Julu County, Sand Dune Palace ruins platform, exiting the patrol convoy.
In the emperor's car, Ying Zheng was lying on the bed with a yellow face, his eyes were half open and half closed. The eyes exposed through the gaps between his eyelids lacked the sparkle of the past, his lips were slightly parted, and his breathing was weak and almost non-existent.
This scene may make everyone who sees it unable to believe it when it appears on Ying Zheng.
Not only could they not believe that the First Emperor, who always stood high in the sky and towered over the empire, was seriously ill and dying, but he also could not believe that Ying Zheng would look like this.
Ying Zheng has been seeking immortality and taking elixirs. Although his physical condition has not improved due to this, at least he looks perfect to others. He always looks healthy and lives a hundred years, even when he is older.
He still looks like a young man in his twenties or thirties.
Therefore, many people are looking forward to Ying Zheng's death, but few people really think that he will die suddenly at a young age.
But the reality is that people are so caught off guard.
Before this tour, Ying Zheng was only in a slightly bad state. It looked like he had not rested well. His symptoms quickly began to worsen. By the time he arrived in Pingyuanjin, Jibei County, he had been in a coma for most of the day.
After taking medicine to regain some energy, the convoy just left Pingyuanjin across the river. However, within two days of leaving, the man fell ill again.
This time, Ying Zheng almost lost all ability to move and could not even speak.
In the carriage, several chamberlains headed by Zhao Gao stood by Ying Zheng's side.
Everyone except Zhao Gao looked uneasy, but didn't know what to do. Their eyes were full of fear and confusion.
As chamberlains, they were actually equivalent to the eunuchs of later generations. For example, Zhao Gao, the 'head eunuch', was also in charge of Fuxi affairs, and occasionally helped Ying Zheng draft and write edicts. They were very similar to the eunuchs who were responsible for the seals of later generations.
But it just looks like it, but the actual power is not comparable at all. Zhao Gao, the 'hand seal eunuch', can't compare with the real ceremonial eunuch's hand seal.
Although he really had this power, Zhao Gao could only act in accordance with Ying Zheng's orders, and at most he could be regarded as a higher-level secretary.
As for this privilege, only Zhao Gao has it, and other chamberlains are basically out of reach.
Moreover, the scale of the imperial court was far less large and cumbersome than that of later generations. It could be divided into departments with more than two digits. There were basically no four departments, eight bureaus, twelve supervisors, and twenty-four yamen.
But even so, as the few internal servants who are favored by Ying Zheng, they may not be able to reach the level of one person or more than ten thousand people. In other words, more than a thousand people are more than enough, and they are properly regarded as the superiors of people.
When they were in front of Ying Zheng, they were grandsons who served others, but when they were out of sight of Ying Zheng, they all became masters too!
Days like this are already a good thing that ordinary people can't even dream of.
Once the emperor and his courtiers came, the courtiers in the outer court would change, and the aides in the inner court would also change.
If Ying Zheng dies and a new emperor succeeds to the throne, they will almost say goodbye to such a good life.
Zhao Gao was very calm at this time. Looking at Ying Zheng, whose breathing was getting weaker and his vitality gradually dying, he thought of something that happened not long ago.
When he was in Pingyuanjin, he realized that his health was deteriorating and his death was approaching. Yingzheng ordered Zhao Gao to write an edict on his behalf. The content was that if anything happened to him, he would summon the eldest son Fusu to come to handle the funeral affairs and send the coffin back to the capital.
Burial.
No matter how much he longed for immortality, Ying Zheng finally made arrangements for his death in advance when he realized that his life was running out.
Although Fusu was not directly designated to inherit the throne, naturally only the second emperor could handle the funeral arrangements after his death.
Despite not liking Fusu's many character flaws, Ying Zheng chose him as his successor.
There was no way, he had no choice.
Fusu may not be that outstanding, and he may not be able to grow into a qualified emperor, but if he is unsuitable, then his younger brothers are even less suitable.
Among the short ones, Fusu is the tallest.
Moreover... no one can say for sure in advance whether Fusu will be able to fulfill the responsibilities of the emperor. It is just a subjective judgment.
Maybe he can be very successful.
However, Ying Zheng, who has reached the end of his life, no longer cares about these things. He has already done the last thing he should do.
Back to the topic.
Zhao Gao was thinking about the edict written by himself, and an increasingly cold light flashed in his eyes.
For Zhao Gao, Fusu's succession was something he could never accept!
For other chamberlains, if Fusu becomes emperor, the most they will do is lose their current status and change from a superior to a subordinate.
Moreover, Fusu has always been known for his benevolence, loyalty and filial piety. With his temperament, he might treat these "old people" kindly for the sake of his father, and still let them live a prosperous life.
Overall, the losses are certainly huge, but they are ultimately within an acceptable range.
But Zhao Gao is different.
Without Ying Zheng's favoritism, Fusu would definitely not protect him after he came to power. Zhao Gao felt that if he could live for more than three days, Gu Xun would be lenient to him.
It doesn't even take Gu Xun to kill him, Fusu probably won't be able to spare him in the first place.
He was a chamberlain, essentially a domestic slave. The emperor didn't even have to kill him if he wanted to, he could just tell him to commit suicide.
If he doesn't want to, then there will be imperial guards to do it for him.
If he just lost power and power, then Zhao Gao would still be willing to think about it and weigh the pros and cons, but now what is at stake is his life, so he can only fight to the death!
Thinking of this, Zhao Gao ordered other servants to guard the emperor and hurriedly left the carriage.
After going out, Zhao Gao first went to find Hu Hai, and after giving him some instructions, he quietly found Li Si.
Li Si is also in a state of distress now, having just dealt with the officials under him.
The fact that Ying Zheng was seriously ill and dying must not be leaked at all, but it was not easy to hide it from these people who were involved in the officialdom. Even Li Si racked his brains to find enough reasons to fool them.
I just finished my work and found it when I was looking for it.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Looking at Zhao Gao with a serious face, Li Si's heart skipped a beat, and his intuition told him that nothing good was coming.
Zhao Gao spoke very boldly and directly, and from the very beginning he made outrageous remarks:
"Master Xiangguo, I'm afraid the situation of His Majesty the Emperor is not optimistic."
Li Si's face froze, and he thought it was indeed not a good thing.
But when Zhao Gao mentioned this, he had no choice but to accept it.
Apart from the insignificant chamberlains and the strictly guarded imperial physician, they were the only two people who knew the actual situation of the emperor.
And some things must be arranged in advance, and they cannot close their eyes until it gets dark.
"What does Zhao Fu Ling mean?" Li Si did not rush to express his position, and asked calmly.
Zhao Gao was still direct and rude, and asked unscrupulously, "I mean, if that unspeakable thing really happens, how will the Prime Minister plan the next itinerary?"
Li Si had a gloomy face, his eyes lowered and not looking at Zhao Gao. After a long silence, he quietly replied, "Of course everything is business as usual."
This answer sounds outrageous.
What Zhao Gao called "something that cannot be said" was naturally the death of Ying Zheng.
After the emperor died, it stands to reason that the patrol would be discontinued and preparations for funeral arrangements should be made quickly, but Li Si said that the patrol would continue as usual.
But Li Si’s approach is actually more appropriate.
The empire is now in a critical situation, and Ying Zheng can be said to be the key core that keeps everything from collapsing.
If the news of Ying Zheng's death were spread all at once, his family's foundation would collapse before Fusu could come back to fulfill his filial piety to his father.
As prime minister, Li Si must do everything he can to maintain the situation.
Under this demand, the most appropriate arrangement is to keep the funeral secret and keep everything as usual until the successor selected by Ying Zheng arrives to take charge of the overall situation, and then the death of the emperor can be truly announced to the world.
Li Si did not know that Ying Zheng had chosen Fu Su to succeed him, but in his opinion, any of Ying Zheng's princes was possible, but Hu Hai was not.
As long as it was not Hu Hai, no matter which prince was not in the convoy, someone would have to be arranged on site to notify and contact them, and then they would have to wait for someone to come over.
At least it will be business as usual for the team during this period.
As for what to do when the successor prince arrives, that is another question. We will discuss it later.
Zhao Gao was not surprised by this answer. He nodded, showed a strange smile and suddenly said:
"In fact, His Majesty ordered me to write a... testament not long ago."
Li Si's brows jumped when he heard the last two words, but he still maintained his composure.
When it comes to this matter, there is no need to hide anything.
It was obvious that Ying Zheng could not survive this test and was destined to die, so it was better to focus on what was behind him.
"Since Your Majesty did not inform all the officials, I think this is a secret edict. What does Zhao Fuling tell me now?"
Zhao Gao did not answer the question and continued to follow the topic of the edict, "The emperor ordered that after his death, he urgently summons the eldest son Fusu to come back to arrange the funeral and transport the coffin back to the capital."
"Eldest Young Master!?"
This result surprised Li Si.
Even in his opinion, Fusu had basically said goodbye to the throne completely, and there was almost no possibility of succeeding to the throne.
After all, which prince will be squeezed out of the core of power?
This is no small problem.
Not to mention anything else, just in the step of inheriting the throne, there is a huge difference between people in the capital Xianyang and those in the northern county.
This means that Ying Zheng was about to die on the way to patrol, which directly caused trouble for the inheritance of the throne.
Under normal circumstances, Ying Zheng should have died in Xianyang, the imperial capital, and then sent a letter from Xianyang to Fusu, the governor of Shangjun, to return to the capital. Fusu would then receive orders to return to the capital and inherit the throne.
This trip doesn't take much time, only seven days at most, and maybe three or four days would be enough.
But even if it only takes three days, it is enough to make it full of suspense about who will win the throne.
There are more than a dozen princes in Xianyang City. Will they wait patiently for their eldest brother to come back and inherit the throne?
When Fu Su was transferred to the county, and Ying Zheng was still reluctant to establish the crown prince, there was always a consensus within the imperial court that the intensity of the prince's seizure of the throne would not be low.
The empire was different from the Zhou Dynasty, as well as the various vassal states that established themselves after the decline of the Zhou Dynasty.
The empire is completely unfeudal!
Everyone is treated equally, even the prince is no exception.
If the dozen sons of Ying Zheng cannot inherit the throne, they will only be rich and idle for the rest of their lives - it is difficult to say how far this "wealth" can go.
For ordinary people, this is of course a good thing when smoke comes out of ancestral graves, but for a dignified prince, it is very uncomfortable.
Not to mention, after the new emperor ascends the throne, it is difficult to say what he will think of these brothers who compete with him for the throne.
If the new emperor wanted to kill them on a whim... they really would have no power to fight back, they could only kill them at the neck.
Foreign ministers generally do not interfere with such internal affairs of the royal family.
They might try to dissuade the emperor from killing his son. After all, the prince is a potential prince and cannot be killed easily, but the emperor's brother...who cares?
In this case, if there is really no chance, these princes will definitely not seek death, but if there is a chance... some of them will definitely be willing to take a gamble.
Once a prince wants to take risks, three to five days are enough to make the transfer of the throne full of variables.
In the eyes of most people, it does not matter who the throne is passed to, but that it is important that the throne can be handed over smoothly.
Once this process goes awry, it will cause violent turbulence in the court situation, and even directly shake the power of the new emperor and the structure of the entire empire.
Therefore, Li Si had always believed that Ying Zheng would not choose the eldest son Fu Su - if Ying Zheng had this idea, he should show it instead of repeatedly punishing and reprimanding Fu Su.
It's a pity... Ying Zheng's thinking on this matter is inconsistent with the vast majority of normal people.
Because these people generally don't take the factor of immortality into consideration.
For Ying Zheng, immortality and being the emperor all the time is the best and most important choice. Inheriting the throne to his son is purely a backup plan.
Moreover, this backup plan seemed to him to be a completely useless plan before.
So he never thought about carefully arranging this plan - until Ying Zheng really faced death, he himself didn't know who he would choose to succeed the throne!
Who can guess Schrödinger’s successor?
After being surprised, Li Si couldn't help but frown.
For Zhao Gao, Fusu's succession to the throne was a fateful matter.
For Li Si, Fusu's succession was also not a good thing.
However, he is different from Zhao Gao after all. He is a serious and powerful prime minister who is both meritorious and useful to the empire. He is completely different from a slave like Zhao Gao.
Even if he is the emperor, it is impossible for him to be stabbed without any reason.
So it's not as urgent as Zhao Gao at the moment.
Zhao Gao knew this very well and was not in a hurry to get angry. He was just waiting for Li Si's further response.
"Since the emperor has given the order, then Zhao Mansion will act in accordance with the order. When the time comes, he will summon the eldest son to come down and join the convoy. Why are you suing me?" Li Si still did not express his position and asked calmly.
Zhao Gao chuckled, with a hint of sarcasm, and then said in a strange tone, "Master Xiangguo is very calm, but... do you really have no objection to the eldest son's succession to the throne?"
"The inheritance of the imperial throne is the dictatorship of His Majesty the Sacred Heart of the Free Emperor. How can we, the ministers, go beyond it!" Li Si seemed to be angry, his tone turned cold, and he replied with a flick of his sleeves.
Zhao Gao didn't care and continued:
"Once Mr. Fusu succeeds to the throne, do you think he will let you go?"
Li Si did not hide his words anymore and replied bluntly, "Ling Zhao, you have done something that has crossed the line. You are just afraid that His Highness the eldest son will punish you. Why bother with me again?"