The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

On the first day of March in the 26th year of the First Emperor, at sunrise (5 to 7 o'clock), the sky was about to brighten. Standing under the main hall of Zhangtai Palace, the court judge Li Si, wearing a Xiezhi crown and with gray hair and beard, looked up.

There was a slope on the left in front of the palace, where the emperor could ride up in a sedan chair. There were 360 steps on the right for the ministers to climb. Tall wooden pillars stood on the foundation stone, the ground was made of stone strips, the wall bands were glittering with gold, and there were precious jades in between. The luxury of the architecture was unmatched by other palaces...

The palace was lit up with bright lights, as bright as the sun in the daytime. The ceramic dragon coiled on the eaves several feet above the ground, and there was also a sculpture of a black bird with its wings spread out, making the first sound of the empire.

The higher you look up, the higher it is; the harder you dig, the stronger it is. This is how the disciples of Zhongni felt about Confucius. For Li Si, no matter how many times he looked up at the pinnacle of power, he still felt this way.

Looking back, the first time he came here was twenty years ago. At that time, he had left Shangcai and entered Xianyang for several years. He first became a retainer of Lu Buwei and helped him compile "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals". He was then appointed as a Lang by Lu Buwei and was able to enter the Zhangtai Palace and meet His Majesty for the first time.

From the first meeting, Li Si understood that although Lu Buwei was powerful in Qin, he would wither and die sooner or later. On the contrary, Qin Wang Zheng, who was still in his twenties, would rise like the rising sun...

So he began to distance himself from Lu Buwei early. After the King of Qin took power, he quickly changed his family, used all his talents, and obeyed the laws. He threatened Han and weakened Wei, defeated Yan, Zhao, Yi Qi, and Chu, and finally annexed the six countries and captured their kings. The King of Qin then became the Son of Heaven and was called the Emperor.

During this process, Li Si thought he had made great contributions. He was also rewarded by the emperor. His official position was promoted from Lang to Keqing, and then to Tingwei. His title was also raised to the seventeenth level of Siche Shuzhang. His eldest son Li You married Princess Qin, and his second son had the same opportunity.

No one was more trusted by the emperor than Li Si!

Today, he is no longer a rat in the toilet, but a powerful minister envied by everyone.

But people will never be satisfied with climbing to the top of power.

Today is the first grand court meeting after your majesty became emperor. The three dukes and nine ministers are all here. Lines of convoys holding torches drove out from all over Xianyang, gathered at Zhangtai Street, and headed to Longshou Gate. After entering, the ministers stopped their carriages and walked in with jade scepters in their hands.

Only four cars were granted special permission to drive directly in and arrive under the hall.

The four carriages were respectively the Right Prime Minister Wei Zhuang, the Left Prime Minister Wang Wan, the Imperial Censor Feng Quji, and the Court Judge Li Si.

After the four ministers got off the carriages, they gave way to each other and automatically arranged themselves according to their official positions, and arranged the order of ascending the stairs.

Unfortunately, although Li Si was the closest minister to the emperor, he could only be ranked last among the four.

So, from Li Si's perspective, the three figures in front of him blocked him from the pinnacle of power.

"Right Prime Minister Wei Zhuang is getting old, and he only eats three times a day. He will not live long, so there is no need to worry about him."

"Imperial Censor Feng Quji, who has just taken up this position, has no strong ambitions, and has not made great contributions to the country. He will not be promoted again in a few years, so there is no need to worry about him."

Holding the white jade sceptre and climbing the stairs, Li Si automatically ignored Wei Zhuang, who had difficulty walking, and Feng Quji, who was friendly with him and had little ambition, and then locked his eyes on the second person.

Wang Wan, in name only, was the left prime minister, but in reality he held great power. It was clear to all discerning people that Wei Zhuang would resign soon, and Wang Wan would take the position above everyone else. In addition, he was originally from Shandong, and had once worked in Jixia. Recently, he had been very close to the seventy doctors, and had introduced many Yin-Yang scholars to Qin. Everyone promoted the Five Virtues of the End and Beginning, and believed that the Zhou Dynasty was the virtue of fire, and that the Qin Dynasty was the virtue of Zhou, which was to overcome fire with water.

So he persuaded the emperor to set Qin as the beginning of the virtue of water, and took measures such as renaming the Great River as Deshui. Today, the first thing to announce at the court meeting was this matter.

Wang Wan thought he had made a contribution, so he was very proud and walked with his head held high and his chest puffed out.

Li Si did not raise any objections to this matter, nor to the previous discussion of the title of emperor. He obeyed Wang Wan in everything, looking as if he respected him...

So some people in the court said that the memorials of the young official Heifu and the Minister of the Imperial Chariots Zhao Gao claimed the emperor's intention, but it was Li Si, the emperor's closest minister, who made a mistake this time...

"Mistaken?"

Li Si sneered in his heart. In the past 20 years, he had never made a mistake!

He saw the emperor's ambition to unify the world, so he suggested that Qin Wang Zheng secretly recruit counselors, give them gold and jade, and lobby the princes to defeat them one by one, and appointed him as the chief historian to personally preside over this matter.

He saw that although the emperor was forced by the pressure of the royal family and the old Qin people in Guanzhong to issue the order to expel foreigners, he was actually unwilling to expel foreigners, so he wrote "Remonstrance to Expel Foreigners", which was extremely literary and thousands of words, which made Qin Wang very happy. After showing it to the ministers, it reversed the situation in one fell swoop.

The discussion of the title of the emperor was of great benefit to Heifu and Zhao Gao, but it was only a small profit to Li Si.

So he deliberately followed Wang Wan and offered the title of "Tai Huang", giving enough face to the left prime minister, so that Wang Wan would think that he was willing to be under him and would also support Wang Wan's suggestions in the future.

He knew that Wang Wan would make a bold suggestion today under the instigation of the group of doctors and Confucian scholars...

"The victory between you and me, the career in the next ten years, and the eternal national policy of the Qin Dynasty will be decided in today's court meeting!"

With this thought, Li Si quickened his pace, but at this moment, the right prime minister Wei Zhuang, who was walking in front of him with a cane, climbed 360 steps and was about to reach the top, but he stepped on empty air and almost fell!

If this old prime minister fell down here, his life would be gone immediately!

Fortunately, before long, a black-faced official who had been staring at the old minister on the steps came up and supported Wei Zhuang.

"Right Prime Minister, watch your step!"

The official helped Wei Zhuang walk steadily to the top of the hall, asked his men to look after him, and bowed to the three people who came up one after another: "I greet the Left Prime Minister, the Imperial Censor... and the Court Justice!"

Wang Wan looked at the official who spoke with a slight southern county accent. Judging from his dress and the seal on his waist, he must be one of the three officials of Zhonglang Hu, Qi, and Che.

Most of the officials were children of Guanzhong nobles. Because they did not work and were from the north, they were white. The man in front of him had a black face. He might be the "Hei Fu" who had won the emperor's favor recently for discussing the title...

They were in high positions and had great power, so they didn't need to say much to a small Zhonglang Hu Ling. They nodded and entered the hall one after another with Wei Zhuang who almost made a fool of himself.

Only Li Si stopped when he passed Heifu.

Heifu still maintained the posture of bowing, very respectful.

Li Si turned his head and looked at the 360 stone steps below, as well as the palace gate, streets, Weishui River, and Xianyang in the distance. He didn't know whether he was talking to himself or to Heifu.

"I have been up and down the Zhangtai Palace countless times, so I know that there are not many people who can climb to this position and see their way clearly."

Li Si glanced at Heifu again and said lightly: "You did a good job."

He did not use the Guanzhong dialect, but the Shangcai dialect.

"Only, Heifu thanks the Tingwei for his teachings..." Heifu also replied in the Nanjun dialect.

There were no extra words, no intimate actions, everyone was smart, and everything was self-evident.

Li Si immediately stepped into the hall. The brief contact between the two was very common, and no one heard what they said. Hei Fu's subordinates on duty outside the hall, the ceremonial officers who welcomed the ministers in the hall, and the imperial censors who checked whether everyone's etiquette was in accordance with the norms, all did not notice it.

Only Zhao Gao, the commander of the Central Chariot House, who was also looking up to the pinnacle of power, watched this scene quietly. Seeing Li Si's brief stay beside Hei Fu, he smiled with an ambiguous smile...