The letter was sealed but not yet given to the messenger when the Emperor died. Eunuch Zhao persuaded Prime Minister Li to destroy the letter. They kept the Emperorʼs death a secret and began to conspire with his weak-willed younger son, Prince Hu.
He ordered Eunuch Zhao Gao to write to his elder son, Prince Fu Su, and tell him he must hurry to the capital and be ready to bury the Emperorʼs body in the tomb. At that time, Prince Fu was building the Great Wall in the north with 300,000 troops under his command.
Nine months into the tour and far from his capital city, the Emperor became ill and knew he was going to die
He travelled in a chariot pulled by four horses. Fastened to it was an umbrella that could be tilted in any direction to shade him from the sun.
When the First Emperor was 49 years old , he set off on a tour of his empire. Accompanying him were his Prime Minister Li Si, his younger son Prince Hu Hai and the princeʼs tutor, a eunuch named Zhao Gao.