Qin Shihuang, China's first emperor, died while traveling. His cronies wanted to eliminate the crown prince and make the dumber younger prince the next emperor. So they forged a letter from the emperor ordering the crown prince to kill himself, then pretended the emperor was ...
... still alive, in his royal carriage. At first, one of them snuck into the carriage to eat the food served to the emperor, next to the emperor's dead body. As the body started to rot, the cronies said the emperor wanted to bring home dried fish, the specialty of the area.
Eventually, it just became a matter of a bald-faced lie enforced by a threat of death. Everyone knew the emperor was dead inside the carriage and his body was rotting. But they bowed to the carriage, because if they didn't, the cronies would kill them first.
Eventually, the crown prince believed the forged letter and killed himself. The eunuch cronies coronated the younger prince, then ran the empire for themselves. That was the beginning of the end of the Qin Dynasty, which fell 4 years later.

Just felt like it is relevant today.
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