Fangshi Accountability Trap / 方士问责陷阱

Fangshi accountability trap / 方士问责陷阱 is the late-stage risk Qinji 125-1 identifies in 秦始皇’s relationship with court specialists. 卢生 and other fangshi can gain access by promising routes to immortals, ghosts, and deathless medicine, but those promises become dangerous when the emperor follows their advice and no visible result arrives.

The source treats the trap as a bridge from 求仙政治 toward the坑儒 prelude. Qin Shi Huang accepts hidden movement, calls himself “真人,” and builds a secretive palace-movement system. If immortals and medicine still do not appear, the specialist’s authority has helped create expectations that can turn into imperial anger.

Qinji 125-2 shows the trap closing. 侯生 and 卢生 flee after criticizing Qin Shi Huang because the miracle economy has become too dangerous to remain inside. Their flight does not defuse the risk; it redirects imperial anger toward interrogation, mutual accusation, and the 秦代坑儒事件.

This concept is narrower than 方士骗术与权威. Fraud-and-authority describes how unverifiable claims create extraction or influence; the accountability trap describes what happens afterward, when a powerful patron demands delivery from people whose claims cannot be delivered in ordinary terms.

Key Claims

• Unverifiable promises can win court access, but they also create a future accountability problem.
• The more a ruler acts on fangshi advice, the harder failure becomes to explain away.
• In a coercive court, failed sacred promises can redirect blame toward specialists, scholars, or alleged slanderers.
• Qinji 125-1 records the prelude; Qinji 125-2 records how the same delivery failure becomes flight, anger, and mass punishment.

Connections

• 嬴政 / 秦始皇, 卢生, and 侯生 - ruler and named fangshi in the source.
• 求仙政治 - demand environment for immortal access.
• 方士骗术与权威 - broader specialist-authority pattern.
• 帝王行踪保密 - concrete advice that Qin Shi Huang follows before disappointment intensifies.
• 秦代焚书令 - prior “焚书” branch kept separate from the coming坑儒 branch.
• 秦代坑儒事件 - completed punishment branch after fangshi flight and criticism.
• 谶纬政治 and 预言触发政策 - adjacent omen and interpretation patterns around fangshi authority.