Simultaneous travel: I am a talented person in all the worlds

Chapter 468 The Last Lesson of the Prime Minister

Night is deep.

The cold moonlight, like frost and snow, covered a corner of the Qin King's Palace courtyard, gilding every blade of grass and tree with an ethereal silver edge.

The air was filled with the sweet fragrance of osmanthus, but it couldn't dispel the chill that seeped into your bones.

In the center of the courtyard, a game of chess, two people.

The young king, dressed in a black royal robe, held a white piece, his brows revealing a sharpness and depth beyond his years.

The middle-aged prime minister, dressed in a plain white scholar's robe, held a black chess piece. His face was gentle and refined, but his eyes were unfathomable.

Ying Zheng, Lü Buwei.

On the chessboard, the black and white pieces intertwine and fight fiercely, like two giant dragons battling for their lives in silence.

Ying Zheng held a smooth white chess piece between his fingers, hesitating to place it. His gaze seemed fixed on the chessboard, but his thoughts had already drifted far away.

Once upon a time, such scenes were commonplace in the memories of the young Ying Zheng.

At that time, he was a student eager for knowledge, and his teacher was a mentor who shared everything he knew. The moonlight and the chess game were both so warm.

And now...

Each time they sat down together, it was like a silent power struggle.

The young king, who considers himself mature enough to shoulder the responsibilities of a king, is like a fledgling dragon yearning to break free from all constraints, spread its wings, and soar through the heavens.

But in the eyes of the "Prime Minister," he always seemed to be that innocent child who needed to be protected and guided.

The two of them inevitably embarked on the path of destiny that no emperor or master-disciple relationship could escape.

It's hard to say whether Lü Buwei did this solely for his own selfish gain.

After all, the Qin Dynasty is indeed at a critical juncture.

If we advance, we will sweep across the six directions, conquer the eight wastelands, and create an unprecedented great undertaking;

If we retreat, all our efforts will be in vain, and we will not know when we will have another chance to unify the world.

Faced with such a situation, just like Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions, they dared not easily relinquish power to others.

……

Ying Zheng's gaze refocused on the chessboard.

Lü Buwei's black pieces represent the Qin state's strategic position. After gaining an absolute advantage, they suddenly became cautious and meticulous, even showing signs of retreat.

As the person who now holds the highest power in Qin, his will represents the direction in which the massive war machine of the Qin state moves forward.

However, Ying Zheng glimpsed a hint of retreat in his eyes, which he absolutely did not want to see, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

He finally placed his piece, and with a crisp "snap," like jade shattering, the tranquility of the courtyard was broken.

"Prime Minister, judging from your chess moves, it seems you believe that in this battle against the alliance of the six states, our Great Qin... will be defeated?"

Lu Buwei sat upright, merely raising his eyelids slightly upon hearing this, without replying.

After calmly placing his piece, he gestured for him to continue.

Ying Zheng's heart sank slightly.

This feeling of being ignored ignited his imperial desire for control, which burned like a smoldering fire.

He picked up another piece, but his voice softened, carrying the self-assured maturity of a young monarch:

"If the Prime Minister has concerns because of matters in the palace, there is no need to worry. Public affairs, private affairs, and politics... can be clearly distinguished."

Lü Buwei still didn't look up, and casually posed a question that had nothing to do with the current chess game or the power struggle within the palace:

"Your Majesty, what do you think is the reason why our Qin army has been able to win every battle and sweep across the other states?"

This question is both too broad and too basic.

Countless standard answers flashed through Ying Zheng's mind in an instant.

"Because my Great Qin has the laws of Shang Yang as its foundation, the country is rich and the people are strong; it has the accumulation of six generations of kings, its foundation is profound; it has countless good generals and brave soldiers who risk their lives in the front; and it has millions of people who cultivate the land and fight in the rear..."

He could list hundreds of reasons.

But he knew that these were not the answers his father truly wanted to hear at that moment.

The answer to every question posed by the Prime Minister can never be found solely in the question itself; it must also be considered in the context of the current situation to discern the true subtext hidden beneath the question.

This is a test.

This was also a teaching method that Lü Buwei often used to guide Ying Zheng's thinking.

In other words, what the Prime Minister really wanted to ask was...

"What has our Great Qin lost that makes the Prime Minister believe that victory in this battle is impossible?"

Ying Zheng picked up a white piece, his fingertips unconsciously tracing its cold texture, but he couldn't bring himself to place it.

Because he couldn't figure it out.

This sense of powerlessness caused him, who considered himself mature enough to take charge of the government, to feel a deep-seated panic, along with the shame and anger that followed.

If a king cannot even see his own strengths and weaknesses, how can he govern this vast empire? How can he accomplish the unparalleled feat of unifying the world and conquering all the lands that previous kings had failed to achieve?

This was an absolutely unacceptable blow to the proud and arrogant Ying Zheng.

He pondered for a long time, then slowly placed the white piece back into the chess box, tentatively asking:

"Is it because of the 'Net of Knowledge'? The secret agents that Qin had cultivated in Han and Wei for many years were uprooted by that Mohist leader, causing our army to... lose its intelligence advantage?"

This was the only variable he could think of.

However, in his view, this alone, while having an impact, was not enough to truly shake the scales that determined the life and death of hundreds of thousands of people.

"Ah."

Lü Buwei nodded at first, but then shook his head. "Your Majesty is half right. The problem lies with the intelligence, but... it's not just the Luo Wang (Net of Heaven)."

He picked up the teacup beside him and gently blew away the rising steam. “The art of war says: ‘The reason why wise rulers and virtuous generals can move and defeat others, and achieve success beyond the masses, is because they have prior knowledge.’”

"The reason why our Great Qin has been able to sweep through the states and win every battle over the past hundred years is not only because our country has grown stronger and richer, and our army is more powerful, but also because..."

He paused, put down his teacup, and uttered a statement that was enough to overturn Ying Zheng's understanding:

"...The rottenness of an enemy country!"

"rotten?"

Ying Zheng was puzzled.

Lu Buwei looked at the young king in front of him, who was already half a head taller than him. Looking at his face, which was seven parts similar to the late king but with three parts more domineering and imposing, Lu Buwei's eyes suddenly became a little dazed, as if he saw a shadow of the past.

There are some things that should be taught to this future ruler of the empire tonight.

There are things that a subject should never want the king to know, and things that someone sitting in his position as "Prime Minister" should never let the king know.

"Queen Zhao and Guo Kai; Queen Wei and Wei Yong; King Han has just succeeded to the throne and has not yet had time to find a suitable person in the harem, but there is Ji Wuye in the outer court."

"This even includes Empress Dowager Chu and Li Yuan. Most of these are our people, or people we want to rise to power and can manipulate!"

Ying Zheng's lips were a little dry.

The clever man had already vaguely guessed what Lü Buwei wanted to say.

Lü Buwei looked at him, his eyes showing no emotion, and continued speaking calmly:

"These people, whether queens, prime ministers, or relatives of the empress, are the fundamental reason why our Great Qin was able to win with fewer troops and advance unimpeded. They are the root cause of the repeated defeats of the other states."

“Every time a battle begins, the enemy’s city defenses, supply routes… will be laid out clearly on my desk.” “In fact, if the money is enough, I can make the city defenses ‘just happen’ to have a loophole, make the supplies ‘just happen’ to be burned, and make them bewitch the king, whispering in the emperor’s ear in the harem that the commander at the front is going to rebel.”

"Your Majesty, now tell me, how can we possibly lose such a battle?"

Ying Zheng was silent.

Lü Buwei slammed his black chess piece down on the board, looked up, and stared intently at Ying Zheng, posing another question:
"why?"

Why would these people betray their own country?

Ying Zheng felt his heart pounding uncontrollably.

He swallowed hard, looking at Lü Buwei, who stood before him with a solemn expression and imposing aura, and a strange, uncontrollable panic rose in his heart.

'Father Prime Minister...Father Prime Minister, are you going to lay all your cards on the table with me tonight?'

After all, based on the above combinations of characters, it is not difficult to deduce that...

He was the Queen Dowager Mi and Marquis Rang of Qin, the Queen Dowager Huayang and Lord Changping, and...

His own mother, Zhao Ji, and the powerful prime minister Lü Buwei standing before him!
The powerful minister and the queen, the maternal relatives and the empress dowager, and those inside and outside the palace joined forces to sideline the monarch!
But he was, after all, Ying Zheng! The future First Emperor who would sweep across the land!
After only a moment of panic and fear, Ying Zheng calmed himself and spoke with difficulty:
"Because the interests of the nobility are the same as, but also different from, those of the royal family."

"The royal family is the highest nobility, but the royal family is one with the country; the rise and fall of the country is the rise and fall of the royal family. And nobility, no matter where it is, is still nobility!"

"As long as it can strengthen the family, nobles are willing to use their power and national interests to exchange for it. Even if it means sacrificing 100% of the national interest for only 40% of the family's interests, they will not hesitate!"

Even if the country falls, to them it's just a matter of having a new king.

"That's it."

As the most powerful minister in Qin, Lü Buwei revealed a hint of approval in his eyes.

He truly is a born king; even when his heart is deeply shaken, he can grasp the core of the problem in the shortest amount of time.

“Your Majesty, you must remember,”

Lü Buwei's tone suddenly switched to a cold and rational "merchant" mode that Ying Zheng was extremely familiar with when he handled affairs.
"The world is bustling, all for profit. The world is in turmoil, all for profit. War, in the end, is also a business."

He used Wei Yong as an example to further analyze the situation:
"On the battlefield, if we kill 10,000 Wei soldiers, our Great Qin might also have to pay the price of 3,000 elite soldiers and a huge amount of food and weapons."

"However, bribing a Grand Minister of Works in Wei only requires a little gold and some vague promises that he wants."

"The former will cause my Great Qin pain. The latter, my Great Qin... will be unscathed. Swords may dull, provisions may run out, and lives may be lost, but gold... will simply be stored in a different place. One day, it will flow back into the treasury of my Great Qin, or even be returned to them by their own hands."

"Now that Wei Yong is dead, the situation in Han has changed."

Lü Buwei's tone carried a hint of regret.
“Our strongholds in Wei have been wiped out, but that doesn’t matter. As long as there’s profit to be made, we can always find new partners and infiltrate again with some time and money. But with Wei Yong gone, Wei’s army has a chance to win.”

"Can we win if we continue to fight the allied forces head-on? Of course we can! But how many of my Qin soldiers will die or be wounded? How much food, supplies and weapons will be consumed? The cost will be too high."

"The costs are too high, the profits are too thin, and it may even result in losses. From a 'business' perspective, it is necessary to cut losses in time and find the next opportunity."

After hearing these words, Ying Zheng stared blankly at the chessboard in front of him, and his feelings were completely different.

I used to think that the conquest of great powers was about swords and horses, about overwhelming force, about the passionate blood of heroes and kings.

However, at this moment, the glamorous facade is ruthlessly torn away, revealing its most authentic and ugliest core.

What remains is only a cold exchange of interests, and dirty, even despicable and vile conspiracies and betrayals.

However, Lü Buwei's teaching was not yet over.

"King Yan of Zhao will not live much longer." His tone suddenly shifted, and with a smile, he uttered a shocking statement.

Ying Zheng's pupils contracted: "What makes you say such a thing, Prime Minister?"

Lü Buwei picked up his teacup and spoke softly:
"Because he deposed his eldest son Jia, born to his principal wife, and installed Qian, the son of the new queen, as crown prince. With a crown prince, the king becomes replaceable."

"Because, as long as King Yan of Zhao is alive, that queen who was born a prostitute will always just be a queen. But if... the young king ascends the throne, she can naturally become the empress dowager, take over the royal power, and turn the entire Zhao kingdom into her plaything."

The courtyard was eerily quiet, save for the chirping of insects, which only made the words sound even more sinister.

Lü Buwei leaned forward slightly and whispered:
"An ambitious queen wants to become a powerful queen dowager. Your Majesty, what do you think she will do?"

"boom--!!!"

Ying Zheng felt a bone-chilling coldness travel from the very end of his spine all the way to the top of his head.

He was so startled he almost jumped out of his seat!
The young emperor ascends the throne! The empress dowager takes power!
Lu Buwei's words, seemingly spoken to the Queen of Zhao, sounded to Ying Zheng as if they were directed at his mother, Zhao Ji, who was increasingly indulging in the lust for power!
Lü Buwei, and his mother... weren't they also examples of "a young emperor ascending the throne, with powerful ministers and the crown prince seizing royal power"?!
His father, King Zhuangxiang, also died in his prime, and his death was...so sudden!
An unprecedented fear and anger instantly gripped Ying Zheng's heart!

He even felt suffocated!
Seeing Ying Zheng's face turn deathly pale and even contorted in an instant, Lü Buwei's sinister expression vanished, and he smiled, his tone softening:

"So, Your Majesty."

"Sitting in this position, you must never, ever trust any woman, not even your mother, not even the person you love most."

"Because you'll never know what she's thinking, or why she'll point a knife at you!"

“The secret guards will help you remove any tangible blades, but the medicine that the Queen herself fed you is almost impossible to cure.”

"Even the most loyal imperial physician can be led astray by someone else's gold. A bowl of soup that is too hot, a wrong herb... the life of a monarch is far more fragile than imagined."

Ying Zheng etched this bloody warning into his heart, his fingernails digging deep into his palms.

He secretly vowed that he would never establish a queen in the future! He would also put a hundred times more effort into her diet and medicine!
Seeing that he had taken his words to heart, Lü Buwei nodded in satisfaction. He picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and said slowly and deliberately:
“I met the late king when we were both still in humble circumstances, and we were very close friends. When the late king was in the state of Zhao, he was already weak and sickly. Moreover, there were still the Queen Dowager Huayang and the Queen Dowager Xia in the palace. Even if the Queen Dowager Zhao… Ah, if the late king were still alive, my situation would actually be better.”

His words seemed to be an explanation to Ying Zheng, clearing himself of suspicion, but they also carried a sense of emotion and reminiscence that no one could understand.

Ying Zheng then realized the intricate power structure within the Qin royal palace.

From the perspective of pure self-interest, the death of his father was indeed a mixed blessing for the prime minister, with the disadvantages outweighing the advantages.

After all, the Prime Minister was already the prime minister when his father, the king, was still alive, and he held great power.

This is fundamentally different from Li Yuan of the State of Chu, who relied entirely on his sister to rise to power and needed the king to die suddenly in order to seize supreme power.

At this moment, Ying Zheng finally understood why Lü Buwei wanted to withdraw his troops.

One reason for this was the failure to prevent the alliance of the six states.

Meanwhile, the Wei state, which was the main force in the attack, lost Wei Yong, a crucial "traitor," who was killed within its ranks.

Even if the Qin Dynasty were to win, it would be a Pyrrhic victory with heavy casualties, which would certainly not be worthwhile.

If we can be patient for two or three years, and wait for the Zheng Guo Canal to be completed in China, the Guanzhong Plain will be fertile for thousands of miles, and the country's strength will be further enhanced.

After King Yan of Zhao died suddenly, the State of Zhao fell into a power struggle and internal strife over the succession.

Then, in the states of Wei and Han, they began to cultivate a new "Wei Yong" and "Ji Wuye".

At that point, if war breaks out again, the six states will have completely lost any chance of turning the tide.

Even Ying Zheng had to admit that his chancellor's move was indeed brilliant, rather than being worried about losing and threatening his own prestige.

It's just his habit to try to get the greatest benefit at the lowest cost.

At this moment, Ying Zheng's awe of Lü Buwei reached an unprecedented peak.

For the first time, he also clearly felt the enormous gap between himself and this "Prime Minister" in terms of political maneuvering.

Just as Lü Buwei was about to say something more, he suddenly noticed something on the horizon out of the corner of his eye.

A dazzling streak of light, starting from the east, trailed a long fiery tail, traversed the sky, and plummeted into the northern night sky!
"Snapped--!"

As the founder of the Miscellaneous School, Lü Buwei was also a master of the I Ching and an expert in astrology. He instantly realized what the astrological signs meant, and the teacup in his hand fell to the ground and shattered on the cold stone slab.

Tea splashed everywhere, and tea shards flew everywhere.

At this moment, the face of this shrewd and strategic prime minister, who viewed the world as a game of chess, drained of all color from his eyes.

(End of this chapter)