I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 42 The Starting Point of the Qin Emperor's Demise
When Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were discussing behind their backs.

The 29th year of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s reign.

The emperor, who was unaware that he was being talked about, summoned Li Si and Zhao Gao as the first thing he did after waking up from a nap, and also called Fusu to come.

Half an hour later.

Zhangtai Palace.

It was still the same position as in the morning, the same murderous atmosphere, and Fusu was still sitting below Ying Zheng.

The difference is that the people kneeling below became Zhao Gao and Li Si.

"Your Majesty, what happened today?"

Feeling that something was wrong in the atmosphere, Fusu's skin tensed up all over. He had no choice but to break the silence and turn around to salute his father.

Ying Zheng glanced at him and said calmly:
"Now that all the palace people have left, only the two of them are left. Have you forgotten what I taught you last time?"

Fusu was stunned for a while before he understood what he meant.

So he tried to change his words:
"Father?"

Ying Zheng nodded with satisfaction:
"Ah."

"Just listen here. If you have any questions, you can ask later."

Under the high platform, Li Si and Zhao Gao's kneeling legs began to tremble.

They couldn't believe what they heard, and they didn't understand what they had done wrong.

Although Prince Fusu was everyone's tacit heir to the empire, because Fusu had always been taught by Confucianism and disagreed with many of the emperor's regulations and even contradicted them, the relationship between the father and son was notoriously bad.

But now, the emperor actually asked Fusu to call him "Father" in person?
Is this a little too intimate, too outrageous?

Moreover, why did they have to sit in on such things? Couldn't the father and the mother just talk in private behind closed doors? Why did they have to have two ministers listen?
"Zhao Gao, Li Si, do you know why I asked you to come here?"

Although it was an ordinary question, the two people below were clearly aware of the murderous intent in the emperor's words.

Zhao Gao was sweating profusely, and his sweat was about to drip onto the ground. He secretly glanced at Li Si, who was kneeling beside him, and found that this prime minister was not much better than himself.

What on earth did they do wrong...nothing big has happened recently!

Could it be that he was angry because of the group of alchemists in the morning? But what does this have to do with the two of them? It has nothing to do with them at all!
Trying his best to suppress the fear in his heart, Zhao Gao spoke in a trembling voice:
"Please explain clearly, Your Majesty. I don't know."

Li Si also bowed his head, his tone was calmer than Zhao Gao's:
"Your Majesty, I don't know either."

Ying Zheng looked at them steadily for a long while before he suddenly laughed.

He stood up from his seat, paced back and forth on the platform for a while, and then spoke leisurely.

"Do you know that I have always believed in seeking immortality and asking for the way? Why did I think of using chickens and ducks to test the toxicity today?"

No one answered.

Ying Zheng obviously didn't intend to wait for their answer and continued talking on his own.

"Because I have received the teachings of a true immortal. He told me that I will die in the sand dunes on my way to the east in eight years, which is the 37th year of the First Emperor. The cause of death may be that I have taken too many poisonous pills."

"I tried it this morning, and sure enough, the chickens and ducks died on the spot after eating a few pills, which is enough to prove that what the immortal said is true." "After doing this, I took a nap today and listened to the immortal's teachings again. This time, he told me the reason for the demise of my Great Qin."

"It just so happens that the fall of Qin is closely related to you two."

When they heard the first half, Zhao Gao and Li Si were so frightened that they were scared out of their wits.

Who doesn't know that the first emperor feared death the most? Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so obsessed with seeking immortality and wouldn't have summoned so many alchemists to Xianyang!
Such a fearful person actually directly stated the date of his death. This is really scary!
But Zhao Gao and Li Si never expected that the most frightening part was not the first half, but the second half.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is wise. I am loyal to the Qin Empire and have no second thoughts!"

Li Si reacted very quickly and kowtowed madly on the spot:
"Even when the seven kingdoms rose together, no other country valued the Legalists as much as the Qin Dynasty. Unless I was blinded by greed, how could I harm the Qin Dynasty? Your Majesty, please understand!"

Zhao Gao standing aside was no less capable.

Of course he knew how decisive and ruthless the First Emperor was, and he was so frightened that he almost fainted, but he could only force himself to protest his injustice like Li Si.

"Your Majesty, if Your Majesty hadn't taken me in and made me important, how could I, a man from a fallen country and a eunuch, have been able to become the Minister of the Imperial Chariots? My loyalty to Your Majesty is evident to all the sun and the moon, and I swear that I will never have second thoughts about you!"

Absolutely no two minds?

Ying Zheng smiled.

The two of them had a tacit understanding and both kept saying that they had no ulterior motives.

Of course he knew that Zhao Gao and Li Si were not the remnants of the Six Kingdoms. On the contrary, they were probably the people in the world who were most capable of being ruthless to the remnants of the Six Kingdoms.

If Ying Zheng had not asked Liu Che about this during class today, he would never have imagined that these two guys who seemed loyal to him would actually do such a thing after his death.

It was only after knowing what happened after his death in Shaqiu that Ying Zheng finally understood why Zhu Biao proposed to kill Zhao Gao when he wanted to do something to change the course of history, and why everyone else agreed.

After all this time, Fusu committed suicide and Hu Hai ascended the throne, which led to the death of the Second Emperor of Qin. The starting point of all this was Zhao Gao!

Fusu, who was sitting next to Ying Zheng, was stunned.

He was stunned for a long time, and when he came to his senses, he finally found an opportunity and asked hurriedly:
"Your Majesty...Father, is everything you said true? What did they do?"

Fusu was a person who did not believe in ghosts and gods.

He had never agreed with his father's efforts to seek immortality, but he had failed to persuade him in the past, and had been reprimanded by his father in public several times. Now that his father had finally killed all those alchemists, a new "immortal" had appeared, and even made his father want to take action against Li Si and Zhao Gao...

It was fine for Zhao Gao to take action, but Li Si was the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty. If he could kill people at will without any evidence, how would the court officials and the common people view his father?

Ying Zheng knew better than his son the consequences of acting rashly.

But he just smiled and looked at Fusu:

"Do you know why I repeatedly told you that if you heard any fabricated edict, you must lead the army to Xianyang City to ask for clarification?"

Fusu stood there in a daze, unable to react.

But Ying Zheng patted his shoulder slowly and said in a deep voice:

"Because the immortals told me that after my death, Zhao Gao, together with Li Si and Hu Hai, forged an imperial edict and ordered you to commit suicide. At that time, you were guarding the border and believed the order and committed suicide on the spot. As a result, Hu Hai was helped to ascend the throne by Zhao Gao and Li Si, and the Second Qin Dynasty died."

"Fusu, do you really think I shouldn't do that?"

(End of this chapter)