He returned to Qin at the age of nine, an abandoned child from Handan and Lü Buwei's puppet.
At twenty-two, he underwent the coming-of-age ceremony, defeated Lao Ai, imprisoned his birth mother, drove out his uncle, and reclaimed royal power.
Over the next ten years, he conquered the Six Kingdoms, unified the written language and axle widths, fought the Xiongnu in the north, and campaigned against the Baiyue in the south.
He was China's first emperor, a ruler without equal throughout the ages.
But when he stood at the summit of his empire, he realized that what he most wanted to hold on to was time.
So he sent fleets east, dispatched Xu Fu across the sea, and sought answers from the elixir of immortality.
