Qin Shi Huang was called the First Emperor, meaning the first emperor, and this title alone was already unprecedented and unprecedented.
However, the controversy about Qin Shi Huang is also relatively large, some people feel cruel and unkind, and some people think that he is the most powerful emperor. In fact, although Qin Shi Huang was brutal, he did have countless merits, and these feats were enough to make him famous in history.
The Ming Dynasty thinker Li Yan referred to Qin Shi Huang as "the First Emperor of The Ages".
In this issue, we will take stock of Qin Shi Huang's contribution to China.
The first unified feudal dynasty in Chinese history was established
Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms and eliminated the six kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi in order, ending the situation of feudal division and strife between the princes of China for more than 500 years since the Spring and Autumn Period, and establishing the first monarchical centralized state in Chinese history, namely the Qin Dynasty.
The unification of the Qin Dynasty created a new situation in the history of the mainland, so that later dynasties followed suit, and reunification became the mainstream of the mainland's historical development, and the unification of the country was the trend of the times and the desire of the people.
Unified all languages, weights and measures, writing, and currency on the Chinese mainland
During the Warring States period, the politics, writing and other cultures of various countries were divided, and the writing at that time was simply a hodgepodge, because there were too many variant characters and simplified characters, and there were certain obstacles to the exchange of people in various countries.
The significance of Qin Shi Huang's unification of writing is to use words to control the world, subjectively strengthen rule, and objectively strengthen the unity of thought. Words have become a carrier across time and space, played a huge role, and become a prerequisite for condensing great power.
Since then, the small seal has become the official script of China.
Moreover, at that time, each country had its own weights and measures tools, and the measurement standards were different from each other, which was not conducive to trade and expropriation, and unified weights and measures were more beneficial to the government and the people.
Depose the Hundred Schools of Confucianism
The influence of the deposing of the Hundred Schools of Confucianism was very far-reaching, not only opening up the tradition of imprisoning people's thoughts, but also having a certain inhibitory effect on huang laozhi's learning. In fact, the meaning of deposing the Hundred Schools of Confucianism is to vigorously develop Confucianism and Confucius theories while belittling the doctrines of other schools, which has a bad impact on the development of other schools.
Therefore, the impact of the deposing of the Hundred Schools of Confucianism on the history of later generations is mainly twofold. On the one hand, it enabled the confucian classics to develop significantly and have since become the orthodox thinking of later generations; On the other hand, it shackled the national thinking, making academic freedom a luxury for future generations, and the Chinese nation paid an extremely high price for it.
Build the Great Wall
At that time, the foundation of the Qin state, which had just unified the six kingdoms, had not yet been stabilized, and the Northern Xiongnu were eyeing the Central Plains and took the opportunity to occupy Henan.
So Qin Shi Huang sent Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to fight against the Xiongnu, and finally successfully expelled the Xiongnu. However, the Xiongnu made a living on the steppe, and were proficient in horseback riding and good at guerrilla warfare, like the undead Xiao Qiang, who came and went to harass you.
In the era of cold weapons, cavalry had an overwhelming advantage over infantry, and with the Great Wall, the advantages and disadvantages were immediately reversed, and infantry had an absolute advantage over cavalry. Because of the peoples on horseback, their advantage is the huge impact of the cavalry, and what they are not good at is the siege of the city.
So Qin Shi Huang began the journey of building the Great Wall.
After the completion of the Great Wall, it greatly limited the ability of the nomadic people and prevented the enemy from driving straight in unscrupulously.
The Great Wall is too important to China's history, it is our dependence on the main foreign enemy, and the construction of the Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty brought a great burden to the finances and the country at that time.
Construction of spiritual canals
The Ling canal is one of the oldest canals in the world.
The excavation of the Lingqu connected the Xiang River and the Li River, opened up the north-south waterway, and provided an important guarantee for the Qin Dynasty to unify Lingnan.
A large amount of grain and grass was transported to Lingnan by waterway, providing a sufficient supply of materials for Lingnan. In 214 BC, the year when the Jianling Canal was opened, the Qin army conquered Lingnan, and immediately established the three counties of Guilin, Xiangjun and Nanhai, officially incorporating Lingnan into the territory of the Qin Dynasty.
The Pearl River and Lingnan water transport network connects China's Yangtze River and southern Xinjiang. Since the Qin Dynasty, it has played an active role in consolidating national unity, strengthening political, economic, and cultural exchanges between the north and the south, and strengthening exchanges between the people of all ethnic groups. Although the spiritual canal has been renovated, it still plays an important role.