"Your Majesty the Empress? No, that's impossible!" Zhang Han shook his head frantically, as if he had learned something terrible.

"The Empress?" Zu An's eyes lit up. He suddenly remembered a piece of history from his previous life. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Qin state was originally on good terms with the Jin state and even helped the fleeing Duke Wen of Jin to ascend the throne and become the hegemon. However, when the Qin state wanted to move eastward into the Central Plains, the Jin state blocked its way.

The State of Jin could not accept the State of Qin's influence in the Central Plains, so the conflict between the two states became irreconcilable. In the end, the Battle of Xiao occurred, in which the State of Jin ambushed the Qin army on their westward return route and defeated the Qin army, leading to a complete break between the two states.

The alliance between Qin and Jin naturally became a thing of the past, and Qin had no choice but to form a marriage alliance with the southern state of Chu. Since both sides had Jin as a common enemy, they quickly reached an agreement.

For a century after Qin and Chu, they intermarried. The queens of Qin were often princesses of Chu, and the men of the Chu royal family were surnamed Xiong, while the women were surnamed Mi.

The surname Mi is so rare that it is easy to associate it with the state of Chu.

However, in the past, when princesses of the Chu state married into the Qin state, they could only be called queens, while theoretically only two people were qualified to be called empresses.

But to my recollection, neither Qin Shi Huang nor Qin Er Shi had any record of having an empress in history.

"How could you possibly know the Empress's name? No one in the world should know her name. Who are you?" Zhang Han rushed to Zu An, his tone almost manic.

The overwhelming pressure from the opponent made it difficult for him to breathe. He swallowed hard, feeling a little hesitant: Should he gamble?

Seeing the dark blue flames in the other person's eyes so close, he knew that even if the other person considered him a friend, they would most likely not let Chu Chuyan go. Since that was the case, he had no choice but to take the gamble.

If you're going to gamble, gamble big!

If you bet right, you can turn a bicycle into a motorcycle; if you bet wrong, at worst you'll die.

"Hahaha, you ask who I am?" Zu An laughed loudly, which made Qiao Xueying, who was standing next to him, turn her head frequently, wondering if this guy had been scared silly.

"My achievements surpass those of the Three Sovereigns and my virtue exceeds that of the Five Emperors. I am the first emperor in the world, Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng!" A strange sense of majesty flashed across Zu An's face. "How could I not know the name of my own empress?"

Deep within the underground palace, in a mysterious space, lay a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in a black empress's crown and robes in a huge crystal coffin. She suddenly opened her eyes and exclaimed, "You scoundrel, how dare you take advantage of me!"

Zhang Han on the altar was utterly shocked and instinctively took several steps back: "Your...Your Majesty?"

Qiao Xueying was completely bewildered. What were these two talking about? What emperor? What Qin Shi Huang? Why had she never heard of him before? Fortunately, there were only a few of us here. If the news of his presumptuous claim to the throne got out, not only would he be doomed, but the Chu family would also be brought to ruin.

Only Chu Chuyan frowned slightly. She vaguely remembered seeing this name somewhere before, perhaps in the academy's collection of books about ancient civilizations. However, there was very little information about ancient civilizations, and the world's research on them was only scratching the surface.

"Zhang Han, why do you not kneel before me?" Zu An's face was stern, but his heart was in a panic. Had he gone too far this time?

"Your subject, Zhang Han, the Junior Minister of the Imperial Household, pays his respects to Your Majesty!" The black-armored general thought to himself, "No wonder I felt a certain kinship with this man from the very beginning." Now he had no more doubts and knelt down to pay his respects to Zu An.

The two women standing nearby nearly dropped their glasses in disbelief. The scene before them was utterly unbelievable—a peerless expert kneeling before Zu An? They couldn't possibly comprehend such a sight.

Chu Chuyan's mind raced. This black-armored general called himself Shaofu. Shaofu was one of the Nine Ministers, in charge of taxes from mountains, seas, lands, and marshes, managing the royal treasury, and often also shouldering the responsibility of building royal gardens and mausoleums.

No wonder this zombie had such a powerful aura; it turned out to be a ninth-rank expert. Considering that this place looks like a royal tomb, everything makes sense.

But what exactly is going on with Azu? Could he really be Qin Shi Huang?

"How long are you going to keep me bound?" Zu'an said in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, I dare not." Zhang Han hurriedly flicked his wrist and untied the ropes binding him. At the same time, he wondered to himself why His Majesty's strength was so weak.

As if guessing what it was thinking, Zuan said, "I have just awakened my memories and my strength has not yet fully recovered. You may rise."

Zhang Han was relieved: "Thank you, Your Majesty. It seems that Xu Fu has found the secret to immortality for Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

Zu An rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "What kind of nonsense is this? It really does resemble the Qin Dynasty from my past life. But how could anyone in the Qin Dynasty have such powerful cultivators?"

Something must have gone wrong!

But since the performance had already started, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue, so he let out a long sigh:

"Forget it, my Qin Dynasty is already gone, what's the point of saying all this?"

Zhang Han was so frightened that he immediately knelt on the ground, trembling: "Your Majesty, I deserve to die ten thousand times!"

---

I was told that Word was set to save automatically every 10 minutes, so why did my computer crash and restart today, resulting in the loss of my drafts, including several chapters? The only saving grace is that I didn't have many drafts saved, so the loss is barely acceptable.

I, Qin Shi Huang, am asking for money!