Chapter 174 Han Fei Runs to Luo
The capital of Korea was broken, and a large number of dukes and nobles either surrendered or were captured, with the royal family's children naturally being the first to bear the brunt.
"Sir, the Qin army is besieging the city, we must leave Han immediately.
You have never been taken seriously, and the Qin people will not care about you. You can escape.
I have nearly a thousand servants in my house, all of whom are loyal and brave. I can select a hundred of them to escort you as you leave."
Zhang Liang tried to persuade Han Fei anxiously. Han Fei looked at the sky with a bitter face and said slowly: "My country is gone, and the world is in vain. Where can I go?
Are you going to abandon the country and the ancestral temple just like that?"
Zhang Liang said anxiously, "Sir, the ancestral temple of the country depends on people, not things. As long as you can escape and restore your country, the world is vast, and there is no place where you can't rebuild the ancestral temple of Korea.
You are a rare genius in the world, and you are qualified to be a sage king. But the king did not listen to your advice and ended up in this situation.
But you can't give up on yourself, especially your books. Are they going to be lost like this?
Your teacher Xunzi was the chief priest of the Luo State Academy, and you were a prince of the State of Han.
The royal family of Luo State has always hated Qin State. Knowing your identity, they will definitely accept you.
If you are willing to tell the Luoguo royal family what you have learned, they will definitely be willing to protect you."
Han Fei was persuaded by Zhang Liang, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, "Zifang, you go too.
I just have some pedantic knowledge in my mind, but you are a man who can rule the world.
I know you will never serve the Qin State, and you cannot stay in the capital of Han and wait for death.
Follow me to Luo State, and you will surely be valued."
Zhang Liang shook his head and said, "Don't worry, sir. I will not stay in the capital of Han, but you don't have to go to Luo.
Unless King Su comes to power, Luo State is no match for Qin State.
But Liang did not believe that Qin was truly without any shortcomings. I wanted to go to Qin and other countries in the world to have a look.
Let’s see what Qin’s weaknesses are.
Zhang was the prime minister, assisting five previous kings. Now Qin has destroyed Han.
I swear to destroy the Qin Kingdom in my lifetime!"
Zhang Liang's words were full of finality and determination. At the age of 20, he had determined his life ambition.
How many people like him are there now?
How many more will there be in the future?
The two men held hands and choked, their eyes filled with grief over the destruction of their country and the loss of their families. Under the protection of Zhang's guards, they fled out of the city separately.
…
"Squeak, squeak."
A large number of horse-drawn carriages were escorting countless treasures looted from the State of Han towards the State of Qin. At the end of the army was the prison carriage carrying the King of Han.
He entered Xianyang City with disheveled hair.
Following them came Korean princes, princesses and nobles.
Some of the Korean nobles fled to other countries with the intention of restoring Korea.
Many others surrendered directly and even used the Kingship of Han in exchange for wealth and glory.
Although these nobles were stupid, they saw one thing very clearly.
If the King of Qin wants to govern the country, he still has to rely on these literate and law-abiding nobles.
These people came to the Qin State with the army with a glimmer of hope for the future.
These noble bloodlines who once enjoyed great glory now looked rather destitute.
Fortunately, the Qin soldiers did not dare to attack these dignitaries, otherwise they would have suffered who knows what kind of torture.
In the Qin Palace, all the ministers of the entire Qin State were sitting in the hall. This was the first king who came to Qin as a captive since the beginning of the reign of King Xiang. There was curiosity in everyone's eyes.
As expected, the King of Han was escorted to the main hall, naked and carrying a thorny stick on his back. His body was very white and had a greasy feel, which was really disgusting.
Apart from King Zhao, he was the first foreign monarch to meet King Zheng of Qin.
Looking at the majestic and sinister King Zheng of Qin, the King of Han immediately knelt on the ground, raised his voice and said in a trembling voice: "King of Qin, I apologize to you."
King Zheng of Qin did not speak, so Li Si immediately asked loudly: "King Han, what is your crime? Tell me quickly!"
The King of Han bowed deeply and said tremblingly: "The Zhou Dynasty fell because you were blessed by heaven and will become the Son of Heaven.
Isn't it a sin that Xiao Wang cannot recognize the change of the days and did not dedicate the whole of Korea to you earlier?
You are a merciful king, please forgive my sins. I am only willing to be your shield for generations to come."
In the hall, the Qin officials laughed as they looked at the servile King of Han.
Now he is only the King of Han, and in the future he will be the King of Qi and the King of Yan. They are the thousand-year-old nobles bestowed by King Wu and King Su, the real Ji and Jiang nobles.
Looking at the scene in front of him, King Zheng of Qin did not laugh. He suddenly thought that the thousand-year-old nobles could not defeat the hundred-year-old military heroes of the Qin Dynasty.
No matter how noble a bloodline is, once the descendants cling to the old ways and fail to keep up with the times, all the glory will vanish and even bring shame to the ancestors.
"If I could create a system that would last for generations, I would surely be able to surpass King Zhou."
Thinking of this, King Zheng of Qin heard what the King of Han said about "barriers" and sneered in his heart. The King of Han still lived in the world rules of the Zhou Dynasty and often granted land and titles.
Although he scoffed at the obvious decentralization of power through feudal fiefdoms.
But the world was not yet settled, and the ideas that had been formed over thousands of years, not to mention the nobles of the six kingdoms, even the Qin clans, were still waiting in large numbers to be enfeoffed after Qin unified the world.
Especially the nobles from the six kingdoms, they were all waiting for King Zheng of Qin to unify the world and then appoint them back to their home countries as kings.
If he wants to challenge the rules of the entire world, his current strength is not enough, so he has always been ambiguous in this regard.
On the one hand, he established many counties and prefectures, implemented Qin laws, and strengthened the power directly under the King of Qin.
On the other hand, small-scale land grants were made to reassure clans and military heroes.
King Zheng of Qin said in a clear voice: "In the past, the Zhou Dynasty established the system of two kings and three Ke, who were the descendants of the ancient sage kings.
I am willing to follow King Su's practice and preserve the sacrifices of various countries.
I will confer upon you the title of Lord of Han and grant you a city, so that the bloodline of the Han family can continue."
The King of Han kowtowed heavily and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty.
Your virtue is far superior to that of the ancient sage kings. I and my descendants will serve you and be loyal to you forever."
This sounds a bit awkward.
Not far from Xianyang is the old site of Haojing City, where your ancestors swore to heaven with King Su that they would be loyal to the Zhou Dynasty forever.
Although it was the ancestors of Jin who swore the oath, you, as a small clan of the Ji clan, were the princes who took away the most land from the royal capital of Luoyi.
You can still say these things openly now, do you really think history books don't exist?
How shameless.
King Zheng of Qin laughed instead. He was not interested in Han's loyalty. Now he just wanted to put the city into his hands first.
Although the ministers in the hall laughed at King Han, they strongly agreed with King Zheng of Qin's reward of fiefdom to King Han.
This is not just a matter for King Han alone, but a matter for the entire aristocratic class.
The rewards bestowed upon the King of Han by King Zheng of Qin not only calmed the hearts of the people of Han, but also made the Qin nobles begin to look forward to the future.
When the news spread to the six surviving kingdoms, no matter what the kings thought, at least many nobles began to feel excited.
After the Han people surrendered, they seemed to be treated well. It seemed that King Zheng of Qin was really a relatively benevolent monarch.
At the same time, Qin's huge spy system once again began to operate among the various countries with huge sums of money.
The Qin State is now able to possess the strength to almost unify the world, and the role played by spies is no less important than that of generals.
If one soldier is incompetent, the whole general will be incompetent.
The reason why Qin State won consecutive battles was that it had a strong national strength and used its strongest generals to fight against the weaklings on the opposite side.
The next target chosen by King Zheng of Qin was the State of Wei, which had once been the most powerful enemy of the Qin State after the great war among the various states.
Relying on the Wei Wuzu, they were able to run rampant in the land west of the Yellow River.
But the State of Wei is very weak now, and even compared with the State of Han, it is not much stronger.
…
Luo State.
Luo Ze helped Xunzi sit down and looked at him with some curiosity. As Xunzi grew older, Luo Ze had not seen him for a long time.
"Xun Qing came to see me for something important?"
He was the last sage to appear in Confucianism, but mainstream Confucianism, no matter which classic it studied, basically did not recognize him.
But Luo was different. Apart from his attitude towards the monarch, he was very fond of Xunzi's other theories.
Especially in the management of large countries, Luo believed that it far surpassed the current level of Confucian theory and was a true study of practical affairs.
After all, if we want to realize the Confucian kingly way now, we should wait until the day when the Luo family becomes king.
However, Luo also believed that Xunzi was more suitable to start a new school rather than being trapped in the Confucian circle.
In the past, Luo Minggong proposed the two theories of human nature being good and evil, which caused endless debate.
Mencius, a sage who came after Luoyang and Confucius, both of whom are recognized by Confucianism, elaborated on the theory of human nature being good, which basically occupied the mainstream thought of Confucianism.
But Xunzi suddenly appeared and praised the theory of human nature being evil. However, following the theory of human nature being evil, he would eventually come to the art of criminal law.
His most famous student is Li Si, the current Prime Minister of Qin, a true Legalist.
A great Confucian sage taught a disciple of the Legalist school, which was tantamount to aiding the enemy. It was normal for the Confucians not to recognize him.
Xunzi said softly: "Your Majesty knows that Li Si is my disciple, but he does not know that I have another disciple, the prince of Han.
He was a genius like Lao Tzu and Confucius, a true gifted man, but he was partial to the art of criminal law and almost reached the end of the road in this regard.
The office was afraid that he would not like it, so it did not recommend him.
But now that Han has fallen, he has come to Luo to look for me. If you are interested in his teachings, I can bring him here to have a look."
Has the art of criminal law come to an end?
Doesn’t this mean that this prince of Korea is the culmination of the Legalists of the Three Jins?
Such a high evaluation made Luo Ze curious. "In the past, Wei Yang left the academy and went to Qin. The Luo family tolerates everything. You can bring it with you."
(End of this chapter)
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