The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"Confucius said, 'If you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening.' My master also said in 'Encouragement to Study' that learning should never stop. When I was young, I learned etiquette in Lanling. This year I am thirty years old. As the historian of the Stone Chamber, I am in charge of the six kingdoms' books. Thanks to my position, I can be considered to have read a lot of books."

Among the four historians in the Yushifu's collection room, the historian of the Stone Chamber has the smallest authority, because the Qin people have little interest in the books of the six kingdoms, and they just snatched them and put them in the collection. Normally, no one cares about them.

Zhang Cang, as a junior of Li Si, the court judge, is a world-famous scholar, but he recommended himself to be this official. He did not seek fame or fortune, but was really out of his love for knowledge.

Even such a learned scholar said to Heifu sincerely:

"But the more I learn, the more I feel inadequate. Knowing my inadequacies, I can reflect on myself. So when I die, if I can really do as Heifu said, with books as coffins and classics as coffins, and take a cart full of bamboo slips to the underworld, this life will be enough..."

This is an inspiring and touching exhortation to learn, but looking at the fat guy sitting behind the desk, chewing the brown sugar he gave him as a snack while saying this, Heifu felt that the scene could not be serious.

Since hearing this person's name in Huyou Township, Yangwu County, Wei four years ago, Heifu has wanted to make friends with Zhang Cang for a long time. Now that he has finally arrived in Xianyang and reported to the Langzhongling Office, he visited Zhang Cang as soon as possible.

Zhang Cang is a very ambitious person. He is also very low-key in Xianyang. He does not get involved in political struggles and courts, and buries himself in piles of books. Even though Heifu belonged to the same party as Li Si, and they had a friendship because they had been scouts at the gate and had helped Zhang Cang to protect Zhang Er's wife, he was still very cold to Heifu, a stranger who visited him rashly.

What Heifu used to break Zhang Cang's defense was the brown sugar he brought all the way to Xianyang...

"Zhang Zihu has three hobbies."

Zhang Han, Heifu's old friend, had a close relationship with Zhang Cang and once told Heifu about Zhang Cang's hobbies: "Books, women, and delicious food."

"He loves books so much that he can stay at home for a month. But within this month, he can't live without women. According to him, if he doesn't have sex with women for a day, his skin will crack and his muscles will twitch..."

"In addition, the reason why he grew so fat was because he liked to eat sweets, such as honey, malt, and even human milk..."

Heifu had no books or women to give to Zhang Cang, so he simply gave him 50 kilograms of brown sugar as a gift.

It should be noted that sweetness is a rare taste these days. There is not so much honey to eat. Zhang Cang was tired of eating sweets. Hei Fu gave him brown sugar, which was exactly what he liked. He was overjoyed and ate half a catty that day. After that, he would bring some to work in the Imperial Censorate every day. When he took a break, his hands were sticky. He would wash them carefully before touching the books he regarded as treasures.

"He is obviously a sweet party, but he lives in 'Xian' Yang. It's really hard for him."

Hei Fu was a little amused. His cousin Yan went to Weibei to rent a shop and open up the sales of brown sugar. I wonder if he can turn Xianyang into "Sweet Yang" after thousands of years.

It was also with this opportunity that Hei Fu and Zhang Cang became friends. Hei Fu happened to live next door to Zhang Cang, and the two quickly became acquainted. Zhang Cang also discovered that this young man from Qianshou, who had made it to Xianyang through military merit, although deliberately showed the appearance of a countryman entering the city, his conversation was quite extraordinary, and he occasionally said something surprising.

For example, he proposed the idea of "abacus" to Zhang Cang, which made Zhang Cang deeply agree.

When Zhang Cang recovered from the shock of being almost buried alive by books, Hei Fu also talked to him about the hottest topic of the past two days.

"The king ordered the prime minister, the censor, the court judge and other counselors to discuss the title of emperor. Zihu has always been known for his erudition. Wasn't he called by the prime minister, the censor and the court judge to consult?"

Zhang Cang said: "I am not familiar with the right prime minister. As for the left prime minister, he prefers Confucianism and mainly consults those doctoral Confucian scholars who were recruited."

The prime ministers of Qin were divided into left and right. The right prime minister was the right one. Since Changping Jun stepped down, Wei Zhuang has served as the prime minister. The left prime minister was Wang Wan, who was promoted from the censor this year.

One of these two people was born in the Legalist School, and the other was a sympathizer of Confucianism. Neither of them would come to him, a guy who was neither Confucian nor legal.

"The court judge did send someone to ask me..."

Zhang Cang did not hide it and smiled: "But I just sent the classics that the court judge needed. The court judge has his own smart staff to discuss it."

Although he was Li Si's junior brother, the friendship between the two had a feeling of "the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water". Perhaps Li Si was very careful in his work and did not want to give the King of Qin the impression of "forming a clique", so he rarely looked for Zhang Cang, or was it because of the death of another fellow student Han Fei?

Heifu came to Zhang Cang for a purpose.

Even if he wanted to offer the correct answer, there must be a process of solving the test paper. Since it is such a serious matter, he can't just talk nonsense, but must take into account the traditions of three generations, and even trace the deeds of Fuxi, Huangdi, and Shennong in ancient times...

With his background and experience, if he rashly offered the title, he would definitely be suspected: How can this guy, a warrior from the Qianshou, know these things?

"I heard it when chatting with Zhang Xueba" should be a good excuse.

At this time, under Heifu's advice, Zhang Cang has already talked freely.

"There were five emperors in ancient times. Some people say that the five emperors were Paoxi, Shennong, Huangdi, Yao, and Shun. Others say that the five emperors were Taihao, Yandi, Huangdi, Shaohao, and Zhuanxu, and so on. But no matter what, they are all ancient sage kings."

"However, this is just the fabrication of modern Confucian scholars. I read ancient books and found that the Shang people never mentioned Huangdi and Yandi. The emperor recorded in their bronze inscriptions was the lofty "Mingming God", which can also be called Emperor Jun. "The ancient emperor ordered Wu Tang to rectify the four directions" in "Xuanniao". "Yousuo clan was a general, and the emperor established his son to give birth to Shang" in "Changfa". They are all like this, but the kings of Yin and Shang also called themselves emperors, because Shangjun not only managed military affairs, but also sacrificial affairs. He was both a human king and a divine witch, and regarded himself as the incarnation of the emperor of heaven. Emperor Yi and Emperor Xin are examples."

Seeing that Heifu was a little confused, Zhang Cang explained again: "Emperor Xin is King Zhou."

"When King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou people had a completely different view from the Shang people. They only called themselves the Son of Heaven and regarded themselves as shepherding the people on behalf of the Heaven. The Heaven listened to me and the Heaven saw me, so they only dared to call themselves the Human King, not the Heavenly Emperor."

Zhang Cang chewed another piece of candy: "But when the rituals and music were broken, the princes successively called themselves kings, and the title of king was no longer enough to show their nobility, the title of emperor became a higher-level title. At this time, some people wanted to be emperors again..."

"Zi Hu means that someone had been emperor in the past?"

Hei Fu was a little surprised. He really didn't know these unconventional histories.

Zhang Cang popularized: "Wei Ran, the prime minister of Qin during the time of King Zhao of Qin, was the first to advocate the emperorship."

It turned out that when Qin and Qi were both powerful, Wei Ran, the prime minister of Qin, adopted the strategy of calling Qin and Qi "emperors" to win over Qi. He built a palace for King Zhao of Qin to hold court in Yiyang, let King Qin establish himself as the "Western Emperor", and sent envoys to send the title of "Eastern Emperor" to King Min of Qi, and agreed that the five countries would attack Zhao and divide Zhao...

"However, this emperorship ended hastily. King Min of Qi was persuaded by Su Qin to give up the title of emperor after only a month. The Eastern Emperor was gone, and the Western Emperor was attacked by the world, so he had to give it up."

"But although Su Qin seemed to be thinking about Qi everywhere, his real purpose was to assist King Zhao of Yan to defeat Qi."

While speaking, Zhang Cang personally took out a silk book from the stone chamber. Hei Fu saw that it was written "Letter to King Yan".

"This was obtained from the treasury of Yan State. Some people say it is a letter written by Su Qin to King Zhao of Yan, and some people say it was written by his younger brother Su Dai..."

"Is this the original? Su Qin's handwritten letter?" Hei Fu was a little surprised.

Zhang Cang said, "I don't know, I hope so."

After Hei Fu took it, he felt that although the Yan State text on it was a little difficult to understand, he could vaguely feel the thrill of Su Qin's death for Yan, and his ability to maneuver between Qi, Qin, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Chu!

Zhang Cang pointed to a sentence on it and read it: "Qin is the Western Emperor, Zhao is the Central Emperor, and Yan is the Northern Emperor. They are established as three emperors and command the princes..."

"Su Qin wanted Qin, Zhao, and Yan to become emperors and destroy Qi together. In the end, although the five countries succeeded in attacking Qi, the three countries did not become emperors after all. It is said that King Zhao of Qin suddenly gave up."

"Why is this?"

Hei Fu almost forgot his original intention of coming to the stone chamber to find Zhang Cang, and immersed in what happened decades ago, he even understood why Zhang Cang was obsessed with the book.

The Qin Dynasty's classics were stored in the Mingtang Room, but Zhang Cang was also a frequent visitor there. After a little thought, he actually recited to Hei Fu the original words of King Zhao of Qin recorded by the historian...

"The king said, how dare we take the name without the real thing? If Qin had already annexed the princes, even if it did not claim to be an emperor, the other countries would still be subjects of Qin. Otherwise, even if Han, Wei, and Chu were paying homage to Qin today, they would unite and fight against Qin tomorrow. What's the use of the empty name?"

"The king said, Qin can only claim to be an emperor after it destroys the six countries! This is a wish of a hundred years, which did not start with me, nor will it end with me! Although I die, my son will survive, and my son will have a grandson, and my grandson will have a son. If the third generation fails, then the sixth generation, and if the sixth generation fails, then the tenth generation. One day, the world will be unified and ruled by Qin!"