Chapter 333: How did I tease my uncle?
Outside the Zhangtai Palace, the imperial eunuch swung the heavy and powerful cane, without any compromise. The hem of Zhao Gao's clothes was stained with blood, and his buttocks were bruised.
Zhao Gao gritted his teeth, his head was bleeding, his buttocks were torn, but the corners of his mouth were raised, he was smiling.
The big red glass bead that broke his head and made him bleed was something he had seen in Hu Ji's treasure box. It was Hu Ji's relic, but he didn't take it away. He pretended that he hadn't found the treasure box.
This glass bead was originally given to Hu Ji by him.
When he saw the big red glass bead on the desk of the First Emperor, he knew that the matter was almost settled. No matter who gave the glass bead to the First Emperor, as long as it did not pass through his hands, the bead would be more convincing.
The perfect glass beads that only Ying Chengjiao could cast were carefully placed in a treasure box by the First Emperor's concubine Hu Ji, together with the portrait of the deceased King of Chu.
"Changan Jun, Gao knows that this move will not bring you down. Don't be anxious, take your time..."
Zhao Gao said in a voice that even he himself could not hear:
"You can have any surname in this world, except Ying."
As a prince of the State of Zhao, he castrated himself and came to the side of the First Emperor, risking his life to protect the First Emperor for ten years. No one could see through his disguise, because he even fooled himself.
The severe pain in his buttocks eased a little. It was not because the official swinging the stick had reduced his force, but because his buttocks had become numb from the beating.
He lay on the stone table in the courtyard, and all he could see were weeds growing in the cracks of the bluestone slabs.
Such a small space still couldn't keep out the weeds growing towards the sun. Just like the heavily guarded Xianyang Palace, it still couldn't find Zhao Gao's heart of revenge.
Zhao Gao did not want to restore his country, the Zhao State that was rotten to the core, the Zhao State where sons starved to death, ministers sold out their kings, and kings abandoned their generals.
The people of Zhao, who wore Hu clothing and rode and shot arrows, were deeply influenced by the Hu culture, abandoned etiquette and ethics. Women did not feel ashamed of being promiscuous, but regarded it as true nature. Men did not take private fighting as a warning, but regarded it as true manliness.
No matter how many times they try, as long as they don't change their minds and promote reforms, they are doomed to fail. Zhao, which advocated martial arts and gained military power through barbarism, and Qin, which gained military power through strict laws, had completely different outcomes.
The lands of Yan and Zhao are full of generous and tragic people.
This not only means that the spirit of chivalry is prevalent in Yan and Zhao, but also means that the superiors in Yan and Zhao fail to exercise effective control.
If there is grievance, there must be redress, and there is no injustice, there will be no chivalry. If private fights are severely punished, and violations of the law are investigated, there will be no chivalrous men who break the law with force.
Zhao State had no shortage of military commanders and warriors, but it lacked a culture that could bring it all together. If the rulers did not think about unifying the country but only about enjoying themselves, how could they achieve great things?
Zhao Gao knew his own limitations and knew that he could not restore Zhao. Even if he did, it would be in vain and would only lead to another collapse. But as a prince of Zhao, if he could not restore his country, he must at least avenge his enemies.
He had only one daughter, and without a son to inherit his bloodline and surname, she resolutely chose to castrate herself, leaving herself no way out.
He could have killed the First Emperor countless times, but that was not what he wanted. Even if he killed the First Emperor, the Qin Empire would still not collapse.
With a group of old ministers who pacified the six kingdoms and Chang'an Jun who was in the opposition and not in the court, after the death of the First Emperor, the Qin State simply changed the King of Qin, and the Qin State still stood firm.
Just like when King Wu of Qin died suddenly after lifting a tripod, the world thought that the situation in Qin was turbulent due to the loss of its king, which was the best opportunity to attack and the starting point of Qin's decline.
The hastily succeeded King Zhaoxiang of Qin, who was previously unknown, appointed Bai Qi as his commander and killed so many people that no one dared to speak. He asked the rulers of the five countries to gather in Qin and called himself the Western Emperor, and no one said it was inappropriate.
The Qin State has never lacked kings.
Zhao Gao understood very early on that if he wanted the Qin Dynasty to collapse, simply assassinating the king would be useless.
If there is no guarantee that the next King of Qin is a fool who can obey his orders and make stupid mistakes, just like the situation where Qin used a strategy of alienation to make King Zhao kill Li Mu, destroy the Great Wall, and destroy his own country, Zhao Gao would be more loyal than anyone else.
He regarded the First Emperor as his sovereign.
He regarded the First Emperor as his father.
When the time comes, he will regard the First Emperor as his enemy!
In a wasteland outside the city of Xianyang, there was a brocade quilt. Outside the brocade quilt were two eunuchs who died with their eyes open, and inside the brocade quilt was a Hu concubine with a waist less than a hand's width, who died with a smile on her face after Zhao Gao raised her lips.
There are no signs on this wasteland. It won't be long before the soil corrodes the charming appearance, turning the beauties into skeletons.
The princess of the fallen Chu, Hu Ji, was buried simply and died lightly. She died in obscurity not for Zhao Gao, but for the collapse of the Qin Empire.
If Hu Ji had any affection for her own son Ying Hu Hai, she would not have allowed Ying Hu Hai to be so unrestrained at this age and not even have received any enlightenment.
If it weren't for the fear that the First Emperor's anger would implicate the Chu Palace among the Six Royal Palaces, the Eighteenth Prince of the Great Qin Empire would have been strangled to death by his biological mother long ago.
Some people want their own sons to inherit the throne, inherit this unified empire, and become the ruler of the world. It doesn't matter whether it is Qin, Chu, Zhao, Zheng, or Wei, as long as my son rules the world.
The princess of the fallen Chu nation did not think so.
She missed the charming, passionate and unrestrained girl from Chu described as "she is charming and smiling, and I admire her for her gracefulness."
She missed the great shaman who was loyal to the people of Chu, respected gods and loved people, as described in the poem "I sigh deeply and wipe away my tears, mourning the hardships of people's lives".
She missed the worship of gods and witches who "point to the nine heavens as the right way, because of their spiritual practice."
She missed Chu and everything about it.
In this world, no country is better than Chu, and no people are stronger than Chu people.
She is proud, and the people of Chu are also proud.
This pride did not come out of thin air; it was earned, and it was a fire ignited in the midst of being excluded!
The ancestor of the Chu people was Emperor Zhuanxu Gaoyang, the grandson of Emperor Huang. Gaoyang's grandson Chongli was a fire official, responsible for handling state affairs.
Chongli was appreciated by Emperor Ku and was given the title of Zhurong, which is also the origin of the totem of the Chu State.
The ancestors of the Chu State were descendants of the Chinese people. The Chu State, which called itself a barbarian state, had more legitimate roots than most of the vassal states.
During the Shang-Zhou War, the Chu people followed King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, in defeating King Zhou and made great contributions. However, because the Chu people had intermarried with the Miao people, the vassal states in the Central Plains had always been prejudiced against the Chu people, believing that they were not the orthodox Chinese people, so the Chu people were not granted a kingdom for a long time.
It was not until the reign of King Zhao of Zhou that Chu was able to establish itself as a nation, with a land area of only 50 li in radius. King Zhao of Zhou invited all the vassal states to participate in the alliance meeting, at which the king of Chu was arranged to light a fire together with the real barbarian king Xianbei.
The king of Chu was both ashamed and angry. How could the proud Chu people swallow this insult? After returning, they stopped paying tribute to the Emperor of Zhou.
King Zhao of Zhou ordered the princes to attack the State of Chu. The State of Chu, which was only a tiny country of fifty miles, showed the Zhou Dynasty countries the tenacity and indomitable spirit of the Chu people. The armies that attacked the State of Chu were defeated twice.
King Zhao of Zhou issued an edict, accusing Chu of a serious crime for not paying tribute.
The Chu State replied: "The Zhou Emperor regards us as barbarians. How can barbarians pay tribute to the Zhou Emperor?"
This was the first time that the State of Chu called itself barbarians.
Since you all say that I am a barbarian, then I am a barbarian. You are unwilling to associate with me, the Chu people, so do you think that I, the Chu people, are willing to work with you?
King Zhao of Zhou was furious after hearing this and summoned his army again. This time he led the army in person, determined to destroy the State of Chu. The result of this war was that the Zhou emperor's army was completely annihilated, the State of Chu survived, but King Zhao of Zhou, who looked down on the State of Chu, died on the battlefield.
The State of Chu, with a tiny territory of only fifty li, dethroned the King of Zhou, who ruled the world. This marked the beginning of the decline of the Zhou Dynasty.
After this battle, the Chu State, which no longer paid tribute, only believed in itself and took the opportunity to annex many territories. The proud Chu people did not need the Zhou emperor to reward them with fiefdoms. They wanted whatever they wanted, they did it themselves!
From then on, the prestige of the Zhou emperor was greatly lost.
During the reign of King Yi of Zhou, there were many copper mines in the territory of E State.
In the Zhou Dynasty, sacrificial items, soldiers' weapons, and circulating coins were all made of bronze. Copper mines were fixed assets, that is, money. In order to seize mineral resources, King Yi of Zhou brazenly sent troops to attack the State of E. In order to swallow up the State of E, King Yi of Zhou issued an edict ordering all vassal states not to participate in the war.
Under the residual power of the Zhou Dynasty, none of the vassal states took action, except the State of Chu.
Xiong Qiu, the king of Chu, once again attacked the State of E on the grounds that the State of E was a barbarian and refused to obey the edict of the Zhou emperor.
At this time, the State of E was fighting with King Yi of Zhou, and the State of Chu took advantage of the situation and occupied most of the territory of the State of E. From then on, the State of Chu became the Great Chu.
King Yi of Zhou suffered heavy casualties and was not only helping the State of Chu, he was already very angry.
After withdrawing his troops from the State of E, Xiong Qu did another thing that shocked the world.
Xiong Qu claimed: We are barbarians and have no right to be called Chinese, so he made his three sons kings.
There is only one king in the world, the Emperor of Zhou.
Xiong Qu made his three sons kings, placing them on an equal footing with the Zhou emperor.
What a crap Emperor of Zhou, he is on the same level as my son, my young dad!
King Yi of Zhou was so angry that he fell bedridden and died in depression.
Both Zhou emperors died at the hands of the arrogant Chu State.
Hu Ji's original surname was Xiong, and her full name was Xiong Hu Ji. She inherited the pride of the Chu people who called themselves barbarians.
If this world is not the State of Chu, even if her son Xiong Hu Ji is the ruler of the world, she would not care!
As a member of the royal family of Chu State, she believed in gods and learned witchcraft since childhood. Before her death, she used witchcraft to try to communicate with Donghuang Taiyi, the supreme god who protected the Chu people.
Then, she used her fingers as a pen and wrote five Chu characters on the brocade quilt. There was no shape, no trace, and only she knew them.
The one who destroyed Qin was Hu.
Zhao Gao would deceive her, but God would not.
So, after the First Emperor coldly left her bedroom.
Xiong Hu Ji drew out her sword and hummed a ballad.
"It is an auspicious day, and the emperor will be pleased. He strokes the long sword and the jade earrings, and the sound of the jade pendants is so clear..."
On this auspicious day, she is finally freed. She will die to see Donghuang with a happy mood.
When she took the sharp sword, it touched the jade ornaments on her clothes, ding-dong, ling-dong...
He committed suicide with his sword drawn.
Blood was splattered.
The fire of Zhurong.
Never extinguished.
…
Xiang Yu was born with double pupils, and his eyes were full of weirdness when they moved.
This dissatisfied look made Xiang Liang, his uncle, a little frightened.
[This is just a 14-year-old child, your nephew! ]
Xiang Liang, who was plump, had a big belly and was wealthy, and he always had a smiling face.
Even when facing Wei Liao, who was once the imperial commander of the Qin Empire and the first emperor's most trusted confidant, Zhao Gao, the Minister of the Imperial Chariots, still smiled.
He has a strong mind and can smile no matter what happens. He doesn't need to make other expressions to show his emotions.
Facing the flesh and blood left by his elder brother, he couldn't laugh anymore.
He had to put on a stern face and act like an elder so as not to appear timid in front of the young Xiang Yu.
"From today on, I will teach you swordsmanship. Combined with your brute force, you will be invincible."
“No.”
The boy with double pupils turned his head away with disdain.
Xiang Liang thought that his nephew preferred literature to martial arts, and although he felt a little sorry for his nephew's brute strength, he felt a little relieved when he thought that it would be safer to study literature instead of going to the battlefield, so he said:
"Then study, understand the truth, and know how to control people."
“No.”
Xiang Yu did not give any face to his uncle who did not allow him to go to Yingdu.
Xiang Liang was angry.
"You don't want to learn this, you don't want to learn that, what do you want to do?"
He grabbed Xiang Yu's strong and swollen arm, which was as thick as the thigh of a man of his age, and said angrily:
"Yingdu, Yingdu, what can you do there? Can you restore the country with your natural brute force? Do you think you can conquer Yingdu with just these two skills?"
Seeing that his uncle, who had taken good care of him since childhood, was really angry, Xiang Yu restrained his temper and said seriously:
“No matter how good you are at swordsmanship, even if you become the best swordsman in the world like Gai Nie, you are just an ordinary man who can resist one person.
"As for reading, it is enough for Yu to be able to write his own name. If you want to restore Chu, scholars are not allowed to do so.
"If Yu wants to learn, he must learn something that can resist thousands of troops. Without it, he will not be able to restore the State of Chu."
Xiang Liang's anger disappeared, his face remained stern, but the grip on his nephew's arm loosened.
"In this case, your uncle will teach you the art of war. As the grandson of Lord Wu'an, please do not bring disgrace upon your grandfather's reputation!"
"only!"
The fourteen-year-old boy nodded solemnly, wanting to learn the art of war well and restore the Chu Kingdom in the future.
Eight days later.
Inside a house that looks shabby on the outside but luxurious on the inside.
Xiang Liang stood up and looked at his nephew sitting on the bench with a chill in his heart.
"Say it again."
"I don't want to learn the art of war anymore."
"What on earth are you going to do!"
The veins on Xiang Liang's forehead bulged as if they were about to explode.
On the round wooden table, books on military strategy were scattered around.
The "Art of War" by Sun Tzu, "The Art of War by Wu Zi", "The Art of War by Sun Bin" and other books which are rarely seen by common people are all scattered around, looking as if they have all been read.
"Yu has already read these military books. It is useless to read on."
Xiang Liang was chubby, and his face, which always smiled, was distorted by anger.
"You finished reading it in just eight days? How did you read it?"
The boy, who was born with double pupils, looked at his uncle with eyes full of strangeness.
"Uncle, you haven't finished reading these books in eight days? May I ask how you read them?"
Bang!
Xiang Liang slapped the round table, causing the precious military books on the table to jump around.
"How dare you tease me like this!"
Xiang Yu didn't know why his uncle was angry and felt extremely puzzled.
These books only have so many words, and he read them while playing. What's there to be angry about after finishing them? Did he read too fast?
"How did I tease my uncle?"
