At the end of the Warring States period, the struggle between countries was extremely fierce. Qin was one of the Seven Heroes at that time. Qin Zhaowang, the great-grandfather of Qin Shihuang, listened to the strategy of "making friends far away and attacking near", aimed at neighboring South Korea and Wei, and United with Zhao in the distance. According to the practice at that time, the two countries exchanged hostages to show their sincerity. Qin sent Qin Shihuang's father to see Zhao, not the grandson of the son of the prince (Qin Shihuang's grandfather). Zi Chu's mother, The Last Month Of Summer, is not favored by Ann Guo Jun, while Zi Chu is in the middle of more than 20 sons of Ann Guo Jun, not the eldest son, so her status is very low. She chose him when she chose the hostage, so he was sent to Zhao and survived as a hostage.
At that time, a wealthy businessman named Yang Zhai passed by Handan, the capital of Zhao State, and met a man who was good at speculating and profiting. When he met Zi Chu, he felt that there were "rare goods to live in", and he made an abacus to take advantage of his fame and fortune, so he fell in love with him. Being in a foreign country, Zi Chu felt lonely. Now someone cares so much about himself, which not only makes him grateful, but also makes them become good friends.
Lv Buwei decided to try his best to make Zi Chu not only return to the State of Qin, but also occupy an important position in the State of Qin, so he made a series of elaborate plans-he was very familiar with the inside story of the State of Qin at that time, and knew that although Ann loved Mrs. Huayang the most, Mrs. Huayang had no son, so he made up his mind to let Mrs. Huayang take her stepson Chu as his son. Then, after Prince Ann Guo Jun acceded to the throne, Zi Chu is also a prince, and he will certainly use his special political capital to earn countless dollars.
So Lv Buwei took her daughter out and made friends with Zi Chu. He himself went to Qin with a lot of rare treasures. When he arrived in Qin, he first found Mrs. Huayang's sister. Lv Buwei showed his eloquence, saying that Zi Chu was wise, smart, made friends all over the world, and ambitious. Although I am in a foreign land, I miss Ann Guo Jun and Mrs Huayang every day, and sometimes I burst into tears. Lv Buwei also persuaded Mrs. Huayang's sister to lobby Mrs. Huayang to adopt one of her sons as soon as possible, so that she can be a Chu Jun. Otherwise, what can we rely on when she is old and faded? Now being held hostage by Zhao, I miss the Prince and his wife day and night. Why not seize this opportunity to make Zichu his heir? Chu will be grateful in this way, and his wife will have a lifetime of support. Why not?
Although deeply loved by the prince, childless has always been the concern of Mrs. Huayang. After some lobbying by her sister, Mrs Huayang readily agreed to Lv Buwei's request, so she persuaded him to make Zi Chu his successor with the love of a Guo Junren.
Since then, Zi Chu's situation and status have changed greatly: Ann Guo Jun and Mrs Huayang gave Zi Chu enough money and asked Lv Buwei to be his teacher to help Zi Chu. The friendship between Lv Buwei and Zi Chu is getting deeper and deeper. Together, they are looking forward to Zi Chu's return to China to become a prince, preparing for the day when he succeeds to the throne.
Lv Buwei is a visionary. At this time, he has already begun to prepare for the future relying on Zi Chu to make great achievements in the State of Qin. First, he bought Evonne, a famous geisha in Handan, as his concubine. After getting pregnant, Lv Buwei said to her, "I'm going to Qin to seek the world. Now he is Zhao's hostage, and he is not married. I'm going to give you to him, because he will definitely return to the state of Qin in the future and will definitely be king. After he died, he said to her. Evonne agreed.
So Lv Buwei deliberately created an opportunity for Zi Chu to meet Evonne. As soon as Zi Chu saw Evonne, he was fascinated by Evonne's elegance and style. Lv Buwei took the opportunity to "generously" hand over the beauty, but the fact that the beauty was pregnant was concealed. Appreciated Zi Chu immediately said that if he is the king of Qin in the future, he will enjoy wealth with Lv Buwei.
After Zi Chu got Zhao Ji, he and Evonne saved for a rainy day. Eight months later, Zhao Ji gave birth to a son, and Zi Chu had his first son. Because the child was born on the first day of the first lunar month, it was named Zheng and later changed to Zheng. Because it was born in Zhao, it is called.
Three years later, when Qin and Zhao were at odds and Handan was besieged, Zhao tried to kill Qin when he was besieged. So, he bought off the guarding city officials with a lot of money, which made him escape from Handan and return to Qin. Zhao Zheng and his mother escaped the fatal disaster under the cover of their grandmother's house.
When Zi Chu returned to Qin State to meet Mrs. Huayang, she cried and told her feelings of parting for many years. Because Mrs Huayang was originally a Chu woman, Zi Chu deliberately changed to wear Chu clothes. Mrs. Huayang was very excited and said to her son Chu, "I was originally from Chu. You can express my thoughts, and I am willing to raise you as a son. " So Zi Chu worshiped Mrs Huayang, the crown princess who was only three years older than him and had no children, as his mother. From then on, I greet you in the morning and evening, and I am very diligent.
Six years later, in 2 15 BC, Zhao Xiang, king of Qin, died and Guo Jun ascended the throne. This is King Xiaowen of Qin, Mrs Huayang is the queen, and Zi Chu is the prince. At this time, the relationship between Qin and Zhao was restored to the former friendly state, and Qin Shihuang and his mother were able to return to Qin. Emperor Xiaowen of Qin reigned for a short time. He first mourned for his father for a year, and died only three days after he officially ascended the throne. So he acceded to the throne as the king of Qin, that is, the king of Qin Zhuang, the wife of Huayang as the queen mother of Huayang, the biological mother as the queen mother of Xia, the queen and the heir. At this time, Zhao Zheng returned to the State of Qin, so he changed his name to Ying Zheng. Zi Chu didn't break his original promise. He not only made himself prime minister, but also made him an official, eating 100,000 households in Luoyang, Henan Province, and having tens of thousands of children. Lv Buwei finally realized his long-cherished wish through speculation.
Zi Chu was exhausted by Xue Jing because of his chaotic life in the palace. He died of a stroke four years after he ascended the throne, at the age of 36. So in 247 BC, Ying Zheng, who had just turned 13 years old, ascended the throne of the king of Qin. Because she was young, the Queen Mother Zhao Ji listened to politics and appointed Lv Buwei as "Guan Zhong" to handle state affairs.
Strive to swallow six countries
At that time, the relationship between Evonne and Lv Buwei was very good. Although she is now the empress dowager, she has a prominent position. However, after being widowed for a long time, they couldn't stand the loneliness in the palace, so they reunited with Lv Buwei. However, as Ying Zheng grew up day by day, Lv Buwei was afraid that adultery would be exposed and lead to death, so he found himself a body double. He recommended Laoyi to Evonne and asked Laoyi to pretend to be a eunuch and serve Evonne in the palace. From then on, Evonne and Laoyi were insatiable in the harem, and Evonne soon became pregnant. Laoyi and Evonne colluded with each other, bribed fortune tellers, and lied that the palace was bad for the Queen Mother and they wanted to move to avoid disaster. Ying Zheng didn't know there was fraud, so he asked his mother to move to the Lama Temple. From then on, the mother and son were not in the same place, so don't worry, so that Evonne gave birth to two baby boys in succession, and Ying Zheng didn't know it. On the contrary, at his mother's request, he gave Lao Ai a long letter and gave thousands of handmaiden and food to his city, Yang Shan.
In this way, there are two people around Ying Zheng who pose a threat to his regime: one is Lv Buwei and the other is Ai. In the eighth year of the King of Qin, that is, in 239 BC, Ying Zheng was 21 years old. According to the old system of Qin, the coronation ceremony was held in the second year, and then he could take power. And Lao Yi demonstrated to him at this time, especially Lao Yi relied on his influence to privately divide the land, seal the Hou, and even secretly conspired with their illegitimate child to make them king. However, Ying Zheng remained silent in the face of provocation, but held a coronation ceremony as planned, secretly looking for opportunities to eradicate the threat.
Although Lao Ai's authority is getting bigger and bigger, he is an ordinary person after all. When he is proud, he will inevitably get carried away. One day, he got drunk with a minister and had an argument with him. Lao Ai scolded each other and said, "I am the fake father of the King of Qin. Do you dare to quarrel with me? " Are you as blind as a bat and don't understand competition? Unwilling to be humiliated, the minister told Ying Zheng these words. When Ying Zheng heard the news, he flew into a rage and immediately sent someone to investigate secretly. Later, I got a tip-off that Lao Ai was not a eunuch, but had an affair with the Queen Mother and gave birth to a child. After learning the news, Lao Ai was unwilling to do nothing, so he forged letters to take the opportunity to rebel and killed Ying Zheng. The result was put down by Qin Shihuang, who had long been on guard. Lao Ai was arrested, eventually dismembered by five horses, and three families were killed. His accomplices killed more than 20 people, involving as many as 4000 people. Two illegitimate children born to Empress Zhao and Lao Ai were also killed, and Empress Zhao was placed under house arrest. Finally, under the persuasion of his ministers, Ying Zheng personally took his mother back to Xianyang.
Lv Buwei sent false eunuch into the palace to accompany the Empress Dowager and committed the crime of deceiving the monarch. They were supposed to sit together, but because they were former Wang Ligong, they were removed from the title of Prime Minister and ordered to hang out in the countryside of Henan. Lv Buwei lived in Henan for more than a year, and the vassal states of Shandong sent more envoys to inquire, and the envoys came in an endless stream. After this incident was known by Ying Zheng, in order to prevent him from plotting regime change, Ying Zheng sent someone to Lv Buwei to send a suicide note, in which Lv Buwei was reprimanded: "What contribution did you make to the State of Qin, but you were able to seize Luoyang and eat hundreds of thousands of grain cities? What is your relationship with Qin, but you got the title of Guanzhong? Go to Xishu for me! " After reading the letter, Lv Buwei sighed and almost cried. He thought that if he told Ying Zheng that he was his biological father, Ying Zheng, who was violent and arrogant, would never let himself go in order not to expose his dirty laundry, but if he went to Xishu, there would be no good result. After careful consideration, he thought it would be better to commit suicide, so as not to suffer. He took the wine, barely swallowed it, and died instantly. A few years later, Evonne also died. After Evonne's death, Ying Zheng quietly buried his mother in Zi Chu's mausoleum.
At this point, Zheng Can can be said to have eliminated all opponents who posed a threat to his regime, so he began to take military action against the six countries. Under Ying Zheng, there are a group of talented civil servants and military commanders. With their assistance, Ying Zheng adopted the policy of "making far-reaching friends and attacking near", concentrating its forces, making it easy first, then difficult, breaking through in the middle, then sweeping its wings, and finally destroying it. Seize the opportunity in time in the implementation. Flexibly changing the main attack direction, military attack accompanied by political disintegration, the combination of the two was handy, which accelerated the process of reunification, and it took ten years to destroy the six countries and unify China.
Korea was the first to be wiped out. In the 14th year of the Qin Dynasty, that is, in 233 BC, South Korea ceded territory to become a vassal, which failed to save the fate of extinction. Three years later, Qin captured the king of South Korea and destroyed South Korea. Then the State of Qin attacked the State of Zhao, captured the King of Zhao, and Gongzijia fled to Dai Jun, known as Daiwang. In the twenty-fifth year of the King of Qin, Dai Wang was also captured, and Zhao finally perished.
In the twentieth year of the King of Qin, General Wang Jianling led his troops to attack Yan. To the west of Yishui, Qin defeated Yan and Dai. Capture Ji Cheng (now Beijing), the capital of Yan State. The prince fled to Liaodong. Later, the prince had to kill Taizi Dan, who sent Jing Ke to assassinate the king of Qin, and dedicated his head to Qin Jun for peace. By the twenty-fifth year of the King of Qin, the last king of the State of Yan, Xi, was captured and the State of Yan perished. At the same time, Wei was destroyed by Qin Jun.
In the twenty-third year of the King of Qin, Qin Jun attacked the State of Chu, but was defeated by the Chu army because of too few troops. The King of Qin sent veteran Wang Jian to war, followed his advice and gave 600,000 troops. As a result, it took Wang Jian three years to finally win the state of Chu.
Qi was finally wiped out. When Qin fought against the other five countries in succession, Qi not only stood by and made an alliance with Qin, but didn't realize that his future was the same as that of the other five countries. Therefore, Qi did not make any preparations for war. When the Five Kingdoms were destroyed in the twenty-sixth year of the King of Qin, Qi sent troops to prepare for resisting Qin and broke off diplomatic relations with Qin, but it was too late. After Wang Ben, the general of the State of Qin, finally destroyed the State of Yan, he led a large-scale army south and captured the King of Qi alive in World War I. Since then, after the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, feudalism formed on the land of China ended and the six countries were unified in Qin. The territory of Qin is extremely vast, starting from the Great Wall and Yinshan Mountain in the north and reaching Vietnam in the south, which is now the Lingnan area. Qin also set up Nanhai, Guilin and other places for management. The western boundary of the territory is Longxi and the eastern boundary extends to Liaodong.
At this point, Ying Zheng was only 39 years old.
Carry out reform and build an empire
After the unification of the six countries, Ying Zheng thought he was highly respected in Huang San and made contributions to the five emperors, so he called the emperor and the emperor "the emperor", so he called himself the first emperor, which means starting with him. From then on, all the emperors in China were called emperors. Zheng Gang is called the first emperor, which means that his descendants have been called II, III and even the whole world since he started. He carried out a set of reform measures to maintain the unification of the feudal empire, which played a great role in the unification and development of China's politics, economy and culture.
According to Qin Shihuang, if the emperor wants to master the political power of the whole country, he can no longer enfeoffment governors and manage a place like the Western Zhou Dynasty, which leads to the final independence of governors, uncontrolled central government and chaos in the world. So he abolished the enfeoffment system since the Yin and Zhou Dynasties and implemented the county system, that is, the whole country was divided into 36 counties, which had jurisdiction over counties. The chief is the chief, and the chief has two names, one is the county magistrate (more than 10,000) and the other is the county magistrate (less than 10,000). Below the county level are Xiang, Ting, Li, Shi and Wu, which is a paramilitary management system. Five grassroots people are a unit, and the corporal is responsible. What is made up of ten, and who is in charge.
Set up three officials and nine ministers in the central government to assist the emperor in handling state affairs. Sangong is the Prime Minister, Qiu and an imperial envoy. The prime minister is the chief executive, who assists the emperor in handling government affairs and is also responsible for managing civil and military officials. Qiu is the highest military and political chief in charge of military affairs, but he has no military power at ordinary times and has to obey the emperor's orders in wartime. Moreover, he needed the emperor's Jeff to mobilize the army, and the military power was actually in the hands of the emperor. The inspector is responsible for supervising officials and is also the deputy prime minister. Imperial edicts are generally handed over to the prime minister for execution by the imperial censor.
Under the three fairs is Jiuqing: Feng Chang, who is in charge of ancestral temple etiquette; Langzhongling, responsible for conveying the emperor's orders and the emperor's guards; Wei Yan, the chief bodyguard of the imperial court, is responsible for the daily guards of the emperor's residence; Servants, whose main job is to serve the emperor and take charge of his chariots and horses; Ting Wei, in charge of national judicial affairs, is responsible for hearing major cases; Temple branch, responsible for the country's external affairs and internal minority affairs; Living in Zheng Zheng is an official who specializes in royal affairs; Manage the internal history of Xiaomi, manage the central finance, and be responsible for the national tax work; Shaofu was the emperor's private financial official, who managed all the Yamazawa Lake and palace handicrafts of the emperor.
The management of officials in the Qin Dynasty was very strict, and many laws were enacted to punish officials. Officials who break the law are not privileged as in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but are given heavier punishment. This made the bureaucracy of the Qin Dynasty very clear and the efficiency of the government extremely high. The requirements for officials are very strict, and they must be familiar with the law, but they are also given high positions.
In this way, from the central government to the local government, all rights were concentrated on the emperor, which greatly strengthened the centralization of monarchy.
In addition to the political system reform, Qin Shihuang also took a series of measures to consolidate centralized rule.
In order to defend the northern territory, he asked Meng Tian, a general, to lead an army to defend the Xiongnu in the north, and connected the Great Wall built by various countries during the Warring States Period to resist the Xiongnu's attack. Qin Changcheng, which starts from Minshan Mountain in Gansu in the west and ends in Liaodong in the east, is known as the Great Wall of Wan Li in history. This is a great project built by working people in ancient China, and it is also one of the wonders of the world.
Qin Shihuang also ordered the construction of official roads, that is, relaxation roads. Taking Xianyang as the center, * * * made three articles, one of which arrived in Inner Mongolia north; One leads eastward to Hebei and Shandong until the seaside; One goes south, connecting the two lakes and Jiangsu. The equator is fifty paces wide, and a pine tree is planted every three feet on both sides. The establishment of the equator has greatly shortened the time of information dissemination, which is conducive to the strengthening of centralization and the timely transmission of government decrees.
In order to eradicate the rebellion of the descendants of the six countries, Qin Shihuang moved the descendants and nobles together with the rich families to more than 6,543,800 households near Xianyang, which was convenient for monitoring and prospered the capital economy.
At the same time, Qin Shihuang also reformed and unified the original chaotic weights and measures and currency, and unified Chinese characters, taking Qin Xiaozhuan as the national common language, which greatly promoted cultural exchanges around the country.
Tyranny is worse than a tiger burning books and burying Confucianism.
After Qin Shihuang unified the world, he was satisfied with arrogance, cruelty and cruelty. The endless collection of taxes and voluntary labor, the construction of the Great Wall, palaces and mausoleums, and the opening of borders have plunged the vast number of peasants who have just been freed from the suffering of war into exhausted labor.
Qin Shihuang liked the magnificent palaces of the six countries very much, so whenever a country was destroyed, he took down the pictures of the palaces and copied them in Xianyang. Qin Shihuang built many palaces, including more than 270 around Xianyang alone, more than 400 outside the customs and more than 300 inside the customs. Among these palaces, Epang Palace is the largest and most famous. Because it was burned by Xiang Yu at the end of Qin Dynasty, it is impossible to estimate its scale now, but according to historical records, the things in the front hall of Epang Palace alone are 500 steps wide, about 700 meters. There are 50 feet in the north and 50 feet in the south, which is equivalent to 1 15 meters. The doors of the temple are made of magnets, which are mainly used to prevent people from carrying weapons to assassinate. There are twelve bronze men in front of the temple, that is, twelve bronze men cast with confiscated folk weapons. However, when Qin Shihuang died on a tour, Epang Palace had not yet been built. This huge project needs 700 thousand migrant workers every year.
Another grand project is to build Qin Shihuang's own Lishan Mausoleum, which also employs more than 700,000 people every year. Coupled with other employment, such as building the Great Wall, building roads, and doing military service all the year round, the number of people serving in Qin reaches as many as 30 thousand every year, and men are not recruited enough, and sometimes women are recruited.
In order to accumulate wealth for his large-scale construction, Qin Shihuang formulated a dime a dozen of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees. Traditionally, people advocated living with their elders to show filial piety, while Qin Shihuang wanted married men to be separated from their parents, so that the state could collect more taxes according to the number of households.
The tyranny of Qin Shihuang led to boiling public grievances. In order to prevent the people from rebelling, Qin Shihuang made strict laws. The Qin law only divides the death penalty into slaughter, beheading, car chopping, pit (buried alive), chisel (chiseled brain) and threatened beheading, and implements the method of sitting together and clan punishment. These severe criminal laws were imposed to suppress people's resistance. Harsh laws make people live in dire straits, and ordinary people easily break the law, and the punishment is of course quite severe. People's feet are often cut off, resulting in a large number of disabled people. It turns out that the people long for reunification and end the endless war in order to live a peaceful life from now on. Now they are extremely disappointed by the tyranny of Qin, and the loss of the people's heart of Qin is the main reason for its rapid demise.
Qin Shihuang was a feudal ruler who was famous for his cruelty in the history of China. Burning books and burying Confucianism is one of his most appalling atrocities, shocking ancient and modern times. For thousands of years, it has been accused by thousands of people, and almost everyone knows it. Known as the first large-scale catastrophe of knowledge, culture and intellectuals in China.
Qin Shihuang's harsh laws aroused the dissatisfaction of scholars and accused them one after another. Li Si, the prime minister, advocated severely suppressing these audacious scholars. He wrote a letter to Qin Shihuang, demanding that the book be burned. That is, all the history books except Ji Qin have been burned, and the classics collected by the people and scholars all over the country and the classics of a hundred schools of thought have also been burned by the government. Anyone who dares to disobey orders and discuss affairs will be put to death. If the official deliberately conceals it, he will be punished by the bookkeeper. Except for a few history books, only books about agriculture, divination and medicine were left. Qin Shihuang agreed with Lisi and ordered the whole country to burn books, which was a purge of China culture and a concentrated expression of the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, just like the law.
Before the reunification of Qin, Wang Zheng attached great importance to the opinions of talents. But these are the violent aspects that he temporarily hid in order to achieve the highest goal of reunification. Now that the great cause of reunification has been realized, there is no need to hide his violent character. Therefore, if anyone dares to criticize him and challenge his authority, Qin Shihuang will not tolerate it. At that time, many people resented the tyranny of Qin Shihuang, and the remarks against him spread all over the world. This made Qin Shihuang fly into a rage and sent the empire to trace it all over the country, and finally arrested more than 460 people. Qin Shihuang ordered a piece to be taken to Lishan Valley and buried alive. Because most of these people are Confucian scholars, they are called "pit Confucianism" by later generations. He also exiled many people, but his eldest son, Fu Su, dissuaded him and was released to the frontier.
Seeking longevity in the East will eventually lead to the West.
Qin Shihuang was very superstitious. Once he failed to cross the Xiangjiang River because of the barrier of geomantic omen. He blamed this on the worship of the goddess Xiang Jun, so he sent 3000 prisoners to the mountain to cut down trees as revenge.
After Qin Shihuang became emperor, he dreamed of becoming a god and living forever in the throne. At first, he thought that the throne of the emperor should be held by his family alone and should be passed down from generation to generation. However, handed down from generation to generation, it is not as comfortable as sitting alone for several generations, so he became superstitious and wanted to live forever, so he tried his best to find the elixir. He listened to the deception of the famous alchemists Xu Fu, Lu Sheng, Han Zhong, Shi Sheng, harem and so on, and went to the sea for many times to seek immortality. Later, Qin Shihuang led hundreds of officials and ministers to climb Mount Tai to worship Zen, making five rounds, crowding around and hugging each other. Although he has the purpose of showing off his literary martial arts to the whole world, it is also a very important reason to go to the East China Sea to seek immortality medicine. In order to find immortals and get fairy medicine, Qin Shihuang always went to the seaside to patrol, because he heard that immortals always appeared at the seaside. I have been to Jieshi (now Changli, Hebei Province) once, Chengshan (now Chengshanjiao, Shandong Province) twice, and wolves and evil spirits have been in harmony three times, because these places are legendary places where immortals often land. Qin Shihuang sent many alchemists everywhere to seek immortality and find medicine. The famous Xu Fudong crossed the sea in Japan and was sent by Qin Shihuang to seek the elixir of life for Qin Shihuang.
In order to build Epang Palace and Lishan Tomb, Qin Shihuang recruited more than 700,000 migrant workers from all over the country and spent countless money and materials, which was opposed by the people all over the country. By 2 1 1 BC, a serious incident cursed Qin Shihuang happened in Dong Jun (now Puyang, Henan). That year, a meteorite landed in Dong Jun, and some people secretly carved seven words on it because they hated Qin Shihuang: "The first emperor died and divided the world." When the story reached the capital, Qin Shihuang was very angry. He immediately sent an imperial doctor to Dong Jun to find out who carved words on meteorites. The doctor was advised to trace it there for many days, but he never found any clues. Qin Shihuang was very angry and simply ordered everyone near the meteorite to be arrested and killed.
Qin Shihuang was superstitious, and since this incident, he has been suspicious and restless all day. Later, he found a divination list and calculated a divination for himself. The divination order said to him, "Your Majesty has had some misfortune this year. Only by moving or going out for a cruise can we eliminate disasters. " After listening to the Oracle, Qin Shihuang decided to cruise the East. Qin Shihuang made five large-scale cruises, and this is the last time.
In 120 BC, Qin Shihuang led a large group of people out for a cruise. He set off from Xianyang, the capital, and went straight to Yunmeng in the south (now Honghu Lake and Dongting Lake) to worship his ancestors in Jiuyi Mountain. Then, I sailed eastward, landed in Danyang (now Dangtu, Anhui Province), arrived in Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province), crossed the river and climbed Huiji Mountain, where I sacrificed Dayu to control water and carved stones. After going down the mountain, he went north from Wuzhong (now Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province) to continue his journey of seeking immortality. In order to visit the immortals, Qin Shihuang always went north along the seaside, but he never got anything. Finally, the disappointed Qin Shihuang had to return. Unexpectedly, when he arrived in Pingyuan (now Pingyuan County, Shandong Province), Qin Shihuang fell ill because of fatigue and high temperature. Zhao Gao, Reese and Hu Hai all knew that Qin Shihuang's time was running out, but no one dared to ask him about the state affairs behind him. As his illness became more and more serious, Qin Shihuang also knew that he was dying and would not live long. So he thought of the question of succession to the throne after death, thought of Fu Su, the elder son who is self-serious and politically minded, and wanted Fu Su to inherit the throne. But at this time, Fu Su was sent to the Northern Prison Army because of his policy of opposing Qin Shihuang's burning books and burying Confucianism. So Qin Shihuang asked the Taigong Zhongche House to send a letter to Fu Su, Zhao Gaochi's son, and told him to return to Xianyang quickly, wait for the funeral and prepare for the throne. After the letter was written, Zhao Gao had no time to lay hands on it and hid it in his hand. When the motorcade arrived at the sand dune (now Pingxiang, Hebei Province), Qin Shihuang swallowed his last breath. Qin Shihuang was only fifty years old when he died. He reigned in the state of Qin for twenty-five years, which was called twelve years of emperor, totaling thirty-seven years.
In order to prevent Qin Shihuang's sons from competing for the throne and causing chaos in the world, Prime Minister Reese blocked the news, loaded Qin Shihuang's body in the car and continued to Xianyang. However, in hot weather, the body began to rot and stink. In order to cover up, Reese asked each car to load a stone of abalone, and covered up the rancidity of the body with fishy smell.
Zhao Gao is a eunuch, and his parents are sinners in the State of Qin. It is said that he was a prisoner when Zhao was destroyed in the Qin unification war. Zhao's father was imprisoned by Qin, and his mother was an official servant. Mother Zhao gave birth to several Zhao Gao brothers in Qin Gong, all born slaves. Later, Qin Shihuang heard that Zhao Gao was strong and knew some "prison laws", so he was promoted to be the first eunuch in charge of cycling, sealing letters and writing ink in the palace. Qin Shihuang also ordered Zhao Gaojiao's youngest son, Hu Hai, to study law. Zhao Gao always aimed to sit on the throne of the emperor, but he couldn't control Qin Shihuang when he was alive. Now that Qin Shihuang is dead, it is undoubtedly a godsend for him, so he decided to pass on the testamentary edict and implement his plan of usurping and seizing power step by step. In order to win over Reese, he used the fact that Fu Su didn't like Reese to induce Reese to tamper with the imperial edict with him and let Hu Hai inherit the throne. At the same time, in the name of Qin Shihuang, he accused Fu Su of being unfilial and asked him to commit suicide. After getting the news of Fu Su's suicide, Hu Hai, Zhao Gao and Reese ordered the team to travel day and night and quickly return to Xianyang.
After Qin Ershi ascended the throne, the cruel rule was not under his father. In just three years, not only Qin Ershi was killed by Zhao Gao, but also the mountains and rivers of Qin fell apart in the wind and rain. Qin Shihuang wanted to pass on a thousand generations of dynasties, but it ended only in the second year.
Mystery of Qin mausoleum
Qin Shihuang was buried in Lishan tomb after his death. The tomb is fifty feet high, like a hill. Originally, the emperors' tombs were all built on mountains, so they were called mausoleums. Later, the emperor's tombs were not all built by mountains, but as high as hills. So "Mausoleum" refers to the tombs of emperors except hills. According to the regulations, the emperor's tomb can be built nine feet high, but the tomb of the supreme emperor always exceeds this height. As for the graves of the people, they should not only be called "graves", but also be limited to three feet, otherwise they will violate the law and be punished. Other ministers' graves also have specifications that cannot be easily exceeded.
The mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is located at the northern foot of Mount Li, 30 kilometers east of Xi, with Mount Li in the south and Weishui in the north. Surrounded by towering peaks, the tall mausoleum and Mount Li are integrated, with beautiful scenery and unique environment.
In 246 BC, when Qin Shihuang ascended the throne, he began to build a mausoleum until he was buried in 2 10 BC. The construction of the mausoleum lasted for 37 years, with more than 700,000 workers participating at most. The seal of the mausoleum is a flat-topped square pyramid. The bottom is 515m long from north to south, 485m wide from east to west and115m high. After more than two thousand years of wind and rain erosion and man-made destruction, the bottom of the enclosure is 350 meters long from north to south, 345 meters wide from east to west and 76 meters high. There are two walls around the mausoleum, the inner city is 3875 meters and the outer city is 62 10 meters. There are doors on all sides of the inner and outer cities, and there are door net buildings.