Qin Official

"Zhang Cang, what nonsense are you talking about! You really deserve death!"

As soon as Zhang Cang finished speaking, he was interrupted by Li Si. The jade hu (hu) in Prime Minister Li's hand hit Zhang Cang's back, forcing him to kneel down to the emperor to apologize. Li Si himself bowed to Qin Shihuang and stood up for his junior brother. plead.

Why? What Zhang Cang said was exactly what Xunzi meant. Xunmen, unlike other schools of Confucianism, did not believe in any sense of heaven and man at all. Let alone wind and rain, even if a comet fell, it was considered a natural phenomenon and did not mean anything. The providence behind it.

For this reason, Xunzi also wrote a special chapter "Lun of Heaven" to criticize the generally recognized view of other Confucian schools that "when a country is about to prosper, there must be good fortune; when a country is about to perish, there must be evildoers." He believes that rule or chaos is not caused by heaven. , everything is the result of human rule.

But these words can be said in private, but they cannot be shouted on the top of Mount Tai! By doing this, Zhang Cang not only was not trying to step down for the emperor, but was actually trying to tear down the entire platform!

If there is no telepathic relationship between heaven and man, and the king’s good and bad governance cannot cause feedback from heaven, then what is the auspiciousness that has sprung up like mushrooms during this period? What Zhang Cang means is that except for Heifu, all the county guards and lieutenants are lying and trying different ways to deceive the emperor?

Also, if heaven is a thing, a nature rather than a god, then what is the purpose of the emperor’s visit to Zen? Acting for the public? What should I do if I have been pursuing immortality for so many years? Could it be that the West Queen Mother State and Penglai Fairy Island are also fake? Does it mean that we can only resign ourselves to life, old age, illness and death?

Although Li Si was hostile to the Confucian scholars, he did not dare to use this article to challenge the Confucian scholars, because the implications were too great, and once it was thrown out, the consequences would be disastrous. Just look at the emperor's face, which is now even more gloomy than before. Although the emperor also appreciates Xunzi's teachings, he has never discussed "Tianlun" alone.

But Zhang Cang still didn't know whether to live or die. He raised his head and forced himself to explain: "What I mean is that if the sky is not affected by the cold, it will stop winter. If the earth is not affected by people, it will be far away. A gentleman will not be affected by villains. Xiongxiong, stop walking. Your Majesty, there is no need to stop walking down the mountain in a hurry to avoid this unusual rain..."

Seeing that Zhang Cang was getting worse and worse, Hei Fu quickly stepped forward, interrupted him, and said with cupped hands: "Your Majesty, Zhang Cangfei has malicious intentions. He is too loyal to Your Majesty and only considers Your Majesty's interests. In order to prevent Your Majesty from suddenly coming down the mountain, And completely forgot about the rest!”

He couldn't help but complain in his heart that before he could come up with various theories of scientific supremacy, Zhang Cang, a native, had actually made the touchstone of "atheism" first.

Qin Shihuang didn't blame him too much. He gestured with his hands and asked Zhang Cang to step back. He sat down on the couch and rubbed his forehead, which was sore from all the bad things today: "Zhang Cang What I said is true. We had a great ceremony, but a few clouds made it look like this. The ministers behaved perversely and were unworthy of being high officials of the imperial court. If the news reaches the bottom of the mountain, shouldn’t they be ridiculed by others?"

Wang Wan and others looked ashamed, and everyone was in awkward silence for a while, but Hei Fu came out and said:

"Gentlemen, Mr. Hei's knowledge is shallow and I don't understand something. A few days ago, the auspicious words presented by Langya County also said that rain will fall. In my hometown of Nanjun, rain is probably a good thing, but why is Langya and Nanjun Raining is auspicious, but reaching Mount Tai is a bad thing? Who made these so-called inductions of God's will?"

Everyone looked at each other, but Ye Teng on the side answered: "You don't know something. When King Wu conquered Zhou, when he arrived at Xingqiu, it suddenly rained heavily. It rained continuously for three days and three nights, and it didn't stop. He also found that It was strange that the shields used by the soldiers were broken into three pieces for no reason. Rain and other strange things happened when sending troops or offering sacrifices, which were considered to be unlucky."

"Dare to ask Tingwei." Heifu asked again: "Did King Wu win this battle?"

Ye Teng nodded: "In the Battle of Muye, there was singing and dancing, and the merchant soldiers turned against each other. In the end, it was naturally a great victory. And the Taigong also explained to King Wu that the shield was broken into three sections, which meant that the Zhou army should be divided into three groups. Heavy rain It lasts more than three days, which is to cleanse our armored soldiers and let the army retreat from the journey so that it can fall in one go!"

Heifu laughed: "So, that rain was actually auspicious to Zhou Jun?"

After laughing, he bowed to Qin Shihuang: "Your Majesty, it can be seen from this that God's will is unpredictable, how can we treat it as one thing? All rainy occasions are considered to be disasters and ominous..."

"Is that so?" Qin Shihuang sneered, knowing in his heart that the father-in-law and his son-in-law were singing a double act to help him get off the stairs.

When the two men were explaining forcefully, Fang Warlock, who had been left by Qin Shihuang on the mountainside, also came to help. However, they saw Lu Ao, who claimed to be seventy years old, climbing up to the top of the mountain and bowing to Qin Shihuang:

"Your Majesty! Great joy!"

"Where does the joy come from?" Qin Shihuang really needed good news.

Lu Ao bowed his head and said: "The Zhou Dynasty was in charge of the virtue of fire, so it was unlucky to encounter rain when offering sacrifices. After going back and forth, we came to a conclusion. However, today I performed the Eight Diagrams and carefully considered it. The Qin Dynasty was in charge of the virtue of water, which was exactly the opposite of the Zhou Dynasty. This The sky is about to rain, which is a great auspicious sign. The sky is appreciating your majesty’s achievements, so it is raining down!”

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

At this time, Heifu didn't care that he was theoretically opposed to the Yin Yang Alchemist. Following Lu Ao's words, he congratulated Qin Shihuang, and the ministers followed suit one after another.

Good guy, this embarrassing scene has finally come to an end.

However, Qin Shihuang was not overjoyed, but said "good" lightly, and then announced that he would rest for the night in the newly built palace on the mountain, with ministers on duty.

"No one is allowed to mention going down the mountain to take shelter from the rain again!"

After that, Qin Shihuang did not hide away, but sat on the table, raising his head and staring at the sky for a long time. It was not until the sky was getting dark and thin raindrops fell on the cloth umbrella that Zhao Gao and others opened for him that the emperor withdrew his gaze. .

Finally, it rained. Simple and ordinary rain, given this time and place, can be interpreted in countless ways.

The Confucian scholars at the foot of the mountain said that this was caused by poor virtue, but the alchemists and ministers said that this was a sign of Qin Yingshui's virtue.

But what are the facts? Is God's will allowed to be smeared and changed at will by man's tongue?

As an emperor, is there any other choice besides deceiving myself and being deceived by others?

have!

"Feng Chang."

Qin Shihuang called Feng Chang: "I have some other words, which I should tell Haotian. I want to write another jade ultimatum, and I will get another one."

"this……"

Everyone looked at each other, Wang Wan was about to speak but stopped, the alchemist Lu Ao lowered his head and thought, but Li Si sighed secretly. His Majesty and Lu Buwei also looked like this when they were angry.

But no one is nagging about "inconsistency with etiquette" anymore. What happened in the past few days has proved one thing: if the emperor says it is appropriate, then it must be appropriate!

Feng Chang quickly asked someone to get the jade ultimatum book, along with a few elixirs and ink. Qin Shihuang asked everyone to avoid it, and he personally took the pen and wrote another elixir book. He glanced at Zhao Zhao on the left. Gao, and then moved his gaze forward, scanning the crowd of ministers, and finally ordered one person to come out.

"Black husband."

"I'm here!"

The black husband went forward and bowed down.

Qin Shihuang beckoned him to come closer, five steps, three steps, and even one step until he was close to the sky.

At such a close distance, only Zhao Gao on the left could hear what he said.

"Heifu, the ministers are afraid of the sky, are you also afraid of the sky?"

Hei Fu responded: "I have often heard that the power of God is unpredictable, but compared to the illusory sky, your Majesty's joy and anger are more like the power of God. Even if there is a punishment from heaven, it is by the hand of your Majesty."

"ha!"

Qin Shihuang laughed: "I finally heard something pleasant today. In that case, then you can do something for me."

In fact, it was nothing, I just asked Hei Fu to set up a fire and use good sapphire wood to light the fire. Since there was already some light rain, Hei Fu hit the flint and fire sickle several times before he successfully lit the fire.

When the flames were burning, Hei Fu stepped aside and stood with the ministers. Qin Shihuang walked over slowly and threw the newly written jade ultimatum into the fire, letting the words on it turn into smoke. Floating into the sky.

Just now, when the rain fell, Qin Shihuang made a decision. He wanted to say something else to heaven.

Unlike Zhang Cang, who believed that heaven and earth were both natural, Qin Shihuang believed in the existence of providence, but his attitude towards heaven took a big turn after this Zen ceremony.

"No matter if there is some divine will or not."

"Whether it's a disaster or an abnormality, rain or shine, you don't want me to lower my head and run away in embarrassment!"

Although he would still call himself "the Son of Heaven" in front of others, in the new Jade Book, he would no longer humbly call himself "Yu Xiaozi" to Heaven and no longer regard himself as the son of Heaven.

"People say that if one's achievements are in line with Heaven, Heaven will help him, and if one's achievements are against Heaven, Heaven will be against him. I am one of the six countries that dominates the sea. I think I am following Heaven, so I have been devastated along the way without encountering a strong enemy."

"But now, I want to unite the world forever, unite the nine states, unite the six states, and spread the wind for eternity, but it is a hundred times more difficult than annexation! Is this going against heaven?"

"Even if this matter is not favored by Heaven, should it be abandoned? Hundreds of years of conquest and seven years of hard work will all come to nothing?"

Qin Shihuang looked up at the dark night sky without stars or moon, and said in his heart:

"Look, even if it's something you don't like, even if it's an act against nature, I will still do it well and make it happen!"

This is like a gambling battle, a gambling battle between the emperor and the sky.

If I win, you will grant me eternal life.

If I lose, the one who defies heaven will perish!

The world may have already arranged his destiny, but it cannot arrange his will.

On the side, Heifu looked at the emperor with glowing eyes and high morale, knowing that this proud emperor seemed to have found a new motivation, or should we say... an enemy?

He couldn't help but secretly thought: "It's over, what was written in the burned jade ultimatum book couldn't be 'Fighting against the sky, there will be endless fun'!"