Chapter 711
"Your Majesty, after a thorough investigation by me, all the more than two hundred Confucian scholars captured by the State Uncle have confessed one by one.
A few days later, all the Confucian students in Xianyang City had been captured, of course, there were also many who escaped, but more than two hundred was more than enough.
"Humph! What a bunch of Confucians! What a bunch of Confucians! Zhao Gao! What should be done according to the law for forming a party, intending to commit rebellion, disobeying the emperor and slandering him?"
Zhao Gao bowed, "Your Majesty, according to the law, all these crimes should be punished by beheading!"
"Father, I suspect that these people have been beaten into submission!" As soon as Zhao Gao's words fell, Fusu stepped forward to refute them.
All the people were stunned, but only Zhao Gao was very calm about it, faintly glancing at each other and Li Linfei, then first gave a salute to Qin Shi Huang, then turned to Fu Su and bowed: "My lord, may I defend myself for a few words?"
Zhao Gao's gesture was so low, and it was natural that such matters could not be defended without listening to the other party, so although Fu Su was a hundred times reluctant, he still could not stop it.
"Your Majesty, Your Excellency, and all the lords! The arrests of these Confucian scholars were made by the uncle of the state, and there were 239 of them, each with a name, a place of origin, a teacher and a fellow disciple. And the interrogation was left to me."
"However, I can assure you that although these Confucian students were interrogated, they were not punished by whipping, but by being moved with emotion and reason, so that these Confucian students willingly confessed themselves!"
If you don't believe me, I have a list of these Confucian scholars here, so you can name them at your leisure.
Who said that a prisoner had to be tortured and branded with a whip? There were too many ways to achieve the results he wanted without leaving scars, such as banning sleep, cutting off water and food, locking up in a small dark room, etc.
Especially after he dismantled Li Linfei's car and assembled a simple electric torture machine with motor-based parts, it was too easy to quickly beat him without leaving a mark.
This is still Li Linfei reminded him, anyway, as long as the result is the same, then the process may as well make people have no handle to catch, not only save yourself trouble, but also to get a certain good reputation, at least now than he originally intended but is much better!
Not convinced, Fu Su named several people and asked Qin Shi Huang for permission to send his forbidden troops to bring them over and examine them after they had taken off their clothes, but the result was, to his dismay, that there were no injuries.
The result was a disappointing lack of injuries, which made him even more trustful of Zhao Gao and more discontented with Fusu.
Therefore, when Zhao Gao made the connection between the Confucian students and the Hall of the Raising of the Magi, especially the large number of descendants of the nobles of the six kingdoms in the Hall of the Raising of the Magi, he was furious and, under the guidance of Li Si, he immediately became furious and wanted to kill all these people.
"Father! These Confucian scholars are a bit radical, but they have good intentions! They advised you to reduce taxes and military service and to stop hurting the people. If we dispose of them like this, I'm afraid no one will dare to speak out again, and the world will be in turmoil! Father!"
Fu Su was capable, but too rigid, too naive, and not at all half-hearted, talking himself into a frenzy without even noticing the increasingly angry expression on Qin Shi Huang's face!
"Your Majesty, the last general has a different opinion!" Without waiting for Emperor Qin Shi Huang to become angry, Li Lin Fei, who was standing at the very back of this imperial study, suddenly stood out.
"What does the State Uncle think about this matter?" Seeing that it was Li Linfei, Qin Shi Huang frowned slightly and held back the anger that had just almost spilled out.
"Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness for what you have said, and I beg your forgiveness for what you have said."
Both Qin Shi Huang and Fusu were stunned, and then nodded in unison.
"Your Excellency should remember that I was once a member of the Hall of the Raising of the Magi, and I was once recorded among the top three, so I have absolutely no animosity or personal grudges towards the Hall of the Raising of the Magi or those Confucian students who were once also friends of my Excellency."
"Also, my lord, dare I ask what you just said, these Confucian students are well-intentioned and well-meaning."
"Then may I ask how well-intentioned these Confucians must be to be so well-intentioned as to gather a crowd to slander His Majesty and to defame your father among them? Is this a good intention? Wouldn't all the rebels in the world then be serving the country and the people and serving the country faithfully?"
Fu Su was stalled and was about to retort, but he did not want Li Lin Fei to give him the chance at all.
"Moreover, let's not say that they are disobedient and disobedient, let's say that they are really well-intentioned. Then I wonder what position and status they are in to do this with good intentions? Are they generals who unite the army and defend the country?"
"Or were they civil officials who assisted His Majesty in the administration of the court? Or were they county magistrates who ruled the land and pacified the people? Or officials in charge of farming, fishing and herding to develop people's livelihood? In what capacity are they there to exhort His Majesty with disobedience and good intentions?"
Speaking here, Li Linfei paused: "Dare I ask you, Your Excellency, would you stop using the toilet because the slave at home who clears the night incense says it is a bit tired and smells a bit bad, or would you do it yourself? Or would you strangle your little male son to death because some maid complained behind his back that your little male son was naughty?"
Fu Su and Qin Shi Huang, or rather all of them, stared wide-eyed, and Qin Shi Huang's father and son even glared angrily at Li Lin Fei and bellowed, "How dare you!
Li Linfei hurriedly bowed, "Your Majesty, Your Excellency, I have been somewhat rude, but what is the difference between those Confucian students and Your Majesty, and your Excellency and the lowliest slaves in your house?"
"Your majesty is wise, and when the civil and military officials give advice, they will choose the best ones to accept. If we need a few Confucian scholars who know nothing and can't give advice, what do we need as ministers?"
"If you want to listen to anyone's words, your Majesty, not to mention the 20 million people of Qin, will your Majesty be able to listen to them, if anyone says anything, your Majesty, will the 10,000 miles of rivers and mountains still be your Majesty's rivers and mountains?"
Qin Shi Huang's eyes instantly burst open in fury!
Chapter 712
"May I ask Your Excellency whether this Great Qin is His Majesty's Great Qin, or the Great Qin of those Confucians? Or is it the Great Qin of the descendants of the six kingdoms of the Hall of Lifting Sages? Or maybe it is yours ...... huh!"
The actual fact is that the actual people are not only the most effective, but they are also the most effective.
After once again patting Qin Shi Huang on the back, Li Lin Fei Dong turned to look at Fusu: "My lord, let's not talk about anything else, let's talk about what benefit these Confucian students have to the country! They may rule the country and deal with the dynastic affairs?"
Fu Su opened his mouth to speak before Li Lin Fei interrupted, "No, that's what the Legalists are good at! The Confucians, or rather the Confucianists, cannot do this either, this is what the soldiers are good at!"
"To promote the country and benefit the people, to develop tools to make labor work twice as hard? This is what the Moists and the Gongluoists are good at, and water conservation and farming, animal husbandry and breeding, making the country strong by promoting agriculture? This is the skill of the agriculturalists!"
"Combining the two schools of thought, and sending out missions to foreign countries? This is the skill of the connoisseurs and even the famous ones! Healing the sick and curing the wounded? This is the skill of healers!"
Li Linfei went on and on about the hundred schools of thought, all of which were useful to the country and the people, but none of which were known to Confucianism!
"Confucianism is good at persuading people to be good, cultivating health and virtue, but it is not as pure and natural as Taoism! Your Excellency, may I ask what Confucianism and those Confucian students can do for the country and the people? What is the benefit of Confucianism? Apart from teaching people to read and write, what are their other strengths?"
"Which one of the eunuchs of Yanzhou in the imperial court is illiterate? Do they still need to be taught by Confucian scholars? If a schoolteacher does not teach, but instead criticises the government and slanders the emperor, I dare ask your Excellency, if this is not disobedience to the emperor, but rather a good intention, then what does that make the civil servants of the court? Are we not the rebels?"
Bang! Qin Shi Huang could not stand it any longer and slapped the table, "Confucian scholars are useless, but they have confused people's minds and slandered the public, and now they dare to slander the imperial government and denigrate me! Men, ships, within the territory of the Great Qin, exterminate Confucian students and destroy Confucianism!"
What is burning books and destroying Confucians? With Li Linfei's foolishness, Qin Shi Huang directly ordered the entire Confucianism to be eradicated by root!
But was Confucianism really of any use, the answer is, not at all? Thinking about it, it seems to have nothing more to offer than the ability to fight, internal strife, and to give things to others whether they win or lose. If you want it, you can have it all!
"No, Father!"
Li Linfei glanced at Fusu, could not help but shake his head, this child is really a little too naive, too silly, or perhaps a little too self-righteous!
What is right? What is right? What is good? It is Qin Shi Huang who decides everything, not you, Fusu! He was the eldest son of Qin Shi Huang, otherwise anyone else would have been dragged out of his car and split!
So in the end, Fu Su, who had repeatedly contradicted Qin Shi Huang, was ousted from Xianyang and sent to the north to serve as Meng Tian's deputy, and he was so angry that he ordered the Hall of Sages to be raided and imprisoned, regardless of their origin or status.
As for the Confucian students, they were all arrested and buried in pits, and all Confucian schools were burned down, and all Confucian texts were used to set fire to the schools.
In short, as long as they belonged to Confucianism or Confucian students, none of them would be allowed to exist on the land of the Great Qin!
As for the Hall of Raising Virtues, although it was raided, not because of the so-called rebellion, this time because of Li Linfei, it was not labeled as such.
But because of the Confucian scholars, and because of Fusu's several rebellions, and because most of them were descendants of the Six Kingdoms, the Qin Emperor was greatly displeased.
So although they were not killed, they were all imprisoned, for a period, to be determined!
And Yi Xiaochuan, that saintly bitch, was also arrested along with Zhao Gao for his so-called righteousness in re-inscribing his name in the directory of the Hall of Lifting Sages.
He was not beaten, scolded, abused or given any charges, instead he was given a separate cell to eat and drink enough and cleaned up, just like that in the main prison.
Nowadays, because of Li Linfei's relationship, Zhao Gao has not lost everything, so he is still relatively pure, and still has some bottom line, so even though he completely saw through Yi Xiaochuan last time, he will not give him a hard time nowadays, but still treats him better than others, but that's all!
But that's all! And it's only a little bit of love for Yi Xiaochuan, not for Meng Tian, who has taken the initiative to impeach him several times and almost caused his head to fall on the ground on several occasions.
Although he was still alive, he was still suffering from poison and was carried around every day, so he didn't know when he would die.
"Humph!" Inside the imperial study, Qin Shi Huang snorted angrily and viciously slammed a book of bamboo slips onto the desk.
"The Rong Di in the north are again invading my territory! What do you think, dear ministers?"
Rong Di? Li Linfei's eyes narrowed slightly, the Rong Di was not a small part of the plot here, in that case, it seemed that he needed to go there!
"Your Majesty, the last general requests to lead the army north to repel the Rong Di!" Li Linfei's sudden request for orders caused Li Si to retract his half-hearted steps.
"Oh? Ai Qing is confident that he can repel the Rong Di?"
He could not be clearer about Li Linfei's bravery, although he had only seen three or five moves, it was enough.
If Li Linfei was willing to take command of the army, that would be the best thing that could happen!
"In a few days' time, it will be His Majesty's birthday, and I would like to offer the head of the Rong Di bandit Pa Jia Gao as a congratulatory gift, in order to strengthen His Majesty's holy majesty, which has swept through the eight wildernesses and is unrivalled in all the ages!"
The Emperor was delighted by Li Linfei's ass-kissing, and he was even more excited about Li Linfei!
Chapter 713
"I wonder how many troops you need?"
Li Linfei clasped his fist, "Your Majesty, I only need 50,000 troops!"
Fifty thousand? When he heard the number of troops Li Linfei asked for, Qin Shi Huang was stunned! So little?
He knew that the Rong Di were only the heart of the Qin Empire, and that there had been many confrontations in the past.
50,000? What would that be?
"Fifty thousand soldiers? Are you joking?"
Li Linfei said, "Your Majesty, how dare I joke about military matters? It is 50,000 soldiers and horses, but I have some special requirements for these 50,000 soldiers and horses!"
Qin Shi Huang's interest was getting stronger.
"What is your request? Tell me?" The only thing that he wanted was to train a new general who could be of great use.
He could afford to pay for the 50,000 troops that Li Linfei wanted, especially since the Qin family was so large!
"I want to mobilise these 50,000 troops from three places!"
"Which three places?" The interest in Qin Shi Huang's eyes grew, just 50,000 troops and horses, and he wanted to mobilize them from three places? It seems that these 50,000 soldiers and horses are really something!
"The last general has 13,000 soldiers and horses from the army under his own command, and when he passes through Shang County, he will draw 30,000 from the Meng family army, and the remaining 7,000, the last general wants to draw from the prison!"
These three parts could be even more interesting!
"Tell me carefully!"
Li Linfei nodded and said, "As Your Majesty also knows, after taking over the garrison army in Xianyang the last general had made several adjustments to the training, and selected 13,000 soldiers and horses from them as the elite, and developed special training for them and created armour unique to them."
Qin Shi Huang nodded, naturally he would not be unaware of such a big matter and right under his nose, without his permission, Li Lin Fei could not have done these things.
"The 13,000 soldiers and horses under the command of this ministry that the last general wants is this part, while the 7,000 soldiers and horses drawn from the prisons are the old troops of the Hall of Lifting Sages who are being held in prisons everywhere!"
"I can understand these first two items, but this last part of the 7,000 soldiers and horses that Ai Qing requested, I am a little confused!"
Qin Shi Huang frowned slightly: "If I remember correctly, although the former members of the Hall of the Raising of the Magi are all over the place, the vast majority of them are concentrated in Xianyang City and the counties around the Zhou."
"When the arrests were made, more than eight out of ten people from the Hall of Raising Virtues were arrested by you sending troops, or even leading them yourself! They also included your master Xiang Liang, as well as your senior brother Xiang Yu, and Yi Xiaochuan, my former General of the Palace Gate."
Speaking here, Qin Shi Huang, still afraid that he had misremembered, turned his head to look at Zhao Gao and Li Si, both of whom gave him clear answers with a slight nod.
"Ai Qing, my uncle of state, are you not afraid that they will harbour a grudge against you and be submissive to you, or even turn against you before the battle?"
Li Linfei bowed and saluted, "Your Majesty, it is for this reason that the last general also requests Your Majesty's permission to transfer three men as the last general's lieutenants and vanguard."
Well ...... Qin Shi Huang pondered, his fingers tapped lightly on the table, those ministers who were familiar with him knew that this action meant that Qin Shi Huang was seriously thinking about something and must not be disturbed!
"Let me guess, these three people you mentioned, should be your master Xiang Liang for you to take charge of the three armies, and to suppress and govern the old troops of the Hall of Lifting Sage, your brother Xiang Yu as the vanguard general to lead the army to break the battle, and Yi Xiaochuan for you to take charge of the 30,000 troops borrowed from the Meng family army, am I right?"
Li Linfei was slightly stunned, then reflected, if Qin Shi Huang could not see and understand this point, then he would not be Qin Shi Huang, not an emperor of a thousand years!
"Li Linfei! Do you know that if you act like this, I wonder how many people will impeach you for forming a party and collaborating with the remnants of the six kingdoms, and even for embracing your own army and intending to plot rebellion?" Qin Shi Huang's eyes glared like torches as he fixed Li Lin Fei with a deadly stare.
When he saw that Qin Shi Huang did not call out either Ai Qing or State Uncle, but Li Lin Fei's full name, and even put so many charges of death on his lips, Zhao Gao's heart thudded.
Subconsciously, he was about to plead for Li Linfei's mercy, but he didn't want Li Linfei to nod his head calmly and say, "I know!"
"I know that many people have been impeaching me since I started to adjust my troops and horses, but I dare to say that from the beginning to the end, I have been able to live up to the four words of loyalty and service to the country, and I have never dared to forget them for a moment."
While Zhao Gao was on tenterhooks, Li Linfei was very calm, expecting neither too much nor too little, not so much discerning for himself as stating the facts.
"All the things, whether it was the reformation of the army, the training of soldiers, the mass forging of weapons and armour, joining the Hall of Raising Sages, managing the Hall of Raising Sages, withdrawing from the Hall of Raising Sages, capturing the Hall of Raising Sages, and arranging positions for a bunch of members of the Hall of Raising Sages."
"All these things the last general did were right to his conscience, to His Majesty and to the Great Qin. No matter how big or small the matter is, as long as it is related to the family and the country, the last general has never covered up or concealed it in any way, it is open and honest and never sneaky!"
Qin Shi Huang frowned and did not interrupt him at all, and waited until da he had finished before he asked him, "Then I ask you, among all these things, do you have any selfish motives?"
The normal way is to deny all kinds of things, full of family and country loyalty and righteousness, Zhao Gao has already started to play the side of how to help later.
Who knew that Li Linfei was still as unconventional as he had just been.
"Yes! Every thing the end general can afford to the family and the world and his majesty's trust and heavy responsibility outside, also have their own personal feelings, these things and people, either with the end general more or less related, or to the end general himself also has a great benefit!
"Bang! Qin Shi Huang ruthlessly slammed the table, Zhao Gao's heart immediately panicked, not to mention him, even Li Si and other officials were trembling in their hearts and subconsciously knelt down, only Li Lin Fei still stood there, slightly bowed with his hands clasped in fists.