Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1996: The Seven Constellations of the Azure Dragon (Forty-three)

It's day and night.

Julu County, on the platform of the Dune Palace ruins, inside the patrol convoy.

Inside the emperor's carriage, Ying Zheng was lying on the bed with a pale face, his eyes half-open and half-closed, his eyes showing through the gap between his eyelids had no trace of their former brilliance, his lips were slightly parted, and his breathing was weak and almost non-existent.

This scene happened to Ying Zheng, and perhaps everyone who saw it would find it unbelievable.

Not only could they not believe that the First Emperor, who had always been at the peak of his power and dominated the empire, was really seriously ill and dying, they also could not believe that Ying Zheng would look like this.

Ying Zheng had always sought immortality and taken elixirs. Although his physical condition did not improve as a result, at least he always looked healthy and long-lived to others. Even when he was old, he still looked like a young man in his twenties or thirties.

So many people hoped for Ying Zheng's death, but few people really thought that he would die suddenly at a young age.

But the reality is that it catches people off guard.

Before this tour, Ying Zheng was only in a slightly poor condition. It looked like he had not gotten enough rest. His symptoms began to deteriorate rapidly. When he arrived at Pingyuanjin in Jibei County, he had been in a coma most of the day.

After barely boosting their energy by taking medicine, the caravan crossed the river from Pingyuanjin and left. However, less than two days later, the people fell ill again.

This time, Ying Zheng almost lost all ability to move and couldn't even speak.

Inside the carriage, several eunuchs headed by Zhao Gao were guarding and serving Ying Zheng.

Everyone except Zhao Gao looked uneasy, but didn't know what to do. Their eyes were full of fear and confusion.

As eunuchs, they were actually equivalent to the eunuchs of later generations. The "head eunuch" Zhao Gao was even in charge of the affairs of seals and talismans, and occasionally helped Ying Zheng draft and write imperial edicts, which was very similar to the eunuch in charge of seals in the Silijian of later generations.

But he only looks like that, his actual power is nothing. Zhao Gao, the "eunuch holding the seal", cannot compare with the real seal-holder of the Imperial Household Department.

He really had the power, but Zhao Gao could only act according to Ying Zheng's orders and was at most a high-level clerk.

Only Zhao Gao had this privilege, and other eunuchs basically could not get it.

Moreover, the scale of the imperial court was far less large and complicated than that of later generations. It could be divided into more than two-digit departments, and there were basically no four departments, eight bureaus, twelve prisons, or twenty-four yamen.

But even so, as a few eunuchs that Ying Zheng favored, they might not be second only to the emperor, but to say they were above a thousand men was more than enough, and they were definitely the best of the best.

When they were in front of Ying Zheng, they were grandsons who served him, but when they were away from Ying Zheng, they were all masters!

Days like this are something that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of.

A new emperor has new ministers. The courtiers in the outer court will change, and the attendants in the inner court will change even more.

If Ying Zheng passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne, they would most likely have to say goodbye to such a good life.

Zhao Gao was very calm at this time. Looking at Ying Zheng whose breathing was getting weaker and his life was gradually dying, he thought of something that happened not long ago.

When he was in Pingyuanjin, Ying Zheng, realizing that his health was deteriorating and his end was near, ordered Zhao Gao to write an edict on his behalf, stating that if anything happened to him, the eldest son Fusu should be summoned to handle his funeral and send his coffin back to the capital for burial.

No matter how much he desired immortality, Ying Zheng eventually made arrangements for his afterlife when he realized that his days were numbered.

Although Fusu was not explicitly designated as the heir to the throne, naturally only the Second Emperor could handle the funeral of the First Emperor.

Despite disliking Fusu's many character flaws, Ying Zheng still chose him as his successor.

There's nothing he can do. He has no choice.

Fusu might not be that outstanding, and he might not necessarily grow up to be a sufficiently qualified emperor, but if he was unsuitable, then his younger brothers were even less suitable.

Among the short ones, Fusu is the tallest one.

Besides... no one could tell in advance whether Fusu was capable of fulfilling the responsibilities of the emperor; it was all just a subjective judgment.

Maybe, he can do it successfully.

However, Ying Zheng, who had reached the end of his life, no longer cared about these things. He had already done the last thing he should do.

Back to the topic.

Zhao Gao was thinking about the imperial edict he had written himself, and a cold light flashed in his eyes that became more and more intense.

For Zhao Gao, Fusu's succession to the throne was something he could never accept!

For other eunuchs, if Fusu became emperor, at most they would lose their current status and become subordinates from being superiors.

Moreover, Fusu has always been famous for his kindness, loyalty and filial piety. Given his personality, he might treat these "old people" well for the sake of his father and continue to let them live a comfortable life.

Overall, the loss is certainly huge, but it is still within an acceptable range.

But Zhao Gao was different.

Without Ying Zheng's favoritism, Fusu would certainly not protect him after he came to power. Zhao Gao felt that if he could survive for three days, it would be considered as Gu Xun showing leniency to him.

Gu Xun doesn't even need to kill him, Fusu will probably be the first one who won't spare him.

He was a eunuch, essentially a household slave. If the emperor wanted to kill him, he didn't have to do anything. He could just tell him to commit suicide and that would be it.

If he doesn't want to, the imperial guards will protect him.

If it was just the loss of power and authority, Zhao Gao would still be willing to consider it and weigh the pros and cons, but now his life is wanted, so he can only fight to the death!

Thinking of this, Zhao Gao ordered other eunuchs to guard the emperor, and he hurriedly left the carriage.

After going out, Zhao Gao first went to find Hu Hai, gave him some instructions, and then secretly found Li Si.

Li Si is also in a state of panic now and has just dealt with the officials under his command.

The fact that Ying Zheng was seriously ill and dying must not be leaked at all, but it was not easy to hide it from those shrewd people in the officialdom. Even Li Si racked his brains to find enough reasons to fool them.

I just finished my work and found this.

Looking at Zhao Gao's serious face, Li Si's heart skipped a beat, his intuition telling him that nothing good was going to happen.

Zhao Gao spoke boldly and directly, and he started out with some outrageous and rebellious words:

"Mr. Prime Minister, I'm afraid the Emperor's situation is not optimistic."

Li Si's face froze, and he thought to himself that this was indeed not a good thing.

But since Zhao Gao brought this up, he couldn't just ignore it.

Apart from those insignificant eunuchs and the imperial doctors who were under strict supervision, they were the only two people who knew the emperor's actual situation.

But some things have to be arranged early, and they can't close their eyes until dark.

"What does Order Zhao mean?" Li Si did not rush to express his opinion, but asked indifferently.

Zhao Gao was still direct and rude, and even unscrupulous, and asked back, "What I mean is, if something unbearable to talk about really happens, how does the Prime Minister plan to arrange the next trip?"

Li Si had a gloomy face and lowered his eyes without looking at Zhao Gao. After a long silence, he replied in a low voice, "Of course everything is as usual." This answer sounded outrageous.

What Zhao Gao called "things that cannot be spoken of" was naturally the death of Ying Zheng.

Now that the emperor was dead, the tour should have been stopped and preparations should have been made to deal with the funeral, but Li Si insisted that the tour should continue as usual.

However, Li Si's approach is actually more appropriate.

The empire is now in a precarious situation, and Ying Zheng can be said to be the key core to keep everything from collapsing.

If the news of Ying Zheng's death were to spread immediately, Fusu would probably have no time to return to fulfill his filial duties to his father before his family's foundation would collapse.

As prime minister, Li Si had to do everything he could to maintain the situation.

Under such circumstances, the most appropriate arrangement is to keep the death a secret and carry on as usual until the successor chosen by Ying Zheng arrives to take charge of the situation, and then the world can be truly informed of the emperor's death.

Li Si didn't know that Ying Zheng had already chosen Fusu to succeed him, but in his opinion any of Ying Zheng's princes could be the successor, except Hu Hai.

As long as it is not Hu Hai, no matter which prince is not in the motorcade, someone must be arranged on the spot to notify and contact them, and then wait for people to come.

At least everything will be normal for the team during this period.

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As for what to do after the successor prince arrives, that is another question and we will discuss it then.

Zhao Gao was not surprised by this answer. He nodded, showed a strange smile and suddenly said:
"In fact, His Majesty has ordered me to write a...last will not long ago."

Li Si's eyebrows jumped when he heard the last two words, but he still maintained his composure.

Having said that, there is no need to hide or avoid it.

It was obvious that Ying Zheng would not be able to survive this and would be doomed to die, so it would be better to focus on his affairs after his death.

"Since Your Majesty has not informed all the officials, I think this is a secret decree. What does Zhao Fuling tell me now?"

Zhao Gao did not respond to this question, and continued to talk about the will, "The emperor ordered that after his death, the eldest son Fusu should be urgently summoned back to handle the funeral and transport the coffin back to the capital."

"The eldest son!?"

This result surprised Li Si.

Even in his opinion, Fusu had basically said goodbye to the throne and there was almost no possibility of him succeeding to the throne.

After all, whose crown prince will be squeezed out of the core of power?
This is no small problem.

Apart from anything else, just the step of inheriting the throne, there is a world of difference between being in the capital Xianyang and being in a county in the north.

This is because Ying Zheng happened to die on his way to a tour, which directly put the issue of succession to the throne into trouble.

Under normal circumstances, Ying Zheng should have died in the imperial capital of Xianyang, and then sent a letter from Xianyang to Shangjun to summon the eldest prince Fusu back to the capital. Fusu would then receive the order and return to the capital to inherit the throne.

The round trip wouldn't take too much time, seven days at most, and if it's fast, maybe three or four days would be enough.

But even if it only takes three days, it is enough to make it a mystery as to who will be the emperor.

There are more than a dozen princes in Xianyang City. Will they wait obediently for their eldest brother to come back and inherit the throne?

When Fusu was exiled to Shangjun and Ying Zheng was still reluctant to appoint a crown prince, there was a consensus within the court that the prince's attempt to seize the throne would certainly be intense.

The empire and the Zhou Dynasty, as well as the various vassal states that established themselves after the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, are all different.

The empire is completely undivided!
Everyone is treated equally, even the prince is no exception.

If Ying Zheng's dozen or so sons could not inherit the throne, they would have to live their entire lives as rich and idle people - it was hard to say to what extent this "wealth" would extend.

For ordinary people, this is certainly a good thing, but for a prince, it is very uncomfortable.

Not to mention that it is difficult to say how the new emperor will view these brothers who are competing with him for the throne after he ascends the throne.

If the new emperor suddenly wanted to kill them... they would have no power to fight back and could only wait to be killed.

Outsiders generally do not interfere in such internal affairs of the royal family.

If the emperor kills his son, they might try to persuade him. After all, the prince is a potential crown prince and cannot be killed easily. But the emperor's brothers... who cares?

In this situation, if there is really no chance, these princes will definitely not seek death, but if there is a chance...some of them will definitely be willing to take a gamble.

Once a prince wants to take a risk, three to five days will be enough to make the transfer of the throne full of variables.

In the eyes of most people, it doesn’t matter who the throne is passed on to, what matters is that the throne can be transferred smoothly.

If this process encounters twists and turns, it will cause severe turmoil in the court, and may even directly shake the power of the new emperor and the structure of the entire empire.

Therefore, Li Si had always believed that Ying Zheng would not choose the eldest prince Fusu - if Ying Zheng had this idea, he should at least show it instead of repeatedly punishing and reprimanding Fusu.

Unfortunately... Ying Zheng's thinking on this matter is different from that of most normal people.

Because these people generally don't take the factor of immortality into consideration.

For Ying Zheng, the best and most important option was to live forever and remain the emperor forever. Passing the throne to his son was purely a backup plan.

Moreover, this backup plan seemed to be completely useless to him before.

So he never thought about arranging this plan carefully - before Ying Zheng really faced death, he himself didn't know who he would choose to succeed the throne!

Who can guess who will be Schrödinger’s successor?
After being surprised, Li Si couldn't help but frown.

For Zhao Gao, Fusu's succession to the throne was a fatal matter.

For Li Si, Fusu's succession to the throne was not a good thing either.

However, he was different from Zhao Gao after all. He was a real prime minister with real power. He was both meritorious and useful to the empire. He was completely different from a slave like Zhao Gao.

Even if he was the emperor, it was impossible for him to be punished without any reason.

So at this moment he is not as urgent as Zhao Gao.

Zhao Gao knew all about this, but he was not in a hurry to add fuel to the fire. He just waited for Li Si's further response.

"Since the emperor has given the order, then Order Zhao will act according to the decree. When the time comes, summon the eldest prince to meet up with the convoy. Why do you have to tell me?" Li Si still did not express his opinion, and asked calmly.

Zhao Gao snorted with a hint of sarcasm, and then said in a veiled tone, "Mr. Prime Minister is very patient, but... do you really have no objection to the eldest prince's succession to the throne?"

"The inheritance of the throne is the dictatorship of His Majesty the Free Emperor. How can we, the ministers, overstep the boundaries?" Li Si seemed angry, his tone turned cold, and he replied with a flick of his sleeves.

Zhao Gao didn't care and continued:

"Once Prince Fusu succeeds to the throne, do you think he will let you go?"

Li Si did not hold back and replied bluntly, "Prince Zhao, you have done something that crossed the line. It's fine if you are afraid that His Royal Highness the Eldest Prince will settle accounts with you, but why do you want to involve me?"