The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

In early April, Longxi County, Guī, Qinyi.

Seven hundred years ago, Feizi raised horses for King Xiao of Zhou between Wei and Wei. The horses multiplied, which made King Zhou very happy. He decided to reward Feizi and allowed him to build a city in a place called "Qin" and divide the land as a vassal.

Since then, there has been a nation called "Qin" in the world.

This was also the first time that Qin Shihuang came to Qinyi. He stood on the top of the small town and looked around. He saw a small terrace at the intersection of two small rivers, facing the cliff ditch in the west and the Guī Mountain in the north. Except for the thousands of acres of land by the river, the distance was occupied by trees and shrubs. In addition, there were lonely and shabby stones, with almost no place to step. The dark mountains stretched to the north, blocking the biting cold wind of winter.

Before coming here, the First Emperor did not know that the land where his ancestors originally lived was such a barren land...

He turned around and looked at the Prime Minister Wang Wan who was accompanying him: "Prime Minister, what was the rank of vassal in Zhou Dynasty?"

Wang Wan replied: "Your Majesty, vassal was lower than the doctor, roughly equivalent to the senior officer in Spring and Autumn Period."

Qin Shihuang could not help but sigh: "The Chu people often boast that their ancestors had worked hard to open up the mountains and forests. Wasn't my ancestor the same? Seven hundred years, thirty-six generations, from vassal to emperor, from a small town to the ruler of the nine states."

This is a leap from earth to heaven, a miracle created by the Qin people.

As the person who finally completed this mission, Qin Shihuang could not hide his pride, but then he thought of the strange dream he had when he was offering sacrifices to Fei Zi between Wei and Wei a few days ago...

What kind of hint did the ancestor Fei Zi want to give him through this dream?

"Your Majesty!"

The dusty Langzhong Qiling Wang Li climbed up the city and bowed: "The great witch of Xichou has arrived!"

"You've arrived just in time!"

After passing Longshan, Qin Shihuang stopped and walked in the palaces of the counties along the way, just to listen to the witch's interpretation of his dreams in Qinyi, the original place where the Qin people lived.

Xichou is the largest temple in Guanzhong, which is older than Chen Bao Temple. More than 500 years ago, the Zhou Dynasty moved east to Luoyi to escape the disaster of Quanrong. Qin Xianggong, who was only a "western doctor" at the time, sent troops to escort him. He was meritorious, so he was named a vassal by King Ping of Zhou, and was given the title of "Qin Bo" and the land west of Qishan.

Until then, Qin, which had been a vassal and a minister, was officially established and gained the power to communicate with the princes. Qin Xianggong was very happy and established the Xichou Temple in Weiyi (Longxian), the capital of Qin at that time, and used the Tailao ceremony of three chestnuts, three yellow cattle and three rams to worship the ancestor of the Ying surname, Baidi Shaohao.

Qin Shihuang had high expectations for the great witch "Wu Ya" in Xichou, but to his disappointment, the witch was old and had been carried by the impatient Wang Li in the car for a bumpy journey. He was already exhausted. When interpreting Qin Shihuang's dream, he repeated the same set of "Daily Book" over and over again, without any new insights.

Qin Shi Huang was quite dissatisfied. He waved his sleeves to let Wu Ya go. He thought: "Li Si once said in his "Remonstrance against Expelling Foreigners" that only products produced in Qin can be used. That is, the night-light jade is not used to decorate the court; the rhinoceros and ivory vessels are not used for fun; the daughters of Zheng and Wei are not used in the harem, and the fine horses are not used in the outer stables; the gold and tin in the south of the Yangtze River are not used, and the paintings in the west of Shu are not collected."

"Not only are the products and talents like this, but also the witches and divinations are like this. Qin Wu is dull and stupid. He only knows how to flip through a few volumes of daily books. He interprets the meaning of my dream as if it is no different from that of the common people! How pedantic! If I had known this earlier, I might as well go to the faraway place and ask people to bring the Yan and Qi alchemists in Xianyang to ask for the truth. Maybe they can satisfy me."

The emperor asked people to interpret his dreams, but he did not believe everything the dream interpreters said. He had to make sure what they said was in line with his own wishes.

Just as he was thinking this, Lang Wei reported that Heifu, who went to Chencang to pick up people, had also returned.

"Well, let's see what the great witch Chen Bao has to say."

Qin Shihuang did not hold too much hope. He had decided that if he still could not be satisfied, these local witches could stay in those temples forever and never have to go to Xianyang again in this life...

However, the witch of Chen Bao Temple was still the same as before, with a sallow face and a phlegm sound when speaking, which made the emperor quite unhappy. However, after listening to the emperor's absent-minded recounting of the dream, the witch thought for a moment and bowed down suddenly: "Your Majesty's dream, I already know the reason."

He bowed deeply: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, this is a great omen! It is comparable to the seven-day awakening of Duke Mu back then!"

Duke Mu of Qin was in a coma for seven days. He dreamed of the residence of the Emperor of Heaven, wandering in the sky, and playing Guangyue. This was regarded by the monarchs of Qin as a sign that Heaven had chosen Qin to dominate. This was quite different from the statements of Wang Wan and Wu Ya, which made Qin Shihuang more patient. He nodded and asked him to continue.

"Great witch, please elaborate."

"I hope Your Majesty will allow me to start with the twelve golden men in my dream." Wu Zhi began to talk.

"At the beginning of the twenty-sixth year, twelve giants appeared in Lintao, five feet long, wearing Di clothes, and with footprints six feet long..."

"All the ministers, shamans, and alchemists thought that this was a good omen for your Majesty to be the emperor in accordance with the will of heaven. There is no doubt about this, but no one can tell where the twelve giants came from and where they went. I was also confused for a while, but not long ago, when I was reading the prayers left by the shamans of Chen Bao Temple, I made an unexpected discovery!"

Qin Shihuang became more interested in the truth about the twelve golden men.

"A hundred years ago, the shamans of Chen Bao Temple had offered sacrifices to Kuafu, so I thought that these twelve giants were actually the descendants of Kuafu!"

"Kuafu?" This is a new explanation. Qin Shihuang became more interested and began to listen carefully.

"In the wilderness, there is a mountain called Chengdu Zai Tian. A man with two yellow snakes on his ears was called Kuafu, and Kuafu was also a giant."

"It is also said that Kuafu was racing with the sun, wanting to see where the sun sets. On the way, Kuafu felt thirsty and wanted to drink water, so he ran to the Yellow River and the Wei River to drink water. The water in the Yellow River and the Wei River was not enough, so he went to the northern swamp to drink water. Unexpectedly, he died of thirst after only halfway through. His head turned into Longshan Mountain, his arms turned into Qinling Mountains and Jitou Mountain, his feet turned into Xiaohan Mountain, and even the peach wood cane was thrown at his feet and turned into a peach forest. This is the origin of the Peach Forest Pass... and the 800-li Qinchuan is just Kuafu's spacious back."

This is a new interpretation. Qin Shihuang nodded slightly and listened with relish.

"After Kuafu died, the descendants inherited Kuafu's ambition and continued to move westward, reaching Kunlun and Tianshan, and attached themselves to the state of the Queen Mother of the West, and were called Jusou clan..."

The story of Kuafu chasing the sun and the Queen Mother of the West was widely circulated in the Central Plains, but Wu Zhi was the first person to combine the two. Qin Shihuang's eyes lit up:

"What the great witch meant was that the twelve giants were the descendants of Kuafu, the Jusou clan, and they were envoys sent by the state of the Queen Mother of the West?"

"Yes."

Wu Zhi followed the emperor's meaning and said: "I think it was probably your Majesty's achievements in the country that spread along the west of the river, through the quicksand, and to the Tianshan Mountains and Kunlun. When the Queen Mother of the West heard about it, she ordered the twelve giants who were descendants of Kuafu to meet the emperor. However, the state of the Queen Mother of the West is a country of immortals. When the twelve giants came to the human world, mortals could only see them for a moment, and then they disappeared without a trace."

"Only your Majesty collected the soldiers of the six countries, sharpened their arrows, and cast them into twelve golden men, allowing the twelve giants to rely on the golden men. Now your Majesty has passed Longshan Mountain and wants to expand the border to the west. The giants came to you in dreams, probably wanting to invite your Majesty to go to the country of the Queen Mother of the West like King Mu of Zhou did..."

Then, Wu Zhi learned and applied what he had learned, and told the story he saw in the book "The Biography of Emperor Mu".

"It is said that the kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West is in the ruins of Kunlun, or on the top of Tianshan Mountain, and there is a Yaochi in the sky. In the past, King Mu of Zhou traveled far and wide, and ordered to drive eight horses, with Hualiu on the right and Luer on the left, Chiji on the right and Baixi on the left. Zaofu was the driver, and they drove for five thousand miles to the kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West. Then he became a guest of the Queen Mother of the West and drank wine on the Yaochi. The Queen Mother of the West sang a song for the king, and the king sang along with it, and the words were sad. Then he followed the Queen Mother of the West in a dragon chariot to Yugu on the coast of the West Sea to watch the sun set, and traveled ten thousand miles a day..."

"Later generations often said that King Mu of Zhou enjoyed all the happiness in his life, but he still lived to be a hundred years old. People at that time thought he had ascended to heaven. It is said that this is because drinking the nectar of the Queen Mother of the West Yaochi can make him live longer..."

As Wu Zhi combined the local legend with the narration of "The Chronicles of Emperor Mu", Qin Shihuang was already sitting upright, immersed in the legend of the Kingdom of Queen Mother of the West. After Wu Zhi finished speaking, he still felt a little unsatisfied.

Thinking about it carefully, King Mu of Zhou had some similar hobbies to him. They both didn't like to stay in one place for their whole lives, but wanted to see the vast world and the richness of the nine states.

Qin Shi Huang sighed: "My achievements surpass those of the Three Sovereigns and my virtue surpasses those of the Five Emperors, but I envy King Mu of Zhou, a mediocre ruler who only cares about the status quo."

Wu Zhi also said: "That's why the Queen Mother of the West sent the twelve giants to invite Your Majesty to travel west!"

Qin Shi Huang said: "I once heard Wu Shi Luo say that the west is vast, with thousands of miles of quicksand, and there are Qiang people, Rong Wang, and Yuezhi blocking the way. How can it be easy to go there?"

Wu Zhi said: "That's why in Your Majesty's dream, there was a white horse as a carrier and a black dog as a guide to help Your Majesty travel west."

Qin Shi Huang frowned: "Wait a minute, in the dream, it was clearly the white horse and the black dog that led me east."

"Your Majesty, when you look at the mirror, you will find that the direction in the mirror is opposite to the present world, and the same is true in the dream. Besides, didn't the black dog lead Your Majesty to find the twelve golden men?"

Qin Shi Huang raised his hands to his chin and said, "Please tell me more, great witch, what is the meaning of the white horse and black dog?"

"I heard that some time ago, in the Qinian Palace in Yongcheng, a minister proposed that Your Majesty fill Longxi and expand Hexi?"

Wu Zhi smiled mysteriously, but did not directly point out: "Your Majesty, who do you think the black dog leading the way for Your Majesty is?"

"Western expansion... black dog..."

Qin Shi Huang stood up, looking past Wu Zhi, and looked at the door of the hall. He sat upright, with an upright face, but he seemed to be darker than others.

He smiled with understanding.

"I have heard that when Hei Fu was a pavilion chief, he called himself the Great Qin Heavenly Dog?"