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In 221 BC, Qin destroyed the state of Qi, and the princely politics since the Spring and Autumn Warring States came to an end, and Qin Shi Huang established China's first unified feudal empire, and he was also known as the "Emperor of the Ages", leaving a name in history.
But Qin Shi Huang's achievements were not achieved overnight, he also experienced early accumulation, but this process was completed by his ancestors, and to Qin Shi Huang, he could destroy the six eastern countries and unify the world in only 10 years.
You must know that the ancestor of the Qin Dynasty was only a horse slave, and the location of the country was remote, even so, they were still able to complete the earth-shattering reversal. So what was the entrepreneurial process of the ancestors of the Qin Dynasty? How inspiring are their stories?
Blue strands of the road
From the perspective of historical archaeology, the history of the ancestors of the Qin State is very long, the earliest can be traced back to the ancient Gaoyang, after the rise of the Shang Dynasty, one of them assisted Shang Tang to establish the state, and since then it has become an aristocratic class, and has been branching out.
During the Zhou Dynasty, the ancestors of the Qin State suffered a major shock, and several core members died, and it took a long time of silence to recover.
During the reign of King Xiao of Zhou, Qin Feizi, the true ancestor of the Qin state, made meritorious contributions to the Zhou royal family in the area of present-day Gansu, was granted official positions and land, and began to take root in the Qin land, and became a major clan of the Huan clan under the name "Qin Huan".
The state of Qin during this period was not yet a regime, because Qin Feizi was only a "doctor" of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and although he was a member of the aristocratic class, he was not qualified to establish a state, and his fiefdom was not recognized by other princes, and could only exist as a vassal.
Moreover, Qin Huan's territory is not well located, located in the southeast of Gansu, with a small arable area, insufficient population, and a large number of "Xirong" around, which is extremely bad geopolitically, and no one can think that this small border country can swallow the world in the future.
These difficulties did not intimidate the ancestors of the Qin state, and while actively attracting immigrants from the Kanto region and learning advanced production experience, they fought with Xijong, expanded their living space, and killed a bloody road little by little in the cracks.
In the long period of exploration, the Qin state overcame difficulties and obstacles, slowly expanded the scale of its territory, expanded all the way from Gansu to Guanzhong in Shaanxi, and finally obtained a territory with a good geographical location suitable for production and development, and could breathe.
However, the original owner of the Guanzhong Plain, Xijong, could not be captured, and the two sides had to do their best to compete for living space, and several major wars broke out, and the Qin state won more victories and lost less, and gradually began to counterattack Xijong with strong national strength and occupy a large area of land.
Although it had a certain strength, the identity of the Qin State was embarrassing and could not be recognized by the eastern countries, until after the "beacon play princes" of King Zhou, Xirong invaded on a large scale, and the State of Qin actively sent troops to assist, and also escorted King Ping of Zhou to move east, which finally changed.
Zhou Tianzi canonized the State of Qin as one of the princes, enjoyed the same treatment as the Eastern countries, and also rewarded a large amount of land near Qishan, promising that as long as Xijong was driven away, then all their land population would belong to the State of Qin, and "Qin" gained the title.
After several generations, the Qin state expanded all the way, completely eliminated and assimilated the former great enemy Xijong, harvested the Guanzhong Plain, extended its influence to the eastern region, and truly became an emerging power in the West, with all the name and the truth.
Starting from the first generation of Qin people, they spent a full 200 years, starting from raising horse slaves, and with the appreciation of the Zhou royal family, they obtained fiefdoms in the western frontiers, and then became a western power.
Up to this point, the Qin State can only be regarded as a second-class country, ranking after the Eastern countries, after all, they have not fought with other countries, have not participated in the struggle for hegemony of princes, and the real rise of Qin is still the result of hundreds of years behind.
Internal worries and external troubles
With the acceleration of expansion, the Qin State had to face the pressure of the eastern powers, the first of which was the Jin State, one of the overlords of Spring and Autumn, and the two countries had a period of friendly relations, and the source of "Qin and Jin's goodness" was like this.
However, the Qin monarch Qin Mugong was extremely ambitious, he wanted to intervene in the plains, but the Jin state blocked the road to the east, and in the Battle of Xian in 627 BC, the Qin army was completely destroyed, and Qin Mugong had to dispel his mind and temporarily abandon the eastward plan.
The attack of the Jin state on the Qin state also came to an end, because their main energy was still focused on the east, the two countries signed a peace agreement, divided the border with each other, the Qin state turned to the west to continue to attack Xirong, the Jin state also began to withdraw troops, and the relationship between the two sides gradually eased.
Since there was no need to advance eastward, the Qin state strengthened its efforts to organize the western rear, inventory the population, measure the land, repel the counteroffensive of the Western Rong, stabilize the logistics army, and slowly increase its strength, even becoming one of the four great powers of Spring and Autumn.
However, the western frontier was barren, no matter how much they pressed, they could not get more benefits, and the expansion of the Qin State soon came to an end, and in order to better develop, they had to intervene again in the struggle of the eastern princes for hegemony and face the old opponent of the Jin State again.
This time, the State of Qin had a helper, that is, the State of Chu, through the strategy of "uniting Chu to attack Jin", so that the State of Jin fought on both sides, and soon showed a declining trend, and the ice peaks of the Southern State of Chu became more and more prosperous, and the State of Jin was about to reach the point of mountain and water recovery.
However, the attack of the Qin State was not smooth, the Jin State had a deep foundation at that time, and the huge attack of the Qin State did not have much effect, but it lost troops and generals, morale was low, and it could not maintain the offensive, so he could only stop making peace and negotiate peace with the Jin State.
It happened that there was turmoil within the State of Chu, withdrew from the ranks of hegemony, and the State of Jin restored its prestige in the Central Plains, even more powerful than before, Han Zhao Wei erected the Jin Jun, and continued to expand externally, and the shocked State of Qin did not dare to move and was in the inferior position.
At this time, the Qin State no longer had the idea of expanding outward, they only wanted to preserve the current land and population, but the neighboring Jin State became stronger and stronger, pressing step by step in the border area, launching small-scale battles one after another, unwilling to let the Qin State easily pass the pass.
At that time, the Qin state was in discord, several monarchs were mediocre, unable to control the increasingly turbulent dynasty, powerful ministers flaunted their might, and could even decide the change of the throne, and the national situation changed again and again, and it seemed that it was about to develop towards the worst.
Under internal and external troubles, another bad news came, the Wei state changed its law to become stronger, and its strength improved rapidly, sending Wu Qi to attack Hexi and threaten the Guanzhong Plain, and in 413 BC, the Qin state lost the land of Hexi, as if it had been broken backbone, and could only retreat step by step.
The State of Qin once organized a large-scale counterattack with a large force of 500,000 people, but it was easily defeated by Wu Qi, and by this point the Qin State was greatly damaged, and the frontal battlefield could no longer compete with the Wei State, and even lost control of the Guanzhong region, and gradually sank.
It was not until the three families divided into Jin, the neighbors in the east had their own civil unrest, and most of the troops returned to the country to quell the chaos, that the pressure on the Qin State was greatly reduced, and finally it was able to free up its hands to restore the military, sort out internal affairs, and review the experience of the past many years and sum up the lessons.
It can be said that this period of time is the weakest time of the Qin State, there are strong enemies outside, internal instability, military successive failures, political turmoil, as long as the Wei State adds a little fire, it can ignite the Qin State, but under the accumulation of contradictions, Han Zhao and Wei three families fought endlessly, transferred back most of the troops on the border, leaving time and space for the Qin State to recuperate.
Martingale transformation method
At this critical moment of recuperation, the State of Qin ushered in a heroic lord, Duke Xiaogong of Qin, made several scalpel-like reforms internally, launched the Hexi War externally, and recaptured the homeland from the State of Jin, greatly enhancing the national strength of the State of Qin.
The most talked about is the Shang Martingale change law, before the Wei State and the Chu State experienced a great increase in national strength after the reform of the law, Qin Xiaogong also wanted to imitate, the defender Shang Martingale threw himself into his favor, took the initiative to offer a hegemonic technique, and officially began to innovate.
Before Qin Xiaogong, the state of Qin had decades of dark time, the country was weak, the people's dissatisfaction increased, and the call for changing the law became stronger and stronger, and Shang Martin stood up at this moment, catering to the needs of the people, while also putting himself in the wind of the times.
The main contents of the Shang Martingale reform law were all-encompassing, including encouraging cultivation and warfare, establishing a military merit system, implementing the county system, reforming the tax law, emphasizing the law, enhancing the credibility of the government, and using effective policies to put the Qin state back on track.
Such a drastic internal reform was bound to be counterattacked by the original interests, and the traditional aristocrats of the Qin state constantly attacked Shang Martin and demanded the abolition of the law change, while Qin Xiaogong strongly supported it, strengthened the central power with the help of Shang Martingale, and rapidly improved the national strength of the Qin state.
Originally, decades of weakness made the Qin Kingdom chaotic, the people at the bottom did not get ahead, the opportunity to change their fate, the upper aristocracy also lacked mental stimulation, and the relatives were more bloated and fragile under each other, and the Shang Martingale transformation method was a shot in the arm.
Under the strict control of the merchant martingale, the people could obtain knighthoods according to the amount of grain handed over, as long as they were willing to work hard enough, they could obtain a rising social status, as well as money and grain and official rewards, and would no longer be bound by the magnates.
In addition to farming, everyone can enter the army to fight, as long as they cut off people's heads on the battlefield, they can get the corresponding knighthood commendation, and there is no upper limit, and theoretically they can kill people to the height of the Marquis of Kannai and even the Marquis of Lie.
This road is more for the upper aristocracy, the powerful have the ability to have connections, as long as the children of the family are not sophisticated, they can always get further opportunities, thus stimulating the entire class, allowing everyone to run, and strengthening the vitality of the country.
After controlling this key farming system, Shang Martingale was still strengthening the authority of the central government through the general trend, establishing the centralized rule of the monarch, ensuring that the orders of the Qin king could pass in all directions, and laying a deep foundation for the future centralized system.
The Shang Martingale transformation method greatly improved the comprehensive strength of the Qin State, made the whole country move, broke the original class division, and used the status of a lord to attract everyone to the tide of the cultivation and war system, so that the Qin State could get rid of the weak situation in the past and burst into new vitality.
After the death of Duke Xiaogong of Qin, Shang Martingale was thrown out as a scapegoat, giving an outlet to the dissatisfaction of the traditional aristocracy. However, the successor monarch did not give up changing the law, but continued to promote it as a national policy and pass it on from generation to generation.
With the huge accumulation brought about by the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, the Qin State gradually recovered its past prestige, and it happened that the external strong enemy Wei State was weak, and King Qin Huiwen attacked the city, encroached on the Three Jin Dynasties, conquered Bashu, and went south to Jingxiang, officially opening a great expansion.
Vertical and horizontal
The strength of the State of Qin continued to increase, and other countries did not fall behind, and the six great powers rising in the East became stumbling blocks on the road to the unification of the State of Qin, especially the State of Qi, the State of Zhao and the State of Chu, and brought the most pressure to the State of Qin.
At this time, the old rival Wei State had lost the strength to chase the world, South Korea ranked at the bottom, and could only rely on the big countries to survive, while the Yan State was located in a remote area and could not project troops, and the three countries of Qi Zhao and Chu who really wanted to compete with the Qin State were Qi, Zhao, and Chu.
The State of Qi and the State of Qin do not border, and the two countries have always been allies in the early days under the diplomatic strategy of "distant diplomatic relations and close attack", and they also attacked the State of Wei together, so in the early strategic deployment of the State of Qin, the State of Qi was not the key, and the degree of attention was average.
What really makes the State of Qin jealous are the State of Chu and the State of Zhao, these two countries have a vast territory and a large population, and the State of Qin is not very safe with one enemy and two, so it cannot be too rampant, and it is necessary to attract other countries to attack together and gradually dismember the two countries of Zhao and Chu.
The State of Qin gained many benefits in the process and gradually grew into a behemoth, causing panic among the six eastern countries, and under the lobbying of Su Qin, the Six Nations Alliance was established and gathered under the Hangu Pass, causing great shock to the Western Qin State.
In order to counter the alliance of the six countries, the State of Qin sent Zhang Yi to carry out the strategy of "Lianheng" to destroy their alliance, and the Six Nations each had a ghost in their hearts and could not work together, so that the State of Qin could break through each and survive this major crisis.
This time the anti-Qin alliance made the Qin state more vigilant, and their later expansion actions became more cautious, not giving other countries a chance to attack, but the Qi state did not do this, brazenly annexing the Song state, triggering the siege of other countries.
Under the command of the famous general Le Yi of the State of Yan, the State of Qi was captured by more than 70 cities and directly lost the country, although it was later restored, it was also greatly damaged and withdrew from the ranks of hegemony, and the State of Qin stepped up its attack on the State of Chu.
In 279 BC, he broke the capital of the state of Chu and forced the king of Chu to move the capital to take refuge, so that the state of Chu also lost the opportunity, and the situation between Qin and Zhao had formed.
The strength of the State of Zhao is indeed strong, and the State of Qin has been tug-of-war for several years, several times to thwart the attack of the State of Qin, and even has the opportunity to counterattack, but in comparison with the comprehensive national strength, the State of Zhao has no chance, coupled with the incompetence of the monarch, and finally failed miserably.
After the Battle of Changping, 450,000 young and strong people in the State of Zhao were killed, almost collapsed, and the last country that could wrestle with the State of Qin disappeared, and the State of Qin had completed the task of cutting off the six eastern countries, and it was almost the last breath to complete the dream of swallowing the world.
This task was handed over to Ying Zheng, who inherited the legacy of his ancestors and took only 10 years to eliminate the Six Kingdoms, establish China's first unified dynasty, and complete the major transformation from a small border country to a central empire.
What else do you know about the history of the Qin Dynasty? Welcome to leave your story in the comment area.