Chapter 37 2. Zhao Gao offers advice, Lu Buwei abdicates

Although Lai Ai's rebellion had been quelled for many days, the thrilling battle terrified Yingzheng.It can be said that Yingzheng was close to death, and was once on the verge of being killed by the rebels led by Lao Ai. Fortunately, the generals Meng Wu and Li Xin led the army to arrive in time, and they captured Lao Ai and the rest of the party in one fell swoop, and Qin Wang Yingzheng was able to escape. get away.Although the Lai Ai rebellion had been quelled, Qin Wang Yingzheng still seemed restless, his temper became more and more irritable, and he would get angry at every little thing.Beating and scolding eunuchs and maids of honor is commonplace, and even Yingzheng's favorite Queen Qi cannot escape the blame; above the court, Yingzheng has no intention of discussing state affairs with the ministers, and if the minister makes a slight mistake, he will severely reprimand , making everyone in the court feel insecure.

Your Majesty must have been deeply irritated by the incident of Lai Ai's rebellion.Li Si, who has always been good at observing words and expressions, thought to himself. At the court meeting, Li Si remonstrated to Qin Wang Yingzheng: "Your Majesty, the occurrence of Lai Ai's incident was a dereliction of duty by the ministers. Fortunately, it did not cause a catastrophe in the end. Now Lai Ai and his followers have been arrested, and the case is under investigation. Middle. I also hope that His Majesty will take good care of the dragon body and put the state affairs first, and the unification of the hegemony has yet to be completed by His Majesty!"

As soon as the matter of unifying the six kingdoms was mentioned, Qin Wang Yingzheng calmed down a little, a faint smile appeared on his usual stern face, and he said to Li Si: "Don't worry, Aiqing, I'm in good health! It's just that too many things have happened recently, disturbing everyone's mind, I believe it will be better in a few days." In fact, besides Ying Zheng, there is one other person who is in a bad mood these days——Wen Xinhou Lu Buwei.This merchant was born in the official career with keen insight. He has been in the official position. He has dominated the government for many years and worked hard for the Qin State for many years.After decades of career as Prime Minister, he is inevitably a little arrogant because of his meritorious service, and usually looks down on Yingzheng a little bit.However, he knew very well that Ying Zheng was no longer the brat he used to be. Now Ying Zheng possessed all the qualities that a king possessed, and he killed more decisively and used more vicious methods.Although Lai Ai's execution was equivalent to helping him get rid of a powerful political opponent, and all the courtiers looked up to him, but he suddenly felt uneasy.He was afraid that if he made a slight mistake, he would fall into the abyss beyond redemption.He was also afraid that he would be implicated in Lai Ai's rebellion. Once Ying Zheng caught his braid, he firmly believed that with Ying Zheng as a person, he would be doomed.

No matter how deeply Qin Wang Yingzheng hid it, his heart disease was still seen through by only one person, and that was Zhao Gao.Zhao Gao is a native of Zhao. When Ying Zheng's father was still Zhao's hostage, Zhao Gao took care of his daily life.Later, when Yingzheng came to the throne, Zhao Gao was not reused, but Zhao Gao was not a person willing to be mediocre. He always wanted to seize the opportunity to express himself, but suffered from not having the opportunity.This time, the opportunity finally came.He could see that there was a deep gap between the king and Wen Xinhou. Ying Zheng had always wanted to get rid of Wen Xinhou, but he had no excuses.Wen Xinhou is very scheming. He has been Prime Minister of Qin for many years and has very deep connections.

By chance, Zhao Gao risked his life to stop King Qin's Luanjia.Zhao Gao knelt on the ground and said loudly to Yingzheng: "This slave is willing to die, and admonishes the king. I hope the king understands that for the stability of the Qin Dynasty, the king must get rid of Wen Xinhou." There was an uproar, and Zhao Gao was reprimanded loudly. Ying Zheng didn't comment, but asked Zhao Gao indifferently: "Who are you? According to what you said, what crimes did Wen Xinhou have?" "Reporting to the king, my slave Zhao Gao. The slave believes that there are two crimes against Wen Xinhou: First, Wen Xinhou has been prime minister for many years, and his party members are very powerful. If we don't get rid of them, it is inevitable that there will be a situation of 'the ministers are despised' , there are indeed hidden dangers, does the king think that the chaos with Lai Ai will happen again? Second, as far as the servants know, Wen Xinhou and Lai Ai are involved, and I hope the king will clearly investigate."

Ying Zheng has always wanted to get rid of Lu Buwei's position, but he has no excuses.Zhao Gao's second point just solved his problem.He felt that this was an excellent opportunity to attack Lu Buwei.Therefore, Ying Zheng took Zhao Gao into the bedroom and asked in detail about Lu Buwei's involvement in Lai Ai's rebellion. Zhao Gao replied: "Lao Ai was arranged by Wen Xinhou to enter the palace, and the tokens used by the dispatched troops during the rebellion were given to the Queen Mother by Wen Xinhou; in addition, Wen Xinhou, as the head of all officials, has supervisors The power of the officials is responsible for negligence of Lao Ai's conspiracy. It is precisely because of Wen Xinhou's negligence that the Lai Ai rebellion that put the king in danger took place. Based on the above points alone, the king should punish Wen Xinhou to death. .”

"What you said involves our Prime Minister Qin, and needs to be carefully investigated. Even if it is confirmed that it is indeed involved in Lao Ai's conspiracy, I think he has contributed to Qin, and I don't want to punish him. He only needs to give up his position. From now on, you will follow the widow around and be the widow's eunuch. This matter is entrusted to you by the widow. If you do it well, you will be rewarded; if you don't, you will be killed!" The promotion from an ordinary eunuch to a servant eunuch shows Ying Zheng's promotion of Zhao Gao.In order to fulfill his mission, Zhao Gao began to collect evidence against Wenxin Hou Lu Buwei.Zhao Gao had a plan, as long as Lao Ai was willing to testify against Wen Xinhou, no matter how many mouths Lu Buwei had, he would not be able to tell.

As soon as Zhao Gao came out of Yingzheng's bedroom, he hurried to Li Si's mansion, which was in charge of the prison. Zhao Gao smiled and said to Li Si: "My lord, as ministers, we should properly share the Lord's worries. Your Majesty has been having trouble sleeping and eating recently. Do you know the reason?" All along, Li Si didn't pay attention to Zhao Gao, a low-status eunuch, and he replied casually: "It may be because of the influence of Lai Ai's rebellion that the king became restless!" Seeing that Li Si failed to see what Ying Zheng was thinking, Zhao Gao laughed loudly and said, "Master Li is always good at observing words and expressions, but I didn't expect to see him wrong this time. To tell you the truth, the king's restlessness is not because of Lai Ai, but because of Because of another person, but this person has a great relationship with Lao Ai."

"Oh? Eunuch Zhao must know the truth inside, and would like to hear the details." Zhao Gao told Li Si the reason why Ying Zheng was having trouble sleeping and eating and the purpose of his trip. Then Li Si suddenly realized that Zhao Gao, who had a wretched appearance, looked at him differently from the bottom of his heart, and felt that this person was not as he imagined. Simple.After the two discussed it in this way, Li Si led the way, followed by Zhao Gao, and they came to the death row where Lao Ai was held. At this time, Lao Ai had already lost her former vigor.His eyes were sunken, his body was stained with blood, and he was covered with scars. The heavy shackles locked his hands and feet. He was still lying on the ground unconscious because he had just experienced a brutal beating by the jailer.So Li Si ordered someone to bring a basin of cold water to wake up the unconscious Lai Ai.

"Lao Ai, I'm just here to ask you a few simple questions. I hope you will invite them truthfully." Li Si said with a stern expression. Lao Ai raised her head, looked at the two of them with empty eyes, and said nothing. Li Si continued to ask: "Lao Ai, where did you get the badge for dispatching troops? Why did no one know that you entered the palace as a fake?" Li Si's two questions, Lai Ai knew, were actually directed at Lu Buwei.It was arranged by Lu Buwei that he entered the Qin Palace. Although he served the queen mother, tried his best to be rich and rich, and was named Chang Xinhou, he usually had some grievances with Lu Buwei.Lao Ai was originally a local ruffian with no manners, justice or shame.He thought to himself, if he is dying, he will not be lonely if he is accompanied by someone, and a terrifying smile suddenly appeared on Lao Ai's bloodless face.After being guided by Li Si and Zhao Gao, Lai Ai admitted all the crimes, and clung to Lu Buwei tightly, tying any guilt to Lu Buwei.

Looking at Zhao Gao's confession from Lai Ai, Ying Zheng nodded with satisfaction, and said to Zhao Gao with a smile on his face: "Very good, you have done a good job, you hand over this confession to Lu Buwei, the widow wants to see him." I don't know each other." The confession brought by Zhao Gao was like a bolt from the blue, which paralyzed the always steady Lu Buwei to the ground.As stated in the confession, all of them are crimes of extermination!He knew that he was completely screwed now, and hated only Lao Ai for being so cruel and merciless, and Ying Zheng for being so treacherous and cunning.I'm not afraid of losing my life, but with Ying Zheng's brutality, it's unknown whether the Lu family can keep their heads!Looking at the whole family, a sense of sadness suddenly occupied Lu Buwei's heart. He was devoted to Qin, but he didn't expect such an ending in the end.After thinking about it, Lu Buwei thinks that for the present plan, only by pleading guilty to Ying Zheng in person may he be able to avoid being executed. Lu Buwei came to the court trembling all the way, and kowtowed to Yingzheng with tears in his eyes: "Your Majesty, as the prime minister, I have committed the crime of negligence in the matter of Lai Ai's rebellion. The token for the deployment of troops used by Lai Ai's rebellion is At that time, I gave it to the Empress Dowager privately, just in case of accidents, and I was very painstaking. I didn't expect that my carelessness would cause today's catastrophe. As for everything in Lai Ai's confession, he framed my minister. I hope your majesty Ming Jian. Now that I am old and often feel powerless, I request to resign from the position of Xiangguo. I would like to retire and return to the field, and I implore the king for permission." Ying Zheng thought that Lu Buwei had been Prime Minister of Qin for many years, and he had worked hard without credit. From the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to kill Lu Buwei, so he granted Lu Buwei's request to bring his family back to his fief to take care of him. every day. Undoubtedly, the little-known Zhao Gao was lucky. He seized the only chance and gained Ying Zheng's trust in one fell swoop.Relying on his own cunning means, a great businessman, a shrewd politician, and Lu Buwei, who was once an official in the Qin Dynasty for decades and known as his second father, ended his official career unwillingly and helplessly. the road.