Chapter 371: Lofty Ambitions

The First Emperor stayed in Gui County for a very long time, from early April all the way to the end of the month.

He was waiting here for two things. The first was his ministers' views on "Western Expansion."

As the Emperor expected, apart from Wu Shiluo's opposition, the three commandery governors and commandants—including Li Xin—Neishi Teng, and Meng Tian all submitted memorials expressing support. Even the Imperial Secretary and the Commandant of Justice, far away in Xianyang, agreed with the policy of consolidating the three commanderies of Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun, though they felt that opening up the lands of the Hu and Rong could be deliberated further.

In truth, the Emperor's gaze had once lingered on the northwest as well; the lands of Henan and Hetao were also among his objectives.

But his view was the opposite of Heifu's. He believed the Yuezhi and Xiongnu were still strong, possessing tens of thousands of bowstring-pulling warriors, a military force no less than that of a civilized state. To conquer them, he feared, would require mobilizing several hundred thousand troops.

The Baiyue, on the other hand, were weak and could be subdued with a mere proclamation. Therefore, after proclaiming himself Emperor, he planned to deal with the south first and the north later.

It was not until Heifu presented his campaign journal, *The Record of the Southern Expedition*, that the First Emperor, after perusing it, gained an entirely new understanding of the south.

Jiangnan was far more vast than he had imagined. Traveling from northern Yuzhang to the south took over a month, and in many places there were no roads at all—only dense forests everywhere. The soldiers had to cut down trees as they advanced, leading to enormous attrition.

One could well imagine that the environment and climate of Lingnan were even harsher than Yuzhang. This war, which had not yet begun, would be far more difficult than the First Emperor had envisioned.

This sliver of hesitation grew when Heifu changed course, arguing that the southern campaign should be postponed and that the northwest should be attacked first.

No matter how inflated and arrogant the First Emperor might be, he knew that fighting a war on two fronts simultaneously was unrealistic; one inevitably had to come before the other.

The southern expedition, apart from the desire for conquest, was merely for the rhinoceros horns, elephant tusks, kingfisher feathers, pearls, and jewels of Yue. These treasures could satisfy his collecting obsession and also allow the Privy Treasury to earn a great deal of money.

Western Expansion, on the other hand, could seize the lush pastures of Hexi, Hetao, and Henan, adding three great grazing grounds to the empire, and could also avenge the century-long harassment of the Central Plains by the Hu and Rong.

The benefits of the latter clearly outweighed the former. The scales in the Emperor's heart gradually tilted toward Western Expansion, and ever since Wu Zhi interpreted his dream, the scales had tipped completely to the west!

Thinking thus, the First Emperor set aside the memorials at hand and summoned an usher, asking, "Go and urge those decorative painters again! I must see the portrait today!"

The second thing he was waiting for was a painting: a portrait of the Queen Mother of the West...

The First Emperor's imperial entourage included not only civil and military officials, palace guards, and attendants, but also grooms, weaver-women, cooks, and artisans responsible for the clothing, food, shelter, and travel of over a thousand people. Among the hundred craftsmen, there were even three "decorative painters" who used colors and dyes to paint on silk and objects. If the Emperor liked the scenery of a place, he would order them to paint it on silk. Over the course of the journey, they had already painted quite a few.

But the task they received today was somewhat unusual: the Emperor ordered the three painters to attempt a portrait of the Queen Mother of the West...

Painting divine beings was no difficulty for the painters. The three men came from Chu, the state where the art of silk painting was most mature. The people of Chu were romantic and rich in imagination. Besides traditional dragon-and-phoenix silk paintings, the painters often depicted celestial phenomena and deities to express the mythological world of the Chu imagination.

One of them had even painted the image of the Queen Mother of the West from the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* before. He took up the fine brush and, using mineral pigments like cinnabar, azurite, and malachite, began to paint on fine silk fabric.

Two days later, the painting was finished. The Queen Mother of the West was depicted with a leopard's tail and beast-like ears, her hair disheveled, her tiger teeth exposed, brimming with a wild allure. She stood alone atop a high mountain peak, roaring into the distance, as clouds and mist swirled and rolled beneath her feet.

The painters joyfully presented the silk painting to the Emperor, only to have it thrown back at them...

"Paint it again!"

The three painters looked at each other in dismay. In their land of Chu, this was exactly what the Queen Mother of the West looked like.

But since the Emperor had spoken, they had no choice but to steel themselves and reconsider. After consulting learned scholars like Wang Wan and spending another two days, they finally produced a new image of the Queen Mother of the West as imagined by the Daoists in the *Liezi*.

Now, the Queen Mother of the West transformed from a half-human, half-beast creature into a white-haired old woman with a youthful face. Her hair was snowy white, she wore a feathered robe, and she dwelt in seclusion within a cave on an immortal mountain. A "feathered being" with a human head and a bird's body attended to her.

Yet the Emperor took only one glance and was still not satisfied. The silk painting was directly burned.

"Not to my liking. Paint it again!"

Things should not exceed three attempts. If the third attempt still failed to satisfy the Emperor, although they might not be dragged out and beheaded immediately, punishment was certain.

The three painters were utterly distressed. They could only ask their superior, the Assistant of the Privy Treasury, Heifu, for help, seeking out the "originator" of the whole affair, Wu Zhi, to ask what image of the Queen Mother of the West the Sovereign truly had in mind.

Wu Zhi had already been enlightened. When the painters humbly inquired, he said slowly, "It is rumored that the Queen Mother of the West neither ages nor dies, having lived from the time of the Yellow Emperor until now. She should possess eternal youth. How could she be an old woman?"

The painters now understood. After discussing it together, they decided to use the "Goddess of Mount Wu," whom they had painted for the King of Chu back in Chu, as a template to create a beautiful goddess of eternal youth.

Two more days passed, and the silk painting completed by the three painters working together was once again sent into the temporary palace. When the scroll was hung up, the First Emperor saw that the entire silk painting depicted the scene of the Jade Pool on Mount Tianshan. Tall twelve golden men stood guard at the very bottom, as if awaiting guests. Looking upward, the banquet was filled with flamboyant curtains, tripods, ewers, and stacks of handled cups, all brimming with jade nectar and various immortal herbs and fruits. Feathered beings held goblets in their beaks, immortal maidens carried offering vessels, and strange beasts in the shapes of long snakes, great tortoises, owls, and goats were distributed around.

And at the very center of the silk painting was a goddess, appearing around thirty years of age, her figure perfectly proportioned, her heavenly bearing gentle and veiled, her countenance peerless in the world, dignified and magnificent...

She rode in a phoenix chariot drawn by six dragons, with two white cranes standing to her left and right. Above her head was a sun with a golden crow inside, appearing incomparably brilliant.

The painters prostrated themselves on the ground, anxiously awaiting the Emperor's judgment. But the First Emperor remained silent for a long time, his eyes admiring the recreated scene of the Jade Pool and the countenance of the Queen Mother. Only after a good while did he praise, "Excellent!"

The painters were overjoyed and thereupon presented a fu poem to describe the Queen Mother of the West's appearance:

"Never seen since high antiquity, unknown to this age, her wondrous form and noble bearing are beyond all praise. When she first approaches, she dazzles like the white sun rising to shine upon the roof beams; as she draws nearer, she gleams like the bright moon spreading its radiance. In an instant, beauty overflows: radiant as a flower, gentle as lustrous jade. In her splendid adornment, silks and gauzes abound in rich patterns, her perfect attire and wondrous hues illuminate all quarters. She paces gracefully, illuminating the hall; suddenly her expression shifts, graceful as a swimming dragon soaring through the clouds on mist..."

Although it fit the scene perfectly, this was directly plagiarized from Song Yu's *Fu on the Goddess*. The Chu painters thought themselves clever, but they did not expect that someone by the First Emperor's side had read this piece before and immediately pointed it out. The First Emperor, however, did not blame the painters, only saying:

"Why is there no one by my side with literary brilliance like Song Yu, who could compose a *Fu on the Queen Mother of the West*?"

At these words, the close ministers skilled in verse and fu were all eager to try, but the First Emperor then dismissed the idea.

He still disliked the fu of Chu, which pursued flowery rhetoric excessively and were far too affected, and were also mixed with a large number of terms unique to the Chu region.

And so the First Emperor sighed with regret: "The Queen Mother of the West is the daughter of the Heavenly Thearch, embodying the wondrous creation of heaven and earth, yin and yang. Her image is peerless, her beauty boundless, her bearing sublime. Without beholding her with one's own eyes, how can one lightly speak of her appearance? I must see her!"

That night, having ordered the silk painting hung in his bedchamber, the First Emperor held a candle and once again scrutinized it for a long time, his gaze fixed, lost in unknown thoughts.

When even the inner attendant came to ask whether he would summon any of the accompanying consorts to attend him that night, he waved him away impatiently.

Ever since the mother of Huhai died, the Emperor had lost the last consort he still somewhat favored. The remaining Ladies, Seventh-Rank Ladies, and Eighth-Rank Ladies were all indistinguishable in his eyes. As for the thousands of palace women captured from the Six Kingdoms, he remained guarded and favored none of them, merely letting them wither away in the constructed palaces of the Six Kings. The imperial chariot rumbled past like sudden thunder; the palace cart passed by, its distant rumble fading, vanishing to who knows where...

On every journey, the Emperor only selected the most obedient few to accompany him, occasionally favoring one, but it was always like a routine duty, devoid of any pleasure.

To the First Emperor, they were no more interesting than the bamboo-slip memorials piled on his desk.

But ever since Wu Zhi interpreted his dream, the First Emperor discovered that he had once again developed a strong interest in a woman!

That was the mysterious Queen Mother of the West!

Toward mysterious matters and legends of heaven and man—whether the immortal islands of Penglai and Yingzhou spoken of by the fangshi, or the giants of Kuafu and the land of the Queen Mother of the West mentioned by Wu Zhi—the First Emperor maintained an attitude of believing them to be true rather than false.

Because deep in his heart, he had always been hinting to himself: "I am no ordinary man, but a true Son of Heaven!"

His loathing for his mother made him prefer to believe that he was born of the heavenly mandate, descended from a dark bird.

The Yin people, who shared the same origin as the Qin, believed that "the king is a guest of the Thearch." The major former kings of Shang, like High Ancestor Taiyi, Grand Ancestor Taijia, and Middle Ancestor Zuyi, could all ascend to heaven after death and receive the title of "Thearch."

The Zhou was different. Although they called themselves Sons of Heaven, they already considered themselves ordinary men, merely shepherding the people on behalf of Heaven. Thus, they discarded the title of Thearch and called themselves human kings.

And entering the Warring States period, the seven great powers successively proclaimed themselves kings, with even tiny Zhongshan and Song joining in the excitement. The mystical aura of kingship was utterly lost. Everyone knew that even if a pig wore a crown, it was a king, and once power was lost, a king was less than a commoner.

This was also why the First Emperor insisted on adding the title of Thearch for himself. He wanted to re-invest himself with the mystical aura of the Yin-Shang emperors!

The First Emperor also faintly hoped that his achievement of unifying all within the seas and bringing great harmony to the world—a merit surpassing the Three Sovereigns and virtue exceeding the Five Thearchs—could earn the reward of August Heaven, allowing him to ascend to the highest heavens after death and continue to be the luminous Supreme Thearch in the sky.

Or better yet, live forever without dying, and be emperor for ten thousand generations himself!

But Qin Shi Huang, nearing forty, could already feel his body aging, feel his strength failing his will.

That was why he threw himself recklessly into expanding his mausoleum at Mount Li, determined to build a magnificent underground palace. And in Guanzhong, he launched massive construction projects, intending — as the fangshi claimed — to make the Wei River his Milky Way and Xianyang Palace his Purple Tenuity Star, creating an earthly celestial kingdom.

When the auspicious omen appeared in Longxi, he immediately cast the Twelve Metal Colossi and placed them before the palace gates.

All of this, everything, seemed like one vast ritual, an attempt to draw the attention of Vast Heaven.

Yet deep in his heart, the emperor was clear-headed: none of this was really of any use, merely futile effort. No divine being descended upon Guanzhong, his body did not suddenly grow young, and ascending to immortality on winged transformation remained impossibly distant.

So he once again employed fangshi and alchemists, some to concoct elixirs, and made plans to send men overseas to seek immortals.

It was not until Wu Zhi laid before the emperor a legend more intriguing, more captivating, that his gaze shifted from the mist-shrouded Eastern Sea and turned back toward the west, not so far from the land of Qin.

Wu Zhi presented him with a new choice: the Eastern Sea had rumors of immortality, but so did the west.

Yet the Eastern Sea held only nameless, obscure "immortals" with no specific titles, while the west had the deeply alluring Queen Mother of the West!

Qin Shi Huang believed the Queen Mother of the West truly existed, believed she possessed the art of eternal life and ageless beauty, and that she had sent the Twelve Metal Colossi to extend him an invitation.

This invitation — the emperor resolved to accept it!

But he had no intention of following King Mu of Zhou's example, leading a retinue on a distant expedition into uncharted lands. That would be an irresponsible act of abandoning the realm.

Qin Shi Huang was a man who could attend to both his passions and affairs of state; he would absolutely never take a single step beyond his own territory!

This westward inspection tour was, from the start, Qin Shi Huang's journey to trace his roots.

After unifying the world and fulfilling his long-cherished wish, he had briefly felt a trace of disorientation.

The emperor had lost his former drive. Even garrisoning troops in Jiangnan and campaigning south against the Baiyue had been merely habitual attempts to find himself a new goal.

That was why he wanted to come to Qinian Palace, to the small town where his ancestors had dwelled: to find his original self, to find the soaring ambition that had risen in his heart when Lao Ai's rebel army besieged the city and the beacon fires were lit! To find what generations of Qin people, striving unceasingly and searching through hardship, had been seeking.

And now, Qin Shi Huang had found it.

The once-lost soaring ambition blazed fiercely in his eyes once more!

He ordered a map of Longxi Commandery hung beside the silk painting of the Queen Mother of the West. Qin Shi Huang placed his hand on the westernmost reaches of his domain — Didao, Lintao — then slowly moved it westward beyond the Great Wall, passing through the lands of the various Qiang, the Yuezhi, reaching a blank expanse of territory, and finally resting it on what might be the Kunlun or Tianshan Mountains. He tapped it heavily!

"Fight through!"

Expanding westward and searching for the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West — these two endeavors, Qin Shi Huang intended to pursue as one.

Even if thousands of miles apart, it mattered not. All lands traversed along the way — those who submit to Qin shall prosper, those who oppose Qin shall perish!

He had already conquered the crowned and sashed lords of the East!

Once the roads were opened and the land of the Queen Mother of the West was found, Qin Shi Huang would make a second western tour.

He would travel along newly built imperial highways, leading a vast procession, crossing shifting sands and grasslands, with drums, pipes, and flutes sounding all the way, to the ice and snow of Kunlun and Tianshan, to attend the Jasper Pool Banquet and see with his own eyes whether the Queen Mother of the West possessed peerless beauty and held the secret of ageless immortality.

And then, he would repay her courtesy with a gift of his own, inviting her to return with him. Emperor and Queen Mother would ride in the same chariot back to Xianyang, parading through the already-completed Guanzhong palaces and earthly celestial kingdom, receiving the worship of countless subjects.

And letting all know that their emperor, like the Queen Mother of the West, was a god!

Qin Shi Huang had countless women in his life, yet no queen. Even after becoming emperor, no matter how his ministers hinted, he never named any woman his empress.

Because none of them were worthy!

How could a mortal woman match the Son of Heaven?

And looking across the entire world, the only one worthy of him was the Queen Mother of the West!

Legend said she was a "Divine Daughter," the daughter of the Heavenly Thearch — which, by reckoning, made her and Qin Shi Huang, the "Son of Heaven," akin to sister and brother.

But what of it? Qin Shi Huang cared nothing for such details, nor even for the legend that the Queen Mother of the West and King Mu of Zhou once shared a story.

"King Mu of Zhou was a mediocre ruler. What virtue or ability did he possess, that he was permitted to roam the heavens with the Queen Mother of the West?"

That was why, though he was said to have lived a hundred years, he still died.

But he himself was different. He would achieve eternal life and rule from the first generation to the ten-thousandth!

The emperor gazed at the silk painting of the Queen Mother of the West — beautiful and dignified, her expression forbidding any violation or profanity — yet what filled his heart was not admiration, but pure, unadulterated desire for conquest!

Even a divine maiden must bow her head to him; even an immortal must submit to the emperor!

Qin Shi Huang pointed at the Queen Mother of the West, who wore a mysterious smile in the silk painting, and in a tone that brooked no rebuttal or doubt, declared proudly:

"We shall make you Our Empress!"

PS: Well, if you're interested, go look up the Mawangdui silk paintings yourself.

(End of chapter)