After seeing the bamboo strips of Chun Yu Ye and Suxu and others jointly submitted to the government, Li Nian shook his head.
These people must have seen the two questions proposed by Emperor Shihuang and thought this was an opportunity for Confucianism, which is why they submitted this bamboo slip.
These people are indeed persistent!
In history, Wang Wan's proposal of division system was rejected by Emperor Shihuang and Li Si. In several years later, at the banquet hosted by Emperor Shihuang, Chun Yu Ye dared to put forward his opinion again, and he still advocated the feudal system of Zhou Dynasty.
"It's indeed a group of people with ambition, but unfortunately, your path is not suitable for the Chinese nation!"
After reading through the bamboo slips of Chun Yu Ye and others, Li Nian began to admire these people.
They are not as some later records say of petty men, but a group of true Confucian scholars who dare to die for their ideals.
But it is only that the path they believe in is wrong!
But from the perspective of this era and these people, how could they know if what they believed was right or wrong?
They are not like Li Nian who comes from the downstream of history.
After reading all the bamboo strips, Li Nian realized several misunderstandings he had about this era: that people of this era must be conservative and difficult to change in thought; that people of this era, being caught up in the situation, cannot see the problems existing in the Great Qin...
At the same time, he also had the same doubt as Shihuang: if the intellectuals of the Qin Dynasty could see the problems existing in the Qin Dynasty, how could it end up with the second generation and be destroyed?
After that, Li Nian thought of some answers and realized the purpose of Shihuangdi sending these bamboo slips, but this purpose made Li Nian a little speechless.
Emperor Shihuang is actually that bored!
Emperor Shihuang's actual purpose in sending these bamboo slips was only one: to show off, Look, these are the ideas of my ministers, and these are the talents of my people under my banner, not inferior to yours in later generations.
He sent so many bamboo slips for such an inexplicable sense of competition, thinking that Emperor Shihuang had some profound meaning.
Li Nian was very certain that Emperor Shihuang's purpose was just this, with no other mysterious intentions!
"Even though separated by two thousand years of time, they still want to compete, the good-for-nothing competitiveness of rulers!"
Having known the purpose of Emperor Shihuang, Li Nian continued to draw on the wooden sphere. Instead of pondering over Emperor Shihuang's thoughts, it would be better to quickly make an earth model for Emperor Shihuang to see and let him know how vast the world is.
In the Zhangtai Palace, while handling state affairs, Ying Zheng saw an eunuch enter and glanced at him before asking, "Has he finished reading all the bamboo slips? What was his reaction?"
The eunuch answered, "Master King, after he finished reading all the bamboo slips, it seems he felt some helplessness!"
Hearing this, King Ying's eyes showed a hint of smile: "He felt some helplessness? It seems that he understood my intention!"
King Ying's eyes showed a hint of smile: "He felt some helplessness? It seems that he understood my intention!"
King Ying asked again, "What is he doing now?"
The eunuch replied, "He is drawing on the wooden sphere again."
King Ying nodded, and he knew that Li Nian's situation was reported to him regularly, such as what he ate and drank, what he did, how many times he went to the toilet, and so on. So he naturally knew that Li Nian was working on the so-called "globe" made of wood.
He stopped asking and continued to review and handle official business, just saw a subject's submission, in which he mentioned that now six states are extinct, the world is united, calling him "King" again is no longer appropriate. Higher and more noble titles should be taken to match his achievements.
If he is still called "Great King" as before, what's the difference from the kings of the six states that were annihilated? How can he let people across the world know about his great achievements?
This submission touched the heart of King Ying.
Li Nian called King Ying "the First Emperor," which meant that the title of "Emperor" that he had envisioned in later historical records had already been established. However, he didn't know what to call himself and if there were other titles. If he called himself "Emperor," how would the etiquette be, and what would he wear when addressing it?
"The civil service system of the Great Qin also needs to be changed. How should it be changed to benefit the Great Qin and myself? How should all the meritorious ministers be rewarded?"
King Ying's thoughts began to spread, but the more he thought about it, the more things he had to consider: "Li Nian must know this. I need to find a time for him to explain it to me."
In the palace of Great Qin, FuSu's residence, after presenting those bamboo slips, FuSu had been waiting.
In his own mind, he believed that his father, the king, would only have two possible reactions to the content of his bamboo slips: either send someone to inquire or send someone to reprimand.
The former meant that the king had taken his advice this time, and he would take this opportunity to further elaborate on the importance of benevolent governance to the Great Qin. The latter indicated that the king still couldn't listen, still stubborn, then he would continue to submit documents and advise again.
To his surprise, there was a third scenario: his bamboo slips sank like a stone in the sea, causing no ripples. The king neither sent anyone to inquire nor anyone to reprimand, as if he had forgotten about them.
This was even more difficult for FuSu to accept than being scolded.
This means that the king had given up on him, not even wanting to scold him!
In comparison to FuSu's disappointment, Hu Hai was still looking at the situation in disbelief.
After submitting his bamboo slips, he didn't receive any praise or congratulations from the king, but instead punishment. The king ordered him to copy twenty times the Book of Songs within three months, and the king himself would inspect them.
Do you know how many poems there are in the Book of Songs and how many characters they contain?
Copying it once would be bearable, but the king had him copy the entire Book of Songs twenty times!
Hu Hai felt like his whole world had collapsed!
The king issued the punishment in two parts. The first part stated that he "did not think of the right path, only the wrong one," and therefore he was punished to copy ten times. The second part said that he "behaved improperly and had an improper heart," which resulted in another ten copies of the punishment.
The first time might have been because the king saw his bamboo slip and felt he did not answer the question properly, becoming angry and issuing a penalty on impulse. But why did he issue a second penalty?
Hu Hai bit his teeth, convinced that someone must have spoken ill of him to the king, the same person who had beaten him just two days ago.
Never give him the chance, otherwise I will have that person executed by splitting their body into five parts.
If Li Nian knew about Huaihai's thoughts, he would definitely exclaim, "Prince Huaihai, you are innocent!" You being beaten can be counted on me, but the penalty of copying the Book of Songs was not done by me at all; it was completely your father's intention to punish you.
On the other side, the officials of the Great Qin were also thinking about the bamboo slips. After the king had them submit the bamboo slips, there was no imperial edict to reprimand certain people or summon them to ask questions, as if nothing had happened.
This is not logical!
In the Court of Judicial Officers of the Great Qin, Li Si was thinking along these lines. He had already prepared his arguments last night and was waiting for a call from Emperor Ying Zheng to ask him in detail. At that time, he would certainly speak fluently and present his strategy to Emperor Ying Zheng.
However, he had been waiting at the Palace of Judicial Officers for a long time, and there was still no summoning from Emperor Ying Zheng.
Is it that the king hasn't seen my bamboo slips, or is there another reason?
Li Si couldn't help but think more deeply about it!
Zhao Gao was also thinking, but compared to Li Si's doubts, he felt a sense of unease.
Since he had received the king's favor, King Ying Zheng had never ignored him as he did these past few days. Even if he was being scolded, this kind of neglect filled Zhao Gao with deep fear.
It felt as though he were trapped in an enclosed space, with no sound passing through, only endless darkness and cold seeping in, completely unable to see how the path ahead lay.
The few people of Chunyu also waited for the following news. According to what they thought, it could be an imperial edict to refute or punish them, or summoning them to ask questions.
However, now there was a strange situation that nothing had happened. This made Chunyu and the others confused, what's going on? What are you doing, King Ying Zheng? Give us an answer!
The officials of the Great Qin and the various princes were all puzzled by Ying Zheng's actions, unaware that Ying Zheng had already achieved what he wanted. Since his goal had been reached, why would he need to explain anything further to them?
