Qin Official

Putting down the hand that touched the sword, Qin Shihuang suppressed his anger towards the sky, shook his head under the clouds, and thought to himself:

"I am not Wu Yi, nor King Kang of Song..."

Wu Yi, the third-to-last monarch of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, was dissatisfied with the ghosts and wizards controlling the government. In order to prove the incompetence of the gods, he used animal skins as bags to hold blood, raised them high, and shot them, which was called "shooting the sky." As a result, Wu Yi shot a big hole in his skin, and the blood flowed continuously. Tian still didn't react at all. Wu Yi then declared that "Tian" who the witches used to oppress him all day long was a wimp.

But later, Wu Yi was struck to death by lightning while going hunting on the Weishui River. People said that this was his bad luck because of his disrespect to the gods.

King Kang of Song, a descendant of the Yin Shang Dynasty, seemed to have inherited the madness of his ancestors and did similar things. However, the Song State was soon destroyed by the Qi State, and the surname Sheji became extinct. People also said that this was caused by disrespect for heaven. punish.

Although Qin Shihuang thought highly of himself and was arrogant, he was not a madman.

If the person who offended the emperor was an individual, just one word could wipe out all traces of his existence.

If it is a country that disobeys the emperor, he will send a large army to conquer, destroy his country, and destroy his country. Let the world know what the wrath of the emperor means, with millions of corpses lying on the ground and bloodshed for thousands of miles!

If it was Mount Tai itself that angered the emperor, he could even have tens of thousands of people cut down all the trees on the mountain, leaving the mountain bare, as if he had been subjected to kūn punishment.

But the only thing the emperor had no choice about was heaven.

If you wave your dagger at the vast sky and scream and curse, will the wind and rain stop? It is of no use. In the eyes of others, it is just like a Shu dog barking at the sun. Doing this kind of thing will turn Feng Chan, who is far different from what he expected, into a complete farce...

He could only endure. Qin Shihuang had endured many things for this ceremony.

Qin Shihuang had high hopes for Feng Chan. In addition to hoping to talk directly to "Heaven" and report his achievements, he also had a practical purpose.

His son Fusu often whispers something in his ear: "The world has been settled for the first time, but Guizhou has not yet gathered." Doesn't he know?

Gao Jianli's assassination, the fear of the people when he went on patrol, the banditry activities that were difficult to suppress in various places, and the undercurrent of Zionists all showed that his world did not seem to be so stable.

How to solve this problem? This was the most important thing Qin Shihuang kept in mind after expelling the Xiongnu. The Qin State was no longer a vassal state in the west, but a dynasty that unified the world. Integrating the newly conquered areas in the east was a top priority.

For this reason, he did not hesitate to transfer Heifu to Kanto as the county governor, hoping to see what new tricks this minister who always surprises him could come up with.

In addition, Qin Shihuang dug out a petition written by Han Fei many years ago when he first entered Qin.

"It is easy to annex, but it is difficult to consolidate. Qi can annex Song, but cannot consolidate, so Wei seizes it; Yan can annex Qi, but cannot consolidate, so Tiandan seizes it; the land above Han, Fang Hundreds of miles away, they were completely wealthy and moved towards Zhao, but Zhao could not condense, so Qin seized it..."

Han Fei paraphrased Xunzi's original words, annexation is easy, but consolidation is difficult. Isn't this the biggest problem facing the Qin Dynasty right now? It unified the territory, but failed to unify the hearts of the people. The estrangement between Qin and the six kingdoms still existed. Some Guandong scholars even regarded Qin as a bandit, and the restoration movement was also brewing secretly.

It is difficult to achieve good results by relying solely on violent suppression. Fortunately, Xunzi also proposed a good solution to this problem: In ancient times, King Tang of Shang started his business with a millimeter of land, and King Wu of Zhou started with a piece of land. They were both hundreds of miles in radius, but they were able to annex the world, and the princes became ministers. There is no other reason. , it can unite the people!

Xunzi also said: "If you unite scholars with etiquette, you will unite people with government; if etiquette is cultivated and scholars will obey, the government will be peaceful and the people will be safe!"

After a few years, the emperor also understood that if he could not get rid of the Kwantung scholars and let them be used for his own purposes, the Qin officials who landed in the air would not be able to govern the people at all.

Therefore, Qin Shihuang planned to start with "rituals", listen to the advice of Confucian scholars and alchemists, put aside the old sacrifices of Qin State, and organize the "Feng Chan" that Easterners talked about so much, and turn it into a grand ceremony for the imperial court. This strengthened the scholars' identification with Qin and justified the legitimacy of the empire's rule in terms of belief - Qin was not a barbaric country of tigers and wolves, but also the descendant of the dignified Xia, inheriting the legacy of the seventy-two generations of ancient saints.

This approach is similar to the worship of Confucius in the Yuan and Qing Dynasties in later generations, but Confucius has not yet become a saint, and Confucianism is only one of the prominent schools.

For the arrogant Qin Shihuang, this was of course a compromise.

However, what made him happy was that as soon as this proposal came out, everyone cheered, even those famous Qilu scholars who did not want to become a doctor in the court came here. Counties and counties got the hint and offered their auspicious blessings one after another. Everything seemed to be going on the right track.

But Qin Shihuang underestimated the incompetence of the Confucian scholars. This group of people could argue for days on what ritual vessels to use in a ceremony and how high the seal should be, and it was difficult to come up with a feasible plan. After reading these various suggestions, Qin Shihuang found it difficult to implement.

Although he would give in, he would only give in half a step. If the other party didn't realize what he was doing and didn't catch up quickly, the emperor would kick him away!

Angry, Qin Shihuang dismissed the Confucian scholars and took his own ministers of civil and military affairs to Mount Tai to consecrate them to Zen. The etiquette also adopted the old rituals of Qin State in the past to worship heaven.

Let those useless Confucian scholars complain! Qin Shihuang didn't care.

Go to hell with the seventy-two generations of wise kings, go to hell with the ancient rituals! From now on, etiquette for all generations must follow my method!

But just after the ceremony, the situation on the top of the mountain changed and it was about to rain. This was something the emperor did not expect. Both Shi and Zhu, who were in charge of stargazing, had given him assurance that the sky would be absolutely clear on August 15th.

But the weather is unpredictable, and weather forecasts in later generations may not be accurate, let alone the history and blessings of stargazing with the naked eye.

As a result, Qin Shihuang's mood became as gloomy as the dark clouds above his head.

But he could only watch the clouds getting denser and denser, but he could do nothing. Only at this moment, Qin Shihuang felt the insignificance of a human being. Even though he was a great person and rich in the world, he was still a mortal.

"Is what I want to do so difficult? Is it really not something that God would like to see?" He put away his anger and asked God seriously.

Bursts of thunder seemed to be the answer from heaven to Qin Shihuang.

"Your Majesty, it's better to go down the mountain quickly!"

At this time, Wang Wanjian, the prime minister of the left, said: "The enshrinement of Zen has been completed, and the next step is to carve stone inscriptions to praise your majesty's achievements and the power of the Qin Dynasty. Your majesty, please see, this cloud is coming from the southeast, but it is difficult to cross the high mountains to reach Going north, Your Majesty might as well follow the original route and go down the mountain from the shady slope overnight to Father Liang's palace, which may avoid the rain..."

Wang Wan meant that as long as Qin Shihuang left quickly and avoided the rain on the top of the mountain, it would not have rained in Fengchan.

"Deceiving yourself..." Hei Fu, who was sitting at the back, muttered secretly in his heart, but Wang Wan's proposal attracted the approval of a large number of people.

"Your Majesty, please take shelter from the rain quickly!"

But there was a trace of anger in Qin Shihuang's eyes: "Prime Minister, do you want me to hide from the clouds and rain like a wild beast?"

The original plan was for the emperor and his ministers to spend the night in a simple temporary palace on the mountain, go down the mountain tomorrow, and perform a Zen ceremony at Liangfu the day after. Once he escapes in a hurry, this ceremony will become an anticlimax and make the world laugh.

"I never meant this, it's just..."

Wang Wan said quickly: "It's just that Feng Chan encountered wind and rain. This is ominous. I'm afraid people in the world will criticize..."

But unexpectedly, at this moment, there was a burst of laughter on the top of the mountain.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Qin Shihuang frowned, and the officials were also very surprised. They all looked in the direction of Heifu!

Hei Fu was exchanging glances with his father-in-law, preparing words to express his position, but he heard laughter behind him. Seeing everyone's gaze, he suddenly felt his scalp tense and quickly got out of the way, revealing the big fat man behind him...

The one who laughed was none other than Zhang Cang!

The Prime Minister on the right, Li Si, pointed at the young junior disciple and asked with a straight face: "Zhang Cang, why are you laughing in vain before you have finished your Zen? If you can't tell the reason, I will definitely ask the Tingwei to punish you for indecency. Deal with it!"

Zhang Cang stopped laughing and raised his hands to the sullen Qin Shihuang: "Without him, Cang just remembered a few words of Master's teachings. Your Majesty, what can I say?"

Qin Shihuang raised his eyes to look at the sky and said calmly: "Say it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After Zhang Cang stood up, he seemed to be a different person and said solemnly:

"The stars are rotating, the sun and the moon are shining, the four eras are in control, the yin and yang are changing, the wind and rain are spreading. These are the avenues of heaven and earth, the laws of nature. They did not exist because of the sage king Yao, nor will they disappear because of the tyrant Jie... …These are the words of Master Xunqing, and Zhang Cang dare not forget them even for a day.”

Heifu was surprised to see that Fatty Zhang, who was still half-dead when he went up the mountain, was now full of energy, standing under the dark clouds and strong wind, with his arms flying, pointing to the sky and saying loudly:

"The eclipses of the sun and the moon, the occasional wind and rain, and the appearance of strange stars are just rare phenomena that can be blamed but not feared."

"As for the clouds gathering and dispersing, and the rain falling and stopping, this is something that happens many times in Mount Tai every year. As far as today is concerned, whether your Majesty comes or not, whether Feng Feng Zen or not, the sky will be cloudy in Mount Tai. Even if it rains, it will not be the same as the world. It’s like countless rains, nothing surprising, what does it have to do with God’s will?”

"At this moment, any Guizhou farmer on the sunny slope of Mount Tai can hold his bamboo hat and happily watch the rain falling on the wheat fields and ditches. Boys, girls, cattle, horses and wild animals will also enjoy themselves in the rain. Why do you, gentlemen? , but the doctor is afraid of him like a ghost and can't avoid him? Isn't it ridiculous to be inferior to a Guizhou head, a young man, an ox and a horse!?"