Chapter 204: Nezha first meets Zhang Han and Fu Li looks carefully...
Fu Li took a closer look and saw that Ying Zheng was not rushing into anything reckless, but rather taking a steady, step-by-step approach. He nodded and praised him, "Zheng'er, you've been very thoughtful. The situation in the Central Plains is different from that in Shu. We must adapt to local conditions and not copy everything."
She directly pulled Shuzhong from a tribal system to a feudal system. Before she established the system, the concept of a country was blank.
In that situation, as long as someone comes up with a system that can work smoothly, even if it is just barely working, it will be accepted and implemented well.
The Chinese principle is that the slave system evolved naturally from the tribal system. Although it is now the end of the slave system and the feudal county system has risen, Qin has not yet unified the six kingdoms.
If we take too big a step at once and touch too many people's cake, it will inevitably add many unnecessary difficulties to the future road to unification.
Therefore, when Ying Zheng discussed the details with Lu Buwei and Dai Xuan, he took this situation into consideration and wanted to include family wealth in the threshold for the imperial examination.
——Only those with a family wealth of more than 500,000 yuan can sign up to participate.
The families that could have such wealth were either from generations of nobles or wealthy merchants. The nobles looked down on merchants and did not think that those who had studied since childhood would not be able to pass the exams and were inferior to those who were full of money.
"Teacher, you are so kind. I dare not forget your teaching, 'Slow and steady wins the race.' But..." Ying Zheng said with a wry smile, "But this is also a helpless move. Those who can take the imperial examinations in the seven Central Plains are mostly children of the Hundred Family Schools. And those who can join the Hundred Family Schools are mostly the children of nobles. There are very few common people at the bottom of society."
The founder of Zhongyuan Private School was Confucius, who believed that if one could not even support his family, he should first think about how to support his family. He could not let the whole family starve just to support one person's studies.
This took into account the actual situation at the time and was very consistent with the national conditions of Confucius' time.
Since Confucius, all schools of thought have had a standard for teaching students, and every school has considered this issue to some extent, including the Mohist school.
Furthermore, the Mohist school held its disciples to higher moral standards than any other school. They required their disciples to forgo personal enjoyment and give away their wealth to help those in need. They also urged them not to keep any rewards they received, but to distribute them to the poor.
This is the Mohist way of "universal love". They do not just shout slogans, but really practice it.
Fu Li knew this, so she asked, "Have you ever thought about the Mohist disciples?"
From the great masters to the new students of the Mohist school, I am afraid that even if all the money is added together, it would not be enough to reach the threshold of 500,000.
Ying Zheng smiled and said, "Teacher, don't worry. Qin is Xiangli Mo's base camp. They will recruit and train disciples step by step. The work done by the Mo family cannot be replaced by ordinary people."
That's true.
Fu Li nodded and returned the item to him. "It's good that you understand. I've already taught you everything I need to know. The rest is up to you to practice and find the path that suits you best."
"Teacher, don't worry. I will never let you down." Ying Zheng agreed solemnly, but he couldn't help but be curious about Fu Li's identity. "Teacher, what did you do before?"
Fu Li smiled slightly and waved to him. Ying Zheng's eyes lit up and he quickly leaned closer to hear her say word by word: "I won't tell you."
Ying Zheng: “…………”
He was speechless and helpless: "Teacher, how come you also learned bad things from Teacher Yin?"
"Hahahaha..." Fu Li laughed for a while and teased, "Haven't you ever heard the saying - two different people can sleep in the same bed? How do you know he was the one who led me astray, and not me who led him astray?"
Ying Zheng again: "......"
——Yes, Teacher Yin usually obeys the teacher's orders, and the teacher is also very resourceful. No matter how you look at it, Teacher Yin seems to be the one who was led astray. But why didn't I think of this before?
He lowered his head and fell into deep thought. Fu Li did not disturb him. She found a place to sit and asked the palace maid to bring him tea.
There are two kinds of tea popular among the nobles in the Central Plains. One is the naturally derived boiled tea, which is to boil various spices and tea leaves together, and has certain medicinal value; the other is the brewed tea passed down from Shuzhong, which is to fry the tea leaves in advance and then brew them with boiling water. The main purpose of drinking it is to enjoy the artistic conception.
Until now, tea-frying technology was in the hands of the Shu people, and Shu merchants also bought mountain land in various Central Plains countries to grow and process tea. Because Shu was too mysterious to the Central Plains, few people dared to take advantage of Shu merchants.
However, the Shu Kingdom has been in turmoil in recent years, and merchants are most interested in profit and avoiding harm. Many people have abandoned their tea fields and returned to Shu with the craftsmen who knew how to make tea.
For a time, roasted tea became a rare commodity in the Central Plains countries. The nobles only used it to entertain guests, besides drinking it themselves.
When you visit someone's home, whether you can get a cup of tea from the host has become a symbol of status.
However, the Qin Palace is not short of these.
Ever since Dai Xuan and Zheng Cuo got married, their husband's father's family and their own family would send people to deliver new tea to them every season.
Except for keeping some for their own use, they sent the rest to the palace, divided it into four parts, and presented them to the Queen Mother Huayang, the Queen Mother Xia, the Queen Mother Zhao and King Zheng of Qin respectively.
Now that Zichu has passed away, Zheng Cuo often brings Li Yong into the palace to pay his respects to Zhao Ji.
Li Yong was gentle, handsome, and versatile. He could play many musical instruments, including the qin, flute, se, chime bells, and the Shu pipa.
The so-called Shu Pipa is actually the type popular in later generations, held upright in the arms and played directly with fingertips, without a pick. It is very different from the horizontally held Pipa that came from the Western Regions. The music played by hand is more coherent and melodious than that played with a pick. Once introduced to the Central Plains, it won the favor of many nobles.
Zhao Ji was skilled in playing chime bells and flutes, and the two were both well-versed in music theory, giving them many common topics. Li Yong was also eager to please her, and soon became Zhao Ji's confidant.
In fact, Zhao Ji had already had that intention, but Qin followed the Zhou rituals, and Zhao Ji and Zichu also had real feelings for each other. Zichu's mourning period had not yet ended, and even though she liked Li Yong, she did not make any moves to marry him for the time being.
After a moment, Ying Zheng came back to his senses and found that the aura around him had changed slightly, but it was not obvious.
He just realized that compared to his current sharp edge, it would be better to be like his teacher, who was clearly in control of everything but did not show any sharpness in the eyes of others.
He recalled his teacher's teachings when he first became crown prince: The king's role in court should always be that of a referee. Unless absolutely necessary, he should never personally intervene. If the king personally engaged in a dispute with his subjects, all the subjects would be wary of him, and he would inevitably be caught in an endless vortex of conflict, potentially even endangering his life.
Although he understood it at the time and did the same after he succeeded to the throne, and the effect was quite good - Lu Buwei and Dai Xuan were both very useful - but today, he has a deeper understanding of his teacher's teachings.
At this time, Fu Li had not yet realized that her little disciple was showing a tendency to evolve into Jasmine.
But even if she realized it, she would only feel relieved and encourage him to keep trying.
In history, Ying Zheng conquered the six kingdoms in six years. Although he completed the unification, he did not have time to adjust his governing policies.
Because he established an unprecedented regime, he had no previous path to refer to. However, the old Qin Dynasty path was too successful, and Qin Shi Huang, who relied on the old path to unify the world, inevitably developed path dependence.
By the time he realized it later, although he wanted to adjust and made efforts, it was too late.
Because God refused to give him time.
Ever since becoming Ying Zheng's teacher, Fu Li has been thinking about one thing: What kind of successor does Qin Shi Huang need?
That idiot Hu Hai is definitely not suitable, so what about Fusu?
Fusu was no match for him either. If Ying Zheng was dependent on the Qin system, then Fusu was too obsessed with the Zhou system.
After much thought, she still felt that two people were the most suitable, one was Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, and the other was Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng.
In this life, Ying Zheng had been training since childhood and would never have the opportunity to consume the Golden Elixir. His lifespan was undoubtedly longer than in history. Those things that were originally expected of his heirs, he had to do himself.
Turning Ying Zheng into Liu Bang not only makes things difficult for him, but is also terrifying no matter how you think about it.
But Liu Heng's jasmine flower can still be used as a reference.
But that was a matter for the future. At that time, Ying Zheng was not even fourteen years old. After he had new insights, he couldn't wait to show them to his teacher.
Fu Li listened carefully and gave some appropriate guidance. Before she knew it, it was getting late.
When Nezha returned home from the military camp, he learned that Fu Li had gone to the palace, so he took a bath, changed his clothes, and went straight to find her.
Because he was walking too fast, he bumped into a palace guard carrying bamboo slips. The palace guard also reacted very quickly, turning half a circle on one foot, and the bamboo slips on the lacquer tray were only slightly messed up.
Nezha's eyes lit up and he praised, "Great skills!"
The eunuch finished arranging the bamboo slips, turned around and bowed, saying, "Eunuch Zhang Han, greetings to Mr. Yin."
"Eunuch?" Nezha looked at the bamboo slips in his hand. "Are you a civil servant?"
Zhang Han lowered his head: "Exactly."
Nezha nodded and said to Zhang Han, "I want to see the king too. Please come with me."
"Mr. Yin, please go first." Zhang Han took two steps back to show his humility.
Nezha nodded to him and strode forward. Zhang Han followed him to the Zhangtai Palace.
At that time, the master and disciple had just finished their discussion. Seeing Nezha coming, Fu Li subconsciously smiled and stood up to greet him.
Zhang Han bowed to her silently, stepped forward, placed the lacquer tray containing the bamboo slips under the table, and stacked the bamboo slips on the table in order.
Then he packed up the bamboo slips that Ying Zheng had already read and carried them out.
At present, Ying Zheng did not focus on state affairs. All national affairs were handled by the two prime ministers. However, neither Lü Buwei nor Dai Xuan dared to give him a perfunctory reply. Every day, they would have the eunuchs send the memorials they had processed to him for review.
Ying Zheng would also learn from this experience and further understand the operation of the court and personnel changes, so that he would not be completely in the dark when he came of age and took power.
After Zhang Han left, Fu Li nudged Nezha and teased, "Why, are you attracted to her?"
"Indeed," Nezha nodded. "I wasn't paying attention outside just now, and I bumped into him. He's quite responsive. I also observed him a little, and I found that he has excellent aptitude. It's a shame for him to be stuck in a clerical position."
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