The Awakening of the Emperors

The era of Qin Shi Huang. Xianyang Palace.

A bronze chime bell hangs beside the hall. As the wind blows, the bronze sound lingers, striking the empty hall.

Ying Zheng sat astride a black dragon-patterned couch. The dappled light from the sky illuminated his rough palms. In the scene, Xu Jie's calculating and shrewd face overlapped with the crucifix of a European missionary. The past—those compradors who masqueraded as Confucian scholars but were actually of mixed races—that had gradually eroded the foundations of the Ming Dynasty, scraped at his nerves like a steel blade.

The sword Tai'a lay quietly on the desk. Ying Zheng reached out and grasped the hilt; the scabbard, worn smooth by the calluses on his hand, made a rough sound.

He was contemplating something: the fall of the Qin Dynasty.

Fragments of historical records peek through the sky: the dynasty perished after only two generations, and the Chu-Han Contention ensued. How could Liu Ji, that obscure rogue from Pei County, possibly muster an army of tens of thousands? Why did the men of Guanzhong surrender without a fight? Why did Wang Li's army from Jiuyuan run out of supplies after the Battle of Julu?

On the screen, a version of Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) and another version of Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin) appeared to make fun of Fusu. But now, seeing Xu Jie of the Ming Dynasty successfully ascend to the throne, the doubts I had before have become clear.

In the past, he blamed Zhao Gao for his misrule and Li Si for altering the imperial edict. Today, through the historical analysis of the Ming Dynasty, which serves as a mirror to reveal the truth, the hidden reefs beneath the surface are fully exposed.

The powerful clans of the land. The remnants of the six former states. Even those Qin nobles from Guanzhong who considered themselves of noble lineage.

When the emperor's sword wasn't sharp enough, or when its edge deviated from their predetermined path of interests, these people wouldn't hesitate to sell out the entire country. Zhao Gao was merely a puppet pushed to the forefront, and Li Si was an accomplice dragged down by self-interest. Those who truly dismantled the Qin Empire into pieces and handed it over to Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were precisely the powerful clans who controlled local counties, military forces, and supply lines.

They were waiting for their all-powerful dragon to breathe its last. Once the dragon's body stiffened, they would welcome the foreign enemy into the pass and redefine the map of interests that divided the land.

The Qin Dynasty perished because of foreign enemies knocking on its gates? That's utterly absurd. Even the Xiongnu north of the Great Wall were driven back so far that they dared not graze their horses southward. The Qin Dynasty perished because of those scheming hands within its own ranks.

Li Si knelt before the palace, his black court robes soaked with cold sweat and turning sour. He lay prostrate on the blue bricks, deliberately suppressing his breathing.

Ying Zheng drew his sword half an inch. The sharp sound of the sword scraping against the bronze hilt made the guards in the hall all lower their heads.

"Li Si".

Ying Zheng called out, his tone flat.

Li Si crawled half a step on his knees:

"Your subject is here."

"Those scholars in the heavens, spouting Confucian and Mencian doctrines, secretly dig up ancestral graves and welcome barbarians. You, born in Chu, have studied Xunzi's art of rulership. Tell me, in the Qin court, are there any clans that only recognize their family lineage and not the dynasty's destiny?"

Li Si felt a chill run down his spine. The exposure of the imperial edict had ripped the fig leaf of civil officials throughout history to shreds. The emperor was about to get serious.

"Your Majesty is wise. In the former territories of the Six Kingdoms, powerful clans are everywhere, and the practice of seizing land and hiding people has been repeatedly prohibited but never stopped. Among the nobles and officials in Guanzhong, there are also those who secretly collude with merchants from the East."

Li Si dared not conceal the truth and, gritting his teeth, used his colleagues as bargaining chips.

"They used the titles of nobility in the Qin Dynasty to amass wealth, while secretly resenting the strict laws of the court."

Ying Zheng stood up. His black dragon robe trailed across the cold floor tiles, making a rustling sound.

He strolled to the palace gate and gazed at the Guanzhong Plain on the banks of the Wei River.

"Since they resent the law, I will show them what the true Qin law is."

"Send word to Wang Ben and Meng Tian!"

Ying Zheng turned around and threw out the decree.

"Seize all members of the imperial family and nobles of the third rank or above who possess fiefdoms and estates. Investigate their accounts, their weapons in their storehouses, and their correspondence with the remnants of the six former states. If any capital offense is discovered, execute their entire family. If treason is discovered, exterminate their entire clan!"

Li Si kowtowed and accepted the order, then scrambled out of the hall. Thus began the bloody storm that would engulf Xianyang.

Time and space shift. Bianliang (Kaifeng) in the Northern Song Dynasty.

This is a parallel timeline of Emperor Huizong of Song, before the Jin army had trampled through the land, and before the wheels of history had just reached the edge of a precipice.

The rocks of Genyue are rugged and scattered. Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhao Ji, stands by the lake, holding a brush stained with cinnabar. On the painting table, where a crane was originally depicted about to take flight, it is now stained with a glaring red stain.

The explanation of the sky curtain has come to a temporary end. Zhao Ji's phoenix eyes, which had been immersed in calligraphy and painting for many years, were now bloodshot.

What do later generations say about him? Frivolous, an artistic genius, but a political idiot. During the Jingkang Incident, when the Jin army marched south, he abdicated the throne to his son Zhao Huan and fled. In the end, father and son were captured and taken to Wuguo City, where they were forced to live in poverty and their concubines suffered humiliation.

But today, the TV program tells the story of Xu Jie of the Ming Dynasty, the flooding of Beijing, and how those civil officials used foreign enemies to purge the emperor from within. The rusty string in Zhao Ji's mind snapped.

The alliance with the Jin dynasty to destroy the Liao dynasty was a national policy strongly advocated by the ministers in the imperial court.

Tong Guan, Cai Jing, Wang Fu. These were ministers who routinely composed poems and touted their unwavering loyalty. When the Jin army crossed the Yellow River, where were the Song Dynasty's million-strong imperial guard? Why did the defenses in Hebei crumble so easily? Why were those civil officials so eager to force him to abdicate?

Even in the Southern Song Dynasty, why did the literati in Jiangnan prefer to remain in a corner of the country, sending annual tribute to the Jin Dynasty and acting as its nephews, rather than welcoming back the two emperors?

The answer is laid bare before us, blood and gore.

The civil service of the Song Dynasty and the Jiangnan financial magnates of the Ming Dynasty were essentially one entity. They needed a weak emperor and a court that didn't impose heavy taxes and allowed for land annexation. Once the emperor became an obstacle, or if external forces offered better terms—such as tax farming or exemption from commercial taxes—they would not hesitate to open the passes and let the barbarians march in unimpeded.

Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) was an artistic genius. Geniuses are often extremely perceptive. He finally saw through the essence of the Jingkang Incident: it wasn't that he, Zhao Ji, was stupid and dull-witted, but that the entire court of officials had openly sold him, along with the entire Zhao Song imperial family, to Wanyan Aguda!

Forcing him to abdicate was only the first step. The perfect plan to maximize the interests of the civil service group was to use the Jurchens to uproot the royal family in Bianliang, and then install a powerless puppet in Jiangnan.

Snapped.

Emperor Huizong broke the wolf-hair brush in his hand. The bamboo tube pierced his palm, and drops of blood fell onto the crane's eyes, making it look ferocious and terrifying.

The eunuch Li Fuguo beside him was so frightened that he knelt down on both knees.

"Draft an imperial edict."

Emperor Huizong tossed aside the broken pen, his voice unusually hoarse yet steady.

"Summon Gao Qiu, Commander of the Palace Guards. Order the Imperial Guards to surround the Ministry of Personnel and the Privy Council. Lock up those old dogs Cai Jing and Wang Fu in the Dali Temple's death row. Anyone who dares to disobey this order will be executed on the spot."

From the time of Emperor Taizu's "releasing military power over a cup of wine," the Song Dynasty prioritized civil administration over military power. Successive emperors treated scholar-officials with great courtesy, and they were exempt from punishment.

Emperor Huizong insisted on breaking this rule.

Since you want to exchange my head for the Jurchens' rewards, I'll first overthrow all these scholars and officials in the court.

Kill them. Unearth all the letters and ledgers that were secretly colluding with the Jurchens. This Bianliang city may lack gold and silver, but it certainly doesn't lack the heads of these traitors.

Emperor Huizong picked up the short knife used for cutting paper from the table and plunged it into the wooden table. The blade went deep into the wood, and the end trembled slightly.

Even if he, Zhao Ji, were to destroy this empire, he would never leave it to these traitorous beasts.