Chapter 88: Why do you say that, my Lord?
Ying Chengjiao sprinkled some slightly spicy seasoning on the skewers, tossed them back and forth twice, and said, "We'll talk about this later. Each country in the world is different, with different customs and folkways. You also said that even with the pressure from my brother, it will take 20 years to stabilize and unify the world. If we want to shorten this time and stabilize all places immediately, the fastest way to achieve this is the feudal system."
Stuttering frowned and looked at Li Mu.
Do you know what I want to say this time? Help me say it.
Li Mu also frowned: "Write."
How do I know what you want to say?
When the reckless man saw this scene, he ate the skewers and drank the wine, shaking his head and laughing silently.
A few warm and pure chuckles were heard from the shadows.
Everyone present knew that even if Li Mu had not destroyed Jie Ba's paper, he would still be a mouthpiece for Jie Ba today.
Because they had the same experience - they all died for their country.
Stuttering while writing and drawing.
Li Mu reported in real time.
"What's the point of dividing the country and unifying the world under Qin? If the King of Qin implements this system, why should I give him Han Feizi? The King of Qin is a rare emperor. Only the King of Qin can unify the world in just 20 years. Compared with the 200 years of conflict among the countries, is 20 years really a long time?"
"Your Majesty's policy will lead to the rise of feudal states and the reappearance of the chaotic Warring States period, which will cause China to be torn apart and never unified again. By then, Your Majesty will be a sinner through the ages and will be cursed by future generations for thousands of years. Your Majesty has the longest vision in the world, so why did you come up with such a foolish policy? Did you suffer from an eye disease and could not see?"
Li Mu spoke this very slowly, and everyone present could hear it clearly.
Ying Chengjiao hit the skewers of meat twice, and bits of fat fell onto the quietly burning charcoal. The charcoal suddenly became irritable and crackled into tiny bits of fire.
"That's too much. I haven't finished talking yet, but you're scolding me before I finish, right? After the parallel system of counties and kingdoms is implemented, my brother will issue another decree of enfeoffment. The inheritance rights of the princes of the fiefdoms will be changed from the eldest son to the eldest son, the second son, and the third son. The authority of the king will be higher than that of the county governor, the authority of the marquis will be equal to that of the county governor, and the authority of the Guannei marquis will be lower than that of the county governor. All princes below the rank of marquis will be controlled by the county governor."
"In this way, the world can be stabilized sooner , and China can finally be unified. Once this order is issued, if the eldest son of the princes is unwilling, the second and third sons of the princes can eat the eldest son. Coupled with the pressure from the emperor's brother, the implementation will be easy. What do you think this time?"
Jie Ba pondered for a moment, shook his head vigorously, and continued to communicate with Ying Chengjiao using Li Mu's translator.
"Not very good. It is indeed not difficult to issue this order. But as your Majesty said, the Enfeoffment Order only allows people below the rank of Chehou to be under the control of the county governor. The king is divided into Chehou, and the Chehou is divided into Guanneihou. Two generations serve forty years. If the county system is implemented, China will be stable, well governed, and unified in twenty years. If the county-state system is implemented and the Enfeoffment Order is implemented, China will immediately be stable, well governed in five years, and unified in forty years."
"Although your plan can bring forward stability and order, the disadvantages of delaying the unification by twenty years are enough to offset the advantages of the first two. The world is not in chaos today, all thanks to the pressure of the King of Qin. Can your Majesty be sure that the King of Qin will remain in power for forty years? If the King of Qin dies, there will be endless variables, and the unification of China will be a long way off. Your Majesty's eye disease has improved a little, and now he can see what the rat can see."
When Li Mu relayed this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said loudly: "This is a great plan. I support you, Your Majesty."
The stutterer glared at Li Mu and said, "I, I, I, I didn't, didn't, I didn't write it!"
Li Mu did not quibble. He nodded decisively, showing the attitude of a person who takes responsibility for his own actions.
"Han Fei does not support the monarch, but Mu does."
All the guests laughed heartily and spoke one by one.
"A real man should be so frank."
"Wu'an Jun's determination to destroy Qin will never die."
"If he had not been by your side, he might have gathered a group of troops on the Xiongnu border to recover Zhao."
"Your Majesty, as the emperor's younger brother , do you have a headache?"
Ying Chengjiao ignored the jokes of these guests. He was already accustomed to Li Mu's tone.
Li Mu fully agreed with any policy that could have a negative impact on the Qin State.
Ying Chengjiao continued to say to Han Fei, who was stuttering due to a speech impediment, "If it's not forty years, it must be less than twenty years. I advised my brother to not divide the title of king, that is to say, the highest title among the princes is Chehou. The only ones who can be granted Chehou are Wang Wan, Wei Zhuang, and Wei Liao. They are too old to last for twenty years."
Suddenly, there were sounds of applause and praise from the shadows.
"Only the emperor can be the best of the feudal system and the county system. The Ying family is so lucky. How can they have a unique emperor like the King of Qin and a prophet like the king? With the King of Qin and the king, it is inevitable that the Qin State will unify the world."
Another slightly excited voice followed.
"When it comes to governing a country, your Majesty is far superior to the First Emperor. If the First Emperor could give up his throne to your Majesty, it would be a blessing for the people and the world, and it would be a great story for all ages."
Ying Chengjiao sighed heavily and said helplessly: "No wonder some people always think I want to rebel. If you keep talking, even I will want to rebel. Han Fei, you scolded me so happily just now, why don't you praise me now?"
Han Fei, lost in thought, stammered, "Your Majesty, I have no, no, no eye disease."
The guests laughed heartily.
"Hahaha."
"Han Feizi never forgets his original intention, never forgets his original intention."
"With your Majesty's character, how can you tolerate such words?"
"South Korea's strength is its venomous tongue."
Ying Chengjiao turned over all the skewers on the grill and chuckled, "I can see that you did it on purpose. You were not happy when I mentioned Korea, so you retaliated. If you have this attitude, I have to mention Korea a few more times. Today, we will discuss the changes in Korean customs and the country's demise, and by the way, correct your Legalist concept of governing the country."
Ying Chengjiao tilted his head to look at Han Fei, who was listening attentively with a serious look on his face, and said, "When talking about Han, one cannot avoid mentioning one person - Shen Buhai. The Legalists were divided into three factions: the Legalists, the Techniques, and the Powers. Shen Buhai, as a representative of the Techniques faction of the Legalists, implemented reforms in Han and advocated that the King of Han use tactics to rule his ministers."
"He rectified the administration and trained new soldiers. When he was in power, no prince dared to invade Han. He made the originally weak Han become one of the seven major powers in the Warring States Period, and made Han have the title of "Jing Han" in the world at that time. Han Fei, tell me, what do you think of Shen Buhai?"
Han Fei said without hesitation: "Shen, Shenzi."
Obviously, the answer to Ying Chengjiao's question had been imprinted in Han Fei's mind very early on.
“Is it rated so highly?”
The skewers were finally grilled. Ying Chengjiao picked up the skewers and was somewhat surprised by Han Fei's evaluation of Shen Buhai.
The word "Zi" was the highest honor during the Warring States Period.
Han Fei respectfully called Shen Buhai "Shenzi", which is enough to show Han Fei's respect for Shen Buhai.
During the Qin Dynasty, most people adopted the system of separate dining.
Ying Chengjiao came over with the grilled skewers and put at least one skewer of each kind on each guest's plate, with the exception of the reckless man's plate, which was empty.
“Take your hands off me!”
Ying Chengjiao knocked away the ruffian's hand that was reaching for the skewers on his plate.
The figure in white clothes who was called a rough man but actually had a beard and looked quite elegant complained: "When I was a guest of honor in the past, there was a woman playing the zither to entertain the guests. The woman's hands were as white as jade, and I praised them as 'beautiful hands'. After the banquet, the master asked the eunuch to bring a tray to me. I looked and saw that it was the pair of jade hands of the woman playing the zither. Others have treated me so well. Now that I am following the king, why can't the king even let me eat meat to my heart's content?"
Ying Chengjiao sneered, "That's because your previous master was ill, and if you're ill, you need to be treated. If you don't treat people as human beings, I won't treat them as human beings either."
"If the Lord does not give me meat anymore, I will have to drink wine instead of meat with the drunkard."
"The wine in the mansion is barely enough to support one drunkard, let alone two."
Ying Chengjiao left two of his favorite tiger meat skewers and pushed the remaining skewers and the plate in front of the reckless man. He turned to Han Fei and said, "You admire Shen Buhai so much. If I say that Shen Buhai is the culprit who caused the demise of Han, do you agree?"
Ying Chengjiao picked up a jar of wine from the ground, poured himself a bottle of fine wine, shook it and took a sip, giving Han Fei some time to think about his words.
Han Fei frowned, and it was obvious that he did not agree with Ying Chengjiao's words.
During Shen Buhai's reforms, Han annexed Zheng and achieved unprecedented development both politically and militarily.
It can be said that South Korea at that time was at its strongest stage in history.
Even big countries like Qin, Chu and Qi were unwilling to take action against South Korea.
Everyone thinks Shen Buhai is the savior of Korea, but Ying Chengjiao says that Shen Buhai is the culprit of Korea's demise. This is far from the mainstream perception.
The ruffian slowed down his eating of the meat a little, and Li Mu did not take back the wine jar immediately. The four people in the shadows all adjusted their movements a little, and the seven guests' attention was on Ying Chengjiao.
A gentle old man's voice sounded from the shadows: "I have thousands of students, and I have heard countless words from crazy students. I hope Your Majesty will not be one of them."
Another old man spoke with a powerful voice, like the sound of swords clashing, "Speak quickly, my lord. I am very curious."
Ying Chengjiao pondered, as if he was thinking about where to start. After a moment, he said, "The Three Kingdoms divided Jin, and Han, Zhao, and Wei divided Jin. Han got the smallest territory. The land Han got was not fertile, and it could not support its people as well as the other countries. Most of the land is plain, and it does not have the natural barrier of Hangu Pass like Qin. It is bordered by Qin to the west, Chu to the east and south, and the two Jins to the north. There are enemies on all sides. How can it survive?"
Ying Chengjiao was talking about Korean history, things that had already happened in Korea.
As a prince of the Kingdom of Han, Han Fei had a hard time memorizing the history of Han - he stuttered, but he could write it down.
Han Fei walked to Ying Chengjiao's table with a wine jar in his hand and filled the jar with wine.
Then he dipped his right index finger into the wine in the jug and wrote on the table: The Three Jins were originally one family and were not enemies at first. Han, Zhao, and Wei were of the same blood and united to resist the great powers of Qin and Chu.
Ying Chengjiao looked down at the words written by Han Fei on the table, nodded and agreed, "That was true at the beginning. When the three families first divided Jin, they still had friendships. What about later? After Zhao and Wei broke up and went to war, the alliance between the three families no longer existed. Why were these two countries still willing to help Han?"
Han Fei started writing as soon as Ying Chengjiao finished speaking. He didn't need to think at all. These things were very familiar to him: Han was against Wei, and Zhao had the merit of saving it.
The man with the gentle old voice was sitting in the shadows, so he should not be able to see what Han Fei wrote on the table.
But he seemed to know what Han Fei was writing without even reading it, and he said in coordination with Han Fei: "When King Hui of Wei first came to power, Zhao and Han jointly attacked Wei. They fought with Wei at Zhuoze, where Wei was badly defeated. At this time, Wei was in danger of being destroyed, and the King of Zhao wanted to kill King Hui of Wei and occupy all of his land. The King of Han refused, saying that killing the King of Wei was violent and occupying Wei's land was greedy."
"Divide the land of Wei into two, so that there is no Song in the two Weis, and Wei is strong and no longer has the strength to attack Zhao, so Han can do it. The King of Zhao did not follow Han's advice, so the King of Han withdrew his troops. The King of Zhao was afraid that it would be difficult for one country to defeat Wei, so he also withdrew his troops, and Wei survived. This is the merit of Han protecting Wei."
Li Mu glanced at Han Fei's handwriting on Ying Chengjiao's desk and said, "Han Jue of the Han family saved Zhao Wu and allowed this orphan of the Zhao family to continue the Zhao family's official title. This is one of Han's contributions to Zhao. During the siege of Jinyang, the Zhi family allied with the Han family, and the Wei family besieged the Zhao family for a year. The Zhao family was in danger of being exterminated."
"At the final moment, Han and Wei turned against each other, destroyed Zhi and saved Zhao, and Jin was divided among three families. This was Han's second achievement against Zhao. Without Han, Zhao would have died early, and the State of Zhao would not have existed."
"What do you call this? This is righteousness, the righteousness of sacrificing one's life for righteousness." Ying Chengjiao glanced at the gentle old man in the shadows.
The gentle old man nodded in agreement.
Ying Chengjiao continued, "Regardless of Han's starting point, in fact, he saved Zhao and Wei. This is an open conspiracy. Zhao and Wei must recognize this. With the word 'righteousness' in mind, Han has many supporters, and thus it has lasted for a hundred years."
Ying Chengjiao paused for a moment and said, "Until Shen Buhai came to power, he changed the law and eliminated the word 'righteousness'. As a result, Han suffered a series of misfortunes and eventually perished."
Han Fei wrote a lot this time. While writing, he put the wine bottles and plates on Ying Chengjiao's desk on the ground. In the end, the desk was empty. Han Fei still hadn't finished writing, so Han Fei set his sights on Li Mu's desk.
Li Mu understood and took the plate off the table by himself - because he usually liked to drink from the jar, so there was no wine bottle on his table, only the plate with the skewers.
Then Li Mu tapped the edge of the table with his palm, and the table was one inch off the ground.
Boom~
After a slight sound, Li Mu's desk was put together with Ying Chengjiao's desk.
Han Fei dipped his hand in the wine and continued writing half a table before he finally finished:
【It is a fact that Shen Zi reformed the Kingdom of Han and made it strong. Your Majesty's words are groundless and ridiculous. From ancient times to the present, I have never heard of a person who made a country strong and caused it to suffer misfortune. The subsequent misfortune of the Kingdom of Han was that after the death of Han Zhaoxianhou, all the laws and regulations formulated by Shen Zi were abolished. This was the fault of the later Han monarch, how can it be said to be the fault of Shen Zi?】
[If the Qin State abolished all laws and regulations after executing Wei Yang and returned to the era when the five pests were rampant, and the Qin State was eventually destroyed by the Wei Wuzu, can the king say that Wei Yang was the culprit for the destruction of the Qin State? ]
Han Fei, who had finished writing a half-table of text, was sitting on the ground, waiting for Ying Chengjiao's evaluation, just like a student waiting for his teacher's comments.
Ying Chengjiao stroked his chin and squinted his eyes, saying, "Stuttering, I remember you always have paper and pen with you. Didn't you bring it today?"
Han Fei blinked his eyes, reached into his bosom, and took out a folded paper and a brush with thick ink on the tip.
Li Mu silently moved back to his desk.
Ying Chengjiao calmly put the plates and wine bottles back on the table and said, "Shang Yang's reforms are different from Shen Buhai's. Shang Yang is a legalist, while Shen Buhai is a tactician. The legalists use severe punishments and generous rewards to enforce laws, so that those who obey the law will not be deprived of rewards, and those who break the law will not escape punishment."
"The School of Art claimed that it was a method for rulers to manipulate their subjects, to distinguish between loyalty and treachery without revealing one's feelings, and to reward and punish in an unpredictable way but hit the mark with facts. Shang Yang left behind laws, while Shen Buhai left behind art. If the rulers of Qin in later generations did not follow Shang Yang's laws and the country was destroyed, it would naturally not be Shang Yang's fault."
"But the Han kings of all generations followed Shen Buhai's tactics. The demise of the Kingdom of Han was naturally caused by Shen Buhai. You are the master of the three schools of the Legalists: law, tactics, and power. You know the difference better than me. How could you ask such a question?"
Jie Ba dipped the brush into the wine on the table, and wrote lightly on the white paper: "I cannot agree with what you said, Your Majesty." Both the Legal School and the Art School are Legalists, and both aim to strengthen the monarch's rule and reform the law to become stronger . The strength of Qin lies in the fact that Qin implemented Wei Yang's law. The weakness of Han lies in the fact that Han did not implement Shen Zi's law. Only Han Zhaoxianhou in Han State implemented Shen Zi's law. Why do you say that all Han monarchs in the past have implemented Shen Zi's law?
Tap tap tap
Ying Chengjiao pressed his index finger heavily on the four words "Shen Zi's Method" written by Han Fei on the white paper, asking Han Fei to pay attention to these four words.
"The 'law' you're referring to is the law of the Legalists, not the law of the Legalists. It means legal regulations, right? What you said about not using Shenzi's law is not in conflict with what I said about using Shen Buhai's art. The law of the Legalists and the art of the Artists, do you understand them?"
Han Fei hesitated and looked at Ying Chengjiao with suspicion.
How can this not be a conflict?
The School of Arts is also the School of Legalism. The essence of legal reform is to change the government decrees and laws so that the king can concentrate power in his hands.
The use of "techniques" is a means, not an end. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the policies after the reform are implemented.
Your Majesty, are you asking me if I understand the laws and techniques of the Legalists? Are you sure this is not a joke? Your Majesty, do you understand the Legalists?
Han Fei, who was given the name "Zi" for his attainments in the Legalist doctrine at a young age, was qualified to look down on anyone in the Legalist field, even if that person was Ying Chengjiao, whom he admired.
In history books, when the Legalists are mentioned, the first page mentions Han Fei.
If the outstanding figures of the Legalists throughout the ages were compared to peaks, Han Fei would be the Mount Everest among them. No one understood the Legalists better than him.
The guests had been listening in, and at this moment none of them were optimistic about Ying Chengjiao.
"Your Majesty, just talk about the disaster of Han State. Questioning whether Han Fei understands Legalism... Your Majesty is a little arrogant."
"Your Majesty, please admit defeat. No one in the world can say that Han Feizi is a good person in the Legalist school."
"Han Fei is still alive, but he is called 'Zi' because of the Legalists. It is natural that the monarch loses."
"Haha, I think His Majesty is just being shameless and is just playing dirty on purpose."
The reckless man bit into the skewer and said with a smile: "It's a pity that Gai Nie is not here, otherwise he would have added a sentence."
At this point, the reckless man paused in agreement. Then, except for Han Fei, the other six retainers, young and old, spoke at the same time: "We lost, so what excuses are there? They are all bullshit!"
“Hahahahahaha…”
The guests laughed heartily, and for a moment, the open space was filled with a cheerful and joyful atmosphere.
Everyone laughed, and Ying Chengjiao laughed along.
After everyone finished laughing, Ying Chengjiao rolled up his sleeves and said while laughing: "It seems that I have to prove myself today. Isn't it just the Legalist school? Stuttering is really not as good as me!"
Li Mu leaned on the wine jar and looked at Ying Chengjiao seriously, saying, "Why did your Majesty get drunk faster than me today?"
"Hahaha, Wu Anjun has lost his reputation as a drunkard."
"That's absolutely right, hahahahahahahahahaha..."
Everyone burst into laughter again.
This time, Ying Chengjiao did not laugh along.
