Diqin Designer

Chapter 428 The Princes Return to Xianyang
After flexing its muscles to other countries, Qin's plan to establish an alliance in the Western Regions did not proceed smoothly, but not many tribes dared to openly obstruct it.

The Qin people's cannons were really scary. They didn't want to be blown into pieces, so even if they were unwilling, they had to accept it. Brother Qin was so strong, there was nothing they could do.

Are we going to let them go against Brother Daqin?

That is indeed difficult for some powerful countries!

Under the chairmanship of Liu Ji, Zhang Han and others, the countries signed an alliance in Zhangye City, and the Western Region Treaty Organization, abbreviated as "Western Region Treaty Organization", was established with Daqin as the core and many countries in the Western Regions as allies.

When the news of the establishment of NATO reached Xianyang, it was already late November. The end of the year was approaching and the city of Xianyang was filled with a festive atmosphere. Another year was about to pass and a new year was about to come.

The shops in the city also seized this opportunity and launched various discount promotions to make the festive atmosphere even more intense.

The Qin people on the street suddenly noticed that Qin soldiers were clearing the way and escorting dozens of horse-drawn carriages from the east city gate. One of the carriages had three flags on it. One was the national flag of the Qin Dynasty, one was the flag representing the Qin royal family, and the last flag had the three simplified Chinese characters "Langya" written in black on a white background.

Seeing these three flags, especially the last one, a Qin man on the street asked his companion: "Which prince is this returning?"

The companion calculated in his mind and replied, "It should be the sixth young master to come back. Young Master Jianglu, Young Master Han... came back before this one."

The Qin man who asked the question continued, "His Majesty is intending to recall all the princes to Xianyang. Do you think something big is going to happen?"

Without waiting for his companion to answer, the Qin man seemed to suddenly think of something and whispered to his companion: "Your Majesty, are you going to choose a crown prince?"

The companion next to him quickly looked around and made sure that no one else around was paying attention to their conversation before whispering, "You and I are supposed to discuss this? Besides, which prince will be appointed as the crown prince is decided by His Majesty and the court. What does it have to do with us?"

Although he said so, his companions were also curious about which prince the Emperor would eventually appoint as the crown prince.

Your Majesty has been emperor for two years, and the position of crown prince has not yet been decided. If we count the previous period of Qin Wangzheng...

My goodness, they haven’t decided who the crown prince will be for decades.

Prince Fusu is quite wise and is the eldest prince. Logically, he should have been made the crown prince, but His Majesty did not do so. Even when the emperor conferred titles on the princes, Prince Fusu was not given one. Over the past year or so, there has been no trace of Prince Fusu and no one knows where he has gone.

Some people suspected that Prince Fusu might have angered His Majesty, and was either secretly executed or imprisoned by His Majesty.

Otherwise, why did such a great prince Fusu suddenly disappear without a trace?
When the Qin people on the street were curiously looking at the team of carriages escorted by the Qin army, the curtain of the carriage with three flags was lifted, and the street scene outside was immediately reflected in the eyes of the people inside the carriage.

There was a very beautiful woman in the car, holding a swaddling cloth in her arms, with a baby wrapped in it. As the street scene was reflected into the car, the baby opened his eyes wide and looked out of the car curiously.

The woman smiled at the baby and said, "Heng, this is Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Empire, and it's also where your father grew up."

There was also a young man with a beard in the car, who was reading a book. After hearing what the woman said, he couldn't help but look up and said with a smile: "Hengcai is so young, how can he understand what you are saying to him?"

The woman looked down at the baby in the cradle, only to see the baby rolling his eyes and babbling with his mouth open, as if supporting his mother. Although I am not yet a big child, I can understand.

The woman suddenly had direct witness: "Look, Heng said he understood!"

The young man was speechless after hearing this, and said helplessly: "How do you know Heng understood?"

The young man did not argue with the woman. He put down the book in his hand, sat next to the woman, and watched the street scene of Xianyang outside the car window with the woman and the baby.

"I've heard that Xianyang has changed a lot. Today I see that it has indeed changed a lot. I remember that there weren't so many shops on this street, and the street wasn't as wide and clean as it is now, and there weren't so many pedestrians."

Recalling the streets in his memory, the changes compared to what he saw now were so obvious that the young man suddenly felt a sense of strangeness as if everything had changed and people had changed. However, he had only been away from Xianyang for more than a year, not several decades.

The woman smiled and said, "This is a good thing. It means that the Great Qin is thriving and becoming stronger and more prosperous. The Great Qin will surpass all the countries in history."

The young man nodded and smiled, "Yes, it's a good thing, but I'm still surprised. However, we have seen such a scene in just over a year. What will it be like in another ten or dozens of years?"

The woman held the baby tightly in one hand, and took the young man's hand with the other hand, saying, "Don't worry, Heng and I will always be with you."

Feeling the hand holding his, the young man knew that his wise queen saw his nervousness and was using this way to encourage and comfort him.

The young man and woman in the car were Prince Gao, who was granted the title of King of Langya, and his queen, Lu Zhi.

Judging from their words and actions, Gongzi Gao and Lu Zhi should have had a pretty good married life.

The couple loves each other and supports each other.

Although it was impossible for Lu Zhi to be the Queen of the Han Dynasty and the first Queen of China and hold enormous power, she was better in family affairs than in history.

Gongzi Gao held Lü Zhi's hand and said to his son Heng, "Heng, you will meet your royal grandfather soon. Are you happy? Your royal grandfather is the most powerful man in the world. He personally gave you your name, 'Heng'!"

It is not unusual for elders to name their children, but Gongzi Gao and Lu Zhi thought it was strange that their father named his son "Heng", which seemed to have a special meaning.

The couple speculated a lot in private, such as whether Heng was the first grandchild after his father became emperor and wanted the Qin Dynasty to last forever?

Or is Heng the first grandchild born after the princes were enfeoffed?
How could the young couple have imagined that this was a piece of metaphysics that the First Emperor came up with on a whim because of Empress Lu.

Liu Bang's good son, Emperor Wen of Han, was named Liu Heng. Now the Han Dynasty is gone, and there should be no Emperor Wen of Han Liu Heng. Why not give the son of Gao and Lu Zhi the name "Heng"?
Maybe it will be possible to share some of the good fortune of the Han Emperor Wen for the Qin Dynasty.

Gongzi Gao teased his son for a while, and then said, "At the turn of spring and summer this year, the Qin army fought against the Donghu and Yuezhi and won the battle. The prestige of the Qin army in the Western Regions increased greatly. Last month, Liu Ji was appointed as the governor to garrison the Western Regions to control the Western Regions for the Qin army." "Liu Ji was also invited by my father to attend the ceremony when he was crowned emperor. I have met him before, but I didn't expect him to become the first governor of the Qin army!"

After hearing what Gongzi Gao said, Lu Zhi recalled carefully and remembered that when she was invited to Xianyang, she met a man on horseback, who seemed to have noticed her at that time.

He is much older than her and not much younger than His Majesty Yu, but now he has become the governor of the Western Regions of the Qin Dynasty.

It seems that those who were invited to Xianyang when Your Majesty was crowned emperor have all made good progress.

She became the wife of the prince of Qin, Liu Ji became the governor of the Western Regions of Qin, and the others also developed in their own ways.

The invitation to enter Xianyang was also a mystery in the minds of many people. They always wondered why His Majesty the Emperor would invite them to Xianyang to watch the ceremony?

As for what His Majesty said about random selection and they just happened to be chosen, no one believed it. The invitation was definitely premeditated and organized.

But no matter what the reason, it gave them a chance to change their destiny.

Lü Zhi smiled and said, "I remember that governor. When I first entered Xianyang, I ran into him outside the city."

Gongzi Gao didn't pay much attention to Lu Zhi's claim that he had met Liu Ji when he entered Xianyang, and said, "The Qin army fought beautifully against the Yuezhi and Donghu, but if Brother Fusu were still alive, he might write to the emperor and advise him not to fight this war."

At this point, Gongzi Gao's eyes flashed with memories, and he whispered: "Brother Fusu is a kind and benevolent man. He always takes care of us in the palace. I don't know why father didn't give brother a fief. Even..."

Gongzi Gao looked out the window and his voice became even quieter. Although he was granted the title of Duke of Langya, he was not completely ignorant of what was happening in Xianyang. He had heard some bad things: Brother Fusu might not be alive anymore, and was secretly executed by his father...

After hearing what Prince Gao said, Lü Zhi also whispered, "Your Majesty, please be careful with your words. We are already in Xianyang. Don't speak carelessly. If Your Majesty is having trouble making a decision, you can discuss it with me. Heng and I will always be with Your Majesty."

Gongzi Gao held Lü Zhi's hand tightly and said with emotion: "The luckiest thing in my life is that my father has granted you to me in marriage. With a wife like this, what else can a husband ask for?"

This made Lü Zhi blush and whispered, "Your Majesty, he is still on the street!"

In fact, in Lu Zhi's heart, she thought it would be better if Fusu disappeared or was executed, because that would mean that the person in her family might also ascend to that position.

Moreover, judging from the First Emperor's attitude towards Prince Gao, she also felt that he was slightly different from other princes. For example, she would sometimes write letters to ask about Prince Gao's health, and she also named her son "Heng".

Of course, compared with the historical Lu Zhi, the current Lu Zhi is not as ambitious in career and does not have such a strong desire for power. If her husband has the opportunity to become the crown prince of the Qin Dynasty, she will support him, but if there is no opportunity, she will not deliberately ask for it.

Because she is very satisfied with her current life. She married the prince of Qin. The prince is very good to her and is a rare good man. It would be good to maintain this kind of life and there is no need to ask for too much.

When Prince Gao and Empress Lü brought their son to Xianyang, a team of Qin soldiers were escorting several horse-drawn carriages on the road leading to Xianyang City in the south.

These carriages did not have flags like those of Gongzi Gao to indicate their identities. Instead, they did not have any emblems or flags. Apart from being escorted by the Qin army, it was impossible to tell whether the carriages were transporting people, goods, or something else.

However, in a carriage in the center, a young man with rough and dark skin, strong physique, wearing linen clothes, was sitting in the carriage. He was holding a book and reading it carefully. The bumps in the carriage did not affect his interest in reading.

The contents of the book seemed very profound and subtle, sometimes making him frown, sometimes making him suddenly realize something. Whenever this happened, he would quickly grab the paper and pen beside him to write down his doubts and realizations.

"Li Nian is truly a man of extraordinary talent!"

This was the nth time he had commented on Li Nian in this way, and it would often not be long before he would make such an exclamation again.

'The great victory of the Qin against the Yuezhi and Donghu did not arouse opposition from the people, but won the support of the people. Moreover, this war not only did not cost the Qin, but it replenished the Qin. War is not impossible, but it depends on judging the pros and cons of war! '

The young man thought to himself that if it were a year or two ago, he would have most likely written a letter to advise against the war. However, after more than a year of experience in the countryside, many of the ideas he originally held suffered a strong impact.

He found that he had taken things for granted in the past and failed to grasp the real situation. He thought that what he insisted on would definitely work. However, after being thrown into that shitty place by his father, he discovered that those unruly people did not care about "etiquette" or "benevolence" at all, but instead used violence to communicate better.

When he first arrived at that place, he was still very confident. He tried to reason with the locals with good intentions and wanted to show them benevolence. However, those unruly people would not listen to him at all. Instead, they severely criticized him physically. If someone had not rescued him, he would have been beaten to death.

The Qin soldiers who went to that place with him warned him that he must deal a heavy blow to these unruly people, as they only fear power but not virtue. However, he was confident that he could govern the unruly people with benevolence, and he must prove to his father that he was right.

However, after his confident operation, the result was: the locals did not think highly of him, and even thought he was cowardly and deliberately bullied him. The Qin soldiers who went to that place as officials helped him many times and were too lazy to warn him again.

According to his original idea, it should not be like this. The government should be stable, the people should be harmonious, the officials should be honest, and the people should live in peace.

But the truth was not entirely different from what he thought, but it was quite different. Instead, the Qin soldiers who used sticks to physically fight with the locals performed better than him.

He was frustrated for a long time, wondering what had gone wrong.

Why did the brutality and barbarity of other Qin soldiers succeed, but his idea did not?

He also reflected on what he had learned and known in the past, and imagined what his father would do if he were in the same environment as him?
Why did his father's harsh laws work, but his ideal of benevolent governance didn't work?

After much thinking and communicating with the Qin soldiers, he finally realized: what he thought was good, but it was impractical and difficult to implement in practice.

In the past, he held too high a position and had almost no personal contact with the people. He had no idea of ​​their actual situation. What he learned and knew was all taught by others. He had never practiced it himself, so he took it for granted that it was good and useful.

It would be strange if nothing went wrong when he was thrown into the countryside by his father. Even if the place he chose was not a place with "pure" folk customs and the people were more friendly, his methods would still go wrong.

(End of this chapter)