“You really want to play the saint after playing the villain.”
Ying Qingye sneered with open contempt.
“You…”
“Your Majesty! We serve the Great Qin with absolute loyalty, yet we are being maliciously slandered by the Fifth Young Master.”
“We beg Your Majesty to dispense justice for us!”
“Please, Your Majesty, defend our honor!”
Those officials wailed and cried out to Ying Zheng one after another. When it came to shamelessness, this bunch was unmatched. Although Ying Qingye had struck right at the beating heart of their hidden motives, how could they ever admit to it?
“Fifth Brother, cease this rash talk!”
“Father, Fifth Brother is still young and unfamiliar with court protocol. I beg Your Majesty to pardon him.”
Fusu hurriedly stepped forward to intercede on Ying Qingye’s behalf.
Ying Zheng looked at Ying Qingye, his gaze entirely devoid of any trace of blame. Ying Qingye had just voiced what he, as the emperor, found inconvenient to state outright. Among all his sons, only this one had accurately articulated his deepest sentiments.
“Qingye, one must not speak recklessly in the imperial court.”
“Stand back!”
Though he had no intention of punishing him, the outward appearance of discipline still had to be maintained.
“Father, where did your son speak recklessly?”
Oh?
Ying Zheng looked at Ying Qingye in mild astonishment. Does this kid not realize I’m trying to bail him out right now? Can’t he even read such a simple cue?
Seeing that Ying Zheng remained silent, Ying Qingye pressed on, raising his voice:
“Father, this son has not spoken a single word of falsehood!”
“Our Great Qin relied on the accumulated might of six generations of kings to finally unify the Six Kingdoms. How many brave heroes of Great Qin shed their blood and sacrificed their lives along the way?”
“Today, the unification we enjoy was forged in the blood of six generations of warriors.”
“Their ultimate dream was for Great Qin to secure an undivided realm. And yet, this group here wants to turn around and restore the feudal system of enfeoffment?”
“It is utterly, laughably absurd! If we restore enfeoffment, how could we ever bear to face those fallen heroes?”
“How could we ever look our dynastic ancestors in the eye?”
“If the feudal system returns, within a few short years the states will be at war once again, tearing each other apart. The common people will be displaced, reduced to wandering refugees, and the land will be plunged into fire and bloodshed.”
“Today, our Great Qin has unified the realm. Father has personally campaigned south to pacify the Baiyue and marched north to beat back the Xiongnu—all so that the ordinary people of Great Qin might be spared the ravages of war!”
“And what about these people? For the sake of their own petty, selfish gains, they clamor to bring back enfeoffment, completely disregarding the lives of the common folk.”
“A pack of hypocritical scum! How are they any different from parasites?”
Ying Qingye’s passionate and stirring speech left everyone in the hall staring in utter shock.
Ying Zheng was particularly taken aback. He never imagined that his fifth son possessed such profound insight and strategic vision. Bringing him to court today had truly been a remarkably wise decision.
The ministers on either side regarded Ying Qingye with bewildered eyes. Was this truly the same good-for-nothing, slacker Fifth Young Master? Today’s eloquent defense had completely shattered their preconceived notions of him.
Fusu stared at him in equal disbelief. Wasn’t my fifth brother supposed to be unscholarly and completely ignorant? How could he possibly articulate such profound political views today? Although Ying Qingye had casually mentioned bits and pieces of this to him in private before, Fusu had simply assumed he was just spouting idle nonsense.
“Utter nonsense! Though Great Qin has unified the Six Kingdoms, abolishing their native scripts has provoked a furious backlash from the noble clans and great families. Undercurrents of rebellion are churning across the entire empire!”
“This alone proves that the commandery system does not suit our national reality! Only the feudal system can allow Great Qin to be passed down for ten thousand generations!”
To everyone’s surprise, those officials still refused to yield, hastily stepping forward to argue back.
The man speaking served as the Left Vice-Director of the Secretariat, bearing the compound surname Chunyu, given name Yue. Originally, he had been an Erudite scholar of the State of Qi.
“Your Majesty, I have heard that the reigns of the Yin-Shang and Zhou dynasties lasted for over a thousand years precisely because they enfeoffed their sons and meritorious ministers to serve as their wings and pillars of support,” Chunyu Yue continued earnestly.
“Now, although Your Majesty has unified the realm, your sons and relatives remain mere commoners. If a crisis akin to the usurpations by Tian Chang or the Six Ministers were to suddenly erupt, and there were no powerful, enfeoffed noble houses to offer staunch support from the outside, upon whom could the court rely for salvation?”
“In governing a state, one must study and emulate the wisdom of antiquity, drawing lessons from the past so that Great Qin may endure for a thousand years, just like the Shang and Zhou.”
“Hmph! Absurd to the extreme!”
“To ignore present realities while blindly advocating for the ways of the ancients will only plunge the hearts of the people into chaos.”
Li Si snapped back with a sharp, stern reprimand. How could he ever agree with such twisted logic?
“Prime Minister, the precedents are right before our eyes, proving that this course of action is beneficial. How can you call it absurd?”
“The Fifth Young Master is young and ignorant, but as the dignified Prime Minister of Great Qin, are you equally clueless?”
Chunyu Yue showed not a shred of fear toward Li Si.
“Sir, Great Qin has destroyed the Six Kingdoms and unified the realm under a single command,” Ying Qingye chimed in, looking at him as if he were an absolute fool. “When the world was first united, everything was submitted to order. Great Qin is neither the Yin-Shang nor the Zhou Dynasty.”
Did this man seriously not understand that the enfeoffment system no longer met the developmental needs of the era? It was a relic discarded by history; why keep dragging it back up?
Were they trying to drive the chariot of history backward?
“Fifth Young Master, both the Yin-Shang and Zhou Dynasties endured for over a thousand years!”
“Do you not wish for Great Qin to be passed down for a thousand years as well?”
“Hah! And so what if they did?”
“Didn’t they still fall in the end?”
“That Zhou royal house you’re so fiercely proud of—did they retain a shred of authority after King Ping moved the capital east?”
With just a few short sentences, Ying Qingye left Chunyu Yue completely speechless.
“Audacious!”
“Fifth Young Master, how dare you curse Great Qin?”
“You harbor malicious intentions!”
“Your Majesty, the Fifth Young Master has cursed Great Qin! We beg Your Majesty to punish him!”
Unable to argue back, the officials resorted to personal attacks instead.
“Are you out of your absolute mind?”
“When on earth did I ever curse Great Qin?” Ying Qingye muttered, utterly exasperated.
“You argued against restoring the enfeoffment and claimed the Zhou Dynasty perished—aren’t you drawing a malicious parallel?”
Ying Qingye: (￣O￣;)
“Your Majesty, the Fifth Young Master harbors sinister designs. This minister earnestly implores Your Majesty to execute him by tearing him apart with chariots!”
As soon as those words left the official’s mouth, the entire assembly of ministers gasped in shock.
Good grief!
Jumping straight to execution by chariot-splitting—these people really were vicious bastards!
Even Ying Zheng was startled. This old fox actually wants to murder my son right in front of me?
“Your Majesty, this minister seconds the motion!” Chunyu Yue raised his voice loudly.
The Fifth Young Master had made his startling debut in court today, which was clearly done at Ying Zheng’s behest. Now that he had demonstrated such sharp political insight, this youth was extraordinary and had to be eliminated before his wings were fully grown. Otherwise, he would inevitably become a massive thorn in their side in the future.
“Your Majesty, we second the motion as well!” All of Chunyu Yue’s faction members chimed in unanimously.
“Father, you mustn’t!”
“As a prince of Great Qin, the Fifth Brother would never harbor any intent to curse the realm!”
“I beg Father to investigate this thoroughly!” Fusu hurriedly stepped forward to plead for him.
“Your Majesty, the Fifth Young Master was merely trying to argue against the restoration of enfeoffment; he bears no malice toward Great Qin.”
“I beg Your Majesty to look into this justly!” Li Si also stepped out to intercede.
He understood Ying Zheng’s mind better than anyone, which was why Ying Zheng had adopted his command system in the first place. Now that Ying Qingye was opposing the feudal system, he was essentially standing in Li Si’s camp. Naturally, Li Si had to pull him through.
“Your Majesty, the Fifth Young Master’s intentions are unfathomable! We beg Your Majesty to investigate!”
“Please investigate, Your Majesty!” Chunyu Yue and his faction continued to press relentlessly.
“Silence!”
Ying Zheng roared with thunderous authority.
The sound frightened Chunyu Yue and his cronies so badly that they threw themselves flat onto the stone floor, breaking out in cold, soaking sweats.