Diqin Designer

Chapter 402: The Qin Dynasty can die in strength, but cannot die in weakness!

Two days after the triumphal ceremony, there was another grand court meeting. The ministers entered the Zhangtai Palace one after another. When they saw Li Nian in the palace, they couldn't help but become more serious.

This person rarely participates in court meetings, but if he appears at a court meeting, it means that this meeting will be very important and will make major decisions that will affect the development of the Qin Dynasty.

This person appeared here today, probably to discuss the matter of Qin defeating Donghu and Yuezhi. I just wonder what amazing ideas he will come up with, and what kind of magical strategies he will offer to Qin?
This person is not only able to make all kinds of wonderful things, but also knows how to govern the country. Many changes that have taken place in Daqin over the past year are closely related to this person.

Many things they had never thought of before, but this person not only proposed them, but also turned them into reality, such as the Xianyang Examination, the Daqin International College, and the establishment of embassies with other countries...

Because of him, they discovered that the world was so big, that a country could be governed in this way, and that it was not necessary to send troops to control foreign countries.

I really don’t know why this person, who is so young, is so knowledgeable and can think of so many incredible things. There is really a big gap between people.

They could naturally feel the changes that this person brought to Daqin. Daqin was embarking on a path that was not what they had originally imagined, but this path seemed very good at the moment. Not just a little good, but very good.

Compared with the road that Daqin originally traveled, this road now is more vibrant. Daqin seems to have returned to its youth, exuding vigorous vitality, sprouting branches and growing trunks, growing taller, thicker and more luxuriantly.

It was spring at that time, with vitality and all things flourishing. Although the world was still desolate and desolate, everything would surely develop in a new and better direction. Through the renewed vitality of the Qin Dynasty, we could see a more powerful and prosperous Qin Dynasty.

The Qin Dynasty of the future will be more powerful than the Qin Dynasty of the past. There will be a Qin Dynasty that is stronger than they have ever imagined, and all of this is because of this young man.

Most of the ministers now admire Li Nian, and few want to compete with him. It is both their misfortune and their fortune to be born in the same era as him.

The misfortune is that this person's talent far exceeds theirs, and they cannot use their talents to replace his position in front of His Majesty. In other words, this person has become their ceiling, and no matter how outstanding they are, it is difficult to surpass him.

This person is like a huge sun in the sky, but they are stars in the sky. Although they also shine, their light will be obscured by this person. They are born in the same era as this person, and their names in history will be destined to be a little dimmer.

Fortunately, they were born in the same era as this person. They will be witnesses of a figure who is comparable to other philosophers, and they can also work with him to govern the Qin Dynasty to its prosperity.

Among the ministers of the Qin Dynasty today, many want to see where the Qin Dynasty will go, what changes will occur, and what kind of country it will become in the future.

Many ministers nodded to Li Nian, and Li Nian responded with a smile. This was one of the reasons why many ministers had a good impression of him. He was very polite, and even if his official position was not high, he would still treat others with courtesy.

When all the court officials arrived, with a cry of "Your Majesty is here!", all the officials stood up collectively. The First Emperor walked in from the side hall, holding his sword in his left hand, and walked towards his dragon throne step by step.

When the First Emperor sat down on the dragon throne, all the civil and military officials of the Qin Dynasty saluted him and said, "Your Majesty!"

There was no kneeling or kowtowing, nor were there any shouts of "Long live the emperor!" There were only relatively simple and plain etiquette.

The First Emperor nodded and said, "Gentlemen, please be polite and take a seat!"

More than a year ago, the ministers of the Qin Dynasty had to stand when attending court meetings, but now they have seats and the comfort level has increased significantly.

The First Emperor was obviously in a good mood today. He smiled and said, "Seeing Li Nian here, you must have been wondering if there is something important happening at the court today. I will not hide it from you, there is indeed something!"

"The Qin Dynasty has won, the Donghu and Yuezhi have been defeated, but this does not mean the end of the matter. Instead, from now on, the Qin Dynasty will enter a new stage."

The First Emperor's voice echoed in the palace, and all the ministers listened attentively, even Wang Wan, Wang Jian and others who already knew what the First Emperor was going to do today.

"When the victory report came back, Li Si talked about the impact of this victory on the Qin Dynasty and what changes the Qin Dynasty must make. I have a copy of the advice after the victory, and I will share it with you today. Please read it first."

Following the words of the First Emperor, eunuchs entered the hall one by one and presented the documents that had been prepared long ago to the ministers. The documents were on paper, with dozens of pages. If they had been recorded on bamboo slips in the past, they would probably take up a whole cart.

The ministers began to look through the document, and the whole hall was filled with the sound of papers being flipped. This document was jointly prepared by Li Nian, Qin Shi Huang, Wang Wan and others.

Although Li Nian put forward many ideas, some of them did not conform to the reality of the Qin Dynasty. Li Nian also always used examples from later generations. These parts that would reveal that Li Nian came from later generations had to be deleted. In addition, those words that were not very friendly to foreign countries also had to be removed and revised into a version that conformed to the Qin Dynasty.

Although as the drafter and main creator of this document, he already knew the contents of the document, Li Nian still opened the document in his hand and began to read it.

However, as he flipped through the documents, he observed the expressions of other ministers. The expressions of the ministers were different. Some frowned in thought, while others were puzzled at first, then understood and looked amazed, as if they were surprised by the plan described in the document...

After reading the documents, Li Si sighed in his heart, "Mr. Li Nian's talent is far superior to mine. Although I have seen that after this victory, the Qin will change and have made plans in advance, my thoughts are far inferior to Mr. Li Nian's."

He had also thought of some of the advice in this document, but compared to his, the advice in the document was more detailed and thoughtful. It took into account what he had thought of, and also what he had not thought of. His thoughts were deeper and his plans were more complete.

Li Si even had the thought, "Since Li Si was born, why was Li Nian born?", but he immediately dispelled this thought. He was over sixty years old, while Li Nian was only in his twenties, and they were not of the same generation at all.

After a while, when he felt that the ministers had read enough, the First Emperor's voice sounded again, "Have you all finished reading? What do you think?"

Li Si was the first to say, "This book describes all the opportunities and difficulties that the Qin will face after this victory. The advice is detailed and the analysis is thorough. The book is right. This victory is the real beginning, not the end after a victory. The Qin should seize this opportunity and leap from a local power to an international power."

The most shocking thing about this document to the ministers was that it told them the difference between local powers and international powers, and pointed out how to develop from a local power to an international power.

This is also the reason why Li Si feels inferior to Li Nian!
To become a great international power was a path they had never even thought of, but this man proposed it and clearly gave a way to achieve it.

The advice given in the document is also very interesting. Although some of the content was deleted by the First Emperor, Wang Wan and others, it can still be seen that the Qin Dynasty can gain huge benefits from it: Qin Dynasty will formulate "laws" that all countries must abide by, Qin Dynasty will establish an organization for the alliance of all countries, and Qin Dynasty will build a trade system...

If what is said in the document can be realized, the Great Qin will become the king of all nations, its reputation will be known to all lands, its power will spread to all nations, and all nations will be proud to be patronized by the Qin. Li Si continued, "This book can serve as the general outline for the development of the Great Qin into an international power. I agree with what is said in the book!"

After being revised by Qin Shi Huang, Wang Wan and others, this document has few omissions. It was brought out at the court meeting today to gain the acceptance and approval of all ministers. After all, this is a change in the national policy of the Qin Dynasty, and all ministers must agree and be willing to implement it.

After Li Si, Zhao Gao also said: "The words in this book are unparalleled, especially the difference between local powers and international powers, which really makes me admire. If we can follow the words of this book, the Great Qin will lead all the countries and conquer the world!"

Chunyu Yue also said: "This book says that a great international country should promote education and have more people who can read and write. I agree with this. Promoting education can improve the wisdom of the people, making it difficult for foreign cultures and customs to invade. It can also allow the Qin Dynasty to have more talents to show its strength to other countries."

The document also mentioned the various difficulties that would be faced after becoming an international power, such as being influenced by the customs and habits of other countries and nations, and promoting education was to enhance the resistance of the people of Qin to bad cultural customs.

Of course, even without this point, Chunyu Yue, who came from a Confucian background, would still agree with the promotion of education.

After these people spoke, other ministers also spoke up and expressed their opinions. The hall became lively, but suddenly, a minister stood up and said, "I request that the author of this book be executed!"

The Zhangtai Palace suddenly became quiet. All the ministers looked at the minister who stood up and spoke. They saw that he was not afraid at all and stood there with a serious expression.

After hearing this, many people understood what this person was trying to say. The advice and strategies in this book were extremely good for Daqin, but they were good for Daqin, not for the emperor of Daqin. They were good for the country, not for the monarch.

The prosperity and strength of a country does not mean that the emperor will benefit from it, and it may even shake the emperor's rule.

Many people noticed this, but no one said it. This book was obviously written by that person. Your Majesty took it out today, obviously intending to endorse that person.

Moreover, considering the high regard Your Majesty holds that person in, if I were to point it out, not only would I not gain any benefit, but I would instead be punished by Your Majesty.

Therefore, although many ministers saw that this document was beneficial to the country, it might not be beneficial to the royal family, but they did not speak out, except this one.

The First Emperor looked at the minister and asked, "Why do you think so, Mr. Tao?"

The minister said solemnly: "Although what is said in this book is good, it will bring great harm to the Qin Dynasty. The strength of a country is not the strength of its king, and the wealth of a country is not the wealth of its king..."

The minister expressed his opinion: although the strategies in this book would make Qin powerful, they might be harmful to the emperor and the royal family.

Li Nian was listening to the minister's speech in the hall. Although the people of this era were not as knowledgeable as those of later generations, they were not stupid. As long as things were explained clearly to them, it would not be difficult for them to judge the pros and cons.

But the minister was wrong because the First Emperor had already made the decision when he decided to produce this document.

Should he choose to make the Qin Dynasty become unprecedentedly powerful and become an emperor that future emperors could hardly reach, or should he choose to let the Qin Dynasty continue for several more generations and eventually fall like other dynasties.

In order to maintain the stability of their own dynasties, feudal monarchs would eliminate those factors that they considered unstable, such as implementing maritime bans and strict household registration systems, all of which were to eliminate unstable factors. After all, it was a family empire, and they all wanted their dynasty to last forever.

However, Li Nian changed "Strengthen the country and the people, or maintain the rule of the dynasty?" to "Do you want to achieve unprecedented great achievements, or maintain the rule of the dynasty?", making it impossible for the First Emperor to eliminate this unstable factor in order to maintain the stability of the Qin Dynasty.

Anyway, you have to give up one of them. You can't have your cake and eat it too. The choice made by Qin Shihuang was to achieve a feat that was unprecedented and may be difficult to surpass in the future!

After the minister finished speaking, he said, "This book may seem like a brilliant theory of governing a country, but in fact it is the source of harm to the world. I ask that you confiscate this book and burn it, and punish the author of this book."

The First Emperor said to the minister, "I already know what Mr. Tao is thinking. But may I ask Mr. Tao, is there any country in the world that will last forever?"

Hearing this question, the minister understood what the First Emperor was going to say, but he couldn't possibly tell the First Emperor that "there is a country that will last forever", so he could only reply, "Your Majesty, as far as I know, there isn't! Whether it's the Xia, Shang, Zhou, or ancient countries, there hasn't been one!"

But he added: "Just because it has never happened before doesn't mean it won't happen in the future!"

The First Emperor ignored this and asked calmly, "Why were they destroyed?"

The minister said: "The Xia and Shang dynasties were destroyed because of the tyranny and stupidity of Jie and Zhou, and the Zhou dynasty was destroyed because of the incompetence of the emperor. The Qin dynasty has a wise ruler and capable ministers, and will not repeat the same mistakes."

The First Emperor shook his head and said, "However, in my opinion, although the reasons for the demise of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were due to Xia Jie, Shang Zhou and the Zhou emperor, they were not the fundamental reasons. The fundamental reason was the change in the general trend, and they failed to keep up!"

When the First Emperor said this, many ministers recalled what he had said before, "The situation has changed, but they have not been able to keep up." After careful consideration, they found that it made sense.

"What Tao Qing said is indeed a loyal word, but it will make Daqin isolated, not connect with the outside world, and not change internally. In this way, it will not be able to keep up with the changes in the general trend and will eventually fall."

"Now is a time of great change. If we, the Great Qin, do not seize this opportunity to reform and leap forward, we will be seized by other countries. By then, they will be strong and the Great Qin will be weak, and they will surely counterattack the Great Qin."

The minister said: "All these countries are barbarians. Even if they have a thousand years, I am afraid they may not be stronger than the Qin Dynasty."

The First Emperor said, "The various countries are indeed barbarians now, but if Great Qin does not make progress for a long time, it will eventually catch up with others. If Great Qin follows Tao Qing's idea of ​​closing its doors to the outside world, how can we know whether other countries have changed more than Great Qin? Do we have to wait until the soldiers of other countries gallop across the territory of Great Qin before we can know?"

Although Li Nian did not talk about that period of history in later generations, with the wisdom of the First Emperor, it is not difficult to guess what happened in later generations.

The First Emperor said, "Even if we follow your advice, the Qin Empire may not last forever. But if we follow the strategy in this book, the Qin Empire may last forever! I don't agree with what you said! The Qin Empire can die in strength, but not in weakness!"

The words "I won't take it!" and "The Qin Dynasty can perish in strength but cannot die in weakness!" made many ministers feel as if they were getting to know their emperor for the first time.

(End of this chapter)