[Various] The Deposed Crown Prince's Survival Story

The following morning, Ying Zheng, at a court assembly, decided to build a new palace in the Shanglin Garden in Weinan, citing the reasons that "Xianyang has a large population, and the palace of the former kings is small. I have heard that King Wen of Zhou made Feng his capital, and King Wu made Hao his capital. The area between Feng and Hao is the capital of emperors."

According to Ying Zheng's plan, the main hall of the new palace was just as recorded in historical books: "500 paces from east to west, 50 zhang from north to south, with enough space to seat 10,000 people and enough space to erect a 5-zhang flag."

In the Qin Dynasty, the number "six" was considered the most prestigious, so one step was about six feet, which is equivalent to 1.3 to 1.4 meters in later times. Five hundred steps would be about six hundred meters long. One zhang is equal to ten feet, so fifty zhang is about 1,100 meters long. This means that the front hall of the new palace was already more than 600 meters long from east to west and more than 1,100 meters long from north to south.

If you don't have a very detailed understanding of this number, you can refer to the data of the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is 961 meters long from north to south and 753 meters wide from east to west.

The data from the new palace's front hall completely and utterly surpasses that of the Forbidden City.

Of course, although it is called the front hall, it is not just a main hall for holding court assemblies.

To be precise, the front hall included Ying Zheng's study, palaces for holding small court assemblies and banquets, official residences of various important functional departments of the Qin Dynasty, and Ying Zheng's residence, as well as a series of complete supporting facilities.

Fortunately, it is now the thirty-second year of Qin Shi Huang's reign. Ying Zheng is in his prime, in the height of his life, and with Fusu occasionally giving him energy and adding some worries, Ying Zheng is living a very fulfilling life. He feels that he can eat well, ride a horse, wield a sword, and even deal with naughty children. It is impossible for him to live to be ten thousand years old, but living to be a hundred years old is definitely a certainty.

Historically, when Ying Zheng was building the Epang Palace, he was already nearing the end of his life. In his 35th year, Qin Shi Huang was not far from death, suffering from numerous illnesses, and felt that he would die at any moment. Therefore, he was eager to enjoy all the wealth and glory in the last moments of his life.

Two completely different mindsets led to Ying Zheng's different attitudes toward the new palace. The latter was to overdraw the people's strength and squander the money in the national treasury at all costs, just to enjoy it before he died; the former, on the other hand, fully considered long-term sustainable development and was not prepared to exhaust all financial and material resources at once.

After determining the time, Ying Zheng summoned several ministers he trusted, including Li Si and Meng Yi, to a small court meeting.

"I intend to establish Fusu as the Crown Prince. What do you all think?" Ying Zheng asked, glancing at everyone's faces.

What can you do? Your son is already twenty-four, and your grandson is already five years old, yet you still don't have a proper wife or a proper legitimate son. If you don't make Fusu your heir, who else can you make your heir?

Moreover, Fusu is the eldest son. Although he is sometimes a bit eccentric and unreliable, he is skilled in both literature and martial arts. He had military merits when he was young and frequently participated in national affairs when he was older... Oh! Don't think that we don't recognize the handwriting on the memorials and can't tell which memorials you approved and which ones Fusu approved.

In fact, apart from not having a formal title, Fusu had always done the work of the crown prince, and he had always done it quite well.

He served for over a decade without complaint and never discussed the matter of establishing an heir. He was truly a model of a "good son of Qin." It was perfectly justified to make him the crown prince. Moreover, once the crown prince was established, the ambitions of the other princes in the harem to seize the throne would be eliminated, and the foundation of Qin would be more stable.

Everyone inwardly complained, but no one showed it on their faces. They just said shyly, like a young girl being asked about marriage, "Establishing a crown prince is His Majesty's family matter. Everything is up to His Majesty to decide."

Seeing that no one objected, Ying Zheng stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Meng Yi, then you should prepare for the ceremony of bestowing the title of Crown Prince."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Meng Yi said, kowtowing.

Ying Zheng then added, "We may know about today's events, but we must not tell outsiders."

"Yes," everyone responded in unison.

Several days later, Ying Zheng inquired in court about the matter of establishing Fusu as the crown prince.

Because Ying Zheng had already revealed the secrets of important ministers and Fusu himself, and because Fusu was the eldest son, apart from the older princes who were saddened for a while, everyone else approved of Ying Zheng's suggestion.

After collecting more than 320 likes, Ying Zheng readily said, "The eldest son, Fusu, is both scholarly and martial, virtuous and talented. He can be made the crown prince. The relevant departments of the imperial clan, the ancestral temple, and the academy shall be responsible for matters of etiquette."

Yes, it's a matter of etiquette.

It was a tough situation. The Qin Dynasty was newly established, and everything needed to be rebuilt. There was so much to do and so many etiquette rules to establish. The matter of establishing a crown prince had never been done before, and no one had thought of this issue for the time being.

Now, Ying Zheng has suddenly and quietly decided to establish a crown prince. For the court officials, establishing a crown prince will make the country more stable and they can work with more peace of mind. But for the officials in charge of etiquette, this is simply driving them crazy.

There's no such thing as the Crown Prince's etiquette; it all has to be made up on the spot.

Although the Qin state existed before, it has now become the Qin Dynasty, and the crown prince has become the imperial prince. Hasn't its status risen? How can we still use the old etiquette?

The miserable officials began to search through various classic texts and rituals, but found absolutely nothing to draw upon. They couldn't even copy anything; it was truly a miserable situation.

Leaving aside the officials' misery, Fusu's relatives and friends were overjoyed.

Mi Ji was constantly surrounded by countless concubines and noblewomen seeking an audience, and they would all begin their conversations with lines like "Congratulations, Madam!"

Even those close to her, such as her personal maid, Hehua, and relatives and friends from the former Chu state, all looked at her with expressions of "congratulations on finally getting through this difficult time."

Mi Ji herself then spent the entire night telling Fusu a long story, starting from her birth, recounting how she came to Qin for the sake of the alliance between Qin and Chu, how she and Ying Zheng had Fusu, and how she raised Fusu little by little.

In other words, Fusu has amazing physical strength and endurance, and he had already learned from Mi Ji's constant nagging that if he just browsed the forum with a blank look in his eyes, he would have been taken down by Mi Ji long ago.

This humble servant, who has fought countless battles and is invincible, never imagined that I would be defeated by a mere woman today. Alas!

It's me, the little prince, who's going to be the empress, not my cheap mother. Why is she so excited?

Fortunately, Xiao Wan noticed that Fu Su was acting strangely. Judging from her husband's personality, he was probably on the verge of a breakdown. So she sent Da Bao to find her grandmother.

Da Bao was raised by Mi Ji, so their relationship was naturally extraordinary.

In addition, although Da Bao is smart, he is still within the range of normal children. Mi Ji has spent a lot of energy on everything from clothing, food, housing, transportation, eating, drinking, and toileting to learning and living. Unlike Fu Su, although Mi Ji also raised him herself, it didn't feel very real.

For example, other people's children, no matter how bold they are, will have things they are afraid of and will cry and shout in a cute way to ask their parents for help, but Fusu did not; and for example, other people's children, no matter how smart they are, still need the guidance of teachers and parents, but Fusu did not.

In short, Fusu's intelligence and boldness prevented Ying Zheng and Mi Ji from experiencing the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of being parents.

He's easy to manage, not demanding, and never causes his parents any worry about his studies or daily life. In any case, he's not the one who gets into trouble or mischief.

Looking at Da Bao, Mi Ji thought of Fu Su again, and the team that was originally one person listening to the nagging turned into two people.

Several months later, the officials in charge of etiquette finally formulated the corresponding rites, and Ying Zheng held a ceremony at the Imperial Ancestral Temple to establish Fusu as the crown prince.

"Lu Sheng, a commoner."

"Hou Sheng".

"Han Zhong".

"I have met His Highness the Crown Prince."

When Fusu became the crown prince, Lu Sheng and two others visited him one after another to congratulate him.

To avoid suspicion, Fusu had not privately summoned the three of them since he agreed to take them as his disciples. The reason they were able to meet today was because Fusu had just ascended to the position of Crown Prince and many officials came to pay their respects to him every day. The three of them would not attract too much attention if they blended in with him, so they agreed to come together to congratulate Fusu.

"Thank you all. How have you been lately?" Fusu said with a smile.

Fusu originally thought that taking Lu Sheng and the other two as his disciples was just a fun thing to do. Unexpectedly, these three people, by chance, made Ying Zheng think about establishing a crown prince.

This made Fusu take a different view of the three and show them more care and concern, because they might come in handy someday.

"Thanks to His Highness the Crown Prince's good fortune, we've been doing quite well lately, but..." The three exchanged glances, and Lu Sheng, the middle one, spoke first: "Our cultivation techniques are limited, and this elixir of immortality is truly..."

At present, these three are indeed highly trusted by Ying Zheng, and he listens to their every word and obeys them without question. However, this trust is conditional, namely, that they can obtain or concoct the elixir of immortality for Ying Zheng.

In fact, everyone knows the answer.

Historically, Lu Sheng and his group escaped two or three years later because they were slow to produce the elixir of immortality. Based on the time of Ying Zheng's death, Ying Zheng was nearing the end of his life at that time.

However, now that Ying Zheng is in good health and feels he has plenty of time, he is not pressuring Lu Sheng and the others for the elixir of immortality.

"I don't have the elixir of immortality here, but I do have a prescription for longevity. Taking it won't guarantee immortality, but at least you can live to be a hundred without illness or pain," Fusu said with a smile.

"Your Highness, is there really such a miraculous prescription?" Lu Sheng's voice was slightly surprised.

Compared to the obviously false and unreliable claim of an elixir of immortality, the prescriptions for prolonging life, freeing one from illness and pain, and allowing one to live to a hundred years old sounded to Lu Sheng and the other two like—"I have never heard such a logical lie before. It sounds very real, but upon closer examination, it is completely impossible."

"Of course there is." Fusu glanced at Lu Sheng with displeasure, and said with slight anger, "Does the world seem like the kind of person who likes to lie?"

It's not just that it looks like you; you're completely lying.

The fake looks so real.