Diqin Designer

Chapter 49: Burning books and burying scholars alive, the harm of alchemists

When he was happily hosting a banquet, Chunyu Yue jumped out to criticize him and brought up the feudal system that he did not like. Ying Zheng could imagine how he felt at that time.

Chunyu Yue is not a normal person. He didn't see that everyone was happy and he had to ruin everyone's fun.

It's like when a family is celebrating an old man's birthday, and a guest jumps out and says to the host: Why celebrate? This old thing will die sooner or later.

"Li Si distorted his theory and abolished his words. He also wrote a letter to banish all literary works, poetry and books that spoke of various schools of thought, and only kept books on medicine, divination and tree planting. The king followed Li Si's advice and ordered the books to be burned."

"The massacre of scholars took place the year after the burning of books. It was caused by two alchemists who were seeking the elixir of immortality for the king secretly discussing the king..."

When Li Nian said this, he secretly glanced at Ying Zheng, who happened to be looking over at him.

Seeing Li Nian's actions, Ying Zheng knew that the two alchemists had definitely not said anything good when they were commenting on him, so he said, "Go ahead!"

Li Nian said: "Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng said that the king is violent by nature, stubborn and self-willed. He was born as a prince and annexed the world. He is full of ambition and does whatever he wants. He thinks that no one from ancient times to the present can surpass him."

Ying Zheng's face darkened again because he remembered what Li Nian said was the main reason for the demise of the Qin Dynasty. His being too impatient and too confident was one of them. Aren't what Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng said exactly the same as what Li Nian said?
"It is said that the king only appoints his favorite jailers. Although he has 70 doctors, he does not use them and only treats them as decoration. The prime minister and ministers can only follow the king's orders and do things without any thoughts of their own."

"The king enjoys using punishment and killing to establish his authority. People in the world are afraid of breaking the law and dare not speak out. The king cannot hear his own mistakes and becomes more and more arrogant. The ministers are frightened and can only deceive the king with lies in order to protect themselves..."

After listening to this, Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows and said, "Am I so unbearable?"

Li Nian said, "Of course not. For example, 'The prime minister and ministers can only accept orders and rely on the king to do things.' If that were true, how could Li Si's advice to burn books be accepted by the king? These people are simply dissatisfied with the king, so they deliberately slander the king in their discussions."

"I don't think they ran away because they thought the king was violent and greedy and didn't want to help him find the elixir of immortality. Instead, they ran away because they were afraid!"

"They are afraid of being discovered for secretly criticizing the king, but the most important thing is that they are afraid of not being able to find the elixir of immortality. Whether there is an elixir of immortality or not, these alchemists who deceived the king know better than anyone else!"

"Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng discussed the king. It seemed that they were talking about the king's shortcomings, but in fact they were looking for an excuse for their escape, proving that their escape was reasonable and covering up the fact that they could not find the elixir of immortality."

A cold light flashed across Ying Zheng's eyes.

Ever since Li Nian told him that the things made by alchemists were harmful, he never took them again, but he didn't make it public. He just raised chickens, mice and other small livestock in the palace according to the method Li Nian said.

Although it has only been a few days, the chickens and rats that took the things prepared by the alchemist have gradually shown some abnormal phenomena, especially the rats, which are smaller than chickens, and their appetite and vitality are not as good as before.

Now, when he heard the alchemists Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng criticizing him behind his back, Ying Zheng had only one thought in his mind: These alchemists deserve to die!

Moreover, Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng had extremely sinister intentions. They said that he was not to justify their escape, but to cover up the fact that they could not find the elixir of immortality and were afraid of being discovered by him.

It was obvious that they had something to hide, but they threw dirty water on him, saying that he was unwilling to find the elixir of immortality for a greedy and violent king like him, in order to make themselves look great and noble.

Having said that, do you have the ability to find the elixir of immortality?

Two shameless villains!
Li Nian continued: "After Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng escaped, the king was naturally very angry. The king respected them and rewarded them generously. Now they are slandering the king. The king sent people to spy on the Confucian scholars in Xianyang City. Some of them, like Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng, made up lies and confuse the people. The king then ordered the arrest of Confucian scholars. After interrogation, hundreds of people were sentenced to death and buried alive in Xianyang. This is called 'burying Confucian scholars alive.'" In the Qin Dynasty, Confucian scholars could also be classified as alchemists. It was not the case that when the First Emperor ordered the Confucian scholars to be buried alive, all those killed were alchemists, but not Confucian scholars.

"Ru means gentle, and is the name of the sorcerer." In the Spring and Autumn Period, it was differentiated from witches, historians, priests, and fortune tellers.

"I talked to the king about 'burning books and burying scholars', not to discuss whether it was right or wrong, but the impact! After the burning of books and burying of scholars, the reputation of the king and the Qin Dynasty among the people quickly declined. Many people believe that the king is a tyrannical monarch and the Qin Dynasty is a tyrannical Qin Dynasty."

"Your Majesty should be able to guess the reason. It was those Confucian scholars and alchemists who were not killed by Your Majesty. They spread the news of Your Majesty's atrocities and tyranny in their eyes. People in different places have never met Your Majesty, so how can they know what kind of person You are? As a result, three people make a tiger. Over time, what is false becomes true."

Li Nian said to herself, "Besides, some things are indeed true!"

"After the three men became tigers, the people no longer supported the Qin Dynasty. When the great king died, Prince Hu Hai succeeded to the throne and died in the second generation. This is the failure of the great king to take public opinion seriously when he governed the world!"

"As the old saying goes, 'It is harder to stop the people from talking than to stop the river.' Just because we cannot stop them doesn't mean we should do nothing, not explain or refute, and let others slander us. The people of the Qin Dynasty are not yet enlightened, so how can they tell the truth from the words of the Confucian scholars and the alchemists?"

"Your Majesty did not seek the elixir of immortality, but you trusted and indulged the alchemists too much. There is another incident in the history books, in which Your Majesty once believed that there were three immortal islands in the East China Sea, namely Fangzhang, Penglai and Yingzhou, and sent the alchemist Xu Fu to lead 3,000 boys and girls to seek immortality overseas. However, after the alchemist Xu Fu went out to sea, he never returned."

Ying Zheng asked: "Is he dead?"

Li Nian shook his head and said, "No, according to some records, the Taoist priest Xu Fu landed on the Jiaoben Islands. He was just afraid of being punished by the king, so he didn't dare to come back."

Well, another Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng, these alchemists really deserve to be killed!

This time, I will never let these villains get away!
"Your Majesty trusted Xu Fu, but he repaid you in this way. This is not only bad for your Majesty, but also for future generations."

Ying Zheng was surprised and said, "Since Xu Fu has not returned to our Great Qin, how can he harm us..."

Before he finished speaking, Ying Zheng had figured it out. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Could it be that the Foot Basin Islands also caused a huge disaster for China in the future?"

Li Nian nodded: "Xu Fu led 3,000 virgin girls to the Jiaoben Islands and brought a lot of advanced technology from the Qin Dynasty to Jiaoben. However, this country humiliated China in later generations. Countless Chinese people died because of it, and most of the country fell into its hands. Moreover, the people of this country can hardly be called human beings, they are extremely cruel..."

Thinking of the events of Lushun, Lugou Bridge, Nanjing, and 731, hatred surged from Li Nian's heart. He stood up from his chair, knelt before Ying Zheng and said, "I have a request, and I hope Your Majesty will agree to it!"

Through several conversations and observations during this period, Ying Zheng has gradually understood the temperament of Li Nian, a man from later generations. If he asked this man to kneel down and kowtow to him, this guy would never hesitate, but even though his body knelt, this person definitely did not have the heart to do so.

They knelt down and kowtowed to him because they were afraid of his royal power, not out of respect for him. In fact, they were very reluctant to kneel down to him.

However, when that country was mentioned, this man, who seemed to be afraid of pain but actually had persistence and pride in his heart, actually knelt down in front of him willingly to make a request to him.

　Thanks to "jw维" for two monthly tickets, and thanks to "Yagami Light Reality Deification Version" for two monthly tickets

　　
　
(End of this chapter)