Revisiting History’s Greatest Regrets: The First Emperor Breaks Down in Tears!

Across the long sweep of history, looking back through the ages, there are always regrets that leave us unable to let go! Was it that Qin had no heir apparent, and the empire fell in the hands of its second emperor? Was it that Huo Piaoyao was never seen again beneath Mount Langjuxu? Was it the great fire at Yiling that even Zhaolie could not extinguish? Was it the autumn wind at the Prime Minister’s Wuzhang Plain, and the torrential rain in Shangfang Valley? Was it Jiang Wei asking, “Your Majesty, why did you surrender so soon?” Was it the Five Barbarians’ southward invasion that plunged China into chaos? Was it that Jinu’s northern expedition came to nothing? Was it that Xuanzong lived twenty years too long, turning love beneath Mawei Slope into a lie? Was it that Chai Rong died suddenly, leaving Youyun as a regret, and that the Great Zhou ultimately became the Great Cowardly Zhou? Was it Zong Ze’s “Cross the river, cross the river!” and Yue Wumu’s “The heavens are watching!”? Was it the final dignity of the leap at Yashan? Was it Yu Shaobao, who could scheme to win a kingdom but not to save himself? Or was it the bitter tragedy of those who kept their hair and served loyally for eighty days, honoring the seventeen reigns since Taizu, while a hundred thousand people united in a righteous death and left the Great Ming with three hundred li of territory? Beneath the sky screen, Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Taizu of Ming all wept bitterly! The likes of Emperor Baozong and Wanyan Gou trembled in fear!