Chapter 106 I Miss You So Much [Jinjiang Authentic Edition - Ying Meets Zhang Liang]...
However, Qin Ying now has no time to go to the prison to act as a "little boss" to conquer "Liang Baihua".
After he left the crying and "reawakened" uncle and nephew of the Xiang family to Meng Neishi to take care of the final things, the satisfied little fat boy climbed onto the carriage happily and ran back to the royal city under the protection of a group of elite soldiers to report to his grandfather.
…
In the afternoon, the faint aroma of tea wafted through the Zhangtai Palace, which was thick with autumn.
The grandfather and grandson sat opposite each other on the seat by the window.
When the First Emperor, wearing a Tongtian crown and a long black robe, saw his grandson running back from the northern suburbs happily, and how he described the entire process of interrogating the Xiang family uncle and nephew with such and such gestures, he couldn't help but twitch his eyelids slightly. After patiently listening to all the little guy's words, he couldn't help but reveal a strange expression of amusement and disbelief. He looked at the chubby little boy with sparkling almond eyes and raised his eyebrows and said:
"Ying, in other words, the clever tactic you devised to interrogate the Xiang uncle and nephew was to flatter Xiang Yan, who had died long ago, and erect a glittering moral archway for the Xiang family?"
Hearing the grandfather's precise summary, the chubby Ying, who was sitting with her legs crossed, felt as if she had met a close friend. Her face immediately turned rosy and she raised her hands high in the air, cheering:
"Yes, Grandfather really can see the essence through the phenomenon! That's absolutely right!"
"To be honest, Father, before Ying prepared to subdue Xiang Yu's uncle and nephew and Zhang Liang, he had already carefully considered their personalities."
"Although these three men were renowned nobles of fallen states in the former lands of Chu and Han, the Xiang clan and Zhang Liang differed greatly in experience and temperament. The Xiang family was a lineage of generals, while the Zhang family was a lineage of chancellors. As descendants of military commanders, Xiang Liang and his nephew were unruly and untamable. Xiang Ji was even more impulsive, courageous but reckless, and prone to madness at the slightest provocation. If they were to be tamed and used by the Qin army, the more forceful the tactics, the more excited they would be."
"They could only use soft tactics, starting with the father they idolized. That's why the grandson repeatedly emphasized Xiang Yan's achievements for the Chu State, deliberately flattering him. Finally, he used the promise of a 'famous general of the Qin Dynasty' and 'a promising future where Xiang Yan will be proud of them, uncle and nephew', to make them see a bright future for the family's revival. Only then did he finally get them to take the bait with both soft and hard tactics."
"The bait has been cast. Even if the Xiang uncle and nephew calm down and understand their grandson's plan for them, they may feel a little reluctant deep down. But in order to maintain the brilliant moral archway that Ying has built for their father/grandfather, and to have their father/grandfather praised in the Qin history books, they have no choice but to hold their noses, put aside their rebellious thoughts, and serve the Qin obediently."
"Compared to the other two, Zhang Liang, with his feminine looks, appears vulnerable and easily bullied, but in reality, he's incredibly arrogant and difficult to deal with. With a man like him, you absolutely cannot use soft tactics. The moment you reveal his true identity, you must ruthlessly shatter his image of a family that has served as prime minister for five generations!"
"Only by devaluing the Han Xiang family's ability to assist the government, which Zhang Liang was so proud of, and crushing all their past glory into nothing, can I anger this stubborn Han Xiang and break his defenses. To clear the name of their family before the world, even if he harbors resentment towards me, he will step by step follow the path of fame and fortune planned for him by Ying, until the day when he is forced to serve my grandfather and the Qin Dynasty!"
Looking at the little fellow, who looked like a chubby little kitten commanding the country, with his tail raised high in front of him with a proud tone, and telling him the rules in his mind in a childish but logical voice, the First Emperor's narrow and long phoenix eyes were shining with joy and pride, and he liked his darling grandson more and more!
This clever and beautiful chubby kid is the bloodline of his Qin imperial family, and he is Ying Zheng's grandson, equivalent to eighteen sons! With a grandson like this, why worry about the empire's prosperity?
Once you grasp the real key points, all those weird, greasy and vicious words can be thrown aside.
Seeing that her grandfather was obviously happy after hearing what she said, Qin Ying rubbed his little head with her big hands and laughed out loud, which unconsciously made her transparent cat's tail lift higher and shake more happily.
Having achieved their goal, the grandfather and grandson were enjoying themselves in the palace. On the other hand, the uncle and nephew of the Xiang family who were still staying in the mausoleum were taken away by Meng Yi to a closed room in the royal mausoleum. Under Meng Yi's close watch, Xiang Liang had to pick up his brush and write the information about the anti-Qin remnants in Chu with mixed feelings on a blank thick booklet.
Outside the wooden window, the sunlight slants thinly.
The candlelight flickered inside the wooden window.
Under Meng Yi's cold face and the worried gaze of his eldest nephew, Xiang Liang knelt beside the desk in the dim candlelight, with beads of sweat on his head and his right hand trembling, and he wrote at the desk all night long.
The next day, dawn.
Meng Yi, who had also not slept all night, hurried back to the royal city in the late autumn morning dew. As soon as he entered the palace, he immediately handed the booklet on the anti-Qin forces in Chu that Xiang Liang had written all night to the emperor.
In front of the carved glass window in the dim morning light, the floor-to-ceiling eye-protection lamp emitted a soft white light. The First Emperor sat in a comfortable massage chair, holding a thick book in his hand, looking down with an indifferent expression as he flipped through the pages one by one.
Seeing the yellowed pages and the rows of black characters, from the county governor to the humble soldier in the government office, all of them had the ambition to overthrow Qin and restore Chu, and their names were all in the book, the tall emperor was almost infuriated. He closed the book and threw it on the lacquer table. With hawk-like eyes and an icy voice, he looked at Meng Yi at the table and said coldly:
"Yi, take my token, select five hundred elite soldiers, and quickly lead Xiang Liang into Chu to capture all the traitors mentioned in this booklet! If anyone dares to rebel against you, there is no need to file a petition; they will be executed on the spot for treason!"
Hearing the emperor's solemn and angry voice, which sounded like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, Meng Yi, who was standing beside the table with his brows lowered and his head bowed, was startled. He hurriedly bowed and said "yes" to the emperor, then turned around and ran to do his work.
After watching his trusted and loyal minister leave quickly, the First Emperor stood up from the massage chair and took out a book made of Xuanniao paper from a bookshelf that his grandson had given him. Looking at the lines of square simplified Chinese characters written on the off-white paper, which described the new official selection method of "Ju Xiaolian" and "Imperial Examination System", he frowned and fell into deep thought.
The Chu people were able to take advantage of the fact that the emperor was far away and quietly gathered a group of anti-Qin people from all counties and prefectures. Of course, there was the current difficulty in supervision, but a deeper and more direct reason was that the Qin Empire was too short of civil servants!
This has been a problem and shortcoming that has existed since the Qin Dynasty. The Qin State has never lacked military generals, but it has been extremely short of literary talents who can assist in governing the country. Since Qin Xiaogong issued the order to recruit talents, the Qin State, located in the western frontier, has not produced talents, but has only become a shelter for talents from outside the Great Wall.
Before unification, among the senior ruling class in Xianyang City, there were old Qin nobles and civil servants from outside the Great Wall to assist in the administration, which was certainly enough for the size of a vassal state. However, after unification, the land area expanded several times in an instant, but the number of officials within Qin could not keep up. This created a very embarrassing reality - although the former territories of the six countries outside the Great Wall were conquered by the Qin army and the countries were abolished and turned into counties, except for the high-ranking officials of the counties who could be directly appointed from Xianyang, the rest of the grassroots officials in various places were selected from their place of origin. Except for the changes at the top level, the grassroots areas outside the Great Wall were still governed by Chu people and Han people. If these native officials had Qin in their hearts and recognized Qin laws, they would naturally do their jobs well, but if they had hatred for Qin in their hearts, it would be easy for them to take the opportunity to cause trouble in the local area.
Thinking of what Meng Yi had told Han Xin when he returned from Chu last year, that the farther away from Qin, the less deterrent effect of Qin law on the locals, the First Emperor could not help but clench the book in his hand, narrowed his eyes, and his grandson's proposal to establish an academy, set up imperial examinations, and cultivate cultural seeds loyal to the Qin Dynasty was on his mind.
However, a proposal is just a proposal. There is still a long way to go before the charter is actually implemented.
It is certainly important to design a complete civil service training system from top to bottom, but relying on the current strong military of the Qin Dynasty and the fact that people outside the Great Wall have no chance to attack, it is necessary to send troops early to deter the barbarians and expand the territory without delay!
There were a lot of things he wanted to do and a ton of things he needed to do. The more Qin Shi Huang thought about it, the more his emotions became turbulent. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and sorted out the many ambitions in his heart according to their importance, and told himself - take it slow, he still had plenty of time in this life.
…
The autumn rain keeps falling.
Under the ravages of the bleak autumn wind, the yellow leaves on the trees outside the window turned into dead leaves. When the biting winter wind swept in mercilessly, the leaves on the trees flew off the branches like dead leaf butterflies, leaving only sharp dead branches, some black and some brown, standing up into the sky.
Xiang Ji, who had taken off his prison uniform and put on a winter robe, was still trapped in the closed room in the royal mausoleum in the northern suburbs. Snow was falling outside. The tall young man with double pupils looked out the window with worry. It had been more than half a month since his uncle was taken away by Meng Yi. As winter came, Xianyang welcomed the beginning of the new year. He didn't know what had happened to his uncle who had returned to Chu to help the Qin people as an insider.
The sighs of the young man in the confinement room could not be heard by Wang Ling.
Zhang Liang, who was also imprisoned, had become emaciated and looked so haggard that he was almost skin and bones.
Sitting with his back against the stone wall, Young Master Han lowered his eyes expressionlessly as he looked at the short wheat straw stalks arranged in the shape of a "正" character, which were almost leaving no space for them. He was in such a gloomy mood that the wall was almost turning into a wetland swamp.
From winter to winter, in the blink of an eye, the uncle and nephew of the Xiang family had disappeared in prison for more than half a month, and he had been in this cold prison for a whole year.
Sitting on a pile of wheat straw, Zhang Liang leaned against the cold stone wall behind him and uttered a sound of deep sarcasm. He was pinching or bending a smooth straw in his slender fingers, playing with it. It was snowing outside, and the straw was freezing his hands, as if the snow outside the window had also drifted in. Realizing that he had been fooled by that little devil Qin Ying for a whole year, Prime Minister Han felt cold both physically and mentally.
Just when he had decided to give up his fantasy and seriously plan how to escape from prison and make a comeback outside the border, a series of surprised and respectful greetings suddenly rang out from outside the heavy prison cell:
"Your humble servant greets His Royal Highness the Grandson of the Emperor."
"Your humble servant greets Lord Xiaoan."
“…”
As soon as the honorifics "Your Highness the Emperor's Grandson" and "Prince Xiao'an" were uttered, the resentful Han Xianggongzi, who was leaning against the cold stone wall like a dark mushroom, had already kicked and mixed up the densely packed "正" characters on the wall with his hands and feet before his brain could react.
When the three-year-old Ying·Little Fatty held a small gilded copper hand warmer, and led the powerful and strong Zhang Han under the admiring gaze of the black-clad jailers, and under the gaze of the prisoners on both sides who were either shocked, surprised, or frightened, he walked to the door of the last cell with a smile on his face, slowly and steadily tossed his two short legs, and opened his mouth to the man trapped inside, and shouted out a very standard festive greeting to the audience in the Spring Festival Gala in later generations:
"Oh, Mr. Zhang Liang, I miss you so much!"
Finally, that hateful yet familiar, childish voice reached his ears. Zhang Liang, who was sitting against the wall on a pile of straw, frowned and turned to look. Unexpectedly, the moment his eyes met the short, fat kid's outside through the gap in the wooden railings, the tyrant's good grandson seemed to be struck by lightning. Not only did his bright smile freeze, but he also pressed his round face against the cell door in disbelief. His clear, black and white, almond-shaped eyes widened into a round and wide, as if he was furious. He turned around and complained to the black-clad jailers who were following closely behind him:
"You fools! Fools! How could you be so hypocritical? This imperial grandson clearly instructed you to take good care of Mr. Zhang Liang, so why are you still letting him live in this cold, shabby cell that's like a snow cave? Hurry up and open the cell door and hand this little hand warmer to Mr. Zhang Liang. Look, he's shrunk from the cold and his face has turned pale!"
Hearing the emperor's eldest grandson's childish scolding, the jailers following behind him busily opened the locks and held hand warmers.
After a series of rapid clanking sounds of iron chains and copper locks, the wooden cell door flew open. The black-clad jailer hurriedly held a small hand warmer and bent over to hand it to the middle-aged man sitting on the straw pile. "Sir, a hand warmer."
Zhang Liang sat against the wall, his prison uniform was thin and dirty, but despite looking extremely shabby, he did not give people a sloppy and dirty feeling. Perhaps it was because his face was too handsome and too white.
He lifted his thin eyelids and looked past the jailer who was hunched over the stove in front of him, at the chubby kid who came in right behind him. The corners of his mouth, which were white from the cold, twitched slightly, and a pleasant voice that sounded neither happy nor angry escaped him:
"Who asked you to bring it? I'm sorry for the trouble he's taking. I'm freezing to death! Oh, you actually listen to him. You always turn a deaf ear to what I say to you. Why do you listen to him the moment he says it? You're quicker than an imperial decree..." [1]
The jailer, standing with his head bowed, was stunned upon hearing this. He stared at Zhang Liang in astonishment, thinking to himself—No? Suspect, you don't have a brain disease, do you?! You, Zhang Liang, are a prisoner! The Emperor's eldest grandson is His Majesty's precious grandson. If I don't listen to His Majesty, how can I listen to you, a prisoner?
Following closely behind, Ying, the chubby little boy who had come closer, was instantly struck dumb by Zhang Liang's strange yet familiar sarcasm and complaint. He stood there, stunned, staring at Zhang Liang's cold, curled smile as he looked at him. His mind was flooded with a single, emotionally charged line: "Oh my god! How come 'Liang Baihua' has gotten even more irritable after not seeing him for so long?! He even shamelessly stole Lin Daiyu's line?!"
The overly shocked Ying, the little fat boy, seemed to have seen something rare and strange in the world. He could not help but stare at "Liang Baihua" with his eyes wide open, and his beautiful phoenix eyes blinked like stars in the sky.
Zhang Han, who followed the emperor's eldest grandson closely and protected him, also lowered his eyes with a puzzled and complicated look on his face as he glanced at Zhang Liang, who was sitting quietly on the straw pile.
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