Chapter 57: Every Single Member of My Zhou Family is Loyal and Patriotic

Zhou Qingchen was startled and immediately shook his head, saying, "Your Majesty, you are only seeing the surface. The farmers near my family estate are the most obedient. Whenever there are imperial decrees or corvée labor, they respond the most actively!"
"This is all the result of your humble subject's sound governance!"
"Ha!"
The First Emperor laughed out of extreme anger and said, "Zhou Qingchen, have you ever tilled the land?"
"You can't even hold a hoe steady, damn it!"
Zhou Qingchen was stunned for a moment, looking blankly at him: "Your Majesty, why would your humble subject till the land?"
"My duty is to assist the Minister, handle documents, and organize affairs of state. To have someone like me do farm work like tilling would be a gross misuse of great talent!"
Hearing this reply, the First Emperor took a deep breath and asked again, "Zhou Qingchen, have you ever suffered from the cold?"
The look of bewilderment on Zhou Qingchen's face grew even thicker.
He shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, your humble subject has not caught a cold recently. Besides, the weather is getting warmer..."
The First Emperor reached out to take the club from Meng Yi, walked toward Zhou Qingchen, and asked, "Have you ever suffered from hunger?"
This time, the First Emperor did not wait for his answer.
Instead, he answered his own question: "You have never tilled the land, nor have you ever experienced hunger and cold. By what right do you claim that you can govern the nearby farmers well?"
"They work to feed you, toiling day and night, yet they go hungry and poorly clothed, restricted by you at every turn and exploited by you in everything they do!"
"Is this your philosophy of governing the world???"
Zhou Qingchen was completely baffled. Did governing the world require suffering from cold and hunger, or tilling the fields and doing physical labor?
What kind of ghost logic was this?
Such a thing had never existed since ancient times.
"Your Majesty, your humble subject dares not agree with your words. You must have listened to the slander of treacherous flatterers. This is utter nonsense!"
"This is a threat to the foundation of our Great Qin Empire..."
Bang!
The First Emperor struck Zhou Qingchen to the ground with a single blow of the club and roared, "Your damn nonsense!"
"You keep on your lips that this harms the foundation of our Great Qin Empire and that harms the state of our Great Qin!"
"Little do you know that the reason our Great Qin has become what it is today is entirely thanks to all of you!"
Bang!
The First Emperor struck down with the club once more, pointed at Old Man Sun, and asked, "What is your son's name?"
"Zhou Zhongliang, right?"
"You say your son is a loyal and righteous person, and this name truly lives up to your evaluation of him!"
"But do you know what your son has done?"

"Not only did he seize a commoner's daughter in broad daylight, but he also let loose vicious dogs to bite people!"
"Do you know who you bit?"
"You bit the very pillars of our Great Qin!"
"If it were not for them back then, how could our Great Qin have conquered this realm? If it were not for them back then, how could our Great Qin have achieved its present glory!"
"These people have shed blood and tears for our Great Qin. Now that the world is unified, not only do they not get to enjoy a good life..."
"Instead, they are exploited, oppressed, insulted, and even whipped and cursed day after day by a group of treacherous officials like you, living without even a shred of human dignity!"
"They fought for half their lives and struggled for the greater part of their existence, only to be met with such an ending. Do you think that had they known it would come to this, they would still have risked their lives to fight for Great Qin?"
Zhou Qingchen was beaten into a daze.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and foam, got up, and straightened his official hat!
"Your Majesty, do not lightly trust the words of a single party. This is all framing, and what you are seeing is not the truth!"
The First Emperor laughed in fury, turned his fierce gaze toward Wang Jian, and asked, "Marquis of Wucheng, did you know that our retired Great Qin soldiers live like this?"
A flash of sorrow crossed Wang Jian's eyes. He cupped his fists, lowered his head, and said, "Your Majesty, your old servant knows of this, but... your old servant cannot control it!"
The First Emperor abruptly turned his gaze to Li Si and demanded, "Li Si, according to the laws, what is the proper punishment for merely seizing a commoner's daughter?"
Cold sweat poured from Li Si's forehead. He hurriedly lowered his head and reported, "Reporting to Your Majesty, according to the laws of our Great Qin, seizing a commoner's daughter is an unpardonable crime and should be punished by dismemberment!"
The First Emperor looked at Zhou Qingchen and said, "You see that? I haven't had him torn apart by chariots; that is already considered merciful!"
"This son of yours deserved to die!"
Zhou Qingchen immediately wept and pleaded, "Your Majesty, it is not like that!"
"It is not like that!"
"My son did not forcibly seize a commoner's daughter. Rather, this Old Man Sun owed our estate a large amount of grain, and he was sending his granddaughter into the estate as a menial servant to pay off the debt!"
"If you don't believe me, ask Old Man Sun!"
Zhou Qingchen looked at Old Man Sun, a flash of malice in his eyes.
Old Man Sun was startled.
However, having heard the words of the First Emperor just now, old tears were already streaming down his cloudy eyes.
He looked at the First Emperor, and though he dared not believe that he was the reigning Son of Heaven, he decided to risk everything and said, "Noble Sir, it is not that this old man did not work hard at farming, nor that this old man never thought of leaving this place."
"It is simply that the exorbitant taxes are far too heavy. This old man has no other family members left, and when corvée labor is levied and there is no one at home, money must be spent to grease palms, while the annual taxes also consume a massive sum."
"In previous years, relying on the government subsidies, we could barely scrape by. But now, the subsidies have dwindled, and all the grain this old man harvested had to be handed over. With no other choice, I had no option but to borrow grain from the Zhou estate!"
"And so, back and forth, the debt grew larger."
"Originally, marrying my granddaughter to the Zhou family would still be better than staying with a useless old man like me!"

"But this Zhou Zhongliang is truly a scourge. Any woman who marries him is guaranteed to be tormented to death within three to five months!"
"Therefore, this old man dared not marry his granddaughter off to him!"
At these words,
Zhou Qingchen acted as though he had grabbed onto a straw to save his life, and immediately cried out, "Your Majesty, did you hear that?"
"Did you hear that?"
"It was our Zhou family that lent him grain when he was at his wits' end; it was we who saved his whole family!"
The First Emperor raised his club, preparing to strike him again.
Li Si intervened, advising, "May Your Majesty restrain your wrath!"
The First Emperor looked at Li Si and interrogated him: "I went to many places today and saw many situations similar to that of Old Man Sun!"
"Can the Chancellor explain to me why, after the implementation of the system of commanderies and counties, the people of our Great Qin are living worse than before???"
For a moment, Li Si did not know what to say.
The First Emperor then looked at an official standing behind Li Si and called out, "Zheng Guo, Chief Commandant of Agriculture!"
Zheng Guo immediately stepped forward.
With a gloomy face, the First Emperor asked, "I ask you, have the pensions for the fallen soldiers of our Great Qin been distributed in full?"
Zheng Guo pressed his lips together and nodded, saying, "Your Majesty, ever since your humble servant took office as the Chief Commandant of Agriculture, I have worked diligently and never dared to be remiss!"
"When decrees are issued, funds disbursed, and grain collected, everything is strictly in accordance with prescribed quotas. Your Majesty may send the Censor-in-Chief to investigate!"
The First Emperor looked at Feng Jie and ordered, "Go and investigate!"
Feng Jie immediately nodded.
The First Emperor asked again, "Then let me ask you this: while the taxes of our Great Qin are somewhat heavy, did I not calculate back then..."
"Even if they were doubled, the people would still have no worries about food and drink. How is it that things have come to such a state today???"
Cold sweat broke out on Zheng Guo's forehead. He dropped straight to his knees and said, "Your Majesty, your humble servant does not know!"
"Your humble servant is guilty of dereliction of duty. After this matter is over, we will thoroughly investigate!"
The First Emperor glared fiercely at Zheng Guo, then looked at Wang Jian and commanded, "Go and investigate!"
"Investigate and find out how many heroes like Old Man Sun still exist in our Great Qin, people who have shed blood and tears for our empire!"
"Our Great Qin must never fail these people!"