The Qin Dynasty was China's first unified country, but throughout the Entire Qin Dynasty, only the works of Li Si were circulated.
The background of the great unification of the Qin Dynasty
This has to be said from the background of the entire unification of the Qin Dynasty. First of all, Qin Shi Huang successively destroyed Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi, completing the great cause of unification and unifying China, ending the chaotic situation of the wars between the princes during the Warring States period. Second, the Qin Dynasty set up three dukes and nine secretaries in the central government to manage major state affairs; abolished the sub-feudal system at the local level and replaced it with a county system; and implemented the same book, the same track, and unified weights and measures. Attacked the Xiongnu in the north, baiyue in the south, built the Great Wall to resist foreign enemies, and dug spiritual canals to open up the water system. Since then, the centralized power system of the Qin Dynasty has been established, the basic pattern of China's political system for more than 2,000 years has taken shape, and the great unified dynasties of China's later feudal dynasties have taken this as the prototype, so it is called "hundreds of generations of Qin political law".
In the political context of the great unification, even Chinese literature has been influenced by the political background of the great unification and has entered a new stage. However, the establishment of a unified centralized state brought not vitality to literature, but an extreme cultural autocratic policy, and the Laws of the Qin Dynasty were strict, and under the heavy canon, literary creation was unprecedentedly snubbed. Not only were there no outstanding writers, but there were only a few literary works that had survived, but the few remaining works and some works of similar times reflected the political trends of the time.
Lis's status as a politician allowed his works to circulate
And Li Si's status as a politician allowed his works to circulate. As mentioned above, the works at that time all reflected the political background of the great unification at that time, and the works before the unification of the Qin Dynasty all reflected the trend of great unification. For example, the "Spring and Autumn of the Lü Dynasty", compiled by Lü Buwei's disciples, was written in 239 BC, which has a complete system and extensively draws on the views of the hundreds of sons and hundreds of families, and objectively reflects the historical trend of the country's imminent unification of Russia during the last years of the Warring States period.
The only literati left behind in the Qin Dynasty was Li Si. Li Si, who studied under Xunzi, was a small official in charge of clerical affairs, and later studied the knowledge of governing the country, the so-called "art of the emperor", and Xunzi's thinking was similar to that of the Legalists, which laid a firm ideological foundation for Li Si to later formulate strict laws.
After Li Si finished his studies, after comparing the political situation of the various countries at that time, Li Si went to the Qin state. Soon, he received the attention of Lü Buwei, so he received the attention of the King of Qin, put forward the order of annexation of "destroying Han first, in order to fear other countries", and also alienated the monarchs of the Six Kingdoms, and was successively named a guest secretary and a court lieutenant, and Qin Shi Huang served as a minister after unifying the six kingdoms, and accompanied the first emperor on many tours.
It can be seen that Li Si is not only outstanding in merit, but also has a remarkable position in the Qin State. During the Qin Dynasty, the gold content of the position of chancellor was still very high, and it could even influence the inheritance of status, otherwise he could not conspire with Zhao Gao to usurp the throne, depose the prince Fu Su, and establish Hu Hai as the new emperor. Therefore, Li Si was first a politician and then a literati, and the writings he passed down were to some extent a testimony to his political identity or a manuscript of his political opinions.
For example, Lis's "Book of Expulsion" lays out the comparison. Longitudinal and longitudinal, logical and literary. The birth of this article is the embodiment of the political background at that time, and the manuscript of Li Si's own political thought. At that time, Li Si designed to divide the Six Kingdoms, and the Later Six Kingdoms also alienated the Qin State, and the Eastern countries sent many spies to the Qin State as guests, which led to the Qin Ministers' opinion of the Guest Qing very much, and began to write to the King of Qin to expel all foreign visitors.
Therefore, the King of Qin issued an eviction order to expel Qingke, and Li Si was also one of the foreign Qingke who came to Qin, and in order to protect his own interests, he wrote a letter to the King of Qin advising the King of Qin not to expel Qingke, and this letter was the famous "Book of Expulsion of Guests". In addition, there are also "Letters of Responsibility for Conducting Supervision", "Books of Yan Zhao Gao", "Letters from Prison", etc., which are direct reflections of his political views, but although they are political, his articles are rigorous in argumentation, the momentum is through, and the foreign ocean is sprinkled with flowers, such as the rushing of rivers, which has high literary value, which has been passed down to future generations.
Moreover, when Li Si was following the King of Qin on a parade, the Qin King's five times of sealing Zen carved stone inscriptions were four times by Li Si's hand. For example, "Zou Yishan Carved Stone", "Taishan Carved Stone", "Jie Evil Tai Carved Stone", "Zhifu Carved Stone", "Dongguan Carved Stone", "Jie Shi Carved Stone", "Huiji Carved Stone" and other seven links. These inscriptions, all of which are three-sentence and one-rhyme poems, are solid and majestic, and have an important impact on the inscriptions of later generations.
Therefore, due to the political background of the Qin Dynasty, the use of heavy classics to rule the world, the background of literary creation is grim, resulting in the scarcity of literary works. Due to his political status, Li Si made his manuscripts passed down from generation to generation, becoming the only literati in the Qin Dynasty who had literary works passed down.