What If Fusu Ascended the Throne?

In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang died suddenly at Shaqiu during his eastern tour. Zhao Gao and Li Si forged his final edict, forcing his eldest son, Fusu, to take his own life. But Fusu survived with the help of Meng Tian, the general stationed in Shang Commandery, and joined forces with Meng Yi to crush the conspiracy. Taking the reign title Shaping, he ascended the throne and launched a "benevolent governance experiment" to transform the brutal Qin.

He began by halting construction on Epang Palace and pardoning those accused of "slandering the court." He abolished harsh laws and reduced taxes and forced labor, seeking to reconcile Legalist severity with Confucian benevolence. When former nobles from the Six States struck back, the Xiongnu invaded from the north, and the Baiyue rebelled, he fortified the frontier through military farming and had Confucian officials refine the laws. Even through crises such as the "witchcraft and poison case" and the "death of the crown prince," he held fast to a benevolent heart.

After ten years of reform, the Guanzhong region enjoyed bountiful harvests, the Xiongnu retreated far away, and the Yue people learned the rites. Great Qin gradually shed its image as a tyrannical state. Yet beneath the golden age, remnants of the old laws stirred in secret, heirs died young, and the conflict between Confucianism and Legalism grew ever fiercer. Caught between benevolent rule and political statecraft, Fusu spent the final years of his life paving a new path for future generations: "Confucian on the outside, Legalist within."

This is an epic tale of "what if history had gone differently": When a kindhearted prince becomes emperor, can he rewrite the Qin Dynasty's fate of collapsing so quickly? And what legacy will he leave for the generations to come?