218 BCE, Gaoquan Palace
Wang Li had visited Gaoquan Palace many times. The guards at the palace gate already recognized him. They didn’t even require him to remove his sword from his waist, just waving their hands to let him through.
The twenty-three-year-old Wang Li no longer possessed that soaring sharp dominance. Instead, because he hadn’t been on a battlefield for the past four years, his entire being emanated a chilling gloomy aura. Sometimes he couldn’t even control himself from thinking that perhaps if the wartime chaos had lasted a bit longer, he too could have become a general like his grandfather and father, leading troops in battle at the front. Rather than being like now, reassigned back to the First Emperor’s side as a commandant, becoming an attendant from the capital.
Actually, his status had never changed since childhood—he was still a hostage.
Born at the wrong time!
Wang Li wore a gloomy expression on his handsome face, feeling the scorching summer sun overhead burning him entirely. He strode through Gaoquan Palace’s entrance hall and corridors, walking familiarly toward the side hall, not even knocking before directly pushing the door open.
Inside the side hall, several ice mirrors had been placed. A coolness mixed with the azure dragon wood’s fragrance hit him in the face, calming Wang Li’s irritable heart somewhat. He exhaled a long breath of stale air, turned back to close the hall door properly, isolating the scorching heat outside.
The side hall’s layout had changed considerably in these two years. Luxurious furniture plundered from the six states had been tastelessly placed in every corner of the side hall. Rare and exotic treasures could be seen everywhere, and even the floor was completely covered with precious silk from Chu. Wang Li stared for a long while, truly wanting to vent by leaving a large footprint, but still couldn’t overcome the concepts instilled in him since childhood. He obediently removed his military boots.
When his bare feet stepped on it, the cool silk touching his soles truly made his heart feel incomparably comfortable.
“Big guy, you’re here! Who told you to take off your shoes? Don’t they stink?” A lazy voice came from not far away. Ying wore thin cicada-wing purple shan garments, holding a book scroll and reading enthusiastically. He was lying on his side on a bamboo mat with an ice mirror beside him, containing a plate of iced fruit. From time to time, he’d reach out to grab a piece of cut peach and stuff it in his mouth.
Quite an image of enjoyment. Wang Li had long known this Prince Ying was famous throughout Xianyang for idling about. That the side hall would be arranged like this was all Ying’s doing. It was rare that Minister Gan would indulge him so. If it were him, he would have lost his temper long ago.
However, grumbling aside, with good conditions available, Wang Li wouldn’t mistreat himself. He unceremoniously walked over to sit cross-legged beside Ying, brazenly reaching into the ice mirror to grab a piece of peach and start eating. The cool, sweet fruit flesh entering his mouth extinguished even the last trace of anger in his heart. He thought indeed this Prince Ying knew how to enjoy life.
However, this also wore down one’s will too much. Wang Li viciously took another bite of the peach in his hand.
The other person in the side hall hadn’t looked up when Wang Li entered, still continuing to handle the memorials at hand. Wang Li was also habitually not disturbing him, relaxing against the armrest while eating iced fruit.
Ever since the First Emperor went to Mount Tai for the feng and shan sacrifices last year, he seemed to have become obsessed with this behavior of inspecting his own territory and was about to lead an eastern tour again. The various trivial matters involved all needed someone to handle. After the First Emperor rejected the plan to build Xianyang’s city walls, Eldest Prince Fu Su became somewhat self-destructive. Besides normally going to Xianyang Palace’s Warm Pavilion to attend court, he followed his tutor Chunyu Yue in studying Confucian thought. Anyway, he had an all-capable tutor—even if he threw all matters to the latter, he didn’t need to worry about them not being completed. Instead, they’d be handled beautifully and thoroughly.
Wang Li more or less knew the situation, so he waited extremely patiently for the young Minister to complete his task at hand. After all, calling him over certainly wouldn’t be just to let him eat a few pieces of fruit.
After he finished eating two peaches, the young Minister finished reading the memorial, used cinnabar to annotate some matters of attention imitating Fu Su’s handwriting, then finally raised his head. However, because of long-term bending over his desk, his neck was obviously stiff, and his refined features twisted slightly.
Wang Li chuckled lightly, wiped his hands, got up, and walked over, directly sitting beside him. However, afraid his hands were too cold from just touching iced fruit, he vigorously rubbed his palms back and forth. Feeling them warm, he then helped massage his neck.
“Thanks.” The young Minister’s body and expression both relaxed. Not wasting time, he asked straightforwardly: “Will you accompany the eastern tour next month?” Wang Li nodded miserably. Last year when the First Emperor performed the feng and shan sacrifices at Mount Tai, he was also among the attendants. This time he naturally couldn’t escape either. Imagine a general who could have displayed his prowess on the battlefield—yet in reality had become a guard and coachman attending at the side. This gap was simply unacceptable.
“Do you want to go north?” The young Minister observed his expression, lightly curving his lips.
Wang Li’s tiger eyes brightened but immediately dimmed again. Currently, Qin’s military operations, besides Lingnan, were northern resistance against the Xiongnu. Between these southern and northern battlefields, the Lingnan region was filled with miasma and full of marshes and dense forests. Wang Li knew he wasn’t skilled at warfare in such terrain—going would be sending himself to death. As for the northern battlefield, it was internally predetermined to be presided over by the Meng family. He fundamentally couldn’t get involved.
The Meng family differed from the Wang family. Meng Tian and Meng Yi’s grandfather Meng Ao had served through four reigns—King Zhaoxiang of Qin, King Xiaowen of Qin, King Zhuangxiang of Qin, and the First Emperor of Qin. He had successively seized over a hundred cities total from Han, Zhao, and Wei, enabling Qin to establish Sanchuan Prefecture and Dong Prefecture. He could be considered to have laid the foundation for Qin’s unification of the six states. Meng Ao was truly Qin’s pillar. Although Meng Ao’s son Meng Wu only served as vice general to his grandfather Wang Jian when attacking Chu, it was also due to Grandfather intentionally dividing credit, so the Meng family’s prominence was even greater. In recent years, the two Meng brothers Meng Tian and Meng Yi were even more remarkable—at a young age, one civil and one military, they were famous throughout court and countryside. Meng Tian was appointed Administrator because of merit in breaking Qi, and his younger brother Meng Yi also reached the rank of Minister, deeply favored by the First Emperor. When traveling outside, he rode in the same carriage as the First Emperor; when inside, he attended the First Emperor’s side, called “Loyal and Faithful.” The other generals didn’t dare compete with the Meng brothers for favor. Even the Wang family, because of his grandfather Wang Jian’s low profile, yielded three steps to the Meng family.
Thinking of that Minister Meng Yi who held real power, Wang Li couldn’t help glancing at the titular young Minister before him, and his massage pressure increased several degrees.
“Mm…” The young Minister groaned in pain, pushed away Wang Li’s hand, moved his neck, but actually felt much more comfortable.
“General Meng Wu could serve as vice general to General Wang Ben. You could also go serve as vice general to Meng Tian.”
Wang Li curled his lips. He knew the young Minister would say this. He didn’t feel being a vice general was disgraceful—after all, Meng Tian’s military achievements far exceeded his. But the Wang family of this generation only had him as a soldier. Even if his cousins had the conditions and interest, his grandfather blocked them from going. He even somewhat suspected whether his current idle position was specifically arranged by the First Emperor at his grandfather’s request.
The older one got, the more cautious and careful. His grandfather was being overly worried. With the Wang family’s current position, as long as they didn’t commit treason, how could anything go wrong?
Thinking this way, Wang Li’s thoughts became active again. He no longer considered the southern battlefield, but the Xiongnu in the north occupied a large territory. Expanding Qin’s territory was every Qin general’s dream!
The young Minister hadn’t called him over for this matter but only gave a few pointers out of concern for a friend. He blocked Wang Li’s hand reaching over to massage him again, indicating it was sufficient, and smiled lightly: “Do you still remember you owe me two things?”
“Of course I remember.” Wang Li’s expression also softened. Thinking of that embarrassing matter from years ago, he couldn’t help but show a smile. Even without turning his head, he could guess that kid Ying was definitely listening intently with perked ears. He deliberately didn’t explain clearly but reminisced nostalgically: “Nearly ten years now, right? I’ve been waiting for your orders. The silk pouch you gave me, I’ve always carried with me.”
Seeing the joke from many years ago still worked, the young Minister was in a good mood and picked up a small lacquered box from the side.
Wang Li immediately felt this scene was very similar to many years ago, except for the size of the lacquered box. His expression darkened as he said self-reproachfully: “That Ever-Victorious Halberd you gave me was lost. I’m really useless.”
“Everything follows fate. Perhaps that Ever-Victorious Halberd had no fate with you.” The young Minister didn’t take it seriously either. Treasures often had their own destinies and wouldn’t submit to others’ arrangements. He opened the lacquered box, inside which lay quietly a thin plate-like ornament.
Wang Li couldn’t help leaning closer to examine it carefully. This ornament was leaf-shaped, silver in material, with the chilong shallow relief carving in the center exquisitely detailed. But unlike ordinary ornaments, paired with cloud pattern border decorations outlined in fine lines, it had a kind of magnificent grandeur. Wang Li looked at it feeling familiar, yet also felt this piece of ornament couldn’t possibly be some woman’s accessory. When he reached out to pick it up and saw four nose buttons cast on the back, paired in twos, he immediately remembered: “This is a danglou?”
The young Minister nodded. Dang meant to block, lu meant skull. Danglou was actually an ornament attached to a horse’s head, placed at the center-upper part of the horse’s forehead, in various shapes. In the Shang and Zhou periods, this object might still have had some protective use, but in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it became a symbol of status and position. Only officers of a certain rank could equip their mounts with danglou.
Wang Li weighed it in his hand again, looking at the slightly bluish luster on this danglou, and raised his eyebrows to ask: “This is tin?”
“Mm, it’s a tin danglou.” The young Minister wasn’t surprised Wang Li could determine this danglou’s material.
The “Inner Biography of King Helü” in the Annals of Wu and Yue recorded that Ou Yezi forged five swords, one of which was named Zhanlu, cast from the essence of the five metals and the essence of the sun. The essence of the sun referred to extraterrestrial meteorites, while the five metals referred to “gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin.”
Tin objects were mild and smooth, not easily rusting like copper and iron, remaining new through time. Moreover, storing food in tin vessels delayed spoilage. Even flowers in tin vases didn’t easily wither. So tin vessels had been objects only nobles could use long ago. Some even believed using tin vessels could delay aging, making tin vessels fashionable for a time. However, after discovering that adding a small amount of tin when smelting copper could produce hard bronze, nearly all smelted tin was processed into bronze ingredients, making tin vessels even more precious.
Seeing Wang Li’s reluctant-to-let-go appearance, the young Minister quickly cleared his throat: “This object isn’t for you, but for the second thing I need you to do for me.”
“What is it?” Wang Li raised his head in slight surprise.
“During the tour, try to attach this object to the forehead of the First Emperor’s carriage mount.” Seeing Wang Li about to ask questions, the young Minister added: “Don’t ask why. I naturally harbor no malicious intent and won’t harm you. This object is from the Shang and Zhou periods, used to resolve difficulties and dispel calamity.”
Wang Li’s question stuck in his throat, but he rolled his eyes, knowing this young Minister had also studied Daoist arts. Instantly thinking of several possibilities in his mind, he lowered his voice to ask: “Will something go wrong on this tour?”
“The divination signs are chaotic. I also can’t determine.” The young Minister furrowed his brows tightly, then smiled bitterly: “I hope I’m just worrying unnecessarily.”
Even if done with good intentions, changing a horse’s ornament could be significant or trivial. Using that joking promise from years ago as an excuse was sufficient. Wang Li didn’t say much more, tucked the small lacquered box into his bosom, and took his leave.