Truth One
The Qin State and the Great Qin Empire are not the same thing
We all know that "Qin II died", that is, Qin Shi Huang established the Great Qin Empire, and only in his son's generation, the Qin Dynasty fell. The Qin Dynasty actually lasted only 14 years.
So the question arises: what the majority of history lovers usually hear about Qin Xianggong, Qin Wengong, Qin Xianggong, Qin Xiangong, Qin Xiangong, Qin Xiaogong... What happened to so many Qin emperors? Doesn't it mean that the Qin Dynasty was destroyed after only two generations? Why did the Qin State have so many emperors? Silly can't tell the difference.
Well, today, Feng Laoshi used simple words to help you clear this matter.
To put it simply: this "Qin" is not the other "Qin".
"Qin State" and "Great Qin Empire" are not the same thing. Although the "State of Qin" and the "Great Qin Empire" do have a lineage relationship, the two are not the same thing: the former is the Western Zhou princely state under the feudal system, and the latter is a unified and centralized empire.
To make this matter clear, we must start from the origin of the "Qin State".
Simply put, here's the thing:
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Xiao of Zhou had a courtier named Yin Feizi, who helped King Xiao of Zhou raise horses, and his achievements were remarkable, and King Xiao of Zhou was very happy, so, as soon as he was happy, he sealed the territory near Shaanxi in gansu today and made him king.
As a result, Yin Feizi was crowned king, and the territory given to him was later called "Qin Guo", and this Yin Fei Zi was the ancestor of Qin Shi Huang six hundred years later, and the princely state "Qin State" founded by Yin Fei Zi was the prototype of the "Great Qin Empire" six hundred years later.
As a vassal state of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the territory of the "State of Qin" was very small
Then after the death of Yin Feizi, his children and grandchildren succeeded to the throne, that is, we usually hear of Qin Xianggong, Qin Wengong, Qin Xiangong, Qin Mugong, Qin Xiangong, Qin Xiaogong... And a series of qin monarchs, until later, passed to a generation of monarchs, called Qin zhuang xiang wang, this Qin Zhuang Xiang wang gave birth to a son, named Yin Zheng.
After the death of King Xiang of QinZhuang, Yingzheng succeeded to the throne of qin, and this Yingzheng had great ambitions, unifying the six kingdoms and establishing the Great Qin Empire.
Yes, win the government
(Qin Shi Huang)
After the unification of the Six Kingdoms, the country established, called the Great Qin Empire, is different from the previous Qin State, the territory has expanded several times, and the Great Qin Empire is an autocratic empire that unifies and centralizes power, and what we usually say about "the death of Qin II" refers to this unified empire established by Qin Shi Huang.
The unified Great Qin Empire was large
That is to say, the "Great Qin Empire" is the result of the expansion of the "Qin State" and an upgraded version of the "Qin State", but the two are different.
The State of Qin after Qin Shi Huang was a unified empire, also known as the "Qin Dynasty".
Dear readers, when you read this, are you suddenly enlightened?
Truth two
Many countries still call China "Qin"
Dear fans, you read that right, many countries still call China "Qin" to this day.
Among them, India today Chinese
(Hindi)
Called cheen in China, it is pronounced "Qin".
There is also Arabic, the Arabic word for "China" is still called "alsiyn" to this day, pronounced "Aqin".
And Iran, yes, Iran's Chinese
(Persian)
Called "" in China, it is also pronounced "Qin".
Latin is called Sina in Chinese, pronounced "Xinna", generally considered to be the harmonic sound of "Qin", yes, Sina is also the origin of sina company name.
Also in Sanskrit, the Chinese name is Cīna, also known as "Qinna".
Among them, this Cīna in Sanskrit is actually the source of the Japanese "Indochina" in modern history. The Buddhist scriptures with Sanskrit as the carrier have a deep influence on the language of the Japanese, who once called China "China", objectively speaking, the result of a literal translation of Sanskrit.
Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit, and Latin refer to China as "Qin", these are just a few examples, there are many small languages in Eurasia, and they also call China "Qin" or its etymology is "Qin", not to mention.
Yes, in the eyes of Indians, Iranians and many peoples, we are all from "Qin", we are all "Qin", even if we want to deny, we may not be able to deny.
Qin Shi Huang oil painting image
I have no intention of making a positive or negative evaluation of the historical Great Qin Empire, but so many countries in Eurasia call China "Qin", which also shows the great prestige of the Great Qin Empire in that year.
Truth Three
Qin Shi Huang was not surnamed "Qin"
Qin Shi Huang was not surnamed Qin.
Yes, Qin Shi Huang is not surnamed Qin, but surnamed "嬴", which belongs to the eight surnames of the ancients
(妊、 姬, 江, 姒, 嬴, 妘, 妫, 姚)
One.
These eight ancient surnames are all next to the female character, why? Because at that time, they were all with their mother's surname, why should they follow their mother's surname? Because in ancient times, it was a matriarchal society, the relationship between men and women was very chaotic, and the children only knew who their mother was and did not know who their father was, so at that time, they were all surnamed with their mother.
Qin Shi Huang's surname was "嬴", which belonged to the "Zhao clan" and his name was "Zheng".
What does that mean?
That is to say, the distant ancestor of Qin Shi Huang was a woman named "Ying" in the matrilineal clan society, that is, one of the "Eight Great Surnames of the Ancients" mentioned earlier, and later there were too many descendants of "Ying", so it was divided into many families, one of which was called "Zhao".
Simply put, Qin Shi Huang was a descendant of the "Zhao" clan under the "Win" race.
In other words, Qin Shi Huang's distant ancestor's surname was "Win" and his near ancestor's surname was "Zhao". This is also why Qin Shi Huang (嬴政) is also known as "Zhao Zheng".
Yes, Qin Shi Huang was actually surnamed Zhao.
In ancient times, "surname" and "surname" were not the same thing. The surname is the race, and the clan is the family.
In the same way, Feng Laoshi is actually not the surname Feng, "Feng" is just my "clan", but now people don't care who the ancestors of their matrilineal clan are, so they directly take "clan" as a "surname", simplify the complex, simple and convenient, and nothing more.
Dear fans, do you understand?
Qin Jun oil painting image
Truth Four
Qinling is named after the Great Qin Empire
We all know the "Qinling Mountains".
The main body of the Qinling Mountains is in the south-central part of Shaanxi Province.
In ancient times, the capital of the Qin state was also in the territory of present-day Shaanxi Province.
So here's the question:
What is the relationship between Qinling and Qin?
Was there a Qin Dynasty before the Qin Mountains? Or was there a Qin Dynasty after the Qin Mountains?
The Qinling Mountains resist the cold air in the north and thus become the dividing line between the north and the south of China
The answer is: first there is the State of Qin, and then there is the name of Qinling.
The name qinling comes from the qin state.
Since the main body of the Qin Mountains is in the Qin Kingdom
(Shaanxi Province)
The territory of the country, hence, got the name "Qinling".
Qinling means "the ridge of the Qin Kingdom".
Truth Five
The earliest highway was built by Qin Shi Huang
You read that right, The earliest highway in China was built by Qin Shi Huang, and it is: Qin Straight Road.
Qin Zhi Dao, also known as "Qin Chi Dao".
In the war against the Xiongnu, Qin Shi Huang had some war reports at that time, and when they reported to the Central Committee, it was already too late, so at that time, Qin Shi Huang asked the person who sent the letter, why did the war report arrive so late?
The person who delivers the letter often explains it this way, saying that because ah, on this road, the horses run on a detour, the road itself is curved, I can't blame me, and along the way, I have to constantly dodge the people on the road, and besides, on this road, some of the sections are still very muddy, so, so, so, so the time is delayed.
Qin Shi Huang listened to this kind of explanation a lot, and felt that it was necessary to build a "straight road", so that the letters sent to the central government from all over the world could run a straight road, and it would be much faster.
Therefore, starting from 212 BC, Qin Shi Huang began to build the "Qin Straight Road".
Schematic diagram of the Qin Straight Road route
The "Qin Straight Road" starts from Xianyang, crosses the Hetao area, and goes directly to Baotou in Inner Mongolia, the quality of the repair is particularly good, the road is wide, and it is solid, and the biggest feature is that it is straight and straight, because between the two points, the distance of the straight line is the shortest.
After the straight road was completed, it became China's "King Ding Expressway" at that time, and the horses of the imperial court ran on the straight road, especially fast, the road was good, there were few people, and it was still straight.
Qin Zhidao greatly improved the efficiency of military communications at that time.
A section of the QinZhidao ruins, after restoration, became a tourist area
After the completion of the Qin Straight Road until the Qing Dynasty, it was used by various generations of imperial courts, and by the Time of the Qing Dynasty, because of the introduction of Western technologies such as telegraphs, the Straight Way had lost its effect and was gradually abandoned.
Truth Six
Advanced military technology was one of the main reasons for Qin's annihilation of the Six Kingdoms
Many friends who are familiar with history know that in ancient wars, the advanced nature of military technology played a great role, and the main reason for a group's conquest of the four sides and the invincibility of the war is usually not because the officers and men are brave, but because of the advanced military technology.
Everyone knows that Qin Shi Huang's army, the Qin army, was razed to the Six Kingdoms on what basis?
The Qin army has a very powerful killing weapon, which is: the Qin crossbow.
Yes, on the battlefield at that time, the Qin crossbow was the most powerful.
The Qin crossbow, which kills and wounds the enemy at a long distance, is the great killing weapon of Qin Shi Huang to level the Six Kingdoms
Although it is said that at that time, other countries, such as the State of Chu, would also make crossbows, but at that time, the crossbows of the State of Qin were the best, the farthest range, and the most powerful.
Therefore, in that year, the Qin army could conquer the four sides.
At that time, firing the Qin crossbow required a person to fire it with full body strength, and the range could reach several hundred meters, which was equivalent to a rifle today.
And from a certain point of view, the lethality of the Qin crossbow may be greater than that of the rifle.
The main reason why the Qin army swept through the six countries at that time was that its military technology far surpassed that of other countries.
Truth Seven
The Great Wall was not invented by Qin Shi Huang
Some history buffs have this historical impression:
Impression 1: The Great Wall was invented by Qin Shi Huang and his courtiers.
Impression 2: The Great Wall was first built by Qin Shi Huang.
Impression three: The Great Wall we see now is also left by Qin Shi Huang.
However, the truth of the matter is: all of the above is wrong.
The truth of history is this:
Truth one: the Great Wall was not invented by Qin Shi Huang, and the earliest prototype of the Great Wall can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, at least 500 years before Qin Shi Huang. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, in order to resist the invasion of the northern nomads, China built a continuous row of castles for defense, and these continuously arranged castles were the prototype of the Great Wall. In fact, in the war practice of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it is also a very natural thing to come up with the idea of the Great Wall, and it does not require high intelligence and wisdom, and if the battle is fought, the idea of growing the city will naturally sprout, which is very natural, and it is not a high-tech, brain-burning thing. Of course, what the Western Zhou Dynasty built was the prototype of the Great Wall, not the official Great Wall.
Truth two: The earliest to build the official Great Wall was not Qin Shi Huang, but the early Qi state of the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, known in history as the "Great Wall of Qi", and the construction date was more than 300 years earlier than qin shi huang's birth. The ruins of the Great Wall of Qi, from Jinan to Qingdao, can still be seen today.
Ruins of the Great Wall of Qi in Shandong. The Great Wall of Qi predates the Great Wall of Qin by more than 300 years
Truth Three: The Great Wall of China that we see today is mainly the Great Wall built by the Ming Dynasty. Most of the Great Wall built in the Qin Dynasty has collapsed and lost, and the Great Wall we can see today was mainly built or repaired during the Ming Dynasty.
The Badaling Great Wall we see today is a typical Ming Dynasty Great Wall, which has nothing to do with Qin Shi Huang
Then, the Great Wall was neither the invention of Qin Shi Huang, nor was it the first one built by Qin Shi Huang, and the Great Wall we see today was not left by Qin Shi Huang, so the question arises: Why is Qin Shi Huang associated with the Great Wall in many historical information?
The answer is: Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor in Chinese history to build the Great Wall on a large scale.
A section of the ruins of the Great Wall of Qin, the Great Wall of Qin, has fallen into disrepair and most of it has been destroyed or even lost
Yes, although the Great Wall was not invented by Qin Shi Huang, nor was he the first to build it, nor was the Great Wall seen now his, Qin Shi Huang was indeed the first person in history to build the Great Wall on a "large scale". Fans pay attention to the three words "massive".
These are the historical truths about the Great Wall.
It can be seen that history is a thing that will be distorted if you are not careful. That's true.
Truth Eight
The burning of Afang Palace is a historical misunderstanding
Readers who love literature know that the late Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu wrote a popular "A Fang Gong Fu".
In "Afang Palace Endowment", Du Mu praised the magnificence of the Afang Palace ordered by Qin Shi Huang, and said in the poem that it was Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, who burned the Afang Palace.
As a result, the story of "Xiang Yu burning Afang Palace" spread throughout the north and south of the great river.
Almost all Chinese know this story.
However, Feng Laoshi regretfully told everyone that this story was also false.
In fact, in the 1950s, Chinese archaeologists had already found the site of Afang Palace, which is located on the outskirts of Xi'an City.
Moreover, the archaeologists dug up the ruins of the Afang Palace.
After digging it out, archaeologists discovered two striking facts:
The amazing fact is that there is no trace of the Afang Palace being burned by the fire.
Surprising fact two, in fact, the Afang Palace only laid a few foundations, and before it was built, the Qin Dynasty perished.
In other words, Afang Palace has never been built.
The unbuilt Afang Palace, with the passage of time, was also destroyed and gradually buried in the ground.
The ruins of Afang Palace, the imperial palace famous for Its Tang poetry, were not yet completed, and the Qin Dynasty perished
It was not until the 1950s that excavations were made.
In 1961, the ruins of Afang Palace were listed by the state as "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit".
As a result, archaeologists found that Du Mu's "A Fang Gong Fu" narrative was false.
However, the State also felt that there was no need to explain this to the people of the whole country.
So, there was no hype.
As a result, only a few people know about this matter.
This Afang Palace ruins still exist, in the suburbs of Xi'an, you are interested, you can go to see.
It may be a bit too much to say that "Afang Palace does not exist", but we can say very clearly: the so-called Afang Palace has never been built in history.
Then, since the Afang Palace has never been built, Du Mu wrote the "Afang Palace Endowment", on what basis?
Is Du Mu deliberately deceiving the world?
I don't think Du Mu is deliberately deceiving the world.
I think that Du Mu may well have confused the historical facts.
In real history, Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, attacked the Qin Dynasty, and after Xiang Yu invaded Xianyang, he set a fire and burned the "Xianyang Palace" of the Qin Dynasty.
That is to say, in real history, Xiang Yu did set fire to the palace of the Qin Dynasty.
However, Xiang Yu burned it, not Afang Palace, but Xianyang Palace.
The Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu misremembered the past of "Xiang Yu burning the Xianyang Palace", or confused it, and mistakenly thought it was Afang Palace.
In short, Du Mu eventually wrote it as "Xiang Yu Burns Afang Palace".
Sometimes, history, is such dog blood.
Through this matter, we must also understand a truth:
The great celebrities in history, such as Du Mu, Li Shizhen, Sima Qian, and the like, the words written by these people are not necessarily correct, nor are they necessarily facts.
No matter what we read about "authority," we must hold a critical attitude and not be superstitious about any authority.
Any authority is a person, and an individual can make mistakes.
Don't talk about fame. Some people are famous, but their knowledge is not necessarily reliable. It really is.
Truth Nine
It is reasonable for Xu Fu to ask for the elixir to be gone
Then talk to everyone about Xu Fu's order to go into the East China Sea by boat on the orders of Qin Shi Huang to ask for the immortal elixir not to return.
This incident has been jokingly called "the largest health product fraud case in Chinese history" by history buffs.
In fact, Xu Fu may not have really deceived Qin Shi Huang, and perhaps Xu Fu himself was poisoned by superstitious ideas.
First of all, let's say, what is the three immortal mountains in Xu Fu's mouth, "Penglai, Abbot, and Yingzhou"? Was it deliberately deceiving Qin Shi Huang?
We don't think so. Because we know that in the seaside of Shandong Province, we can often see mirages, which have been like this since ancient times, and in Xu Fu's time, people's scientific literacy was almost zero, seeing the sea level of the East China Sea, mirages loomed from time to time, and with people's intelligence and knowledge level at that time, they could only understand this fantasy phenomenon as "Immortal Mountain".
The mirage commonly found on the surface of the Shandong Sea, the ancients could not understand this fantastic phenomenon, and could only understand it as a fairy mountain
Therefore, Xu Fu, as the imperial physician of Qin Shi Huang, may not be a liar, perhaps he himself is also a severe patient with superstitious diseases, he has seen a mirage, mistakenly thought it was "Penglai, Abbot, Yingzhou" three immortal mountains, plus various folk rumors at that time, saying that there are immortals in the three immortal mountains, there are elixirs of immortality, etc., believe it, it is not strange.
Xu Fu led the boys and girls, went to the sea to seek the elixir, never returned, in fact, it is also reasonable, we descendants as long as a little use of the brain, we want to understand: because there is no elixir in the world, Xu Fu led the team out to sea, whether it eventually arrived in Ryukyu, Japan or Korea, in short, he can not find the elixir, since he can not find, then naturally dare not return to China, why? Because Qin Shi Huang is not easy to mess with, you "deceived" the First Emperor and wanted to kill the head.
Xu Fu was ordered to go to the sea to seek immortal medicine, but he could not find it and did not dare to return to China, which was a more reasonable explanation
Not only is it reasonable for Xu Fu not to return, but it is also reasonable for Xu Fu to go to the local area and live in anonymity, why is it that Xu Fu is buried in anonymity? Because I am afraid that Qin Shi Huang will send troops to pursue and suppress them, these things, as long as we think in a different position, can be understood with a little thought.
Of course, there is another possibility: Xu Fu and his ship, encountering wind and waves in the East China Sea, sank, and people died. It's not impossible either. God knows.
Truth Ten
How did Jing Ke stab the King of Qin?
We all know the story of "Jing Ke Stabbing the King of Qin", the wind is xiao xiao and the water is cold, and the hero is gone forever.
However, why did Jing Ke assassinate the King of Qin, and what was the specific process? We refer to historical materials such as "History of assassins", and we can easily restore the scene of the events at that time.
Here's the thing:
Qin Shi Huang launched a war to destroy the Six Kingdoms, and Dan, the crown prince of the Yan Kingdom, thought that his country was imminent and could not defeat the Qin State, and thought of a way: to send the assassin Jing Ke to assassinate Qin Shi Huang.
So, Qin Shi Huang is not a fool, he is heavily guarded, how do you Approach Qin Shi Huang?
The answer is: induce it.
At that time, Qin Shi Huang offered a reward to the world and asked for two things:
One of the rewards: Qin Shi Huang had a rebel general named Fan Yu Period, and Qin Shi Huang hated Fan Yu Period to the bone, rewarding the world and wanting Fan Yu Period's head.
The second part of the tour: a map of the core area of the Yan Kingdom. What do you want a map for? For war.
Then what about this Jing Ke, bring Fan Yuqi's head and the map of the Yan Kingdom
(Maybe a fake map or a deliberately wrong map)
When he went to the Qin kingdom to ask to see the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang was very happy and summoned Jing Ke.
So, at the time of summoning, Jing Ke spread out the map, the end of the map was a dagger, saying that it was late and fast, Jing Ke grabbed the dagger and stabbed Qin Shi Huang, however, Qin Shi Huang reacted quickly, dodged, Qin Shi Huang drew his sword in self-defense, but the sword sheath was too long to pull out, so Jing Ke took the dagger to pursue and kill Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shi Huang ran around the pillar, the ministers present were frightened, no one came forward to rescue, why? Because according to the security rules at that time, the courtiers handed over their weapons before they went to the court.
Jing Ke assassination of the King of Qin
At this time, it was an imperial doctor who came to the rescue, this imperial doctor named Xia Wuhe, he took an item in his hand, threw it towards Jingke, Jingke reached out to block it, Qin Shi Huang took advantage of such a gap, quickly pulled out the sword, slashed at Jingke, Jingke was cut down by Qin Shi Huang, unwilling, with the last strength, threw the dagger in his hand out, but unfortunately flew to the pillar, Qin Shi Huang slashed eight swords to Jing Kelian, at this time, His Highness's warriors also heard the news and rushed to chop Jing Ke, everyone together, chopped Jing Ke.
Afterwards, Qin Shi Huang was very angry, saying that you courtiers usually said how loyal you were to me, and as a result, when I was assassinated, none of you dared to come forward to save me, only the imperial doctor dared to stand up and kill me, so Qin Shi Huang rewarded and punished a cadre of people.
After killing Jing Ke, Qin Shi Huang was furious and sent troops to attack the Yan state, and after only five years, the Yan state was destroyed by the Qin state.
Truth Xi
Why not dig the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin
Aerial view of the Mausoleum of The First Emperor of Qin
We all know that the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is in Shaanxi, so why does the state not excavate the tomb of Qin Shi Huang?
The answer is: lessons learned from the excavation of historical sites such as the Terracotta Warriors.
Yes, when China's archaeologists excavated the terracotta warriors, when they were just dug out, the terracotta warriors were all colored, but soon after seeing the light, the colors all fell off, becoming black and white, and the damage was serious.
When the terracotta warriors were first dug, they were all colored, but when they saw the light, they immediately faded and became black and white, and the losses were heavy and could not be restored
In addition, when excavating the Ming Ding Mausoleum, many cultural relics excavated, after seeing the light, also quickly shattered, quickly turned into dust, many silks, after seeing the light, also quickly decayed, into dust, considering the existing scientific means, not enough to preserve these excavated cultural relics, in 1997, the State Council promulgated the "Notice on Strengthening and Improving cultural relics Work", stipulating: The large imperial tombs are temporarily not actively excavated, the original text is excerpted as follows:
“...... At present, due to the lack of scientific and technological conditions and means for the protection of cultural relics, the active excavation of large-scale imperial tombs is not carried out for the time being. In the future, in the scope of protection and construction control zones of cultural relics protection units and cultural relics and monuments that have been censused and registered, the approval of capital construction projects shall seek the opinions of the cultural relics administrative department in advance, and the cultural relics administrative department shall participate in the examination and approval of the design plan for the protection of cultural relics such as the site selection of the construction project..."
However, there are also different opinions.
Some people think that the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang should still be dug, why? Because Shaanxi is located in the seismic zone, if you do not dig, if there is a big earthquake in the past few years, the things in the mausoleum are also to be broken and destroyed, and sooner or later they cannot be saved anyway, so it is better to let go and dig as soon as possible.
Some people say that if you don't dig, sooner or later you will be robbed by tomb thieves.
At present, the internal structure of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum has been discovered
Some people also say that the tourism economic benefits brought about by the excavation of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang are astronomical, so from the perspective of economic effects, they should also be dug.
Dear fans, what do you think? Do you think it should be dug?