Chapter 14: Quelling the Rebellion

The smoke of gunpowder in the land of China has been ignited, and Emperor Hu Hai is still immersed in the joy of enthronement. He has not yet learned how to run the world, how to handle government affairs, and there is no one to teach him. He was not as lucky as his father Yingzheng, and he did not have his mother and Lü Buwei to assist him. There were so many official documents submitted by the local government that he couldn't even read them. He is not as dedicated as his father, and he didn't even read some official documents, so he handed them over directly to his confidant Zhao Gao to deal with.

His focus is only on consolidating his power and enjoying the good life. He thought that killing his own brothers who threatened his throne was to consolidate his power, but he didn't expect that it would weaken his own power. He thought that he could enjoy a good life by handing over all government affairs to the senior officials around him, but this was precisely the beginning of the fall of authority.

When the news of the Chu Di rebellion was reported, Hu Hai, who had been in power for only seven months, did not know what to do. As is customary, he convened central government officials to discuss countermeasures, but the ministers disagreed over how to define the nature of the incident.

Some officials believe that this is a rebellion, a large-scale social riot and political rebellion aimed at overthrowing the Qin dynasty. Some officials believe that this is just an ordinary criminal case, just a group of lawbreakers taking advantage of the opportunity to make trouble. In the eyes of later generations, it seems that the former definition is more accurate. But no ruler, no central government, wants to admit that during his rule, there were massive social riots and political rebellions in the country, which was a fundamental subversion of the legitimacy of the government. This is tantamount to clearly announcing to the outside world that there is already a considerable amount of public opinion dissatisfied with the central government. This will not only be unhelpful in the current situation, but will provoke greater trouble. Especially at the beginning of the new emperor's accession to the throne, he did not want the situation to be turbulent.

Even Hu Hai, who is not politically savvy, understands this truth. So when he heard that officials had defined the incident as a rebellion, he was very angry. He ordered that all government officials who proposed to define the incident as a rebellion be arrested and imprisoned on charges of disturbing the situation.

【Shusun Tong】

To Hu Hai's relief, there is still a wise official who is really worried about the country and the people. The official's name was Shusun Tong, and he was drafted into the court because of his outstanding talent, and he served as a doctor of edict. Although his uncle and grandson read the Confucian classics, they have always regarded themselves as Confucian scholars. But in reality, he is an opportunist. If the leader likes to listen, he will say; Whatever the leader likes to see, he will do. He has no principles and doesn't care what other peers think. What he cares about is the opinion of the leader.

At this important court meeting, he understood the face of the leader Hu Hai. When other officials said that the incident should be defined as a rebellion, he resolutely stood up and raised strong objections.

He believed that if the unification is made today, the walls of all counties will be destroyed, and all the weapons of the people will be melted down. Today, the emperor is wise and powerful, the laws are fair, the officials are loyal to their duties, the empire is prosperous, where there are still people who dare to rebel, where there are riots and rebellions. This is just a group of local thieves making trouble, and there is no need to alarm the central government and order the local county guards to arrest and bring them to justice. (None of the words of life are true.) The husband and the world are united into one family, destroying the county seat, destroying his soldiers, and showing that the world will not be reused. And the Lord is above it, and the law is on the bottom, so that everyone will serve, and the four sides will be spoken, and those who dare to oppose it! This special group of thieves rats and dogs steal ears, and they are not enough to be placed between their teeth and teeth. The county guard is arresting today, so why worry. ）

Leader Hu Hai is very satisfied with this answer. He thought that Shusun Tong was very knowledgeable, and immediately promoted him to a full doctor, and gave him 20 pieces of cloth and an official uniform. But Hu Hai didn't know what Uncle Sun Tong really thought in his heart, it turned out that what he said was nonsense.

When Shusun Tong returned to his residence, he broke out in a cold sweat. He didn't feel that his promotion was a welcome thing. On the contrary, he thought that the court meeting just now was too thrilling. If he answers incorrectly, he will be arrested and imprisoned like other officials.

Before the official appointment documents came down, Shusun Tong packed his baggage and ran away, not even taking the official uniform he had just been rewarded. Because he knew that the nature of this incident was too serious, and if the rebellion was not quelled in time, the emperor would definitely blame himself in the end, and the courtiers would continue to criticize him.

So, Uncle Sun Tong ran away. (He may have been the first court official in history to refuse promotion.) ）

【Hu Hai】

I thought he was a wise official who was worried about the country and the people, but he didn't expect that he would defect now, Hu Hai really couldn't figure it out. But in any case, the incident was eventually defined as an ordinary criminal case. Since it was a local bandit making trouble, rather than a social riot or political rebellion, of course, there was no need to send a strong force to the central army to suppress it, and the most important task of the central army at this time was to fight against the powerful Xiongnu army. This is a trivial matter, and only the local government needs to dispatch ordinary police forces to annihilate it.

But can local governments fix this?

Social unrest has occurred in many places in Surabaya and Chen counties, and the situation is the most volatile. If the central government of the Qin Dynasty could pay enough attention to this, it should have listed Surabaya County and Chen County as key areas for social security rectification, and arranged for the most effective government officials to serve there. Obviously, at this time, the county guards of Surabaya County and Chen County were not suitable personnel.

Two Chen people, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, set off a wave of rebellion against the Qin Dynasty in Surabaya County, and they were like a fire trigger, quickly detonating the explosives depot dormant in the empire, and it was out of control. Their hometown, Chen County, was originally an ancient feudal state, but it was later annexed by the Chu State and became the county seat of the Chu State. After the annexation of Chu by Qin, it became the territory of Qin. It can be said that the smoke of gunfire in this place has almost never stopped, today this one can come over to be the king, and tomorrow the one can come over and be the emperor. With regime changes so frequent, it is no wonder that Chen Sheng would say that the prince and the prince would have a kind of Xiangning. And there was turmoil in Surabaya County one after another, and the county Shouzhuang was indifferent, which was really a serious dereliction of duty.

However, the central government was indifferent, and how could a non-local official with no military power be able to suppress such large-scale unrest.

It wasn't until the situation spread and a rebel force of 100,000 troops approached the capital Xianyang that Emperor Hu Hai became nervous.

In the face of such powerful thieves, it is estimated that no official dares to take this incident lightly. In fact, when such an incident occurs, the central government should promptly hold a press conference and paste a notice to secure the people, distinguish between the principal culprit and the accessory, and point out that these are all thieves who are blackmailing the people to make trouble, and the situation is generally stable. Nominally defining him as a thief, secretly sending the central army to suppress it and punish him for rebellion, perhaps this is the right thing to do. But the central government clearly did not anticipate this.

The central government decided to send troops to the front line to suppress the army, and the general who led the team was named Zhang Han, who would be the last famous general of the Qin Empire. Hu Hai pinned all his hopes on Zhang Han. But the army he led was not a regular army, but a ragtag army improvised by the surrounding convicts. These prisoners were originally building the Lishan Mausoleum, and if Liu Ji had arrived in Xianyang on time, it was likely that the prisoners he led would have appeared in this army. Because the situation is already very urgent, I am afraid it is too late to mobilize the official army. (The thieves have arrived, the crowd is strong, and it is not enough to send the county today.) There are many disciples in Lishan, please forgive them, and give troops to attack them. ）

Zhang Han was an excellent general, and a makeshift army of convicts put down the rebellion without much effort, and the leader of the revolutionary army, Chen Sheng, was killed by his subordinate, a coachman, after the defeat.

If the central government had reacted more quickly and strangled the insurrection in its cradle at the outset, it would never have been out of control. In the two months following the uprising, the central government had no instructions, the local government was at a loss, and the officials of the empire were collectively silent. Soon, the local agitation fermented into a national unrest.

In the end, it brought down the largest empire in the world.