69novels Chapter 291 Decision-making and Strategy
Chapter 291 Decision-making and Strategy
Inside the Xianyang Palace,
Fusu, wearing a black red shirt with twelve totems and a crown on his head, stepped into the palace with his right hand pressing a long sword, accompanied by Zheng Guo, the Internal History of Grain, Feng Jie, the Imperial Censor, Zhang Cang, the Imperial Censor, Gun, the son of the Shaofu, and more than a dozen seal officials, county-level statisticians, and accountants. They all took off their shoes at the door and hurriedly walked into the palace holding a large bundle of bamboo slips.
Today's accounting activity has entered the final stage - listening to the accounting report (accounting).
The so-called Shangji was an annual summary of the year-end performance and future development plans at the end of the Qin Dynasty.
All the major counties and prefectures in the country had dedicated statistical officials who collected data on population, taxes, cultivated land area, currency collection and storage, crime numbers, etc. every quarter. These data were compiled into a book called "Ji Book" and passed on to statistical agencies at all levels. The responsible agencies then verified and reviewed these data and made arrangements for the next year's work according to the requirements of the court.
Then, these accounting books would be led by the upper accounting commissioner and the lower-level statistical team, carrying the relevant inspection documents to Xianyang, and these materials would be sent to the Imperial Censor for review and final examination through the Internal History of Grain.
The so-called acceptance of reports means that Your Majesty directly participates in hearing the results of reports from various places, reviews the work performance of each county, and puts forward targeted guidance and orders.
It was originally thought that this process should be completed in October every autumn, but due to the unification of the six kingdoms, the empire's territory expanded to the edge of the East China Sea. During this period, it was normal for the envoys to be delayed while traveling through mountains and rivers.
Once all the processes have been completed, the next part cannot be delayed in any form. You know, Shang Yang once emphasized that only countries that "govern day and night" can become kings and hegemons, and countries that "govern at night" can grow steadily. As for those countries that delay handling political affairs until the next morning, they can only decline.
Qin Shi Huangdi had been using this standard to carry out government affairs for many years, and Fusu, as his successor, naturally did not dare to neglect it. The emperor himself was diligent, and the ministers naturally took the initiative to take on responsibilities and labor beyond their duties!
Therefore, even though the court's schedule required a day off every five days, Fusu did not wait for dawn to arrive before bidding farewell to the city of peace and happiness. He quickly left the hot spring palace and arrived at the Xianyang Palace before the meal time (approximately 7 to 9 in the morning).
As always, after the banquet, the activities held in the side hall were a last-minute preparation. He took off the long sword hanging from his waist, gently placed it on the sword rack on the left, and then sat upright on the throne, waiting for key figures like Zheng Guoli to complete the final verification process.
Although it was a routine review, they had actually reviewed the content countless times. At this time, his eyes fell on some of the historians standing beside him. They were untying the various long sticks they carried around their waists - small bamboo sticks tied in sections. While constantly turning the bamboo slips in front of them, the bamboo sticks were used to construct various different patterns or models.
This is one of the primitive calculating tools, counting rods? Fusu was very interested in the knowledge in his memory, and the dusty memory that was revealed at this moment surprised him. It turned out that the progress of Qin in mathematics was already close to the level of middle schools in the world! The multiplication table already existed, but it was just a reverse memory method.
It is not limited to the classic chicken and rabbit in the same cage problem, but even fraction operations are applied. There are fraction addition and subtraction represented by "adding fractions" and "subtracting fractions"; fraction multiplication and division represented by "multiplying fractions" and "reducing fractions". What is even more surprising is that there are algorithms for judging the size of fractions and finding the average value, which are called "class points" and "equal divisions".
It is not difficult to guess why the Qin Dynasty can now make detailed statistical reports every year... Fusu nodded secretly in his heart. He immediately picked up a piece of straw paper and started to calculate on it.
In this new stage, he has to re-plan the policies on universal education and create a tool that can be used easily for complex calculations such as "boiling food and water", that is, the abacus.
Although he had forgotten most of the old proverbs about using an abacus over the years, the basic operating methods were still deeply imprinted in his mind.
A few minutes later, when the noise below died down, Fusu carefully put away the straw paper in his hand and returned to his seat to continue his official procedures.
First, the "Gui Nei Shi" in charge of finance reported to him the past financial expenditures. The entire empire had about 350,000 troops stationed, and a total of about 8 million dan of grain was consumed, and the total cost of logistics and transportation was as high as 10 billion yuan.
The 350,000 soldiers were guarding the barracks, while most of the soldiers on duty worked on the farm at home. Since they stayed at home, they naturally relied on their own food. Besides the weapons and armor provided by the court, the Qin team had to prepare all other clothing, shoes and hats by themselves.
After the salaries of civil officials and military officers were converted, the total amount was 2 billion, while the "Shaofu Zongzheng" spent 1.8 billion. The former needs no explanation, and most of the latter was spent on the cultivation of the immortal law of the First Emperor and the enjoyment of the nobles in the palace.
In this process, Fusu felt a heavy responsibility. He had to review and summarize past experiences and lessons, and also formulate more complete strategies and tools for future development, so that the Qin State could remain prosperous amidst the complex management.
After hearing Zheng Guo's report, Fusu felt a mixture of emotions.
In later times, the royal family mostly relied on financial subsidies from the court to live. Now it is proposed to squeeze out part of the emperor's personal income to fill the deficit. This is actually because in this era, the income from resources such as salt and iron was included in the emperor's personal account.
Just like when Emperor Wu of Han fought against the Xiongnu on a large scale, one of the important sources of funds for military expenditure was the tax on salt and iron. However, in later generations, due to the reasons of "competing with the interests of the people" and "high sales prices of some departments", this monopoly became a sword pointing at the masses.
An even more surprising phenomenon occurred later, during the Great Meng period: as the country gradually stabilized and the population increased, the national salt tax actually showed a downward trend year by year. Did the people of the Ming Empire have too light a taste?
Fusu understood "competing for interests with the people", and first of all, he had to see clearly who the so-called "people" were. Can the farmers working in the fields be considered "people"? Obviously not. This shows that it is obvious what kind of people "people" specifically refers to.
In today's social environment, it is not that the emperor's increased wealth leads to a decrease in the wealth of ordinary people. The key is that no matter who gets more or less economically, it has zero impact on ordinary people - their rights and interests are almost nothing.
"Selling salt and iron, iron tools are of low quality, but private goods are of high quality and low price." The root cause behind this is not the characteristics of the goods themselves, but more likely the problem of poor management by the competent authorities. When such products that must be controlled are privately operated, it usually leads to a surge in the financial resources of wealthy merchants and bureaucrats, while the financial situation of departments is tight. More importantly, in a country dominated by agriculture, the increase in the number of merchants and officials means that after they have money, they begin to annex land, thus triggering new changes when social development reaches a certain critical point and starting a cycle over and over again.
Recalling historical memories, Fusu decided to temporarily maintain control of this part of the income. At least he knew which areas should be invested in order to avoid repeating past mistakes.
After talking about the number of granaries and treasuries, Zheng Guo took another bamboo slip and read it out. The Qin Dynasty legislation mentioned here was changed and revised many times, but in the end it was still a legal system established on the basis of Shang Yang's reform. When he took office, the specific items recorded were still food, money, population gender, age, officials, soldiers, merchants, and livestock.
Listening to this, Fusu nodded silently. If these records truly reflected reality accurately, it would be enough to show that the state still had a certain degree of regulatory and control capabilities over civil society.
After Zheng Guo reported the numbers, it was time for Feng Jie, the Imperial Censor, to take the stage and report the results of the evaluations of his subordinate officials to the First Emperor.
However, the First Emperor was no longer very interested in such data summary reports.
After all...it's just data.
Later, in a state of half-sleep and half-wakefulness, I heard Feng Jie's voice fading away, which meant that this year's big data review work was nearing completion.
The First Emperor reviewed everyone's hard work in the past year based on the draft he had prepared in advance. In the new year, he hoped that they could continue to excel without being proud, and he looked forward to their wonderful performance.
From time to time, we praise some counties that are rated as "highest" and hope that they can continue to work hard; for other counties that are rated average, we provide gentle but strong guidance, hoping that these areas will know shame and move forward courageously...
After the clock struck one, the data summary discussion officially came to an end in a lively atmosphere.
"Let the Zhang family, the Imperial Censor, stay, and let the others go on their own."
Then, he added: "Please put this series of reports in one place for archiving and sealing. From today on, this will be our practice!"
After completing the instructions, the First Emperor stretched his legs, which had been stiff for a long time, and walked steadily towards the back room, because he suddenly felt impatient.
Before reaching the restroom, he pressed the toilet button and undressed. His movements were smooth and graceful, as if he was dancing, and he took a step forward to feel the breeze. Then, he shuddered in comfort, shook off the dirt, put on his pants, and then carefully cleaned the sink area to make sure everything was clean.
After a while, he walked out of the inner room, stopped Zhang Jia who was in a hurry, and ordered the palace servants to move the seat where Zhang Jia had just sat closer to the imperial chair.
Looking at the round, white-faced man in front of him, wearing a sheep-horned hat and with his hair and beard combed neatly, he couldn't help but take a few more glances and sighed in his heart that Zhang Cang, a former disciple of Xun's school and a fellow student of Li Si, was doing very well as an imperial censor. He found a balance between law and power in his own way and played a huge role.
"What do you think of today's report?"