Ying Fusu

After the six kings were defeated, the world was unified.

Mount Shu stood tall, and the Epang Palace emerged.

Most people's impression of the "Qin Palace" comes from the "Rhapsody on the Epang Palace" by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty.

Few people know that the historically famous Epang Palace was never actually built.

The Qin Epang Palace was built starting in the 35th year of the First Emperor's reign. It was located south of the Wei River, facing Xianyang across the river.

However, just two years after construction began, the First Emperor died in Shaqiu.

Although the construction of the Epang Palace was not halted at the beginning of the reign of the Second Emperor Huhai, in the autumn of the first year of his reign, only one year after the death of the First Emperor, the Dazexiang Uprising broke out, and war broke out across China.

The Qin court was exhausted from dealing with the constant peasant uprisings and had no energy left to undertake large-scale construction projects.

In the third year of the Second Emperor's reign, Hu Hai was killed by Zhao Gao, and the Third Emperor, Zi Ying, surrendered to Liu Bang outside Xianyang.

The Epang Palace, still in its foundation stage, was also burned to the ground by Xiang Yu, the King of Chu, along with the Qin Xianyang Palace, after the third emperor, Ziying, was cut in half at the waist.

...

In fact, whether it was the First Emperor, or the Second Emperor Huhai and the Third Emperor Ziying, they all used Xianyang Palace as the core palace complex for their daily work and life.

At this moment, the coffin of the First Emperor, which Fusu had brought back from Guandong, was also sent to Xianyang Palace.

The coffin was laid to rest in a side hall of the central palace, where court officials offered their condolences. Then, at Feng Quji's suggestion, Fusu decided to hold the court meeting in the main hall of the central palace.

It is separated from the side hall where the First Emperor's body was laid to rest by a symbolic wall.

Officials and courtiers entered the main hall first and knelt on the banquet tables on the east and west sides.

Fusu then entered the palace gate and, under the watchful eyes of the officials and courtiers, walked straight to the main seat on the north side of the main hall.

However, he did not sit on the couch, which symbolized the throne;

Instead, he clasped his hands in front of his abdomen, bowed slightly, and stood to one side of the imperial bed.

—Just now, after welcoming the First Emperor's remains outside the city, Feng Quji immediately reminded Fusu to read the imperial edict and clarify the imperial succession, which was for this reason.

If the edict read by Fusu clearly states that Fusu is the heir apparent, then Fusu can then wear mourning clothes and sit in the main seat at the head of the table.

From the time of the First Emperor's funeral rites onward, all major affairs of the Qin Dynasty would be decided by Fusu.

But now, no heir has been established;

According to political procedures, Fusu's current status is merely that of the eldest son who, in accordance with the First Emperor's will, is in charge of the First Emperor's funeral arrangements.

Naturally, he could only stand beside the imperial bed as a "special envoy for funeral arrangements".

"well……"

"It's one thing that they didn't establish an heir earlier, but why didn't they even think of establishing a successor in their will?"

The head of the Western Seats, Right Chancellor Feng Quji, had a furrowed brow, clearly having a headache.

Sitting opposite him at the east seat, General Meng Tian lowered his eyes and pretended to be asleep, seemingly indifferent and not worried at all that Fusu would be unable to control the situation.

Behind Feng Quji, the Left Chancellor Li Si knelt on the banquet table, leaning slightly forward, and whispered something to Feng Quji.

The gazes of all the officials and ministers kept shifting between the Right Chancellor Feng Quji and Fusu.

Then, people gradually realized what was happening.

"Where is Zhao Gao?"

...

"And what about Prince Huhai—why was he sent straight to the inner palace?"

Combining their respective identities and their relationship, a bold conjecture began to emerge in the minds of the officials.

Could it be that the First Emperor passed the throne to...?

Then why is Fusu...?

"It has been more than a month since the First Emperor died at Shaqiu."

Amidst the eerie silence that filled the entire hall, Fusu's relatively calm and composed voice rang out from the direction of the head of the main seat.

All the officials craned their necks to look, and saw Fusu step forward, his face slightly sorrowful.

"Due to the fact that no official in charge of rites and ceremonies accompanied the emperor on this eastern tour, all funeral rites were merely expedient measures."

"Upon returning to Xianyang, the Grand Master of Ceremonies received the First Emperor and performed the rituals of cleansing and dressing him."

"In accordance with the rites, the coffin was kept in state for seven days before being interred in the Lishan Imperial Mausoleum."

...

"What do you all think, is this acceptable?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the court officials and those around them exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

As Fusu said: The First Emperor died a month and a half ago.

It was mid-autumn, and there was no proper arrangement—to put it bluntly: the First Emperor's remains had long since begun to rot and stink.

To be honest, even if Fusu had decided to stop the funeral procession and be buried directly in the First Emperor's Mausoleum at Mount Li, no one could have said anything.

Fusu also decided to strictly adhere to the established rites, so the court officials naturally had no reason to find fault with him.

"Since there are no objections, this matter shall be handled by Feng Chang."

At the head of the table, Fusu spoke in a deep voice and bowed to the Minister of Ceremonies who had risen to receive the order.

Then he turned slightly to the side and looked at Feng Quji, the Right Chancellor, who was sitting in the head seat of the Western Seat.

"With no heir established, Prime Minister Feng led all the officials and was the head of the court."

"We also need to trouble Prime Minister Feng to take a look and oversee things here."

Upon hearing this, Feng Quji slowly nodded, stood up, and bowed to Fusu to accept the order.

Although the Qin Dynasty now has two prime ministers, the right prime minister Feng Quji and the left prime minister Li Si are not equals.

—In Qin, the right side was considered superior.

The Han dynasty inherited the Qin system and also valued the right side over the left.

If an official position is divided into left and right posts, then the right post must be the principal post and the left post the assistant post.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, in order to further promote the "Policy of Reducing the Feudal States" and consolidate the suppression of the feudal lords and relatives in the Guandong region, the Han court also issued a decree called the "Decree of the Left Officials".

The law stipulates that all officials of the vassal states are "left officials".

Under the same official rank and salary grade, the status of the Left Official was implicitly one level lower than that of ordinary officials.

For example, a county magistrate of a vassal state with a salary of 600 shi (a unit of grain measure) would have to treat an ordinary county official with a salary of 400 shi as an equal, or even take the initiative to humble himself.

When meeting an ordinary county magistrate of the same rank of 600 shi (a unit of grain measure), one should treat him with the courtesy due to a subordinate to a superior, taking the initiative to pay respects and addressing him as "your humble servant."

Furthermore, those who privately serve in vassal states instead of being appointed by the central court are guilty of the "crime of serving as a left official" and will be punished according to the law.

Left officials are not allowed to guard the capital, serve in the central government, or hold positions of rank equivalent to or higher than 2,000 shi (a unit of grain measure).

When a feudal lord commits a crime, all the officials on the left are implicated.

Based on this, later dynasties often used "leftward transfer" to refer to demotion or exile.

The phrase "unrivaled" which appeared during the Qin and Han dynasties also originated from this.

There is no one more "right," that is, more noble than him.

Specifically, right prime minister Feng Quji is actually the prime minister who is so respected that all officials avoid him and treats him with utmost courtesy.

Left Chancellor Li Si was similar to a deputy chancellor, a subordinate who enjoyed the same treatment as a chancellor.

Fusu was only nominally in charge of the First Emperor's funeral arrangements; the actual procedures were handled by a professional: Feng Chang.

As the head of all officials, Feng Quji was required to represent the outer court as commander-in-chief, taking full responsibility and overseeing the entire process.

In general, while the First Emperor's funeral was certainly a "major" event, it was still governed by fixed procedures—just follow the rules.

However, the succession to the throne is crucial to the stability of the state, yet the First Emperor did not explicitly designate one.

Similarly, as the head of all officials, Right Chancellor Feng Quji needed to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

Among the candidates, the eldest son, Fusu, undoubtedly held an overwhelming advantage.

But everything—especially political affairs at the national level—must adhere to a legal procedure.

Since he was not designated as the successor by the First Emperor, Fusu was still missing a crucial political step to legitimize his status as the second emperor.