Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

However, the peace in the North did not reduce the desire of many forces to wait and see the excitement.

Because everyone knows that this is just appearance.

In secret, Liusha had already started fighting with Luowang.

Of course, the emperor is in the north, so it is impossible for Luowang and Liusha to start fighting here.

Both sides tacitly agreed not to form a group to start a war, and only fought at the intelligence level.

Luowang tried to obtain all the intelligence related to Liusha in the past year through various means, while Liusha in turn obstructed Luowang.

In fact, to Ying Zheng, evidence is really meaningless.

The empire governs the country according to the law, but it is the law of the Legalists, not the law of the legal system.

The greatest principle of the Legalists' law is that those in power have unlimited power.

Therefore, when Ying Zheng was young and the Queen Mother Zhao was in power, she was able to directly promote the King of the Wheel, Lao Ai, to the position of Marquis of Changxin.

According to Qin law, even military merit of destroying a country might not be enough to be awarded a title of nobility, let alone someone like Lao Ai who was promoted by luck without any merit - he did kill a lot of people, hundreds of millions at a time, but unfortunately it was all useless.

As an emperor with unlimited power, Ying Zheng certainly does not need evidence.

But he needs to make a judgment call.

The one who starts killing people for no reason is not a king with unlimited power, but a mentally ill idiot.

As for what Liusha had done in the North, he had to have a better understanding in order to make a judgment - the judgment did not necessarily have to be in line with the facts, but it had to at least allow him to make up his mind.

If Liusha had only slightly crossed the line, he would only need to give him a light punishment as a warning.

If Liusha really had the potential to commit treason, then he might really go on a killing spree.

Be it the net that is out in the open or the black ice platform that is hidden deeper in the dark, what they have to do is not to prove that Liusha is guilty, but to collect enough information for Ying Zheng to make the corresponding judgment.

Of course, it would be better if they could get everything done in one go, investigate it thoroughly and clearly, and make sure the chain of evidence is complete and the proof is irrefutable - but it is too difficult.

This undoubtedly increased the pressure on Liusha.

Not only do they have to protect the most core secrets, they also have to find ways to completely cover up or even destroy more sensitive intelligence.

Fortunately, the North is Liusha's home ground, and it has all the advantages of time, place, and people. Although the goal is more difficult, the advantages are greater.

While Liusha and the Empire were fighting an intelligence war, Ying Zheng's northern tour did not stop for a moment and continued to proceed steadily according to the original plan.

After nearly three months of travel, the northern tour convoy finally arrived at the last stop of the northern tour - Fushi City, the seat of Shangjun County.

After passing Fushi, the convoy can return to Xianyang.

………………

Fushi City, the eldest prince’s residence.

But this place is no longer called the Eldest Prince’s Mansion.

After several months of renovation, reinforcement and reconstruction, the original eldest prince's mansion has been transformed into Ying Zheng's temporary palace - of course, the specifications are far from reaching the level of a palace, but it is just called that.

In fact, the mansion now has no name.

In fact, there was no need for Fusu to take down the plaque from his eldest son's mansion.

The emperor was only staying there temporarily, so what he was called would not prevent him from staying there - just don't use a name that was extremely treasonous or inappropriate.

Before, Ying Zheng lived in the General's Mansion in Sanghai, so the name of the General's Mansion was not removed.

Inside the mansion, in Ying Zheng’s temporary study.

As the father, he sat at the top, with files on his desk that he would never finish dealing with.

Fusu, the son, stood below with his hands behind his back and his head lowered, waiting for his father to speak.

After a long silence, Ying Zheng finally finished the work at hand, raised his head and glanced at Fusu:
"You have done a good job in the North over the years. During my visit, the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment, and are thriving."

Ying Zheng was always taciturn when facing Fusu, a son who was different from him, and he hardly ever said any words of praise.

The fact that he praised Fusu so frankly right from the start was enough to prove that Ying Zheng was indeed very satisfied with the people's livelihood in the northern counties.

Over the past year, Ying Zheng traveled all over the empire from east to west and from south to north. It can be said that he had visited all of it except for the areas of Bashu and Lingnan.

And wherever he goes, it seems like there is a thriving, stable and improving situation, but in reality... those who understand will understand.

Ying Zheng had no idea what the so-called people's miserable lives were like, because he had never been an ordinary citizen and was very far away from them.

So he doesn't care whether the people live well or not.

The Legalists never pursued a peaceful and prosperous life for the people, but instead advocated a strong country with weak people.

But both seek absolute stability in their rule.

They don’t care if people are living in poverty, but they do care about the instability of their rule caused by the poverty!

At the same time, the empire also needs "material rewards" such as tax revenue brought by stable people's livelihood.

The North has been harassed by nomadic tribes from the north for many years. It has always been sparsely populated, with deserted towns and cities, and the people live in precarious conditions.

Don't expect to establish stable rule in this kind of hellhole. The people don't run away only because they really can't run away - these days, moving to another place is not only not allowed by law, but often not allowed by material conditions.

Fusu's governance not only brought a normal living environment to the north, but also greatly reduced the cost of the empire to maintain stability in the north. For example, last winter, the intensity of the invasion by northern nomadic tribes was so severe that the empire would normally have to at least double its investment to stabilize the situation.

With this level of achievement, if it were an ordinary imperial official, it would not be an exaggeration to promote him three levels.

However, as Fusu was a prince, he certainly could not be treated as a normal official. Ying Zheng could only praise him verbally and then reward him with some gold, silver, treasures, fertile fields, beautiful women and the like.

As for promotion...that is not determined by merit.

Otherwise, the military achievements he had made in the previous battle to recover Henan would have been enough to get Fusu promoted.

Fortunately, Fusu didn't care about these things.

He was already very satisfied to hear his father praising him in person.

"The stability and prosperity of the North today is all thanks to General Meng Tian's guarding of the border and officials from all over the country fulfilling their duties. I, your son, have made no contribution and I am truly unworthy of your praise." Fusu was so happy that his tone was much more upbeat, but he spoke very humbly.

"Of course they have made contributions, and I will not miss them." Ying Zheng was not angry at Fusu's humble refusal, although he did not like Fusu's behavior.

"But you should give me an explanation."

Hearing Ying Zheng's sudden change of tone, Fusu lowered his head and remained silent for a moment, then replied, "I am a dull son, please enlighten me, father."

"It seems you don't want to say it." Ying Zheng looked down at Fusu, his eyes full of death, and said lightly.

"Please tell me clearly, father. I will tell you everything I know!" Fusu responded in the same way.

Ying Zheng also fell silent. After a long while, he said, "Zhao Gao reported that the people under your command were dishonest." "You didn't know?"

"Please tell me clearly, father, why are my subordinates dishonest?" Fusu still did not give a direct response, but asked back.

"Do you know what you are doing?" Fusu did not answer the question, and Ying Zheng would not answer it either, so he asked back.

Fusu hesitated for a while and then said, "Please understand, Father. The situation in the North is special. In order to ensure the development of the North, the people under my command may act a little radically."

"But I am willing to guarantee that they will never harm the empire."

"They are your people, why should you guarantee them?" Ying Zheng's tone was flat, but with an obvious sense of oppression.

Ying Zheng's words have two meanings.

First, it is said that Fusu would protect his own people, and there is a possibility that his relatives would hide the truth for each other.

Secondly, Fusu, as the nominal "leader" of these people, is not clean himself, so how can he act as a guarantor for others?

Fusu did not argue, he just knelt down and replied:
"Everything that my subordinates do is the product of my own ideas. If they violate the rules, the blame will be on me alone."

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"I am willing to admit my guilt. Please forgive me, Father."

"You plead guilty?" Ying Zheng lowered his eyes, no emotion in them, and asked coldly, "How do you plead guilty?"

"As my son, what crime can you plead guilty to?!"

Qin law places great emphasis on collective responsibility. It can be said that for any serious crime, the criminal's family will be implicated.

But this would definitely not work for Prince Fusu - he couldn't just skin his father, the First Emperor, alive, right?

Apart from this, neither imprisonment nor the death penalty could be imposed on a prince - killing him was certainly not an option, and sentencing him to hard labor to repair the Earth would damage the reputation of the royal family.

As for punishments such as tattooing, cutting off the nose, cutting off the feet, and castration, don't even think about it.

At that time, King Huiwen of Qin broke the law during the Shang Yang's reform, so he was made an example of.

As a result, he, the crown prince, did not get into any trouble. Instead, the crown prince's tutor, Gongzi Qian, was sentenced to the nose cutting punishment.

Although Fusu was not the crown prince, and was even a prince who had completely lost his power, his status was still noble. You might not bother with pulling two hairs on him, but who would dare to punish him with corporal punishment?

Ying Zheng himself couldn't bear to do it!
I may not like it, but even a tiger won't eat its own cubs.

Not to mention that Fusu has not done anything yet, even if he really rebelled, Ying Zheng is not sure whether he can bear to do it.

Fusu now brazenly takes all the responsibility on himself, just like an emperor saying, "Everyone is guilty, and the fault lies with me."

Who can really punish you?
"If your Majesty feels that my subordinates are guilty, Fusu would like to ask to be exiled to Liaodong or Lingnan to enforce the law."

Fusu proposed a truly reliable solution.

Since all punishments that cause direct harm cannot be used, then use punishments that do not cause harm - that is, exile.

Of course, his exile would definitely not be the same as that of ordinary people.

Generally speaking, exile means sending criminals to various bitter and cold places, such as the three northern counties (Yanmen, Yunzhong and Jiuyuan), Liaodong, and the newly established three Lingnan counties.

There are two main purposes of the empire's punishment. One is simple punishment to warn others not to break the law, and the other is to make profits in the name of punishment. For example, imprisonment is essentially hard labor.

Exile is also a more profitable punishment. Exiling criminals to remote, cold and harsh places is essentially to expand the population of those places.

Normally, no one would run to the northern border for nothing, let alone places as far away as Liaodong and Lingnan.

But these places need people.

Although the environment is not good, it still has value. Not only can it be used for farming, but there are also rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, swamps and even high-value areas such as mineral deposits.

As for whether the people live well or not, that is not something the court should consider.

However, the poor environment means that few outsiders actively migrate to these places, and the local population's reproductive capacity is also limited, so they are almost always in a state of underpopulation.

The imperial court needed people, but it couldn't just drive people there for no reason - large-scale forced migrations happened occasionally, but it couldn't be done all the time.

Hence the necessity of exile.

Strictly speaking, Fusu had already been exiled once - as a prince, even if he could not inherit the throne, he should have stayed in the imperial capital of Xianyang and lived a comfortable life. After all, the empire no longer had fiefdoms, and the princes no longer had fiefdoms.

He was sent to the north to supervise the army. It was a post in theory, but in reality it was exile, only the exile was a little closer.

But the standards for princes are definitely not the same as those for ordinary people.

Therefore, if Fusu was exiled again, he could not go near that place.

He simply went all the way and directly requested to go to Liaodong and Lingnan - these two places were considered to be pure death places by most people. Not to mention how people could survive there, the journey of thousands of miles alone was enough to cost many lives.

The conditions of exile were far inferior to those of Ying Zheng's tour.

Even a prince like Fusu would be half dead if he was exiled to Lingnan or Liaodong.

Moreover, unlike the northern counties that could still be exposed to the imperial politics, going to places like Lingnan and Liaodong would basically mean that one would be completely isolated from power for the rest of one's life.

Not to mention the throne, even the rich and luxurious life that an idle prince should have was gone.

As a punishment, this measure is definitely severe enough and there is a lot of room for maneuver.

It sounds dangerous, but as long as Ying Zheng arranges everything, Fusu will be able to live safely and will not suffer too much.

However, Ying Zheng couldn't respond to Fusu's words.

He was certainly confident that he could ensure Fusu's safety after being exiled, but he was still undecided about pushing this eldest son away from his sight completely.

Ying Zheng himself knew that he did not have the ability to monitor the entire empire with his naked eyes.

If he stayed in Shangjun, he could still receive news about Fusu from time to time. If he was exiled to a hellish place like Liaodong or Lingnan, then unless he ordered him to be called back, it would basically be the same as losing this son.

Ying Zheng is currently unable to bear to do this.

After all, judging from the information he has now, at most, the people in Liusha under Fusu may have had some inappropriate thoughts, and it has nothing to do with Fusu himself - except that he is stubborn and determined to protect his subordinates.

In any case, it doesn't have to go this far.

"Fusu, give me an explanation before the caravan leaves Fushi." After pondering for a moment, Ying Zheng finally chose to show leniency.

It should be said that Ying Zheng's concession was huge. He didn't even ask Fusu to give him a "satisfactory" answer, he just wanted an explanation.

In other words, as long as Fusu handed over a few scapegoats who could save the emperor's face, the matter would be temporarily resolved.

But Fusu knelt on the ground and did not stand up. He replied calmly, "Father, I have already explained everything I can just now."

"Please punish me, Father!" (End of this chapter)