According to historical records, Lü Buwei received a letter from Yingzheng before committing suicide. Lü Buwei was implicated after the affairs of Concubine Yi and Empress Zhao were exposed, and he was deposed as a chancellor and moved to the feudal state of Henan. A year later, Yin Zheng wrote a letter to Lü Buwei saying, "'What merit did Jun he owe to Qin?' Qin Fengjun Henan, eating 100,000 households. Why is Jun he pro-Qin? Known as the middle father. He and his family migrated to Shu. From these two sentences, it can be seen that Yin Zheng only said that he would move Lü Buwei to Shudi, and did not reveal any intention of killing him. So why did Lü Buwei commit suicide shortly after reading the letter?
First, Lü Buwei could not withstand the blow and had a nervous breakdown.
Lü Buwei was the prime minister of the Qin state at that time, controlling most of the power of the Qin state, and if the government wanted to be completely dictatorial, he had to do everything he could to take power out of his hands, so he had to defeat him as a person. Therefore, after the matter of Concubine Yi was exposed, although Yin Zheng removed him from the post of prime minister, he did not drive him out of Chang'an. However, when Yin Zheng took her mother back, he drove Lü Buwei to Henan, and then wrote to him to rebuke him and move him to Shudi. At that time, Shudi did not have any of the prosperous appearance of the present, and it was an extremely desolate and impoverished area, worse than Hanzhong. It can be seen from this that Lü Buwei suffered a great blow.
But these are not over, and Yingzheng will definitely continue to attack Lü Buwei. Because Lü Buwei's power had reached a very large point in so many years in the Qin Kingdom, it was impossible to defeat him by relying on these, and Lü Buwei was also very aware of this. In addition, if Yingzheng wants to fully control the power, he must do his best to get rid of the rumored father-son relationship with the prime minister, and the only way to eliminate these relationships is to kill him. Lü Buwei also understood this, and instead of waiting for death in fear, it was better to solve it himself.
Second, Lü Buwei has a strong sense of self-esteem.
Lü Buwei was a businessman before he became an official, and although the status of a businessman at that time was the lowest, he still had a strong sense of self-esteem, otherwise there would not have been some things that happened during his later period as an official. During his reign, the State of Qi, the State of Wei, the State of Zhao, and the State of Chu each had a talented son, collectively known as the Four Princes. Because there was no name of his own, So Lü Buwei recruited a wide range of customers and let him write a "Lü Shi Chunqiu", and then in order to make this book well known to the masses, Lü Buwei said to the outside world that if someone could change a word in this book, he could reward a thousand gold and advertise the book from the side.
It can be seen from this incident that Lü Buwei is a very good-looking person, and he wants to use culture to reshape his image and completely get rid of his former identity as a businessman. Therefore, when the King of Qin asked him these two questions: ''What merit do you have in exchange for fiefdoms?' Eligible to be called the Middle Father? At that time, Lü Buwei would choose to commit suicide soon after. If Lü Buwei really did not have qualifications, then it would be nothing, but in Lü Buwei's view, he had such qualifications and merits. However, being asked in this way is absolutely a collapse for a person with full of pride and strong self-esteem.
Third, in order to protect their families.
Lü Buwei always knew that Yingzheng actually didn't have so much hatred for himself, after all, he had helped him survive the fight in the palace, and he also knew that he just wanted to take back the power in his hands. However, if he has been alive, Yingzheng's next move may threaten his family and future generations. In order for his family to live a good life in the future, Lü Buwei had no choice but to commit suicide. In fact, after Lü Buwei's death, the King of Qin not only did not embarrass his family, but also restored the identity of those who moved to Shudi and allowed them to return to Chang'an.
Fourth, in order to protect the government.
Protecting the government? Many people will wonder, isn't this nonsense? There is a feud between him and Yingzheng for power, how can it be possible to protect him? But in fact, this is not complete nonsense, there are also some relevant records in the "Records of History", saying that Yingzheng was actually Lü Buwei's illegitimate son, although there is no solid evidence, but there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Yingzheng is not Lü Buwei's child. Moreover, Yin Zheng and Lü Buwei also had such doubts. Although he doubted his own origins, in order to ensure that he must be a descendant of the Ying family, he would not admit it, and in order to ensure that this news would not be passed out, Lü Buwei must not be able to live; on the other hand, Lü Buwei also had such speculations, but at the same time he also understood that if this news was passed out, the Yingzheng Jiangshan would be affected, and someone would definitely use this reason to rebel. Moreover, if Yingzheng takes the initiative to kill him, even if many people know that they have no relationship, they will be suspected of killing their fathers, which is also unfavorable to Yingzheng. Therefore, in order not to cause trouble for the 'son', he had to choose to commit suicide.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!