Ying Fusu

Inside the side hall, the young masters and princesses were scattered in various places, kneeling with their eyes lowered.

However, most people's attention was drawn to what was behind them—to the three older brothers outside the palace gate.

Outside the palace gate, Fusu looked at his two younger brothers and was both amused and exasperated.

"Hmm~"

Let me guess.

"In recent years, the late emperor has grown increasingly displeased with me, while favoring the Eighteenth Prince even more."

"I was sent to Shangjun to guard the border, more than a thousand miles away from Xianyang. At the age of eighteen, I accompanied the emperor on his eastern tour and never left his side for a moment."

"so……"

"Me, this petty and narrow-minded eldest son, holding a grudge against the Eighteenth Prince?"

"Once the late emperor passes away, will they take advantage of their power to bully others, settle scores later, and imprison and torture the eighteen to vent their hatred?"

As they talked, Fusu smiled gently, and his gaze toward his two younger brothers carried a hint of mockery.

Upon hearing that their elder brother had revealed the thoughts of the young masters and princesses, Ying Gao and Ying Jianglu exchanged a brief glance.

Then, they each reacted in completely different ways.

"What are you saying, brother?"

"Why would my younger brothers think of their elder brother like that?"

"They were only eighteen and forbidden to have sex, so the younger brothers didn't know what had happened."

"After all, we are connected by blood and have deep sibling bonds."

"That's why I wanted to ask my elder brother to find out the truth. If Eighteen's crime wasn't serious, I could plead for my younger brother's life..."

The second young master, Ying Jianglu, remains as meticulous as ever, leaving no room for criticism.

The fourth prince, Ying Gao, remains straightforward and generous, instinctively inspiring a sense of goodwill and closeness in people.

Hi~

"We're brothers, why bother with such formalities?"

"—Brother guessed right."

"That's what my brothers think."

...

"Everyone says that once my brother gains power, he will be established as the second emperor. This is an attempt to vent my anger on the Eighteenth."

"Even if it was just venting anger, there's really nothing to say."

"These past two years have truly been tough on my brother!"

"It was us younger brothers who failed to speak well of our elder brother to our father and mediate, and thus failed to bring him back to Xianyang sooner."

"For brothers to be loving and respectful to each other, shouldn't the younger brother be the first to be respectful before the older brother can show brotherly love?"

After saying this, Gongzi Gao took a deep breath and frowned slightly, as if he was ashamed for not being able to fulfill his duty as a younger brother and for not being able to "rescue" Fusu from Shangjun sooner.

As for Fusu, his gaze shifted intriguingly back and forth between his two younger brothers.

In the end, he just shook his head and smiled.

"Second brother, still the same as always."

"Not a drop leaks."

...

"The fourth one hasn't changed either."

"Upright and frank."

……

This time, Fusu no longer paid attention to Ying Jianglu's pursuit of "rites";

She simply stretched out her hands and patted each of her two younger brothers on the shoulders.

Then he laughed and said, "There's one thing that Fourth Brother said that really hit the nail on the head."

"We're brothers, there's no need for such formalities."

These words caused both Ying Gao and Ying Jianglu to involuntarily curl up the corners of their mouths.

Then Fusu said again, "Even if no one asks about the matter of the Eighteenth Prince, I was just about to discuss it with the Second Prince."

As he spoke, Fusu reached out again and pulled up the arms of his two younger brothers;

From where I had originally stood, diagonally outside the palace gate, looking down into the railings of Xianyang Palace, I moved to the long steps extending from the palace gate.

He pulled his two younger brothers and sat down on the highest step.

Then, he slightly suppressed his smile and became more serious.

"Eighteen, deeply sinful."

"They have no choice but to punish them."

...

"Having coveted the sacred youngest brother, I find it difficult to feel at ease letting him leave the palace."

"But in the end, they are brothers connected by blood—I would not want to be punished like the common people under Shang Yang's laws."

"What I mean is to bypass national law and use family law and clan law to restrict people to eighteen."

"And this is what the Minister of the Imperial Clan of Great Qin should do, not me, the eldest son, or the future second emperor, to 'go into battle bare-chested'."

As Fusu spoke eloquently, Ying Gao and Ying Jianglu were still not recovered from Fusu's earlier actions.

Holding his two younger brothers, he casually squatted down on the long steps outside the main hall of the central palace.

In the past, this was absolutely unimaginable!

Firstly, since the First Emperor was still alive, no one dared to be so "disrespectful" or so unrestrained outside the main hall of the central palace.

Secondly, there was Fusu.

—In the past, Fusu valued rules and etiquette just as much as the moral gentleman Ying Jianglu!

It is no exaggeration to say that Prince Jianglu's "moral gentleman" qualities were modeled after his elder brother Fusu.

Ying Jianglu's moral demands on himself were less about self-discipline and more about emulating and pursuing role models.

But now, Fusu, contrary to his usual behavior, disregarded his image and pulled his two younger brothers to sit outside the main hall...

"These past two years in Shangjun, elder brother..."

"Does that seem a bit too open-minded?"

Prince Ying Gao's words, half teasing and half doubtful, made Fu Su shake his head and chuckle again.

"I've figured some things out."

"But it can't be described as magnanimous either."

Fusu's calm demeanor finally put his two younger brothers at ease.

The hesitant, worried look that had been on Ying Gao's face was no longer there.

Ying Jianglu, after a brief moment of surprise, quickly shifted his attention to the important matter that Fusu had mentioned.

"Brother is right."

"If a member of the clan commits a crime, it would be best if the Minister of the Imperial Clan could punish him according to the laws of the clan, without going through the Court of Justice or the national law."

"It not only preserved the clan's reputation and prevented turmoil in the court and the country, but also spared the elder brother from being accused of 'harming his own brother'."

"only……"

As he spoke, Ying Jianglu frowned slightly.

He exchanged a glance with his fourth brother, Ying Gao, and said with a hint of hesitation, "In our Great Qin court, although there are the Three Dukes and the Nine Ministers, not every position has a specific person in charge."

"The Three Dukes are: Chancellor, Grand Commandant, and Imperial Censor."

"In the present Qin Dynasty, there are two prime ministers, Feng Quji and Li Si, with Feng Jie serving as Grand Secretary."

"However, since the First Emperor unified the world, no one has ever held the position of Grand Commandant."

"The last person to hold this position was General Wang Jian, who was in charge of conquering the State of Chu."

"The position he held was not Grand Commandant of Qin, but State Commandant of Qin at that time."

...

"Take the Nine Ministers, for example."

"Since Li Si was promoted from his position as Minister of Justice to Left Chancellor by the late emperor, the position of Minister of Justice has been vacant until now."

"Even earlier, Li Si was transferred from the position of Dianke to Tingwei, and the position of Dianke has remained vacant ever since."

"The late emperor must have favored Zhao Gao for the position of Grand Master of the Palace, so he appointed Zhao Gao as the Chief of the Imperial Carriage Department to hone his skills in the Grand Master of the Palace Department in preparation for his future promotion."

(The Chief of the Central Carriage Office, also known as the Chief of the Central Carriage Bureau, was a department under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Stud.)

"The late emperor had been considering the position of Imperial Physician for many years, and had already been observing the high-ranking official Meng Yi..."

As his second brother, Ying Jianglu, listed the current high-ranking officials and ministers of the Qin court, Fusu couldn't help but sigh.

Seeing that Ying Jianglu had stopped talking and was not going to continue, he took over the conversation.

"Who can argue with that..."

"It was nearly ten years ago that the teacher was sent to the North Wall to take charge of the border troops and supervise the construction of the Great Wall."

"Even now, the teachers still hold fast to their positions as the Minister of Agriculture."

"—You should know that the Minister of Agriculture is in charge of agricultural affairs in Qin."

"The teacher is far away on the north wall, yet he holds the position of 'Agricultural Official' in Guanzhong..."

...

"Upon closer examination, among the nine ministers of our Great Qin, only the position of Shaofu is truly held by a chief official."

"The position of Fengchang was once concurrently held by Chancellor Wang Wan, but it has not been filled since Wang Wan's death."

"The position of Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat was nominally held by the teacher."

"The remaining positions have all been vacant for many years..."

……

After he finished speaking, the three brothers fell into an extremely eerie silence.

From the perspective of later generations, it is rather strange that the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers system, which was the fundamental political system of the Qin Dynasty, had such a large number of vacant positions.

It's not so bad if one of the Three Dukes is missing a Grand Commandant—military power is a sensitive issue, so it's okay to be careful.

However, the Nine Ministers' subordinate offices are the backbone and pillars that keep the court running.

How can there be no chief officer?

And this is precisely why the three brothers fell silent at this moment.

Because the source of all this is that fascinating ancestor of the Chinese people, the biological father of the three brothers: His Majesty the First Emperor.

It's not that the First Emperor was autocratic and afraid that the Nine Ministers would usurp his power, so he deliberately refused to appoint the Nine Ministers.

Even before unifying the six states, the Qin court had long suffered from a shortage of talent and public officials.

To fill the talent gap, Duke Xiao of Qin even issued a special edict to invite talented people from other states to come to Qin.

Over the years, talents from various countries gradually flocked to Qin, which slightly alleviated Qin's talent shortage.

As a result, after the First Emperor came of age and assumed power in the Qin state, another momentous event occurred that shocked the world.

—The Order to Expel Guests.

Seventeen years ago, the Qin state, which had not yet unified the world, experienced two major upheavals in succession: the Lao Ai Palace Coup and the Zheng Guo Canal Spy Case.

The main culprit, Lao Ai, as well as the implicated Chancellor Lü Buwei, and even the retainers who helped Lao Ai launch the palace coup and the guest ministers kept by Lü Buwei, were mostly "foreigners".

The latter, namely Zheng Guoqu's plan to exhaust Qin, was also a case of "foreigners" using the guise of guest ministers to carry out espionage.

These two events in quick succession greatly angered the First Emperor—or rather, King Zheng of Qin.

With the encouragement of the Qin royal family and officials, the Qin state eventually issued the "Order to Expel Guests" in a fit of anger.

In contrast to the "Edict for Seeking Talented Individuals" issued by Duke Xiao of Qin to recruit talents from all over the world, the "Edict for Expelling Foreign Guests" used legal means to expel all "foreign" guest ministers.

The law stipulates that all officials and clerks who are not Qin people shall be expelled.

Those who fail to leave Qin territory within the specified period will be imprisoned and punished.

...

Although later, Emperor Qin Shi Huang was moved by the historical "Memorial on Expelling Foreign Guests" and abolished the "Order to Expel Foreign Guests" that he had personally issued, people's hearts are easy to scatter but difficult to gather.

When your Qin state issues a decree seeking talented individuals, we all travel thousands of miles, crossing mountains and rivers, eagerly rushing over to become Qin officials.

As a result, another "expulsion order" was issued, treating us as spies from various countries, trampling on our dignity, and brutally expelling us from the country.

Okay;

Another "Memorial Against Expelling Foreign Officials" has arrived, trying to call us back to continue serving as officials?

Are you kidding me?

Don't we talented people have any pride?

Thus, since Duke Xiao of Qin issued the "Decree for Seeking Talented Individuals," the talented individuals from various states who had been painstakingly recruited to Qin over several decades flowed out of Qin.

Later, during the process of Qin unifying the six states, most of these talented individuals became pillars of their respective states, as well as obstacles to Qin's conquest of the six states and unification of the world.

Even after Qin swept across the six kingdoms and unified the world, bringing all of China under its control, most of the talented individuals who had been harmed by Qin or who had heard of the Qin court's mistreatment of "foreigners" were unwilling to serve Qin again.

Even if it meant farming or living in seclusion in the mountains, they would rather not accept government stipends again.

This has led to a serious problem.

—Talent gap.

Moreover, it is an unprecedented talent shortage.

Duke Xiao of Qin managed to recruit a pool of talent barely enough for the Qin state's needs through his "Edict for Seeking Talented Individuals," but King Zheng of Qin released them all with his "Edict for Expelling Foreign Guests."

Once a person's heart is broken, it cannot be mended in a short time.

As for the talents that Qin itself had—they couldn't even meet the needs of the former 'Qin', let alone the 'Great Qin' after it unified the world.

Later generations often say that the downfall of the Qin Dynasty was due to the tyranny and incompetence of the Second Emperor Hu Hai, the perverse actions of Zhao Gao, the unbearable suffering of the people, and their subsequent rebellion.

That's not wrong.

Ultimately, the most fundamental reason for Qin's rapid demise was its negligible control over the Guandong region—the former territory of the six states.

Because there was a lack of talented people and officials, they could only retain the officials from the former six states.

Once the people rise up against Qin, these "county magistrates of Qin" and "prefects of Qin" can be transformed into generals of the rebel army.

Furthermore, the First Emperor abolished the enfeoffment system and implemented the prefecture-county system, which made the "enfeoffment system," a seemingly backward but actually highly cost-effective means of territorial control, a wrong option that the Qin Dynasty had to eliminate.

This led to the rapid collapse of the Qin Dynasty and its extremely swift demise.

...

After unifying the country, the whole country was short of officials, and naturally, the court in Xianyang was also short of suitable candidates for the Nine Ministers.

Anyone with a bit of ability was sent to various parts of the country, either to take command of troops and suppress local authorities, or to oversee the construction of a building or infrastructure project.

The rest are just a few familiar faces like Feng Quji, Li Si, or Zhang Han.

The First Emperor did not have a good solution to this situation.

The only option was to recruit talented individuals—such as Zhao Gao and Meng Yi—to fill the vacancies in the Nine Ministers' subordinate offices.

On the other hand, he personally took charge of everything, barely managing to keep the Qin court running smoothly.

It is said that the First Emperor was overworked and crushed to death by the heavy burden of state affairs.

Little did people know that if there hadn't been a large number of vacancies in important positions in the court, even if the First Emperor had an insatiable desire for control, he wouldn't have done everything himself.

He worked himself to death.

Ultimately, the root of the problem lay in that "edict to expel foreign guests," which, after Qin unified the country, resulted in the disastrous consequence of "no talented people serving Qin."

...

"The late emperor personally attended to all matters, spending his days bowing to his desk, and was overworked."

"The Qin Dynasty must not continue like this."

"Second Emperor, this can't go on..."

Regarding his deceased father and this historical legacy stemming from the First Emperor, Fusu only attempted to bring it to a superficial conclusion.

Then, she turned her expectant gaze to her second brother, Gongzi Jianglu.

"I intend for the second son to become the head of the Imperial Clan."

"The first thing to do after taking office is to determine the crimes of the eighteen people according to the laws of the clan."

...

"Eighteen, after all, are our brothers and sisters connected by blood, the bloodline of the First Emperor."

"They must not be killed."

"Neither punishment nor prohibition is permissible..."