Chapter 43 8. Master speech, burn books and confuse Confucianism

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, although the feudal lords were in dispute and the wars were endless, the ideology and culture were extremely active, and various schools of thought emerged one after another, showing splendor.At that time, schools of thought such as Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, Mohism, Yin-Yangism, Strategists, Miscellaneous Schools, Military Strategists, etc. were popular in society, and academic thought flourished unprecedentedly. Historians praised this period as "a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend".

After Qin Shihuang unified China, in order to better inherit Chinese culture, he specially sent people to collect a large number of classical documents from the courts and folks of the six countries, collected them in the Daqin Palace, and awarded them to more than 70 prestigious and learned people. At the same time, he summoned students from all over the world to sort out and screen the documents. One day in 213 B.C., Qin Shihuang hosted a banquet in Xianyang Palace, entertaining his ministers to celebrate the victory of the Northern Expedition of the Xiongnu and Nanping Baiyue. At the same time, this day was also the 46th birthday of Qin Shihuang, and Qin Shihuang also celebrated for himself The meaning of birthday.

In the palace, there are so many talents and sages, so that Qin Shihuang suddenly felt that all the people in the world are for my use.He said vigorously to the officials: "You are the pillars of our Great Qin, my right arm and right arm, and I will govern the world. From now on, I will rely on your full assistance to make the country peaceful and the people healthy." Servant Zhou Qingchen took the opportunity to come forward and said: "In the past, the land of the Qin State was only a thousand miles away. Now, relying on your majesty's divine power, we can sweep the Liuhe, stabilize the sea, and expel the barbarians; but wherever the sun and moon shine, they will surrender to our Great Qin, and the land of the vassal states has also been destroyed. Become the county of my Great Qin; the people of Li live and work in peace and contentment, there will be no more wars, and the Great Qin Empire will last forever; Your Majesty's divine power and kindness have been unparalleled since ancient times."

Qin Shihuang was delighted to hear Zhou Qingchen's words of praise.And all of this was in the eyes of the doctoral officer Chun Yuyue, who was deeply dissatisfied with Zhou Qingchen's flattery, so he said to the first emperor with contempt: "Zhou Pushe is not a loyal minister to flatter His Majesty face to face." Zhou Qingchen said angrily: "Chunyu Yue, don't frame me for no reason!" Chunyu Yue rolled his eyes at Zhou Qingchen, didn't answer, and turned to the first emperor and said: "Kuang Zhengjun's fault, it's the duty of the minister, Your Majesty, please report to the minister."

"I love you, but it's okay to say it." Qin Shihuang said. "Your Majesty, the reason why the Zhou Dynasty was able to last for more than 800 years is mainly due to the entrustment of the children's heroes. Today, Your Majesty owns far more land than the previous kings, but your Majesty's children's heroes are ordinary people, without titles or fiefs. If there is an accident in the court, there will be no one to rescue. If you don't learn from the ancient times, the country will not be well governed. I hope that your majesty will not deepen his fault because of the flattery and flattery of Zhou Qingchen and others."

Chunyu Yue's words shocked everyone.As early as the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, there was a debate in the court about the enfeoffment system and the system of prefectures and counties. Later, Qin Shihuang insisted on implementing the system of prefectures and counties.Today in the court, Chun Yuyue blatantly mentioned the enfeoffment system again, which undoubtedly denied Qin Shihuang's original decision.All the officials watched Qin Shihuang tremblingly, and the harmonious and warm atmosphere of the banquet suddenly became very tense. Qin Shihuang did not expect that on such a festive occasion, someone would dare to repeat the old tune of enfeoffing the world, and his heart was already burning with anger, but in order to maintain the demeanor of the king, Qin Shihuang calmly said: "Regarding the enfeoffment and the system of prefectures and counties, it caused a lot of trouble in the beginning. In the past, the old Prime Minister Wang Wan tried to divide the world, but I denied it. I did not expect Dr. Chunyu to still oppose the prefecture system. I am not an arbitrary emperor. If you have any opinions, no matter whether you oppose or support them, you can say them all. .”

Qin Shihuang's reaction was beyond the expectations of the officials. They thought that Qin Shihuang would be furious, but they didn't expect His Majesty to encourage them to speak their minds.Confucian scholars who could not hold back for a long time became active and participated in the debate one after another.One by one, they were full of citations, and their faces were flushed. Later, they seemed to have completely forgotten the existence of Qin Shihuang, and they vented all their dissatisfaction with the government on weekdays, involving the state system of the Great Qin, penalties, taxes, corvee and many other aspects.

Qin Shihuang was very angry in his heart. Although he had heard about Confucian scholars criticizing the government, hearing it with his own ears today still shocked Qin Shihuang. He did not expect that Confucian scholars had become so "rampant".He waved his hand, stopped the Confucian scholars' debate, gave Li Si a meaningful look, and said, "What's Li Chengxiang's opinion on this?" Li Si knew that Shi Huang's move meant that he had to express his attitude.The system of prefectures and counties was recommended to the emperor at the beginning. Chun Yuyue's opposition to the system of prefectures and counties was actually aimed at himself. As the head of all officials, how could he remain silent?So he calmly said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the world situation changes with the changing of the times, and the country's system should of course follow the changes in the world. The enfeoffment system may be effective in the Zhou Dynasty, but it is also the root of war disasters in later generations. For the sake of the safety of all ages, how can we divide the world? Besides, the system of prefectures and counties was made by His Majesty himself, and its advantages are gradually emerging, so how can it be changed at will? Confucian scholars think that they have read some so-called classics, without considering the actual situation. Blindly copying the ancient system and criticizing the government is really deceiving the public."

Li Si's words caused great dissatisfaction among the Confucian scholars, so they launched another round of counterattacks against Li Si.Seeing this scene, Qin Shihuang quickly waved his hand to stop it: "My dear friends, stop arguing. The system of prefectures and counties is in place, and I have no intention of changing it. It's getting late, and I'm going to rest. Please go back." The debate ended. After Li Si returned home, he felt uneasy all the time.He believed that a group of Confucian scholars headed by Chun Yuyue were stubborn and advocating outdated views.If Your Majesty really follows their opinion, the wheels of the empire will surely go backwards.He thought for a long time, and suddenly he came up with a plan. Why not take the opportunity to write to His Majesty, suggesting that the "Book of Songs" should be burned, and the flood of Confucian pedantic thoughts should be strictly prohibited, and legalism should be respected exclusively, so as to achieve a high degree of ideological unity in the empire and strengthen the central government. centralization.He turned on the lamp to fight at night, writing vigorously, and in a short while, he wrote an eloquent memorabilia of nearly ten thousand words. Looking at the crystallization of his hard work, a smile appeared on Li Si's slightly aged face.

In this memorial, Li Si suggested to Qin Shihuang: burn all history books except "Qin Ji"; burn all "Poems" collected by ordinary people except doctoral officials, as well as works of various schools of thought; talk about "Poetry" with each other If it is discovered, it will be executed in the downtown area; if it is ancient but not today, the whole family will be killed; if officials know about it and do not report it, they will be punished as the same crime; if the decree is not implemented after 30 days, it will be punished; There is no need to destroy books; if you want to learn laws and regulations, you must learn from officials as teachers.

When Li Si's memorial was presented to Qin Shihuang, Qin Shihuang also felt that it was imperative to burn the world's "Poems", "Historical Records", so he called Li Si to the inner hall of the palace for a secret talk.It was this secret meeting that strengthened Qin Shihuang's determination to burn books, and also marked the coming of a catastrophe in the ideological and cultural field of the Qin Dynasty.Within a few days, Li Si's memorial was announced to the world in the form of the Daqin decree "Book Burning Order". As the prime minister, Li Si spared no effort to implement the order of the supreme ruler.Under Li Si's vigorous promotion, the governments of all counties and counties strictly implemented the order of burning books.All of a sudden, the Great Qin Empire was full of wars, not the smoke of war, but the smoke left by the burning of the slips. In 220 BC, after the death of his favorite empress, Qin Shihuang felt that life was impermanent, so he gradually became obsessed with seeking immortality.Due to the issuance of the book burning order, he found that those warlocks were gradually unwilling to get close to him.These warlocks were originally Confucian scholars, and they were extremely dissatisfied with Qin Shihuang's policy of burning books, so they were unwilling to refine elixir for Qin Shihuang.So Li Si took the opportunity to advise Qin Shihuang, explaining that those warlocks were just using lies to deceive him, and that there is no immortality in the world.Coincidentally at this time, Yao Jia, the doctor of imperial history, also presented a bundle of bamboo slips to Qin Shihuang, which was to impeach the old minister Wang Wan.According to the booklet, Wang Wan believed in Confucian alchemy and had close contacts with Confucian alchemists. After the order to burn the books was issued, Wang Wan secretly told Confucian alchemists to hide the forbidden books. Later, they were discovered, and these alchemists had to run away. Qin Shihuang was very angry when Confucian scholars and alchemists fled one after another. He ordered Li Si to interrogate those Confucian scholars who had been arrested.The Confucian scholars couldn't stand the torture, so they made false accusations and implicated others. As a result, more than 460 Confucian scholars were arrested and imprisoned.In a fit of anger, Qin Shihuang ordered all Confucian scholars to be killed, creating a shocking incident of Confucianism in history. The burning of books and burying Confucianism carried out by Qin Shihuang was the first major tragedy in the political struggle of literati and bureaucrats, and it was also the first major catastrophe in the history of Chinese thought and culture.Not only did it not bring stability to the Qin Dynasty, on the contrary, Qin Shihuang became a cruel, inhumane and arbitrary tyrant in the eyes of Confucian scholars and scholars all over the world.