Qin Shi Huang stayed in 邽县 (guī) for a long time, from early April until the end of April.

He is waiting for two things here, one of which is the views of the ministers on "Xituo".

As the emperor expected, in addition to the opposition of Wu Shilu, the three county guards, lieutenants, Nei Shi Teng, and Meng Tian, including Li Xin, all expressed their support. Even the Imperial Historian and Tingwei, who were far away in Xianyang, also agreed with the strategy of enriching the three counties of Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun, but felt that they could consider it again for the development of Hurong.

In fact, the emperor's eyes also stayed in the northwest, and Henan and Hetao were also one of his goals.

But his view is contrary to that of Heifu, believing that the Yueshi and the Xiongnu are still strong, with tens of thousands of people controlling the strings, and their military strength is no less than that of a country with a crown belt, and if they want to conquer, they may have to use hundreds of thousands of troops.

And Baiyue is weak, and the transmission can be determined, so after he became emperor, he planned to go south and then north.

It wasn't until Heifu presented the marching diary "Southern Expedition" that Qin Shi Huang read it and had a new understanding of the south.

Jiangnan, more vast than he imagined, from the north to the south of Yuzhang, it takes more than a month, and many places do not even have roads, there are dense forests everywhere, and the soldiers have to move forward while cutting down trees, and the loss is great.

It is conceivable that the environment and climate in Lingnan are worse than those in Yuzhang, and this war, which has not yet begun, is much more difficult than Qin Shi Huang envisioned.

This hesitation changed course at the head of the family, believing that the southward march should be slow, and the increase was increased when the northwest was cut first.

No matter how arrogant Qin Shi Huang was, he also knew that it was unrealistic for both sides to start a war at the same time, and it was inevitable that they would have to divide the order.

The Southern Expedition, in addition to the desire to conquer, is nothing more than to Yue Zhi rhino horn, ivory, jade, and pearls, these treasures can satisfy his collecting habits, and can also make Shaofu make a lot of money.

The westward expansion can occupy the rich pastures of Hexi, Hetao and Henan, add three large pastures for the country, and also avenge Hu Rong's century-old invasion of the Central Plains.

The benefits of the latter are obviously greater than the former, and the balance in the emperor's heart is slowly tilting to the west, and since Wu Zhi interprets his dream, the balance has completely fallen to the west!

Thinking like this, Qin Shi Huang put down the note at hand and asked the confessor to come over and ask: "Go and urge those painting workers again!" I'm going to see the portrait today! ”

The second thing he was waiting for was a painting: a portrait of the Queen Mother of the West......

……

Qin Shi Huang's imperial driving team not only included civil and military officials, Lang Wei attendants, but also horsemen, weaver girls, cooks, and craftsmen who were responsible for the clothing, food, housing and transportation of thousands of people. If the emperor liked the scenery of a place, he asked them to paint it on silk, and along the way, he had painted a lot.

But the task they got today was a little unusual: the emperor asked three painters to try out the portrait of the Queen Mother of the West......

The painting gods and men are difficult to defeat the painters, and the three of them are from Chudi, which is the most mature country in the art of silk painting. The Chu people are romantic and imaginative, in addition to the traditional dragon and phoenix silk paintings, the painters often depict celestial phenomena and gods to express the mythical world imagined by the Chu people.

One of them even painted the image of the Queen Mother of the West in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", so he took charge of the brush, using mineral pigments such as cinnabar, stone blue, and stone green, and painted on the fine silk cloth.

Two days later, the painting was completed, but I saw that the image of the Queen Mother of the West was a leopard-tailed beast ear, with fluffy hair and exposed tiger teeth, full of wild charm.

The painter happily offered the silk painting to the emperor, only to be thrown back......

"Redraw!"

The three painters looked at each other, and their Queen Mother of the West in Chu was like this.

But when the emperor spoke, they had to reconsider, and after consulting Wang Juan and other erudite people, it took two days to finally redraw the image of the Queen Mother of the West imagined by the Taoists in "Liezi".

At this time, the Queen Mother of the West has changed from a half-human and half-beast to a white-haired old woman with crane hair and a childish face, she is white-headed, wearing a feather coat, living in seclusion in the cave of Xianshan, and a "feather man" with a human head and a bird body is for her to send.

However, the emperor only glanced at it, but he was still not satisfied, and the silk painting was directly burned.

"If you don't like it, redraw!"

It's only three, and if the third time doesn't satisfy the emperor, although it won't be dragged out and cut down directly, it is certain that he will be punished.

The three painters were so worried that they could only ask the help of their boss, the Shaofu Cheng Heifu, to find the "initiator" of the whole thing, Wu Zhi, and ask His Majesty what kind of image the Queen Mother of the West should be?

Wu Zhi had already opened his mind, and the painter humbly asked, so he said slowly: "It is rumored that the Queen Mother of the West is immortal, she has lived from the time of the Yellow Emperor to the present, and when she is a resident of youth, how can she be an old woman?" ”

At this time, the painters understood, and decided to use the "Wushan Goddess" painted for the king of Chu when they were in Chu as a template to create a beautiful goddess who will stay young forever.

Two more people, three painters to complete the silk painting was sent to the palace again, when the picture scroll was hung, Qin Shi Huang only saw, the whole silk painting depicts the scene of the Tianshan Yao Pond, the tall twelve golden people guard at the bottom, as if waiting for the guests, look up, the feast is full of flamboyant curtains and ding, pots and stacked ear cups, which are filled with agar jade brew and all kinds of fairy grass fairy fruits, feather people hold the cup, the fairy holds the gui, the long snake, the big turtle, the owl, the sheep-like monster is distributed around.

In the center of the silk painting, there is a Chinese New Year's Eve goddess with a slender figure, a heavenly posture, a peerless face, dignified and gorgeous......

She rode on the chariot driven by the six dragons, and two white cranes stood on her left and right, and above her head was the sun of the golden crow, which looked extremely bright.

The painters fell to the ground, anxiously waiting for the emperor to fall, but Qin Shi Huang was speechless for a long time, admiring the scene of Yaochi and the queen mother reproduced by the painters, and praised after a while: "Very good!" ”

The painters were overjoyed, so they presented a poem to describe the appearance of the Queen Mother of the West:

"There is no ancient world, the world has never seen it, it is magnificent, and it is not praiseworthy. Its beginning is also as dazzling as the sun rises on the roof beams; Its little progress is also, as bright as the bright moon and its light. In a moment, beauty is born: Ye Xi is like Hua, warm as Ying. Its ornamentation is also, then Luo Suqi's achievements are prosperous, and the best clothes shine in all directions. The descendants of the step descendant Xi Yao Palace, suddenly changed their appearance, graceful as a dragon riding the clouds......"

Although it is very in line with the situation, but this is a direct plagiarism of Song Yu's "Goddess Fu", the Chu painters are smart, but unexpectedly, someone around Qin Shi Huang has read this, and immediately pointed out, Qin Shi Huang did not blame the painter, but said:

"Around me, why is there no one as brilliant as Song Yu who can write a "Fu of the Queen Mother of the West"?"

As soon as these words came out, the close ministers who were proficient in the resignation were eager to try, but Qin Shi Huang dispelled this idea.

He still doesn't like the Fu of the Chu State, he pursues the rhetoric too ornately, too pretentiously, and it also mixes a lot of words that only Chu can have.

So Qin Shi Huang sighed: "The Queen Mother of the West is the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, blessed with the wonder of the creation of heaven and earth, its image is unparalleled, its beauty is infinite, its shape is elevated, if you don't see it with your own eyes, how can you talk about its appearance lightly?" The widow will see it! ”

……

It was night, let people hang the silk paintings in their bedrooms, Qin Shi Huang held the candle flame and looked at it for a long time, staring intently, not knowing what he was thinking.

When even the chamberlain came to ask if he wanted to recruit the accompanying concubines to sleep tonight, he waved his hand impatiently.

Since the death of Hu Hai's mother, the emperor has also lost the last favored concubine, and the rest of the concubines, seven sons, and eight sons are no different in his eyes, and the thousands of palace people who have been captured from the six countries, he is vigilant, and none of them favors them, only letting them grow old in the built Six Kings Palace. The royal driving thunder was shocked, the palace car passed by, and the wheel was far away, and I didn't know what it was......

Every time he traveled, the emperor only picked the most well-behaved people to accompany him, and occasionally came to the car, but it was like a routine official business, and it was not very interesting.

As far as Qin Shi Huang is concerned, they are no more interesting than the simple bamboo slips piled up on the table.

But since Wu Zhi interpreted his dream for him, Qin Shi Huang found that he had a strong interest in a woman again!

That's the mysterious Queen Mother of the West!

For mysterious things, celestial legends, whether it is the Penglai Yingzhou Immortal Island that Fang Shi talked about, or the Kuafu giant and the state of the Western Queen Mother as Wu Zhi said, Qin Shi Huang maintained an attitude of rather believing in it.

Because deep down in his heart, he has been hinting to himself: "I am not an extraordinary person, but a real son of heaven!" ”

The disgust for his mother made him rather believe that he was a bird of destiny.

The Yin people, who are of the same origin as the Qin people, believed that "the king is the emperor in the emperor", and the main ancestors of Shang, such as Gaozu Taiyi, Taizong Taijia, Zhongzong Zu B, etc., can ascend to heaven and get the title of "emperor" after their deaths.

Zhou is different, although he calls himself the Son of Heaven, he already thinks that he is a mortal, just a herdsman on behalf of the sky, so he goes to the emperor and calls him the king of people.

After entering the Warring States Period, the seven heroes successively claimed the king, and even the little Zhongshan and the Song Kingdom came to join in the fun, and the mystery of the king disappeared. Everyone knows that even if a pig wears a crown, he is still a king, and once he loses power, the king is not even as good as the common people.

This is also the reason why Qin Shi Huang must add the emperor title to himself, and he wants to re-bless the mystery of the emperor of Yin Shang to his body!

Qin Shi Huang also faintly hoped that he would have the merits of unifying the sea and the world, covering the three emperors and the five emperors of virtue, and he could be rewarded by Haotian, so that he could ascend to the nine heavens after his death and continue to be a clear god in the sky.

Or, you can directly live forever and be the emperor of all ages!

But Qin Shi Huang, who was nearly forty years old, could already feel the aging of his body and felt that he was powerless.

That's why he was desperate to expand the mausoleum in Lishan and build a magnificent underground palace. He also built a lot of construction in Guanzhong, wanting to use Weishui as the Milky Way and Xianyang Palace as Ziweixing to create a heavenly kingdom on earth, as Fang Shi said.

When Xiangrui appeared in Longxi, he immediately cast twelve golden figures and placed them at the gate of the palace.

All of this was like a huge ritual trying to get Haotian's attention.

But deep down, the emperor is clear: this is actually useless, it is just in vain, there is no god descending into the pass, his body is not suddenly young, and the feather ascending immortal is even more unattainable.

Therefore, he used a magician, or refining pills, and planned to send people overseas to seek immortals.

It wasn't until Wu Zhi put a more interesting and fascinating legend in front of the emperor that he looked away from the misty East China Sea and looked back at the west, which was not far from Qindi.

Wu Zhi gave him a new choice: there were rumors of immortality in the East China Sea, and there were also in the West.

But there are only "immortals" in the East China Sea who are not famous and can't say their specific names, but there is a fascinating Queen Mother of the West in the west!

Qin Shi Huang believed that the Queen Mother of the West was real, and also believed that she had the art of immortality and immortality, and sent twelve golden people to invite him.

This invitation, the emperor decided to go next!

But he didn't plan to take a group of people to the Desperate Domain like King Zhou Mu, which was an irresponsible move to abandon the world.

Qin Shi Huang is a person who can take care of hobbies and government affairs, and he will never leave his territory for half a step!

This westward tour was originally Qin Shi Huang's journey to trace the origins.

After dominating the world and fulfilling his long-cherished wish for many years, he had a brief period of confusion.

The emperor lost his former motivation, and even sent troops to defend the south of the Yangtze River and conquer Baiyue in the south, but he was also habitually looking for a goal for himself.

So he wants to come to Qi Nian Palace, to the small town where his ancestors lived: to find his original self, to find the ambition that rises in his heart when the rebels are attacking the city, and when the smoke is burning! Find what generations of Qin people have worked hard and struggled to seek.

And now, Qin Shi Huang has been found.

The once-lost ambition burned in his eyes again!

Let people hang a map of Longxi County next to the silk painting of the Queen Mother of the West. Qin Shi Huang put his hand on Di Dao and Lintao, the westernmost part of his territory, crossed the Great Wall and slowly went west, passing through Zhuqiang and Yueshi, arriving at a blank area, and finally placed it in a position that might be Kunlun and Tianshan, and nodded heavily!

"Hit it!"

Expanding the territory to the west and looking for the mother country of the western king, these two things, Qin Shi Huang planned to do together.

Even if it's thousands of miles away, it doesn't matter. Along the way, those who follow Qin prosper, and those who go against Qin die!

What to do after conquering the six kingdoms of the Eastern Crown Belt? Then turn around and head west, and bring all the known and unknown lands into the empire's borders!

After the road is opened and the state of the Western Queen Mother is found, Qin Shi Huang will tour the west again.

He will follow the newly built galloping road, with a huge team, wading through quicksand, crossing the grassland, preaching the sheng flute all the way, going to the icy Kunlun and Tianshan Mountains, going to the banquet of Yaochi, and seeing with his own eyes whether the Queen Mother of the West has a peerless face and holds the secret of immortality.

Then, he wanted to repay him and ask her to return with him, and the emperor and the queen mother traveled in the same car, returned to Xianyang, and drove in the Guanzhong Palace that had been repaired, and the heavenly kingdom on earth, and was worshiped by hundreds of millions of people.

It also lets everyone know that their emperor is a god like the Queen Mother of the West!

Qin Shi Huang had countless women in his life, but there was no queen, and even after becoming an emperor, no matter how the ministers hinted, he did not appoint any woman as the queen.

Because they don't deserve it!

How do mortal women match the Son of Heaven?

And throughout the world, the only one worthy of him is the Queen Mother of the West!

According to legend, she is the "imperial daughter", that is, the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, and she is a sister and brother with Qin Shihuang, the "Son of Heaven".

But so what? Qin Shi Huang didn't care about this detail, and he didn't even care about the legend that the Queen Mother of the West and King Mu of Zhou had a story.

"The lord of King Zhou Mu is also the lord of Yonglu, how can he be able to swim in the sky with the Queen Mother of the West?"

So although he was said to live a long life, he still died.

But he is different, he wants to live forever, from one life to ten thousand years!

The emperor looked at the beautiful and dignified Queen Mother of the West on the silk painting, and the eyebrows in his eyes made people dare not infringe on the blasphemous play, but his heart was not admiration, but pure desire to conquer!

Even if it is a goddess, you have to bow to yourself, even if you are an immortal, you have to submit to the emperor!

In a tone that did not allow him to refute the questioning, he said proudly:

"I will make you the queen!"