Chapter 61: First Emperor Qin Extorts the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers!

Xiao He was holding a document and reading it intently.

Frowning deeply, he muttered, "Why would the policy change so abruptly?"

"I heard that the construction of the Lishan Mausoleum has been suspended!"

"The Epang Palace project has also been disbanded ahead of schedule, and massive amounts of wealth and grain are being transported to all parts of the country."

"Furthermore, no official dares to accept bribes, as the censors from the Imperial Censorate are monitoring every step of the process."

"Word has it that a few junior censors from the Imperial Censorate took some bribes, and after being reported, their entire households were executed, and they were torn apart by chariots on the spot!"

"His Majesty has issued a stern and absolute order this time!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ji's face turned even gloomier as he paced back and forth inside the room.

After a full quarter of an hour of pacing, he finally spoke.

"Calculated by timing, if Great Qin had continued down that path, our opportunity would have arrived."

"Yet, why has such a dramatic change occurred all of a sudden?"

"It feels as if someone entirely different has taken power. Could Prince Fusu have taken the reins?" Liu Ji asked with a puzzled expression.

Xiao He shook his head, seemingly unable to fathom the underlying cause.

Fan Kuai hesitated for a moment before asking, "Should we hold off on releasing those bandits from the prison then?"

Liu Ji immediately nodded and said, "Do not release them!"

"If we launch our plan at this moment, it will be extremely disadvantageous for us!"

"Let's wait, let's wait a little longer!"

"I refuse to believe that the food supply of Great Qin can keep everyone well-fed indefinitely!"

"When a natural disaster or drought strikes and the people are reduced to utter misery, that will be the moment for us to make our move."

Hearing Liu Ji's words, Xiao He opened his mouth, but remained silent in the end.

If Great Qin could truly maintain this course indefinitely, why would anyone even consider rebelling?

Xiao He asked himself this question in the depths of his heart.

...

Xianyang Palace.

The First Emperor of Qin pointed directly at Fusu's nose and cursed furiously, "Rebellious son! Rebellious son! Rebellious son!!!"

"What did I order you to go and do?"

"I ordered you to raid the Zhou family estate, but what did you actually do?"

"You went ahead and raided every single noble estate in the vicinity of Xianyang City!"

"What is your intention?"

"Are you planning to launch a rebellion?"

"Have these nobles offended you, or do you harbor some personal grudge against them?"

"Why must you exterminate them down to the last root???"

...

Hearing the escalating shouting, Zhao Gao trembled violently, his complexion turning somewhat pale.

Wei Liao remained silent, offering no words.

Li Si tightly pressed his lips together, his gaze directed at Fusu carrying a chilling edge.

Feng Jie and Feng Quji stood motionless, as if they had not heard the roar of the First Emperor.

Wang Jian, Meng Yi, and Zheng Guo also refrained from offering any persuasion.

When the First Emperor finally grew tired of scolding, Fusu assumed an innocent expression and said, "Your Majesty, it is not that your son holds a grudge against these nobles!"

"It is because your son uncovered concrete evidence of their crimes!"

"They actually joined forces to exploit the common people, monopolized various daily necessities, engaged in human trafficking, and arbitrarily decided the life and death of the subjects of Great Qin!"

"Their crimes are truly unforgivable and beyond pardon!"

The First Emperor took a deep breath, walked behind his desk, and demanded, "Is there evidence?"

Fusu immediately produced several rolls of silk cloth.

Wei Zhong hurried forward, received them, and presented them to the First Emperor.

The First Emperor glanced over them, slammed his palm fiercely onto the desk, and roared, "Splendid!"

"As for Zhou Qingchen, I certainly did not wrong him; he has actually committed so many vile deeds!"

"This fellow kept shouting that he was acting for the foundation and prosperity of Great Qin, when in truth he was merely pursuing his own selfish desires!"

"Chunyue was right: the sweeter a person's words sound, the more treacherous they truly are!"

The First Emperor glared fiercely at Fusu. "Even with evidence, you cannot act so recklessly!"

Fusu lowered his head.

The First Emperor glanced at Li Si. "Zhou Qingchen was a man you promoted, wasn't he, Li Si?"

Li Si hurriedly cupped his hands in a bow and said, "Your Majesty, this old minister is guilty; this old minister is guilty of failing to exercise proper supervision!"

"This old minister is willing to contribute all the lands under his control to be distributed among those in Great Qin who truly need them!"

Hearing these words, the First Emperor found it difficult to say anything further.

Consequently, he looked at Feng Jie and asked, "Feng Jie, what are your thoughts?"

Feng Jie hastily bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this subject is also guilty of failing in supervision."

"This subject is likewise willing to distribute all the land belonging to his family to the retired soldiers who have shed blood and tears for Great Qin!"

The First Emperor nodded with satisfaction and then turned his gaze toward Wang Jian.

Wang Jian had figured it out by now.

The First Emperor had started by berating his own son with extraordinary ferocity!

In reality, he was not scolding Fusu at all; he was berating them!

Sure enough, as soon as the scolding stopped, he immediately began using the nobles' criminal evidence to blackmail them one by one.

Wang Jian had no desire to surrender his land, but he had no choice in the matter.

Who asked him to be a businessman now anyway?

If he continued to cling stubbornly to these lands, he would likely become a target.

Therefore, Wang Jian stepped out of the ranks and said, "Your Majesty, this old minister is also guilty. This old minister has chilled the hearts of these old comrades-in-arms. When we were at war, they charged into battle for Great Qin one after another, willing to die without regret!"

"Now that there is no war, these old comrades are living in increasingly miserable conditions, while I turned a blind eye, caring only for my own comfort!"

"This old minister has failed them profoundly!"

"This old minister is willing to distribute all his land to them, and is also prepared to contribute half of his family fortune to purchase new homes and provide clothing for them!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Liao wanted to curse aloud!

You said all that, but it sounded entirely like you were talking about me!

I am the Grand Commandant, in charge of nationwide military deployments. Now that these veteran soldiers who bled for Great Qin have not been properly resettled, whose responsibility is it if not mine?

With no other choice, Wei Liao stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this old minister is also willing to follow the example of the Marquis of Wucheng and make a contribution to the soldiers of Great Qin!"

Hearing this, the First Emperor smiled with satisfaction and said, "Since the Three Excellencies are so generous and willing to make such sacrifices for Great Qin, what about the Nine Ministers?"

Meng Yi immediately nodded. "Your Majesty, this subject is also willing to distribute the Meng family's land to the soldiers of Great Qin, along with half of our family estate!"

Zheng Guo, the Minister of Finance, likewise nodded in prompt agreement.

The First Emperor waved his hand grandly and declared, "I am deeply gratified by the sentiments of all my beloved ministers!"

"Starting today, the official salaries of all attending ministers shall be doubled, and for the lands you distribute, you may retain ten percent of the crop yield!"

"On behalf of the retired soldiers of Great Qin, I thank you all!"

"Your Majesty is profoundly benevolent; this is merely what we ought to do!" The officials bowed their heads in unison.

Fusu watched this scene and let out a sigh.

These individuals appeared entirely devoid of resentment on the surface, acting as though they were gladly willing to give everything for Great Qin.

In truth, what they were thinking in their hearts remained unclear to Fusu.

However, Fusu knew that once the nobles were targeted, the very foundations of the ruling class in Qin had been thoroughly shaken!

While everything currently appeared calm on the surface, the slightest misstep could plunge the entire country into irrevocable disaster.

The First Emperor seemed to understand this logic as well, having already ordered Wang Ben to place the entire city of Xianyang under strict martial law.

Troops from other regions were also mobilized to guard against any desperate counterattacks by the desperate nobles.

Yet, to Fusu's surprise, the entire process proceeded with astonishing smoothness, especially after the vast numbers of laborers returned home.

Every region in Great Qin began to radiate a vibrant atmosphere of renewed life.

Within a mere month, all the nobles surrendered their lands, terrified of rigorous imperial investigations and the unearthing of their past crimes. Some even proactively handed over massive hoards of gold and silver.

This left Great Qin—which had initially been undertaking only emergency measures by distributing money and grain—with a bountiful harvest of wealth, granting them ample time to gradually formulate a reasonable system of rewards and punishments.

Agriculture was vigorously promoted, and commerce was actively encouraged. Through various stimulus measures, commerce in Great Qin, which had stagnated or even regressed due to years of continuous warfare, gradually flourished once more.

Amidst this economic recovery, Sunan Paper like spider silk began spreading across every corner of Great Qin.

In particular, the convenience of paper meant that whenever it appeared in a commandery city, it was instantly swept clean.

Many people even went so far as to travel all the way to Xianyang City to purchase large quantities of paper, only to transport it back and sell it at exorbitant prices.

Consequently, Huayang and Wang Ruonan were worked to the point of exhaustion.

For several days in a row, neither of them was anywhere to be seen.

Fusu, for his part, was quite content with the leisure. Over these past few days, he had spent the better part of his wealth purchasing large quantities of grain and daily necessities.

Furthermore, within his own estate, he had begun commissioning the forging of armor.

Modern rifle technology possessed a systematic theoretical framework, which included the techniques for forging gun barrels.

Fusu extracted this specific aspect, gathered a group of blacksmiths, and began experimenting. Within half a month, they successfully produced steel.

Although it had not yet reached the extreme standards of high-speed steel, it was already countless levels ahead of Qin's current iron-forging technology.

At this moment, Fusu was inside the blacksmith's workshop, looking admiringly at a newly forged steel saber and clicking his tongue in wonder.

A single strand of hair dropped onto the blade was instantly sliced in two.

It was truly a blade that could cut through hair blown against it!

Fusu swung it a couple of times and found it remarkably well-balanced, so he ordered a fitting scabbard to be crafted for it.

"Your Highness!" At that moment, the commander of the imperial guards, Bai Shao, walked over and happened to catch sight of the steel saber in Fusu's hand.

Fusu smiled and said, "Right on time. Come, help me test this blade!"

Bai Shao took the steel saber, swung it with keen interest, and remarked, "It feels much better balanced than my own sword!"

With that, Bai Shao drew his own ring-pommel saber, looked at one of the guards, and commanded, "Hold that!"

"Let's cross swords and test them!"

Fusu hurriedly intervened, "Never mind. That ring-pommel saber of yours looks like a reward from His Majesty; don't go breaking it."

Upon hearing this, Bai Shao felt a ripple of dissatisfaction in his heart.

What do you mean, "don't go breaking it"?

This ring-pommel saber of mine is a peerless divine weapon; how could it possibly break?

The only reason he wanted to test it was to see how many strikes the newly forged steel saber could endure before snapping.

However, believing that Fusu knew nothing about swords, Bai Shao thought nothing further of it.

Therefore, with a smile, he nodded and said, "Your Highness, rest assured. Only a truly divine weapon can test whether a blade is truly fine!"

"Have at it!"

Seeing this, Fusu ceased his attempts to persuade him and stepped back several paces.

He was genuinely afraid that a shattered blade might fly off and injure him.

Clang!

With a loud shout, Bai Shao gripped the steel saber with both hands and chopped mercilessly toward his own ring-pommel saber with the intent to shatter it in a single blow!

However...

With a crisp snap!

The blade broke, but it was not the steel saber in Bai Shao's hands that snapped—it was his own ring-pommel saber!

Bai Shao was dumbfounded on the spot, frozen in disbelief.

How could this be possible???