After Chen Sheng was killed, there were three other kings in the entire Great Qin, namely King Wuchen of Zhao, Tian Dan, King of Qi, and Wei Qi, King of Wei, supported by Zhou City.

When Chen Sheng's head was sent to the main hall of Xianyang Palace by the soldiers who reported the victory, Hu Hai on the throne breathed a sigh of relief. In the past four months, he couldn't eat, sleep, and panic because of the affairs of the righteous army, and even cried bitterly in front of the ministers in front of the palace several times when Zhou Wen's army was approaching Xianyang.

He was afraid, he was really afraid, he was afraid of losing his hard-won supreme throne, and he was even more afraid of losing his own life. Fortunately, this chapter Han was very competitive, first defeated Zhou Wen, and then completely annihilated Wu Guang and Tian Zang's subordinates, and then killed Chen Sheng, the king of Zhang Chu, the culprit who disturbed the world.

Hu Hai is very happy, and now he can enjoy himself freely, and he doesn't have to worry about his life anymore. He generously gave Zhang Han a heavy reward, worshiped as a general, sealed the marquis, and the title was already a very popular minister, above Wang Li.

When the Great Qin Dynasty was in danger, Zhang Han, who was born out of nowhere, gave the Great Qin hope of survival, and when the building was about to collapse, he turned the tide, and realized his long-cherished wish for many years, becoming the first person in the Qin army.

After Chen Sheng's death, Zhao Gao and others took the opportunity to sing praises and boast of the prestige of the Great Qin. It is claimed that Chen Sheng is dead, the rebels have been destroyed, and the world has regained long-term peace and stability. The second emperor, who finally mustered a little determination, quickly resumed his original life of uninhibited and uninhibited enjoyment in the sound of boasting and patting, entrusted the state affairs to Zhao Gao, and hid back in the deep palace to enjoy the beautiful women and delicacies, and never came to the court again.

At this time, Zhang Han, who was full of ambition, joined forces with Li You, and ordered Li You to lead his troops to hold Henan, and he himself personally led a large army north to attack the Zhou city that had seized Wei.

Faced with the arrival of Zhang Han's army, Zhou City, who was cowering in Weidi, was terrified. When the former old superior Chen Sheng was destroyed, he leisurely watched from the wall, thinking that both sides would lose and hurt him, and then go to Zhou City to reap the benefits of the fisherman. But he didn't expect Chen Sheng to be so unbeaten, and now that Zhang Han's sharp claws pounced on him Zhou Shi, how could he not be afraid of becoming the next Chen Sheng.

Zhang Han was too capable of fighting, not something that he could bear alone in Zhou City, so he hurriedly sent a distress document to Qi Wang Tian Dan and Xiang Liang of Jianghuai.

Xiang Liang was busy fighting for territory with another rebel army, Qin Jia, at this time, and had no time to look north, so he symbolically sent a nobody, Xiang Qi, who led a force north to help.

As for Tian Dan, he was a descendant of the Qi royal family, and his relationship with Zhou City was not harmonious. When Zhou City seized Qi land, he was beaten by Tian Dan, and Zhou City had no choice but to give Qi land to Tian Dan and return to Wei to claim greatness. Now that the enemy is at present, Tian Dan still understands the truth of the cold lips and teeth. So the two let go of their hatred, and the ice released their previous suspicions and quickly became allies.

Zhang Han's army attacked under the city of Daliang, and the combined forces of Zhou Shi and Tian Dan camped in the south of Daliang. The two sides are evenly matched, and the difference is only in the generals.

Zhang Han was not in a hurry to attack, but built a high camp, hoarded grain and grass, and only held out for half a month, putting on a posture of fighting a protracted war, wanting to besiege Weidu Daliang. After a long time, Zhou Shi and Tian Dan gradually developed a sense of slackness, feeling that Zhang Han was nothing more than that.

Unexpectedly, the Qin army took advantage of the night to come out of the nest and attacked the coalition camp overnight, and the 300,000 coalition troops were completely defeated under the fierce offensive of the Qin army, and Zhou Shi and Tian Dan also died in the chaos. Then Zhang Han's soldiers surrounded Daliang, and the city was broken for a few days, forcing Wei Wang, the king of Wei, to death.

Since then, the rebellion in Henan has been quelled, and then Zhang Han's army went east and eliminated Tian Dan's old nest Linzi. Tian Dan's two younger brothers, Tian Rong and Tian Heng, ran to Dong'a with Tian Dan's son Tian Shi, established him as the king of Qi, and continued to drag the banner of Qi to resist the Qin army. Zhang Han's army then followed, surrounding Dong'e City layer by layer.

Zhang Han's army crisscrossed the entire Central Plains, and successively killed the five major thieves of Zhou Wen, Tian Zang, Chen Sheng, Zhou Shi and Tian Dan, but they lingered under the small Dong'a City, besieging the city for more than a month, but did not make the slightest progress.

It's not that Zhang Han can't, he just doesn't want to. He was suspicious, worried, and the news from far away Xianyang made him panic.

Li Si fell, to be precise, he should have been downed by Zhao Gao.

Li Si, a veteran of the three dynasties, has been the prime minister of Qin for more than ten years, and his protégés and former officials are all over the court and the opposition, so it can be said that all the major events of Great Qin in the past few decades have to go through his Li Si's handwriting. But such a famous and powerful prime minister also fell under Zhao Gao's butcher's knife. Of course, he is not the first and will not be the last.

When the Qin Dynasty was in danger, Zhao Gao could still tolerate Li Si temporarily. Because Zhao Gao is a smart man, once Daqin's foundation is destroyed, he himself will definitely die without a place to be buried, and protecting Daqin undoubtedly requires Li Si's wisdom and influence. By the time Chen Sheng died, the Central Plains had basically calmed down, and Zhao Gao, who had been silent for a long time, could no longer hold his breath.

He is already Lang Zhongling, ranked Jiuqing, and the entire Xianyang is under his control. If you want to take a step forward, then there is only the position of the head of the hundred officials, the prime minister, so Li Si has become his biggest stumbling block.

If you want to get the prime minister, you can only use one person, and you can only use one person, that is, Hu Hai. If you are a talent for governing the country, ten Zhao Gao can't match Li Si, but if you talk about the methods of Yin people, Li Si is far from being Zhao Gao's opponent.

Because of the domestic turmoil, many major events need to be reviewed and handled by the emperor, and during this time, Hu Hai indulged in the female music in the palace all day long, and Li Si asked to see him many times but was turned away. Zhao Gao made a heart, every time Li Si had something important to report, he waited for Hu Hai and the female relatives of the harem to have a strong sex and sent someone to send a letter to Li Si, asking Li Si to go to the harem to ask Hu Hai.

After doing this three times and twice, Hu Hai became angry, and he finally couldn't help but ask Zhao Gao one day: "I usually have a lot of free days, and the prime minister doesn't come." Whenever I was happy, the prime minister would come and ask for advice. Does the prime minister look down on me? Or do you think I'm a bully at a young age? ”

Zhao Gao and Hu Hai have been waiting for this sentence for a long time, and they are about to have endocrine disorders, so they tremble excitedly; "Li Si, this guy wants to rebel."

Hu Hai was taken aback and said in disbelief; "No, when my father was alive, he often said that Li Si was respectful and humble, and he was loyal to Great Qin."

Zhao Gao said disapprenowningly; "Your Majesty's words are wrong, do you think that if Li Si is really loyal, then how can he support His Majesty to ascend to the throne? He just wants to gain greater power and higher status, and he wants to respond to the call of Great Qin, and he is above 10,000 people under one person, or even one step higher. ”

Hu Hai and the others shouted with big eyes; "He dares!"

Zhao Gao took the opportunity to say: "Where would he not dare, he has clearly done this, I have many friends in the court have told me, saying that Li Si has a heart of disobedience." ”

"Li Si wanted to rebel for three reasons, first, he didn't get any benefits when he helped His Majesty ascend the throne, he wanted His Majesty to crown him king; Second, now that the Kanto region is in turmoil, thieves are rampant, Li Si's young master Li You has heavy troops but does not work hard to quell the rebellion, and also secretly contacts the thieves, indicating that the father and son have ill intentions; Third, Li Si controls the government, most of the ministers are his sworn friends, he has the ability to depose His Majesty as the emperor, and he has repeatedly asked to see His Majesty in recent days. ”

Hu Hai was originally not an assertive person, and when he heard Zhao Gao's analysis, his face turned pale, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was some truth, so he grabbed Zhao Gao's shirt and said nervously; "Master, what do you say I should do?"

Zhao Gao bowed down and said righteously; "With the old slave here, Your Majesty can rest assured. Li Si is still afraid that I have the military power in Xianyang, so he doesn't dare to do it, if one day he wants His Majesty to cure the crime of the old slave, then it is time for him to want to do it. At that time, we will take action to restrain him first, Your Majesty, you are the emperor, the courtiers dare not disobey you because of the righteousness, I am Lang Zhongling, and I have the military power of Xianyang, and I will definitely be able to protect Your Majesty at that time. ”

Hu Hai hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said; "Okay, just listen to Master, if he dares to write against you, then I will deal with him first, let him know that I, the emperor, are not vegetarians."

Zhao Gao wanted Hu Hai's words, he was overjoyed, and after returning home, he hurriedly instructed his henchmen to spread the news in Xianyang City, saying that he, Zhao Gao, controlled the emperor in the palace and deliberately did not let the ministers meet Shengyan.

As soon as this news came out, hundreds of officials were in an uproar, and Zhao Gao's move to seize power completely annoyed the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, and the situation was already very clear, and the internal official group headed by Zhao Gao and the civilian official group headed by Li Si had reached the point where water and fire were incompatible and they would not die. Li Si immediately joined forces with the right prime minister Feng Qujian to jointly write a letter, demanding that Zhao Gao be removed from his position, on the grounds that Zhao Gao lured the emperor to degenerate and abandon the government.

Li Si, who was shrewd, finally fell into the pit that Zhao Gao carefully dug for him. Just as Zhao Gao expected, the second emperor was furious in court, angrily reprimanded Li Si for rebellion, and ordered Li Si and Feng Qujian to be arrested and imprisoned on the spot, so that they could explain the fact of rebellion.

Feng Quji's temperament was extremely strong, and he did not want to be humiliated by a villain like Zhao Gao, so he immediately committed suicide in prison. But Li Si still had illusions and refused to summon the old department to fight. He felt that he had made a great contribution to Daqin, Hu Hai would not dare to kill him, and he would wake up one day.

He underestimated Hu Hai's stupidity, and also underestimated Zhao Gao's ruthlessness. Since Zhao Gao had already made a move, he would not give his opponent any chance to turn over, he arrested all the Li clan and put them in prison in a flash, and sent two imperial historians to Xingyang to control Li You. At the same time, Li Si's friends and former officials in the court were replaced one after another, replaced by his own cronies, and the next day Hu Hai yawned in the morning, and was surprised to find that he didn't recognize most of the people under the court.

After all, Li Si is a veteran of the Three Dynasties, and his influence in the court is very deep, if there is no suitable reason, Zhao Gao is really difficult to start.

So he sent cool officials to torture Li Si in turn, and beat Li Si to death.

Zhao Gao, who had already won the game, did not forget to play Li Si one last time, he sent someone to pretend to be Hu Hai's envoy to deceive Li Si, Li Si was really fooled, and shouted at the fake envoy for wrongdoing, but in exchange for a more tragic beating. After playing Li Si several times like this, Li Si finally couldn't stand it anymore, and signed the indictment written by Zhao Gao, and when Hu Hai's real envoy came to question Li Si, Li Si didn't dare to mention another word of injustice, but honestly confessed to the envoy.

Since he has confessed his guilt, then Li Si will definitely die, and soon the Tingwei Mansion will sentence the crime, which is the heaviest punishment of Great Qin, and he will kill the nine clans! The ridiculous thing is that the punishment of the Nine Clans was proposed by Li Si during his tenure and firmly implemented by him, but now it is his turn.

The practice is self-defeating, not only talking about Shang Ying, but also Li Si.

Before the execution, Zhao Gao triumphantly met with Li Si, who was covered in blood, bowed down and smiled; "Prime Minister Li, Master Li, do you know why you ended up like this?"

Li Si glared at Zhao Gao angrily, at this moment his heart was full of remorse, and he gritted his teeth; "Zhao Gao, you framed me like this, I won't let you go if I turn into a ghost."

Zhao Gao looked up to the sky and laughed, stepped on Li Si's head with his foot and said with a cruel smile; "I'm not afraid when you're alive, can you still help me when you're dead? It seems that you are an old fool and still don't know why you died, so I'll tell you, let you die clearly, and fortunately, when you see Yingzheng underground, you won't be confused and tell him clearly. ”

"You've got three damn points." Zhao Gao stretched out three fingers and said; "First, you are too greedy for power, and you clearly know the truth that things flourish and decline, but you can't retreat bravely. You are afraid that Fusu's ascension to the throne will make you lose your power, so you are in the same league as me, a traitorous minister, and tampered with Yingzheng's edict. Do you know that the person he trusts most in his life is you Li Si, but you stabbed him in the back, hahahaha. I wonder what kind of face you have to face him underground. ”

Li Si struggled to get up from the ground, his eyes widened, and his mouth opened, but he couldn't speak. Zhao Gao continued; "Second, your so-called diligence and loyalty are good for Ying Zheng, but it will not work if you can use it for Hu Hai. Who is Hu Hai? He's a hedonistic gentleman, so he appreciates people like me. Besides, the world has been chaotic to this extent, you, the prime minister, should be clear, but because you are attached to this phase, you desperately pretend to be stupid, you are so diligent in governing the country, and you have governed the country like this, can you say that you are not responsible? Even if Yingzheng is in power, he will definitely put you to death. ”

Li Si was silent, slowly lowered his head, and seemed to acquiesce to what Zhao Gao said. Seeing Li Si's expression, Zhao Gao laughed proudly with satisfaction; "The third is the most fatal mistake you made, you have been the prime minister for more than ten years, what is the prime minister? The head of a hundred officials, all the officials in the world, big and small, look at you as the head of the horse, but you old thing doesn't understand how to use it, and you are wasting power by occupying this position in vain. There is also your son Li You, who has the soldiers of the Central Plains in his hands, and is only three days away from Xianyang. Hu Hai is mediocre, you can completely abolish him and set up an emperor, or even be ruthless and become an emperor yourself. But you are timid, you can't advance, you can't retreat, and you let the chaos come to the world. In the end, Hu Hai's words made you kill yourself, you said that you are old and confused like this, and there is no reason for immortality. ”

Li Si's face was like ashes, and Zhao Gao's words were like a hammer hitting his heart, which made him suddenly realize, and he realized that he had found that his old eyes were dizzy and old and mediocre in the past few years.

After bowing his head for a long time, he suddenly raised his head and said proudly; "Zhao Gao, I admit that I have always underestimated you, underestimated you, I lost, and I have no complaints. But you are only suitable to be a villain, to be a traitorous minister, you will never be able to achieve great things. The world is in chaos, and I want to see what you can do to clean up this mess. You're not going to end well, you're going to end worse than me in the future. ”

Zhao Gao raised the corners of his mouth and laughed, "What you said is Prime Minister Li, I still have self-knowledge, I'm not good at Anbang Dingguo, and disturbing the society is what I'm best at." But what can I do even if the world is in turmoil, I can't give up the land of Kanto, withdraw all the troops to Guanzhong, and become the king of Guanzhong with Hangu Pass, which is a thousand or a hundred times better than your fate. Alas, it's a pity that Prime Minister Li Cheng can't see that day, so I'll send you on your way. ”

Li Si's case caused a bloody storm in Xianyang, because more than 8,000 people were executed because they were implicated with Li Si, and half of the officials with more than 1,000 stones were implicated. For a time, everyone in Xianyang City was in danger, and the aristocratic class that Great Qin relied on to rule fell apart.

Li Si is like a skilled master, with him in Daqin, although the runaway carriage is still running towards the cliff, but with his experience and wisdom, he is still trembling and walking on thin ice on the edge of the cliff. But when this last imperial hand was also lost, Daqin was like a carriage that had lost control of the reins, plunged headlong to the bottom of the unfathomable cliff, and finally fell to pieces and died, never to recover.

The most direct consequence of Li Si's case was that Li You went out to war with grief and anger, wanting to take his 80,000 troops to find the main force of the rebels for a decisive battle, and was bent on seeking death and being loyal to Great Qin.

Zhang Han was hovering under Dong'e City, Li Si's fate made him fearful, he knew that Zhao Gao only needed his army to treat him politely, once the world was calm, then there was no need for him, a high-ranking general, to exist, at that time, according to Zhao Gao's character, he would never let his potential rival live.

Therefore, as long as the world is restless and the rebels are still rising, Zhao Gao will not move him, but will fully support him to suppress the rebels.

When Zhang Han heard that Xiang Liang had defeated Qin Jia in Chu and went north after unifying Chu, he was not in a hurry but rejoiced. He needs an opponent too much now, an opponent to replace Chen Sheng, Zhou Shi and Tian Dan, so that he can have enough reason to keep taking power and constantly strengthen his strength in order to protect himself in the future.

So after he got the news that Xiang Liang was moving north, he immediately returned to the division to meet Xiang Liang. He was defeated in three battles, retreated again and again, and at the same time sent a distress letter to Zhao Gao in Xianyang, asking him to urge Wang Li's northern army to go south as soon as possible to make peace with him, and he would command him in a unified manner.

PS: Here is a point to explain that the calendar of the Qin and Han dynasties was based on October as the first month and September as the last month. Therefore, the death of Chen Sheng in the history books in December of the second year of Qin II is actually March of the second year. Jiangnan adopts the calendar of our time, that is, January is the first month, and it is hereby explained that it is scattered, for fear that you will be greatly misunderstood.