Chapter 5 Chapter 2 The Weakness of Unity

The distance between the central and local governments made it difficult to implement ruling orders, especially in the remote Qi, Yan, and Jingchu, where it was almost impossible to implement the rule of law, so they still maintained a semi-independent feudal system. Centralization, hidden dangers in success When the Qin State re-established the country in the Yongqi area, the organizational structure still inherited the traditional martial arts style of the ancestors, and the tribal fighting group organization was maintained. In order to strengthen the mobility and independence of each tribe, in the Governance and management are quite lax, and it all depends on the personal strength of the leader for integration. Therefore, although its combat effectiveness has been strong since the founding of the country, its national power has not been able to exert its full strength. It was only on the stage that he had a higher performance. After Qin Mugong passed away, he stagnated again.

The Shang Yang Reform in Qin Xiaogong's era was another peak in the development of Qin's civilization.He used the Shiwu system, a local grassroots organization designed by his father Qin Xiangong, and implemented the Lianzai method, so that the originally loose tribal organization became a grassroots group with close relations and mutual supervision.In the second reform ten years later, the traditional fighting tribal groups were formally disbanded through the system of prefectures and counties, and the armed forces of each tribe were directly commanded by the Qin royal family, completely achieving the nationalization of the centralized military.

This is not only an experience that the Qin royal family has never had since the founding of the country, it is also completely different from the traditional parallel political organization of Chinese civilization for thousands of years. Even the patriarchal clan and feudal system created by Zhou Gongdan cannot match the strict structure It's on par. In other words, Shang Yang's reform was a design based on purely theoretical logic. It can be said to be an unprecedented and bold attempt without precedent.Therefore, Qin Xiaogong and Shang Yang are very cautious in execution. (About the process and details, there is a more complete description in my book "The History of the Rise and Fall of Qin Company" for reference.)

Fortunately, Qin State is an immigrant-style tribal organization. It has no burdens, and its thinking is relatively simple. In addition, the armed groups have always obeyed the traditional habits of command, so that Qin Xiaogong and Shang Yang's two consecutive "earthquake-like reform movements have not yet been too big. Lots of resistance." Combat tribal groups have always been more active and active. After the reform, all soldiers were under the unified management of the central government, and their forces were more concentrated. Therefore, from King Qin Hui and King Qin Zhaoxiang to the early years of Qin Wangzheng, the momentum of Qin State has been expanding rapidly.

Cooperating with this force, the Qin royal authorities kept launching more and larger-scale wars, which not only caused the rapid growth of Qin's territory, but also rapidly increased the number of rulers. In addition, the local structures became increasingly complex, so the centralized Governance efficiency began to be seriously challenged. In the era of King Qin Zhaoxiang, he tried to implement the county system in the newly occupied areas of Han and Zhao, trying to establish the same management model as Qin.However, during the reign of Lu Buwei and the Qin Dynasty, due to the rapid expansion of the occupied areas—especially the distant Qi, Yan, and Chu lands, there was no time for more systematic planning, so the military occupation method had to be maintained temporarily, and it was not included in the centralized power of the Qin royal family. in the system.

Although the political plan to unify the six countries has always been controlled by foreign political groups, most of the people who actually command the battle are still the local tribal leaders. Therefore, after the conquest is completed, it is these combat legions who are responsible for guarding the newly occupied area generals.In order to effectively accomplish their tasks, most of them can also maintain a considerable degree of cooperation with the remaining political forces in the conquered countries, so they can have a more practical understanding of the situation in each region. The struggle between old and new factions exposes the problems of the new regime

Qin Wangzheng proclaimed himself emperor. After the establishment of the new dynasty, the local leaders headed by Prime Minister Wang Wan made suggestions to Qin Shihuang: "We have just annexed all countries and unified the world, and the territory has increased a lot, especially Yan, Qi, and Chu are quite far away. It is best to establish princes and kings first to establish a permanent foundation for rule. Therefore, please appoint princes as kings to effectively rule Newly added territories and nationalities." However, for the foreign political groups in charge, Qin's current system is their ideal, and Qin's ability to unify the whole of China is their most proud achievement.Moreover, the traditional feudal system has always been the phenomenon they most reject and consider the most unreasonable. It should be thoroughly reformed. If the feudal system is restored, they are likely to become a "powerless class" again.Therefore, the only way to completely maintain the current county system and bureaucratic system is their ruling philosophy, and it is also the goal of their enthusiasm and life. For them, the feudal system should have been eliminated long ago.

Qin Shihuang succeeded in seizing power in the early years, relying on the support of local leaders, he was able to expel Lu Buwei and other foreign political groups. Even though he later accepted Li Si's advice and reused guest ministers, in the imperial court, the leaders of the local faction still had an absolute advantage. Therefore, in the face of the new political situation, under the active suggestions of local leaders, although it did not conform to the spirit of the current administrative system of the Qin royal family, Qin Shihuang still had to carefully consider the pros and cons of this matter. "Historical Records" records:

"The first emperor gave his advice to the officials, and the officials all thought it was convenient." But Ting Wei Li Si, the leader of the foreign political group, immediately defended his political ideals: "When the Zhou Dynasty implemented the feudal system, it also divided up many of their descendants. Among the princes, the clans with the same surname also accounted for the vast majority. The attack was like an enemy, and Zhou Tianzi was powerless to stop it. "Now it's hard to rely on His Majesty's divine power, and the world is unified again, so we should adhere to our new Qin system, which divides the whole world into counties and counties, and the royal family directly rules it. It is enough for the princes and heroes to pay taxes as rewards. Don't worry." You can no longer confiscate the land, so that you can truly rule according to the law and make the world have no objections. This is the art of political stability! Feudal princes are bound to cause more disasters in the future."

Qin Shihuang, who is full of confidence in the current situation and good at inferential thinking, said after evaluating the opinions of both parties: "The world has experienced wars and chaos for too long, and the people have been deeply hurt by wars. In the past, the long-term wars and chaos were mostly caused by the vassals in order to expand or protect their own power. Abolish feudalism and establish centralization Under Qin Shihuang's decision-making, "the majority obeys the minority, and ordered that the newly included territory also adopt the prefecture and county system, dividing the world into thirty-six prefectures and prefectures, with county guards for chief executives, county lieutenants for military chiefs, and supervisors in charge. There are counties under the prefecture of the county, and the county magistrate is set up in the county, and the county magistrate is assisted. All the common people and nationalities (including princes and nobles who have lost power) are called Qianshou (the state of Qin is still black, so black hair is used as the title of the common people. ), local officials were directly appointed and managed by the central government, forming a fairly complete centralized system.”

The military generals of the native faction, because they have been stationed in various vassal states for a long time, made them actually feel the differences in the social structures of various countries, especially the loose and complex organizations of Qi and Chu, which they could not understand. The actual stationing in a foreign country also made these leaders truly realize that the distance between the central government and the local government will make it difficult to implement the ruling order, especially in the distant Qi, Yan and Jingchu. At that time, when the transportation was very inconvenient, they wanted to enforce the rule of law. It is almost impossible to establish socialism, so the semi-independent feudal system is still maintained, which is more effective in ruling and managing this large and complex area. The fathers of these local leaders happened to be sacrificed under Shang Yang's reform. In order to effectively gather national power, their traditional status and power were deprived, including the legions originally owned by their own families, which were also incorporated into the country's armed forces. .Therefore, although they are accustomed to obey the strong leadership of the Qin royal family, they are not at all enthusiastic about the Qin system after Shang Yang's reform. In fact, many of the personal experiences of these local leaders are worthy of important reference for the new government to adjust its thinking when making decisions. It is just that these veterans who have been on the battlefield for many years are not good at reasoning and thinking, and they are not good at explaining themselves. Therefore, the arguments they put forward are still inseparable from traditional common sense, and this political position is too close to their own direct interests. Naturally, it is not convincing in the slightest to Qin Shihuang, who has always been good at rational thinking. The foreign political group headed by Li Si, based on their disappointment with the traditional feudal system and their excessive enthusiasm for Qin's new legal system, made them also have a blind spot for the rapid changes in the immediate political environment.Although their personal power almost depends on the trust of Qin Shihuang, under the centralized bureaucratic system of Qin State, they are the management layer that can really have real power, so it is their real interest to maintain the current system.The arguments of Li Si and others against the feudal system are not necessarily completely objective. After returning to Xianyang from Handan in his childhood, Qin Shihuang never went abroad. Therefore, the distance and complexity of Qi, Chu and other countries cannot be experienced personally. Although he has always been good at rational thinking and inference, he lacks practical experience. It also often causes deviations in the premise assumptions, and naturally it is difficult to make correct judgments in inferences. What's more, Qin Shihuang himself was indulging in a high degree of confidence in his great success. Since the centralized system can effectively enable Qin to achieve the goal of unifying the world, it must also be able to effectively rule this country.For Qin Shihuang, this inference couldn't be more reasonable. Nationalization of the world, winning face and losing face Strong combat power, coupled with outstanding political innovations, enabled Qin to annex the world with the power of a single country and complete military and political unification. After a court debate on centralization and decentralization, Qin Shihuang ruled The principle of socialism, and practice "the policy goal of nationalization of the world. The next work is naturally the unification of economic and cultural systems such as weights and measures, currency, train tracks, and writing." Chinese civilization was originally multi-ethnic and multi-cultural.The language, writing, food, clothing, housing, transportation and other living habits of each region are very different, and the weights and measures and currency are also very messy.Especially in the southern state of Chu, due to the decentralized system, the local power is relatively strong. Even within its own country, the systems of language, writing, currency, and weights and measures are very different. The ones who have done more systematically in this respect are the Qi State in the east and the Qin State itself. Qi State is a commercial country. In view of the convenience and needs of commerce, coupled with Guan Zhong's early innovation campaigns, Qi State appears to be more systematic in this regard. After Shang Yang's reform, Qin State strived to centralize power, so it also established a relatively complete standard in this regard. But even these two countries have great differences in weights and measures. In terms of the calculation unit of containers, the Qin State used He, Sheng, Dou, and Dendrobium, ten in one liter, ten liters in one dou, and ten Dou in one Dendrobium.The state of Qi uses units such as liters, beans, districts, kettles, and bells, five liters for one bean, five beans for one district, five districts for one kettle, and ten kettles for one bell. After the unification of the world, for the convenience of tax collection, the accurate calculation of bureaucrat salaries (some salaries were provided in kind at that time), and the needs of promoting nationwide commercial activities, it was indeed a very important task to unify the standards of weights and measures. However, the reform in this area has not been so smooth. From the 26th year of Qin Shihuang's announcement of the unified national weights and measures until the period of the second emperor, there are constantly appearing in historical materials that the government decrees and edicts at that time are amending new regulations in this area. It seems that the new standard There are many difficulties in implementation, so it has not been determined.Even if judging from the relics unearthed in the Qin state in the future, it seems that Shang Yangsheng and Shihuangsheng existed in the folk at the same time, which shows that the new system seems to have not been completely accepted by everyone.Military and political unity is relatively easy to achieve, but the unity of life and culture cannot be achieved in a short period of time by merely declaring decrees. (Taiwan also tried to replace the catty system with the kilogram system in the early years, but it was still unsuccessful.) Eastern countries such as Qi and Yan have always used knife-shaped "dao money", while countries in the Central Plains have adopted spade-shaped "cloth money", and Chu in the south is popular with egg-shaped "ant nose money". The currency of Qin State is the round "yuan coin". The words "half" and "two"." For the smoothness of economic activities, the unification of currency is absolutely necessary.However, Qin Shihuang's policy of unifying currency is the same as weights and measures, and the actual effect does not seem to be great.Except for the base camps of the Qin royal family-Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces, the standard currency of the first emperor's half two coins has not been found in other places, which shows that the scope of its real circulation is quite narrow. The unification of train tracks is for the convenience of transportation. In order to reach all parts of the country in the shortest period of time, the establishment of the transportation network is naturally a top priority. In the 27th year of the first emperor, which is the second year after the unification, Qin Shihuang announced the start of construction. In order to enhance the transportation efficiency and ensure the safety of passing vehicles on the Dachi Expressway leading from Xianyang to all parts of the country, it is indeed necessary to have a uniform size for the rails. But the question is what to do with the old car?To unify the planning of the country's vehicles at the same time, there must be a rather long buffer period. It was only about fifteen years before and after the unification of the Qin State. It is really doubtful how effective the replacement of the track will be. Among all cultural unification policies, the most important one considered by later scholars is the unification of characters. During the Warring States Period, each country’s characters have their own characteristics. Therefore, shortly after the unification of the world, the new prime minister Li Si proposed a plan for the unification of characters. . In the late Han Dynasty, Xu Shen listed 9,353 Chinese characters in his famous book Shuowen Jiezi, and recorded the development of these Chinese characters as follows: "After Qin Shihuang unified the world, Prime Minister Li Si played a memorial to abolish the different types of scripts of various countries, and suggested that the scripts of Qin State be used as the base ship to design the new script of the empire. "Ai Li Pian" and "Bo Xue Pian" written by Taishi Ling Hu Wujing both suggested that the big seal script in historical records should be slightly improved to form a new script called "Xiaozhuan". There are also some historical records that Xiaozhuan was invented by Li Si.It’s just that Li Si, as the prime minister of the new empire, is responsible for promoting a unified policy in many aspects, and there are many tasks. It is doubtful whether he will have time to design new characters by himself. Therefore, it is better to regard him as the inventor than the It seems more reasonable to be the promoter of the new text. In fact, even the small seal script promoted by the government does not seem to have been used for too long. Cheng Miao, who also belonged to the Qin Shihuang era, has officially stated publicly that he has spent ten years of hard work changing the big seal script and the small seal script into one. A simpler script - Lishu. The simpler and more abstract the text, the faster it will become popular.Therefore, although the official script was not vigorously promoted by the government, according to the existing historical data, it seems to be more widely spread among the people than the small seal script. In addition to Cheng Miao, some people also believe that the official script was invented by an official named Wang Cizhong by modifying ancient books. Judging from these records, there must have been many workers involved in the creation and design of characters at that time. However, later in an ancient tomb in Linzi County, Shandong Province, it was found that on the coffin of Hu Gong, the sixth grandson of Jiang Taigong in Qi State (about the Western Zhou Dynasty), there were characters similar to Lishu. Perhaps Lishu was unified in Qin State Before the Six Kingdoms, there was Qi State in the east. Tour the world, desperately maintain public power After unifying the world, Qin Shihuang's most eye-catching activity was to tour the world. He was sent back to Xianyang from Handan at the age of 9, and during the thirty years he unified the world at the age of 39, Qin Shihuang did not seem to have the habit of traveling far.However, since the third year after the reunification, Emperor Shihuang, who entered middle age and gradually weakened in physical strength, instead launched a series of activities to tour the world. "Historical Records: The Benji of Qin Shihuang" records that Qin Shihuang made four long-distance tours during the nine years of his last career, and finally even died of illness on the way. The first time was the 28th year of the First Emperor, and the third year after reunification: Xianyang→Fengshan (Zou County, Shandong Province)→Taishan (Tai’an County, Shandong Province)→Huang (Huang County, Shandong Province)→Yu (Muping County, Shandong Province)→ Chengshan (Wendeng County, Shandong Province) → Zhifu (Yantai City, Shandong Province) → Langya (Zhucheng County, Shandong Province) → Pengcheng (Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province) → Mount Heng (Xiangtan City, Hunan Province) → Xiangshan Temple (Xiangyin County, Hunan Province) → Nanjun (Southern Hubei Province) → Wuguan (Shang County, Shaanxi Province) → Xianyang. The second time is the 29th year of Qin Shihuang: Xianyang → Yangwu (Yangwu County, Henan Province) Yizhifu → Langya → Shangdang (Changzhi City, Shanxi Province) → Xianyang. The third time is the 32nd year of Qin Shihuang: Xianyang → Jieshi (Changli County, Hebei) → Shangjun (Shaanxi Shibu) → Xianyang. " The fourth time is the 37th year of Qin Shihuang: Xianyang → Yunmeng (Yunmeng County, Hubei Province) → Haizhu (Xiangcheng County, Anhui Province) → Qiantang (Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province) → Kuaiji (Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province) → Wu (Jiangsu Province Suzhou City) → Langya → Laoshan (Qingdao City, Shandong Province) → Chengshan → Zhifu → Pingyuanjin (Pingyuan County, Shandong Province) → Sand Dunes (Pingxiang County, Hebei Province) on the way to death. Although many historians believe that Qin Shihuang's large-scale tour of the world was for fun and to show his supremacy. The places are almost all the most unstable Qidi and Chudi. When Qin Shihuang was young, he was very serious about his work. After unifying the world, there were so many political, cultural, and economic reforms to be promoted. He must have been busy day and night. It is recorded in "Historical Records": "Every matter in the world, no matter how big or small, all depend on the above. From the top to the weighing of stones and books, there are results day and night. If you don't get the results, you can't rest." In other words, the documents that Qin Shihuang had to instruct every day weighed 120 catties (one stone). At that time, paper had not yet been invented, and official documents were all engraved on bamboo slips. The 120-kilogram bamboo slips were about the height of a person. If the instructions are not finished, he will not rest day and night. It can be seen that Qin Shihuang is indeed working hard. How can such a king have the leisure to go sightseeing? . Not only did he make long-distance tours, but Qin Shihuang often went out to visit Xianyang in a subdued manner. He went on tour in micro-clothes, showing that he was not in a hurry to show his power. During his second tour in 29 years, he was almost assassinated in Bolangsha, and in Xianyang in 2031, he was also almost killed. It can be seen that these actions are quite dangerous. If it is not absolutely necessary for work, no king would want to do it. What's more, the traffic was not developed more than 2,000 years ago, and the road conditions were not good. It was already quite hard to travel long distances. Similar to Xun Xing, it is related to stone carving. In the 28th year of the First Emperor, stone carvings were carried out on Fengshan Mountain, Taishan Mountain, and Langyatai. In the 29th year of the first emperor's reign, Zhifu carved stones, and Zhifu Dongguan carved stones. In the 32nd year of the first emperor, Jieshi was carved into stone. In the 37th year of the first emperor, Kuaiji carved stone. The engraved stones symbolize the influence of the Qin imperial family, and also represent the arrival of Qin's ruling power in these areas. It can be seen that Qin Shihuang's tour and engraved stones have their political purpose - to promote the public power of the Qin imperial family. As mentioned earlier, most of Qin Shihuang's tour routes were in Qi and Chu.Because these areas have always been quite different from the culture of the Central Plains, the local organizations are complex and independent, and they are less obedient to the public power of the Qin imperial family, especially the unified policies related to economy and culture. Buy it, and local government officials are bound to feel a headache too.In order to implement the centralized decision-making and to assist the execution of public power, Qin Shihuang had to use the reputation of the emperor to travel here and there to visit various places.With his huge workload in the palace and the hard work of traveling long distances, Qin Shihuang finally died of illness during the east tour of the sand dunes. Strictly speaking, he should have died of exhaustion. 【Chen Wende Commentary】 Laozi's "Tao Te Ching Chapter Five": "The world is not benevolent, and all things are regarded as dogs. The sage is not benevolent, and the common people are regarded as dogs. Between heaven and earth, it is as stupid as it is! It is imaginary and unyielding, and it moves and heals. There are many words If you are poor, it is better to stay in the middle." Many people like to talk about "selflessness", but they don't know that as long as there are likes and dislikes, it is impossible to be truly "selfless".Benevolent government is the highest ideal of Confucian governance, but if you always think about benevolent government in your heart, you must have preferences and have your own standards, so it is no longer "disinterested". Lao Tzu believes that "the highest state of doing nothing in the world is to treat all things equally and without partiality. This is not benevolent, but also great benevolence." A hound dog is a dog made of grass. It is just a decorative foil, and it doesn't matter what you like or dislike.Therefore, heaven and earth do not know what benevolence is, and regard all things as dogs, completely equal, without love or hatred.A sage is also selfless, treating all people equally, like a dog, without likes or hatreds. Luyintuo, Qinyinyue, Luyin is a bellows used by blacksmiths to bake fire. The characteristic of the bellows is that it is empty in the middle. Because of the emptiness, it can store air and let it flow to generate wind. When it shakes more At that time, the wind will be stronger, the sky and the earth are like a scorpion, empty and empty, so it can biochemically and nourish all kinds of things, because it has no prejudice and is inclusive, so that all things and all kinds of things can multiply and multiply, more and more, endlessly. The human enlightenment obtained from this is also that politicians should be quiet and inactive, let everything develop naturally, and develop self-sufficiency.Doing too much and setting up too many facilities will easily lead to mistakes, so it is better to do nothing and say nothing, to guard the empty world in your heart, and to be tolerant is in line with the right way. From the perspective of modern efficiency, it may be difficult to agree with such a political idea, but Lao Tzu is a native of Chu State, which is a decentralized tribal country with a vast territory. Human intervention may bring greater harm. In the "Character History" written by Liu Shao, a Wei man in the Three Kingdoms period, he also clearly pointed out: "The government of a country is based on tasteless and five flavors... It is the government of Wang Hua, which is suitable for unifying the big..." Tasteless and five flavors refer to the fact that water is tasteless, so the five flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty can all be mixed with it. If the king who is used to unify a country is lenient, the principles of the world will be easier to obtain.In a complex and vast country like China, the king is quiet and inaction, and he bows himself to the south as the king. Isn't he also the sage king of Yao and Shun in the Confucian ideal? . Qin Shihuang was not serious about governance.Faced with the chaos after the collapse of Chinese civilization, Qin Shihuang was eager to do something, and actively wanted to guide the establishment of a new civilization.Having a strong sense of philosophy and mission in my heart happened to be the biggest problem when the foreign political group dominated by Qin Shihuang and Li Si was in power. Qin Xiaogong’s reform greatly increased Qin’s development strength, but the excessive expansion after King Qin Hui also brought new crises. King Zhaoxiang continued to adopt a terrifying policy of massacre after the middle period, which has fully demonstrated this new civilization. , has also developed to the bottleneck of powerlessness. After Qin Shihuang unified China, this problem became more serious.After the war, there was an opportunity for Qin Shihuang to think about new strategies and plan a system of long-term stability, but Qin Shihuang himself and Prime Minister Li Si had too strong political ideas in their hearts, which made them unable to see the problem, and even misinterpreted the symptoms of the problem. The newly established empire is facing the crisis of collapse due to the rigidity of action.Qin Shihuang's reluctant implementation of compulsory centralization actually only made the problem worse.