Qin Official

Heifu led the lieutenants from all the counties to quell the chaos and besieged Gaotang City. When the fighting was in full swing, Pengcheng, Surabaya County, hundreds of miles away in the south, had also assembled an army of 50,000. They were troops from Guanzhong and were handed over to Wang Bi. Commander, nominally, he is the commander in chief of this chaos...

However, Qin Shihuang did not rush to let the army march into Qi to quell the rebellion. Instead, he ordered them to station in Pengcheng and perform martial arts all day long. There would be a huge drill every day. The emperor would occasionally show up for inspections, and they were brave and vigorous. This made the Pengcheng Chu people who had some thoughts after hearing about the rebellion immediately gave up the idea of ​​​​rebellion.

Not only Pengcheng, but the surrounding areas of Chu and Liang also received such a signal. Qin Shihuang was still there. The Qin Dynasty's army that wiped out the six kingdoms was also stationed in Pengcheng in all directions. Wherever they dared to rebel, they would immediately advance by land and water. Go to encirclement and suppression.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the emperor deliberately stood still and did not even send a single soldier to Qi: he just wanted to show the people of the world that the fields of Qi that dared to rebel, and the so-called "Qi State" that was restored, There is no need for the imperial court's battle-hardened troops to take action. It can be easily suppressed by just relying on local miscellaneous county soldiers!

Sure enough, at the end of May, the deputy general of this battle, "General Pi" Heifu, sent someone to report that Tian Ni had been cut off from his retreat and could not go to Julu County. He was now trapped in Gaotang and could be broken overnight. Qi was in chaos. Can be flat!

"good."

Qin Shihuang just nodded lightly, which was expected, and at the same time smiled at the ministers:

"Although the chicken-killing knife is small, it is sharp enough to deal with those local chickens and dogs. It seems that Tongwuhou's cattle-killing knife does not need to be used."

Since there is no need to worry about the chaos, perhaps in order to prevent the Pengcheng army from making a wasted trip, or perhaps to show that the court has enough time to quell the chaos, the emperor ordered that on the first day of June, 50,000 troops gathered on the shore of Surabaya outside Pengcheng. They lined up for more than ten miles on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, with great fanfare and loud cheers. Then select thousands of people with good water skills, take a boat to the middle of the water, dive into the water, and look for the Zhou Ding that sank here decades ago...

The Three Dynasties emphasized that "the major affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military service", and the most important ritual vessel in sacrifice is the tripod. According to the etiquette system, there are strict limits on the number of tripods used by people of different levels: three tripods for scholars, five tripods for officials, seven tripods for princes, and only the emperor can use nine tripods!

Legend has it that Xia Yu collected Jiu Mu's gold and cast the Jiuding, which resembled Jiuzhou. From then on, the Jiuding became a symbol of power in the world and an orthodox national treasure.

When Xia's virtue declined, Ding moved to Yin; when Yin's virtue declined, Ding moved to Zhou and was placed in Luoyi, the eastern capital. It survived the catastrophe of the destruction of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but after the decline of the Zhou royal family, it did not escape the covetousness of the princes. .

In the Spring and Autumn Period, everyone in the world is familiar with the importance of King Chuzhuang's bid for the throne. Needless to say, let's talk about Qin. After King Hui of Qin became queen, he also had the desire to win the tripod.

As far as Qin Shihuang knew, Sima Cuo and Zhang Yi had an argument in front of King Qin Hui. Sima Cuo wanted to attack Shu, but Zhang Yi said: "It is better to attack Han." One of Zhang Yi's reasons was that after destroying South Korea, he opened up a way to go to the Zhou Dynasty. At that time, "Zhou knew that if he could not be saved, the Nine Cauldrons would come out. According to the Nine Cauldrons, according to the pictures and books, he would hold the emperor hostage and order the world. No one in the world would dare not to listen. This is the king's business."

In the end, King Qin Hui adopted Sima Cuo's suggestion and attacked Bashu, but the time for Qin to become the leader was only postponed for more than ten years.

King Wu of Qin appointed Gan Mao and after capturing Yiyang, he personally brought a group of strong men to the Zhou Dynasty and proposed to "visit". The visit didn't matter. The physically strong King Wu of Qin took advantage of King Zhou's territory and the Jiuding to hold a tripod lifting competition, and he quite planned to let the strong men move all the Jiuding back to Xianyang.

Unfortunately, there was an accident in the weightlifting competition. When King Wu of Qin was lifting the Yongzhou tripod, he accidentally smashed his leg. The people of Qin had to return in a hurry. Not long after, King Wu of Qin died...

When it came to King Qin Zhao, the younger brother of King Wu of Qin and the great-grandfather of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, his obsession with the throne did not stop. After the Battle of Yique, the Qin State raised an army and approached the Zhou capital, hoping to seize Jiuding. Seeing that the Jiuding was in danger, it was Yan Lée, the Zhou doctor, who encouraged King Min of Qi, who was always competing with Qin, to help Zhou drive Qin, and promised to dedicate the Jiuding to Qi afterwards, so that the Qin soldiers retreated, but in the end, the Jiuding was not given to King Min of Qi. .

Until the eve of the death of King Zhao of Qin, he sent troops to destroy the Duke of Western Zhou who collaborated with the princes to attack Qin. He then took his Nine Tripods treasure and moved the Nine Tripods that had been cherished by the kings of Qin for several generations to the Xianyang Palace...

Qin Shihuang remembered that after he ascended the throne at the age of thirteen, he asked to see the Jiuding, so the long-dusted Ding Pavilion was opened again, and the Jiuding emerged in front of his eyes.

To him who was young at that time, Jiuding was really a huge thing. Each tripod had a different color, and the strange patterns with different shapes on the tripods added to the simplicity and mystery of the tripods. Some are auspicious beasts such as turtles, snakes, redbirds, green dragons, white tigers, etc., and some are ferocious-looking monsters from the Book of Mountains and Seas that cannot be named. Each represents the legend of the mountains and rivers of the state...

Qin Shihuang remembered that when he was thirteen years old, he touched the patterns one by one and turned around to ask Prime Minister Lu Buwei: "Father Zhong, does getting Jiuding really mean that he has achieved the king's legacy? If it can, why do the six countries still not join the Qin Dynasty? If not, why don't the six countries join the Qin Dynasty? , why have all the overlords and ancestors of the past generations pursued them diligently?”

Lu Buwei just smiled softly: "Jiuding? Wang Ye? Your Majesty, they are just a few rabbits."

"Rabbit?" Qin Shihuang was quite surprised at the time. What did it mean?

Lu Buwei gave Qin Shi Huang an impressive answer.

"A rabbit is running in front, followed by hundreds of people chasing it, not because the rabbit can be divided into many parts, but because its ownership is undecided."

In Lu Buwei's eyes, the disputes between the princes for more than five hundred years are, in the final analysis, nothing more than a group of people chasing a few rabbits whose status has not yet been determined...

This saying of "the heroes chasing the rabbit" made the young Qin Shihuang laugh for a long time, but Lu Buwei immediately became serious again.

"Therefore, governing the world and the country only depends on the determination of divisions!"

He knelt down and said to Qin Shihuang:

"Your Majesty, the people of the six countries will not respect you as the emperor just because Jiuding entered Qin. Instead, they will only recognize this when your majesty becomes the real emperor and his title has been determined!"

Lu Buwei was a good teacher. He taught Qin Shihuang a lot, but Qin Shihuang also used what he learned to overthrow Lu Buwei and let him die...

The past events were still vivid in his mind. Thinking of this, Qin Shihuang shook his head again:

"No, Lu Buwei, you are still wrong... Determination cannot completely stop the fight. Even if I am the emperor, even if my achievements have surpassed the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, surpassed Shang Tang, Zhou Wu, and even if I was granted the title of Zen, there will still be people. Don’t want to admit this and still want restoration!”

So Qin Shihuang wanted to tell them the truth.

"dream!"

Ending the memory, Qin Shihuang, after fasting and bathing, stood by the surging Si River. His ships were connected as a bridge on the Si River, and his soldiers filled the shore, shouting. Ever since Jiaodong Yeyi took the lead in shouting, he suddenly The popular “Hail, Hail, Hail!”

Thousands of warriors bowed to the emperor, drank a glass of wine, and jumped into the water to look for Zhou Dinglai.

After King Zhao of Qin destroyed the Duke of Western Zhou, the tripods moved back to Xianyang were called nine, but in fact, one of them was fake.

The people of Qin soon discovered this. After questioning, it turned out that the son of the Duke of Western Zhou secretly sent the Yuzhou tripod to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. King Qin Zhao was furious and sent someone to ask for it. The son of the Duke of Western Zhou had escaped from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and took the tripod with him. , ran between Wei and Chu. At that time, Qin was the only powerful country in the world. Although Wei and Chu coveted the tripod, they did not dare to take it in. So the son of the Duke of Western Zhou was desperate and scuttled the ship carrying the tripod on the Si River in Pengcheng. Death by water...

At this point, the Qin people were unable to cross the border to seize the tripod, so they had no choice but to give up. But now, Qin Shihuang was rich all over the world. Now that he had arrived in Pengcheng and had enough manpower, he naturally wanted to get this big tripod.

Although in the final analysis, it is just one of the "rabbits" in Lu Buwei's mouth, but after all, it is the obsession of the ancestors starting from King Hui of Qin. If it can reappear in the world at this juncture, it will "determine the fate of the court and end the dispute" "It is of great benefit.

It's a pity that countless people were mobilized to fish for seven days, searching dozens of miles of rivers, and a lot of fish and shrimps were caught. There was even a big turtle with the words "Song Gongji 30 Years" engraved on its back, and he was caught. Zhang Cang came to ask and found out that this "Song Gongcha" was the Song Yuan Gong who was the same generation as Confucius, two hundred years ago. So the big turtle was said to be "auspicious" by local officials, and the turtle policy came from Surabaya is a sign of the prosperity of the Qin Dynasty.

But the lost cauldron was still missing.

After searching everywhere, he had no choice but to give up. Qin Shihuang was a little disappointed. Fortunately, good news came from the north:

"Thanks to His Majesty's wisdom, Gaotang City has been conquered, all Tian's rebels are dead, and Tianjia and his thieves have been captured by thousands of people!"

…

In mid-June, the "King of Qi" Tian Jia, together with the heads of Tian Dan, Tian Heng, and Tian Rong, were sent to Pengcheng by Heifu to be seen by Qin Shihuang.

Tian Jia was the younger brother of King Jian of Qi. He defended himself, saying that he was forced by Tian Dan and Tian Rong. He did not want to rebel and hoped to survive.

But Qin Shihuang didn't even bother to see the real King of Qi, let alone this "fake king". With a wave of his hand, he ordered Tianjia and his brother to die: be placed among the pines and cypresses, and starve to death!

After Gaotang was conquered, except for the Tian brothers and their die-hard retainers, almost all the others were arrested. There were more than 10,000 people who directly participated in the rebellion, and there were tens of thousands of Guizhou people in various counties who were traitors.

As for how to deal with this group of people, some people suggest that they should not distinguish between them and kill them all. Others think that they should be screened. Those who deserve to be killed should be killed. Those who should be punished as prisoners should be allowed to do hard labor. Lishan, Great Wall, Hexi Chi Dao, there are many places where Da Qin needs manpower.

It was Heifu who put forward a suggestion in the memorial.

"The first hundred thieves can be punished with car-breaking, and the next two thousand or so, have their hands and feet nailed to the wooden frame with five-inch wooden nails, and placed beside the pavilions and houses in the four counties of Qi to frighten Qi. They all tattooed their faces, chopped off their toes, and sent them to the Great Wall, Lishan Mountain, and Hexi to become Sikou Chengdan..."

Ting Wei Ye Teng praised this method as a good one. Those who directly participated in the rebellion should be punished with death. It was just enough to nail a traitor in front of more than 2,000 pavilions in the four counties of Qidi, so that all locals and passers-by would know , the fate of rebels. A timid person will naturally be afraid and will not dare to have a rebellious heart. If there are any dissatisfied people who want to rescue them, they can just let the guards wait and catch them all!

Qin Shihuang also thought this idea was good, but what he admired more was Heifu's awareness.

Han Fei once said to Qin Shihuang that there are five types of traitors.

The first is to bribe the monarch and his ministers with property, so that the ministers can say good things and convey news, so as to find out the monarch's whereabouts and thoughts.

The second is to win people's hearts through rewards, strengthen one's own power, and expand one's influence.

The third is to appear as a friend of wise men, establish one's own image, recruit cronies, and form cliques for personal gain.

The fourth is those who privately pardon criminals to expand their own power and make others loyal to them.

The fifth is those who confuse people's hearts, attract others' attention with strange talk, dress up in strange clothes, confuse people's hearts, and confuse right and wrong.

The above five types are all evil and must be investigated by the Lord!

For the officials in the feudal territories, special attention should be paid to the emergence of the second, third, and fourth officials. These officials are stationed in the local area and often collude with local forces. When encountering good deeds that win people's hearts, they are blamed on themselves, and bad deeds that offend others are attributed to the court or the emperor. Gradually, they become too big to lose, and treat the place as a private fiefdom.

After Heifu solved the Linzi crisis, Qin Shihuang ordered him to personally supervise the execution of thousands of traitor family members. This was not because he did not trust Heifu, but just a warning and a beating for him because of Heifu's behavior in Jiaodong County. , which surprised the emperor, but also made him a little dissatisfied.

His reputation seems a bit too positive...

A good official in the eyes of the common people is not necessarily a "good official" in the eyes of the emperor.

Heifu was very spiritual and understood the emperor's intention. After calming down the chaos in Qi, he took the initiative to take the evil and put forward this suggestion that would make Qi people poke their spines.

The implication is obvious: "My black husband is loyal to Your Majesty and is not afraid of offending anyone!"

"This is what a loyal minister should look like!"

Qin Shihuang secretly praised Zhou Ding for not being in a bad mood, and it was a lot better, but he immediately asked Li Si and Ye Teng another question.

"Is it just Qi Di who needs to be shocked?"

After Qin Shihuang said this, Li Si and Ye Teng understood it and changed the number of executions to 10,000!

Almost everyone who was directly involved in the rebellion was crucified! The scope of pavilions with wooden crosses has also expanded from the four counties of Qi to Zhao, Wei, Han, Chu, and Yan...

In every pavilion, a wooden cross will be erected, with a traitor nailed to it. The wooden nails will penetrate his hands and feet. The pavilion guards will feed him a little water every day, flies will lay eggs on him, and crows will peck at him. His flesh and blood will be itched and tortured every day until the blood dries up and maggots gnaw and squirm between his skin and lungs, and he will die!

This is the price of rebellion!

The entire Six Kingdoms, two-thirds of the world, and every road will be shrouded in stench and fear.

And the bad reputation of the man who proposed this tragic proposal will be known to everyone from Liaodong to Kuaiji!

Hei Fu expressed his "undying loyalty" to Qin Shihuang, and Qin Shihuang happily rewarded him accordingly!

"Guard Heifu of Jiaodong, and sent Jiaodong soldiers to Linzi to suppress the violence of the rebels, suppress the soldiers who rebelled against the country, secure a city thousands of feet long, and establish the towns of thousands of families. He also combined the soldiers of all counties to defeat the thieves in Gaotang and kill the leaders. Capture the false king and quell the chaos. Heifu's merits can lead him to be promoted to a noble rank by two ranks and he can be worshiped as a great concubine!"