Ying Fusu

This was certainly not a whim of Fusu's.

It wasn't a gesture made to appease his younger brothers' fear and anxiety.

As early as in Shangjun, during the period when he foresaw the Sand Dune Incident but was unable to "reveal" it in advance, Fusu had already thought about it;

He wondered what he would need to do after the First Emperor's death, once he had resolved the imperial affairs and returned to Xianyang to become the "Second Emperor of Qin".

The answer is obvious.

Do everything that is beneficial to the stability of the Qin state and helps alleviate the pressure of life and survival for the people, thereby reducing the probability of peasant uprisings.

To get things done, you need two things.

First, one must have power.

You need people who listen to you, do what you say, and even do it better by drawing inferences from one instance to another;

Only in this way can matters at the court and national levels be accomplished.

People will only listen to you if you have the authority.

Second, it is people.

We need someone.

You need a trusted and capable team that you can direct like an extension of your own arm, and subordinates who can execute your commands precisely where you are told.

We need people who can get things done.

Things need people to do them in order to get them done.

...

Power—whatever can be grasped, Fusu will grasp after ascending the throne; what cannot be grasped temporarily, Fusu has no way to speed up the process of grasping.

Either we need to wait for time to pass, or we need to wait for the right opportunity.

For now, however, the identity of the "second emperor" is sufficient for what Fusu wants to do.

Therefore, the problem Fusu faced was not a lack of power, but a lack of manpower.

The First Emperor personally attended to every matter, sleeping only a little over an hour each day, barely managing to keep the Xianyang court running smoothly.

As for Fusu—to put it nicely, he didn't want to work so hard and was unwilling to use such a "clumsy" method;

To put it bluntly, Fusu simply didn't have the same ability as the First Emperor—to single-handedly handle most of the daily affairs of the court through high-intensity work.

As the saying goes, a fence needs three posts, and a hero needs three helpers.

Even emperors need heroes to help them.

Ordinary, lesser-known heroes helped the emperor govern local villages and counties;

The more capable and "greater" heroes would assist the emperor in serving in prefectures and counties, suppressing local strife, or enter and leave the imperial court to plan for the ancestral temple and the state.

Specifically regarding Fusu, it would require the support of his own people, such as the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, to ensure that the future second emperor, Fusu, could secure his throne and power.

The second brother, Ying Jianglu, was the first specialized talent that Fusu had his eye on.

...

"Before our Great Qin unified the six kingdoms, the First Emperor's 'Edict to Expel Foreigners' broke the hearts of scholars in the Guandong region."

Later, Li Si presented the "Memorial on Expelling Foreign Officials," and the First Emperor seemed to have realized his mistake and returned to the right path.

"In reality, they were first forced by their elders to 'expel the guests,' and then they tried to salvage the situation after the fact."

After a brief silence, the eldest son, Fusu, sitting between his two younger brothers, let out another long sigh.

He then sighed and reminisced, "Back then, the royal family of my Great Qin was like parasites sucking the life out of the country—regardless of their talent, they all hoped to gain official titles and ranks."

"In order to make room for his own desires, he did not hesitate to force the First Emperor to expel all foreign guests and officials."

"They completely disregarded the ancestral temples, the state, and the interests of our Great Qin."

...

"For this reason, after unifying the six kingdoms, the First Emperor hardly trusted or appointed any of his relatives."

"The abolition of the feudal system and the implementation of the prefecture-county system greatly disappointed the clansmen who were planning to carve out their own territories and become kings, and to establish themselves as the progenitors of their lineage."

"If he hadn't been so deeply hurt by his relatives in his early years, the First Emperor could have temporarily appointed virtuous and capable members of his clan to serve as the Nine Ministers."

"At least, there should be someone who can serve as the head of the clan."

Upon hearing this, the brothers Ying Jianglu and Ying Gao nodded in agreement.

This is yet another historical issue.

—Not just in the early days of the First Emperor's reign;

Instead, over the past century, the internal strife and obstruction caused by the royal family to the Qin state have remained at an extremely high level.

There were people with the surname Ying who wanted to use their 'royal' status to get a high-ranking official position, such as the prime minister.

Some people with the surname Mi wanted to take shortcuts by relying on their status as a "queen clan" to realize their political ambitions in Qin and then become the queen's support and backing.

Both sides are taking turns performing, neither willing to give up.

One moment it's an elder of the Ying clan jumping out to seize a certain official position, or it's a war or an infrastructure project.

Even more so, it could be supporting a certain young master!

One moment it's the Empress Dowager or Queen of the Mi clan, who suddenly appears and stirs up a major event like the Huayang Palace Coup, causing ripples and even upheavals in the Qin court.

As time went on, the First Emperor grew thoroughly fed up with it.

After unification, in order to cut off the influence of the imperial relatives on the government, the government left many positions of the Nine Ministers vacant and refused to appoint even a single member of the imperial relatives.

Even the position of Zongzheng, one of the Nine Ministers, can only be held by members of the imperial clan.

At the same time, in order to keep the Mi clan of Chu, who had been stirring up trouble in the Qin state for over a century, in line, the First Emperor decided not to establish an empress.

They did not appoint a crown prince.

That's how Fusu and his mother, Lady Mi, came to be. Even at their advanced age, they were still just "Young Master" Fusu and "Lady" Mi.

...

All of the above does not mean that the First Emperor was wrong.

—Internal strife among relatives, undermining the state, and obstructing the implementation of government orders for personal gain would certainly be intolerable to the First Emperor.

The fact that the Empress Dowager's family controlled the government and even interfered with the succession to the throne was something that the First Emperor absolutely could not tolerate.

Considering all of the above, it is entirely natural for the First Emperor to dislike his relatives with the surname Ying and his consorts with the surname Mi.

But now, the situation is different.

The First Emperor has passed away.

It's not that Fusu can run wild from now on;

Rather, it was because the First Emperor had already passed away, and most of the older generation of royal family members who had been sucking blood from the Qin Dynasty had also withered away.

Moreover, after unification, the imperial relatives had been suppressed by the First Emperor for more than ten years, and they had long since become obedient.

They dared not hold any further hope for the "division of the world into fiefdoms".

Under these circumstances, Fusu had the practical means to appoint one of his brothers or acquaintances.

—Ying Jianglu, the second son of the First Emperor, may not be considered a true 'elder of the clan' in the true sense;

But setting aside those old-school parasites, among the sons of the First Emperor, Ying Jianglu was the oldest, most virtuous, and most likely to control his younger brother, second only to the Second Emperor, Fusu.

Just like wealthy families in later generations, when the patriarch retires to the second line and the eldest son inherits the family business, the second son is usually responsible for disciplining the family members and coordinating the "internal affairs" of various relatives.

The same principle applies to the imperial family—or at least to the Qin Dynasty today.

"The second son will be the head of the clan, and the punishment of the eighteen members according to the clan law will be a major event for the second emperor."

"After that, it should be Senior Minister Meng Yi who is appointed as the Imperial Physician."

...

"Let's slowly find a suitable official in charge of grain, so that our teacher can sit in the Northern General's post without having to take up a temporary post in Guanzhong."

"As for the other positions, we can only proceed gradually."

Previously, when Fusu mentioned without warning that "I plan to make my second son the head of the imperial clan," Ying Jianglu and Ying Gao thought that this was Fusu's statement to the imperial clan—to his younger brothers and sisters.

The intention was to reassure all my younger siblings: Don't worry!

I'm not a bad older brother;

I don't even have time to deal with you guys.

Even my eighteenth brother, Hu Hai, whom I have already captured, I don't have time to deal with personally. I can only entrust him to your most trusted second brother, Ying Jianglu.

But at this moment, Fusu revealed a little about the follow-up arrangements, and the two brothers vaguely realized that this was not the case.

Appointing his second brother, Ying Jianglu, as the head of the imperial clan was probably something Fusu had planned for a long time.

Even today, the two brothers cannot find Fusu;

Regardless of whether his brothers and sisters were frightened by Hu Hai's fate;

None of this will affect the fact that Fusu will later appoint his second brother, Ying Jianglu, as the head of the imperial clan.

It had nothing to do with appeasing the imperial family or comforting his younger siblings; it was Fusu's personnel appointments based solely on political considerations from the perspective of the nation and the court.

"Mongzheng..."

"I am not an elder, and I fear I will not be able to command respect..."

"What if I fail my brother's expectations..."

Upon realizing that Fusu was serious, Ying Jianglu's first reaction was fear and self-doubt.

Fusu waved his hand dismissively.

Then he turned his upper body slightly to his left and began to speak to Ying Jianglu.

"The matter of being eighteen was just a starting point."

"Punishing the eighteenth prince is what I actually wanted to do, but it is also an opportunity for the second prince to assume the position of clan head and establish his authority among the clan members."

"—Handle the matter of the 18th anniversary in a more beautiful and proper way, and with a bit more assertiveness."

"From now on, no clansman will dare to cause trouble for the second son."

...

"As for the future, the second son should not belittle himself."

"My only expectation of the second son, the Minister of the Imperial Clan Court, is that he restrain his relatives."

"Do not let the events that have repeatedly occurred in Xianyang over the past few decades—such as the Huayang Palace Coup, the Lao Ai Palace Coup, the suspicion surrounding Prince Xi, and the chaos caused by Prince Chengjiao—reoccur in the Qin Dynasty."

"As long as you do the four words 'restrain your relatives,' the second son won't need to worry about anything else."

"After all, the Imperial Clan Court is different from other subordinate offices in the court; it hardly participates in national governance or administrative affairs."

After saying this, Fusu took Ying Jianglu's hand and gently patted the back of his second brother's hand.

"I believe in the second son."

"The second son will be a good head of the clan."

...

With things said to this extent—even the work outline had been issued—Ying Jianglu had no reason to refuse.

After careful consideration, I confirmed that doing so would not involve any overstepping of the rules or exceeding the regulations.

He glanced at his elder brother Fusu beside him, who was looking at him expectantly.

In the end, he could only nod solemnly and cup his hands to Fusu.

"I dare not disobey my elder brother's orders."

"I am willing to share my elder brother's burdens."

"I will do my utmost to live up to my elder brother's expectations."

As soon as the words left their mouths, the anxiety that Ying Jianglu and Ying Gao had felt vanished completely.

The position of Zongzheng, whether in the past Qin state or in the present Qin dynasty, was perhaps just a nominal and insignificant "pseudo-Nine Ministers".

However, for the Ying clan, the Zongzheng (宗正) was an indispensable buffer between the clan and the emperor.

A relative made a mistake, but he didn't think it was a big deal;

The emperor was furious, but he was unwilling to take action against his own blood relatives.

In such situations, a clan official is needed to mediate and resolve the conflict between the two sides.

On the one hand, punishing the imperial relatives in a way that appears to be a severe punishment but is actually a form of leniency allows the emperor to vent his anger and also serves as an explanation to the people and the court.

On the other hand, they used blood ties and kinship as excuses to plead with the emperor on behalf of their offending relatives.

Ultimately, a result was reached that neither side was entirely satisfied with, but both could reluctantly accept it.

...

Imperial Clan Member: I, a member of the imperial clan, have actually been punished!

I'm a little annoyed.

But they didn't punish me to death; they just gave me a beating.

It is true that I was in the wrong first, and I reluctantly admit it.

...

Emperor: I, the Son of Heaven, have failed to eliminate these parasites!

I'm a little annoyed.

But they weren't completely let off the hook; they were at least given a beating and a lesson.

I can't really do anything to my blood relatives;

Let's leave it at that...

...

Therefore, the emperor's attitude towards his relatives can often be seen from his attitude towards the head of the imperial clan.

The emperor's respect for the Imperial Clan Court officials shows that he highly values ​​blood ties and would certainly not mistreat his relatives.

When an emperor disregards the imperial clan's authority, it means he doesn't value kinship and is generally not very kind to his relatives.

As for the First Emperor?

The First Emperor did not appoint a Minister of the Imperial Clan.

It's clearly a message to those troublesome relatives: just be honest and live a quiet life, don't cause any trouble!

If anything really happens, the Minister of the Imperial Clan won't be there to protect you!

Now, Fusu, the eldest son who is about to become the second emperor, plans to appoint a new Minister of the Imperial Clan after many years.

The only candidate was Ying Jianglu, who was the most trusted among the late emperor's sons besides Fusu.

This attitude—this attitude towards the royal family—undoubtedly put the two brothers, Ying Jianglu and Ying Gao, at ease.

"That's true."

"My elder brother has always been kind, righteous, and gentle."

"If Eighteen hadn't gone too far, how could my brother have..."

Unbeknownst to them, the sense of shared sorrow between the two brothers, stemming from Hu Hai's imprisonment, transformed into their understanding of their elder brother, Fusu.

—It's definitely a question about eighteen!

To drive such a good older brother to the point of imprisoning his younger brother is truly despicable!

Thinking this, the two brothers finally looked at Fusu with the same reverence they had shown their elder brother for decades.

There is worship and respect;

But the anxiety, fear, and unease about unknown dangers were no longer there.

...

As the two brothers calmed themselves down, Fusu was also pondering a question.

Was the First Emperor's abolition of the enfeoffment system truly a case of being too eager for quick success and instant benefits?

The feudal system was indeed an old system that should be eliminated;

However, civilizations, especially ancient civilizations of a scale like China, often amplify the historical inertia of their systems.

Many things, even the smallest ones, must be done step by step, slowly guiding them in a new direction.

Unlike the First Emperor who abolished the feudal system, which caused a complete upheaval overnight.

"Fourth brother..."

"If only I could be the King of Zhao of my Great Qin, or the King of Liang..."

"Um……"

Looking at his fourth brother Ying Gao's thick, sturdy frame, as solid as a door panel, the thought became an unstoppable force in Fu Su's mind.

However, this matter concerns major national policies.

Even though Fusu had this thought, he was in no hurry to reveal it.

—For such a significant matter, Fusu would not inform any unnecessary people until it was finalized.

What constitutes an unnecessary person?

Those who cannot help Fusu accomplish this, and who only make things worse by receiving advance notice...