秦始皇本紀
The basic annals of Dzin (reconstructed old Chinese Pronunciation*)
秦始皇帝者，秦莊襄王子也。莊襄王為秦質子於趙，見呂不韋姬，悅而取之，生始皇。以秦昭王四十八年正月生於邯鄲。及生，名為政，姓趙氏。年十三歲，莊襄王死，政代立為秦王。當是之時，秦地已并巴、蜀、漢中，越宛有郢，置南郡矣；北收上郡以東，有河東、太原、上黨郡；東至滎陽，滅二周，置三川郡。呂不韋為相，封十萬戶，號曰文信侯。招致賓客游士，欲以并天下。李斯為舍人。蒙驁、王齮、麃公等為將軍。王年少，初即位，委國事大臣。
The First Emperor of the Dzin was a son of King Tsrangsnang of Dzin. When King Tsrangsnang was a hostage for the state of Dzin in Drewʔ, he happened to see a concubine belonging to Raʔ Pəqwəy. Pleased with her, he took her for himself, and she bore the First Emperor. He was born in G'ant'ar in the first month of the forty-eighth year of King Tawsnang of Dzin (259 BC). At his birth he was given the personal name Tengs; his family name was Drewʔ.
When he was thirteen years old, King Tsrangsnang died and Tengs succeeded him as king of Dzin. At this time Dzin had already annexed the regions of P'ra, Dok, and Hn'artrung and extended its territory past ʔOrʔ to Leŋʔ, where it set up N'əm Province. In the north it had taken possession of the area from Dangʔ Province east, which comprised the provinces of G'aydong, Hl'atnqwar, and Dangʔt'angʔ, and east as far as Gwenglang, wiping out the two Tiw domains and setting up the province of Srumt'hlun or Three Rivers. Raʔ Pəqwəy was prime minister and was enfeoffed with 100,000 households and the title of marquis of Mənniŋs. He had gathered a group of guests and wandering scholars, hoping to unite the world, and Rəʔ Se was one of his retainers. M'ong Ngaw, Qwang Kray, and Lord Braw commanded the army. As the king was still young and had just ascended the throne, he entrusted affairs of state to his chief ministers.
晉陽反，元年，將軍蒙驁擊定之。二年，麃公將卒攻卷，斬首三萬。三年，蒙驁攻韓，取十三城。王齮死。十月，將軍蒙驁攻魏氏暢、有詭。歲大饑。四年，拔暢、有詭。三月，軍罷。秦質子歸自趙，趙太子出歸國。十月庚寅，蝗蟲從東方來，蔽天。天下疫。百姓內粟千石，拜爵一級。五年，將軍驁攻魏，定酸棗、燕、虛、長平、雍丘、山陽城，皆拔之，取二十城。初置東郡。冬雷。六年，韓、魏、趙、衛、楚共擊秦，取壽陵。秦出兵，五國兵罷。拔衛，迫東郡，其君角率其支屬徙居野王，阻其山以保魏之河內。七年，彗星先出東方，見北方，五月見西方。將軍驁死。以攻龍、孤、慶都，還兵攻汲。彗星復見西方十六日。夏太后死。八年，王弟長安君成蟜將軍擊趙，反，死屯留，軍吏皆斬死，遷其民於臨洮。將軍壁死，卒屯留、蒲鶴反，戮其尸。河魚大上，輕車重馬東就食。
A revolt had arisen in Tsinslang, and in the first year of the new ruler’s reign (246 BC) General M'ong Ngaw attacked and brought it under control. In the second year (245) Lord Braw led the troops in an attack on Kronʔ in Nqhuys, cutting off 30,000 enemy heads. In the third year (244) M'ong Ngaw attacked G'ar and captured thirteen walled cities. Qwang Kray died. In the tenth month General M'ong Ngaw attacked the Nqhuys cities of Hlhangs and Qwəʔkroyʔ. There was a severe famine this year. In the fourth year (243) Hlhangs and Qwəʔkroyʔ capitulated, and in the third month the army was withdrawn. The Dzin prince who had been a hostage in Drewʔ returned, and the Drewʔ heir apparent left Dzin and returned to his state. In the tenth month, on the day with the cyclical sign k'rangqrər, swarms of locusts appeared from the east and darkened the sky. There was widespread pestilence. Commoners who contributed 1,000 piculs of grain to the government were granted one degree of noble rank.
In the fifth year (242) General M'ong Ngaw attacked and seized control of the cities of S'orts'uʔ, ʔ'En, Qhra, Ntraŋbreŋ, Qongkwhə, and Ngrarlang. In all he captured twenty cities. The province of T'ong was set up. In winter there was thunder.
In the sixth year (241) the states of G'ar, Nqhuys, Drewʔ, Qwrats, and S'hraʔ joined in attacking Dzin and seizing Tuʔrəng. Dzin called out its troops, whereupon the forces of the five states withdrew. Dzin attacked Qwrats and advanced on T'ong Province. The Qwrats ruler K'rok led his followers and moved to the region of Laʔqwang, where he blocked the mountains in order to protect the area of Nqhuys north of the Yellow River.
In the seventh year (240) a comet appeared in the east and then was seen in the north. In the fifth month it appeared in the west. General M'ong Ngaw died. He had attacked Mərong, Kw'a, and Khrangt'a and was returning with his troops for an attack on Khrəp. The comet appeared in the west once more. On the sixteenth day of the month Queen Dowager G'raʔ died.
In the eighth year (239) the king’s younger brother Dengkrewʔ, Lord Ntrangʔ'an, led troops in an attack on Drewʔ but then revolted. He was killed at D'unmru. The officers of his army were all executed and the people of D'unmru were ordered to be transported to Prumlrawʔ. When the army commander P'ek was killed, the people of D'unmru and B'aɡ'rawk once more revolted. They were killed and their corpses exposed. The Yellow River overflowed, strewing fish over the land. People set off east by light carriage or horseback in search of food.
嫪毐封為長信侯。予之山陽地，令毐居之。宮室車馬衣服苑囿馳獵恣毐。事無小大皆決於毐。又以河西太原郡更為毐國。九年，彗星見，或竟天。攻魏垣、蒲陽。四月，上宿雍。己酉，王冠，帶劍。長信侯毐作亂而覺，矯王御璽及太后璽以發縣卒及衛卒、官騎、戎翟君公、舍人，將欲攻蘄年宮為亂。王知之，令相國昌平君、昌文君發卒攻毐。戰咸陽，斬首數百，皆拜爵，及宦者皆在戰中，亦拜爵一級。毐等敗走。即令國中：有生得毐，賜錢百萬；殺之，五十萬。盡得毐等。衛尉竭、內史肆、佐弋竭、中大夫令齊等二十人皆梟首。車裂以徇，滅其宗。及其舍人，輕者為鬼薪。及奪爵遷蜀四千餘家，家房陵。四是月寒凍，有死者。楊端和攻衍氏。彗星見西方，又見北方，從斗以南八十日。十年，相國呂不韋坐嫪毐免。桓齮為將軍。齊、趙來置酒。齊人茅焦說秦王曰：「秦方以天下為事，而大王有遷母太后之名，恐諸侯聞之，由此倍秦也。」秦王乃迎太后於雍而入咸陽，復居甘泉宮。
Riws ʔMəʔ was enfeoffed as marquis of Ntrangsnings, being assigned lands east of the mountains and instructed to take up residence there. He had a free hand in matters of palaces, dogs and horses, clothing, parks, and hunting areas, and all affairs of state great and small were decided by him. The province of Hl'atnqwar west of the Yellow River was also made part of his domain.
In the ninth year (238) a comet appeared, at times filling the sky. Dzin attacked Qwar and B'alang in Nqhuys. In the fourth month the king resided temporarily at Qong, and on the day krəʔnruʔ he received the cap of manhood and put on girdle and sword.
It was discovered that Riws ʔMəʔ, the marquis of Ntrangsnings, was plotting revolt. He had forged the seals of the king and the queen dowager and called out the district troops. Supplementing these with soldiers of the guard, government horsemen, and the chiefs of the Nung and L'ewk tribes and their henchmen, he was preparing to attack the L'ewkn'ing Palace at Qong and start a revolt. When the king learned of this, he ordered the prime minister, Lord T'hyangbreng, and Lord T'hyangmən to call out troops and attack Riws ʔMəʔ. Fighting took place in G'rəmlang and several hundred heads were cut off. All who cut off enemy heads were honoured with noble ranks, and all the eunuchs who joined in the hostilities were awarded one degree of noble rank. Riws ʔMəʔ and the others fled in defeat.
An order was circulated throughout the kingdom offering 1,000,000 cash to anyone who captured Riws ʔMəʔ alive, and 500,000 cash to anyone who killed him. Riws ʔMəʔ and his supporters were all seized. Twenty men, including the commandant of the guard, Nkrat, the prefect of the capital, Ləp, the lancer of the left, Nkrat, and the chief of palace counsellors, Dz'əy, were all beheaded and their heads exposed. Riws ʔMəʔ was torn in two by carriages to serve as a warning and his clan was wiped out. Among his followers, those only slightly involved were assigned to provide “firewood for the spirits”. Over 4,000 families were deprived of noble rank and transported to Dok, being resettled in Npangrəng.
In the fourth month it was so cold that people froze to death. Lang T'orq'oy attacked Nqranʔkdeʔ. A comet appeared in the west, then appeared again in the north, moving south from the Dipper for eighty days.
Tenth year (237): the prime minister Raʔ Pəqwəy was implicated in the Riws ʔMəʔ affair and removed from his post. Qw'ar Nkray became a commander of the army. Envoys from Dz'əy and Drewʔ arrived and a banquet was held. M'ru Stew, a man of Dz'əy, spoke to the king of Dzin, saying, “Dzin these days thinks in terms of the empire as a whole. But word has it that Your Majesty has moved your mother, the queen dowager, to another location. I fear that if the other feudal rulers hear of this, they will take it as a reason to turn against Dzin.”
The king thereupon went to Qong to fetch the queen dowager and bring her back to G'rəmlang. Later he arranged for her to reside at the Palace of Sweet Springs.
大索，逐客，李斯上書說，乃止逐客令。李斯因說秦王，請先取韓以恐他國，於是使斯下韓。韓王患之。與韓非謀弱秦。大梁人尉繚來，說秦王曰：「以秦之彊，諸侯譬如郡縣之君，臣但恐諸侯合從，翕而出不意，此乃智伯、夫差、湣王之所以亡也。願大王毋愛財物，賂其豪臣，以亂其謀，不過亡三十萬金，則諸侯可盡。」秦王從其計，見尉繚亢禮，衣服食飲與繚同。繚曰：「秦王為人，蜂準，長目，摯鳥膺，豺聲，少恩而虎狼心，居約易出人下，得志亦輕食人。我布衣，然見我常身自下我。誠使秦王得志於天下，天下皆為虜矣。不可與久游。」乃亡去。秦王覺，固止，以為秦國尉，卒用其計策。而李斯用事。
A great search was made for aliens and they were ordered expelled from the state. But when Rəʔ Se submitted a memorial arguing against the move, the order for the expulsion of aliens was rescinded.
Rəʔ Se took the opportunity to urge the king of Dzin to first take over the state of G'ar in order to terrify the other states. The king accordingly sent Rəʔ Se to negotiate the surrender of G'ar. The king of G'ar, distressed at this, plotted with G'ar Pəy to weaken Dzin’s power.
A man named ʔUts R'ew from L'atrang came to Dzin and spoke to the king, saying, “Dzin’s might is such that the rulers of the other states are like mere heads of a province or a district beside it. My only fear is that the other rulers will form an alliance and join in some unexpected move. That is just how Tres P'rak, King Prats'hray, and King Mrənʔ of Dz'əy met with their downfall. I hope Your Majesty will not be sparing of goods and money but will hand out bribes to their leading ministers so as to disrupt their schemes. By laying out no more than 300,000 in gold, you can completely undo the other feudal rulers!”
The king of Dzin decided to follow this advice. When he received ʔUts R'ew, he treated him as an equal and shared his clothing and food and drink with him. Later ʔUts R'ew remarked, “The king of Dzin, with his arched nose and long eyes, puffed-out chest like a hawk and voice of a jackal, is a man of scant mercy who has the heart of a tiger or a wolf. When he is in difficulty he readily humbles himself before others, but when he has gotten his way, then he thinks nothing of eating others alive. I am a mere commoner, yet when he receives me he always acts as though he were my inferior. But if the king of Dzin should ever get his way with the world, then the whole world will end up his prisoner. It doesn’t do to stay around a man like that for long!”
He was about to leave, but the king of Dzin, learning of his plans, managed to stop him, appointing him a state commandant. In the end he made use of ʔUts R'ew’s schemes, which Rəʔ Se put into effect.
*This is an attempt at creating a more accessible version of the Baxter Sagart reconstruction. Stops and schwas, having no common symbol in written English are given as ʔ and ə respectively, with other sounds being approximated. Where it is unclear how a given character would have been rendered under Baxter Sagart, we have referred to Zhengzhang or similar characters. A guide to the subtleties of the pronunciation of standard Baxter Sagart can be found here.