The Six Arts of the Gentleman in the Bright Moon of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1009: Separation of the National Treasury and the Inner Court [Subscription*Monthly Ticket Request]

A wise man will not do something when he knows it is impossible.

Bingzhou is not Qin's nanny, and will not unconditionally help Qin and the Ying clan.

The friendship between Qin and Bingzhou only came about because Qin had unconditionally helped Bingzhou when it was first established, and over the years, Bingzhou had already repaid this favor.

To put it more cruelly, Qin's help to Bingzhou was not without selfish motives. It helped Bingzhou because it wanted to unify the Central Plains and did not want to be restrained by the northern barbarians, so it asked Bingzhou to help Qin guard the northern gate.

All friendship is based on the interests of both countries.

As I said before, national interests determine the relationship between countries.

"When implementing the county system, the powerful and the wealthy are an obstacle that cannot be avoided. There is no way out unless the Qin State abandons the county system."

Yan Yan said very directly.

The foundation of the nobles' survival is fiefdom autonomy. If they lose their autonomy, the nobles will lose their roots.

In this situation, it is completely impossible to bring about change through gentle means.

Of course, it takes time for the world to accept it.

The feudal system existed for thousands of years, but was abolished by the Qin State. For a time, not to mention the nobles, even ordinary people were confused and puzzled.

But as long as the Qin State could hold on for the first dozen years or so and survive one or two generations, given human forgetfulness, it would be easy to forget the past and choose to accept it.

"If I remember correctly, Mr. Tonggu also doesn't have any fiefdom!" Yan Yan asked with a smile as he looked at Li Si who was in deep thought.

Li Si's background was very humble. At least among the nine ministers of Qin, Li Si's background was only slightly better than that of Nei Shi Teng.

Nei Shi Teng didn't even have a surname, he was completely brought up by Ying Zheng.

The same was true of Li Si, who was also promoted to the position of Minister of Justice because of his meritorious service in following the emperor.

"I..." Li Si knew what Yan Yan meant.

This bad guy had to do it himself, because he had no roots in the Qin State, so he could do it without any scruples.

Unlike the others, they are all from noble families and have complicated relationships.

But the consequence of doing so is that he will have to start everything over again, and he will become a lone minister of the Qin State, and the only person he can rely on is the King of Qin.

According to historical records, the fate of these lone ministers was not good.

The king will use them as swords to cut off all obstacles, and then the world will be at peace, the swords will be sheathed, and their mission will be accomplished. The king will also send them out to be killed by the nobles to appease their anger.

Therefore, if Li Si really did this, he would live a good life during the reign of Ying Zheng, even second only to the emperor. But once Ying Zheng passed away, he would become a sacrifice and burial object for the new king to appease the anger of the nobles.

This seems to be the ending of all the Legalists, including Wu Qi, Shang Jun, and Shen Buhai. Only Li Kui had a good ending, and the reason for his good ending is also very funny.

Because the State of Wei would not allow an outsider to control the government for a long time, after the reform and strengthening of the country, Li Kui resigned from his position as prime minister and returned home to write books.

At that time, there was a rule that officials should not be punished, so Li Kui survived.

However, the Legalists produced a ruthless man named Shang Yang, who proposed an absolute law that the emperor should be punished the same as the common people if he broke the law, thus cutting off the retreat of all reformers.

"If you want to become a pioneer of the Legalists, you must be prepared to die!"

Li Si suddenly remembered what Xunzi said to Han Fei when he was teaching his students.

However, he did not expect that he would later follow the path of Legalism. Han Fei, who should have faced this problem, came to Bingzhou and did not encounter this problem.

"Behead or quarter, you have to choose one!" Yan Yan looked at Li Si with a smile.

Li Si's face froze. Listen to me, are you talking like a human being?
"If you choose this path, I can guarantee that you will have a place in both the Confucian Temple and the Legalist Temple." Yan Yan continued. There was no other way, everyone was afraid of death, so he could only use his ultimate move.

Who can refuse the qualification to enter the temple?

"Use my method, kill my people, and die a martyr's death!" Li Si understood.

This is the path of Legalism, and it is also what Confucianism calls sacrificing one's life for the sake of righteousness.

"I hope that by then, the Emperor can leave a trace of his bloodline for me!"

Li Si finally took a deep breath, looked at Yan Yan, and made his request.

If he were to establish a county in the Qin State, not only would he be liquidated later, but his family and descendants would all be killed.

"Okay!" Yan Yan nodded.

Even if he didn't do it, as long as Fusu succeeded to the throne of Qin, Fusu would leave a trace of bloodline inheritance to Li Si.

"Then please continue to teach me, Your Majesty!" Li Si bowed again.

What we discussed before was only the superficial overall situation, and no specific things were involved, such as which officials should be in the county government offices, and how the political and military power should be divided.

It would be useless to say all these things until Li Si is sure that he has the courage to sacrifice his life for the country.

"The world has just been settled, so we don't actually need too many government offices!" Yan Yan knew Li Si's choice and continued speaking.

Li Si nodded. Having too many government offices would not necessarily mean that all work could be done well. Instead, it would make the people confused and they would not know which government office to go to when they had problems.

"The system of three dukes and nine ministers is still relatively mature." Li Si said after thinking for a while.

If the system of three dukes and nine ministers were changed rashly, not only would the people of the other six countries be at a loss as to what to do, even the people of Qin would find it difficult to accept it for a while.

Moreover, there is actually no major problem with the system of three dukes and nine ministers.

The Nine-Rank System, the Three-Province and Six-Department System, and the Cabinet System of later generations were actually not much different from the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers System.

"The prime minister is there to limit the power of the monarch."

Yan Yan once again asked a question that made everyone look nervous.

The Legalists devoted their entire lives to limiting the power of the monarch, ensuring that power would not be absolutely in the hands of the monarch and guaranteeing political clarity.

And the prime minister came into being.

"Is this something we can listen to?" Zhao Gao, Li Ren and others wanted to run away. This was not something they could listen to.

This is especially true for An Qisheng. It is a consensus among everyone that the prime minister is used to restrict the king, but no one will say it openly, leaving it to the king and the prime minister to compete with each other in wits and courage.

"So, the first thing that needs to change is the separation of the national treasury and public private property!" Yan Yan said seriously.

Li Si's eyes narrowed slightly. The separation of the national treasury and public private property would limit the king's misappropriation of the national treasury. Once the king was extremely licentious and abused the national treasury property, the harm would be enormous.

"So, Bingzhou will be like this too!" Yan Yan turned and looked at An Qisheng.

He had wanted to do this for a long time. Otherwise, with his habit of spending money recklessly, the Bingzhou treasury would be squandered by him sooner or later, and the pressure on Zhisu Neishi, who was in charge of the treasury, would also increase dramatically.

Therefore, when Yan Yan talked about the separation of the national treasury and the king's private property, Chen Jian's mouth corners unconsciously curled up.

He was very clear about Yan Yan's glorious achievements. He could decide the national treasury expenditure with just a word. He really didn't understand how the previous Bingzhou Grain Minister managed to survive.

(End of this chapter)