[Various] The Deposed Crown Prince's Survival Story

Although Qin unified the world, the hearts of the six states were not united. There were many people in the six states who still longed for their former country. After the fall of the six states, countless people waited for him to take their lives in the mountains, especially in the Chu state, where the mountains were steep and the people were fierce. Given how much hatred Ying Zheng attracted, he could be pelted with stones at any moment while walking down the street.

The frustrating thing is that, despite the arduous nature of the eastern tour, Ying Zheng not only had to go, but he also had to make a big show of it.

Firstly, it was to flaunt the emperor's power and boost the morale of the people in the former territories of the six states, making them clearly aware of whose rule the world now belonged to. Secondly, it was to suppress local rebel groups. Even without eliminating rebels, there were still many bandits and highwaymen during the centuries of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. These bandits were generally beyond the control of the local governments.

But it's different when the emperor goes on a tour. The army responsible for protecting Ying Zheng is the elite of the Qin army. With such an army, bandits and highwaymen along the way are crushed. Not to mention, local officials will risk their lives to suppress bandits in order to keep their positions.

Therefore, Ying Zheng's tours were not really related to leisure, but rather had more military and political significance.

The only person who could treat Ying Zheng's tour as a form of entertainment and enthusiastically think about what snacks and toys to bring was the ignorant Hu Hai, and now Fu Su has been added to the list.

Watching the two mischievous children, one big and one small, excitedly discussing where to go and how to play in front of him, Ying Zheng felt utterly frustrated.

"What? You want to go swimming in the sea? Father won't let you go, afraid you'll be swept away by the waves? You'll have to beg me for that! With your older brother here, as long as it's not an instant kill, I can pull you out."

"I know, folklore says you are a dragon's son, which is why you were able to escape from the dragon's breath."

"Hahaha! Of course I am the son of the dragon, because my father is the true Son of Heaven."

"Then I am a dragon's son too!"

"Heh, a dragon prince who can only doggy paddle? Are you sure he's not a dog or a dragon prince?"

"Waaah, Father! Big brother bullied Little Pig! Father, avenge Little Pig!"

Hu Hai cried and threw himself into Ying Zheng's arms. Ying Zheng put down his pen, hugged Hu Hai, glanced at Fu Su, and said with a smile, "Since your elder brother is bullying you, then we won't play with your elder brother anymore."

Having said that, Ying Zheng, as if passing through a garden of flowers, waved his sleeves, taking only a little pig with him, but leaving behind a large pile of memorials.

Those brats, how dare they discuss where to go without me?! Serves you right for revising your memorial! Humph!

Fusu watched as Ying Zheng and Huhai alighted from the royal carriage and boarded another royal carriage, and then looked at the large pile of memorials inside this carriage. He let out a wail and collapsed to the ground.

"Are you kidding me? Why do we have to work while we're on vacation? What happened to the perfect holiday? If I had known I'd have to revise memorials while on vacation, I would have preferred Xianyang Palace. At least there's good food and fun things to do there. Otherwise, this broken carriage is so uncomfortable that my butt hurts and I can't even stretch my legs out." Fusu complained as he continued to revise the memorials for Ying Zheng.

Meanwhile, Ying Zheng was in another royal carriage, reclining on a soft couch, reading a scroll. "Hu Hai," he said, "your father has come to ask you, according to Qin law, at what height of a child can commit murder without going to jail?"

Hu Hai rolled his eyes and groaned inwardly.

Father, please go and revise the memorial. Let the little pig go! The little pig really can't remember the laws of Qin.

What a fool! Your brother can revise the memorials, so Father only needs to stand by and do nothing. What's there to worry about?

Ying Zheng thought to himself with a smug smile, "How come I never noticed this before? How could I have been so stupid? Although leaving Fusu in Xianyang to revise the memorials was a good idea, the distance was still too great, making it inconvenient for the two of them to discuss state affairs, and... feelings."

Now it's different. Fusu is in the royal chariot ahead, and I can entrust more important national affairs to Fusu for approval. After Fusu approves them, I can check them again. It's not only convenient and quick, but most importantly, it saves time and effort, and allows me to have more time to rest.

"You can't not answer this! Your brother could recite the Qin laws when he was three years old. You're almost thirteen. How can you not recite them?"

"I……"

Hu Hai opened his mouth to explain, but after uttering only one word, a loud roar came from the carriage. His carriage stopped slightly, then was pulled forward recklessly by the startled horses.

The carriage began to shake violently. Hu Hai lost his balance and rolled to the ground, crying out "Father!" He was immediately caught by Ying Zheng, who then held him tightly in his arms.

Meanwhile, Ying Zheng gripped the carriage wall tightly with his other hand to stabilize his body.

Fortunately, the coachman outside was skilled, and the carriage came to a safe stop after only a short while.

Even so, Ying Zheng and Hu Hai suffered considerable injuries from the collision.

"Father, Little Pig, are you alright?" Fusu's voice rang out from outside.

"No...it's nothing..." Ying Zheng rubbed his forehead. What bad luck! His head was hit by a falling vase.

"Waaah... Father, your wound is swollen." Hu Hai looked at Ying Zheng with teary eyes. The vase was originally aimed at him, but at the critical moment, Ying Zheng blocked the vase for him.

"It's alright, just rub it with some medicinal wine." Ying Zheng rubbed his head, feeling dizzy.

At this moment, the carriage door was opened from the outside, and Fusu's face appeared before Ying Zheng and Huhai. "Father, rest assured, the rebels have been executed."

Ying Zheng then realized that the driver of his royal chariot had been thrown off by the mad horse from the very beginning, and that Fusu had been the one driving the chariot all along.

"Luckily, Su'er, you came out in time." Ying Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and looked outside.

The Qin soldiers responsible for protection surrounded the royal carriage in a circle, but to prevent assassins from infiltrating, the circle was at least several tens of feet away from the carriage. In the center of the circle, besides the Qin soldiers and their two sons, only Meng Yi, who was in charge of security and directing the overall situation, was present.

"Meng Yi, what exactly happened?" Ying Zheng asked Meng Yi angrily.

Seeing that Ying Zheng was unharmed, Meng Yi's face relaxed, but then his expression tightened, and he glanced at Fusu with a strange look. "Your Majesty, the royal carriage you were riding in was attacked by bandits..."

"What?!" Ying Zheng exclaimed in surprise. The original royal carriage had been attacked by thugs, and Fusu was the only one inside. "Su'er, are you alright?"

Ying Zheng grabbed Fusu's shoulder, his face tense as he anxiously searched his body, asking worriedly, "Are you injured?"

"Hehe! Father, don't touch me, it tickles... I'm not hurt..." Fusu instinctively tried to shrink back, but Ying Zheng grabbed him and slapped his bottom, forcing him to obediently accept the leader's inspection.

After checking Fusu's body and confirming that he had no wounds, Ying Zheng breathed a sigh of relief.

"How could a few thugs possibly hurt me? I'm such a great prince." Fusu patted his chest and said with a grin.

"Uh... Father is still worried. Why don't you come up and take off your clothes for a check... Hey! Why are you running away?" Ying Zheng looked at Fusu, who had fled in panic, his smile fading. He turned to Meng Yi and asked coldly, "What exactly happened?"

"Your Majesty, the matter is as follows..."

Ying Zheng knew that he was deeply hated, so much so that people would throw stones at him on the street. But he never imagined that someone would hate him so much that they would kill him even in the midst of a massive army.

To be honest, Ying Zheng felt that his treatment was not as good as that of Ximen Qing. Although he did not know Ximen Qing, Ximen Qing only got to know a beautiful woman after being hit on the head with a bamboo pole, but what hit him was a huge iron ball.

According to Meng Yi, fortunately Fusu was present, and fortunately Ying Zheng was not. In any case, under everyone's watchful eyes, they saw a huge iron ball being thrown down from a great height, hitting his original royal chariot and smashing it into pieces. Two of the horses pulling the chariot were even frightened to death.

Meng Yi was terrified, because while others didn't know who was inside, he did—the eldest son was inside.

Meng Yi was about to call for help to rescue the eldest son, or to collect his body, when he saw the ruins of the carriage move. Then he saw the iron ball fly towards the place from which it came at a speed even faster than when it was thrown at him.

Then, Fusu climbed out of the carriage. Although he looked a bit disheveled, he appeared to be safe and sound.

“Meng Yi, that direction…” Fusu pointed to a clump of reeds high up and said to Meng Yi, “The thugs should be injured. Send someone to chase after them, and I will protect Father Emperor.”

Fusu was truly brave; he had just crawled out of the ruins when he turned around and pulled the runaway carriage back to a stop.

"Has the thug been caught?" Ying Zheng asked sternly.

"Your Majesty, I have already sent men to arrest him," Meng Yi said respectfully.

Ying Zheng nodded, glanced around, frowned, and muttered, "That damned brat, where has he run off to again?"

Just as Ying Zheng was worrying about his mischievous child, Fusu had already run all the way to the spot where the iron ball had been thrown.

He'll find out which bastard is so despicable as to dare assassinate him and his boss. He'll crush you both!

While calculating various punishments, Fusu pondered how to kill these villains, but when he arrived at the location, he realized that he had been overthinking things.

Because he accidentally used too much force when throwing the iron ball, the two thugs were killed by it.

One of the shorter boys was rather pitiful; the iron ball had just flown over his head, smashing it open like a watermelon, leaving his head covered in brain matter.

The other one was tall and burly. Because of his height, the iron ball hit him squarely in the chest, and his chest dented down like a deflated inflatable doll.

People in the Qin Dynasty probably wouldn't understand the term "inflatable doll," but if they did know a different word, it would be... meat pie.