Qin Shi Huang, Qin Wang Zheng, or Ying Zheng, Zulong believe that everyone should be familiar with these titles, even if you have not read the history of Qin Shi Huang, you have seen many film and television dramas about Qin Shi Huang, such as the adventure of the young Ying Zheng and the future person Xiang Shaolong in the search for Qin Ji. These barnyard official history, or Qin Shi Huang's young experience, I don't need to mention too much here.
Portrait of Qin Shi Huang
A quick glance at the chronology reveals that Yingzheng ascended the throne at the age of thirteen, but it was not until nine years later, when he was twenty-two, that he cultivated his own men and horses, and had enough strength to regain power from his middle father, Lü Buwei. Then, after another seventeen years, twenty-six years after the reign of the King of Qin, under the concerted efforts of the generals Wang Chui, Li Xin, Meng Tian and others, the State of Qin destroyed the State of Qi and completed the great cause of unifying the world.
After the unification of the world, Qin Wang Zheng proclaimed himself the first emperor, becoming the first emperor in Chinese history to use the title of emperor and create the first empire to implement centralized power, so later scholars called him "the first emperor of the ages".
However, under these epoch-making milestones, if Qin Shi Huang has knowledge after his death, he is expected to face considerable pressure, that is, future generations of scholars rush to study what he has done, and at the same time want to conclude the coffin for his life's achievements.
First of all, when it comes to Qin Shi Huang's achievements, most of them will think of destroying the six kingdoms, fixing the world, abolishing the division of seals, traveling counties and counties, and writing the same text and the same track.
About destroying the six countries and fixing the world. There is a saying that because the State of Qin changed the law through the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, plus the great-grandfather of Qin Shi Huang's great-grandfather King Qin Zhaoxiang enriched the country and strengthened the army, the national strength became stronger and became the crown of the Six Kingdoms. Qin Shi Huang was able to dominate the world, which can be regarded as a natural success, all relying on the ancestral family business and his strong generals. In fact, I don't think so, even if the Qin Kingdom is strong, they are definitely not smooth sailing in the process of destroying the six countries and determining the world, and there are still thrilling twists and turns, and you must be cautious and fearful to pass the level, so this is definitely the merit of Qin Shi Huang in opening up the territory and expanding the territory.
This means that after he ruled the world, he did not choose to make meritorious ministers kings and marquises, but combined the county system of the Qin State and the county system of the Chu State, and implemented the county system of the public magistrates to the territory of the whole country. We are now no stranger to the concept of provincial governors, mayors, and county magistrates, but we must know that before the Great Qin Empire, there was a feudal dynasty "Zhou" that lasted for about eight hundred years, and the rule of Zhou Tianzi was similar to the feudal system of ancient Europe, and the Son of Heaven was nominally the co-lord of the princely states, but the real power in each region was held by the princes and nobles who inherited the rights through blood relations. In order to promote the county system, ministers such as Qin Shi Huang and Li Si encountered various rebellions and people's dissatisfaction, as well as the dissatisfaction of those who had gained benefits, which were all great resistance. However, they were fearless, confiscating civilian weapons, destroying the walls of various countries, and insisting on the implementation of the county system to the world. Qin Shi Huang's determination and means in reforming the system will brighten the eyes of our descendants.
The book is the same text, the car is the same track. This also includes the familiar unified weights and measures. If the first two are related to the redistribution of political interests, then the book is the same text, and the car is on the same track is inseparable from economic interests. Through the unification of measurement, the government can facilitate the intervention of national forces in market mechanisms and the overall management of taxation. The policy of the same text in the book further shows that Qin Shi Huang was a reformist leader, who accepted Li Si's proposal and designed a unified national standard character based on the existing script, which was later called Xiao Seal or Qin Seal. It is especially emphasized here that the historical records do not mention that Qin Shi Huang required everyone to speak Qin, he just asked every county, no matter what country you were before, to use the official script to write documents. Because the same set of characters, in different places, will have different composition and meaning. Qin Shi Huang promoted the same text of the book, for what reform? I suspect that in addition to reducing the barriers to communication of administrative documents, cultural knowledge can be accumulated and disseminated more effectively.
So, how can a person who has taken into account the evolution of cultural knowledge stack and make a terrifying book burning operation?
The two things that are most often cited to say that Qin Shi Huang is a tyrant are that he lost the hearts of the people, the heavy conscription that the world has suffered for a long time, and the book burning pit that represents cruelty.
The Qin Dynasty had heavy conscription
First of all, let's talk about heavy conscription, the use of the people's labor force by the Great Qin Empire, that is really the whole state apparatus moving, building the Great Wall in the north and building spiritual canals in the south. The Qin Emperor's Mausoleum, the Terracotta Army, and various world wonders cover non-stop. In fact, each of the above constructions has different purposes, and it is not easy to generalize. Let's take the Great Wall for example, at that time there was a threat from the nomadic Xiongnu in the north, if it was said that troops were to be sent to garrison, then how many standing troops were needed, and logistical supplies were enough? This will make the national defense budget very tight, on the contrary, with the Great Wall, as long as the key checkpoints are deployed, the pressure on the border defense can be relieved. The controversy over whether to build a wall or to set up a heavy army was also debated in the Ming Dynasty.
Next, let's talk about the burning of books and pit Confucianism, the cause of this was in the thirty-fourth year of the reign of the King of Qin, when the Xianyang Palace held a wine banquet, and a Qi scholar Chun Yuyue took the opportunity to propose to Qin Shi Huang to restart the feudal system in the three dynasties period, and also emphasized that this is an ancient rite, and I have not heard of the regime that can last for a long time without learning from the ancients! After listening to Chun Yuyue's suggestion, Li Si, who was the prime minister at the time, was immediately upset, and said: "His Majesty's great deeds and achievements in building ten thousand worlds are not known by fools. ”
Therefore, some people will set the tone that the book burning incident was actually the biggest conflict between Legalism and Confucianism in the pre-Qin period. I think this statement is not unreasonable, and Li Si, like the abbot, has a small heart. At this time, he became the prime minister, thinking that he was questioned about the policies promoted in the past, and in a fit of anger, he suggested that Qin Shi Huang start the plan to burn books and pit Confucianism.
To put it simply, the book burning order burns poems, books, scriptures, and classics that are not in the private collections of the people of official academic institutions. For technical books such as agriculture and animal husbandry, medicine, etc., it is allowed to be retained. It is not difficult to see that this is very targeted for Confucianism. However, at that time, there were still hundreds of books in the National Library. It can be seen that Qin Shi Huang attached great importance to the inheritance of cultural thought. In fact, the most painful knife for the cultural classics was later Xiang Yu burning Xianyang.
As for Kengru, it happened the year after the book burning, when Qin Shi Huang began to build the Afang Palace in pursuit of the elixir of immortality. Qin Shi Huang found a group of Fang Warlocks, gave them research and development funds, and car and horse expenses, asking for the opportunity to give their ruling the opportunity to live forever.
How can I help, it is difficult to find the medicine of immortality in the world, and the world can return to the soul.
That group of Fang Warlocks, not only did not produce the elixir of immortality, but also had a lot of criticism of national policies, Qin Shi Huang thought to himself, I burned books and kept the warlock books below, did not expect that you were not grateful, didn't you see the lessons of Confucianism? In a fit of anger, he launched a pit killing operation, with a total of more than 460 victims.
Seeing this, isn't it a little puzzled? It was Fangshi and alchemists who were killed, so why did Confucianism also regard them as their own? In fact, it is not difficult to imagine, because these people criticize Qin Shi Huang's tyranny, and everyone has the same position. Seriously, we may still have a way to justify the book burning, but the fact that you used the method of sitting to kill more than 400 intellectuals, even Fusu, the eldest son of Qin Shi Huang at that time, could not stand it, jumped out to dissuade Qin Shi Huang, but in the end, Qin Shi Huang did not listen to the advice and sent him to the frontier. Two years after this incident, Qin Shi Huang passed away.
On the one hand, he is a unique first emperor, but at the same time, like mortals, he must endure birth, old age, illness and death.
Who knows what has happened through the ages?
Although it is said that Qin Shi Huang's personal character loves face, he is easy to anger, cruel and cold-blooded. Many intellectuals in later generations looked back to examine Qin Shi Huang's behavior, and probably more than ninety percent would contradict Confucian morality. However, we cannot ignore that he is a workaholic, and he does a very good job in the position of emperor.
In terms of system reform, the counties we are talking about today instead of feudalism, the unification of weights and measures, etc. all started from him, which influenced the major historical reforms in the next one or two thousand years, and even the shadow of Qin Shi Huang can be seen on many so-called Ming monarchs in the future.
Therefore, from my personal standpoint, Yingzheng is the man who brought up the trend of becoming an emperor and taught others how to be an emperor!