Episode #112- Who Was The First Emperor of China? (Part III)

Our Fake History

PodcastOne

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2020

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After unifying the "Warring States" the first emperor of China turned his attention to an even more lofty goal: becoming an immortal. When describing the first emperor the ancient sources paint a picture of man consumed by narcissism and paranoia. We're told that in his quest to defy death the first emperor put his trust in shady magicians and smooth talking charlatans. Did the hunt for eternal life actually kill China's first emperor? Tune in and find out how the strongest man in China, a sea monster, and a conspicuously good lute player all play a roll in the story. Buy T-shirts, mugs, and even face masks here: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/our-fake-history?ref_id=9701 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's a story that the unification of China in the second century BC was nearly stopped
0:13.1	in its tracks by a daring and potentially suicidal plot.
0:18.8	The story goes that the King of Qin, the future First Emperor of China, had started his wars
0:25.0	of conquest and had quickly absorbed the state of Han.
0:29.4	The aggression and military success of the King had just put the other leaders of the
0:34.7	Chinese states on notice.
0:37.8	Many of them now worried that it would only be a matter of time before the King of
0:41.7	Qin came for them.
0:44.3	One of the most paranoid of these Chinese leaders was Prince Don from the state of Yan.
0:51.4	His advisors all warned him that the King of Qin's hunger for conquest would not be
0:56.9	sated by conquering one state alone.
1:01.6	Prince Don took their council seriously and decided that he needed to act before Qin
1:08.0	declared war on his kingdom.
1:10.6	However, his army could not hope to win against the dominant Qin war machine.
1:17.4	No, for his kingdom to survive, he would need to cut off the head of the snake.
1:25.2	The King of Qin would need to be assassinated.
1:30.4	To carry out this assassination, Prince Don tracked down a famous adventurer by the name
1:36.5	of Jing Ke.
1:39.3	Jing Ke was known as being a fearsome warrior, but also an exceptionally cool customer.
1:47.2	He spent his days either practicing swordcraft or quietly reading.
1:52.0	Unlike many other adventurers of his day, he was never baited into street fights or
1:57.0	cheap demonstrations of his fighting abilities.
	...

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