Ying Fusu

"Phew~~"

"No wonder His Majesty was so resolute in stopping the construction of the Epang Palace."

"And there's the Great Wall, the Straight Road, and the Imperial Mausoleum at Mount Li..."

In just a moment, Zhang Han, the Shaofu Ling who had initially thought Fusu was worrying unnecessarily, now had a stern expression on his face.

Realizing that the Great Qin was already in a hidden corner, with one foot hanging over the edge of a cliff, he felt a chill run down his spine.

He sighed inwardly, then looked up at Fusu.

Fusu took a deep breath, smiled bitterly, and sighed, "If we want to escape this dead end, my Great Qin must live within our means."

"All unnecessary and reducible expenditures should be cut as soon as possible."

"Only necessary expenditures, such as officials' salaries and road maintenance, should be retained, and taxes should be reduced or exempted as much as possible based on actual needs."

"Under the premise of barely maintaining the situation and maintaining control over the Guandong region, we will minimize the burden on ordinary people and farmers."

"In this way, we can first curb the trend of people hiding their households and stabilize the population."

"The people can make a living, the household registration system is stable, and the tax revenue is sufficient to support the salaries of the administrators."

"Only in this way can our Great Qin have a future."

It was as if they had guessed what Zhang Han was thinking;

Fusu's subsequent words brought to the forefront the most serious and alarming hidden danger that the Qin Dynasty had faced since unifying China.

Finance and taxation.

In later generations, people often complain that female-oriented historical novels always place the word "rules" above all else.

An emperor is born to be an emperor; imperial decrees are naturally inviolable, and rules are absolutely not to be violated.

Subjects must obey the emperor's orders and do whatever he tells them to do;

The common people must also listen to the government, pay taxes when told to pay taxes, perform military service when told to perform military service—even if they are starving to death, they should not go out into the streets to cause trouble for the government.

But in fact, most normal people know that the source of power is not the title of emperor or general, but the actual power that person controls.

To put it in a more familiar way: it's not that he was the emperor, so everyone listened to him; rather, it's that everyone listened to him, so he was the emperor.

What are these concepts of destiny and bloodline? They are nothing more than tricks used by rulers to keep the people ignorant in order to save time and effort and reduce the cost of governance.

The fundamental source of the rule and the ruled is actually the oppression of the weak by the strong.

Moreover, it was utter and complete military oppression.

As the powerful figures of the past two thousand years have said: the emperor is the one with the strongest army and the most powerful horses.

When you possess the power to suppress the entire world and fear no force that defies your will, even if you are not the emperor, there will always be someone who will shout on a hot day, "It's cold, put on some clothes," and then put a dragon robe on you.

Only after you've established your dominance over the land and ruled over a region will you start to think: should you find a way to emasculate the will to resist in the minds of the lower classes?

Otherwise, people will think they're all capable and want to start a rebellion at the drop of a hat.

It's not that they lack the ability to quell the unrest;

It's just not worth it?

Despite all the effort put into quelling the rebellion, money, provisions, and supplies were spent like water, only to restore the area where the rebellion occurred to its original state.

What's the difference between that and the rebellion not happening at all?

Instead of going to great lengths and incurring huge costs to quell a rebellion—and doing so repeatedly and over and over again—it would be better to find a way to prevent rebellions from happening in the first place at a low cost.

As a result, the idea that the monarchy was ordained by heaven or the gods, or that it was a matter of destiny or fate, or even a prophecy of a golden knife, began to spread throughout the world.

The ignorant lower classes truly believe you are the chosen emperor, so naturally they dare not entertain any improper thoughts.

Those more intelligent and less easily fooled ambitious individuals know clearly what terrifying absolute power you possess, and therefore dare not provoke you.

In this way, your rule became increasingly stable, and was passed down from generation to generation.

Until one day, a hundred years later, one of your descendants also believed the claim that "I was born to be the emperor, and no one can take the throne from me," and began to make one foolish move after another.

If another ambitious and ruthless traitor emerges and shouts, "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?", then the three-hundred-year dynastic cycle will have come true in this feudal dynasty that you established.

And in this process—in this cycle of establishment, prosperity, decline, and demise—how do you maintain your rule?

The answer lies in finance.

The world is full of goodwill, and the world is all good.

There are only two reasons why people under you will listen to you and be willing to do things for you.

Firstly, he can't beat you, so he doesn't dare to think about taking your place.

Secondly, based on the first point, you gave him enough benefits to make him feel that working for you was not a bad idea.

Since I can't beat you or take everything you have, I might as well submit and get some scraps from you than fight a battle I'm destined to lose.

Therefore, there is a saying in ancient China that "the way to govern subordinates is nothing more than a combination of kindness and severity."

A combination of kindness and severity – kindness refers to sharing the benefits, where the emperor eats the meat and the others drink the soup;

Wei, on the other hand, wields his axe and shield, making an example of someone to scare others, flexing his muscles, and telling his subordinates: Don't provoke me!

I have plenty of means and strength to crush you prisoners like flies!

First, intimidate them with your power, then share the benefits with kindness. Give them a beating and then a sweet treat, and the team will become easier to manage.

However, when this principle is applied to a regime—especially a unified Chinese regime—it cannot be clearly defined or completely separated.

In other words, it is difficult for grace and power to exist independently in a unified feudal regime in China.

What is "en"?

interest.

It could be a title, an official position, or power and wealth.

Ultimately, it all boils down to this: either I'll give you a fortune right now;

Alternatively, you could be given a temporary (official position) or hereditary (noble title) status with extremely high social standing, allowing you or your family and descendants to continuously acquire wealth.

Where does this wealth come from?

Taxes.

The emperor must first collect protection fees from the people so that he can bestow wealth upon his subjects and share profits with them.

What is Wei?

force.

Military power, troops, and a sufficiently strong armed force, that is, an army.

The creation, training, maintenance, and support of an army also require an extremely large amount of wealth.

As later generations said: When the cannons roar, gold is worth a fortune.

There's a similar saying in this era: "Raising an army for a thousand days is for using it for one."

If you want to use troops for a short time, you must first train them for a thousand days.

Raising an army requires money and provisions.

You have to pay soldiers' salaries and provide them with rations to feed them—you have to show favor to the army so that they can help you exert your authority over the world.

After going around in circles, we've come full circle: taxes.

—To rule the world, the emperor needs enough helpers.

To keep these helpers content to remain "helpers," it is necessary to balance their interests through a combination of rewards and punishments.

Both grace and power require central government revenue from taxes to sustain them.

The central government needs sufficient fiscal revenue to pay salaries to bureaucrats and feed them.

It also requires sufficient fiscal revenue to support a large enough army and maintain absolute dominance over the entire world.

Therefore, there is also a somewhat inappropriate saying in later generations.

—A feudal dynasty was essentially a super-sized brown society, a dynamic social organization.

Collecting taxes from the bottom up is just collecting protection money.

Supporting the army is just like supporting thugs.

Aren't bureaucrats just low-level bosses who help manage territory and keep watch over things?

...

Closer to home.

Considering all of the above, the current problems facing the Qin Dynasty were actually quite predictable.

A large army requires equally large military expenditures to maintain in order to ensure the stability of rule;

Since Qin unified China, its territory expanded several times over, and its population increased many times over. This necessitated a rapid expansion of the Qin court's bureaucracy in order to effectively govern the new territories and population.

The exponential increase in the number of bureaucrats also meant a similar increase in official salaries.

Everything costs money.

Both grace and power require taxes, and the army and bureaucrats both need to spend money.

If that were all, it wouldn't be a big deal.

—With more territory and population, there is a greater need for an army and bureaucracy to maintain rule, which naturally requires higher financial expenditures.

However, more territory/land, and more population, can also bring in more tax revenue.

The two are positively correlated, and the proportion is not large, which is sufficient to maintain the relationship.

Before unification, the Qin court was able to support enough troops and officials to serve the Qin state, and even have a surplus, based on the territory and population of the Qin state.

After unification, the Qin Dynasty could naturally use the territory and population of "Huaxia" to support the army and officials needed by "Huaxia".

Increased spending and higher income should not have led to a drastic change in the fiscal situation.

The crux of the problem lies with the fascinating ancestor of the Chinese people: Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng.

It's the same old story: the Great Wall, the Straight Road, the Epang Palace, and the Lishan Imperial Mausoleum.

The income and expenditure were originally balanced, but then such a large unplanned expenditure suddenly appeared, causing the income and expenditure to become unbalanced!

What should I do?

Raise taxes, what else can you do?

We can't let His Majesty the First Emperor be hampered by taxation and unable to realize his grand ambitions just so that those "remnants of the six states" can live a good life, can we?

Then came the vicious cycle of increasing taxes leading to more hidden households, and the more hidden households were taxed, which quietly descended upon the Qin Empire.

Later generations often said that the Qin Dynasty only lasted for two generations because Hu Hai was tyrannical and Zhao Gao seized power, squandering a good hand of cards.

However, anyone who understands this history, the financial situation of the Qin Dynasty, and the heavy tax burden of later generations knows the truth.

—That is, the First Emperor died at Shaqiu;

—That is to say, the First Emperor died young;

If the Qin Dynasty had lived another three to five years, it's possible that it wouldn't have failed to achieve the epic feat of having a founding emperor who also became the last ruler of the dynasty.

What happened to the First Emperor?

So what if it was the First Emperor?

Everyone needs to eat!

The common people and farmers need to eat, the officials and nobles need to eat, and the soldiers in the army also need to eat!

The fiscal situation is tight, and the trend is accelerating and irreversible, with the situation becoming increasingly strained.

Life is getting harder and harder for those at the bottom of society, and they even yearn for the dark days of "Chu with only three households".

At this point, you're still trying to cut costs and increase revenue?

Don't even mention the Ancestral Dragon—even if you were a real dragon, it wouldn't work!

"At the beginning of the First Emperor's unification of China, the taxes were not too heavy and were sufficient for the expenses of the court."

After a long silence, Fusu exhaled a long breath and handed over the second bamboo scroll.

He said to himself, "But right now, there are millions of hidden households in our Great Qin, and we need extremely heavy taxes just to keep the country running."

"Even if the Great Wall, the Straight Road, the Epang Palace, and the Liling Mausoleum were all abandoned, it would still be the same."

"Furthermore, if taxes are not reduced and the burden of taxes and labor remains heavy, the number of unregistered households will definitely increase."

"With fewer and fewer people paying taxes, the government's revenue will continue to decrease."

...

"This is a rough estimate made by me."

"--The agricultural tax is one-fifteenth of the total tax, the poll tax is calculated separately, and the household tax and all other miscellaneous taxes are abolished."

"If we can reduce the taxes of my Great Qin to this level, my Great Qin can still keep most of the country under the control of the central government."

"The rest should be enfeoffed as a temporary measure—the feudal lords should collect taxes, support officials and the army, so as to save the central government a sum of money."

...

"I have also considered the potential risks involved."

"If they are granted fiefdoms but continue to exploit the people with heavy taxes, they will surely lose the support of the army and the people, and will find it difficult to gain any real power."

"If taxes are light, then there will be insufficient officials and troops to support them. Even if they want to rebel, they will not have the ability to do so."

"—The former may possess the power to cause rebellion, but lack sufficient popular support;"

"The latter is someone who cannot even govern their own fiefdom properly. Even if they have the support of the people, it is futile for them to raise an army and rebel."

At this point, Fusu laid bare his future plans to Zhang Han without reservation.

—The world is too vast, and the Qin court is still too immature;

The sudden unification was unprepared in every aspect.

In particular, the First Emperor's "leap forward" development laid a minefield for the Qin Dynasty's finances, making it impossible for the Qin Dynasty to simultaneously maintain low taxes and control the entire country.

Therefore, further enfeoffment became an inevitable outcome in Fusu's mind.

If we want to save the Qin Dynasty—if we want to forcibly pull the Qin Dynasty back from the brink of collapse—this is the only way.

Zhang Han's reaction greatly surprised Fusu.

"This is simple..."

"well……"

...

"Your Majesty's estimate is still too optimistic..."

At the banquet, Zhang Han looked solemn, his gaze fixed on the bamboo slips in his hand.

After a long while, he finally let out a sigh and casually raised the bamboo slip in his hand.

"Based on the agricultural tax rate and poll tax amount set by His Majesty, let alone most of the country;"

"Even if it were half the country, I'm afraid it would be difficult..."

...

"If the enfeoffment is implemented—not to mention anything else, just the enfeoffment of Yan, Zhao, Wu, Chu, Liang, and Qi would reduce the tax revenue of the Xianyang court and government treasury by more than 40% from the figure calculated by Your Majesty."

"Nearly half of the remaining tax revenue will be used by Qin Zhong alone."

"In addition to the grain and supplies being transported to Lingnan, and the provisions and pay for the troops stationed on the northern border..."

"Sigh~"

"Disaster."

"Oh no..."