Diqin Designer

Chapter 42 It’s just like you, Fusu!

Li Nian also understood at this time and looked at the two piles of bamboo slips in front of him.

"This pile is the bamboo slips of the princes, so could this pile be the bamboo slips of the ministers of the Qin Dynasty? The First Emperor must have assigned these two questions to the ministers and princes as homework, asking them to answer them."

'The First Emperor is indeed the First Emperor!'

Li Nian was impressed.

Some emperors were too reluctant to avoid these two questions, but Qin Shi Huang raised them openly and asked everyone to answer them.

Is this the value of being “the first Chinese monarch to be called emperor”?
"But why did the First Emperor send these bamboo slips to me? To ask me for advice?"

Li Nian asked the guard who reported: "Besides these bamboo slips, did the king send any other royal decrees?"

The guard thought about it seriously and said, "Sir, no!"

This is strange. They didn't tell him what to do, but just gave him these bamboo slips. Did they just want him to simply take a look at them?
The First Emperor certainly wasn’t that boring!
After reading Gongzi Gao's bamboo slips, Li Nian picked up another scroll from the pile of bamboo slips that were suspected to be written by the princes of the Qin Dynasty.

The bamboo slips confirmed his guess. They were written by a young master, and the content on the bamboo slips also answered the two questions, but what the young master said was unremarkable.

He read the bamboo slips of several princes in succession, and found that there was not much novelty in any of them, and the writing and wording were relatively ordinary. It was not until he opened a scroll of bamboo slips and saw that the signature was Fusu that Li Nian became excited.

He wanted to see what insights this prince of Qin, who was most valued by the First Emperor, would have.

Expectations come quickly and go quickly!

After reading a few sentences, Li Nian looked strange, and secretly said, "It's you, Fusu!"

The writing on the bamboo slips is better than that of the other princes. What is said seems to be well-reasoned and the main theme is very clear. It revolves around "The Qin Dynasty's harsh laws and punishments are not the right path, and the only way is to implement benevolent policies."

But Fusu, you are a prince of the Great Qin, the eldest son that the First Emperor values ​​the most. Have you ever considered what your father, the First Emperor, would think when you presented such a bamboo slip?
'It seems the above content is not yet finished. Could Fusu have written a bunch of bamboo slips?'

Li Nian took a look at the remaining bamboo slips and took a breath. The First Emperor had only a few sons, but the number of bamboo slips in this pile clearly exceeded the number of his sons.

There is no doubt that someone must have written more than one volume, and the person who wrote the most is most likely Fusu.

He picked up another scroll of bamboo slips, and sure enough, it was Fusu's bamboo slips. He picked up another scroll, and it was still Fusu's bamboo slips...

Li Nian could probably imagine how the First Emperor felt when he saw Fusu's bamboo slips. He must have been furious, but he had no way to deal with Fusu.

This is the tiredness and helplessness of an old father who does not understand his son.

Fusu did not understand the crux of the problem at all, nor did he recognize his own position.

What the First Emperor wanted was for him to become a qualified king, to have the skills and ways of a king, and not to listen to or believe in one side only.

But now Fusu has obviously grown in the wrong direction and is developing in a direction that is not like that of a king.

He is the eldest son valued by the First Emperor and the one who will inherit the Qin Dynasty in the future. How can he not recognize himself and not understand what he should do?
Is it that what Qin Shi Huang disliked was Fusu’s talk of benevolent government?
Of course not. If it was because Fusu talked about benevolent governance, he would not have let Chunyu Yue teach Fusu. After reading all the bamboo slips of Fusu, Li Nian exclaimed, "Wow, it really has more than ten volumes. When the First Emperor saw these bamboo slips, he must have been furious."

The eldest son he valued was a fool who didn't understand his ideas and often poked his heart and lungs. The youngest son he loved was a beast and a bad seed. The rest of his sons were a bunch of mediocre fools.

No wonder the First Emperor did not appoint a crown prince for so many years. Who among these princes could he appoint?
"The son is useless, and the First Emperor himself has problems. For someone like Prince Fusu, he should be changed to a different name and given a different surname, so that he can experience civilian life and understand the difficulty of governing a country and the thoughts of his father, the First Emperor. As for Hu Hai, there is nothing much to say, it is better to kill him humanely as soon as possible to avoid polluting the air."

Li Nian had neither bad feelings nor good feelings towards Fusu.

However, if he were allowed to choose, it would be better for Fusu to become the next emperor, because Fusu is kind and benevolent, and his life would be more secure under him.

After reading the bamboo slips of the princes of the Great Qin, Li Nian looked at another pile of bamboo slips and took one from them.

This first volume was written by Zhao Gao.

Seeing the signature on the bamboo slips, Li Nian thought: "Did the First Emperor do it on purpose, or was it an accident?"

Among so many ministers' bamboo slips, Zhao Gao's was placed first. Li Nian didn't quite believe that there was no intentional element in this.

Thinking about the fact that the first scroll he got from the bamboo slips of the princes of the Great Qin was the Hu Hai bamboo slips, Li Nian felt more and more that it was intentional by the First Emperor.

'Zhao Gao was also a capable man, he spoke sensibly and gave good examples. There was no mediocre person who could climb to a high position in the Qin Dynasty. In the history books, they made some stupid moves that were considered stupid by later generations, but they were actually in line with the times and their own interests.'

"This is Li Si's bamboo slips, which are very insightful. But I remember that Li Si once advised in history to 'delay punishment and reduce taxes'. Why is it that here the punishment is increased to make the people afraid?"

Seeing the contents of Li Si's bamboo slips, Li Nian pondered in his mind.

'Yes, people's thoughts are not fixed. At different ages and in different environments, people will have different ideas. Now that the Qin Dynasty has just unified the world, it is possible that Li Si may have such an idea.'

Continuing to read the bamboo slips, Li Nian saw Wang Wan's proposal to seize the core areas and enfeoff remote areas. He sighed: "If we follow Wang Wan's method, the Qin Dynasty might have avoided the demise of the second emperor. However, the First Emperor in history was too confident and felt that the Qin Dynasty had the ability to completely control the world, so he did not adopt Wang Wan's suggestion."

'Wang Wan lost his position as prime minister and Li Si became prime minister. This may have been the reason. The First Emperor wanted a prime minister who shared his ideas.'

'There are many reasons for the fall of the Qin Dynasty, but one of them is undoubtedly that the Qin Dynasty was the first unified dynasty in China. No one had ever governed such a huge dynasty before, and the way to govern was still being explored, and it was too hasty.'

"Wang Wan's method provides a transition. If adopted, it will allow the Qin Dynasty to get through the novice period of governing a unified dynasty."

'When the Han Dynasty was first established, the kings were enfeoffed, and the power of the kings was eventually weakened during the reign of Emperor Wu. This is somewhat similar to Wang Wan's approach.'

'But the big man certainly didn't think so much at the time. He just needed to divide the country because of the situation. He didn't expect to accidentally create a transition for himself.'

'Of course, the Qin and Han dynasties cannot be completely lumped together. The situation in the Qin dynasty is more complicated.'

Li Nian carefully read Wang Wan's bamboo slips again. This prime minister of the Qin Dynasty, who left few records in later generations, was indeed capable.

If he had no ability and was just a mediocre person, how could he serve as prime minister under the First Emperor?
(End of this chapter)