Chapter 63 Qin Shihuang's biggest failure: the abuse of people's power and the use of military force

Through centralization, Qin Shihuang did do many things that his predecessors could not do, and building the Great Wall was one of them. During the Warring States Period, in order to defend against the invasion of the Huns, all countries built Great Walls on their borders, among which the Zhao Great Wall, the Yan Great Wall and the Qin Great Wall were relatively large.After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang sent Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to attack the Huns in the north, captured the Hetao area occupied by the Huns, and crossed the Yellow River, forcing the Huns to retreat northward for more than 700 miles.In order to prevent the Huns from making a comeback, Qin Shihuang ordered Meng Tian to build a Great Wall stretching for more than ten thousand miles from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east on the basis of the original Great Walls of other countries.

Under the conditions of productivity at that time, the construction of the Great Wall was an extremely huge project, and the only way to complete it in just a few years was to mobilize a large number of laborers.And the main source of these labor is prisoners.The Qin Dynasty implemented such harsh laws and turned so many civilians into prisoners just to obtain a large amount of free labor, which is actually a kind of state kidnapping. Beneath the majestic Great Wall are the blood, tears and sweat of countless prisoners.The story of Meng Jiangnu crying over the Great Wall may be just a fiction, but no one can tell how many ordinary families, wives and children were separated and how many innocent men were buried near the border to build the Great Wall.

The political philosophy of Confucianism advocates "enabling the people to act in accordance with their ability" and to do what they can, which means that the ruler should cherish the power of the people and not over-serve the people.But in Qin Shihuang's dictionary, the word "cherish" cannot be found.Building the Great Wall is nothing more than building the Great Wall to defend against foreign invasions. Building the Afang Palace and the Lishan Mausoleum is a waste of people's resources. According to "Historical Records", in 212 BC, Qin Shihuang believed that the number of people in Xianyang Palace had increased, and the palace left by the previous kings was too small for use.I also heard that King Wen of Zhou Dynasty established his capital at Yufeng, and King Wu of Zhou established his capital at Yuhao. It seems that Fengshui and Hao are indeed treasures of geomantic omen, so they started to build a palace at Afang on the south bank of the Weishui River.At that time, the idea was to wait for the palace to be repaired before naming it, so it was temporarily called Efang Palace.However, the scale of this palace is too large. With the courage of Qin Shihuang, hundreds of thousands of prisoners were mobilized to build it, but it was not completed before his death. Later generations simply regarded Afang Palace as the official name.

How big is Afang Palace?It can be seen only from the design of the front hall.The front hall is the first building to be built in Efang Palace. According to historical records, it is "five hundred steps from east to west, fifty feet from north to south, and it can seat ten thousand people."According to the measurement of its remains by later generations, it covers an area of ​​about 0.55 square kilometers, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the Forbidden City in Beijing.There are pavilions and roads around the hall, leading directly from His Highness to Zhongnan Mountain, and a palace gate was built on Zhongnan Mountain.A channel was built from Afang Palace to cross the Weishui River in the north, and it has been connected with Xianyang.

In addition to the Afang Palace, Qin Shihuang also set up more than 300 palaces in the Guanzhong area and more than 400 palaces in the Guandong area to prepare for his tour needs. In order to review the achievements of despotism in various places, and also to show off his force in front of the people of the world, Qin Shihuang began to make frequent tours. In 220 BC, the year following the unification of China, Qin Shihuang went on a tour of Longxi and Beidi counties to inspect the border guards and deter the Huns in the north. In 219 B.C., Qin Shihuang made his second tour. He drove out of Hangu Pass, passed Luoyi to Xingyang, and went straight down the river to Mount Tai.The purpose of this trip is self-evident, which is to fulfill the duties of the emperor and enshrine Zen and Mount Tai.

Since ancient times, Mount Tai has been a place for offering sacrifices to God, and only the Son of Heaven is eligible to go to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices.Offering sacrifices on Mount Tai is called "Feng"; offering sacrifices under Mount Tai is called "Zen", collectively known as Feng Chan. Qin Shihuang climbed Mount Tai, carved inscriptions on standing stones, built altars to worship the sky, and held a grand ceremony.After descending the mountain, he traveled east along the seashore, passing Longkou, Yantai and other places in Shandong, and arrived at Langya, where he stayed for three months, then turned back and headed southwest.When passing through Pengcheng, because it is said that the Jiuding sank in Surabaya, Qin Shihuang fasted and bathed, so thousands of people went down to Surabaya to salvage the Jiuding, but found nothing.Continue to go south and cross the Huaihe River to Nanjun and Hengshan counties.In Dongting Lake, Qin Shihuang's fleet encountered a strong wind, thinking that it was Xiangjun (the two daughters of Yao, who married Shun as his wife and were buried here after death), thought it was the fault, so he sent people to cut down all the trees in Xiangshan. Then he went north to Wuguan with satisfaction and returned to Xianyang.

In 218 BC, Qin Shihuang made another east tour.When passing through Bolangsha (now Zhongmou, Henan Province), a hammer suddenly flew from the reeds on the side of the road and smashed his auxiliary car to pieces.The guards immediately launched a pursuit, but the assassin, relying on his familiarity with the terrain, had already escaped without a trace. The mastermind of this attack was named Zhang Liang. His ancestors had served the Korean royal family for a long time. Both his grandfather and father had served as the prime minister of South Korea.When Qin State destroyed Korea in 230 BC, Zhang Liang was only a young man. With hatred for Qin State, "my younger brother will not be buried when he dies", he tried to assassinate the King of Qin with all his wealth to recruit assassins.Later, he got a strong man. Zhang Liang specially built a hammer weighing 120 jin for him, and ambushed him in Bolangsha.When Qin Shihuang's convoy passed by, the Hercules threw the hammer at the driver, but he missed the passenger car, and Qin Shihuang was spared.

After experiencing this attack, Qin Shihuang continued eastward, came to Langya again, and then returned to Xianyang. In 215 BC, Qin Shihuang went on a tour for the fourth time, and the direction was still east.This trip, apart from shocking the world, has another important purpose, which is to send people to find the medicine of immortality. According to ancient Chinese legends, there are three fairy mountains in the sea, namely Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou, which are the residences of immortals.As early as the second tour, Qin Shihuang entrusted Xu Fu, an alchemist from Shandong, to lead thousands of virgins and virgins into the sea on a large ship to search for fairy mountains, but they returned without success.Qin Shihuang was not discouraged, and this time he sent alchemist Lu Sheng and others into the sea to look for immortals.As can be imagined, Lu Sheng also came back empty-handed, but he brought back a mysterious book, in which there was a sentence: "Hu Ye, who died in Qin Dynasty."

Qin Shihuang thought that Hu was referring to the Xiongnu, so he sent Meng Tian to attack the Xiongnu as soon as possible, and sent a large number of prisoners to the frontier to speed up the pace of building the Great Wall. Every time Qin Shihuang went on tour, he was accompanied by tens of thousands of heavily armed soldiers. The black "Qin" flag covered the sky and the sun, and the distinctive weapons and armor gleamed in the sun, showing the majesty and power of the emperor to the world.Sitting in an uncomfortable carriage—although the carriage has been modified by skilled craftsmen and the air can be adjusted through the windows, it still bumps very badly, which is completely different from the special trains used by later generations—traveling all over the Yellow River Basin and Great river north and south.

"This is the emperor!" People from all over the place spoke different dialects, exclaimed to each other, couldn't help lowering their heads, and then knelt down.Even those who hated him to the core, faced this extremely luxurious motorcade and saw his calm and majestic face, they couldn't help but feel a little shocked in their hearts. But there are also people who have a completely different attitude towards him.When he went to the south of the Yangtze River, Xiang Yu stood in the crowd and shouted loudly: "This person can be replaced!" This move shocked his uncle Xiang Liang, who quickly covered Xiang Yu's mouth with his hand, and dragged him out of the crowd.

When Qin Shihuang came back from his tour and passed the streets of Xianyang, Liu Bang, who was then the head of the Sishui Pavilion in Peixian County, happened to be participating in the construction of the Afang Palace as a small official.Seeing the emperor's motorcade marching solemnly and slowly on the spacious street, he couldn't help taking a long breath, and murmured: "This is what a man should look like!" Liu Bang didn't have any hatred for the emperor, only envy, and his subconscious thoughts were the same as Xiang Yu's: "The emperor can sit in this position, why can't I sit?" This was probably unexpected by Qin Shihuang.