After the death of Qin Shi Huang, Zhao Gao conspired with Hu Hai to forge Qin Shi Huang's edict by convincing Hu Hai and threatening Li Si, so that Hu Hai could inherit the throne. At the same time, in the name of Qin Shi Huang, they accused Fusu and Meng Tian, calling Fusu unfilial piety and Meng Tian disloyal as a minister, forcing them to commit suicide and not allowing resistance. After receiving confirmation of Fusu's suicide, Hu Hai, Zhao Gao, and Li Sicai ordered the convoy to travel day and night and return to Xianyang as soon as possible. In order to continue to deceive the world, the convoy did not choose a shortcut, but pretended to continue to patrol and took a detour. However, due to the scorching summer heat, Qin Shi Huang's body was already rotten. In order to cover up the truth, Hu Hai and others bought a large amount of fish and loaded them on the car in an attempt to confuse the public. After arriving in Xianyang, Hu Hai succeeded him as Qin II, Zhao Gao served as Lang Zhongling, and Li Si continued to serve as prime minister, but the real power of the imperial court had fallen into the hands of Zhao Gao.
After Zhao Gao's conspiracy succeeded, he began to attack the people around him. He carefully set a trap and gradually drove Li Si into a corner. After Li Si discovered Zhao Gao's conspiracy, he wrote a book to expose Zhao Gao's crimes. However, Qin II Hu Hai not only favored Zhao Gao, but instead punished Li Si and finally beheaded him in Xianyang. Zhao Gao was therefore promoted to prime minister, because he could freely enter and leave the palace, and was specially known as the "middle prime minister".
The Qin Dynasty had a historian who left the book "Qin Ji", and Sima Qian should have recorded the history of the Qin Dynasty based on this historical book. In addition, among the many officials of the Qin Dynasty, there must have been people who wrote books and said, and these materials can be used as circumstantial evidence. However, these books were no longer visible to future generations, and Sima Qian rearranged these accounts so that future generations could understand the situation of the Qin Dynasty through the Historical Records. In fact, there must have been a secret record of tampering with Qin Shi Huang's edicts, and these Qin Dynasty secret documents were no longer secret in the Han Dynasty, so Sima Qian was able to publicly account them, so that future generations could know that Qin Shi Huang's edicts had been tampered with.
The edict was published after the emperor's death, and Qin Shi Huang did not leave a relevant edict during his lifetime, so the authenticity of the edict itself is questionable. After Zhao Gao and Li Si conspired, Li Si, as the drafter of the pseudo-edict, further confirmed the fact of the pseudo-edict in combination with other historical materials.
There are different opinions about Qin Shi Huang's edict, but they are all just speculation. Since Qin Shi Huang did not leave a relevant edict during his lifetime, the authenticity of the edict is doubtful, and the second emperor was incompetent, so Qin Shi Huang's decision to pass the throne to him is also quite strange.
As for the number of Qin Shi Huang's children and their whereabouts, it has been a mystery for thousands of years. There are only four people clearly recorded in the history books: the eldest son Fusu, the younger son Hu Hai, Gongzi Gao and Gongzi Jianglu. Historical records say that Qin Shi Huang had 12 sons, and it is also mentioned that his tenth daughter was killed, so it is speculated that Qin Shi Huang had at least twenty or thirty children. According to expert research, Qin Shi Huang had a total of 33 children. Of these 33 people, except for Hu Hai, who became Qin II with the conspiracy of Zhao Gao and Li Si, the remaining 32 people suffered misfortune. The eldest son Fusu died because of the false edict, after Hu Hai ascended the throne, he was worried that his brother was dissatisfied, so he killed on a large scale, and the historical records recorded that "the six sons were killed in Du" and the twelve sons were killed in Xianyang City. Gongzi Gao planned to flee to avoid disaster, but he was worried that his family would be implicated, so he wrote a letter requesting a funeral for Qin Shi Huang, and Hu Hai granted his request. Gongzi Jianglu and his three Kundi were forced to commit suicide. Hu Hai not only executed all his brothers, but also spared his sisters, and the history books record that he killed "the ten princesses to Du". In order to keep the throne, Hu Hai did not hesitate to kill many brothers and sisters.
In recent years, new discoveries in the archaeology of the Qinling Tombs have provided us with clues about this aspect. In October 1976, a group of 17 burial tombs were discovered near Shangjiao Village on the east side of the Qinling Tombs. Archaeologists have excavated eight of them, each containing a coffin and a coffin, and seven of them each contain a human skeleton, including five men and two women. In one tomb, there is only a bronze sword in the coffin, and no human bones are found. Amazingly, the bones in the coffin were scattered, some of the bodies were separated from the limbs, some of the skulls were separated from the torso, and some of the skulls had arrowheads. These phenomena indicate that the owner of the tomb died unnaturally. However, the burial goods in the tomb are extremely rich, including gold, silver, copper, iron, pottery, jade, mussels, shells, bones, lacquerware and silk fragments, etc. These tomb owners who had a certain identity and were brutally murdered were buried near the cemetery, indicating that they had a close relationship with the cemetery. This is reminiscent of the children of Qin Shi Huang who were brutally murdered. During the excavation, the remains of the gravedigger's fire were also found in the grave pit, which indicates that the weather was cold at that time, which coincided with the season when Hu Hai killed the princes. Therefore, expert analysis believes that the owners of these tombs are likely to be the sons and daughters of Qin Shi Huang. During the excavation, two private seals were also found, one was "Ronglu", which was unearthed in a male tomb, and the other was "Yangzi", which was unearthed in a female tomb. If the inference is correct, "Ronglu" should be the name of Qin Shi Huang's son, and "Yangzi" is the name of Qin Shi Huang's daughter. As the archaeological work deepens, it is expected that more evidence will be obtained, and the mystery of the whereabouts of Qin Shi Huang's children will be completely revealed.