"Put down the curtains."
The First Emperor kept writing.
The brush tip made of goat hair outlines one simplified Chinese character after another on the rough bamboo slips.
By this time, the First Emperor was already fully familiar with simplified Chinese characters, and all memorials submitted by court ministers were written in simplified Chinese characters.
The original Qin Dynasty large seal script was sealed in a high cabinet in the doctoral office, covered with thick dust.
Perhaps hundreds of years later, some scholars who study ancient Chinese will step into the doctoral office and blow away the dust that has accumulated for decades.
While complaining about why the large seal script is so complicated and has nothing in common with simplified characters.
While flipping through the "Simplified Chinese Character and Large Seal Character Comparison Table", I tried to echo the Qin State that was happy to hear about war, the First Emperor who unified the world and ruled the world, and the young man whose name could be seen on any page in the history book.
"reject."
Ying Chengjiao turned around.
His sight was focused on the special candle placed on the table. It was as thick as an adult's forearm, and its flame burned slowly, illuminating the entire carriage.
"Why are you lighting candles in broad daylight? What a lunatic."
The five luxurious carriages are all one-piece sealed compartments. Except for a door at the front for people to get on and off the carriage, there is not a single gap in the entire compartment.
When the heavy curtains on the doors are lowered, the car is plunged into pure darkness, as if it were stained with the darkest black ink.
Since the carriage design was based on the layout of a palace, it could be regarded as an ancient RV. The interior area was so large that even a burning ordinary candle could not illuminate the entire carriage.
Only this special giant wax can use the light released by its own burning to illuminate the carriage.
Ying Chengjiao has always been dissatisfied with the design of this carriage, thinking that it is just a large coffin.
The light from outside the carriage flowed into the carriage, which was originally only lit by candlelight. The Emperor Qin Shihuang's eyes became much brighter, and the words on the bamboo slips, which had been a little dark, returned to their original appearance, becoming thick and heavy.
"Put down the curtains."
The First Emperor emphasized his tone and read the memorial much faster in the brighter light.
"If a thief were to attempt an assassination, you and I would be exposed to him."
"I'm not afraid. No one in this world can assassinate me." Ying Chengjiao was very calm. "If you are good at martial arts, you can do whatever you want."
Ying Chengjiao stuck his head out to breathe some fresh air, then looked around feeling suffocated.
Suddenly he shouted loudly: "Is there anyone throwing a hammer? Don't hit the wrong car! We are in this car, stab it more accurately!"
What is wrong with Chang'an Jun?
In the convoy, the civil and military officials sitting in the carriages accompanying the First Emperor in the wax sacrifice were frowning and thinking.
Up to now, no matter whether they still call Ying Chengjiao a brat or not, they no longer call him that in their hearts.
"See, I told you that you are suspicious. Where did the assassin come from on the road?" Ying Chengjiao turned around and continued to mock the First Emperor.
"Um."
Rustle~
The soft pen tip scratched across the hard bamboo slips, and the sound of outlining and correcting never stopped.
The convoy was speeding along the free-traffic highway, and upright green pines were constantly being left behind.
The majestic Yongcheng, with its tall city walls already showing their outlines, was about to be completed without any danger on this not-so-long road.
Boom~
A dull roar came from under a green pine tree on both sides of the road.
Smoke and dust exploded, and the dust spread in the air.
When the yellow dust returns to the earth under the action of gravity, the sound will be heard.
An enormous iron hammer, at least seven feet long, sank into the soil and smashed into the ground, sinking two feet deep.
From then on, the world of martial arts lost an iconic weapon - the big hammer.
Yongcheng.
Ying Chengjiao, the First Emperor got off the carriage, and the only people waiting for him were Gai Nie and Zhang Han.
Ying Chengjiao raised his eyebrows, walked quickly to Gai Nie's side and whispered, "Where is Yue Nu?"
Gai Nie hasn't answered yet.
The Yue woman, dressed in flowing black and wearing an iron mask, was allowed to pass by the officials while holding up Ying Chengjiao's card, and walked to Ying Chengjiao's side.
The First Emperor took one look at the ferocious and iron-faced expression on the Yue girl's face, and a hint of curiosity flashed in his eyes.
Is this the Yue woman who was able to cure Cheng Jiao's "Huang Di"?
Without saying much, under the leadership of Zhang Han and surrounded by a group of officials, they entered Yongcheng first.
Ying Chengjiao followed behind the First Emperor, deliberately lagging behind by two steps. As he walked, he asked the Yue girl who was following behind him, "What happened?"
Before setting out, Ying Chengjiao asked Yue Nu to patrol ahead and check things out, which was also the reason why Ying Chengjiao acted so unscrupulously in the carriage.
The Yue girl's light Kung Fu skills are as good as Jing Ke's, and her swordsmanship is as good as Gai Nie's.
Even with the Yue girl stepping on the landmine in front of him, Ying Chengjiao was not afraid at all.
"Found an assassin and killed him with one sword."
The Yue woman's words are concise and to the point.
"There really is an assassin, huh..."
Ying Chengjiao chuckled, not caring, and took two quick steps to catch up with the First Emperor, and was about to walk side by side with him.
"Lord Chang'an, please don't overstep your authority." Gai Nie said coldly.
Ying Chengjiao glared at Gai Nie and said in a displeased tone, "You want to bear a grudge, eh?"
Ever since he said once that Gai Nie was usurping the throne, Gai Nie would remind him every time he went with the First Emperor.
Ying Chengjiao, who was chatting casually, didn't know that the dead assassin was called Da Tiechui.
Back then, Jing Ke and Da Tiechui failed to meet at the banks of Yishui River, and Da Tiechui lost a place in history.
Later, when Ying Chengjiao ordered the capture of Zhang Liang in Xianyang, if Da Tiechui's Qinggong was better, he would have been able to catch up with Jing Ke and have a face-to-face encounter with him.
With Jing Ke's introduction, perhaps he could now become a member of the Chang'an Jun Mansion without a code name, and perhaps he could also leave his real name in the history.
But there are no maybes in life.
The sledgehammer is dead.
Died silently.
Death is lighter than a feather.
But he would definitely not be the last person to die for assassinating the First Emperor.
The First Emperor unified the country and encroached upon the interests of those in power, which made him deeply hated by the remnants of the six kingdoms.
There were countless people who wanted to kill the First Emperor.
Soon, Ying Chengjiao will also face the same fate, which may be even worse than the First Emperor's situation.
What the First Emperor encroached upon were the interests of the remnants of the nobles of the six kingdoms. These remnants of the nobles of the six kingdoms, who had lost their countries, could only carry out assassinations like rats in a sewer.
Most of the vested interests that Ying Chengjiao was going to invade next held high positions of power and influence in the Qin State.
Yongcheng is as lively as Xianyang.
There are peach wood branches, Shentu and Yulei in front of every household’s door.
The ethereal and heavy sound of drums and the dull and down-to-earth sound of knocking on wooden boards also continued to ring out.
The difference between here and Xianyang is that people in Yongcheng will be more excited than those in Xianyang because this is the place where Emperor Qin Shihuang held the Wax Festival.
A matter of national importance.
In sacrifice and in war.
In the eyes of the ancients, the most important things for a country were sacrifices and wars, and sacrifices came before wars.
In ancient times, civilization was not so developed, productivity was seriously insufficient, and people were relatively ignorant.
People both respect and fear things like heaven, earth, gods, and ghosts.
Drought means God is angry, earthquake means Queen Hou Tu is angry.
A good harvest year is due to the efforts of Houji, the god of grain, while victory in war is due to the blessing of Huangdi, the god of war.
No matter what happened, the ancients could connect it to the four elements of heaven, earth, gods and ghosts.
Heaven, gods, spirits, and ghosts have a wider scope than the Qin Law of the Qin Dynasty.
The annual Wax Festival was the most grand event in the Qin Dynasty.
The king of Qin would recite sacrificial texts on the high platform for worshiping heaven and earth in the center of Yongcheng.
The platform was more than three meters high. When the King of Qin stood at such a high place, he could be seen by the people within a ten-mile radius.
Logically speaking, from such a high platform, the sound of speech should be very small when it reaches the people below.
But every year during the wax festival, the voice of the King of Qin on the high platform would be unusually loud, and the people listening below the platform could hear it clearly, which was naturally regarded as the power of the gods.
The process of the Qin Dynasty Wax Festival was not complicated. After all, the old Qin people never talked too much.
First, the First Emperor brought civil and military officials from Xianyang to Yongcheng.
Then he took the sacrificial text written by Feng Chang, one of the Nine Ministers in charge of sacrifices and rites, and went up to the high platform to recite it.
The platform will be filled with various offerings, with the main food being pigs, deer and sheep, supplemented by salt, millet, wine and delicacies.
After the recitation, the First Emperor's task was completed, and the next step was the actors' job.
A small number of actors would wear animal skins, which were called "corpses", representing that they were gods.
Most of the actors and actresses would perform various dances and sing songs that they themselves did not understand, to please the gods and pray to heaven and earth.
People will then begin to perform the animal dance, a very ancient and primitive dance in which they imitate the movements of animals to drive away diseases and evil spirits.
The culture of gods and ghosts has always accompanied the development of Chinese culture. Basically all dynasties believed that gods and ghosts must descend on the Spring Festival.
When the whole process is completed, the cooks and maids will distribute the offerings to the people and everyone will start the feast.
Because Qin laws were usually extremely strict, such as prohibiting alcohol, not allowing casual conversation, not being allowed to eat beef, etc.
There are no taboos on the day of the Wax Festival, which makes it particularly valuable.
It can not only satisfy your appetite, but also help you have a good laugh and release your mental stress.
Under the admiring, expectant and impatient eyes of all the people in Yongcheng, the First Emperor came to the foot of the high platform for offering sacrifices to heaven and stepped onto the first stone step of the platform.
The people were delighted.
Civil and military officials stood by quietly waiting.
One is moving and the other is still, clearly distinguished.
Amid the increasingly heated drumbeats and knocking on the door.
Under the stern, warning look of the First Emperor looking back.
Ying Chengjiao sighed deeply and nodded helplessly.
The First Emperor looked back with satisfaction and stepped onto the second step of the platform.
Ying Chengjiao followed closely behind and stepped onto the first step of the platform.
"Why is there someone following the king? Was there someone following him last year as well?"
In the crowd, a boy with his mouth almost grinning from ear to ear asked his father beside him.
"No, the king has unified the country this year, so he asked someone to follow him and prove it to the ancestors."
The father replied seriously, feeling flattered by his son's admiring eyes, "Father, how do you know everything?"
Most people in Yongcheng don’t know what it means to climb this platform.
Even though they participate in the Wax Festival here every year, worship heaven and earth, and eat the sacrificial offerings.
The small number of people who know what it means will share the information with people around them.
"Only the king can ascend the high platform. The one behind the king should be the eldest son."
In the eyes of these "insiders", in the current Qin State, only the eldest prince Ying Fusu, who is widely known for his virtue, can become the second emperor of Qin.
If they knew that Ying Fusu had been established as the crown prince, the word "should" in the explanation would be replaced by "definitely".
The common people did not know that the person following behind the First Emperor was Ying Chengjiao, but the civil and military officials who came here with the First Emperor knew it.
Below the high platform, all the civil and military officials who were watching the two brothers advance one after the other, only one step behind, all changed their expressions.
Your Majesty's request to ride in the same carriage with Chang'an Jun is a favor to Chang'an Jun, but no matter how much favor you show, how can we both ascend this high platform together? Your Majesty intends to pass the throne to Chang'an Jun!
Only the king can ascend the high platform, this is the ancestral rule. Your Majesty, under the pressure of the Queen Mother, appointed the eldest son as the crown prince, but did not want the eldest son to ascend the throne, so he was exiled to Shangjun. Chang'an Jun is the Qin II in your Majesty's mind.
No wonder Your Majesty not only re-appointed the Prime Minister for Chang'an Jun, but also expelled Wei Liao and left the Foreign Minister for Chang'an Jun. This makes sense.
…
Civil and military officials all had their own thoughts, but no one spoke to each other, and at most they exchanged glances.
Many people's eyes lingered on the two queen dowagers, Zhao Ji and Han Ji.
Judging from the current situation, most people analyzed that there was a rift between the First Emperor and his biological mother, Zhao Ji - this was not the first time, and how long had Queen Mother Zhao been imprisoned in Yongcheng by His Majesty?
The Queen Mother of Zhao favored Ying Fusu, the First Emperor favored Ying Chengjiao, and the King of Qin had another quarrel with the Queen Mother.
Well, this is also an old tradition. It is easy for the Qin State to produce powerful queen mothers. There are two precedents of Mi Bazi and Queen Mother Huayang.
They saw that Queen Dowager Zhao's face was extremely ugly and her eyes were burning with rage.
Queen Dowager Han, who stood next to Queen Dowager Zhao, was very proud and puffed out her chest like a proud rooster.
Li Si was forcing a smile on his stern face.
I, Li Si, bet against two kings. How many people in the world can compare with me in vision?
Queen Afang had an understanding expression on her face.
So that's why, no wonder His Majesty trusts my uncle so much, this is what His Majesty meant. It seems that I have to propose marriage to Ping'er after the wax festival, otherwise it will be difficult to wait for my uncle to ascend the throne.
Concubine Chu stood beside her son and looked at Ying Chengjiao with moving eyes.
After many twists and turns, the throne finally fell into your hands...
Her son Ying Jianglu sighed repeatedly.
Uncle, if you had told me earlier that you wanted the throne, Jianglu would not have fought for it and would have wanted to drink instead.
…
On the steps.
The First Emperor was in front and Ying Chengjiao was behind, and there was always a step between the two.
Even though the First Emperor deliberately climbed the platform slowly, he did not wait for anyone to come to him.
This guy is so lazy!
"I'll come first, you come first."
"…If you really don't want to do this anymore, call Fusu back and stop thinking about me all the time."
During the wax sacrifice ceremony, the first person to speak on the platform must be the King of Qin.
"Then I'll go first."
"Um."
Ying Chengjiao responded weakly.
Having given up the idea of ​​waiting for Ying Chengjiao, the First Emperor walked with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, quickly crossed the last step and reached the platform.
Walking to the center, on the high platform paved with white jade, the First Emperor unfolded the bamboo slips in his hand and shouted loudly.
"I inherited the will of my ancestors from the Qin Dynasty, placed the Nine Cauldrons in Xianyang, quelled the rebellion, and unified the four seas. This is the favor of the heavens and the earth . My divine merits and virtues have been passed down to this day, and the gods and ghosts have heard of it..."
The First Emperor's voice seemed to be amplified by the gods and ghosts in the universe. It was at least three times louder than usual, loud enough for everyone below the stage to hear.
When the First Emperor began to read, there was no one kneeling under the platform.
Everyone knelt down spontaneously the moment the First Emperor's voice rang out.
The soul-stirring drumbeats stopped.
The down-to-earth knocking on the door also stopped.
The noisy and active children also knew that it was not appropriate to make noise at this moment, so they followed the adults around them and kneeled on the ground, touching their foreheads to the ground.
Between heaven and earth, only the voice of the First Emperor resounded, as if the God of Heaven was standing on a high platform and issuing oracles through the body of the First Emperor.
The angry Zhao Ji knelt down, and the naive Han Ji knelt down.
The old Wang Wan knelt down, and the imaginative Li Si also knelt down.
Even the hero Gai Nie, who often said that a real man should not do such a thing and was determined not to be a bootlicker, knelt down.
In front of heaven, earth, gods and ghosts, during the wax offering.
As a human being, kneeling is a matter of course.
There was no etiquette of kneeling in the Qin Dynasty.
Even when meeting the First Emperor, theoretically there is no need to kneel.
But facing the heaven and earth, facing the gods and ghosts.
If you are a human being, you must kneel.
No one would think that kneeling at this time is a lowly act. Such an idea is unreasonable in this era.
No one would have thought that someone would not kneel at this time, including the First Emperor.
During the wax sacrifice, he will sit on a high platform and represent the heaven, earth, gods and ghosts, so he will not kneel.
But during certain sacrificial ceremonies presided over by Fengchang, the First Emperor also knelt.
Ying Chengjiao sat leaning on the stone steps of the high platform, resting his chin on his hand and looking at the people below.
He did not feel like he was looking down on others, nor did he feel that he was superior to others and that he was playing with everyone's fate.
I don’t feel like I’m unique. I feel like I’m the only one sober while everyone else is drunk.
Amid the Emperor's impassioned speech, everyone was waiting in solemn silence.
He felt a little lonely .
It has been twenty-six years since he came into this world, almost catching up with the age he lived in his previous life.
But deep down in his heart, he still feels a strong sense of alienation towards this era.
This sense of alienation has never disappeared since he was born.
The most obvious sense of alienation at the beginning was the discomfort of having no games, movies, TV series, script-killing and other entertainment programs.
There is discomfort without common foods such as peppers, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, cantaloupe, grapes, apples, bananas, etc.
It is the discomfort of not having junk drinks like cola, Sprite, Fanta, milk tea, lemonade, etc.
But these have faded away little by little with the passage of time.
By now, Ying Chengjiao had gotten used to eating hotpot that was always spicy, drinking orange juice with Zhetang added, and happily playing mahjong with his maids at home.
And as these most obvious feelings of alienation disappear, less obvious feelings of alienation emerge over time.
It first floats up slowly, then settles down, becoming thicker and thicker, accumulating more and more...
He couldn't stand the fact that the nobles could decide other people's life and death at will, even though he enjoyed this privilege.
He couldn't stand the forced smiles on the faces in the tower, even though he was there the most often.
He couldn't stand the sight of the people below the stage bending their knees and kneeling devoutly on the ground, like dogs wagging their tails to beg for mercy.
Even if the title of Son of Heaven was for the sake of imperial rule, even if sacrifices to heaven and earth were for the sake of imperial stability.
If he just wanted to, he could become the object of worship for everyone in this world.
He wanted to change all this, not for any grand ideal, but just to live a more comfortable life.
The two characters “人” (person) are easy to write with one stroke on the left and one on the right, but it shouldn’t be so easy to control.
We can't be like the cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs that are kept in a village or a town and live simply for the sake of living.
His requirements were not high, just changing the word "alive" to "life".
But there are some things that he cannot accomplish immediately just because he wants to. He once talked about these things with his grandfather, King Zhaoxiang of Qin.
The murderous intent in the eyes of his grandfather, the great ruler King Zhaoxiang of Qin, is still deeply imprinted in Ying Chengjiao's mind and cannot be erased. Ying Chengjiao has never seen a murderous intent more serious than that day.
"Tell me, who told you these words?"
Without personal experience, one will never be able to understand the power of a king - it is forged with the blood of countless people and the fate of countless people.
"Wow."
Fortunately, Ying Chengjiao was only four years old at that time and could cry and pee.
It was the crying and the soaked pants that made King Zhaoxiang of Qin realize that this was just a four-year-old child. What could a four-year-old child do? What could he understand?
Someone must have instructed this!
Someone must have done it!
That night, except for his father and mother, everyone Ying Chengjiao had seen in the past seven days died - eunuchs, palace maids, palace attendants, guards, and ministers, not a single one was left...
Lu Buwei, Meng Wu and others often joked with Ying Chengjiao about this matter.
"Fortunately, I didn't go to see the little King Qin during those seven days, otherwise I would be a wandering ghost now."
Just a few words, but hundreds of people lost their lives. Ying Chengjiao, who was not a good youth in his previous life but had nothing to do with any murder case, had nightmares for half a year.
He dreamed that the eunuchs, palace maids, and palace officials turned into evil spirits, their faces covered in blood, their heads separated, and they held their heads up to question him why he had taken their lives.
That incident made Ying Chengjiao realize that there are some things that should not be done, let alone talked about.
Otherwise, many people will die...
"Heaven and Earth!"
The First Emperor's loud shout was so loud that it reached the ears of the people kneeling on the ground, the civil and military officials, the empress dowager, the queen, the concubines, the princes and the princesses.
These four words are particularly loud and clear, and the First Emperor deliberately emphasized the tone to give these four words a sense of heaviness and mission.
Ying Chengjiao tilted his head, looked at the backs of the heads kneeling below the platform, and blinked.
"Bless my Great Qin!"
The First Emperor used all his strength and internal energy to shout out these four words.
After shouting, he became a little unsteady on his feet, as if the God Haotian who was attached to his body had returned to heaven.
But no one could see this scene, because except Ying Chengjiao, everyone else was kneeling on the ground with their foreheads touching the ground.
Their expressions were ferocious yet pious, and they had used up every last bit of strength in their bodies.
Following their king, they prayed loudly to heaven, earth, gods and ghosts.
"May Heaven and Earth bless our Great Qin!"
"May Heaven and Earth bless our Great Qin!"
"May Heaven and Earth bless our Great Qin!"
“…”
The sound spread over a hundred miles, clearing the sky, which was originally filled with a few white clouds, completely.
I don’t know whether it was done by the Lord of Heaven or the Goddess of Earth, but it is a miracle anyway.
"May Heaven and Earth bless our Great Qin?"
Ying Chengjiao recited softly.
Just like over the years, he looked no different from those nobles.
Blend in with the world.