The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 577 The Emperor is Far Away
Previously, the State of Wei had a vast territory, with the city of Daliang located in the heart of it, and Hedong, Henei and the Central Plains forming the corners of each other. When the State of Wei was strong, it was natural that it could only fight others, and no one else could fight it.

But now, if Qin attacks, he really doesn’t know how to resist.

And there are big troubles!

During the reign of King Hui of Wei, in order to build water transportation routes and develop agriculture, a large artificial canal "Honggou" was built, connecting the Yellow River and the Huai River for the first time.

This artificially dug "big ditch" was centered on the Wei capital Daliang. It started from the north of Xingyang, diverted the Yellow River water through the Daliang city, turned southeast to the Chen capital Wanqiu, and then flowed south into the Yingshui River, and thence into the Huai River.

The Honggou Canal was renovated several times. It drew water from the Yellow River as its source from Xingyang in the west, flowed eastward through Zhongmu and Daliang, turned south, entered the Ying River and connected with the Huai River, connecting all the main rivers between the Yellow River and the Huai River, such as Ji, Pu, Bian, Sui, Ying, Wo, Ru, Si and He, forming the Honggou water system.

Honggou is regulated by Putianze, and the water volume is abundant. The water level of the river connected to it is relatively stable. To the south, it connects with Huaihe River, Hangou and Yangtze River; to the east, it connects with Jishui River and Sishui River, and along the Jishui River, it can reach Zibo-Ji Canal; to the north, it connects with the Yellow River, and along the west of the Yellow River, it connects with Luohe River and Weishui River, making Daliang City and Wei State the core of national waterway transportation.

Located in the Central Plains, relying on the waterways connecting the world, the State of Wei has always been the richest and most powerful.

Daliang City is good in every way except for its absolute disadvantage in terms of war terrain.

The terrain of Daliang City is low, with the Yellow River to the north and the Honggou water system that has been built over the years. Once a water attack occurs, the entire Daliang City within a hundred miles will become a swamp, and everyone will have to feed the fish.

King Jingmin of Wei was not unaware of the advantages and disadvantages of Daliang City, or rather, everyone in the world was aware of it.

But in the past, the State of Wei was very powerful, and this so-called threat was not really a threat. No one could reach his doorstep and dig his river.

But now, Wei State is just outside the Qin State. Half of the waterways that Wei State has painstakingly built now belong to Qin State, and Qin State is still upstream. This is a problem!

Even if Qin attacked, Wei had no geographical advantage, and it had to pray for Qin's mercy and not dig waterways to use water attacks, otherwise there would be no need to fight at all.

As for moving the capital? It was absolutely impossible! The Wei State only had three counties left. Where else could it go?

Moreover, after all, Daliang City has been painstakingly built for more than a hundred years. The city walls are strong and high, and can be described as an iron wall. Without the use of water attacks, it is as solid as a rock.

If the capital was moved, not to mention that the capital would involve a wide range of people, what would happen in the current crisis? The entire Wei State would have no defenses, so where else could it go? How could it be possible to build a strong city in such a hurry?
I am afraid that just when we are about to move the capital, Qin and Chu will attack us! Not to mention Qin, Chu will never sit idly by and will only take advantage of the situation!

Moreover, Daliang City was the political, economic and transportation core of the entire Wei State. It was impossible to move the capital there, and the entire Wei State might come to a standstill.

King Jingmin of Wei is now unable to sleep or eat, and can't even sleep at all. He is really afraid that he will wake up and find the Qin army at his doorstep.

Or maybe when you wake up, the water has already flooded your bed.

He really didn't know what to do anymore.

As for King You of Chu, he is equally anxious now.

What they are worried about is similar to what happened in Wei State.

In recent years, the territory of Qin State has grown and expanded rapidly. It is not only only one step away from Daliang City, but also not far from Shouchun.

Although Shouchun was not as disadvantaged and in danger as Daliang, it could not give King You of Chu much sense of security.

A few years ago, King Kaolie of Chu moved the capital to Shouchun. One of the main reasons was that it was too close to the State of Qin and there was no strategic security at all.

In addition, the war between Baiyue and Chu had never stopped, although the intensity was not strong, and under his decree to exterminate all the tribes of Baiyue, all suffered heavy losses.

However, the State of Chu was constantly being dragged down, leaving him with no energy to deal with other things.

And over the years since he ascended the throne, the entire Chu State cannot be said to be prosperous, but can only be said to be in decline.

Internally, there is loss of morale, political chaos, and development regression.

Externally, they had not won a single battle, while the powerful enemy Qin was visibly invincible in the world.

The current prestige of King You of Chu cannot be said to be extremely high; it can only be said to be shaky.

King You of Chu had been hesitant about whether to move the capital. He did so for both strategic security and to reorganize the court in another place. After all, every move of the capital was a complete redistribution of interests.

But after all, it was only a few years since the capital was moved to Shouchun, and Shouchun was a good place that had been carefully selected and painstakingly built. Shouchun also had a convenient water system, developed transportation, fertile land, and was located in the center of the Chu State, which could effectively radiate north and south.

After all, the State of Qin had not yet attacked, and King You of Chu was really unwilling to move the capital just like that.

The main reason is that away from Shouchun, the only suitable place to the southeast is Wuyue. That is too far away, too primitive and backward, mostly wild and undeveloped, and really not a suitable place to live.

Moreover, if the capital was moved too far to the southeast, another problem would inevitably arise, which would be the weakening of control over the Central Plains. The most prosperous northwest of the entire Chu State would be a disaster, whether it was gradually eroded by Qin or Qin's large-scale attack made it difficult to command resistance.

The saying "the sky is high and the emperor is far away" has never been empty talk.

In the end, facing the mighty Qin State, which relied on the wild and backward southeast, there was only one way out, which was death.

Besides, the capital had been moved not long ago, and now they had a firm foothold, with their core confidants occupying the court. If the capital was moved again, it would inevitably cause chaos again, making the already chaotic Chu State even worse.

The most frightening thing is that it will give opportunities to those who oppose you.

King You of Chu also tried to propose moving the capital, but this aroused strong opposition and great resistance, which put King You of Chu in a dilemma.

If the capital is not moved, if the Qin State attacks and cannot resist, it will be too late to escape. Even if they escape, it is unlikely to regroup in a hurry in the wild land, and they will be captured by the Qin State in one fell swoop.

Moving the capital may also lead to weakening the country first, and will encounter even greater resistance.

Since he ascended the throne, there have been countless people who were dissatisfied with him. He relied entirely on cruel means to stabilize the government and did not dare to act rashly. He did not dare to give those who secretly opposed him a chance.

King You of Chu had a terrible headache and was really worried.

As a result, he had no choice but to go to the harem frequently to vent his stress. Recently, Li Yuan got him some stunning and enchanting beauties from Baiyue, and he was very excited.

Similarly, Ying Zheng is now also troubled by one thing.

Of course, it is not about how to fight Wei. The current Wei is just a dish. The Qin Dynasty has occupied the entire western and northern parts of China and most of the Central Plains. It has completely formed a strategic advantage over Wei and Chu. Now war is no longer something to worry about.

In the original history, after destroying the State of Yan, it took only more than a year to destroy the State of Wei. Now it will be even simpler. The prestige of the Qin State has been demonstrated by destroying the State of Yan.

There are already cases where those who obey me prosper and those who disobey me perish. Now Ying Zheng is also worried about the fact that the emperor is far away.

The farther away from the ruling core, the weaker the ruling power will be. This is inevitable.

No one can avoid this issue until the overall productivity, production relations and even population reach a certain level.

Local tyrants grow very fast. If the dragon in the central court is strong and powerful enough, these local tyrants will naturally submit to him. But even so, they will still pretend to obey when their interests conflict with each other.

Even if it does not directly conflict with their interests, deceiving superiors and subordinates, falsifying information, engaging in malpractice for personal gain, and taking bribes are just basic operations.

Moreover, the overall level of social knowledge is still too low, and there are too many undeveloped wild lands in the world. If power is not delegated appropriately, nothing can be accomplished, and the wild lands will never be developed.

In addition, we are now gradually moving from a feudal system to a centralized system, and from aristocratic autocracy to bureaucratic autocracy, but the thoughts and concepts of the vast majority of people have not changed at all.

There were even more outrageous operations, and even Ying Zheng had to turn a blind eye to some things.

Apart from issues of principle, even Ying Zheng could only turn a blind eye to some minor issues.

After all, management requires people.

In this era, people are divided into different classes. The differences between people's identities are even greater than the differences between species.

Changing one's acquired identity, especially to a higher status, is not impossible, but it is almost impossible, and the difficulty is incredibly high.

This is also why the Qin Dynasty's military merit system was so cruel and harsh, but still had amazing effects. This is because it is already the most advanced system today, and it has opened up a lot of space for class advancement that was originally completely closed.

Since Qin Shi Huang improved the military merit system, repaired and improved Qin laws, opened schools and academies, and added the imperial examination system, it can be said that it has become more advanced.

But no matter how advanced it is, it cannot change everyone's heart that just wants to be the best and works hard to be the best.

The purpose of being a superior person is to live a better life, not to serve the people.

Then you have to enjoy certain privileges.

If you work hard but still get treated the same as the unruly people, wouldn’t all your hard work be in vain?

The good life of the privileged class is always made possible by the unruly people carrying the burden.

There is no way. The vast majority of the privileged class are unlikely to be producers, they are managers.

Unfortunately, the biggest one among them is Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng is the biggest beneficiary, so he will resolutely defend this order.

This is the original sin of the family-based empire. The world belongs to one person, which inevitably leads to everyone giving priority to protecting their own small family.

It was impossible for Ying Zheng to reform himself, so he could only maintain the division of interests among the classes and control each class.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish.

But the bigger the country, the bigger the pot, and the bigger the pot, the harder it is to cook delicacy.

No matter how good your cooking skills are, there will always be times when the seasoning is not evenly spread, and times when the raw and cooked food are not consistent.

Therefore, when appropriate, it is still necessary to cook in separate pots.

Under the current circumstances, the territory controlled by the Qin Dynasty is too large. It is completely impossible and unsuitable for complete centralized rule. It is necessary to temporarily divide up the remote areas and give them appropriate autonomy.

Once a government decree is passed down, even if it is sent urgently over thousands of miles, it will take a month or even two months to be delivered. The time cost of communication is difficult to measure. Under such circumstances, it is basically unrealistic to talk about stable rule.

Rather than raising a bunch of local snakes, who are intertwined and occupy the place, it is more reliable to send your son over there, because the meat will eventually rot in your own pot. With your son, this dragon, guarding there, the local snakes will not have the possibility of turning into dragons and dragons. When the population is sufficient and the time is right, they will be completely brought under the jurisdiction of the central government.

Of course, the enfeoffment of Ying Zheng is also an open-book test. He will not give all the power to others, but will impose relatively strong constraints and controls.

They would only divide up the remote and uncivilized areas that the counties could not control, and would also implement a system of virtual and real sealing. There was no rush at the moment, and they would make arrangements after the whole country was unified and a new system was implemented.

But now the problem arises, my sons are still too young!

I can't shoulder such a heavy responsibility!

Judging from the current unification process, the child has not grown up yet after the annexation of the six countries!
This is also an important reason why Ying Zheng has never been in a hurry to start a war of annexation.

As the saying goes, it is easier to conquer the world than to rule it.

Whether they are dead or alive before the annexation is none of your business, after all, they are not your people.

But after the merger and integration, we are now one family. Since we have enjoyed the rights, we must bear the corresponding responsibilities.

Ying Zheng frowned and sighed secretly, deciding that he had to go slow next time.

Now the three oldest sons are only eight years old. No matter how talented they are, they will definitely not be able to take on any responsibilities until they are thirteen, fourteen or five years old.

Fortunately, everything in the new empire has been renewed, and it will take time for new local tyrants to grow up. It will take time for them to become too powerful to be eliminated, which is enough time for their sons to grow up. In the future, they will just have to kill more people, which can help them develop the courage to kill.

It is time for the eldest son to separate from his mother. It is not only inconvenient, but also helps him develop the ability to be independent.

All the sons had to be separated from their mothers after they turned eight and could no longer live in the same palace. Ying Zheng renovated Chengqian Palace in Xianyang Palace for the children to live in. Children of similar ages living together could help foster feelings, which was better than having no feelings at all. Even if they fought in the future, it would be better if they didn't kill each other.

In addition, this is also a test of ability. There may not be one teacher among three people, but when there are many people, a leader will inevitably be selected. The one who can unite the majority is the one who is truly suitable for Cheng Qian.

Chengqian Palace is not far from Lanchi Palace and Zhangtai Palace, and Ying Zheng would often go to see them. Each of these children is extraordinary, so of course he has to keep an eye on them personally.

When the young master is twelve years old, it is time for him to leave the palace and set up his own household. It is also time for him to see the real world instead of just the palace.

Growing up in the deep palace and raised by women, he will eventually become a waste.

(End of this chapter)