Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen

What was the state of the Qin court when the rebel army was uprising in various places? The second emperor Hu Hai never went to court.He lived in the Oasis Palace, enjoying watching sumo wrestling, drama or circus every day.The eunuch Zhao Gao is always by his side.At this time, Zhao Gao had taken up the important position of Lang Zhongling. There will never be good things when villains are in power. Zhao Gao used a strategy to make the second emperor ascend the throne, and after taking power, he immediately launched public and private revenge. Zhao Gao, who has always been despised as a lowly eunuch, naturally has many people who hold grudges in his heart.He then imposed unwarranted charges on all those who had despised him in the past, and sent them to prison or executed them one by one.As a result, he was resented by more people.What he is most worried about now is that someone will enter the palace and report to the emperor about his evil deeds.

If the emperor does not go to court, nothing will happen.Thinking of this, he then reported to Emperor II: "Your Majesty is still young, and now he is going to the court to rule on government affairs. Maybe there will be mistakes sometimes. It is better to avoid such things as exposing shortcomings in front of the ministers. Therefore , Your Majesty will not go to court for a period of time, and leave the government affairs to us!" The second emperor didn't like to manage government affairs!This is exactly what he wants, so he enjoys watching and playing games all day long. "I also know that when I do things, I will often make mistakes. Rather than embarrassing myself, it is better not to do anything!" He knows what he is capable of.Compared with the talent of his late elder brother Fusu, there is a world of difference, which he does not deny.

One day, Zhao Gao said to Prime Minister Li Si: "Since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised their troops, the east of Hangu Pass has been extremely unsettled. However, Your Majesty has been expropriating people to build the Afang Palace, and raising a large number of useless things such as dogs and horses for pleasure. I I have repeatedly tried to ask the emperor to restrain himself, but I am a low-ranking person, and my words have no weight. Advising is the prime minister's duty, why don't you dissuade your majesty?" "I have long wanted to advise His Majesty, but His Majesty has not been in court for a long time, and I have no chance to advise him!" Li Si replied.

"If you really intend to make an admonishment, let me arrange for the visit! When I see that His Majesty is more free, I will let you know." "That's great! I really appreciate the trouble." Li Si expressed his gratitude to Zhao Gao for his kindness. I have always hated this guy very much, but there are merits!Li Si thought to himself. In fact, this is Zhao Gao's conspiracy.This despicable villain is trying to frame Li Si, a brilliant legal expert and rare doer. For Zhao Gao, Li Si is the person who makes him most uncomfortable, and the only dangerous person in this world who knows the secret of supporting the second emperor.He didn't know what Li Si was thinking.In a word, as long as Li Si was alive, he would have no peace, let alone do whatever he wanted.This kind of person must be killed as soon as possible.

"Your Majesty is idle. If you want to play, it's best to take advantage of this time—" One day, when Emperor II was drinking and having fun with the women, Zhao Gao sent someone to report to Li Si. Li Si thought that a good opportunity had come, so he hurried into the palace and asked for a visit. When the second emperor was overjoyed, he saw Li Si come in to make a disappointing speech, and he was in an extremely bad mood.He had to put the woman down on his lap, and pouted. This happened three times in a row. The second emperor finally flew into a rage. "I have a lot of free time, and the prime minister begs to visit me every time I drink for fun. Isn't this deliberately trying to get along with me! Could it be that he thinks that I am still young, so I am easy to bully!"

Zhao Gao immediately mustered his tongue and said: "Li Si knows the secret of supporting Your Majesty. Your Majesty has changed from a prince to an emperor, and a slave has been promoted to be a Lang Zhongling, but Li Si still holds the position of prime minister. He is very concerned about this. He is very dissatisfied, and has always wanted to own territory and become king. Therefore, what he hopes is that there will be turmoil in the country, so that he will have the opportunity to realize his ambition... According to my slave's guess, the rebellion of Chen Sheng's group is likely to be manipulated by the prime minister behind the scenes Mile!"

"Is there such a thing?" "The details have not been found out yet, but I know that most of the bandits are from the prime minister's fellow countrymen. The prime minister's eldest son, Li You, is the prefect of the Sanchuan army, but he does nothing to the rebels who are rampant in the Sanchuan area. This does not prove that there is mutual affection between them." Contact? Li Si probably wants to take advantage of the chaos to become Tian Chang?" Tian Chang was a minister of Duke Jian of Qi, the man who killed the lord at the court and seized the state of Qi.

"This...such a treacherous minister...how can he be forgiven..." The second emperor was startled and terrified, his face turned pale. "Take Li Si for interrogation immediately!" "As ordered." Zhao Gao kowtowed to accept the order. Li Si was imprisoned and tortured. After Chen Sheng died in the rebel camp, Xiang Liang, who led more than 100,000 troops, became the mainstream. Liu Bang, who later became Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, was under Xiang Liang's command, as mentioned above. The Xiang family is a family of generals in the Chu State, and this family is full of typical military temperament.

In other words, they have strong personalities, strong self-esteem, self-expression, pride and stubbornness. When Qin General Zhang Han attacked Li (in Henan Province), Xiang Liang sent two generals Zhujishi and Yu Fanjun to fight, but he was defeated.Yu Fanjun was killed in battle, and Zhujishi was defeated and fled to Huling.Enraged, Xiang Liang personally led his troops to attack and kill his general Zhujishi.The purpose of his move was to investigate the responsibility of being a general. When people heard this, they all shook their heads and said, "Xiang Liang's style is too strict."

Xiang Liang's nephew, Xiang Yu, was ordered by his uncle to attack Xiangcheng (in Henan Province), but he was unable to capture it because the defenders held on to the death.When it was finally captured, Xiang Yu said, "These defenders are so hateful. Bury them all alive!" Xiang Yu's men then dug a huge pit and buried all the surrendered guards alive.The style is equally strong and tough. In June of the second year of Emperor II, Xiang Liang summoned the generals of the rebel camp to Xue.Xue is in the northeast of Pei County, where Liu Bangzhi was based, in the area of ​​Teng County, Shandong Province today. It was a small country in the Zhou Dynasty.

The purpose of Xiang Liang's convening of the generals was to review the future policy because Chen Sheng's death had been confirmed. "I would like to hear your opinions on what we should do in the future." In fact, Xiang Liang is not someone who will listen to other people's opinions.He summoned the generals in order to announce his own policy, and also wanted to show his strength by "calling".The person who summons the princes is the overlord, this has been the custom since the Spring and Autumn Period. Among the participants was a 70-year-old man named Fan Zeng. He was not a general of Xiang Liang, but he heard that a high-level meeting of the rebel army was going to be held here, so he came to attend on his own.Perhaps this is due to the thick skin of the elderly? The old man Fan Zeng delivered a speech. "Chen Sheng's failure was due to self-proclaimed king. But the resentment of the six countries destroyed by Qin may become the driving force for overthrowing Qin. Therefore, he should support the survivors of the six countries as kings. Among the six countries, Qin persecuted The most tragic is Chu. King Huai of Chu was captured by Qin’s treacherous schemes and was taken into captivity. , the death of Qin will lead to Chu.' Now, the rising generals are competing to follow you, this is because you are from the family of Chu generals, and you are expected to support the descendants of Chu as king. Do you understand what I said?" Xiang Liang nodded frequently. It is said that a man named "Xin", the grandson of King Huai of Chu, was employed in a place to shepherd sheep.Xiang Liang then supported this person and named him "King Huai of Chu".Let him use the same title as his grandfather, in order to make the people of Chu rise up. With the establishment of the new center, the rebel army was even more vigorous. Liu Bang, Xiang Yu and other young generals from the new center sent generals to capture Chengyang and defeat the Qin army in Puyang. After marching to the west, they even beheaded Li You, the eldest son of Li Si, the prefect of Sanchuan County. At this time, Li You's father, Li Si, was in jail. Xianyang sent investigators to interrogate Li You, but when they arrived in Sanchuan County, Li You had been killed. The eunuch Zhao Gao framed him, but he was not satisfied with Zuo Prime Minister Li Si.He intends to eliminate all political enemies so that he can rest easy.Right Prime Minister Feng Quji and General Feng Jie were also arrested by criminal officials on the grounds that they "failed to suppress the bandits".The two people who could not bear the humiliation finally committed suicide. Li Si was sentenced to "five punishments" in the city of Xianyang (cutting off the nose, ears, tongue, and feet, then whipping and beheading). On the way to the execution ground, Li Si looked back at his second son who was sitting beside him and said, "I had hoped to have the opportunity to take the yellow dog with you again and go out to hunt rabbits from Shangcai Dongmen... Now I don't have this opportunity anymore... ..." After speaking, the father and son embraced each other and wept. This happened in July of the second year of Emperor II, and also the month after Xiang Liang supported King Huai of Chu. The people of Wumen inherited the blood of arrogance.Due to the victories in successive battles, the Chu army gradually tended to despise the Qin army. "Qin's army is all cowardly and fearful even when they hear the wind blowing. Let's annihilate them with the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves, and rush to Xianyang!" Even the commander-in-chief Xiang Liang used such bold words to fuel the arrogance of the soldiers. . ——Xiang Liang's army will be defeated. Someone in the rebel army predicted so.His name is Song Yi. Although the Qin army was defeated in a row, it would not be defeated like a mountain.Under the general mobilization order, Qin continued to send reinforcements to the front line. The commanding task is the famous general Zhang Han. For the first time in a long time, the Qin army defeated the Chu army in Dingtao (in the west of Shandong Province).This group of Chu troops was led by Commander-in-Chief Xiang Liang.Xiang Liang was killed in this battle. Zhang Han then led his troops north and crossed the Yellow River to attack Zhao.Zhao, with Zhao Xie as king and Zhang Er as prime minister, was no match for the attack of the Qin army and fled to Julu (in southern Hebei Province). King Huai of Chu took Song Yi as his general.Song Yi was appreciated for his talent because he predicted that Xiang Liang would be defeated. Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng were appointed as the second general and the last general respectively.This group of troops was ordered to rescue Zhao. Xiang Yu was extremely dissatisfied with this personnel order. How unreasonable to climb up because of the prophecy that my uncle will lose the battle! Song Yi is the general, and he is the deputy general under him... Xiang Yu, who has a strong self-esteem, is quite indignant about this. After the Chu army led by Song Yi arrived in Anyang (near the border of Henan Province and Hebei Province), they stayed there for 46 days. Lieutenant General Xiang Yu repeatedly urged Song Yi to attack. "Ha! Ha! In heavy armour, and with sword or gun in hand, I am no match for you. But sit down and think strategy, and I am much better than you. Now The best way is to let Qin and Zhao fight to the death. Because our goal is to defeat the Qin army. Isn’t it the best policy to let the Qin army fight to the point of exhaustion and then knock them down in one fell swoop? I advise you not to worry, Just wait slowly!" Song Yi said to Xiang Yu in the tone of treating younger generations. In order to establish a friendly relationship with Qi, Song Yi decided to send his son Song Xiang to negotiate.At this time, the princes supported the royal family one after another, and Qi was made king by Tian Shi, the son of Tian Dan who was killed by Zhang Han. Song Yi held a grand farewell banquet for his son who was about to go to Qi. It is November, and September of this year is a leap month, and the time sequence has entered the severe cold season.In addition, due to the continuous heavy rain, the soldiers were hungry and cold.There was also a famine that year, and the Chu army was about to run out of rations due to their long-term stay. Xiang Yu became angry when he saw soldiers eating sweet potatoes or beans (beans).General Song Yi didn't take pity on the soldiers, but held a grand farewell banquet for his son with delicacies!Waiting for Qin Jun to be exhausted-isn't that bullshit!After the Qin army defeats the Zhao army, the spirit will definitely be even more vigorous!This is war!People who don't even know this are serving as generals, aren't they joking!I stand up for these soldiers!Must imagine for them! In the early morning, Xiang Yu asked to see General Song Yi. "You're here to press for the promotion of the army again, aren't you? Anyway, come in first!" Song Yi said to Xiang Yu in the tent. Xiang Yu raised the tent with his left hand and entered inside.He holds a white blade in his right hand. "Wow……" There were screams in the tent. Xiang Yu raised the tent again and came out, holding Song Yi's head that was still bleeding in his hand. ——Song Yi conspired with Qi to rebel against Chu, so he was executed! Xiang Yu told the whole army so.