General Qin

"The first disadvantage of the Qin Dynasty is the heavy military service. Since the unification, corvee and military service have emerged one after another. This will make the head of Guizhou tired and the people miserable. If this continues for a long time, diseases will definitely arise..."

In the Wugong Hou Mansion, Zhao Tuo and the visiting prince Fusu talked about the country's shortcomings in the study.

Listening to Zhao Tuo's analysis, Fusu couldn't help but nod.

Because what Zhao Tuo said was exactly what he had always believed in.

Before the First Emperor, there were too many wars and major construction projects. The people of the world were either fighting as soldiers, building roads and palaces, or transporting grain and fodder, and they could not rest for a moment.

Finally, Qin Shihuang was temporarily quiet for a year in his 30th year. As a result, the next year, he would start a war to conquer Baiyue. The world was in turmoil and the people rushed to the road.

This is in line with Shang Yang's thoughts of "tiring the people" and "losing poison to the outside world".

But Guizhou is bitter.

In particular, Fusu had followed Meng Tian in building a straight road, and had seen countless servants die of illness on the way and be buried on the spot.

Baiyue has always been a poisonous land, much more terrifying than the north. I don't know how many men will be buried in foreign lands, countless wives will lose their husbands, and countless children will lose their fathers.

As it is said in "Poetry": What grass is not yellow? When won’t it work? Who wouldn't? Operating in all directions. Why is it so mysterious? Who is not jealous? I am sorry for my husband, who is a bandit alone.

Fusu had read "Poetry" since he was a child, and had seen with his own eyes the tragic scenes of corvee labor. After all, he felt pity for the suffering of those in Guizhou.

It's just that with the assistance and guidance of Zhao Tuo and Li Si, he knew how to hide his emotions.

On many matters, Fusu no longer openly opposed the emperor's decisions and buried his compassion deeply in his heart. As a result, there was no conflict with the First Emperor, and the crown prince's position remained stable.

Now when he heard Zhao Tuo mention these things, Fusu felt deeply that he had found a confidant. He stood up and paid homage to him on the spot, saying: "What the Lord said is indeed the truth. However, the war is going on and Guizhou is in trouble. We can't stand in the way. I don't know what the Lord is saying." Hou Ke has a plan to save the world's leader in Guizhou."

Seeing Fusu's sincere look, Zhao Tuo nodded secretly.

He wanted to change Qin's government, but found that his strength was not enough.

The position of Shaofu was in charge of all matters such as taxation of workers. Even if Zhao Tuo was given the title of Marquis of Martial Arts, which gave Zhao Tuo the right to make suggestions in other government affairs, it was not his responsibility after all, and the weight of his voice was much lower than that of the prime minister and others.

So he needs an ally.

Fusu's attitude showed that the prince was also dissatisfied with the current Qin government, and he was Zhao Tuo's natural ally.

After the test, Zhao Tuo no longer hesitated and expressed his thoughts.

"This hundred-big war is inevitable, and Guizhou's transfer to Japan is inevitable. We can't stop it, but we can slightly optimize it in some aspects to ensure efficiency while reducing the casualties in Guizhou."

"optimization?"

Fusu was stunned for a moment, this was a word he had never heard before. However, as the name implies, Fusu could still understand what Zhao Tuo meant.

He said sternly: "May I also ask you to elaborate on how to optimize it?"

Zhao Tuo spoke eloquently: "Since I started my campaign outside the Great Wall, I have discovered that the corvee system that our Qin Dynasty collects every year has a major drawback. That is, the people in the capital of Guizhou will all be drafted uniformly regardless of whether they are far or near. This approach seems fair, but in fact it is half the result with half the effort."

"Half the result with half the effort?"

Fusu frowned slightly, thoughtfully.

Zhao Tuo nodded and said: "In the past, before the Qin State unified the world, the chiefs of Guizhou only served in their own country by paying rent. The distance of service was not too far, so the cost of serving the chiefs of Guizhou was not high."

"But as the Qin Dynasty merged with the empire, we needed to recruit garrison soldiers and servicemen to garrison the border fortress and fight against the barbarians from all directions. Just like before, we recruited the heads of Guizhou from Chu and Qi to transport rent and serve outside the Great Wall. Due to the long distance, it was almost impossible to Across the entire Kyushu, it consumes a lot of money on the road."

"Therefore, the world was made to gather millet and millet. It started from the counties of Huang, Fu, and Langye, and transferred it to the outside of the Great Wall. It took thirty minutes to harvest a stone. The men plowed hard and could not get enough food and wages, and the women did not spin enough to cover the curtains. The people were exhausted. "We, the servants along the way are not acclimated to the climate and the soil, and the dead look at each other."

Zhao Tuo sighed deeply.

The Qin State had this really big problem. When you conquered the grasslands in the west, you actually had to go to Qi, Shandong to mobilize people to serve. Not only was the distance long and time-consuming, but also a lot of food was lost along the way, which put a huge burden on the head of Guizhou.

In addition, due to different regions, soldiers and servicemen are not accustomed to the climate, and suffer from various diseases, resulting in non-combat attrition, and making those who serve feel fearful of this. This is a real problem.

What happened to the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising in history?

It was a group of Chu people from Sishui County who were transferred by the imperial court to Yuyang, Yandi, to guard the border.

The two places are thousands of miles apart, and it takes a long time to go back and forth. Once there is heavy rain and the road is blocked, you will be severely punished for missing the date.

According to Zhao Tuo's point of view, if you send Chu people to go all the way to guard Yan, it would be better to send them to Yue in the south to guard the border.

After hearing what Zhao Tuo said, Fusu understood instantly.

Not long after he sat down, he stood up again and said: "What Junhou said is that when I was supervising the work of Zhidao in Shangjun, I saw that the servants from Chu were not accustomed to the local soil and water, and they died of frostbite one after another. And those from Guanzhong and He The laborers in Hebei are quite accustomed to the climate, water and soil, and there are very few deaths from illness. If all the laborers from the north are transferred when building the straight road, the casualties will be greatly reduced."

Fusu looked excited and drew inferences: "Now that the emperor wants to conquer Baiyue, the people from the north are not used to the soil and water of the south. If a large number of people from the north are sent south, there will definitely be many deaths from illness. On the contrary, the Chu people in the south are better able to adapt to the climate, and The transportation distance is short and the burden is much lighter than transporting laborers from the north to the south.”

"Of course, so I think it is much more convenient and efficient to divide the world into regions, with people from the north guarding the north and people from the south guarding the south. This will not only save the loss of food and fodder along the way, but also presumably the capitals of Guizhou will be willing to stay closer to their hometowns. Instead of traveling thousands of miles away to a foreign land to guard the border, Zhao Tuo nodded.

As for a big war, only the laborers from one place were recruited, which led to an overburden in the local area and the emergence of an unfair mentality. Zhao Tuo felt that regulation could be carried out by adjusting taxes.

For example, if there are many slave laborers transferred to places, the local taxes will be reduced or exempted, and service shifts will be exempted.

Where there are few slave laborers, more taxes can be added to supplement it.

In short, where there are people, less money will be spent, and where there are no people, more money will be spent.

Moreover, in the future, everyone will not have to go to a different place thousands of miles away to guard the border. I think it will calm down a lot of grievances, and there will no longer be a situation where Chen Sheng and Wu Guang have to go from Chudi to Yuyang to guard the border.

Fusu agreed very much with the optimization policy proposed by Zhao Tuo.

He said on the spot: "The prince's optimization strategy is very reasonable. I will personally submit a letter to the emperor and propose it."

Zhao Tuo smiled, then turned and sighed: "This is only a temporary solution, not the root cause. If the war continues, the emperor and the generals of the Manchu Dynasty will start another war after defeating Baiyue to conquer more distant places. of barbarians. Then the people of the world will still find it difficult to recuperate."

Fusu's excited expression froze. He looked at Zhao Tuo and said in a deep voice: "I also know about this matter. I wonder if you have any good ideas."

Zhao Tuo took a deep breath and said, "The problem lies in the nobility system."

"The system of military merit and nobility has made the Qin State, from officials and generals to the common people in Guizhou Province, want to kill the enemy on the battlefield and be promoted to nobility for meritorious service, so that they can exchange for a higher social status and serve as A higher official position. Although other matters can also be promoted, military merit is the most convenient and quickest, so everyone is warlike, and military generals throughout the dynasty want to start wars in order to achieve meritorious service."

"If we want to fundamentally eliminate this problem, we need to re-open a channel for people to ascend outside the military meritocracy!"

"In fact, the children of the school have bypassed the restrictions of the title. After passing the examination in the school, they can serve as grammar clerks. Therefore, it is a way for the children of the school to work as officials."

"But that's not enough. I want to make a suggestion to the emperor. Compile a book on agriculture and engineering to develop agricultural and engineering schools. If you can pass the relevant examinations, you can become an official of agriculture and industry in various places!"

Zhao Tuo's eyes sparkled.

The military merit and title system was too large and deeply rooted in the Qin State. In addition, the Qin army was attacking Baiyue, and all the generals were holding their breath to be promoted for meritorious service. It was impossible for him to shake this behemoth in person at this time.

But Zhao Tuo can first slowly pry from the side.

Opening up channels one after another except for military merit, in order to slowly weaken the influence of this system.

Even if you don't have a title, you can still be an official.

In that case, would the Qin people still yearn for war?

Listening to Marquis Wu Gong's impassioned speech, Prince Fusu's expression changed from surprise to horror, and finally his eyes lit up.

There was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.