King Qi of Chu tried his best to sing and drink with Xiang Yan, but he actually wanted to take the opportunity to take the power of various nobles as his own.
Although taking the management power of the people into the central government does not mean taking back the army.
But it can be imagined that labor, taxation, military resources, etc. all come from the common people. Without the common people at the bottom, the nobles and the army are actually castles in the air. It is only a matter of time before all kinds of powers are returned to the central government.
But who are the nobles of Chu State?
King Qihui of Chu thought of this, how could the cunning nobles not think of it?
As soon as Xiang Yan finished speaking, there was silence in the hall. The nobles looked at me and I looked at you. Although they were tacitly understanding, they all understood the intention of King Chu Qi.
When King Qi of Chu saw that the nobles were not talking to him, he pressed forward:
"What do you think the general proposes?"
"We can collect taxes and grain like the Qin State. Although it is a little less, it can relieve the people's worries about losing money."
"As the saying goes, 'Brothers are jealous of each other within the wall, and they are protected from their insults outside'."
"At present, the Qin army is pressing down on the country. If we don't change our ways and work together to resist Qin, I'm afraid..."
There is no need for Chu King Qi Duo to say what follows. With Chu State’s scattered strength, it is certainly difficult to resist the Qin army’s attack.
From an objective point of view, what Chu Wangqi said does make sense.
The Qin army only had more than 200,000 soldiers, while the Chu army had 400,000.
Although the quality of the Chu army was not as good as that of the Qin army, with twice the strength it would not lead to the destruction of the country.
So the biggest problem here is disunity.
But since ancient times, "disunity" cannot be solved as Chu Wangqi hoped, with a few words and a little external pressure.
Almost all "disunity" requires war, blood and repression to resolve.
The reason is very simple. The nobles have their own interests, and they represent a clan rather than themselves.
For example, if Zhao Shi wants to consider the Zhao family, everyone in the Zhao family must agree.
The same is true for Qu Wei, Jing Tong, etc.
In other words, the people present at the meeting did not even have the right to speak. They had to go back to discuss with their tribesmen.
Therefore, Chu Wangqi's "reform" is simple to say, but it requires thousands of people to agree.
As the saying goes, "It's difficult to reconcile a consensus", which itself makes it impossible to reach consensus.
What's more, the nobles have other worries:
If we hand over the management power of the people today, will we have to hand over the power of the military tomorrow?
If the military power was handed over, in order to avoid future worries, would King Qi of Chu sideline the nobles or even find an excuse to kill them all?
This is no joke. If you are not good enough, you will "exterminate" the entire clan. How can you easily hand the handle of the knife to someone else's hand?
Not even King Qi of Chu can do it!
After a moment of silence, Zhao Shi raised his hands and replied:
"Back to your Majesty, I thought..."
"It may be feasible to use reform to solve the problem of losing people."
"However, the wealth and poverty are uneven in various places, and the land area is different. Therefore, my subordinates believe that each ethnic group should implement reforms according to their different situations."
“In this way, we can balance the importance and severity.”
All the nobles said yes one after another.
This moment made King Qi of Chu choke up... The reform should be a unified change from top to bottom across the country. The nobles in various places made the changes themselves. If they still go their own way, what kind of reform should be done? In the end, if it is not that the various ethnic groups will be separated and unable to unify
Deployment?!
But King Qi of Chu had no choice.
Because what Zhaoxie said makes sense. If it is just to solve the problem of the balance between the Qin and Chu systems and bring back the people, it is true that each tribe only needs to make reforms on its own. Why do you, King Qi of Chu, need to participate?
On the other hand, King Qi of Chu had only one hundred thousand troops at his disposal at this time, which was similar to the strength of the three major clans, so the weight of his words was much smaller.
Therefore, although King Chu was angry, he did not dare to show his anger, and the meeting ended in depression.
This is one of the reasons why Shen Bing used propaganda warfare instead of sending troops to directly attack.
If we send troops to directly attack... and beat the nobles to the point of annihilation, then the clan will be exterminated anyway, why not try to unite with other clans and even King Qi of Chu?
At that time, King Qi of Chu asked the nobles to hand over their management and military power, but they had no choice but to agree.
Otherwise, the nobles at the front would be exterminated by the Qin army, while King Qi of Chu could hide in the Dongting behind to watch the battle. If that didn't work, King Qi of Chu could continue to retreat south into the dense forest of Baiyue...
But now, this method of peeling off cocoons and boiling frogs in warm water has gradually weakened the power of each noble. The nobles still have room for relaxation, so they cannot unify.
But the nobles really changed their ways after they returned.
Although it is a bit heartbreaking: those people were originally the private property of the nobles and had the status of serfs, but now they have become farmers, and they only need to pay taxes for owning land.
And the tax rate is the same as that of Qin, which is one tax per twelve.
Some nobles, such as the Zhao family, even lowered their taxes to fifteen to one.
What the nobles did was obviously right.
Because obviously, or the unchanged law does not give the people equal benefits, what is the use of leaving the land after all the people have fled? Will it not be occupied by the Qin army in the end?
When this was reported to Shen Bing, the number of Chu people who came to surrender immediately decreased.
Shen Bing didn't know what was going on at first, and thought that the Chu army had used some method to keep the Chu people under guard.
Until Yang Duanhe walked into his handsome account with a piece of information...
Yang Duanhe first saluted Fusu, and then said to Shen Bing:
"The State of Chu has begun to reform."
"The Zhao family even lowered the tax rate to one tax per fifteen."
Then Shen Bing realized that these guys were playing this trick.
After thinking for a while, Shen Bing asked:
"The Zhao family tax rate is fifteen to one...that means the tax rates are different for each ethnic group?"
Yang Duanhe nodded and said:
"It is indeed different, but the maximum tax is only one tax per twelve."
Shen Bing felt relieved when he heard this.
Fusu felt a little strange when he heard this and asked:
"Why does the deputy general care about Chu's tax rate?"
Fusu believes that the focus at this time should be how to solve the problem of equal tax rates between Qin and Chu.
Shen Bing explained:
"Sir, the tax rates of each clan are different, which means that the nobles of Chu State have not yet united, so they are still scattered."
Fusu said "Oh" and nodded slightly while feeling secretly ashamed.
This is actually no wonder Fusu. He has followed Chun Yuyue since he was a child and only knew how to read and practice calligraphy and follow the teachings of the saints. He never analyzed problems and explored the essence from the surface like Shen Bing did.
In short, although Fusu's teachings have principles for governing the country and are even partly correct, they remain theoretical and have no practice.
At this time, Fusu was serving as military supervisor next to Shen Bing, but this was a thorough practice.
Shen Bing also wanted to take the Fusu exam, which was also a sign of respect.
He raised his hands and asked Fusu:
"Young master, what do you think...how should we solve this problem?"
Fusu immediately looked confused.
He is full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, but he doesn't know what to do in a short while.
He frowned and thought for a while before replying:
"We may continue to lower the tax rate to attract the Chu people to surrender."