After Wang Meng conquered the State of Yan, he did not return to the capital immediately. Instead, he chose to guard the Yan area, select talented people, get rid of the old and bring in the new, punish the treacherous and eliminate evil, stabilize the people's hearts, develop production, and restore the people's strength.
Under Wang Meng's series of measures, the people of the six states in the former territory of Yan State were as joyful as drought-stricken seedlings receiving rain.
Generally speaking, such behavior of ministers would easily make the monarch wary, but Wang Meng had no such worries at all and boldly implemented his various policies.
This time, they went east and easily conquered the entire territory of Yan State. The only thing that worried Wang Meng was his own monarch who was a little too ambitious.
Would he not be so bold as to employ people from the State of Yan?
Defeat others first, then be honest with them, hoping that they can be used by you to create great things together - this is what Fu Jian likes to do most.
As long as the surrendered or defeated people were willing to work for Fu Jian, they would often be trusted and thus reused.
This kind of thing has happened several times before, and Wang Meng doesn't want it to happen again.
but……
In recent days, it is visible to the naked eye that Fu Jian has changed a lot.
His style was completely different from before. He no longer treated court officials with courtesy, but directly insulted and even beat them. He also equipped himself with a "virtue" sword, and if anyone dared to disobey him, he would use this virtue to conquer them.
For Wang Meng, such a change was undoubtedly very good. Fu Jian was no longer so pedantic. Although he acted without taboos, he still adhered to his bottom line and did not become blindly violent. He was still devoted to the people and looked forward to realizing the legendary world of great harmony and bringing complete peace to the world.
This was Fu Jian's original wish.
If not for this, Wang Meng would even suspect that his monarch had been replaced by a new person.
…
The capital of Qin State, Imperial University.
Su Che came here and gave lectures to all the students in person.
The theme of his lecture was simple - class struggle!
Why have dynasties been constantly falling from ancient times to the present, as if there is a cycle that repeats itself over and over again?
Su Che gave an answer.
Because the essence of all this is that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, and people are naturally divided into nobles and poor people, and are divided into two classes. These two classes are naturally opposed, and the contradictions will become bigger and bigger, and more and more, until they are inevitable.
The poor cannot escape the root cause of their poverty throughout their lives because they have no way to work directly for themselves.
After becoming a hired farmhand, no matter how hard you try, even if you work your ass off farming, you can only make the landlord richer, but it is impossible for you to accumulate wealth and change your destiny.
But in order to survive and have a meal, all the lower class people have to work very hard on the farm. They have no choice.
When this contradiction develops to the extreme, there are more and more poor people. Once a natural disaster occurs, these poor people who have no ability to resist risks have no choice but to leave their homes or even rebel.
This class antagonism is the root cause of the dynasty’s downfall.
The essence of a monarch is the master of the world. Because he is selfish, he is also public-spirited.
But if a monarch is far away from the people at the bottom and is unaware of their suffering, then no matter what policies he makes, they will be meaningless.
Under Su Che's preaching, all the students were stunned... They never dreamed that Su Che would tell them these!
The essence of the fall of a dynasty!
The powerful officials, landlords, and aristocratic families are the reason for the dynasty's revival, but also the root cause of its downfall! !
As long as human nature exists, the corruption of power is inevitable.
As long as there is profit to be made, it is also inevitable that landlords, gentry, and wealthy families will wantonly annex land, develop their own businesses, collude with officials and businessmen, steal national interests, and exploit the people at the bottom.
Su Che understood.
In order to avoid the root cause of all this, many monarchs throughout the dynasties have taken various measures.
For example, Liu Bang's mausoleum town system constantly relocated powerful people to prevent them from harming the people.
Another example is Zhu Yuanzhang's many initiatives. He formulated strict rules and regulations to control officials and rectify the administration of officials.
Almost harsh punishments were used to regulate the behavior of officials.
At the same time, institutions directly under the imperial power: Dongchang and Jinyiwei came into being.
This means that the monarch's control over officials is not only restricted by written regulations, but also rises to the level of a physical and close monitoring agency.
In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also imitated the system of Zhou Gong's "Great Edict" and published Ming's "Great Edict", which was distributed throughout the country to warn his subjects.
The crimes listed in the Great Edict can be divided into several categories: officials, powerful people, common people and military officials.
Officials who neglect their duties, appoint too many officials, accept bribes, impose taxes on the people and harm them, embezzle money and grain, and evade grain taxes will all be punished severely.
Among them, crimes punishing corruption account for about half of all crimes.
The Great Edict states:
Those who seized government property, released the rich and punished the poor would be executed along with their entire family; those who accepted bribes or bribed others for money would be executed by slow slicing; those who stole and sold grain from the warehouse would have their faces tattooed, their tendons pulled out and their knees removed, and they would be allowed to stay in their warehouses to guard the branches; the post station chiefs would collect taxes from the post station workers and make them wear heavy shackles in front of the post stations.
The Great Edict listed hundreds of people who were sentenced to death by slicing, beheading, and execution of their entire families, and tens of thousands were executed by public execution. The criminal law was extremely harsh, exceeding the sentencing standards of the Great Ming Code. Many of those who were executed by slicing, beheading, and execution of their entire families were common offenders.
If the people of the Ming Dynasty were bullied and harassed by officials, they could even arrest the officials and then go to Beijing to file a complaint with the "Great Edict".
Any official who dares to stop the people will be severely punished.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "If the chief officials, leading officials and all others dare to hinder us, their entire families will be executed."
The meaning is very straightforward. If any local official dares to stop the people from exposing and arresting officials who harm the people, their entire family will be destroyed!
Since then, there have been many incidents of ordinary people arresting corrupt officials in the early Ming Dynasty.
But the problem is...
even so.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the once glorious "Great Edict" was little different from waste paper, and the classes of officials, landlords and ordinary people began to conflict again.
In Su Che's opinion, the root cause of this series of events is the corruption of power and the drive for profit.
The powerful class, the landlord class, and the clan class have completely separated themselves from the people at the bottom of society.
so.
The class struggle can never stop!
Such a struggle is naturally not conducive to maintaining stable rule and can easily lead to the collapse of a dynasty. As a ruler, one would never allow such a situation to occur.
Most rulers would choose to "share the world with the literati and officials"!
At that time, Song Shenzong summoned ministers Wang Anshi and Wen Yanbo to the Zizheng Hall to discuss the reform.
Wen Yanbo, a veteran of three dynasties and the Privy Councilor, said: "The laws and regulations established by our ancestors are still there. There is no need to change them, lest we lose the support of the people."
Shenzong said: "If we reform the law, it will indeed make the scholars unhappy, but it will not be inconvenient for the people."
Wen Yanbo replied: "Your Majesty, you rule the world together with the scholars and officials, not with the people!"
When Emperor Shenzong heard this half-threatening remark, he did not refute it, but said tactfully: "Not all scholars and officials think that reform is not good. There are still people who think that reform should be made."
Obviously, in Shenzong's view, he agreed with the theory of "governing the world together with the literati and officials".
after all.
From the perspective of interests, the emperor would naturally manage the country together with the ruling landlord class.
In terms of talent, professionally selected officials are more suitable to manage the country together with the emperor.
This is the limitation of the times.
The people at the bottom of society are indeed very important. It is possible that a monarch who can place those insignificant people above the scholar-official class is a rare figure in ancient and modern times.
At the end of the lecture, Su Che even said nonchalantly: "If the world changes color after I die, I will start all over again!"
"If you want to achieve world peace, you don't rely on the teachings of saints, but on struggle, endless struggle! Make sure that landlords, noble families, clans, nobles, and officials can't do whatever they want. Repeat again and again, and one day, you will reach the final goal!"
"At that time, the world will be completely united!"
"A prosperous era is but temporary, but a harmonious era is precious for thousands of years!"
Su Che's eloquent lecture made all the students excited. Even those students who came from noble families seemed to be ready to betray their original class.
The teachers and officials of the Imperial Academy looked as if they had seen a ghost. If the person giving the lecture was not the Emperor of Qin, they would definitely report to the authorities to have this person arrested and sent to prison!
Because these words are truly treasonous to the extreme!
Isn't this advocating rebellion?
It's really crazy!
What's even crazier is that the one who said these words is the King of Qin! !
Many Imperial College teachers could not help but laugh bitterly, thinking helplessly: "Your Majesty...why are you plotting a rebellion?"
in this way.
This is a treasonous idea.
This is the spark of future change.
Planted by Su Che.
As for those nobles of the Former Yan Dynasty, they were all demoted to commoners by Su Che, and Su Che had no intention of treating them with courtesy at all.
No matter how talented they are, if they are not loyal enough, everything is in vain.
It was naturally impossible for Su Che to repeat the same mistake.
After the destruction of Former Yan.
The next target is Former Liang and Dai.
Once these two countries were destroyed, the Qin Dynasty would have completely achieved the unification of the north.
There is only one target left, and that is the State of Jin in the south.
Although the State of Jin was located in a remote area in the south of the Yangtze River, it was still quite difficult to deal with as the nominally orthodox Chinese state with peace and harmony between the people and the people.
Therefore, Su Che was not in a hurry to go to war abroad again, but began to govern the country.
Su Che first dealt with the surrendered nobles of the Xianbei and Western Qiang.
After all, they have ulterior motives.
In another world, Fu Jian believed that he could make them surrender with his personal charm, and as long as he was open-hearted to them, he could make them open-hearted .
But Su Che understood that these people could not be kept any longer, so he killed them all.
Anyway, as invaders, their hands were more or less stained with the blood of Han people, so killing them was justified and there was no problem with it.
Afterwards, Su Che began to issue decrees against the Hu Tui En, and at the same time began to carry out ethnic integration, allowing intermarriage between ethnic groups and treating every ethnic group equally.
In addition, the most important thing is of course to promote education, recuperate with the people, attach importance to administration, reclaim wasteland, and reduce taxes. As for the necessary corvée, Su Che did not stop it, but chose the method of work-for-relief.
For most ordinary farmers, there is not much to do during the slack season. Instead of letting these laborers rest at home, it is better to give them wages or food and let them participate in corvee labor.
Such corvee labor not only did not increase the burden on the people, but even reduced their burden, and was welcomed by many farmers.
Of course, there were exceptions, where officials would withhold food, embezzle wages, and treat corvée labor as an obligation, forcing it upon the peasants.
Concealing the truth from superiors and bullying subordinates is extremely common.
Where there is profit, there will be people who dare to do it.
This is an inevitable situation.
Su Che knew this, so he sent spies to investigate the allocation of corvee labor in various places. Once a corrupt official was caught, his property would be confiscated and his family would be exterminated. He would also publicize that this behavior was the officials' own behavior. Once discovered, the people could directly arrest the officials and report them. As long as the facts were proven, there would be a huge reward!
If any official dares to stop it, their property will be confiscated and their entire family will be exterminated!
Such "tyranny" was naturally criticized by countless officials.
But no one dared to protest.
Because Su Che really raided many homes and wiped out many clans.
Although Su Che also understood that such behavior could only be treated temporarily and could not be cured completely.
After several years, corvee labor will still be imposed compulsorily and the people will still be oppressed.
But the problem is...
So what?
Knowing that there is no cure, should we just stop doing it?
Su Che doesn’t care what the final result will be. He just needs the current result to be good, and that’s enough!
As the administration became clean and honest, the people gradually lived and worked in peace and contentment. In addition, the implementation of the Hu Tui En policy eliminated the threat of the Hu people. Su Che also knew that it was better to open up than to block, so he strengthened the trade between the Central Plains and the grasslands. At the same time, he reclaimed land on a large scale, attached importance to grain cultivation, and prevented the occurrence of famine.
There will be famine in the Central Plains and there will be famine in the grasslands.
Nomadic peoples are far more dependent on nature and climate than agricultural civilizations.
If a natural disaster occurred, the Hu people would either go south to plunder the Central Plains or live by following the water and grass.
For nomadic people, both property and lifestyle are “alive”, which is both an advantage and a difficulty for their survival.
Once they "stop" safely, it means they are heading towards death.
Su Che valued the Central Plains, and naturally also the grasslands. In addition to trade with the Hu people, Su Che also ordered each tribe to send out strong men, organize armies, and use them to invade other countries, turning them into "God's Whip" to whip other countries...
After the Central Plains and the grasslands were combined, the combat effectiveness of the Hu army, with the support of the army, more than doubled.
This directly created an overwhelming force and also solved the grassland supply problem to a certain extent.
This approach has, to some extent, become a positive cycle.
As the Central Plains prospered, the national strength reached its peak. The Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south was no longer a rival and was easily resolved.
After all, since ancient times, the Central Plains in the north has had an overwhelming advantage over the forces in the south.
At this point, Su Che had achieved his original goal of unifying the world, uniting the six directions into one family, and treating the barbarians as his own children.
When this goal is achieved.
Su Che began to practice his martial arts.
Thirty years later in the blink of an eye.
Su Che closed his eyes.
End of Interference
Opening his eyes again, Su Che looked at the contents of the book.
On the Book of Spiritual Contract, the words are slowly evolving.
[Under your rule, the world briefly achieved a period of great harmony and prosperity. ]
【We are one family, and we regard the barbarians as our own children. 】
【You have accomplished your original goal. 】
[The Hu army you organized on the grassland is a disaster to the surrounding countries.]
[However, you forcibly united the six clans, killed the aristocratic families, wantonly killed corrupt officials, and exterminated countless landlords and evil gentry, leaving a black spot on your wise and heroic achievements.]
[The crime was committed in this era, but the merits are beyond description, and countless people have been killed. So what? ]
【You became the emperor of the Qin Dynasty. 】
【After your death, some people compared your achievements with those of the First Emperor. 】
[The First Emperor's achievements are beyond reproach, and your achievements are even more indelible! ]
[Many years later…]
[When your descendants are tyrannical and become tyrants, when corrupt officials are rampant, when the signs of aristocratic families reappear, when land annexation becomes serious again. ]
【When everything in the world gradually moves away from your original world of great harmony . 】
[At this time, the fire you planted and the words you promised were dug out from the dusty history books.]
[If the world changes color after I die, I will start all over again! ]
[If you want to achieve world peace, you don’t rely on the teachings of saints, but on struggle, endless struggle! Make sure that landlords, noble families, clans, nobles, and officials cannot do whatever they want. Repeat again and again, and one day, you will reach the final goal! ]
[On this day, a dragon slayer followed your words. He stood up, raised his arms and shouted loudly. With one call, hundreds of people responded. He took advantage of the situation and led countless grassroots peasants to slay the evil dragon of Daqin.]
【The young man became a wise ruler who founded a new country. 】
【The world will rise again! 】
[Your existence has influenced future generations for countless years, and you are called the greatest emperor by countless future generations! ]
[The real, greatest emperor of all time! ]
After seeing this ending, Su Che suddenly noticed something and quickly raised his head.
Not far away, a young man dressed in Di people's clothing came over with a smile and said, "You really have achieved a brief period of world peace. That's amazing."
"By uniting the world, there will be no more barbarians in the world, but the surrounding countries will suffer..."
The young man was Fu Jian.
Just as Su Che was about to say something, Fu Jian pointed at the Book of Spiritual Contract and said, "Let's take a look at the final simulation summary."
The characters in the Book of Qi Ling are still evolving.
That’s the final summary.
【Simulation Summary】
[When you came to this world, you told all your ideas to your most loyal subject, Wang Meng.]
[Under your alliance, conquering Yan and Jin will be as easy as picking up a blade of grass. The Central Plains will be pacified and the world will be unified...]
[After that, you killed countless corrupt officials and numerous aristocratic families that were causing trouble in the local area.]
[Your tyranny and injustice have made countless people hate you. ]
【Also let countless people sing praises for you! 】
【The glory of the Qin Empire shines through the ages. 】
[Even after countless years, there are still people who inherit your will...]
[Comprehensive evaluation: The greatest emperor in the history, the most powerful king in the world! ]