These past few days, Ying Su had been quite busy.
Before, although he had entertained thoughts of rebellion.
But… it was only thinking.
He truly didn’t expect that one day he would actually succeed!
Now, suddenly becoming emperor, he needed to brush up on some knowledge and understand the current state of the nation.
After truly understanding the current state of the nation, Ying Su couldn’t help but marvel at the accuracy of Ying Zheng’s previous warning.
It’s easy to become emperor, good fortune will do!
It’s not easy to become a good emperor, diligent governance is the most basic!
Properly handling various affairs, not triggering chaos, that’s the passing grade for a good emperor!
It’s even more difficult to become a good emperor that everyone praises, because everyone has different interests, how could everyone praise him?
And even though Ying Su didn’t want to become a good emperor, nor did he want to become an emperor that everyone praised, he still felt it wasn’t easy!
Because, the things within this were too complex.
He couldn’t imagine how Ying Zheng managed to simultaneously tour the nation while handling so much government affairs.
Furthermore, he was still able to maintain centralized authority while handling so much government affairs!
Yes!
Centralized authority!
It seems like a lot of power!
But honestly, it’s even more tiring!
This is much more tiring than the feudal system.
Yes, the feudal system divides a nation into many small pieces, and then lets them each govern themselves. As the main country, all you need to do is collect taxes from the feudal lords.
But… what about centralized authority? So many places, all under the emperor’s management, how could it not be tiring?
Even with the assistance of the Three High Officials and Nine Ministers, it’s still very tiring!
Ying Su truly admired Ying Zheng. He was only one person, how could he manage so many things?
Of course, while understanding the current state of the nation, he also found that not everything was Ying Zheng’s achievement!
Similarly, there were also black spots!
The biggest black spot was that Ying Su agreed with the saying that spread among modern online Ying Zheng haters!
The Qin dynasty flourished during the reign of the First Emperor, and perished because of him!
Yes!
He agreed with this statement!
Why?
A very simple reason!
Taxes!
Very heavy!
How heavy?
Half the Qin dynasty’s harvest in taxes!
That is, the commoners’ harvest from farming, half of it was used to pay land tax!
Moreover, this was only land tax!
Besides land tax, there was also poll tax, labor service!
This was something every Qin citizen had to face!
No one could escape it!
And besides land tax, poll tax and labor service, the commoners had to face a huge problem!
That was paying rent to the nobles!
Yes, in this era, although “everything under heaven belongs to the king”, the ownership of land was not the emperor’s, but the nobles’.
The commoners wanting to farm land could only rent it from the nobles.
And every year’s harvest had to be considered rent.
As for how the rent was collected, it was entirely up to the nobles, but most nobles collected two out of ten!
That is, all the commoners, every year’s harvest from farming, at least seven out of ten was paid to others.
Only the remaining three out of ten was theirs!
Was this harsh?
In the eyes of modern people, it was very harsh!
It had even reached the point where it was acceptable to rebel!
But in Ying Su’s view, this wasn’t anything!
Because, this wasn’t only done by the Qin dynasty!
Taxes were reduced, one out of ten, that was after Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang.
One out of fifteen, one out of twenty, that was after Emperor Jing of Han and Emperor Wen of Han!
Before the Han dynasty, all dynasties collected taxes like this!
Therefore, there wasn’t much of a problem with this tax rate!
In an agricultural civilization, as long as the commoners had food to eat, they would not choose to rebel!
However… the problem arises when excessive labor service and excessive taxes appear together, that is a huge problem!
For example, King Zhou of Shang’s Star-Reaching Tower and Deer Terrace, aroused immense resentment!
And in the Qin dynasty, there were four such massive projects!
Moreover, each one wasn’t comparable to the Star-Reaching Tower and Deer Terrace!
Yes, building the Great Wall, building the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, building the Afang Palace, and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System and Zheng Guo Canal!
These are currently the four major projects of the Qin dynasty!
And these four major projects consumed a total of more than three million people in labor force!
With such serious taxes and labor force consumption, it’s very likely that the commoners didn’t even have food to eat!
What? You said that these huge projects had money and grain allocated for them?
Bro, how old are you?
Are you naive?
Even in modern society, there are cases of layers of exploitation for projects, a ten billion project budget reaching the contractor’s hands only leaving one million, building a shoddy project.
What more in ancient times?
How can you think that ancient times were so clean?
The Qin law was harsh!
But… even the harshest Qin law still needs people to supervise and execute it!
You haven’t heard of any corruption cases in the Qin dynasty, it’s not that they didn’t exist, it’s that they weren’t exposed!
That is, they weren’t found!
If they weren’t found, how would they be executed?
Ying Su could imagine that when those money and grain reached the commoners’ hands, they wouldn’t be even a tenth, perhaps even none at all!
And at this time, resentment had already begun to accumulate!
But because of the First Emperor’s oppressive power, so, no one dared to rebel!
And after the First Emperor’s death, with no one to suppress them, wouldn’t they rebel?
You think the Daze Township Uprising came from nowhere?
Do you really think that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were just bored and chose to rebel for fun?
Facing this level of taxes, huge projects and personal survival pressure, there would be very few who would choose not to rebel.
And from this perspective, the Qin dynasty flourished during the reign of the First Emperor, and perished because of him, this statement wasn’t wrong at all!
Could the First Emperor, Ying Zheng, realize this problem?
Or did he even think about these problems?
Ying Su thought, he should have discovered it, he should have realized it.
Otherwise, he’s crazy, unifying the nation for eleven years, making five tours?
Five tours, seven detours to look at the Great Wall!
Do you really think touring the nation is a good job.
Just being in a carriage, constantly jolting for a year, isn’t something an ordinary person could withstand.
What more when you still have to visit, and handle all sorts of government affairs in the carriage?
This is not something an ordinary person could withstand.
It’s not something an emperor should endure!
This touring the nation, firstly, it’s to intimidate those who are disloyal to the six nations, secondly, it’s to warn those corrupt officials.
Tell those people, don’t think that the emperor is far away and unaware of everything, the emperor is always by your side!
As for stopping these projects, or delaying them? Or being more strict, catching those who take money and grain privately, directly punishing them!
Ying Su thought, it wouldn’t work.
Since you’re doing it, you need to do it in one go, delaying it will only cause trouble!
At that time, the Great Wall, the Afang Palace, the water conservancy projects, etc. would likely not be able to continue construction!
Similarly, punishing them harshly wouldn’t work, because that saying, “too clear water will have no fish”!
You get rid of all the corrupt officials, what’s the point of a job with no benefits, who will do it for you!
Under their supervision, even though the commoners are in dire straits, they can guarantee the quality of the projects!
Without them supervising, hehe… the five thousand-year-old Great Wall standing tall?
Perhaps if Meng Jiang Nu cries a bit longer, the Xianyang Palace will collapse!
As for when these will change?
Based on the national conditions he grasped, the First Emperor’s actions, and the guesses of some people in later generations.
He personally felt that the First Emperor’s plan should be to wait until the Great Wall, Afang Palace, and the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, all these major projects are completed.
By then, he should make changes.
At least, he shouldn’t let the commoners suffer like this.
If they suffer like this, it won’t be a question of whether the commoners want to rebel or not, but rather, the officials force the people to rebel, the people have no choice but to rebel!
However, in history, Ying Zheng didn’t reach that point, he suddenly died.
He left behind a huge mess, originally hoping that Fusu could solve it through benevolent governance.
Solving it through benevolent governance, although it might not be as good as what he did, it definitely wouldn’t lead to the destruction of the nation!
But unfortunately… Hu Hai and Zhao Gao usurped the throne!
These two pigs, directly ruined the nation!
Ying Su learned and sighed, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but ponder a question, that is, what about himself?
How should he solve these problems?
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