There are many heroic emperors in Chinese history who have achieved great success in their careers. But they are not respected by future generations, because most of them have made the same "mistake": killing heroes. Such as Liu Bang, who established the Han Dynasty in 202 BC, Zhu Yuanzhang, who established the Ming Dynasty in 1368 AD, and so on. It seems that the great emperor can't avoid the routine of killing heroes, which makes people feel that the emperor is really a profession with a fierce heart.
Speaking of which, we can't help but ask, in the end, is there an emperor in history who did not kill heroes? Have they left a good name in history? In fact, history is not entirely uniform, there are also great emperors who do not kill heroes, he has great benevolence for all the people of the world, but the end is incomprehensible to himself. Today we will talk about it: the only emperor in Chinese history who has not killed a hero, but his children have been slaughtered!
This great emperor who did not kill the hero was Qin Shi Huang. At first glance, everyone may be surprised: Qin Shi Huang was not a tyrant and a single husband? How could he not kill the heroes? He burned books to pit Confucianism, repaired the Great Wall, and started wars, killing tens of millions of people, how could he be the only emperor in history who did not kill meritorious heroes? Because there are too many "stains" on Qin Shi Huang, we will casually cite the evaluation of him by a few historical figures:
"Abandoning benevolence and righteousness and still punishing, thinking that in this day it is not a matter of teaching and deciding to use force." Zhao Gaozhi was imprisoned inside, Meng Tian used his troops outside, and the people were miserable and suffered from Qin with one heart. ”
"Victory is endless, and he wants to attack the Huns,...... Men's rapid ploughing is not enough food, and women's spinning performance is not enough for the curtain. The people are depressed, the widows, the old and the weak cannot support each other, the road to the dead looks at each other, and the world begins to be qin. ”
In fact, if you take a closer look, most of them are said by Confucians after the fall of the Qin Dynasty. They even scolded Qin Shi Huang, a "first emperor" and a founding emperor, so that he was not even as good as the king of the country, and attributed the reason for Qin's death to him. This is clearly unreasonable. You know, when Qin Shi Huang was alive, fierce people like Xiang Yu only dared to hide in the corner and point at him, and the Confucians were even more disciplined to be "doctors" under him and slap the horse's ass.
At that time, no one said that he "did not give benevolence and righteousness", and no one had the ability to turn over the wind and waves, and when Qin Shi Huang died, the Confucians would rise up. Was Qin Shi Huang really "not benevolent"? Obviously not. Just like in the matter of killing heroes, Qin Shi Huang was very benevolent. Neither the glorious nor the disgraceful heroes on his path to the founding of the country were slaughtered by him, but on the contrary, they lived a very moist life.
For example, Wang Qi - the merit is big enough, with 600,000 troops (almost all the mobile troops of the Qin State) to destroy Chu, the world is shaken, count him a meritorious master, no problem, right? For example, Li Xin, with 200,000 troops to fight the Chu state, was defeated and returned, this is no problem to kill him, right? Li Si, for Qin Shi Huang's staff and decision-making, controlled most of the power of Great Qin, and could even influence the succession of the throne, it was no problem to be a powerful minister, right?
However, these people all died well, at least not killed by Qin Shi Huang. Not only was he kind to the heroes, Qin Shi Huang was also kind to the princes of the world. We all know that in later history, it was often difficult for the fallen kings and their families to die well, but Qin Shi Huang implemented a lenient strategy for the nobles of the Six Kingdoms. For example, Zhao Gao, who later referred to deer as horses, was actually a nobleman of the Zhao State, but did Qin Shi Huang kill him?
No, but he interceded for him when he was about to be executed for breaking the law, and spared his life. It also included Zhao Tuo, who later guarded Nanhai County, who was also a native of the Zhao state, but Qin Shi Huang made him a senior general of the Southern Expeditionary Army. It was precisely because of this benevolent policy of Qin Shi Huang that as soon as Qin Shi Huang died, all the nobles of the other six countries jumped out and revolted - because Qin Shi Huang did not kill them, and even gave them a good treatment.
So, did these benevolent governments of Qin Shi Huang have been exchanged for a good reputation? Apparently not. The literati after the Han Dynasty directly scolded Qin Shi Huang as a tyrant of the ages, and in the hearts of the literati, it seemed that Qin Shi Huang could not even compare with a subjugated monarch like Puyi. Not only that, qin shi huang's children were also slaughtered. After his death, Zhao Gao, who had been saved by him, and his "loyal servant" Li Si tampered with the edict and made Hu Hai his heir, while secretly murdering most of Qin Shi Huang's heirs.
Later, after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, some of the remaining bloodlines of Qin Shi Huang were killed by the nobles of the Six Kingdoms, and in the history contained in the history, it is almost impossible to see that Qin Shi Huang still has living descendants. Therefore, in fact, from the example of Qin Shi Huang, we can also see that killing heroes is really not the emperor's unilateral mistake. For example, if Qin Shi Huang had killed Li Si and Zhao Gao with all his heart, would the Qin Dynasty have died twice? This may not be the case.
In the final analysis, who is the tyrant and who is the Ming emperor is not something that the emperor himself can decide after the Han Dynasty, but how the Confucians write on the pole of their pens.