From Puppet to the Eternal Emperor

From Puppet to the Eternal Emperor Plot:

When the teenage Ying Zheng first ascended the throne, he was a puppet of Prime Minister Lü Buwei—his mother Zhao Ji had an affair with Lao Ai and plotted rebellion, the court was full of Lü's followers, and even a young eunuch dared to disrespect him. He pretended to be a fool obsessed with alchemy, but secretly learned imperial strategies from Li Si and sent secret guards to gather clues about military power. When Lü Buwei tried to depose him using “fading dragon qi” as an excuse, Ying Zheng suddenly led 3,000 loyal soldiers to surround Lü's mansion, presented evidence of Lü's corruption, and forced him to commit suicide. He then confined Zhao Ji to cut off the source of chaos. Over the next 15 years, he conquered six states and became the “First Emperor.” But every rainy night, he would hold the bronze sword given by an old eunuch and cry—that old man, who taught him, “Only when you hide your knife in your bones and blood can you draw it,” died at the hands of Lü's assassins, without even a complete body left.