Chapter 325 The Emperor's Fall

After a long period of repeated research and deliberation, Ying Zheng finally decided to adopt Chinese characters and use them to implement the policy of unified writing.

While Qin Sheng was writing for his subordinates, he said to Chu Yian, "The writing system in this world has always been the same since records began. If Dashun really had a chance to unify the world, this trouble would be saved."

However, before this, no one had ever thought that the use of the same writing system in all countries was the result of someone's deliberate effort to promote it, which led to the current convenient communication.

The Qin Shi Huang's policies not only benefited the world in which Chu Yi'an lived, but also the world itself.

Even though a lot of history has been lost, since we have received his grace for such great achievements, we should remember his name.

We didn’t know it before, but now that we know it, we should let everyone remember his contribution.

After the imperial edict on the unification of the written language was issued, all civil and military officials in the court began to think about reforming Chinese civilization and consolidating the Chinese territory.

Why was it that despite thousands of years of Chinese civilization and a large population, the Xiongnu (Han-nu) problem could never be resolved? Instead, it became increasingly serious?

What's the problem?

There was internal strife and division, and we failed to unite the Chinese nation to eliminate external threats.

This is a drawback that has accumulated over a long period of time. If it cannot be thoroughly sorted out, how can there be peace in the world?

Therefore, the decree to consolidate China was quickly issued, with the left prime minister Li Si taking charge of the overall situation.

Build mountain roads, waterways, official roads, and repair ditches.

Among them, more than 400 major roads were surveyed and the famous Qin Straight Road was also built at this time.

The most spectacular thing about the Qin Straight Road is that it seems to be running on a mountain ridge. Its average width is more than 40 meters, and it can be called an ancient version of a high-speed military avenue.

However, this military road did not really play its role until the Western Han Dynasty. The reason why Emperor Wu of Han was able to "command 180,000 cavalrymen, with flags stretching for more than a thousand miles and intimidating the Huns" was almost entirely due to this Qin Straight Road.

Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties two thousand years later, when faced with the ruins of the Qin Straight Road, some people felt that it was beyond human power, so many people called it the "Sage's Road."

While building the road, Li Si and Fusu also reformed the currency system and minted Qin half-liang coins.

After reforming the currency system, Fusu also wanted to reform the land system.

But before she left Hangu Pass, she suddenly received the news that General Wang Jian had passed away.

When Qin conquered the six kingdoms and unified China, Wang Jian led his army south and finally stationed 500,000 troops in Lingnan, refusing to return to Xianyang for a long time.

Ying Zheng was very worried and went to Lingnan to inspect in person, wanting to know why the old general had not returned yet.

After I went there, I realized that the old general was not unwilling to return, but unable to return.

If the 500,000 troops withdraw from Lingnan, Lingnan will no longer be part of the Chinese nation.

There are hundreds of ethnic groups and hundreds of small countries in the Lingnan region, and each ethnic group uses different writing systems, languages ​​and customs.

It took so much effort to unify the Lingnan region and make it a part of the Chinese territory.

At this time, not only could the main force of the Qin army stationed here not be withdrawn, but hundreds of thousands of people had to be moved here for intermarriage.

Only in this way can the entire Lingnan region be completely incorporated into the territory of China.

However, the situation faced by the Qin State at that time was already very serious.

The people of the six states, who had suffered the annihilation of their country, were eyeing the Qin State covetously and were always looking for opportunities for revenge.

The Qin army of 500,000 was stationed in Lingnan and could not return to Guanzhong.

An army of 300,000 was led by Meng Tian to garrison the northern Great Wall to prevent the invasion of the Huns. The entire Qin State had almost no armed forces, and even the old Qin people who had supported the Qin State to this day were consumed in large numbers.

If hundreds of thousands of young people from Guanzhong were moved to Lingnan, only the elderly, weak and sick would be left in Guanzhong.

But for the unification of China, Ying Zheng resolutely agreed to Wang Jian's suggestion.

Later, when Wang Jian died, Ying Zheng immediately issued a secret decree to his subordinate Zhao Tuo.

If the Qin State is in trouble in the future, you must return to the capital to defend the country and preserve the Chinese territory at all costs.

After hearing this, Zhao Tuo burst into tears. Later, he always abided by the will of the First Emperor. Even after the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, he did not dare to forget the promise made to his old friend.

Not to mention that Zhao Tuo cried bitterly after receiving the order from the First Emperor, even Chu Yian felt depressed when he thought about it afterwards.

The Qin State could have survived, or at least not so quickly...

Qin Sheng's heart was once again in turmoil at this moment. In the history he knew, no one had ever had the courage and determination like Ying Zheng, who dared to station the entire country's army elsewhere, just to make China's territory bigger and to unify Lingnan.

What kind of courage and vision is this?

This time, Qin Sheng truly witnessed the powerful personal charm of the first emperor in Chinese history, as well as the grand aspirations deep in his heart.

My previous admiration for the emperor turned into deep admiration at this moment.

Qin Sheng couldn't help but ask himself in his heart, if he were Ying Zheng, could he do the same.

But no matter how I think about it, I can't.

He is not as great as Ying Zheng...

Especially since the Qin State perished not long after it unified the six states. When the war broke out, if the army had been in Guanzhong and still been mobilized by the king, how could the Qin State have perished?

That was the most elite force that swept across the six countries.

No matter how many times he asked himself in his heart, Qin Sheng felt that he was not as great as Ying Zheng.

So it is not unreasonable for Chu Yian to like Ying Zheng.

Who doesn’t like such courage?

This story shocked Qin Sheng so much that his heart trembled and his whole body felt shuddering.

After the funeral of General Wang Jian, Meng Tian led his army in another battle with the Huns. Ying Zheng once again witnessed the threat posed by the Huns to the Chinese nation.

If we cannot expel the Huns and quell the external threat, China will face a devastating disaster at the critical moment of life and death.

If you want to drive the Huns away thousands of miles, you have to build the Great Wall.

Thus, another miracle in human history began to be built.

Ying Zheng, the emperor who destroyed the six kingdoms, is great to later generations, and people feel admiration when talking about him.

But to the six states of Shandong that were destroyed, he was undoubtedly extremely hateful.

Therefore, assassinations happened from time to time.

The old nobles of the six states in Shandong wanted Ying Zheng dead. Although several assassination attempts failed, they angered Ying Zheng, and thus there was a very big stain in his life history: the burning of books.

He wanted to use this incident to destroy the prestige of those restoration forces.

Book burning has always been an important point for later generations to attack Ying Zheng and accuse him of being a tyrant, but in fact the actual implementation was far less thorough than what was written in the decree.

Firstly, the classics of various schools of thought collected by the government are still there. Secondly, it is impossible to confiscate all the books collected by the people. Even the officials of the Qin Dynasty had many books in their homes that were not burned.

The real target of Ying Zheng's move was the restoration forces, not the books.

Therefore, there was great flexibility in the implementation of this decree after it was issued, which is recorded in many history books.

The burning of books and the subsequent "burying of scholars" incident nailed Ying Zheng and the entire Qin Dynasty to the pillar of shame in history.

Not many people are interested in finding out the truth of history, but this alone is enough to make people regard him as a tyrant and the Qin Dynasty as a tyranny.

Chu Yian couldn't tell what kind of thoughts the Confucian scholars of later generations had in mind when they evaluated Ying Zheng and the Qin State in this way. How much hatred was mixed in, how much political essence was avoided, and how much positive significance was ignored, that they completely described this as an atrocity against culture.

But for now, book burning is a forced counterattack by the new imperial government in the face of powerful restoration forces, and it is also the inevitable price that the new civilization must pay to break away from the old era.

After the book burning decree was implemented, some people fled immediately. After all, everyone could see that the emperor was dissatisfied with Confucianism, and who knew when he would kill these scholars?

Ying Zheng ignored them and told them to run away.

But slowly something seemed to be wrong. There were indeed too many people who escaped and were spreading rumors outside. He immediately called Li Si to discuss countermeasures.

Li Si suggested issuing an imperial edict to recruit scholars from all over the world and not to pursue the charges against the escaped doctors. This would effectively refute the rumors spread by Confucian scholars.

But since we are recruiting scholars, we might as well recruit alchemists and sorcerers as well, so that they won’t cause trouble outside.

But this move was a bit too extraordinary, as it attracted the plague god Xu Fu.

Chu Yian wiped his face, his heart aching.

Although Xu Fu came, it was not his turn to do anything yet.

Ying Zheng's current focus is still on Confucian scholars. In order to demonstrate the Qin Empire's open-mindedness, Ying Zheng decided to use Confucian scholars to lead the world's literature.

Who knew that these people were not only ungrateful, but also colluded with the restoration forces in an attempt to overthrow the Qin State and pretend to be a prominent figure in the world.

Qin Sheng silently looked up at Chu Yian, not daring to say a word, and continued to write with his head down.

No matter what, the Confucian school is still the main school now. Last time, it attracted a group of great Confucian scholars and Dong Jingwen. I wonder if it will cause trouble this time.

If you think about it carefully, the possibility is quite high.

However, with the previous content as a foundation, they should be able to look at this book more calmly and rationally this time, and are more likely to regard it as part of a blank history.

In this way, the scolding would not be so harsh.

The students should be able to accept it. The great scholars may have some emotions, but after what happened last time, they probably won't dare to cause trouble again. After all, no one wants to be the next Dong Jingwen.

As for that group of sour Confucian scholars, they are hated by everyone, but it doesn’t matter. Who cares about them?

However, it can be seen that the First Emperor really hated Confucian scholars more and more. This group of people was unable to extricate themselves from the restoration. Anyone who wanted to restore the monarchy had to pass the test of the Qin laws first.

In order to deter the restoration forces, Confucian scholars could not be punished with ordinary criminal laws and should be buried alive.

Killing by burying alive was a punishment on the battlefield, and restoration was also a battlefield. This move was to tell the world that the old system must be completely buried.

When the news reached Fusu, who was fighting against the Huns with Meng Tian, ​​he immediately put down what he was doing and rushed to Xianyang to try to stop the killing of Confucian scholars.

But when he returned, he didn't see Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng had just taken the elixir and was cultivating his true energy.

Chu Yian wiped his face again, sigh.

Qin Sheng looked at her helplessly: "What do you want to say?"

Chu Yian shook his head: "Nothing, it's just that Ying Zheng woke up and urged Xu Fu to go out to sea, alas..."

So confused.

Qin Sheng: ...

Fusu was too young. When he met Ying Zheng, he did not dare to persuade him not to kill the Confucian scholars. He could only go to Li Si to discuss it and strongly opposed the killing of Confucian scholars.

Fusu was the eldest prince and the future crown prince, but his ideas were contrary to the laws of Qin. Li Si did not dare to hide it and wrote a letter to the emperor to explain Fusu's affairs.

Ying Zheng was so angry that he issued an imperial edict to banish Fusu from Xianyang and send him to Jiuyuan to take up his post. He was not allowed to return to Xianyang without an imperial edict.

Ying Zheng's original intention was to let him reflect and think carefully.

Who would have thought that he would never come back...

Chu Yian: "Alas."

Qin Sheng: ...

In fact, it can be seen from here that Ying Zheng was in poor health, and his eldest son Fusu's ideas were inconsistent with the iron-blooded politics of the Qin Empire, inconsistent with Ying Zheng's expectations, and inconsistent with the style of the court officials.

He was like an outlier in the Qin State. Although such a person was talented, it would be difficult for him to get the court officials to follow his orders even if he sat in that position.

The Qin State finally unified. All the previous kings, regardless of their achievements, followed the Qin laws and insisted on enforcing them. The whole country was united in opposing the restoration of the Qin State. Only Fusu...

It's really strange.

Of course, this does not mean that Fusu supported the restoration, but that the Confucian scholars he wanted to protect were the enemies of the empire.

It is the time to stabilize the situation. As the eldest son and the future crown prince, even if he disagrees, he should not jump out to speak for the restoration forces after the order has been issued.

In 212 BC, more than 400 alchemists and Confucian scholars were buried alive, which was one of the greatest tragedies in history.

No one thought about the political rationality behind it; they only saw the brutal atrocities of Ying Zheng that destroyed civilization.

The more time passes, the more terrifying his face becomes, as if he is a demon watching the world with cold eyes.

After burying the scholars alive, Ying Zheng ordered the arrest of the princes of the six countries who were behind all this, including Xiang Liang, the prince of the former Chu State, and his clansmen, Zhang Liang, the prince of the former Han State, and more than 200 others.

This is a complete competition with these people.

The princes of the six kingdoms could not sit still and wait for death, and soon spread rumors that Zulong would die this year.

However, it was not easy to find these people, and it happened that at this time, General Wang Ben, the son of General Wang Jian, passed away.

Wang Ben's death made Ying Zheng very sad, and he personally arranged his funeral.

While handling Wang Ben's funeral, he received news again.

More than 300 corvee laborers in Pei County escaped, led by Liu Bang, the head of the Sishui Pavilion. Liu Bang not only did not report it, but also let the others who wanted to escape go. They then fled to Mangdang Mountain, and the people below are still chasing them.

Ying Zheng's health was getting worse and worse, and he had to take more and more medicine. Finally, he personally sent Xu Fu on a ship to sea to seek immortals and ask for medicine.

Ying Zheng didn't know that Xu Fu would never come back after this trip. He didn't find the elixir, but he also opened up Japan.

Chu Yian: "Alas."

Ying Zheng's life came to an end quietly. He ordered Meng Yi to return to Xianyang immediately and keep Zhao Gao by his side.

Ying Zheng would never have thought that sending Meng Yi back would be the biggest mistake he would make at the most critical moment in his life.

If Meng Yi had not left, the edict he issued at the last moment of his life would have been conveyed to all parties, and even if Zhao Gao had all kinds of conspiracies, Li Si would not dare to respond.

The First Emperor's momentary change of mind was God's will, and it was also a great regret in the hearts of later generations.

In 210 BC, Ying Zheng died. He wanted to leave an edict before his death, but his body was unable to support him to finish writing his last words, leaving a huge power vacuum in this vast empire.

This empire will eventually fall into chaos.