Sentence / Kodama
The war of annihilation of the country cannot be slow, and the expansion of the territory cannot be fast, and the king of Qin Yingzheng accurately stepped on the time point of the annexation of the six kingdoms and swept away the Liuhe, but in the matter of continuing to expand the territory, the first emperor was obviously overdrawing his physical strength, which exacerbated the contradictions of the Great Qin, and finally led to the death of the second.
In 221 BC, with the surrender of Qi, Qin successfully concluded the war of annihilation and dominated the world. However, the footsteps of the Qin army did not stop, because at this time, the southern border was stuck in Shu County, Ba County, Qianzhong County, Changsha County, Jiujiang County, and Huiji County, and south of this line, there was a broader territory waiting for the empire's conquest.
Since the Qin State is a standard war machine, only war can maintain the operation of the "military meritorious" system and complete the renewal of internal blood, and war is the only good way to maintain the normal operation of the Qin State. Therefore, before the new system could be established, the Qin state had to maintain the war system.
At the same time, the ambition of the First Emperor was to expand the empire to infinity. Whether it was out of the realities of the empire or personal ambitions, the First Emperor maintained the war system and continued to expand the territory.
As early as the year before the completion of unification (222 BC), the Qin army had already begun to attempt to conquer Baiyue after destroying the Chu state, but at that time, because the war of annihilation had not yet ended, the Qin army only took limited tentative attacks. In the twenty-eighth year of Qin Shi Huang (219 BC), after the completion of the great cause of unification, the Qin State gathered an army of 500,000 troops, under the leadership of the general Tu Sui and others, divided into two routes, east and west, and officially opened the battle of the southern expedition to Baiyue.
Soon, the Qin army conquered Minyue and made it the Minzhong County of Great Qin. Soon, Dongyue was also incorporated into the territory of Great Qin.
However, due to the unfamiliar terrain and the difficulty of material supply, the Qin army did not copy the war myth of the annexation of the Six Kingdoms after that, and with the deepening of the war, it was a loss of soldiers, not only the general Tu Sui was killed in battle, but the Qin army was bleeding hundreds of thousands, which was extremely miserable.
After research and review, the First Emperor came to the conclusion that it was the transportation conditions to Lingnan that restricted the southward transportation of Qin army resources, thus restricting the normal performance of the Qin army.
Therefore, the Qin State dug the Ling Canal in Lingnan, connecting the Yangtze River and the Pearl River through the communication of the Xiangjiang River and the Li River, and completed the excavation in the 33rd year of Qin Shi Huang (214 BC).
After the excavation of the Ling Canal was completed, the resources of the Guanzhong Plain and the Chengdu Plain could enter the Dongting Lake through the Weishui, Hanshui and Yangtze River, and then trace the Xiangjiang River up the Lingqu to the Li River, solving the logistics problem of the Qin army.
Lingqu allows Daqin's control to extend to Lingnan Source/Internet
Due to the continuous concentration of resources from the Qin headquarters to the front line through the water transportation system, the Qin army finally completed the conquest of Baiyue in the 33rd year of Qin Shi Huang (214 BC), and set up three counties in the Lingnan region: Nanhai County (present-day Guangdong), Guilin County (present-day Guangxi), and Xiangjun (present-day southern Guangxi, southeastern Guangxi, and north-central Vietnam).
At this point, Lingnan was officially incorporated into the territory of Daqin and became part of the county system of Daqin. Subsequently, the First Emperor also requisitioned 500,000 criminals and sent them to Lingnan to achieve rapid digestion of the Lingnan region.
In order to strengthen his rule over Lingnan, the First Emperor copied his practice in the Central Plains and built a land transportation system to govern the border areas. There are four new roads leading to Lingnan: from Chenzhou in Hunan to Lianzhou in Guangdong, from the south of Jiangxi through the Great Yuling Mountains into Nanhai in Guangdong, from Yongzhou in Hunan to Hezhou in Guangxi, and from Quanzhou in Guangxi to Guilin.
The new road not only broke through the barrier of the Nanling Mountains, but also connected to the gallop system of the Central Plains, becoming a powerful weapon for Daqin to control the Quartet. The construction of the new road also facilitated the economic and cultural exchanges between the Central Plains and Lingnan.
In this year, the Qin army also won a decisive victory in the war against the Xiongnu, Meng Tian fought a battle but the Xiongnu for more than 700 miles, and the Hu people did not dare to go south and herd horses. After recovering the land of Henan, the first emperor set up forty-four counties in his territory to administer and enrich the local area through immigration.
In order to consolidate the achievements of the development of northern Xinjiang, the first emperor also started the construction of the Great Wall in the following year (213 BC). Of course, in order to achieve control of the northern Xinjiang, the first emperor also played the card of transportation, so there was the construction of the Qin Straight Road.
It can be seen that counties, immigrants, transportation, and the army are the four most important means of the first emperor to govern the border areas.
By this time, the territory of Great Qin had been basically formed: from the sea in the east, to the west of Gansu, to Ordos in the north, and to the south of present-day central Vietnam.
However, at this time, Great Qin also ran into the critical point of destruction, and it was about to collapse. In 210 B.C., after the death of the First Emperor in the Dune Palace, Hu Hai became the second emperor as the turning point, and the Great Qin was a prominent contradiction, which quickly collapsed and soon perished.
Reviewing the demise of Great Qin, it is very important to note that Great Qin developed the Lingnan region in a fast-forward manner. In 221 BC, after annexing the Six Kingdoms to unify the world, the Qin State quickly started the construction of Chidao. There was nothing wrong with this, because transportation was the most important means for the Qin state to quickly digest the homeland of the Six Kingdoms and strengthen its rule over the Central Plains. Including the construction of the Great Wall, it was also to defend against the invasion of nomadic forces. In addition, the Great Wall is only a connection to the Great Wall of various countries in the Warring States Period, and not all of them are newly built. Including the construction of the Qin Straight Road, it is also to achieve a rapid response to the crisis in northern Xinjiang.
After doing this work, the First Emperor should focus all his energy on the digestion of the Central Plains. Because, although Great Qin has achieved the unification of the world, this is only the unification of the territory level, and the contradictions between Qin and Kwantung are still prominent, and Zhang Liang's assassination of the first emperor is a typical example. At the same time, there were also a large number of anti-Qin forces such as Xiang Liang's uncle and nephew, Zhang Er and Chen Yu in Kanto.
The reality is that Qin's own officials could not form a complete coverage of the Kwantung region at all, and Great Qin's rule over the homeland of the Six Kingdoms was quite fragile.
Great Qin's control over the homeland of the Six Kingdoms is quite weak Image source/stills
Before the old forces were completely digested and the new order was established, the First Emperor could only rely on his personal power to achieve the purpose of shocking the homeland of the Six Kingdoms.
But the lifespan of the First Emperor is a variable, if he dies suddenly before the transition period of Great Qin, then the situation of Great Qin will be absolutely catastrophic, and later facts have verified this.
Therefore, the First Emperor should devote his limited resources to the digestion of the land of Kanto. Only in this way will it be possible for Great Qin to survive the dangerous period after the absence of the male lord.
However, in order to maximize his achievements, the first emperor quickly set his sights on Lingnan after unification. In the process of conquering and digesting Lingnan, many of Daqin's high-quality resources were continuously transported to Lingnan through the water transportation system, including materials, soldiers, and people.
Realistically speaking, although Great Qin has achieved unification, most of them still complete the conquest and digestion of Lingnan by mobilizing the resources of Qin's own country. It was already very difficult for the Qin State to digest the homeland of the Six Kingdoms with its limited resources, but the First Emperor continued to send high-quality resources to Lingnan.
The reality is that annexation wars can also increase wealth through the destruction of the country, while the conquest of Lingnan by the First Emperor is only consumed. As a result, Qin's limited resources were quickly consumed by Lingnan, and the national strength was quickly hollowed out.
Such a foundation is simply not able to cope with the attack of the Six Nations. This has been verified after the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and the fact that Zhou Wen's rabble army was able to break into Guanzhong is already telling.
At that time, the Qin State was quite embarrassed, and in order to deal with the crisis, Zhang Han could only organize the Lishan prisoners to deal with the changes in the Kwantung region. It can be seen how empty Qin's family background has become.
Don't think about it, it's all spent in northern Xinjiang and Lingnan.
Moreover, even if the first emperor consumed all his resources in Lingnan, Lingnan not only did not send troops to Qinwang when the crisis broke out in Qin, but also took the initiative to cut off the road to the Central Plains and took a road of separation.
Like most officials in the Qin State, due to the ideological gap, everyone had no loyalty to Great Qin at all, so there was no psychological pressure when betraying Great Qin.
Zhao Tuo blocked the traffic between the Central Plains and Lingnan Source/Stills
If you look at it this way, the best way for Qin to do it in a border area like Lingnan is to implement a feudal feud, just like after King Qin Huiwen conquered Shu in the past, the prince was divided to guard the local area, and when it was almost digested, it was incorporated into the county system. In this way, the adhesion between Lingnan and the Central Plains can be ensured.
Even if the First Emperor opened up the connection with Lingnan in the field of land and water, but in terms of the transportation equipment at that time, it was still not possible to respond quickly to the border areas, if he wanted to rule Lingnan more conveniently, then the best way for the First Emperor at that time was to move the capital and move the capital to the center of the world.
However, since Great Qin had not yet completely digested the Kanto region, the First Emperor did not dare to take such a risk. Therefore, the best way is to divide the feudal kings. If the First Emperor had listened to Wang Xuan's suggestion back then, then the combination of Yan Chuqi and Lingnan would definitely be a powerful Qinwang force.
Even if he can't be the king of Qin, the vassal kings of various places can completely continue the national glory of Great Qin in the border areas. Assuming that Lingnan was guarded by the descendants of the first emperor at that time, then there would be nothing to do with Zhao Tuo when the world was in turmoil.
But in any case, it was a complete mistake for the First Emperor to play the Lingnan card immediately after unifying the world. For Lingnan, the best way for the First Emperor is to put it first, after all, Lingnan's threat to the Central Plains is not as serious as that of the Xiongnu, and then use troops against Lingnan after digesting the homeland of the Six Kingdoms. At that time, Daqin not only firmly controlled the Central Plains, but also could concentrate the resources of the whole world to conquer Lingnan, which would definitely be much easier, and it would not take risks.
To put it bluntly, it was too anxious, and there was no time for Daqin to buffer.
From another point of view, although the First Emperor paid the price of the death of Great Qin II, after all, he developed Lingnan early and opened up the transportation to Lingnan, which made it possible for cultural and economic exchanges between Lingnan and the Central Plains.
If it weren't for the efforts of the First Emperor, then the territory of the Great Han would have been very limited. It can be said that the territory of the Chinese nation was laid by Qin Shi Huang. On this point, the first emperor is worthy of the title of the first emperor of the ages.
In the development of history, there are always people who carry the burden forward, and there are always people who have to sacrifice themselves.
The First Emperor and the Great Qin were all victims in the process of historical progress, but what they brought to future generations was:
Vast territory, perfect system, criss-crossing water and land transportation network.
That's enough.
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