King Wu of Qin died in a desperate state, and Queen Wu of Wei was childless, so her half-brother Gongzi Ji was made king, and was made king of Qin Zhaoxiang.
The mother of King Zhaoxiang of Qin was the eighth son of Qi, and after King Zhaoxiang ascended the throne, she was given the title of Empress Xuan. King Zhaoxiang was only 9 years old when King Wu of Qin died, but with the support of his maternal uncle Wei Ran and others, he defeated the princes and succeeded to the throne.
During Wei Ran's tenure as a general, he guarded Xianyang, killed the rebellious Ji Jun, expelled Queen Wu to the State of Wei, and killed the undesirables in the center of the Zhaowang Brothers, threatening the Qin State and stabilizing the internal situation of the Qin State.
The nearly forty years that followed were the reigns of Empress Dowager Wei and Wei Ran.
Empress Xuan stills
The objective reason for Wei Ran's interference in politics
Although the State of Qin was located in the western region, its production tools, economic system, and clan system of successive gongqing were all modeled after the Central Plains.
However, the Self-Shang Martingale was reused by Qin Xiaogong to implement the change of law in the Qin State, which advocated curbing the power of the Gong clan, abolishing Shiqing Shilu, and advocating rewards for military merits, even if the clan and noble relatives had no military merits, they could not enjoy the privileges of the nobility.
Although shang martingale was eventually split by King Huiwen of Qin, the new law he implemented was not abolished and has always affected the Qin state.
Stills of the martingale
After the Shang martingale changed the law, a large number of keqing entered the political clique because of their military merits to assist the king. From King Huiwen to Qin Shi Huang, the ministers who controlled the military and political power of the Qin state were almost all Keqing, such as Zhang Yi, Gan Mao, Xiang Shou, Fan Ju, Cai Ze, Lü Buwei, Changping Jun, Wang Qi, Feng Zhiyi, Li Si, and so on.
The State of Qin has always had a tradition of reusing foreign guest secretaries, and these guest secretaries have become the key factors in the rise and unification of the Qin state, but their fate is basically very tragic, either fleeing to other countries, or being forced to die, or even dying without a corpse.
For example, Shang Martin was split by the car, Zhang Yi Ganmao fled, Fan Ju claimed to be ill and resigned, Lü Buwei was forced to commit suicide, and Li Si was framed and beheaded...
Their miserable end shows that Keqing is not completely trusted.
Lees stills
Under the condition that the power of the Gong clan was not strong, the Keqing was not fully trusted, and there was no complete system of recommending and selecting talents at that time, people like Wei Ran, who were related by blood and had no inheritance rights, would naturally mobilize the brains of interfering in politics.
The longest reigning phase in the history of the Qin state
From the seventh to the forty-second year of King Zhao, Wei Ran served as the prime minister four times, and at the same time led his army to fight and conquer many times, pulling up Wei's Hanoi, besieging Da Liang, defeating the violent kites, and achieving great military and political achievements, so he controlled the military and political power of the Qin state, and his power expanded dramatically, and the imperial court installed henchmen and henchmen.
During Wei Ran's reign, private families were richer than the royal family and were good at state affairs, but the most controversial thing was that in the thirty-sixth year of King Zhao's reign, Wei Ran and Keqing Hadhuo planned to take the land of Gang and Shou and take the title of TaoYi.
Fan Ju stills
Fan Ju seized this handle and told King Zhao that Wei Ran had crossed Han Wei to attack Qi, and that he was "a grain thief who borrowed thieves and stole grain", and proposed the strategy of "attacking from afar and attacking closely".
King Zhao then took Fan Ju's advice and spared Wei Ran from the phase. In September of the 42nd year of King Zhao, Wei Ran was expelled from the capital and returned to the fiefdom of Taoyi. In October, Empress Xuan.
No one expected that in the historical data, the person who evaluated Wei Ran the most was Fan Ju, and the "History of Fan Ju's Biography" records that when Fan Ju followed Wang Ji to enter Qin, he met Wei Ran:
Fan Suiyue: "I have heard that Marquis Yong of Qin is exclusive, and the princes of the evil interior are guests..."
Here it can be seen that the lobbyists of Wei Ran's evil princes believe that they have no benefit and are only chaotic in the country. From Fan Ju's remarks, it can be seen that Wei Ran's monopoly on the Qin state, his power is huge, and the political positions of the two are different.
Portrait of Sima Qian
However, Fan Ju's words were inevitably biased, and Sima Qian's evaluation of Wei Ran was more objective, affirming his merits in the development of the Qin state.
"All the people in the world are the heads of the Western Hills, and the merits of the Marquis of Rang are also."
Wei Ran, as his uncle, assisted King Zhaoxiang of Qin to seize the throne in the struggle of the princes, entered the xiang, established meritorious service, specialized in imperial politics, and became the longest reigning minister in the history of the Qin state.
Stills of Qin Zhaoxiang King
In addition to his military achievements, Wei Ran's other major contribution was to recommend liang general Bai Qi.
Bai Qi experienced three important battles in his life, Tu Yique, BaChu Yin, and Broken Changping. And he was also experienced in hundreds of battles, almost invincible, and had outstanding achievements, so that the six eastern countries could no longer fight against the Qin state with the strength of one country.
Therefore, Wei Ran's appointment is indispensable, which can be said to be his greatest contribution to the Qin State.