However, during this period, there was one person who had to be mentioned, and this person was Mao Jiao. The year of birth and death of Mao Jiao is unknown, but we only know that he was from Qi.
Qin Shihuang killed 27 ministers in a row, which really had the effect of killing chickens to scare monkeys. No one in the Qin Kingdom dared to remonstrate with the King of Qin anymore, and no one wanted to risk their lives to do something that was hopeless in the first place. But in the passionate era of the Warring States Period, there were always some people who would take risks even though they knew the road ahead was difficult. Those who are smart and seize the opportunity will soar to the sky; those who are confused and fail to seize the opportunity will die. At this time, Mao Jiao, a retainer of Qin State, stepped forward and was willing to be an adventurer and gamble with his life.
Prior to this, Mao Jiao had built a great momentum inside and outside Xianyang City, preaching everywhere: His son ignored his filial piety, imprisoned his mother, and turned the Qin Kingdom upside down. What kind of truth is this? He also declared to the world that he was not from the Qin State. Everyone should sweep the snow in front of their own door and not worry about the frost on other people's tiles. However, he really couldn't stand it when people in the world were taking care of the world's affairs, so he came to advise him. The king takes back his orders.
When the King of Qin heard about this, he did not immediately send someone to kill him. Instead, he issued an edict and asked Mao Jiao to go see him and ask him to explain the truth. It would be good if he could convince the King of Qin, but if he could not, just You can sacrifice your life to become a benevolent person.
Qin Wangzheng did not deliberately kill Mao Jiao this time, because before meeting Mao Jiao, he sent an envoy to tell Mao Jiao: "How can you be so bold, sir? The king was in anger and killed 27 ministers one after another. As a commoner, aren't you afraid of following in the footsteps of those who were killed for admonishing the king?"
Mao Jiao calmly called the waiter and told him to prepare a tank of warm water for him. He would take a bath and change clothes. Soon he would go to see the King of Qin. At the same time, he said to the envoy: "I cannot agree with imprisoning the Queen Mother, so I am going to risk my life to dissuade you. Ancient books say that twenty-eight constellations live in the heaven and earth, and now 27 of them have been enthroned as gods. Now that I'm here, I can just make up the number of twenty-eight nights, so why should I be afraid?"
At first, the envoy thought that Mao Jiao was just a madman talking nonsense, and did not take it seriously. Unexpectedly, after taking a bath, he really prepared to go to the King of Qin in a carefree manner. Mao Jiao's move frightened those who lived with him. They all believed that Mao Jiao's departure would be a disaster. There is a law of sitting together in the criminal law of Qin State. They are afraid that because of Mao Jiao, it will bring disaster to them, the fish in the pond. Before Mao Jiao arrived at Xianyang Palace, he secretly divided up Mao Jiao's luggage and fled in different directions.
After hearing the envoy's report, Qin Wangzheng immediately became angry. In anger, King Qin ordered someone to prepare a large pot, pour a pot of water into it, and asked people to boil the water. This was probably a threat to Mao Jiao. After doing all this, Qin Wangzheng took out the King's Sword, sat on the throne, and asked Mao Jiao to come in menacingly.
As soon as Mao Jiao entered the palace, he realized that something was wrong with the atmosphere. If he went in rashly, King Qin might have his own blood splattered before he could speak. In order to weaken King Qin's anger, Mao Jiao deliberately walked into the palace slowly to ease the tense and oppressive atmosphere.
The envoy couldn't stand it anymore. He was walking slowly like this. She was worse than an eighty-year-old old woman. When and what year would he be able to see the King of Qin? So the envoy urged Mao Jiao to hurry up and don't let King Qin wait in a hurry.
Mao Jiao still said calmly: "I still want to go slower. I believe the envoy also knows that when I go, I can go in vertically and come out horizontally, so why rush?"
After hearing his words, the messenger couldn't help but feel sad for him. Why would this man seek death?
History seemed to slow down extremely slowly at that moment, and Mao Jiao's profession seemed to have passed a lifetime. When he finally came to Qin Wangzheng, he saluted Qin Wangzheng calmly, and then said to Qin Wangzheng slowly: "As we all know, if a person lives a long life, he will not be taboo about talking about death; if a person lives a long life, he will not be taboo about talking about death; As a king, you should not be taboo about studying whether the country will perish. What is the reason for this? If a person is taboo about death, will his lifespan become longer? If a monarch is taboo about the destruction of the country, will his country be certain? Can it be preserved for a long time? Of course not. Any wise monarch will not be taboo about talking about life and death, whether it is the country or an individual. I wonder if the king is the same?"
Mao Jiao was very smart. In just a few words, he incorporated King Qin into his speech, forcing him to listen to his next words. He also used this insinuation to make King Qin's anger slightly relieved. King Qin asked: "What is the profound meaning of your words?"
Mao Jiao smiled secretly in his heart, then took a step forward and said to Qin Wangzheng: "A loyal minister never says flattery; a wise king never does anything that goes against the world. But look at how ridiculous the king's behavior is now. Although the common people cannot call themselves loyal ministers without authorization, when they see the king making mistakes, they have to speak up, otherwise the common people will feel that they have failed the king."
Qin Wangzheng paused for a while, thinking that Mao Jiao was not impressive in appearance but could dominate the crowd, so he asked him: "You can say anything you want, there is no need to hide it."
Mao Jiao knew that King Qin's anger had obviously dissipated a lot at this time, and his tone of voice became much more polite, so he said boldly: "Why does the world respect Qin so much? Qin's military and economic power are strong. Although it is a very important reason, there is an even more important reason: all the kings of Qin in the past have great talents and great strategies, and the king is an unparalleled wise monarch in the world and is deeply popular among the people. However, now the king has done some unpopular things: First, the car broke apart. Your false father acted unkindly; secondly, he killed his two younger brothers as an unfriendly act; thirdly, he imprisoned the Queen Mother as an unfilial act; and finally, he recklessly killed a loyal minister, which is similar to Xia What is the difference between Jie and Shang Zhou? Justice is in the heart of the people. Even if everyone does not say it with their mouths, they will definitely not be convinced in their hearts. If the whole world hears about these actions of the king, who else is willing to join the Qin State and believe in the king? ? In this case, Qin is in danger and the king is in danger. How can this not make people worried?"
After hearing what he said, King Qin felt very anxious in his heart. Although you can make others bleed and drift away with just a wave of your hand, a person's reputation is extremely important. The state of Wei has Lord Xinling, and Lord Xinling has a good reputation, so the talented people are gathered under his sect, and the state of Wei can survive; the state of Chu has Lord Chunshen, and Lord Chunshen has a good reputation, so the heroes of Shandong worship Chu Under the majesty of the country, the unity will be completed, and the Chu country will be safe. As the King of Qin, if I don't have a good reputation, then people will be devastated, how can I talk about unifying the world?
In fact, at this time, King Qin was already moved by Mao Jiao's words. Mao Jiao also took a fancy to King Qin, so he untied his clothes, walked out of King Qin's hall, and lay down before his highness to be tortured. In fact, if Mao Jiao really wanted to be tortured, it would be easy for him to just jump into the cauldron. In that case, he would really want to die and would definitely die. But Mao Jiao didn't want to die. The reason why he did this was to show King Qin his determination to die and his absolute loyalty.
The King of Qin naturally knew Mao Jiao's intention and understood the truth behind Mao Jiao's words, so he walked out of the hall himself, helped Mao Jiao up, and said to him: "I pardon you for your innocence! Sir, please get up quickly, put on your clothes, and don't catch the cold." . What you say makes sense, sir. I am willing to listen to your golden words. What should I do now?"
So Mao Jiao further spoke to the King of Qin: "The first thing your Majesty should do is to bury the 27 ministers who came to advise before, because they are the true loyal ministers of Qin. Only in this way will the hearts of loyal ministers in the world not be chilled. ; Secondly, the king must bring the Queen Mother back as soon as possible, so as not to suffer the eternal infamy of a migrating queen mother. This will also help win over people's hearts, and the great cause of unifying the world will be much smoother."
The King of Qin immediately said: "Only Sir's words are truly in line with my heart. In the past, people only knew how to accuse me of my faults. How can I be like Sir, and use the principles of unifying the world to make me enlightened? Sir's opinion is very good, I Promise to do everything as sir says."
Therefore, the King of Qin fully followed Mao Jiao's suggestions, buried the ministers lavishly, took back his mother, and even drove to greet Zhao Ji in person. But everyone knew very well that King Qin did this just for the great cause of unification. An insurmountable gap had formed between him and the Queen Mother, and it was impossible to restore the previous relationship. As for Lu Buwei, whether in public or private matters, King Qin would not let him go easily.
Queen Mother Zhao Ji did not pay much attention to what happened before. After returning to Xianyang, she hosted a banquet for Mao Jiao as if nothing had happened, and continued to praise Mao Jiao: "The most upright minister in the world is none other than Mr. At this moment, my husband was able to step forward, which not only allowed us, mother and son, to reunite, but also allowed the country of Qin to turn a corner. His contribution is indescribable."
After this incident, Mao Jiao came into the sight of King Qin and became a person respected and trusted by King Qin. He was appointed as Taifu and respected as Shangqing by King Qin.
After killing Lao Ai and his party members, Qin Wangzheng turned to target Lu Buwei. Originally, King Qin was prepared to do nothing but two things, but two aspects worried him. First of all, there are rumors inside and outside the palace that he is Lu Buwei's illegitimate son. It is better to believe it than to believe it. If this thing is true, then if he kills Lu Buwei with his own hands, he will commit a big taboo; secondly, Lu Buwei is everywhere in the court. Most of the party members came to plead for Lu Buwei. Even Li Si thought that killing him might arouse public outrage. The King of Qin had previously shocked the ministers by killing Zhao Ji's two infant children and more than 20 ministers who had come to remonstrate with him. The effect of the King of Qin in intimidating the ministers had been achieved. No matter how cruel he was, he could not bring down the people in the court. More than half of the civil and military officials were killed.
In desperation, the King of Qin exempted Lu Buwei from the death penalty, but deprived him of his position as prime minister and demoted him to the border of Henan. But this incident allowed Qin Wangzheng to truly see Lu Buwei's strength and deep foundation. Qin Wangzheng discovered that during the year that Lu Buwei lived there, the vassal states of Shandong sent envoys to visit him many times, and many guests from Qin State also came to visit him. The King of Qin knew very well that if Lu Buwei launched an uprising, it would be difficult for him to deal with it. The Qin State would also suffer a lot in the Xiaoqiang War, and the Shandong countries would get a chance to breathe. If Qin wants to unify the world, it can only wait for the times to change.
Therefore, Qin Wangzheng personally wrote a letter to Lu Buwei, which mentioned:
"You have done very little to the Qin State, but you have gained Henan as your own feudal state, with 100,000 households at your disposal."
"You really have no kinship with the Qin State, but you have been given the title of Father Zhong. Don't you feel ashamed of yourself?"
"A smart person must understand the principles of advance and retreat, and the way of rising and falling. You have a choice now, which is enough to save your life, and that is to go to Shuzhong quickly and stop staying in Henan and stop interacting with the guests and princes."
According to Sima Qian's "Historical Records", Lu Buwei was very sad at this time, because Ying Zheng was his son after all, and it was not a good thing for father and son to fight, and his chances of winning were actually not great, and he would weaken the Qin State in vain. Lu Buwei is a businessman, so he naturally knows that business in the world always has mixed results. If someone makes money, someone will lose money. If he were asked to tell the truth, Qin Wangzheng would be even more difficult to accept, and he would inevitably be killed. Even if he follows the advice of King Qin and goes to Shu, he will definitely live like a prisoner and may one day be killed. Lu Buwei sighed several times and almost burst into tears, so he drank the poisonous wine and died instantly.
Throughout Lu Buwei's glorious political life, it started with fine wine and ended with poisonous wine. In fact, there are no regrets anymore. Perhaps the only person who feels sorry is the lonely and helpless Zhao Ji.
However, Zhao Ji finally had a good death. In the 19th year of the Qin Dynasty (229 BC), the Queen Mother passed away and was given the posthumous title of Emperor Queen Mother. After Zhao Ji died, with the permission of the King of Qin, she was buried in Zhiyang together with King Zhuang Xiang.
