General Qin

The Emperor Qin completed the enshrinement.

It was night, and I stayed in the palace on the top of Mount Tai.

It is said to be a palace, but in fact it is just a temporary shabby house built by the governor of Jibei for the emperor, which can only accommodate the emperor's father and son and several important officials.

In terms of the productivity and technology of this era, it would be very good to be able to repair the two north and south Mount Tai roads in half a year. In addition, it is almost impossible to build a large house on the top of Mount Tai.

Zhao Tuo has a high rank and is qualified to live in it, but he gave it up to an elderly minister.

Originally, he just heard the words of Emperor Shi Shi during the day, and he felt a little heartbroken. He wanted to watch the stars at night, but he didn't expect to get the praise of "respecting the old".

Zhao Tuo found a flat rock and sat down, took a sip from his wine bag, and looked at the sky full of stars.

Not to mention, Feng Chan's day is really a rare good weather. Not only is the sky clear during the day, but also the sky is full of stars at night, with the mountain breeze blowing, looking up at the stars, one's heart gradually expands.

Not long after, footsteps came from behind.

Zhao Tuo turned his head and saw that it was Ziying.

During this trip, Zhao Tuo's subordinates, such as Fan Kui, Xiao He and others, returned to their hometown after being awarded the title, waiting for follow-up appointments. Or, like Chen Ping, he had a profit in his heart and asked to follow Ren Xiao to conquer the Southwest Yi to make meritorious deeds. Or it may be that Li Shiqi, Shejian and others stayed behind in Xianyang and did not follow them, so Zhao Tuo had few people talking on the road.

In this way, he and Ziying got closer, and even became friends after going back and forth.

Zhao Tuo is twenty-three this year, and Ziying has just turned thirty. The difference between the two is less than ten years old, and they still have a lot in common.

"How can Junhou drink here alone, why don't you let me accompany you?"

Ziying laughed, walked over and sat down next to Zhao Tuo, took the wine bag from Zhao Tuo's hand, and took a gulp.

Zhao Tuo smiled, thinking that when Ziying was in Luoyang, he once sighed "Where is the replacement of Qin De?" Maybe he was not only lamenting the cycle of the five virtues, but also aware of the hidden dangers of this empire.

Zhao Tuo looked at the starry sky and asked, "My lord, do you know what the Great Qin Empire looks like today?"

Ziying put down his wine bag, looked at the sky and said: "The emperor destroyed the six kingdoms and conquered the four barbarians. His merits and virtues are the highest in the past and the present. Today's Great Qin is the largest country in the world and the master of the sea."

Zhao Tuo nodded, and said softly: "Then what are the peoples of the world like today?"

Ziying was silent, he knew what Zhao Tuo meant.

Zhao Tuo didn't say a word either, only the mountain wind whistled in their ears.

After a long time, Ziying sighed, "I heard that Shaofu and Zhisu Neishi are already unable to make ends meet."

"Since the emperor unified the world, he has overhauled the palace pavilions, built the corridors of the palace, and expanded the original Lishan royal mausoleum into the emperor's mausoleum. Rivers and seas, these expenses cost hundreds of millions, and most of the wealth of the Shaofu has been emptied."

"In addition, the military struggle continued. After the destruction of Qi, the emperor ordered General Li to take over Liaodong, General Feng to merge with Baiyue, and the commander of Shu to lead the southwestern Yi. The food and fodder needed are innumerable. In addition, the county sent people to build the Chi Road, the eldest son supervised the construction of the straight road, and ordered General Wang Li to conquer the Yue Clan, and now the Feng Chan East Tour..."

"Even if the princes introduced the method of retting fertilizer and turning the plow to help agriculture and mulberry, the current internal history of millet management is still difficult to meet the needs. The emperor has added money twice, and the current tax has reached every year. One mu is one stone and a half, and the head of Guizhou has resentment, and everyone says it is difficult to live."

Zhao Tuo was silent.

It's only been over a year.

I remember that when he was working in the Shaofu, the Qin State had just annexed the world, and it collected gold and jade from the six countries and stored grain and fodder from various places. In fact, it was very rich. In addition, he donated manure and Quyuanli to increase the productivity of Qin State, and used wheat to expand the types of food, making the Great Qin of this era stronger than the same period in history.

That's why Zhao Tuo was able to carry out various inventions and reforms when he was a young mansion, and proposed infrastructure such as Chidao, precisely because Qin's national strength was able to support it.

I don't know that the emperor is not in peace. In addition to repairing Chi Dao, he also wants to send an army of 500,000 troops to conquer Baiyue. , consumed countless grains, and caused these people to delay the spring plowing and autumn harvest that year.

At the same time, the Qin State was fighting on all sides. Although Li Xin, Feng Wuze, and Li You's troops were small, they still had to conscript soldiers and consume food.

Inside there are repair palaces, imperial mausoleums, Chidao, Zhidao, and outside there are four-party wars.

Hundreds of thousands of people have given up farming and mulberry and transported them back and forth for service. Which country can afford such consumption.

It is not that there is no money or food in the Qin State. The emperor's innumerable palaces have accumulated countless treasures, and important warehouses such as Ao Cang have also stored millions of stones of grain and grass.

It's just that how could the emperor's treasures be taken out for national use? Ao Cang's grain is also a strategic material, and it is impossible to use it at will.

What to do if the income of Shaofu and Zhisu Neishi is insufficient, then they can only keep adding money and counting gifts to the heads of the world to meet the increasing needs of the empire.

Therefore, before the emperor would rather give nobles to the people of the world with empty words than to reduce or exempt taxes. Even if Li Si and Zhao Tuo proposed, the reduction or exemption in the end was not too much.

Seriously speaking, Qin's finances are already somewhat beyond their means. Although they are not yet bankrupt, they are still in deficit.

Zhao Tuo estimated that the emperor knew it well, otherwise he would not increase taxes to maintain the country's expenses, but the emperor was unwilling to stop, or it would be difficult to stop the pace of progress.

The carriage of the Qin State, since Shang Yang's reform, has driven on a high-speed passage, surpassing the six countries at an extremely fast speed, and annexing the world. But at the same time, the imperial carriage that has been driving at high speed for hundreds of years is not so easy to stop.

Ziying raised his head, looked at Zhao Tuo with some hope, and said, "Your Majesty has always been very wise, and he has inherited the secret method of Gongshu. He has repeatedly donated the method of strengthening the country. Maybe there is a way to increase income and make money, so as to alleviate the current situation."

"The way to open source and make money?"

Zhao Tuo turned his head to look at the palace that was still lit in the distance.

Of course he has such a method.

Now that we are approaching the seaside of Qidi, we can start with the salt administration and reform the current method of cooking salt, which consumes a lot of firewood and manpower, into the method of sun-drying salt, reducing costs and increasing production, and using this thing needed by the people to serve the empire. Increase financial resources.

Is it just that useful?

The more money, the more food.

The emperor's ambition and steps will only grow bigger, and his progress will never stop.

After Zhao Tuo came back this time, he understood that it was useless to mend behind Shi Huangdi.

He will come up with livelihood schemes such as the sun-salt method, but not now.

"Perhaps we should find a way to let the emperor go to see what kind of life the people in the head of Guizhou under his rule live."

Zhao Tuo looked up at the starry sky.

The words that Shi Huangdi said when he was enshrining Zen in the daytime sounded in his ears again.

Zhao Tuo didn't compliment or flatter the horse at that time, but just borrowed metaphors to express his own views to the emperor.

"You want to be the sun that never sets, but in this world, how can it withstand the sun's exposure for several years?"

...

Taishan was very peaceful overnight, and there were no accidents.

In the early morning of the second day, Shi Huangdi did not go down the mountain immediately, but took his ministers to the top of Mount Tai again, and watched with his own eyes the scene of the rising sun in the sea of ​​clouds.

His expression was serious, and his eyes were staring at the sun rising from the sea of ​​clouds.

He didn't look back until the sun rose high into the sky.

No one knows what the first emperor was thinking at that moment.

After watching the sunrise, the First Emperor led his ministers down from the shaded slope of Mount Tai.

Then the entire Fengchan team went non-stop to Liangfu Mountain in the south of Mount Tai, where they built altars to worship the earth, and finally completed the Fengtian Zen Land and completed the entire ceremony of Fengchan.

The ritual of enshrining the Zen was successfully completed, and the first task of this east tour is considered to be done.

In the warm atmosphere where the "common people" organized by the Jibei prefectural guards chanted "Your Majesty, ten thousand years", the first emperor was very happy. Under the surge of passion, he no longer considered the issue of the empire's finances. With a big wave of his hand, he decided to exempt the entire Jibei County. One year's corvee and tax.

Such generosity aroused a burst of warm cheers, and everyone called "Your Majesty benevolent".

Zhao Tuo saw that when the emperor announced that Jibei County would be exempted from taxation, Zhi Su Nei Shi Wang Wu had turned into a bitter face.

In addition to Wang Wu, those deposed Confucian scholars were also pale.

The ritual of enshrining Zen is the ritual of the holy king that their Confucianism has always advocated. It is also they and the alchemists who have been persuading and making suggestions, which made the emperor want to enshrine Zen. During the whole process, they did not know how much thought and energy they spent.

But at the end of the day, the emperor kicked them away, so what's the matter?

Fortunately, there was an example of Chun Yuyue being deprived of his Ph.D. status and dismissed as punishment, and Prime Minister Zuo Wang Wan and Zhou Qingchen comforted him, so these Confucian scholars did not gather to ridicule and complain.

But resentment is essential. The way they look at the ruler of the empire is no longer the way they look at a holy king.

"The emperor doesn't use loyal words to depose us virtuous people. He is self-willed and arbitrary. He is really a solitary king!"