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Chapter 139 Unification of the world

The State of Yan was driven to the cold and barren Liaodong, and the State of Zhao retreated to Dai County to survive. The State of Chu, which dominated the south, split into two Chu states.

Seeing that no one could stop him, Ying Zheng directly arranged for Lu Buwei and Li Si to arrange for him to ascend the throne.

King Ying Zheng of Qin adopted a method of coexistence of feudal fiefdom and county system, directly dividing the world into 48 counties. The king was the nominal highest chief of a county, and under him were the county governors. Only the king in the frontier far away from the Central Plains had real power.

Officials at all levels were appointed by the emperor, and even the royal titles were divided into three levels: prince of a county, prince, and hereditary prince. Currently, only the rulers of the three kingdoms of Han, Wei, and Qi were qualified to be hereditary princes.

Their own fiefdoms were reduced to the size of a county, and they no longer had any real power. They were merely the "mascots" of a place. Therefore, King Jian of Qi, King An of Han, and King Jia of Wei felt fortunate because they were the only three hereditary fiefdoms at present.

After Ying Zheng became emperor, he immediately appointed Prince Cheng Jiao as King of Lu to guard the land of Qi and Lu.

Yingxi was enthroned as King of Wu, and was given control of the military and political power of Wu County, and participated in the war to annihilate the State of Chu.

The Chu State, which was already on the verge of collapse, was in constant panic. After Ying Zheng became emperor and granted the world power, the people had no will to resist. The Chu general Xiang Yan saw that the situation was hopeless and simply committed suicide for his country.

After destroying the State of Chu, Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng officially appointed Mi Qi as the King of Chu, and his fief was Si Shui County, which was near Daze Township where Chen Sheng and Wu Guang later rebelled.

Looking at the jubilant King of Chu Mi Qi, Ying Zheng had already arranged his future. If he could appease the original Chu people, it would be fine. However, if rebellion still occurred, he must be punished as the King of Chu.

After the destruction of the State of Chu, all of Qin's attention was focused on the States of Zhao and Yan. Then Ying Zheng ordered Wang Ben to lead an army of 100,000 Qin troops to attack Liaodong. After destroying the royal family of Yan, he stationed 50,000 Qin troops in Liaodong to prepare for the subsequent destruction of Wei Man Joseon.

Because Prince Dan of Yan assassinated Ying Zheng, no new King of Yan was enthroned after the royal family of Yan was destroyed.

Meng Wu saw that Wang Jian and his son Wang Ben had both achieved the merit of destroying the country, but as a general of Qin, he had fought with Zhao for so many years, but Zhao was still able to survive. Meng Wu suddenly felt very depressed.

When Ying Zheng ordered Meng Wu to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Zhao State, which had retreated to Dai County, Meng Wu suddenly launched a mad attack. As King Yan of Zhao fell ill and was paralyzed in bed as soon as he retreated to Dai County, all the power of Zhao State fell into the hands of Prime Minister Guo Kai.

In order to please Qin Shi Huang, Guo Kai plotted to kill Li Mu and tied up Julu Marquis Zhao Mu and sent him to the Qin military camp.

General Meng Wu led his army to directly control the temporary palace of Zhao State and captured all the royal family members of Zhao State. However, Ying Zheng still did not enthrone the new King of Zhao.

"Your Majesty, now that the world is unified, we should renovate the Xianyang Palace to shock the world!"

"Well! Prime Minister Lu's words make sense! But now we need to reform the system and re-establish controls as soon as possible! My dear ministers, what are your thoughts?"

Hearing Ying Zheng's question, the ministers in the hall began to whisper among themselves. Then Li Si looked around and saluted Ying Zheng on the dragon throne. "Your Majesty, I suggest adopting the system of three dukes and nine ministers."

"The Three Dukes are the Prime Minister, the Grand Marshal, and the Imperial Censor. The Nine Ministers are the Minister of Rites, the Minister of the Imperial Household, the Minister of Guards, the Minister of the Imperial Household, the Minister of Imperial Court, the Minister of Guests, the Minister of Imperial Clan Affairs, the Minister of Grain, and the Minister of the Imperial Household."

"Hmm! Very good! Do other officials have any objections?"

"I agree!"

"Well! In that case, let's temporarily implement the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers system!"

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

When the ministers heard that Ying Zheng said it was temporary, they realized that Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng was not satisfied with the system of three dukes and nine ministers.

In fact, Ying Zheng wanted to implement the Ming Dynasty's cabinet system of six ministries, but he was worried that people today would not understand it, so he was prepared to change it slowly.

"Appoint Lü Buwei as the Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty, commanding all officials under heaven!"

"Your Highness Lü Buwei accepts your command and thanks you!"

"Appoint General Meng Wu as Grand Marshal, commanding all the troops in the country!"

"Your Majesty, I, Meng Wu, thank you for your grace!"

"Appoint Li Si as Imperial Censor, assisting the Prime Minister in commanding all officials!" "Your Majesty, your servant Li Si accepts your order and expresses his gratitude!"

Now that the world is unified, the Huns and other foreign tribes that Yan and Zhao once faced have become the top priority of the Qin Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, regarding the Xiongnu, I suggest building a Great Wall and connecting the walls built by various countries."

"No! Building the Great Wall is extremely expensive, and it doesn't necessarily eliminate the alien races. My dear ministers, you all have other methods!"

Hearing that Ying Zheng directly refused to build the Great Wall, the ministers in the hall showed confused expressions again, because when Yan, Zhao, Qin and other countries faced foreign invasions, they all chose to build the Great Wall.

Looking at the confused expressions of the ministers below, Ying Zheng shook his head helplessly. Hadn't the Queen Dowager Xuan of the Qin Dynasty set the best example when she dealt with the foreign race, the Western Rong?

Simply defending will not solve the problem at all. Qin Shihuang took great pains to build the Great Wall, but later generations had no way to stop the invasion of foreign races.

Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, was pinned to the ground by Maodun, the Khan of the Xiongnu, and nearly lost his life. The emperors of succeeding dynasties could only rely on marriage alliances to maintain peace.

Therefore, the real way to eliminate foreign races is to integrate them into oneself. If the Western Rong had not been integrated into the Qin Dynasty, there would be no unified world under the Qin Dynasty today.

"Wang Jian! Meng Tian!"

"Chen is here!"

"I order Wang Jian to be the commander-in-chief, Meng Tian to be the deputy commander, and lead an army of 200,000 to garrison the Xiongnu and Donghu frontiers, using offense instead of defense!"

"Sir, obey the order!"

"Yao Jia!"

"Chen is here!"

"I order you to assist Wang Jian and Meng Tian in building cities throughout the Xiongnu and Donghu regions, attracting Xiongnu and Donghu nomads to live in these cities. You will also issue them with Great Qin identity cards! You will also teach their children to learn the Great Qin language and knowledge, treating them as equal citizens of the Great Qin."

"Yes! Your Majesty! I obey your command!"

"My fellow ministers of the Great Qin, simply defending against foreign races will not solve the problem. In fact, the Queen Mother Xuan has already set a successful example for us, which is to integrate foreign races into the Great Qin and make them a part of our Great Qin."

"Yao Jia, I will continue to order you to contact the leaders and Chanyu of the Xiongnu and Donghu tribes. As long as they accept the canonization of the Great Qin, we can live in peace."

"Your Majesty, I obey your decree!"

Yao Jia was really excited. These were all his specialties. He felt very honored to still be valued by Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

When Lu Buwei and Li Si heard Ying Zheng's series of orders, they were also shocked in their hearts, lamenting that Emperor Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng had already begun to consider the issues of the Xiongnu and Donghu.

It has to be said that Ying Zheng's combination of a big stick and a carrot can really solve the problem of foreign races completely.

Not only that, the reason why Ying Zheng let Wang Ben lead the army to Liaodong but did not directly attack Wiman Joseon was that he was planning to conquer Donghu and Xiongnu, and then recruit Xiongnu and Donghu troops to attack Wiman Joseon.

As for the Lingnan region, Ying Zheng was also preparing to recruit the Xiongnu and Donghu to form an army. In addition, by recruiting the local indigenous people of Lingnan, he would be able to completely solve the Lingnan problem without harming the vitality of the Qin State.

As for the Central Plains of Qin, the main focus was on recuperation, and a few standing field armies were established to suppress the dissenters in the world and make them gradually accept the rule of Qin.

This was a long and arduous process. Ying Zheng knew that he could not be too hasty and could only take his time bit by bit.

Ying Zheng believed that with his own foresight and the outstanding people gathered at that time, he would be able to do better than the Western Han Dynasty in later generations.

(End of this chapter)