Chinese view of history has always been 'long-term unity must be divided, long-term must be united',' and the change of dynasties has also been practicing this view. However, the Qin Dynasty, as the first feudal dynasty in China to achieve great unification, had just ended the long period of separation of the Warring States Period, but it only existed for two times, and it was replaced, which shows that its demise is contrary to the law of "long-term integration", and it can even be said to be an accident.
The cause of the fall of the dynasty
Continuing the topic above, each dynasty has its own time of existence, throughout Chinese history, the time of each dynasty has changed, except for the Xia and Shang Zhou of the pre-Qin Dynasty, the duration of existence is: 470 years, 555 years, 515 years. Other more famous dynasties, such as the Tang Dynasty, existed for 289 years, the Ming Dynasty for 277 years, and the Qing Dynasty for 268 years, all of which perished in less than three hundred years. However, compared with the death of the second qin dynasty, their existence time is historically regular, that is, the existence time is within three hundred years.
Because there is a reason for the demise of a unified dynasty, historians have summarized it as two situations, the first is that the dynasty is completely aging, the political mechanism is not working, and finally it is going to decline, and an irreparable crisis has broken out in society, and the survival of the people cannot be guaranteed. Represented by the Ming Dynasty, the large-scale peasant revolt led by Li Zicheng at the end of the Ming Dynasty was caused by the lack of livelihood security for the people at the bottom.
The second is that the dynasty is not aging, the political mechanism is still functioning, but it is dying due to sudden political events. For example, because Jia Nanfeng suddenly killed too many sima family clan royal families, which led to the dissatisfaction of other clans, the famous Rebellion of the Eight Kings broke out, which in turn triggered the Wuhu Chaos, and the Western Jin Dynasty finally went to extinction.
In both cases, the first is the normal path of a dynasty to its true demise, and is often accompanied by serious bureaucratic corruption, the decentralization of imperial power, such as the loss of the central government's right to move the army and finances, and the problem of displaced people caused by serious land annexation. This turned the people who had arable land into displaced people, and this displaced people would eventually become the main force to overthrow the dynasty. After all, ancient China was founded on agriculture, and a dynasty lasted for two or three hundred years, and it was inevitable that some drawbacks would arise, and Tang and Ming were typical representatives.
The cause of the demise of the Qin Dynasty
1, sudden uprising
But is the demise of the Qin Dynasty a normal procedure for the demise of a dynasty? No. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the first to stand up and try to overthrow it, were not displaced people, although the peasant revolt was not false. They were sent by the Government of the Qin Dynasty to defend the defense, but on the road because they encountered heavy rain, the road was impassable, and finally because the Qin law was strict, they did not arrive within the prescribed time, they were going to lose their lives, and they revolted in order to save their lives.
The "Chronicle of History" records: It will rain heavily, the road is not clear, and the degree has been lost. Lost time, the law is cut. Chen Sheng and Wu Guangnai said: "'Death is also death now, and death is also death with big plans, waiting for death, can the country die?
Moreover, they were originally sent by the Qin Dynasty to defend, and they had already set out on the road, which showed that the Qin Dynasty did not have problems in terms of military resources and finances, which proved that the Qin Dynasty government at that time still had the ruling power over the people. This is confirmed by another record in the Chronicle of History:
King Wen Chen was defeated, and the Qin soldiers arrived,
This is Xiang Yu Benji Fan Zeng's statement to Xiang Liang that Chen Sheng and other people's rebel troops were chased and beaten by the Qin army, which also represents the evidence that the Qin Dynasty still has the dominance over the national army, which shows that the operating mechanism of the Qin Dynasty government has not collapsed.
2. The insurrectionists are of noble birth
In addition, the sudden and violent death of Qin Shi Huang, coupled with the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, caused all the people and horses who had originally watched the new emperor to follow Chen Sheng's example and open their way to qin. Who are they? The famous Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu were original chu nobles, and Liu Bang was the pavilion chief of the Qin state and belonged to the low-level government staff.
The Chronicle of History also records:
Wu Zhongxian's masters are all out of Xiang Liangxia; Dan Congdi Tian Rong, Rong Di Tian Heng, All Hao, Zong Yi, can win people.
Tian Rong and others represent the descendants of the State of Qi of the Six Kingdoms, so it can be seen that the people who mainly opposed the Qin Dynasty were not displaced people, and even their origins were very good. This is also proof that the peasant revolt of the Qin Dynasty was not due to the collapse of the government system, resulting in the uprising of the displaced people, but only because of the accidental uprising of Chen Sheng and others, and the violent death of Qin Shi Huang, which made the original remnants of the Six Kingdoms have the heart to divide the world.
3，
The policies of the Qin Dynasty ignored the value of man
And Xiang Liang's slogan is:
Qin is a man without a way, destroys the country, and destroys the people and the society; the world suffers for a long time; the general's body is stubborn, cut down the road, and curses Qin.
They are all saying that the Qin Dynasty's "no way", "ruler's" and "tyranny" suffered the people, and this is because the Qin Dynasty practiced harsh government and inhumanity. And the so-called inhumanity means not paying attention to the people, and what are the people? The people are people, and when the people are ignored, people are ignored. This is also evidence that the Qin Dynasty did not collapse the government system, resulting in the outbreak of an uprising.
4, the struggle at the end of the Qin Dynasty was a struggle of "reunification" and "division"
Moreover, the current definition of the Qin Dynasty is "a centralized state with great unification", of which the great unification is a point that needs attention. Because ''The King of Qin swept away the Six Kingdoms'' was a great unified state established by the other six kingdoms of the Warring States, but later when Xiang Zhi joined the crusade against the Qin Dynasty, in addition to saying that the Qin Dynasty had no way, it was also said that "the society of the Restoration of the Chu State"" was said, and Fan Zeng was lobbying Xiang Zhi with the following words: Fu Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, and Chu was the most innocent. Now that the emperor rises in Jiangdong, the generals of Chu Bee noon are all vying for the vassals, and the Chu generals of the junshi world will be able to restore Chu houye. It can be seen that Fan Zeng persuaded Xiang To join the battle against Qin, using the restoration of the Chu state as a reason.
It can be seen that the original purpose of their uprising was to restore the Six Kingdoms, with the intention of "dividing"! At the beginning of the War of The Fallen Qin, there was even an example: when the world first attacked, the princes were falsely established and then the Qin was cut down. With the continued development of the Qin War, the Six Kingdoms were even re-established, for example, Xiang Yu served as the leader of the Six-Nation Alliance, and later re-divided:
Divide the world, and establish the princes.
This is contrary to the "great unification" established by the Qin Dynasty. Because before the establishment of the Qin State, the form of society was a long-term state of disintegration for hundreds of years, and there were: Qi, Chu, Han, Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan and other states coexisted. Therefore, we can basically be sure that the large-scale war that broke out at the end of qin was caused by a sudden political crisis, and coupled with the late joiners, they joined the struggle with the purpose of splitting the Qin state, which was essentially a political conflict of "reunification" and "division".
Moreover, whether it was Chen Shi or Xiang Liang, they were all attacked by Zhang Handan of the Qin Army one by one, and how much financial, force, and manpower mobilization was needed to destroy the rebel army, we only need to compare how difficult it was when Zeng Guofanping ''Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising'" in the late Qing Dynasty, we can know that breaking the Qin government mechanism of Chen Shi and Xiang Yuan, respectively, there is no sign of failure, if it were not for Xiang Yu's birth in Julu, the Qin state absolutely should not have gone to extinction.
Based on the above reasons, we can think that even in the turmoil at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the Qin Empire did not lose the function of the government, so this is not a social crisis caused by the aging of the country. At that time, it was inevitable that the society would take this great unification of centralized power, and the later Liu Bang also practiced it, but the demise of the Qin state was only an accident caused by heavy rain. This is also the charm of history, which inevitably intersects with chance and promotes the development of the times.