Chapter 2 Brothers Talk
"Your Majesty, Lord Chang'an is here to see you."
Ying Zheng wore a Chaotian crown and a black Xuanniao crown robe.
He had eyes like an eagle and a face as majestic as a dragon. He was sitting behind a desk, flipping through bamboo slips.
Among all the Chinese emperors, the First Emperor was one of the top three workaholics.
He set a rule for himself that the number of memorials he had to handle every day must not be less than one stone.
A memorial weighing one stone was too heavy for one eunuch to carry, so two eunuchs had to carry it on their shoulders and deliver it to the First Emperor every time.
"Let him in."
After a while.
Before Ying Chengjiao arrived, he said, "Why did you bring my nephew to the county?"
Ying Zheng dismissed the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace, and even the historian who was always by his side and was responsible for recording was cleared out.
He put down his brush, closed the bamboo slips, and glanced at Ying Chengjiao: "When did you care about the affairs of the court?"
If the officials of the Qin Dynasty were here and saw this scene, their eyes would pop out of their heads.
The two prime ministers who had made great contributions to Qin tried to persuade the emperor tactfully and were fined one year's salary.
Ying Chengjiao, who could be called the shame of the Qin Dynasty and had made no contribution to the Qin Dynasty, questioned Ying Zheng.
Nothing happened?
Ying Zheng didn't even show any sign of being angry.
There is no other such divine grace in the whole Qin Dynasty.
Neither the most favored Meng Tian nor the most trusted Li Si could do it.
Far from it!
"As long as my brother is here, I don't bother to care about the affairs of the court. I just can't bear to leave Fusu. How did he offend my brother? There is no overnight hatred between father and son. My brother should be more broad-minded!"
Ying Chengjiao's previous words were just a question, but this sentence now can be regarded as a warning.
Ying Zheng glared at Ying Chengjiao. If it were someone else, he would have bowed his head and admitted his guilt long ago.
Being captivated by the majesty of the First Emperor and being able to speak out shows that they have strong mental qualities.
The First Emperor also has another reputation outside: tyrant!
Ying Chengjiao was not afraid at all.
He slammed the table, opened his eyes wide, and glared at Ying Zheng!
The two men stood still for a moment.
Seeing that he couldn't scare Ying Chengjiao, Ying Zheng withdrew his gaze.
"Go on! My brother can't beat me so let Fusu stay in Xianyang!"
"I can't glare at you?" Ying Zheng sneered, patted the bamboo slips in front of him that were taller than him, and said: "I am not like you, an idle person. There are so many memorials, I don't have so much time to play with you!"
Ying Zheng flipped open a bamboo slip and picked up the brush again: "There are other reasons for sending Fusu to Shangjun. You won't understand even if I tell you."
Ying Chengjiao opened his five fingers and pressed the bamboo slips: "What's there to not understand? Doesn't the emperor want Fusu to go to the army to train?"
Ying Zheng's eyes fixed, and the brush fell on the bamboo slips, leaving a very conspicuous ink spot.
"Cheng Jiao, who told you?"
"Do I need someone to tell me this? Fusu is too kind and virtuous. He may be a prime minister, but not an emperor. He is easily deceived by his ministers. Kindness does not make a good army. Fighting on the battlefield is the most cruel to people. Now that the world is unified, large-scale battles can only take place on the borders, such as Shangjun."
After listening to Ying Chengjiao's analysis, Ying Zheng's eyes widened. Not all the civil and military officials in the court could see what was on his mind, but how could his younger brother, who had ignored state affairs for ten years, see through it?
This must be Cheng Jiao using his own words to express other people's opinions.
"What else did that person say to you?"
Ying Chengjiao did not refute.
He couldn't say, "Brother, your thoughts are known to everyone in the future who knows a little about Qin history."
"My brother sent his favorite general Meng Tian to go with Fusu. This not only ensures Fusu's safety, but also allows the two to share weal and woe. Meng Tian is the third generation leader of the Meng family. If Fusu gets Meng Tian's support, he gets the support of the Meng family. And the Meng family's status in the Qin army is self-evident. If he gets the support of the Meng family, he gets the support of half of the Qin army!"
Ying Zheng's eyes lit up when he heard this, this was exactly what he was thinking.
"Anything else?"
"Yes! The clever thing about my brother is that he picked a good time. The country had just been unified, and it was the right time to establish the crown prince. My brother exiled Fusu at this time, which clearly told the ministers that Fusu would not be the crown prince. In this way, Fusu was not only trained, but also kept safe."
Ying Chengjiao paused, smiled, and continued, "Of course, my brother is also giving other nephews opportunities. My brother also wants to see if other nephews can come to the fore without Fusu's suppression."
"color!"
Ying Zheng shouted loudly.
What Ying Chengjiao said was exactly what Ying Zheng was thinking.
If it were another person in power, he would feel that he was being seen through and would want to kill someone.
Ying Zheng wouldn't.
He was confident that he could control the talents of the world, and his respect for talents was rare in history, which can be traced in history.
Dun Ruo, the prime minister of the Qin State, once cursed King Ying Zheng of Qin, who had not yet unified the six kingdoms, before he became an official in Qin.
"King Qin, you have so much power but you don't think about how to unify the six kingdoms. Instead, you imprison your mother. I think you are not acting like a king at all!"
Although Ying Zheng was angry when he heard this, he did not kill anyone on the spot. Instead, he asked Dun Ruo to talk about how to unify the six kingdoms.
After hearing Dun Ruo's story, he determined that Dun Ruo was a man of great talent. Not only did he not kill Dun Ruo, he also appointed him as the prime minister.
"You can see through my mind, you are truly an extraordinary person. Would you like to serve as an official in Qin? I would like to make you a senior minister!"
Ying Chengjiao tapped his chest twice and said with a smile, "It's far away in the horizon, yet it's right before our eyes."
Ying Zheng frowned and said sternly: "Don't make trouble, don't let the wise man go outside, tell me quickly!"
Ying Chengjiao looked indifferent. Sometimes, when you tell the truth, people just don't believe you.
"Well, it wasn't me, it was one of my retainers."
Ying Zheng thought that Ying Chengjiao was asking for a reward because he was reluctant to reveal the name of his retainer.
"Hurry up and tell me. In recognition of your recommendation, I will ask you to go to the Sixth Prince's Palace and pick two beauties to bring back to the palace."
The six palaces that Ying Zheng mentioned were imitations.
Every time the Qin State conquered a capital city, Ying Zheng would replicate the fallen country's palace on a one-to-one basis and take in all the concubines and princesses from the fallen country's harem.
Qin conquered the six kingdoms, and now there are royal palaces of the six kingdoms in Xianyang.
There are so many beauties in the Sixth Prince's Palace, there are countless of them!
Ying Chengjiao was somewhat tempted.
The Palace of the Six Princes is said to attract beauties from all over the world, but I have never been inside.
Unfortunately, this is not what my followers said, but what I said...
"Five."
Ying Chengjiao thought seriously, should he just find a retainer to fool him? He would get the beauty, and the retainer would get fame, the best of both worlds.
"Ten."
"Okay, brother, stop tempting me ." Ying Chengjiao called for a stop.
"No matter how many beauties you give me, it won't work. My retainer doesn't want to be an official, and I can't force him to do anything!"
Ying Zheng believed this.
Except for the Qin people, everyone else called him a tyrant, not a wise ruler.
Many capable and virtuous people were unwilling to serve as officials in Qin because they looked down upon what he did.
Sighed in disappointment.
Ying Zheng glanced at Ying Chengjiao unhappily: "Then why don't you leave? There will be no food today!"
Ying Chengjiao was speechless.
If you don't exile my eldest nephew to Shangjun, do you think I would be happy to care about you?
The food in the palace is so bad. If you hadn’t forced me to stay, I would never have brought any food with me!
"Brother, I haven't finished speaking yet."
"Hurry up and tell me, and get out of here!"
"The day Fusu left for Shangjun was the beginning of the Qin Dynasty's collapse!"
Ying Chengjiao thought Ying Zheng would be furious.
Unexpectedly, Ying Zheng just frowned.
"What do you mean by that?"
In fact, the little flame in Ying Zheng's heart was already burning very high, but he held back and didn't let it out.
That's just his personality.
No matter how angry you are, you should let the other person finish speaking.
"Brother, tell me first, what excuse did you use to send Fusu to Shangjun today?"
Rub, rub, rub!
The small flames grew rapidly and could no longer be suppressed!
"You know nothing! How dare you say that the Qin Dynasty is going to collapse?"
"Hey, my brother! Let's talk it over! Don't hold the sword!"
"Qin law stipulates that anyone guilty of making false statements will be put to death!"
"The Qin law clearly states that anyone who speaks nonsense will be punished with clan punishment! All three clans will be exterminated!"
"I will show mercy and kill you alone!"
"The Qin State rules by law! My brother, you should be punished by family punishment!"
After dodging two attacks from Ying Zheng, Ying Chengjiao ran while shouting.
"Let others go, but don't let my brother go!"
"You bastard!!!"
In the end, after Ying Chengjiao made a promise to come to the palace for an audience within three days and for a year, Ying Zheng pardoned his death penalty for the sake of having a good brother.
"At the court meeting today, the rebellious son said that the world had just been pacified, and the people had been tired of war for a long time and urgently needed a stable life. But the laws of Qin were too harsh. There were already 500,000 prisoners in Mount Li alone. In Guanzhong, the total number of prisoners was not much different from the number of people."
"He is worried that doing so will cause unrest in the country and alienate people. He wants me to put people first, govern the country with benevolence, and release all prisoners. He says that the people will be grateful, the people will be at peace, and the world will be peaceful. Do you think that he should be thrown into Shangjun just based on these few words?"
Ying Chengjiao then understood the whole cause and effect and smiled bitterly in his heart.
Nephew, it's not unfair for you to be exiled.
If Ying Zheng really issued a general amnesty and released the prisoners, it would surely cause chaos in the world and smoke of war would spread everywhere.
In recent years, the reason why the number of prisoners in Qin State has increased sharply is that most of those prisoners are soldiers from the defeated six states.
When the country was first settled, the nobles of the six kingdoms were already harboring evil intentions and plotting rebellion.
Releasing those prisoners who were originally soldiers of the six nations at this time would be asking for trouble!
The number of prisoners in Guanzhong was similar to that of the common people because Guanzhong was the base of the Qin State, with the strongest military power, and accommodated 60% of the prisoners.
It is true that Qin law was harsh, but no matter how harsh it was, it was not harsh enough to the point where the number of prisoners and civilians was almost the same.
The prisoners in Guanzhong should correspond to 60% of the people in the world, not just the people in Guanzhong.
"My nephew, you are indeed a bit stupid."
"He's not stupid."
Ying Zheng glanced at Ying Chengjiao.
"If you can think of something, can't that rebellious son think of it?"
"That's true. Why does my nephew still say such things?"
Ying Chengjiao frowned and thought for a moment, and suddenly felt something was wrong - what do you mean by "things I can think of"?
He was furious and said, "Brother, what do you mean by that?"
