Chapter 276: Even your Majesty doesn’t dare, so do you?
The next morning, the rooster crowed.
It was already light at noon, but the sun had not yet risen.
In the Zhangtai Palace, the First Emperor wore a loose brocade robe, put a jade hairpin in his hair, and gently splashed cold water from a basin on his face.
The icy and cool touch stimulated the Qin Shi Huang's remaining pajamas to be swept away.
Crash~
While washing his face with cold water, the First Emperor said casually, "Has the remnant of the Xiang clan been caught yet?"
Gai Nie said nothing, but glanced at Zhao Gao beside him, and said, "Your Majesty is asking you."
Zhao Gao responded with a grateful look, bowed and said humbly, "No."
As the two personal bodyguards of the First Emperor, their daily routines were basically the same as that of the First Emperor.
Of course, the two did not always accompany the First Emperor together, and they also took turns to rest. But when they traveled, they basically traveled together.
Fortunately, martial arts masters have cheats, and they have practiced to the level of Gai Nie and Zhao Gao, and they can control their bodies to the millimeter. You don't have to rest on the bed, you can rest while standing when you have nothing to do.
"Never?"
The sound of splashing water paused, and the First Emperor scooped up a handful of cold water with his eyes slightly narrowed.
Crash~
Cold water paving.
The First Emperor rubbed his cheeks vigorously.
"Zhao Gao drafted an imperial edict to ask those people in Chu where the remnants of the Xiang family were hiding."
The First Emperor took the white handkerchief handed to him by the palace maid, wiped his face twice and threw it back to the maid.
"Whoever has the remnants of the Xiang clan in his fiefdom must arrest them within three days. If that is not possible, then give the fiefdom to someone who can."
"only."
Zhao Gao bowed his head and responded respectfully.
"What if the remnants of the Xiang family are not in Chu?" Gai Nie, dressed in white as white as snow, asked expressionlessly.
Zhao Gao had become accustomed to the God of Plague having fits from time to time around him, so he just pretended he heard nothing.
He ran to the sandalwood table in small steps, spread out the blank bamboo slips, picked up the Chi-shou Yantai, added clean water and the ink block purified by Qin Mo, and while grinding it, he thought about the content of the imperial edict that he would draft later.
This is the work of the Xingxi Palace.
The First Emperor only gave a general idea of most of the imperial edicts, and the specific content was polished by the Imperial Seal Office.
Although Zhao Gao had resigned from his post as the Director of the Imperial Seal Office for more than two months, he felt no sense of unfamiliarity when returning to his old job.
The First Emperor answered Gai Nie's question casually.
"If you want to rebel, you need soldiers. The Xiang family only has prestige in Chu, so they can only recruit soldiers from Chu. I don't believe that there is not even a remnant of the Xiang family in such a large Chu."
Gai Nie was puzzled.
Your Majesty has unified the world and conquered six kingdoms, so why do you value the Xiang family so much?
"Your Majesty cares so much about the Xiang family. Are you worried that Xiang Yan's descendants will inherit their military strategies and grow up to be a serious threat to Qin?"
The First Emperor straightened his clothes and smoothed out the wrinkles.
"I don't care about the Xiang family. What I care about is the control of the world by my Great Qin. Whether or not I can capture the Xiang family, and how many Xiang family members I can capture. According to what that bastard said, it shows how much of Chu I will take over."
Zhao Gao was concentrating on grinding ink, without making any other noise.
Gai Nie nodded in understanding. With his swordsmanship at his fingertips, he understood everything.
In this age when there were no telephones for instant communication, the First Emperor indirectly determined the extent of the empire's penetration into Chu by measuring the intensity of his hunt for the Xiang clan.
It’s not that the memorials submitted from various places cannot be trusted, but they cannot be trusted completely.
If all the affairs of an emperor were known through memorials submitted by his subjects, there would be absurd incidents such as "If the people have no corn to fill their stomachs, why don't they eat meat porridge?"
The First Emperor spent the entire morning in the Zhangtai Palace reviewing memorials that he could never finish.
Near noon.
Gai Nie went out for a while, and when he came back, he stood beside the First Emperor and reported mechanically.
He reported in detail to the First Emperor that all the noble families had been driven to the new tower last night and stayed there for one night.
The First Emperor nodded, waved his hand, and continued to review memorials, obviously not taking this little matter to heart.
The First Emperor had long ago grown tired of the drama of power struggle.
As long as it does not violate Qin law, it doesn't matter. The First Emperor is too lazy to care about these trivial matters.
"Zhao Gao, go call Fu Sheng over here."
"only."
Zhao Gao responded humbly and looked at Gai Nie with envy without hiding his expression.
It was Zhao Gao's job to report the intelligence to the First Emperor.
…
In the Xianyang prison, the ground was covered with dry grass that was warmed by the setting sun.
Ying Chengjiao and Gan Luo were lying on the warm hay, one on his back and the other on his side.
Ying Chengjiao gently kicked Gan Luo's right hand, which was used to support his head.
"Bao Bailingzhi is dead, why don't you seem sad at all?"
Gan Luo rolled his eyes.
"Brother, if you're really bored, just go out or find some beauties to have some fun with. Don't bother me all the time and ask me these stupid questions."
Ying Chengjiao kicked Gan Luo's forearm hard, and Gan Luo was caught off guard and his head lost its fulcrum and hit his upper arm.
"What are you doing!"
Gan Luo sat up, burning with anger.
This time it didn't hurt that much, but it was quite insulting.
He waited for a moment and found that Ying Chengjiao had his eyes closed and was resting. He had no intention of answering him, but the anger on his face disappeared.
He smiled bitterly and said, "Brother, there's no need for you to compete with me, right? From the moment you grabbed me, you were destined to lose. Why are you holding on like this now?"
"oh?"
Ying Chengjiao raised his head, glanced at Gan Luo with a smile, and lay down again.
"I was defeated so early? How about you, Lord Gan, explain it to me so that I can die clearly?"
"If you want to pretend, just pretend hard."
Gan Luo sighed, sat down where Ying Chengjiao couldn't kick him, picked up a pile of hay to pad his back, and leaned against the prison wall behind him.
"You haven't decided on the exact crime you've arrested me for, right?"
Ying Chengjiao did not answer, but gave him a look that said, "If you keep talking nonsense, I won't give you any food today."
Gan Luo silently rubbed his belly and continued, "I have to say, brother, you are really sinister. You didn't hesitate to expose the fact that there was a wiretap in the tower and asked Li Si to arrest me. After arresting me, you immediately put me in Xianyang Prison and didn't try me, so that no one knew what specific crime I was arrested for."
Gan Luo observed Ying Chengjiao's expression and found that there was no fluctuation on Ying Chengjiao's face. He secretly thought to himself, "Let's see how long you can pretend."
"Let alone them, even I myself don't know what crime I was arrested for. At first I didn't know what you were planning, and it was only two days ago that I realized that Luo was in Xianyang Prison, and they didn't take any other major actions except writing a letter of impeachment. Then I suddenly realized it.
"As long as Luo is in Xianyang Prison and has not been tried, his crime will not be established. Those people outside will not dare to do anything, for fear that you will arrest them and put them in Xianyang Prison on the same charge. Selling used weapons is a serious crime that Luo is not the only one to bear."
Ying Chengjiao finally responded. He supported himself on the ground with his hands, sat up and scratched his head.
"It seems that these few days in Xianyang Prison were not in vain. I have come to understand some human nature a little bit."
Gan Luo cursed in his heart, "You are a sinister and treacherous boy who has been thinking about these conspiracies and tricks that are not worthy of being shown to the public all day long, but you put on a shameless smile and say that it was all your brother who taught you well."
Ying Chengjiao chuckled.
"Keep talking, I'll see what else you've learned."
Gan Luohan smiled and nodded.
"Okay. Brother originally thought that it would be best if you could persuade me to rebel. If you can't, then the noble families will not dare to do it. But brother, you forgot that you used the law of selling weapons to tie the hands and feet of the noble families, and also tied yourself. You will never be able to judge Luo.
"Once Luo is put on trial and his crimes are exposed, you will inevitably face the most thorough counterattack from all the noble families. No one can withstand the backlash from all the noble families, not Shang Jun, Qin Jun, or Chang'an Jun. You can't keep Luo in prison forever without any reason. According to Qin law, the maximum time you can hold someone is thirty days."
Pah pah pah
Ying Chengjiao clapped his hands three times and cheered for Gan Luo.
"This trick is called Schrodinger's cat. You can use it if you can get out alive."
Gan Luo didn't know what Schrödinger's cat was, and he didn't want to know.
This younger brother in front of me
"You're still scaring me."
Gan Luo grabbed a piece of hay, put it in his mouth, bit it tightly, and pointed at the hay in his mouth.
"As long as I hold on tight, this piece of hay will not fall. In a dozen days, you will be defeated."
Ying Chengjiao said angrily, "I lost? I have the ironclad evidence that you are in collusion with each other. Do you believe that I can arrest all of you and kill you?"
Gan Luo didn't wait for Ying Chengjiao to finish his words, and followed with words like a string of cannonballs.
"That's why you don't dare to arrest him. The two prime ministers and nine ministers in the court are from aristocratic families, accounting for less than 30%, but the officials in Guanzhong are from aristocratic families, accounting for 80%.
"If you really arrest all the noble families, Qin will immediately be left without officials, and His Majesty will not agree. Brother, you taught me the principle that the law does not punish the masses, have you forgotten?"
Ying Chengjiao shrugged, looking at Gan Luo's eyes and asking, "How can you still laugh?"
He smiled and said, "How do you know that my brother will not allow it? You see, we are both in prison, but the difference in treatment is enough to show that my brother is on my side."
"Brother, stop pretending. If His Majesty really stood on your side, you would never have come in. I have figured everything out these past few days. It's not that you don't want to go out, it's that you can't go out."
"How do you know?"
"I thought you were going to prison voluntarily, but then I realized it would do you no good. So it must be His Majesty who put you in Xianyang Prison. His Majesty is showing through his actions that he will not help you."
"Oh, you are wrong. My brother doesn't bother to care about these things. His heart is on the sea of stars. I came here on my own accord."
"Oh? Is that really the case? Then why didn't you continue to kill people from other noble families after killing Bao Bailing? You could have used the same method to kill again. Isn't killing people with a knife what you are best at? It must be His Majesty who stepped in."
"My brother's original words were to act within the scope of Qin law, not to protect your family, so don't overthink it."
"If that's the case, then you can just arrest all the heads of the noble families and put them in Xianyang Prison. Bring me some pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and have Luo be the witness and physical evidence. I guarantee you can catch all the noble families in one fell swoop."
Gan Luo looked at Ying Chengjiao calmly, and did not avoid it until Ying Chengjiao showed murderous intent in his eyes.
"In addition to selling used weapons, the other things you did are enough to wipe out three clans. The evidence is irrefutable. I can now use other charges to prosecute your Gan family. Do you think my brother will stop me?"
"No." Gan Luo shook his head and said self-deprecatingly: "Your Majesty will not care about the survival of a family, even the largest one."
Gan Luo turned his self-mockery into mockery of others, staring at Ying Chengjiao and said, "Gan Luo can die, and the Gan family can perish. But the family will never die out. If you are satisfied with this, you can start the trial of me now."
"Sometimes I really don't understand what's in your head. You can die for the family, but you can't work with me to achieve great things?"
"If Luo follows you, his descendants will not be blessed. Officials cannot be passed down from generation to generation, and wealth cannot last for more than three generations. The Gan family will not be able to survive for a hundred years. If the plan fails, Luo and the Gan family will be doomed forever."
"That's a matter for the future. If you don't follow me, the Gan family will wipe out the three tribes right now."
"No, the Gan family will not perish. Gan Long blocked Wei Yang's reforms and his three clans should have been exterminated. In the end, with the efforts of all the noble families, only he died. From then on, the Gan family was supported by the noble families of Qin until my great father came."
"Oh, do you think you are Gan Long? You have committed so many crimes, and you can die alone. Then your Gan family will wait for the second Gan Mao with the support of other noble families? You think too much. I will definitely exterminate your three clans. No one else can help."
"Can you exterminate my three tribes in Xianyang, my three tribes in Guanzhong, or my three tribes in the six kingdoms? Li Mu and Li Xin are the same Li. You also know how many Gan Mus and Gan Xins there are in my Gan family?"
"It seems that I really can't convince you." Ying Chengjiao shook his head regretfully.
"Brother, if you lose, you lose. Don't force yourself. Let me out now, and you will still be the Lord of Chang'an. I will force all the noble families not to take action against you." Gan Luo smiled apologetically.
"Hey, you were so majestic just now, I thought you weren't afraid of death. How can you be so two-faced?"
"You are my brother, how could you have the heart to kill me? Don't take what you just said seriously, it was just a joke."
"I don't see your face as joking at all. Let me invite some friends in for you."
Gan Luo's body stiffened for a moment.
Does this guy really dare to go against the will of the world and arrest all the noble families in Xianyang?
How could His Majesty agree? His Majesty would not agree!
This guy must be cheating me again!
"This expression is much better." Ying Chengjiao patted Gan Luo's face, yawned, and said, "Although the success or failure of Xianyang will not affect the overall situation, I don't like to see a villain like you succeed."
He stood up and walked to the iron gate. After opening the door, Ying Chengjiao did not go out. Instead, he shouted to call the jailer.
"Ask Li Si to come see me."
"only."
After closing the iron gate, Ying Chengjiao sat back next to Gan Luo and waited for Li Si to arrive.
Gan Luo's face looked gloomy.
"You can totally avoid me."
Ying Chengjiao has a sunny face.
"No, I just like to be slapped in the face."
Gan Luo suddenly chuckled.
"I still don't believe you dare to do this. Even His Majesty doesn't dare to do this. You must be trying to trick me. Brother, if you lose, you lose. There's really no need to hold on."
Ying Chengjiao waved his hand and did not respond to Gan Luo's words.
When Li Si comes, he will naturally make Gan Luo believe it, so there is no need to waste time now.
Not long after, Li Si pushed the door open and saw Gan Luo was also there, so he bowed to Ying Chengjiao.
"Greetings, Lord Chang'an."
