Qin Shi Huang unified the six eastern kingdoms, ended the chaotic situation of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, and also established the epoch-making dynasty qin dynasty in China's history.
Revered as the First Emperor of the Ages, he originally planned to be the First Emperor and the successor to the Second Emperor, so that it would be passed down from generation to generation and eventually passed down to all generations. Unexpectedly, the Qin Dynasty died in the second, and its life expectancy was extremely short.
As the saying goes, the great trend of the world will be divided for a long time, and it will be divided for a long time, so the concept of Qin Shi Huang is naturally difficult to achieve. However, the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty can also be said to be surprising.
In fact, a big reason for the demise of the Qin Dynasty was that Fu Su, the heir chosen by Qin Shi Huang, was replaced by Hu Hai, and Hu Hai's succession was inseparable from the collusion of the two important ministers Zhao Gao and Li Si. As a trusted minister of the First Emperor, Li Si held a high position in the court, but he chose to tamper with the edict with Zhao Gao and support the faint and incompetent Hu Hai, which was really puzzling.
To know why Li Si had tampered with the edict and established the Emperor, we need to first follow our eyes to the winter of the thirty-sixth year of the first emperor (209 BC). This winter, Qin Shi Huang, who loved the eastern tour, began his last tour, he first went to Yunmeng to worship Emperor Shun, and then went to Huiji to sacrifice Emperor Yu. As he traveled north along the waterway to the plains ferry, he suddenly fell seriously ill and died in the dune palace in the autumn of the following year.
According to the Zizhi Tongjian, shortly after the death of the First Emperor, hu hai, a close minister, found Li Si and said to him: "The book of the eldest son and the seal of the first son are all in Hu Hai's house." Prince Ding, in the ear of the prince and the high mouth. What will happen? Zhao Gao's words were actually already showing the trump cards in his hand, that is, the first emperor's will and the rune jade seal. Possessing these two things, it can be said that he already has the power to decide the heir to the throne, after all, the first emperor was dead at that time, and the courtiers could only judge which prince His Majesty had appointed before his death based on the ownership of the edict and the jade seal.
From this, we can get the first reason why Li Si participated in Zhao Gao's plan, that is, Zhao Gao already had a great advantage at the beginning. In this case, where with a slight tampering of the edict, it is logical to let Hu Hai ascend to the throne, and Even if Li Si resists, it is futile. Of course, Li Si, who had been favored by the First Emperor for many years, could not accept Zhao Gao's proposal at first, and he replied: "The word of the fall of the country!" This is not the subject of human beings! "
After Li Si said this, Zhao Gao gave Li Si the second reason to assist him, that is, power and status. Li Si's resistance to his plan, Zhao Gao had already anticipated, he asked very calmly: "Junhou Caineng, scheming, meritorious service, no complaints, the eldest son's faith, which of these five is the same as Mengtian?" At that time, the famous general Meng Tian was stationed in the north with Fu Su to defend the Xiongnu, and he was outstanding, once allowing the Xiongnu to retreat more than 700 miles, and he was upright and upright, and he was deeply valued by Fu Su.
Now, Zhao Gao asked Li Si if he could surpass Meng Tian in terms of wisdom, merit, prestige, and Trust in Fu Su, who naturally could only answer no. With this reply, Zhao Gao continued to dig a pit and said that if Fu Su succeeded to the throne smoothly, it would inevitably reuse Meng Tian and let him replace your position as chancellor, then at that time, you could only be dismissed from your official position, return to your hometown in a bad way, and be ridiculed by the world. Li Si was naturally a wise man who had been serving as the minister of state for so many years, and at this moment, the desire for power in his heart began to confuse his mind, making him more inclined to make decisions that were in his own interests.
Fu Su was very good and very suitable for being emperor, and under his rule, the Qin state would certainly be able to prosper. However, this was not necessarily the best choice for Li Si, because once he was stripped of his official position, even if the Qin Dynasty developed well, it had little to do with him. On the contrary, Hu Hai succeeded to the throne, although he did not know what the next development of the Qin Dynasty would be, but Li Si had a good chance to continue to serve as chancellor with the merits of his support.
After some thought, Li Si finally chose to submit to Zhao Gao, and he and Zhao Gao destroyed the edict originally written by the First Emperor to Fu Su, and rewrote the edict that Li Huhai was made emperor, and let Fu Su and Meng Tian commit suicide. As a result, Fu Su committed suicide in tears, Meng Tian was forced to commit suicide by swallowing medicine, and Zhao Gao became the most powerful figure in the court, feared by the courtiers and favored by Hu Hai.
Li Si originally thought that he could always be in the high position of the prime minister, but Hu Hai's absurd behavior still made him unable to resist writing to advise. However, when Zhao Gao told Li Si that Hu Hai was a "benevolent and benevolent person", in fact, Hu Hai was very cruel, and when he saw Li Si's advice, he put him in prison. At that time, Zhao Gao had long wanted to be a minister, so he took the opportunity to rumor that Li Si intended to rebel, and made him confess to the crime through severe torture.
In fact, if Li Si had chosen fusu who was sensible, then even if he might be removed from the position of chancellor, he would still be able to continue to serve as a high-ranking official by merit.
Unfortunately, Li Si and the tiger conspired to skin, and as a result, they became a pawn that was used, and the final fate was also very miserable.