Xifang is the third son of Xishu, the patriarch of the Xi family. He has been doted on by Xishu since he was a child because his behavior and personality are very similar to Xishu.
When he was eighteen years old, he was in charge of the Xi family's business in the Bashu area in the west of the empire, and was responsible for training the concubines who had a wide audience and made a lot of money in the Bashu buildings.
At the age of 25, he was appointed as the Prince of Yongxiang, in charge of the eunuchs and palace maids in the harem, as well as the punishment of crimes committed by palace maids, with an annual salary of 1,000 dan.
He handled public affairs in accordance with Qin law and did not let anyone off unjustly.
He is generous in private and has a strong sense of friendship.
He could drive a chariot, fight on the battlefield, and even write memorials.
In the Qin State, this was considered a talent for both civil and military affairs, which was very rare, and he enjoyed a very good reputation among the aristocratic circles in Xianyang.
Xifang, who is now twenty-nine this year, seems to be on the verge of becoming the next head of the Xi family, and is familiar with many high-ranking officials in the court.
Wang Jian, Marquis of Wucheng, once asked him if he wanted to join the army and he could take him to the battlefield.
The young general leader Meng Tian was a good friend of Xifang, and the two often drank and chatted.
Even the First Emperor once praised the West. If this boy had been born ten years earlier, he would have made great contributions to the destruction of the six kingdoms.
The West seems to have no shortcomings, and has been smooth sailing all the way, treating people just right.
When associating with righteous butchers, one can grab a dog's leg with both hands and chew it until his mouth is full of oil, without being bothered by the dirtiness.
When traveling with aristocratic families, he is polite and well-mannered, like an old aristocrat who has lived for a hundred years.
The West, a country with normal development and promising prospects, is encountering abnormal things today.
There were three headless corpses in front of him, warm blood on his exposed cheeks, and the backs of his hands were slowly cooling down.
It took away the heat in his blood and skin, and enveloped him completely in coldness.
When he was first arrested and brought to the Supreme Court, Xifang was not worried at all.
There were too many people arrested, including those from the three major families of Meng, Xi and Bai.
Generally speaking, as long as it is not a serious crime of treason, the more people you arrest, the less serious the matter will be.
When the West heard that Li Si was trying the case and was going to convict the three major families, they were still not worried.
As members of the three oldest families in Qin State, what crime could Meng, Xi and Bai have committed to deserve being executed together?
Even if he really committed a capital crime, it would not be a crime as serious as treason that touched the bottom line of the First Emperor.
Some other capital crimes will eventually be reduced to four words: not punishable by death.
The Book of Rites says: Etiquette does not extend to common people, and punishment does not extend to officials.
The Zhou Dynasty, which ruled the country with rites, divided people into ten categories, and this rule was implemented for eight hundred years.
Shang Yang, a giant of the Legalists who opposed Confucianism and believed that Confucianism was useless except for harming the country and should be driven away, proposed governing the country by law.
"Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Shang Yang" says: If a prince breaks the law, he will be punished the same as the common people.
At first glance, this should be considered progress.
In fact, this sentence is meant for the ignorant common people. It is just bullshit.
The formal judicial procedure is that the person breaks the law, is convicted, and is sentenced to the appropriate punishment for the crime - beheading, imprisonment, or being torn apart by five oxen.
This sentence from "Biography of Shang Yang" only goes to conviction and does not mention subsequent punishment, which is tantamount to roguery.
Qin law stipulated that anyone who raised dust on the road would have their hands chopped off.
If a commoner scatters ashes, he will be convicted of a crime and punished by having his hands chopped off.
The nobles scattered ashes and were convicted of the crime of scattering ashes, but the punishment is unknown.
Same crime is not justice, same punishment for same crime is.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao set a rule during his march that anyone whose horse trampled on crops in the field would be beheaded. Then his horse strolled around and trampled on the crops in the field.
Cao Cao said that although I am your lord, the rules are set by me and I cannot violate them.
Lord Meng De cut off a few strands of his hair, and with a look of despair on his face, he said, "The hair on our body is from our parents, and the hair is almost the same as the head, so I will shave my hair to replace my head."
This was the situation at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which had been developing for four hundred years, and this situation will only occur more often in today's era.
When King Huiwen of Qin was a prince, he killed someone and his uncle took the blame for him by having his nose cut off.
That was Gan Long watching there, it was the political game between him and Shang Yang, it was the result of the struggle between the new and old forces.
Without the participation of the top nobles, what would it matter if the prince killed a few people? He could kill as many people as he wanted.
Even though Gan Long was watching closely, the prince would have been executed according to Qin law if he had killed someone, so why wasn't he executed?
The teacher took the blame for the crime and changed the death penalty into nose cutting. It was ridiculous. Isn't this the Qin State's legal scapegoating?
This is what Gan Long is watching, and he must cut off the nose of an important person.
If the prince had killed someone in a busy city and the people knew about it, Shang Yang wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble.
Just find a death row prisoner and say that it was Teacher Wangzi who killed him and that would be the end of the matter. This would both appease the public anger and uphold the fairness of Qin law.
Under the policy of keeping the people ignorant, most of the people in Qin were ignorant. Not only did they not feel fooled, they would even thank Shang Yang.
This is what the West thinks, and it is also the mainstream idea of ​​this era, regardless of whether they are common people or nobles.
Things are indeed proceeding according to Western ideas, and witnesses dare not continue to testify for fear of retaliation.
Not only has no one from the Meng, Xi, and Bai families received any criminal sanctions, they have not even been convicted. This is the norm.
Just when Xi Fang was getting bored of waiting and was standing there with his eyes closed, waiting for this farce to be over, his name was called.
After opening their eyes, Xifang and four other people whose names were called came on stage, ready to go through the motions.
In less than a cup of tea, the three people who had gone through the formalities before him were all convicted by Li Si and beheaded overtime.
Although these charges are true, this is abnormal. Nobles like them who come from great families should not be convicted in this way.
Xifang wiped the blood stains on his cheeks with his hands that were splattered with the blood of three families.
In the Western touch, the blood on the face was wiped away.
In the real scene, the bloodstains on Xifang's face changed from a line to a surface, turning the face of a modest gentleman into one that looked like a ghost.
He listened blankly to Li Si's narration of the crimes and the witness testimony, and stared at the evidence on the table in front of Li Si with unfocused eyes .
"The west."
Li Si lowered his head and didn't look at the ferocious face in the west.
"What else do you have to say?"
Appeal and prove oneself, this was the treatment that the three children of the three noble families who were beheaded earlier did not receive.
Xifang felt bitter in his mouth and smiled.
The sticky dried blood was pulled, making Xifang feel a little strange on his face.
Looking up at the blue sky, Ximian shielded the sun with his hands and opened his eyes to face the sun.
"Did the Left Prime Minister ask His Majesty during this interrogation?"
“…No.”
"No?"
"I will enforce the law impartially and follow the Qin laws. Why should I disturb Your Majesty?"
"It's meaningless for the left prime minister to talk like this."
"Li Siben is just a boring person."
"hehe."
Xifang put down his hands, bathed in the not-so-scorching sunshine, took a deep breath, and smiled brightly.
"Brother Li, I don't want to die in confusion. Let me be a clear-headed ghost."
Slaves are inferior to merchants, merchants are inferior to peasants, and peasants are inferior to nobles.
The Qin laws never governed the nobles, but rather the inferiors who were inferior to the nobles.
The only people who can punish the nobles are the nobles themselves and those who are superior to them.
The West originally thought that the person who could ask Li Si to exterminate the three major families was the First Emperor.
In his mind, only the First Emperor could make the Left Prime Minister Li Si act in this way.
Unexpectedly, they learned from Li Si that it was not done by the First Emperor, which surprised the West.
The noisy three families gradually quieted down. As children of aristocratic families, they might be dissolute and incompetent, but they were definitely not pure fools.
They did not accept their fate like the West did.
But like the West, they want to know the reason behind all this.
Why did the three people in front have to die? Are we behind going to die too?
Only when you know the root cause of the problem can you find a way to solve it.
It was the Qin law that convicted them.
The weapon used to kill them was the Qin Sword.
But Qin Lu and Qin Jian were not the cause of their death; it was the owner of Qin Lu and Qin Jian who was the cause of their death.
Li Si lowered his head, his cruel eyes mixed with reluctance.
Several years ago, the impoverished Chu man from the Jixia Academy in Qi State bought gifts that even the housekeeper in the household of Marquis Wenxin, Lu Buwei, looked down upon.
But he was picked up by a direct descendant of a noble family, who said with a smile, "Why don't you come to my school and be humble for a while. If you are really talented, I will take you with me next time I meet Marquis Wenxin."
At that time, the people of Chu were debating with the crowd in the Jixia Academy. They were at their most arrogant and proud, so how could they be willing to respond?
He bowed deeply to the man wearing the black Shu brocade gown that only nobles could wear, said thank you and left proudly.
After that, the second time Chu Ren met the son of a noble family was at the mansion of Marquis Wenxin.
Marquis Wenxin, Lu Buwei, invited the sons of noble families to his mansion for a banquet, called out Li Si, and told the people of Chu that if his nephew had not told him what he said in the tavern, he would not have noticed him.
"S said that a long time ago."
Li Si responded abruptly.
"Yes, Changan-kun?"
Xifang's eyes flickered with disbelief.
Although the dispute between Ying Chengjiao and the aristocratic family continued, he also killed Bao Bailingzhi.
The West knew that Ying Chengjiao was extremely bold and presumptuous, but he did not know that Ying Chengjiao was so bold and presumptuous.
Even though Li Si said at the beginning that he was following the order of Chang'an Jun, the West did not believe it and always thought that it was just an excuse of the First Emperor.
Li Si should not have remained silent, as this was tacit agreement.
"Brother Li!"
West was very excited and took a sudden step forward.
The soldiers on both sides drew their Qin swords from their waists, and the two swords crossed to form a fork to block Xifang in front of him.
“Stop!”
Xifang suddenly came to his senses, hurriedly took a step back, and knelt on the ground with a thud.
"Left Prime Minister! I am the commander of Yongxiang. Your Majesty's approval is required to kill me!"
When Xifang heard that the order was given by Ying Chengjiao, a raging fire of hope ignited in his heart.
In fact, there was no need for the First Emperor to intervene in order to convict and sentence an official with an annual salary of 1,000 dan. Only officials with an annual salary of 2,000 dan would need the First Emperor's approval.
The West said this to give Li Si a pretext to report to the First Emperor.
As the Commander of Yongxiang, Xifang was considered half a palace member and had met the First Emperor quite a few times.
No one knows what promises the First Emperor made or what he said to him.
Your Majesty is not aware of this. It was all that brat's doing. If Your Majesty knew, he would definitely not allow it!
"I have never heard of this law."
When Li Si heard a loud thud, he raised his head and looked at Xifang, who was highly respected in Xianyang and was kneeling on the ground in a miserable state.
There was a pleading look on Xifang's face.
Li Si said coldly, "I have been interrogating you for so long, I am already very tired, I don't have time to talk to you, what else do you have to say!"
Li Si placed emphasis on the words "for so long". Xifang was stunned for a moment, and then his expression turned into despair.
Yeah, it's been that long.
Your Majesty must have known about such a big event in Xianyang a long time ago.
There has been no imperial edict for such a long time, and His Majesty’s intentions are very clear.
He smiled bitterly, and stood up with his bloody hands supporting the ground which was stained bright red and smelled fishy with the blood of three families.
With his intelligence, if he hadn't been scared by the threat of life and death, he should have figured this out long ago.
"Left Prime Minister."
Xifang lowered his head and spoke in a low voice.
"Ying Chengjiao, is he the emperor?"
Li Si's face changed.
"If Ying Chengjiao can kill me today, he can kill you tomorrow, and all the officials in the court."
Xifang raised his head, and the face that should have been that of a modest gentleman turned bloody and hideous, like a demon crawling out of hell.
He roared with all his might: "Today's West! Will be tomorrow's gentlemen!"
"Behead him and execute him immediately!"
Li Si roared angrily.
The soldier closest to the west swung the Qin sword and chopped at the west's head.
"Fang Zilai!"
Xifang roared, dodged the soldier's sword by leaning sideways, crouched close to the soldier and hit him on the wrist with a palm.
The soldier's wrist went numb and he lost consciousness, and the Qin sword in his hand fell.
Xifang elbowed the soldier in the chest, pushing him back five steps, then kicked the hilt of the Lost Qin Sword.
Qin's sword bounced up due to the force, and Xifang quickly grabbed the hilt.
There were five soldiers on all four sides, some brandishing swords, some stabbing, and launching attacks towards the west.
"roll!"
Xifang roared and waved the Qin sword to block all the attacks.
"How can a nobleman die under the Qin law? I will commit suicide!"
The shining Qin sword swept across the neck, cutting through the throat and isolating the artery.
The West was just drenched in the blood of others, and now it is finally drenching others with its own blood.
The warm blood carried the resentment of its owner, releasing it under the warm sunshine, and its owner fell to the ground in dejection.
The West died.
The young men from the three families of Meng, Xibai and Bai became noisy again, shouting and roaring.
"Is that boy the emperor?
"If I can kill Meng Xibai today, I will kill the king tomorrow!"
"With such a son in the Qin State, who can be at peace?"
"Lord Zuo Xiang, aren't you afraid that it will be you who will shed blood here tomorrow?"
"Who among the gentlemen of Yanyan can stay out of this? We are all meat on the chopping block!"
Li Si looked very unhappy.
He was not instigated by these people. As the head of both Confucianism and Legalism, he would not be confused by these few words.
But he couldn't remain indifferent to these words and turn a deaf ear to them.
Li Si was well aware that Ying Chengjiao had a very good and unusual relationship with the First Emperor.
He was once beaten into a pig's head for provoking the relationship between the two. He once heard with his own ears that the First Emperor said that Cheng Jiao would not betray him. He once saw with his own eyes the jade that represented the identity of the Qin King and was of the same origin as the imperial seal.
In private, Li Si had already treated Ying Chengjiao as the first emperor.
But Li Si was not sure whether their relationship could surpass the throne that symbolized absolute power and the ruler of the world.
Even during the Wax Festival, the First Emperor took Ying Chengjiao to the platform and personally built up momentum for Ying Chengjiao, as if he intended Ying Chengjiao to inherit the throne.
But before Ying Chengjiao officially succeeded to the throne, the First Emperor was still sitting on the throne.
At this time, is it appropriate for Ying Chengjiao, as a subject, to exercise the power of a king and kill the entire three great families?
Li Si didn't know, but he tended to think that the First Emperor would not care about this matter.
Whether it was Lu Buwei entering the Prime Minister's Mansion or Ying Chengjiao living in Xianyang Prison, it indirectly showed that the First Emperor had a high degree of trust in Ying Chengjiao, so he did not report it.
In order to avoid displeasing Ying Chengjiao by not following the order to report to the First Emperor, and also displeasing the First Emperor by being disloyal to Ying Chengjiao, thus pleasing both sides.
But Li Si also knew clearly that the First Emperor would not issue an order to exterminate the entire families.
I don’t know what the First Emperor thinks. What if Ying Chengjiao does this and the First Emperor doesn’t agree?
If Li Si killed people first, wouldn’t that be against the wishes of the First Emperor?
The thoughtful Li Si quickly came up with a solution. He extended the interrogation time and waited for the First Emperor to give his instructions.
Since there was no imperial edict from the First Emperor, it meant that he acquiesced, so Li Si could kill him with confidence.
If things had continued to develop in this way without any unexpected events, Li Si's approach would have been textbook perfect.
But because of his personal friendship with Xi Jinping, Li Si said a few more words to Xi Jinping.
After the West learned that it was Ying Chengjiao who was responsible, they brought up the fact that the imperial power was being desecrated and accused Ying Chengjiao of being too powerful and that his actions would undermine the imperial power.
He also used words to pull all the court officials and the three families of Meng, Xibai into one trench.
It was impossible for Li Si to kill all the officials in the Supreme Court to silence them.
As long as he can't, Xi Jinping's words will spread throughout the upper class circles of Xianyang the next day.
From the First Emperor to the petty clerks, everyone will know about this.
Li Si didn't know what the First Emperor's attitude was at that time.
And if the First Emperor was furious, even if he did not blame Ying Chengjiao in his heart, he was just under pressure from his ministers and pretended to be angry in order to maintain his royal power.
Then, as the issue of the imperial power being encroached upon and the three families being arrested and killed came to light, the three families must be rehabilitated. This is politics.
The opposite of a good person must be a bad person, and if it is discovered that a good person is secretly killing people, setting fires and committing all kinds of evil, and his crimes are extremely serious, the bad person will want to beat him to death.
That means we have to label the bad guy who has always been in opposition to the "good guy" as a good guy, regardless of whether the bad guy is a good guy or not.
This is the fastest and easiest way to kill a "good guy" in a legitimate way.
Xifang sacrificed himself to pave the way for the three families of Meng, Xi and Bai.
"Detain these people where they are. Anyone who moves without authorization will be executed!"
Li Si said with a dark face.
Before the First Emperor knew the words that Xifang said before his death, Li Si would not have killed any of the people from the three families.
The scene fell silent, and the people from the three families breathed a sigh of relief, looking gratefully at Xifang who was lying in a pool of blood.
The one who was most grateful to the West was the only remaining man among the five people who stood up together.
If it weren't for the West, he would have been having his crimes read out to him by Li Si, waiting for death in despair.
After settling the three families of Meng, Xibai, Li Si ordered people to collect the four bodies on the ground and send them to Xianyang Prison.
…
In Xianyang Prison.
The three family heads were a little tired of scolding, and their nephew Gan behind them could not just turn a blind eye.
The three men ignored Ying Chengjiao at the cell door and turned around as if they had just seen Gan Luo.
He showed concern for Gan Luo, and once again criticized Ying Chengjiao's insidiousness and viciousness in front of Gan Luo, swearing to rescue Gan Luo.
Gan Luo grabbed his messy hair and advised: "The three uncles should pay more attention to their own bodies."
Ever since the jailer left, Gan Luo's ominous premonition became stronger and stronger.
If Ying Chengjiao spoke nonsense, he would be exposed in an instant and lose his power.
Gan Luo couldn't figure out why Ying Chengjiao lied, so he could only treat it as true. His dissuasion of the three family heads came from the bottom of his heart.
However, the three family heads thought that Gan Luo was mocking them for not trying to rescue them after they were thrown into Xianyang Prison, but instead trying to seize the opportunity to seize power. They deserved to be thrown into Xianyang Prison by Ying Chengjiao.
The three of them judged others by themselves and felt that if they were in their shoes, they would also be full of resentment and ridicule.
After exchanging glances, the eagerness and anxiety on their faces faded away.
Bai Fei sat beside Gan Luo and said calmly, "My dear nephew, if you were in our situation, what you did would be no different from what we do."
Meng Jiakun had a cold face and snorted.
"In the past, Gan Long used a trick to lead our three great families to oppose Wei Yang. The surging river was stained with the blood of our ancestors. The Gan family took the opportunity to rise to the top of the noble families. Although it was only glorious for a few short years, this is true, right? Your Gan family was the first to take advantage of others' misfortune, and now you can't blame us for following suit."
A strange light flashed in Xishu's eyes, and he leaned back on the ground.
"I can understand your resentment, nephew. How about this: when we are released from Xianyang Prison, my three families will share with you the methods of training and educating slave concubines?
"Of course, my nephew will also tell my three families how to contact the noble families in various parts of the world. Although my nephew has gained much more than my three families, he has always done business with the world.
"Originally, our three families could have just acted in Guanzhong and never sold slaves and concubines to the six kingdoms. Now that the empire has just been settled and prosperity is gradually rising in various places, is there anyone in Qi, Chu, Yan, and Zhao who doesn't like beauties?
"If it weren't for the fact that our three families alone could not train such a large number of slave concubines, why would this matter come to you, my nephew? If you suffer a small loss in prison, my three families will compensate you with a treasure pot. Is that enough?"
Gan Luochu was still listening to the three people's conversation. When Xi Shu was halfway through his speech, he glanced towards the prison door and was immediately stunned.
He reached out and knocked on the yoke on Xishu's neck, signaling Xishu, who had his back to the prison door, to turn around.
Using his other hand to call upon Bai Fei who was focusing his attention on him, Meng Jiakun turned his attention to the prison door.
"Three uncles, are they from your three families?"
The three of them said, "Don't listen to that guy's fart," and didn't bother to look back.
Three bloody heads and a corpse with Qin Jian stuck between the cervical vertebrae were piled at Ying Chengjiao's feet.
"You think you can scare me by killing a few death row prisoners? Do you think I'm a twelve-year-old kid like you who can be scared and cry?!"
Xishu ran over in small steps and kicked a head away. He looked at the white brain matter that was knocked out by the head hitting the cell wall and grinned morbidly.
The three major families of Meng, Xi and Bai have a large number of people. As the heads of the families, Meng Jiakun, Bai Fei and Xi Shu may be able to recognize the direct descendants of their own family.
But for the majority of the family branches, the three heads of the family could only remember the outstanding sons among them.
This is normal.
Most people nowadays do not have very large families, and how many people can know all their relatives?
It is common for distant relatives not to recognize each other when they get close, not to mention that the three major families of Meng, Xi and Bai each have hundreds of people.
"Uncle Shu, I told you a long time ago that you are sick. Your antisocial personality needs to be treated, otherwise you will die."
Ying Chengjiao narrowed his eyes, and there was a sharp aura between the two gaps between his eyes, and his handsome face was as cold as iron.
"You don't know these people, it doesn't matter, you will kill someone you know. At the beginning, I begged you to stop with tears, and you grinned and said that these bitches were incapable of accomplishing anything, and their death was not worth a pity, and it was not worth crying for.
"After so many years, I thought I had long forgotten the appearance of those pitiful women and your inhuman laughter. When I heard your laughter today, it was exactly the same as it was back then, and I realized that I had never forgotten it."
The jailer who was holding out his hand to deliver the body and head came forward, and the jailer bowed and waited.
"Tell Li Si to kill my uncle Shu's son first. I don't believe that he can't even remember what his son looks like."
"only."
Ying Chengjiao stared at Xishu's twisted mouth.
"Uncle Shu, Cheng Jiao wants to ask you for another favor."
Peng Peng~
Xishu kicked the two heads away with his feet, closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the heads hitting the wall, with a look of joy on his face.
"What are you asking for, you brat? You want me to kick your head like a ball? Put your head under my feet quickly, hahahaha!"
Ying Chengjiao spoke each word with emphasis.
"I, beg, you, don't, beg, me."