Chapter 68 Fourteen years, from unification to demise

It was two farmers who washed their feet and went to the fields that sounded the death knell for the Great Qin Empire, one named Chen Sheng and the other named Wu Guang. Chen Sheng left two famous sayings in Chinese history. "Swallows know the lofty ambitions!" "Princes and generals, would you rather have kindness?" When he said the first sentence, he was still a long-term worker of the landlord's family, hoeing in the field shirtless at noon.Tired, he stood on the ridge of the field in a daze, looked at the distance thoughtfully, and suddenly said to the people around him: "One day I will be rich and honored, and I will never forget you people!" !)

Everyone laughed: "If you farm like you, when will you be rich!" Chen Sheng let out a long sigh and said that sentence. When he said the second sentence, he was already a village chief of the Great Qin Empire.In July of 209 BC, he and Wu Guang, the deputy head of the village, took 900 strong men to Yuyang in the north to guard the frontier. Unfortunately, they encountered continuous heavy rain in Daze Township, Qi County, and the road was washed away, and the road was broken for more than ten days. No, caught in a dilemma. Go forward, the laws of the Qin Dynasty are harsh, and if you fail to arrive in Yuyang on time, you will be punished with death.

Back off, it's also a capital offense. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang didn't hesitate too much. They killed the two officers who escorted them, and then Chen Sheng said those deafening words in front of 900 people. Any attempt to translate this sentence into modern Chinese will greatly reduce the shock caused by this sentence. Thousands of years before this, people generally accepted the concept of "divine right of kings", believing that the ruler's power comes from the bestowal of gods, and noble blood is the necessary and sufficient condition for a ruler to become a ruler.

Chen Sheng broke through the barriers of traditional thinking, and expressed a fact that had been concealed for thousands of years in just eight words: princes, generals, and ministers do not have any noble blood at all! Two thousand years later, a European named Pottier wrote this sentence: "There has never been a savior, nor a fairy emperor! To create human happiness, we all depend on ourselves!" After being composed by Degget, the famous "Internationale" was sung all over the world.Inspired by the "Internationale", countless people with lofty ideals devoted themselves to the revolution, and wrote an excellent footnote for Chen Sheng's phrase "princes and generals, I would rather have a kind".

After Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising, they quickly established a political power, known as "Zhang Chu".Literally understood, that is to strengthen the state of Chu.Chen Sheng proclaimed himself king of Chu, and sent generals to conquer the land.It turned out that the people of the Six Kingdoms rose up one after another and killed the local county guards, county lieutenants, county magistrates, and county magistrates to respond to Chen Sheng.They established themselves as kings one after another, joined forces and marched westward. There were countless teams under the banner of the original six flags, including Liu Bang in Peixian County and Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu's uncles and nephews in Wu County.

Information of the rebellion was quickly transmitted to Xianyang.However, Zhao Gao intercepted all the information.So in Qin Ershi's view, the world is still the same as before, it's just that a few thieves are making trouble in Shandong, it's no big deal. In 208 BC, Chen Sheng's general Zhou Wen led an army of hundreds of thousands to break through Hangu Pass and arrived near Xishui in the southeast of Xianyang. The banner of the rebel army could be seen even in Xianyang City.The generals of the Qin State were helpless, and only Shaofu (official name, responsible for managing the royal forest and handicraft factories) Zhang Han took the initiative to ask for the pardon of hundreds of thousands of prisoners serving in Lishan, and to send them weapons to meet the rebels.

Human slavishness is reflected here.The prisoners in Lishan were originally victims of the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty and hated the Qin Dynasty. However, after Qin II pardoned their "sins", these prisoners were ecstatic and took the weapons issued to them by Zhang Han. , rushed towards Zhou Wen's rebel army viciously. Zhou Wen was defeated and fled. He retreated from Hangu Pass with the remnants of the defeated generals, and fled eastward until he stabilized his position in Caoyang, where he held on for two or three months.Zhang Han followed, broke Caoyang's line of defense, and drove Zhou Wen to Mianchi, where he completely defeated Zhou Wen's army, and Zhou Wen himself killed himself.

Under Zhang Han's powerful offensive, the rebels under Chen Sheng's name were defeated one after another.Wu Guang and Chen Sheng were killed by their subordinates one after another, and the Zhang Chu regime that was in full swing was wiped out. In June of the same year, Xiang Liang, Liu Bang and others supported Xiong Xin, a descendant of the Chu royal family, as king in Xuyi, known as King Huai of Chu, and re-established the so-called Chu regime.Xiang Liang led the Chu army to fight against Zhang Han, and won several victories in a row, and gradually developed the idea of ​​​​underestimating the enemy.Zhang Han seized the opportunity to defeat the Chu army in Dingtao and killed Xiang Liang, which dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the rebels in the south.

Zhang Han turned to the north, crossed the Yellow River, defeated the Zhao army, and surrounded Zhao Xie, who had declared himself king, in Julu.Frightened by Zhang Han's power, the rebel armies in the north did not dare to rescue each other.There seems to be a turning point in the fate of the Great Qin Empire. However, the good times didn't last long, and a few months later, the situation reversed again.The Chu army was divided into two groups, one led by Song Yi and Xiang Yu, went north to rescue Julu; the other led by Liu Bang, went west to take Xianyang.Because Song Yi flinched, Xiang Yu killed Song Yi, led his army across the Yellow River, defeated Zhang Han's army with lightning speed, captured the Qin general Wang Li, and forced Zhang Han to surrender.

The news of Zhang Han's surrender reached Xianyang, which caused a strong shock within the empire.Everyone understands that Zhang Han and his army are the last straw for the Great Qin Empire.As soon as Zhang Han surrendered, the entire empire would inevitably perish. Only Qin II didn't understand the current situation at all.This is no wonder, because he is the master of the country, and the master of the country is always blindfolded, nose-covered, and ears covered by some smart people.Ever since Zhang Han drove Zhou Wen out of Hangu Pass, everything he heard and any documents he saw gave people the impression that the society was stable and the world was peaceful.He lived in the ideal world that Zhao Gao woven for him, and lived a carefree life.But what if one day he sees the truth of the matter with his own eyes?

The answer is: there is no truth to the matter, Zhao Gao has the final say. One day in August of 207 BC, Zhao Gao rarely arranged for Qin II to hold a banquet with important officials in the court.During the banquet, Zhao Gao ordered someone to bring a sika deer to Qin Ershi and said: "I present a BMW to Your Majesty." Although Qin Ershi had drunk a little too much, he still recognized it as a deer, and said with a smile: "The prime minister made a mistake. It is obviously a deer, how can it be a horse?" Since Li Si was killed, Zhao Gao became prime minister.It is probably unprecedented to become the supreme chief executive of a country as an eunuch. Zhao Gao said firmly: "That is a horse. If you don't believe me, just ask the ministers!" Qin Ershi glanced at everyone, some immediately lowered their heads and remained silent, while others shouted: "Your Majesty, that is a horse, that's right!" Only a few whispered: " It's a deer." Immediately, he shut his mouth again and stopped talking. There is a story in the book about a landlord who had an orchard and a beautiful wife. The long-term workers he hired always wanted to commit adultery with his wife, but couldn't find a chance.One day the landlord and his wife were walking in the orchard, and the long-term worker was picking fruit from the tree, and suddenly shouted: "Master, why do you do that with your wife in broad daylight?" The landlord was very surprised, saying that I did nothing, you Bewitched?So he asked the long-term worker to come down, climbed up the tree by himself, looked down, and couldn't help shouting: "This tree is really evil, you seem to be doing that kind of thing too!" The confusion in Qin Ershi's heart at that time was probably similar to that of the landlord.Soon after this incident, Zhao Gao put all those who said they were deer into prison, and asked them to reflect on their mistakes.From then on, both civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty changed their way of looking at the world, and kept the same understanding as Zhao Gao. At that time, Liu Bang's troops were approaching Wuguan. He sent a letter to Zhao Gao, asking Zhao Gao to open the gates of all cities from Wuguan to Xianyang to welcome the Western Expeditionary Army, and promised to make Zhao Gao the king of Qin. Strange to say, that night, Qin Ershi had a dream, dreaming that a white tiger bit the horse on the left side of his car (the horse on the farthest side), and killed the horse.After waking up, he was unhappy, so he asked the fortune teller in the palace, and the fortune teller said, "I'm afraid it's the God of Jingshui." Qin Ershi fasted and bathed in the palace, and threw four white horses into Jingshui. Sacrifice to the river god.Still feeling restless, he sent someone to ask Zhao Gao about the "thief". Qin Ershi was confused, but Zhao Gao was not. He immediately called his son-in-law (the eunuch has a son-in-law, so it can be seen that he was a monk halfway through), Yan Le, the mayor of Xianyang, and his younger brother Zhao Cheng, and said: "The emperor never listens to me. Advice, now that the situation is out of control, I want to blame us. I want to change to another emperor, and Ziying is a good candidate. Ziying is kind and thrifty, and the people are easy to accept." According to "Historical Records", Ziying's father is the elder brother of Qin Ershi, and Ziying is the nephew of Qin Ershi.But some people disagree with this point of view, saying that Qin II killed all his brothers and sisters after he came to power in order to consolidate his rule, and naturally he would not let their children go. It is estimated that Ziying should belong to Qin Shihuang The younger brother, that is, the uncle of Qin II. No matter who Ziying is, Zhao Gao has long been deliberate, ready to replace the puppet Qin Ershi at any time, but there is no doubt about it.He announced to the public that thieves had entered Xianyang, and then sent Yan Le to lead troops into the palace under the pretext of hunting down the thieves.In order to prevent Yan Le from changing his mind midway, Zhao Gao put Yan Le's mother under house arrest in his mansion as a hostage. Yan Le led more than a thousand soldiers into the palace, killing everyone he saw along the way, killing dozens of people in an instant. At this time, Qin Er Shi also knew that the situation was not good, so he fled to the inner room in a hurry.All the people around him dispersed, only one eunuch who was close to him never left.Qin Ershi grabbed him and asked incoherently: "Why didn't you tell me these things earlier? How could such a thing happen?" The eunuch replied: "It is precisely because I dare not speak that I am able to live to this day. If I had said earlier, I would have died long ago. How could I have lived to this day?" At this time, Yan Le had already entered, pointing at Qin Er Shi with a knife, he said: "You are arrogant and indulgent, and you will be reckless. Everyone in the world will abandon you. You can do it yourself!" Qin Ershi said: "Let me see the prime minister!" Yan Le replied: "Impossible." Qin Ershi said: "Then I will cede the world to the prime minister. I only need a county, and let me be the king of the county." Yan Le said: "Dream!" Qin Ershi hadn't figured out the situation yet, so he wailed and said, "Then I'll be a Marquis of Wanhu. Is it okay to be a Marquis of Wanhu? My family has so many people, there must be a way out!" Yan Le smiled: "No way!" Qin Ershi gritted his teeth: "Then I take my wife and children to be ordinary people, is that okay?" Yan Le said: "I was ordered by the Prime Minister to kill you on behalf of the people of the world, and you still talk so much nonsense!" Qin II was desperate and had to commit suicide. After receiving Yan Le's report, Zhao Gao summoned all the princes and ministers and informed them: "The emperor is fatuous, and I have already killed him! Among the royal family's children, only Ziying is well-respected by everyone. I propose to establish Ziying. For you." Everyone was silent.Ever since the incident of turning a deer into a horse happened, the princes and ministers of the Qin Dynasty collectively lost their voices.In a sense, they became the same kind of people as Zhao Gao.Zhao Gao's body was castrated, and there was nothing under his crotch; their minds were castrated, and there was nothing in their minds. "Since everyone has no objection, it's settled." Zhao Gao looked at everyone with satisfaction, and then said, "Qin was originally a vassal state, and the first emperor ruled the world, so he proclaimed himself emperor. Now all countries have re-established themselves as kings, Qin's territory is also getting smaller and smaller, if you still call him emperor, it will be just an empty name, and it is more appropriate to be called king as before." On the spot, it was decided to make Ziying the king of Qin. At the same time, Zhao Gao sent someone to send a reply letter to Liu Bang, to the effect that he said: "According to your wishes, I have killed the second emperor of Qin, and now I have established Ziying as the king of Qin to stabilize the emotions of the people of Qin. .As for myself, I don’t dare to hope to be the king of Qin. If possible, please allocate a piece of land for me in the Guanzhong area, and we can become king together!” However, before the letter was delivered to Liu Bang, Zhao Gao died.Ziying had a clear understanding of his ability to become the king of Qin, and said to his two sons: "Zhao Gao killed the emperor, fearing that everyone would disobey him, so he pretended to make me king. I also heard that Zhao Gao and the Chu army There is a secret relationship, and I want to destroy the clan of the Qin State and become king myself. Now I am pretending to be sick and not going to the enthronement ceremony. Zhao Gao will definitely come in person, and we will kill him when he comes." On the day of enthronement, Zhao Gaoduo The next time I sent someone to invite Ziying, Ziying couldn't refuse.Zhao Gao had no choice but to come to pick him up in person. As soon as he entered the gate, he was chopped into meat paste by the ambushing warriors.Ziying then ordered the execution of Zhao Gao's relatives and accomplices, and hung Zhao Gao's body on the street of Xianyang for public display. Ziying had been king of Qin for forty-six days, and Liu Bang's army had already reached Bashang.Now no one can save the Great Qin Empire.With a rope around his neck, Ziying surrendered to Liu Bang in a white horse car, holding a jade seal symbolizing the power of the emperor. It took only fourteen years from the Qin Dynasty's unification of the world to its demise. In retrospect, Yingzheng bid farewell to Wang Jian's 600,000 troops in Bashang.Wang Jian defeated the Chu army and killed the Chu general Xiang Yan. Seventeen years later, Xiang Yan's grandson Xiang Yu defeated the Qin army at the foot of Julu City and captured Wang Jian's grandson Wang Li.In the dark, is there really God's will manipulating all this? Let me end this book with a poem by Zhang Jie from the Tang Dynasty. (End of the book)