Zheng He's fleet sailed away, and unknowingly, the large ship had become smaller!
Finally, only a small black dot could be seen on the river!
Looking at the distant black dot, Ying Su felt a strange mix of emotions!
Back then, the reason he rebelled and claimed the throne was simply to survive!
Later, it was for points.
But now, as he completed one task after another.
He realized that his initial intention had changed.
From the previous desire for gain, he began to purely desire the true strength of the Qin Dynasty!
Not a facade!
Yes, the current Qin Dynasty appears strong, but in reality, it is very bloated!
For example, right now, many problems are lurking in the shadows!
Like the nobles who constantly clamor for fiefdoms, the remnants of the Six Kingdoms seeking to overthrow Qin, and the current lack of popular support!
These are all problems!
If these problems are not addressed, history will repeat itself!
The Qin Dynasty will perish after only two generations!
And solving these problems is never a task for one person to handle alone!
Ying Zheng cannot solve them alone, and neither can I!
To solve these problems, many people must work together!
Even with Li Si, Xiao He, Han Xin and others, it's not enough!
He needs a strategist!
Just like Fan Ju formulated the grand strategy of "distant alliances and close attacks" back then.
Without this grand strategy, Qin would only know to destroy the Six Kingdoms and unify the world.
But the order of destruction, which to conquer first and which to conquer last, was completely unclear.
One wrong step could lead to failure in unification, or worse, the demise of the Qin Dynasty!
Take, for example, the later Han Gaozu Liu Bang. In the early days of his uprising, he only thought about becoming king, but he was clueless about what to do after becoming king.
If Zhang Liang had not pointed out that the land of Bashu was suitable for raising troops, he might still be trying to exchange territory with Xiang Yu!
Ying Su now also needs someone to guide him, to tell him which issues to tackle first, and which to address later!
Should he prioritize internal stability before external defense, or first resolve external conflicts and then focus on internal governance?
He needs a direction.
And the one to set this direction…
Ying Su looked towards Zhang Liang once more.
Finally, he walked towards him!
This time, Zhang Liang still had the same wild-eyed look!
Although he couldn't speak, the ferocity in his eyes was undeniable!
Faced with this situation, Ying Su simply smiled, then removed the cloth from his mouth and untied his bonds.
Finally, he took the water jug and smiled at Zhang Liang, "Mr. Zi Fang, you haven't had any water for a day, are you thirsty?"
“Hmph!”
Zhang Liang snorted angrily and turned his head away, "Kill if you want to kill, flay if you want to flay!"
“Oh!”
Ying Su responded, then placed the water jug beside Zhang Liang and called out to everyone:
"Return to the palace!"
At that moment, the team marched majestically towards the Xianyang Palace.
As for Zhang Liang…
This time, he was not bound to the carriage but escorted behind Ying Su.
As for the water jug… it remained as it was when Ying Su gave it to him.
Even though his lips were chapped, he refused to drink Ying Su's water!
Seeing this, Li Si couldn't help but speak, "Emperor, was it worth spending ten thousand gold for him?"
"That's ten thousand gold!"
Li Si spoke. When Ying Su first issued the decree, he wanted to object, but at the time, the decree had been issued, so he couldn't say anything.
Now, ten thousand gold had been spent, and Zhang Liang was captured. But the result was this, which angered Li Si.
He felt that Ying Su had wasted ten thousand gold!
He also felt that Zhang Liang was not worth ten thousand gold!
After all, it was the total revenue from more than ten days of selling paper!
Even now, thinking about that ten thousand gold, Li Si felt the sting.
However… Ying Su smiled and said nothing.
It's the same old saying, Zhang Liang is worth it!
The Three Heroes of the Early Han Dynasty, none of them were weaklings!
Each of the Three Heroes of the Early Han Dynasty, if you pick any one of them out and place them in history, they are all in a class of their own!
Ying Su felt it was worth spending ten thousand gold on Zhang Liang, even if it cost more.
Half a day later, they arrived at the Xianyang Palace. Ying Su specifically arranged a room for Zhang Liang in the Xianyang Palace, with dedicated attendants and guards day and night!
Not afraid of anything else, just afraid of him committing suicide!
Not only that, they had to feed him regularly to prevent him from starving himself to death!
If that happened, Ying Su's ten thousand gold would have been truly wasted!
As for Han Xin, he had ordered Fan Kui, Lu Wan and others to start posting recruitment posters.
From this day forward, he would start recruiting soldiers.
As Ying Su said, he was not afraid of him recruiting too many soldiers, just afraid of him recruiting too few.
With Ying Su's words, Han Xin was full of enthusiasm. On the same day, Xianyang City was plastered with recruitment posters!
On the other hand, Li Si's paper was also selling like hotcakes!
Previously, Li Si had predicted that the annual income from paper might reach ten million coins.
But now it seems that Li Si had greatly underestimated the nobles' love for paper!
It had been a month since the paper was sold, and the total account for this month simply shocked Li Si.
Twenty million coins!
Twenty million coins in a month!
This month's revenue was more than double Li Si's prediction for an entire year!
At that moment, even Li Si felt a shiver down his spine.
However… after carefully checking the accounts, he told Ying Su that it was not so optimistic.
The reason why it sold so well this month was entirely because it was the first month, a novelty, and many merchants had purchased it!
Of course, merchants bought in large quantities!
After all, they had to sell it all over the country.
Next month, paper might not sell so well.
He estimated that it might reach at most two million coins!
By the third month, it might be even less!
The fourth month…
Li Si said, he felt that the current boom was consuming future potential!
Ying Su also agreed with Li Si.
However… he didn't care!
According to the initial plan, linen paper, grass paper, and Xuan paper would only be sold for a maximum of three years!
At most three years, the price of paper would drop significantly. It might not become as cheap as in modern society, but it would inevitably return to the price levels of the Tang and Song Dynasties!
Because, for a nation to prosper, it requires more people to read and learn!
And once reading and learning are involved, the price of paper cannot be too high!
Selling paper like this now, to put it politely, is selling paper, but to put it bluntly, it's bleeding the nobles to feed ourselves.
Once the price of paper drops, the nobles' blood will have been drained, and we will have eaten our fill!
With money in hand, we can do many great things, and use national projects to benefit every citizen of the Qin Dynasty!
................
The next morning, another grand court meeting began!
And at this grand court meeting, Ying Su decided to announce a decision to the entire court!
"Where is Sima Yan, the Minister of Finance?"
Ying Su called out!
As soon as these words were uttered, Sima Yan trembled with fear!
He didn't know what he had done wrong, and in all honesty, he had never offended Ying Su!
He had always treated Ying Su with the utmost respect.
But… even though his conscience was clear, hearing Ying Su call his name still made him afraid!
Sigh!
Every action Ying Su had taken since ascending the throne had been too ruthless!
Because Chunyu Yue had previously proposed the enfeoffment system, he had Chunyu Yue killed!
Because he needed to find saltpeter mines, he expelled all the alchemists and sorcerers from the Xianyang Palace to search for saltpeter mines.
It was said that he had even cut out the tongues of several people, and even… killed a few!
Ruthless!
Too ruthless!
Therefore, in the court, even if many people had done nothing wrong, they would instinctively fear whenever Ying Su called their names!
As Sima Yan stood up, Ying Su didn't waste any time and simply said:
"You are old, you should step down!"
"I hereby announce that from today onwards, the position of Minister of Finance will be held by Xiao He!"
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