Qin II, born in 230 BC, surnamed Zhao, named Hu Hai, was the eighteenth son (youngest son) of Qin Shihuang and the younger brother of the eldest son Fusu. Zhao Gao was ordered to study in prison by Zhongche Mansion. Law. Known as the Second Emperor.
Hu Hai was known as a playboy among the sons of Qin Shihuang, and he did not have the demeanor of an emperor's son. Once, Qin Shihuang hosted a banquet for his officials and asked his sons to participate. Hu Hai also went to the banquet as ordered, but he did not want to follow the rules and drink in front of his father like the ministers. He had eaten early and left the banquet with an excuse. The shoes of the ministers were neatly lined up outside the palace gate, because according to the regulations of the Qin Dynasty at that time, ministers must take off their shoes and put them outside the palace gate when entering the palace. The shoes of the officials attending the banquet were neatly arranged, but they became a prop for Hu Hai's mischief. Taking advantage of his drunkenness, he casually kicked the ministers' shoes into pieces as he walked.
Hu Hai's image as the son-in-law and Zhao Gao's instigation made him gradually go further and further down the evil path. Zhao Gao was originally a humble person, but he also had some talents, such as being proficient in criminal law. Not only was he tall and strong, but he could also write well. He won the favor of Qin Shihuang and promoted him to the position of Zhongche Mansion, responsible for the emperor's carriage and horse ceremonial guard. . In order to curry favor with Hu Hai, Zhao Gao often taught Hu Hai calligraphy and how to solve cases. Coupled with Zhao Gao's sharp tongue, he firmly controlled Hu Hai and obeyed his orders.
Among the princes of Qin Shihuang, Hu Hai was definitely not qualified to ascend the throne in terms of talent. His eldest brother Fusu was the best, and Qin Shihuang also trained him as his successor, although Qin Shihuang didn't like him very much. In order to increase his experience in governing the country, he was sent to guard the northern border with Meng Tian.
In 210 BC, Qin Shihuang made his last tour, and Hu Hai accompanied him. When Qin Shihuang died of illness at the Sand Dune Palace, Zhao Gao plotted Hu Hai's accession to the throne for the sake of his own monopoly and kept the funeral secret. With the help of Zhao Gao and Li Si, he conspired and forced Fu Su to death and became the second emperor of the Qin Dynasty. After Qin II came to the throne, the eunuch Zhao Gao took real power. He ordered all those who had no children in Qin Shi Huang's palace to die, and sealed all the craftsmen in the Lishan Mausoleum when burying Qin Shi Huang. Fifty thousand soldiers were recruited to garrison Xianyang, and they were ordered to teach how to shoot dogs, horses, and wild animals. And he is even more cruel and inhumane to many other brothers and sisters.
The most brutal massacre of his brothers by Hu Hai was the execution of twelve brothers in Xianyang City (the city is the commercial district in the ancient city). Another time, six brothers and ten sisters were crushed to death in Duyou (now east of Xianyang, Shaanxi Province). The execution ground was horrific. Jiang Lu and the other three were also brothers of Hu Hai, and they were eventually forced to commit suicide. The three of them were calmer than the other brothers. Hu Hai couldn't find any crime to frame him, so he was locked up in the palace. After many other brothers were killed, Zhao Gao sent people to force them to commit suicide. General Lu and the others said to the visitors: "We have done nothing wrong with the etiquette in the court. We have not violated the etiquette prescribed by the court, and we have followed orders. We have no fault at all. Why do we say that we are not loyal to the country, but we are asked to commit suicide?" The visitor replied: "I don't know why you were convicted and executed. I was just following orders." The three of them cried at each other. Kill yourself with the sword.
Among Hu Hai's brothers, the one who died with a better reputation was Gongzi Gao. He watched his brothers and sisters being tortured to death by Hu Hai one after another, and knew that he could not escape his fate. But escaping would harm his family, so he decided to sacrifice his life to keep his family safe. He wrote to Hu Hai, saying that he was willing to bury his father in Lishan Mountain. Hu Hai was very happy and gave him another 100,000 yuan.
In addition to his brothers and sisters, Hu Hai did not let go of the ministers of civil and military affairs. The first to be persecuted were the Meng Tian brothers. At first, Hu Hai wanted to continue using the two brothers, but Zhao Gao was afraid that they would pose a threat to him, so he spread rumors to Hu Hai that Qin Shihuang originally wanted to make Hu Hai the crown prince, but Meng Tian's brother Meng Yi tried his best to stop it. , Qin Shihuang gave up the idea of ??making him the prince. Hu Hai believed it, and instead of releasing Meng Tian, ??he also imprisoned Meng Yi in the prison of Daijun (now northeast of Yu County, Hebei Province). Later, Hu Hai sent an envoy to force Meng Yi to commit suicide, and then sent envoys to Yangzhou's prison to force Meng Tian to commit suicide. Meng Tian refused at first, claiming that he wanted to see Hu Hai and ask him to withdraw the edict, but the envoy refused. Seeing that there was no hope of survival, Meng Tian had no choice but to Committed suicide by taking poison.
After Hu Hai sat on the throne of the emperor, he wanted to enjoy his life. Once he said to Zhao Gao: "A person's life is as fast as a galloping horse crossing a gap in the wall. As an emperor, I think Enjoy yourself with all your heart, my dear, what do you think?" This was exactly what Zhao Gao wanted. From then on, he pleased Hu Hai and took power more boldly.
With Zhao Gao's support, Hu Hai was still uneasy and asked Li Si how to enjoy himself for a long time. He said to Li Si: "I heard Han Fei say that when Yao governed the world, the houses were made of thatch, the rice was soup made from wild vegetables, they were wrapped in deerskin to keep out the cold in winter, and they wore linen clothes in summer. When Dayu was controlling the floods, he was running around They work so hard that their thighs lose fat, their calves lose hair, and eventually they die in a foreign land. If they are like this, is this their original intention? The poor life is probably advocated by those poor scholars, not by sages like emperors. I hope. Since we have the world, we have to use the world's things to satisfy our own desires. This is called being rich in the world! How can I have the mind to govern the world if I don't have any benefits? My dear, do you have any good ideas?"
Li Si was afraid that Hu Hai would follow Zhao Gao's advice and fall out of favor, so he wrote an article dedicated to Hu Hai's method of governing the country by being dictatorial and ruthless in governing the people. That is, the methods of inspection and punishment are used to consolidate centralized power and suppress people's resistance and law-breaking.
With Li Si's idea, Hu Hai indulged his desires wantonly. He continued to recruit a large number of farmers from all over the country to build Epang Palace and Lishan Cemetery, and dispatched 50,000 soldiers to guard Xianyang, the capital. At the same time, he asked various places to supply grain and grass to Xianyang, and prohibited those transporting grain and grass from eating grain within three hundred miles of Xianyang on the road. , you must bring your own food. In addition to year-round unpaid labor, farmers' tax burden also increased day by day, which eventually led to the outbreak of the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang Uprising in 209 BC.
With the first one, other uprisings broke out in various places one after another. The descendants of the Six Kingdoms who were wiped out by the Qin State again took up the banner of the Six Kingdoms to fight against Qin. Countless people from various places claimed kings and separatist regimes. Chen Sheng One of his generals, Zhou Wen, led an army of 100,000 and headed straight for Hangu Pass. The end of Qin finally came.
But the second Hu Hai didn't believe it at all, and only liked to hear good words about peace in the world. When discussing whether to send troops to quell the uprising, Hu Hai actually disagreed that there was a "rebellion". Of course, sending troops was unnecessary. Shusun Tong understood Hu Hai and said: "What they said about the world's rebellion is simply not true. The late emperor has already demolished the city walls and forged the world's weapons. With you as the Ming Lord sitting in the hall, strict laws and regulations are enforced in the world, the country is stable and the people are prosperous. , who would rebel? Now Chen Sheng and these people are just a few thieves, and the local officials are actively hunting them down, so please rest assured."
After hearing this, Hu Hai was filled with joy and praised his uncle. Sun Tong said well, and then he asked other people. Some said Chen Sheng was a "thief", while others said he was a "rebel." Those who say "thieves" are fine, and those who say "rebellion" will be punished, because saying "rebellion" is equivalent to saying that the world is in chaos.
Under the instigation of Zhao Gao, Hu Hai also killed other ministers. Prime Minister Li Si on the left, Prime Minister Feng Quji on the right, and General Feng Jie all petitioned to stop the construction of Afang Palace and reduce various exorbitant taxes.
Right Prime Minister Feng Quji and General Feng Jie chose to commit suicide in order to avoid being humiliated. While killing the ministers, Zhao Gao put away his cronies one by one. His brother Zhao Cheng became the magistrate of the CRRC, and his son-in-law became the county magistrate of the capital Xianyang. They were all important positions. Other dynasties Zhao Gao's party members are also all over the important positions in the army. Hu Hai only knew how to enjoy himself and was completely unprepared for Zhao Gao's conspiracies.
Zhao Gao was not satisfied with killing many ministers in the court, and looked for opportunities to instigate Hu Hai to kill local officials as well. At the beginning of 208 BC (the second year of Hu Hai), Hu Hai followed the example of his father Qin Shihuang and traveled around the world. It went to Kuaiji (now Suzhou) in the south, to Jieshi (now Changli North, Hebei) in the north, and finally returned to Xianyang from Liaodong (now Liaoyang, Liaoning). During the tour, Zhao Gao said to Hu Hai insidiously: "Your Majesty, when you tour the world this time, you should take the opportunity to establish your own prestige and kill those officials who disobey. Only in this way can you have supreme prestige." He repeatedly ordered the execution of dissidents, which made the ministers panic. The young and incompetent Hu Hai became Zhao Gao's tool to expand his power.
In 208 BC, Zhao Gao borrowed the help of Hu Hai to get rid of Li Si. Li Si was sentenced to death: first, tattooing (that is, tattooing on the face, which was an insulting punishment in the Qin Dynasty), and then (that is, cutting off the nose, which is also a kind of torture in the Qin Dynasty), cutting off the left and right toes (that is, cutting off the left and right feet), and cutting off the waist (cutting off the waist), and finally mincing (Yinhai, that is, mincing into meat paste), which was at that time It is the most cruel method of execution, called "Gu Wu Xing", which means execution with five kinds of punishment.
Li Si's family was also killed at the same time.
In order to achieve his goal of complete dictatorship, Zhao Gao told Hu Hai that he was young and inexperienced, and that the emperor should meet less with ministers to avoid exposing his weaknesses in front of ministers. If we could live in the palace and listen to reports from Zhao Gao and others, and have "pillar talents" like them to assist us, the country would be better governed. Hu Hai heard that it made sense, and he was willing to stay in the harem and enjoy himself. From then on, all political affairs in the court were handled by Zhao Gao alone.
Although Zhao Gao held great power, he was also afraid that the ministers would unite against him. In order to test the ministers' true attitude towards him, Zhao Gao carefully planned a political incident that would be infamous in history for thousands of years: calling a deer a horse.