Qin Shi Huang destroyed the Six Kingdoms and reunified China. However, the unity of Qin Shi Huang is different from the original unity of the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, after sweeping Liuhe, Qin Shi Huang had to make changes to China at that time.
The Zhou Dynasty practiced feudalism, and the princes who were feudal, the doctors under the princes, and the big families under the royal family all had their own powers. It was a decentralized aristocracy. The king holds the highest power, but not all the power. This is different from the new great unification established by the Qin Dynasty. This difference is mainly reflected in the fact that Qin used force to eliminate all the powers that could confront him, especially the military and political groups. Therefore, Qin Shi Huang wanted to demarcate counties and counties, and these departments in charge of officials in the central government would appoint cadres to manage them in various places, change them every few years, evaluate them every few years, and they could be removed at any time. In this way, the royal power directly runs through the top and bottom, that is, it can directly manage the grassroots. This is a new way of unification.
Let's talk specifically about what the Qin State did after it unified the world. First of all, after the war to unify the world was over, Qin Shi Huang did not rest. In the same year that he unified the world, Qin launched a war against the vast south, and in the southern part of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi, as well as Guangdong and Guangxi, different southern groups lived at that time. These groups include "Minyue" in Fujian, "South Vietnam" in Guangdong, and "Xiou" in western China. And most importantly, after occupying these areas, Qin Shi Huang built some public transportation facilities in the local area, such as Lingqu, etc., which are important geographical and historical heritage.
In the north, in 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang sent the general Meng Tian to lead 300,000 people to the Northern Expedition against the Xiongnu, basically driving the Xiongnu to the Hetao area north of the Yellow River, and then set up Jiuyuan County in the area laid down, and Fengshi Huang expanded the territory at that time through conquest. At the beginning, when the Qin state was first unified, it was 36 counties, but if a thousand years later, after a new round of expansion, new counties were established in newly occupied areas, reaching 46. Therefore, in the history of China's frontiers, the Qin Dynasty is an era worthy of attention, although its time is short, but its contribution to the Chinese territory is second to none.
In addition, the State of Qin also established a new system. In the center, the supreme chief is called the "emperor". We know that the Zhou people are called "king", and Xia and Shang are also called "wang". Among the princes of Spring and Autumn, none of them dared to call themselves "kings". Of course, the people of the Chu state are called kings, but it is located on the border and has a bit of a southern barbarian nature, and Wu He is called king, which is also in the late Spring and Autumn period, which is all a foolish move. Whether it is the Duke of Qi Heng or the Duke of Jin Wen, they are all called dukes, called overlords, so the people of the Qin state are called emperors, and the word "emperor" is added in front of them, which is the emperor. The emperor was the highest decision-maker, the cadres were arbitrary, the power was monopolized, and there were Gongjiuqing under him, and in Chinese history, various dynasties followed the system of the Qin Dynasty for a long time, and it was not until the Tang Dynasty that the six-part system began to be implemented.
The people of the Qin Kingdom built the Spirit Canal and the Great Wall in a very short time. It can be said that the Qin Dynasty has done a lot in the construction of major projects, leaving a lot of legacy to history, and these things should be cherished.
When we reflect on this history, this grand unification has both strengths and weaknesses. When talking about this period of history, many historians say that the unification of the Qin state was conducive to the development of industry and commerce and conformed to the wishes of the great people. This statement is specious. Where do the broad masses of the people want the unification of the Qin state? Of course, they hope for reunification, for example, some people hope for the unification of the Qi state, and some people hope for the unification of the Wei state. The reason why the Qin State was able to unify. It is not in line with the wishes of the people. The unification of the Qin state was not the result of commerce, and the Qin people adopted a hostile policy towards commerce. We see in this history a kind of unlimited development of politics. The inflated expansion of political power. In this history, it is precisely the ordinary people, even the ordinary nobility, who are absent. Compared with the power of Wang Xiao, the power of individual groups is often weak.
Looking back at the Qin State to unify the world and the seven heroes to fight for hegemony, what we see is that whoever can most effectively control the people as a tool of war can win the world, and the Qin State has done the best in this regard. However, after a dynasty has won the world, it still allows the people to live according to military principles, and such a dynasty has no future and no vitality. The rapid collapse of the Qin State was the reason.
In short, in the end, the Qin state was able to unify by relying on power, and it was able to concentrate all the people's forces on the goal of unification, so that it could win. In the past, this calendar itself has serious limitations. After the Han Empire gained the world, Liu Bang understood that he could win the world immediately, but he could not rule the world immediately. So the Han Dynasty had a period of prosperity, for a nation, for a country, what is the long-term way? The victory of the Qin state and the rapid decline of the Qin state can give us many important insights.