Diqin Designer

Chapter 94 The King Wants to Change the Official System of the Qin Dynasty (Additional chapter for Nuan Yang)

Although the Xianyang examination is a good idea, it is not realistic to hold it immediately.

The Qin Empire now has a vast territory. It will take time for the news of the examination to spread throughout the country and for talented people from all over the country to rush to Xianyang.

Otherwise, why did scholars who wanted to go to Beijing to take the imperial examinations in later dynasties have to set out so long in advance?

The truth is that the territory is too large, the roads are poor, and it is inconvenient to travel long distances. If you don't arrive in advance, you may miss the time.

Ying Zheng also thought that it would take time for the world's talents to gather in Xianyang, so he said, "The Ministry of Railways will be responsible for announcing this matter to the world, and the time for the exam is tentatively scheduled to be after March."

No one asked what the exam was about. It certainly wasn't going to be about Confucian classics. Now is not the time when Confucianism is the only dominant school of thought. There are talented people from all walks of life in the world. If you take the exam on Confucianists instead of their own school, aren't you looking down on them?
"We need to ask Li Nian what the exam is about. Let's gather all the talented people in the world first."

This is also one of the advantages of this era. If during the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, one had said that one would not test on Confucian classics but directly test on how to govern a country, one would have been criticized by Confucian scholars all over the world.

Upon hearing Ying Zheng's royal order, Wang Wan, Feng Jie, Li Si, Chunyu Yue, Zhao Gao and other officials in charge of the carriage assembly responded in unison.

Wang Wan said, "I have something to report to Your Majesty. The decree for the imperial carriage has been completed. Please review it!"

There were a lot of bamboo slips containing the laws and decrees of the Yutai, so it was impossible for Wang Wan to carry them with him. Moreover, every minister had to be checked every day when attending court to confirm whether they were carrying any sharp weapons.

This is the rule set by Ying Zheng after Jing Ke assassinated Qin.

Everything that entered his palace had to be inspected, whether it was a map or bamboo slips.

Because a sharp blade can be hidden in a map, and so can a bamboo slip.

The bamboo slips that the ministers wanted to present to Ying Zheng were not on them, but were handed over to special eunuchs and guards in advance. They would not be presented until the ministers reported to Ying Zheng and Ying Zheng allowed them to be presented.

"Present it to me!"

Four eunuchs carried two piles of sorted bamboo slips into the hall and presented them to Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng did not look through the slips immediately, but continued to discuss matters with his ministers.

After the court meeting was over, important Qin officials such as Wang Wan, Li Si, and Feng Jie were retained.

Looking at the ministers who remained in the palace, Ying Zheng said, "I have asked you to stay. I have something to discuss with you. Please read the bamboo slips first. I will give them to you now!"

Following Ying Zheng's order, several eunuchs brought trays of bamboo slips to the table in front of Li Si and others.

As an important official of the Qin Dynasty, he deals with bamboo slips every day when handling government affairs. He has long been numb to it, but he is still curious about what is recorded in these bamboo slips.
Could it be related to Li Nian again?
Ying Zheng said, "If you have finished reading one, you can exchange it with others!" and began to read the bamboo slips presented by Wang Wan about the Zhiyutai.

The emperor and his ministers were all reading, and for a moment the Zhangtai Palace was as quiet as a library, with only the sound of bamboo slips being turned.

The ministers wanted to read more bamboo slips than Ying Zheng, and they had to exchange them for their readings, so Ying Zheng finished reading them first.

In his opinion, the laws and regulations formulated by Wang Wan, Li Si, Chunyu Yue and others were already very detailed, from which one could also see which one was proposed by Chunyu Yue, which one was proposed by Li Si, and which one was a combination of the opinions of both sides.

Sure enough, it was right to send Chunyu Yue over there. It could restrict Li Si's legalist ideas and prevent the Zhiyutai from becoming another Tingwei Mansion.

However, Ying Zheng decided not to express his opinion on whether the Zhiyutai would be established in this way. He first showed these bamboo slips to Li Nian to see if the boy could point out the problem. The ministers who read the bamboo slips looked more and more serious, even Zhao Gao looked solemn.

What they read on the bamboo slips were simply astonishing: first, the reform of the Qin official system; second, the revision of the Qin laws; and third, the process for the king to become emperor.

The ministers were not surprised by the revision of the Qin laws. After all, Ying Zheng's attitude had been made public. The Qin laws must be revised to make them suitable for the world. However, they never expected that the king would have the idea of ​​revising the Qin official system. The process of proclaiming the emperor was also quite detailed, as if someone had already been proclaimed emperor according to this.

As soon as this idea came into being, it was immediately rejected by all the ministers. How could this be possible?
Although there have been Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors since ancient times, no one has ever combined "Emperor" and "Emperor" together. The king is definitely the first monarch in history to be called emperor.

But if no one had ever been called emperor before the King, how did the people who wrote these bamboo slips come up with such a detailed and specific process? How talented and intelligent must they have been?

Could it be Li Nian again?
The ministers realized that they had thought of Li Nian too many times today!
Wang Wan thought to himself: "This man's talent is unprecedented, no wonder the king values ​​him so much."

Li Si was thinking: "Could it be that I am wrong? This person is not the son of the king. He is just appreciated by the king because of his intelligence. This shouldn't be the case..."

If Li Nian is not the king's son, but just a person of extraordinary talent, then the king should be more cautious. If such a talented person is loved by the people of the world, it will definitely threaten the royal power.

With the king's imperial mentality, it is impossible that he could not see this, but he did such an unreasonable thing. There must be a hidden story.

Zhao Gao thought: "No matter whether this person is the king's son or not, I must not offend him. If I see him in the future, I must try to make friends with him."

Wei Liao was thinking: "This man is indeed talented, and I am not as good as him. However, according to what he said on the bamboo slips, he will definitely increase the power of the King of Qin. I don't know whether this is good or bad."

The method of modifying the official system described in the bamboo slips was clearly to increase the monarch's centralization of power!

Wei Liao didn't dare to imagine how terrible a king with so much power would be, especially a king like the King of Qin.

The ministers also understood the purpose of Ying Zheng keeping them. This was to inform them in advance, to ask for their opinions, and to let them know that he was going to do these things, so that they would stand on his side when he announced it to all the ministers.

After dealing with government affairs for a while, seeing that all the ministers had finished reading the bamboo slips, Ying Zheng put down his pen and asked, "What do you think?"

Prime Minister Wang Wan said: "The bamboo slips describe the etiquette of Your Majesty's enthronement in great detail. I think it only needs a few minor changes and Your Majesty can use it."

Wei Liao also chose one thing to answer: "If we follow the words of the bamboo slips, the new law can be promulgated in the name of amnesty on the day when the king becomes emperor, which will indeed make the new law more popular among the people."

But neither of them talked about revising the official system. Of course, Ying Zheng noticed this and directly asked, "What do you think about revising the official system? Li Si, you speak!"

Li Si was quite reluctant to answer the question of amending the official system. Although even if the official system was amended, he would still be an important official of the Qin Dynasty, but his power would not be as great as it is now, not to mention that he also wanted to become the prime minister.

But according to what was written in the bamboo slips, the power of the prime minister would be greatly diluted, far less than what Wang Wan currently holds. What he wants to be is a prime minister with real power like Wang Wan, second only to the emperor in the entire empire.

According to the Legalist thought, Li Si should agree with what was written in the bamboo slips, because the Legalists advocated that the monarch should centralize power and hold all power in one hand. However, Li Si was not a pure believer in the Legalists.

It should be said that few people are pure believers of a certain school of thought, and the same is true for Han Fei. His loyalty to Han is obviously better than his loyalty to the Legalist doctrine, otherwise Han Fei would not have died in the Qin Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)