Qin Dynasty: Your Majesty, I really am a time traveler.

"political reform!!?"

Upon hearing these two words, the DNA of the Li family members instantly activated, and they immediately spoke:

"Your Majesty, the situation is not yet completely stable, and Qin law..."

Li Si stopped speaking halfway through his sentence.

He realized that he was no longer the prime minister of Qin, nor the leader of the Legalists; he was merely a usurper who had failed the law!

Even though he had a thousand different opinions about the reform at that moment, he could only swallow his anger in the end.

"Your Majesty, I, the guilty subject Li Si, have spoken out of turn. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

"Let's put aside the issue of punishment for now. Let's talk about the county system that you and His Majesty established."

Seeing the awkward relationship between the emperor and his minister, Tang Yu disregarded all that and went straight to the point.

When Li Si, feeling disheartened, heard someone wanting to discuss the culmination of his life's work with him, he subconsciously retorted.

"Your Excellency, is there something wrong with my prefecture-county system?"

Thinking back to the later development of Qin Shi Huang's unification of China and the prefecture-county system, Tang Yu, even though he was standing on the shoulders of his predecessors, couldn't help but admire that Li Si and Qin Shi Huang were both great talents!

This prefecture-county system has been used in China for thousands of years. Even when I traveled through time, the rudimentary form of the prefecture-county system was still there. It is truly a contribution that will benefit future generations!

"The prefecture-county system is indeed the culmination of Legalism's ideas, but some of its loopholes probably still need to be addressed."

"Loopholes? How could that be? My county system has no problems whatsoever; it's far superior to the corrupt feudal system!"

Li Si spoke with conviction, and seemed to exude a powerful self-confidence.

At this point, he disregarded Tang Yu's status as the Imperial Preceptor and began to stand up and argue with Tang Yu.

"Is that so? But your prefecture-county system seems to have created a lot of difficulties for His Majesty. Whatever His Majesty wants to do, he has to be controlled by the officials of those six kingdoms at every turn?"

Li Si, Ying Zheng: ...

For a moment, all three of them fell silent, because what Tang Yu said was indeed true.

This statement also points out the biggest problem Qin currently faces: the imperial power is not being extended sufficiently, and the people of the six states are still being ruled by local officials and influenced by local nobles.

Their bodies may be from Qin, but their souls are still those of the six other states. Therefore, whenever Ying Zheng issued an order, if those people from the six states really came together to cause trouble, Ying Zheng didn't have a good way to deal with them.

"Your Excellency, this problem certainly exists, but it cannot be solved at present. All we can do is wait."

Li Si's voice began to fade halfway through his sentence.

Everyone knows that what the Qin state lacks most right now is time—time to recuperate and develop. Waiting is indeed a solution, but can the Qin state really wait until then?

Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng couldn't help but look down at his own body and sighed imperceptibly.

This is actually the reason he seeks immortality. If he could truly achieve immortality and continue ruling the Qin state for decades more, who in the world would dare to rebel?

Unfortunately, even immortals say they cannot attain immortality...

Seeing Li Si's reaction, Tang Yu knew that these geniuses all had their own arrogant aspects. If he could defeat them by targeting their proudest points, it would be easy to win them over.

"Lord Li, since you believe that the prefecture-county system is the best solution at present and cannot be changed, how about we make a bet?"

"What bet? Never mind, I have nothing left anyway, so I'll accept this bet from the Grand Preceptor."

At this moment, Tang Yu and Ying Zheng exchanged a glance and both saw a signal in each other's eyes: things are stable!

"The terms of the bet are very simple: His Majesty will be the referee, and the two of us will improve the current county system. If my solution is better than Lord Li Si's county system, then even if Lord Li Si loses the bet, the stake will be the implementation of the reform."

Is this some kind of reverse psychology tactic? That's interesting!

A smile appeared on Li Si's lips. Since he became the prime minister of Qin, second only to the emperor, he had never heard such a clumsy attempt at provocation.

However, he found it extremely difficult to control the content of this provocation. Whether for his own sake or for the sake of the Legalists, he had to respond!

"In that case, Your Majesty, please bear witness!"

Seeing Li Si say this, Tang Yu stopped hiding his thoughts and began to tell them about what he had learned more than 2000 years in the future.

"First of all, the prefecture-county system is definitely correct, but there is a very good way to solve the problem of appointing officials, and that is..."

……

All the guards knew this time was that His Majesty and the Imperial Advisor had been in the Heavenly Prison for a long time, and the sound of His Majesty's loud laughter could be heard continuously along the way.

When they came out again, Li Si, the former prime minister of Qin, had also returned!

……

The next day.

In the imperial court, everyone saw a figure who should never have been there: Li Si, the leader of the Legalist school and the prime minister.

The Confucian scholars, led by Chunyu Yue, were all somewhat bewildered, staring at each other in disbelief.

"How did Li Si manage to get out of prison and even attend court?"

"Shouldn't he have been executed by this tyrant? From then on, the Confucian school would be the sole dominant force!"

Sitting on the dragon throne, Ying Zheng watched as the Confucian scholars exchanged glances and guessed what they wanted to do.

"Your Majesty, the crime committed by Li Si should, in principle, beheading. Why is it being displayed in the court?"

Many people who were at odds with Li Si were already getting restless. They had already finished opening their champagne bottles, and now they were being told that Li Si was alright? How could they accept that?

"You, Imperial Advisor, speak."

Seeing that Brother Zheng was speaking, Tang Yu didn't hold back and stepped forward, addressing the crowd:

"Yesterday, His Majesty and I interrogated Li Si and found that he has no intention of rebelling. Considering Li Si's past contributions to Qin and his great achievements, we decided to take action."

"Although what he did in the future was absolutely treacherous and his crimes were unforgivable, it would be unfair to behead him for that reason."

"Therefore, His Majesty has decided to allow him to continue in his position, but to confiscate all his property and wrath, and to place him under the close surveillance of the Black Ice Guard for life, prohibiting him from having any contact with the outside world!"

"Let him atone for his sins by governing the Qin state diligently!"

After he finished speaking, while everyone else was still reeling from this big news, Li Si stepped forward and knelt before Ying Zheng.

"Li Si of the City of Sin! Thank you, Your Majesty, for sparing my life!"

Tears streamed down Li Si's face as he recalled his time in the prison yesterday.

After Tang Yu finished speaking, he left first, leaving Ying Zheng behind. Ying Zheng personally unlocked the shackles and said only one sentence at the end.

"I will trust you one more time."