Chapter 139 My Charming Ancestor 13
"His name is still Liu Ji."
Ying Zheng's brow furrowed deeply.
He had considered countless possibilities. The only ones who could take away his kingdom were the surviving royal families of the six kingdoms, or some former nobleman hiding in the shadows.
But... Liu Bang? Liu Ji?
Who is this?
"What is this person's background?"
“Pei County, Sishui Pavilion Chief”
Pavilion head?
Ying Zheng's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
What is that?
A minor official, far more lowly than a county magistrate or assistant magistrate, who only managed petty theft and thievery in the countryside!
He, Qin Shi Huang, swept across the land, conquered all, and established an empire that would last for ten thousand generations… In the end, however, the empire was seized by an insignificant official!
This is a thousand times more humiliating than the phrase "died after two generations"!
"What right does he have?!" Ying Zheng's voice was filled with absurd anger.
“He’s not the strongest.” Zhou Jue shook his head.
"At the end of the Qin Dynasty, a time of chaos, many heroes rose up. Among them, the strongest was Xiang Yu, the grandson of Xiang Yan, a famous general of the Chu state."
"This man possessed superhuman strength and unparalleled bravery. At Julu, he broke the cauldrons and sank the boats, defeating the Qin army's 300,000 main force with only tens of thousands of Chu soldiers. The commander-in-chief Zhang Han surrendered, and Wang Li was captured alive."
Wang Li!
That was the son of Wang Ben, whom he had just entrusted with a heavy responsibility and the safety of the entire eastern tour! The most loyal descendant of a military family in the Great Qin.
Zhang Han was also a key minister of the Imperial Household Department whom he had personally promoted to guard the south!
An army of 300,000 men, utterly defeated?!
Ying Zheng's breathing quickened instantly. He stared intently at Zhou Jue: "Why did Zhang Han surrender?! He still had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, why would he surrender?!"
"Because of Zhao Gao," Zhou Jue gave the answer.
"Zhang Han was fighting a bloody battle on the front lines, but Zhao Gao framed him in the court, saying that he was holding military power and had treacherous intentions. Zhang Han was caught in a dilemma, with a powerful enemy in front and a treacherous minister behind. In the end, he could only surrender in despair."
It's Zhao Gao again!
Ying Zheng clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking softly from the force, a violent killing intent surging wildly in his chest!
He suppressed his barely contained rage and pressed on, "Then... what about the Qin soldiers who surrendered? How did Xiang Yu deal with them?"
Zhou Jue remained silent for a moment, and that moment of silence made Ying Zheng's heart sink to the bottom.
He had a very ominous premonition.
"Xiang Yu, massacre them."
"...What did you say?!?" Ying Zheng's voice rose involuntarily.
"In Xin'an, 200,000 Qin soldiers who had laid down their weapons were all buried alive overnight."
boom!
He swayed violently backward and crashed heavily into the desk behind him, the force of which shook the entire desk.
"puff--!"
A mouthful of blood, sweet and foul-smelling, could no longer be suppressed and gushed out of his mouth.
"Your Majesty..." Zhou Jue was somewhat worried. She hadn't expected the First Emperor to be so angry that he vomited blood. After all, she knew that the Qin Dynasty would only last two generations and that Hu Hai had cruelly murdered his brothers and sisters, yet their ancestors had managed to hold on.
Ying Zheng was heartbroken; those were not just simple numbers.
Those were two hundred thousand precious lives!
He is two hundred thousand sons, husbands, and fathers of the Great Qin!
They were the old Qin people of Guanzhong who followed him, fought for ten years, and helped him conquer this land!
They didn't die on the most brutal battlefield, but in the cold pits after they surrendered.
Ying Zheng's hands, which were braced against the table, were bulging with veins, and his fingernails were almost digging through the wooden board!
He can't fall!
He gritted his teeth, his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, and a hoarse voice squeezed out from his throat:
"Continue... telling the story!"
"Xiang Yu was brave but lacked strategy, and was cruel and bloodthirsty. Liu Bang, on the other hand, was good at recognizing and employing people, was able to accept advice, and won the hearts of the people. He was the first to enter Guanzhong, and your grandson, Ziying, surrendered to him with the Imperial Seal of the State."
Ziying...
In Ying Zheng's mind, a blurry, timid figure of a child appeared.
"Liu Bang accepted the surrender, abolished the harsh laws of the Qin state, made a three-point agreement with the elders of Guanzhong, and committed no offenses against them, which won him the hearts of the people."
"Then, Xiang Yu led a large army to the city. He was jealous and resentful that Liu Bang had entered Guanzhong first, so... he killed Ziying, massacred Xianyang, and set fire to your palace."
Zhou Jue's voice was very soft.
"That fire burned for three months."
Xianyang Palace was burned down.
All the glory and honor he had built up throughout his life were reduced to ashes in those three months of fire.
The grandson he had once held in his arms was also killed.
The bloodline of the Ying clan was thus severed.
"Heh...hehe..."
Ying Zheng suddenly let out a low laugh, which was hard to tell whether it was self-mockery or a lament.
He slowly turned around and faced the enormous map of the world once more.
His gaze no longer held its former sharpness and authority, but instead held a deep, unfathomable weariness and bewilderment.
He lost.
Such a complete defeat.
It was not defeated by the remnants of the six states, nor by a powerful enemy.
He was defeated by his most incompetent son, by his most trusted eunuch, and by the system he had built with his own hands, which he thought was foolproof.
"Immortal".
After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice filled with unprecedented confusion and self-doubt.
"Was I...wrong?"
He pointed to the rows of neatly stacked bamboo slips on the bookshelf, where the laws of the Qin Dynasty were located, the legal foundation that he and Li Si and others had spent half their lives building.
"I govern the country by law, standardize weights and measures, make carts the same width, and unify the written language. I have defeated the Xiongnu in the north and conquered the Baiyue in the south. Could it be that... all of this was wrong?"
"Could it be that what Fusu said, governing the world with benevolence and virtue, is the right thing to do?"
This was the first time he began to doubt the path he had followed his entire life.
He was like a traveler who had walked in the fog for too long, only to find that the end was a cliff, his heart filled with emptiness.
"Your Majesty, you are not wrong."
Zhou Jue's voice, like a ray of light, dispelled his confusion.
“A vast empire that has just ended centuries of war, whose people are yearning for change and whose old customs still persist, is like a wild and unruly horse. At this time, what you need is an iron rein and strong laws to restrain and integrate it, rather than trying to reason with it using so-called ‘benevolence’.”
"Without Your Majesty's swift and decisive actions, there would be no unified empire today. This achievement is a merit that will last for generations and is beyond doubt."
Zhou Jue's words gave Ying Zheng's almost collapsing belief a glimmer of support.
“But…” she changed the subject.
"If the reins are pulled too tight for too long, the horse will be strangled to death."
She walked to the desk and picked up a scroll of bamboo slips.
“I have seen the Qin law, which states that if one person commits a crime, all his neighbors will be punished; if one man delays his corvée labor, his whole family will be executed.”
"Your Majesty, have you ever considered that the farmers who missed their corvée labor might not have been lazy, but rather encountered a flash flood that washed away the road?"
"The law provides the world with a clear standard, which is a good thing. But if it is too harsh and inhumane, it will cut off all hope for the people."
When a person cannot survive no matter how hard they try, do they have any other choice but to fight to the death?
"Chen Sheng and Wu Guang are examples of this. They were just two conscripted soldiers who were delayed in their journey due to heavy rain, a capital offense according to Qin law. Since they were going to die anyway, why didn't they rebel?"
"Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?" This cry ignited the last spark of hope in the hearts of all the people struggling under harsh laws and punishments.
Ying Zheng remained silent.
He was not a foolish ruler who refused to listen to advice.
He simply stood too high and for too long.
What he saw was the operation of the empire, the majesty of the law, and the establishment of order.
He could not see the pain and despair of every individual, living person beneath that enormous machine called "Qin".
"Laws and regulations...benevolence and virtue..." he murmured to himself, as if asking Zhou Jue, or perhaps questioning himself: "What should we do?"
"They can coexist."
Zhou Jue looked at him and spoke each word with conviction.
"In the more distant future, there will be an idea on this land."
"The rule of law should be combined with the rule of virtue."
"The law is the bottom line, ensuring fairness and punishing evil."
"Virtue is a banner that guides people's hearts and educates them to do good."
"The law brings peace to the world, and morality nourishes people's hearts."
"One hand holding a sword, the other a book. This is the true path to lasting peace and stability!"
The law brings peace to the world, and morality nourishes people's hearts!
These eight words, like a thunderclap, instantly cleaved through all the fog in Ying Zheng's mind!
His eyes, which had dimmed, regained their light.
“But,” Zhou Jue’s voice once again pulled him back to reality from his excitement.
"Your Majesty, you must understand one thing."
"That future nation is able to do this because of its own national circumstances."
"After thousands of years of integration, they have a unified cultural identity, widespread education has given their people greater knowledge and wisdom, and advanced productivity has freed them from worries about food and clothing."
"And what about the Qin Dynasty now?"
Zhou Jue's question was like a bucket of cold water poured on the fire that had just been ignited in Ying Zheng's heart.
"How many of your people are literate?"
"How many years can your national treasury withstand natural disasters?"
"Have the former subjects of the six states truly submitted?"
"Your Majesty, the future is bright, but the path to that light requires us to walk step by step out of the mud beneath our feet."
"Other people's prescriptions can only be used as a reference, not copied."
"You can only be the pharmacist of the Great Qin."
Ying Zheng stood there, remaining silent for a long time.
He looked at Zhou Jue, at this "immortal" who seemed to know everything.
She dealt him the heaviest blow, yet also gave him the brightest hope.
She overturned his lifelong obsession and pointed him to a more difficult, yet more magnificent, path.
After a long silence, he finally spoke again, his voice now regaining the composure and calm of an emperor.
"Your Majesty, I understand."
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