7 Chapter 7

◎Father’s teachings.◎

Li Ying scratched his fingers: "Well, that's it..."

Fusu said, "I know what you want to ask. Cutting the grass must be done at the root. Hu Hai killed not only my brothers, but also my sisters. There is no reason for him to spare my wives, concubines, and children."

Li Ying said: "How pitiful... Li Si didn't even try to save his own daughter."

Fusu said coldly: "A daughter is not as good as his position as prime minister."

Li Ying recalled the record in "Records of the Grand Historian" that Li Si was afraid that Fusu would reuse Meng Tian after he succeeded to the throne, and he would be either killed or expelled like the previous prime ministers of Qin State, so he chose to go along with Zhao Gao and Hu Hai.

Having taken the first step, Li Si had no way back.

However, it wasn't long before Li Si was framed by Zhao Gao, and the three clans of the Li family were exterminated. "The long-term enfeoffment and the generation of orphans" became a joke.

Fusu was lost in thought for a moment, then lowered his head and said sadly, "It's me who has implicated them."

When Fusu committed suicide, he still thought it was his father's will. Although he was heartbroken, he never worried about the safety of his family.

It was not until later that he realized that the imperial edict of death was actually a conspiracy. None of his family members, whom he thought would be spared by his father, survived, and his brothers and sisters were also brutally killed by Hu Hai.

Fusu's depressed mood continued until he met Ying Zheng. Seeing him like this, his father, who had been dealing with state and military affairs for a day, still had the energy to care about his eldest son's emotions.

"Fusu, come and sit here." Ying Zheng patted the seat next to him.

Fusu obediently went over and sat down. Ying Zheng lowered his head and could see the top of Fusu's head. He raised his hand and rubbed it. The child's hair was soft, and he couldn't help but rub it a few more times.

Fusu looked up in surprise: "Father?"

Children did not need to tie their hair up, so Fusu just asked the palace ladies to comb their hair neatly and tie it with a ribbon, which became the simplest ponytail in later generations.

After Ying Zheng rubbed Fusu's hair like this, it became a little messy.

"...Hmm." Ying Zheng admired it and rubbed it a few more times, and Fusu's head became a mess.

Fusu: “…”

Does my father still have such...childlike innocence?

Looking at his eldest son's dazed look, Ying Zheng chuckled softly, and the fatigue of the day dissipated a little.

"Are you stupid?" Ying Zheng tapped Fusu's forehead with his finger and laughed, "Do you regret having Han Fei as your teacher? He's only been in Xianyang for a few days, and he's offended everyone except me. And you still asked him to be your teacher? But he taught you a lesson?"

And now, Han Fei has achieved the achievement of offending both the king and his ministers of Qin. This is a cause for celebration.

Although Han Fei had a stutter, his writing was very capable of offending people. Fusu, who was familiar with Han Fei's articles, deeply agreed with this.

Fusu replied, "Father, Mr. Han didn't lecture me. He told me some very interesting stories."

"Telling a story?" Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows. He knew Han Fei's storytelling style very well.

But... can you tell that to a child?

"Since you like listening to his stories, why do you look so unhappy?" Ying Zheng pinched his eldest son's face, and then found that it felt better than his hair, so he pinched it a few more times.

Fusu's face was pinched, and he refused to speak vaguely. After his father's hand left, he said, "It was you, sir, who said that he refused to give up lobbying father to save Han, that made me unhappy."

Ying Zheng had been sitting leisurely, but upon hearing this, he straightened his back a little, but his tone remained unchanged: "He also told you this."

Fusu said, "That's not what you said, sir. I saw your letter to my father at my grandfather's place. I wanted to persuade you to give up this idea, but you said you would do it even though you knew it was impossible."

Ying Zheng relaxed again, and no longer worried about Han Fei becoming Fusu's teacher. He smiled and said, "Han Fei is a member of the Korean royal family, so naturally he is loyal to his motherland. How can a little kid like you change his mind with just a few words?"

Fusu then asked, "Father, Lord Changwen is a member of the royal family of Chu. Is he also loyal to Chu?"

Ying Zheng said without hesitation, "How is that possible? These are two completely different things. The mothers of Lord Changping and Lord Changwen are both members of the royal family of Qin. How can they be the same as Han Fei?"

Fusu said, "King Zhaoxiang's mother, the Queen Mother Xuan, was from Chu, but he loved to attack Chu."

King Zhaoxiang not only loved to attack the State of Chu. During the Battle of Yan and Ying, Bai Qi captured the capital of Chu and burned down the ancestral temple and Yiling of Chu. However, the people of Chu were not unfamiliar with the fact that their capital had been captured and their ancestral graves dug up, and Bai Qi was not the first to do so.

Ying Zheng said: "It is true that the Queen Mother Xuan is from Chu, but King Zhaoxiang was the King of Qin. Everything he did was for the benefit of Qin, not Chu."

"Fusu, many of Qin's important officials are from the Six Kingdoms," Ying Zheng said solemnly. "Years ago, I considered expelling the foreign officials from the Six Kingdoms, but a letter from Li Si dissuaded me from doing so. Since you've read Han Fei's writings, I'll explain Li Si's writings to you as well."

Fusu's original intention was to use this opportunity to remind his father to be careful about Changwenjun's position, but he didn't expect to backfire and let his father teach him a lesson.

This lesson is very necessary. The last time Fusu participated in government affairs was more than two thousand years ago, when he was still young.

During his two thousand years in the underworld, although Fusu was well-read, he was always just talking about theory and was very immature.

Ying Zheng ascended the throne at a young age. Although he is not yet thirty years old, he is already a very mature politician. Fusu was deeply touched and benefited a lot from his teachings.

At the same time, Fusu felt mixed emotions. The last time he listened to his father's teachings was when he was a teenager in his previous life.

As the territory of the Qin Dynasty grew larger, his father had to deal with more and more government affairs, and he also had to travel around the world to deter the remnants of the six kingdoms. Fusu even had less and less time to see him, let alone listen to his father's teachings?

The repeated conflicts and contradictions between him and his father in his previous life might also be related to this.

There is too little communication, and the father and son no longer understand each other, which leads to those misunderstandings.

Fusu nodded and said, "Father, I understand."

Ying Zheng's expression remained serious. He asked, "What do you understand?"

Fusu said seriously, "One day, when the six eastern states are all under Qin, there will be no Qi or Chu people. Everyone in the world is Qin, and since they are Qin, naturally everyone can be used. My father is a sage who has unified the world. His heart is as broad as the sea, embracing all rivers. Anyone who can be used, regardless of their background, will naturally be accommodated by my father."

Ying Zheng didn't expect to hear such words from his eldest son. He thought for a moment and couldn't help but smile on his serious face.

"You are only a child. If you grow up a little, others will say you are a sycophant who flatters the emperor."

Fusu did not laugh. He continued to speak seriously: "Father, I am speaking the truth with all my heart. You are a king without parallel in history."

"When our Qin warriors conquer the six kingdoms, it won't be too late for you to say this." Ying Zheng shook his head and smiled, then stopped laughing. "Fusu, no matter what the previous kings said, conquering the six kingdoms depends on military force. We can't just sit here and talk and expect the six kingdoms to belong to Qin."

"I understand," Fusu said. "Father, the previous kings said they would tell me about increasing grain production in the next few days. Conquering the six kingdoms requires war, and war requires grain, right?"

When Ying Zheng heard the words "increase grain production", his eyes lit up. The two most important things in war are soldiers and food. The Qin army was already powerful, and if there was a way to increase grain production, it would be even more powerful.

Ying Zheng warned, "Fusu, food is a very important matter. You need to listen carefully and take notes. Do you understand?"

Fusu nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, father, I will not miss a single word."

…

The King of Qin rewarded his ministers with the newly made paper, and Han Fei, as Fusu's teacher, also received a stack.

The King of Qin's attendant explained the use of paper and politely took his leave. Han Fei then immediately ordered someone to grind ink.

Han Fei, who had never written on paper before, felt a little unfamiliar when he put pen to paper, and the first two words he wrote looked a little awkward.

But Han Fei didn't care about all this. He turned the paper over and over again, and finally slumped over his desk and sighed.

People often use the expression "学富五车" (learned and rich in five carts) to describe a person's profound knowledge. At that time, the five carts referred to five carts of bamboo slips. If they were replaced with paper, I'm afraid not even one cart would be needed.

The Qin State was known for its military prowess over its literary prowess. But with this thin piece of paper, would the Qin State's literary prowess still be weak? Would scholars be drawn to the Qin State by this piece of paper?

Han Fei didn't know.

What Han Fei was more curious about now was how paper was made and who made it.

Nothing can appear out of thin air; it must have a source.

In Xianyang, there were few people Han Fei could ask, so even though he knew Li Si's hostility towards him, he still resolutely went to the Li family's door.

Li Si was not surprised that the king gave paper to Han Fei, nor was he surprised that Han Fei came to him to inquire about the origin of the paper. Unfortunately, Li Si could not tell Han Fei the answer he wanted.

Just yesterday, when these ministers had finished discussing government affairs with the king and were about to retire to attend to their own affairs, the king suddenly and casually said that he would reward them.

The ministers were quite confused for a moment. Although the Qin army had indeed won another victory recently, it was just an ordinary small victory. There was no need to reward all the ministers to celebrate, right?

However, the ministers soon stopped complaining because they were so shocked by the king's reward that they had no time to think about anything else.

The snow-white paper is a hundred times thinner than bamboo slips, but it can be used to write without smudging.

Also, the neat black handwriting on the snow-white paper, held in the hands of dozens of monks, did not look like it was written by humans.

Before leaving the palace, all the ministers received a stack of paper and a printed copy of the Qin Law as a reward from the king.

By carving a template, dozens or even hundreds of books could be printed. Li Si still feels dizzy when he thinks about it now.

God bless the Qin State.

Naturally, Han Fei had the same doubts as Li Si and all the ministers who received rewards from Ying Zheng.

What Han Fei didn't know was that the ministers had already met with Ying Zheng today and discussed various matters concerning paper and woodblock printing.

Li Si smiled slightly. The king only gave Han Fei paper and did not tell him about the engraving. It was obvious that he still did not trust this young man from Korea.

He was different, as he had seen the process of woodblock printing.

【Author’s words】

Wives, concubines and children: This is a private setting.

Although feudal society practiced the system of one wife and multiple concubines, except for the established previous life, Fusu, Liu Ju and Li Chengqian in this life will all be monogamous.

Before Bai Qi, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the Chu capital Ying was captured by the Wu State.