Chapter 48 squid

Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of the Chinese Empire, began to tour the eastern countries conquered by him in the third year after his coronation, that is, his 28th year in power, 219 BC in the West.  The emperor's convoy departed from the capital, went out of Hangu Pass and headed east-northeast all the way until it reached the south bank of the Bohai Sea.The magicians in the area reported to the emperor that there was a group of islands where gods lived in the ocean to the east.If you can find these gods, you can beg for special medicine and be immortal like the previous saint kings.

 The emperor ordered the first oceanic expedition ever recorded by the Chinese.For this reason, the empire specially organized an armed fleet and provided sufficient supplies.The following spring, the emperor came here again to check the results of his search for the archipelago.Sailors reported that they found nothing but some enormous fish with mouths big enough to swallow the world.The emperor killed their leader and declared that if they were not found after a year, all crew members would be executed.  The threat of the death penalty made the final expedition efficient, and after a thrilling voyage, the crew brought back a fish with black blood to the Emperor.After carefully examining the strange fish, the magician told the emperor that it was probably the special medicine given by the gods moved by the emperor's pious begging.They explained that the Great Qin Empire possessed the "virtue of water" in the historical cycle of the five elements. Therefore, the empire also particularly advocated black, which symbolizes water and the north.The black blood in the body of these strange fish is the symbol of the long and long state of the Great Qin Empire.If the black blood can be drunk at the moment representing the "virtue of water", the emperor will surely be able to obtain the status, authority and divine power of a holy king.

 Qin Shihuang became furious after carefully observing this strange fish.He ordered the killing of these warlocks, and destroyed the empire's only ocean-going fleet by burying them alive.History books did not give any explanation for the emperor's move.Perhaps the historians thought that those who used witchcraft to confuse the emperor, or went on long voyages to dissipate the country's financial resources should have such a fate.  The great Tang Dynasty biologist Chen Zangqi put forward a point of view in his works.He said that he had heard senior scholars talk about this matter, and the reason for Qin Shihuang's anger was actually that he found the shape of the strange fish familiar.It turned out that the ink bag he was carrying with him fell into the sea by accident during his previous patrol, and this strange fish was clearly a monster transformed from the ink bag.

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