Chapter 723 Borrow another five hundred years from the sky!
In the middle of winter in the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shi Huang's reign, the imperial edict was in the hands of Heifu, and the emperor's chariot was about to leave Xianyang...
Zhao Gao, the commander of CRRC, has prepared the necessary vehicles and horses. Unlike in the past when there were only a hundred vehicles, this time the fleet actually numbered a thousand horses!
Wang Li, the commander-in-chief of the Central Military Commission, has ordered thousands of troops to defend the emperor. They are equipped with fine horses, equipped with light armor, and powerful crossbows. They will form a central army to defend the emperor.
In addition, there are 50,000 lieutenant troops guarding Xianyang. They are the most elite troops in the world, and they are all composed of young men from Guanzhong.
Qin Shihuang directly transferred 20,000 from it, plus 30,000 from the Northern Army Corps that had just been transferred from the Great Wall of the North. He was injured when his horse fell from the force, and Wu Xinhou Feng Wuze, who had not yet fully recovered, became a general.
This is a huge formation that has never been seen in the past. Black flags cover the sky, black armor says, horses are like dragons, and halberds are like forests. They gather around Baqiao. As long as the emperor gives an order, they can march south!
Who will be their enemy?
There are various speculations, and the answer seems to be gleaned from the personnel changes in more than half a month: the imperial censor Mao Jiao dragged his sick body into the palace to ask for the queen's death, and Zhang Han, the captain of Beidi County, was transferred back to Xianyang and served as Shaofu Shaoqing.
Many of the old troops promoted by Heifu in the past exchanged their positions with officials from Longxi and Shuofang. Zhang Cang, the official under the pillar, was directly dismissed, and all the hundreds of Mohists who had been arrested were executed...
After doing all this, Qin Shihuang still didn't leave.
Everyone knew what the emperor was waiting for.
One is what he has never forgotten, the Queen Mother State of the West, and his last hope for immortality.
Second, the eldest son Fusu ran away in fear last month because his assassination attempt failed. The emperor must know his outcome...
When Qin Shihuang was dying, the central court did not dare to make a decision. Meng Tianfang acted boldly and manipulated Afang's prisoners, causing chaos in Guanzhong. It took the Weiwei and Lieutenant armies half a month to capture most of them and pursue Fusu.
Not enough, unable to stop it in time.
Taking advantage of this gap, Fusu and his party members entered the eclipse from Dunan and headed for Hanzhong County.
The so-called eclipse refers to the shortest road from Guanzhong to Hanzhong in this era, also known as the "Ziwu Road".
It was originally a deserted bird path, only a mountain path trampled by wild beasts. However, during the reign of King Qin Zhao, in order to strengthen the connection between Guanzhong and Bashu, he spent huge financial resources to build a plank road in the eclipse.
On the cliffs that were originally inaccessible, holes were drilled to build trees, roads were built through valleys, or bridges were built to cross water so that people and horses could cross. It took more than ten years to complete. After arriving in Hanzhong, "Shu Road" and "Shu Road" were extended.
"Micang Road" goes straight into Bashu. As Qin Prime Minister Cai Ze said: "The plank road is thousands of miles long, leading to Shu and Han, making the whole world fear Qin."
This road is extremely narrow, and there are deep valleys and mountains on the left and right. It is difficult to go fast, and once you are overtaken, it is not easy to escape!
After Qin Shihuang recovered, he ordered Zhonglang to ride on Li Liang and lead more than a thousand people into Hanzhong, and sent local officials to capture Fusu's party. He also issued a strict order: "If Fusu really runs to Nanjun, all the officials along the way will die if they are not replaced!"
Under this kind of death order, everyone worked hard, set up a dragnet, and hunted him all the way.
On December 15th, Li Liang, the commander of the Zhonglang Cavalry, finally came back to report to Qin Shihuang!
"Your Majesty, I have fulfilled my mission and pursued you to Nanzheng, Hanzhong County. General... Fusu's gang members were all captured!"
"Nan Zheng?"
Qin Shihuang frowned. Nanzheng is the capital of Hanzhong County. If Fusu wanted to join the Heifu of Lingnan, he could just cross the Han River directly from Shiquan Pavilion and enter Micang Road. Why should he turn west?
Going to Nanzheng?
After further questioning, I learned that the Fusu party member who was allegedly "hunted" by Li Liang had gone to Nanzheng to surrender ten days ago...
This is even more puzzling.
"How is Fusu?"
Qin Shihuang only cared about this.
Li Liang was a little embarrassed, and Qin Shihuang suddenly looked unhappy. He couldn't help but think of Lu Buwei, who was also demoted to Shu, but committed suicide halfway. Fusu had a strong temperament, could it be...
Thinking this, he slapped the table!
"speak!"
No matter if he is alive or dead!
Li Liang scolded his head in fear, fearing that he would be blamed by the emperor:
"Your Majesty, Fusu separated from his family and subordinates at Shiquan Pavilion half a month ago, and went east alone without a trace!"
…
"According to the confession of the arrested person, Fusu was knocked unconscious by Meng Tianfang and carried out of the city. After he woke up after leaving Ziwu Valley, he bowed to Xianyang and cried, and then got angry and attacked Meng Tianfang with a gun. Meng Tianfang knew that he had committed a serious crime.
, so he cut his own throat to apologize..."
"Subsequently, Mrs. Fusu and Mr. He's daughter and grandson passed away in Shiquan Pavilion because they were frightened and caught in the winter rain along the way. Fusu buried his wife and sat in front of the tomb all night. In the early morning of the next day, he entrusted his two sons to the tomb.
The subordinates ordered them to go to Nanzheng to surrender, and they left without saying goodbye..."
"Leave without saying goodbye?"
Qin Shihuang's mouth felt a little sour and his chest ached.
This was not over yet, something happened again later. Dong Gong from Luoyang and Shaoping from Du had a dispute. Shaoping believed that Fusu's order should be followed and no more mistakes could be made. However, Dong Gong brought several guards who were afraid of death.
, snatched a little prince and grandson, crossed the Han River and went south, disappearing into the vast mountains.
Shaoping was unable to stop him, so he could only take Fusu's eldest son to Nanzheng to surrender. It was not until ten days ago that Li Liang caught up with them...
"Shaoping, nearly a hundred Fusu disciples, and bodyguards all committed suicide. I only had time to bring the king and grandson back to Xianyang. He was frightened, a little dazed, and said nothing..."
Qin Shihuang went to see his little grandson, but he saw that the child's eyes were dull and he did not answer any questions. When he saw his elder father who barely smiled, he hid back, his eyes full of fear.
Seeing this, the emperor tightened his smile, pursed his lips, and when he turned around, he seemed to have aged ten years again.
"When he is a little older, send him to Qiongdu. There will be a small town with four hundred households."
This was originally prepared for Fusu.
After asking Zongzheng to properly arrange the princes and grandchildren, Qin Shihuang returned to his palace and ignored anyone for the whole day.
However, Zhao Gao, the commander of the CRRC Mansion, was worried about another matter and asked Li Liang: "Where are the family members of the Marquis of Changnan?"
Li Liang reported: "The family members of the Marquis of Changnan were not among them. It seems that they suddenly separated from the Fusu party members after leaving Xianyang. It was chaotic at that time, and Meng Tianfang and others were unable to protect themselves, so they lost contact."
Zhao Gao sneered: "Knowing that everyone is chasing Fusu, he doesn't care about them, so he goes his own way. He deserves to be the wife of a black husband. This bitch is really smart!"
But it doesn't matter, as long as the emperor goes south, no matter whether Heifu is waiting for death or stubbornly resisting, he will be completely finished!
Even if the emperor has no time to deal with Hei Fu, as long as Zhao Gao teaches and his son Hu Hai, who has great trust in him, can ascend to the throne with the emperor's favor, everything will not be a problem!
Qin Shihuang was depressed all day, and it is said that he fainted again due to anger. On the next day, inspired by ginseng soup, he regained his energy and asked someone to find a map.
The emperor is old, and he is no longer the giant who stood on the map of the four seas uniting, destroying a country in one step, and making waves in the sea.
His back was a little hunched, and his eyesight was not very good. He needed a waiter to hold a lamp and let him get close to him and search carefully on the map.
Qin Shihuang's finger pointed at the "Shiquan Pavilion" which represented the great misfortune of Fusu's life. From here to the east, there is a road built along the Han River. At the end of it, it is divided into two. The forked road to the south leads to
Nanjun is the hometown of Marquis Changnan, and there are many gangsters...
"Could it be that Fusu knew that there were many pursuers and it would be difficult to escape, so he took another route alone?"
Qin Shi Huang murmured to himself, but then he snorted:
"In order to survive, he abandoned his second son. When did Fusu become so cruel and decisive?"
"Lift it higher."
Qin Shihuang ordered, and as the light in the waiter's hand gradually went up, the North Fork of the Han River Road appeared.
It will arrive in Nanyang, then turn north and reach Wuguan Road.
Return to Wuguan Road in Guanzhong.
It is also the only way to go to Zhucheng from Xianyang.
"Is he going to wait there, or will he come back?"
Qin Shihuang muttered to himself again, then sneered and denied this idea.
"Come back like a lost dog? Then kneel down to His Highness, beg me to forgive him, and then live with humiliation for the rest of your life? If this is the case, it would be better to die!"
The First Emperor of Qin did not have such a son. He should have stood at the forefront of the storm, holding on to the sun, moon, heaven and earth, but he failed miserably!
And those who fail to climb to the top will fall into the abyss forever and have no right to come back!
With a hint of venting his anger, Qin Shihuang grabbed the lamp and burned the map!
The old emperor turned around, and the map burned little by little behind him. First, Guanzhong, then spread to the south, Guandong, and finally the whole world was burned by the fire.
The firelight behind him reflected Qin Shi Huang's gloomy face:
I feel sorry for his misfortune, but angry at his incompetence!
Although he scolded Fusu for "deserving it", Qin Shihuang ignored the well-prepared patrol troops and waited in Xianyang for another three days, making people pay attention to the news of Wuguan every day.
Three reports in the morning, noon and evening?
No, it’s reported every hour!
While drinking ginseng soup, he comforted himself arrogantly: "What I'm waiting for is not the rebellious son Fusu, but the news about Li Xin!"
A few days later, Qin Shihuang waited...
There is still no news about Fusu, but Li Xin sent back another good news from the Western Regions!
…
Last year, at the request of Daxia, Qin Shihuang decided to send troops to the west. Under the guidance of Daxia, he defeated the Tiaozhi and opened the road to the "Western Queen Mother State".
Qin Shihuang issued an order in the spring, and Li Xin led 20,000 troops out of Yumen Pass in the summer. The civilians committed 40,000 prisoners, and tens of thousands of mules and horses traveled to and from Hexi and the Western Regions to transport grain. For more than half a year, the results of the battle were remarkable. Every time he returned, Taishi ordered Hu Wujing to
Recorded in history.
"In the fifth month, Li Xin collected three thousand Wusun jingqi from the north of Qilian and left Yumen to garrison Pu Leihai."
"In the sixth month, Li Xin arrived at the Cheshi Kingdom. The capital's river flowed around the city, so it was called Jiaohe. He went to Xianyang for 5,200 miles, and had a population of 5,000 people to eat wheat. He ordered him to donate grain and give out a few thousand people.
Corvée.”
"In the seventh month, Xin arrived at Yanqi State and traveled 5,480 miles to Xianyang. He had a population of 30,000 and defeated thousands of soldiers. He refused to use the road to offer food to Qin, so Li Xin attacked him."
"In August, there was a country named Qiuci (Kucha County, Xinjiang) in the west of Yanqi. It was six thousand miles away from Xianyang, with a population of 780,000 or 80,000, and an army of ten thousand. In response to Yanqi's request, he united with the remnants of the Yuezhi in Beishan in the north, and with Weili in the south.
We combined 20,000 troops and fought with Li Xin's 10,000 people at the foot of Beishan. Li Xin won, killed King Yanqi, beheaded Prince Yuezhi, and hanged the head of King Qiuci..."
This was the last news received in thirty-six years. Li Xin massacred all parties in the North Road of the Western Regions, all the way to the foot of Tianshan Mountain. In the next two months, he completely occupied the entire territory of Qiuci, and supported the prince of Qiuci to become the ruler.
The food from this largest country in the northern part of the Western Region was used to feed the hungry expeditionary army.
The news sent back this time stated that, frightened by the strength of the Qin army, Gumo State, west of Qiuci and 6,500 miles away from Xianyang, was willing to surrender to Qin, open roads, and provide food so that the Qin army could smoothly advance westward.
.
However, due to the bitter cold in the Western Regions, it was impossible to march in the winter. There was also a snowstorm and thousands of mules and horses were killed. Li Xin and the expeditionary force suffered heavy losses. They had to rest in a place called "Luntai" east of Qiuci, and then venture west again after the spring.
Enter……
Since he was two thousand miles away from Yumen, it was difficult for the people to transport food supplies, so Li Xin planned to set up officials in Luntai, start farming, tax the various states, and obtain food locally, and then create something from scratch in the local area, and transfer the Qin Dynasty system to the local area.
The officials in the past were exactly the ones who almost made Qin Shihuang angry to death...
"Where exactly are these places?"
Qin Shihuang asked his attendants to hold lamps and find the locations of Pulei, Cheshi, Qiuci, Gumo and Beishan one by one on the newly drawn map of the Western Regions.
The last sentence was filled with emotion: "I never thought that the Western Regions would be so big..."
Wushi Yan said that there are thirty-six countries in the Western Region, with mountains in the north and south, a river in the center, more than 6,000 miles from east to west, and more than 2,000 miles from north to south. It is connected to Qin in the east, Yumen is the gate, and Congling is limited to the west.
"Decades ago, our late king Zhaoxiang, King Zhaoxiang, defeated the Rong and Di and built the Great Wall, but he could not reach Lintao to the west."
"But now, there are also Qin officials six thousand miles west of Xianyang..."
Pride is pride, but Qin Shihuang was a little unwilling to do so.
Judging from the returns from Wu Shiyan and Li Xin, those places are indeed very attractive, deserts, snow-capped mountains, oases, different races from the Central Plains, tall noses and deep eyes, strange fruits and vegetables...
But the distance of thousands of miles left Qin Shihuang helpless.
"I can't go that far."
He sighed:
"I can only go to Zhucheng and take a look at the dog that has been loyal and diligent in farming for more than ten years. Is it barking at me? Or is it running over to lick my hand?"
The other hand hidden behind his back is not made of bones, but a sharp blade!
However, he actually has something he wants to do more...
Qin Shihuang extended his hand to the vast Western Region, and to the west of the Western Region, there was a new world that was even more vast and unimaginably big!
He really hoped that he could witness with his own eyes the great Qin Dynasty marching across the new thousands of miles of rivers and mountains!
"If I could have known all this ten years earlier... no, even five years earlier!"
It's a pity that people's speed in measuring land is relatively limited, and they didn't come in time.
The future march plan described in Li Xin's memorial also dashed Qin Shihuang's last hope.
General Li said that within thirty-seven years, he would be able to pass through Gumo, Shule, and Congling to reach Daxia!
In the thirty-eighth year, we must unite with Daxia to fight against Tiaozhi, strive to defeat Tiaozhi in the thirty-ninth year, reach the West Sea, and find the Queen Mother of the West...
Calculating this, it would take about forty years for Qin Shihuang to welcome the Queen Mother of the West to Qin.
"Forty years?"
Qin Shihuang shook his head bitterly. He had no confidence that he could survive thirty-seven years.
"This year the ancestral dragon dies!" Shen Bi's prophecy of return, even though he did not admit that he was the ancestral dragon, these words were like a sword hanging above his head!
Qin Shihuang glanced at the empty candle, and out of anger, he burned another map.
This time, the flames soared from Xianyang in the heart of Guanzhong. It went all the way west, drawing in all the thirty-six kingdoms in the north and south of the Western Region, turning the Beishan Kingdom into ashes, and even crossed the Congling Mountains and began to devour the unknown world outside the map.
…
The gray beard and hair, the weak steps, and the old eyes look towards the hazy sky.
Although he was unwilling to admit defeat, this time, he no longer had the strength to fight against the sky to win or lose.
"I really want to live another five hundred years!"
…
It is said that Qin Shihuang must go to Zhu City.
"When Father returns from his inspection tour, Queen Mother Xi may be waiting for Father in Xianyang!"
The night before departure, the well-behaved and filial young son Hu Hai so optimistically comforted Emperor Qin Shi Huang.
After the incident of Fusu's escape, this silly boy may have been the last bit of warmth in Qin Shihuang's heart.
"But, can I still come back?"
He knew his own body well. Qin Shihuang had never been so unconfident. Unlike in history, a series of changes seemed to make this proud and stubborn emperor realize a little reality.
The sun will set sooner or later today.
And we must be prepared for the sun tomorrow, otherwise if anything goes wrong during this trip, there will be no sun or moon in the world, and we will fall into endless darkness.
In that case, how could Da Qin be passed on to all generations!
Although he was reluctant, at the end of the day, Qin Shihuang still issued an edict: "Let the young masters come to the palace tomorrow to have an audience..."
"It has been several years since your Majesty last summoned the young masters!"
As the person who wrote the imperial edict, Zhao Gao, the commander of CRRC, immediately sensed the unusualness of this explicit order and immediately became energetic.
"Could this be... the prelude to establishing an heir?"
After a long time of patience, Fusu finally gave up on his future. Hu Hai, who had been difficult to compete with in the past, finally got a chance!
Zhao Gao secretly said: "Although he has summoned all the young masters, your Majesty will definitely have a designated candidate in mind! He may be summoned in advance!"
It's a pity that he is not on duty tonight, so he can only return home and wait anxiously.
But what surprised Zhao Gao was that he secretly reminded Hu Hai to be prepared at night, and asked his attendants to stay at Hu Hai's mansion for the whole night, but Qin Shihuang did not see any visitors sent to summon Hu Hai.
Instead, a close confidant at the palace gate quietly asked someone to tell him something.
"By order of the CRRC, a car has entered the palace!"
Zhao Gao's hands and feet suddenly became cold...
"Oops!"
…
At the same time, in front of Xianyang Palace, a four-horse chariot stopped. A tall young man got out of the chariot and followed Lang Wei to the palace.
After walking through the dark palace gate, bypassing the compound path between the high walls, and stepping on the stairs, his true face was revealed by the bright lights in the main hall.
He looked hesitant and walked hesitantly...
He is not Hu Hai.
Not even Fusu.
His single name is "Gao".
"The second son of the First Emperor of Qin, the young master is tall!"
…
ps: Five thousand chapters, only one update today.
I always think that song is more suitable for Qin Shihuang.
