The First Emperor

Copyright © 2020 by Erica Tongson

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter One: The First Emperor

Chapter Two: Chairman Mao

Chapter Three: Resurrection

Chapter Four: Myth and Mystery

Chapter Five: A New Beginning

Chapter Six: Stories of the Red Guards

Chapter Seven: The Road to Hong Kong

Chapter Eight: The New Endeavors

Chapter Nine: The Democracy Forerunners

Chapter Ten: Hong Kong 1997

Chapter Eleven: Lives in the Fast Lane

Chapter Twelve: The Radical Will

Chapter Thirteen: The Discovery

Chapter Fourteen: Qincheng Prison

Chapter Fifteen: Hu Yaobang

Chapter Sixteen: The Turbulent Spring of 1989

Chapter Seventeen: Closure, by Lam Lok-ying

Epilogue: By the old man

This novel is a fictional construction and does not purport to present its characters to be true or the historic events to be the truth.

Prologue

1978

Sitting in his favorite armchair and lighting a smoke, the old man was disconcerted. The past ten odd years saw chaos and madness in the country. What had gone wrong, he thought, since Qinshihuang, the First Emperor of China called Zhao Zheng?

Brought up with an ideology to find fairness for all the people, the old man never once doubted his goal in life. But he started to wonder if his fellow men would accomplish anything, ever. For, what he saw in the past sixty years - or what he might possibly see in his lifetime - made him think the Chinese race could be cursed.

The old man then reflected on his three demises; he did what was needed to seek powers, yet with altruism. Without them he could not strive for the ideology. He was made to step down by the Chairman, his comrade, who thought he had an ulterior motive. The Chairman was the one who had tried to regain power, as an end to itself, by resorting to the Cultural Revolution. Now, the chaos was over, the old man having witnessed political struggles in the Party detrimental to the whole nation in the past decade. A curse could be on the Chinese race - on his beloved fellow countrymen.

Further reflecting on the past two thousand years of national history, he was pretty certain. Since Emperor Zhao Zheng, there had been numerous changeovers of sovereignty; those loyal to the country were put to death; people were taught to clear only the snow of their own doorsteps.

The old man then thought about Hsufu of the Qin Dynasty, whom the Emperor sent to search for immortality. Hsufu took five thousand boys and five thousand girls to sail to the East Sea, eventually deserting his Motherland. He landed on the East, and his own empire seemed to be long-lasting. There must be some secrets about those young people then, the old man thought. There was no curse on them, or it was taken off.

In his immaculate study, meditating, the old man got a call. At the age of seventy-four, he only had little time.

Chapter One:

The First Emperor

231 B.C.

It was a time in Chinese history that the country was separated by seven warlords, all of whom declared themselves kings. It was a time of confusion and constant battles and wars. The kings of Qin, sons after fathers, had been trying to unify the country and become the Emperor , but none of them could achieve real unification as battles were won and lost, warriors lacking the will to accomplish an apparently impossible mission.

221 B.C.

Emperor Zhao Zheng had just conquered the other six warlords. It had been ten years of fierce battles and wars, the lands having been united as one, at long last.

Standing tall in his palace and feeling the world under his feet, Zhao Zheng looked at his warriors. They were so strong and loyal. Patriotism was something that they seemed to be born with, each of them willing to sacrifice their lives for their beloved Qin Kingdom.

Zhao Zheng didn’t quite know how he did it, but he knew it was his destiny to unify the country when he became the King of Qin at the age of thirteen. That was when his father brought back the Hsufu and Hsufei brothers, and he could still remember his father’s last words.

‘They are our saviors, son,’ the old king had told Zhao Zheng. ‘They’re gifts from the gods and they know the way. Let them train your troops and their minds. Our people don’t have what it takes, and they will give them the secret of strength and willpower. With this, we shall conquer the rest and unify the country.’

The Hsu brothers were warriors of utmost powers, having no fears and being able to face the strongest enemies. When Zhao Zheng showed them the troops and how they fought, Hsufu said that he would make them strong - both mentally and physically. The troops needed to think of only one thing - what they should do to glorify the Kingdom of Qin; indeed every man and woman of the Kingdom should think that. Hsufu would educate the people to make them a united community with the sole purpose of dignifying the Kingdom.

Hsufei, the younger brother, wasn’t of Hsufu’s tough build. With an appearance and disposition that defined elegance - beyond the usual earthly differentiation of the gender - Hsufei had charisma that, unlike his brother’s spitefulness, drew other people’s attention and earned their trust. Not a born leader, Hsufei did have an instinctive urge to make his presence when the occasion called for it. When Hsufu was busy training and minding the Qin warriors, Hsufei provided for anything that was commensurate, being compassionate, not only to the Kingdom but also to his fellow countrymen, men and women alike. If his brother aimed at building up a great empire as an end to itself, he was minded to make this empire serve humanity. Hsufei knew the Qin Kingdom was the chosen one, its path set to unite the whole country. He knew at the same time the process should not stop at the acquisition of power, which should merely be a means to a greater end.

Now looking back at what Hsufu had done in the past ten years, Zhao Zheng knew why his warriors had been invincible. Every one of them had only one belief, and that was to conquer their enemies and glorify the Kingdom, all of them putting the mission above everything else.

Zhao Zheng still remembered clearly the last battle he had with the Kingdom of Tsai. The Qin troops had fought all the way from west to east, it being the last battle before he could conquer all and unite the whole of China. The brave and invincible Qin warriors were ready to take Tsai, but they were stunned standing outside its city walls.

Everything had been set for them to breach open the gate to enter the city, if only Zhao Zheng would make the order. Then there appeared thousands of people, all tied up and pushed by the Tsai fighters to the top of the city walls facing the Qin warriors, the frightened but infuriated lay people being the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters of the Qin warriors.

‘One step forward and they’ll all be killed!’ yelled the Tsai general, looking down at the Qin troops with a clear mandate to stun Zhao Zheng. It was not something that had ever crossed Zhao Zheng’s mind, and it could be massacre if he ordered the troops to enter the city.

Remembering his father’s words - the Hsu brothers being sons of the gods - Zhao Zheng turned to Hsufu. ‘You’ve been my mentor, you’ve made my warriors strong, and you’ve given me a vision of unification. What if I conquer all but all my men are without their loved ones? What good does unification do if I am an emperor without my own people to celebrate the success with?’

Hsufu didn’t say a word; nor did he need to do anything. The warriors of Qin would know the way.

Before Zhao Zheng could take his mind back to what was happening at the Tsai city walls, he saw Hsufei riding his horse rushing onto the hill overlooking the Tsai fighters who were holding the prisoners. Knowing history was about to be made and the outcome would not be any different, Hsufei pleaded to them. ‘You’re about to witness history, you’ll be unified as one. The Kingdom of Qin will take over your sovereignty but you mustn’t fear it. All of us will serve one Emperor, one country, and for mankind from now on.’

Gazing at Hsufei, Hsufu admired his brother but he was indifferent. ‘There’s no need, brother,’ he screamed. ‘They can never be like us or like the Qin people to whom we’ve given the secret of life, and they’re precisely the kind of people that we need to exterminate. It has to be.’

‘Extermination! Why it has to be?’ Hsufei thought to himself. He never doubted it was Zhao Zheng’s destiny to become the Emperor. Yet he always thought all people, no matter Qin or those of other kingdoms, could truly be united under Zhao Zheng’s rule.

‘If we could mind the Qin warriors and the Qin people, why can’t we do the same to these men and women of Tsai?’ asked Hsufei indignantly, vehemence written all over his face.

Recognizing the delicate situation, Hsufu ordered the troops to hold still and rode his horse up the hill to join Hsufei. ‘Brother, the Chinese race was cursed,’ said Hsufu. ‘Its people can bear the most unbearable, and they can stand the utmost hardship. The Chinese are the most intelligent. But this won’t be enough, because they’re a nation full of indulgences of self. Whatever in pursuit is for one’s own ulterior purpose, nothing else, and loyalty and comradeship is nowhere to be found. In the course of time, extermination is the only way for redemption. We can only change the Qin Kingdom and its people who happened to be arbitrarily chosen, but we can’t change them all. After Zhao Zheng has done all that has to be done, extermination will be the only way out.’

Before coming to the Qin Kingdom with Hsufu, Hsufei knew they were to save the Chinese race from self destruction. With all that was happening in the hundreds of years of battling among the warlords, the Chinese were about to exterminate themselves, and a leader must take up the task to achieve unification. Zhao Zheng was chosen not for any specific reason but on arbitration, his ancestors, his troops and he himself being no different from the rest. If they, the Hsu brothers, weren’t destined to perform their specific task to make the Qin people the elite thereby facilitating the unification, sooner or later history would wipe out the Chinese race altogether.

So Hsufei was certain about their mission - at least he thought so - and that was to give the Chinese the secret of life so people would know how to serve their own family, their neighbors, their community, their Emperor, and their country. They needed to learn that self indulgence and the private selves were forever inferior to the greater mankind. They started with Zhao Zheng and his Qin Kingdom on arbitration - by design at the same time - so once unification was achieved Zhao Zheng and the Qin descendants would spread the secret of life to all other people. But now his brother was telling him this was in fact not the plan, the people of Qin being the only ones to be spared.

‘What you’re about to see will be devastating, but it’s the very reason why extermination is the only way,’ Hsufu told Hsufei, indifferently. ‘You’ll see the powers that we’ve given the Qin people and the pathetic Tsai who haven’t these powers.’

‘We are to conquer at all cost!’ yelled one of the Qin generals. All of a sudden a woman shouted from among the prisoners, ‘We are to conquer!’ And she threw herself onto the sword of the Tsai soldier who was holding her. ‘That’s my mother, and she has sacrificed herself for the Emperor,’ continued the general, seemingly oblivious to the tragic occurrence. Thousands of Qin warriors started to march forward to the city walls, an act watched by their loved ones who all struggled to throw themselves onto the swords at the same time.

The Tsai warriors were stunned and lost their minds, seeing the breathtaking strengths of the prisoners, unable to comprehend what was happening. They could not contemplate for a moment why anyone, let alone thousands, would sacrifice for a common cause. All of the Tsai fighters were instructed to serve the King of Tsai and their kingdom, but at this moment what they could only think about was how to save themselves from the invincible Qin warriors. Within moments, all of them surrendered, and there left the city for the Qin troops to enter without a fight.

As the Hsu brothers were escorting Zhao Zheng to enter and take over the capital city of Tsai with their troops, Hsufu smiled, seeing the well-trained Qin warriors slaughtering any Tsai people within their sight. He hoped his brother would understand that these happenings were a clear sign showing truth in what he believed. To him, the inevitable was to take its course - exterminate those who were not the chosen elite. Upon unification, the Qin people would give the Chinese race a rebirth.

*     *     *

Zhao Zheng still didn’t know how he had done it in that last battle. Before he could resolve the situation - or before he could even decide to march his troops - there came the resolution and collapse of the Tsai soldiers. Before he knew it, Hsufu and Hsufei had already given him the ultimate success.

Zhao Zheng now looked at his warriors, standing tall in his new palace and realizing his father did bring him the saviors, their mystified past nonetheless remaining a secret to this very day. His father had never told him anything about how he came to find the Hsu brothers and discover their strengths. Fully aware of Hsufu’s capability as a warrior and an effective leader, Zhao Zheng however always preferred to share his thoughts and ambitions with Hsufei, on whom he placed an intrinsic trust. A believer of Hsufu’s powers a long time ago, and himself being a true warlord in every sense of the word, Zhao Zheng did find himself more and more emotionally dependent on Hsufei. He just knew, once he started to rule the whole country, he would need all the help he could get - not from Hsufu, but from the charismatic Hsufei in settling scores, so to speak.

Hsufu and Hsufei came to stand beside Zhao Zheng, looking satisfied in the inspection of their warriors and reflecting on the battles in the past ten years. Remembering what his brother told him in the last battle, Hsufei still had his hopes, wishing all the people could ultimately be transformed like the Qin people had been. Apparently both Hsufu and Zhao Zheng thought otherwise.

On this very day, Zhao Zheng called himself Qinshihuang, literally the First Emperor. He wanted his empire, the Qin Dynasty, to last forever.

*     *     *

206 B.C.

Hsufu saw it coming, the short-lived Qin Dynasty. He couldn’t contemplate, like Hsufei, all the other people becoming united in minds like the Qin people. Qinshihuang had already established his empire for twelve years, being busy implementing all the executive and administrative policies across the country. He didn’t see the danger, Hsufu reckoned, and it wouldn’t be long before another big warrior stepped up and took over the empire.

On this day Hsufu was especially restless, and he barged in Qinshihuang’s palace. ‘Emperor,’ he hushed, ‘we have two million people of the Qin origin, and they’ve already possessed the right stuff, having what it takes to make your Dynasty last forever, for they now know how to serve their fellowmen and country right. For your empire to last, you mustn’t let anyone step in the way. You need to exterminate the rest completely so the two million Qin people can redeem the whole country for you.’

‘If we were to do that, Hsufu, it means the whole population of twenty million will practically disappear. What am I to be, an Emperor without his countrymen?’ asked Qinshihuang infuriatingly.

‘It has to be, but only for the time being. You need the courage and wisdom to do that, for the Dynasty to last,’ insisted Hsufu.

‘Look, I’m busy with all sorts of things right now, and let’s decide at a later time.’ Qinshihuang became annoyed at what he considered to be Hsufu’s sarcasm, his mind wandering off to what Hsufei might be doing at the time. Determined as he had been at the time of the unification to fully utilize Hsufei to settle the scores across the country, he’d sent off Hsufei to implement whatever transformation was needed for the rest of the population. Knowing Hsufu’s adamancy that extermination would be the most effective way of consolidating his empire and making it last, Qinshihuang still believed in Hsufei and in his unsung ability to bring out the best of people. If only he could succeed, Qinshihuang thought, hopefully.

Hsufu knew it wouldn’t be, and he had other plans.

The fact of the matter was, Qinshihuang was very pleased with all that he had done for the country. People were happy with the status quo, there being no more wars. The Great Wall was being constructed so the counties would be better protected. A long-lasting empire was in the making. Not having heard from Hsufei, Qinshihuang had always thought the loyal follower must be carrying out the implementation, transforming all the countrymen into what had become the Qin people, for the better. Hsufei would succeed after all, Qinshihuang having every faith in him.

The only thing was, Qinshihuang was becoming weaker and weaker. He couldn’t help but realize his life clock was ticking. Would he live to see his Dynasty continuing to prosper, he wondered.

Seeing his anxiety, Hsufu seized the opportunity. ‘There’s a place I know in the East that has eternity and immortality. If only I could get there and find the secret potion, you can have immortality.’

Qinshihuang remembered one day he went to the shore seeming to see another kingdom right on the sea. Not really certain, he chose to believe Hsufu.

‘What I’ll need is someone to help me get there and find out. Make that happen for me, and I’ll make you immortal.’ As he made the request, Hsufu dared not even blink, gauging his Emperor’s thoughts with the most cunning mind. ‘Your people and your nation need you to live forever.’

*     *     *

On a cloudy day, Hsufu set sail to the East Sea, taking with him five thousand boys and five thousand girls. The ships sailed across the sea for months until they reached the land. When Hsufu woke up, it was the brightest sky he had ever seen. Taking his boys and girls to step on this huge land, he saw the sun hanging in the sky without one single cloud. It was the birth of a nation, which he emphatically called Japan - the land that the sun shined on. Seeing Qinshihuang struggling with his mischievous ideology and his own mortality, something that would be destined to fail, Hsufu chose to execute his own plot, which started to be carried out long time ago. With the most elite ten thousand people of the great Qin Dynasty surrounding him, he saw a truly long-lasting empire in the making.

*     *     *

Qinshihuang was still waiting for the immortality potion that Hsufu was supposed to bring back. Little did he know it wouldn’t come about in his lifetime; nor did he realize Hsufu’s offspring, taking the form of spiteful Japanese soldiers, would start invading his motherland almost two thousand years later - in the Ming Dynasty.

Knowing that another warlord had developed his territory in the Han region, Qinshihuang had great regrets. He should have listened to Hsufu, exterminating the rest of the people long before this day. The Han warlord was strong like he was before.

His last days were to come, him being too old and weak to fight. Yet the most devastating thing was that his warriors were not as strong and loyal as before since Hsufu had gone. He thought of Hsufei.

Long time ago Qinshihuang sent away Hsufei to accomplish what Hsufu thought was an impossible mission. He had once reckoned Hsufei must have succeeded, the whole nation appearing to be in great harmony. He had even admired his own foresight in judging that Hsufei had what it took, by subtly exerting his allure and influence on other people and minding them to be just like the Qin descendants. But now, seeing the upsurge of the Han power, Qinshihuang had other thoughts. Hsufei had so evilly betrayed him, at his most vulnerable time too.

Arriving back in the palace just before sunset, Hsufei could smell the different potions that Qinshihuang had gotten from his advisors who promised him immortality. Qinshihuang looking in every way as pathetic as he could be, Hsufei felt for his Emperor, deeply.

‘Your brother has long gone, Hsufei.’ Qinshihuang could barely speak. ‘And you deserted me.’

‘Emperor, I will never desert you. All these years I was trying to find a way to make the Empire last.’ Hsufei couldn’t seem to go on. This terminally ill man was once such a great warrior and leader, having the utmost will and power to achieve the unification, albeit with not insignificant help from the Hsu brothers. Qinshihuang, as he and Hsufu had always believed, was the chosen one and the Qin descendants were - and were indeed able - to reach the destiny, to create the great Qin Dynasty together. He was totally perplexed, not being able to conceive what might have gone wrong. ‘I’ve been around the places these years, and I really had a vision that everything would serve out right, most of the people coming to realization of the way and abandoning their self indulgent nature.’ Glancing at Qinshihuang’s hopeful expression, he paused, not finding the courage to continue all of a sudden.

‘Most of them?’ Qinshihuang caught the soft spot.

‘My brother was right somehow. The Chinese race was cursed and history will repeat itself. You have reached your destiny to conquer others, but you will be conquered too. Another empire will take over yours, and it will then be taken over by yet another, and so on. It will be an eternal curse, your nation being filled with intellectual and intelligent men who however think not of any common goal or serving others, not to mention their indifference to comradeship and fraternity. They are talented and can bare remarkable hardship. To achieve success, they have the strongest stamina. But, if only they have a heart for mankind.’ Hsufei just wished he needed not be honest, the facts being so demoralizing.

Qinshihuang listened to Hsufei’s short but heart-breaking speech in deep contemplation, ironically having reminiscence of his father’s last words about the Hsu brothers, them being the saviors of Qin, the pathfinders. ‘So this is it? It’s the end of my great Empire and the Qin Dynasty?’ he muttered the words in great pain.

‘No. The secret is life after death,’ said Hsufei pityingly, as he watched the Emperor suffering both physically and emotionally.

‘Your brother tried to seek immortality for me, and I don’t know what has become of him, but obviously death is unavoidable.’

‘I’m not talking about immortality, Emperor.’ Hsufei had a great urge to break the spell about the con act of his brother who had taken the most elite boys and girls to the land in the East, deserting Qinshihuang forever. But he thought better of it, reckoning the ugly truth wouldn’t do any good to the Emperor or the plight of his Dynasty. ‘Forget immortality, for it’s not something attainable, at least for now. By life after death, I mean a continuation of what you have.’ Hsufei wasn’t sure how Qinshihuang would take in what he had to say, but he was certain that that would be the only option for him and, to a much greater extent, the survival of Qin. ‘The Han warlord would inevitably defeat your troops and take over your Empire. Before that happens, you must build your own mausoleum.’

*     *     *

It was utterly clear to Qinshihuang as to what was being laid before him, as to Hsufei’s message, however brief and peculiar it was. It wasn’t something he’d been expecting during these weary days, his hopes piled high on Hsufu’s return with the potion for immortality, which, Hsufei had said, was impossibility. The reality, if Hsufei was to be trusted, was that he must bring all he could - including his own self, the almighty Qinshihuang - and preserve them in the mausoleum, the preservation to be made possible by some potion Hsufei said he possessed. Hsufei’s words were still vividly clear, ‘You and your warriors, the best that the Qin Dynasty has, are to go into it when you still have life, and in that way the best of Qin is preserved. If there comes one day, one chance that the great Qin Empire can be redeemed, your life and your empire can be restored.’ With a trust on the man who had so faithfully served him and his Dynasty, Qinshihuang chose to take Hsufei’s words for it, suddenly finding light in total darkness. He dreamt of his resurrection one day to continue the glory of his Dynasty. The preservation of the cream of his warriors and his countrymen was imperative for his second life.

In one year’s time the mausoleum of Qinshihuang was built, it being big enough for him to