Back then, after Qin Shihuang swept across the six countries with thunder and unified China, he levyed heavily and performed extremely luxuriously, building the Great Wall in the north and building the Afang Palace in the south and practicing cultural autocracy, "burning books" and "burning scholars", so that the people were in trouble and complaining. The prince Fusu really couldn't stand it anymore, so he plucked the courage to send a memorial to advise his father:
The world was settled, and the Guizhou heads in the distance had not been collected. All the students recited the Dharma Confucius . Now the emperor attaches great importance to the Dharma, and I am afraid that the world will be uneasy. Only the superiors observed it.
Qin Shihuang felt very upset when he saw the "corrupt scholar" heart of his mother-in-law and mother like this successor he chose. He thought, how can you know the principles of governing the world if you have not yet retreated? Isn’t it just swords, guns, swords and halberds that dominate the world? If they can talk about the world and talk nonsense, will the world be in chaos? Qin Emperor felt that Prince Fusu was too young and lacked experience, so he continued to "spread" Fusu to the Meng Tian camp that built the 0,000-mile Great Wall , and asked him to be the military supervisor.
Two years later, that is, in 210 BC, Qin Shihuang made his fifth tour, but unexpectedly fell ill while redirecting to Kuaiji ( is in the current Shaoxing border of Zhejiang Province). Emperor Qin believed that gods could save him, so he sent Meng Yi ( Meng Tian’s younger brother ) who was with him to Mount Tai to worship the mountains and rivers and pray for him. But God could not help him. Soon Qin Shihuang died of illness in the place where sand dunes was starved to death. His death was strictly blocked by his accompanying youngest son Hu Hai , Prime Minister Li Si and eunuch Zhao Gao . Before his death, Qin Emperor had a premonition, so he wrote an edict to the prince Fusu, who was far away in the northern border of . He said, "I was buried with the funeral meeting with . Xianyang ." He asked Fusu to rush back to Xianyang to attend his funeral. Unexpectedly, this edict was suppressed by Prime Minister Li Si and did not issue it - an accidental sudden incident made history turn a big turn here. For their own interests, three people who had their own ulterior motives and played an important role in the Qin court colluded and decided to delete and revise the edict, give the crown prince to death, and support Hu Hai as the emperor.
The envoy held the edict to Shangjun near Yanmen and saw Fusu. He had a dead face. He opened the bamboo slip containing infinite conspiracies and tricks, and shouted "Issue" loudly:
- I am patrolling the world and praying to worship the gods of mountains and rivers in various places for longevity. Fusu and Meng Tian led hundreds of thousands of troops to station on the border for more than ten years. They failed to make achievements but wrote letters to slander me many times. This was all due to Fusu's inability to return to Beijing to become the crown prince, so he was resentful day and night. As a son of man, Fusu committed suicide by giving him a sword! General Meng Tian and Fusu were together, and they were both dirty and allowed to do so. As a minister, they were not loyal, and they were both sentenced to commit suicide! Deputy General Wang Li was promoted to commander, I admire this.
Fusu was shocked, then covered his face and cried, then entered the inner room and wanted to "follow the order" to commit suicide.
Meng Tian hurriedly stepped forward to stop: "Young Master is outside, and you have not yet established a new crown prince. The emperor ordered me to lead an army of 300,000 to guard the border. You are supervising the army. What an important task! Only one messenger has come now, and you want to commit suicide. How can you know there is no deception? You should ask the emperor for a message. If this is the case, it is not too late to die again."
Fusu was still hesitating, but the messenger urged him to stop quickly. Fusu was kind and kind, and believed that "the father's orders should not be done", so he said to Meng Tian without hesitation: "The father's orders to die, why should he ask again!" After saying that, he committed suicide by slashing his sword.
—When Hu Hai forged the edict to kill Prince Fusu, he also gave General Meng Tian an edict to commit suicide and "appoint his guilt." But General Meng Tian, who has experienced many hardships, did not believe that First Emperor would let him die, so he refused to commit suicide. Since he refused to commit suicide, the messenger had no choice. Fortunately, Meng Tian was confused and handed over the military power - it was just a "bare commander" who had been completely destroyed and could not become a big deal. So let him die first and lock him up.
The messenger returned to Xianyang to report his life. Hu Hai thought to himself that he had already become emperor, so let Meng Tian go. He, a general without any authority, could not threaten his throne. He also cared about the great contributions he made when he pacified the six kingdoms, so he would not kill him.
Hu Hai didn't want to kill Meng Tian anymore, but the eunuch Zhao Gao refused to do it. I remember that his life was almost lost at the hands of Meng Tian’s brother Meng Yi. If he didn’t avenge this revenge today, how could he be a human being? Zhao Gao then said to the second emperor, "Actually, the late emperor wanted to make you the crown prince, but Meng Yi said in front of the late emperor that you do not have enough talent to govern the country. He also said that Fusu is much better than you, so he is suitable to be the crown prince."
Hu Hai was a foolish and incompetent puppet, without thinking, and in anger, he also imprisoned Meng Yi in prison. Meng Yi could not withstand severe torture and soon died in prison with hatred.
After Meng Yi's death, Zhao Gao tried his best to repeatedly instigate Hu Hai to kill Meng Tian. Hu Hai had no choice but to send an envoy to pronounce the imperial edict, asking Meng Tian to commit suicide.
Meng Tian said sadly and angryly: "Our Meng family has been loyal to Qin for generations and has made great contributions to the country many times. How can the emperor doubt us? Although I am now locked up here, I have 300,000 soldiers under my command. If I wanted to rebel, I would have rebelled long ago. But I don't want to do this, because I am as loyal to the emperor as always! I wonder if the emperor has heard the story of King Cheng of Zhou who believed in villains and blamed the loyal minister Zhou Gongdan ? King Cheng of Zhou knew his mistakes and could correct them. He killed the rumor-mongers and reused Zhou Gongdan again. King Cheng of Zhou knew his mistakes and could correct them, so his country could prosper and become stronger. The emperor should not believe in the words of villains and doubt us loyal ministers! I sincerely hope that the emperor would stop his horse, otherwise the country would be unrestrained! "
The envoy was indifferent after hearing this, but said to him with a expressionless face: "I was the one who executed the order to kill you, and I dare not say your words to the emperor." Meng Tian sighed helplessly, then swallowed the poison and fell to the ground and died.
Behind Fusu and Meng Tian's bodies slowly fell was the Great Wall they built for the Qin State forever. However, this city wall blocked the iron hooves of the Huns army, but could not stop the hidden arrows of their brothers and compatriots, and even more so could not stop the wheel of history that was roaring forward.
Those clowns who regard personal interests as the highest "justice" in the world - Hu Hai, Li Si and Zhao Gao, became headless ghosts with different bodies and heads in just a few years - First, Hu Hai was bewitched by Zhao Gao, beheaded Li Si in half, and his three clans; then, Zhao Gao forced Hu Hai to commit suicide by sword while the Qin State building was shaking; then, Zhao Gao was killed by the Qin Sanshi Gongziying whom he supported.
In the eyes of a combatant full of power desires, power is his truth and belief. But there is always justice in the world. When justice recovers, all those who ignore its existence will eventually be swept into the garbage dump of history by it, becoming a fleeting and fleeting wave that occasionally splashes in the long river of human history. (End)
Author Profile
Li Linzhi, a historian, has published more than ten works including "The Ancestral Lines of China", "The Past of Family and Country", "Ancestors, Ancestors", "Yuan China Times", and "Pre-China Times". Among them, the three works "Pre-China Era: The Scene of the Huaxia Earth from 4000 BC to 2300 BC" and "Yuan China Era: The Scene of the Huaxia Earth from 2300 BC to 1800 BC" and "Eight Hundred Years of the Shang Dynasty in the Late Xia: The Early China Era from the Perspective of the Great Historical Perspective" published by the Research Press, constitute a complete ancient history system from 4000 BC to 1046 BC. It is the first series of books at home and abroad that use archaeology combined with bibliography to reveal the historical development context of Huangdi to the early Zhou Dynasty.
"Eight Hundred Years of the Shang Dynasty in the Late Summer" has been published by Research Press in June 2022, and has been selected as the recommended list of Chang'an Street Reading Club June 2022, 5th issue of good books, Baidao.com July 2022, China Publishing Group July 2022, and China Social Science Network "Social Science Good Books", Toutiao Good Books and other recommendations.
"Eight hundred years of the Shang Dynasty in the late summer: Early China era from a large historical perspective", written by Li Linzhi, Research Press, June 2022
