In 227 BC, the most famous assassination in history occurred in Xianyang Palace in the capital of Qin State.
On this day, Yan State envoy Jing Ke , in the name of ceding the city to Qin State, took the map to meet Qin Shihuang . At the same time, Jing Ke also hid a short sword in advance in the map. After Qin Shihuang opened the map, Jing Ke suddenly picked up the short sword and planned to assassinate Qin Shihuang directly.
But as a result, just the moment Jing Ke picked up the short sword, Qin Shihuang reacted quickly and instantly avoided Jing Ke's assassination. After that, Qin Shihuang used the pillars in the hall to keep circling with Jing Ke, so that Jing Ke could not catch him. At the critical moment, another imperial physician standing in the distance smashed his bag of medicine at Jing Ke.
Jing Ke was instinctive and used his hand to resist it. Qin Shihuang took the opportunity to draw out his sword, slashed Jing Ke's thigh with one sword, and then ordered the warrior below to come up and kill Jing Ke directly.
This is the famous "Jing Ke assassination of the King of Qin" incident in history.
In the entire ancient Chinese history, big names were assassinated from time to time. There are not only two examples of assassination of princes and emperors in history. However, there have never been any of these assassinations, as famous as ‘ Jing Ke assassinating King Qin ’.
Moreover, many people may have a question when reading this story: Why was the Yan State who sent assassins to assassinate Qin Shihuang at that time? Several other powerful countries were also facing the problem of being destroyed by Qin at that time. Why didn’t they send assassins to assassinate Qin Shihuang?
In fact, the real Jing Ke's assassination of Qin in history seems to be just an accidental event, but what is hidden behind it actually has deep historical reasons. If we want to truly understand this assassination, we have to start with the background of the times at that time.
Warring States Period , Warring States Seven Heroes compete for each other. During this period, Qin State located in the west became completely powerful through a Shang Yang reform . After completing the reform, Qin State began to expand abroad and continue to fight wits and courage with the other six powerful countries.
is like this. After decades of development, at the end of the mid-term of Warring States , Qin gradually overwhelmed other countries and began to gradually dominate the world.
, which marked the key node for Qin to dominate the world, was the famous Changping Battle in history .
Before the Battle of Changping, there were still countries among the six countries that could fight against Qin alone. After the Battle of Changping, with the heavy blow of Zhao State, the other six countries could no longer fight against Qin State alone. They can only confront Qin State under united circumstances. Therefore, before the Battle of Changping, the situation in the world was , the seven heroes, , to compete for hegemony. After the Battle of Changping, the situation in the world became that Qin destroyed the six kingdoms.
However, for Qin itself, the situation was not optimistic after the Battle of Changping ended. On the one hand, the six countries realized that the rise of Qin was already unstoppable and began to gradually unite, and the six countries fought against Qin together. Although the Qin State was very powerful at that time, it was still unlikely to fight against six. Moreover, although the Battle of Changping was won, it could only be considered a miserable victory. This battle of Changping, as well as the subsequent battle of Handan, , also caused great losses to Qin itself.
On the other hand, Qin itself has also begun to have problems.
The problems in Qin State at that time were mainly the inheritance of the throne at the top. After the end of the Battle of Changping, a few years later, Qin Zhaoxiang King of Qin passed away. After the death of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, his son, King Xiaowen of Qin, ascended the throne. However, King Xiaowen of Qin also died only three days after he ascended the throne.
After the death of King Xiaowen of Qin, his son King Zhuangxiang of Qin ascended the throne. King Zhuangxiang of Qin was not in power for a long time, only three years. After the death of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, Qin Shihuang ascended the throne.Because King Zhuangxiang of Qin was young when he died, he was only thirteen years old when Qin Shihuang ascended the throne.
Because he was too young when he ascended the throne, he had no way to deal with the government affairs by himself after Qin Shihuang ascended the throne. The prime minister Lu Buwei and the queen Zhao Ji can only help assist in the administration. In the next few years, until before Qin Shihuang became an adult, the power of Qin State was actually in the hands of these two people.
In this way, the Qin State changed four monarchs in five years, which led to the turmoil in the domestic political situation. Immediately afterwards, because Qin Shihuang ascended the throne as a young man, the Qin State began to have a situation of suspicion of the young man. Under such a situation, even if Qin wants to expand, he is powerless for the time being.
So, from the death of King Zhaoxiang of Qin to the official rule of Qin Shihuang. In the past ten years, Qin's foreign expansion has almost stopped temporarily. For the other six countries, these more than ten years can be said to be their last chance.
So, what have the six countries been doing in the past ten years?
First of all, Zhao State. Although Zhao State suffered a devastating blow in the Battle of Changping, it still retained a complete military system in the country. Therefore, over the past decade, Zhao State began to desperately restore its population and reorganize a powerful army.
The most important thing is that when the Battle of Changping broke out before, some of the troops in Zhao State did not participate in the war. This part of the army is the cavalry legion placed in the north to defend , the Huns . So in the past ten years, Zhao State has begun to reorganize military forces with these northern legions as the core.
Moreover, in the past ten years, Zhao State has been in a state of tolerance for a long time. Especially for the Huns in the north, Zhao State was in a state of persistence and unwarranted war for a long time. Until more than ten years later, the Huns had become accustomed to Zhao's avoidance of war and believed that Zhao was already afraid of expanding abroad. At this moment, the famous Zhao general Li Mu suddenly took the elite Zhao troops out.
In this battle, Li Mu almost wiped out the main force of the Huns who came to invade, and defeated more than 100,000 main force of the Huns in one battle. After this battle, Zhao's pressure in the north suddenly decreased sharply, and more power could be drawn to deal with Qin.
So, in the past ten years, Zhao State has recovered relatively quickly. However, because the previous Battle of Changping was too big to attack Zhao State, even with more than ten years of recovery, it is still difficult for Zhao State to recover to its previous peak state, and it is still unable to fight against Zhao State alone.
followed by Qiguo . As a great power in the East, Qi State once had a very glorious history. In the middle of the Warring States Period, Qi State was once side by side with Qin State and was called one of the two countries that were most likely to unify the world. But later, due to a diplomatic strategy mistake, other countries beat Qi together.
This is the famous "Five Kingdoms Against Qi" in history.
After the five countries attacked Qi, although Qi finally struggled to restore the country, since then, the overall domestic situation has become more conservative. From nobles to civilians, they are unwilling to participate in foreign wars. Everyone just wants to live a life honestly. Then take advantage of the opportunities of war in other six countries to keep making money and make your life a little better.
Under this emotion, Qi State has made a lot of money in the past ten years, but has hardly participated in foreign wars. Moreover, because Qi did not fight for many years, the combat effectiveness of Qi's army became weaker and weaker. Although he is a top power in all aspects, he has done nothing militarily.
and then Chu State . As the largest country in the south of , Chu had the vastest land and the largest population except Qin. Although Chu was beaten by Qin before, even the capital was occupied by Qin. But even so, the remaining Chu State is still very powerful.
If Chu State can make good use of the past ten years, develop well, and restore its strength, there may be a chance to confront Qin State. But unfortunately, at this critical moment, problems arise at the top of Chu State.
Simply put, the fertility of the King of Chu who was in power at that time seemed to be a little problem. At that time, the Chunshenjun of the Chu State saw this situation, and sent a woman who was pregnant with her own child into the palace, and then lied that she was the descendant of the King of Chu. After the death of the King of Chu, Chunshen Jun wanted to completely control the Chu government affairs, but unexpectedly, the woman's brother directly sent someone to assassinate him.
Then, this woman's brother Li Yuan directly controlled the Chu government, and then devoted himself to seeking benefits for himself, without thinking about how to fight against Qin.
The top leaders of Chu State all have this attitude, and they only want to win money and power for themselves. Then the middle and lower officials below can naturally be imagined. Everyone is busy seeking benefits for themselves, and few people think about what the future will be like in Chu State. In this way, the State of Chu naturally missed this most precious recovery time.
As for the two countries of Han and Wei, there is basically nothing to say. As the weakest country among the seven heroes of the Warring States Period, South Korea was already too weak at that time, and its territory was slightly larger than that of Yuzhou City, Henan Province. So no matter how much South Korea recovers, South Korea is not much stronger.
It is precisely for this reason that during this period, South Korea came up with a "loss move". They directly sent a man named Zheng to help Qin build an artificial river. This artificial river will certainly consume the national strength of Qin State. However, if this artificial river is built, it will be unimaginable to improve the overall national strength of Qin.
At that time, South Korea was thinking very well, thinking about using this plan first to weaken the national strength of Qin. When the artificial river is about to be completed, we will find a way to prevent this project from being completed, so that Qin will only waste national strength in vain. But unexpectedly, Qin State finally came up with this project! This is the famous Zhengguo in history.
In this way, South Korea is like shooting itself in the foot, which helps Qin improve its national strength. As for South Korea itself, it has not improved its national strength in the past decade.
and Wei State , although Wei State was once the overlord of the nations in the early days of the Warring States Period. But later, with the rise of Qin, Wei was in the four battles again, and was surrounded and beaten by several powerful enemies around him, and his territory had long shrunk a lot. Moreover, in terms of population and financial resources, the Wei State was also relatively weak at this time. In terms of talent, Wei State had almost no talent that could be shown at that time. The only thing that can be called a talent is the Xinlingjun of the State of Wei.
But unfortunately, because Xinlingjun wanted to save Zhao State before, he stole the military talisman of King Wei , which led to Xinlingjun taking refuge in Zhao State for many years and did not dare to return to Wei State at all. Later, after returning to Wei State, although he led the army of other countries to temporarily help Wei State repel Qin State's attack, he was not reused and ended up in depression.
In this way, Wei State naturally had no recovery or growth in the past ten years.
The last one is Yan State.
Compared with the other five countries, the situation in Yan State is actually a bit special.
When many people read the history of Spring and Autumn Warring States Period , they may have a question: Why is Yan State, one of the seven heroes of the Warring States Period, relatively few deeds? In the history of the Warring States Period, it seems that the only major events related to the Yan State were the previous attacks of the Five Kingdoms and the subsequent assassination of Qin by Jing Ke. In addition, Yan State seems to have been watching the show next to him, just a supporting role!
This is actually not everyone's illusion. In official history, Yan State is indeed such an embarrassing position.
The territory of Yan State is probably in today's Beijing and Tianjin areas, and later it began to expand to Northeastern region . However, due to limited productivity at that time, the Yan State did not develop rapidly in the Northeast. After all, the mature ruling areas are basically limited to today's Liaoning Province.The special geographical location of
has resulted in Yan State being able to play against the two countries, Qi and Zhao State for a long time. As for the countries like Qin, Chu, Han and Wei, because they do not have border areas, they do not have much connection with each other, and there are even fewer direct opponents.
This leads to the fact that Yan State basically did not participate in the major events of Qin, Chu, Han and Wei, so everyone feels that Yan State has fewer roles and has always been like a supporting role.
and in that awkward geographical location, if Yan State wants to expand, it is actually very entangled. At that time, Yan State had three main directions to expand, one was to expand towards Shanxi and Inner Mongolia where Zhao was located, and the other was to expand towards Shandong and Hebei where Qi was located. But expansion in these two directions is obviously not easy. Because whether it is Zhao or Qi, the national strength is far above Yan.
So, for a long time, Yan State could only choose to expand to the northeast region through Liaoxi Corridor .
If the productivity was sufficient at that time and Yan could develop the Northeast region on a large scale, then Yan would definitely have a sharp increase in national strength, even to the point where it would not be inferior to Qin. You should know that later, during the Southern Song period, the Jin Kingdom, which occupied the northeast, once beaten Liao Kingdom and the Southern Song Dynasty. If Yan State could occupy and develop the entire Northeast, it is hard to say whether it could beat the other six countries, but there is absolutely no problem in protecting itself. As long as you guard the western Liaoning Corridor and send an elite force to guard it in today's Shanhaiguan area, Yan State will definitely be able to attack and retreat or defend.
But the problem is that, however, Yan State does not have the ability to develop the Northeast on a large scale.
In history, the Northeast was developed on a large scale, which is already a very late issue. Moreover, during the Warring States Period, the Northeast was not in a state of power vacuum. At that time, in the Northeast region, there were a group of linhu tribes living. These tribes are also very difficult to deal with.
So, although the sphere of influence of Yan State expanded to the Northeast at that time, it did not have the ability to develop the Northeast on a large scale. As for the situation in Yan State at that time, instead of focusing on large-scale development of the Northeast, it is better to find a way to guide Qi and Zhao State, which is actually much less difficult.
In previous history, Yan State has actually fought with Qi and Zhao. Especially with Qi, Yan and Qi in the Warring States Period, they can almost be called feuds. Qi took advantage of the chaos in Yan and almost destroyed Yan; Yan also almost annexed Qi in the action of the five countries to attack Qi. But in the end, both sides still had no choice but to do anything about each other.
At this moment, the Battle of Changping broke out on the Zhao State.
The battle of Changping directly led to a plummeting decline in Zhao's power. When this battle just ended, what the other five countries were most worried about was that Zhao State fell. However, the situation was completely different when Wei and Chu sent reinforcements to help Zhao repel Qin.
, especially Yan State, had made up his mind to attack Zhao State. Judging from the map, once Yan State annexes Zhao State, Yan State can directly connect to the northern grasslands and have high-quality war horse resources. At this time, the national strength of Yan State will definitely improve qualitatively and can completely confront Qin State head-on.
So, just over the past decade when Qin State was suspended, Yan State began to attack Zhao State.
At that time, Yan State thought very well, and felt that the main force of Zhao State had been wiped out by Qin State in the Battle of Changping. He should be able to defeat Zhao State easily and then occupy a large area of Zhao State territory. However, after the two sides fought, Yan State soon discovered that even such a Zhao State was still not something that he could underestimate.
Because at that time, Zhao State had two super awesome people: Lianpo and Li Mu.
As two of the four famous generals in the Warring States Period, Lian Po and Li Mu's combat effectiveness is really not something that can be exaggerated. Perhaps, on the battlefield against Qin, because Zhao's national strength is not as strong as Qin, these two people are a little more afraid. But when facing Yan State, it is completely different.On the Yan State, there are no famous generals of the same level who can fight against these two people on the battlefield.
So, in 251 BC, the year when King Zhaoxiang of Qin died, Yan State finally couldn't hold back and began to attack Zhao State head-on. What surprised everyone was that not only did not get any benefits, Yan State was pushed back by Lian Po, directly surrounded the capital of Yan State and destroyed a large number of live forces of Yan State.
You should know that it has only been six years since Zhao defeated Qin's Battle in Handan, and it was the weakest time when Zhao State was the weakest. Even the State of Zhao and Yan could not defeat such a State of Zhao, and they were even pushed to the capital... This only shows that the veteran Lian Po was too fierce.
This is true. Seven years later, Li Mu defeated the Huns in the north and completely destroyed the main force of the Huns, resulting in the Zhao State's hand in the north being completely freed up. After freeing up one hand, Zhao State can naturally easily grasp Yan State. Just one year after Li Mu defeated the Huns, Li Mu personally led the Zhao army to attack Yan State and occupied a lot of territory of Yan State.
I have to say that the combat effectiveness of Yan State is really not very good. However, this cannot be blamed on Yan State. After all, Yan State is located in the northern region all year round, with an underdeveloped economy and a relatively backward handicraft industry. Even the production of weapons lags behind other countries. In addition, Yan State had no top famous generals in charge, so it was natural to lose to Zhao State.
All of the above are the situations of the six countries before Qin Shihuang took power. Among the six kingdoms at that time, although Zhao State was defeated in the Battle of Changping, it obviously recovered the fastest. Moreover, by bullying Yan and the Xiongnu, Zhao also expanded its territory to further restore Zhao's national strength.
It was in this state that Qin Shihuang ascended the throne.
After Qin Shihuang ascended the throne, the political situation of Qin State stabilized again, and the war machine began to restart externally. At the same time, the Zheng State canal that South Korea deceived Qin to build has been completely completed. At this time, Qin had completely emerged from the previous decline and began to prepare to guide the six countries again.
At this time, when Qin Shihuang faced this chaos, the first thing he had to think about was naturally to destroy which country he had to do.
After complicated debate, the senior officials of Qin finally decided to fight Zhao first. Because Zhao State is among the six countries, it is the strongest at this time. As long as Zhao is still there, Zhao can continue to unite other countries to fight against Qin. In the long run, it will cause greater losses to Qin.
Simply put, at that time, Qin Shihuang was going to pick the biggest hit first.
If you want to fight Zhao State, there are many tricks here. Although Zhao State was beaten up by Qin State before, it suffered heavy losses. But at this time, the State of Zhao had recovered a lot. If you fight alone, it will definitely not be as good as Qin. But the trouble is that Zhao State can hold back the Qin State's offensive for a long time. Once Qin is held back by Zhao on the front battlefield, other countries will inevitably pounce on them and beat Qin together.
Once that situation occurs, no matter how strong Qin State is, it will feel very troublesome.
So, if you want to solve Zhao State, the key is how to create a situation where Qin and Zhao State fight one-on-one. As long as the two countries fight one-on-one and other countries don’t intervene, Qin will be sure to win.
is precisely for this purpose, and next, Qin Shihuang began to make arrangements. Under Qin Shihuang's layout, Qin first signed a peace agreement with Zhao, and used a series of dazzling operations, which made Zhao mistakenly believe that Qin was temporarily delayed and unable to attack Zhao. So next, Zhao began to gather most of its troops to attack Yan.
Then, after both Zhao and Yan were injured, Qin Shihuang took action to pick the fruits and easily entered the hinterland of Zhao, destroying a large number of Zhao's vitality.
After this battle, most of the strength that Zhao State had finally recovered was wiped out by Qin State again. The cavalry corps that Li Mu worked hard to manage also suffered heavy damage.
At this time, the largest Zhao Kingdom was completely defeated, and Qin Shihuang could finally officially launch a war of destruction against the six countries. In the following years, Qin Shihuang continued to conquer cities and territory from Zhao State, causing continuous damage to Zhao State. At the same time, Qin Shihuang also used various means to weaken the Han and Wei countries.
That's it. By 230 BC, South Korea, the weakest, could no longer hold on. Next, Qin Shihuang didn't even send the main Qin army, and directly sent a partial army to destroy Han.
After Han Dynasty was destroyed, Wei State broke through Qin State's power and did not dare to reinforce Zhao State. In this way, Qin created a situation of fighting alone with Zhao. So, a year later, Qin launched a war of destruction against Zhao. At this time, Zhao State was already unstoppable in front of Qin State. The only famous general Li Mu was replaced by Zhao because of Qin's counter-espionage plan.
So, after a year of fighting, Zhao, which used to be able to fight alone with Qin, was completely wiped out. Only a part of the remaining nobles fled to the northern part of today's Shanxi Province to establish the so-called "Daiguo". However, such a Dai Kingdom is obviously not worth mentioning in front of Qin. Qin Shihuang could destroy Dai Kingdom at any time.
As Qin State successively eliminated Han and Zhao, next, the past Shandong six countries were only the four countries left, Qi, Chu, Wei and Yan. At this time, the whole world was watching and everyone was thinking about which country Qin would attack next.
This is all the historical background before the incident of Jing Ke assassination of Qin.
From these complex historical relationships, it is not difficult to see that as Qin Shihuang eliminated Zhao State, Yan State, which originally had no border with Qin State, had an actual border area with Qin State. Therefore, at this time, Yan State was very worried that Qin State would destroy itself next.
In the face of the powerful Qin State, Zhao State could not resist it, so there was no need to say that Yan State was. The only opportunity is to unite the remaining three kingdoms of Qi, Chu and Wei to form a four-nation alliance. Judging from the situation at that time, the combined national strength of the four countries could barely confront Qin.
But the problem is that Qin is not stupid, so naturally he will not wait for the four countries to unite. In the diplomatic field, Qin State dispatched a large amount of manpower and material resources at this time, only trying to disintegrate the four countries and prevent the four countries from forming an alliance. Faced with Qin's diplomatic offensive, Yan's side had no choice for the time being. At that time, the State of Yan could not kneel down and beg for the former death of Qi and join forces with itself. As for the Chu State in the south, far water cannot relieve intimate thirst. At this time, the State of Wei had temporarily surrendered to Qin and was not bound by Yan.
So, from the perspective of Yan State, it really reached the point of life and death.
If Yan State resists, it is almost certain that it will not be able to resist it. If you want to unite, you will not be able to form an alliance in a short period of time. If you want to divert the conflict and let Qin fight other countries, it seems that Yan State can't stop it.
At this time, Yan State really had no way to heaven and no way to enter the earth.
At that time, the senior executives of Yan State were probably confused: Yan State has also worked hard in recent years, but why did Yan State reach this point step by step? Looking back at the past history of Yan State, where did Yan State do something wrong?
Perhaps the Yan people did not understand these problems until Yan was destroyed. However, at this moment, as the prince of Yan State, Ji Dan , thought of a "method" to take a different approach.
Perhaps, you can directly assassinate Qin Shihuang!
The prince of Yan State Ji Dan had worked as a hostage in Qin State before, and it is said that he worked as a hostage in Zhao State in his early years. During his time in Zhao State, he had some friendship with Qin Shihuang in his youth. So Ji Dan is very familiar with the situation on Qin State.
It is precisely because of this understanding that Ji Dan proposed this plan. If
is for other countries, this method may not be effective. But for Qin, although Qin is powerful at this time, the biggest weakness of Qin is precisely the supreme Qin Shihuang himself.
This matter is complicated because it involves a large number of historical origins in Qin. Simply put, before Qin Shihuang's great-grandfather, King Zhaoxiang of Qin, had only two sons. One died early, and the other was Qin Shihuang's grandfather. Qin Shihuang has many descendants. However, due to some early struggles, Qin Shihuang's father has always been on guard against his brothers after he took office.
By the time Qin Shihuang's generation, his father had only two sons. One is Qin Shihuang, and the other is , . But this Cheng Cang had previously led the Qin army to attack Zhao State, and then had to defect for some complicated reasons and was executed.
After Qin Shihuang, Qin Shihuang himself had many descendants, but for some more complicated reasons, Qin Shihuang did not establish a descendant in his life and did not establish a crown prince. Qin Shihuang's eldest son Fusu was still a child at that time, at most he was only about ten years old.
Most people may not know about the bad debts inside the Old Ying family, but Ji Dan, who once worked as a hostage in Qin, must be quite clear about them. So Ji Dan understood that once Qin Shihuang was suddenly assassinated and died, he did not make a crown prince in advance. Next, Qin will definitely have civil strife. Just inside the old Ying family, there will be constant disputes in order to compete for the throne of the king. If it is not done well, it is possible for Qin to have a civil war directly.
At the same time, there were various other contradictions in Qin at that time. For example, Qin Shihuang once vigorously recruited foreign scholars to Qin and arranged for their officials. When these scholars entered Qin, they would inevitably invade part of the power and status of the old Ying family. For example, the foreign relatives of Qin at that time, that is, the people from Qin Shihuang's grandmother's house, were also ready to move.
On the surface, the Qin State at that time was indeed very stable internally and could unite and expand externally. However, this stability is based on the life of Qin Shihuang. Once Qin Shihuang was suddenly assassinated, the Qin State would fall into a large-scale civil strife, which was almost certain.
As the prince of Yan State, Ji Dan understands that once he really sends people to assassinate Qin Shihuang, whether it succeeds or not, it will definitely attract the anger of Qin State. But in this choice, if he successfully assassinated Qin Shihuang, even if Qin is angry, he will not be able to attack Yan State or attack Yan State in a short period of time, but he will be easily repelled by Yan State due to internal fighting.
Once Yan State defends this level, Yan State may be able to take advantage of the situation to counterattack and take over the hometown of Zhao that Qin State had just occupied. Even if it doesn't work, Yan State can use this period to form an alliance with Qi and Chu. Even if Qin State can restore peace in the shortest time, let Qin Shihuang's eldest son Fusu ascend the throne. But as a teenager, Fusu was unable to quickly organize Qin's expansion. At least before Fusu became an adult, the Qin State Council stopped expanding externally again.
No matter which result it is, there seems to be a glimmer of hope.
As for the failure of the assassination, at most, it would be necessary to immediately attack Yan State. But judging from the current situation, even if it is not assassinated, Qin may come here at any time.
So, when Ji Dan faced this choice, the relationship was actually so simple. In this way, Ji Dan would naturally choose to take risks and strive to assassinate Qin Shihuang.
So next, Yan Dan first found Jing Ke, the legendary assassin, and prepared a poison-tempered short sword for him. As long as Jing Ke can scratch Qin Shihuang with a dagger, Qin Shihuang will definitely die. In order to give Jing Ke a chance to get close to Qin Shihuang, Yan Dan made full preparations, not only using the head of the defected general of Qin, Fan Yuqi, as a gift, but also presented the Dukang of Yan to Qin. I hope to take advantage of the opportunity to let Jing Ke offer the map to get close to Qin Shihuang and find an opportunity to complete the assassination.
After all these preparations were made, Jing Ke officially set out. After arriving in Qin, Jing Ke actually made another decision, and then he had the opportunity to meet Qin Shihuang.It is said that Jing Ke also spent a lot of effort to meet Qin Shihuang, and during this period he bribed the Qin son of the then Qin State.
This Meng Jia is said to be the younger brother of Qin general Meng Ao . Meng Ao has two grandsons who are famous. One is the general who later guarded the north of the Qin Dynasty and defeated the Huns Meng Tian . The other is Meng Yi, played by Jackie Chan in the movie " Myth ".
Simply put, Jing Ke bribed Meng Tian and Meng Yi's uncle at that time, so he got the opportunity to meet Qin Shihuang and present a map for Qin Shihuang himself.
And Qin Shihuang was also very interested after learning about this. In addition to the defected general Fan Yuqi, the territory offered by Yan State is also very attractive. The so-called Dukang land is today's Zhuozhou and Gu'an areas in Hebei. This land is not only close to the capital of Yan, but also can almost be regarded as the only place on the road of Qin attacking the capital of Yan. Once this area is controlled, the Qin army can attack the capital of Yan at any time.
So, Qin Shihuang had no objection and decided to summon Jing Ke directly.
After all this was ready, Jing Ke hid the short sword in the map. Because the map was basically drawn with animal skins at that time, and was usually rolled up, Jing Ke had the opportunity to roll the short sword in the innermost part of the map. If everyone liked to fold the map at that time, it would probably be difficult for Jing Ke to hide it. Because when entering Xianyang Palace, the outside warriors will definitely search their bodies. Only this map is dedicated to Qin Shihuang and outsiders cannot explore it, so there is this opportunity.
And with Jing Ke officially entering the palace, the famous "Jing Ke assassination of Qin" incident in history was completely staged.
In this assassination, Jing Ke’s only chance was to stab Qin Shihuang in the vital points with a sword while Qin Shihuang was not reacting. But unfortunately, Qin Shihuang probably practiced it and avoided Jing Ke's assassination as soon as possible. When Qin Shihuang reacted and began to circle around the pillars in the hall, the warriors below rushed over to rescue him. At this time, this assassination was actually destined to be out of the chance.
Even so, this failed assassination is still the most thrilling assassination in history.
Because once Jing Ke succeeded at that time, Qin would have a great chance of falling into civil strife. It is hard to say what direction history will go by then. I am afraid that the Qin State will be able to unify the world in the end, and there will be a question mark.
This failed assassination, even if he failed to kill Qin Shihuang directly, still had a huge impact on history. First, after this, the furious Qin Shihuang directly sent troops into Yan State. Originally, Qin Shihuang might have been hesitating, but after this assassination, Qin Shihuang strengthened his determination to destroy Yan State first.
In the end, the Qin State easily occupied the entire Beijing region, and the remaining Yan State had to retreat to the Northeast to survive. At the same time, in order to extinguish the anger of Qin, Yan State directly killed Yan Dan and presented Yan Dan's head to Qin Shihuang.
In addition, this failed assassination also sounded a wake-up call for all emperors in later generations. From then on, all emperors will no longer let foreign envoys or ministers take things directly to themselves. Instead, he would first let a close eunuch go down and take the things up.
This is why when we watch all the costume dramas after the Qin Dynasty, when ministers handed the memorial to the emperor, they had to ask the eunuch next to them to help hand them over, instead of sending them directly to them. After all, it was the emperors who were later scared by the assassination of Qin by Jing Ke.
As for why only Yan State did such a thing, other countries did not do it, the reason is actually very simple.
Before Jing Ke assassinated Qin, neither Zhao nor Han had thought of such a thing. After Jing Ke assassinated Qin, Qin was not stupid, so he naturally had to be more vigilant.The only remaining three kingdoms of Qi, Chu and Wei, even if they know that Qin has this weakness, they will have no chance to assassinate Qin Shihuang.
