Ni Chu

After receiving the order from Hu Hai, Zhao Gao, who was full of confidence, did not delay at all. After he came out of the palace, he immediately dispatched troops to the prime minister's mansion.

As soon as Li Si returned to the mansion, before he even had time to change his clothes and breathe a sigh of relief, Zhao Gao arrived with a large group of pursuers.

The gate of the Prime Minister’s Mansion was closed tightly. When Zhao Gao arrived, he gave an officer a wink. The officer quickly led a few soldiers to kick the gate open. After kicking the gate, they quickly closed the gate After that, the officers and the soldiers who broke the door stood on both sides, respectfully watching Zhao Gao lead the team into the Prime Minister's Mansion.

After breaking into the Prime Minister's Mansion, Zhao Gao ordered the soldiers to control the exits to prevent everyone in the mansion from escaping.He led some people straight into the main hall, and when he arrived in the hall, he shouted loudly, "Where is Li Si? Come and receive the order!"

Li Si was in the back hall at this time, when he heard Zhao Gao came to announce the decree, he felt a sense of uneasiness in his heart, hurriedly rushed to the main hall with his family members, knelt down on the ground, and shouted loudly: "My minister Li Si accepts the decree!"

Zhao Gao put his hands behind his back and said to Li Si: "Your Majesty ordered that Li Si, as the Prime Minister of the Great Qin Dynasty, did not want to thank the emperor and serve the country, but colluded with thieves. His son Li You had a close relationship with Xiang Yu and intended to rebel. Your Majesty Order the officials to investigate Li Si's conspiracy, Prime Minister Li, please come with me!"

After finishing speaking, Zhao Gao made a "please" gesture to Li Si. Li Si had no choice but to stand up and let the soldiers led by Zhao Gao escort him out.

"Take away all Li Si's family members and retainers!" After Li Si was escorted out, Zhao Gao winked at the officer beside him, and the officer immediately ordered the soldiers to take all the people in the Prime Minister's Mansion back to the prison, no matter master or servant.

The officers and soldiers escorting Li Si were polite to him along the way and did not put him in shackles.

Under the escort of a group of Qin soldiers, Li Si walked slowly towards the prison in Xianyang City. When he passed the market entrance, he suddenly found a large group of people kneeling there under the escort of a group of soldiers.

The group of people kneeling on the ground each had a straw stick stuck behind their necks, which was the symbol of the death row before execution.

When Li Si slowly approached these people, they all raised their heads and looked at Li Si with tears in their eyes. Only then did Li Si see clearly that these people were the officials who impeached Zhao Gao with him earlier, and they were the first to impeach him. Cao Jin, who reported the news, was also included.

"Prime Minister!" Li Si raised his head slightly, and slowly closed his eyes. He walked in front of these people who were about to be executed step by step. When he walked in front of Cao Jin, Cao Jin, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly He rushed towards him on his knees, and slammed his head heavily on the ground behind Li Si's feet.

The blood and tears flowing from the broken forehead flowed down Cao Jin's cheeks. He put his head on the ground and shouted heart-piercingly, "Prime Minister! The Great Qin is over! Zhao Gao usurped Qin, and everyone knows it, but Your Majesty But I don’t know it. In the past, there was a prime minister, and Zhao Gaoshang had scruples. Now that the prime minister is not here, the thousands of miles of mountains and rivers that the first emperor led the Great Qin Jianer back then will change hands overnight!"

When Cao Jin yelled these words, the condemned prisoners who knelt together burst into tears, and Li Si couldn't help but shed two tears from the corners of his closed eyes.

He regretted, regretted that when the first emperor died, he colluded with Zhao Gao to initiate the Dune Change for his own selfishness.Not only killed his son Fusu, Meng Tian, ​​and Meng Yi brothers, but also killed all his daughter-in-law and son-in-law, and handed over the political affairs of Daqin to Zhao Gao.

Li Si regretted that if there hadn't been the change in the sand dunes that year, it would have been impossible for the fatuous Hu Hai to ascend the throne.The wise Fusu will definitely work hard to make Daqin more prosperous.

"Papa papa!" There was a loud slap in the face from behind Li Si, and with the slap in the face, there was also an officer's curse: "Rebellious ministers and thieves, you are still talking nonsense when you are about to die! I tell you to curse me Daqin! Tell you to frame me!" Master Zhao!"

Li Si didn't look back, he knew that the flattering officer was slapping Cao Jin.He really wanted to yell "stop" to the officer, but the words came to his lips, but he still couldn't say them.Yes, the current him, even if he shouted out, so what?How many people will follow his orders?

Zhao Gao threw Li Si and all the captured Li family members and retainers into the big prison. That night, the residents near the big prison heard screams one after another from inside.

Early the next morning, Zhao Gao took Li Si's relatives and followers' statements against Li Si's rebellion and entered Li Si's cell.

As soon as he entered the prison, Zhao Gao said with a smile on his face: "Master Prime Minister, the subordinate officials suddenly interrogated your relatives and retainers yesterday night, and they all recruited them. You should confess quickly, don't make things difficult for the subordinate officials. It is!"

Li Si glanced at Zhao Gao contemptuously, twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Zhao Gao, you have brought me down, and now there is no one in the court who can threaten you, when will you take the land of Great Qin?"

"What is the prime minister talking about!" Zhao Gao waved his hands with a smile on his face and said to Li Si: "The purpose of this official is to help His Majesty govern the world well. Now that bandits are rampant, it is time to solve His Majesty's worries and problems. How can you do anything?" This is such a perverse thing. But the prime minister, why don’t you tell me how you colluded with the bandits and tried to destroy Daqin in vain!”

Sitting on the ground, Li Si raised his head and looked at Zhao Gao who was smiling smugly in front of him. After a long time, he nodded heavily, and sighed helplessly: "Okay, I'll recruit. You go and prepare bamboo slices and carving knives for me. I will count my mistakes today and apologize to His Majesty!"

"Hehe, I'll do it right now!" Hearing that Li Si said he was willing to confess, Zhao Gao laughed even brighter, bowed his hands and bowed to Li Si, and retreated.

After a while, a jailer brought Li Si a piece of bamboo and a carving knife.

Holding a carving knife in his hand, Li Si pondered for a long time before he carved on the bamboo piece. Suddenly, a line of vigorous and powerful Xiaozhuan appeared on the turquoise bamboo piece.

"I have been the prime minister of the Great Qin Dynasty and have been assisting the king in governing the people for more than [-] years." At this point, Li Si picked up the carving knife and pondered for a while, and then carved on the bamboo piece: "The minister first arrived in the Great Qin Dynasty, and the land of the Qin Kingdom is small. Before the first emperor unified the world, the territory of Qin was only a thousand miles away, and the number of armored men was only hundreds of thousands. The ministers tried their best to abide by the laws and regulations, secretly dispatched envoys to separate the princes of various countries, expanded their military equipment, rectified politics and religion, appointed talents, respected Meritorious officials increase the rank and salary of those who have meritorious service. Therefore, they can coerce South Korea, weaken Wei, smash Yanzhao, destroy Qi and Chu, and finally annex the six kingdoms, kill their kings and take them into captivity, and support the former king as the son of heaven. Your first crime!"

At this point, Li Si held the carving knife in his hand, sighed, and continued to carve: "After the annexation of the six countries, Qin's territory is still small, and the Huns in the north invaded the frontier. I am committed to sending troops to the north to expel the Huns. Sending troops to pacify South Vietnam and show the world the strength of Qin is the second crime! Respecting heroes, raising their titles and salaries, and making them loyal to Qin is the third crime! Sheji, build the ancestral temple, and show the world the virtuousness of the princess, this is the fourth crime of the minister!"

After the fourth crime was inscribed, Li Si felt a bit of sadness in his heart. He shook his head mockingly, two lines of dirty tears slipped from the corners of his eyes, and dripped onto the bamboo slice with a "click".

"Advice to the first emperor, unify the degree, quantity, and measurement, and spread it to the whole world, so that the prestige of the Great Qin will spread far and wide. This is the fifth crime of the minister! Build roads, make the world convenient, and build palaces and imperial mausoleums. To please the king, this is the sixth crime of the minister! Reduce punishment, reduce taxes, make the people support the monarch, and cause all people to support, this is the seventh crime of the minister!" After engraving the seven deadly crimes, Li Si held up the bamboo The film stared at it for a long time, and finally added a sentence: "As a minister, the above crimes are enough to make me die thousands of times. Thanks to my dedication to assisting the king, I have survived until now. I hope your majesty will investigate carefully!"

After engraving the seven crimes, Li Si picked up the bamboo piece and recited it aloud in the prison, obsessed with it.After repeating it several times, he suddenly burst out laughing, and shouted to the outside of the prison: "Come on, my crimes have been fully listed, please submit them to Your Majesty!"

The jailer took the memorial and first presented it to the prison officer in charge of the prison. The prison officer did not pass it on to Zhao Gao immediately, but read it first. It is clearly not an admission of guilt, but a show of merit, and I am asking for favors from His Majesty, how can such things be delivered to His Majesty?"

The prison officer stuffed the bamboo piece engraved with Li Si's seven deadly crimes into his bosom, hurried out of the prison, and ran straight to Lang Zhongling's mansion.

Zhao Gao took the bamboo piece from the prison officer, and after reading the seven deadly sins written on it, he twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Throw it away, how can the prisoner go to prison? Don't spoil His Majesty's vision!"

The prison officer responded, and left Lang Zhongling's mansion with the bamboo slices.

After the prison officer left, Zhao Gao narrowed his eyes slightly, and shouted outside the door: "Come on, call Zhao Cheng!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a servant outside the door responded, and went straight out of the house to look for Zhao Gao's younger brother, Zhao Cheng.

Li Si would never have imagined in his dreams that what his article on the Seven Deadly Sins brought him was not the pardon of Qin Er Shi, but the torture one after another to extract confessions.

After all, Li Si was born as a literati. After several forced confessions, he finally succeeded in being tortured.

In order to prevent him from retracting his confession, Zhao Gao specially asked Zhao Cheng to arrange for his cronies to pretend to be censors, audience members, servants and other officials to interrogate Li Si.

Every time Li Si thought that he was really an official sent by the court to investigate, but when he defended the truth, he would be beaten again and again.

Later, Li Si learned how to behave. No matter who was interrogated, he would no longer defend himself, so that when the Second Emperor sent someone to review Li Si's case alone, Li Si readily admitted the treason for fear of suffering, and lost his heart. Last chance to justify.