Chapter 1223: King of Chu Dies, Xiang Yu Becomes King
September of the second year of the reign of Qin II.

It is already late autumn in the Guanzhong region.

Xianyang, inside Ganquan Palace.

Su Mingzhe, who was busy with government affairs, listened to the sound of the evening drum, then he stretched, yawned, and slowly put down the bamboo slips in his hand.

Compared with the large seal script, the small seal script promoted by the Qin Dynasty has a more beautiful shape, and the strokes are neater and simpler.

However, compared with the regular script of later generations, this small seal script still looks like a scribble.

Su Mingzhe's eyes started to feel dry after looking at these weird drawings for a whole day.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

When the eunuch chief steward of Ganquan Palace heard the time signal, he took small steps to the table and reminded:
"My king, it's getting late! It's time to rest!"

"rest?"

Hearing these two words, Su Mingzhe frowned subconsciously.

He was not worried about the government affairs at hand, but began to worry about which palace to rest next.

It took me four months to finish reading all the classics collected by the emperors of the Qin Dynasty.

However, the First Emperor also collected more than 30,000 concubines, princesses, and beauties from the six countries.

After entering the Qin Palace, Su Mingzhe lived a ridiculous life for nearly two months. He slept in a pile of cosmetics every day and even had no energy to attend court meetings.

Until the three sisters of the Lu family and the six daughters Cao, Yusu and Yurong arrived.

At Lu Zhi's suggestion, some "old and faded" beauties were sent out of the palace and given to soldiers to marry.

Su Mingzhe's absurd life finally came to an end.

However, although the number of beauties sent out was a bit too many, a full 30,000 beauties were sent out.

However, the number and quality of beauties in Qin Shi Huang's harem were too high.

Even though 30,000 beauties were sent away, there were still 5,000 beauties in the harem who waited eagerly every day, hoping to be favored by the king.

As a result, every time Su Mingzhe wanted to rest, he didn't know which beauties to sleep with him:

"I really have face blindness this time!"

when!when!when!
A rapid, loud bell rang across the sky, awakening the hesitant Su Mingzhe:
"Clutch, go see what's going on?"

On weekdays, the city of Xianyang sets its daily schedule according to the morning bells and evening drums.

It was already evening and the street-cleaning drum had been struck dozens of times, so how come the bell suddenly appeared?

When the Minister of the Imperial Chariots received the order, he hurried out.

About a quarter of an hour later.

The Imperial Chariot Officer held a piece of silk book in both hands and shouted as he ran:
"Your Majesty, the King of Chu is dead, the King of Chu is dead!"

"The King of Chu is dead?"

Su Mingzhe was stunned for a moment, then he reacted and quickly took the silk book and read it through it at a glance.

This silk letter was sent back from Jiujiang County by General Han Xin via an express envoy at a speed of 800 miles.

In June, the State of Chu sent Song Yi to "raise troops to attack Han".

Su Mingzhe didn't care about the unknown 'Song Yi' at all, and directly sent General Han Xin with 200,000 soldiers.

In mid-July, Song Yi's head was sent to Xianyang City.

Han Xin not only defeated Song Yi, but also took advantage of the situation to capture Jiujiang County and approached Kuaiji County.

The silk book sent by Han Xin wrote that after Song Yi was defeated, the King of Chu returned the military power to Xiang Liang and his nephew.

Who would have thought that after Xiang Liang and his nephew took control of the military power, they actually forced the King of Chu to move the capital to Changsha County.

The King of Chu lost his military power and had no choice but to obey.

When the King of Chu's ship reached Lujiang County, it suddenly encountered a tornado.

The King of Chu and Xiang Liang were both on the boat and died together. With the support of his generals, Xiang Yu succeeded to the throne of the King of Chu and is now facing off with Han Xin in Kuaiji County.

After thinking for a moment, Su Mingzhe ordered:
"Call all the ministers to the throne!"

Soon, the Jingyang bell rang.

When the civil and military officials in Xianyang who were qualified to attend court heard the ringing of the Jingyang bell, they all hurried to the main hall of Ganquan Palace.

When the ministers came to the palace and saw Su Mingzhe, they immediately knelt down and saluted:
"Your Majesty, I wish you the best of health."

Su Mingzhe bowed to the ministers, crossed his hands, returned a half-bow, and then responded:

"I am at peace! Everyone, please stand up!"

The ministers thanked him and then found a seat and sat down under the guidance of the censor.

Su Mingzhe waited until the hall was quiet, and asked Li He, the commander of the Imperial Chariot Office, to read the silk book sent by Han Xin, and then said:

"My dear ministers, the King of Chu has unfortunately passed away, and Xiang Yu has rebelled and established himself. I intend to lead the army in person to conquer the State of Chu. All matters in the court will be temporarily handed over to the Prime Minister!"

The Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty was Yan Feng, a Mohist. Upon hearing Su Mingzhe's order, he was about to come out to receive it.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a minister stood up and objected:
"Your Majesty, as the saying goes: A wealthy man should not sit idle! Your Majesty, as the ruler of a country, cannot take risks easily. Please take back your order!"

Su Mingzhe had not expected that someone would be so stubborn as to oppose him.

However, when he took a closer look, he was relieved:
"It turned out to be Imperial Censor Feng Jie!"

Feng Jie is indeed a stubborn person.

During the reign of Qin II, he dared to speak out his criticisms and was not afraid even when facing the powerful Zhao Gao.

Among the ministers, seeing that Feng Jie had taken the lead, other doctors also submitted memorials, asking Su Mingzhe to revoke his order.

Seeing that everyone agreed with Feng Jie, Su Mingzhe's eyes flashed with displeasure, but he still patiently explained:
"Xiang Yu is a rare talent, with courage unmatched by ten thousand men. After the cavalry revolted against Qin, he repeatedly defeated the enemy with a smaller force. If you want to defeat him, you can either find a general who is more courageous than him to fight and defeat him, or you can only rely on several times the force to suppress and besiege him step by step."

"It is true that General Han Xin is a master at commanding troops, but he only has 200,000 soldiers under his command, and he lacks brave men..."

After listening to Su Mingzhe's reasons, Feng Jie directly retorted:

"Your Majesty, since Xiang Yu is as brave as ten thousand men, Your Majesty must not take any risks!"

Su Mingzhe: “…”

Well, this Feng Jie is worthy of being the Imperial Censor. He is really sharp-tongued and even used my own words to criticize me!
With Feng Jie's intervention, Su Mingzhe thought for a moment and could only settle for the next best option:

"Since I cannot lead the army in person, Zhou Bo and Wang Li, please accept my order. Bring 400,000 troops to support Han Xin immediately. Once you arrive in Kuaiji County, you must obey Han Xin's orders and not act on your own!"

"I accept the decree!"

Zhou Bo and Wang Li hurried to the scene to receive the order.

They are not as stubborn as Feng Jie, who dares to confront Su Mingzhe, the King of Han.

Afterwards, the prime minister and the three dukes and nine ministers began to discuss where to dispatch the 400,000 troops and what to do with their food, fodder and military equipment.
The matter was discussed until the hour of Hai, when all the ministers took their leave.

Turn around.

After seeing Zhou Bo and Wang Li off, Su Mingzhe no longer paid attention to the expedition against Xiang Yu.

Today, the Han Dynasty occupies all counties and prefectures north of the Huai River. Its territory is vast, but its population is only more than 17 million.

Because the population is so small, everything we do seems to be stretched to the limit.

To this end, Su Mingzhe had to issue more than a dozen policies in succession to encourage population growth.

For example, abolish the adult tax.

For example, the Qin Dynasty originally collected 60% of the land tax, but if one child was born, the tax could be reduced by 10%, and if six children were born, the land tax could be exempted.

The issue of corvee labor has also been greatly reduced.

Even the forced labor that was originally imposed has been added with a "compensation and incentive mechanism".

As Su Mingzhe formulated a series of policies for recuperation, the "remnants" of the former six countries instantly lost their market.

(End of this chapter)