Speaking of Li Si, the world's evaluation of this Qin Xiang is mixed, some people say that he is the biggest help of Qin Shi Huang to unify the Six Kingdoms, some people say that he is the biggest promoter of the demise of the Qin Dynasty, let's analyze this legendary figure.
One: Ambition: the pursuit of fame and fortune, glory and wealth.
Speaking of Lis's ambitions, we can interpret it with his own words: "Criticism is greater than lowliness, and sorrow is better than poverty." ”
Li Si was born in an ordinary family, and when he was a small official in the Chu Kingdom, such an incident occurred, he went to the toilet, encountered the rats in the toilet, saw people coming and fled in a hurry, and after the people left, the rats ran to the toilet to forage for food.
Then he went to the warehouse and saw the rats as well, but the rats here sheltered the wind and rain in the warehouse, and there was a lot of grain to enjoy, and they were fat and big, and they didn't run when they saw people.
So he used these two rats as a metaphor for himself: "The sage of man is not like a rat, but he is in his own ears!" This means that whether a person has or is not, like a mouse, is determined by his own environment. So he made up his mind to change his fate and become a hamster.
However, if you want to change your destiny, you must first learn, so Li Sibai went to Xun Zi, the most famous thinker, writer, and politician in the late Warring States period at that time, to learn the art of emperor. After completing his studies, he looked at the general trend of the world and believed that only the Qin state could complete the great cause of unifying the world, so he planned to defect to the Qin state and realize his ideals.
Before leaving, Li Si and his teacher Xun Zi said goodbye and said something like this: "Criticism is greater than lowliness, and sorrow is better than poverty." This sentence is a true portrayal of his heart, meaning: the greatest shame is lowliness, and the greatest sorrow is poverty. Xun Zi later made this comment to Li Si: "Si Zhi Xiang Qin Ye, the first emperor appointed him, there is no one who is a subject, and Xun Qing does not eat for it, and sees his misfortune." - "Salt and Iron Theory of Destruction"
From Li Si's mouse philosophy and what he said to Xunzi when he was parting, it is not difficult to see that he is a person who attaches great importance to fame and fortune, but he is also a very intelligent person, in order to complete his dream of learning from teachers, there are ideas and actions, which laid a solid foundation for his later political career.
Two: Achievement: A very popular subject, one person is above ten thousand people.
After bidding farewell to Xunzi, Li Si began his job search, and his talents were also displayed in the Qin Kingdom, which was highly recognized by Qin Shi Huang. Below we list Li Si's achievements after he went to the Qin Kingdom.
1. "Expulsion Order"
The State of Qin began to change after the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, after several generations of kings worked hard to govern, and finally reached its peak at the time of Qin Shi Huang, the other six kingdoms united to resist Qin but were eventually disintegrated by Li Si, and finally the Six Kingdoms planned to exhaust Qin, so they sent Zheng Guo to qin to build water conservancy for it, so that the Qin state recruited people and consumed financial resources, this incident was finally recognized by Qin Shi Huang, so under the advice of the Qin Dynasty Sect, an eviction order was issued.
Li Si was also among the expulsions at that time, so before leaving, he wrote a piece of music, which was later called the "Order of Expulsion", which was as follows
The previous monarchs of the Qin state, such as the Duke mu of Qin, eventually became a generation of overlords with Baili Xi and Uncle Jian; Qin Xiaogong, using the Shang martingale, changed the law and made the Qin state a powerful country; King Huiwen of Qin used Zhang Yi to disintegrate the alliance of the Six Kingdoms; King Zhaoxiang of Qin used Fan Ju to enhance the prestige of the imperial court.
Li Si quoted the classics of the previous dynasty, and finally impressed the King of Qin and withdrew the decree, while Li Si eventually remained in the Qin state. This recital is also enjoyed by future generations.
2. Great unification
Li Si helped Qin Shi Huang not only complete the military and political unification, but also made a unification of the detailed text currency, laying the foundation for the unification of thousands of years in the future.
[1] Unified script: Li Si personally wrote seven chapters of the Cangjie Chapter for the unified script, and the unified national common script was Qin Li.
[2] Unified weights and measures: the degree system is measured in inches, feet, zhang, and quotations, and adopts decimal counting; the measurement system is measured in units of combination, liter, bucket and barrel, and also adopts decimal calculation.
[3] Unified currency: Under the auspices of Li Si, the currency stipulates that gold is the upper currency and the unit is yoke.
[4] Repairing chi lanes, cars on the same track: Li Si suggested that the tracks of the whole country should be unified and the chi lanes should be built nationwide.
3. County system
After the Qin Dynasty unified the Six Kingdoms, Wang Xie and Chun Yuyue proposed to implement the system of sub-feudalism in accordance with the old system of the Zhou Dynasty, but the demise of the Zhou Dynasty was largely due to the sub-feudal system, which caused the later princes to fight each other to the death, so they adopted Li Si's suggestion and adopted the county system to govern the country, avoiding the situation of future princes dividing the territory.
At this time, Li Si was not only the Xiangguo of the Qin State, but also became a relative of Qin Shi Huang, and Li Si's daughter married the son of Qin Shi Huang, and the daughter of Qin Shi Huang also married Li Si's son. And Qin Shi Huang became a son and daughter of the family, in the true sense of the supreme subject, one person below ten thousand people.
Three Demise: Due to his dedication to power and wealth, he also made more mistakes in his life, which led to him finally fulfilling Xunzi's concerns about him, and eventually being framed by Zhao Gao, beheaded, and cursed the three tribes.
1. Han Fei's death: Jealous of Xianxian's ability, afraid that Han Fei will take his place.
We all know that Han Fei and Li Si were the two most satisfied students in the late Xunzi period, Li Si went to the Qin State after he finished his studies, but Han Fei returned to Korea, he was originally a Korean nobleman, and after completing his studies, he returned to China and wanted to implement the change of law in Korea, but his proposal was not supported by the King of Han. There is a talent in the air but there is nowhere to show it. Depressed all day.
Han Fei stuttered, speaking unfavorably, but writing articles that no one could match, so Li Si showed Han Fei's article to the King of Qin, who was overjoyed after reading it, and sighed: "If you can see this person, you will be willing to die." ”
Qin Shi Huang thought that this article was written by the ancients, but Li Si told him that it was written by his friend Han Fei, and Qin Shi Huang knew that he would be overjoyed in the future, and was determined to get Han Fei, so he raised a large army to suppress the situation and told the King of Han that if he did not want to destroy the country, he would sacrifice Han Fei. Where did king Han have the courage to fight with Qin Shi Huang, think of a Han Fei, and say all day long that he is not, so he sent Han Fei to the Qin Kingdom.
But after Han Fei arrived in the Qin State, he had always been concerned about the old land, he knew that Qin Shi Huang wanted to unify the six kingdoms, the first was to destroy Han, so he suggested that Qin Shi Huang fight the Zhao State first, but although the strength of the Zhao State was not as good as the Qin State, but the strength should not be underestimated, Li Si knew that after the King of Qin reused Han Fei, it would affect his own position, so he wrote to explain the stakes, and the King of Qin was furious and imprisoned Han Fei.
However, the King of Qin only ordered the imprisonment, not the execution, but Li Si went to prison to give Han Fei poison, and Han Fei also knew his current situation, knowing that sooner or later he would die, he would take poison and commit suicide, but unfortunately, a generation of celebrities ended up like this.
The culprit of Han Fei's death was Li Si, Han Fei knew the ambitions of the King of Qin, and he wrote to suggest that he fight Zhao Guo first, in fact, it was just to win a few more years for Korea, and Korea would perish sooner or later. However, Because of his selfishness, Li Si put his friends in the same window to death, and the fierceness of his heart was evident
2. Book Burning: Burning hundreds of classics, leaving a curse for the later demise of Qin.
Speaking of book burning pit Confucianism, everyone is not unfamiliar, but in fact, book burning and pit Confucianism are not the same thing, the two have nothing to do with each other, we will also talk about it later, first of all, let's talk about book burning.
After the King of Qin unified the six kingdoms, he adopted Li Si's suggestion to implement the county system to govern the country, but some of the courtiers always opposed this view and felt that the sub-feudal system should be followed.
In 213 BC, the Qin Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu and pacified Baiyue, and the First Emperor Dayue then feasted on his subjects at the Xianyang Palace, at which time ChunYuyue again proposed the division of the seal, at which time Li Si stood up and said:
Now His Majesty has created a great cause and built up all the worlds, which is not known to fools and Confucians, and it is a matter of three generations.
This means that today the emperor founded the Wanshi Industry, which is not as easy as you think, and what you said about the Xia Shang Wednesday Dynasty is not enough to imitate at all. Then he said:
In this life, we do not learn from the present but learn from the past, and we do not have the present world, confuse the heads, enter the wrong heart, and go out to discuss the alley.
You scholars today, who are not good at studying today, have been learning from the ancients, saying that the present is not, confusing the common people, and people like you who enter the DPRK also have his heart and mind, and there are still discussions everywhere behind your backs. So these people must be stopped, can not tolerate, on this basis he put forward his own suggestions:
【1】. Turn over the poetry books collected by Confucians and the people, and if they do not hand them over, they will be tattooed and punished with four years of slavery.
【2】. Those who privately discuss hundreds of poems, abandon the city (executed in the downtown area)
So Qin Shi Huang adopted Li Si's suggestion and ordered the collection of the people's books to be confiscated and burned in a concentrated manner, causing a catastrophe in the history of Chinese culture. This was actually a topic of conversation, but Lisi cleverly used it to cause the book burning incident, and he was the initiator, and this was done for two purposes:
【1】. Pandering to the rulers and consolidating his position, Li Si was already an official at that time, but in order to consolidate his position, he still had to have good relations with the rulers, and the First Emperor had always been opposed to the sub-feudal system, and he naturally had to stand on the same line with the First Emperor at this time.
【2】. Li Si was the representative of the Fa school, and he wanted to take this opportunity to suppress other schools and promote the culture of the Fa.
This incident caused an extremely serious impact in history, at that time, no more than now, you want to burn books casually, the printing plant moved slightly is tens of thousands of volumes, but at that time, books are very rare things, are the author of a stroke written on bamboo or silk cloth, scholars and the people's feelings for books are very urgent, Qin Shi Huang's practice, not only did not receive the due results, but lost the hearts of the people, laying the foundation for the future destruction of the Qin state.
3. Pit Confucianism, alchemist causes trouble, Confucian is killed by pit, Li Si does not say a word.
In his later years, Qin Shi Huang was superstitious about ghosts and gods, and his desire for eternal life was deceived by the alchemists, and in a rage, he was involved in many innocent Confucians and killed, but Li Si did not say a word from beginning to end.
After the unification of Qin Shi Huang, he traveled the world five times, four of which were to the East, all the way to the seashore, and along the way he met the alchemist, which came into contact with the theory of ghosts and gods.
The alchemists took the money and went to look for immortal medicines, but where in the world there were elixirs, so this group of alchemists was divided into two categories: one type took the money and ran away and never came back, and the other type not only took the money, but also scolded Qin Shi Huang's fault in a dignified manner, and said that he did not deserve the elixir.
Qin Shi Huang was furious and sent people to arrest this gang, but he also involved a large number of Confucian students, and finally more than 460 people were killed, which became a major unjust case.
We all know that Qin Shi Huang took Li Si on five cruises that year, that is to say, Li Si was an insider at the beginning and end of the matter, but who was Li Si? He was a representative figure of the legal school, and he did not believe in the ghost god at all, and Qin Shi Huang was obsessed with immortality, and he did not say a word as a minister at that time, which eventually caused a tragic disaster.
It can be said that behind the pit Confucian incident, it is Li Si's utilitarian spirit behind his back, he was in order to cater to the wishes of the First Emperor, even if he knew that the theory of ghosts and gods was just nonsense, but he still resigned himself to it, for fear of provoking Qin Shi Huang to be unhappy, and finally when the First Emperor was angry and killed people, he also knew that there were many Confucians who were innocent, but he did not come out to intercede for them, just watching this matter happen, so Li Si had an unshirkable responsibility.
4. The change of the sand dunes, in conjunction with Zhao Gaofu Hu Hai, came to power and personally destroyed the country that he had single-handedly supported.
The First Emperor went on his last tour, and he was seriously ill on the way, so he issued an edict to his eldest son Fu Su: "Participate in the funeral treatment, and the coffin will be buried after it is buried in Xianyang." After the single edict was issued, it was not issued until the autumn when the first emperor fell ill and died, and Li Si was afraid that the news would cause chaos in the world, and he did not feel constipated, and quietly rushed back to Xianyang.
However, at this time, Zhao Gao joined forces with Qin II, wanting to execute Fu Su and Meng Tian with corrections and support Hu Hai to ascend to the throne, and Hu Hai agreed after hearing this, but Zhao Gao told Hu Hai that this matter must be agreed by The Minister. So Hu Hai ordered Zhao Gao to find Li Si, and Zhao Gao explained the stakes to Li Si: "Your talent, strategy, trust, loyalty, in front of Gongzi Fusu, is definitely not as good as Mengtian, if you support Hu Hai to ascend to the throne, Cheng Xiang is still Cheng Xiang, but if you support Fu Su, then Cheng Xiang will not necessarily be Cheng Xiang in the future." In the end, Li Si agreed to Zhao Gao's request, and used the edict to kill Fu Su, and put Hu Hai, the second Qin emperor who destroyed the Qin Dynasty, on the throne.
In this matter, Li Si once again stood on the side of interests, choosing to support the faint and incompetent Hu Hai to ascend to the throne, thereby preserving his position, but it was also his decision that buried himself and also buried the Qin state. I will not say more about what happened later, and in the end Li Si was beheaded by the waist and planted three tribes.
Looking back at Li Si's life, it is not difficult for us to find that his and Lü Buwei's experiences are very similar, but the difference is that Lü Buwei only had an unclear relationship with Zhao Ji and did not have a bad impact on the politics of the Qin Dynasty, but Li Si went too far down the wrong road. For the sake of fame and fortune, he can kill his best friend Han Feizi, he can trap all Confucian students, he forgets that he is also familiar with the hundred classics to succeed in his studies, but when he is in power, he will not let the hundred families survive. In the end, even for the sake of fame and fortune, he was able to support a faint and incompetent king to ascend to the throne, and personally destroyed the Qin Dynasty that he had built all his life.
Dear officials, what do you think of Lisi? Welcome to all exchanges