After the First Emperor visited Longxi and Beidi, he came to Jitou Mountain, then drove back, passing by on the way back to Central China.
Huizhong County was originally Zhao Gao's hometown, but now accompanied by the emperor's car, Zhao Gao wanted to take the opportunity to return to his hometown to show off, and at the same time take revenge on the powerful people who persecuted his father.
Therefore, Zhao Gao took advantage of the opportunity when the First Emperor was returning to Zhongpanhuan, and took out a carriage without permission to ride in it. At the same time, he led a group of guards back to his hometown and returned to Dongfeng County. The county magistrate personally led the county magistrate to greet him.
The county magistrate said: "I have long heard that your Excellency is serving in Xianyang and has won the emperor's favor. Today I see you. It is true! The faces of the people in the county are all bright! Why don't you invite the Emperor to come with us and let us see you?" See the true face of the saint!”
Zhao Gao laughed and said: "Your Majesty is busy with everything, how can you wait to see him? Now that he is passing by and returning to China, it is already a great favor for me to come and take a look on behalf of him!"
The county magistrate echoed: "That is, that is... it is a great honor for Dongfeng County that you are willing to come here!"
So the county magistrate led Zhao Gao into the county government office, and the guards accompanying him were all Zhao Gao's cronies, and they all entered the county government office to have dinner.
The county magistrate usually doesn't have the opportunity to go to Beijing, but now that senior officials from the capital come to the local area, they still don't try their best to curry favor! The Dongfeng County magistrate had long ago found out that Zhao Gao had an enemy in Dongfeng County. His surname was Shen and his given name was Wenliang. There is nothing the county magistrate can do to resist the tax. Now that Zhao Gao is back, the county magistrate has made up his mind to execute Shen Wenliang. On the one hand, he is flattering Zhao Gao, and on the other hand, in addition to his own worries, even if the county lieutenant asks, he will just say what Zhao Gao ordered, and he will not be judged. Nothing can be done.
After lunch, the county magistrate said: "I heard that your Excellency once had a grudge against a person in Dongfeng County, named Shen Wenliang. This person usually does evil in the county. I am trying to confiscate his property and put him in jail! It's just that Afraid of his uncle who is a county captain."
When Zhao Gao saw the county magistrate taking the initiative, he also wanted to use his hand to take revenge, saying: "What does a small county captain mean? Just blame it on me, Zhao Gao, and see what he can do to me?"
After receiving Zhao Gao's approval, the county magistrate immediately sent people to arrest more than fifty members of Shen Wenliang's family and confiscated all their property. Half of the confiscated family property was given to Zhao Gao. Zhao Gao said: "I won't accept the money. It's just a small token of my appreciation for my hometown! Please handle this matter smoothly!"
The county magistrate understood what Zhao Gao meant and immediately sent someone to kill Shen Wenliang in prison. It was inconvenient for Zhao Gao to stay overnight in Dongfeng County, so he led the guards back to Huizhong. Needless to say, the county magistrate led the people in the county to send him off respectfully.
Let's say that Shen Wenliang had a servant named Shen Chong, who was somewhat proficient in martial arts. Shen Wenliang treated him well on weekdays and was responsible for the Shen family's daily purchases. He happened to be out when the Shen family was arrested and was not at the Shen family. When he came back, he saw the Shen family was in ruins and was extremely angry! He heard that the county magistrate followed Zhao Gao's order and raided the Shen family, and he hated Zhao Gao deeply.
After learning that Zhao Gao had returned to the palace of the First Emperor of China, Shen Chong decided to assassinate Zhao Gao at night, because he knew that once Zhao Gao returned to Xianyang, he would be even less able to avenge the Shen family.
That night, Shen Chong arrived at the residence of the First Emperor in the dark. He saw that there were houses everywhere in the residence and he could not find them. He thought that Zhao Gao was a high official and should live in the largest house, so he took advantage of the darkness and slowly approached the emperor's tent.
The guards patrolled back and forth in the camp, and there were secret sentries monitoring him. Shen Chong was unable to evade, and was discovered by the secret sentries. The guards quickly rushed up and captured Shen Chong alive.
At this moment, the First Emperor had not yet fallen asleep, and was still reviewing the memorial that had just been delivered. Hearing the commotion outside, Xuanmeng Yi came to see him and asked, "What happened outside? Why is it so noisy?"
Meng Yi replied: "We just caught an assassin."
The First Emperor was shocked and said: "Who sent the assassin? Is it another remnant of the Six Kingdoms?"
"When the assassin was captured alive, he shouted that he wanted to kill Zhao Gao, the commander of the Zhongche Mansion. I don't know the reason. I will report to Your Majesty after interrogation!"
"Then go ahead and ask for the reason!"
Meng Yi bid farewell to the First Emperor, came to his tent, ordered the assassins to be brought in, and asked: "You are so bold and unruly! How dare you assassinate the emperor! Do you know that those who assassinate the emperor will be exterminated?"
Shen Chong shouted: "Sir, have mercy, I did not intend to assassinate the emperor, I wanted to kill Zhao Gao! Revenge for the Shen family!"
Meng Yi felt strange that Zhao Gao, the commander of the CRRC, could have enmity with him, so he asked: "Who is your surname? What enmity do you have with Zhao Gao? If you tell me carefully, I may be able to make the decision for you!"
Shen Chong saw that the person in front of him was also a high official and might be able to make decisions for himself, so he replied: "My surname is Shen Mingchong, and I am Shen Wenliang's servant. My master was killed by Zhao Gao this afternoon!"
Meng Yi was even more confused in his heart, but he scolded: "You are so bold, you dare to talk nonsense! Zhao Gao, the commander of the CRRC, has always been with the emperor. When will he have time to harm your master?"
Shen Chong prostrated on the ground, kowtowed repeatedly, and shouted: "Your Excellency, it is clear that the traitor Zhao Gao did go to Dongfeng County today. Not only did he ransack the Shen family, but he also killed our master Shen Wenliang. Please make the decision!"
Meng Yi said: "If what you say is true, I will make the decision for you. If you tell nonsense, your life will be at risk!"
Shen Chong kowtowed to the ground again and said: "Every word of a villain is the truth. If you deceive an adult, you will die badly!"
Meng Yi ordered people to carefully monitor Shen Chong, and at the same time summoned the guards around Zhao Gao, asking if he had been to Dongfeng County today. Since Zhao Gao had ordered not to mention the matter to outsiders, he denied it and stayed in the camp all day. Inside, not out.
Meng Yi saw that something was fishy, and then asked what he had done today and who could witness it. They all hesitated and couldn't tell, and they continued to interrogate several people like this.
So Meng Yi reinterrogated and falsely claimed that some guards had admitted to having been to Dongfeng County and would be executed if they did not confess again. The guards were shocked and had no choice but to reveal the truth.
Meng Yi reported Zhao Gao's unauthorized mobilization of guards to the First Emperor overnight, saying: "Zhao Gao not only went out without authorization, but also mobilized the emperor's guards without authorization. He shall be punished with death!"
The First Emperor was also very angry about what Zhao Gao had done, and ordered Zhao Gao to appear in court.
Zhao Gao had also been awakened by the commotion outside. When the guards around him were summoned by Meng Yi, he quickly realized that today's incident might have been exposed. I was uneasy in my heart, thinking about how to explain it to the First Emperor. Being summoned by the emperor at this moment further confirmed his thoughts.
The First Emperor said: "Zhao Gao, do you know your guilt?!"
Seeing that the emperor was angry, Zhao Gao quickly knelt down and bowed his head, saying, "I know I'm guilty! I'm here to apologize to your majesty!"
"What crime have you committed? Tell me!"
"Without His Majesty's permission, I went back to my hometown to visit my parents. In order to honor my family, I also mobilized dozens of guards. I deserve death. I dare not ask for Your Majesty's forgiveness. I only hope that Your Majesty will not tell my father the news of my execution." Mother!" Zhao Gao lay on the ground and kowtowed with his head.
The First Emperor had no father when he was a child, and his mother and son were at odds with each other in his middle age, so he respected people who valued filial piety very much. Zhao Gao's words hit his weak point. Now that he saw that Zhao Gao had realized his mistake and sincerely requested punishment, he couldn't bear it and said : "The law is great, but the greatest thing is human kindness. Since you are out of filial piety, if you tell me the details, I will allow it. Since this is your first offender, I will spare you for now!"
Zhao Gao hurriedly kowtowed to thank him, tears streaming down his face and his whole body soaking wet. He didn't know whether it was because of gratitude or fear.
Returning to the palace, the First Emperor officially issued an edict to recruit people to build Chidao and the Great Wall.
In order to show his determination to conquer the Huns, the First Emperor decided to build the Xin Palace on the south bank of the Wei River, following the example of Zhao State. It was in Xin Palace that King Wuling of Zhao decided to use Hufu cavalry and archery, which made the Zhao army's cavalry quickly become stronger. Decades later, Li Mu relied on this army to defeat the Huns.
After the construction of the Xin Palace began, Li Si suggested: "The mausoleums, Zhangtai and Shanglin Gardens of the ancestors of the Qin State are all on the south bank of the Wei River. Now the Xin Palace is also built here. It seems inappropriate to have the same name as the palace of the Zhao State. It is better to change its name. Ji Temple, symbolizing the Heavenly Pole Star, will forever protect the world of Great Qin!"
The First Emperor thought for a moment and approved Li Si's suggestion. Soon after, he ordered to build a road from Jimiao to Lishan Mountain, built the front hall of Ganquan Palace, and built a corridor to connect it from Xianyang.
So far, the original palaces in Xianyang, together with the palaces built after the palaces of the Six Kingdoms, ranged from the east of Yongmen to the area where the Jing River and the Wei River converged, with palace rooms, sky planks and winding pavilions in a continuous line. The beauties, bells and drums captured from the princely states were all placed inside.
This year, in commemoration of his first tour, the First Emperor granted the country a rank of civil nobility.
Not long after the First Emperor's edict to build the Great Wall was issued, a memorial from the Bajun Prefect caught the First Emperor's attention. It was written that a widow named Qing from Ba County was willing to donate all her family wealth, including 50,000 taels of gold, to support the First Emperor in building the Great Wall.
Seeing this memorial, the First Emperor was very curious about Ba Widow Qing, and ordered Meng Yi to send someone to inquire about Ba Widow Qing's life experience. Meng Yi immediately sent his cronies to Ba County to investigate, and soon found out the life experience of Ba Widow Qing.
Ba Widow Qing's maiden name was Chen, and she was born in the 36th year of King Zhao of Qin. Chen Qing was smart and intelligent since childhood. After adulthood, under the auspices of her parents, she married Xue Dan, a local businessman specializing in the cinnabar business.
Xue Dan is generous and forthright. Under his management, the cinnabar business grows bigger and bigger. Due to business needs, Xue Dan travels around all the year round. The affairs at home are left to his elderly father and his wife Chen Qing. Chen Qing gradually understands The production process of cinnabar. Chen Qing and Xue Dan were deeply in love as a couple, and soon gave birth to a baby boy for the Xue family. She turned to raising her husband and raising their children, and no longer interfered with the family business.
However, the good times did not last long, and bad news came one after another. First, Xue Dan's father became bedridden a year later, and soon died of illness; soon after, Xue Dan was robbed by bandits from Baiyue Land, and not only the mercury he brought was stolen He was robbed and killed. Chen Qing had to wipe away his tears and take over the affairs of the family again. At this time, everyone in the family looked down upon her, thinking that a female generation could not take charge of such a large family business!
The more others looked down on Chen Qing, the more Chen Qing's ambition was inspired. So she rejected all the matchmakers who advised her to remarry and began to take over her family's cinnabar business. She was very hands-on in everything, no matter how cold the winter or the heat was, she would drill the elixir hole, enter the blast furnace, set up the pot and add firewood. After asking for advice from many sources, she quickly mastered the "core technology" of smelting cinnabar and extracting mercury.
Soon after, Chen Qing discovered that Zhixian County was surrounded by high mountains and ridges, and it was not suitable to transport the finished mercury. Eight taels of mercury was often left out of every kilogram produced. One day, Chen Qing climbed up a high mountain and looked out into the distance. She was inspired by several small fishing boats busy loading and unloading cargo. "Why not separate the collection and smelting to shorten the transportation radius of mercury and reduce the cost?" So she moved the smelting point to the river. , the smelted mercury can be shipped nearby, which greatly saves costs and rapidly expands the scale of production.
At the same time, Chen Qing learned from her husband's lesson and hired many highly skilled bodyguards at high prices to escort the products to various places.
From then on, the profits of the Xue family's cinnabar industry increased rapidly, and everyone in the Xue family looked at Chen Qing with admiration!
However, misfortune struck again at this time. Chen Qing focused too much on running the family business and neglected to take care of his son. His three-year-old son fell ill and died, leaving Chen Qing completely alone.
She had cried all her tears long ago. In order to prevent herself from being idle, she forced herself to devote all her time and energy to running the cinnabar business. Perhaps because she was afraid of losing again, she completely gave up the idea of remarrying.
Many people heard that the widow Qing's family was extremely wealthy, so they asked people to come to propose marriage, but the widow Qing all refused. Many men began to pester her at the door of Xue's house, so she began to recruit and train thousands of domestic servants at home to protect the family business and her own safety. From then on, many people were afraid of her power and dared not move forward.
As she grew older, the widow Qing accumulated more and more money, but she had no children. After much thought, she decided to donate most of her family property to the country. My misfortunes were all caused by rampant thieves. If the country was prosperous, strong and stable, tragedies like mine might not happen. Therefore, when he learned that the First Emperor wanted to build the Great Wall, he still decided to donate his family wealth.
After the First Emperor learned about the life experience of the widow Qing, he was deeply moved. His own mother was an indiscreet woman. In comparison, Widow Qing was even more respected! So the First Emperor issued an edict to designate her as a "chaste woman" in recognition of her loyalty and patriotism. At the same time, the Xue family was specially authorized to support a guard of 3,000 people. It was not illegal to carry weapons.
A few months later, the First Emperor was concerned that the widow Qing was already old, had no heirs around her, and was helpless, so he issued a decree to take her to Xianyang to rest in her old age.
After many twists and turns, Widow Qing came to Xianyang. The First Emperor led his officials to greet him at the gate of Xianyang City in person. The courtesy he received was unprecedented, and the officials and the people watching were all amazed!
After seeing the widow Qing, the First Emperor considered her old age and exempted her from all kneeling rituals, and affectionately called her "eldest sister".
After arriving in Xianyang, the First Emperor treated the widow Qing like his mother and came to greet her every day. However, Widow Qing was already old after all. Perhaps she was not acclimated to the climate, or she traveled long distances, and soon fell ill and became bedridden. The first emperor found the last imperial doctor to treat her, but there was no improvement.
Widow Qing felt that her time was running out. She was very grateful to the First Emperor for his kindness to her. Before she died, she said to the First Emperor: "This old woman had no children in her life, but she was able to receive His Majesty's kindness when she was dying. Even though she died, she had no regrets." !”
The First Emperor looked at the white-haired and stubborn old lady in front of him. She was like his own mother in a trance. He couldn't help but hold her hand and said: "Sister, don't say that. You have been constantly striving for self-improvement throughout your life and you have adhered to the way of women. You are the best person in the world." How many women are as worthy of respect as you? I admire your courage and character very much!"
"I heard that the most important thing in a person's life is death, which can only be done after he is buried. I hope I can return to my hometown for burial after my death."
"I will definitely do what my eldest sister wants!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." The widow took a breath and continued: "I have lived in Bajun since I can remember. It is adjacent to the land of Baiyue. The people there are fierce and fierce, and they often plunder the borders of Daqin. My husband died there. Their hands. For a long time, I have had to support a large number of warriors, one is to protect my personal safety, and the other is to prevent Baiyue thugs from plundering my family property. Therefore, I hope that your majesty can conquer Baiyue to eliminate disasters and avoid future generations. A disaster for the people of Bashu!"
The First Emperor said: "Since the Chu Land was pacified, I have planned to conquer Baiyue in the south. Unfortunately, I have never had a chance. Now that the four seas have returned, it is time to send troops to conquer the south! I will definitely avenge my eldest sister and restore peace to the people of Bajun!"
Widow Qing nodded slightly and said: "The old woman has one more thing to tell your majesty. I have been dealing with cinnabar and mercury all year round. I know that mercury has many wonderful uses. One of them is that mercury has the effect of immortality. Soaking a person's body in mercury can It will not rot for a long time; secondly, the vapor of mercury is highly poisonous. As long as someone comes close to it, it will kill you immediately! I heard that your majesty is building a mausoleum. You can make a river of mercury in the mausoleum, which can not only keep the body from rotting, but also prevent The intrusion of tomb robbers. Your Majesty will be able to feel at ease after a hundred years!"
The First Emperor was a man who attached great importance to life and death, and Widow Qing's words spoke to his heart! He was very grateful for Widow Qing's suggestion and said: "Thank you, Sister, for reminding me. I will definitely do it according to Sister's wishes."
Soon after, the widow Qing passed away. According to her last wish, the First Emperor transported her coffin back to her hometown and buried her in Changshoulong Village. He also built a high platform in the cemetery and inscribed the three characters "Qingqing Platform" in his own handwriting to express his infinite love. To express my condolences and respect for the widow Qing.
