The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Chen Ping thought too much. "Sleeping on the same bed" was just a polite remark from Heifu. Their friendship was far from that good. It was just a small banquet specially held for him in the mansion. There were no outsiders except Zhang Cang, the cousin of Chen Ping's wife.

Because it was dark, Chen Ping did not have time to carefully observe Heifu's mansion given by the emperor. He only knew that the mansion was magnificent, with high walls and a large courtyard. The walls of the courtyard were decorated with gorgeous paintings and lacquer, which were bright and eye-catching. It was newly renovated at a glance.

The candlelight on the bronze lamp holder illuminated the hall. After the three sat down, Zhang Cang joked at the table that according to the specifications of the right minister, this mansion covers an area of more than 70 houses (one house is 30 cubic steps)! Even the east and west Zhangs in Huyou Township combined cannot compare to it, not to mention that this is Xianyang City with extremely high land prices!

"My house is small, and I have many wives, concubines, and children. It is noisy all day long. It is not as spacious and quiet as this one. Chen Ping, you can just stay here and feel at ease."

Hei Fu thought Zhang Cang was showing off, so he changed the subject and talked to Chen Ping about what they had experienced in the past five years.

After chatting, Chen Ping felt that Hei Fu's experience in the past few years was really ups and downs. He had lost a battle, was almost captured, broke through a desperate situation, and made great contributions. The most important thing was to climb on the big ship of Li Si and his son. Since then, his career has been rising.

Hei Fu sighed: "In the morning, I was a farmer, and in the evening, I was in the emperor's hall. Looking back, it really seems like a dream."

Chen Ping flattered: "You Shuzhang has made countless contributions. It is all thanks to his merits that he was promoted to a higher rank. He deserves his current position."

In contrast, Chen Ping's own life is much more ordinary. Chen Ping likes the dull days, but he doesn't want to indulge in them, so he chose to come to Xianyang.

At this time, Zhang Cang took over and asked, "I heard that Chen Ping studied Huang-Lao?"

Although he had heard of Chen Ping's name from his clan father Zhang Fu, he initially thought that he was just a pretty boy who seduced his cousin with his beauty. He never thought that Heifu was obsessed with Chen Ping. When they got married, in addition to the civil and military officials, colleagues in Xianyang, and old subordinates in Nanjun, he only invited Chen Ping, a Shandong scholar.

Zhang Cang was surprised and wanted to take this opportunity to test Chen Ping to see if he really had talents that the villagers did not know.

This statement was out of control.

The two talked about the study of Huang-Lao. When Chen Ping was traveling, he did not choose Confucianism, which was more popular in Wei and convenient for making a living, but followed a scholar to learn the art of Huangdi and Laozi.

Coincidentally, Zhang Cang's teacher Xunzi was not a Confucian in the general sense. He was tolerant and mixed the theories of nine streams and ten schools for his own use.

This, of course, also includes the Huang-Lao doctrine that was very popular in the Jixia Academy. Zhang Cang was influenced by it and also had a deep foundation in Huang-Lao.

So the two of them talked about Laozi and Zhuangzi, and then talked about Tian Pian and Shen Dao. You said "Law comes from power, power comes from Tao", and I said "Officials guard the sky and guard the Tao for themselves."

They were happy to talk, but Hei Fu was confused. He felt that the style of the banquet suddenly changed from reminiscing about the past to a philosophy class...

At this time, the three of them had drunk a lot of wine, so Hei Fu knocked on the cup with chopsticks and interrupted: "Qin people don't like to talk about empty talk. If you two want to talk about Huang-Lao, you might as well say something I can understand, such as... What practical use does Huang-Lao have in the world today? No matter how good the theory is, if it is not beneficial to the present world, it is just empty talk!"

Zhang Cang could of course say it, but he didn't answer and looked at Chen Ping.

The maids had already left, and since there were no outsiders present, Chen Ping, who was a little drunk, said boldly: "I think that the emperor is wrong to use Qin's laws to govern the former territories of the six kingdoms!"

Chen Ping was born in a humble family and his knowledge was not as broad as Zhang Cang's, but he had been at the bottom and worked as a grassroots official for several years. He witnessed the various things that happened when Qin's policies were implemented in Wei, and he really had some ideas in his mind.

"After the fall of Wei, Dang County was established in Wei, and the county governor and county magistrate governed it. In the first two years, it was governed according to local customs, but since last year, the laws and regulations have been widely disseminated in counties and townships, and widely publicized, so that the people can learn from the law and the officials as teachers."

"The laws and regulations are complicated, and the people do not understand Qin seal script. They are often shaved and tattooed for minor mistakes, and become prisoners. In Yangwu County alone, after a few years, the prisons were filled with prisoners. In this way, there are people working on the construction sites, but the complaints from the people are not small."

"In addition, after the three-year tax exemption ended, the government began to collect land rent, head tax, and corvée from Yangwu County, which was a bit heavier than during the Wei Dynasty. The people complained to the township officials, and the township officials pushed it to the county officials, and the county officials said it was the intention of the county, so the people's resentment was concentrated on the Qin officials."

"To add fuel to the fire, the imperial court has issued one decree after another in the past six months. First, it was said that the old weights and measures and coins could not be used anymore, and all had to be replaced by Qin weights and half-liang coins. Officials searched along the streets and found that some people in the market were hiding old weights and coins, and they were arrested and imprisoned on the spot. That's fine, the weights and coins in the two places are different, which is indeed quite inconvenient. But it is a bit too much to ask the counties to abolish the existing characters within three years and rewrite them all in Qin seal script and Qin official script..."

After speaking in one breath, Chen Ping bowed and said: "The current government orders are complicated, and often several orders are issued in a month. In order to implement them within the time limit, the counties are harsh on the petty officials and the people. Who knows, the more troublesome the things are, the more tired the people are; the more laws are added, the more complaints Shandong has."

In Chen Ping's opinion, the Qin government has been too hasty in the past six months. Before the people of Shandong could recover from the destruction of their country, they were confused by a series of government orders. It was not easy to eradicate the habits of hundreds of years. The Qin officials were so urgent that they forced the locals to worry.

Hei Fu understood Chen Ping's feelings. In later generations, poverty alleviation and well-off society were often promoted today, and cultural and health creation was created the next day. In order to complete the tasks of the central government, the province forced the city, the city forced the county, the county forced the township, and the township could only force the village head and villagers.

The situation in Qin was even more serious. The world had just been unified, and the old contradictions had not been eliminated, but they started to build a large-scale project. Several major projects were launched at the same time, and they also issued urgent laws to accelerate the realization of true unification in various places.

The emperor's original intention was good, and the Qin people might not think it was a big deal, but the 20 million Shandong people who were used to being lax could not stand it...

Hei Fu looked at Chen Ping and secretly admired that although he was young, he had already seen a major hidden danger of the Qin Dynasty, so he asked: "Mr. Chen thinks that it is not appropriate to use only laws and decrees, so how should we govern the world?"

Chen Ping saw all these situations, and in his opinion, the solution was right in front of him!

He bowed and said, "What the people need most now is not endless political orders, not harsh laws and heavy labor, but rest and recuperation. If we can combine Shang Yang's law with Huang Lao's teachings, follow the way of heaven, use punishment and virtue together, and implement the policy of tranquility and inaction, then the people will be transformed."

"As long as it takes ten or fifteen years, the people will be able to rest from hundreds of years of continuous fighting, and the people will be engaged in farming and have food and clothing. After unification, the children who enjoy the peace of the world will grow up and will be accustomed to the Qin government. It will not be too late to implement various measures at that time..."

Although Chen Ping prefers Taigong's conspiracy in Huang Lao, and emphasizes "conspiracy to cultivate virtue", he still speaks the essence of Huang Lao "tranquility and inaction" with great confidence. After speaking, he looked at Hei Fu and Zhang Cang expectantly.

This was an idea he had prepared for a long time. In the minds of young scholars, they might have followed the story of Shang Yang and Fan Ju borrowing Jing Jian and Wang Ji to offer advice to the King of Qin...

But Hei Fu and Zhang Cang just looked at each other, smiled, and sighed.

He was talented and sharp-eyed, and could come up with a good solution. Unfortunately, he had never been in the officialdom of Xianyang, so he took it for granted.

Zhang Cang said, "Chen Ping, do you know that Shang Yang met Qin Xiaogong three times?"

Chen Ping said, "I have heard a little bit about it."

Zhang Cang nodded: "Shang Yang talked about the emperor's way of Yao, Shun and Yu the first time, and the kingly way of Shang Tang and Zhou Wu the second time. Both talked for a long time, but Xiaogong fell asleep after listening to a few words and didn't listen to what he said. It was not until the third time that Shang Yang began to talk about the powerful and domineering way that made Qin suddenly rich and powerful. Qin Xiaogong listened and sat down at Shang Yang's table slowly. They talked for several days without getting tired of it!"

Chen Ping understood a little, and after pondering, he whispered: "Brother, what you mean is that the emperor listening to people talking about Huang Lao's art is like Qin Xiaogong listening to Shang Yang talking about the emperor's way and the kingly way of governing the country. He can't listen?"

"Yes."

Hei Fu said helplessly: "Mr. Chen, you don't know that there are more than 70 doctors in the court. Although most of them are Confucian scholars, there are also some Huang-Lao disciples who are famous all over the world."

"For example, Tang Bing, known as Dongyuan Gong, Cui Guang, known as Xia Huang Gong, Wu Shi, known as Qili Ji, and Zhou Shu, known as (lu) Li Xiansheng. They have already made suggestions to your majesty about your ideas. Just last year, these four elders used the Huang-Lao technique of quietness and inaction to lobby your majesty, but your majesty thought it was pedantic and ancient, contrary to the principles of Qin law, so he did not listen..."

Therefore, the words of Huang-Lao were not valued by Qin Shihuang, and the four elders, like the Confucian scholars, became decorations in the court.

Zhang Cang laughed and said, "Don't talk about the four elders. The Right Minister once advised Your Majesty that if the six kingdoms' characters were suddenly abolished, local officials and common people might not be able to learn Qin characters in time, which would be inconvenient. Please change it to five years and call it a five-year plan. But Your Majesty thought five years was too long, so it was only three years. If it weren't for the Right Minister's advice, I'm afraid all counties would have completed this task within a year!"

Chen Ping suddenly realized, and Hei Fu fell into thought.

He seemed to be successful in his career, but in the past six months, except for the first discussion of the title, most of the others were rejected by Qin Shihuang.

The First Emperor had high vision, but he was also impatient in administration. In Hei Fu's view, he was a bit like a business game player who was in high spirits. He only stood from his own perspective, his eyes were always looking forward, and he saw the four seas churning clouds and waters, and the five continents shaking with wind and thunder.

But he ignored the common people under his feet.

Those opposing opinions were just buzzing, a few shrill sounds, and a few sobs in the eyes of the emperor. Ants boast of their great power by climbing on a locust tree, and it is not easy for ants to shake a tree. It is not worth listening to...

Use the same poem to describe the emperor's mentality, that is...

There are so many things that are always urgent;

The world is turning, and time is pressing.

Ten thousand years is too long, we must seize the day!

Great men, there are always similarities!