Qin Shihuang's eldest son, because his mother was a native of Zheng, liked to sing the local popular love song "There is a millet on the mountain", so the first emperor named their son "Fu Su", which was an ancient description of the lush foliage of trees, so Qin Shihuang named it after it, obviously placing infinite expectations on this son.
When he was young, Fu Su was witty and intelligent, and he was born with a compassionate heart, so he often ran counter to the tyrannical Qin Shihuang in political views. The first emperor paranoid that this was caused by Fuxi's cowardice, so he decided to let Fuxi help General Meng Tian build the Great Wall of Wan Li to resist the Xiongnu in the north, hoping to cultivate a resolute and brave Fuxi.
Several years of exploration beyond the Great Wall really set Fu Su apart. He took the lead, was brave and good at fighting, and made outstanding achievements. His keen insight and excellent command ability have amazed many frontier generals. He loves the people like a son, treats others with humility, and wins the love and admiration of the broad masses of the people.
Just when Fu Su was eager to return to the imperial court to show his future, the first emperor sent an imperial edict to Shang Jun, but he was accused of poor work and handed it over to the general Meng Tian to commit suicide. Fu Su was so angry that he wanted to commit suicide. However, Meng Tian, the old general, found that the wording of the imperial edict was flawed, so he stopped Fu Su and planned to meet the first emperor himself. But the imperial envoy held high the banner and led the troops, and General Montaigne and General Guan desperately tried to save Su and fled the county seat.
Although the world is big, it seems that there is no place for Fu Su. In order to clear his innocence and find out the truth, Fu Su walked into the troubled times at the end of Qin Dynasty, and great events were coming.
Hu Hai and Qin Ershi were the second and last emperors of the Qin Dynasty. He completely shattered the beautiful dream of Qin Shihuang's throne passed down from generation to generation.
Only Zhao Gao has the throne.
Hu Hai's accession to the throne was entirely planned by Zhao Gao for his own autocracy. Among the sons of Qin Shihuang, Hu Hai's theory is absolutely not qualified to ascend to the throne. His eldest brother, Fu Su, was the best. Qin Shihuang trained him as an heir, although Qin Shihuang didn't like him very much. In order to increase his experience in governing the country, he was sent to the northern border to guard with Meng Tian.
Hu Hai is a famous dude among the sons of Qin Shihuang, and he doesn't look like a son of an emperor at all. On one occasion, Qin Shihuang hosted a banquet for his ministers so that his sons could also attend. Hu Hai obeyed, but he didn't want to drink with ministers in front of his father, so he ate early and went out. Ministers' shoes were neatly arranged outside the temple door, because according to the regulations of the Qin Dynasty at that time, ministers had to take off their shoes and put them outside the temple door when they entered the palace. The shoes of ministers attending the banquet were neatly arranged and became props for Hu Hai's nonsense. With the strength of wine, he kicked the shoes of ministers as he walked. People's words and deeds are consistent. Later, Hu Hai became the emperor who ruled the world. As a result, he kicked the country like he used to kick shoes, and finally even his own life was involved.
Hu Hai's constantly chauffeured image, coupled with Zhao Gao's instigation, made him go further and further down the evil path. Zhao Gao was originally a palace eunuch, but he also had some talents. For example, he is proficient in criminal law. He is not only tall and strong, but also good at writing, which won the favor of Qin Shihuang. He was promoted to an official in the imperial court, responsible for the etiquette ceremony of the emperor's chariots and horses. In order to please Hu Hai, Zhao Gao often taught Hu Hai calligraphy and how to solve crimes. Coupled with Zhao Gao's glib words, Hu Hai was firmly controlled and everything was under his control, which was the basis for Zhao Gao to encourage Hu Hai to usurp the throne.
When Qin Shihuang made his last tour, Hu Hai also accompanied him. At that time, he was still a regular driver in his twenties. After Qin Shihuang died of illness, he was bewitched by Zhao Gao. Together with Zhao Gao and Reese, he changed the testamentary edict that Fu Su, the eldest son of Qin Shihuang, succeeded to the throne. He ascended the throne that did not belong to him, and the result was a point of no return.
The role of Reese in Zhao Gao's plot can not be ignored. Zhao Gao knew that Reese's position could play an important role in establishing Hu Hai. So I tried to convince Reese.
Zhao Gao told Reese his plan, but Reese flatly refused.
Zhao Gao said unhurriedly, "Premier Li, you'd better think it over. Can your contribution be compared with that of Meng Tian in North Korea? Can your prestige and your strategy compare with that of Meng Tian? Besides, Fu Su doesn't trust you as much as Meng Tianshen. If Fu Su ascended the throne, the position of Prime Minister will definitely belong to Montaigne, so there will be no place for you. Losing the prime minister is a trivial matter, and beheading is not impossible. You'd better think about it. Your destiny is in your own hands. "
Reese weighed the pros and cons, and finally embarked on the same road of no return as Zhao Gao.
Killing brothers and sisters and loyal subjects
Hu Hai killed his brother Fu Su before he ascended the throne. Hu Hai forged letters with Zhao Gao and Reese and sent them to Fu Su and Meng Tian stationed on the northern border. The false letter rebuked Fu Su and Meng Tian for guarding the frontier for more than ten years. Instead of making meritorious military service, they repeatedly wrote letters criticizing the failure of state affairs. Yan Su was even more resentful, thinking that he could not return to Beijing to be a prince, so he gave him a sword to commit suicide. Instead of persuading Fu Su, Meng Tian was unfaithful to the emperor and committed suicide.
After hearing the imperial edict, Fu Su wanted Lacrimosa to commit suicide. After all, Meng Tian is more experienced than he is, and advised him to sue the emperor. If it is true, it is not too late to commit suicide, but Fu Su said, "My father let me die. What else can I resort to? " After that, I killed myself in tears. Meng Tian, on the other hand, argued and refused to commit suicide. When the messenger saw that he did not obey the imperial edict, he put him in the prison in Yangzhou (now Zichangbei, Shaanxi Province).
When he became emperor, he was more cruel and inhuman to many other brothers and sisters.
The cruelest thing about Hu Hai's massacre of brothers was the execution of twelve brothers in Xianyang (the business district of ancient cities). On another occasion, six brothers and ten sisters were crushed to death in Du You (now Xianyang East, Shaanxi Province), and the execution ground was terrible. Hu Hai's brother Lv Jiang and others were eventually forced to commit suicide. The three of them were more calm than the other brothers, and Hu Hai couldn't find any charges against them, so he was locked up in the palace. After many other brothers were killed, Zhao Gao sent people to force them to commit suicide. They said to the bearer, "We didn't do anything wrong with the etiquette of the imperial court." We didn't violate the etiquette stipulated by the court. We obeyed orders without any mistakes. Why do you say that you must commit suicide if you are not loyal to your country? "The messenger replied," I don't know why you were convicted and executed. I'm just following orders. "Three people cry at one another, and finally drew his sword to commit suicide.
Among Hu Hai's brothers, the son had a better reputation when he died of high death. He watched his brothers and sisters being persecuted to death by Hu Hai one after another, knowing that he was doomed. But running away will bring trouble to my family, so I am determined to use my own death to ensure the safety of my family. He wrote to Hu Hai that he was willing to be buried in Mount Li for his father. Hu Hai was very happy and gave him another hundred thousand dollars.
In addition to his brothers and sisters, Hu Hai spared other disobedient civil and military ministers. Meng Tian's brother was persecuted first. At first, Hu Hai wanted to continue to use them, but Zhao Gao was afraid that they would pose a threat to himself. He told Hu Hai that Qin Shihuang wanted Hu Hai to be a prince, but Meng Tian's brother Meng Yi tried to stop him. Qin Shihuang dismissed the idea of making him a prince. Hu Hai, instead of releasing Meng Tian, imprisoned Meng Yi in a prison in Dai Jun (now northeast of Yuxian County, Hebei Province). Later, Hu Hai sent messengers to force Meng Zhi to commit suicide, and sent people to Yangzhou prison to force Meng Tian to commit suicide. Meng Tian began to refuse, arguing that he wanted to see Hu Hai and asked him to withdraw the imperial edict. When the messenger refused, Meng Tian could not see the hope of survival and had to commit suicide by taking poison.
Hu Hai, instigated by Zhao Gao, also killed other ministers. Right-wing Prime Minister Feng Qujia and General jie feng chose suicide to avoid humiliation. While killing the minister, Zhao Gao put his cronies in one by one. His younger brother, Zhao, became the order of Zhongche Mansion, and his son-in-law was the order of Xianyang County, the capital. They are all important positions, and other important positions in the DPRK are also spread all over Zhao Gao. Hu Hai only knew how to enjoy himself, but he was unprepared for these conspiracies of Zhao Gao, and finally died in the hands of Zhao.
Zhao Gao was not satisfied with killing many ministers in the DPRK, so he looked for opportunities to instruct Hu Hai to kill local officials. In the second year of Hu Hai's accession to the throne, that is, at the beginning of 209 BC, Hu Hai followed his father Qin Shihuang to travel around the world. South to Huiji (now Suzhou), north to Jieshi (now north of Changli, Hebei), and finally back to Xianyang from Liaodong (now Liaoyang, Liaoning). On the way to the parade, Zhao Gao insidiously said to Hu Hai, "Your Majesty should take the opportunity to establish his prestige when traveling around the world, so that you can have supreme prestige." Hu Hai repeatedly ordered the killing of dissidents indiscriminately, which made ministers feel uneasy. In fact, Zhao Gao regarded the young and inactive Hu Hai as a tool to expand his power.
For Reese, the original ally, Zhao Gao didn't let go, and Hu Hai got rid of this opponent. Zhao Gao's design made Hu Hai dissatisfied with Lisi, and then he found an opportunity to frame Lisi for three charges against Hu Hai: First, Lisi had participated in the establishment of Hu Hai's throne, but later he kept complaining that he had not been reused and wanted to share the land with Hu Hai as king. Second, Li You, the son of Reese, was the chief of Sanchuan, but Li You did not actively suppress the Chen Sheng Uprising when he passed the chief of Sanchuan, because he and Chen Sheng were fellow villagers in neighboring counties. I heard that Reese and Bobby Chen also sent messages. Thirdly, Reese, as the prime minister, has too much power, surpassing the emperor, but he is still not satisfied and seems to have infidelity.
Hu Hai listened to Zhao Gao and wanted to catch Reese, but there was no real evidence, so he sent someone to monitor Reese first. After hearing the news, Reese wrote to expose Zhao Gao's misdeeds. Hu Hai refused to believe, but showed the letter to Zhao Gao. Knowing that this was a life-and-death struggle with Reese, Zhao Gao further framed Reese on charges of Luo Zhi. Hu Hai arrested Reese and handed him over to Zhao Gao for trial. Zhao Gao naturally refused to miss this rare opportunity, tortured Reese and forced Reese to plead guilty. Reese couldn't stand the torture, so he had to extort a confession. Zhao Gao took Li Si's confession and reported it to Hu Hai. Finally, in 208 BC, the second year of Hu Hai's accession to the throne, Lisi was sentenced to death: first, blacken his face (that is, tattoo his face, which is an insult and punishment to the Qin Dynasty), then stun him (that is, cut off his nose, which is also the torture of the Qin Dynasty), cut off his left and right toes (that is, cut off his left and right feet) and cut off his waist (cut off). Reese's family was also killed. Zhao Gao later paid the price for his cruelty: two years later, he was killed by Zi Ying, the king of Qin.
Treat his father arbitrarily.
After Hu Hai took the throne of the emperor, he wanted to enjoy his old age. Once he said to Zhao Gao, "A man's life is as fast as running a horse over a wall. When I become emperor, I want to enjoy myself wholeheartedly. What do you think, Ai Qing? " This is exactly what Zhao Gao wants. From then on, he courted Hu Hai for pleasure and became more daring and authoritarian.
With the support of Zhao Gao, Hu Hai was not at ease and asked Reese how to enjoy herself for a long time. He said to Reese: "I heard from Han Fei that when Yao ruled the world, the house was made of thatch, the rice was soup made of wild vegetables, and he wore deerskin to keep out the cold in winter and linen in summer. Dayu was so tired that his thigh fell off and his calf fell off when he was managing water, and finally he died in a foreign land. If being an emperor is like this, is that their original intention? Poor life is probably advocated by poor scholars, not what sages like emperors want. Since you have the world, you should take things from the world to satisfy your desires. This is called being rich! I don't have any benefits, how can I manage the world? I just want to enjoy the world forever. What do you think, Ai Qing? "
Reese was afraid that Hu Hai would fall out of favor after listening to Zhao Gao's words, so he wrote an article "The Art and Responsibility of State Supervision", which offered Hu Hai an arbitrary and calm way to govern the country. That is to say, to consolidate centralization by means of supervision and punishment, and to suppress people's resistance and illegality. Reese's strategy represented his legal idea, and later the demise of the Qin Dynasty declared the historical bankruptcy of this legalist thought.
With Reese's idea, Hu Hai indulged his desires. He continued to recruit a large number of farmers from all over the country to build Epang Palace and Lishan Cemetery, and sent 50,000 foot soldiers to guard the capital Xianyang. At the same time, he asked all localities to supply grain and grass to Xianyang. It is forbidden for people who transport grain and grass to eat food within 300 miles around Xianyang on the road, and they must bring their own food. In addition to perennial unpaid labor, farmers' tax burden is increasing day by day, which eventually led to the outbreak of Guangwu Uprising in Chen Sheng. With the first one, other uprisings broke out one after another in various places, and the descendants of the six countries destroyed by Qin once again played the banner of the six countries against Qin. Countless people around claimed to be independent, and Zhou Wenling, one of Chen Sheng's subordinate generals, led hundreds of troops straight to Hangu Pass, and the end of Qin finally came.
But Hu Hai II didn't believe it at all. He just likes to hear the good news of world peace. In a discussion about whether to send troops to suppress the uprising, Hu Hai did not agree that there was a "rebellion", and of course there was no need to send troops. Uncle Sun Tong knows Hu Hai. He said, "What they said about the rebellion in the world is completely wrong. The first emperor has torn down the city wall and cast the weapons of the world. With you in charge, the laws and regulations in the world are strict, the country is stable and the people are rich. Who will rebel? " Now these people in Chen Sheng are just thieves, and local officials are actively pursuing them. Please rest assured. "
Hearing this, Hu Hai was filled with joy and praised Uncle Sun Tong for saying it well. Then he asked others, some said Chen Sheng was a "thief", others said he was a "rebel". Those who say "thief" are innocent, and those who say "rebellion" will be punished, because saying "rebellion" is equivalent to saying that the world is in chaos. The crime of punishment is the crime of "saying something inappropriate", that is, saying something that should not be said. This charge is a typical feudal autocratic criminal law. Although the Qin Dynasty later perished, many later dynasties continued to use this charge to safeguard the autocratic monarchy.
Calling a deer a horse, Zhao Gao forced Hu Hai to death.
In order to achieve the goal of complete autocracy, Zhao Gao said a lot of "reasonable" words to Hu Hai, to the effect that Hu Hai was young and inexperienced, and the emperor should see few ministers, so as not to expose his weaknesses in front of them. If we can live in the palace and listen to Zhao Gao's report, with their help as "pillars", the country will be better governed. Hu Hai has a point. He is willing to stay in the harem and have fun. From then on, all political affairs in North Korea were monopolized by Zhao Gao.
Although Zhao Gao was in power, he was also afraid that his ministers would unite against him. In order to test the ministers' true attitude towards him, Zhao Gao carefully planned a political event that will be notorious in history: calling a deer a horse.
In 207 BC, in the third year of II, at a court meeting, Zhao Gao got a deer as a gift to Hu Hai and told Hu Hai that it was a good horse. Hu Hai couldn't help laughing. "Why are you kidding? It's obviously a deer. How can you say it's a horse? " Zhao Gao still insisted that it was a horse, so Hu Hai asked the ministers present. Because ministers were afraid of Zhao Gao's power and didn't know what medicine Zhao Gao was selling, many people agreed that it was deer. Some say they are deer, while others pretend to be deaf. Afterwards, according to the different opinions of ministers, Zhao Gao treated them differently: anyone who said deer would find an excuse to kill him, and anyone who said horse would be treated as one of his own.
After this incident, Zhao Gao was fine, and so was Hu Hai: he thought he was confused. So he told Taibu to count on his fingers, but Taibu said nonsense because fasting was not good at sacrifice. Hu Hai went to Shanglinyuan to fast again. At first he could persist, but later he enjoyed it. Later, Hu Hai shot people who strayed into the garden on the spot. When Zhao Gao found out, he used this title to fight. First, he asked his son-in-law Yan Le to play, saying that he didn't know who killed the man and threw the body into the garden. Then Zhao Gao pretended to say to Hu Hai, because the emperor is the son of heaven, shooting innocent people will be punished by God, that is, the punishment of the son of heaven and Lao Tzu, and ghosts and gods will be ordered to suffer. Hu Hai was afraid, and Zhao Gao took the opportunity to let him temporarily hide in other parts of the palace. Hu Hai obeyed and left, and Zhao Gao acted like an emperor in the court.
At this time, Hu Hai didn't know the real situation of the world. When Chen Sheng's army approached the capital Xianyang, he was in a hurry. He followed Zhang Han's advice and asked him to lead the released Lishan criminals to see them. These criminals engage in manual labor all the year round. They are strong and have just been released. Their morale is very high. Under the leadership of the brave general Zhang Han, they won many victories in the early days and defeated the armies of Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang. But later, Xiang Yu crossed the rubicon and fought a decisive battle with Zhang Han, which defeated Zhang Han. Zhang Han turned to Hu Hai for help, but Zhao Gao suspected that he refused to send troops. Desperate Zhang Han finally surrendered to Xiang Yu. With the departure of Zhang Han, Qin Jun was vulnerable and the Qin Dynasty was in jeopardy.
At that time, Hu Hai suddenly woke up. It turns out that Zhao Gao lied when he said that the world was peaceful. Now the world is in chaos and the country is ruined. Hu Hai was very dissatisfied with Zhao Gao in his speech. Zhao Gao, who has the intention of usurping the throne, simply starts first.
Zhao Gao's son-in-law, Yan Leling, led thousands of people, pretending to catch thieves, and went straight to Hu Hai's palace. Finally, Hu Hai drew his sword and died in the most prized traitor, Master Zhao.
Hu Hai was only twenty-three years old when he died, and the emperor only worked for three years. Later, he was buried in Yichun Garden in Du Nan (southwest of Xi 'an today) with Qian Shou (that is, the people, because the Qin Dynasty advocated wearing black clothes). Qin Ershi and Hu Hai, like Qin Shihuang and Ying Zheng, have no posthumous title and temple name. This is because the Qin dynasty practiced centralized system, safeguarded the absolute authority of the monarch, and prohibited officials from commenting on the monarch. In the Han Dynasty, with the change from legalism to Confucianism, posthumous title and the temple name appeared.