The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Heifu had learned more or less about the central government system of Qin from Li You, Feng Jing and other second-generation people who came from Xianyang. So he knew that the Zhongchefu Ling was a subordinate of the Taifu. Although his official title was not high, only 600 stones, he had great responsibilities, equivalent to the commander of the Qin King's attendant chariot and horse camp, responsible for the management of the emperor's chariots and horses and accompanying the emperor when traveling, and even like today, personally driving for the king. The Qin King did not trust people easily, and this position could not be held by a confidant who was absolutely trusted.

Zhongchefu brought together the best drivers in the country, generally selected from the "Wuchezhishi" of the Guanzhong Army. The standard was: under 40 years old, more than 7 feet 5 inches tall; able to chase a galloping horse and ride it at a gallop; able to move forward, backward, left, right, up and down; able to tie up flags, have the strength to reach a three-stone crossbow, and be able to shoot forward, backward, left, right, and left. Only in this way can they meet the standards.

Dongmen Bao could chase a galloping horse; Heifu's driver Sang Mu could also ride a flying chariot; it took Mu, Heifu's flag bearer, to tie up the flag and be strong enough to hit a three-stone crossbow; as for maneuvering on horseback, front and back, left and right, up and down, no one in Anlu Cavalry could do it.

Therefore, all the guards of the Central Chariot House were warriors picked out of a hundred. As the commander of the Central Chariot House, it would be strange if Zhao Gao did not know martial arts and was not physically strong.

But Heifu did not expect that he would be so sensitive and cautious. He was just surprised that he was different from the historical impression, and thought of his various actions in the future, and had a little "murderous intention".

People's thoughts will be betrayed by their actions, maybe just a slight raise of eyebrows, maybe just a slight clench of fists, maybe just a little faster breathing, a little flicker of eyes, but this little bit of abnormality was actually noticed by Zhao Gao!

When Zhao Gao put his hand on his shoulder, Heifu felt that if they really started fighting, he might not be a match for Zhao Gao, the "Emperor's Guard"!

A weak eunuch with a sinister smile? Damn it, movies and TV dramas are killing people!

Fortunately, Heifu was smart and pretended to be excited about meeting the King of Qin to get away with it, but Zhao Gao's seemingly joking words made his hair stand on end again!

"He just suspected that I wanted to assassinate the King of Qin?"

Zhao Gao's words seemed like a joke, but they were meaningful.

Translated into later language, it was almost like asking Li You: "Little Li, this young commander you brought seems to be a bit strange. Is he reliable? If something similar to what happened to Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang happens to him, we can't take responsibility..."

If it was a year ago, Li You would not dare to guarantee Hei Fu with his own future, but in the past year or so, the two of them were superiors and subordinates in Nanjun and became more familiar with each other. After coming to Chu, Hei Fu also made many outstanding military achievements and was regarded by Li You as a lucky general. He was someone that the Li family wanted to protect, so he gritted his teeth and smiled at Zhao Gao's words.

So, after this frightening episode, under the guidance of Zhao Gao, the guards behind the door checked that they were not carrying any weapons, and then Heifu and Li You entered the king's tent camp together...

It was a hundred steps from the gate to the real king's tent. The guards who had seen it at noon were guarding on the side with spears and halberds. They were all strong and sturdy, with topknots and crowns, wearing black armor, and majestic.

When they came to the huge king's tent, Zhao Gao gestured to the two to keep quiet. It turned out that Hou Sheng, the prime minister of Qi, had completed the audience, reached a new peace agreement with Qin, and received a lot of bribes. He left with satisfaction, but the King of Qin had not yet finished the meeting with the prime ministers of Yan and Dai.

Then Zhao Gao took the lead in lifting the curtain and entering, leaving Li You and Heifu waiting outside.

It was at this place separated by a thin curtain that Heifu heard the voice of the King of Qin for the first time.

"Ten years ago, the King of Zhao sent his prime minister Li Mu to negotiate an alliance, so I returned his hostage. Later, he broke the alliance and rebelled against Taiyuan, so I raised an army to punish him and captured his king. The King of Yan was confused, and his crown prince Dan secretly ordered Jing Ke to be a traitor. I sent soldiers to punish him and destroy his country..."

A deep and clear voice came out, although it was not hurried, but every word seemed to be full of power and authority.

"Both countries have abandoned their alliance and betrayed Qin for a long time. Now Yan Xi has retreated to Liaodong and Prince Jia has fled to Dai, lingering on, but they are coming with famous horses and beauties to beg for mercy, wanting me to pardon them?"

Hei Fu and his men heard the sound of people bowing their heads inside, and then heard the prime ministers of Yan and Dai trembling and saying: "My king has nothing to do, so I dare to let my humble servants make a report to the king..."

They explained nervously: "It is the fault of Zhao Qian and Yan Dan to break the alliance with Qin and assassinate the emperor. The king has sent troops to attack us before, and our country has already accepted the crime and been punished. We are well aware of the consequences of offending the majesty of heaven."

The two prime ministers inside bowed their heads again and said: "I hope the king will forgive our country for the sake of the Qin-Zhao common origin and the Qin-Yan alliance. The northern small county has less than tens of thousands of people and only a few thousand soldiers, which is not enough to humiliate the king's heavenly army. Moreover, Liaodong and Dai are thousands of miles away, bitterly cold and frosty. If we take them, we cannot pay the military expenses, but we have to send food thousands of miles away, which makes the border areas uneasy. I am willing to give up the title of king, surrender the country and surrender, and take the princes and princesses as hostages. The men will be Qin's ministers and the women will be Qin's concubines. We will pay tribute to Qin for a hundred generations. I only hope that the king can save the two countries..."

The two spoke sincerely, but Heifu knew that the King of Qin did not let them go in the end, so he continued to listen carefully.

Sure enough, he heard the King of Qin say again: "General Wang, how is Yan and Zhao trapped in Liaodong and Daibei compared to the King of Yue Goujian trapped in Kuaiji Mountain?"

He was asking the ministers, and Heifu heard Wang Jian's voice.

"Dai and Liaodong are larger than Kuaiji. The remaining troops of Yan and Dai are also larger than Gou Jian's three armies!"

The King of Qin said: "General Wang, what you said makes sense. I believe that Yan and Dai in the north have often used Gou Jian's story to inspire their subjects, hoping to get revenge one day? Wu Zixu once said that it is necessary to cultivate virtue and eliminate evil. This saying is still ringing in my ears, but Gou Jian has already entered Yue. Do you think I am King Fuchai of Wu!"

The prime minister of Yan and Dai was very anxious and bowed three times, saying: "I dare not have any unreasonable thoughts. I only wish to be the fence of Qin forever, to protect it when I go out and to be a feast when I come in..."

But the King of Qin interrupted them: "Zhao Gao, tell them about that matter!"

Zhao Gao's gentle voice sounded, and Hei Fu could even imagine that he was still smiling while speaking: "Yan's Taifu Ju Wu disappeared after the Battle of Yishui. In recent times, it was heard that he fled to Dai through Shanggu. He was trying to persuade Zhao Jia to make him connect with the remnant Yan in the east, Qi and Chu in the south, and the Xiongnu Chanyu in the north, so as to lead the Xiongnu to invade the northern land of Qin, and Yan and Dai could borrow troops to restore their countries!"

"Is this what you call defending Qin and being a permanent barrier?"

After easily revealing that Yan and Dai were clearly vassal states, but in fact they had never given up the strategy of resistance, the King of Qin seemed to stand up suddenly, and his voice came clearly to Hei Fu and the others...

"In the past, Zhao Wuxiu destroyed the Dai Rong and established Dai County, and King Wuling of Zhao also changed his customs and wore Hu clothes, practiced riding and shooting, defeated Linhu and Loufan in the north, and built a long wall from Dai and Yinshan to Gaoque as a barrier. Later, the Xiongnu invaded the border, and Li Mu defeated them, so that the Chanyu did not dare to enter the Zhao border."

"As for Yan, King Zhao of Yan also had a wise general Qin Kai, who was held hostage by the Hu people. The Hu people trusted him very much. He led the Yan army to attack and defeat the Donghu people, who retreated more than a thousand miles. Only then did Yan get the land of Liaodong."

"Yan and Zhao became strong by attacking the Hu people. Now, they want to lead the Hu people to invade China in order to survive. If King Wuling, Qin Kai and others knew about this, I wonder what they would think?"

After saying this, the King of Qin's tone was completely resolute: "You two go back and tell Yan Xi and Zhao Jia that the war of the seven countries was a war between brothers. Although I destroyed their country, destroyed their capital, and destroyed their country, I regarded their people as the people of Qin, and let their princes save their lives and move to Guanzhong to become rich. I did not kill them on a large scale."

"But if Yan and Dai disregard the honor of being kings and use the Xiongnu's troops to invade and destroy the borders of the Three Kingdoms, it will be like Shen Hou leading the Quanrong into Chengzhou. I will not tolerate it! I will wipe them out and capture the remaining ugly people of the two kings and bury them all!"

After saying this, before the prime ministers of Yan and Dai could say anything else, they were pushed out by Lang Wei and passed by Hei Fu and others in a miserable state.

The two of them got out of the king's tent with bitter faces, and Zhao Gao's voice sounded again inside.

"Captain Li You and his subordinates come to see the king!"

So Heifu followed Li You and entered...

It was more like a palace than a tent. The tall dome was like a spacious hall, and the space was larger than the main hall of the Anlu County Official Temple. However, unlike what Heifu had imagined, it was very simple, with almost no decorations. There was only a row of chimes, a few tripods and gui, and a clerk sitting on the table, writing furiously and recording the words and deeds of the King of Qin. There were many maps hanging on the wall curtains.

Heifu had no time to look at these. His eyes were completely attracted by the king sitting in the center of the tent, above Wang Jian...

The King of Qin was not wearing the crown and formal dress that Heifu had seen before, but a Yanju outfit, with a white crown on his head, a long skirt, and wide sleeves. Looking at this dress, it was enough to know that he did not take the reception of the Yan and Dai envoys seriously.

Looking at his appearance again, without the pearl tassels blocking it, you can see everything at a glance. Qin Wang Zheng is 36 years old this year, in his prime, with a high nose bridge, a broad forehead, and a thick and rough beard hanging down to his chest. Sitting there, he is like a ferocious eagle standing on a thousand feet, looking down on everything, with extraordinary momentum!

"Bow!"

Without taking any more time to look, under the long shout of the ceremonial officer, Hei Fu followed Li You and knelt on the ground, performing the most solemn kowtow ceremony for a minister to see the king.

He found that the brick under his forehead was just the one that the prime minister of Yan Dai had knocked on, and there was still a trace of blood...

But he still had to kowtow. Later generations said that there was no kneeling before a certain dynasty, which was nonsense. Since the Zhou Dynasty, the nine-kowtow ceremony has been complete. It is because people usually kneel to meet each other, so kneeling does not have such a strong sense of humiliation.

"Your Highness, your servant Li You and your servant Hei Fu greet you!"

When he looked up after the ceremony, Hei Fu found that the King of Qin was looking at him with a pair of sharp eyes.

Hei Fu didn't know what expression he should have at this moment, should he smile? Or should he be more solemn and nervous?

For some reason, although he had imagined it countless times, when he really came to the King of Qin, he was a little speechless for a while.

Fortunately, he didn't need to speak first at this time. The King of Qin asked Li You to stand up, encouraged his son-in-law, and then looked at Hei Fu who was still kneeling on the ground.

"What will the King of Qin ask me first?" Hei Fu thought to himself, of course it couldn't be "I, Qin Shi Huang, send money." Maybe he would ask about his age? His military exploits? Or the military ball that Wang Jian must have mentioned to him?

At this time, the voice of the King of Qin reached his ears: "You are Heifu? A meritorious official of Yingyang, a favorite general of Li You, and the one mentioned by the governor of Nanjun, Ye Teng in his letter...'the county lieutenant of the public toilet'?"

"Yes... it is me!"

Heifu almost vomited blood, and quickly agreed, cursing the governor Teng in his heart.

Wasn't the credit given to the county magistrate of Anlu? How did he get this title? The old fox Ye even wrote it in the memorial to let the King of Qin know!

He didn't forget to glance at the historian who was writing furiously and recording the conversation between the two, and thought to himself that he was finished.

"Now it has been appointed by the King of Qin. The county lieutenant of the public toilet, this stinky nickname, I am afraid it will be written into the history books!"