The establishment of the Qin Dynasty was a major progress in Chinese history. The reason for this is not only because it was the first great unified regime in history, but also because its success process was also very positive - the victory of the Qin state was actually the victory of the common people.
Why did the Qin state annex the six powers and unify the world? We can say that it is an advanced system, a strong army, and a strong national strength, but these advantages ultimately depend on people to implement, compared with the eastern princes, the Qin state has a most advanced place: fully tapping the power outside the aristocratic class.
Seemingly complicated shang martingale transformation law, the military merit knighthood system occupies a core position. Officials and knights are determined by military merit, "those who have meritorious service are honored, and those who have no merit are rich and have no fenhua", and there is only one criterion for obtaining all political rights and interests -- military merit. Through this one-size-fits-all model, in addition to effectively encouraging offensive warfare, what is more epoch-making is the abolition of the Shiqing Shilu system, which is determined by blood for life, and the nobles who want to enjoy special benefits must also be obtained through military merit, which undoubtedly fundamentally impacts and disintegrates the old aristocratic system that has been used for hundreds of years.
The beneficiaries of this system are divided into two categories:
The first is thousands of ordinary Qin people. Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, wars have been frequent and endless, and the people of each princely state have been unfortunately involved in it, paying a tragic price for the advancement of the times. Even if the Qin state does not change the law, the life of the common people is still revolved around agriculture and war, and there is no difference from other princely states; but once military merit is linked to the title, this matter has undergone a qualitative change: when other countries are still "dragons and dragons and phoenixes are born phoenixes", and ordinary people are still rich and hopeless even if they are in the bloody battlefield, countless ordinary people in the Qin kingdom have found a way to change their lives in the process. This is undoubtedly the luck of misfortune.
The second is the talent of the whole world, especially those who are depressed under the traditional aristocratic system and have become at best the guests of the elite. The military merit system of the Qin state not only took effect for the Qin people, but opened the door to the talents of all the princely states. In order to make meritorious achievements and prosperity, countless dreamers who have been unable to move in the strict class barriers of various countries have come to the Qin Kingdom, and while achieving personal achievements, they have promoted the prosperity and strength of the Qin Kingdom. Shang Martin, Zhang Yi, Gongsun Yan, Gan Mao, Fan Ju, Cai Ze, Lü Buwei..... The vast majority of them did not come from the aristocratic class. It can be guessed that if the aristocratic classes of Shandong countries are willing to share resources and break the traditional hereditary system, so as to retain talents, the success of the Qin state will not be so easy.
Therefore, there is a saying that the victory of the Qin state is the victory of the cooperation between the nobles (the Qin royal family) and the commoners.
After the unification of the Six Kingdoms, those seemingly great achievements of the Qin Dynasty and the actions of laboring and hurting the people's wealth actually had reasonable motives:
The "book burning" that has been criticized by people is the product of the fierce collision of the two major propositions of division and county. "The whole world fights endlessly to have a prince." The world was initially determined, and the country was restored, and it was also a tree soldier. In order to suppress Dr. Chun Yuyue, who advocated retro and restored the division of seals, Qin Shi Huang adopted Li Si's suggestion to unify his thinking by burning books. Later generations have accused the Qin Dynasty of "brutality and cultural destruction", which is really taken out of context, and the burning of books is actually no different from "deposing the Confucianism of the Hundred Schools";
In order to eliminate the artificial barriers set up between the various princely states in the past few hundred years, the Qin Dynasty, while connecting the Great Wall of various countries in the north, vigorously destroyed the walls and on the borders of various countries (in the past, countries only built to protect themselves and directed the evil water to neighboring countries); at the same time, the twelve people who collected weapons and cast gold, some people called them autocratic and weak people, in fact, why can't they be understood as the ideal of building a peaceful country? After all, if you really want to weaken the people, the Qin Dynasty can restrict the smelting and forging of the people, otherwise the weapons of the later rebel army will come from.
As for each time Yingzheng conquered a country, he copied his palace architecture in Xianyang, originally intended to create a new capital city that integrated all-day factors, which can be understood as an auxiliary measure of the spirit of unification; the construction of royal tombs, in line with the traditional Confucian theory, was an important measure to enrich the capital after migration, so the later Han Dynasty and most dynasties followed these methods.
Qin Shi Huang has patrolled the whole country five times, and some people interpret it as flaunting his might and laboring the people and hurting their wealth, but judging from the content of his carved stones throughout the country, this is more like a necessary measure to publicize the policy of the central imperial court, convey the majesty of the great unified government, and promote the change of customs and customs, such as the emphasis on the need to strictly prevent men and women from crossing the line in the carved stones of Huiji, and the emphasis on filial piety and heavy peasants in the carved stones of Lang Evil. Considering the limited means of propaganda in that era, this may be a helpless solution.
As for attacking the Xiongnu in the north and the Five Ridges in the south, it was a just move to defend against the foreign Kou and expand the territory.
All in all, if we do not look at the results, but only at the actions themselves, the various undertakings of the Qin Dynasty are quite righteous.
But the Qin Dynasty eventually collapsed rapidly because of the problem with the rhythm: relying on the commoners to create a new era, but ignoring the endurance of the commoners.
At that time, the Qin state was all soldiers, and it was also given a special name "Qianshou". Originally, this word did not discriminate, but borrowed and imitated the "Cangtou" army of the civilian army of the Wei state. In the process of unifying the six countries, the life of the Qin people revolves around war, although it is hard, but first, there is the real pressure to deal with the threat of other countries, and the other is to hope that the battle achievements will change their lives, so this system has a strong vitality.
But with the change of the times, the Qin Dynasty still continued the unbridled use of the people's power: garrisoning the Great Wall 300,000, developing 500,000 South Vietnamese, and building the Afang Palace 700,000... Not to mention the later Qin II period.
First of all, most of the above-mentioned service cannot obtain military merit;
Secondly, in the past, the land area was limited, the geographical scope of the people was deployed was limited, and there was still hope of returning home; now the land is huge, the east, west, south, and north stretch thousands of miles, and many people are almost equivalent to having no return after being requisitioned, and later Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, and those southern Chu people were expropriated in yuyang in the north, which was a big hardship at that time, and it is no wonder that they will rise up.
Therefore, the failure of the Qin Dynasty is, in the final analysis, the habit of the royal family and nobility: wantonly enslaving the people's strength, but not considering the basic demands of the other side. With such an arrogant posture, the Qin Dynasty was not unjustified in its short-lived moments.