49: Chapter 49 Brother Daping, rest assured, we will save face for Young Master Fusu!

"Bring a chair and a table over for this Young Master."

"Call the Remonstrance Officials over, call a few more of them!"

...

Under the curious gazes of the onlookers, Zhao Fusu directed the personnel to set up the venue for the debate right outside Xianyang Palace.

As a former Student Union President, arranging a venue like this was something he could do with ease.

"Captain of the Guard, get several dozen men to pull up a long rope. Do not let the commoners get too close."

Zhao Fusu made these arrangements not only to ensure his own safety but also to prevent the commoners from getting too close, as their loud voices might interfere with his debate with the Confucian Scholars.

Similarly, for his own safety...

When setting up the venue, Zhao Fusu also separated himself from the thousands of Confucian Scholars. This was to avoid any potential death soldiers sent by the Remnants of the Six States among them, or anyone who disliked him sending an assassin to kill him.

After he was separated from the Confucian Scholars, the Remonstrance Officials were put to use.

During the debate, the Remonstrance Officials would record what they wanted to say on bamboo slips, which would then be delivered by specialized personnel.

This was also the primary reason Zhao Fusu had called for the Remonstrance Officials.

Besides that, once he produced paper in the future, these recorded contents could serve as material for documentary articles to be published in newspapers. This would promote the commandery-county system while also enriching the entertainment life of the Great Qin Empire's subjects.

As a powerful tool for controlling public opinion, Zhao Fusu would definitely establish newspapers and make good use of them once he had paper and Movable Type Printing.

"Yes, Führer."

The Captain of the Guard immediately went to make the arrangements.

"Step back, step back, step back..."

The Captain of the Guard was very efficient. Before long, a group of Qin Army soldiers clad in black armor pulled a thick hemp rope over a hundred meters long, keeping the spectating commoners from getting too close.

A squad of the Qin Army led the thousands of Confucian Scholars to a concentrated area.

These Confucian Scholars were all elites among the disciples of the Confucian school.

After arriving at the designated area, they sat down like hens brooding over eggs.

Some said that sitting on one's heels made a person more masculine.

Zhao Fusu, however, felt that kneeling like this for a long time was just seeking unnecessary suffering and would lead to bowlegs.

"Führer."

At that moment, about a dozen Remonstrance Officials, holding brushes and ink, arrived together before Zhao Fusu.

They bowed respectfully to Zhao Fusu.

"Mm."

"Wait here for a moment."

Zhao Fusu continued to direct the layout of the debate venue.

"Put the table there..."

"Put the chair there..."

"Bring another pot of tea..."

"And bring this Young Master a folding fan!"

This folding fan was something Zhao Fusu had specifically ordered the craftsmen of the Woodworking Workshop to create so he could show off.

Under Zhao Fusu's management, the debate venue was quickly set up.

The Remonstrance Officials were divided into two teams.

One team waited by Zhao Fusu's side; they sat on chairs with backrests, with bamboo slips, brushes, and ink laid out on the tables before them.

The other team was over with the Confucian Scholars; they also sat on chairs with backrests, with bamboo slips, brushes, and ink on their tables.

The Confucian Scholars all looked curiously at the chairs with backrests that Zhao Fusu and the Remonstrance Officials were sitting on.

Invisibly, they felt as if they were a head shorter.

The debate hadn't even started yet, and they were already being suppressed by Zhao Fusu in terms of presence.

Many of the onlookers' eyes lit up upon seeing the chairs with backrests.

Even the First Emperor was the same; Zhao Fusu's chairs looked very comfortable to sit in at a glance.

"He Zhi."

The First Emperor said, "Find a way to get me one to sit on."

"Yes."

He Zhi nodded.

There were quite a few people who felt the same way as the First Emperor.

They were all eyeing the chairs with backrests greedily.

Zhao Fusu never imagined that this debate of his would make the chair with a backrest a trending item.

At this moment, with a smile on his face, he sat on the chair, waving the folding fan in his hand, with tea placed on the table.

An attendant was naturally by his side brewing tea. Zhao Fusu picked up the teacup and moistened his throat.

His gaze turned toward the place where the Confucian Scholars were gathered.

The leader was Sun Daping.

Behind Sun Daping stood a thousand Confucian Scholars.

They were all like overbearing roosters, each with their chests puffed out.

Unstoppable smiles hung on their faces.

They all had extreme confidence in their own eloquence.

In their daily lives, they would critique the affairs of the state together, their words as powerful as a tiger swallowing ten thousand miles.

They didn't even hold the First Emperor in high regard.

They were the most formidable group of keyboard warriors of this era.

None of them believed Zhao Fusu could out-talk them.

In their eyes, Zhao Fusu trying to take on a thousand alone was simply suicidal.

Each of them could drown Zhao Fusu with just a single mouthful of spit.

Sun Daping whispered to the Confucian Scholars beside him, "Young Master Fusu is, after all, a disciple of our Confucian school, my junior brother. We are all from the same sect."

"When we debate him, we must not make things too embarrassing for Young Master Fusu."

"Brother Daping, rest assured."

"We will save some face for Young Master Fusu."

The fact that this group of Confucian Scholars dared to come to Xianyang Palace to cause trouble even after the First Emperor's Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars was inseparable from Young Master Fusu's reputation for benevolence.

They believed that even if Young Master Fusu punished them, he would not kill them.

The facts were just as they expected. Had it been the tyrannical First Emperor, he would have long ago ordered a large pit dug to bury them all.

Young Master Fusu not only did not reproach them but was even willing to engage in a debate with them.

"We will be gentle with Young Master Fusu and won't make him lose face."

The speaker was Shu Botong, who also held very high prestige among the Confucian disciples.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

In his view, forget taking on a thousand alone, Zhao Fusu should first see if he could out-talk him.

When Sun Daping found him and invited him to join the petition, he knew there would be danger, yet he came along anyway.

The other Confucian Scholars were the same; they knew it was dangerous, yet they still followed.

It wasn't that they weren't afraid of death.

It was because they were Confucian disciples.

In Confucian culture, loyalty to the monarch and love for the country were the sacred duties of the literati. In times of national crisis, Confucian disciples chose to risk death by remonstrance to express their loyalty to the court and their love for the nation.

In their view, the fact that grain prices in the world had reached astronomical levels was inseparable from the First Emperor's abolition of the enfeoffment system that had been followed for thousands of years.

If grain prices continued to soar, the country would inevitably erupt into great chaos.

At the moment of national survival, they had to stand up and remonstrate with the monarch even at the cost of their lives.

Even if they were hated or killed by the monarch, their deeds would be recorded, becoming a mark they left behind in this world.

They didn't want to say they hadn't left their own mark in this world and had lived their lives in vain.

Zhao Fusu glanced at Adjutant Pang.

"Yes, Young Master Fusu."

Adjutant Pang cupped his fists in a salute.

He had two soldiers carry over a large gong.

Then, he picked up a copper mallet and struck the large gong with force.

"Clang..."

A massive gong sound rang out, making people's eardrums ache.

Those standing too close couldn't help but cover their ears.

The originally noisy sounds suddenly fell silent.

The grand scene of Zhao Fusu's verbal debate against the group of Confucian Scholars had finally raised its curtain.