Text/Kingdom Building
In 210 BC, Hu Hai, who was helped to the emperor's throne by Zhao Gao and Li Si, killed 22 of his brothers and 10 sisters in one fell swoop, almost poisoning the blood relatives of the Win clan. So, why didn't these sons of Qin Shi Huang resist at a moment of life and death? Did they not have the strength to oppose Qin II, or did they obey the laws of the time and sit still? According to the historical records, Xiaobian sorted out the relevant materials and talked to everyone about this matter.
In the summer of 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang led an army of 300,000 people to tour the east, seeking the medicine of immortality. As a result, when he arrived at the sand dunes of Xingtai in Hebei (in present-day Guangzong, Xingtai, Hebei), he developed a poisonous sore on his back. It was the height of summer, the weather was hot, the wound was rotten and suppurative, and soon it was infected all over the body and dying. Qin Shi Huang knew that the limit was coming, and he personally wrote a will and ordered his eldest son Fu Su to inherit the throne. After the death of Qin Shi Huang, the Zhongche Government, which had a will in his hands, made Zhao Gao fear that after the virtuous Fu Su succeeded to the throne, it would be unfavorable to himself who liked to abuse power, so he found Hu Hai, the prince who accompanied Qin Shi Huang on his eastern tour, and plotted to abolish the coup d'état of Chang Liyou. When Qin Shi Huang died, the person who held the power of the imperial court was Li Si, the chancellor, and if Li Si did not agree to Hu Hai's succession to the throne, then Zhao Gao and Hu Hai's plot could not succeed. Zhao Gao and Hu Hai found Li Si and used the contradiction between Fu Su and Li Si as an excuse (mainly when Li Si presided over the book burning pit, Fu Su was resolutely opposed, so he was sent by Qin Shi Huang to build the Great Wall on the northwest border), and threatened to induce Li Si to agree to their coup plan. Li Si himself had offended Fu Su, of course, he was afraid that Fu Su would be liquidated after he became emperor, and when the time came, he should not say that the position of the prime minister was not secure, and even the disaster of extermination. Against his will, he agreed to the coup plan.
Zhao Gao was the commander of the Zhongche Prefecture and was in charge of the emperor's jade seal, while Li Si, as the chancellor, was responsible for presiding over the daily affairs of the imperial court. They conspired to forge the suicide note of Qin Shi Huang, establish Hu Hai to inherit the throne, and let the eldest son Fu Su commit suicide. As for the testament of Qin Shi Huang, which was hidden by Zhao Gao, it had long been burned by a fire.
Although Qin Shi Huang had never made a prince, he had always been fond of his eldest son Fu Su, so even if the father and son were conflicted because of their political views, they did not beat him to death. Instead, let the kind-hearted Fu Su go to the border to undergo training. Fu Su went to the northwest border and was not alone, but was protected by heavy troops. Qin Shi Huang ordered his close general Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to protect the safety of Fu Su, an army specially prepared for Him by Qin Shi Huang to prevent an accident in Fu Su.
When the emissary arrived at Fusu's camp with the false edict of Zhao Gaoren, the Prince of Qin was still in full swing to direct soldiers and migrant workers to build the Great Wall. The emissary read out the edict, accusing Fu Su of filial piety and infidelity in the name of Qin Shi Huang, and asking the two of them to commit suicide and apologize. At that time, fu su and Meng Tian did not know that Qin Shi Huang had died, and they were a little panicked. Fu Su was already waiting for the body of sin, thinking that Qin Shi Huang must be unwilling to forgive himself, so he did not say a word, and he was about to commit suicide by pulling out his sword. Still being alert, he questioned: "Your Majesty is now outside, and he has not yet established a prince, so he sent me to lead an army of 300,000 to guard the frontier and let you supervise it, which is a major task related to the safety and security of the world!" Now that you want to commit suicide just because an envoy has arrived, how do you know that this is not a treacherous ruse? I beg you to ask for instructions again, and it is not too late to die after asking for instructions! Fu Su listened to some awakening, silent, thinking about how to deal with it. The messenger did not know it, and urged Fu Su and Meng Tian to commit suicide on their orders.
Fu Su sighed, "The father ordered his son to commit suicide, what is the use of asking for instructions?" He committed suicide by drawing his sword. Meng Tian originally wanted to persuade Fu Su to lead his troops back to Xianyang with him to find out, but now Fu Su was dead and the division was unknown. But he was not willing to commit suicide, and he had to go back with the messenger to find out the truth. As a result, after returning to Xianyang, he was immediately imprisoned by Qin II, and eventually died in prison with his brother Meng Yi.
Fu Su was the only son of Qin Shi Huang who had the military power to stop Zhao Gao and Li Si's plot. It is only because of his loyal personality and strict observance of the law that he would rather commit suicide in a vacuum than bear the charge of resisting the will. After Fu Su's death, Hu Hai of Qin II, at the instigation of Zhao Gao, began a massacre of his brothers and sisters. Because the Qin Dynasty's laws against the sons of the clan were quite strict, the princes who were not appreciated by the king (the sons of the Qin Dynasty were equivalent to the princes of later generations) could not hold positions of real power at all, so Qin II wanted to kill them, which was really like trampling a group of ants. In hindsight, Fu Su's suicide ended well, at least he thought he had died for his father. His other 21 younger brothers and 10 younger sisters all became the meat on the chopping board and were arbitrarily chopped up with Qin II.
After Hu Hai returned to Xianyang to formally ascend the throne as emperor, the first thing he did was to order the execution of 12 brothers who were slightly politically threatening him, on the charge of being disloyal and filial piety and having a heart of disobedience. Poor 12 princes of the Qin State, who had become victims of political struggles without knowing what was going on, did not know what was going on until they died. After the news of the execution of these sons spread, the other surviving sons were panicked and had no ability to resist, so they could only hide at home and wait for death.
Qin II did not let them wait too long, and after more than a month, he escorted the other 6 brothers and 10 sisters to Duyou and executed them in a cruel way by crushing their bodies with boulders. At this point, the 23 sons and 10 daughters born to Qin Shi Huang were only 4 generals and seniors who were cowardly and had a good relationship with Hu Hai of Qin II.
According to ye shi records, Hu Hai originally did not want to kill General Lu and others, because he posed no political threat to himself, and he also found an excuse not to execute. Zhao Gao did not see it this way, he thought that Hu Hai's position as emperor was not coming from the right path, as long as there was still qin shi huang's son alive, it would be difficult to ensure that no change would occur, so he forced Qin II to kill people. After the three brothers, including Lu, were imprisoned, the emissaries were ordered to commit suicide. The general said excitedly to the messenger, "We have no fault in the etiquette of the court. We did not violate the etiquette system stipulated by the imperial court, and we obeyed the orders to deal with it, and we did not have any fault, so why do we say that we are not loyal subjects of the state, but we want to judge ourselves? The Prophet was stunned and had to reply, "I did not participate in condemning you, but did what I was told!" General Lu shouted to the heavens, "Heaven, heaven, heaven, I have no sin!" The other two brothers shed tears and drew their swords to commit suicide.
After the death of General Lu and others, qin shi huang's sons, except for Hu Hai, the second emperor of Qin, were left with only gao yi, the prince of honest bajiao. Although Gongzi Gao had not yet been imprisoned, he already felt that his life was in danger. The servant advised him to flee, and Gongzi Gao said, "The whole world is the emperor's, where can he escape?" Moreover, after I escape, the emperor will inevitably exterminate me, and I am not willing to involve everyone in order to live in the world. Gongzi Gao wrote a note to Qin II, saying that he had served around Qin Shi Huang since he was a child and was recognized as a filial piety in the world. Now that my father is dead, I am willing to go underground and continue to serve the emperor. Hu Hai was very happy to see Gongzi Gao's recital, and not only did not embarrass Gongzi Gao's family, but also rewarded him with 100,000 yuan. After the construction of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin in Lishan, Gongzi Gao was sealed in the tomb and became a funerary product. If one day archaeologists open the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, they should be able to find this Qin Dynasty prince who sacrificed his life to accompany the burial.
In 207 BC, after Qin II was killed by Zhao Gao, he was succeeded by the son of the emperor Yingzi Bao. According to the Yeshi records and the analysis of the survivors of the Qin Dynasty clan at that time, the winning baby should be the son of Gongzi Gao (Zhengshi believes that the baby is the son of Fu Su is not in line with historical facts, according to the purge policy at that time, except for Gongzi Gao's family, all the other sons of Qin Shi Huang were exterminated, and it is impossible to leave Fu Su's son).