Chapter 61 How to Use the Favorability System 61

From the time the marriage was arranged to the completion of the wedding, Ji Yu and Meng Tian completed the process extremely quickly. Even after the wedding, they were still able to go to the battlefield with their grandfather Meng Ao a month later.

This time, the countries targeted for attack were not chosen based on terrain, the strength of the opposing country, or the surrounding conditions of the city, as was the usual practice.

The most significant impact was on the academic performance of prisoners captured from various countries; this war was merely the implementation of a pre-determined strategy.

Even before the target of the attack was determined, the Qingjiu schools in various places held a large-scale examination, which mainly tested their learning of simplified characters and their familiarity with and application of Qin laws.

It is no exaggeration to say that literacy and familiarity with Qin law were sufficient to become an official. The completeness of Qin law is admirable to later generations. Its structure is complete, clear, and extremely detailed, even to the point of being superfluous.

Seriously, as long as you can read and understand Qin law, you can do it too.

Of course, this excessive detail also has its drawbacks. Besides the most criticized aspects of severe punishment and using punishment to deter others, its excessive detail is also one of its shortcomings. Just like a bunch of programs, the larger the program size, the more likely it is to have bugs when running.

The King of Qin, who possessed legislative power, was the one who maintained these procedures. However, the common way for successive Kings of Qin to deal with bugs was not to try to fix the bugs to make the program run smoothly, but to add another law to stipulate how to deal with such situations, which led to the Qin laws becoming increasingly complex.

You can probably find solutions to even the smallest, most trivial problems within it.

It sounds wonderful, but in reality, people are people, not a string of code. They can't execute such laws perfectly without any loopholes.

Coupled with severe punishment, it's no wonder the edifice eventually collapsed.

Currently, this program is still running smoothly. Zhu Qing'ai's goal is to slim it down completely before it crashes, and first and foremost, remove the large-scale collective punishment.

The excuse is easy to find: such a joyous occasion as unifying the world should naturally be celebrated with benevolence. A minor change to the law is all it takes.

Those who pass the exams are the first step in appeasing the common people of the six states. Replacing them with Qin officials might cause strong resistance from the local people, and could even lead to a rebellion. However, replacing the local officials with former locals or people from that state would reduce the rebellious sentiment.

If the local officials had complicated relationships, then these prisoners, who originally came from other countries, also had various kinship ties in the local area. Most of those who survived in this era had to band together, and their various relationships in their place of birth, whether noble or commoner, were also taken into consideration.

This led to Zhu Qing'ai working overtime frantically for a month, traveling to various countries to compile all the materials of those taking the exam.

Sigh, unifying the world is a job that no human can do.

****

On the day the rankings were released, the number of people from all countries was tallied together. The largest group consisted of people who were originally from the Zhao state but had now been captured and had Qin identity documents.

It's not that the people of Zhao were smarter than those of other countries; it's just that Zhao had the most prisoners, so the larger the pool, the greater the chance of selecting qualified individuals.

Most of the people from the former Qin state did not register because they had left their homes or wanted better employment in Xianyang.

Most of the Qin people who signed up were women, because they had no opportunity to rise to power in the country at the moment, and most of them did not have the talent to succeed, so they had to find another way out for themselves.

A small number of men came with the idea of ​​taking a gamble and maybe becoming the 'city lord' of a city.

Those former prisoners who were going to serve as officials in newly conquered cities and were still standing here were mostly ambitious people, except for those who genuinely wanted to see if they could return to their hometowns.

If ambition bars could be materialized, Zhu Qing'ai felt that they would definitely be a sea of ​​bright red at first glance.

She never thought ambition was a bad word. If there were no ambition, if people were indifferent and didn't compete, then humanity would not have had the opportunity to stand out from thousands of races and reach its current status.

Ambition should never be condemned; it is what drives human progress.

Standing inside the main hall were former Zhao prisoners who had passed the examination, and some old Qin people who had also passed.

It's quite a sight to see the two of them standing together so peacefully.

At the head of the main hall sat the King of Qin and his wife, with the two empress dowagers on either side. At the bottom of the hall, the first person was the Left Chancellor, Taishu Jiu, who had stepped forward as the principal. On either side of him were the important officials of the court.

The King of Qin spoke first: "Now that you're standing here, are you clear about what Principal Taishu has announced?"

"We, the common people, understand."

Next came Zhu Qing'ai's work. She took out the dusty Favorability System. If she hadn't suddenly remembered that it could be used in this way, the system's common functions would probably have been gathering dust forever.

After her modifications, this favorability system no longer considers a single person's favorability towards the host, but rather a comprehensive score. This score is composed of favorability towards the Qin state, favorability towards Qingjiu School, favorability towards the principal, favorability towards the surrounding Qin classmates, and so on.

Goodwill is a terrifying thing. Once you develop a goodwill toward a country, person, or thing, you will unconsciously try to make amends for it, even if it is an enemy country, and imagine it as a very advanced and wonderful nation.

The only thing that can surpass and suppress goodwill is desire, and the greatest lust for power is about to be handed over to them.

When the two are combined into a single, powerful attack, there are few weaknesses.

Once used, pink number bars appeared around everyone in the hall. Of course, these were invisible to everyone else, except for Zhu Qing'ai.

She said, "We can begin."

The important officials here include the two empress dowagers, each with a dictionary in hand, and two teams of attendants carrying large stacks of books. It is self-evident what the final test will be.

Taishu Jiu: "Distribute the new Qin dictionary. All candidates, please hold the dictionary with both hands and place it flat in front of your chest. No matter what you see, do not make a sound."

He didn't mention the consequences of misbehaving in front of the palace, but the people below were already aware of them; someone had specifically told them about it before they went up to the palace.

Taishu Jiu checked that everyone had received a dictionary, then ordered everyone to look up. Although they dared not look directly at the King of Qin, they could see out of the corner of their eyes that there were not just three people sitting at the head of the table, but four.

Qin casually said, "Whoever has the dictionary, come forward."

Only about 80 percent of the people in the hall stepped forward. Some were puzzled when they saw their classmates step forward and wanted to follow, but Taishu Jiu stopped them in time.

That concludes Zhu Qing'ai's work. She truly worked herself to the bone for a month, only to put on airs for less than three minutes.

Attendants who had received orders went to those still standing there and whispered to them that they had been eliminated and should leave the hall immediately, as there would be more opportunities in the future, and they should not be discouraged.

Zhu Qing'ai knew that often the fewest words were the most impressive, so she simply said, "These are the people I need," and then fell silent.

Without her explanation, everyone present, except for the examinee, understood why. Only those who identified with Qin could see Qin's image and hear Qin's words when they picked up the dictionary.

This testing method is unheard of, but it works incredibly well.

Those present had no reason to object. Not to mention that they had lived in Qin for many years and were deeply influenced by Qin, even if their desires had overcome their emotions at this moment, their boss had not spoken, so these small fry naturally did not dare to utter a single punctuation mark.

After the selection was made, King Zheng of Qin issued an order that Meng Ao would lead the entire army on this expedition, with Right Chancellor Lü Buwei assisting him, and Ji Yu Dafu accompanying the army along with Meng Tian, ​​the head of the research institute's security team.

The number of cities captured is not important; post-war arrangements will be decided entirely by Right Chancellor Lü Buwei, and new officials accompanying the army will be assigned specific positions by Right Chancellor Lü Buwei.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will certainly not fail to live up to your trust."

"Uncle, please dispense with the formalities."

Looking at it this way, the two really do seem like very close relatives. Officials who are not part of Lü Buwei's faction: Impossible, absolutely impossible, it's all an illusion!

****

Because it was the first time, not only did Lü Buwei accompany the army, but 'Qin' also came along.

Why not use the cheat codes if you can? Since you've already discovered that having a dictionary can open up an extraordinary world, then go all out and use them!

Meng Ao brought a spare map with him on this expedition, but he didn't intend to use it. The biggest cheat code was right beside him, so why not use it now?

Who would want to look at flat maps when they can see 3D maps? Although Qin's maps have long been outdated and those abstract maps have been eliminated, Meng Ao still prefers to see 3D maps.

It's definitely not about wanting to get closer to 'Qin' or enjoying that panoramic view of the land.

While Meng Ao and his entourage were happy, Wang He, who had come to see off the army, was not. Taking advantage of the fact that Meng Ao and his group had not yet left with part of the army, he tried to find Lü Buwei to have a word with him.

Unfortunately, Lü Buwei, that old fox, was quicker to dodge than anyone else. He only managed to catch Meng Ao, who couldn't escape. He bluntly said, "Your grandson just got married, why don't you come with the army and get some rest?" It would be good to let him join the army as an assistant.

Meng Ao was stunned, almost thinking Wang He was cursing him. After realizing what was happening, he thought, "Oh, my precious grandson got married."

"It's okay, just think of it as a trip abroad."

Wang He: ?

Meng Ao coughed: "Ahem, to be serious, he didn't really need to go to the battlefield; he could have just protected my granddaughter-in-law."

In short, it's quite safe, so we don't need you.

Wang He was heartbroken; he couldn't even get such a job.

Seeing that he could persuade him, Meng Ao pressed on: "It's not that I don't want to help you, but this time it's not up to me. Look, the King has given all the power except for the command of the army to the Right Chancellor. Tsk tsk."

He was then implying, "Don't you understand?"

With just a few words, Meng Ao forcefully kicked Wang He, the "ball," back to Lü Buwei.

Seeing that Wang He remained silent, he also comforted him, saying, "I heard from Prime Minister Lü that it was you who came to propose it. Prime Minister Lü also knew that you wanted to lead troops, but considering your health, it was not advisable for you to travel long distances. He was doing it for your own good."

Wang He was unwilling to give up: "I can also eat a bushel of rice!"

Meng Ao: ...

He chuckled and said, "General Wang knows about Lian Po's affair, and it hasn't been half a year since that happened."

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Author's Note: Zhu Qing'ai: Another useless function has been put to good use~

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I've already mentioned Qin law in the other resource collection, so I won't copy and paste it here.

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On a slightly different note, the concept of collective punishment didn't originate with Shang Yang. It's far too far-fetched to think that Shang Yang could make the Qin people accept collective punishment simply by erecting a pillar. The concept of collective punishment existed long before Shang Yang, its predecessor being "those who betray the country will have their three clans exterminated." I've forgotten which Qin king implemented it, but I'll look it up later when I write about it.

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