Chapter 40: The Crown Prince Fusu

  Li Si was about to take his leave when a palace eunuch appeared at the gate of the side hall, saying: "Your Majesty, Crown Prince Fusu requests an audience."

  The King of Qin frowned and said: "Didn't I tell him to go back and carefully read the Book of Shang? What is he doing here again? Do not see him."

  The eunuch said: "The young master says that he has already thought of a solution and wishes the king to hear it."

  King Qin Zheng was also stunned, and Fu Su came up with a solution? What to solve? Is it solving the return of more than 18,000 Qin soldiers? Can't he really have a way?

  At this time, Li Si hastily said: "Since the Grand Duke has a solution, Your Majesty should summon him for an audience and listen to what he has to say. Perhaps he can really resolve this difficult problem."

  The King of Qin nodded and said, "Alright, I'll listen to him one more time. If he still speaks those absurd words, I'll immediately drive him out of the palace and demote him to a commoner." Then he said, "Call him in."

  In a moment, Fu Su came in and paid his respects. Qin Shi Huang said: "Fu Su, what solution do you have? Speak."

  Fu Su hastily replied: "I will report back to the king, I have already thought about it. These Qin soldiers are after all defeated troops and must be punished as a warning to the three armies. However, killing them is too severe, pardoning them is too light. Therefore, I think that those who should die can be spared, but those who should live cannot escape punishment. Send them to the border to serve as frontier guards for several years, to demonstrate punishment."

  King Zheng of Qin listened, and also sank into silence. In fact, the method that Fusu said was also thought of by him, but he had not yet decided which border to send them to. After all, it was a punishment, and they couldn't be sent to a good place. It had to be a harsh and cold place. However, Fusu was able to think of this point, which was quite in line with his thinking, so King Zheng's anger also dissipated a lot.

  Li Si deeply bowed to King Zheng of Qin, saying: "Your Majesty, I think the Crown Prince's words are reasonable. Moreover, there is a place that is just right for these Qin soldiers to go."

  King Qin Zheng knew as soon as he heard it, that Li Si was talking about the land of Han. This is a good plan, because now that the land of Han has just been occupied, of course, troops will be sent to garrison and defend the newly acquired territory. Generally, a large number of prisoners would be conscripted for garrison duty, which is also a severe punishment.

  These Qin soldiers are all from the state of Qin and can be trusted, and their families are also in Qin, so there is no need to worry about them rebelling against Han. Moreover, these 18,000 Qin soldiers are all seasoned veterans, not ordinary prisoners, and as soon as something happens in Han, they can be deployed immediately. In this way, without executing these 18,000 Qin soldiers, which would greatly dampen the morale of the army, they have been given the necessary punishment, warning the three armies, and it is indeed a good strategy.

  However... King Zheng of Qin turned his mind around and looked at Fusu again, saying: "Fusu, is this method something you came up with?"

  Fu Su did not expect the king to ask this, so he was at a loss for how to respond. He had always been deeply afraid of King Zheng of Qin, and being stared at by his father made him feel even more terrified. He stuttered and couldn't continue speaking, only managing to stammer: "Earlier, I went out and met the princess, it...it was she who told me to say this."

  The King of Qin snorted and said: "I knew this wasn't something you came up with. If you had half the intelligence of Hua, I would be at ease."

  Fu Su's Wang sister is actually his twin sister Hehua, and the two are a pair of twins. Their mother was from Zheng State and was known as Zheng Fei in Qin Wangzheng's harem, where she received great favor from Qin Wangzheng.

  Because this Zheng Fei usually likes to sing [Shi Jing × Zheng Feng] songs, one of which has the sentence "Mountain has Fu Su, Xi has He Hua. Not seeing Zi Du, but seeing Kuang Ze". This is a love song, describing a woman's situation when meeting her lover in secret, Fu Su refers to the mulberry tree (also said to refer to a large tree), and He Hua is the lotus flower. The melody is beautiful, and Qin Wang Zheng also likes to listen to it. Therefore, after Zheng Fei gave birth to this pair of children, Qin Wang Zheng also used Fu Su and He Hua as their brother's name.

  When the brother and sister were born, thousands of birds circled above the palace of King Qin, chirping ceaselessly. King Qin ordered Taibai to divine the omen, and the result was that this was a sign of great auspiciousness and good fortune. Moreover, the brother and sister were the eldest son and daughter of King Qin's first wife, and if nothing unexpected happened, Fusu would be established as the crown prince and inherit the throne of King Qin. Therefore, King Qin also loved this pair of children very much.

  King Zheng of Qin was always very strict with Fusu, and just now he severely scolded Fusu, actually a large part of it was also out of hatred for not being able to become steel. On the other hand, Huahua is a widow, and she is more clever and intelligent than Fusu, and also more favored by King Zheng of Qin.

  Fusu was naturally also afraid to speak, and lowered his head, not daring to look at Qin Wang Zheng. Qin Wang Zheng also sighed, saying: "Withdraw, your opinion, the monarch will seriously consider it, but as for your punishment, it will remain unchanged, go back and study [Shang Jun Shu] carefully, waiting for the monarch's inspection."

  After Fu Su left, King Zheng of Qin sighed and said to Li Si: "If they could switch places, I'm afraid I would have already made Fu Su the crown prince."

  Li Si was also surprised and said: "What the young master just said, is it really what the princess taught?"

  King Zheng nodded and chuckled: "Of course, Fusu is kind and gentle, but he doesn't have such a mind. As soon as I heard this, I knew it wasn't something he could come up with. Not long ago, something happened in the palace. My favorite rhinoceros armor was bitten by a mouse in the warehouse, leaving a big hole. This armor was what I wore when I pacified the rebellion of Lao Ai, so I cherished it even more. I strictly ordered the eunuch in charge of the warehouse to take good care of it and not let anything happen to it, or else I would not forgive him lightly. Moreover, according to Qin law, the eunuch should be executed for this mistake. But somehow, Huhua found out about this and wanted to plead for mercy on behalf of the eunuch, asking me to pardon him." After a pause, King Zheng smiled: "Li Ke, if it were you, how would you persuade me to spare this eunuch?"

  Li Si hesitated for a moment, thought seriously, and still shook his head. He knew that if he went to ask King Qin Zheng directly, it would probably be useless. The Qin state attached great importance to the law, and although the monarch had the power to grant amnesty, he would not arbitrarily issue an amnesty decree in violation of the law. Generally speaking, only members of the royal family or high-ranking officials with great merit to the Qin state would be granted amnesty by King Qin Zheng. A palace servant, after all, was just a slave, and in the eyes of King Qin Zheng, was no more than an ant. Therefore, Li Si also wondered how Princess Huahua had persuaded King Qin Zheng. He shook his head and said, "I have no plan."

  King Qin Zheng smiled and continued, "She cut a piece of her clothing, then pretended to be worried in the palace. I naturally asked her why she looked so sad. She told me that her clothes had been bitten by mice, which was an ominous sign, and asked me to reduce the use of punishment to accumulate good deeds and eliminate disasters. I agreed with her, and the next day she let the inner servant confess his crime to me. Although I was unhappy, I wanted to execute him according to the law, but thinking about how even the clothes in Huahua's room were bitten by mice, not to mention the rhino armor in storage? Moreover, I had promised Huahua to reduce punishment and accumulate good deeds, so I couldn't lightly kill him. Therefore, not only did I not execute the inner servant, but I also rewarded him with some money for his honesty. Until two days ago, someone reported it to me, and I summoned the inner servant to ask about the incident in detail. However, I still spared the inner servant's life and didn't expose the truth, just to complete Huahua's good intentions. What do you think of Huahua's plan?"

  Li Si was also shocked after hearing this, and he did not expect that a 14 or 15-year-old girl would have such thoughts. She could lend a helping hand to an insignificant eunuch, showing her kind heart, which was not inferior to Fusu's. She advised King Qin Zheng, but not with the usual Confucian sayings about benevolence and morality. Instead, she used clever tactics, unorthodox methods, and was not limited by conventional thinking. If she were a man, she would indeed be a rare brilliant ruler. Therefore, he nodded repeatedly and said: "The princess is truly extremely intelligent."

  King Qin Zheng said, "Fusu's heart is kind and generous, which is a good thing, but unfortunately lacks wisdom. If he encounters major events, he tends to act impulsively without considering the overall situation, as just happened. Therefore, I still don't trust him! If he had even half of Huahua's wisdom, I would feel at ease. Huahua is indeed clever and wise, but unfortunately, she is a woman. If these two children could switch places, it would be perfect."

  Li Si hastily said: "In my opinion, the Crown Prince and Princess are born of the same mother, their talents are naturally comparable. Now they are both still young, it's not necessarily possible to know yet. If they can be well educated, the Crown Prince may also become a great talent."

  "I hope so."

  Li Si saw that everything had been said, and said: "Your Majesty, I, your humble servant, bid farewell."

  The King of Qin nodded and said, "You may go now."

  After Li Si left, King Zheng of Qin was still thinking about it and said, "If these two children were swapped, how good would that be."

  Huahua and Fusu are now both fourteen or fifteen years old, at an age when they should be getting married. In this era, many girls get married as early as twelve or thirteen years old. The marriage of the royal princes and princesses also carries great political significance, as it is an important means for the royal family to win over high-ranking officials in the court. Fusu has already been betrothed to the granddaughter of the former General Ao Jiao. According to plan, they were supposed to get married after the beginning of the year. Although Meng Wu is dead, his sons Meng Tian and Meng Yi are both important officials in Qin.

  As for Hehua's marriage, Qin Wang Zheng originally intended to marry Li Si's eldest son Li You, but three months ago, Hehua had a serious illness. The divination result was that Hehua should not get married early, and only after the age of 20 could he get married. Li Dian is already 25 or 26 years old now, waiting another five or six years will be over 30 years old, definitely can't wait for Hehua, so Qin Wang Zheng didn't mention it, and waited until Hehua was over 20 years old to choose a good match to get married.

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