Chapter 365: Qinian Palace

In the twenty-seventh year of the First Emperor, the third month, Heifu had no idea about the mess unfolding back in his hometown. He was following the imperial procession of the First Emperor, traveling west out of Xianyang along the high-speed post road.

Even from the perspective of a man of later eras like Heifu, this highway was outrageously extravagant. Especially within the first ten li beyond Xianyang's western gate, the road was fifty paces wide, enough for ten chariots to run abreast! Every three zhang, a straight green pine was planted. The roadbed was yellow earth, pounded thick and solid with crushed stone. The middle lane was the exclusive passage for the emperor's tours, flanked on both sides by the official road, and only the very edges were the zones where commoners' carts, horses, and pedestrians could travel.

This road alone was the height of luxury. Heifu guessed the idea was that when the chieftains of the western Yiqu, Di, and Qiang tribes came to pay homage, they would be stunned by this road, wide as a plaza, before they even entered Xianyang.

Ten li out of Xianyang, after Duting, the road's width mercifully narrowed somewhat, but it was still so broad and smooth it could rival the township roads of later ages. Relieved from his duty as a guard, Heifu, the Junior Supervisor of the Lesser Treasury, could lean against the carriage rail, doze off, and ride comfortably all the way to the old Qin capital, Yongcheng.

The Yong region, straddling the north and south banks of the Wei River, was a hundred li of fertile wilderness—the very place where King Wen and King Wu of Zhou first laid the foundations of their royal enterprise. The Book of Songs praises it: "The plain of Zhou was rich and fertile, even the bitter herbs were sweet as malt." It was a pity that the Zhou people had long ago abandoned this land to the Quanrong, fleeing to the safety of Chengzhou to eke out a precarious existence, promising: "The Quanrong are without principle, seizing our ancestral lands of Qi and Feng. Any feudal lord, minister, or grand officer who can expel the Quanrong shall possess that land!"

A branch of the Ying clan named "Qin" took up this promise. For generations, heedless of death, they shed their blood and threw down their lives, recovering the Zhou plain near Mount Qi inch by inch and driving out the Rong hordes. For this land it could no longer control, the Zhou royal house fulfilled its word, and with a grand wave of the hand, gave it to the Qin people.

The Qin people then built cities here. In the time of Duke De of Qin, they migrated from their remote old home on the western frontier and established their first true capital, "Yong." Twenty-six generations have passed since then.

The layout of Yongcheng was very distinctive, a classic "Old Qin" style—straightforward and direct, horizontal lines perfectly horizontal, vertical lines perfectly vertical, foursquare and rock-steady. The buildings, archaic in design, set against the surrounding loess plateau, looked somewhat worn and lacked the youthful vigor of Xianyang.

The First Emperor, however, was very fond of this city, because it was here that he first grasped great power.

From that time on, he understood that power, to him, was like a vicious dragon (shark) that had tasted blood!

So after paying respects at the ancestral temple of Duke Mu of Qin and other former rulers, the Emperor did not choose the "Great Zheng Palace" where his ancestors had customarily stayed. Instead, he took up residence in the "Qinian Palace," located on the loess plateau south of the city.

This palace also had some age to it, having been built three hundred years prior during the time of Duke Hui of Qin, and renovated several times since. It covered nearly a thousand mu, with over twenty courtyards and more than six hundred rooms, pavilions, stone kiosks, and high terraces. A hidden channel diverted the Yong River to form a large pond, winding among the hills and courtyards. It was early summer, and the trees were lush, the flowers and grasses flourishing.

But Heifu noticed that the palace walls here were built entirely to wartime standards, as solid as a fortress. On the ramparts, there were still traces of metal and fire—scars left by a rebellion eighteen years ago.

That night, the Emperor laid out a banquet in Qinian Palace. Besides the ministers in his retinue, he also invited many who had rendered meritorious service in the "Qinian Palace Incident" to attend.

Since it was a feast for old friends and former heroes, Heifu, as a newly risen favorite, could only sit at the very last seat at the end of the hall. However, the normally low-profile Prefect of the Palace Chariots, Zhao Gao, was this time beckoned by the Emperor with a wave of his hand and summoned to a seat near the front.

Revisiting his old haunt, the Emperor was somewhat moved. He raised his goblet and said: "I recall it was the fourth month, I was twenty-two, lodging in Yongcheng, undergoing the capping ceremony, wearing a sword. Yet the traitor Lao Ai forged my imperial seal, mobilized county troops, guard troops, official cavalry, Rong and Di chieftains, and his own retainers, intending to attack Qinian Palace and start a rebellion!"

He gestured, pointing at the obsequious Zhao Gao: "It was Zhao Gao, then a Gentleman Guard, who became aware of this matter and entered the palace at night to report it. Only then could I prepare in advance and be the first to dispatch troops to quell the rebellion."

"This was Your Majesty receiving the protection of vast Heaven. How dare this humble subject claim any credit?" Zhao Gao said, profoundly fearful and apprehensive.

The Emperor, however, would not let him refuse the credit. He ordered the master of ceremonies to bestow wine. Zhao Gao drained the cup in one gulp, then knocked his head to the ground, his face streaming with tears.

"What a performance."

Watching this scene from the end of the hall, Heifu clicked his tongue in wonder.

"The Qinian Palace Incident—that must be Zhao Gao's greatest political credential..." Heifu thought to himself. He then counted on his fingers, did some mental math, and discovered a startling fact.

Of the heroes of the Qinian Palace Incident, Lord Changwen had died early. Lord Changping, Xiong Qi; General Huan Yi; and the Commander Fan Yuqi had all subsequently betrayed the state. Their names had become forbidden words, which the Emperor allowed no one to mention.

Only Zhao Gao stood firm, never falling. Though his rank and office were not high, he had always enjoyed the First Emperor's trust.

A bold thought suddenly struck Heifu: "Wait a moment. Xiong Qi, Huan Yi, Fan Yuqi—these three unlucky wretches betrayed the state one after another. Each had his own reasons, but it's too neat. Could it be that they all fell into Zhao Gao's traps and were driven down the path of no return?"

Calculated this way, this fellow's cunning and scheming were truly terrifying. Heifu raised his vigilance against Zhao Gao to the maximum.

While Heifu was lost in thought, the First Emperor began his reminiscence.

On that day of the jiyou cyclical sign, wearing the royal crown, he had stood atop the palace gate with a long sword, proudly looking down upon Lao Ai's rebel army, ambushed and caught off guard. Under the distant, clear blue sky, a thick column of wolf-smoke rose straight up from Qinian Palace, summoning the loyal men of the old capital to gather under the royal banner and exterminate the rebels!

With the combined efforts of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Yongcheng, the battle ended. Lao Ai fled in defeat. The First Emperor then dispatched troops to attack Lao Ai, fought in Xianyang, and took several hundred heads! The rebellion was thus quelled!

That was the first victory where the First Emperor, after nine stifling years under the shadow of his mother the Queen Dowager, Lao Ai, and Lü Buwei, could finally hold his head high.

But after the victory, the First Emperor broke out in a cold sweat. Because besides Lao Ai's partisans like the Assistant Arbalist Jie and the Prefect of Palace Attendants Qi, the Commandant of the Guard Jie, who controlled Xianyang's military power, and the Metropolitan Superintendent Si, responsible for the defense of the Guanzhong region, had all been embroiled in the rebellion! Over four thousand families of Lao Ai's faction were implicated and punished.

Without the victory at Qinian Palace, let alone unifying the world, the First Emperor would likely have been abducted and made a puppet, or even assassinated!

Therefore, on this occasion of all under Heaven being united, the elders of the royal house who had contributed to quelling the rebellion that day absolutely had to be richly rewarded!

"The three elders of the Meng, Xi, and Bai clans."

The First Emperor ordered the attendant to pour wine once more and had the goblets delivered to the three elders seated at the place of honor.

Heifu pricked up his ears. These three clans were the only old aristocratic families left in Qin. The ancestor of the Meng clan was Mengming Shi, son of the famous minister Baili Xi from the time of Duke Mu. The ancestors of the Xi and Bai clans were, respectively, Xi Qishu and Bai Yibing, the two sons of Jian Shu, a famous minister contemporary with Baili Xi. The three generals had once attacked the state of Jin together; defeated time and again, they were pardoned by Duke Mu of Qin, fought again and lost again, and finally succeeded in avenging their shame.

As the Emperor bestowed wine, the three elders hurriedly rose, trembling. The First Emperor bade them dispense with ceremony and said: "Since the time of our former ruler Duke Mu, the three clans have dwelt in Mei County for generations. For over four hundred years now, you have been loyal and devoted in protecting the state..."

Although in the early years of Shang Yang's reforms, the three clans had opposed them no small amount, in the end, these clans, martial for generations, adapted to the system of military merit ranks. Though they produced no high officials or famous generals, they contributed many mid-level officers to Qin.

Especially during the Qinian Palace Incident: upon seeing the wolf-smoke from Qinian Palace, the three clans immediately mobilized their entire clan forces to rescue the sovereign. Afterwards, they served as the main force in the counterattack against the Lao Ai faction that had fled back to Xianyang.

However, after the rebellion was quelled, the Meng, Xi, and Bai clans—always fiercely clannish—joined with the military merit nobility of Guanzhong and the royal house ministers to present a demand to the First Emperor.

"Expel the foreign guests!"

They believed that all of Qin's problems were caused by these guest ministers from the other feudal states. Drive them all away, let the old Qin people hold power, and then they could focus single-mindedly on external affairs.

The First Emperor, having relied on the royal house ministers to quell the rebellion, could only adopt this inferior policy given the political situation at the time. But this was halted by Li Si's "Petition Against the Expulsion of Guest Officers." Li Si, Lord Changping, Lord Changwen, and Wang Wan were then employed by the First Emperor, used to balance the native faction. The native faction, which had just begun to raise its head, sank back into silence once more.

"We shed blood and sweat to quell the rebellion, but those in power in Xianyang are still those guest ministers from east of the pass!"

The younger generation of the Meng, Xi, and Bai clans were quite resentful of this, but the clan heads suppressed their complaints. The sovereign's will was hard to fathom. Ever since the time of Duke Xiao of Qin, when their three clans' interests were sacrificed to implement the reforms, they had understood this principle. But what could be done? For dozens of generations, they had been loyal to Qin. Grace and disgrace, honor and shame—they had to endure it all in silence.

But today, summoned to the seat of honor and granted wine by the Emperor, the three elders, reflecting that the great wish of Qin's successive rulers to unify the world had been realized, and seeing that the Emperor had not forgotten their past merits, felt their hearts surge with emotion. After a brief hesitation, they boldly made a request of the First Emperor.

The Meng clan head said: "Valiant warriors are the shields and ramparts of the state altars. Our loyalty to the sovereign and to the state is merely our duty. How dare we claim credit?"

The Xi clan head took over: "But today, we old men have just one matter we wish to entreat of Your Majesty!"

The Bai clan head delivered the final petition: "We beseech Your Majesty, do not send our young men to farm and garrison in Jiangnan anymore. Let them remain west of the pass!"

What the three clan heads were referring to was the matter from the first month, when Commandant Tu Sui and Zhao Tuo led troops south to garrison Changsha and Cangwu. The "water poison disease" that had broken out the year before and the year before that in Pengli Marsh and Zhen Marsh was now known to everyone. After Heifu explained the pathogenic principles of blood flukes, it immediately sparked panic among the northerners.

In their eyes, south of the Yangtze River was a terrifying place, dense with forests where venomous snakes clustered like blades of grass. They heard that every summer and autumn, when the pepper flowers fell, miasmic vapors rose thickly, and blood flukes bred in the water. Those who waded into the water were like those wading into boiling soup—two or three out of ten would die! And there were also barbarians with blackened teeth and tattooed foreheads who killed men and ate their flesh, grinding their bones into a paste for sauce.

In short, it was no place for humans. Even a strong, healthy man sent there would die an early death.

Now that the water poison disease had been confirmed, these legends were practically hammered into certainty!

Filled with dread of the southern climate, the Meng, Xi, and Bai clans were extremely resistant to Commandant Tu Sui's conscription of Guanzhong's young men to go south. Having also learned through certain channels that the Emperor might conscript even more soldiers to Changsha and Yuzhang the following year, they seized this opportunity to complain to the Emperor, hoping he would stop transferring troops and generals to Jiangnan.

The First Emperor held his golden goblet and remained silent.

The southern conquest of the Baiyue lands was one of the new goals he had found after unifying the world, standardizing cart tracks and writing. He treated the Meng, Xi, and Bai clans with leniency, but that did not mean he would tolerate them opposing state policy!

But the Emperor did not directly state his own opinion. He swept his gaze over the assembled ministers in the hall and said with a smile: "The three elders of Meng, Xi, and Bai request that the Jiangnan garrisons be halted. What do you, my ministers, think?"

He scanned the people in the hall, his eyes resting especially on the very end, where Heifu sat deep in thought.

"Junior Supervisor of the Lesser Treasury, Heifu. Among all present, you are the only one who has been to Jiangnan, who has reached the extreme south at Limen and the Five Ranges. What is your opinion?"

(End of chapter)