Warring States legend Lü Buwei

Qin Shi Huang became the King of Qin at the age of thirteen, ruled the world at the age of thirty-nine, died at the age of fifty, and less than five years after his death, the Qin Dynasty collapsed, and the key factor for him to become the King of Qin was Lü Buwei, who managed the country before he was twenty-two years old, qin Shi Huang and his father King Zhuangxiang of Qin were able to ascend to the throne because of the help of Lü Buwei, but Lü Buwei's life ended in qin shi huang forced to die, what happened in the middle? We must also start from Lü Buwei's life.

Lü Buwei (?) –235 BC) surnamed Jiang (江), lü (Lü), courtesy name Buwei, was a native of Puyang (present-day Huaxian County, Anyang, Henan). A merchant, politician, and thinker in the Warring States period, he was later the Minister of Qin and the twenty-third grandson of Jiang Ziya.

Statue of Lü Buwei

Lü Buwei was a great merchant in Yang Zhai (present-day Yuzhou, Henan Province), who traveled from place to place and accumulated great wealth by buying low and buying high.

In 267 BC (the 40th year of King Zhao of Qin), prince mourning in the state of Qin died in the state of Wei and was transported back to China for burial in Zhiyang. In 265 BC (the forty-second year of King Zhao), his second son An Guojun was made crown prince. An Guojun had a very favored concubine who was made the main chamber and was called Lady Huayang. Lady Huayang had no sons, An Guojun had a son in the middle of the rank called Yiren, and the mother of Yiren was called Xia Ji, who was not favored, so Yiren was sent to Zhao Guo as a hostage. Because of Qin Zhao's feud, the Qin state attacked the Zhao state a lot, so the strangers were not treated with courtesy in the Zhao kingdom. And because he was only the grandson of King Shu of Qin Zhao, he was not valued, and the carriage he rode in after coming to Zhao Guo as a hostage and his daily financial use were not rich, and his life was difficult.

Lü Buwei went to Handan to do business, and after seeing the stranger, he was overjoyed, saying that "the stranger is like a strange thing, which can be hoarded and sold at a high price." (The idiom "strange goods can be lived").

So Lü Buwei went home to his father and said, "How many times can you make a profit by cultivating the land?" Father said "ten times". Lü Buwei also said, "How many times the profit is from selling pearls and jade?" Father said "a hundred times". Lü Buwei asked, "How many times can a monarch who establishes a country profit?" Father said "innumerable." Lü Buwei said, "Now that I am working hard to cultivate the fields, I cannot achieve enough food and clothing, and if I support the monarch and build the country, I will be able to be rehabilitated by the future generations, and I have decided to do this business."

So he went to visit the stranger and said, "I can enlarge your court." The stranger smiled and said, "Let's first enlarge your own doorway, and then enlarge my doorway!" Lü Buwei replied: "My court must wait for your courtyard to be enlarged before it can be enlarged." The stranger immediately understood what Lü Buwei meant, and sat down with him for a deep conversation.

Lü Buwei said, "The King of Qin is old, and your father An Guojun was made crown prince. An Guojun now means your brother Zi Dai, Zi Dai has a mother in the harem to take care of, and you are in the middle of the line, the mother is not favored, after the death of the King of Qin, An Guojun succeeds to the throne, you do not expect to compete with your eldest brother and other brothers who are around the King of Qin sooner or later for the position of prince. You yourself are in an enemy country with unpredictable misfortunes, and once Qin Zhao goes to war, your life will be difficult to save."

The Inhuman sighed, "That's right, but what to do?"

Lü Buwei said: "I heard that Lady Huayang has no sons, but she can participate in the election of a prince. You're poor right now, but I still have some assets. I am willing to use thousands of dollars to go to the Qin Kingdom to persuade An Guojun and Lady Huayang to make you the crown prince." After hearing this, the yiren immediately expressed that he was willing to divide the world with Lü Buwei after inheriting the throne in the future.

So Lü Buwei took out five hundred gold for the strangers to live in the Zhao Kingdom and make friends with guests, and then took out five hundred gold to go to the Qin State to lobby, the first step was to persuade Lady Huayang's younger brother Yang Quanjun and his sister.

So Lü Buwei found Yang Quanjun and said, "You are going to be in great trouble!" Now that everyone in your family is prominent, and the guests under your door have all become high officials, but the son of An Guojun is snubbed in the court, and none of the guests under the door holds an important position, in the future, zi Dai really inherits the throne, do you still have a good end? ”

Yang Quanjun was horrified and asked how to deal with it. So Lü Buwei said: "Zi Dai's biological mother is still favored in the harem, if she becomes the king of Qin, she will certainly not thank Lady Huayang, and even reuse the Qin Chenshicang to attack your family, it is better to stand as a hostage in the Zhao Kingdom as a son, the mother of the alien Xia clan has long fallen out of favor, if Lady Huayang is willing to establish a different person as an heir, in the future the stranger will certainly be grateful to the lady, respect the empress dowager and treat your family kindly."

So under the recommendation of Yang Quanjun, Lü Buwei saw Lady Huayang and said bluntly: "Lady is favored today because An Guojun cherishes your beauty, but you will eventually grow old, and then you will inevitably fall out of favor, and there is no own son to rely on, I am afraid that it will be desolate in the evening." Lady Huayang said, "This is also something I am worried about, sir, is there anything that can be done?" Lü Buwei said, "The strangers who took hostages in the Zhao Kingdom often told me that my wife was kind, and his birth mother, Xia Shi, was not favored, and if you persuaded An Guojun to make a stranger as a reserve, the future wealth of you and your mother-in-law's family would be guaranteed."

Lady Huayang thought that what Lü Buwei said was reasonable, so she said to An Guojun: "I have the privilege of serving the king, but I have no son." After a hundred years, the king is afraid that the new king may not be able to tolerate me. It is better to stand in the Zhao kingdom as a hostage of Zi Chu as a prince, Zi Chu originally went to the Zhao kingdom as a hostage because his mother Xia Shi was not favored, if he inherited him to my name and made him a prince, he will certainly be grateful to me, and my life will be guaranteed in the future." An Guojun carved jade charms with his wife, and sent many gifts to the infidels in the Zhao kingdom, asking Lü Buwei to teach him, so the reputation of the infidels grew among the princes.

Lü Buwei had a beautiful and dancing concubine, and after seeing this woman at the feast in Lü Buwei's home, he liked her very much, so he got up and toasted lü Buwei and asked that this woman be given to him. Lü Buwei was very angry, but on second thought, he had already spent a lot of money on the family property for the stranger, in order to catch strange goods, so he sacrificed this woman. After October (December), the girl gave birth to her son Mingzheng (i.e., Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng), and the yiren made this Ji a lady.

Lady Huayang and An Guojun planned to take back the strangers from the Zhao kingdom, but the King of Zhao refused. So Lü Buwei advised: "There is no shortage of this prince in the Qin kingdom, if you make up your mind to destroy Zhao, the yiren will die when he dies." However, the current King of Qin is old, and An Guojun is also older, and has now decided to establish a different person as the heir, and an Guojun will be the King of Qin a hundred years later, and he will definitely return to the Zhao Kingdom." As a result, King Zhao planned to send the yiren back to Qin, but soon after, war broke out between Qin and Zhao.

In 257 BC (the fiftieth year of King Zhao of Qin), Wang Gong was sent to besiege Handan, the situation was very urgent, and Zhao Guo wanted to kill the yiren. Yiren conspired with Lü Buwei and gave six hundred catties of gold to the officials guarding the city, and was able to escape, flee to the Qin army camp to escape, and then return to China smoothly. Zhao Guo also wanted to kill Yiren's wife and son Zheng, because Lady Yiren was the daughter of Zhao Guo's rich man, so that she could hide and finally survive.

After Gongzi Yiren returned to China, Lü Buwei asked him to wear Chu costumes to see Lady Huayang, who was originally a Chu national. Lady Huayang was very happy with his dress and thought that he was very careful, so she said to the yiren, "I am a Chu national", recognized the yiren as a son, and changed his name to Zichu.

In 251 BC (the fifty-sixth year of King Qin Zhao), King Qin Zhao died, and the crown prince An Guojun succeeded to the throne, and Lady Huayang became queen. One day, the King of Qin ordered Zi Chu to try to recite a book of poetry, and Zi Chu said, "I am a hostage in the Zhao Kingdom, and no one has taught me." So the King of Qin gave up. And let Zi Chu stay in the palace. Once, Zi Chu said to the King of Qin: "Your Majesty has also been a hostage in the State of Zhao, and the State of Zhao knows that there are not a few of you, but now that you are on the throne, you have never sent anyone to visit them, and Bao'er is worried that they will resent you, and it is recommended that the border city gates be opened late and closed early to prevent trouble before they happen." The King of Qin was surprised by his plot, and Lady Huayang took the opportunity to suggest that Lizi Chu be made crown prince. So the King of Qin summoned The Chancellor and decided to make Zi Chu crown prince.

Later, Zhao Guo also escorted Zi Chu's wife and son back to Qin.

After An Guojun succeeded to the throne of The King of Qin, he kept filial piety for one year, and died of a sudden illness three days after his formal ascension to the throne.

Zi Chu ascended the throne, later king Xiang of Qinzhuang, honoring his nominal mother Lady Huayang as Empress Huayang and his birth mother Xia as Empress Xia. In 249 BC (the first year of King Zhuangxiang's reign), Lü Buwei was appointed as the Prince of Xiang and made him the Marquis of Wenxin, with 100,000 households in Luoyang, Henan as his food, and Lü Buwei's family had 10,000 slaves.

King Zhuang Xiang died three years after he ascended the throne, and Crown Prince Zheng succeeded him as king, and Zun Lü Buwei was made Xiang Bang, calling him "Zhongfu". The King of Qin was still young, and the empress dowager often had affairs with Lü Buwei.

At that time, Lü Buwei was envious of the "Four Princes of the Warring States" Chu Guo Chun Shenjun, Wei Guoxin Lingjun, Zhao Guo Pingyuan Jun, and Qi Guo Meng Yujun were famous all over the world for writing books and sayings, so he also recruited three thousand diners, wrote eight reviews, six treatises, and twelve centuries, a total of more than 200,000 words, and named "Lü Shi Chunqiu", and hung on the city gate, claiming that those who could change a word were rewarded with thousands of gold, but none of them could do it.

According to the "Chronicle of History", after The Qin Dynasty grew up, Empress Dowager Zhao Ji still maintained an improper relationship with Lü Buwei, and Lü Buwei was afraid that things would be revealed in the future, so he found a person with a particularly large penis, Yan Yi, as a doorman, and asked him to wear his penis in a paulownia wheel to make the car turn, and tried to let Empress Zhao know about this, and the empress dowager knew that her name was moved, so at Lü Buwei's suggestion, people pretended to accuse Concubine Yi of committing the crime of being punished by the palace, secretly bought the official in charge of the execution and pulled out the beard of Concubine Yi, and then served Empress Zhao in the name of a eunuch. Later, Empress Zhao became pregnant, and in order not to be discovered, she moved to the palace of Yongdi under the pretext of being unlucky and wanted to change places to hide. Consort Yi followed Empress Zhao and decided everything about empress dowager. There are thousands of servants in Yanyi, and there are thousands of people who want to become officials and become concubines.

In 240 BC (the seventh year of the reign of the Qin Dynasty), Empress Xia, the biological mother of King Zhuang Xiang, died, because King Xiaowen was buried in Shouling with Empress Huayang, and King Zhuang Xiang was buried in Zhiyang, so Empress Xia was buried in the east of Duyuan, and said that she could see her husband to the east, and to the west she could see her son, and a hundred years later, there would be a city of 10,000 households.

In 238 BC (the ninth year of the reign of the King of Qin), someone reported to the King of Qin that Concubine Yi had had two sons in adultery with the empress dowager, and attempted to put on a coup d'état to replace the King of Qin with his own son, and the King of Qin ordered the judge to investigate, and after the investigation, he destroyed the three clans of Concubine Yi and killed the second son in September of that year, and Lü Buwei was also implicated. Empress Zhao was moved to Yongdi to live.

Qin Wangzheng wanted to kill Lü Buwei, but because there were too many intercessors and Lü Buwei's great merits, he could not bear to attack him.

In October 237 BC (the tenth year of the reign of the Qin Dynasty), Lü Buwei was dismissed from the post of Xiang Bang, and after mao Jiao, a Qi man, persuaded the King of Qin to take the empress dowager back to Xianyang from Yongdi, Lü Buwei was expelled from Xianyang and went to the fiefdom in Henan.

After more than a year, because the emissaries of the princely states were constantly going to Lü Buwei's fiefdom to visit him, Wang Zheng of Qin wrote a letter and reprimanded: "What blood relationship do you have with the state of Qin, and dare to call yourself a middle father?" And what merit can get 100,000 households? Now move you and your doormen to Shudi! ”。 Lü Buwei saw that the King of Qin was pressing forward step by step, and committed suicide by poisoning himself in order to avoid being beheaded by Shi Cao, after which his protégés were allowed to return to Xianyang.