The Myth of Daqin: The Soul of Yi Xiaochuan

Chapter 326: The Court Debate on the Enfeoffment System (Part 1)

Under the leadership of Xin Sheng, matters such as appeasing the people and rebuilding houses in Xianyang City and surrounding counties were carried out in an orderly manner.

Shusun Tong, Fu Sheng, Lu Ao and others were sent to the counties around Xianyang City, responsible for restoring local social order and allowing the people to live a stable life.

Xianyang City, as the top priority, was entrusted by Xin Sheng to Xiao He and Lu Shi.

After a fierce war, this once glorious capital is now in ruins.

Most of the houses in the city collapsed, the streets were littered with ruins, and the people were displaced and their lives were in trouble.

However, Xiao He's ability is beyond doubt.

First, he inspected the damage in various parts of the city and recorded in detail every area that needed repair.

Then, the people were organized and divided into areas to clean up and rebuild houses in an orderly manner.

At the same time, Xiao He also arranged for Lu Shi to be responsible for counting the material reserves in the city.

They took inventory of the food, clothing, medicine and other supplies in the city and recorded them in detail for subsequent reasonable distribution.

Pang Qing also actively cooperated with Xiao He. He led the soldiers to patrol the city, maintain order in the city, and prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos to loot supplies.

With the joint efforts of everyone, the reconstruction of Xianyang City proceeded in an orderly manner.

On the other side, officials from the Zongzheng Temple and the Fengchang Temple were busy flipping through various ancient books and calendars. After careful screening and comparison, they finally selected a day that was considered to be the most auspicious as the auspicious day for the enthronement ceremony.

This date not only had to meet the requirements of traditional auspicious days, but also had to take into account various astronomical and meteorological factors to ensure that the coronation ceremony could proceed smoothly. It also implied that Fusu's rule would be smooth and prosperous.

After Xin Sheng learned the news, he felt a little conflicted.

He remembered Prince Fusu's previous instructions and hoped that the coronation ceremony could be kept simple to save costs and show Fusu's humility and approachability.

However, after careful consideration, Xin Sheng decided to go against Fusu's wishes.

He believed that this coronation ceremony was not just a simple ceremony, but also an important moment for Fusu to inherit the throne and revitalize the Qin Dynasty.

Such a ceremony should be grand and solemn to demonstrate the majesty of the Qin Dynasty and Fusu's status.

So, in the next few days, everyone was busy making various preparations for Fusu's coronation ceremony.

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The next morning, the sun shone through the clouds onto the tiles of the palace, making them sparkle.

In the court, Fusu sat on the throne.

The ministers below had different expressions, some were smiling, some were frowning, and they seemed to have their own thoughts.

At this time, Chunyu Yue stood up and said, "Your Highness, we believe that we should select talented people to fill the vacancies."

Fusu nodded slightly in agreement: "I approve, but the selection must be fair and impartial, without the slightest favoritism."

After getting Fusu's permission, Chunyu Yue continued, "Your Highness, the court is in great need of talented people. I think we should establish an official school to train talents for the court."

After hearing this, Fusu fell into deep thought. After a while, he slowly glanced at the ministers in the hall and asked, "What do you think?"

Seeing this, Meng Yi hurried forward and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, I believe this is a very good move. The country is in a state of disrepair and needs a large number of talented people to govern. Within official schools, we can establish disciplines such as law, Confucianism, military science, and agriculture to cultivate professionals in various fields."

Fu Sheng, listening from the sidelines, suddenly felt anxious. He had originally proposed the establishment of official schools to give Confucian scholars more opportunities to enter the court, but he had not expected Meng Yi to suddenly appear and propose such a suggestion.

Fu Sheng hurriedly stepped out and, bowing, said, "Your Highness, while the establishment of official schools is desirable, they should be based on Confucianism. Confucianism emphasizes benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, and can educate the people and win the hearts of the people. If we add too many subjects, they will become too diverse and unrefined, making it difficult to cultivate truly talented people."

Meng Yi frowned and retorted, "Mr. Fu, the Qin Dynasty is facing many challenges today, and Confucianism alone cannot cope with them. Law can rectify discipline, military science can protect the country, and agriculture can enrich the people. Each discipline complements the other and is indispensable."

The two argued endlessly, and the court was immediately filled with discussions.

Fusu raised his hand to signal silence and said, "Both of you have a point. Official schools should not only inherit Confucian classics, but also absorb the strengths of other disciplines. We can start by recruiting teachers from various disciplines so that students can learn from a wide range of subjects. When the time is right, we can then prioritize them based on the needs of the court."

After hearing this, all the ministers nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Meng Yi had no choice but to obey the order.

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In fact, after the Qin Dynasty successfully unified the six kingdoms, the central government's actual control over local counties was quite limited.

This is like mergers and acquisitions between companies.

In the field of corporate management, the most thorny and difficult thing is corporate mergers and acquisitions.

This is because during the M&A process, it is not only necessary to maintain the normal operation of the acquired company and avoid the loss of its assets, but also to properly handle various tasks of the acquired company, which often leads to the loss of jobs for many people in key positions.

Because of this, in large-scale acquisitions of companies in the same industry, it usually takes five to six years to complete the initial handover work; if it is a cross-industry acquisition, the difficulty will be even greater because the acquirer often lacks sufficiently reliable and capable personnel to take over the work of the acquired company.

However, under the leadership of the First Emperor, the Qin Dynasty unexpectedly unified the six kingdoms in just ten years. This speed was beyond the expectations of everyone in the court at that time.

Moreover, after the establishment of the Qin Empire, it had one thousand counties under it, which was equivalent to acquiring more than eight hundred large enterprises in a short period of time, some of which were "cross-industry acquisitions."

Since the Chu State failed in its reform during the Warring States Period, it continued to implement the feudal system until its demise. Therefore, the original territory of the Chu State had to be converted from the feudal system to the monarchical county system.

However, during the short eleven years of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's reign.

First, time was a scarce resource for him and he could not fully devote himself to the task of taking over all the local counties.

In addition, the Qin Dynasty lacked a large number of local officials loyal to the court, which made the handover of local counties extremely difficult.

For these reasons, many county posts were still held by former officials, whose loyalty to the Qin Dynasty varied, with some even openly sheltering wanted criminals.

This situation led to chaos and instability in local governance, laying the hidden dangers for the collapse of the Qin Dynasty.

When unrest broke out at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the reaction of the local counties and prefectures was even worse. Many counties and prefectures defected, and some officials even led the rebellion, causing the Qin Dynasty's rule to quickly collapse.

The independence and disloyalty of these local county officials became one of the important reasons for the rapid collapse of the Qin Dynasty.

It was precisely in view of this situation that Meng Yi firmly supported the establishment of official schools.

Although in later generations he was just a mediocre beast of burden, he had neither the so-called sense of the overall situation nor political acumen.

However, I have heard of institutions such as the Imperial College of the Han Dynasty and the Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty.

If you want to get things done, you need to have loyal people under you.