Chapter 587: Two Campaigns

"The Hundred Schools of thought, though their doctrines differ, all seek to bring order to the age. Now, without distinguishing right from wrong, the realm's books are being collected, some deleted, some burned, and private learning suppressed. Your servant fears this will chill the hearts of the scholars."

"The chaos in Qi has seen its ringleaders executed. Toward the common people who were forced to follow the rebels, leniency was originally due. Yet His Majesty has now punished them all with severe laws, slaughtering the elderly, nailing over ten thousand to wooden posts erected beside post stations and roadsides. Rotting corpses hang from the beams, the stench filling the roads. Your servant fears the realm will know no peace!"

"The realm has only just been settled, and the common people in distant lands have not yet rallied to us. In your son and servant's view, we should spread virtue and bestow grace, ease punishments, lighten taxes and levies, show compassion to widowers and widows, care for the orphaned and childless, support the aged, and aid the destitute. Let abundant virtue rise from above, and harmonious grace flow down to all below. Only thus will those near draw close in allegiance, and those far cherish our virtue. The realm will be tranquil, and the people secure in their livelihoods. This is your servant's earnest heart — may Your Majesty see it!"

Qin Shi Huang's eyes swept over these stinging words one by one. After reading, he sneered, crumpled the memorial into a ball, and hurled it to the ground!

"Truly my fine eldest son. In over a year without seeing me, Huhai and the other princes all asked whether my health was well. He alone has been bottling up a bellyful of grievances, which he must spew out before he feels any relief!"

Qin Shi Huang had only been back in Xianyang a few days, and Fusu had already requested an audience several times. The Emperor knew perfectly well what his eldest son wanted to say and refused to see him at all. Fusu then turned to writing memorials instead.

Toward Fusu's naive views, the Emperor could not even be bothered to write a comment himself. He simply sent an usher to tell Fusu four words:

"The opinion of a child!"

After the usher departed on his orders, the Emperor paced in place with his hands behind his back, looking at the crumpled memorial on the floor, growing angrier the more he thought about it.

"What We ban are all useless books that use the past to denigrate the present. Useful works on agriculture and crafts are instead promoted by the court on a large scale. And knowledge such as laws, ordinances, and calendrical methods must not only be taught in public academies but also spread throughout the realm with printing! As for those Hundred Schools teachings of no practical use, let them disappear. If those hidebound Confucian scholars and literati feel chilled, then let them be chilled! We do not care!"

As for the Qi rebellion…

"We once showed them leniency. When the six kingdoms were destroyed, We did not execute their powerful nobles, and even ordered them to register their own lands, not touching a single inch of their property, only taking the salt and iron industries under official monopoly. And how did these remnants of the six kingdoms repay Us?"

Forming local factions, hollowing out the government, sheltering rebels, dealing in illicit salt, harboring rebellious intent — and in the end, murdering Qin officials in revolt and attempting to assassinate the Emperor to restore their old states!

Can such rebels possibly be forgiven?

Many years ago, Han Fei told Qin Shi Huang a story. Dong Anyu, a grandee of the Zhao clan, once served as governor of Shangyi. On his way to take office, passing through a mountainous region, he saw a deep ravine, its sheer stone banks on both sides as sharp as if carved by blades, perilously steep.

Dong Anyu leaned on the carriage rail and asked a local: "Has anyone ever gone down into this ravine?"

"No."

"Has any ignorant child, or any fool, deaf-mute, or madman gone down?"

"No."

"Have any cattle, horses, dogs, or pigs gone down?"

The answer was still no. Afterwards, Dong Anyu sighed with emotion and said: "I know how to govern Shangyi now. If I enforce the law strictly, so that breaking the law means certain death, like falling into this mountain ravine, then no one will dare break the law. How could governance possibly fail?"

The law without pardon is like entering the ravine and certain death! This is the clear stance of the Legalist school, and Qin Shi Huang's resolve.

After the assassination attempt by Gao Jianli, the Fengshan sacrifice incident, and the Qi rebellion, he had completely given up on the scholars and powerful nobles of the six kingdoms. The conciliatory approach of pursuing kingly governance had failed. Next, a deep ravine must be drawn before the people of the realm, especially those of the six kingdoms.

The ten thousand executed after the Qi rebellion were the first sacrifices cast into this deep ravine. One could only hope that killing these Qi chickens would strike terror into the Chu monkeys who likewise refused to submit to the king's law.

Fusu believed that the unrest in the east was due to laws and ordinances being too harsh and punishments too severe. Ease the punishments, lighten the taxes, and the realm's hearts would be won. But Qin Shi Huang felt exactly the opposite!

"In Jiaodong, the Tian clans were wiped out, and the wandering bravos were arrested as penal laborers. Governance in that commandery was so severe — why then, when Linzi and Jibei fell into utter chaos, did no one in Jiaodong rebel?"

What Heifu had done in Jiaodong gave Qin Shi Huang another option.

And so, as his eastern tour neared its end, having seen the truth of the six kingdoms' former lands clearly, Qin Shi Huang resolved to implement a new strategy across the entire realm.

Toward the powerful noble houses left over from the six kingdoms, rule them with an iron hand! Beginning with Qi, commandery by commandery, uproot the clans and local powers, and relocate them to the frontiers. Primarily to the Qin heartland regions of Bashu and Hanzhong, which are vast in territory but sparsely populated. And let the left-side alley dwellers, hired laborers, and other commoners at the bottom take over the fields of the powerful nobles, turning them into law-abiding subjects who support the government.

Toward the scholars and intellectuals, divide and strike at them. Those willing to cooperate with the government will be brought into the public academies, lured with rank and stipend, made to study the law and then serve as officials, helping Qin officers control the localities. Those unwilling to submit will lose their qualifications to teach and be deemed illegal. Their schools' books will also be deleted and destroyed, without the slightest mercy!

And then there is the most destabilizing element in the society east of the passes: the wandering bravos and delinquent youths. The Confucians disrupt the law with their writings; the bravos violate the prohibitions with their force. On the surface, these people work as farmers, merchants, or hired laborers, but in secret, they still form alliances and gather crowds, running rampant through the streets and alleys, rallying around local bravo leaders, and maintaining an uncooperative attitude toward the government.

When the Tian clans of Qi raised the banner of revolt, the wandering bravos and delinquent youths were the first to join! And afterward, they became the vanguard of the anti-Qin resistance. Though they lacked discipline, they valued personal loyalty, did not fear death, and their numbers were vast.

For this group, mere prohibition is useless. Ordering local authorities to arrest and exterminate them would never finish them off. After pondering for a long time, the Emperor devised a plan that would kill three birds with one stone.

Conscript them and send them to the army!

"All the Huaxia share the same ancestors; all the Huaxia are one family. How can the blood shed to pacify the frontiers and expand the territory for the Huaxia be spilled by the people west of the passes alone?"

After this eastern tour, Qin Shi Huang understood more clearly than ever who formed the foundation of the Great Qin Empire, and who were the elements to be expended and weakened…

Conscripting the wandering bravos and delinquent youths from all the realm's commanderies and counties for frontier service would both eliminate destabilizing local factors and solve the problem of insufficient troops. These youths are extremely dependent on their local networks. Draft them into the army, send them to the border regions, and let the Qin military keep them under control. Once they leave their familiar homeland, who can still rebel?

If commanded properly, their fearless nature can be channeled to defeat the enemy in war. Afterward, reward them with ranks and enfeoff them on the frontier. In this way, the empire can both open up new territory and resolve internal threats and hidden worries.

At the very worst, this group can simply be expended in one war after another…

This was a purpose that could not be known to anyone. But Qin Shi Huang's mindset had changed. He no longer regarded those people as his subjects.

A man of action, he cast aside Fusu's unpleasant memorial. Qin Shi Huang had someone unroll the Map of the Four Seas United in the great hall.

This map represented the dream of unification he had held since ascending the throne at twenty. Qin Shi Huang had studied it countless times, and his real-world footsteps had also trodden nearly every commandery and county of the empire.

But this territory had not yet reached perfection.

His empire still lacked the final three pieces of the puzzle!

…

"Within the six directions, all is the Emperor's land. West to the shifting sands, south to the northern households. East to the Eastern Sea, north beyond Daxia. Wherever human footsteps reach, none are not his subjects."

These were lines from the "Odes of Qin," and the declaration Qin Shi Huang had left on the Langya inscribed stone!

He stepped into the map from the north.

Daxia was the old name for Taiyuan. Meng Tian had taken the north, using the river as a barrier, extending from Yin Mountain to Liaodong, far exceeding expectations. Toward the north, the Emperor was fully satisfied. Since the Xiongnu had fled far into the northern desert, he could not be bothered with them.

Next, Qin Shi Huang's gaze instinctively turned to the west. Ever since he had buried the alchemists and given up on the immortal islands of the Eastern Sea, that was his sole remaining hope for pursuing eternal life.

In the west, Li Xin had destroyed the Yuezhi, established Zhangye Commandery, and forced the Wusun to submit, already expanding the empire's territory to the edge of the desert called the "White Dragon Mounds," where the "Jade Gate Pass" had been built.

The next step was to send envoys and merchant caravans to explore the various kingdoms of the Western Regions. Once the kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West was found, Li Xin would be ordered to march his chariots and cavalry straight through, conquering as they went. Those who submitted to Qin would become vassals; those who opposed Qin would be destroyed!

Once Great Qin and the kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West were linked, "west to the shifting sands" would naturally be accomplished.

However, the Western Regions were distant, and the pace of merchants and envoys was slow. The western garrisons need not move for now. Instead, the powerful nobles of the six kingdoms and the wandering bravo youths could be relocated to Zhangye Commandery to populate the frontier.

In Qin Shi Huang's eyes, the two campaigns that could begin immediately were in the east and the south…

His square-toed shoes with kui-dragon patterns trod upon the northern frontier, slowly walking from Lintao to Liaodong, his footprints seeming to transform into a Great Wall ten thousand li long!

"Conscript the wandering bravos and delinquent youths of Yan and Zhao into the army. Dispatch troops from Liaodong and force the Ji clan of Joseon to submit."

The ancestors of the Ying surname had once been subjects of the Yin-Shang dynasty, and Joseon was said to be descended from Jizi, one of the Three Worthies of Yin. During the Zhou dynasty, it was nominally a feudal lord but in reality never submitted to Zhou. Now, if the Ji ruler of Joseon could be made to come to court, and the last scion of the Zi surname could bow his head in submission to the Ying-surnamed Emperor, it would also serve to comfort the ancestors.

But Joseon was not the endpoint. The place Qin Shi Huang truly wanted to strike was in the south!

Qin Shi Huang planted one foot on the small town marked "Canghai" in the middle of the peninsula, like a giant about to obliterate this insignificant city!

This petty Lord of the Yemaek actually dared to shelter fugitive rebels from the Six States and had ties to the assassination in Ju'nan — what reckless audacity!

Even if the Lord of the Vast Sea has the great ocean to shield him, the Emperor will still exact punishment — advancing by both water and land, the Yan armies marching south from Joseon to besiege the city on three sides, and Ren Xiao's fleet setting out from Jiaodong to blockade the sea and cut off all escape.

His state must be annihilated, his people slaughtered, his city razed! Only thus can the realm be awed, and the Son of Heaven's resolve to eradicate evil utterly be made manifest!

Only by imagining that scene could the Emperor's fury abate by a few degrees.

He lightly lifted the hem of his lower robe and took an enormous stride, stepping directly across the Gulf of Bohai!

Looking back again, this vast ocean he had once gazed upon from Zhifu Island — in truth, it was so very narrow...

"Joseon submits as a vassal, the Yemaek and the Nine Yi all yield, the Bohai becomes an inner lake, boats and ships come and go without hindrance — only then can the Great Qin truly claim to 'possess the Eastern Sea in the east'!"

"And then there is the south."

The Emperor did not hesitate in the slightest. He strode over in a few steps, crossing the Huai River and stepping over the Great River to stand at Yuzhang and Changsha, where he had lingered not long before. Cloud-Dream and Pengli Marshes seemed like little puddles of water beside his feet.

South of Changsha and Yuzhang lies a vast expanse of land — the Eastern Ou, Minyue, Nanyue, Western Ou, and Luoyue, two thousand li from north to south and eight thousand li from east to west. These Yue tribal peoples dwell there; they are the Hundred Yue.

Many years ago, Qin Shi Huang had once intended to wage war against the Hundred Yue. At that time, there was no particular reason. Though Yue horn, elephant ivory, kingfisher feathers, and pearls and gems were fine things, to Qin Shi Huang, what interest could such items hold compared to the Twelve Metal Colossi before Xianyang Palace? They were utterly beneath mention.

If a reason had to be given, aside from the dream of "extending south to the Northern Door," the Emperor also had a reason born of necessity.

"Farming and warfare" — this was the formula Shang Yang had found to strengthen Qin, but it hungered quickly. To feed this giant beast of war and grant the empire inexhaustible inner momentum, even after the Six States were utterly destroyed, Qin Shi Huang had to keep seeking enemies and defeating them.

But since war could be waged anywhere, after Heifu proposed the strategy of westward expansion, and with the Xiongnu and Yuezhi as far better opponents, the Emperor had set aside the thought of a southern campaign.

Yet now, all the frontier foes worth noticing had been defeated, and Qin Shi Huang's gaze once again returned to the south. This time, he also had Heifu to thank — because of the unexpected surge in popularity of cane sugar, the empire had gained an additional reason to wage war against the Hundred Yue...

There, the mountain forests grow dense; there, the natural resources are abundant; there, the Lesser Treasury and high officials covet the convict-slaves, both men and women.

In years past, the roads south were impassable. Now Yuzhang has developed well, the routes are open and smooth, and logistics are supplied by the grain of Nanchang and Changsha. That being so, why not strike?

Reckless young bravos are most numerous in Qi and Chu. The Qi region is now pacified, but the reckless young bravos of the Chu region remain a hidden danger. This southern campaign can conscript them away...

Two or three dead out of ten, not one in ten surviving? Let them die — it matters not!

"For the Joseon and Vast Sea campaigns, fifty thousand soldiers and civilian laborers will suffice."

The troops committed are so few, and it is to punish the masterminds of the assassination — this war must be fought; there is no need for discussion!

"However, the Hundred Yue campaign, with battle lines stretching thousands of li east to west, cannot be accomplished without two hundred thousand men..."

But regarding the war in the south, although Qin Shi Huang's resolve was set, he would still let the assembled ministers debate it.

He would not waver in the slightest because of the officials' proposals; he merely wished to see who would approve and who would oppose...

Thinking thus, Qin Shi Huang immediately summoned Zhao Gao to enter and draft an edict — proclaiming a declaration of war against the Lord of the Vast Sea for the coming year, and revealing the intention for a southern campaign so the assembled ministers could hold court discussion.

Zhao Gao had lost the use of his left hand in that assassination, but his right hand remained, still capable of writing an excellent hand — and he was even more trusted by Qin Shi Huang than before.

Perhaps because a grand plan long delayed was about to be set in motion, Qin Shi Huang's complexion was still somewhat flushed as he dictated the edict. Even Zhao Gao had not seen the Emperor so excited in a long time.

After the edict was drafted and sent by Zhao Gao and the court heralds to the Censorate, within the great hall only Qin Shi Huang remained, along with a scant few palace maids and eunuchs.

The Emperor paced back into the inner hall and stopped the young eunuch who was about to put away the Map of the Four Seas United. He gazed long and fixedly upon this vast territory, and upon the myriad living souls dwelling upon it, the emotions in his eyes exceedingly complex.

No one knew that all of the above — the southern campaigns, the northern wars, the expansion of frontiers, the pacification of the interior, everything added together — was merely the first war that Qin Shi Huang intended to fight!

This first war, he was waging against men.

Against those who did not believe he could truly unite all under heaven, who did not believe the Great Qin could endure for ten thousand generations! Visible enemies and invisible enemies alike — he must strike swiftly to annihilate them all!

He must let the realm see how he would accomplish what the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Tang of Shang and Wu of Zhou, and the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period could not!

Qin Shi Huang strained every nerve to ponder these matters. He was somewhat agitated, but then, he sensed a hint of something amiss.

The Emperor's complexion grew even redder...

When the Emperor was absorbed in his work, none dared disturb him.

The palace maids and eunuchs standing in the corners of the hall kept their eyes lowered and their heads meek, not daring to breathe loudly. But suddenly, an unusual sound rang out!

"Cough..."

It was a cough, a slight cough. The palace maids and eunuchs raised their heads in astonishment, exchanging glances — which audacious wretch had made a sound?

They finally found the source of the sound.

It was Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang was coughing. His tall frame stood before the map, and though he struggled with all his might to control it, his hand clenched into a fist and pressed against his lips and beard, he could not suppress it!

"Cough, cough!"

The coughing grew louder and louder, yet the palace maids and eunuchs stood dumbstruck, their faces filled with terror. They did not even know whether they ought to go over and help pat Qin Shi Huang on the back.

Fortunately, after an unknown length of time, the coughing slowly subsided. Qin Shi Huang's tall frame still stood in place, but the fit of coughing just now seemed to have drained all his strength. He could only gasp for breath as he staggered back to the imperial couch, looking utterly exhausted.

Silence returned to the hall. The eunuchs and palace maids once more fixed their eyes on their noses and their minds on their hearts, as if nothing had just happened.

Only when the old eunuch, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, made a trembling report did Qin Shi Huang wave his hand and order him to take everyone in the hall away...

Some were bewildered, some begged for mercy in terror, protesting that they had seen nothing at all — but they were still dragged away by the palace guards who arrived.

The great hall fell silent once more.

The Emperor knew that from this day forward, he would never again see those dozen or so palace attendants in this great hall, in Xianyang Palace...

The assassination had been a lesson. In this world, countless people longed for the Emperor to grow old and die. The slightest indisposition on his part would be magnified by rumor and brew into a terrible calamity.

Therefore, no one could transmit the Emperor's frailty to the outside world!

Even a single cough — not even that!

Not until he was the only one left in the hall did Qin Shi Huang open the palm he had been clenching tightly all along.

The iron hand that gripped Tai'a was now trembling slightly.

"Again..."

Qin Shi Huang saw blood. In his palm was the crimson blood he had coughed up!

The Emperor was not alarmed, for this was not the first time...

He knew his own body best. A few years ago, Qin Shi Huang's ears had begun to suffer from diminished hearing, and by now, his left ear was nearly deaf.

And during this inspection tour, while in Jiaodong, Qin Shi Huang's legs had also troubled him, nearly rendering him unable to walk. That was why the journey had been dragged out so slowly — he would not descend from the carriage if he could avoid it.

The assassination in Langya did not wound the Emperor, but it gave him a fright. For the first month, Qin Shi Huang scarcely showed his face — not because he would not, but because he truly could not! Qin Shi Huang had fallen ill, gravely ill, barely able to leave his bed. He could only issue edicts by word of mouth, letting the realm know he was unharmed.

From that time on, he had coughed up fresh blood.

From that time on, the Emperor could no longer endure late nights. He could no longer, as he once had, meticulously review the mountain of memorials submitted to him.

All of this remained completely unknown even to the Chancellor and the Commandant of Justice. Only a handful of close ministers like Zhao Gao, and the hastily summoned Imperial Physician Xia Wuju, who had rushed east from Xianyang, were aware.

After the Qi rebellion was quelled, Qin Shi Huang's condition improved, allowing him to continue his inspection tour.

He had thought his health was largely restored and his spirits high, but after passing through Wu Pass, as they neared Xianyang, the Emperor's old ailment flared up again — ceaseless coughing, occasionally bringing up bloody phlegm.

The Emperor's illness was still not cured.

Xia Wuju took his pulse and hemmed and hawed, saying only that the Emperor had no serious malady, that it was merely exhaustion, and that he needed to calm his mind and rest quietly…

Rest quietly? The realm was in utter chaos — outside, there were traitors bent on restoring the old kingdoms; inside, he had a naive son incapable of bearing great responsibility. The attitudes of his ministers were unfathomable, and the affairs of the world were a tangled mess. How could he possibly rest quietly!

The more he brooded, the more agitated his heart grew, and the heavier his coughing became.

A dreadful question, one he had never contemplated before, now confronted Qin Shi Huang.

"How many more years can We live?"

"Is it five years? Or ten?"

Qin Shi Huang could no longer firmly believe in his own immortality.

Seeking immortals in the Eastern Sea had been proven a swindle. The elixir pills were poison that even the alchemists themselves died from if they consumed them. The land of the Queen Mother of the West remained unfound, and his body grew more unwell by the day. Qin Shi Huang's heart burned with such impatience that even his governance grew extreme and rash.

Matters that could have been done ten years later were advanced to the present. Wars that could have been fought later had to be fought immediately!

Whoever now spoke to him of "taking it slowly" would earn the Emperor's wrath!

He could not afford to be slow.

Because the second war Qin Shi Huang was planning was a struggle against Heaven itself, a battle against a mortal foe named "Time"!

For over thirty years, he had vanquished the kings of the Six States, surpassed the thirty generations of former lords, and even exceeded the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. His confidence had been absolute.

But now, Qin Shi Huang was no longer so sure of himself.

Because this war — regardless of wisdom or folly, from ancient times to the present — no one had ever won.

The dew on the shallot leaf, how easily it dries!

How the ghostly bailiff urges men on! A mortal's life allows not a moment's lingering!

It was snowing outside. Though there were heated braziers and underfloor heating, the vast, empty hall was still cold. All around was deserted; only Qin Shi Huang sat alone in a daze.

"We can overcome men, but can We overcome Heaven?" he murmured to himself.

But after only a moment, fury and unwillingness blazed in Qin Shi Huang's eyes, and his hand clenched into a fist once more!

"Yes!"

PS: A five-thousand-character chapter. Also, conscripting the idle young bravos and ruffians of the commanderies and kingdoms into the army was a method used to deal with such bravos during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han.

(End of Chapter)