Simultaneous travel: I am proving the great way in the heavens.

Chapter 344: Quickly conquer the world! Governing a country does not follow the ancient ways, but adapts to local conditions and the times!

Before, Lu Buwei hurried to the Xianyang Palace to look for the Queen Dowager Huayang, which can only be said to be a bad move.

Although in most cases, Lu Buwei and the Queen Dowager Huayang were in step with each other.

But don’t forget that the Queen Mother Huayang represented the Chu faction of the Qin State.

In the court, even though Changping Jun of the Chu faction and Lu Buwei were not enemies, they were definitely not allies.

At most, Lu Buwei is now too powerful, so Changping Jun and the Chu faction chose to temporarily avoid the limelight.

With Ying Zheng taking power, it is conceivable that the Chu faction would inevitably launch a counterattack against Lu Buwei.

Lü Buwei had almost lost all of the advantages of time, place and people. The only people who could be considered his base were the officials from the six states in Shandong.

This may also be the reason why Ying Zheng, after defeating Lu Buwei, actually issued a letter of expulsion, wanting to expel all officials in the Qin court who were not native to Qin.

Of course, it is more likely that Ying Zheng's so-called "Book of Expulsion" was just a performance for Changping Jun and the Chu clan, including the old Qin people.

Otherwise, just Li Si's letter of advice to expel the foreigners would not have made Ying Zheng revoke his decision so quickly.

After all, Ying Zheng was the king of Qin.

No matter what, changing one's orders every day would not only help Li Si, but would also seriously damage the dignity of Qin King Ying Zheng.

After unraveling the mystery, it seems that Ying Zheng was able to get rid of Lu Buwei entirely with the help of old forces such as the Chu faction and Changping Jun.

The Letter of Expulsion was more like a trick to appease the Chu and Qin people while winning the hearts of officials from various countries.

After all, the appearance of the Letter of Remonstrance against Expelling Foreigners was, to some extent, also a manifestation of Ying Zheng's willingness to accept advice.

Perhaps, the choice between the letter of expulsion and the letter of warning against expulsion is more like the choice between lifting the roof and opening the window.

When Ying Zheng, who held military power, once again openly proposed to be crowned and take power in person in the court.

Except for Lu Buwei who was still hesitating, Changping Jun and the Chu faction behind him, including the old Qin people and even the military, all chose to stand on Ying Zheng's side without hesitation.

Under such circumstances, Ying Zheng's coronation and personal rule was a foregone conclusion. Even if Zhao Ji returned from Yongcheng in time and joined forces with Lu Buwei again, she would not be able to stop it.

Although Zhao Ji was the queen dowager who ruled the country from behind the curtain, the Queen Dowager Huayang was the real master of the harem.

After all, Qin Yiren, the father of Ying Zheng, was able to ascend the throne thanks to the support of Queen Dowager Huayang and the Chu clique.

Zhao Ji, who was only good in appearance, could only delay Ying Zheng's coronation and personal rule by cooperating with Lu Buwei.

And when Ying Zheng had gained control of the military power and all the conditions for taking power were met, any change between Zhao Ji and Lu Buwei would force them to watch Ying Zheng become the legitimate and true King of Qin.

In the court, the time for Ying Zheng to be crowned and take power was quickly determined.

However, because the Qin State moved its capital many times, Ying Zheng’s coronation ceremony could not be held directly in Xianyang, but had to be held in the former capital, Yongcheng.

When the news that Ying Zheng was about to be crowned and take power reached Yongcheng.

During this period, Lao Ai, who had been hanging out with Zhao Ji and even had already developed ambitions that he shouldn't have, took advantage of Ying Zheng's coronation ceremony to plan a mutiny and usurpation of the throne.

On the surface, everything in the Qin State seemed to be prepared for Ying Zheng to take power.

But in fact, beneath the seemingly harmonious appearance, the Qin State had already been turbulent.

After Ying Zheng determined the time for his coronation, the ceremony became the top priority for the Qin State and would naturally not be held hastily.

This also gives those with bad intentions ample time to prepare.

In Yongcheng.

Zhao Ji, with a loving face, was teasing her two children while looking at Lao Ai beside her with some worry.

Sensing Zhao Ji's worried look, Lao Ai said, "Don't worry, our preparations this time will be foolproof. By then, our child will ascend the throne of Qin."

Frowning, Zhao Ji said with some concern: "But... Zheng'er..."

"Now the arrow is on the string and must be shot!" Lao Ai said without question: "I know the king is your child, but our children are also your children."

Under Lao Ai's sugar-coated bullets, although Zhao Ji was still hesitant, she finally chose to support Lao Ai.

Everything is proceeding in full swing.

On the other hand, in Yongcheng, although Lao Ai claimed that he was infallible, unfortunately, he was arrogant and domineering. In addition, the people in the Yongcheng Palace were not united and were all loyal to Lao Ai.

The news that Lao Ai was preparing to rebel had already been received by Ying Zheng before he even set out for Yongcheng.

Inside Xianyang Palace.

Ying Zheng's mood was frighteningly low.

In his hand he held tightly the information that had just come from Yongcheng.

At this moment, Ying Zheng's attachment to family affection completely disappeared.

In the blink of an eye, he crumpled up the information about Yongcheng.

Ying Zheng took a deep breath, looked at Gai Nie beside him and said, "Sir, this time I am going to Yongzheng to hold the crowning ceremony. My safety is in your hands."

Although he seemed to have entrusted everything to Gai Nie, in fact, Ying Zheng had made multiple arrangements.

In Ying Zheng's eyes, Lao Ai's so-called foolproof preparations were actually full of loopholes.

Not to mention other things, Ying Zheng, who controlled 100,000 Pingyang heavily armored soldiers and was responsible for the military force of this escort, was definitely not comparable to those of the gangsters gathered by Lao Ai.

If fighting alone, Lao Ai's followers were indeed quite powerful, and could even defeat ten of Qin's elite troops alone.

But military battles and fighting in the martial arts world are two completely different things.

The most that Gai Nie had to be responsible for was some shameful assassination methods.

Upon hearing this, Gai Nie hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "But, your Majesty, I am here with you and will not let you encounter any danger. Your Majesty can rest assured."

As the date of Ying Zheng's coronation approaches.

The court, which seemed to be full of joy, became increasingly turbulent.

In the prime minister's residence.

Lü Buwei learned later than Ying Zheng that Lao Ai was planning to take advantage of Ying Zheng's coronation to rebel, and he was so angry that his face turned blue.

"Cover the sun." Lü Buwei slammed the table and said angrily, "Hurry to Yongcheng and stop that idiot Lao Ai."

With Ying Zheng's coronation and confirmation of his personal rule, Lu Buwei already felt the rapid slipping away of power.

Now the only person he can still trust is Luo Wang.

Lao Ai was sent to the Xianyang Palace by Lu Buwei.

Especially since Lao Ai was a fake eunuch.

Once this news leaked, Lao Ai would be doomed.

But Lu Buwei himself would definitely not have a good ending.

Not to mention anything else, the mere fact that he was the one who recommended Lao Ai meant that Lu Buwei was doomed to be guilty.

After all, if the affair between Lao Ai and Zhao Ji had not been made public, it would have been at most a palace secret. But once it was made public, it would have been an unforgivable crime of debauchery in the harem.

This kind of thing would weigh nothing if it weren't on the scale, but once it was on the scale it would weigh a thousand pounds.

There is no doubt that no matter whether Lao Ai's actions in Yongcheng were successful or not, Lu Buwei would eventually suffer huge backlash.

As for the possibility of Lao Ai's success, Lu Buwei didn't believe that he had such ability at all.

Even if Ying Zheng was really assassinated by Lao Ai at the coronation ceremony, the throne would never have gone to the child of Lao Ai and Zhao Ji.

Do you really think that all the members of the Qin royal family are dead?
In the Qin Dynasty, although Lu Buwei seems to be all-powerful now, in fact, this is all caused by the complicated situation in the Qin Dynasty court.

Although Lu Buwei was the only powerful person in the Qin court, there were also many small factions under his command. After the frustrated students from various countries defected to Qin, they would naturally form cliques and factions.

They formed small groups based on regions, schools, etc., and huddled together for warmth under the protection of Lu Buwei.

This made Lu Buwei seem so powerful, as if his words were law in the Qin Dynasty.

But in fact, Lu Buwei's power depends entirely on himself. If it were anyone else, this currently united force would probably fall apart again in a short time.

This is still the internal situation of Lu Buwei's faction. In the court, in addition to Lu Buwei, the Chu faction is also a behemoth. With the Queen Mother Huayang and Changping Jun, the combination of internal and external forces, plus the marriage between Qin and Chu for hundreds of years, it has created an extremely terrifying behemoth.

This Chu-based power is closely connected with the Qin royal family and the old Qin people.

If the old Qin people, the Qin royal family, and the military's strength were added, it would be easy to overthrow Lu Buwei's power.

The only thing Lu Buwei could truly trust now was Luowang.

Once he was accused of colluding with Lao Ai, and the king had to be captured first, after losing Lu Buwei, his power would soon fall apart, and he would either be wooed by various parties, or simply expelled, or surrender to the new King of Qin.

As for Lu Buwei himself, including the family behind him, will inevitably be eradicated.

Lü Buwei was able to transform himself from a mere merchant to the prime minister of a country by investing in King Zhuangxiang of Qin with the help of rare goods. His power was so great that even Ying Zheng, the legitimate King of Qin, could not rule the country himself.

He relied on his own wisdom to keenly complete every stance and every bet in the court.

It was this powerful political wisdom that enabled Lu Buwei to keenly sense the coming of his own catastrophe.

While sending Yanri of Luowang to Yongcheng to stop Lao Ai as much as possible, Lu Buwei certainly would not put all his eggs in one basket.

After calming down his inner anger, Lu Buwei let out a long sigh, and a desolate look suddenly appeared on his face.

"It seems that it is time for me to leave." With a faint sigh, Lu Buwei said loudly: "Come here, prepare the car and send a visiting card to Mr. Luo Zi. I will visit Mr. Luo Zi immediately."

As soon as Luofu arrived in Xianyang, Lu Buwei knew the news, but he had no plans to meet Luofu so soon.

One is that Lu Buwei is now in a high position and has great power, while Luofu, although he has become famous during this period and has become like a new Confucian saint.

But the identities between the two are clearly distinguished.

For Lu Buwei, Luofu was at most a Confucian disciple with considerable academic achievements, and was not worthy of a visit from him as the Prime Minister of Qin.

More importantly, it was a turbulent time and Lu Buwei couldn't spare the time.

But that's different now.

In the court, Ying Zheng, the King of Qin, was unstoppable after his coronation and personal rule. At the same time, Lao Ai in Yongcheng foolishly believed that as long as he could grasp the heart of Queen Mother Zhao Ji, he could let his child take over the throne and become the King of Qin.

It can be said that although Lu Buwei is still the Prime Minister of Qin on the surface, he is actually only a moment away from death and the extinction of his clan.

Of course, in addition to the difference in status, Lu Buwei and Luo Fu were also different from each other academically.

Luofu is a new star in Confucianism, and is recognized by all nations as having innovated Confucian scholarship and outlined a direction for achieving peace.

However, Lu Buwei is the representative of the eclectic school.

From an academic perspective, the two are different. Although they are not in opposition, they will never get along harmoniously.

But now Lu Buwei has no choice.

Although he thought that even if he went to Luofu, it might not have much effect, but in the desperate situation, Lu Buwei had no choice but to cast a wide net.

In Luofu's mansion.

As the key guard of Ying Zheng's trip to Yongcheng, Gai Nie was sitting opposite Luo Fu at this time. On the low table between the two of them, there were two cups of tea, emitting a rising tea aroma.

"Sir, please help me with the king's safety." Gai Nie said to Luo Fu sincerely.

Nodding slightly, Luo Fu said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty is blessed by heaven. Even if there are some villains, they can't threaten Your Majesty's safety!"

His face showed a bit of embarrassment.

Seeing this, Luo Fu quickly guessed that Ying Zheng was willing to let Gai Nie make this trip in person, probably not just to ask him for help.

As expected, after hesitating for a while, Gai Nie made up his mind, gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, the king hopes that the matter of Yongcheng will not be announced to the public."

A light bulb went off in his head and Luo Fu reacted instantly.

Yongcheng, Ying Zheng was crowned, Lao Ai...

This series of keywords is a shocking melon. Even two thousand years later, this melon still makes people marvel.

As the queen mother, Zhao Ji was so obsessed with Lao Ai that she not only gave birth to two children for him, but was even bewitched by him, hoping that after getting rid of Ying Zheng, her true son, she would help the illegitimate offspring of herself and Lao Ai ascend to the throne of Qin? ?

Luofu shared the heavens and was well-informed, and he had countless love-brained people, but for someone like Zhao Ji, he had never seen a second one, let alone even heard of it.

Obviously, since Ying Zheng knew that Lao Ai was planning to rebel in Yongcheng, how could he not know what happened between his mother Zhao Ji and Lao Ai?

It is even possible that Ying Zheng already knew everything about the two children that Zhao Ji gave birth to by Lao Ai.

The reason why Gai Nie was asked to come this time was to persuade himself to keep the news secret as much as possible, so as to prevent the news that the Queen Mother of Qin gave Lao Ai a child through a fake eunuch from spreading widely.

After all, Zhao Ji's stupidity brought shame to the Qin State and to King Ying Zheng of Qin.

This kind of thing naturally cannot be said too bluntly, which is why Gai Nie is so hesitant.

After guessing Ying Zheng's thoughts and Gai Nie's true intentions, Luo Fu looked at Gai Nie with a strange look and said, "Mr. Gai Nie, please tell the king that I am not a talkative person."

He looked at Luofu in astonishment. Luofu's words were telling Gai Nie clearly that he knew what happened in Yongcheng, and he was even more aware of Ying Zheng's concerns and what Gai Nie was reluctant to talk about.

But Luofu had clearly just arrived in Xianyang not long ago.

How was it possible that he knew about the affair between Queen Mother Zhao Ji and Marquis Changxin so quickly?

Although I can't guess the reason behind it.

But Gai Nie was wise enough not to argue with Luo Fu about this issue.

For the sake of respecting the elder, no matter how Luofu knew about it, this matter concerns the reputation of the Qin State and King Ying Zheng.

His expression flickered slightly, but soon returned to normal. Gai Nie looked like he knew what had happened, but he still pretended to be nonchalant and said, "With your words, the king can rest assured."

Standing up, Gai Nie said, "Sir, the king is still waiting for my reply. Gai Nie will take his leave."

He clasped his fists towards Luofu, just as Gai Nie was about to leave.

There was a sound of light footsteps approaching from afar.

The figures of the black and white sisters appeared in the sight of Luo Fu and Gai Nie.

Since being given to Luofu by Donghuang Taiyi, she has escaped the fate of Shao Siming and is now by Luofu's side. If everyone's loyalty to Luofu is to be ranked, then the Black and White Sisters are definitely in the first tier.

After glancing at Gai Nie, the black and white sisters seemed to want to say something but stopped talking.

Seeing this, Luo Fu said, "It's okay. Mr. Gai Nie is one of us. If you have anything to say, just say it directly."

"Yes." The black and white sisters said in unison, "Sir, the Prime Minister's Mansion sent a visiting card. Prime Minister Lu will come to visit you immediately. I wonder if you want to see Prime Minister Lu?"

There is almost no way to play the visiting card like Lu Buwei does now.

Generally speaking, visiting cards need to be submitted in advance.

It is equivalent to completing an appointment with the owner, setting a specific time for the visit, and the owner also has time to prepare.

But now, the time of Lu Buwei's so-called visiting card and his visit were not inconsistent at all.

In this case, it was because Lu Buwei was in a high position of power and was the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty. Otherwise, if it was someone of equal status, such an act would be simply a provocation to the master.

However, Luo Fu also knew that Lu Buwei's political wisdom had made him realize what kind of trouble he would encounter next.

In this situation, Lu Buwei probably regarded himself as one of his life-saving straws.

Yes!

One of the reasons is that Luofu doesn't believe that Lu Buwei would be so stupid as to pin all his hopes on him.

From the time he made investment in King Zhuangxiang of Qin when he saw the rare commodity was at stake, Lu Buwei was a man who took one step and considered several steps ahead.

As for his relationship with Ying Zheng, all we can say is that Lu Buwei misjudged Ying Zheng's determination, and with one careless move, he instantly fell into a predicament of collapse.

But a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

After realizing Ying Zheng's tactics, Lu Buwei had enough time to plan everything.

Of course, it is definitely impossible to get away unscathed. It all depends on how many tricks Lu Buwei has to survive Ying Zheng's reckoning.

In fact, even if there was no Luofu, Lu Buwei would have been defeated, but he would have landed safely. It was just that Lu Buwei was too reluctant to give up his own ideals.

In addition to the struggle for power, the more crucial issue between Lu Buwei and Ying Zheng was the disagreement on the approach to governing the country.

Ying Zheng felt that the Qin State, with its six generations of accumulated strength, was already confident of conquering the world.

But Lu Buwei obviously didn't see it that way.
Thinking of Ying Zheng's reckless attempt to achieve success in one fell swoop and quickly conquer the world and unify the six kingdoms, Lu Buwei hoped to proceed step by step. The Lüshi Chunqiu he compiled, to some extent, is a reflection of Lu Buwei's idea.

It has to be admitted that although he was born into a merchant family, Lu Buwei did have a strong vision.

In fact, many people have already seen that the world, which has been in chaos for hundreds of years, is about to have an opportunity to be unified. However, in the Qin State, many people have not thought about how to manage this huge country after unification.

Should we continue to divide the land into fiefs? Or should we simply implement the county system throughout the country?
The Qin Dynasty had the opportunity to unify the world, which was indeed largely due to the laws set by Shang Yang. However, it is undeniable that Shang Yang's laws were indeed effective when the world was pacified. But after unifying the world, are Shang Yang's laws still appropriate?

During the Warring States Period, political reform was almost a cliché.

Especially the Qin State, which respected the Legalists, believed that governing a country should not follow the ancient ways, but should be adapted to local conditions and the times.

Since some people think that Shang Yang's laws are not capable of governing the world after it is unified in the future, naturally there will be people who insist on it.

There is no doubt that Lu Buwei was the former, and his Lüshi Chunqiu also set the tone for the governance of the Qin State after its future unification.

It is a pity that due to Lü Buwei’s political failure and Ying Zheng’s dissatisfaction with him, even the magnum opus Lüshi Chunqiu was shelved by Ying Zheng.

Even Lu Buwei's eventual death was closely related to his adherence to the ideas of Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals.

There was almost no room or scope for easing the conflict between Lu Buwei and Ying Zheng.

If Lu Buwei retreated now, perhaps Ying Zheng would be able to soften his attitude towards him. Even when dealing with Lüshi Chunqiu, he would not be so determined to make peace.

It’s a pity that, perhaps because he had been the prime minister for too long and his words were law, Lu Buwei underestimated Ying Zheng.

Gai Nie was about to leave when he learned that Lu Buwei was coming to visit Luofu.

He was about to leave, but suddenly changed his mind.

Although Gai Nie did not learn the essence of the Zongheng family, compared with the real disciples of Guiguzi Zongheng, he and his junior brother Wei Zhuang were more like pure martial artists.

But it is undeniable that Gai Nie is still very clear that he is now loyal to Ying Zheng, and Lu Buwei is the biggest obstacle on Ying Zheng's road to power.

Although Luofu had just entered Qin, his background was very clean and he had no involvement or cause and effect with the Qin court.

But Gai Nie still couldn't feel at ease.

Who would have thought that compared to the conditions proposed by Ying Zheng which were almost like a blank check, Lu Buwei, who now holds absolute power, can obviously invest more money to recruit Luofu.

(End of this chapter)