Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor in China to reign in the era of thousands of years of autocracy. The monarchs and concubines of the six countries, princesses of Wang Sun, and royal princes and state members all bowed their heads and bowed their heads in fear.
However, Qin Shi Huang, who is proud of the world, is extremely fragile in his heart, because he has always been secretive about his life. Qin Shi Huang succeeded Qin Zhuang as Prince Xiang (Zichu) and ascended the throne as a prince.
Qin Shi Huang's mother Zhao Ji, who was said to have been Lü Buwei's concubine, was later dedicated to Zichu and was made queen. So, is Qin Shi Huang the son of Zichu or the son of Lu Buwei? Later generations are controversial.
"Shiji" has always been praised as "the swan song of historians, the rhyme of divorce", especially for its objective narration. Many of the doubtful facts contained in the Annals have also been proved by modern archaeological discoveries.
Qin Shi Huang's life history began to appear suspense from the "History" and became a historical public case. Sima Qian lived more than a hundred years after Qin Shi Huang, not far from the Qin Dynasty.
There are two versions of his life story about Qin Shi Huang. "Shiji Qin Benji" said that after the death of King Zhuangxiang, Wang Zizheng succeeded to the throne, which was Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng.
The "History of Lü Buwei" also records the story of Qin Shi Huang as the son of Qin Prime Minister Lü Buwei. In this way, layers of fog are left for future generations. Is Qin Shi Huang the son of Lu Buwei?
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Lu Buwei's wishful calculation: odd goods can live
According to the "Records of History": Lü Buwei, the great Jia Ye of Yangzhai (present-day Yuzhou, Henan), went to Handan, the capital of the Zhao state, to do business, and when he met his son Chu, he took pity on him, saying: "This strange commodity can live." ”
Zi Chu, surnamed Huan, was named Yiren, and Zi Chu was a later changed name. His grandfather was King Zhaoxiang of the State of Qin, and his father was Prince Huanzhu. Qin and Zhao formed an alliance and sent hostages to each other, and the strangers were sent to Handan in the state of Zhao as hostages of the state of Qin.
Soon, the State of Qin tore up the covenant and sent troops to attack the State of Zhao, although the alien was not killed by the State of Zhao, but he was no longer treated with courtesy, and his life was in trouble, like a beggar.
Lü Buwei was in Handan, learned about the situation of the Inhumans, and decided to conspire with the Inhumans to seize the throne of Qin.
Lu Buwei had such a plan, so he went to visit Zi Chu and said to him: "I can glorify your court." ”
Zi Chu smiled and said, "Let's first light up your own court, and then come to my court!" ”
Lu Buwei said: "You don't understand, my court will wait for your court to be bright." ”
Zi Chu knew what Lu Buwei meant, so he pulled him to sit together and talk deeply.
Lü Buwei said: "King Qin is old, and An Guojun has been made crown prince. I privately heard that An Guojun loved Lady Huayang very much, Lady Huayang had no son, and only Lady Huayang could choose the crown prince. Now that your brother has more than twenty people, and you are in the middle, not favored by the King of Qin, and have been left in the vassal states as hostages for a long time, even if the King of Qin dies and An Guojun succeeds to the throne as king, you don't expect to compete with your eldest brother and other brothers who will be by King Qin's side sooner or later for the position of prince. ”
Zi Chu said: "That's so, but what should I do?"
Lu Buwei said: "You are very poor, and you live here, and you can't offer anything to your relatives and make friends." Although I, Lu Buwei, am not rich, but I am willing to spend thousands of gold to lobby you to go west to the Qin Kingdom, serve An Guojun and Lady Huayang, and let them make you crown prince. ”
Zi Chu then kowtowed and thanked him, "If your plan is realized, I am willing to divide the land of the Qin Kingdom and share it with you." ”
Later, Lü Buwei gave a beautiful woman of the Zhao Kingdom who could sing and dance well, and gave him 500 taels of gold to let him operate in the Zhao Kingdom. Lü Buwei used 500 taels of gold to buy various treasures, and went west to Xianyang in the Qin state to lobby Lady Huayang. Lady Huayang was the concubine of Crown Prince Huanzhu and had no heir. Lü Buwei persuaded him to make a stranger an heir.
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Under Lü Buwei's lobbying, the alien finally succeeded to the throne of Huanzhu as King Zhuangxiang. Lü Buwei of course became prime minister and made Wen Xinhou Marquis, feeding on the twelve counties of Lan (present-day Shaanxi). The beautiful woman that Lü Buwei offered to the stranger, because she was from the Zhao state, was called "Zhao Ji", and also went to the Qin state with the stranger, and gave birth to a son named Huan Zheng, who was later Qin Shi Huang.
After the crown prince Huanzheng succeeded him as king, he honored Lü Buwei as a Xiangbang and called him "Zhongfather". So far, Lü Buweiqi's strategy of living goods can be said to be perfectly realized. However, his ending was not so rosy.
Because at this time, Yingzheng already had his own ambitions and did not want to be controlled by anyone, especially Lu Buwei, who was in a high-ranking position, and was even more jealous of Yingzheng. Later, due to the investigation of Concubine, Xiangbang Lu Buwei was implicated. In October of the tenth year of Qin Shi Huang, he dismissed Lü Buwei from his position as a state and sent Lü Buwei out of the capital to Henan's fiefdom.
After more than a year, guests and envoys from various princely states came to greet Lu Buwei. The King of Qin, fearing that he would start a rebellion, wrote to Lu Buwei and said, "What credit do you have to the Qin state?" The State of Qin sealed you in Henan, eating 100,000 households. What blood relationship do you have to King Qin? And known as the middle father. You and your family have all moved to Shudi to live! ”
As soon as Lu Buwei thought that he had been gradually persecuted and feared that he would be killed in the future, he drank wine and committed suicide.
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Whether the King of Qin is related to the "middle father"
It turned out that before Lü Buwei gave Zhao Ji to Zichu, Zhao Ji had lived with Lü Buwei for a long time and was pregnant with Lü Buwei's child, because Lü Buwei thought that he had spent a lot of family property for Zichu, in order to fish for strange goods, so he sacrificed Zhao Ji. Zhao Ji concealed her pregnancy, and twelve months later, she gave birth to Huan Zheng, and Zichu made this Ji his wife.
Sima Qian believed that Lü Buwei deliberately concealed the fact that Zhao Ji was pregnant when he offered Zhao Ji to Zichu. Ban Gu even more bluntly called Qin Shi Huang "Lü Zheng". Sima Zhen of the Tang Dynasty's "Index of Historical Records" explains: "Lü Zheng, the first emperor named Zheng, Lü Buwei Xingji had a pregnancy, sacrificed Zhuang Xiang Wang and gave birth to the first emperor, so Yun Lü Zheng." Generations have shared this view for various purposes.
However, many people throughout the ages have disagreed with this view.
Tang Ping Yin of the Ming Dynasty believed that those who said that Qin Shi Huang was the son of Lü Buwei were "the good deeds of the Warring States". Wang Shizhen believed that Lü Buwei deliberately fabricated that he was the biological father of Qin Shi Huang in order to protect his wealth. Liang Yuxian of the Qing Dynasty directly said that the records in the "Shiji" were only rumors and did not verify.
In addition, some people have questioned the interpretation of the "great period" in the "Records of History" in which "Ji hid herself and had a pregnancy, and gave birth to a child when she was in the great period".
Period means one year; Major stage refers to delivery after twelve full-term months. According to common sense, women do not find out they are pregnant until a month or two after pregnancy. Since Lu Buwei already knew that he was pregnant before "offering Qiji", according to the normal law of October pregnancy, why did Zhao Ji give birth to Yingzheng after sharing a bed with Zichu for ten months?
According to the "Book of the First Emperor of Qin", after Qin destroyed Zhao, the king of Qin personally came to Handan and killed all those who had a grudge with the family of King Qin's mother.
If Zhao Ji came from a wealthy family, how could she first be Lu Buwei's concubine, and then be sacrificed as a wife of an alien? If Zhao Ji is a good girl, where does she get so many enemies?
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epilogue
Regardless of whether King Qin was orthodox or an "illegitimate son", in about ten years, he completed the historical mission of unifying the world with domineering and wisdom beyond ordinary people, ending the division of the Warring States Period. A vast country with Xianyang as its capital was established, with its territory stretching from Haiji Korea in the east, Longxi in the west, Lingnan in the south, and Hetao, Yinshan, and Liaodong in the north. And the mystery of the origin of this ancient emperor will also be like his merits, which is addictive.