CHAPTER 428: 230. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

"Sir, I did it.

The Qin has unified the six kingdoms.

Sir, you have often descended the mountain over the years, haven’t you?

I heard your footsteps traversing the entire six kingdoms.

You must have seen, during the times of war, how much suffering the people of the six kingdoms endured?

Many have cursed me, Ying Zheng, saying I am a tyrant, that I have ravaged their countries.

Saying I brought such great disaster to their nations!

Saying I caused countless deaths and injuries to their families!

Yet they do not think about how many years of peace there were during this century?

If I did not destroy their countries, if I did not unify these lands.

With the decline of the Zhou rituals, how long would the conflicts of the seven kingdoms continue to spread?

Not just them, but their sons and grandsons would also live amidst war!

But now it is different, I destroyed the six kingdoms, I unified the Qin!

I burned all the books with writings of the six kingdoms, I executed those corrupt scholars.

Some people cursed me, but I do not care.

Because from today onwards.

Everyone under Heaven speaks the Qin language! Everyone under Heaven writes the Qin script! Everyone under Heaven belongs to my Great Qin!

For the next hundred, thousand years the land will belong to my Great Qin, this generation may have suffered hardships, but their sons and grandsons will live in a peaceful Qin without war.

Long after, they will forget they once belonged to the six kingdoms, and only remember they belong to Great Qin.

Sir, I am going on an eastern tour again.

Sir, Fu Su has been deeply harmed by those corrupt scholars, I sent him to guard the border, I want him to see when those barbarian iron riders break through the city walls, how tragic the people’s fate is.

I want him to know that building the Great Wall is not tyranny, I am condemned in the present, but benefiting for generations to come!

I have Meng Tian assisting him, at his side are 300,000 elite troops of my Great Qin!

Sir, do you think he can grow into the person I hope for? Can he inherit the entire Great Qin?

Sir, if only he were taught by you, how great it would be!

Sir, Ying Zheng knows you won’t come down from the mountain, not because you disdain my Great Qin, not because you disdain me, Ying Zheng, I can understand the emotions contained within you, Sir, you want very much to help my Great Qin, but you have unspeakable reasons!

Ying Zheng understands you, Sir.

Ying Zheng never blamed you, Sir, Ying Zheng now only has one request for you.

Sir, please travel once more to the former six kingdoms after my Great Qin unifies!

Go and see, now’s Qin, far surpasses the former six kingdoms!"

Chen Che said nothing, the years of seclusion had made his heart as calm as water, he simply raised the teacup and drank together with this emperor.

Finally, Ying Zheng rose and left, embarking on his fifth eastern tour.

Chen Che knew this was his last meeting with Ying Zheng; Ying Zheng’s body was on the verge of collapse, he would die on this eastern tour.

In fact, if he spoke, he had a way to save Ying Zheng.

He had a way to change the fate of Great Qin, to steer it away from the doomed path.

But he did nothing in the end.

He did not forget his mission.

He did not forget what he should do.

He did not forget that there were people far away waiting for him to return.

Whether ten years, a hundred years, or a thousand years?

Just wait a little longer.

Spring passed, autumn arrived, less than a year had reached.

Ying Zheng no longer came, but it was one of Ying Zheng’s close armored warriors who came instead.

The armored warrior knelt beside Chen Che and exclaimed loudly, "Sir, please save Great Qin! Zhao Gao and Li Si have conspired, altering the emperor’s dying edict!

The throne should have passed to Prince Fu Su, but they secretly changed the edict to pass it to Prince Hu Hai!

They even sent an order for Prince Fu Su to commit suicide!

Prince Fu Su, steeped in Confucian teachings, would never defy his father’s orders, Sir. If Great Qin really falls to Prince Hu Hai’s reign, under the deceit of that traitorous Zhao Gao, our hard-won unified territories of Great Qin will be in jeopardy!

Prince Fu Su won’t heed anyone’s advice, but you Sir, I know if you are willing to come forth, if you are willing to persuade Prince Fu Su.

Prince Fu Su will certainly not sit idly and await death, certainly will not commit suicide, he has General Meng Tian and 300,000 cavalry supporting him, he will definitely be able to reclaim the Great Qin territory, and restore my Great Qin!

Please, Sir, save my Great Qin!"

So it has finally come?

Looking at this loyal armored warrior before him, Chen Che, who had now stepped from a brilliant youth into middle age, slowly rose and said, "I... refuse."

"I have seen all of the seven kingdoms.

I have seen Great Qin.

The lives of the people during the Warring States period and the conditions of the people during the unification of Great Qin, all are within my heart.

The tides of history ultimately have their own laws, not something that can be obstructed by one individual.

Ying Zheng had long arranged everything for Fu Su, but this eldest son was too deeply poisoned by Confucianism, if Fu Su truly had the heart of a king, with Meng Tian’s 300,000 cavalry, if he reached an understanding, he could easily reclaim the throne.

But if he, with such great armed strength, dares not even oppose his father’s authority, then what good would Great Qin be in his hands?

Perhaps Ying Zheng foresaw all of this.

Moreover, it’s false... if this were all true, I would certainly vie for an eternal Great Qin."

The armored warrior looked up bewilderedly and said, "Sir, what is real and what is false? Sir!"

In this moment, Chen Che had gained understanding, he slowly closed his eyes.

The world around him began to collapse, the illusion began to fall.

The memories sealed in his mind started to surge forth.

He slowly exhaled a breath.

It was over.

In front, began to unfold, a carousel of images began to emerge, showing the despair on the refined Prince Fu Su’s face as he received the imperial edict, sitting alone in his room, pacing with a long sword in his hand, pondering for a long time, finally placing the blade against his neck.

He saw Hu Hai come to power, and the ultimate downfall of the brutal Qin began.

He once witnessed firsthand how Ying Zheng governed Great Qin, allowing Great Qin to annex the six kingdoms step by step.

And saw firsthand in the carousel how Great Qin headed towards destruction step by step.

He saw that man with strange eyes, personally cutting off Great Qin’s fate.

He saw Great Qin’s last monarch, unwillingly shouting in anger, "Great Qin can perish but the ideal of Qin unifying the world cannot die, Pei Gong! Continue this ideal!"

He saw the majestic Dragon Vein, entwining a middle-aged man full of earthly and common vigor.

A dynasty called Han replaced Qin, standing on this land!

This is an illusion sketched according to the memories in his mind.

Everyone in the meeting saw Qin’s might, saw Qin’s destruction, saw Han’s rise.

Almost everyone’s face showed an expression of shock.

If what Chen Che experienced were written into a story, it would be a splendid historical novel?

Great Qin! Great Han!

Could these two countries really exist in the world?

Why did everything feel so real?

Those outside the illusion, just viewing everything Chen Che experienced, were intensely drawn in by the elements contained within.

How did Chen Che resist it?

Is it finally over?

Has it finally ended?

He can return now... Xia Na’s heart surged with a pang of heartache.

For them, it was a matter of a few minutes, but for Chen Che, it was decades of loneliness.

How painful must that be?

As this thought settled in the mind.

Yet the illusion’s collapse did not conclude, instead, it continued to sketch further scenes.

Xu Ziang was startled in his heart and shouted, "It has come! The Double Illusion Realm!

My god... the first Illusion Realm lasted almost 30 years, how long will the second last?

Will he have to endure... a hundred years of solitude?"