Do you know why the Qin Dynasty perished so quickly? At that time, Qin Shi Huang was so talented and magnificent in unifying the six kingdoms, why did he choose Hu Hai, a mediocre talent, as the successor, and Fu Su was the successor cultivated by Qin Shi Huang, so why did he not become emperor? Let's start with the beginning.
First of all, we must be clear that qin shi huang did not determine the prince before his death, Fu Su was only the eldest son of the emperor, even if Fu Su was a prince, he was not necessarily the heir to the imperial throne, because Qin Shi Huang did not institutionalize the inheritance of the imperial throne at all, which is a relatively stable succession of the monarch of the Qin state, there was no major fluctuation, and Qin Shi Huang did not pay attention to the matter of the imperial prince. At that time, the system of brother-to-brother succession, the system of primogeniture, the system of succession of concubines, and the succession system of choosing the brave and fierce people to establish the throne all appeared, and Qin Shi Huang was ultimately unable to determine which way to inherit the throne.
When Qin Shi Huang was seriously ill, the original intention may have been to let Fu Su take the throne, but he underestimated the seriousness of the power struggle, resulting in his death before hastily issuing an edict for Fu Su to "be buried with the funeral xianyang", this ambiguous edict gave Hu Hai an opportunity, and also officially because of the unclear succession system of the Qin Dynasty, although Qin Shi Huang's will before his death intended to establish the eldest son Fu Su, but in the end it was not clearly stated, and Zhao Gao was a messenger, Li Si was a minister, and both of them were hostile to Fu Su and his supporters, and they and Hu Hai falsified the will together. Fu Su committed suicide, letting the previous achievements of Meng Yi, Wang Li and Meng Tian who supported him be abandoned.
Qin Shi Huang's original intention was to pass the throne to Fu Su, after he unified the Six Kingdoms, he implemented the ideas of the Legalists, killed decisively, but the eldest son Fu Su was indeed kind by nature, and in order to temper Fu Su's character, Qin Shi Huang sent him to the Mengtian Army as a supervisor and accepted military training, which was cultivated according to the attitude of his successor. The army of the Qin Dynasty was mainly in the hands of the Meng clan and the Wang clan, and Qin Shi Huang handed over 300,000 elite troops to Fu Su and let Wang Li and Meng Tian assist Fu Su, which was enough to see that Qin Shi Huang intended to pass on the emperor to Fu Su.
Qin Shi Huang also did not exclude Hu Hai from the heir to the throne, Hu Hai was the second son of Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shi Huang also loved him very much, let Zhao Gao as Hu Hai's teacher, and followEd Qin Shi Huang on a parade, Hu Hai had the opportunity to inherit the throne, Hu Hai was able to seize the throne, which was inseparable from the role of Zhao Gao and Li Si.
Zhao Gao issued the edict on behalf of Qin Shi Huang, and it was convenient for him to change the edict; Zhao Gao had committed a major crime when he was a Zhongche Fu Order, and Meng Yi had sentenced Zhao Gao to death according to the law, and later Qin Shi Huang pardoned Zhao Gao and let Zhao Gao teach Hu Hai, so Zhao Gao and Meng Yi formed a bond.
Meng Yi is a supporter of Fu Su, if Fu Su succeeds to the throne, there will be no good end for Zhao Gao; similarly, Li Si is a person with a great desire for power, if Fu Su succeeds to the throne, then his position as chancellor will not be guaranteed, and may fall into the hands of Meng Yi, which is not allowed by Li Si. If Hu Hai succeeds to the throne, Hu Hai has no ability to govern the country, and will inevitably reuse Li Si, his position as chancellor can be guaranteed, and Zhao Gao is even more a master, and they all get their own benefits.
When Qin Shi Huang died, Zhao Gao, Li Si, and Hu Hai were all present, they were secretive, and not many people knew the contents of the edict, so they changed the edict and forced Su to die. Among them, there is also something related to Fu Su's kindness, benevolence, and pedantry, and he advocates "the father wants his son, and the son has to die" in line with the Confucian idea of foolish loyalty and filial piety. As soon as Fu Su died, Meng Tian and Meng Yi lost the basis of their struggle, and finally fell into a dead end.
All in all, the decline of the Qin Dynasty can be traced back to the fact that Qin Shi Huang did not attach importance to the matter of the crown prince, and if he had been crown prince earlier, there would not have been a later situation; although Qin Shi Huang had cultivated Fu Su according to his successors, he had not been institutionalized or legalized in the end; Fu Su had Meng Tian, Meng Yi, and Wang Li's assistance, and the soldiers had 300,000 elite soldiers in their hands, but they were tied up, which was related to Fu Su's cowardly character, and it was Confucianism that was foolish and loyal and filial piety.
Meng Yi was Zhao Gao's mortal enemy, and Meng Tian was the natural enemy of Li Si's greed for power; although Hu Hai had ambitions to become emperor, he did not have the ability to be emperor, and these reasons ultimately led to the death of Fu Su and the collapse of the Qin Dynasty.