Chapter 582: Burying the Alchemists

"I demand a retrial! I am innocent!"

In the main hall of the Jiujiang Commandery office, a trial was drawing to a close. The alchemist Hou Sheng kowtowed repeatedly, crying out his innocence, but the Commandant of Justice Ye Teng, seated high above, remained utterly unmoved.

"If the village bailiff's judgment is unjust, one may petition the county deputy for a retrial. If the county deputy's judgment is unjust, one may petition the commandery deputy. If the commandery deputy's judgment is unjust, one may petition further to the Commandant of Justice..."

This was the Qin dynasty's system of review. But if the Commandant of Justice — this "Supreme Court" — directly pronounced a verdict of guilty, the suspect no longer had any possibility of seeking a retrial!

Hou Sheng refused to resign himself. This alchemist, who had spent his entire life studying medicinal minerals and immortality, cried out until his voice grew hoarse and exhausted: "I wish to personally seek an audience with His Majesty to state my grievance! Those matters of colluding with assassins and rebels were all plotted by Lu Sheng, Han Zhong, and the others — I knew nothing of them!"

"You are all fellow alchemists, like neighbors to one another. Conspiracy is a crime; knowing of a plot and failing to report it is a crime; not knowing is also a crime — enough for collective punishment!"

But Ye Teng merely sneered and had Hou Sheng taken back to his dark prison cell. He himself breathed a sigh of relief. This great case that had shaken the realm could finally be concluded.

The evidence provided by Jiaodong and Linzi was, in truth, only the final straw that convicted the alchemists.

As early as the third month, after the First Emperor was attacked in Junan, Langya, the Commandant of Justice had treated this case as the gravest treason since the founding of the empire. They not only had to pursue the fleeing assassins and find the mastermind behind the attempt, but also investigate, within the emperor's own traveling retinue, who exactly had leaked the emperor's itinerary and carriage details — they had to get to the bottom of it all!

Because the circumstances were far too coincidental. The assassin not only knew the route and timing of the imperial carriage, but was also able to directly strike the vehicle the emperor was riding in. Had the Prefect of the Palace Chariots, Zhao Gao, not driven with such skill, risking a capsized carriage and a broken arm to prevent the great hammer from smashing directly through the window, the First Emperor would likely have been gravely wounded.

"There must be a mole within!"

The Commandant of Justice Ye Teng was utterly convinced of this. Those who could know which carriage the emperor rode in were only those closest to the imperial procession. Therefore, nearly all of the several thousand people who accompanied the emperor that day, from the Nine Ministers and high officials down to ordinary palace guards and carriage drivers, were subjected to investigation by the black-robed legal officers of the Commandant of Justice.

As Li Si's successor, Ye Teng had to demonstrate his own shrewdness and competence, proving that in matters of punishment and law, he was no less capable than his predecessor.

Thus, the Office of the Commandant of Justice was highly efficient. After a ten-day empire-wide manhunt and the distribution of printed portraits of the assassin to every region, the identity of the strongman who had failed in his attempt and fought to the death gradually came to light: a post station reported that this man had been seen in Linzi and other places. Pushing a cart and dressed as a servant, he had traveled with a middle-aged merchant. Later, the two had turned north through Jibei to Xue Commandery, and from Xue Commandery went on to Langya...

A man of unusual appearance and extraordinary ability, even in disguise, once seen, is never forgotten.

Just as the case seemed to be making progress, the Office of the Commandant of Justice was overjoyed. Unfortunately, what followed immediately was the rebellion in Linzi Commandery and Jibei.

Amid the chaos of war, everything fell into disorder. The court's legal officers could not carry out their investigation, and had to wait until after Heifu had pacified Linzi and Gaotang before the Commandant of Justice could send men to the area for a thorough inquiry. But because of the turmoil, the populace had scattered and the post stations were destroyed, making the investigation and gathering of evidence extremely difficult.

Fortunately, the Commandant of Justice had determined that the assassination attempt and the subsequent rebellion of the Tian clan were certainly connected. Through harsh interrogation of captured rebels and pirate leaders, the Commandant of Justice obtained the following information:

That "middle-aged merchant" suspected of plotting the assassination was called Zhang Liang, an aristocrat from the Han region. His family had served as ministers to Han for five generations, and this man had never ceased to brood over restoring Han. After the chaos at Xinzheng, he fled east and wandered between Qi and Chu. After Qi fell, Zhang Liang, along with the Marshal of Yongmen and others, crossed the sea to Shamen Island. He did not stay long, however, and went further across the sea to take refuge with the Lord of Canghai. Several years later, he returned by way of Shamen Island, and by this time, he had a silent, taciturn foreign strongman by his side...

Ye Teng immediately defined the nature of the assassination case: This, then, was an assassination jointly plotted by the Lord of Canghai, the Tian clan, and the restorationist forces of the Six Kingdoms!

As the interrogations deepened, the person who had passed the imperial itinerary to this group of rebels, and even spread rumors in the aftermath, also surfaced.

"The alchemists!"

Arrests were carried out at once. Even now, quite a few alchemists still followed the First Emperor's traveling retinue...

The first to bear the brunt was naturally Hou Sheng, but this man, single-mindedly devoted to concocting an elixir of immortality, actually knew nothing of these matters.

The greatest suspicion instead fell on Lu Sheng and Han Zhong. But these two had, back when the First Emperor left Jiaodong and Langya, successively tendered their resignations, using the pretext of gathering herbs from famous mountains and great rivers.

Even that Anqi Sheng, who had nearly hoodwinked the First Emperor on Zhifu Island, had, as soon as the emperor left Jiaodong, left behind a letter saying he was roaming the four seas to seek the elixir of life for the emperor. He also left the two hundred gold pieces the emperor had bestowed upon him untouched in the guesthouse, and even left behind a pair of "red jade sandals," acting utterly mysterious.

At the time, the emperor thought him a divine being and felt some regret. But looking at it now, the old fellow had simply fled in a hurry!

Ye Teng immediately issued arrest warrants, ordering every commandery to search for traces of Lu Sheng, Han Zhong, and Anqi Sheng. But they only managed to catch Han Zhong's disciple in Chen Commandery. The disciple truthfully confessed that Han Zhong, over the past few years, had been in constant contact with a "middle-aged merchant" — very likely Zhang Liang!

Even Han Zhong's own identity was revealed: he turned out to be a distant, illegitimate descendant of the Han royal clan!

Beyond their involvement in the assassination plot, the alchemists' other crimes were also uncovered one by one. For instance, some Qi alchemists had fabricated prophetic texts for the Tian clan, saying things like "The Tian shall be restored, Xianyang shall fall," meaning the Tian clan would restore their kingdom and that Qin's Xianyang would suffer the same fate as the capitals of the Six Kingdoms — using sorcery to delude the masses.

When reporting the case to the First Emperor, Ye Teng stated: "These people either harbored treacherous intentions from the start, or, because of the Jiaodong journey where the alchemists were rebuked, grew resentful and thus conspired with the Tian rebels and the assassins!"

In hindsight, every action of the alchemists appeared suspicious. For example, Hou Sheng and Han Zhong wished to concoct an "elixir of immortality" and wanted to persuade the First Emperor to consume it — who knew whether it was actually poison?

And when the emperor was unwilling to ingest it casually, the alchemists used the excuse of lacking materials, claiming that only rare minerals and spiritual herbs found nowhere else in the world could be used to refine it — clearly stalling for time.

While in Jiaodong, they constantly urged the First Emperor to board a great ship and go out to sea. The sea beyond was treacherous and unpredictable, and pirates lurked there — placing the Son of Heaven in a hall of peril. Their intent was worthy of death!

Not long ago, after the First Emperor failed to retrieve the great cauldron at Pengcheng, a rumor even spread among the common folk: that the cauldron had actually been found, and just as it was about to be hauled up, a dragon's head stretched out from within, bit through the ropes binding it, and the cauldron sank back into the depths, vanishing without a trace. This was an omen that the emperor lacked virtue, was unfit to be the Son of Heaven, and could not gather the Nine Cauldrons...

This matter, too, was likely fabricated and spread by the alchemists!

What the First Emperor hated most was deception and betrayal, and so he flew into a great rage.

"We bestowed lavish honors and generous gifts upon Lu Sheng, Han Zhong, and the rest, yet they harbored disloyalty, colluding with rebels to plot assassination. Those alchemists in Xianyang, whenever asked about refining the elixir of immortality, only knew how to deceive and prevaricate. This lot has spread throughout the lands east of the pass, constantly using sorcery to confuse the common people. They cannot be spared!"

And so, following the Edict on Proscribed Books, another decree that shook the realm was issued from the traveling palace at Shouchun!

"In all commanderies under Heaven, all alchemists and those who speak of the Way of Immortals — arrest them all!"

After the arrests came harsh interrogations, and the alchemists were made to denounce each other's unlawful acts.

This investigation proved devastating. In order to save their own lives, the alchemists began to expose in great numbers that the so-called "Way of Immortals" practiced by their teachers and friends was, in fact, a fraudulent trick. The true faces of these men who postured as transcendent and ethereal were revealed one after another.

Of course, there were also those like Hou Sheng, who were too deep in their own delusion, stubbornly insisting that they were on the verge of refining the elixir of immortality and could make the emperor live forever.

In just over ten days, the four commanderies of Qi, Donghai Commandery, and Jiujiang Commandery had arrested over four hundred and sixty alchemists who had violated the ban. All were brought to Shouchun to await the emperor's judgment.

The First Emperor did not wish to hear this group's cries of innocence. He ordered them all buried alive, so that all under Heaven would know, as a warning to posterity!

On the first day of the eighth month of the thirty-second year of the First Emperor, outside the south gate of Shouchun, a sea of people had gathered. After everyone had craned their necks in anticipation for a long while, over four hundred alchemists of Qi and Chu were brought outside the city by Qin soldiers, stripped of their clothes, bound like zongzi, and shoved into pits to be buried alive.

As the sand and earth were gradually scattered down, for a time, the air was filled with unending wails and pleas for mercy. These men who sought longevity for others could not, at this moment, even preserve their own lives. A few, however, showed no fear and instead laughed heartily. They closed their eyes and began to circulate their inner energy, planning to use the "Turtle Breathing" technique to survive within the tightly packed earth, thereby proving to the emperor that they possessed genuine ability.

It was just that, afterward, when the Qin soldiers dug away the soil, these fellows had long since become twisted in visage, their corpses stiff...

Hou Sheng, as the chief of the alchemists, was sentenced to the even crueler punishment of dismemberment by chariots, to be carried out at the south market.

Upon learning that his petition for a retrial had been fruitless, Hou Sheng showed no fear whatsoever. He calmly stated that, even before his arrest, he had already consumed the elixir of immortality originally intended for the emperor.

"I now possess an immortal body!" He was utterly convinced of this.

But on the day of the execution, the officials were astonished to find Hou Sheng already half-dead. His face was ashen, and he was barely breathing. They had a physician examine him, and upon taking his pulse, the physician shook his head vigorously, saying the poisoning was too deep.

This further confirmed the charge that the alchemists had concocted poison with intent to murder the emperor. Yet even at this point, the feeble Hou Sheng still murmured to himself, saying that even if he were torn apart by chariots, five days after death, he would be resurrected — this was the wondrous power of the Way of Immortals.

He was promptly torn into four or five pieces of mangled flesh by the immense force of the chariots and horses, his belly split and entrails spilling out. The deputy of Jiujiang Commandery was somewhat curious and had someone collect the remains, placing them together, and went to inspect them every day.

But five or six days passed, and all they saw were flies and maggots multiplying by the day, the flesh rotting and stinking, with not the slightest sign of "resurrection."

The deputy of Jiujiang Commandery was disappointed and ordered the body parts thrown out to feed the dogs. The stray dogs that ate Hou Sheng's flesh also died...

Everyone said that what Hou Sheng had concocted was likely not an elixir of immortality, but an elixir of swift death...

The spectators of this grand spectacle of "burying the alchemists" were not only the local populace. Shusun Tong and several dozen other Erudites and Confucian scholars also watched their former colleagues lying silent in the earthen pit, trembling uncontrollably.

Shusun Tong was terrified long after the event. When the various Tian clans rose in revolt, his teacher Kong Fu was overjoyed and nearly went to join them, bringing his household's ritual vessels along — only to be desperately dissuaded by Shusun Tong.

Sure enough, the Tian revolt soon fell into dire straits. They were driven steadily westward by Heifu, Governor of Jiaodong Commandery, and finally annihilated at Gaotang, lasting barely over two months.

The Qi region had many Confucian scholars, but most of them were shrewd. They believed that the First Emperor's oral decree was genuine — the Emperor was not dead, and rebellion was unwise. Though they too were victims of the court's policies, they did not get involved.

Therefore, when the aftermath was investigated, only a few Confucian scholars who had misread the situation and followed the Tian brothers were executed. These were isolated acts, and the Emperor did not implicate the entire Confucian community by association. He merely killed the chicken to warn the monkeys, making them watch with their own eyes how the rumor-mongering fangshi and magicians were exterminated.

The effect was excellent. The surviving Erudites and Confucian scholars trembled uncontrollably beside the execution pit.

A full year had passed since the First Emperor embarked on his eastern inspection tour. This lengthy eastern tour had been vigorously urged by the Confucian scholars, who had hoped to steer the empire onto the path of "kingly governance" and strengthen their own voice. Yet the entire process had been, for them, nothing short of a nightmare.

The Feng and Shan sacrifices. The banning of books. The rebellion. The burying of the magicians.

From a hundred flowers blooming together, to being silenced like cicadas in winter.

Everyone now understood: summer had passed, and winter had come…

After this incident, no Confucian scholar dared to make a clamor anymore. Those who had once been loquacious and meddlesome fell utterly silent, obeying every imperial command. Sycophantic flattery replaced their former practice of using the past to criticize the present.

Yet the Emperor was not pleased by this. These past few days, he had been deeply despondent. Nearly being deceived was an experience the Emperor would never forget — a colossal humiliation in his lifetime!

After this affair, the First Emperor completely lost faith in sending men to sea to seek immortality or refining pills of deathlessness. The sole remaining hope for "longevity" seemed to lie only with the realm of the Queen Mother of the West in the Western Regions.

As for the Eastern Sea, his only thought now was to ensure that the Great Qin's domain extended eastward to encompass it, and to cross that boundless ocean to punish the "Lord of the Vast Sea" and his petty city-state on the opposite shore — those remnants of the Six States who would rather flee to the lands of the Nine Barbarians than submit to Qin!

In his edict to Jiaodong, the Emperor declared: "The Qi rebellion has been quelled, but Jiaodong Commandery must not slacken. Though the bandit horde is settled, the waves are not yet calm. The Lord of the Vast Sea across the sea is guilty of plotting assassination — a heinous treason! Let Heifu continue governing the commandery and restoring the people's livelihood. Let Ren Xiao train troops and build ships. Within one year, We shall surely pacify Joseon and the Vast Sea!"

The edict was dispatched, the matter concluded, and the First Emperor was to continue his journey once more.

Longevity was not easily won, and the road was arduous. The First Emperor was still in his robust years; though his body had minor ailments, they were of no great consequence. He would not halt his steps because of a few overreaching mantises or the buzzing of a few flies!

On the map, the First Emperor stretched out his hand and designated the next stop on his inspection tour. It was a former backwater, the empire's southern frontier — a young but thriving commandery.

In the early ninth month of the thirty-second year of the First Emperor's reign, the city of Nanchang in Yuzhang Commandery welcomed the imperial carriage of the First Emperor of Qin…

PS: Chapter 2 before midnight.

(End of chapter)