In Chinese history, Qin Shi Huang was a figure with mixed praise and criticism, and from ancient times to the present, people's debates about Qin Shi Huang's evaluation have never stopped, so what is the angle from which people have led to such a serious polarization in the evaluation of Qin Shi Huang?
In praising Qin Shi Huang, people mainly proceed from the macro historical perspective
The reputation of Qin Shi Huang's "One Emperor in a Thousand Ages" comes from the Ming Dynasty thinker Li Zhen's praise for Qin Shi Huang: "The first emperor, since he is also the first emperor of the ages" There are not a few people who praise Qin Shi Huang in later generations, so what kind of perspective do people view Qin Shi Huang, the emperor of the ancient world?
The main father: The Qin Emperor ren defeated the mighty, encroached on the world, and annexed the Warring States, the sea was one, and the Gongqi three generations.
Li Bai: The King of Qin swept Liuhe, and the tiger looked at He Xiongya! Swinging his sword to break the clouds, the princes came to the west.
Chairman Mao: Advise the emperor to scold Qin Shi Huang less, and the cause of burning pits should be discussed. Zu Long's soul is still dead in Qin, and Kong Xue's name is Gao Shi Chaff (高實秕糠). Hundreds of generations have practiced Qin politics and law, and "Ten Batches" is not a good article. Familiar with the Tang Dynasty's "Feudal Theory", Mo Congzihou returned to King Wen.
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Qin Shi Huang won the government
Qin Shi Huang's greatest achievement was to put an end to the chaotic world of nearly five hundred years of strife since the Spring and Autumn Period, and to establish a unified Qin Dynasty for the first time on the land of China. After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang and his ministers formulated a series of various systems that laid the foundation for the development of the Chinese nation for two thousand years, covering politics, culture, economy, laws, customs, etc.
Political unity
Qin Shi Huang established the absolute monarchy system, which clarified the supreme power of the emperor, and all systems revolved around the principle of the supremacy of the monarchy. To this end, after qin shi huang had just completed the unification of the six kingdoms, he ordered his ministers to discuss his new titles, and the word "emperor" was born, which lasted for more than 2,000 years in Chinese history, until the end of the Xinhai Revolution with the sound of a gunshot;
After the unification of the Six Kingdoms, Qin Shi Huang universally implemented the county system throughout the country, completely ending the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty to maintain the governance of the country by blood clans, the county system was mixed with the "upper counting system", the appointment and dismissal of local officials was firmly in the hands of the central organ headed by the emperor, and the central government's governance of the local government was unified and unimpeded. This local administrative system has continued for thousands of years and has become one of the basic institutional blueprints for subsequent dynasties.
The Qin Dynasty Three Dukes and Nine Qing Systems
In the central government, Qin Shi Huang implemented the system of three dukes and nine secretaries, perfecting the central official system of the Qin Dynasty. The three princes of The Prime Minister, the Tai Wei, and the Imperial Master stand together to assist and restrain each other. The Nine Qings performed their respective duties, dividing up the division of labor under the command of the emperor and the three dukes to take charge of the subdivisions of their own institutions, replacing the hereditary nobility with mobile professional bureaucrats. Although the central official system of successive dynasties has been expanding and changing, it is all derived from the Three Dukes and Nine Qing Systems of the Qin Dynasty.
Economic unity
After the Qin Dynasty unified the Six Kingdoms, the weights and measures and currencies of the people were more chaotic because of the differences in their original countries. So Qin Shi Huang unified the weights and measures, stipulated a unified unit of measurement and the position system, so the central government of the Qin Dynasty issued a unified standard measuring instrument to the local governments of the country, and engraved the emperor's edict on the measuring instrument, but any violation of the unified weights and measures will be punished, ensuring the unified quality of the implementation of weights and measures.
Merchant martingale fang liter
During the Warring States period, the currency gap between countries was also large, Qin Shi Huang unified the currency in the form of decrees for the upper coin gold, the lower coin for the copper coin Qin half two, and the currency minting power was controlled by the state, ensuring the economic stability of the Qin Dynasty, this practice was also imitated by later dynasties.
Warring States currency
Military strength
Qin Shi Huang also talked about the merits of the people, that is, to send 300,000 troops to the north but the Xiongnu, to condemn more than 500,000 troops to attack Baiyue in the south, to expand the territory, to stabilize the border defense, and to lay the territorial map of the Chinese nation. Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall and built water conservancy, which was beneficial in the thousand autumns. Indeed, from the perspective of macro narrative, the Qin Dynasty used its strong military strength and mobilization ability to treat the ethnic minorities in the north and south strongly, and built major projects such as the Great Wall, zhengguo canal, and lingqu canal, which had a major positive effect on future generations.
Ruins of the Great Wall of Qin
In the criticism of Qin Shi Huang, people mainly proceed from the historical perspective of the people
After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, people's criticism of it far exceeded praise, and politicians, historians, and writers carried out a series of thoughts and criticisms of the Qin Dynasty:
Wei Ji: The King of Qin is a man, a bee,a long eye,a bird,a jackal,a little grace and a tiger and wolf heart;,Juyo is easy to get out of people,and Dezhi is also a light cannibal. I was clothed, and I saw that I was always under me. Sincerely make the King of Qin aspire to the world, and the whole world is a prisoner. Do not travel with a long time.
Jia Yi: The King of Qin has a greedy heart, acts of self-motivation, does not believe in heroes, does not kiss the people, abolishes the king's way and establishes private love, burns documents and tortures the law, first deceitful and then benevolent, and starts with tyranny.
Ban Gu: As for Qin Shi Huang, he also swallowed the Warring States, destroyed the law of the first king, destroyed the official of liyi, full-time punishment, bowed to wen mo, day break prison, night lishu, self-cheng decision day county stone. And adultery and evil coexist, ochre clothes block the road, prison into a city, the world is sad, and it collapses and rebels.
Tyrannical kings, poor and extravagant
Most of Qin Shi Huang's series of actions came from establishing merit and pleasure for himself. After Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne, he built the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, costing nearly 700,000 manpower, and the construction time was as long as the Qin II period.
After the unification of the world, Qin Shi Huang did not think of leniency and benevolence to the people, and his rapidly expanding meritorious psychology prompted Qin Shi Huang to build many major projects that could be completed by several generations in just over ten years, such as building the Great Wall, attacking the Xiongnu in the north, conquering Baiyue in the south, building straight roads, chi roads, and expanding the Xianyang palace complex, which cost countless manpower and material resources.
After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, his personal desire for eternal life gradually enlarged, and sealing Zen and seeking immortals also became a major project in the late Qin Shi Huang period, and triggered a series of follow-up problems.
The whole land of China, after hundreds of years of annexation wars, lives have been destroyed, and the people are eagerly looking forward to a stable life after reunification, but they are ushered in endless labor and military service. How could the people have a good feeling for such an empire, the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guangzexiang at the end of the Qin Dynasty, as soon as the world responded, reflected that the Qin Dynasty could not be the hearts of the old people of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong, and Qin Shi Huang himself had a great responsibility.
Good to kill Qin Shi Huang
Many rumors on the Internet that Qin Shi Huang did not kill the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms and did not kill and advise Confucians, "Rending the Four Seas", was actually only because his heart liked to make selective judgments.
Once Qin Shi Huang saw a large number of cars and horses traveling on the mountain, he sighed: "This is not a good thing", and then someone secretly told Xiang Xiang, and Qin Shi Huang secretly reduced the number of cars and horses he traveled, Qin Shi Huang later saw that he was very angry, asked who leaked his own words, no one dared to admit it, so Qin Shi Huang killed all the people who were around at that time.
In addition, in the later years of Qin Shi Huang, there were meteorites, and the meteorites were engraved with the words "The First Emperor died and was divided", although this matter is likely to be a public opinion article made by the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms, but the tyrannical Qin Shi Huang sent Yu Shi Huang to the local area to inquire one by one, but no one confessed, so Qin Shi Huang ordered that all the people living around the crater be arrested and killed.
Han Wang An surrendered
Earlier, there were Qi Wang Tian Jian and Han Wang An, in 226 BC, the old Korean nobles launched a rebellion in the old capital of Korea, Xinzheng, and the Qin state sent troops to quell the rebellion, after the rebellion was put down, in order to eradicate the scourge, Qin Shi Huang put Han Wang An under house arrest to death. In 221 BC, King Jian of Qi surrendered without a fight. Qin Shi Huang placed Qi Wangjian in The Common Land, did not provide him with food, and Qi Wang Jian was eventually starved to death; for example, these two kings, for example, are not to condemn Qin Shi Huang for not treating these fallen kings kindly, but to point out that Qin Shi Huang was as easy to kill as many tyrants in previous dynasties.
Qi Wang Tian Jian surrendered
Overestimating oneself and not establishing an heir
Another mistake of Qin Shi Huang was that from the time of the unification of the Six Kingdoms to the period of death in the sand dunes, he fantasized about his immortality and self-confidence, not only did not establish a clear heir, but also put his eldest son in the northern border to supervise the army in his later years, away from the capital. After the death of Qin Shi Huang Dune, because there was no clear heir before his death, the edict before his death was immediately tampered with by his henchmen, and a coup d'état was easily successful, and the Qin Dynasty was soon destroyed in the dim manipulation of several people.
summary
Undoubtedly, Qin Shi Huang's pioneering political efforts have laid a series of foundations for the continued development of the Chinese nation. Later generations highly praised him for completing the first great unification in Chinese history and laying the foundation for China's basic political system.
But we must also see that Qin Shi Huang himself is extremely tyrannical and negative. There is a saying on the Internet: "A grain of ash of the times, falling on the head of an individual, is a mountain", I think it can fully describe the state of the old people of the Six Kingdoms under the 15-year rule of the Qin Dynasty. Day after day of hard labor and military service, the spur of severe punishment and harsh law, the high-intensity project of killing at any time, we can also understand why after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, why there were only 15 years of national zuo, many bombs planted during the Qin Shi Huang period, under the acceleration of Qin II and Zhao Gao, blew the entire Qin Dynasty upside down, and the last rulers of the Qin Dynasty died and laughed for the world.
The third son of Qin surrendered
No matter what kind of perspective to evaluate Qin Shi Huang, we cannot ignore his contributions and tyranny, and I hope that people who blindly praise or criticize Qin Shi Huang can accommodate another voice.