The "Chronicle of History" records that Zhao Ji, the mother of Qin Shi Huang's empress dowager, was originally Lü Buwei's concubine. One day, Lü Buwei invited Yiren (Zi Chu) to his home to drink and have fun, and Zhao Ji played the piano and danced to help him. Intoxicated by her beauty and grace, the stranger became possessive and begged Lü Buwei for her. Other men want their own women, which is an insult. Lü Buwei had to obey, he had already invested all his wealth in this alien person, and it was not a wise move to estrange himself from this "cash cow" for a concubine. At this time, Zhao Ji was pregnant, and Lü Buwei took the opportunity to pretend to be angry on the spot, and the wine banquet was not happy, but later he took the initiative to send Zhao Ji to the mansion of the stranger. Later, Zhao Ji gave birth to a fetus in the mansion of the Yiren, with the surname Win and the name "Zheng", and everyone thought that this son was the son of the Yiren, but in fact it was the son of Lü Buwei.
The Zizhi Tongjian also says: "Qin Shi Huang was Lü Buwei's illegitimate son", after all, its predecessor "Shi Ji" said so, but it provides a very important doubt: "Zhao Ji gave birth to a child after 12 months away from Lü Buwei", which is not mentioned in the "Shi Ji".
Many people in modern times believe that the record in the history books that Qin Shi Huang was an illegitimate child is completely deliberately smeared. They have produced a lot of evidence, in fact, these so-called "evidences" are basically all "speculation", which cannot withstand scrutiny and are untenable.
The history books' records of this matter are really some "dog blood", and there are doubts in many aspects, which are difficult to convince.
Modern people's point of view
The way modern people think about problems is becoming more and more "straight".
For example, if you take out from the history books about Xiang Yu's massacre and tell someone about it, if he is an admirer of Xiang Yu, he will definitely say: "If you become a king and defeat Kou, history is written by the victors, Xiang Yu is not such a person, and the record of the massacre was used by Liu Bang to smear him after his victory." "
Xiang Yu and the massacres he carried out were all recorded in the history books, so why do you only believe that the record of Xiang Yu's bravery and good fighting is true, but think that Xiang Yu's massacre was made up? Then why not say: "Everything is compiled in the history books, there is no Xiang Yu at all, in order to elevate Liu Bang, the historian deliberately made up a defeated general for him who was brave and good at war." "
This kind of person is a typical "double standard".
There are only two "evidences" that modern people question the origin of Qin Shi Huang: 1. Qin Shi Huang burned books to pit Confucianism, and was hated by Confucians, and Sima Qian was a Confucian, and he had the motive to smear Qin Shi Huang. 2. The "Zizhi Tongjian" says: "Zhao Ji left Lü Buwei for 12 months before giving birth", and the human pregnancy cycle is obviously 10 months, which shows that Zhao Ji only became pregnant after leaving Lü Buwei.
The first piece of evidence, a sentence "compiled" is to overturn the history books, and the evidence is insufficient. Moreover, the principle of historians in recording history is to restore the truth. Although Sima Qian hated Qin Shi Huang, his whole life's efforts were devoted to this book, and for the sake of the reputation and historical status of the "History", he would not make up such a big lie to smear him.
The second piece of evidence is also insufficient to tell the truth.
"Humans conceive and give birth in October" is common knowledge in modern times, and staying in the mother's fetus for more than half a month is at risk of death and deformity. How can Yingzheng stay in the mother's womb for 12 months?
In fact, in Chinese myths and legends, there is the existence of "super late baby".
Didn't Nezha stay in the womb for three years and six months? And the legendary Ancient Emperor Yao, didn't he stay in the womb for 14 months?
The mythological story is not very credible, the legend of Yao is too long to be verified, and there are also records of "super late babies" in the history.
Didn't Emperor Han Zhao, the younger son of Emperor Wu of Han, stay in his womb for 14 months? Because of this, Emperor Wu also renamed the door of his child and his mother", because it was the same as the time that Emperor Yao spent in the womb.
In ancient times, the study of physiology was not yet progressive, and it was influenced by too many superstitious ideas, so many records of "super late babies" were born.
The history books also say that Liu Bang was born of a dragon and life, and ordinary people will not believe it when they read it. The history books say that Emperor Yao, Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng, and Han Zhao Emperor Liu Fuling were "super late children", perhaps to give them a mysterious color, so that others thought that they were different from birth.
This alone is not enough to question Qin Shi Huang's lineage in the history books.
Doubts in the history books
After all, the whole thing is too "dog blood", and it is inevitable that people will question it.
1. The records of the Zizhi Tongjian are different from those in the Records of History.
As a "descendant", even if it is skeptical of some events in the "Records of History", it probably does not dare to openly oppose and challenge.
The "Chronicle of History" said vaguely: "Zhao Ji gave birth to Yingzheng when it was time for production. In this way, you may think that Zhao Ji, like other women, is pregnant and has a child in October. The "Zizhi Tongjian" should emphasize: "Zhao Ji is pregnant and gives birth to a child in December. "
It is not known where Sima Guang of the Song Dynasty learned how long Zhao Ji was pregnant, he deliberately recorded this matter as different from that of his "predecessors", and also emphasized the irrationality of "conceiving and giving birth in December", which may also lead readers to be skeptical of the records of Sima Qian's predecessor.
2, there may be someone tampering with the history books.
The book "History" may have its contents tampered with. In ancient times, each region was relatively closed, and the history books were passed down from generation to generation by the "bibliographic family", and then they were printed and spread by these books, and if the books were tampered with by them, it was bound to affect many people who had read this version of the book. If their version spreads too widely, there is also a possibility of "piracy triumphing over genuine". In ancient times, the book "History" has many versions, and the history recorded is basically the same, because people who do good things like to add or change a few words on it, and the motivation is either to "help future generations read better", or to be a "hand ower" with an improper heart. And their changes have also influenced future generations with the popularity of the version.
Some people suspect that some Confucians used the matter of Chunshen Jun's tanuki cat as a prototype for the prince, and tampered with the records of the life of Qin Shi Huang.
Chunshen Jun Huang Xie and Lü Buwei were people of the same era, and his position in the Chu State was also the same as Lü Buwei's position in the Qin State, both of which were above ten thousand people under one person.
The monarch of the State of Chu was infertile, and Chun Shenjun lost his mind under the impulsive thoughts and sent his pregnant concubine into the palace as a concubine of the King of Chu. The King of Chu had great trust in Chun Shenjun, and the concubine eventually gave birth to the only son of the "King of Chu", who later deservedly inherited the throne of Chu.
Lü Buwei and this Chun Shenjun had almost the same experience, almost the same status, and did the "wrong thing" so the same, is there really such a coincidence in the world?
Or did future generations add oil and vinegar to the history books and make the original different lives "become" the same?
epilogue
It was actually very simple to hide one thing, Qin Shi Huang felt that there were many slanderers in the history books of the Six Kingdoms, so he ordered them all to be collected and then burned. In this way, among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, only the official history of the Qin State can be passed on to future generations.
After all, all the records come from the "Shi Ji", the novels and TV series about Qin Shi Huang, which are based on the records of the "Shi Ji". If you don't believe in the history books, what else can you believe?
Whether Qin Shi Huang was Lü Buwei's illegitimate son or not, we only have to wait for archaeologists to have the opportunity to make a final explanation by examining DNA in the future. There is no need to argue too much now.
Important time related to this article:
Lü Buwei meets the Stranger: 257 BC
Born: 259 BC
Death of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (Yiren): 247 BC
Ascension to the throne: 247 BC
Reign of The Emperor: 238
Death of Lü Buwei: 235