Chapter 153 My Charming Ancestor 27
A retainer tumbled in, his face beaming with ecstatic joy!
"What's the matter that you're so panicked?" Zhang Liang frowned, but his heart skipped a beat.
"The First Emperor! The First Emperor made his eastern tour to Mount Tai, intending to perform the Fengshan ceremony! But unexpectedly, a torrential rain and strong winds came down, blowing down the stone tablets he had erected!"
The retainer was so excited that he became incoherent.
"Now, Confucian scholars all over the land are saying that Ying Zheng is unworthy of his position, tyrannical and cruel, and therefore not tolerated by Heaven! This is a sign of the downfall of the country!"
A sign of national ruin!
These four words, like a thunderclap, cleaved through all the fog in Zhang Liang's mind!
He jumped up. Great!
Ying Zheng's tyranny was an outrage to both gods and men! Even the heavens could not tolerate it!
"Pass on my order!"
“Take this news, embellish it, and spread it throughout the world!”
"I want everyone to know that Qin's fate is sealed!"
...
Time seemed to have been fast-forwarded.
The rumors he spread spread like wildfire, igniting the flames of hatred in the hearts of countless people on the oppressive land of Qin.
While the First Emperor continued his eastern tour, he orchestrated a spectacular assassination attempt.
Bolangsha.
A 120-pound iron hammer.
"Bang—!"
That most magnificent carriage was smashed to pieces! However, Ying Zheng was not in the carriage.
After the assassination attempt failed, he became the empire's most wanted criminal and began a life of hiding and fleeing.
He had experienced hardship and despair, but the flame in his heart never went out. Even during his escape, he encountered an opportunity: a book of military strategy.
Soon after, an even more explosive piece of news arrived.
The First Emperor died at Shaqiu Palace!
Immediately following, a series of unexpected events—the forged imperial edict, the forced execution of Fusu, and Huhai's ascension to the throne—filled him with ecstatic joy!
The tyrant is dead, and his successor is an incompetent fool!
Qin will surely perish!
The remnants of the six kingdoms and the common people rose up in rebellion!
He had finally waited for this day!
He emerged from his hiding place and, relying on his wisdom, found a king he believed could serve and joined his ranks. From then on, he strategized and won victories from afar.
War after war.
Planning time and time again.
He watched as the flags of the six kingdoms were raised again on the ruins, and then watched them fall in the chaos of battle.
He watched countless people die—soldiers, civilians, nobles…
Blood flowed like rivers, and white bones filled the fields.
But he didn't care; this was a necessary sacrifice! It was a price that had to be paid to overthrow the tyrannical Qin Dynasty and to restore the glory of the State of Han!
Finally, the flames of war that swept across the land were extinguished. His lord ascended the supreme throne and established a new dynasty.
On the throne, the lord who once fought alongside him and confided in him is now the emperor of the new dynasty!
A sharp, high-pitched imperial edict resounded throughout the palace:
"...Zhang Liang, a former minister of the State of Han, is a strategist whose achievements are unparalleled! He is hereby granted the title of Marquis of Liu, with a fief of ten thousand households!"
Marquis Liu!
He reached the pinnacle of his official career!
He did it! He really did it! A tremendous wave surged through Zhang Liang's heart. He had personally buried the tyrannical Qin Dynasty that had brought about the downfall of his country and the destruction of his family!
He won!
But... why do I feel so empty inside?
He subconsciously raised his head and looked up at the high throne.
Those eyes have changed.
The trust, enthusiasm, and brotherly affection we once shared have vanished! All that remains is bottomless suspicion and a cold indifference that looks down on us like ants!
That wasn't the look one gives to a founding hero; it was the look one gives to a sharp sword that could wound them at any moment and was about to be sheathed!
His South Korea is completely gone.
That homeland he risked everything for, even at the cost of rivers of blood, is now just an insignificant county on the map of the new dynasty.
All that he fought for ultimately benefited others; he personally nailed the last nail into the coffin of his own homeland!
"When the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked..." He once said this to others with a smile. Now, however, it has become a sword hanging over his head!
He witnessed with his own eyes how Han Xin, the invincible general known as the "God of War," was tricked into the palace by a forged imperial edict! There was no trial, no confrontation! He was simply beheaded in the bell chamber of Changle Palace! He could almost hear the unparalleled general's desperate, humiliating roar before his death!
He saw it again! Fan Kuai, who was from the same hometown as his lord, loyal and regarded as a brother, was ordered to be killed simply because of a baseless accusation! If his lord had not died quickly, his entire family would have been executed!
One after another, the once vibrant heroes who drank alongside him have turned to dust.
Every time he attended court, he felt a chill run down his neck, as if an invisible butcher's knife was about to fall on him at any moment!
He was scared.
He was really scared!
He overthrew a tyrannical Qin dynasty, but personally supported an even more terrifying existence!
Ying Zheng's tyranny was written on his face as an overbearing arrogance, an imposing force of "I am the world!" But this new ruler's knife was hidden beneath a smiling face of "sharing joy with you," ready to pierce your heart when you least expect it!
To survive, he had to feign illness and relinquish all power. He began telling everyone that he had seen through the illusions of the world and wanted to follow Master Chisongzi to cultivate immortality and seek the Dao, no longer concerning himself with worldly affairs. He hid in the deep mountains, transforming from a spirited young man into a white-haired, near-death old man.
The national and personal grievances in my heart have long been worn away by the passage of time.
......
One day at the end of life.
He stood atop the mountain, leaning on his cane, overlooking the desolate village below. Two ragged children were snatching half a moldy bread from the feet of a menacing tax collector. The children's mother knelt on the ground, clinging desperately to the tax collector's leg, weeping hysterically, hoping to pay less grain. The tax collector kicked the woman away, grinning maliciously as he stomped the half-bread into the mud, crushing it to dust!
“Oppressive government is more ferocious than a tiger!” Zhang Liang trembled violently, unable to catch his breath, and began to cough violently.
Is this... the world he wanted?
Is this the result he paid for with everything, even at the cost of millions of lives? Exchanging a war that swept the world for another endless suffering?
He suddenly remembered Huang Shigong, who had given him a book on military strategy, many years ago on the Xiapi Bridge.
The old man said, "This child is teachable."
Was the old man teaching him to use his extraordinary talent to unleash an even greater catastrophe?!
"I... I think I was wrong..."
"I was wrong!!"
He suddenly raised his head, let out a mournful cry, and turbid old tears welled up in his eyes!
He didn't regret destroying the Qin Dynasty! Hu Hai's tyrannical rule as the second emperor deserved the downfall! What he regretted was... his own choice!
Why must it be war? Why must the world be torn apart, only to be pieced back together with bones and blood? If... if only I had assisted the First Emperor, who, despite his flaws, truly ended centuries of war and ushered in a unified empire!
Use your wisdom to guide him, persuade him, and continue the hard-won unity!
Could it be that the people of this land could be spared decades of war and displacement?
Would there have been no such human tragedies of starvation and cannibalism?
A thought he had never had before, yet was incredibly clear, gnawed at his dying soul in the final moments of his life!
If I could do it all over again...
He was willing! He was willing to let go of all hatred and pride! As long as this world could be spared from the ravages of war!
As this last thought of regret exploded, his body became incredibly light.
Consciousness sank completely into boundless darkness.
He died.
...
"Hoh—!"
With a violent gasp, Zhang Liang abruptly opened his eyes! Like a drowning man, he gasped for the cold air. Suddenly, the scent of damp earth and the delicate aroma of tea wafted to his nose.
He... didn't die?
He stiffly lowered his head; he was sitting at the stone table. On the table were tea and blood.
Across from him sat a woman, sipping a cup of tea slowly, looking at him with a half-smile.
He remembered, he remembered everything. From the moment he closed his eyes to the moment he opened them again, it felt like only a moment had passed.
But in his mind and in his soul, a life that lasted a hundred years, from hope to despair, from glory to regret, was truly imprinted!
He slowly raised his hands, which were young, slender, and with distinct knuckles. But to him, these hands were clearly wrinkled, old and weak, and stained with blood that could not be washed away.
"you……"
He opened his mouth, his throat so dry it felt like it was about to crack, but he only managed to utter a hoarse sound.
He looked at Zhou Jue, and those once clear and calm eyes now held only endless vicissitudes and a deathly desolation. It was as if his entire spirit had been completely drained by that century-long dream!
Zhou Jue put down the teacup.
A soft "snap" sounded, especially clear in the deathly silence!
She looked at Zhang Liang's distraught face, her voice light and airy, yet it reopened the wounds in Zhang Liang's dream.
"how?"
"Lord Liuhou."
She emphasized the words "Marquis Liu".
"You chose this path to imperial power without my involvement, and you've... enjoyed it quite a bit?"
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