Chapter 262: You old thief! You have come to this day!
In the Qin Dynasty, the most reliable way to turn a slave or concubine into a commoner was to redeem her by military merit.
Military merit was hard currency in the Qin State. It could be used to get promoted, to confer titles, or to redeem slaves and concubines.
There will always be people whose relatives and friends have been demoted to slaves and concubines . Want to rescue them? Then go to the battlefield and charge forward bravely.
The First Emperor was a great emperor, but he was also a feudal emperor.
The First Emperor did not have much sympathy for his slaves and concubines; he only wanted the empire to prosper.
The First Emperor could not see how changing the slave status to civilian status would benefit the Qin State, so he naturally did not allow it.
"You are staying here and not going to Han. Do you want to make Qin State have no slaves ?" The First Emperor shook off Ying Chengjiao's hand and said, "I will give you Han State and let you do whatever you want. I will see how far you can go. There will be no slaves there."
"No, just the Korean territory is meaningless. I need my brother to implement it throughout the whole territory." Ying Chengjiao said seriously.
Personal equality is the first step that Ying Chengjiao must achieve, and the first step to personal equality is to abolish the system of slaves and concubines.
Would abolishing the slave system be better for the Qin State? This guy has always had a high vision.
The First Emperor looked at Ying Chengjiao's expression, frowned, and sat down again, saying, "Tell me what you think."
"Honestly speaking, I can't convince my brother." Ying Chengjiao shrugged.
It is meaningless to talk about human rights, equality, and building a positive and progressive country where everyone has ideals and ambitions with the First Emperor, who is the most powerful and august person in history and can decide other people's life and death with a single word.
From the perspective of personal interests and the interests of the Qin State within a hundred years, the existence of slaves was more beneficial to the First Emperor, because slaves were useful.
The idea that slaves and concubines are not human beings has long been deeply rooted in everyone's mind, and no one would have much sympathy for a slave and concubine.
However, when the majority of society is composed of civilians, the number of exploited slaves and concubines is far from enough to overthrow the ruling class and change the world, and will not have any impact on the monarchy.
If we do not consider this aspect of human beings, the existence of slaves and concubines in the Qin Dynasty, at a level of social development, created huge benefits and caused almost no losses.
The First Emperor remained silent, waiting for Ying Chengjiao's next words. He knew his half brother too well.
Ying Chengjiao would neither say nor do anything that he was not sure of.
"As long as my royal brother agrees, I can give all the food I have stored in various parts of the country over the past ten years to my royal brother."
When the First Emperor heard this, a look of surprise appeared on his face, and he looked at Ying Chengjiao with a look as if to ask if he was sick.
"How much food do you have? How dare you use this to induce me to cancel the slavery of your concubine?"
Regardless of the dynasty, grain played a very important role. In ancient times, grain played an especially important role.
If there were enough food, the First Emperor could mobilize all Qin soldiers to conquer one piece of land after another and expand madly.
Of the two words "geng" and "zhan", if you remove "geng", only "zhan" remains.
This was definitely a great temptation for the First Emperor who was determined to expand his territory.
Moreover, with sufficient food, the First Emperor was able to use it to hire civilians to build civil engineering projects and do the work of his servants and concubines.
For the First Emperor who only cared about results, it didn't matter who did the work; he didn't care about the process.
Ying Chengjiao raised his hands, spread out all ten fingers, turned them over, and said, "The food I have stored is enough to feed the whole world for twenty years."
"impossible."
The First Emperor sneered and didn't believe it at all.
"The world has been at war for years, and the population has dropped sharply. According to the names reported by the counties, there are more than 23 million registered residents, not counting the slaves and concubines who have retired to the mountains and forests and are kept by each family. An adult eats 18 shi of grain a year, which is 360 shi in 20 years. If these 23 million are calculated as adults, 20 years is..."
"Eight hundred and twenty-eight thousand." Ying Chengjiao paused and then said, "Ten thousand stones."
It took the First Emperor a while to figure it out, and it was the same as Ying Chengjiao's. He muttered to himself that his calculation was faster than mine.
"Yes, so much food, do you have it?"
Ying Chengjiao nodded seriously and said, "I do."
Knowing that the First Emperor would not believe him, Ying Chengjiao said, "My brother has already known everything about the situation in Han. I was able to win in Han because of the food, right?"
That’s true... This guy does have a lot of food in Korea.
The First Emperor glanced at Ying Chengjiao, who had a serious face. Although he still didn't believe it in his heart, he was more or less shaken.
"If you really have so much food, you can cancel my servitude and I will agree."
"It's settled, my brother, don't forget to hold the morning court tomorrow."
"Don't be impatient." The First Emperor held down the agitated Ying Chengjiao and said sternly, "Give me the food first, and I will announce the new system."
Ying Chengjiao touched the Emperor's head and said, "Brother, are you not sick? How can I bring so much food to Xianyang for you?"
The First Emperor, who firmly believed that Ying Chengjiao was bragging, nodded in agreement and said, "Then what should we do? I will not issue a new system if I don't see the grain."
"I'll take you to see them one by one." Ying Chengjiao said decisively.
The First Emperor chuckled.
"You are sure that I cannot leave Xianyang at this moment, and you are deliberately provoking me with these words, right?"
It is now the first year of the First Emperor's reign. Although the Qin State is no longer in a state of disrepair, it is still halfway through. The First Emperor cannot leave Xianyang for too long.
"Then what do you say we should do?" Ying Chengjiao said helplessly.
"You can't possibly keep all this food outside the pass, can you?" The First Emperor pinched his chin and said, "Give me the food inside the pass first, and I will allow you to stop being a slave to me."
"Can."
Keep pretending.
"If the grain stored in Guanzhong cannot feed the people of Guanzhong for 20 years, I will not agree to it."
"No problem." Ying Chengjiao agreed very readily.
The First Emperor stood up, put on his mask unhappily, and said, "The land of Han is given to you. You have to deal with the trouble you have caused yourself. I don't care."
Ying Chengjiao responded.
"I haven't asked yet, why did you hit Zhao Gao's ear that day? Before there is a result between you and the noble family, I cannot meet you in public."
"I don't like him."
"... If you do this again, I will really put you in Xianyang Prison!" The First Emperor said this harshly, and then asked casually, "What is Lü Buwei's reaction when he sees what I wrote?"
"My qi and blood are flowing backwards, my heart meridians are damaged, and I was almost pissed to death by you." Ying Chengjiao said truthfully.
You old thief! You deserve this day!
"Alas, I just wanted him to know the truth of 'don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you'. It was not my intention for him to end up like this. I asked Xia Wuqie to treat him."
"Royal brother." Ying Chengjiao pointed at the corner of his mouth and said, "Even the mask can't cover your grinning mouth. If you want to laugh, just laugh."
"Ridiculous! How could I be a stingy person!" The First Emperor hurriedly turned around and left.
Ying Chengjiao held a piece of hay in his mouth, lay on the bed and looked up.
"My royal brother is not as easy to fool as he was when he was young. If we kill all these noble families, will the food be enough for Guanzhong to eat for 20 years? Alas, we can't kill them. It will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs..."
