Chapter 50 Asking for His Advice
No, absolutely!
But that depends on whether Qin chooses to change itself or allows others to change by force.
She chose to plant corn and cultivate soybeans, but ultimately she just wanted the people to live a better life.
The lack of food has caused the people to be hungry for a long time, which is only the superficial manifestation of their difficult lives. Harsh taxes, heavy levies and severe punishments are the real culprits of the oppression of the people.
Zhao Yuanxi now even wanted to pull Ying Zheng over, grab his ears and shout, "If you don't let the people live a good life, the people won't let you live a good life either. The fall of the Qin Dynasty is not unjust."
Now Zhao Yuanxi also felt uncomfortable looking at Li Si!
These harsh Qin laws were all created by him.
And those feudal remnants, damn it! Now she herself is the biggest feudal remnant!
Li Si didn't understand why the Queen Mother still glared at him when everything had already happened as the Queen Mother requested and Wei Yang Jun had been punished.
Could it be that the punishment I gave those people was not enough?
The punishments for those common soldiers were indeed lighter, but Lord Weiyang dealt with them strictly according to the law. He even increased the punishment because Lord Weiyang had raised his sword to hurt people.
Now that the case has been decided, even if there is a retrial, the sentence cannot be increased much.
Li Si frowned and reminded, "Your Majesty, I have brought the person back."
Zhao Yuanxi calmed down his mood and then moved his gaze to the mother and son. The woman was wearing a straw cloth skirt and was thin. She was not from a wealthy family.
She asked the woman, "Is there anyone else at home?"
The woman held her son in her arms and said in a weak voice, "My parents-in-law are both dead, and I have no relatives at home."
Zhao Yuanxi thought for a moment and said, "If you're willing, you can stay with me and find a job. I won't make you rich, but I can at least give you two a good life."
She sent someone to pick him up, so she couldn't just throw him away after using him.
The woman was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears of joy, "I am willing, thank you, Queen Mother!"
"Gaosheng, take her to the paper mill and find her a job, and also find her a place to live."
"Yes!" Gao Sheng secretly glanced at the woman and sighed in his heart that this person was so lucky!
Now, except for the two people sent from Liyang Palace, the others in the paper mill are either disciples of the Mohist School or talented people selected by him personally.
Even though this woman's husband had committed a serious crime, the Queen Mother was still willing to accept her. Alas! The Queen Mother is indeed too kind!
If it was him—
snort!
Li Si was also a little surprised. He thought that the Queen Mother would at most forgive them and send her back to her hometown. He never thought that the Queen Mother would keep her.
The woman in front of me is ordinary. I wonder what the empress dowager likes about her?
Li Si bowed and said, "Since this is the case, I still need to report this matter to the king. Please allow me to take my leave first."
"Li Tingwei, wait a minute!" Zhao Yuanxi stood up and walked up to him.
Li Si's face was full of confusion. He couldn't guess what the Queen Mother wanted to do. When he saw her coming over, he immediately lowered his head and didn't dare to look at her any longer.
"It's rare for the Chief Justice to come here today, but I need your help with something!"
"Your Majesty, please speak." Facing the empress dowager's gaze as if she was looking at meat on the chopping board, Liston felt his scalp tingling.
Why hadn’t he found the Queen Mother’s eyes so frightening before?
Zhao Yuanxi smiled with eyes that curved in color, but with some ill intentions. "I have a few young people here who are currently compiling a summary of Qin law. Although they are all legalists, they are not as knowledgeable about the law as Li Tingwei. How about you give them some guidance on my behalf?"
She added, "You don't need to spend too much time, just answer some of their questions."
Originally, he just wanted to use those students to popularize the law, but now Zhao Yuanxi feels that they can be of greater use.
Unfortunately, she only had a few Legalists under her command, and they were all fledgling students. Although they could recite some Qin laws, their understanding of the laws was still insufficient.
Now, the representative of the Legalists is here, this is an opportunity.
Li Si heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this, his heart finally at ease. It was just a matter of answering a few questions, so it wouldn't be a big deal. "I will tell you everything I know."
"Let's go! I'll take you there!" Zhao Yuanxi said in a cheerful voice, walked straight past him and went out.
Li Si looked at the empress dowager's back with a complicated expression, and immediately followed her.
Before entering the Liyang Palace, Li Si didn't have time to look around carefully. Now that he had the free time, he realized that everyone here was quite extraordinary.
Not to mention the Queen Mother, even the maids around her had solemn expressions on their faces, making them look more like military generals than maids.
The guards at the door also looked murderous, like door gods.
Without exception, these people were extremely respectful to the Queen Mother, even more respectful than the ministers were to the King of Qin.
Li Si's eyes were full of confusion.
Zhao Yuanxi brought his people to Canglang Pavilion. The students of Legalism and Confucianism each occupied a room, and everyone was busy.
The Legalists were very quiet, but the Confucian scholars were arguing fiercely.
Although Zhao Yuanxi provided paper to these students, a large number of existing books are still written on bamboo slips.
As the two sides quarreled, they picked up bamboo slips and started fighting. The people around them were no longer surprised and would even stop what they were doing to cheer them on.
Confucianism in the pre-Qin period did not suppress human nature like in later generations. If there was a grudge, it would be avenged on the spot. While they emphasized convincing people with reason, they also knew some martial arts.
Li Si's eyelids twitched as he looked at the people who were about to fight. If he was not mistaken, was his junior brother Zhang Cang also among them?
Zhang Cang and Li Si were both disciples of Xunzi, but Li Si was older than Zhang Cang and entered the officialdom much earlier than Zhang Cang.
Even Li Si couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Zhang Cang's talent, but what was this talented junior brother doing now? Picking a fight with someone using bamboo slips?
Li Si blinked to make sure he was not mistaken, and his mood was inevitably subtle.
Zhao Yuanxi coughed lightly, and the people inside stopped and stood there awkwardly, saluting her.
When Zhang Cang saw the Queen Mother, he still had a smile on his face, but when he saw Li Si behind the Queen Mother, he could no longer smile.
Being embarrassed is not scary, what is scary is being embarrassed in front of an acquaintance, especially when he knows that you were pretending to be stupid before, which is even more embarrassing.
Zhao Yuanxi asked with a smile, "What are you arguing about?"
It's just about compiling some enlightenment teaching materials, how come these gifted people are allowed to do it?
Zhang Cang straightened his clothes and said seriously, "I think we should add phonetic notations to books. This way, even if you can't read, you can still understand the pronunciation of words through the phonetic notations and then understand their meaning."
Another person stood up to refute, "The phonetic notation is complex and varied, how can it be unified? Different regions have different pronunciations. If you make your own phonetic notation, won't you mislead the students?"
The Qin State has not even been able to completely standardize its characters. Except for official documents that require the use of small seal characters, any other characters can be used. However, it is indeed a big problem to unify the pronunciation now.
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