Ascension To Throne: Second Emperor Conspiracy
The First Emperor Qin Shi Huang died during one of his tours of Eastern China, on September 10, 210 BC (Julian Calendar) at the palace in Shaqiu prefecture (沙丘平台), about two months away by road from the capital Xianyang. Eventually, after about two months, Li Si and the imperial court were back in Xianyang, where the news of the death of the emperor was announced. After his death, the eldest son Fusu was supposed to be the next emperor.
Li Si and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao conspired to kill Fusu because Fusu's favorite general was Meng Tian, whom they disliked. They were afraid that if Fusu was enthroned, they would lose their power. So Li Si and Zhao Gao forged a fake letter from Qin Shi Huang saying that both Fusu and General Meng must commit suicide. The plan worked, and the younger son Huhai became the Second Emperor later known as Qin Er Shi (秦二世).
Read more about this topic: Qin Er Shi
Famous quotes containing the words emperor and/or conspiracy:
“Even the emperor has poor relations.”
—Chinese proverb.
“If we are on the outside, we assume a conspiracy is the perfect working of a scheme. Silent nameless men with unadorned hearts. A conspiracy is everything that ordinary life is not. It’s the inside game, cold, sure, undistracted, forever closed off to us. We are the flawed ones, the innocents, trying to make some rough sense of the daily jostle. Conspirators have a logic and a daring beyond our reach. All conspiracies are the same taut story of men who find coherence in some criminal act.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)