Chapter 555: Gazing Out from Langya Terrace

The wind that swept across Jiaodong also blew south to Langya.

Langya was the ancient territory of the Ju state, later ceded to Qi, and for a time served as the capital of King Goujian of Yue. But the Yue people could not cross the Jiang and Huai to hold it, so it fell to the Tian clan of Qi and became "Ju," one of Qi's five great administrative regions. Langya City was Ju's vital seaport and an important destination on the First Emperor of Qin's eastern tour.

East of Langya City's harbor, by the sea, stood a mountain shaped like a terrace, a hundred zhang high, hence its name: "Langya Terrace." When the First Emperor arrived, the local officials had already conscripted thirty thousand laborers to widen the roads and build a majestic traveling palace for the emperor atop Langya Terrace…

This traveling palace sat upon the Langya Terrace over a hundred zhang high. Below the terrace, three imperial roads "three to four zhang wide" were built. Nine peaks soared through the clouds, with stone paths between them called "Cloud Ladders." It was early spring, and the arbor and shrub vegetation blanketing the slopes on either side of the Cloud Ladders was bursting back to life. During the climb, if one suddenly turned around, one could see the thriving harbor and the endless surging blue of the Eastern Sea.

On his very first day at the Langya traveling palace, the First Emperor stayed up an entire night, reviewing memorials delayed by the journey. He worked from dawn till dusk, and by the time the cock crowed, he still could not sleep. He simply threw on a thick fur coat and had Zhao Gao and his other close attendants accompany him to watch the sea and await the sunrise from Langya Terrace.

As he watched the crimson sun leap from the sea, the sky ablaze with red clouds, he felt the blockages in his chest instantly dissolve, and the fatigue of the sleepless night vanished without a trace.

He decided not to sleep at all and summoned the Commandery Governor of Langya to ask about the history of Langya Terrace.

"I see the outer walls of this Langya Terrace traveling palace are ancient, the walls covered in vines. It was built many years ago. When was it first constructed?"

The Commandery Governor of Langya reported: "The earliest rulers to come here were likely Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Jing of Qi. Both delighted in Langya's scenery and did not return home for months. However, the chambers atop Langya Terrace were crude back then. The one who truly undertook large-scale construction was probably King Goujian of Yue…"

In the twenty-ninth year of King Goujian of Yue, having vanquished Wu, Goujian desired hegemony over the Central States. He moved his capital to Langya, erected an observation platform on the mountain, seven li in circumference, to gaze upon the Eastern Sea.

This was the origin of the seven-li stone city atop Langya Terrace — no wonder the architectural style bore distinct southern characteristics.

The First Emperor looked toward Chancellor Li Si at his side. "From Kuaiji to Langya, how far is it?"

Li Si reported: "By land, I fear nearly two thousand li. By water, at least fifteen hundred li."

The First Emperor shook his head upon hearing this. "King Goujian of Yue was certainly wildly ambitious."

This thousand-li relocation of the Yue capital seemed irrational, but the First Emperor could understand it. Goujian had learned from King Fuchai of Wu and sought hegemony with singular devotion. At that time, the feudal lords were all concentrated in the north, while Yue's capital at Kuaiji was tucked away in a southern coastal corner, too far to exert influence. To achieve hegemony, he had to move the capital.

It was just as Qin, wanting to rise, had to move from Yong, its isolated corner, to Xianyang, close to the Central Plains.

Langya was clearly an excellent location. South, it linked to the Huai and Si rivers; north, it reached Qing and Qi. It connected the sea and Mount Tai, controlled the Ji River, and its mountains and rivers intertwined, making it easily defensible. King Fuchai of Wu had used it as a springboard to invade Qi and attack Lu. After the Yue people vanquished Wu, they too emerged from Langya to covet Qi, Lu, and the Si River region.

The Yue people excelled with boats and oars, and Langya was a superb harbor. The southwest and northeast directions of Langya Terrace both had bays that sheltered from wind and allowed ships to dock, suitable for vessels coming and going. The Commandery Governor of Langya said that back then, Yue ordered two thousand eight hundred naval soldiers to fell trees and build boats. After five years of meticulous preparation, they deployed a massive naval force of "eight thousand death-sworn warriors and three hundred dagger-axe ships" and seized this place in one stroke.

This number was enormously large. The Kuaiji naval force currently sailing north to reinforce Langya for the Qin dynasty was only half that number.

The Commandery Governor of Langya added: "After Goujian made Langya his capital, he dominated the Qi, Lu, and Si River region for a time. It is said that even Confucius, leading seventy disciples and bearing the elegant zither of the former kings, came to pay homage to Goujian…"

"Oh?"

The First Emperor grew interested. "How did Goujian treat Confucius?"

He was very curious. One was a hegemon of the Yue barbarians, the other a sage who revered the rites of Zhou. What would a meeting between these two look like?

"According to the locals, the scene of Goujian receiving Confucius was far from cordial."

The Commandery Governor of Langya reported: "At that time, Goujian wore the 'Ciyi' armor, bore the 'Buguang' sword, and, still deeming this insufficiently awe-inspiring, held the 'Qulu' spear in his hand. He was flanked by three hundred death-sworn warriors with shorn hair and tattooed bodies, arrayed outside the city gate. Confucius and his disciples, in their loose robes and wide sleeves, had to pass through these three hundred men before they could pay homage to Goujian…"

The intimidating display was one thing, but Goujian's very first words upon seeing Confucius were utterly devoid of courtesy. He asked directly: "What does the Master have to teach me?"

Yue people were Yue people. Unlike the lords and earls of the Central Plains, who would at least exchange a few rounds of pleasantries and humility, he asked Confucius directly: What, may I ask, do you have to teach me? There was no respect in his words, only provocation and contempt.

Confucius's response was, for his part, quite proper. He answered with great solemnity: "Qiu can expound the Dao of the Duke of Zhou. Here and now, allow me to first play the elegant zither as an offering to my lord…"

However, Confucius had miscalculated. This tactic had worked on Duke Jing of Qi, Duke Ling of Wei, and even the Duke of She of Chu, but it was useless against King Goujian of Yue. Just as he was about to strum the zither, Goujian's words cut him off:

"The Yue people are by nature fragile and foolish. They sail on water, dwell in the mountains, and use boats as their chariots. They delight in weapons and dare to fight to the death, but they do not understand the elegant zither. For the Master to try to teach them with the elegant zither — I fear it will be of no use!"

In the eyes of Goujian of Yue, elegant zithers, rites, and music were all useless things. He was making it plain that he would give Confucius's "Dao of the Duke of Zhou" no chance to be heard. And so this rare meeting ended in discord…

After hearing this, the First Emperor laughed and said: "Goujian did the right thing. The learning of the Confucian scholars is indeed useless for the Way of Hegemony."

The realm had been in a state of rites collapsed and music ruined for a very long time, yet Confucius stressed proper bearing and attire, meticulously prescribing elaborate and trivial rituals — so numerous that even several generations could not finish learning them, nor a lifetime figure them out. Had King Goujian of Yue used this set of things to change the customs of the Yue people, he might have been praised by the people of Qi and Lu, but it would have run completely counter to the hegemony he sought.

In the First Emperor's view, Confucians were the sort of people who were glib of tongue, yet used rhetoric to subvert the law. Moreover, they were arrogant and self-willed, considering themselves always in the right, and could not be employed as subordinate ministers. They traveled around lobbying and begging for official emoluments, but any state that heavily employed them — such as Lu, such as Zhongshan — ultimately declined and perished.

So, let alone an uncultured man like Goujian, even his own ancestor, Duke Xiao of Qin, back when Shang Yang first entered Qin and expounded the Dao of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and the Dao of Tang and Wu respectively, Duke Xiao of Qin had listened while dozing off. It was only when Shang Yang began to speak of the Way of Hegemony and legal reform that Duke Xiao of Qin became invigorated, shifting his seat closer several times to listen.

However, as the First Emperor thought it over carefully, the situation the Yue state faced back then bore some resemblance to Qin today:

The people of the Central Plains saw Yue as barbarians, and some also saw Qin as a land of Rong and Di barbarians. That whole set of Qin laws and institutions was not accepted by the people east of the Passes, who were accustomed to laxity.

The First Emperor had also made compromises, once hoping to complete his grand unification by performing the Feng and Shan sacrifices on Mount Tai and acknowledging the eastern divine pantheon. But the result was encountering wind and rain on Mount Tai, being mocked by the Confucian scholars, who used the past to denigrate the present…

After the Edict on the Proscription of Books was issued, the Confucians fell silent for a time, but beneath the silence, their hostility grew even stronger.

"King Goujian of Yue was right not to use Confucius, not to use Confucian scholars. But how could that once-vast Yue state, stretching a thousand li from north to south, unify the customs of the Jiang, Huai, and Langya regions? How could it endure and never decline?"

This was a problem Yue never solved. After King Goujian of Yue died, Yue swiftly decayed. It was even attacked by Chu, which seized Huainan and Huaibei, severing the connection between the capital Langya and the homeland of Jiangdong and Kuaiji. The once-mighty Yue state thus fractured and perished.

This matter held a certain cautionary significance for the First Emperor. That night, in the Langya Terrace traveling palace, the First Emperor tossed and turned, his mind dwelling on this very question.

"Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin, Fuchai and Goujian — how many hegemonies ended with the man himself…"

It was not merely a problem of unworthy descendants. To annex yet fail to consolidate would also cause a complete great state to collapse with a thunderous crash.

The most precious thing the First Emperor had now was time. He was already very clear: without ten or twenty more years, this task could not be completed. He longed for immortality, so that he might have enough time to truly unify all under Heaven.

Although the Feng and Shan sacrifices on Mount Tai had left the First Emperor with a bad impression, and in Jiaodong, those loose-tongued, unreliable fangshi alchemists had also greatly disappointed the emperor, integrating the gods and spirits of every region, ultimately achieving common customs across the Nine Provinces and unity across the Six Directions, remained the correct way, in the First Emperor's firm belief, to "unify all under Heaven"!

And so the next day, the First Emperor offered sacrifices to the "Lord of the Four Seasons" at Langya Terrace.

"The Four Seasons: spring birth, summer growth, autumn harvest, winter storage; taking and giving have their measure, going out and coming in have their time; opening and closing, expanding and contracting, do not lose their sequence; joy and anger, hardness and softness, do not depart from their rites."

The Lord of the Four Seasons was one of the Eight Lords of the Qi lands, and the most intimately connected to the lives of the Qi people. It ruled over the four seasons, determining the growth of crops and the bounty of the harvest, as well as the ebb and flow of the tides throughout the year. It was precisely these marine products that had nourished Langya and sustained it to the present day.

Therefore, in Langya, from the ruler down to the common people, all worshipped it. They chose to establish a spirit shrine and sacrificial altar atop Langya Terrace to thank the Lord of the Four Seasons for the prosperity it brought to the people.

The First Emperor also hoped that the Lord of the Four Seasons could allow the empire to endure for ten thousand generations…

After solemnly and earnestly sacrificing to the Lord of the Four Seasons, the First Emperor, following the established custom of his tours, erected a stone stele and carved an inscription at Langya, extolling Qin's achievements.

"In the thirty-second year, the August Emperor made a beginning. He soothed the eastern lands in the east, to inspect the soldiers and officers. The great task being largely complete, he then approached the sea…"

The stone inscription, as before, praised the emperor's merit in standardizing cart axles and writing: "Under the vast Heaven, hearts are united and wills aligned. Implements and measures are made uniform, and the written word is standardized."

But unlike the previous stone inscriptions, the First Emperor also had the new atmosphere emerging in Jiaodong carved into the text:

"The August Emperor's merit: he encouraged and rewarded fundamental pursuits. He elevated agriculture and eliminated the peripheral, enriching the black-haired people."

"Paper and printing, leaching brine to obtain salt. The twenty-four solar terms, the propagation and breeding of all produce."

These all spoke of Heifu's civilizing and agricultural endeavors. Heifu dared not claim credit, attributing them all to the First Emperor. In the First Emperor's view, Jiaodong was the model for the empire's other commanderies and counties, and these things should be promoted and spread immediately.

"The six relations protect one another, so that in the end there are no bandits or rebels. The black-haired people dwell in peace and tranquility, with no need for weapons and armor."

Although the bandits and rebels in Jiaodong had not yet been completely purged, the First Emperor tacitly considered them already dead. He had great confidence in his Commandery Governor of Jiaodong.

The Emperor also had his future aspirations carved entirely upon stone:

"Within the Six Directions, all is the Emperor's land. West to the Shifting Sands, south to the Northern Doors. East to the Eastern Sea, north past Daxia. Wherever human tracks reach, none are not his subjects. Deeds surpassing the Five Emperors, bounty extending to oxen and horses. All receive his virtue, each at peace in their dwelling!"

The familiar "Ode to Qin" echoed by the seashore. The First Emperor of Qin stood upon the Langya Terrace, watching wind and rain scour the reef rocks below. He believed that the many small problems encountered in the course of unifying the realm would all ultimately be smoothly resolved. His empire would be like the rising sun in the east, bound to blaze ever hotter and more prosperous!

"Wherever sun and moon shine, wherever boats and carts carry — all shall fulfill their destined span, none failing to rejoice!"

……

Perhaps because Xu Fu had been imprisoned by Heifu and no longer had the chance to dupe the Emperor into sending him out to sea with three thousand boys and girls, the First Emperor's stay at Langya did not last as long as the three months recorded in history.

By late in the second month, he departed Langya Terrace with his great retinue, preparing to continue his eastern inspection tour of the various commanderies and counties. The next stop was Donghai Commandery…

The procession of thousands of men, carts, and horses advanced along the mountain road southwest of Ju County. This region was all part of the residual ranges of the Tai-Yi Mountains, crisscrossed with hills, mostly running southeast to northwest, making for a rather bumpy ride. No post-roads had yet been built here, so the road was narrow and the column stretched out extremely long.

At the very front were the Gentlemen Guards, who had arrived the day before to survey the road and eliminate dangers. All along the way, outriders and cavalry guided, heralded, and cleared away pedestrians. The Gentlemen Guards on their carts held horn bows at the ready — those who disobeyed orders were shot, and those who climbed high to peer down were also shot!

In short, the twenty li of road ahead of the First Emperor was combed over like a fine-toothed comb by the Gentlemen Guards, confirmed free of any stragglers before passage was permitted, ensuring no petty villains could leap out.

As for the Emperor's own carriage, there were actually six identical Gold-Root Carts, of which only one was the primary cart; the rest were all decoy carts. Surrounding them were further attendant carriages in rings, and packed all around were foot and mounted armed Gentlemen Guards, protecting the First Emperor of Qin so tightly that anyone unfamiliar with the procession's scale and formation would likely be utterly bewildered.

Because the road was narrow, many places in the hills south of Ju could only accommodate a single cart. Thus the decoy carts that normally flanked the Emperor had to fall either ahead or behind, replaced by guardsmen closely tailing each cart for protection — as for which cart the Emperor was actually in, no outsider could possibly know, and any insider who dared leak it would be put to death!

Dense woods surrounded them on all sides, and it happened to be early morning, forming a thick, heavy fog. The First Emperor had again stayed up late the night before reviewing memorials; now he was resting with his eyes closed. The Emperor's increasingly aged frame swayed unsteadily. Before the carriage, the Prefect of the Palace Coach-House, Zhao Gao, drove with utmost diligence up front, handling the six steeds and carefully avoiding any jolt. His driving was always so steady.

Li Si, Ye Teng, Zhang Cang, and other officials followed behind in their carriages. The many Gentlemen Guards ringed the perimeter, vigilantly watching the surrounding steep ridges and dense forests. Creaking and groaning, the convoy trudged forward with slow, tedious steps.

As the sun gradually rose, the mist among the mountain valleys and thick woods slowly thinned. Just as the fog was about to lift but not yet gone, a sharp-eyed Gentlemen Guard noticed, on a small wooded hillock a little over ten zhang from the road, an unusual glint flash — like the reflection off a metal weapon…

Before he could go investigate or call out a warning, from atop that hillock, a person suddenly sprang to their feet, spun in place several times, and then fiercely hurled an object, sending it flying straight toward the convoy!

"Assassin!"

The warning cry rang out at once, but the Gentlemen Guards' shield-raising block was still a step too slow. The massive iron mallet spun through the air, exploiting the advantage of high ground, and smashed toward the First Emperor's carriage.

"Boom—!"

The Gentlemen Guards had no time to react; they could only stare dumbfounded as, within the convoy, one of the Gold-Root Carts toward the rear was struck by the heavy object and, together with its six fine steeds, crashed to the ground with a thunderous roar!

The butterfly's wings had fanned a wind, changing many things — but that blow, three years late, had come at last!

This blow was like a flying stone striking water, raising towering, monstrous waves! The horses of the entire convoy were startled into panic, all bursting into frantic neighs!

This blow was also destined to shock all under Heaven!

Unlike in history, where the Bolangsha assassination mistakenly struck a decoy cart, this time, in Junan, this enormous iron mallet — whether by luck or by calculation — had directly struck the primary cart carrying the Emperor!

PS: No need to wait tonight.

(End of chapter)