78 Chapter 78
◎Destroy Yan. ◎
"Jing Ke?" Fusu took the memorial from his father's hand, but after reading a few lines, he couldn't help but exclaimed.
Ying Zheng turned his head slightly: "Hmm? You know this person?"
Fusu hurriedly shook his head: "It's because I don't know...how Fan Yuqi is related to the Ranger?"
"Hmph." Ying Zheng sneered.
His father was obviously very angry, so Fusu stopped asking and lowered his head to look at it himself.
Fan Yuqi fled to the State of Yan, where he soon befriended a group of knights-errant. Together, they fought for justice and became close friends. When the Qin army used Fan Yuqi as a pretext to attack Yan, these knights remained loyal to him. When the Qin army discovered Fan Yuqi and attempted to capture him, Jing Ke and his knights fought alongside Fan Yuqi in a bloody battle, ultimately succumbing to exhaustion.
Unexpectedly, this was Jing Ke's ending in this life. Fusu originally thought that without Jing Ke's assassination of Qin, he would no longer leave any traces that people could remember.
Even though Fusu had serious prejudices against Jing Ke because he assassinated his father, he could not help but wholeheartedly acknowledge the positive evaluation of him in history.
Fusu sighed softly, "It is indeed chivalrous."
"What?" Ying Zheng asked, "Fusu, what are you whispering about?"
"Uh..." Fusu paused for a moment before saying, "Father, now that Fan Yuqi has surrendered, do we still have an excuse to attack the State of Yan?"
"Why not fight?" Ying Zheng asked. "The Yan people have obstructed our Qin army's efforts to apprehend these heinous criminals, resulting in casualties among our troops. How can we reassure our Qin soldiers if we don't bring the King of Yan to Xianyang and offer apology?"
"Yes!" Fusu nodded vigorously. "We must send him to farm!"
Speaking of farming, Ying Zheng put down his brush, pointed to a pile of papers on the desk, and said, "Here are the latest exam results. Go take a look."
Because it was impossible to let all the civil and military officials of the destroyed country go to farm, Fusu specially arranged an examination for them. The examination content was based on Qin law and Qin regulations, and covered the teachings of Legalism, Hundred Schools of Thought, and historical books of various countries since ancient times.
This was an idea that Fusu came up with when he was in Handan, and it was officially implemented after being polished by Ying Zheng.
The person who sets the questions is designated by Ying Zheng, and there are other people who mark the papers, and they need to be graded in groups of three. The papers and the grading results will eventually be sent to Ying Zheng, who will make the final review. Those who pass the review will be awarded the corresponding official position.
After successfully arranging several groups of people, Ying Zheng implemented the examination system in the schools in various counties. From then on, teachers in various schools would no longer recommend students they thought were good, but would select talents through examinations.
Ying Zheng also knew that this examination system was not perfect enough and it would be too easy for someone to cheat in it.
But he was not in a hurry. Shang Yang's reforms could not be completed in one or two years. He had the patience to take it slowly.
Fusu smiled and said, "Congratulations, father, for finding another talented person!"
Ying Zheng showed a worried look: "After all, we are still short of people."
The Qin State expanded too fast in the past two years. Ying Zheng has been training and selecting talents, but it is still not enough.
Fusu thought for a moment and said, "Father, I believe there are talented people who have been missed in other places besides the academy. Why don't you expand the scope of the selection and not stick to this one? I'm sure there will be no one who slips through the net."
"Yes, I ordered them to draft a proposal, but..." Ying Zheng tapped his eldest son's forehead and couldn't help laughing. "What's the word for 'a fish that slipped through the net'?"
Fusu stuck out his tongue and immediately changed his words: "There are no talented people left in the wild."
Ying Zheng smiled again and said, "You should also draft a proposal."
Fusu smiled and said, "As you wish!"
…
When Qin was attacking Yan with great momentum, Fusu received a letter from Zhang Liang.
Since Zhang Liang left Xianyang to travel again, he has been sending letters to Fusu one after another. The letters mentioned the customs and habits of various places, folk anecdotes, the life of the people, etc. In addition, he also gave Fusu many landscape paintings.
This time, the letter also came with two paintings. Fusu chose to look at the paintings first: "Taishan? He went to Qi and Lu."
Li Ying came closer and looked again and again. From the black and white, he could only make out that it was a mountain: "Your Highness, how do you know it's Mount Tai?"
Fusu pointed to the lower right corner: "Here."
Li Ying lowered his head and saw two words clearly written in the lower right corner - Mount Tai.
Li Ying: “…”
After Fusu had seen the mountains and rivers, he went to read Zhang Liang's letter. As expected, the beginning was a simple message of congratulations. As he read on, Fusu couldn't help laughing.
Li Ying asked curiously, "Your Highness, did the Sage tell you a joke?"
Fusu laughed and said, "It's not a bad joke. When Qi heard that Qin was attacking Yan, everyone in Qi was very happy."
Li Ying tutted his words. "Although Qi was like a cheerleader in the late Warring States period, watching Qin wipe out all the vassal states, is it true that no one there has ever heard of the idiom 'lips and teeth are cold when they are gone'?"
"Who made him have grudges against all the vassal states?" Fusu stroked the letter paper and said absentmindedly, "Especially the State of Yan."
"Hey, hey, hey, who attacked whom first, Qi or Yan? Why are people from Qi so unreasonable?" Li Ying rolled his eyes.
Fusu casually said, "During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it's hard to count who hasn't fought against whom." He put the letter away and said, "Yan State is already at the end of its strength. Qi and Lu are not to be feared. The next one is Wei State, but it's not a force to be reckoned with either. The trouble is..."
Li Ying understood: "Chu."
Fusu nodded at the table without saying anything.
Li Ying continued, "Li Xin was defeated in his attack on Chu. Do you want to persuade your father to use Wang Jian instead this time?"
Fusu hesitated and said, "...There was a time before, according to the original historical trajectory, Qin would have been defeated by Li Mu. Do you remember?"
Li Ying nodded. "I remember. The Qin army was well-equipped that time, but a lean camel is bigger than a horse. The Chu State is different from the Zhao State."
Fusu shook his head: "Besides, I don't have a proper reason to persuade my father."
Li Ying pondered for a moment: "Really..." Then he said with a broad mind, "Otherwise, we'll just fight back when the enemy comes, and block when the water comes. In the end, your Qin will definitely win."
Fighting a war is not an easy matter. Soldiers, horses, and food supplies are all essential. The price of losing a battle is not only the loss of soldiers, horses, and food supplies, but also the decline in morale and military spirit.
Fusu said: "I can work on other things."
"Somewhere else?" Li Ying asked curiously, "Which place?"
Fusu smiled but did not answer.
Seeing that he seemed to be sure of winning, Li Ying couldn't help but laugh: "Okay, Master, just keep it a secret. I'll know sooner or later anyway."
Fusu stood up and asked, "When will your name be completely changed?"
Li Ying promised: "Next time for sure!"
Fusu waved his hands behind his back, obviously not believing what he said.
…
In July, Qin destroyed Yan.
Unlike in the previous life, this time the Qin army captured King Xi of Yan and gave him King Jia of Dai as a gift. In this way, Prince Dan of Yan could finally reunite with his father and family, and the royal family of Zhao could finally be complete.
The victorious Qin army was still on its way back to the capital when Ying Zheng's rewards had already been sent out in waves. Although there were still more than two months to go before the New Year, it was foreseeable that the entire Qin State would have another good year.
Because it was the height of summer, Fusu paid great attention to epidemic prevention when dealing with post-war issues. He repeatedly issued orders, requiring General Wang Jian to properly deal with the bodies of soldiers killed on both sides and to ensure the cleanliness of the water source. Fusu also asked minor officials to go down to the people to preach, striving to start from every individual to prevent the occurrence of epidemics.
It was also when arranging the epidemic prevention that Fusu thought of soap, but he was very busy recently and had no time to spare, so he asked Li Ying, who had nothing to do, to search for the method of making soap and make the soap.
Fusu did not intend to make money from soap. After making it, he announced the method of making soap and ordered each county to send someone to teach it to the people. Naturally, this move received a lot of praise from the people.
In addition, Fusu also raised the issue of official assessment to his father. Although there are positions in the court to supervise officials, they are not perfect enough and they can improve them further.
Ying Zheng never felt he had too much work to do; as long as he saw something useful, he would immediately promote it. Official assessment was one task he considered extremely useful, so after careful consideration and a clear understanding of the matter, he immediately summoned people to discuss it.
The Qin State already had an official position to supervise all officials, and there will be a Grand Censor after unification in the future. This time, Ying Zheng asked to expand it into one unit. Fusu felt that this should not be too difficult... right?
Faced with the resentful eyes of the court officials, Fusu put away the smile on his face. It was not good, as it seemed a bit like gloating.
As the Qin Dynasty's unification process progressed step by step, the land and population under management increased, and there were more and more things to do, but the number of officials in the court was not expanded enough, and they became very bold.
But this was not Ying Zheng exploiting people. First of all, as the supreme ruler of feudal society, he was the busiest person. Secondly, the court officials were unwilling to share power and did not want more people to compete. They were all exhausted, but no one proposed to expand the staff.
But if they didn't bring it up, Ying Zheng would. Since the last time he brought it up, in addition to the court officials' proposals, Fusu had also presented his father with a modified version of the imperial examination system suitable for Qin. Ying Zheng was very satisfied with it and had already ordered its implementation.
Although paper was available now, the literacy rate in this era was already very low, and books were in the hands of the upper class. Even though Ying Zheng had expanded the collections of books in schools across the country, knowledge was still in the hands of a small number of people.
Therefore, the Qin Dynasty's imperial examinations were now limited to a small number of people who had the opportunity to study.
However, even so, compared with the past, for many scholars, it is an additional opportunity to realize their ambitions, and for the court, it is an additional channel to acquire talents.
There are many talented people among the people who cannot display their talents. Because they cannot find a way out, they can only stay in a shallow pool. The newly promulgated imperial examination order can give them more opportunities and allow them to stand out and show their talents.
In a feudal society with low productivity, it was certainly impossible for everyone to have books to read, but Fusu planned to expand the number of people who could read as much as possible so that Qin could have more talents available.
This is something that takes a long time to accomplish.
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