In 210 BC, Emperor Qin Shi Huang embarked on an inspection tour of the southeast, accompanied by Prime Minister Li Si, the eunuch Zhao Gao, and his youngest and most beloved son, Hu Hai. Unexpectedly, when they reached Shaqiu (now a broad platform northwest of Guangzong, Hebei), the emperor fell gravely ill, his condition worsening daily. Knowing his end was near, he ordered Zhao Gao to write a letter to his eldest son, Fusu, commanding him to return swiftly to the capital, Xianyang, to oversee the funeral arrangements.
Zhao Gao finished drafting the letter and wanted to present it to the First Emperor of Qin for approval, but to his surprise, the emperor had already breathed his last, his eyes still staring fixedly at the imperial edict left behind.
Emperor Qin Shi Huang had always trusted Zhao Gao as his confidant. Seeing the emperor's death, Zhao Gao hatched a plan: he hid the imperial edict and stole the imperial seal.
Zhao Gao, instead of contacting Fusu, secretly met with Hu Hai and urged him to take the throne. Hu Hai initially hesitated, but after Zhao Gao's repeated temptations, he finally agreed.
Zhao Gao then pressured Prime Minister Li Si into forging Emperor Qin Shihuang's final edict, declaring Hu Hai as the crown prince to inherit the throne. At the same time, he framed Crown Prince Fusu and General Meng Tian with false charges, forcing both to commit suicide, thereby clearing the path for Hu Hai to smoothly ascend as emperor.
After Hu Hai ascended the throne, he grew increasingly fond of Zhao Gao, promoting him to imperial advisor. Seizing power, Zhao Gao treated Hu Hai like a mere plaything.
One day, Hu Hai asked Zhao Gao, "I want to be emperor for life. Is that possible?" Zhao Gao replied, "Your succession is doubted and resented by your brothers and ministers. If this continues, Your Majesty's throne will be in grave danger."
Hu Hai, greatly alarmed, urgently asked Zhao Gao, 'What should I do?'
The treacherous Zhao Gao replied, "We must use harsh punishments and severe laws to execute all guilty parties to the ninth degree of kinship. Remove the old ministers and replace them with new ones."
Young and ignorant yet vicious and cruel, Hu Hai followed Zhao Gao's advice and immediately ordered the execution of the upright minister Meng Yi (brother of Meng Tian) along with twelve of his own brothers. Not stopping there, he had ten of his sisters brutally dismembered, with countless others implicated in the purges. The court officials lived in constant terror, never knowing when disaster would strike them next.
Under the tyrannical rule of Hu Hai and his advisor Zhao Gao, the people were crushed by relentless taxes and arbitrary cruelty. Their oppressive regime finally ignited a rebellion. In 209 BCE, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang led a massive uprising. Three years later, the Qin Dynasty was overthrown by Liu Bang's rebel forces.
Later, people used the idiom "everyone feels endangered" to describe a situation where each person feels threatened and unsafe.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Biography of Li Si"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "人人自危" came to describe a situation where each person feels threatened and unsafe.