Chinese Emperor Qin Er Shi ruled for 3 years and apparently ordered foolish construction projects. [1] It is frequently mentioned that "one of his most extravagant projects was lacquering the city walls". [[2](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=69EbKf6JrxYC&lpg=PA194&ots=f7iDaNM73e&dq=Hansen%2C%20Valerie%20(2000)%2C%20The%20Open%20Empire%3A%20A%20History%20of%20China%20to%201600%2C%20New%20York%20%26%20London%3A%20W.W.%20Norton%20%26%20Company%2C%20ISBN%200-393-97374-3.&pg=PA141#v=onepage&q&f=false)]
Other less reliable sources claim it was the Great Wall, and that he was persuaded it wasn't a good idea.
Did it happen? What other construction projects did he order?
do we need to have reference here or just list our knowledge according to this incident/emperor?
in 史記.滑稽列傳 which wrote by Sima Qian (historian in Han dynasty), a person who named 優旃, persuaded Er Shi not to do this in a sarcastic way. He stated that although lacquering the wall will wasted a lot of money from the citizens and the effort from them, the new lacquered wall will be a great way to stop any thieves stealing things. However it would takes quite awhile of time to let it dry up. You may need to build another big house to cover it to make sure it dries properly. Afterwards, Er Shi think this idea is not that appropriate and abandon the project