Ying Fusu

"Reporting to the General."

"His Majesty……"

In the latter half of that night, the sand dunes were the campsite.

Inside the central command tent, Meng Tian and his student Fusu knelt together at the head of the table.

In the center of the tent was a short, wiry soldier kneeling on one knee, bowing to Meng Tian.

As the words "Your Majesty" were uttered, the soldier's previously steady and powerful voice suddenly became choked with emotion.

In the blink of an eye, Fusu had already seen through the soldiers' origins.

—A former subordinate who accompanied the emperor on his eastern tour, entrusted by Meng Tian to inquire about the current situation of the First Emperor.

Realizing this, even though Fusu had no guilty conscience whatsoever, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

On the contrary, Meng Tian, ​​who was standing next to Fusu and still held onto a last glimmer of hope, understood everything the moment the soldier spoke with tears in his eyes.

"So that means..."

"Your Majesty, is it truly...?"

In a daze, Meng Tian's body trembled slightly, and his gaze suddenly became unfocused.

Then the soldier—who had only been choking back tears—began to grit his teeth and sob uncontrollably.

"General~"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

"—It stinks!"

...

"This humble general saw it with his own eyes—His Majesty was lying on the imperial carriage."

"The imperial carriage was stuffed with salted fish for most of the time, but it still couldn't suppress the stench of corpses..."

The soldiers wailed and sobbed, and in the blink of an eye they were sobbing uncontrollably.

Fusu's feelings were somewhat complicated.

—In the first instant, Fusu felt a huge weight lifted from his heart, and the anxiety of 'being left hanging' completely disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, a sudden, inexplicable sorrow swept over me like a tidal wave.

Ask yourself honestly: as a visitor from later generations, Fusu showed no affection whatsoever for the First Emperor, nor for his parents.

But as a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, hearing the soldier—or rather, the officer—say with tears streaming down his face: that most fascinating ancestor of the Chinese people is now competing with a salted fish to see who smells worse…

"teacher."

Amidst the fluctuations of his emotions, a murderous glint suddenly appeared in Fu Su's eyes.

The last vestiges of reason that remained only sustained Fusu as he turned his inquisitive gaze toward Meng Tian.

But Meng Tian remained stunned and bewildered for a long time.

When they reached the center of the tent, the officer dressed as a soldier and addressing himself as "this humble general" had stopped crying.

After a while, Fusu, whose blood and qi had been rushing to his head, gradually calmed down his surging anger;

Finally, Meng Tian recovered from his daze.

But his slightly red eyes and trembling lips made it hard to believe that the old man with "sorrow" written all over his face, who was so heartbreaking to look at, was Meng Tian, ​​the renowned general of the Great Qin Dynasty.

"His Majesty……"

"You scoundrel, how dare you humiliate His Majesty like this..."

His voice remained hollow, his gaze unfocused as he murmured, but Fusu did not respond.

Only after Meng Tian had calmed himself down did he take a deep breath and look at the general with a desolate expression.

"Today, I am grateful for Commander Bai's assistance."

"I hope Commander Bai can try to suppress his grief."

"To accomplish one more important task for the Qin dynasty founded by the First Emperor."

Then the officer surnamed Bai clasped his hands in response and nodded with tears in his eyes.

Meng Tian took a deep breath and turned to look at Fusu beside him.

"This old minister still maintains the same stance."

"Now that the outcome is decided and the result is determined, we should strive to achieve final victory at the lowest possible cost."

"I hope that my lord will not harbor resentment towards me because of what I am about to say."

Upon hearing this, and recalling Meng Tian's previous explanation, Fusu vaguely guessed Meng Tian's intention.

He finally nodded, agreeing to let Meng Tian arrange the matter entirely.

Only after receiving Fusu's permission did Meng Tian look at General Bai again.

"I trouble Commander Bai to convey messages to Zhao Gao, the Commander of the Central Chariots, and Li Si, the Left Chancellor."

...

Tell Zhao Gao: Prince Fusu is willing to forgive Zhao Gao's crimes and only execute the chief culprit, Li Si.

"In the future, Zhao Gao can still serve as a tutor to Prince Huhai."

"Prince Huhai will not be in danger because of what happened here."

"For Prince Fusu, a position as a charioteer with a salary of 600 shi (a unit of grain) is not necessarily a death sentence."

"But the Left Chancellor, who receives a stipend of ten thousand bushels of grain, must be used as a warning to others, as a sign of the beginning of his rule."

...

"I will tell Li Si again: Prince Fusu already knows—all of this was plotted by Zhao Gao and Huhai."

"Afterwards, the prince only executed the chief culprit Zhao Gao and imprisoned Prince Huhai for life."

"When it came to the Left Chancellor Li Si, he requested to retire to his hometown to enjoy his old age."

"—The charioteer with a salary of 600 shi, if Prince Fusu kills him, so be it; it's no big deal."

"But the current Left Chancellor, Prince Fusu, only cares about the ancestral temple and the state, and does not want the court and the country to be thrown into turmoil."

"Once the Left Chancellor Li Si realizes his mistake and returns to the right path, his life will be safe."

Upon hearing this, Commander Bai did not rush to agree, but instead lowered his head and tried to recite it silently.

Firstly, it was to ensure that he had not misremembered Meng Tian's words, so as to avoid making mistakes in relaying them later.

Secondly, it was also to determine whether Meng Tian's words were feasible and whether there were any loopholes.

After a full thirty breaths, Commander Bai bowed deeply and repeated Meng Tian's instructions in their entirety.

Then Meng Tian nodded again, confirming that Commander Bai's retelling was correct.

He then added, "Be sure to meet with both of them separately and convey the message to each of them separately."

"There's one last sentence, and they both need to hear it."

"—Tomorrow at noon, Prince Fusu and General Meng Tian will be summoned by the First Emperor to the palace for an audience."

"At that time, I hope that the Left Chancellor Li Si/the Chief of the Imperial Carriage Zhao Gao can testify that the other party kept the death a secret and was plotting something wicked."

This time, Commander Bai didn't think for long before nodding in agreement.

After Meng Tian indicated that there was nothing else, Commander Bai bowed to Meng Tian and Fusu to say goodbye, turned around and left the tent, and soon disappeared into the night again.

Only the teacher and student remained in the tent, and then there was a long silence.

After a long while, Meng Tian said with a mix of emotion and regret, "The original plan was to tell Zhao Gao and Li Si that the young master already knows everything and that things are beyond saving."

"If I confess my guilt and accept punishment, I will not hinder the prince's ascension to the throne. I will only die, but my clan will be safe."

"Unexpectedly, by a twist of fate, Ah Yi..."

...

"With A Yi's outburst, there is absolutely no way Zhao Gao and Li Si will submit."

"Therefore, this is the only scheme they can resort to, hoping to reap the benefits..."

Upon hearing this, Fusu's expression remained expressionless, and he simply asked, "Tomorrow, are we truly going to 'meet His Majesty'?"

"How many troops?"

"Go to His Majesty's presence, and then what?"

"If Li Si and Zhao Gao both accuse the other of being a traitor, how will the situation end?"

"What if these two don't cooperate?"

Then Meng Tian sighed and slowly stood up.

He walked to the tent flap with his hands behind his back, stretched out his hand, and pinched the tent flap as if he were bored.

He said casually, but in reality, with great seriousness, "The rest is up to you, young master, to decide."

"If both traitors are willing to surrender, you may postpone your punishment for now—first return to Xianyang to handle the funeral arrangements, and then the important matters are to offer sacrifices at the ancestral temple and ascend the throne."

"If one of the two thieves surrenders, then take down the other one as well, and leave the rest unchanged."

"If neither of the two thieves submits..."

……

"If none of them comply, then we will have no choice but to resort to drastic measures."

"And only the young master can use such ruthless methods."