DLERB -Chapter 62 Just because you were born lucky, do you think you deserve to be an official?

“Your Majesty!”

Wang Jian was the first to drop to one knee, his voice as loud as a bell.

“This old minister is willing to be Your Majesty’s vanguard and, for Great Qin, to crush all the barbarian tribes of the East!”

Meng Yi followed closely behind.

“This minister is willing to guard the northern borders for Your Majesty and turn the Xiongnu royal court into Great Qin’s horse pasture!”

“Good! Good!!”

Ying Ziye laughed loudly and helped the two loyal generals up.

“With you two here, why should I worry about not unifying the world!”

After the laughter faded, Li Si gradually calmed down from his excitement.

He stepped forward respectfully.

“Your Majesty.”

“This minister has concerns.”

Ying Ziye’s laughter stopped as he looked at him.

“Speak.”

Li Si pointed at the massive map.

“Your Majesty’s grand vision is unprecedented in history.”

“But the territory shown on this map is more than a hundred times larger than Great Qin itself.”

“To fully bring it under control, we would need a million soldiers and thousands of generals.”

“To govern it long-term, we would need tens of thousands of officials and over a hundred thousand clerks.”

His voice carried a hint of heaviness.

“Great Qin today can still expand its military strength.”

“But where would we find enough capable generals to conquer, and enough governors and magistrates to administer each region?”

Wang Jian also reacted, his brows tightly furrowed.

“What the Chancellor said is correct.”

“It is easy to conquer the world, but hard to govern it.”

“Most of Great Qin’s current officers are veterans who followed His Majesty through the wars against the Six States.”

“But their children… for the most part, are unfit for responsibility.”

Hereditary nobility and inherited privileges.

This was both the foundation of Great Qin and its chronic illness.

There were too many cases where the father was a hero, but the son was useless.

Ying Zheng’s brows also tightened.

What Li Si and Wang Jian raised was a very real problem.

He could command a million troops.

But who would lead them?

He could conquer a vast empire.

But who would govern it?

Surely he couldn’t do everything himself.

His gaze unconsciously drifted toward the small figure beside him.

“Ziye.”

“Do you have a solution?”

Ying Ziye was studying the broken Qin sword, the “Ding Qin Sword,” when he heard the question and looked up.

He blinked his big eyes.

“Father Emperor, this is very simple.”

He pointed at the ground beneath his feet.

“We have a lot of land now, just like we have a lot of potato fields.”

“But there aren’t enough people to farm it.”

“And the old farmers are getting slow, their minds are getting dull, and they still want to pass their land to their useless sons who can’t do anything.”

“At this rate, no matter how much land we have, it will all go to waste.”

This analogy was simple and blunt.

Yet everyone present understood it instantly.

Cold sweat began to seep down Li Si’s back.

What a ruthless analogy.

This was practically calling all the old aristocrats “slow-handed, confused old men” and “useless foolish sons who can do nothing at all.”

Ying Zheng looked at Ying Ziye without saying anything, signaling him to continue.

Ying Ziye waved his small hand.

“So, we don’t want those foolish sons anymore!”

“We tell everyone in the world—no matter who you are, no matter who your father is—as long as you can farm, and farm well, and produce more, then this land belongs to you!”

“Whoever makes the land grow the most grain is the best farmer!”

He raised his head and looked at his father emperor, smiling brightly.

“Father Emperor, this is called the imperial examination system.”

“No regard for birth, no regard for family background.”

“Only talent matters!”

“For Father Emperor, for Great Qin, we choose the best ‘farmers’ in the world to become generals and officials!”

The imperial examination system!

These two words struck like thunder, exploding in everyone’s ears.

Li Si felt his mind buzz.

In an instant, he understood the terrifying, world-shaking power hidden behind this system.

This was digging out the very roots of all aristocratic families!

At that moment—

An inappropriate voice rang out sharply.

“Absurd!”

From the crowd, an elderly minister with half-white hair stepped forward, trembling with anger.

He was Ying Teng, in charge of the imperial clan affairs and a firm defender of the old system.

“Your Highness! You are shaking the foundation of Great Qin!”

He pointed at Ying Ziye, his expression full of grief and indignation.

“Since the reforms of Lord Shang Yang, Great Qin has been founded upon the military merit system, where status is inherited from father to son! This is the law of our ancestors!”

“You are only an eight-year-old child—what do you know about governance?!”

“To let peasants and merchants stand alongside noble ministers in court—what kind of order would that be?!”

“This is destroying the foundation of Great Qin!”

His words were impassioned.

Many accompanying aristocratic officials nodded in agreement.

“Lord Minister is right!”

“The ancestral laws cannot be changed!”

“This is nonsense! Pure child’s play!”

Ying Ziye’s face darkened.

What he hated most was when people used “ancestral law” to suppress him.

His gaze turned cold as ice.

Yet Ying Ziye showed no anger at all.

He simply looked at the shouting Minister Ying Teng and asked a question:

“Old grandpa, how long have you been an official?”

Ying Teng paused for a moment, then proudly straightened his chest.

“This old minister comes from three generations of nobles. I entered court at the age of twenty and have served for forty years!”

“Oh.”

Ying Ziye nodded.

“Then you must be very good at governing the country, right?”

“Of course!”

Ying Teng replied without hesitation, as if it were obvious.

At that moment, Li Si suddenly stepped forward.

He bowed to the emperor, then turned toward Ying Teng.

“Minister of the Imperial Clan.”

Li Si spoke in a voice that was calm, yet razor-sharp.

“May I ask, what is the essence of Legalism?”

Ying Teng was caught off guard.

As a noble of the imperial clan, he usually studied rites, music, poetry, and classics. He had always looked down upon Legalist thought.

“Legalism… is nothing more than harsh punishment and strict laws,” he replied vaguely.

Li Si let out a cold laugh.

“Wrong!”

“The essence of Legalism is two words: reward merit!”

“Reward those with merit, punish those guilty—do not reward the noble unfairly, and do not pardon the base unjustly!”

“The ‘imperial examination system’ proposed by His Highness is the ultimate embodiment of rewarding merit!”

“It opens the door for all talented people in the world to serve the state, and prevents the incapable from occupying high positions!”

“This is the foundation of a strong nation and a policy that benefits both the state and the people. What is wrong with it?”

Li Si’s words landed like iron.

He directly elevated the “imperial examination system” from the childish remark of a child into a true national strategy.

Ying Teng’s face turned bright red from being choked by the argument.

“You… you are just twisting logic!”

“Governance depends on virtue and ritual, not on mere ‘utility’!”

“If a bunch of opportunistic, profit-seeking people become officials, they will only bring disaster to the state!”

Just as the two sides were about to erupt into argument—

Ying Ziye suddenly clapped his hands.

“Stop arguing.”

He took a piece of prepared papyrus from Qinglong.

On it were lines written in charcoal.

“Old grandpa, and all of you.”

He pointed at the nobles who had been supporting Ying Teng.

“You all say you are very good at governing the country, right?”

“Then I have a question for you.”

“If you can answer it, I will admit you are right—and I will never mention this ‘imperial examination system’ again.”

Ying Teng snorted coldly.

“Playing tricks! Bring it here!”

He did not believe that an eight-year-old child could produce anything truly difficult.

Qinglong unfolded the papyrus in front of everyone.

All the officials leaned in to read.

The text read:

【Problem: In the current year, a severe drought strikes. A locust plague ravages Hedong Commandery, leaving no harvest. One hundred thousand starving refugees roam the land, surrounding the governor’s office and crying out desperately. The treasury holds only 1,000 shi of grain, and there are only 300 soldiers. Wealthy local clans hoard grain and refuse to open their gates. Neighboring commanderies refuse entry to refugees. Question: If you are the governor of Hedong Commandery, how would you handle this situation?】

The question was not long.

But after Ying Teng and the nobles finished reading it—

All their faces turned pale.

Their minds were filled with quotes from the Book of Rites and the Book of Songs.

Yet not a single line of those texts could answer this question.

Open the granaries? The grain was not enough—1,000 shi against 100,000 people was like a drop in the ocean.

Use force? Too few soldiers—300 against 100,000 was like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Request aid from the capital? Too far away—by the time the memorial reached Xianyang, everyone would already be dead.

Borrow grain from the wealthy clans? Why would they agree?

…No solution.

It was a complete dead end.

Ying Teng opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Cold sweat poured down his forehead.

The other nobles all lowered their heads, looking like frost-struck eggplants.

The entire Tiangong Workshop fell into a terrifying silence.

Only the roar of the blast furnace remained—fire burning, air rushing.

Ying Ziye looked at them.

He looked at this group of so-called “pillars of the nation” who, in normal times, stood high above others and dictated policy like masters of the world.

He smiled.

A smile so innocent it almost seemed pure.

Yet the words he spoke were like a blade, stabbing straight into the hearts of all the old aristocrats.

“Why aren’t you speaking anymore?”

“Didn’t you all claim to understand governance and stability?”

He pointed at the question, his voice suddenly rising.

“You don’t even know how to save your own people!”

“On what basis do you hold official positions?”

“On what basis do you receive salaries from ten thousand households?”

Ying Ziye swept his gaze across the crowd, finally fixing it on the pale face of Ying Teng.

He enunciated each word clearly.

“Is it just because… you were born lucky?”

Boom!

Those words struck like a massive hammer, slamming into Ying Zheng’s heart.

He stared at the question.

Then at this group of people in front of him—men who could recite a few flowery verses but were otherwise utterly useless.

A nameless rage erupted from the depths of his soul.

It was this group of useless men!

Occupying the official positions of Great Qin!

Draining the lifeblood of the empire!

He intended to conquer the world!

He intended to achieve eternal reign!

Was he supposed to rely on these fools who couldn’t even save starving civilians?!

“Enough!!”

Ying Zheng roared.

With a single kick, he sent Ying Teng sprawling to the ground.

“Useless! All of you are useless!!”

He snatched the new blade from Wang Jian’s hands.

“Clang—!”

With one strike, he split the massive world map hanging before him in two.

But what he cut was not merely the small “Qin” on it—

It was the endless, unknown territories beyond.

As if it were a symbol itself.

“Pass down my decree!”

Ying Zheng’s voice thundered with killing intent.

“From this day forward, establish the ‘Recruitment Hall’ in Xianyang!”

“Select officials through examinations!”

He pointed the blade at the trembling nobles on the ground.

“The capable rise!”

“The incompetent fall!”

“Whoever dares mention ancestral laws again—will be cut down like this map!”

With that, he swung his blade again.

“CRACK!”

The massive wooden board holding the map shattered cleanly in two.

Wood splinters flew everywhere.