Chapter 46 Opening a school chain!

Taishu Jiu's entry into the court as the Left Chancellor was merely Ying Zheng's first step in testing various forces. Once they retreated from this first step, they would make way for him step by step in the future!

He's never in a hurry for anything, and he's never the one who should be anxious.

As the court session was drawing to a close, Ying Zheng made his final announcement: a general amnesty to the common people, a move identical to that of his predecessor, King Zhuangxiang. The ministers were not surprised and simply shouted "Your Majesty is wise!"

The only difference might be that he assigned the first task to the Left Chancellor, Taishu Jiu, to write a eulogy for the late king, which was actually an article praising his virtues.

This is nothing special, but this eulogy wasn't written for King Zhuangxiang, but for King Zhaoxiang.

Fine, who in the court hasn't been 'oppressed' under King Zhaoxiang? Can they really oppose him?

The first court assembly ended relatively smoothly. After the assembly, Taishu Jiu immediately approached Lü Buwei, but Lü Buwei quickly walked away as if he didn't want to see him.

However, Taishu Jiu walked extremely fast, and Lü Buwei could not openly run around inside the Xianyang Palace, so he could only be grabbed by Taishu Jiu.

"Why is Prime Minister Lü in such a hurry to leave after seeing me? I have something to discuss with you."

Lü Buwei took a deep breath and immediately turned to face Taishu Jiu. Looking into the other's sincere and clear eyes, several question marks popped into his mind.

"What could the Left Chancellor possibly want with Buwei?"

Taishu Jiu glanced around and said, "It's not very convenient here. Would you please invite Prime Minister Lü to my residence for a visit?"

"Are we leaving the city now? Most of the Prime Minister's affairs are piling up there, so I'm afraid he won't have time to leave the city with the Left Prime Minister."

Taishu Jiu didn't understand Lü Buwei's repeated hints. He looked at Lü Buwei in confusion: "I know, that's why I invited you to my school. It's not far from Xianyang Palace, and it's not far from your residence either. We can discuss some matters without delaying Prime Minister Lü's return home."

Lu Buwei then reluctantly pretended to remember that Taishu Jiu used to have a house in Xianyang City, which he had converted into a school.

"Then I thank the Left Prime Minister for his invitation."

They still can't completely break off relations over the issue between the two prime ministers; on the surface, they still need to express their intention to get along harmoniously.

Lü Buwei was unwilling to cause any unnecessary trouble at this moment. If the position of Left Chancellor was lost, so be it. Besides, this man didn't really manage anything anyway; the government was still in his hands. Rather than being wary of a figurehead Left Chancellor, he was more concerned about the two Empress Dowagers.

After all, they really did have the power to interfere in politics.

****

The idea of ​​inviting Lü Buwei was actually suggested by Zhu Qing'ai, who believed that Lü Buwei's feelings for King Zhuangxiang could be taken advantage of.

Upon arriving at the school, Taishu Jiu invited Lü Buwei to his principal's office.

When they passed through the campus, the students they met would respectfully bow to them, their fervent gazes almost making them want to ask for autographs on the spot.

Zhu Qing'ai walked behind them, still debugging her newly loaded module. Because Taishu Jiu was appointed Left Prime Minister and rose to prominence in one step, she once again obtained a large number of points and immediately bought a module that could scan the world without consuming much energy.

Once loaded, she becomes the core of the Sky Eye system, and it's far more effective than the modern Sky Eye system.

During her adjustment period, Taishu Jiu had already brought up the matter of writing a eulogy, and he asked, "Does Lord Lü wish to write a eulogy for the late king?"

He pulled a thick dictionary from his desk drawer. The words "Lü Buwei" looked very familiar to him; it was the "New Qin Dictionary" he had mentioned before.

Although it's called a dictionary, Taishu Jiu actually added a section on punctuation marks, making it accessible to many people with no prior knowledge of punctuation and significantly lowering the reading threshold.

He handed the dictionary to Lü Buwei and said, "The king previously instructed that two copies be made, one in seal script and one in bamboo script. If you wish to write for the late king, I will only write the parts for King Zhaoxiang and King Xiaowen."

Lü Buwei wanted to politely decline, but his hand honestly accepted the dictionary.

His relationship with Prince Zhuangxiang, Prince Chu, cannot be simply judged as that of a ruler and his subject. They had weathered many storms together over the years, but his loyal ruler passed away first.

Especially considering the current King of Qin's veiled criticism of him right from the start, he had only been working under King Zheng of Qin for a day when he began to miss the days when King Zhuangxiang was in power.

He appointed him as prime minister and Marquis Wenxin, which no longer represents the white moonlight in people's hearts.

Lü Buwei would definitely write this eulogy; he could write a hundred copies without any problem.

Taishu Jiu then said, "Prime Minister Lü, please write it in a more accessible way. In the future, when my schools go to various places, their graduates will take these articles with them and read them to the common people. If you write it in too profound a language, the common people will not understand it. You don't want the merits of the late king to be buried, do you?"

Lü Buwei vaguely realized that something was wrong, but there was no problem in sending the eulogy all over the country. The only problem might be that he wrote too much at once.

He wasn't against King Zhaoxiang and King Xiaowen also having eulogies; he just felt that it was a bit inappropriate for the three former kings to be praised together.

He glanced at the new Qin dictionary in his hand, and the feeling of unease grew stronger, but... writing two copies wouldn't be a problem, King Zhuangxiang was worth it.

Lü Buwei accepted the job anyway, and said humbly and politely to Taishu Jiu, "In that case, I will share some of your work, Prime Minister."

Taishu Jiu: "Thank you so much."

As he spoke, he handed a thick stack of papers to Lü Buwei and said, "Prime Minister Lü, please write as you please. Don't worry about running out of paper. Just write down how you normally speak. Don't try to save space or words."

****

When Lü Buwei walked out of the office and handed the papers in his hand to the servants waiting outside, they were still a little unaware that he had come to help Taishu Jiu with his work.

Lü Buwei already had a lot of important state affairs to deal with: ...

However, Tai Shu Jiu's behavior solidified his belief that the other party was merely a lucky charm, someone who held a position but did nothing, and not worth his concern.

"Prepare the car, let's go home."

****

Zhu Qing'ai placed a small portable camera app next to Lü Buwei. It was from a newly loaded module and was convenient and easy to use!

But don't get the wrong idea, she wasn't trying to find any dirt on him; she was simply curious about how he showered King Zhuangxiang with compliments.

Sitting in his office, Taishu Jiu had already begun writing furiously. King Zhaoxiang had many achievements; even if he only picked out the important events to exaggerate, he could write ten pages of densely packed text without repeating any.

However, considering the servants and prisoners captured from other countries, and that the common people didn't care about how many battles they had won, Taishu Jiu focused on improving agricultural tools and increasing grain production.

Then, as is customary, King Zhaoxiang showered him with very kind praise, and a rainbow of flattery—no, a eulogy—was written.

Taishu Jiu used very simple and easy-to-understand words and sentences, even at the level of everyday conversation. He tried to choose words that were commonly used in daily life and avoided obscure words, ensuring that as long as he stood there and read them, everyone below could understand him.

When Emperor Xiaowen arrived, Taishu Jiu spent a long time trying to come up with something to write about, but he couldn't think of much to write about.

When Zhu Qing'ai turned around to look at the article, she realized that the eulogy looked just like the essays she wrote in high school.

Aside from the beginning and end being somewhat relevant to the topic, the middle section is filled with unnecessary filler and goes completely off-topic, making it all sound like a load of nonsense and just filler.

Oh, King Xiaowen only reigned for three days, then it's alright.

"Wait a minute, why did you even list the number of King Xiaowen's sons and daughters?" This isn't how you pad the numbers, is it?

Zhu Qing'ai expressed her incomprehension, wondering if this was an implication that King Xiaowen was so obsessed with beautiful women that he died young. She was both confused and deeply shocked.

Taishu Jiu looked up and said in a serious tone, "Isn't it said that people in ancient times valued having many children and good fortune? King Xiaowen's virtue can be considered one of his merits..."

I'm really sorry, he couldn't find any more, and if he didn't write this, he wouldn't be able to reach the word count.

"Besides, it's not that all humans like gossip; they probably enjoy reading royal gossip too."

Zhu Qing'ai raised her hand to cover the lower half of her face. So this host was trained by her. This touched the leader deeply.

"You can apply what you've learned to other situations, which shows you've mastered some of humanity's finest virtues. Let me see how many children King Xiaowen had..."

"Oh, so many."

"Right, Qing'ai? When I asked Wang Yuan this question, he looked quite surprised too."

****

At the next grand court assembly, Taishu Jiu and Lü Buwei each presented their written eulogies.

Taishu Jiu's essay on King Xiaowen's writing in seal script was written with great care. Few people can understand the simplified characters at present. The two empress dowagers did not see any problems and even praised the two prime ministers highly.

King Zheng of Qin then replied, "I am very satisfied with this article. Do the two prime ministers have any rewards they would like?"

Lü Buwei humbly replied, "This is all what I should do, and I would never dare to ask Your Majesty for a reward."

Taishu Jiu was much more direct. He stepped forward, bowed, and said, "I hope Your Majesty will allow me to open schools throughout the country and recruit more craftsmen."

Upon hearing this, the court fell silent for a moment. They knew that the school opened by Taishu Jiu was for teaching people to read and write, but what use was that? After completing the studies, one would only become a craftsman.

But some people still stood up and said, "Isn't one school enough for you, Prime Minister? If there are any more schools... the national treasury will be in trouble."

“Your Majesty may include the school’s expenses in my reward. Since King Zhaoxiang, I have never used any of the things that the late kings have bestowed upon me, whether money or anything else.”

"Moreover, there are indeed not enough craftsmen. Since only one doctor is in charge of gunpowder, gunpowder will be in short supply every day."

Ji Yu, who was attending court, stepped forward in agreement. Compared to the opening of a school, the others were more sensitive to her appearance. However, with two empress dowagers sitting above, they couldn't openly say that it was improper for a woman to attend court.

Upon hearing this, Meng Ao and Wang He and the others were unwilling. Having witnessed the power of gunpowder, they naturally wanted to use it every time, as it would make fighting much easier and bring them many military merits.

When it comes to matters concerning their own interests, even Meng Ao, who wanted to keep a low profile, jumped out to offer his support.

The Qin state currently implements a merit-based system of nobility, and the generals who can attend court have high ranks. In addition, with military power, no one dares to ignore their opinions.

Empress Dowager Huayang spoke up: "This is indeed a major matter. I think it's feasible. Does anyone have any further objections?"

"We have no objection. Your Majesty is wise, and so is the Empress Dowager."

Under the glare of Meng Ao Wang He and his menacing thugs, they dared not voice any objections...

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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 00:23:15 and 11:25:18 on May 6, 2024!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Shengshengbuxi, Yanxiaoyanyan, Shiyue, Qingruo, Yunixiaosi, and Fengxiyue (1 bottle);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!