Diqin Designer

Chapter 82: The World Like Liu Hou

Li Nian deliberately emphasized the five words "deserved reward".

Han Xin thought that he had done a lot of good work for Liu Bang and deserved to be made a king. Liu Bang refused to make him a king, so Han Xin became angry with Liu Bang and even sent a letter to him asking to be made a king when Liu Bang was in danger.

In fact, in Han Xin's view, this was what he deserved based on his merits, and he was just taking back what originally belonged to him.

Little did he know that his attitude and way of doing things would only make Liu Bang unhappy. Even though he generously made Han Xin a king under the persuasion of Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, he must have been angry in his heart.

All kings have the same idea: you can only take what I want to give you, and you cannot take what I don’t want to give you even if you have made enough contributions!

Not to mention Han Xin's method of taking advantage of the crisis to force Liu Bang to do so.

Some later generations analyzed that the reason why Han Xin was naive and childish and did not understand the ways of the world was because although he had great talent in commanding troops, he knew nothing about human nature.

He just feels that he has made enough contributions and wants to get the due compensation. What's wrong with that?
"As for Liu Hou, the king and the Qin have a national hatred and family feud with him. A great man like Liu Hou has a strong will and a righteous mind, which is incomparable to ordinary people. It cannot be changed by a few words! Therefore, Liu Hou's hatred for the king and the Qin cannot be eliminated until one side is destroyed."

Although what he thought was the same as what Li Nian said, Ying Zheng was still quite unwilling. The greatest strategist in history could not be used by him.

When a person reaches a certain level of excellence, even his enemies will admire him and feel pity for his talent!

Ying Zheng asked: "If I had not killed Zhang Liang, could you have persuaded him to work for me?"

The First Emperor was still magnanimous, although he was also stingy in some aspects, like forcing Lu Buwei to commit suicide, and when Handan was captured, he immediately ran to Handan and killed his old enemies.

Li Nian thought for a while and said, "If I can see Liu Hou, I am willing to give it a try for the king, but I don't think I can persuade Liu Hou."

How could a person like Zhang Liang be easily persuaded by him?

Li Nian believed that even if Zhang Liang was shown things from later generations and made to understand the affairs of later generations, it would still be difficult to persuade him with the justice of the Chinese nation.

Unless China is at the point of saving the nation, it can be persuaded, but China is obviously not at that point now. When persuading him, Liu Hou would even say with a smile: "Even if there is no Zhang Liang in this world, there will always be someone who will come after him! Besides, don't we still have you?"

Li Nian felt that he had already seen the scene when he met Liu Hou.

People like Liu Hou in the world are all people who uphold the Tao, holding the Tao in their hearts and adhering to their own thoughts.

There are people like Liu Hou in the world who keep their promises, never regret their actions, and never change their minds. You can destroy their bodies, but it is difficult to change their minds.

To change Liu Hou's ambition is like asking Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to betray Shu Han and surrender to Cao Wei.

Ying Zheng said: "If you have the chance, just go for it. I will not blame you whether you succeed or fail. Let's eat first!"

I didn't notice that it's time for dinner again. I wonder what to eat this time?
It should be a big improvement compared to last time.

The dishes were served: a dish of tofu mixed with spring onions, a pot of stewed venison, a dish of boiled vegetables, and a bowl of wild rice...

The venison exudes a rich aroma, which has never been seen in Daqin before, because the thirteen spices prepared by Li Nian were added during the stewing.

Li Nian picked up a piece of tofu. The taste of this tofu with green onions was naturally not as good as that of later generations, but it was already quite good, and the taste did not have the bitterness that was common in salt of that era.

This was because he had been thinking of purifying the salt in the palace in the past few days.

The salt used in Daqin today is mainly rock salt, which has many impurities and tastes bitter and astringent. Although the salt used in the royal palace is the best quality among rock salt, it still cannot be completely avoided.

The purification method is also simple. Dissolve the salt, add the ash and boil it. After standing, filter out the insoluble matter. As for the thirteen spices, some of the ingredients were not available in the Qin Dynasty at that time, so it was a special version made by Li Nian.

The fragrance is certainly not as good as the authentic thirteen spices prepared in later generations, but it is still rare at that time.

This was also what Li Nian came up with so that he could eat and drink well in Daqin. After all, eating well and being full would make one more in the mood to work.

"Life in Daqin is getting better day by day. Robinson Crusoe was able to become a farmer on a deserted island. I traveled to Daqin and have so many people to use. Can't I accomplish something?"

Li Nian was thinking, but heard the First Emperor say: "You said Pei Gong entered Xianyang, did he slaughter the Qin royal family?"

This is when the First Emperor was judging whether to kill Pei Gong. If Pei Gong had killed members of the Qin royal family, the First Emperor would never have spared Pei Gong.

Li Nian said truthfully: "When Pei Gong entered Xianyang, he did not kill the Qin royal family. After Prince Hu Hai was killed by Zhao Gao, Zhao Gao was killed by Prince Ying, who succeeded to the throne. However, by this time, the Qin was already hopeless. Prince Ying was in power for only forty-six days before he surrendered to Pei Gong."

When Li Nian mentioned "Prince Ying", the Emperor paused while he was paddling rice and sighed, "It's Ying!"

Li Nian said: "The historical records of Prince Ying's identity are unclear, so there are several theories: the king's grandson, the king's brother, the king's nephew."

Ying Zheng glanced at him and said, "You people of later generations may not know everything, so it's okay to tell you. Ying is my nephew and Cheng Jiao's son."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for clearing up my confusion!"

"Records of the Grand Historian" was written by Sima Qian, but there are many contradictions in it. In addition, classical Chinese emphasizes refinement and lacks punctuation marks, which leads to different versions of the meaning.

For example, the record of Prince Ying in the "Records of the Grand Historian. Biography of Li Si" reads: "Gao knew that Heaven was not on his side and the ministers did not approve, so he summoned the First Emperor's brother and gave him the seal. When Prince Ying ascended the throne, he was worried about it, so he claimed to be ill and did not attend to the affairs. He conspired with the eunuch Han Tan and his son to plot against Gao."

This version says that Prince Ying is called "Ziying", who is the younger brother of the First Emperor. If the title "Prince" is added, it should be "Prince Ziying"!
However, other historical materials do not record that Qin Shihuang had any other younger brothers besides Cheng Jiao and the two sons born to his mother Zhao Ji and Lao Ai.

However, the record in the "Records of the Grand Historian: The First Emperor of Qin" is: "The son of the second emperor's brother, Prince Ying, was made the King of Qin."

In this version, Prince Ying is called "Ying" and is the son of Hu Hai's elder brother, which is the version that believes that Prince Ying is the son of Fusu.

This version is the least reliable. Hu Hai, Zhao Gao, and Li Si murdered Fusu. How could they leave Fusu's son alive?

Moreover, after Hu Hai ascended the throne, given his crazy and brutal killing of his brothers and sisters, would he have spared the son of his brother Fusu?
There is another version that believes that Sima Qian made a mistake when writing "The Biography of Li Si". What he wanted to write was not "He summoned the First Emperor's younger brother and granted him the seal", but "He summoned the First Emperor's younger brother Ying and granted him the seal", that is, Ziying was actually "Ying", the son of the First Emperor's younger brother, and the First Emperor's nephew.

It is this version that the First Emperor himself acknowledged today, and "Ziying" should be "Ying", who is his nephew and the son of Chengjiao.

Li Nian said: "After Prince Ying surrendered, some of his men suggested killing him, but Pei Gong did not agree. When Pei Gong wanted to be king in Guanzhong, he even wanted Prince Ying to be the prime minister."

Ying Zheng nodded and said, "He was quite magnanimous. He spared the life of the man and wanted to make him his chancellor. What happened later?"

Li Nian remained silent, causing Ying Zheng to frown. He raised his head and asked, "But the Duke of Pei broke his promise and killed Ying and the others?"

After that, he slowed down his tone and said, "Just tell me what you want to say. I won't blame you!"

Li Nian shook his head and said, "It has nothing to do with Pei Gong. It was done by Xiang Yu. Not long after Pei Gong entered Xianyang, he returned to Bashang. The Records of the Grand Historian says: After a month, the troops of the princes arrived. Xiang Ji was the leader and killed Ziying and the princes and clans of Qin. Then he massacred Xianyang, burned its palaces, captured its children, and collected its treasures and goods, which were divided among the princes."

　The version adopted here is that Gongzi Ying is the nephew of the First Emperor. In fact, it would be better to write that he is the son of Fusu, because the protagonist can be written as Gongzi Ying's teacher.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)