"I believe that the so-called fate is nothing but the final result of a person's actions caused by a person's physical, psychological, emotional, personality and other factors. I have always believed that these factors can be changed by man. Whatever one may say, fate is in one's own hands. - Haruki Murakami, Kafka by the Sea"

One of the gatekeepers of the Moxia Catalogue is Qin Shi Huang

Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), surnamed Ying, was named Zhao Zheng by Sima Zhen in the Tang Dynasty, citing Shiben in the "Historical Records of Suoyin", but it is still controversial.

Later secular as Yingzheng or Qin Wangzheng, it was also called "Zulong" by some literary works. The self-proclaimed "First Emperor" was the monarch of the Qin State at the end of the Warring States Period of China. He ascended the throne at the age of thirteen, and after his pro-government, he successively eliminated Chang Yu and Lü Buwei, reused Li Si and Wei Wei, unified the six countries and established the Qin Dynasty at the age of thirty-nine, and died when he went out on patrol at the age of fifty, reigning for thirty-seven years.

Qin Shi Huang was the first monarch in Chinese history to adopt an absolute monarchy and implement centralized power, and he was also the first monarch in Chinese history to use the title of emperor (excluding posthumous emperors).

After the unification of the world, a number of policies were implemented, such as the same book and the same text, the same track, the unified weights and measures, and other policies and laws and regulations that had a far-reaching impact on later generations, and their impact on the future history of China can be said to be extensive and far-reaching.

On the other hand, during his reign, Qin Shi Huang also carried out a number of large-scale projects, including the construction of the Great Wall, the Afang Palace, and the Qishan Mausoleum, etc., and the tyranny imposed heavy servitude on the people, which was also one of the reasons for the Qin Dynasty's rapid death after his death.

Since the unification of China, Qin Shi Huang believed that the titles of "king" and "king" in the past were not enough to show his esteemed status, so he created a new title of "emperor" to bestow on himself. Self-proclaimed "Qin Shi Huang", abbreviated as "Shi Huang":

"Shi" means the beginning, the first time, and Qin Shi Huang hoped that his successors would continue to be called "the second emperor", "the third emperor", and so on.

The word "emperor" mainly refers to the myths and legends of the "Three Emperors and Five Emperors", from which the words "Huang" and "Emperor" are combined. Qin Shi Huang apparently hoped to use this title to show that he was not inferior to the Yellow Emperor's status and prestige.

"Huang" means "big" or "brilliant", and is usually the ancient Chinese term for "Heavenly Court", such as Huangtian; Huangqiong (referring to Heavenly Emperor), etc.

"Emperor" means "Emperor of Heaven", "God", the master of all things in the universe imagined by the ancients. Qin Shi Huang combined the words "emperor" and "emperor" to show his supremacy and authority. It was given from heaven. That is, the "divine right of kings", which reflects that he was not satisfied with just being a ruler on earth.

The titles "Qin Shi Huangdi" and "Shi Huangdi" first appeared in the "Taishi Gongshu" written by Ma Qian, the Taishi Company of the Western Han Dynasty, that is, the "Historical Records". Among them, "Qin Shi Huangdi" is from "Qin Benji". The "First Emperor" is from the "Qin Benji" and "Qin Shi Huang Benji".

Because Qin Shi Huang combined the words "emperor" and "emperor" for the first time. Therefore, the official title of Qin Shi Huang should be "Qin Shi Huang".

Ying Zheng was born in Handan, Zhao State, his father is Qin Gongzi Yiren, and his mother is Zhao Ji.

Because King Zhaoxiang of Qin adopted Fan Sui's strategy of "distant friendship and close attack". The targets of the close attack were the neighboring states of Korea and Wei, and the armistice was extended to the distant states of Zhao.

According to the practice at that time, Qin and Zhao needed to exchange hostages to show their sincerity. The proton sent by Qin to Zhao was Qin Shi Huang's father, Wang Sun Yiren (also known as Zi Chu, i.e., Qin Zhuang Xiang Wang), who was one of the concubines of An Guojun (i.e., Qin Xiaowen Wang), who was made the crown prince by Qin Zhaoxiang Wang.

Ito has more than 20 brothers, and his mother Natsuhime is not favored by An Guojun, so his chances of inheriting the throne are low. What's more unfortunate is that due to the fact that Qin and Zhao have had several military conflicts, the treatment of Yiren in Zhao is not good.

Yiren thus became a hostage of the Zhao State, but Lü Buwei, a great merchant in Puyang, changed the fate of his later years. Lü Buwei had lofty political ambitions and felt that Yiren was "a strange commodity to live in", and soon became good friends with Yiren.

At that time, Yiren's father An Guojun had ascended the throne as the king of Qin, and Mrs. Huayang was made queen, but Mrs. Huayang had no children, so Lü Buwei personally lobbied Yangquanjun, the younger brother of Mrs. Huayang, pointing out that the king of Qin was old, and if there was no accident, the son would ascend the throne, and he would reuse Shicang, and Yangquanjun's power would disappear.

Yang Quanjun was shocked and asked Yu Lu, Lu Buwei skillfully used his tongue, pointing out that he had both talent and morality, but unfortunately there was no mother to protect him in the palace. If the queen can appoint Yiren as the crown prince, Yiren will definitely be grateful for the kindness of Mrs. Huayang, and as the uncle of the country, Yangquan Jun will be guaranteed in terms of power.

Yang Quanjun was persuaded by Lü Buwei to agree to lobby the queen, and the queen asked Zhao to send Gongzi Yiren back to Qin.

The road to Qin's return to Qin was not smooth sailing, because Zhao did not allow strangers to return to China, Lü Buwei had to personally lobby Zhao Xiaocheng as king, pointing out that Qin would not give up attacking Zhao because of a proton, but if he sent Yiren back to Qin to ascend the throne, he could win the friendship of the future king of Qin, and Lü Buwei even said that the current King Qin Xiaowen was very old, once he died, although Zhao took the stranger as a hostage, Qin could also set up another king of Qin at any time, and Zhao would only gain nothing, and finally King Zhao agreed to return to China.

After returning to Qin, Lü Buwei asked Yiren to wear Chu clothes to meet the queen, and the queen Dayue renamed Yiren "Chu", which was known as "Zi Chu" in history. Later, Zi Chu showed his talent in front of the King of Qin, and the King of Qin was surprised, saying that none of his sons were comparable to Zi Chu in front of the prime minister, and at the same time, under the persuasion of the queen, Zi Chu was established as the crown prince.

King Qin Xiaowen's reign was very short, first serving a year of mourning, and officially claiming that the queen died in just three days at the age of 54. Subsequently, the crown prince Chu ascended the throne, that is, the king of Qin Zhuang Xiang, he appointed Lü Buwei as prime minister, and concurrently named the Marquis of Wenxin, gave food to the twelve counties of Lantian, and continued to adhere to the national policy of "distant friendship and close attack", and launched a war against the Three Jin (Han, Zhao, and Wei Kingdoms) to establish Qin's strong position.

However, King Zhuang Xiang did not reign for long, and died three years later at the age of 35, and Yingzheng, who was 13 years old at the time, officially stepped on the throne of King Qin.

According to the records of Qin Shi Huang Benji, Qin Wangzheng was born to Chu and Zhao Ji, the princes of Qin Zhuangxiang. However, "Historical Records of Lü Buwei" records that when Lü Buwei gave Zhao Jiyu to Zichu, he already knew that she was pregnant, which means that Yingzheng is likely to be Lü Buwei's illegitimate son. The Eastern Han Dynasty historian Ban Gu also cited this statement, calling Yingzheng the illegitimate son of Lü Buwei in his book "Book of Han".

The story of "Strange Goods" is the main proof of Qin Shi Huang's life history, which is recorded in the "Warring States Policy" and the "Historical Records of Lü Buwei Lie", but even if it is the same story, there are still many discrepancies in the details.

In the year of Yingzheng's accession to the throne, a rebellion broke out in Jinyang, but fortunately was quickly pacified by the Qin general Mengxi.

Due to the young age, Yingzheng honored Xiangguo Lü Buwei as the middle father to preside over the state affairs, and took Meng Xi, Wang Qi, and Duke Qi as generals.

At that time, in order to consolidate their political position, the nobles of the vassal states would recruit talents. Those who defected to his disciples were taken in and fed, and these people who were offered were generally called "diners", and those who made offerings to the diners were led by the four princes of the Warring States (Xinling Jun of Wei State, Pingyuan Jun of Zhao State, Meng Weijun of Qi State, and Chun Shenjun of Chu State).

After the consolidation of his position, Lü Buwei lamented that with the strength of the Qin State, he was actually inferior to the four princes of the Warring States in terms of raising soldiers, so he also vigorously recruited diners, and hired many learned people with heavy money, and his diners once reached 3,000. He even instructed his diners to compile the "Spring and Autumn Period of the Lu Family", which was written in eight books, six treatises, and twelve chronicles, with a total of 200,000 words.

Cheng Chan is the son of King Xiang of Qinzhuang, the younger brother of Ying Zheng, and his biological mother may be a clansman of the Korean family represented by his grandmother Xia Ji, and was named Chang'an Jun.

In 239 BC (the eighth year of the reign of King Qin), Ying Zheng ordered Cheng Chan to lead an army to attack Zhao, and Cheng Chan rebelled against Qin and surrendered to Zhao in Tunliu (now Tunliu County, Shanxi Province). (To be continued......)