Simultaneous travel: City, infinite evolution

Chapter 254 The Meeting of the Two Ying Zheng

To put it bluntly, even if Jie and Zhou came, they would have to admit defeat.

Even Daji didn't have this destructive power.

Ying Zheng gritted his teeth, "Who is it?"

"Which spendthrift son is ruining the country?"

"The eighteenth son, Huhai." Chen Hong's answer remained concise.

Ying Zheng, however, had an urge to kill this unborn spendthrift son.

He made up his mind that he would only have seventeen children in his lifetime, and he would never have an eighteenth son.

It would be better to paste this rascal's name on the wall than to let him come out into the world and wreak havoc on the Qin Dynasty.

Of course, this was just a momentary outburst of anger. Once he calmed down, Ying Zheng would not be so shallow as to think that the demise of a country was simply the fault of a monarch.

"May I ask, sir, why did the Qin Dynasty ultimately perish?"

"No rush, another Ying Zheng is coming soon, let me tell you about him together."

"Another Ying Zheng?" The young Ying Zheng also became curious. "Is it the Ying Zheng of this world?"

"Can the same person appear in different worlds?"

The young Ying Zheng felt a fantastical sense of opening up a new world, only to discover that this new world also had an absurdity about it.

Chen Hong shook his head. "Although it is also Ying Zheng, it is not the same person."

This is the old Qin Shi Huang, his personality is different from yours.

They're not even parallel universe counterparts; they're completely different entities.

"To be honest, I still prefer you to him."

"In my opinion, your spirit, character, and potential are far superior to that old Qin Shi Huang."

"Old Qin Shi Huang is often ill; you should encourage him."

A very strange emotion welled up in the young Ying Zheng's heart.

It's hard to explain, hard to define, what this emotion is.

It's just really weird.

Soon, the old Qin Shi Huang arrived at the foot of Shouyang Mountain.

With a wave of his hand, Chen Hong dispersed the mist, creating a mountain path.

With trepidation, the old Qin Shi Huang led Li Si and a few of his most elite soldiers up the mountain path.

Looking at the forests still shrouded in thick fog on both sides of the passage, and listening to the calls of various insects and animals in the mountains, I felt uneasy.

He was terrified of dying.

I wouldn't dare go up the mountain alone.

He thought that if something happened, he could send others to their deaths to buy himself a chance to escape.

The old Qin Shi Huang both longed for the immortals' secret to immortality and feared their mysterious and unpredictable power.

Even though he was the emperor of the Qin Dynasty, wielding immense power, he still felt a profound sense of insecurity when facing an immortal alone.

Just like Lord Ye's love of dragons.

Without the protection of hundreds of thousands of troops, I always feel uneasy.

But his obsession with immortality still sustained him as he risked climbing the mountain and came before Chen Hong.

But when they reached the platform at the gap in the hillside, an invisible curtain blocked their way.

Only Ying Zheng and Li Si were allowed to pass, while the other soldiers were blocked outside.

Ying Zheng and Li Si looked back and saw that no matter how hard the soldiers tried, they could not break through the invisible barrier. They couldn't help but sigh:

"It seems the immortals don't want to see them. The power of the immortals is truly mysterious and unpredictable."

Helpless, Ying Zheng could only wave his hand to signal them to stay where they were.

These soldiers were unaware that Chen Hong's act of stopping them was an act of mercy.

If they come along and hear too many secrets, how will they survive when they go back?

To protect the secret from being leaked, Qin Shi Huang ordered them all to be executed without the slightest hesitation.

The way of emperors is inherently ruthless.

The ruthless political creatures of the Liu family have perfectly demonstrated this point.

Ying Zheng and Li Si stepped onto the platform and saw a palace standing on the spacious platform.

In the square in front of the palace, two people stood together talking.

Upon closer inspection, Ying Zheng was immediately stunned.

The ethereal aura emanating from Chen Hong was too obvious; he was undoubtedly an immortal.

But how come there's still a young man with rosy lips and white teeth?
Dressed in white, with her hair flowing freely, she possessed a graceful demeanor, a composed expression, and an aura of royalty.

But he had destroyed all six kingdoms and imprisoned their kings. Where was the king?
And for some reason, whenever I saw that young man, I always felt that he had some qualities that were similar to my own when I was young.

However, most places are quite different.

It even possesses a spirit and breadth of mind that transcends itself.

Of course, Qin Shi Huang would never admit to this.

The young Ying Zheng was also watching the old Ying Zheng, and while he found some points of resonance and appreciation, he was mostly dissatisfied.

Originally, he had high expectations for himself to unify the other worlds of the six kingdoms.

The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

He set his standards too high for himself, and then he became somewhat dissatisfied with the old Qin Shi Huang.

Judging solely from his demeanor, the young Ying Zheng was certain that he would surpass this person in the future.

Composing himself, the old Ying Zheng stopped looking at the young Ying Zheng, turned to Chen Hong, bowed, and asked:

"May I ask if you are a celestial being in person?"

What is the image of an immortal in your eyes?

"They are immortal, can summon wind and rain, and ride the clouds and mist; they possess great supernatural powers."

"Then I am."

Old Qin Shi Huang's eyes immediately burned with fervor, "Do immortals possess the method of achieving immortality?"

"Yes!" Chen Hong's brief answer filled the old Ying Zheng with ecstatic joy and excitement.

Even the young Ying Zheng was shaken to his core.

Immortality!

Even the world he inhabits is just a legend.

Among the various schools of thought in ancient China, regardless of the unpredictable methods of the Yin-Yang School, or those of Taoism, Confucianism, Mohism, Agriculturalism, Medicine, or Diplomacy, none possessed the ability to achieve immortality.

If I could live forever, would I be able to change the fate of the Qin Dynasty's demise?
Even Li Si and the others standing to the side had burning eyes.

Immortality, who wouldn't want that?

Li Si also wants it very much, okay?

"Please, immortal, teach me the secret to immortality!"

Unable to contain himself, the old Qin Shi Huang bowed to Chen Hong and begged for the bestowal of immortal techniques.

At this moment, the old Qin Shi Huang was filled with mythical stories such as the Yellow Emperor ascending to immortality by being taught immortal techniques by the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden and the Queen Mother of the West's elixir of immortality.

Chen Hong shook his head.

“The Dharma cannot be passed on lightly.”

Old Qin Shi Huang asked anxiously, "What are your requirements for the immortal to impart the Dharma?"

"Whatever the request, as long as it is within my power, I will grant it to the immortal. I only ask for the immortal's mercy and to impart to me the method of immortality so that the world may be at peace."

Chen Hong did not answer, but simply waved his sleeve, and a virtual projection appeared in mid-air.

Images flashed by, playing continuously.

There are tragic scenes of ordinary people and laborers building the Great Wall, the Lishan Mausoleum, the Epang Palace, and the imperial highways. Almost every foundation was made up of corpses.

The mortality rate was too high; countless people died from exhaustion, starvation, being whipped, or illness...

Under intense physical labor, there are countless ways to die, with only one in ten surviving, struggling desperately.

There was also the hardship and cold of northern soldiers guarding the border, and the long raids they had to fight against the Xiongnu and other barbarians beyond the Great Wall.

The 50 soldiers who went south to conquer the Baiyue suffered even worse. The southern lands were barbaric, with primeval forests and swamps everywhere.

Miasma, strange insects, poisons, bacteria, viruses, hot climate—any one of these could kill these northerners from Qin who were not used to the climate and environment.

The Qin people were incredibly hardworking; despite countless deaths and injuries, they still used their lives to fill this wild and desolate land of the Southern Barbarians.

Forcing a road through the primeval forest to drive a large army in resulted in countless deaths and injuries, with non-combat casualties being extremely severe.

They also had to play hide-and-seek with the Baiyue barbarians and southwestern Yi tribes in the remote mountain valleys.

Moreover, the supply lines were long, and there were frequent cases of people going hungry when the supply lines were cut off.

When they were extremely hungry, they would even eat insects from the mountains, and countless people died from disease.

It's so hard.

The scene then shifts to ordinary people paying taxes, toiling hard in the fields, finally reaching harvest time.

When the tax collectors arrived, they paid taxes according to the imperial court's regulations, including land rent, poll tax, and straw tax.

Taxes alone account for two-thirds of farmers' income.

This far exceeded the Western Zhou Dynasty's tradition of "one-tenth tax," meaning that only 1/10 of the taxes were collected.

And this is just luck.

Unfortunately, if you encounter a difficult and cunning petty official, they will find all sorts of excuses to make things difficult for you and extort money from you.

They also took advantage of the farmers' lack of literacy and arithmetic skills, filling in blanks on paper to make a farmer bleed money, squeezing out the oil to enrich the officials.

If you encounter officials who don't know how to raise livestock, are only interested in sustainable oil extraction, are short-sighted, and exploit resources to the point of exhaustion, then things will be even worse.

Even being forced into bankruptcy and selling one's children is commonplace.

When ordinary people face the government and its ruthless petty officials, they are no different from lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

How do you reason with officials, uphold the law, and appeal to human relationships?

Give me a break.

They are the law, the rule-makers who make and override the rules.

The common people are nothing more than lambs raised in a pen.

The only reason they exist is because they have the value of continuously producing milk.

How can we fight like this?
They can't fight each other at all.

Even worse, the Qin Dynasty conscripted laborers on a large scale, leaving those who were conscripted with a shortage of labor, resulting in decreased production and even the abandonment of farmland.

However, taxes still need to be paid.

It can't be reduced at all.

The tax system and the corvée system of the Qin Dynasty were two different systems, managed by different departments and officials.

The officials in the imperial court didn't care whether you were conscripted for corvée labor and couldn't farm anymore.

Not a penny of the taxes due must be paid.

Try losing one of your kids and see what happens?

Is your sword not sharp, sir?
Upon seeing the scenes of families being torn apart and people dying, even Li Si and Ying Zheng fell silent.

They couldn't possibly be completely unaware of these things.

But seeing it directly still moved me.

But that's all.

The imperial court has too many projects to undertake and too many battles to fight.

It requires a lot of human and financial resources. Where will these come from?

It appeared out of thin air?
Did it fall out of the belt of a nobleman or tycoon?
Of course, it was scavenged from the undergarments of the common people.

If there is a gap, it will naturally be distributed among millions of ordinary people, and then the gap will no longer exist.
This simple logical reasoning was known to the high-ranking officials, and naturally, to the prime minister and the emperor as well.

The scene shifts again, showing the First Emperor's five eastern tours, each one grand and extravagant.

He eventually died in the sand dunes during his fifth eastern tour.

Zhao Gao (redacted) and Li Si (redacted) conspired to keep the death a secret and use salted fish to cover up the stench of the corpse.

They altered the imperial edict to install Huhai on the throne and forged another edict to order the death of Fusu.

(End of this chapter)