Diqin Designer

Chapter 32: Enlighten the people and start education
Li Nian continued, "This is exactly the 'high ground of public opinion. If we don't occupy it, the enemy will occupy it.' If the Qin Dynasty does not take the initiative to correctly guide the people, it will give those with ulterior motives an opportunity to take advantage of it. The harm caused by this will be no less than direct rebellion."

"Throughout the ages, all kings have been afraid of prophecies. One of the main reasons is that the court did not provide correct guidance to the people, but only roughly prohibited the spread of rumors. However, human nature is that sometimes the more it prohibits, the more it feels that there is a problem, and the more it will allow rumors to ferment."

Thinking of some situations on the modern Internet, Li Nian added: "When it reaches a certain point, even if the court wants to take the initiative to dispel rumors, it is too late. The rumors have already taken root in people's minds."

"Now that the world has just been unified, the people of the six kingdoms may have prejudices against the Qin and the king. Prejudice leads to suspicion and fear. Therefore, they must be guided and made to understand the Qin. Only then can the people of the six kingdoms become the people of the Qin, rather than the king destroying the six kingdoms and making them the people of the Qin."

"In the words of later generations, it means to make them feel 'identity', to recognize themselves as citizens of the Qin State, and no longer consider themselves as citizens of the Six Kingdoms. In this way, even if the nobles of the Six Kingdoms plot and instigate, they will not be able to succeed."

Ying Zheng asked: "How can we guide them to think that they are the people of the Qin Dynasty?"

Li Nian said: "Promise them benefits and reason with them. Let the officials go to various places to talk about the various benefits of being under the rule of the Qin Dynasty. Proclaim that although they once had their own countries, they are all Chinese people! If you want to really do this, you must put the benefits preached by the officials into practice."

Seeing Ying Zheng nod, Li Nian continued, "Speaking of enlightening the people, ignorant people are indeed easier to govern, but they are also easier to fool. For example, the reason why the people believe in the prophecy is that they are unwise and cannot distinguish the truth from the false. As long as they are provoked by someone with ulterior motives, disasters may occur."

"Your Majesty, do you want to know how the first 'rebellion' in Qin came about?"

This "first rebellion of the Qin Dynasty" should refer to the rebellion when the Qin Dynasty was destroyed.

“The first game”, doesn’t that mean there will be a second and a third game?

From what he said, this rebellion is related to the lack of enlightenment among the people?

Ying Zheng thought to himself, and was interested. He said, "Tell me about it!"

Li Nian talked about the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising and Ying Zheng recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian".

When Ying Zheng heard Li Nian say that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were afraid of being beheaded because they missed the deadline due to rain, so they decided to rebel, he raised his eyebrows. How could his Qin law be so unreasonable?
However, this also made him understand more clearly what Li Nian said about laws not being too harsh. Laws that are too harsh and cruel will really force people to rebel.

When he heard that "the world has suffered from Qin for a long time", Hu Hai was unpopular, and this group of rebellious guys actually wanted to rebel under the banner of Prince Fusu, he felt a little relieved. Even though Fusu was dead, there were still people who remembered his kindness. It was just that his son was a little stupid.

As for Xiang Yan, a cold light flashed in Ying Zheng's eyes again. How could he not know that the Xiang family was a noble clan of the State of Chu? It seemed that the demise of the Second Emperor of the Qin Dynasty was closely related to the nobles of the Six Kingdoms.

I am still too kind to them!

When Ying Zheng heard Li Nian say that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang hid books in the belly of a fish, lit a bonfire at night, and pretended to be foxes in the ancestral hall in preparation for a rebellion, he understood the purpose of Li Nian's story.

The people are not enlightened and will regard books in fish's bellies and foxes speaking human language as miracles, thus boosting Chen Sheng's prestige among the garrison soldiers and laying the groundwork for them to follow Chen Sheng in a rebellion later.

Li Nian said: "This is the effect of the people's lack of wisdom. It is easy to govern, but sometimes it can also become a weakness that others can exploit. On the contrary, if the people's wisdom is awakened, knowing that the fish belly hiding books and the fox speaking human words are man-made, will they be so willing to rebel with Chen Sheng?"

Ying Zheng thought for a moment and asked, "After their wisdom is awakened, they will no longer be deceived by books hidden in fish bellies or foxes speaking human words. But if the Qin law really states that those who fail to meet their deadlines will be executed, won't they be more likely to follow Chen Sheng in his rebellion?"

This means that after the people were enlightened, the soldiers became smarter and knew the Qin law. If there was a rule in the Qin law that "if you miss the deadline, you will be beheaded", wouldn't they be more determined to rebel? In other words, after the people were enlightened, the soldiers and Chen Sheng were more determined to rebel.

In response to this question, Li Nian simply said, "Your Majesty, this is no longer a question of whether the people are enlightened or not, but a question of the Qin laws. It is the Qin laws that should be changed!"

It seems to make sense...

Li Nian added: "What the king is worried about is that after enlightening the people, the people will be difficult to govern. This is exactly why I said that the people need the government to take the initiative to guide them. Only under the correct guidance will the people not go astray."

At this time, Ying Zheng asked a question: "The future you come from is the time when people are enlightened?"

Li Nian said: "Yes, but the era I come from cannot be compared with the Qin Dynasty. The two cannot be compared."

The biggest difference is that there is no emperor who is high above everyone else and can control the life and death of others at will. Everyone is equal under the law. No one is nobler and no one is lower.

Ying Zheng obviously also thought about the fact that there would be no kings in the future. He was silent for a while, then said: "If I want to enlighten the people, what should I do? And how should I guide them correctly?"

Li Nian said: "Your Majesty, it depends on 'education'! Educators teach and educate people, and guide people onto the right path through teaching and learning. Most people are born without good or evil, so they can be educated and guided."

"If the scriptures contain more words about patriotism and loyalty to the emperor, those who study them will naturally be patriotic and loyal to the emperor in the future. If the scriptures contain more words about abiding by laws and disciplines, and use them to teach people, those who study them will naturally understand the importance of abiding by laws and disciplines."

Li Nian gave an example of Su Xu and Chunyu Yue.

"People like Master Su and Doctor Chunyu who studied Confucian classics were influenced by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, and that's why they have the idea that restoring Zhou rituals is the best way to govern a country."

Ying Zheng said: "I understand. Your intention is to create a classic that is suitable for our Great Qin, so that people can learn from it, be influenced by it, love their country, be loyal to the emperor, and abide by the law!"

In fact, it would be better not to have "loyalty to the emperor", but in the Qin era, Li Nian did not dare to say such words.

Whatever you do must be in line with the times. Being one step ahead is a genius, and being three steps ahead is a monster.

Li Nian has not lived enough, and does not want to be made into thin slices of human meat. He will not take the initiative to promote the doctrine of no monarchy in front of the First Emperor, unless the First Emperor himself is curious.

Ying Zheng looked at Li Nian with a gleam of surprise in his eyes. This is a very interesting path. Has there ever been a country that created classics for itself for the people to learn from?
However, this method seems to be feasible. Countries in later generations probably used this method, so they did not have to worry about the country falling into chaos after the people became wise.

Hey, Ying Zheng discovered a point that he had not thought of before. The fact that this person loves China so much is also the result of the education of later generations, right?
Thinking of this, Ying Zheng showed an inexplicable smile on his face.

　Regarding the rebellion of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the mainstream view is that the Qin law was strict and those who missed the deadline would be beheaded, but the content of the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi said that those who missed the deadline would not necessarily be beheaded. Of course, it is also possible that the punishment for missing the deadline for garrison soldiers and corvée soldiers was different. The Qin law adopted in this book is that those who missed the deadline during the reign of Qin Shihuang would not be beheaded, but they would be during the reign of Hu Hai.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)