Ying Fusu

In the original history, the First Emperor died at Shaqiu, and the Second Emperor, Huhai, ascended the throne.

In the first year of the Second Emperor's reign, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang launched an uprising at Dazexiang.

Having lost its Right Chancellor Feng Quji and Left Chancellor Li Si, and with Zhao Gao holding absolute power, the Qin court was caught off guard by the sudden rebellion that quickly spread throughout the country.

The northern border wall was originally led by Meng Tian, ​​but later replaced by 300,000 border troops under the command of Wang Li. Zhao Gao hastily dispatched them south to pacify the Zhao territory.

The sudden southward transfer of border troops rendered the northern defense line virtually nonexistent for the nomadic peoples of the grasslands.

By the time Xiang Yu committed suicide at Wujiang and Liu Bang established the Han dynasty, the northern border of China had shrunk by more than a thousand miles compared to the time of the First Emperor.

The Qin court—which placed high hopes on the Second Emperor Huhai and Zhao Gao—and the army led by Wang Li, which was dispatched from the north wall to march south, failed to quell the rebellion.

Instead, it was at Julu, under the command of Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King who burned his boats, that the last elite forces of the Qin Dynasty were completely wiped out.

As for the south, the Second Emperor Huhai and Zhao Gao in history were not without their own ambitions.

—If 300,000 troops stationed on the northern border were transferred south to Zhao territory, how could 500,000 troops stationed in Lingnan possibly escape unscathed?

In order to quell the rebellion as soon as possible, Zhao Gao first ordered the Lingnan army to march north, cross the Five Ridges to reach the lands of Wu and Chu, and join forces with Wang Li's army to attack from the north and south, gradually eroding the rebels' territory.

Ren Xiao, then serving as the Commandant of the South China Sea and the "First Commandant of the Southeast," earnestly requested that the Second Emperor Huhai and Zhao Gao reconsider, arguing that Lingnan was not yet fully pacified and that retreating now would render years of planning futile.

While claiming to be giving it thrice a second thought, it was in reality a polite way of refusing to obey orders.

—Lingnan is thousands of miles away from Xianyang, and is further separated by the Five Ridges. Moreover, with rebel armies emerging one after another and the world in chaos, the Qin court naturally had no way to deal with Ren Xiao in Lingnan.

Therefore, Zhao Gao, somewhat retaliatory, directly cut off the supply of money and grain to the three counties in Lingnan and demanded that the three counties in Lingnan immediately begin to send taxes to the central government in Xianyang.

If Ren Xiao does not comply, there will be a time to settle scores after the rebellion is quelled.

...

The original supplies of money, grain, and materials have been lost;

The original tax reductions and exemptions are also gone;

Hundreds of thousands of mouths are crying for food.

—If they stayed in Lingnan, Ren Xiao wouldn't be able to feed these hundreds of thousands of people;

Ren Xiao could not afford the massive amount of supplies needed to support hundreds of thousands of people on their march north to quell the rebellion.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Ren Xiao fell ill within a year and never recovered.

On his deathbed, Ren Xiao called his deputy Zhao Tuo to his side and told him: "The Qin court is corrupt and cannot be relied upon at all."

After my death, you will take charge of the three counties of Lingnan and the land of Baiyue.

You can destroy the roads leading in and out of the Five Ridges to prevent Lingnan from being affected by the war in the Central Plains...

Thus began the first half of the Western Han Dynasty, in which Zhao Tuo, the King of Nanyue, a warlord who had always been a headache for successive Han emperors, officially began his magnificent life.

...

Historically, Zhao Tuo destroyed streams and blocked roads, and seized control of Lingnan. The reason why the Han dynasty, which was also a unified regime, was helpless and even watched Zhao Tuo "hold the southeast hostage" for decades was because of the appalling climate, geography and human environment of the Lingnan region.

If the Han dynasty's army wanted to conquer Lingnan, it first had to reach Changsha and the Wunan region north of the Five Ridges.

The local hot and humid climate and mosquito bites meant that the imperial army was already suffering from the negative effects of "acclimatization problems."

Vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and weakness are still considered mild symptoms;

For the Central Plains army to reach the Changsha area, looking south towards the Five Ridges, it would be impossible without losing half of its troops and another two or three tenths of its fighting strength.

Then came the crossing of the Five Ridges.

We traversed the Wuling Mountains, which have never been developed and are still in a state of 'tropical rainforest'.

Regardless of the extent of troop and combat losses after crossing the tropical forests of the Five Ridges, morale alone will inevitably plummet.

Not finished yet.

Upon arriving in Lingnan, even more deadly obstacles followed.

—Everywhere there are swamps and miasma that can take lives if one is not careful;

The Baiyue indigenous people, who hide in the mountains and forests, may emerge at any time to launch attacks with poisoned arrows and spears;

Of course, there was also the Nanyue army, composed of the descendants of the hundreds of thousands of Qin generals who led the southern campaign, under Zhao Tuo's command.

Historically, the Han dynasty did attempt to pacify Lingnan by force.

But after several failed attempts, the Han people finally realized the reality: unifying Lingnan by force was an extremely unprofitable endeavor.

The gains were extremely limited, while the losses were immeasurable.

In addition, the Han dynasty itself faced external threats from the Xiongnu in the north and internal threats from the separatist warlords in the east.

After weighing the options, they had no choice but to make Zhao Tuo, the King of Nanyue/Emperor Wu of Nanyue, who was "unyielding and unresponsive"—only nominally submitting to the Han Dynasty and repeatedly proclaiming himself emperor—the third strategic focus that they could temporarily ignore.

The first and second, naturally, were the external Xiongnu people and the internal separatist lords.

At present, Lingnan is not yet the territory where Zhao Tuo "sit and control the southeast";

The one who ruled Lingnan was not Zhao Tuo, the King Wu of Nanyue in history.

Everything can still be salvaged.

Everything can still take a different path from history, one that is more beneficial to Chinese civilization.

"The First Emperor dispatched troops to pacify Lingnan, expanding the territory by thousands of miles. This is truly an achievement that will last for a thousand years."

"However, after pacifying Lingnan, the haste to establish three prefectures was somewhat premature..."

When the topic turned to Lingnan, Fusu subtly mentioned his opposition to the First Emperor's policy of "establishing prefectures and counties throughout the country."

I'll say it again;

At present, the Qin Dynasty is not yet capable of truly controlling the current Chinese territory in the form of a "unified Chinese regime".

In particular, Lingnan, Liaodong, and most of the northern border region, as well as the coastal areas of Guandong, are difficult for the current Qin court to effectively control.

Rather than nominally controlling the country, it would be better to enfeoff feudal lords as a temporary expedient.

Then they gradually strengthened themselves and promoted centralized power.

It is not too late to establish prefectures and counties once the Qin court has the ability to control the entire country.

Clearly, Zhang Han also understood the implied meaning in Fusu's words.

But almost without hesitation, Zhang Han quickly lowered his eyes and nodded, pretending not to have heard Fusu's words.

—In the present-day Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor abolished the feudal system and implemented the prefecture-county system, which was an unprecedented achievement, as were the standardization of writing, cart axles, and rank of officials.

No one doubted, and no one dared to question, the correctness and sanctity of the prefecture-county system.

As a son, Fusu wanted to change the national policies set by his deceased father, the First Emperor. There might be supporters and opponents both inside and outside the court.

However, it was absolutely impossible for Shao Fu Zhang Han to express an attitude of "Your Majesty is right, and the First Emperor was wrong" or even to be biased towards this matter.

Fusu clearly had a clear understanding of this.

The reason for mentioning this was simply to give Zhang Han, a high-ranking official among the Nine Ministers, a heads-up in advance.

In the future, when the opportunity arises, Fusu will also give similar preventative advice to other high-ranking officials and ministers.

To avoid the situation where, in the future, when Fusu really rolls up his sleeves and gets to work, the important officials in the court are not prepared at all, which could lead to many unnecessary setbacks.

"Actually, what I meant was to send you to Guandong."

Having eliminated the two incorrect options of the northern border wall and the Baiyue people of Lingnan, Fusu simply stopped talking about the remaining options of the southwestern barbarians and Liaodong Korea.

Instead, he went straight to the point—laying out his plans as frankly as possible to Zhang Han.

Zhen Guandong.

Therefore, the land of the six states.

It was also the territory of the non-royal princes and princes of the imperial clan that caused the Western Han Dynasty a headache for sixty years in history.