Chapter 5 5. Document No. 1

The revolution was after the destruction of Qi. Qi is the last kingdom to be destroyed.Prior to this, Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, and Yan had all become prefectures and counties of Qin.After Qi was merged into Qin's territory, "China" was no longer multiple countries, but one country.This is something that has never happened before, and it marks the beginning of a new era.The order issued at such a time can be called "Document No. 1". The content of Document No. 1 is Ying Zheng's name. Names do matter.If the name is not right, the words will not be right.It also makes sense for Ying Zheng to ask to change his name.Because of his success, it is true that "it has never been seen since ancient times, and it is beyond the reach of the five emperors".If you are still called the king as before, why "call it successful and pass it on to future generations"?

So the ruling and opposition parties unanimously agreed to change the name. However, there are different opinions on how to change it. The suggestion of the ministers and doctors is to call it "Thai Emperor", which is actually no way.Because the highest titles of the owner before, one is king, the other is emperor, and the third is queen (this character is "hou", not the abbreviation of "hou" in the traditional Chinese character "front and back").The Xia Dynasty was called Queen, the Shang Dynasty was called Emperor, and the Zhou Dynasty was called King.Now, the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties are all gone, whether it is the empress, the emperor, or the king, how can it be used again?

So, is there a more advanced title? Yes, the emperor is.After the Three Emperors came the Five Emperors, after the Five Emperors came the Three Kings, and after the Three Kings came the Five Hegemons.The Five Hegemons are lower than the Three Kings, the Three Kings are lower than the Five Emperors, and the Five Emperors are lower than the Three Emperors.It can be seen that the emperor is the most advanced.Among the three emperors, the Thai emperor is the most honorable.Based on this, Ying Zheng should be satisfied. Unfortunately, Ying Zheng was not satisfied. The reason for his dissatisfaction is probably that he scoffed at all old things.In Ying Zheng's view, his career is groundbreaking and unprecedented.How could it be possible to devise a name without any imagination and creativity?

Inventions and creations are necessary, and Ying Zheng has to do it himself. In the end, it was called "Emperor". This is a compound word.Among them, Huang is an adjective and an attributive; Emperor is a noun and a subject.Therefore, the emperor can also be referred to as "emperor" for short.The country of the emperor is called the empire, and the system of the emperor is called the monarchy, and this is the reason. But isn't Emperor the title of the Shang Dynasty?How can it still be used? Because the original meaning of emperor is "creator", this is of course very suitable for Yingzheng's mind and appetite.What's more, in the Shang Dynasty, the emperor referred to both the human ruler and the gods.The gods are gods, and the gods are gods.Of course Ying Zheng likes the title shared by humans and gods.

So, he circled the word "Emperor" in one stroke. In fact, the head of Yin and Shang was called both emperor and king.For example, the one who was destroyed by King Wu of Zhou was called both Emperor Xin and King Zhou.Zhou Tianzi only called himself king, not emperor.The title of Emperor Tian, ​​the title of King.Zhou people respect heaven, how dare they overstep? Ying Zheng didn't care about that, because he really couldn't be king anymore.King is not the name of the Supreme.At first, the older chiefs could be called kings, the tribal kings.Later, the older monarchs could also be called kings, and they were called vassal kings.Even Zhou Tianzi, who used to be the king alone, could not compare with the current Yingzheng.The king of Zhou is the "common master", and Ying Zheng is the "sole master", is it the same?

You can only call yourself emperor.But you can't be called the next emperor, you have to be called the emperor.The original meaning of Huang is splendid, and the emperor is the "emperor emperor", which is of course better than the next emperor. In fact, the word emperor has existed since ancient times.Among the two emperors of Yan and Huang, the Yellow Emperor was originally called the emperor, that is, the "great creator".Later, there were too many "emperors", so he had to change his name to "Yellow Emperor", which means "the great creator who embodies the virtue of loess in the world", or "central emperor".

After the Yellow Emperor became the central emperor, the rest of the great creators were arranged in the east, west, north, south and four directions, namely the Red Emperor (Fire), the Green Emperor (Wood), the Black Emperor (Water), and the White Emperor (Gold). For the "Five Emperors". The problem is, rare things are expensive.If there are as many as five great creators, the price will inevitably drop.In order to set another level, the adjective "Huang" had to be used as a noun. The saying "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" was invented in this way. There is no evidence that Ying Zheng has studied this period of history.Perhaps at that time, he just thought he was "higher than the five emperors" and was embarrassed to be "compared to the three emperors", so he invented the "emperor" between the two.

The emperor, that is, the emperor and the emperor, is the emperor and the emperor. But in this way, emperor will forever change from an adjective to a noun, even a synonym for emperor.It is used more frequently than "emperor", such as royal family, royal family, imperial family, imperial palace, dynasty, imperial throne, imperial robe, imperial power. This is probably something Ying Zheng didn't expect. Of course, Yingzheng never imagined that his "first emperor" would only be handed down to the second generation, and his empire would die.It is also meaningful that although Qin II died, the term emperor continued, and no one advocated changing it.

From this point of view, isn't Yingzheng's "No. 1 Document" of great significance? certainly. On the surface, Yingzheng changed his title from King of Qin to Emperor just to satisfy his own vanity - he needs a title that is enough to "call success and pass it on to future generations", just like the victors of ancient Rome needed a triumphal arch.But if things were that simple, wouldn't the founding king of later generations follow suit and replace the emperor with some other title?Why no one changed it? Because there is no need. So, is it necessary for Ying Zheng to change his name?

necessary. In fact, when Qin Wang Yingzheng took Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi into his pocket, both the world and Qin changed.Previously, there were many countries, but now it is the only one.Then, Qin is called the Kingdom when it is "one", but is it still called the Kingdom when it is "the only"?Obviously not. What is that called? empire. This is of course a big change.The nature has changed, and the name has to change.The head of the Bo State is Bo, the head of the Hou State is Hou, the head of the Principality is Gong, and the head of the Kingdom is Wang.What about the head of the empire?Of course it has to be called the emperor.

Therefore, whether the head of state is called emperor or not depends on whether you want an empire.Later Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing all adhered to the imperial system, so their Yuan capital was called Emperor, and no one would change it. The emperor and the empire are one. However, such a matter that now seems to be taken for granted, was controversial at the beginning and even after the first emperor proclaimed himself emperor.

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