Chapter 338: Building a Great Qin Religion
The ministers had no objection to the fact that the people of Daqin were of the upper caste of the Maurya Kingdom.

Isn’t this natural? Do we have to let the people of Qin be of low caste in the Peacock Kingdom?
“Retaining the caste system can not only win over the high castes in the Peacock Kingdom, but also stabilize the low castes, and also protect the status of the people of Daqin in the Peacock Kingdom.”

“If we do not retain the caste system and classify our people as high castes, the low castes in the Peacock Nation will probably look down on our people and not take them seriously!”

After hearing this, the ministers thought about it and felt that the people of the Peacock Country were indeed outrageous. Such abnormal people might really need to be governed with abnormal methods.

Because their minds are not like those of normal people. If you treat them as human beings, they may not think you are friendly. Instead, they are more likely to think that you are weak and that they are very powerful. You are forced to be friendly to them because you are afraid of them. As a result, they become arrogant and want to pee and shit on you.

On the contrary, if you don’t treat them as human beings and whip them hard with a whip, they will think you are powerful and praise and obey you.

“The national conditions of the Peacock Kingdom are different from those of the Great Qin. Some of the policies of the Great Qin cannot be implemented in the Peacock Kingdom in a hurry. They must be adjusted according to local conditions.”

“While the main policies and national policies remain unchanged, certain policies and national policies can be adjusted according to the actual situation on the ground.”

“This is not only the governance strategy of the Qin Dynasty for the Peacock Kingdom, but also the governance policy of the Qin Dynasty for other non-Chinese cultural areas in the future.”

“Li knows that your majesty and the other officials all hope that the world will have a unified political order, but this is not easy to achieve. If you force it, there will be many problems. You have to eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time!”

The Qin Dynasty made this mistake in history.

They were too anxious to make all parties agree, and did not investigate the actual conditions in the other six regions, which caused the people to accumulate resentment.

But under the guidance of Li Nian, the Qin Dynasty in this world was not so anxious and was more calm.

Wang Wan, Wang Jian, Wei Liaoren and others all supported Li Nian’s words.

Governing a country is not a matter of one night or one hour; it is a project that requires patience.

The First Emperor asked: “What is ‘main policy’?”

The First Emperor knew clearly that he was asking on purpose to get Li Nian to answer.

Li Nian said: “Recognize that it is the territory of the Great Qin and an inseparable part of the Great Qin; recognize that it is governed by the Great Qin court and recognizes the laws of the Great Qin. They will issue some decrees based on local conditions, but these decrees must be approved by the Great Qin court and within the provisions of the laws of the Great Qin;”

“Recognize Your Majesty as the King of Daqin, recognize and use our Daqin language and writing, use Daqin currency, and carry out Daqin education…”

“The above is what I consider to be the ‘main policies and national policies’. It is not complete yet and I still need to discuss with Your Majesty and the other officials to make a final decision. This is the bottom line and it cannot be crossed!”

After hearing this, all the ministers understood that places like the Peacock Kingdom were allowed to make policies that were different from those in the Qin mainland in certain aspects, but there was a bottom line that must not be crossed.

Wang Wan nodded and said, “We must indeed set a bottom line, otherwise they will not be the land of our Great Qin, but another country, and will cause trouble in the future.”

Li Nian said: “Regarding the specific governance of the Peacock Kingdom, I also have some ideas to share with your majesty and the other ministers. I think we can choose one or several governors to govern the country. They will be responsible for the government, commerce, and military affairs of this place. The selection of the governor should be decided by your majesty and the court. The governor’s term of office should not be too long, nor too short.”

“It is best if the candidate for governor is a native of Daqin. After the term of office is up, he cannot be re-elected and must be recalled to the court to report on his work…”

Qin Shi Huang and his ministers thought about it and realized that this was actually a system adopted by Britain, Egypt and other countries when they colonized in later generations, and the effect was quite good.

Li Nian added: “If there is no governor, some princes can be enfeoffed here. For example, the Peacock Kingdom has a large territory and can be divided into several countries. Each country can be handed over to a prince.”

Li Nian didn’t care that after enfeoffing the princes overseas, these regions would be in turmoil in the future and the countries enfeoffed by the princes would fight each other. His goal was clear: to spread the Chinese civilization and give the world a Chinese color.

Let there be chaos, let there be fighting, as long as the meat is finally in China’s pot, it still belongs to Chinese civilization and is not taken away by outsiders.

Upon hearing this, the First Emperor glanced at Li Nian but said nothing. He now understood the boy’s intention. Chinese civilization was supreme, and the Qin Dynasty had to take a back seat.

Li Nian continued: “When governing, we must strictly implement the policies of our Great Qin and spread the language, writing, customs and habits of the Great Qin to these areas. Not only must we enforce the order, but we must also use some methods to attract the local people and turn them from foreigners into the people of our Great Qin!”

“It is easy to conquer a land physically, but difficult to conquer its mind. It is easy to conquer the mouth but difficult to conquer the heart. Only by converting the people of foreign countries into the people of Qin in terms of their mind can we achieve long-term stability.”

Everyone immediately became interested and listened carefully. Li Nian said, “The people of our Great Qin are different from the local people. As long as the local people are not stupid, they will definitely understand this!”

“After the Great Qin conquered the Peacock Kingdom, they would definitely think that the people of the Great Qin are more noble and that they are inferior to them, so they would want to become true citizens of the Great Qin. Not only can we not stop them from having such thoughts, but we should also give them a way out!”

“But this path cannot be given too easily. Things that are easy to obtain are often not considered precious. Only when the process of obtaining them is difficult, will we think they are precious and rare!”

“Standards can be set up, and the evaluation will be based on the amount of money and goods donated to the Qin Empire, and the degree of their mastery of the Qin Empire’s language, writing, customs and habits. Only those who meet the standards can be certified as citizens of the Qin Empire. If you can’t even speak the Qin Empire’s language or write its characters, how dare you be a citizen of the Qin Empire?”

“We can also certify those who have made outstanding contributions. For example, those who are extremely talented and intelligent among the people of foreign countries, and those who have made contributions to our Great Qin, can be recruited to serve our Great Qin in this way.”

“This move can not only increase the talents available to our Great Qin, but also weaken the people of foreign countries. The talented people in their tribes will be recruited by our Great Qin, and the possibility of their rebellion will be reduced!”

This statement touched the hearts of the First Emperor and his ministers. Recruiting talented people from foreign lands not only strengthened the power of the Qin Empire, but also weakened the power of foreign lands. “Your Majesty and the others, please do not underestimate this strategy. For a long time to come, the population of Qin Empire in other regions will not be large. If we want to govern the local people who have an advantage in numbers, we must employ the local people, such as stationing troops in the local area. How many troops can Qin Empire send there?”

“For example, maintaining local law and order and collecting taxes are done by local people. If we don’t give them benefits, how can they be willing to work for the Qin?”

The First Emperor and his ministers also reacted immediately. Yes, even if the Qin Dynasty conquered the Maurya Kingdom, it would be impossible to send many people there immediately. They must use local people to do things.

In order to make the local people loyal, willing to work for the Qin Dynasty and become its running dogs, giving them an identity certification as Qin citizens is both effective and inexpensive.

Allowing them to be certified as citizens of the Qin Empire would not only demonstrate the importance that the Qin Empire places on them, but would also encourage other local citizens to follow suit and thus earn certification through hard work and merit. At the same time, it would also create a certain distance between the certified local citizens and those who have not…

I have been recognized by the Great Qin. I am no longer a Peacock Nation citizen, but a noble citizen of the Great Qin. I am different from you peasants from the Peacock Nation. I don’t care how you called me in the past, but now I have to call you Master of the Great Qin!

The Peacock people who have been certified as the subjects of the Great Qin will certainly not regard their former fellow tribesmen as their former fellow tribesmen anymore. They will be more loyal to the Great Qin than the real subjects of the Great Qin, and will be more ruthless to their former fellow tribesmen.

This phenomenon has been proven many times in history!

Li Nian continued, “In order to increase the proportion of our Great Qin people in the local population, while turning the local people into our Great Qin people, we also need to migrate to the local area. We can move a group of prisoners who have not committed unforgivable crimes to the local area, and attract some people here through incentives. For example, as long as the Great Qin people are willing to move here, they can get farmland and be exempted from taxes and labor service.”

The population of Daqin is still too small. The seven countries combined have only more than 20 million people. Daqin’s population must be increased. Otherwise, not only will Daqin’s domestic development be restricted, but its overseas expansion will also be affected.

It is indeed necessary to increase the local population of Qin people, and it must account for a certain proportion to be safe. Otherwise, if an incident occurs, the place will be out of Qin’s control.

However, Li Nian’s method of speaking was also problematic. Li Si asked, “The method you mentioned is indeed desirable, but it is also inappropriate. First, you said that those foreigners should be recognized as citizens of the Qin State. What you meant was that they should have the same status as the citizens of the Qin State.”

“But if this is the case, will they influence Daqin in turn? If they believe in Buddhism, Jainism, and accept the surname system, will they corrupt the people of Daqin? If time goes on for a while, will they become the host?”

This is a good question. It is asking whether allowing these local people to become subjects of the Qin State and receive the same treatment as the subjects of the Qin State will affect the purity of the subjects of the Qin State in the future. Even if the population of their descendants is too large, it will change the population structure of the Qin State and they will in turn take over the subjects’ position.

Just like a certain Gallic rooster, it is about to change from a Gallic rooster to a Gallic black chicken.

Li Nian said: “What Vice Prime Minister Li asked is very far-sighted, but it will not happen in the short term. Even if it does happen, it will be decades or even a hundred years later. There is plenty of time to deal with it!”

“Accepting foreigners and turning them into citizens of our Great Qin will definitely have an impact on our Great Qin. If we want to avoid this kind of impact, we should close our country to the outside world and have no contact or communication with the outside world at all!”

But this cannot be done. Not only the First Emperor, but even Wang Wan, Li Si and other ministers would not accept it.

If it were in the past, Wang Wan, Wei Liao, Li Si and others might have accepted it, but now we know that the world is so big, and foreign countries are not only not barren lands, but are superior to the Qin Dynasty in some aspects. How could they not want to occupy and seize them?

The world is so big. If the Qin Dynasty does not occupy those good overseas territories, other countries will occupy them, and they may pose a threat to the Qin Dynasty in the future!
“But closing the country to the outside world means giving up places outside of the Qin Dynasty. Your Majesty and the other ministers should know the disadvantages of this. This method is not an option. Therefore, the Qin Dynasty must contact foreign countries and communicate with foreign lands. Since it is inevitable, what we have to do is to control it!”

“Vice Prime Minister Li asked, ‘Will their belief in Buddhism, Jainism, and the surname system lead the people of Daqin astray?’ This is possible.”

“Therefore, when we examine their certification qualifications, we must be more strict, conduct a close examination of their background, religious beliefs, and ideological status, and set more appropriate standards.”

“Those who believe in Buddhism or Jainism cannot be certified. If anyone is found spreading such beliefs in our Great Qin, they will be severely punished! In addition, a religious supervision office must be set up in Great Qin to regulate religions and not allow them to do whatever they want!”

It is unrealistic to completely eradicate and ban religion, at least not in the current Qin era. It will probably only be possible when productivity is far superior to that of modern times and people’s ideological awareness is extremely high.

Li Nian’s idea was to create a religion under the control of the Qin Dynasty, and use it to defeat and replace other religions. Although the Qin Dynasty did not have a unified religion today, it had gods to worship, such as Donghuang Taiyi believed in by the Chu people and the Five Emperors worshipped by the First Emperor.

They can all be modified to become gods of the Qin religion. Chinese ancestors such as Youchao, Suiren, Huangdi, Shennong and Dayu can also be believed in.

The Qin Dynasty wants to change and influence the world in all aspects, not only using military force to intimidate other countries, but also in terms of culture, thought, and belief.

Li Nian said: “I have an idea to establish a world religion that originated from the Great Qin to replace foreign sects. This can also be used as a standard for assessment and certification, based on whether they have converted to the Great Qin religion and how much of the Great Qin doctrine they can memorize.”

After listening to Li Nian’s words, the First Emperor and his ministers fell into deep thought: To be honest, this idea is actually quite feasible.

This method is better than using violence to restrict and destroy foreign religions. If it can be successfully implemented, it can have a better impact on foreign people and will be more conducive to spreading the Qin culture and destroying their original cultures.

Religion is a cultural phenomenon. No matter how much it changes, it will carry the cultural characteristics of its place of origin. Just as Chinese Buddhism has long been different from Indian Buddhism, it still bears some imprints of ancient Indian civilization.

This is cast at birth and is difficult to change or remove.

Instead of letting other nations create religions with their own cultural characteristics to influence China, it is better to create a religion with pure Chinese cultural characteristics to influence other people, so that it can become a world religion, and let them believe in the ancestors of China and worship the gods of China.

Why can others do it but China cannot? It doesn’t make sense. The Qin Dynasty or China in this world must not only be superior to other countries in military power, but also in culture and ideology.

(End of this chapter)