The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 736 Eastern Tour Plan
As for whether a local tyrant would become too powerful to be eliminated, Ying Zheng was not afraid of it.

After all, people are forgotten when they are gone. They no longer have any power. It is okay to deal with small things by relying on face, but it is impossible to deal with big things.

Besides, there will always be big clans in every place, especially those that are out of control. In this case, it would be better to replace them with those that share the same destiny as the country.

And it is not so easy to become a problem. Being too far away from the center of power is not a good thing. Most of their descendants are still developing in the capital of God.

Being far away from the emperor is a good thing in troubled times, but when the empire was just beginning to settle and the world was at peace, the farther away from the center of power, the more vulnerable you are. Everything you have worked so hard for could be changed with just one word from the one in heaven.

They have also preserved the duke's mansions in Shendu and left them all to their descendants. Their descendants will not return to their hometowns, but will either develop in other places or in Shendu. Those who return are useless, and when these old ministers pass away, they will not pose any major hidden dangers.

If these old ministers are fast by a few years at most and slow by a dozen years at most, there will certainly be none left.

If there are no qualified successors after they arrive, it will be impossible for them to run the place well. When it comes to the management of power, no gaps are allowed. There will never be a power vacuum.

The promising descendants in Shendu will either live there for generations, and Shendu will become their hometown, or they will wait until they are old to return to their hometown, and then rebuild it, so it won't be a big problem either way.

Finally, to put it bluntly, these old officials want to stay in the local areas only by relying on their former reputation, prestige and connections in the central government. They themselves no longer have any power.

It is easy to control them. It is enough to give a secret order to local officials, or even just a little hint will be enough. As long as the local officials are not afraid of them, there are plenty of ways to restrict them.

The reason they were asked to return to their hometowns was essentially to let them guard the area. After all, the world had just been unified, and there were always some historical remnants. Ying Zheng also told them to build the local area, educate the people, and supervise the administration of officials.

It can be said that they have squeezed out every last bit of value from them.

But it's good for everyone.

Win-win, win-win, everyone is happy.

The departure of these dozen old ministers also left a huge power vacuum in the court, which was enough for Ying Zheng to balance the forces in the court. Moreover, although these new ministers were not young, they were still much younger than Cai Ze, Wei Liao and others.

They have more energy to do things, are more eager to achieve something, and have more enthusiasm and motivation. However, they do not have as high prestige as these old ministers, so they are easier to control and will impose less restrictions on Ying Zheng.

This time, Ying Zheng wins again.

At the same time, Ying Zheng was also preparing for another important thing.

That is - the Eastern Tour.

Of course, it will be next year, which is the third year of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s eastern tour.

This matter is too important.

Promote power and virtue, demonstrate authority, intimidate local authorities, strengthen direct control over local authorities, and strengthen central power.

It was also necessary to demonstrate the emperor's grace, win over the hearts of the people, reconcile cultural differences among different regions, perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, promote new beliefs and sacrifices, and promote integration.

At the same time, we will examine the local administration and whether the administrative divisions are reasonable, and make appropriate adjustments.

This is the fundamental purpose of the Eastern Tour. This trip must have both thunder and rain, both majesty and grace.

The scale of this trip must be extremely majestic, which means that the scale cannot be small, which means that a trip will cost a lot of money. This is not something that can be done in a hurry and must be prepared in advance.

Only if you are prepared this year can you set off next year.

Material preparation, local reception, road infrastructure, building construction, and local rewards are all big issues.

This money must be spent, but it cannot be spent indiscriminately, nor can it put too much pressure on local and court finances. If the cost is too high, it will not be worth it.

This trip was to consolidate the rule and demonstrate majesty and grace, not to stir up public resentment and shake the rule.

Ying Zheng has not yet been blinded by power.

He stood at the highest point of the Taiji Palace, overlooking the entire Shendu City. The moonlight shone on him, outlining his tall figure.

He now possesses supreme power and unrivaled prestige, but both are dynamic and can grow or shrink.

This is not something that is wasted casually.

Ying Zheng now knew very well how great his power was. It was so great that even the most ordinary order could weigh down everyone like a mountain.

He ruled the country for twenty-two years, sweeping across the six kingdoms, unifying the world, controlling the desert in the west, and subduing the Hu slaves in the north, thus achieving the supreme and honorable position of the First Emperor.

Ying Zheng had already become power itself. If he was not careful, his will would be magnified ten or a hundred times and executed.

This is a very scary thing. The more this happens, the more carefully we must control it. Otherwise, we will become puppets of power and drag countless people towards destruction.

What we must guard most against are some people with ill intentions who carry the dragon flag to oppose it.

Since ancient times, when the central court still had great power, the officials and gentry below would never conspire against the higher-ups in an open and aboveboard manner, as that would be courting death.

If you just treat it negatively, it's still okay.

In the context of feudal autocratic society, the most amazing things are to 'double it', 'expand it', 'deepen (duo) it' and 'praise it'.

These four points are all absolute disloyalty disguised as absolute loyalty. The so-called "doubling" means that no matter what orders and policies are issued by the higher authorities, the lower officials will double their efforts to implement them. If the policy is lenient, then don't care and let it run wild; if the policy is harsh, then don't allow it at all and kill it if it is touched.

And 'expansion', that is, from point to line, from line to surface, and from surface to circle, will result in confusion of powers and responsibilities among managers and executive personnel, unknown punishments, and unpredictable authority. Although people fear their superiors, their grievances will also increase.

The "depth" is from one to two, from two to ten, from discussing the matter at hand and seeking truth from facts to discussing the person at hand, which is too much. They raise the issue to a higher level, linking the issue to loyalty, attacking dissidents, and suppressing speech. No matter what the matter is, no matter who the person is, everything is maliciously speculated on their thoughts, and dragged into the thoughts of loyalty or disloyalty, and dragged into the flaws of their character. If they do not support or have objections, they will be labeled as disloyal, unfilial, unkind and unjust. Those who want to do things can only shout slogans or remain silent.

If these three tactics are used, it is guaranteed that no one will be able to accomplish anything, and any good thing will be turned into a disastrous thing that brings disaster to the country and the people, causing public resentment and the loss of the court's prestige. Moreover, it is impossible to prevent it, and there is no place to prevent it.

The most important and hard-to-prevent thing is "overpraise", which is to praise the decision maker to the sky, saying that he is right but not wrong, so that the decision maker is completely trapped in an information cocoon. If he does not understand the facts, all the decisions he makes will be wrong. And the endless praise will make him fall into inflated state, making him stubborn and self-righteous, and it will be difficult for him to come down from heaven to earth.

This trick should be used together with "depth", which will make those who want to speak the truth and do practical things unable to speak. The effect is extremely significant and will definitely be useful.

These "loyal officials" all resolutely implemented the policies from above and took the initiative to fully exert their subjective initiative, but the consequences were...
And it was difficult to deal with this group of people. Was it disobedience? No. On the contrary, it was too obedient.

But do they really obey orders? Of course not.

To minimize this situation, we can only continuously rectify the administration of officials, crack down on the powerful, suppress local forces, ensure checks and balances, strengthen the supervision system, collect information, clarify the distribution of powers and responsibilities, build a ladder of authorization, limit the power of officials, and try to distinguish between rewards and punishments. At the same time, we should appropriately relax freedom of speech, and most importantly, open up channels for communication.

Similarly, the emperor does have specific ways to deal with these moves, it all depends on his ability.

General tactics: To target doubling: use tactics to defeat tactics, balance light and darkness, set up yin and yang orders, and build checks and balances among officials.

In response to the expansion: use power to control power, divide into different levels and categories, use both leniency and strictness, and control and release in moderation.

In-depth analysis: fight poison with poison, use force to counter force, criticize and make false accusations as a crime, plant spies within the party, and tear each other apart to break the balance of fear.

In response to the great praise: the virtual and the real complement each other, the light and the dark confirm each other, keep a distance, do not show your expression, and have unpredictable moods.

These measures are basically enough. After all, the officials below are all different. They only have some tacit understanding on certain things, but they are not really united.

The emperor is an emperor only if his orders are obeyed, but whether they can be truly implemented can determine the power of the court.

Ying Zheng used censors, secret guards, eunuchs, and the secret memorial system, so many ways to collect information, all for the purpose of hearing all sides and gaining a wise understanding!

The most basic premise for any correct decision on anything is information!
Can a wrong question have a correct answer?

Before the armies set out, food and fodder were sent ahead; and even before that, before the war started, spies moved ahead.

Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle, and this is even more true for governing a country! In other words, this is true for everything we do.

Ying Zheng understood all these principles, but unfortunately, he couldn't do them. He had disliked people disobeying him for a long time.

And because he is always right, almost no one dares to advise him now. Now whatever he says or does is right.

After all, the logic is simple. How could a sage king descended from heaven be wrong? How could His Majesty the Emperor be wrong?

Even if the whole world is wrong, it cannot be the Emperor's fault.

Even though he had been tempted and patient for so many years, Ying Zheng couldn't help feeling a little dizzy now.

What Ying Zheng feared was that he would fall into the trap of "great praise", which would be the end of him. The greater the prestige and power of a monarch, the less checks and balances there are on the monarch, and the greater the destructive power!

For this reason, Ying Zheng had to issue an order at the grand court meeting, adding "Shiyi" and "Buque" as censors in the Hanlin Academy, whose special duty was to persuade and advise the emperor on his decisions and words and deeds, and to set regulations so that censors and imperial censors would not be punished for their words.

He then appointed many upright and talented people as censors, although he could not help it in the end and also appointed Guo Kai and Yao Jia, two apparently loyal people, as the post of Shiyi.

In addition, Ying Zheng also expressed his willingness to open up channels for communication and encouraged advice, even going so far as to borrow the words of King Wei of Qi.

"Among the officials and people, those who can point out my faults to my face will receive a high reward; those who can write to me to remonstrate with me will receive a medium reward; those who can slander me in the market and let me hear it will receive a low reward."

This received a lot of praise, but also some cautious and insignificant advice.

But in more than a year, there has not been a single strong admonition.

The emperor, the first emperor, could it be that he never makes mistakes?

Although Ying Zheng was helpless about this, he couldn't guarantee in his heart whether he could endure it if he really heard something unpleasant.

Probably, possibly, maybe, should, perhaps, it seems.
Still don’t say it.

In August of the second year of Emperor Qin Shihuang's reign, on a night in the capital, the moonlight was like water, sprinkling on the streets and alleys, covering the capital with a layer of silver gauze.

Master Liu Ji, the director of the Agricultural Education Bureau, who had been busy for several days in a row, had just got some free time. He couldn't wait to take Lu Wan, Xiao He, Cao Shen, Fan Kuai, and Zhang Liang, who had somehow gotten together with him, to his home for a small gathering to drink and relieve their fatigue.

In Liu Ji's small courtyard, several lanterns emitted soft light, and the beautiful bright moon illuminated the wine and food on the table.

At this time, several people have established a firm foothold in the Divine Capital. At least they are no longer small shrimps, but crayfish in the Divine Capital.

Several people were drinking under the moonlight in Liu Ji's courtyard. They were in great joy and happiness. However, Liu Ji, who usually dominated the atmosphere of the banquet, was a little absent-minded today. He just drank quietly, shaking the wine glass in his hand from time to time, causing slight ripples in the glass.

After three rounds of drinking, the gentle Zhang Liang smiled and said, "Brother Liu, what is bothering you? Tell us about it and we can come up with some ideas together."

(End of this chapter)