Part 20: Episode 20: A Series of Tombs

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Notes -
- Assassination attempts that I left out: in 227, before unification, the Qin were about to squash the Yan State, which was basically an ant in comparison. The crown prince of the Yan proposed assassination, and sent two of his men before Huang to present him with two gifts: the first one was a map of Dukang, with a dagger rolled up in it (y'know, for stabification). The second was the head of Fan Wuji, a general who betrayed Huang. Get this: he supposedly committed suicide and let them use his head as an excuse to gain the audience. Stew on that dedication for a moment; pretty freaky, eh? Anyhow, the two guys arrived before Huang in a secluded meeting chamber. The first guy got cold feet and panicked. The second dude (who was named Jing Ke) stepped up and said "oh well he's never laid eyes on a walking God, such as yourself, in his life. I'll give you both presents." He took out the map, but accidentally fumbled it in his hands, causing the dagger to fall out of it. Huang quickly drew his own sword, and defended himself successfully. Jing Ke and his weak-kneed buddy both were executed as a result.

The next attempt was tied to Jing Ke's failed attempt. This guy was named Gao Jianli, and he was a very close friend of Jing Ke. He was also a well-known musician and was incredibly skilled with the lute, or something very similar to it. He managed to gain an audience with Huang, keeping his ties to Jing Ke under wraps. Just before meeting with the emperor, though, someone recognized Jianli and said "hey, he's best pals with the guy who tried to kill you a little while back." Well, Huang couldn't bring himself to kill a musician, and he wanted to hear him play! So he had Jianli's eyes gouged out. After doing this, he still had him perform. Jianli wasn't deterred from the idea of assassination, though. He hid a metal bar in his lute, and, once before him in private, he pulled it out and tried to strike Huang over the head with it. He missed, as you can imagine, and was put to death.

- These aren't all of them I mentioned the one in-video because it was pretty insane. These two are mentioned because they are connected, and one of them fell through due to horrible luck.

- Regarding Genghis Khan, something I forgot to mention: he assimilated tribes and forced them to lose their ways and adhere to his own. Jamuhka, his childhood friend, aggregated opposing tribes, but let them keep their customs. Basically, the forced assimilation was a good method of uniting the people. Given how Jamuhka didn't address this, it made numerous tribes and members of his confederation betray him at critical points. After beating him in combat, Genghis Khan actually executed all the men who betrayed Jamuhka, stating that he had no use for traitors and cowards. He then asked Jamuhka to join him, still seeing him as a friend. Unfortunately, he turned down the offer and requested execution. Genghis Khan wasn't a warm-and-snuggly sort of figure in history, but this friendship between him and Jamuhka was pretty interesting.

- The novel I mentioned has a summary, and it can be found here. A lot of its story fills in blanks, based on what the codex has told us about Al's shenanigans.

Late Note -
Here's more info on the assassination attempt mentioned in the video. Described with a bit more detail:
- Also, yes, I am aware that my Chinese pronunciation is horrendous. You should know better than that by now, goon sir/madam <>

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The Codex
New additions: Pages 5, 28, & 29.