Blame yourself: why is it said that Qinshihuang’s will must be tampered with

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First Emperor of Qin

portrait

There are only a few words in the will of Qinshihuang before his death. He asked the young master to bring Su to Xianyang to attend his funeral and hand over the imperial army to Meng Tian. Unfortunately, this will has not been implemented by the parties. If the imperial edict is tampered with, it is bound to be tampered with. Because the will was tampered with, which led to the demise of the Qin Empire. The reasons for this naturally include the conspiracy of Zhao Gao, Lisi and Hu Hai, but the ultimate reason should be attributed to Qinshihuang himself.

They will be buried in Xianyang—— Historical records: the history of Qinshihuang

When he died, he gave his eldest son a book. He met with Xianyang at the funeral and became an heir—— Historical records: biographies of Lisi

There are only a few words in the will of Qinshihuang before his death. He asked the young master to bring Su to Xianyang to attend his funeral and hand over the imperial army to Meng Tian. Unfortunately, this will has not been implemented by the parties. If the imperial edict is tampered with, it is bound to be tampered with. Because the will was tampered with, which led to the demise of the Qin Empire. The reasons for this naturally include the conspiracy of Zhao Gao, Lisi and Hu Hai, but the ultimate reason should be attributed to Qinshihuang himself.

ZuLong died this year

It is said that in the autumn of the 36th year of the first emperor (211 BC), an imperial emissary met a man at Pingshu road in Huayin. Because it was dark at that time, the jade in the man’s hand was glittering and translucent, which hurt the emissary’s eyes. The man holding the jade stopped the messenger and said, “give it to Mr. Chi for me.” The messenger was shocked because he was not familiar with the water god named “Chi Jun”. He thinks he’s hit a ghost.

Before he could react, the man holding the jade said, “ZuLong died this year.”

The messenger was shocked again. This sentence means the beginning of this year

emperor

be dying. Just as the messenger was about to ask the reason, the man holding the jade suddenly disappeared out of thin air. The emissary took the jade back to the imperial court with 12% fear, and told Qinshihuang what had happened. Qinshihuang was silent for a long time, and then slowly said, “ghosts in the mountains can only predict things for a year.”

He did not deny the existence of ghosts and gods, but refused to believe that ghosts and gods could really predict life and death. But when he looked at the jade carefully, he was in a cold sweat. It turned out that the piece of jade was the one that sank into the water when he went out to inspect the river crossing eight years ago. At that time, he ordered many people to look for it. Not only did the jade not be found, but the people who looked for it did not come up again.

He thought that it was autumn now. Even if it was really a mountain ghost, he would not have any problems in the remaining months. But he was still terrified. He found a wizard to do divination. The result was very satisfactory. As long as he moved, he could avoid this difficulty. Therefore, he could not wait to move 30000 families to Beihe and Yuzhong areas.

If we say that this matter was not done by mountain ghosts, then it should be related to divination theology. Divination theology is a political propaganda psychology with religious theological color in ancient China, which aims to seek power or create public opinion for the rulers who have ascended the throne of power, so as to win over the people with the traditional view of destiny, prove the rationality of their power, or prove the rationality of their rebellion. Qin Shihuang’s image of “the death of ZuLong this year” is undoubtedly a prophecy. Its appearance tells Qin Shihuang that someone wants you to die. If you don’t die, someone will kill you. Whether it is heaven or mortal, in short, you are going to die.

Of course, Qinshihuang was afraid. He was a man who believed in ghosts and gods. Of course, this is only one aspect. What he fears most is that this is not the first time. At the beginning of this year, someone reported to him that there was a big stone falling from the sky in Dongjun, with the six characters “the first emperor died and divided into two parts”. He immediately sent the censor to investigate the case, but the result disappointed him. So he ordered the army to kill all the people living around the boulder and burn the boulder to ashes.

If the stone inscription incident at the beginning of the 36th year of the first emperor (211 BC) only made him angry and frightened, then this time the Mountain Ghost incident left him frightened.

It seems that the people of the Qin Empire have not integrated themselves into the Empire. Whether they are writing or pretending to be ghosts, they have only one purpose. They hope to use their mouths or words to make the first emperor of Qin die as soon as possible. If this goal is not achieved, at least Qinshihuang should not be happy.

Qinshihuang was really unhappy. There were too many things that could not make him happy. However, it is fortunate that he passed the 36th year (211 BC) of the first emperor safely. In the 37th year of the first emperor (210 BC), he summoned Xufu, who had been sent to the sea to look for the elixir of immortality. Xu Fu did not find the elixir of immortality. According to the magician Xu, he had found it, but there was a big fish protecting the elixir of immortality, which ordinary people could not approach at all. Qinshihuang was restless. One night, he dreamed that a big fish turned into a human and fought with him. When he woke up, he asked the wizard in a cold sweat. The wizard told him that the fish was the God of water. If you can kill it, you will get the elixir of immortality.

What a coincidence, the first emperor of Qin thought, Xu Fu’s words were probably right. The elixir of immortality was indeed protected by gods and monsters. In order to clear away the obstacles for Xu Fu, he personally led his soldiers to board a large ship and go to sea. It was natural that there were big fish in the sea. As expected, Qinshihuang saw a big fish and shot it to death with a crossbow. He got a little comfort in his heart: first, there was hope for the elixir of immortality; Second, if you can defeat the gods and monsters, you will prove that you are not a mortal. Extraordinary people are protected by heaven. You can’t die by accident.

Once a person with abnormal spirit gets some comfort, he will be more firm in his words and deeds. He never knew or wanted to know that his death was coming.

In June of that year, he toured pingyuanjin and suddenly fell ill. According to historical facts, Qinshihuang suffered from heart disease caused by heat stroke. This inference is not groundless. The long-term frustration and stimulation made him constantly burst out of negative emotions, which repeatedly led to high blood pressure, arrhythmia, too much impact on the heart, and the inevitability and possibility of heart attack must exist. In addition, he was not healthy physically and mentally. After traveling thousands of miles, his energy consumption was great, and his physical and mental ability to adapt to the environment and resist was reduced. As a result, he suffered from heat stroke in hot summer, which led to heart disease.

However, he never let people know that he was ill, and he hated the words “death” and “disease” mentioned by others. Because he believes that there are two other things that can bring him dawn. One is Xu Fu’s elixir of immortality, and the other is the heaven’s protection brought to him by the God fish he thinks he shot dead.

So he never paid any attention to the future affairs, including the future of the Empire. The Qin Empire had reached the edge of a cliff, and the first emperor of Qin did not pull it. He was tired physically and mentally, but he did not believe that he would die.

So, in today’s view, what is the reason why Qinshihuang so firmly believes in his “stupid” belief? He was very concerned about his life, but did he care about the Qin Empire?

Wrong method

Qin Shihuang was not happy in his youth. He did not get any psychological comfort from the king and grandson in distress to the king of Qin. He probably destroyed the six states out of an unsound and extreme psychology. Qin had the strength to destroy the six states after Shang Yang’s reform, which can be proved from the strategy of the first emperor of Qin to destroy the six states. But why Qin Shihuang was not his previous kings? In the final analysis, it was just

history

By chance.

From the perspective of personal talent, Qinshihuang is undoubtedly a genius. Among the hundreds of emperors in China, Qinshihuang is undoubtedly the top talent. After becoming emperor, he asked Lisi to take a series of measures to govern the country that were consistent with the situation at that time. But in the 26th year of the first emperor (221 BC), he had a worry about the restoration of the six kingdoms.

Just imagine that the “emperor” was just an invention of his at that time. Although he unified the world, it does not mean that all the six countries recognize him as the Lord of the world. As a result, many orphans from the six countries targeted him. In the 26th year of the first emperor (221 BC), Gao Jianli, a comrade of Jing Ke who had assassinated the first emperor of Qin, almost killed him with musical instruments. Gao Jianli’s strike made him alert to the nobles and young people of the six countries. After killing Gao Jianli, he never got close to the people of the six countries.

This incident only hurt him physically, and the ridicule of Confucian scholars in the 28th year of the first emperor (219 BC) completely hurt his heart. In that year, he toured the counties in the East and humbly discussed with more than 70 Confucian scholars in Shandong Province about the existence of Qin virtue. Qinshihuang and those Confucian scholars had two different views on this. In the eyes of Qinshihuang, it is a kind of virtue for him to rename the common people “Qianshou”, and to let Qianshou have farmland and recognize the private ownership of land. But he forgot that this kind of virtue was given to the people of the six countries after the bloodbath, and for various complex reasons, the so-called “Virtue” that the people of the six countries received was almost zero.

The Confucians let him down. The Confucians made him very unhappy with their uncooperative attitude, which was almost ridiculed. Therefore, his previous plan to let Confucian scholars participate in the Fengchan ceremony was not implemented. However, it happened that it rained heavily that day, and he hid under the big tree in a panic. The Confucian scholars who gloated at the misfortune were very sarcastic about it. Qinshihuang could have killed these people, but in order to repay them with an eye for an eye, he appointed the pine tree that kept him out of the rain as a doctor, which undoubtedly gave a slap to the Confucian scholars in Shandong, who were not even as good as plants.

What made him fear and hate the descendants of the six kingdoms most were the following two things.

The first thing happened in the 29th year of the first emperor (218 BC). On his way to the East, he met a Korean noble Zhang Liang and an assassin who could wield a heavy hammer of several hundred kilograms. Fortunately, the assassin’s big hammer hit his passenger car. Who was sitting inside is unknown. What we can know is that whoever was sitting inside became meat cakes. Qin Shihuang was facing a pile of meat cakes. His anger and hatred got out of hand. He ordered the whole country to search for him, but Zhang Liang and the assassin were not caught. Qinshihuang was in a very bad mood. Two years later, the second thing happened. In December of that year, he made a secret inspection of the capital in civilian clothes. Unexpectedly, he was attacked in LanChi. Although his assailants were killed by his warriors, his fear rose again. He firmly believed that the people who attacked him must be the descendants of the six kingdoms.

Just imagine that at the beginning, he swept the Six Harmonies with his sword and filled the universe with heroic spirit. Now, he is disturbed by a few unknown people. No matter who he is, he can’t stand this contrast.

The assassin came to kill him, which made him afraid of death. Once he died, where would the Qin Empire go? The Empire must not fall. His ideal is that the people of the Ying family will sit in the world forever.

In fact, there are at least 100 ways to realize his ideal, but Qinshihuang chose the most wrong way – to continue his life to maintain the permanence of the Empire.

The threat of death from assassination by assassins, aging and national death has always been hanging over Qinshihuang. In dealing with the first threat, Qinshihuang suppressed the people and nobles of the six countries all over the country, and made perfect protection measures for his travel; In dealing with the second threat, he sent Xu Fu to look for the elixir of immortality; In response to the third threat, he ordered the destruction of the city walls of the Old Kingdom, determined to clear the Sichuan defense so that the people of the six countries had nothing to rely on. He also built the Great Wall to resist the Xiongnu. The eternal emperor believed that if he could create the unified myth of the Empire, he would be able to maintain this myth forever.

Looking for an elixir of immortality seems foolish today, but will people thousands of years later think it foolish to look for aliens today?

Qinshihuang was not an ordinary person. An ordinary person could not create such a powerful empire, and he believed that Lisi would continue to implement all the systems of the Empire. But why does he want to live forever instead of arranging successors?

Two sons: unfilial and incompetent

Qin Shihuang did not think about the question of his successor. His ability to say that the Empire lasted for thousands of years proved that he would always pass on the throne to the next generation. But his next generation is too disappointing.

Qin Shihuang had more than 20 sons, and the only sons recorded in historical books were the eldest son Fusu and the youngest son Hu Hai, who were also the most likely successors to the throne among the sons of Qin Shihuang. Fusu is the eldest son, of course; Hu Hai was his favorite son, and it was reasonable to make him emperor.

However, neither of these two sons can satisfy the first emperor of Qin. In his opinion, Fusu is an unfilial son to the letter. According to historical records, Emperor Qinshihuang, instigated by Lisi, killed more than 460 Confucian scholars in Xianyang pit because he was dissatisfied with the remarks of some Confucian scholars. After knowing this, Fusu said to him, “the world has been settled. Qianshou has not been collected in the distance. All students recite Confucius’ teachings. However, you attach importance to the rule of law. People around the world are worried. You should be careful!”

Qinshihuang didn’t think his son was right. Instead, he thought his son was always against himself, especially in some political opinions. So in a fit of anger, he drove him out of the palace. Qinshihuang taught the prince

The imperial court of the rule of supporting the Soviet Union went to the north to supervise Meng Tian, who was guarding the north.

There are many ways of saying that Fusu was demoted to the frontier. There is a saying that Qinshihuang wanted Fusu to go to the frontier to exercise. But from any point of view, even if Qinshihuang had such an idea, it was just a step by step. Because he never thought that he would die two years later, he had been waiting for Xu Fu’s elixir of immortality.

Hu Hai was his favorite son and his eighteenth son. But Hu Hai is too young, which is not the key. The key is that Hu Hai was not expected to be an emperor at all. The first emperor learned more or less what zhaogao, who had always followed Hu Hai and taught him, had taught the little son. It was all about the punishment and strange skills.

Once disappointed with the successor, some people would train the successor, but Qinshihuang chose to give up. He tried to solve this embarrassing situation by looking for ways from himself. His method is to continue his life until his successor satisfies him.

In fact, it was only one of the decisive factors that Qinshihuang chose to continue the life of his empire. According to our understanding today, the political discord between Fusu and him is not irreconcilable. He can talk to Fusu about the creation of the Empire and the need for severe punishment in the current situation. But instead of doing so, he drove Fusu to the frontier to die.

So what are the other factors?

This factor lies in the fact that Fu Su advised him not to use severe punishment. This incident is the case of “burning books and pitching Confucian scholars”, which we are familiar with.

In the 33rd year of the first emperor of Qin (214 BC), the first emperor of Qin toured Jieshi and sent Lu Sheng, a former Yan man, to look for two legendary immortals. But Lu Sheng didn’t find it. Qin Shihuang immediately asked Shi Sheng to lead people to find the elixir of immortality. Like Lu Sheng, Shi Sheng returned empty handed. In order not to make Qin Shihuang angry, Lu Sheng made up a romantic and implementable lie. As long as he was indifferent, he could be a real person, and a real person could attract immortals. From then on, Qinshihuang called himself a real person, not me. He built a house where immortals lived within 200 miles of Xianyang. He also wrote a fairy song, which was sung to him and learned to sing.

You know, it is torture to let a person suffering from acute tracheitis sing. Qinshihuang paid too much for the magic medicine. As a result, Lu Sheng gathered a group of people to speak ill of him. Qin Shihuang’s narrow sense of revenge came into being in the interweaving of complex psychology such as shame, disappointment and resentment.

So he arrested more than 460 Confucian scholars and tortured them about the whereabouts of Lu Sheng. Afterwards, he killed all of them. But Fusu stood up and said that killing these people would have a bad effect. How could Qinshihuang listen? In his opinion, these people cheated themselves. They not only failed to find the elixir of immortality, but also dared to speak ill of themselves. In any case, they should die. The persuading of Fusu made Qinshihuang more angry. When his emotions were out of control, he could not and could not educate Fusu ideologically, because he was an unreasonable person. Another reason is that the character of Qinshihuang decided that he would not listen to a young boy.

Neither of the two would-be successors could satisfy him. He was very empty and lonely. He didn’t know where to start. Simply, he didn’t want to do anything. Instead, he focused on finding the elixir of immortality and showing off his brilliant achievements.

A bilious type

emperor

From the perspective of modern psychology, Qinshihuang was a typical bilious man. This kind of person is highly confident and conceited, modest and arrogant, decisive and arbitrary, trusting and suspicious, generous and narrow-minded, rational and impulsive, calm and irritable. The combination of good and bad personality, as to which extreme it develops, largely depends on the degree of self suppression and environmental factors.

Obviously, the environment of the Qin Empire at that time could not make Qinshihuang confident, humble, magnanimous and peaceful. The Empire was just completed, and there were too many things he needed to do. In the 32nd year of the first emperor (215 BC), someone presented a “record book” made by the Huns themselves, which said “Hu ye, who died in the Qin Dynasty”. He was so angry that he conquered the Huns. Although the Northern Expedition ended in victory, it only eased his worry about the threat of the Xiongnu, and paid a heavy price. However, the northern geography and the “good walk and good war” of the northern Xiongnu always left him with lingering fear.

A year later, he conducted the second national survey on the Huns

Warfare

At the same time, he marched south to Baiyue. The cruelty of the war and the overburdened material and human resources made him anxious all the time. This was just anxiety outside the Empire. Within the Empire, the counterattack of the six nations and his fear of death had been torturing him and making him anxious.

History often tells us a self-evident truth, but we often ignore it. That is: extraordinary things must be done by extraordinary people. An extraordinary person will fail if he thinks about him with ordinary thinking. Qinshihuang was such an extraordinary man, so he could not suppress himself.

So he began to act against himself. The war had already made people’s life worse than death, and he had to build his own mausoleum and living palace, and emigrated in large numbers. All this pushing the people into the pit of fire did not wake him up. To be exact, when a person stands at the peak of power and thinks he can do everything, he will firmly believe that everything he has done is right. No one can wake him up, let alone dare to wake him up.

Turning to the history of the Qin Empire, we can see a very strange phenomenon. The first emperor of Qin never killed a central court minister unjustly. To be more direct, he never killed a courtier. He always believed in Zhao Gao, Meng Tian and Lisi. He believed that those magicians would find the elixir of immortality. The conceit under this self-confidence not only benefited him a lot, but also made him pay a heavy price.

Why he believed that there were miracles of immortality and elixir of immortality is unknown. Today’s scientific theory holds that the reason why Qinshihuang believed in the elixir of immortality was due to the low level of science and culture and cognitive ability at that time. But this is obviously unkind, and it is a taboo that “all history is contemporary history”.

The reason why he believed in the elixir of immortality was entirely because his conceit, special experience and supreme authority had created his self righteous and arbitrary character. His selfish desires are infinitely expanding, and his desires are difficult to fill. Probably only when he becomes an immortal can he live forever, so that his desires can be infinitely expanded. In other words, he believed that he would become an immortal, just as he believed that he could destroy the six kingdoms. In addition, in the early years of the Qin Dynasty, the development and prosperity of the alchemy culture forced Qinshihuang to choose to look for the elixir of immortality in that cultural atmosphere.

He believed that there was an elixir of immortality. Like Zhao Gao and Lisi, he was so firm that he would not waver for tenthousand years. Because he is confident that he can control everything in the world in his own hands, including an ant. This is the most fundamental reason why the eternal emperor handed over the whole empire to Zhao Gao before his death, and asked Zhao Gao to convey his meaning to Fusu. As we all know, he was wrong and made a mess, and the Empire was ruined.

Shameless Trio

In any case, when his body was getting worse and worse, Qinshihuang finally figured out one thing: people are always going to die. No matter great people or despicable people, they can’t escape death. In July of the 37th year of the first emperor (210 B.C.), having been half dead in the warm and cool car for a few days, he ordered Zhao Gao, the commander of the Chinese chariot house and in charge of the important affairs of Fu Xi, to write a letter to his eldest son Fusu: “come to attend the funeral and bury them after meeting in Xianyang.”

This became the political will of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty. If Sima Qian’s records were true, anyone could see that this simple imperial edict contained only one message: to help the Soviet Union to succeed to the throne in the name of mourning. In the biographies of historical records? Lisi, there is another sentence: Meng Tian belongs to the army. Therefore, it is not known what the contents of the altered imperial edict of Qinshihuang are. (in other words, Sima Qian’s “historical records” is also wrong, because there are differences between the two imperial edicts.)

Then, the most famous “three person trip” in the history of Qin Dynasty and even in Chinese history came on stage. These three people are zhaogao, Lisi and Hu Hai.

Zhao Gaoxiang and Zhao gaoben are descendants of the same aristocracy in Zhao state. After Qin destroyed Zhao, he was castrated as a servant in the Qin Dynasty palace. Zhao Gao is studious and energetic. Gradually, he got the appreciation of Qinshihuang in the palace, was selected as the commander of the CRRC government, and asked him to teach Hu Hai how to solve cases in prison. Seeing that Qinshihuang loved Hu Hai very much, Zhao Gao tried his best to serve Hu Hai. In the teaching of punishment and prison, he taught Hu Hai the viciousness of Legalist punishment one by one, and consciously or unconsciously told the little childe that people are humble, and it is impossible to manage others well without severe punishment.

Therefore, Hu Hai knew nothing about how to try cases, but he was a genius in punishment. He can design many kinds of non repeated punishments to make innocent people admit that they are heinous sinners.

After the death of Qinshihuang, Zhao Gao took his will to Hu Hai and said to him, “the emperor has died. There is no imperial edict to enfew the rest of his sons as kings, but only a letter to Fusu. Once he arrives in Xianyang, he will be made emperor, but you don’t have any land. What should I do?”

Hu Hai opened his godless eyes and said, “my father is dead. There is no enfeoffment of the sons. What can I do?”

Zhao Gao was very emotional. “You’re wrong. Whether the world can be controlled depends entirely on you, me and LISS. I hope you can consider it! I always think that ruling others and being ruled by others, controlling others and being controlled by others are completely different things. I’m afraid you’ll know the flavor when the time comes.”

Hu Hai looked at Zhao Gao and said, “it is unjust to abolish your elder brother and set up a younger brother.”

Zhao Gao began to speak big truth, “You are so naive. When Shang Tang and Zhou Wu killed their monarch, people all over the world said that they had done the right thing. This can not be regarded as disloyalty. The monarch of the state of Wei killed his father, but the people of the state of Wei praised his merits. Confucius also recorded this in the spring and Autumn Annals Inside, this is not unfilial. There is no need to be humble in doing big things. There is also a reason for being a rural pedant. The work of all officials is also different. So if you take care of the small things, you will forget the big things, and there will be disasters in the future. You will regret your hesitation in the future. I hope you will comply with the times! “

Hu Hai thought it was feasible, because there were historical events in ancient times, and now he has the ambition to be an emperor. But he is still not sure. To be exact, he thinks that Zhao Gao is not sure to persuade Lisi to take his side.

Hu Hai sighed: “my father has just died, and the funeral is not over yet. How can I ask the Prime Minister for this?”

Zhao Gao urged: “time is like gold. If you don’t make a decision like this, you will lose everything.”

Hu Hai finally agreed. Zhao Gao went to Lisi and said to Lisi, “when the emperor died, the letter and the seal to the eldest son were in Hu Hai’s place. It’s up to you and Zhao Gao to decide who will be the crown prince. What do you mean…”

He looked at Lisi. Lisi had a righteous look on his face and said angrily, “you are too brave. What is this? As a minister, how can you say such a thing?”

Zhao Gao, Lisi’s calligrapher, is a genius in his understanding of human nature. He said to Lisi, “it’s all for you that I have so much courage. You think that once Fusu succeeds to the throne, Meng Tian, who has a very good relationship with him, will become prime minister. Think about it for yourself. Can you compare your talent with Meng Tian?”

LISS was a little angry, but it was true, so he had to nod his head.

Zhao Gao’s mouth shot out like a machine gun: “what about the credit? What about the foresight? What about the relationship with the ministers in the court?”

Lisi was silent because he was not as good as Meng Tian.

Zhao Gao continued: “I know a little about history, so I know that none of the outgoing prime ministers or meritorious officials of the state of Qin was consecutively granted the title of emperor II. In the end, they were all killed. Not to mention the political ability of Fusu as emperor, it is certain to change the Prime Minister first. I have followed Hu Hai for many years, and I have never seen any fault of him. He is kind and kind, values righteousness over profit, respects talents, and makes him emperor. In short, you should consider it. ”

In fact, LISS knew Hu Hai’s virtue like the back of his hand. He knew that Zhao Gao was talking nonsense. Moreover, Zhao Gao’s analysis of Fusu’s accession to the throne was purely imaginary. The records in the historical records clearly regard LISS as a child. Just imagine how smart Lisi is. Even if Fusu comes to power, he may not really appoint Meng Tian as the prime minister. The relationship between Fu Su and Meng Tian has not reached this level. The reason why Lisi agreed with Zhao Gao was that if the whole incident really developed according to the idea of Qinshihuang, his interests would be infringed.

A few years later, Lisi learned that, for his own sake, he, the chief designer of the Qin Empire, personally pushed his empire to the edge of a cliff.

Qin Shihuang’s spirit in heaven would never have imagined that two of the three people he trusted most would betray him.

After consulting with Lisi and Hu Hai, Zhao Gao forged an imperial edict for Fusu and sealed it with the emperor’s jade seal. The main idea of the imperial edict is as follows: I visited the world and prayed to sacrifice the gods of famous mountains in order to live a long life. Now fusuhe

general

Meng Tian led hundreds of thousands of troops to garrison the frontier for more than ten years. He was unable to march forward, but the soldiers suffered many casualties. Instead, he wrote letters to slander my actions. He was resentful day and night because he could not be dismissed and returned to Beijing as the crown prince. Fusu, as a son of man, is not filial. He gives himself a sword! General Meng Tian and Fusu are out together. If they don’t correct his mistakes, they should know his plan. As a man who was not loyal, they gave orders to commit suicide together and handed over the army to the Deputy General Wang Li.

When Hu Hai’s doorman came to Shangjun with an imperial edict, Fusu opened the imperial edict and finished reading it. He began to cry and entered the inner room to commit suicide. Meng Tian was wise enough to stop him and said: “the emperor is outside. He didn’t set up a prince. He sent me to lead 300000 troops to guard the border and appointed the young master as the supervisor. It’s an important task in the world. Now that there is only one messenger, you will commit suicide immediately. How can you know that there is no falsehood in it? I hope you can ask for instructions again. It’s not too late to die after you answer.”

Fusu didn’t think much, and he didn’t think too much. He said, “if my father ordered my son to die, what else should I ask?” With that, he couldn’t wait to commit suicide. The Qin Empire trembled at his foolish actions. If such a stupid man as he really handed over the Empire to him, the future of Qin might not be much better. The messenger of Fusu tomb returned to report to Hu Hai, Lisi and zhaogao. They were very happy. After returning to Xianyang, the funeral was announced, and Prince Hu Hai was Emperor II. Zhao Gao was appointed as a doctor and often served the emperor in the palace. Zhaogaosui held the power in the central court.

The light and darkness of the imperial edict

Now, let’s go back to the time before the death of Qinshihuang. At that time, Qinshihuang was seriously ill and could not deal with the sacrifice of mountains and rivers. So he sent Meng Yi, the home minister, to take his place. Meng Yi didn’t come back until he died. Meng Yi was the younger brother of general Meng Tian. Meng Tian was the general who led the attack, and Meng Yi was the Minister of internal affairs, ranking above Lisi. Meng Yi always followed the first emperor of Qin on his tour, but the last time, he was dispatched by the first emperor of Qin. This was just an accident, but it enabled Zhao Gao’s plan to be implemented smoothly.

Suppose that if Meng Yi doesn’t go, it must be zhaogao, Lisi and Meng Yi who accept the imperial edict. Not to mention Meng Yi’s political consciousness, Zhao Gao wants to murder his brother Meng Tian, and he will never agree.

From this point of view, the last imperial edict of Qinshihuang could have made the world clear, but today, we can only imagine such a bright future. If Meng Yi did not leave Qinshihuang, if Fu Su did not die, if Meng Tian did not release his military power, the history of the Qin Empire would be rewritten.

However, the first imperial edict of the first emperor actually went into darkness, followed by the darkness of the Empire, and rushed to destruction with the momentum of thunder.

After Zhao Gao stepped on the stage of the Qin Empire, he first coaxed Hu Hai out of the court and alienated the courtiers. He said to Hu Hai, “the reason why the emperor is noble is that people can’t see you. It’s mysterious that the ministers can’t see you. The emperor is a synonym for mystery, so it’s called ‘I’.”

Hu Hai was so stupid that he followed his advice. So Zhao Gao took over the power in the court, and the courtiers complained, but in any case, there was no mysterious Hu Hai.

Then, he encouraged Hu hai to indulge in pleasure, and further advanced the severe punishment of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty. As a result, the laws and punishments became more and more severe, the officials were in danger, the civil servants wanted to escape, and the generals wanted to rebel.

Finally, he cut off all the relatives of the Qin family. He said to Hu Hai, “all the princes and ministers are very suspicious of the dune plot. All the princes are your brothers, and all the ministers are ministers of the former Emperor. You have just sat on the river and mountain, and you are not safe yet. I am very worried that they will play tricks.”

Hu Hai was surprised. Zhao Gao immediately reassured him: “I’ll handle it all.”

So Zhao Gao executed all the twelve princes and ten princesses of the first emperor of Qin. Before the seeds sown by the first emperor of Qin had grown into trees, Zhao Gao cut them off one by one. The first emperor of Qin must have been gnashing his teeth and glaring.

When peasant uprisings were raging everywhere, the greatest generals of the Empire were killed by Zhao Gao, Meng Tian, Zhang Han, etc. these outstanding soldiers who could have saved the Empire temporarily died in the hands of Zhao Gao and Hu Hai. As a result, the central system of the Qin Dynasty was completely destroyed, and there was only one way to perish.

In order to verify his efforts, Zhao Gao played the trick of pointing deer as a horse, attacking the ministers who dared to point deer as a deer one by one. As a result, all the ministers were terrified of him. At this point, even Hu Hai could not help himself.

After more than 30 years of operation, Qin Shihuang left behind not only a unified country, but also literary ministers and military generals who were enough to maintain an empire. Zhao Gao destroyed all this in only three years. An empire without ministers can no longer be called an empire. The pillars supporting the Empire have long been taken away by zhaogao.

Only one year after the death of Qinshihuang, the Empire was in flames. On the one hand, these people who have been oppressed for a long time attack the empire from the outside. On the other hand, Zhao Gao excavates the foundation of the empire from the inside. The two can be said to have the same goal by different paths.

However, it is an indisputable fact that Zhao Gao is not easy to be eliminated within the Empire; But the people are outside, but they can effectively prevent them from “breaking the law”. After the death of Qinshihuang, although the Empire was in danger, the situation at that time was not completely irreparable. Every new emperor will bring hope to the people. As long as the ruling policy is slightly adjusted and the punishment is reduced, the social crisis will be greatly alleviated.

It is a pity that our second emperor Hu Hai seemed to be afraid that his throne would be handed down to the third. He chose to indulge in pleasure. Under the control of Zhao Gao, he led the Empire to the abyss quickly.

The Qin Dynasty is a particularly strange Dynasty. People with a little historical knowledge have been shocked by its rapid prosperity and decline. Like a majestic tiger rushing out of the forest, the tiger suddenly fell to the ground and died before people could appreciate its majestic demeanor. In fact, the fall of the Qin Dynasty was not a short time. Even if such a big empire has a third rate person like Hu hai to toss about, it can go far by virtue of inertia. After the outbreak of a large-scale peasant uprising, the Qin Empire was declared dead after two years of fierce fighting.

Some say that its destruction is due to the failure of benevolence and righteousness; Others say that because the main force of its army is in the south, the rebellious army in the north can win many victories; Others say that it was only because Zhao Gao and Lisi had tampered with the imperial edict of the first emperor of Qin.

The future of the empire is only between light and darkness, but how did it go to darkness?!

What is the key

Qinshihuang was a great man of the Chinese nation, at least one of the great figures of the imperial era. First, he ended the historical situation of war and strife and established the first highly centralized unified empire in Chinese history. Second, the political system of the Qin Dynasty actually established the basic pattern of Chinese feudal politics for 2000 years.

There was nothing wrong with the will left by the first emperor of Qin. The Qin Empire established the country and ruled the country by law. It was already difficult for him to move forward when he was dying. At the last moment, Qinshihuang probably realized this. Even if he did not realize this, he was blameless for passing on the country to Fusu at that time and later. The key to the territory of the Qin Dynasty lies in whether this imperial edict can smoothly realize his idea.

At that time, he certainly did not expect that Zhao Gao would tamper with the imperial edict. The reason why Zhao Gao dared to tamper with the imperial edict was greed. The most important reason was the attitude of Qinshihuang towards supporting the Soviet Union. What’s more, Mrs. Zhao knew everything about Qinshihuang and Fusu.

Many people think that Zhao Gao’s tampering with the imperial edict is very accidental. Because if Qinshihuang hadn’t brought his favorite youngest son Hu Hai with him and accompanied by Zhao Gao, who was in charge of the seal, the dune coup would never have happened. Even if it happened, the coup would not have been successful without the seal symbolizing the emperor’s power. This gives people the illusion that Zhao Gao was censored by Meng Yi and nearly died, so he has great resentment against the members of the Meng family and takes this opportunity to eradicate them. The result of such analysis gives people a feeling that the dune coup was only the result of Zhao Gao’s own whim and cunning coup.

However, both Li Si and Zhao Gao knew that Fusu was not a fellow traveler. Fusu seemed to guide the people as good people. Many years later, we learned that an important factor in the way of herdsmen is that instruction is better than scolding. In Lisi’s view, if the auxiliary ministers worked hard, Fusu would certainly become a rare emperor. However, when they saw that the first emperor of Qin angrily drove Fusu to Shangjun, a county where birds don’t shit, they didn’t have any hope for the prince. They didn’t even want to have a look and think about it. Zhao Gao’s understanding of Fusu is not limited to this. He once told Lisi that Fusu can learn from his filial piety. He will do what his father asks him to do. As for Meng Tian, Zhao Gao was right: he only listened to the emperor.

All this gave zhaogao the courage to tamper with the imperial edict.

But all this is not the most critical, unpredictable. A person’s character is not reliable. When a crisis comes, people will act against their usual behavior. Although Zhao Gao knew the characters of Fu Su and Meng Tian, this was not the most fundamental reason why he dared to tamper with the imperial edict.

The most important thing is China’s black box politics, which has been throughout the Chinese monarchy. After the death of Qinshihuang, the prime minister Lisi said to Zhao Gao, “it’s far from Xianyang, and it won’t be possible to get there in a day or two. If the news of the emperor’s death is spread, I’m afraid there will be chaos inside and outside. It’s better to keep it a secret for the time being, don’t lose heart, and rush back to Xianyang to deal with it.”

So they put the body of Qinshihuang in the car, closed the door, put down the window curtain, and no one outside could see anything. At that time, it was the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. The weather was still very hot. In order to cover up the smell of the corpse, they bought a large number of salted fish and asked the ministers to put a basket on each car. In this way, the smell of salted fish around the motorcade covered up the odor of Qinshihuang’s body

If we assume that the news of Qin Shihuang’s death is immediately announced, will Fusu commit suicide?

The Empire, from the beginning of Qin Shihuang, was doomed to the rationality of the existence of this kind of black box politics. The monarch is centralized and autocratic. He rules the world according to the will of heaven. He doesn’t want the people to know anything. Confucius’ so-called “the people can make it, but can not make it known” is probably this truth.

The emperor’s actions are best known by as few people as possible. Although this can stabilize the temporary situation to a certain extent, the disadvantages are obvious. Qinshihuang’s will reminds us of a game in which the first person who participated in the game secretly said a word to the second person, and the second person passed the word to the third person, and so on. When the last person asked him to say that sentence, it was certainly not the first one.

This is a unilateral transmission of information. Even if there is no malicious transmission, problems can occur, not to mention the bad intentions of the transmission people!

As a matter of fact, the Empire created by Qinshihuang was the first to create a new world. We know that before the unification of Qin, China was fragmented. It is precisely because countries are numerous and narrow, so it is not difficult for the monarch of any country to govern the country as long as he is not too fatuous. Before Qin Shihuang, no one could rule such a vast territory and a country with such a large population. It is entirely possible for Qin Shihuang to have no idea.

The following is enough to prove that Qinshihuang had no clear guidelines for the future direction of the Empire (after his death). After he annexed the world, he summoned his ministers and said, “in ancient times, the five emperors gave their seats to others, but the three kings let their sons inherit their own positions. What do you think? What should I do?”

Many people did not dare to deal with it. Only one person replied, “the five emperors gave way because they regarded the world as an official position, and the three kings regarded the world as their own home.” (if there are officials in the world, then Zen sages are also; if there is a family in the world, then the world will continue to be. Therefore, the five emperors regard the world as their official and the three kings regard the world as their family.)

Hearing this explanation, Qinshihuang looked up to the sky and sighed: “my virtue is more noble than the five emperors. I want to play Zen. Do you have any choice?” (my virtue comes from the five emperors. My generals are in charge of the world. Who can substitute me for the latter?)

The speaker scoffed: “Your Majesty, how can you practice the way of Jie and Zhou, but want to practice the Zen of the five emperors?”

Qinshihuang almost jumped up and said angrily, “get over here! Dare you say I am following the way of Jie and Zhou. Explain it to me. If you can’t bear to listen, kill you!”

The man slowly explained: “Your Majesty, you have built a large-scale project to recruit all the beauties in the harem, and you have killed countless people in Lishan. In my opinion, the world has been suffering you for a long time. Even if you really want to give in to others, who dares to accept such a semi crippled world?”

Qinshihuang remained silent for a long time and sighed.

This event was recorded in Shuoyuan Zhigong. It tells us the fact that in front of the unified empire created by Qinshihuang himself, the design blueprint for the future king of rivers and mountains has not been launched. We can use one sentence to summarize the cause and effect of Qinshihuang’s will, that is, the Qin Dynasty died because the imperial system was not perfect, especially in the selection of successors.

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