Starting with ten elixirs of immortality, I led the First Emperor to rebel against the Qin Dynasty.

Fusu?

Ying Zheng paused for a moment.

He returned to Xianyang Palace, first to verify the elixir, then to deal with the alchemist, and then to see Bai Qi. Each and every matter was of paramount importance concerning the fate of the Qin Dynasty.

At this moment, the last person he wanted to see was his eldest son, who was full of morality and benevolence.

"Let him in."

Ying Zheng finally waved his hand.

The door to the Qilin Palace was pushed open, and Fusu, dressed in brocade robes, strode in.

Fusu was handsome, tall and upright, with a refined and scholarly air. But to Ying Zheng, who had seen Zhao Huan and taken the elixir of immortality, and whose aura had become even more profound, Fusu exuded a fragility that he disliked.

As soon as Fusu entered the palace, he knelt down on the ground, his voice earnest.

"Father! I have heard that you have imprisoned all the palace sorcerers, and I am filled with fear. I have come to plead for their lives!"

Ying Zheng sat back on the throne, looking at him expressionlessly without saying a word.

Seeing this, Fusu assumed that Ying Zheng was waiting for his explanation, so he composed himself and said loudly, "Father, I know that the words of alchemists are often false, or even constitute the crime of deceiving the emperor. But the Book of Documents says, 'It is better to let the truth go unpunished than to kill the innocent.' When a sage governs a country, he should prioritize moral education and then punishment. Although those alchemists act absurdly, their true intention is to seek longevity and well-being for Father, not to plot any rebellion."

"To imprison them all in the imperial prison now would be considered cruel. To execute them all without questioning their circumstances would be contrary to the principles of Heaven and not the act of a benevolent ruler. We implore Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly and grant them leniency, so as to demonstrate the benevolent rule of our Great Qin and appease the hearts of the people!"

Ying Zheng listened quietly as Fusu spouted "benevolence and righteousness," Confucian doctrines he was already tired of hearing.

Zhao Huan's nonchalant voice echoed in my mind.

"Father, you can use Confucianism, but you absolutely mustn't believe it; it's all just a way to fool people!"

One of them regarded Confucianism as the guiding principle and used it to advise his father.

Another person views Confucianism as nonsense and uses it to remind their "father".

Upon comparing the two, Ying-Zhao-Zheng-Zheng felt the anger that had just subsided in his chest rise again, rushing straight to the top of his head.

He looked at Fusu kneeling on the ground, his face saying, "I'm doing this for your own good, for the good of Qin," and felt utterly disappointed.

"Are you done talking?"

Fusu was taken aback, then looked up and said, "Father, your son..."

"I'm asking you, are you done speaking!" Ying Zheng emphasized.

"Your subject... has finished speaking." Fusu was overwhelmed by the sudden pressure and lowered his head.

"Benevolent governance? Moral transformation?" Ying Zheng stood up and slowly walked down the steps.

"I will tell you what those sorcerers offered!"

Ying Zheng walked up to him and looked down at him.

"It's highly poisonous!"

"It's a deadly poison that could kill me! I've been ingesting it for years, and if it weren't for divine intervention, I'd already be nothing but a skeleton!"

"Now, you expect me to practice benevolent governance towards a group of sorcerers who want to harm me?"

Fusu trembled and turned pale; he had never expected things to turn out this way.

"Father...this...how is this possible? How dare they..."

"How dare they?" Ying Zheng sneered. "For wealth and glory, what wouldn't they dare to do?"

Fusu hurriedly explained, "Father, please calm your anger! I am unaware of the details! But... but I believe that those alchemists may not have intended to harm you, Father, but were simply unskilled and unknowingly concocted poison. As the saying goes, ignorance is no excuse. They were only seeking immortality for you, Father; their intentions are pitiful, and their actions are understandable!"

"excusable?"

Ying Zheng repeated these four words, his anger turning into a laugh.

Looking at Fusu's utterly pedantic appearance, Zhao Huan's prophecy resounded in his ears once again.

"After the First Emperor's death, Zhao Gao altered the imperial edict, and Fusu committed suicide..."

He commanded 300,000 elite Qin border troops under Meng Tian's command, but chose to commit suicide simply because of an imperial edict of dubious origin.

How foolish, how cowardly!

Then think of Zhao Huan, that newly adopted "eldest son," who had nothing of value, yet dared to drag himself, the First Emperor, along and say that he would establish the empire and build a new dynasty!

One is the successor he has painstakingly nurtured.

The other one is a son who was adopted by chance.

Why is there such a huge difference?

I'm so disappointed in you!

Previously, Ying Zheng only understood the meaning of these five words, but now he truly experienced their true meaning.

Rage consumed his reason.

Ying Zheng turned around and ripped off the belt hanging on the clothes rack.

The belt was made of the finest cowhide and inlaid with jade, a symbol of status.

At this moment, however, it became a tool for him to vent his anger.

When Fusu saw Ying Zheng tear off his belt, he was shocked and wanted to speak.

"Father, you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the belt, whistling through the air, lashed down on him!

"Snapped!"

The crisp sound echoed throughout the hall.

"Ah!" Fusu screamed, dark stains appearing on his brocade robe.

"I hereby order you to practice benevolent governance!"

"Snapped!"

"I have made an exception for you!"

"Snapped!"

"I hereby declare your ignorance is no excuse!"

Ying Zheng roared as he whipped Fusu. He wasn't hitting Fusu; he was hitting that fool who would bring about his own demise, and he was hitting that set of "benevolence and morality" that disgusted him to the extreme!

Fusu was beaten so badly that he rolled on the smooth floor tiles. At first, he tried to dodge, but later he only dared to cover his head and cry out for mercy.

"Father, please calm your anger! Father, please calm your anger!"

"Your subject knows he was wrong! Your subject will never dare to do it again!"

If the king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die.

If a father wants his son to die, the son has no choice but to die.

This is the lesson he learned.

Ying Zheng slapped the ball more than a dozen times in a row, feeling sweat on his forehead and soreness in his arms.

But at the same time, the pent-up frustration in his chest caused by the alchemist, Fusu, and the future of Qin was swept away with this action.

Feeling refreshed and relaxed all over.

He stopped, caught his breath, and realized that beating his son had such a surprising effect. He then thought of the incompetent Hu Hai in the palace.

Zhao Huan once said that the boy was also one of the main culprits who caused the Qin Dynasty to perish after only two generations.

Hmm, in the future, when I'm in a bad mood, I can take it out on those two brothers, taking turns, or both at once. Oh, and Zhao Gao too.

Ying Zheng casually threw his belt on the ground and looked at Fusu, who was curled up on the ground, disheveled and in a sorry state.

"Get back here!"

His voice was cold and devoid of any emotion.

"You are confined to your residence. Without my order, you are not to step outside the gates!"

"If you dare utter another word about benevolence and morality in front of me, I will depose you!"

Fusu trembled all over, ignoring the pain, and hurriedly kowtowed.

"Your subject... obeys the decree... Your subject takes his leave..."

Fusu struggled to his feet, bowed to Ying Zheng in farewell, and then staggered out of the Qilin Hall.

Ying Zheng watched Fusu's departing figure, his heart unmoved. Suddenly, however, he became curious.

If it were Huan'er, how would he deal with these scheming sorcerers?

To kill or to spare?

Ying Zheng decided to test his "good son" when the time came.