure it out themselves. Only for his youngest son, Hu Hai, would he speak so amicably and at such length…

"His Majesty indeed treats Young Master Hu Hai vastly differently."

The ministers who witnessed this scene could not help but form such a thought.

Hu Hai also put on an expression of sudden enlightenment and clapped his hands. "So that's how it is! In that case, General Wei adapting his measures to local conditions truly makes him a capable official!"

The discussion of Heifu ended there. The First Emperor stroked his beard and brought up the main topic of the day.

"The ancients performed the capping ceremony at twenty. By Qin law, a young master is capped and girds on a sword at twenty-one. But We have considered that commoners are registered for corvée at seventeen; therefore, the young masters' capping ceremony shall be the same as the commoners', to demonstrate that under the law, young masters and commoners alike must respect it!"

The assembled ministers all knew that there were three whose capping ceremonies were being held early this time: Young Master Gao, Young Master Jianglü, and Young Master Hu Hai. They were twenty, nineteen, and eighteen years old respectively. On the surface, it seemed to be in order to let Young Master Jianglü be capped early so that, according to the alliance treaty, he could marry a princess of Gojoseon. In reality, however, the protagonist of this capping banquet had become Hu Hai entirely.

Prince Gao and Prince Jianglü were not particularly happy about the early capping ceremony. Coming of age was not necessarily a good thing — once they came of age, they would have to leave the palace entirely and go live in their own mansions.

What to do after the capping ceremony thus became a major problem troubling the princes.

After all, the First Emperor had already made up his mind never to reverse course back to feudalism and let his sons become feudal lords. That was precisely why the Confucian scholars attacked him, saying, "Now Your Majesty possesses all within the seas, yet your sons and younger brothers remain mere commoners."

According to Qin law, members of the imperial clan who had no military merit to their name could not be entered into the clan registry. Although as direct-line imperial clansmen of the Emperor they still enjoyed exalted status and privileges, once the mountain crumbled — once the Emperor passed away — these former princes would often swiftly lose their wealth and rank.

Why was that? Exalted in position yet without achievement, richly rewarded yet without labor — they were bound to meet a bad end.

Legally, so long as the princes had no meritorious service, they remained "commoners." They could not obtain noble ranks, nor could they hold corresponding official posts, such as commanding armies. Even the eldest son, Fusu, had only gained the qualification to lead troops because he had accompanied Heifu on the northern campaign against the Xiongnu as an army supervisor, racked up a wave of major kills, and was given special treatment and made "Left Commoner Chief."

Therefore, after their capping ceremonies, the various princes would always try every means to find something to do — at the very least, they needed a reason for the Emperor to elevate their rank, so as to avoid their wealth and status vanishing in an instant.

Prince Gao made a request, saying he wished to go to the Censorate. Recently, Zhang Cang, by order of the First Emperor, had been compiling the National History. Prince Gao had loved reading historical records since childhood and wanted to go take a look.

Prince Jianglü, for his part, had his own mission — to marry the princess of Joseon and become the bond that maintained this suzerain-vassal relationship.

The First Emperor was most concerned about Huhai. He asked him alone:

"Huhai, and you? What do you want to do?"

The way he asked made it seem as though whatever Huhai said, the First Emperor would gladly grant it.

The gazes of the assembled ministers stole glances toward Prince Huhai. This youth, his face brimming with artless innocence, smiled as if it were only natural and said:

"Imperial Father, Huhai does not wish to do anything in particular. I merely feel that a man's life in this world is like riding a six-horse express chariot racing past a crack — it vanishes in an instant. I seek nothing, only hoping that while I live, I may exhaust all that my ears and eyes delight in, and indulge to the full all that my heart and mind desire, waiting right until the day my allotted span of life runs out. Would that be acceptable?"

Everyone at the banquet was stunned. Huhai's words were, without a doubt, a public declaration: "My dream is to be a waste who just eats, drinks, and waits to die!"

PS: Yeah, obviously not finished, but midnight has arrived, so let's break here.

(End of chapter)