Chapter 18 10. Use small things to seek big things, and win the government to get rid of Lai Ai

After experiencing many civil strife and foreign wars, Qin began to gradually stabilize.The strength of Qin made other countries feel uneasy, and it has occupied an absolute leading position compared with the six countries in military and economic aspects.But just as the state of Qin was flourishing, a rebellion broke out in the country of Qin, and the protagonist of the rebellion was Lai Ai. Lao Ai was originally a warrior from Qin State, with a strong body, extraordinary skills, and a very handsome appearance.Lu Buwei found him, took him to the palace, and disguised him as a fake eunuch to the harem to sacrifice to Zhao Ji, the mother of King Qin Yingzheng.Zhao Ji likes Lai Ai very much.

Lai Ai served the Queen Mother of Qin all day long, and the rewards she received were extremely generous. There were thousands of servants who served Lai Ai alone; As many as a thousand.During the period, the Empress Dowager Qin was pregnant, so she pretended to occupy a hexagram, and she should move to the palace to avoid disasters.With the consent of Yingzheng, the Queen Mother moved to live in Yong County with the fake eunuch Lai Ai. In Yong County, everything was decided by Lai Ai. Lai Ai often claimed to be the "false father" of King Qin in front of her subordinates.Soon, Empress Dowager Zhao Ji gave birth to her second son in the palace of Yong County.

After all, the paper could not contain the fire. Someone reported to Qin Wang Yingzheng that Lai Ai was a fake eunuch, and said to Yingzheng: "The queen mother's divination to avoid disasters is false. The queen mother has given birth to two sons for Lai Ai. This is the move. The reason for living in Yong County." Yingzheng was twenty-two years old at the time. He was furious when he heard the news and immediately sent someone to investigate.The results of the investigation were completely true, and what surprised Yingzheng even more was that Xiangguo Lu Buwei was also involved in this matter.

"It's such a misfortune for the family to do such a shameful thing, Da Qin's face is completely lost." Qin Wang was furious, and said angrily: "If you don't punish him, my great king will be in vain!" "Your Majesty calm down, please listen to your words." The doctor Qiyou persuaded. King Qin Yingzheng was getting angry, he slapped the table and said: "What else can I say, if such a scandal happens, if we don't clean it up as soon as possible, we have to wait until it spreads and make the city full of storms!" After finishing speaking, he stared at Qiyou , showing a murderous look.

As the saying goes, accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger, and Qiyou also understands the truth. Looking at King Qin's mental state today, if he makes a mistake, he may be beheaded by King Qin.But as a subject, for the sake of the stability of the country, even though some words are inappropriate, he still has to speak out.Qiyou made up his mind and said: "The matter has come to this, the king should calm down. The king wants to wipe out Lao Ai and other rebels in Yong County in one fell swoop. According to common sense, this is inevitable. But has the king thought about it? Lai Ai's current strength is enough to fight against the king. The king sent troops, which just gave Lai Ai an excuse to oppose Qin. If it really starts to fight, it may cause a civil war in Qin. Even if the king wins, Qin's vitality will be seriously injured , In this way, it will give the neighboring country an opportunity to take advantage of it."

King Qin thought it was reasonable, and regretted his impulsiveness just now.His tone eased and he said: "Aiqing is right, but the matter will eventually be resolved, should we just let it go? When the time comes, Lai Ai will still go against it. The longer the time drags on, the worse it will be for us. Why don't we take advantage of Lai Ai's situation?" The power is still in its infancy, so killing it will save trouble." "Your Majesty Mingjian, what you said is reasonable. What I'm thinking about is whether we can avoid confronting Lai Ai head-on, and use small things to seek big things?" Qi You said.

"Using small things to make big things? What does Ai Qing mean?" King Qin asked in confusion. Qiyou thought for a while and said: "Since Lai Ai was granted the title of Marquis of Changxin, her strength has greatly increased, and there are thousands of diners under her door, many of whom are talented and strange. Besides, we don't know the reality of her military strength very well. As the saying goes:' Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in all battles." Therefore, it is a big taboo for military strategists to rush to attack Yong County without knowing its reality."

King Qin nodded, motioning for Qiyou to continue.Qiyou said: "Now Lai Ai thinks that the king was kept in the dark and did not take any precautions. This gave us a great opportunity. The king is not as good as this. He secretly sent an elite army to Yong County secretly. The county immediately hid most of its troops, sent a team to call the city gate, and told the city guards that the king was worried about the Queen Mother's health and sent people to deliver good medicine and supplements. The officials will definitely open the city gate. Gathering troops to attack Yong County, facing the soldiers falling from the sky, Lai Ai will definitely be vulnerable, and the fortifications of Yong County will not be effective."

After hearing this, the King of Qin praised: "Aiqing's strategy is admired by everyone!" "The advantage of doing this is that it can cover up the eyes and ears of neighboring countries as much as possible and reduce incidents." King Qin nodded repeatedly and said, "Then do as Ai Qing said." After Lai Ai was granted the title of Marquis of Changxin, Taiyuan County in the west of Hexi was granted the state of Ai.How could he be willing to lose his luxurious princely life while enjoying it to his heart's content?He expected that his affair with the Queen Mother would be revealed sooner or later, so he had already secretly recruited troops to enrich his strength, and he also got a soldier talisman from the Queen Mother's hand, so he could mobilize the officials and soldiers of the surrounding counties at any time.

Lao Ai often said to the Queen Mother Zhao Ji: "As Yingzheng's 'false father', my son came to the throne before my father died. return." Zhao Ji had given her whole body to Lao Ai, and she didn't bother to take care of what he was going to do.He just said to Lao Ai: "I don't care if you want to take the throne, but Ying Zheng is also your son. I just hope that you won't kill him when the time comes." Lao Ai nodded again and again, and agreed: "The Queen Mother still doesn't trust me, when I take the throne, I will give him the land of Yong County, and let him enjoy the glory and wealth."

However, he didn't know that King Qin had already started to act. One hundred thousand troops set off at night, and it was still dark when they arrived in Yong County.The commander-in-chief Gan Yang ordered the herald to say: "Hide the troops around the gate of the city quickly, and don't let the guards find it!" After speaking, he personally led dozens of people towards the gate of the city. Seeing this, the officials guarding the city shouted to the city gate, "Who is under the city?" Gan Yang said: "We were sent by King Qin to deliver supplements to the Queen Mother." After speaking, he pointed to several carts full of supplements behind him. The city guard was changing shifts at this time, and after seeing the token in Gan Yang's hand, he opened the city gate without any doubt. Gan Yang winked at one of the lieutenants beside him, signaling him to immediately notify the hidden troops to attack the city of Yong County before the city gate was closed. At this time, Yongxian City is still sleeping, unguarded.A soldier guarding the city came out from the guard changing point and said to Gan Yang, "It's still early, you have to wait until dawn before you can go to meet the Queen Mother." Gan Yang agreed, while turning his head to look outside the city gate.He was anxious, once the city gate was closed, everything he had done would be in vain. "What are you looking at? Is there anyone else who hasn't arrived yet?" The guards were a little impatient. "Oh... There are still a few people who haven't arrived, maybe something went wrong, wait a minute..." Gan Yang said. The soldier guarding the city shouted to another soldier who had just changed shifts: "Don't close the city gate yet, and then close it when everyone is ready." After shouting, he turned his head and said to Gan Yang, "You don't know, this city gate is all closed. It is made of solid jujube wood, and it takes a lot of effort to switch it on and off." Ganyang heard the words, and quietly gave a few gold bars to the guarding soldiers, and the guarding soldiers left happily. After a while, the lieutenant general led the soldiers to rush in from both sides of the city gate.The city guards turned pale with fright, and hurried to close the city gate, but the city gate was too heavy, and as soon as it moved a little, Gan Yang's big knife cut his head out of the city. The earth-shattering shouts broke the silence of Yongxian City, and there was chaos in Yongxian City for a while. Lai Ai and the Queen Mother were sleeping soundly, when they heard the movement suddenly, and in the midst of doubts in their hearts, someone came to report: "Queen Mother, Lord Hou, it's not good...it's not good..." "What happened, it's such a mess outside?" Lao Ai asked in a panic. "A group of people rushed into the city and attacked the inner palace!" "what!……" Without any defensive measures taken by the soldiers of Yong County, Ganyang took the city of Yong County in one fell swoop, and Lao Ai was captured alive. The king of Qin then gave an order: the chariots would tear Lai Ai apart and destroy her three clans.More than 20 of Lai Ai's dead followers, Wei Weijie, Nei Shisi, Zoge Jie, Zhongdafu Lingqi, etc., were headed by owls, and those who followed Lai Ai's guests and gave up their lives were punished as salaries for the ancestral temple, which was a serious crime. More than 4,000 people won the title and moved to Shu for three years.The two sons born to the Queen Mother and Lai Ai were killed.The queen mother was expelled from Xianyang and moved to the Yang Palace outside the city. She severed the relationship between mother and child and never saw each other again. Everything Lao Ai did was gradually evolved with the continuous improvement of his status. When he knew that his strength could compete with the King of Qin, he had the idea of ​​​​replacing him.Lai Ai was eventually killed by King Qin, largely because he believed that Yingzheng was still in the dark and did not take any precautions. Lai Ai is the representative of the Empress Dowager's forces. To eradicate Lai Ai is actually to eliminate the Empress Dowager's power in the court. This action is an important step towards the centralization of the Yingzheng Dynasty.