Diqin Designer

Chapter 105: Indeed, I am not blessed, I have no chance to become an immortal

Li Nian's answer to the question on the bamboo slips of Ying Zheng was naturally no, because he really couldn't guarantee that a person would be alive after cutting off his hands and feet. At the same time, he was wondering if Qin Shi Huang, if he had mastered this method, would he do the same to him in the future?
He didn't want to have his hands and feet chopped off and then put into a jar to be made into pickles!
However, whoever had provoked such great hatred from the First Emperor would be subjected to such torture, cutting off the person's hands and feet but still letting the person live, which was obviously to make the person's life worse than death.

Could it be that Xiang Yu’s uncle and nephew were captured?
It shouldn’t be!

At this time, Xiang Yu's uncle and nephew were probably in Xiaxiang County, Sishui County, or Wu County, Kuaiji County. The straight-line distance between Xiaxiang and Xianyang was nearly one thousand kilometers, and Wu County was more than one thousand three hundred kilometers.

Even if the First Emperor had ordered the cavalry to quickly capture Xiang Yu's uncle and nephew that night after he finished talking about Xiang Yu, the uncle and nephew would have been caught completely off guard and would have been arrested directly. It would have been impossible for them to return so quickly as the journey was too far.

If they were not Xiang Yu's uncle and nephew, who else could they be, Pei Gong, Xiao He, Zhang Liang, or Han Xin?
It is impossible, for the same reason as that of Xiang Yu's uncle and nephew. The journey is too far, and there is no hatred between Xiao He, Han Xin and the First Emperor, so it would not have come to this.

Zhang Liang could indeed give the First Emperor such a motive, but at this point in time, even Li Nian didn't know where Zhang Liang was exactly. Moreover, judging from the First Emperor's attitude towards Zhang Liang that day, he would not treat Zhang Liang in this way.

Therefore, there should be one or more people who have a deep hatred for the First Emperor and are nearby and can be dealt with. Zhao Gao, Li Si, Xu Fu, Lu Sheng, Hou Sheng and others popped up in Li Nian's mind.

"Based on this speculation, Xu Fu, Lu Sheng and others are more likely. I told the First Emperor that Xu Fu, Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng escaped and never returned. Could it be that the First Emperor wanted to cut off their hands and feet because of this?"

"With the character of the First Emperor, he would do such a thing: You don't want to run away, but now I'm going to chop off your legs and feet, let's see how you can run away?"

"The First Emperor probably wanted to keep Xu Fu alive, and take him with him when he conquered Jiaoben Island in the future, so that Xu Fu could see the so-called fairy island overseas."

'What a cruel Qin Shi Huang! This is his revenge for the betrayal of Xu Fu in history!'

The facts were somewhat different from what Li Nian had thought. Ying Zheng did not cut off the hands and feet of Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng, but the two were not much better off. They were imprisoned in a wooden cage, with their hands, feet, waist and neck shackled, and their mouths propped open with a round tube.

They couldn't move their bodies, couldn't speak, and couldn't even bite their tongues to commit suicide. There were always people watching over them, and when it was time for dinner, they would be fed pills and water through a tube.

Except Xu Fu who was taken away by the First Emperor, the rest of the alchemists and Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng were all imprisoned here.

Their situation was much better than that of Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng. Although they were also imprisoned in wooden cages, they were not shackled and had no tubes inserted into their mouths. Their food...

It was just time for dinner. There was a clang sound and all the imprisoned alchemists changed color and looked terrified. The locked-up Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng also struggled violently.

"Everyone get up, it's time for dinner!"

A group of guards came in carrying several large wooden barrels. A strange smell immediately spread out. The aroma of meat was mixed with the stench of rot, fur, and other smells, which made people want to vomit when they smelled it.

Another group of guards came with small wooden barrels, wooden spoons and chopsticks. They distributed the chopsticks and small wooden barrels to the alchemists in the wooden cages, and then used wooden spoons to scoop food from the large wooden barrels and distribute it to the alchemists.

I saw that there was a bucket of broth in the big wooden barrel. The meat had been cooked to a very tender state. Many hairs were floating in the soup, rolling around in the barrel as the wooden spoon scooped it up.

The stewed meats are the chickens and rats that died after eating the elixir!

Looking at the broth scooped into his small wooden bucket, some alchemists wanted to vomit, but they held it back because the consequences of vomiting would be even more difficult to accept, and it's not like no one has vomited before.

There were people who would rather die than eat this thing, and then they were slaughtered in front of them, and their bodies are still hanging in the wooden cage.

The other alchemists were eating, and Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng also started to eat their "meals". Two eunuchs entered the wooden cage where Hou Sheng was, and one of them was holding a tray with the elixir and water that Hou Sheng needed to take.

Another eunuch took the pills from the tray and fed them to Hou Sheng one by one through a round tube. To prevent Hou Sheng from choking to death on the pills, the eunuch would also considerately feed him water. The same went for Lu Sheng in another wooden cage.

An alchemist secretly glanced at Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng who were force-fed the elixir, then quickly looked away and drank the chicken and rat stew in the wooden barrel in his hand.

Although they were also miserable, their situation was much better than that of Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng. They just didn't know when this day would end and whether they could get out alive.

They couldn't help but think of Xu Fu. Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng were already so miserable, so what about Xu Fu?

I'm afraid it will be even worse!

The alchemists were wrong. Xu Fu was now imprisoned and chained, and was guarded at all times, but he was not tortured. Instead, he was well fed and well taken care of.

But because of this, Xu Fu became even more desperate. He should have tried his best to commit suicide that day, even by banging his head on the ground, rather than doing like this.

Now the King of Qin does not kill him, which clearly means he wants to keep him alive so that he can torture him more and make his life worse than death. This is what the King of Qin meant when he told him to "live well".

But why did all this happen? Why did the King of Qin suddenly attack them? Why did he hate him so much?
A few days later, Ying Zheng was handling government affairs in Zhangtai Palace when a guard suddenly entered the palace and reported: "Your Majesty, Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng are dead!"

Ying Zheng's eyes fell on the guards and he sneered, "It seems that these two ministers are indeed unlucky and have no chance of becoming immortals."

Given the way he fed Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng, it would be strange if they didn't die so quickly.

Not allowed to eat, only allowed to drink water every day, and taking pills containing excessive heavy metals as meals, who normal person can endure this?

When he arrived at the place where the alchemists were imprisoned, Ying Zheng looked at the dead Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng.

The two men died in extremely tragic ways. Although only five days had passed, Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng no longer looked like their original selves. They were almost like two different people, with emaciated bodies and dark complexions, looking more like ghosts than humans.

Ying Zheng asked: "Where are the records of the two people's symptoms over the past few days?"

After imprisoning the alchemists, Ying Zheng specifically ordered people to record all of the alchemists' reactions in a book, especially those of Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng.

Immediately, a eunuch came over with several scrolls of bamboo slips. Ying Zheng picked up one and began to read it.

Seeing the records on the bamboo slips, Ying Zheng felt a chill in his heart. If Li Nian had not reminded him, and he continued to take the elixir, the symptoms recorded in the records would have happened to him.

After the fear, there was an even stronger anger. He threw the bamboo slips onto the tray and snorted heavily. Even if Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng were dead, it was difficult to quell his anger.

　Anyone who knows more can provide some information on the external symptoms of death from heavy metal poisoning.

　
(End of this chapter)