My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 632 Mother's Gift

With such a big event happening, everyone in the palace was busy for a while.

Ying Zheng also forgot how long he had stayed in the queen's palace.

When Ying Zheng came out again, he had recovered as usual. He was as energetic as before, with eyes like an eagle, very aggressive and domineering.

That kind of momentum is like a god descending to the earth.

When the palace maids saw this, they could only retreat.

Feng Quji arrived late and, as the head of all officials, they all advised the emperor to mourn less.

Ying Zheng only symbolically received his ministers and then handed the matter over to Zong Zheng.

Most of the ministers stood outside the door for the whole morning, and then walked home together under the scorching sun at noon.

While walking, he would also say a few words about the queen's "virtues" and "regret".

Everyone looked heavy-hearted.

A sad atmosphere filled the city of Xianyang.

But Feng Quji stayed in the palace. The emperor did not order him to do so, but he had to accompany the emperor at this time.

Ying Zheng hid in Zhangtai Palace and refused to come out for a long time.

Feng Quji was waiting outside the palace gate.

At this time, all he could do was to stay outside with the emperor as much as possible.

Even though Ying Zheng was supreme, he was still a human being in the mortal world, with seven emotions and six desires. The ministers all saw his love for the queen. The queen's death at this time was undoubtedly a huge blow to Ying Zheng.

But after so long, Feng Quji still hadn't seen the prince.

He was enduring the scorching sun outside the palace. As the prime minister, he could not squint his eyes, let alone show any expression of pain, otherwise it would be impolite in front of the palace.

Feng Quji stood with his body bent, like a ghost tree, standing straight and upright.

The Langwei around couldn't help but admire Feng Quji when they saw him.

Feng Quji, who was just standing at the palace gate and sharing Ying Zheng's sadness, thought of something that happened in the middle of the night under the long shadow of the sun.

Feng Quji received the news of the queen's death in the middle of the night, but he stayed at home and planned to set out after dawn.

Before leaving, the old couple had a meaningful conversation.

"Oh, this next month will be busy again." Feng Quji sat on the couch, reluctant to take any action.

Feng Quji's wife put on her clothes, sat on the bed and said, "The queen has always been weak. Who else could she have survived until today? Everyone else is reporting the queen's death, but I think it's a good thing that the queen is gone."

"Woman, you should just think about this in your heart. How can you say it out loud?"

Feng's wife said, "It's just talk. Now everyone should be busy going to the palace to mourn. Who has time to care about our family? Speaking of which, the queen has passed away. I am extremely worried about my daughter."

Feng Quji frowned. Seeing the sky turning pale, he prepared to go to the palace. "What's going on with her?"

"Don't you know? When the mother dies, the family is gone. With the Emperor's personality and the Crown Prince's radical ideas, if there were no Empress to balance the palace, how could there be so-called historical lies? What about the eternal father and son? The historians are really good at bragging."

"Once the queen dies, the family of the prince and His Majesty will be broken up. Do you think the prince will have an easy life in the future?"

"The prince is having a hard time. How can my daughter be spared from this?"

"I've been worried since Wanwan was chosen to be the prince's wife. The prince will be the emperor in the future, and there will be too many ups and downs in the future."

"As a woman, I know that when a father dies and a son succeeds his father, all the relatives and friends who come to pay their respects will take advantage of the situation to rob, steal things, and break into the storehouse. What's more, when kings succeed one another."

"If it's not handled properly, my precious daughter... I won't be able to continue."

Feng's wife couldn't imagine it. When she was young, she had heard about many bloody coups in the Xianyang Palace.

Every time there is a coup, the bloodshed always extends outside the palace.

The soldiers drove over, and if they couldn't catch the criminal, they would just implicate the innocent wife, daughters and the elderly.

Feng's wife twisted the white wick of the lamp and spoke into the thick darkness.

When the glaring sunlight burned Feng Quji's neck, he came to his senses.

In fact, compared to what his wife was worried about, Feng Quji was more worried that he, as the prime minister, had no way to control the emperor.

Once the Queen is gone, His Majesty the Emperor will be completely without anyone to advise him.

In this world, how many people can speak words that the emperor can listen to?

Feng Quji was very worried. Once the empress left, the emperor would no longer have any restraint and would act even more crazily.
-
Inside the Zhangtai Palace, Zhao Gao waited cautiously on the side.

He dared not utter a sound.

Only Ying Zheng was left lying on the chair, thinking, regretting, feeling sad, and numb...

When it was almost time for the evening, Zhao Gao slowly asked, "Your Majesty, would you like to eat something?"

Ying Zheng said nothing.

"You need to drink some water, right?" Zhao Gaoduan ordered some ginseng tea and passed it over.

Ying Zheng looked at the ginseng tea and thought of what the queen had said before: eating too much food would actually drain the body.

Ying Zheng thought about it and drank the ginseng tea in one breath.

Looking at Ying Zheng's expression, Zhao Gao wished he could drink the poison along with it.

Zhao Gao said again, "Your Majesty, the Prime Minister has been waiting outside the door for three hours."

[In ancient times, three hours equaled six hours.]

Three hours in the hot summer is enough to get a person's skin burnt and yellowed.

Ying Zheng looked at the sunlight outside and said, "Let the Prime Minister come in."

When Feng Quji walked into the hall, his face was already sunburned red and black.

Ying Zheng looked at Feng Quji, picked up a handkerchief from the basin beside him, and wiped his hands which had not been washed all day.

Then Zhao Gao winked at the maid and immediately gave Ying Zheng a bath.

Their Emperor still doesn't tie his hair up with a crown.

With the service of the maid, Ying Zheng did not resist.

"Give the Prime Minister a seat."

Feng Quji's body had become stiff from standing so he took a few steps when he had time. Now he really needed to rest.

Feng Quji said directly to Ying Zheng, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid the Eastern Tour cannot be carried out this year."

Ying Zheng thought of the queen again, "More than ten hours ago, she was still talking to me. She told me to have fun on my eastern tour."

Ying Zheng lowered his head and began to sob again.

Feng Quji raised his eyes very high, and couldn't stand his behavior. He was also a man, and a prime minister. For the sake of his old wife, he even had to endure the humiliation of taking a concubine. You keep thousands of beauties in the palace. Isn't this sincerely making the queen uncomfortable?

Feng Quji did not comfort Ying Zheng, but just said:
"The South Vietnam War has also fallen into a quagmire. If it drags on for a long time, it will be detrimental to our empire."

Upon hearing the serious matter, Ying Zheng's thoughts immediately recovered from his grief.

Dealing with political affairs is his greatest hobby.

As early as three years ago, Ying Zheng summoned Ren Xiong and began to use Zhao Tuo, who was recommended by Meng Tian.

The plan to conquer Nanyue actually ran through the entire short lifeline of the Qin Empire in history.

Qin's plan to attack Nanyue had already been prepared long before it destroyed the six kingdoms.

Ying Zheng has always been an ambitious and highly motivated person.

After unifying the six kingdoms, he immediately sent troops south, intending to destroy Lingnan.

This is different from what everyone thinks, that the Qin State was held hostage by the military merit system and was therefore constantly engaged in wars.

If the Qin Dynasty had encountered rulers like Lu Buwei and Ying Ji, it would not have made enemies everywhere and continued to wage wars.

Ying Zheng's desire was so great, and he was so enthusiastic in preparing for the campaign to attack Nanyue that it undoubtedly burned the fortune of the entire Qin State and even the wealth left by previous kings.

By doing this, he laid the foundation for the basic territorial territory of China.

The word "China" was invented by Qin Shi Huang.

The name "China" has existed since ancient times.

Zhong refers to the Central Plains, and Hua is used to distinguish it from foreigners.

Ying Zheng focused his attention on state affairs, and he seemed to be full of life again.

"Lingnan is just a barbarian country. How can it be compared with my Great Qin?"

"In terms of population, their numbers are far less than ours."

"As for the teaching of literature, they don't even have a complete system of writing."

"In terms of military strength, they have no chance of winning. They are just taking advantage of the terrain and holding on."

"In terms of weapons and technology, which country in the world can compare with Qin?"

"I don't believe that I can't take Lingnan."

As Ying Zheng spoke, light ignited in his eyes again.

Feng Quji was relieved to see Ying Zheng like this. Personally, he really shouldn't have advised Ying Zheng not to be sad anymore. If Ying Zheng wasn't even sad about his wife's death, then there was no need for such a person to follow him.

But for the public, the Qin Empire would not allow the emperor to indulge in grief. The longer he was immersed in grief, the more danger the empire would face.

This is not an exaggeration; such a risk does exist.

Ying Zheng sat up and talked a lot with his minister Feng Quji.

He actually knew the intentions of these ministers, but he just forced himself to cheer up and reassure them.

It was not until the evening that I fell into a deep sleep.

In the dream, the queen was still wearing light clothes, and her sick look had subsided. She stood beside Ying Zheng and covered him with clothes, and even walked in the palace, rolling up the scattered bamboo slips and putting them on the shelf.

Then the queen boarded the boat and headed for a foggy place.

Ying Zheng woke up in a daze, but found only a few palace maids kneeling on the ground in the hall.

Ying Zheng woke up suddenly and found that his face was covered with something cold.

He was indeed covered with clothes, but they were covered by Zhao Gao.

At this time, Zong Zheng was just wandering outside the door. After Zhao Gao understood the situation, he introduced him to Ying Zheng in the middle of the night.

"Your Majesty, I am incompetent and cannot bury the queen according to the ritual." Poor Zong Zheng did not sleep all night, but Ying Zheng did not feel sorry for him.

Ying Zheng frowned, "Speak."

"The Queen did something last night. Now the ministers are helpless."

Zong Zheng looked at Ying Zheng's ugly face and said hurriedly.

"Your Majesty, last night, the Queen... the late Queen went to Tianlu Pavilion in the middle of the night with the soldiers who came with the Chu Kingdom as a dowry."

Tianlu Pavilion, Shiqu Pavilion and Qilin Pavilion were all places where the Qin State stored its books.

Ying Zheng's eyes suddenly lit up, "What is the queen doing there in the middle of the night?"

"The queen opened the Tianlu Pavilion and said she wanted to borrow some books. She came with soldiers in the middle of the night. The guards of the palace dared not stop her and let her in."

"And then...then the queen did something that no one in ancient times had ever done."

Ying Zheng looked stern, "If you keep looking at me and saying something like that, I'll throw you into Shanglin Garden to feed the tigers."

Zong Zheng was so frightened that he couldn't stop gasping for breath.

"The queen ordered all the historical records related to her to be scraped away with a knife."

"Especially everything in the records of His Majesty's daily life has been deleted."

"Not only that, the queen herself burned many of the articles she wrote, as well as the historical records that had too many deletions and revisions."

"Last night, the Tianlu Pavilion was almost completely occupied by the Queen."

Ying Zheng was furious. "Why did she burn these?"

"I don't know either."

"Useless! What use do I have for you? You can't even keep an eye on a woman."

Zong Zheng was aggrieved and whispered, "Is the queen an ordinary woman?"

Ying Zheng touched his forehead. Is she taking revenge on me or something?

"What good will it do her if I burn the books? Will you deny that she was once my queen?" Ying Zheng felt a headache, but also found it funny.

Zong Zheng did not dare to approach Ying Zheng, and said:
"The queen told the soldiers who came with her that your majesty should cremate the queen and take her ashes back to Shouchun City in Chu. They said they wanted to bury her ashes on the mountain near Shouchun City."

"The soldiers also said that the queen wanted your majesty to release all the Chu people who came to Qin as her dowry, regardless of gender, and send soldiers to protect them as they return to Chu."

After hearing this, Ying Zheng understood immediately.

The queen had been clamoring to go home every day since very early in the morning.

"But what the Queen did was against etiquette, wasn't it? Your Majesty, you are the first emperor since ancient times, and the Queen is also the first Queen since ancient times. But the Queen deleted herself from the history books."

"This matter is not that serious and can still be remedied. With the memories of the palace maids, we can still recompile the history books. But as for the burial, the Queen is of noble status, how can she burn it and send it back... back to Shouchun in Jingdi?"

Ying Zheng did not speak. He circled around the palace, wandering around and around.

In the end, looking at the bright moon that was different from yesterday, Ying Zheng chose to fulfill the queen's wish.

"Let her go. Follow the arrangements made by the queen before her death. Keep the funeral simple and cremate her. Let... the crown prince take the queen back to Shouchun for burial. Arrange for the soldiers from Chu who came with her as a dowry to return to their hometowns."

When Zong Zheng heard this, his jaw almost dropped to the ground in shock.

"Your Majesty, this..."

"The queen is very smart. If she didn't exist in history, who would criticize where she was buried after her death? Let her go."

There was a sigh in the palace.

Zhao Gao was also surprised after hearing the queen's last will and testament.

"Is there such a person in the world? It's a pity that she is a woman. If she were a man, he would have a promising future."

After the queen's efforts, now everything is fine.

There was no need for anyone to cry and scream in front of her coffin. No one needed to be busy, or waste money, buying countless plain clothes or having the whole city observe a moment of silence for her.

Fusu understood the queen's intentions.

Naturally do it.

The queen's funeral was very simple.

What everyone didn't know was that Ying Zheng secretly asked Zhang Han to carve his name on the outside of the empty coffin he had prepared in advance and move it into the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.
-
In late autumn, Fusu was in Shouchun.

Fusu asked Ying Zheng to keep vigil for the queen for three months to ensure that her ghost could rest in peace in her hometown.

Fusu is a modern man, but he extremely hopes that what the ancients said is true.

He hoped that the Queen could make everything go well in the underworld or in heaven through the actions of her relatives on earth.

When they were in Shouchun City, everyone did their best, hoping that Fusu would not be sad anymore.

Due to the efforts of these people, Fusu had to be a person who showed his sadness to the outside world.

After losing his mother, Fusu matured at a very fast pace.

Fusu grew a beard.
-
The plan of the Eastern Tour was disrupted, which was something no one had expected. But Fusu knew that once Ying Zheng got over the grief of losing his wife, he would definitely start the Eastern Tour again.

When Fusu returned this time, he found that the Chu area was full of crises.

Because of his kindness, the casualties in the Chu area were not severe, which makes the Chu State still vibrant under the heavy oppression of Qin Shihuang.

The situations in Chu and Han were quite different.

Even though the people of Chu saw their son return home alive and welcomed this half-Qin and Chu prince, Fusu still did not dare to relax and did not dare to let his guard down at all.

The State of Chu is still very powerful.

During the last month of mourning, Fusu met a man.

"I am grateful to the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince had not ordered us young men in the army to learn to read, I would not be where I am today."

"I once served under General Meng."

"General Meng is a true general. Under him, General Meng will spare no effort to promote anyone who has outstanding performance. General Meng will even recommend extremely outstanding people to Your Majesty."

"I am a man of limited ability, and I am left here with the garrison in case of emergency. I can write to His Majesty the Emperor at any time."

"I never thought that I would be able to see the prince again in Shouchun City in my lifetime."

This person is none other than the deceased Heifu’s younger brother—Jing.

At that time, Qin soldiers and Chu nobles fought a bloody battle in Shouchun City, after which Fusu quietly left the army. Jing also had no way to see Fusu again for a while.

During his time in Shouchun, he thought about many things.

"All these soldiers guarding the border miss their hometowns. But they can't go back."

"Perhaps, in the future someone will be able to shorten the term of garrisoning on the border. Or prevent these things from happening." Jing looked at Fusu with great admiration.

The border guards, who were as shocked as him, also had hope in their eyes for Fusu.

"Everyone used to think that your original ideas were too radical. Now that things have come to this, I realize that what you said was right."

"Although we are soldiers of the Great Qin Empire, we deeply admire what you did during the battle between Qin and Chu."

"You are someone who truly wants to comfort the people and truly cares about every life."

"To revise the military merit system is now the common wish of all the officers and soldiers in the army."

Fusu was certainly surprised, but he did not expect that all the efforts he had made would be rewarded in this way three or five years later.

Fusu was really grateful to his mother.

If his mother had not insisted on returning to be buried in Chu, he might never have returned to the land of Chu, nor would he have met the villagers of Chu and understood their inner thoughts. After seeing what Ying Zheng had done, they had placed all their hopes on him.

Nor will they meet soldiers guarding the border, who understand that the reform of the military merit system has now become a major issue that people want.

Fusu looked up at the sky. He didn't think that the love that the villagers and soldiers of Chu had for him today was the result of his own efforts alone, but rather a gift from his mother who blessed him from nowhere.

[This chapter is a continuation of more than 5,000 words for Labi Daxing during his illness.]
(End of this chapter)