[Various] The Deposed Crown Prince's Survival Story

“But…” Hu Hai scratched his head, and said hesitantly, “The Xiongnu are swift as the wind. What if they break up into smaller groups and don’t aim to attack, but only to plunder? Wouldn’t the people living on the border be in trouble?”

After Hu Hai finished speaking, he found it quite amusing. If his deeds were passed down to future generations, wouldn't he be considered a foolish ruler for all time?

This foolish emperor of all time is so concerned about the lives of his people; Hu Hai was almost moved to tears by his own actions.

After my rebirth, I am no longer the Hu Hai of the past, but Hu... Little Pig, a cute little pig.

Fusu glanced at Huhai, casually pointed at him, and said, "That's right, what you said makes a lot of sense. However, for the Xiongnu, it's not a matter of 'if' but 'certainty,' they will definitely do it."

Having received Fusu's affirmation and expression, Hu Hai was overjoyed, feeling as sweet as if he were eating honey, as a primary school student would describe it. However, he still had some questions, "Then why..."

“If we can’t attack, then we’ll just defend.” Fusu picked up a pen and drew a few winding vertical lines on the map. “Build a wall on the border. We won’t rebuild it; we can just connect the existing walls of the six kingdoms. What do you think?”

"The Great Wall!" Hu Hai exclaimed in surprise.

"The Great Wall?" Fusu tilted his head and thought for a while, then smiled and said, "That's a good name, let's call it the Great Wall."

“Wait, wait, you’re building the Great Wall… The Great Wall is very expensive. Where will you get so much manpower and resources?” Hu Hai straightened up, placed his hands on the long table, and leaned forward to look at Fusu.

The Great Wall must never be built! The reason why the Qin Dynasty perished in my previous life was because my father was too extravagant and wasteful. He built the Great Wall, the Straight Road, the Epang Palace, and the First Emperor's Mausoleum, among other things that wasted manpower, resources, and money, which aroused public resentment. That's why the people rose up in rebellion as soon as my father died.

It is said that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled in the first year of Qin Er Shi's reign. Even if I am capable of causing trouble, I could not have caused the people's resentment to boil over so quickly.

Thinking of this, Hu Hai glanced at Fu Su and sneered, "Those guys in my past life rebelled in your name, using you as their bad older brother. I'll bite you."

"How could we lack manpower and resources? The treasures of the six kingdoms of Shandong over hundreds of years have almost filled the Xianyang Palace. Even if Father Emperor is a spendthrift, he won't spend them all so quickly. Besides, instead of letting Father Emperor use them to build houses, it would be better to build the Great Wall and do something meaningful. As for manpower..." Fusu's lips curled into a handsome smile, "Of course, the Qin people don't have any, but what about the Baiyue? Aren't so many barbarian tribes excellent sources of manpower? Father Emperor has recently relocated hundreds of thousands of households to the Baiyue..."

"Land is limited, but people are unlimited. In order for the newly settled people to live and work in peace and to change their customs as soon as possible, we have no choice but to make those barbarians suffer."

"The best way to change customs and traditions is to relocate people, move them all out of their hometowns, and then redistribute them. In less than twenty years, the customs will naturally change."

"Moreover, after these people moved out, they could go and build the Great Wall."

"But will they obediently listen to you and give up their hometown?" Hu Hai asked uncertainly.

What the State of Chu couldn't resolve in eight hundred years, how could the State of Qin possibly resolve in twenty years?

"Either die or leave," Fusu said casually, glancing at Huhai.

Watching his elder brother casually decide the lives of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people, Hu Hai felt a real sense of rebirth for the first time. His older brother would never have said something like "either die or go."

The proposal to build the Great Wall was, after all, a historical event, and it greatly pleased Ying Zheng, so it was easily approved by him.

However, the later migration of the Baiyue people greatly worried Ying Zheng, for two reasons:

Firstly, the Baiyue people would certainly refuse to relocate, or would rather die than leave. Although they could be killed, there would be a lack of manpower to build the Great Wall.

Secondly: The Baiyue people are also Hu people, and the Xiongnu people are also Hu people. What if they collude together? Wouldn't the border be unstable?

"Father, please rest assured, although the Baiyue and Xiongnu are both non-Han peoples, they do not speak the same language or have different customs. It would be extremely difficult, almost impossible, to incite them. If Father is truly worried about them communicating, perhaps we could do this..." Fusu smiled slightly and explained his plan to Ying Zheng in detail, "We will send people to persuade the Baiyue to relocate, and at the same time, we will send people to Baiyue to trade slaves. Once we have captured enough slaves, we will then claim that the Qin Dynasty does not allow slaves to be used to rescue these Baiyue people... um... pay to rescue them, and warn the world that such incidents must not happen again, that this will not be an exception... and those Baiyue people will have to build the Great Wall for several years to repay their debt."

"The government has gained access to both the people's livelihood and a strong workforce."

“Once this precedent is set, many merchants will surely capture Baiyue people as slaves, waiting for the government to pay to ransom them.”

"Once there are enough Baiyue people, the government can arrest all these merchants on charges of slave trading and confiscate their property."

"At the same time, given that they are constantly being captured as slaves, I don't believe that the Baiyue people can hold onto their homes and refuse to move."

"As for the Baiyue people who went to build the Great Wall, we will manage them according to the military and nobility system of the Qin Dynasty."

“Every Baiyue person can be exempted from all debts and regain their freedom by killing just one Xiongnu person, and at the same time enjoy the normal treatment of a citizen of Qin.”

"Killing one more Xiongnu will absolve one of my relatives of their debts."

"In this way, the Xiongnu and Baiyue people will never be able to collude again."

Ying Zheng gave Fusu a thumbs up, indicating that the proposal was approved, so only one last proposal remained.

"Father Emperor feels that Xianyang Palace is a bit cramped and uncomfortable to live in," Ying Zheng said with a sigh.

If Hu Hai were here, he would surely have been able to pinpoint Ying Zheng's intentions and know that Ying Zheng wanted to build a large house, which is what later became known as the Epang Palace.

If a more extravagant or sycophantic child were here, they would surely agree with Ying Zheng, saying that their father was absolutely right, and that the Xianyang Palace was old and inconvenient to live in.

“Xianyang Palace is too small…” Fusu nodded heavily, frowning, and repeated Ying Zheng’s words.

"Yes! Xianyang Palace is too small!" Ying Zheng nodded vigorously, feeling frustrated. It was not in line with his status as the ruler of the world.

Fusu turned his head and looked at Ying Zheng, quickly saying, "Xianyang Palace is too small, then you can go live in Zhangtai Palace."

The "Xianyang Palace" mentioned by Fusu is actually the Xianyang Palace in a narrow sense, which refers to the palace built by Duke Xiao of Qin north of the Wei River.

Back then, the Qin state was so poor that it had to sell palaces to pay salaries. In addition, Duke Xiao of Qin lacked foresight and did not know that the Qin state would become so powerful later. Therefore, when building Xianyang Palace, he did not have any foresight. In modern terms, back then, apart from the government, most people rode bicycles. The mayor of the capital city thought that building a four-lane road would be enough to meet the needs of the country's transportation.

Unexpectedly, in less than twenty years, every household switched from bicycles to cars. Even if it were a four-lane road or a fourteen-lane road, traffic jams could still stretch for half a kilometer.

In addition, the area north of the Wei River is inherently small, so even if they wanted to build a fourteen-lane road, there wasn't enough space to do so. No wonder Ying Zheng felt cramped living there.

The Qin kings were not the only ones who felt aggrieved. One of the first things King Huiwen of Qin did after ascending the throne was to build the Zhangtai Palace south of the Wei River, making it the main court palace for the Qin kings south of the Wei River. King Huiwen conducted his official duties sometimes at Zhangtai and sometimes at Xianyang. During the reign of King Zhaoxiang, he resided at Zhangtai Palace for many years. Many famous events took place in Zhangtai Palace throughout history, such as… the return of the jade disc to Zhao intact, and… Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin.

Well, although they were all bad things that embarrassed the King of Qin.

Therefore, when Ying Zheng said he didn't want to live in Xianyang Palace, Fusu suggested without hesitation that he go to Zhangtai Palace.

"Zhangtai Palace... is too small now." Ying Zheng's eyes seemed a little unfocused.

Logically speaking, Ying Zheng shouldn't have asked Fusu about such a trivial matter. After all, he was the emperor and the father, and wanting to build a new house was perfectly reasonable and justifiable. Others only had the right to suggest, not the right to veto.

But as everyone knows, Chinese people like to choose a place with good feng shui whenever they break ground, whether it's building a house or burying a dead person.

As "China's first feudal superstitious man," Ying Zheng always had high standards and strict requirements when it came to feudal matters, and he was never ambiguous about them. Therefore, after deciding to build a new palace, he decisively sought out his three advisors, Lu Sheng, Hou Sheng, and Han Zhong, and carefully inquired about the feng shui of the new palace from them.

"Your Majesty, matters of feng shui are of great importance. Why don't you consult someone else?"

"Another person? Is there someone in the Great Qin Dynasty who is more skilled in feng shui than the three of you?"

"Your Majesty, this person is right beside you, but you are blinded by your own perspective and have forgotten about him."

Hearing the other person practically admit he was "blind to his own shortcomings," Ying Zheng curiously pressed on, "Who is this person beside me?"

"Your Majesty, this person is indeed the eldest son."

"Chang Gong... Fusu? How could he possibly..." Before Ying Zheng could finish speaking, he suddenly remembered the story of Fusu using a coconut shell to divine the Nine Tripods.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, and if he hadn't known that the nine tripods that were retrieved looked like they had been in the water for decades, Ying Zheng would have seriously suspected that Fusu had thrown them in.

"What you said makes a lot of sense. Fusu might actually know feng shui." Ying Zheng muttered to himself. Thinking about it carefully, it seems that there's really nothing Fusu can't do besides getting pregnant and giving birth. But why is it that whenever Fusu is mentioned, I always think of a cute but silly guy?

Ying Zheng was puzzled.

What he didn't know was that if Fusu knew his thoughts, he would be very angry and say, "What's so difficult about getting pregnant and giving birth? If you want to see, I can actually give birth to one for you in no time."

My beloved 123 Romance Star reproduces by self-division!