Chapter 4 Chapter 4 The Age of Despotism Begins

The Qin Dynasty was also a man of insight. In 213 BC, Dr. Chun Yuyue suddenly raised a very political topic at the imperial meeting held by Qin Shihuang. Chun Yuyue said: "The traditional kings of the Shang and Zhou dynasties entrusted the children of the royal family, and let their feudal states support the central government like branches. Now your majesty has a wide range of land, but your children and grandchildren are not like the old Zhou Dynasty. Entrusted out to be princes. Once there is some trouble in the country, for example, powerful officials like Tian Chang and Jin Liuqing appear, what kind of power will be used to rescue the emperor? If there are princes who have been entrusted out as princes, they can bring troops back to rescue them But you didn't do that, who will support you as a branch in the future?"

When I said this, it was probably winter outside, and the window screens covered with gray stars faintly revealed the solid scenery of winter.well!Chunyuyue, that annoying bastard, brought up again the question of the enfeoffment system, which no one could explain. Although the enfeoffment system seems to be a backward political structure, the enfeoffment system also has the benefits of enfeoffment. First, assigning princes can strengthen the power of the royal family, which is what Chun Yuyue said.We said that the throne is a fragile thing, which can easily be taken away by people with different surnames.To give some examples, after the death of Liu Bang in the Han Dynasty, the Lu family of her daughter-in-law Lu Zhi almost replaced the Liu surname and controlled the center.However, because Liu Bang implemented the "dual-track system of counties and enfeoffments", he enfeoffed some "kings" to rule Qichu and other places.Liu Xiang, Liu Bang's grandson, king of Qi, raised the banner from Qi to conduct military exercises against the Lu family.Zhu Xuhou (not the king, but another grandson of Liu Bang) collaborated with the ministers to kill the Lu family.Finally, the ruling power of the dynasty returned to the hands of Liu. The "dual-track system of prefectures and counties and enfeoffment" instead of Qin's "simple prefecture and county system" greatly improved the survival coefficient of the emperors of the Han Dynasty.

And once there is no king, bad examples will appear frequently.For example, after the death of Qin Shihuang, Zhao Gao exercised power, turned a deer into a horse, and wanted to usurp Qin's own generation, but because the Qin royal family was weak, he could only watch Zhao Gao do whatever he wanted.During the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin also suppressed the power of the Li family to be the king to the minimum, and finally the evil result of Wu Zetian's "usurpation" appeared.Seeing Sister Wu killing Li's descendants, there is no one outside who can save her.It is also a reason why Cao Cao did not enshrine the clan, which also caused Sima Yi to usurp power very quickly.

In short, the single system of prefectures and counties led to the isolation and weakness of the royal family, which was easily hijacked by county officials or court careerists. This is what later generations said: "Three generations of feudalism lasted a long time, while Qin was isolated and died quickly." When the people of the Han Dynasty summed up the lessons of the death of the Qin Dynasty, they also said: "There is no support for the root of the flesh and blood, and there is no guard for the wing of the ruler outside. Wu and Chen are white and strong, and Liu Xiang is killed." It specifically refers to the banning of the enfeoffment system mistakes.

Of course, with the strengthening of imperial autocracy, the ability and skills of emperors to exercise autocratic power have also become stronger and stronger. In the end, they have more and more ways to maintain imperial power, and they have become stronger and stronger, such as popularizing autocratic ideology and Confucian imperial power loyalty and filial piety. Consciousness and Legalism harness the constraints of bureaucratic means.In the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were not many entrusted princes, and the imperial power could still be protected.But when the Qin Dynasty first tried imperial autocracy, there was still a process of learning and improving, haha.

The second benefit of the enfeoffment system is to properly satisfy people's nostalgia for the traditional enfeoffment system and reduce political turmoil in remote areas. There is an idiom called "too long to reach". With the low speed of information investigation flow feedback, order execution ability, and backward material technology (no trucks, armored vehicles, and railways) at that time, the central government's control of remote areas was inevitably unable to do what it wanted.It's better to send some kings to govern nearby. They have more sense of responsibility and recognition of the empire than the sheriff.Through efficient direct management, well-informed information, and government orders tailored to local conditions, it may be possible to rule the local area as peacefully and peacefully as the Wangji area, without causing major incidents.Even if something goes wrong, Feng Wang sits in the local area, captures information early, and adopts elimination measures, which may be able to put out the turmoil before it gets out of control.

In fact, it was precisely because the Qin Dynasty did not assign feudal lords as vassals and kings in the remote areas where its power was weak, and directly managed the local areas, so that the descendants of the nobles of the six countries had room to fully develop in those areas.A few years later, at the end of Qin, the first people to rebel were Chu and Qi, which were far away and difficult to control, which eventually led to the collapse of the Qin Empire. Historical progress requires a gradual transition. For Qi in the east and Chu in the south, the enfeoffment system is a two-thousand-year-old political structure that people have been used to for a long time. If it is suddenly changed in one day, the people will not be able to do so psychologically. accepted.In fact, they were very unwilling to be included in the prefecture and county system, and Qin Shihuang traveled there mainly to suppress them.

For distant areas like Qi and Chu, sending a prince there not only satisfies the historical memory of the local enfeoffment system to a certain extent, but also strengthens the direct penetration and control of Qin forces in these areas.If bureaucrats are appointed to Qichu, the officials of the county system will not be as loyal to the central government as the descendants of the royal family.In fact, after the anti-Qin movement began, the county guard in the Wuyue area, named Yin Tong, actually wanted to take the initiative to lead the people to rebel and attack the central government.If it is to send the prince to the local area to become the king, it should not be so.

The third benefit of the enfeoffment system can play an anti-dictatorial role.We say that resisting dictatorship cannot rely on the king's own good intentions or educate him with ideology, but can only rely on objective forces.Under the enfeoffment system, there are two channels against dictatorship.First, under the intervention of other vassal states, a vassal state cannot be too cruel and vicious to the people, otherwise it will inevitably be attacked and interfered by external forces.During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, those small countries that were destroyed were usually caused by the monarchs of the small countries being too oblivious to the people of their own countries (for example, because Uncle Liang liked to build large-scale construction projects, the people of Qin finally boiled with dissatisfaction, and the Qin people took the opportunity to destroy it).In other words, the existence of an enemy country can restrict the monarch of the country from acting recklessly against the people.And once there is no enemy country, "going out will be invincible and foreign patients will be invincible, and the country will perish" (Mencius).This principle also plays a role in modern society. Many countries dare not treat the people too badly because of the existence of international forces.

The emperor's violent temper was all caused by the provision after the enfeoffment system was replaced by the prefecture and county system. In the era when there were no vassal states or enemy states to restrict the imperial power, the emperor Lao Tzu was the only one, and there was no objective force to restrict him (except for the people's uprising that eventually died together). "A tiger's butt can't be touched" and a tiger that "accompanies a king is like a tiger" is ready to growl and eat people at any time.His golden words are equal to the absolute imperial decree, and he often acts arbitrarily, slaughtering the world at will, forming a great dictatorship.Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the courtiers lost the scholarly style of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and were reduced to trembling and boneless "slaves".

Under the enfeoffment system, there is a second channel to restrict the monarch.Even in a vassal state, the power and cities are again entrusted to the family of the Qing doctor. We call this small enfeoffment.This formed a "multi-family coalition governing" with the characteristics of "aristocratic democracy".For example, in the state of Jin, the six ministers took turns cooperating to govern.If this kind of coalition democratic governance of multiple families and aristocrats continues to evolve, it is possible to form an aristocratic parliament and become the Western one.In the feudal era of the West, it was under this enfeoffment mechanism that the parliament of the aristocratic union came into being. The parliament imposed huge restrictions on the royal power, and finally embarked on Western democracy. Therefore, there were so many stupid and tyrants in the entire imperial power era, even if they were not stupid and tyrants, they were all majestic and solemn, but the monarchs in the era of enfeoffment were much more easy-going.This is because the son of heaven under the enfeoffment system is restricted by the princes, and the princes and kings are restricted by other princes and domestic officials, so that they must govern cautiously, walk on thin ice, fulfill their duties, and act in compliance with the rules in order to grow their country.They were also forced to be respectful and courteous to the scholars, and be humble and tolerant, so they had the very masculine style and bullish integrity of the scholars in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. In short, the reason why the Qin Dynasty made mistakes such as lightly using the people's power and making great achievements led to poisoning the country was that it had nothing to do with the prefecture and county system that promoted the emperor's dictatorship, self-willedness, and unrestricted control (in addition, if Qin Shihuang separated Qi and Chu If the king is governed, the king may adopt a reasonable method that is different from Qin Shihuang's eagerness for success in the area under his jurisdiction, and choose a reasonable method that suits local conditions, so that the whole country will not cause a pot of charcoal fire, so that the overall situation is out of control). The fourth benefit of the enfeoffment system is the reduction of large-scale peasant uprisings: We say that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were the first peasant uprisings in Chinese history. Before that, during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties for more than a thousand years, it was rare to hear such fiery, Widespread, massive peasant uprisings.This is because under the previous enfeoffment system, each vassal state directly managed the land, and the people's livelihood was uneven, with some high and some low, but not everywhere.Even if any vassal state is in chaos, it will be caused by improper policies in some areas, and it will not cause chaos in all vassal states in the world, resulting in a major uprising all over the world. The same is true in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. The number of peasant uprisings was far less than that in China during the same period, and the scale was also much smaller than that in China.This is because they were also feudal societies at the time.Even if an uprising breaks out, it is only against a few brutal lords, and it is difficult to develop into a large-scale movement against the king. Therefore, there will be fewer national uprisings under the enfeoffment system, which is jointly proved by Chinese and Western history.It is different under the county system.Under the prefecture and county system, the emperor is dictatorial, the national government orders are unified, and the centralized control is very strong. Once the emperor goes crazy, the wrong policy will spread to the whole country through the prefecture and county system, causing widespread risks. The peasant uprising has become a cycle in Chinese history. Sexual nightmares, no wonder. This is explained from the perspective of geographical factors. Under the enfeoffment system, the constraints of the two forces on the dictatorship of the monarch are also an important factor in reducing peasant uprisings. The fifth benefit of the enfeoffment system is to improve management efficiency and reduce labor. In the era of the enfeoffment system, when a person traveled far away—for example, to serve in the military—the most he could do was to go to the borders of his own vassal state, without leaving a single province.But now that they have been unified into one big empire, there are more opportunities to travel far.For example, when Liu Bang sent prisoners to the central government, he had to go all the way from northern Jiangsu to Shaanxi.The same is true for public food.When farmers pay public grain, they have to hire cars to transport it to the central government under the organization of local officials.With the backward means of transportation at that time, it took one or two thousand miles to transport public grain, wood, leather and other materials to the central government, which was bound to cause a great waste of manpower and material resources: transporting materials worth one yuan to the central government required tens of dollars in labor and travel expenses .The central government has received very little, while the people have suffered deeply from its poison.These farmers who deliver public grain and supplies have to pay for their own clothes and rations on the road. Before halfway, the new clothes are already worn out, and other expenses are also high.So people couldn't stand it, and simply fled one after another, and some missed the beauty of the enfeoffment system, and liked to have a local prince and king, who could allow themselves to serve in the military or pay public rations, without "province"—this is probably also It is indeed a benefit of the enfeoffment system.Indeed, with the relatively backward technological means at the time, if the huge China insisted on reunifying from the enfeoffment system into a large empire to operate, the cost would definitely increase, but the efficiency would not necessarily increase. However, for some reason, the Qin Dynasty especially liked this kind of "cosmic current" mobilization. In the words of the Han Dynasty, Qin liked to "turn the millet on the shore of the sea to the West River", that is, to turn the millet on the coast of the East China Sea to the West River. The millet is transported to Shaanxi. Isn't this deliberately tormenting the common people? The people suffered from the poison of the Qin Dynasty, so when they left the house, they were sad.Later, Jia Yi, a native of the Han Dynasty, proposed to add some vassal states in areas far from the center (such as Huainan), so that people could build their own vassal states nearby and reduce people's long-distance travel.Emperor Wen of Han accepted the proposal. Therefore, for a fragile new dynasty (we say it is fragile, it means that it was established from the turning point of the two thousand years of enfeoffment history), the princes should be entrusted appropriately, and the blood relationship thicker than water should be used to protect the royal power. The powerful measures handed down continuously by Qiang II and III, as Chun Yuyue said, can indeed play the role of Zhifu of the central government. In short, for the Qin Dynasty, which has just been founded more than ten years ago and has become precarious and full of public grievances due to its eagerness for success, from the perspective of curing the sores in front of it and stabilizing the current situation, it is necessary to implement a little enfeoffment system (not a total enfeoffment system, but a system of enfeoffment). It is only a partial enfeoffment system that entrusts some princes to the remote Qichu area, and the positive factors in the enfeoffment system can be fully utilized and brought into play), which is a short-term emergency medicine and is of great benefit.Chun Yuyue's suggestion of "entrusting the prince to a distant place" should be adopted even by the most prudent and critical people! Unfortunately, Qin Shihuang did not accept his suggestion.He would rather have a 100% pure county system! Later dynasties learned from the lessons of Qin’s death. In the first half of the autocratic era when the historical inertia of the enfeoffment system was still great, most of them switched to the “dual-track system of prefectures and counties and enfeoffment” instead of Qin’s “simple prefecture and county system”. For example, this was the case in the Han Dynasty. , thus greatly improving the survival coefficient of the dynasty. However, just talking about the five major benefits of the enfeoffment system is not "reasonable", and the disadvantages of the enfeoffment system seem to be no less than its benefits.Those "bloods" (children of the royal family) that were sealed out that are thicker than water will eventually become thinner than water as the generations pass on.They turned their eyes and refused to recognize people, and their power grew. From the role of branch support at the beginning of the founding of the country, it gradually became a separatist rebel force that threatened the central government.This is why there was a revolt of the Seven Kings in the Han Dynasty, the Eight Kings Rebellion in the Jin Dynasty, and the Jingnan War in the Ming Dynasty, and the princes and kings in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States fought endlessly, and treated the old Zhou emperor seriously.In short, in a word, the positive effect of Zhifu in the early days of the founding of the state by the enfeoffed kings will later turn into a centrifugal reaction. Qin Shihuang and Li Si saw that the enfeoffment system would bring about the evil results of separatist regimes and melee, the world suffers from fighting, and they attack each other like enemies, so they finally defeated Chun Yuyue's rationalization proposal of "partial enfeoffment system" with a stick, and the Qin Dynasty Since then, it has gone to the road of no return for the one-dimensional county system. Chunyu staggered out of the court hall more and more, he felt that the years were long, but the rest was thin. Qin people have always been very confident, and they are very self-confident about a series of unprecedented "New Deals" such as the county system, promotion of meritorious service, and special rewards and punishments. The Qin people rose from the west of China, with little traditional burden, so they always despised tradition.The enfeoffment system is a kind of tradition, and it is the foundation of the art of governing the country by the emperors of all dynasties.But the Qin people disagreed.The enfeoffment system was not deeply rooted in the Qin State, but it was severely reformed by the Shang Yang Revolution. Now, they want to widely promote the system of professional bureaucrats, prefectures and counties throughout the country. This is certainly not a bad thing, but they may have forgotten that during the revolution, Shang Yang himself ended up being quartered by five horses. Now that he is exporting the revolution against the enfeoffment system and the corresponding aristocratic politics to the whole country, what will happen to him? The power of resistance has been felt, and the clue is Chun Yuyue's speech. In response to Chun Yuyue's speech on enfeoffment opinions, Li Si made a rebuttal speech. Li Si said: "Now there is a very bad momentum on the ground, that is, some people use ancient decrees and thoughts to criticize current affairs all day long. They ridicule the authorities and confuse the chaos. People's hearts. Whenever the imperial court issued a government order, they would use some dogmas in ancient books to discuss the government order, citing scriptures and classics, criticizing and slandering the government by using the past as not the present." Li Si's words were vague. What were those people talking about?Li Si didn't explain it, but I guess in private, it's nothing more than two aspects: first, people like Chun Yuyue who have the idea of ​​"Qi independence" sing against the central government and want to restore the political structure of enfeoffment or partial enfeoffment; The class is aimed at the Qin Dynasty's eagerness to achieve success and light use of people's power. This thing has tossed everyone fiercely, and naturally some people will raise opinions and criticize it. Li Si went on to say: "As for the people who put forward opinions, when they come in, they will disagree (negate in their stomachs), and when they go out, they will discuss ("speak loudly" in the street). If they form a party, the power of the monarch and political opinions are about to slip. So they should be cracked down on. I suggest that all the ancient books used by these people be burned, and see how they talk about it. The "Shangshu" must be burned, and they mainly based on this The ancient dogmatic ideas in the two books come to criticize and slander today's current affairs. The words of various schools of thought must also be burned, because they will also teach people to talk nonsense." Of course, Li Si did not say that this kind of collection of books in the government would be burned.Why not burn it?I guess it is because people in the ruling group still want to study and borrow the techniques of governing the country in these books, although they have a disapproving attitude towards them.It is necessary to burn only those of the people - this not only reduces the number of people who use it to criticize current affairs, but also conforms to the idea of ​​"weak people" consistently proposed by Legalists, Confucians, and Taoists in the pre-Qin period in terms of jurisprudence. "We burned all the thought books among the people," Li Si said, "letting the heads of the Guizhou people have no books to read and become elm-headed, so they don't understand anything, and they can no longer make slanderous comments."—— These books, now we read as literary books, were political books at the time, full of political concepts, values ​​and cultural thoughts that were incompatible with the era of imperial autocracy in the new era.In a sense, not controlling these books will indeed affect the imperial autocratic society. Therefore, the burning of books did not mean that the Qin government wanted to fight against culture, but it was actually the need for changes in political and social structures. "If they want to learn something, they should study government decrees, so that they can have a thorough understanding of the political thought of our new era!" Qin Shihuang greatly appreciated Li Si's idea, so the book burning movement began. Li Si ordered: "If anyone does not burn books within 30 days after the order is issued, the person responsible will have his face tattooed and assigned as a Cheng Dan." Li Si's approach is like Gun's flood control, using blocking and suppressing methods instead of dredging.Of course, he also gave advice. He asked people to read books containing the new political ideas of the modern era (imperial autocracy instead of enfeoffment). However, counseling alone is not enough.You can organize everyone to learn the spirit of documents in the new era, and whoever disagrees can keep learning.Whoever can't stand it means that he has fully accepted the spirit of the document in the new era, which is considered a pass.In this way, when I held its two-year study class, my thinking was reversed.Or take a test, whoever accepts the political concepts of our new era and discusses them particularly well, I will admit you into the ranks of wealth and honor.These are all good ways to guide. With such guidance, why burn books! But no, burning books still seems necessary.This has something to do with the stiff necks of the scholars and people at that time.These people are used to the independent personality and independent thinking under the previous enfeoffment system. I am afraid that ordinary study classes will not be able to reform them.If it's not good, he will argue with the teacher in the study class.Therefore, Li Si adopted fascist methods against such people. In addition to burning books, Li Si also said: "Anyone who dares to gather people to discuss ancient things such as the "Shangshu" will be killed!" Criticism of current affairs from a neutral point of view). Other forms that dare to directly slander the government by using the past as different from the present will be exterminated!" It can be seen that burning books is just a means, and prohibiting opinions, prohibiting criticism of new era politics, and unifying everyone's thinking is the fundamental purpose. Therefore, in the ninth year of Qin Shihuang, books began to be burned, and bamboo boards were burned in the open space of farmers' markets in counties and counties.The work of unifying thoughts started in this way. This is almost never happened in the pre-Qin history of more than 2,000 years.Yes, the times have changed. The era of enfeoffment, where multiple ideas could coexist, has turned into a beautiful past. Now is the era of imperial autocracy—the flames are devouring the time that will never return. It is not enough to simply burn it, but to build it up.It's just that the Qin Dynasty didn't have time to establish because of its short lifespan.In the next Han Dynasty, the era of imperial autocracy, the thoughts belonging to the era of imperial autocracy were established—that is, Dong Zhongshu modified the thought of the pre-Qin hundred schools of thought and established "New Confucianism" as the representative thought of the era of imperial autocracy.The history of enfeoffment for more than two thousand years was truly turned into a past that will never return. The smell of war against traditional old-age thinking is so strong, and it undoubtedly affected Liu Bang, who was a policeman in Pei County.Liu Bang saw that the government was burning books on traditional culture and rebelling against the old ideas under the former enfeoffment system. Liu Bang might not understand the mystery, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit of schadenfreude, because he was originally a person who didn't like reading.However, Liu Bang's mind is actually full of traditional cultural thoughts. For example, he especially admires Wei Wuji, the Xinling Lord of the former Wei State, and he is heroic in his righteousness.In fact, under the imperial autocracy, this is also an idea that needs to be banned.Under the unified ruler of the emperor, there is only one way out of being loyal to the emperor. Keeping followers and scholars is a feature of the era of enfeoffment, and it should also be in the ranks of burning. No matter what, Liu Bang felt a nameless joy, as if Ah Q felt the mood when he saw the revolution, grandma, I want to go and kill those old-timers.Therefore, whenever he saw a person with more traditional and old-age ideas—a Confucian scholar, he would snatch the Confucian crown off the other person with a smile and ask, "Is it leaking?"So he put the Confucian crown on the ground and peed in it. Affected by the burning of books, Liu Bang did not learn much culture—here I must interject, because the Qin Dynasty did not have time to establish a complete ideological system for the new era, so its people had nothing to learn. After the "New Confucianism", people have something to learn, so I believe that people in the Qin Dynasty have little culture to learn, and it is a short period. ") In the future, they will let the common people have "culture", which also explains why in the early decades of the Han Dynasty, before the introduction of "New Confucianism", the government continued to implement the Qin Dynasty's ban on carrying books. It is not a question of Qin Shihuang being good or bad, but a historical requirement of the era of imperial autocracy.However, it should also be pointed out that under the guidance of legalism, Confucianism, and Taoism, which all emphasize the ruling techniques of "weak people" and "foolish people", even if there is "New Confucianism" to learn, people can have "cultural "After reading it, it was probably limited to some people, and most people still didn't need him to learn it. Later, after Comrade Liu Bang became emperor, he regretted his ignorant history very much, and often used this as a warning to educate his sons to study more.According to historical records, Liu Bang often sighed to himself: "Qin Shihuang is not allowed to carry books, alas! It's Qin Shihuang who delayed me! It caused me to write poorly!"——Hmph, this habit also exists in modern people. Often pass the responsibility to others! In fact, when Qin Shihuang burned books, Liu Bang was in his forties, and he had already passed the stage of enlightenment study. Can you blame others for your poor writing? Liu Bang went on to say to his sons: "Because Qin Shihuang delayed me, I wrote poorly. But, I think what you write is not as good as mine! I think you have to work hard, don't always find someone to replace you." Write!"——It seems that two generations of the family don't like to read and write articles, no matter the old or the young, this is a genetic problem, and Qin Shihuang can't be blamed. There are indeed many differences in thinking between the old and the new era.For example, the concept of loyalty to the emperor was also considered loyal to the emperor in the enfeoffment era, but it was conditional, that is, the monarch must treat his subjects in accordance with etiquette and morality, so Wu Zixu dared to flog the corpse of King Ping of Chu, but no one accused him of being disloyal.However, under the autocratic imperial power, loyalty to the emperor is unconditional.There is only such a change, so although there is book burning, the effect is still limited. In fact, it took hundreds of years for the transformation of ideology to imperial autocracy, and it was not until the Tang and Song Dynasties that it gradually felt like entering the era of imperial power.This is why we feel that people in the Qin and Han dynasties still had a lot of backbone, and they were not like the Song, Ming and Qing people who attached themselves to the emperor and gave up their self-awareness. So, this is what I said, the Chinese have two ancestors.The Qin and Han dynasties were exactly the transitional era of the evolution of these two ancestors. And we also come to the conclusion that human nature is not active, but is strongly influenced by social structure.Whether the social structure is autocratic or democratic or something else, the situation is bigger than people, and the situation changes and affects people's character and values, including the social atmosphere formed as a result. In a sense, in order to complete the transition from the enfeoffment society to the political ideology of imperial autocracy, and to implement the new imperial policy, consolidate unity, and prevent the countercurrent of "using the past instead of the present", burning books, as a policy with quick results, was adopted in the It is also necessary for short-term use.This is what Chairman Mao said: "The cause of burning books must be discussed"-meaning that the matter of "burning books" cannot be killed with a single stick and completely denied. But the negative effect of burning books is also very obvious, and a situation has emerged where "people dare not tell the truth"! "Historical Records" said that at that time, "the world feared crimes, and no one dared to be loyal", and "the officials were afraid of flattery".It means that ministers dare not tell the truth, and dare not make opinions from the perspective of being loyal to their profession.Because if you speak your true thoughts, if it does not conform to the current ideology, you are "using the past instead of the present" and "slandering current affairs", and you are in danger of losing your family's head.Li Si said, "The past is not the family of the present!" But please don't just imagine this sad situation as a disaster in the Qin era. In fact, this is the case in all imperial autocratic eras.The reason why there were fewer incidents of being cheated by the clan later was not because the emperors of later generations softened their hearts, it was just that people had learned to be good and adapted, and they were no longer as honest as people in the Qin Dynasty who had just come from the enfeoffment system. What about personality? In any case, the situation of "people dare not tell the truth" has emerged. It is not surprising that in the era of suppressing public opinion, there will be a situation where "people dare not tell the truth". Of course, this also reflects that the preliminary results of the ideological remolding work have come out.Isn’t the ideological remolding in the era of imperial power just to make the people give up their own brains and thoughts and accept the emperor’s brains and thoughts?Everyone didn't tell the truth, but what the emperor advocated and preached. Isn't this the goal of this burning pit movement? As a result, ten thousand horses were completely silent—even horses, which love to bray, were afraid to make a sound (the donkeys, which were more fond of braying, had already been killed).The courtiers "are afraid of taboo and flattery, and dare not speak out about their mistakes", "the subordinates (the courtiers) are intimidated by obedience and bullying, and accept tolerance."Sima Qian recorded this situation after the Qin Dynasty entered the imperial autocracy in the "Historical Records". Unfortunately, this situation did not end because of the end of the Qin Dynasty. Even Sima Qian himself was disabled because he did not pay attention to the requirements of the higher authorities. What did you say? From then on, the truth of the Qin Dynasty disappeared, the way of speaking was cut off, and lies were flying everywhere in the sky above the court and the public. What Qin Shihuang heard was a sound of praise, and he seemed to feel that he was always right.The world's major affairs are determined by Qin Shihuang alone, and the prime ministers all follow his wishes.In short, the heart of one person is the heart of the world. Qin Shihuang is like a space shuttle out of control, allowing his overheated head to drive this imperial subject who has been banned from speaking. Zhang Shizhi, a native of the Han Dynasty, said to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "If Qin didn't hear about it, the world would collapse." It is indeed reasonable.It's just that the autocratic system of imperial power remains unchanged, and the emperor of the Han Dynasty can't avoid such a situation, even though his courtiers are so painstakingly trying to persuade him with the mistakes of the previous emperor. Immediately following the burning of books, another incident of trapping warlocks happened. At that time, there were two swindlers, Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng, who were trying to get the fairy medicine for Qin Shihuang, but they couldn't get it, so they thought of running away.It didn't matter if they escaped, but before they escaped, they said a lot of things, all of which were slanderous to the emperor, and they gave Qin Shihuang a lot of opinions, such as "greedy for power" (like dictatorship), "Everything in the world is big and small. It depends on the superior" (refusing to authorize hundreds of officials), "the emperor is arrogant without hearing about it" (the emperor does not listen to different opinions) and so on, and spread all over Xianyang.This is going to be strictly enforced!Because this is a personal attack on the emperor, it is not a problem of magic medicine but a serious political problem.So Qin Shihuang became alert, thinking that this political event must represent a group of people. Qin Shihuang said: "I just confiscated the books of the world just a while ago. But Hou Sheng, Lu Sheng and the gang don't count if they can't get the elixir, and they slandered me before leaving." The logic in Qin Shihuang's words is very strange, confiscating books What does it have to do with magic medicine? ! Actually very relevant.The slander of Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng made Qin Shihuang realize: Although the folk books were confiscated and burned (the purpose was to suppress public opinion, prohibit discussion and slander the government), this work was not very successful. Didn’t Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng slander here? ?The most taboo of the Qin Dynasty was to slander the emperor and criticize the government. Any ruler with common sense will further realize that the slander of the government by Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng is definitely not an isolated phenomenon, and there must be similar slanderers in the world.So what to do?The world is so big that it is impossible to investigate one by one in a short period of time, but Xianyang is right under our feet. If some slanderers are found and killed with severe punishments, it can play the role of "punishing the future", that is, deterring the whole world. The slanderers have been silent since then, and dare not slander and discuss current affairs.Therefore, capital punishment must be used when killing, and the killing is lively. It is most appropriate to use the extremely cruel method that is not commonly used, and it can serve as an advertisement that is shocking and scares others. Therefore, he ordered an investigation to be carried out among the "literary warlocks" (those who sang peace and alchemy) in Xianyang, and found 460 people who "disturbed the head of Guizhou with evil words" (those who spread slanderous remarks about the government). , It’s a trap, it’s an advertisement to all the political dissidents in the world. The whole thing happened like this, and it was called "Pit Warlock" in "Historical Records".However, out of resentment towards the Qin Empire, or as a metaphor for the needs of preaching to those in power, later generations misrepresented "pill warlocks" as "pit Confucian scholars".This will mislead people's understanding of the nature of this incident. Of course, there will be some Confucian scholars among those who are cheated, but they are not cheated because they are Confucian scholars, but because their political views are not in line with the mainstream ideology, so-called "disagreement in opinion".These people were cheated because they didn't agree with the government, not because they studied Confucianism. The two incidents of burning poems and books and pitting warlocks happened one after the other. There is a great connection between them. The purpose is the same. They are all to transform the ideology of the old enfeoffment system and transform to the ideology of imperial autocracy. , It’s not that I can’t get along with Confucianism.Moreover, judging from historical data, whether it is cheating warlocks or Confucianists—to be precise, it should be cheating people who disagree—has not expanded. Regarding the "burning books and pitting people" of the Qin Dynasty, future generations of emperors and bureaucrats should not curse it all day long.It took the place of the later kings to do what was inevitable when the thinking began to change to imperial autocracy, although the means may not be as brilliant as Dong Zhongshu’s establishment of a new Confucianism revised from pre-Qin Confucianism as the mainstream thought of the imperial power era to complete the ideological transformation.But in that era when there was no time for Dong Zhongshu, and when there were many people with pre-Qin character, perhaps it was an objectively forced choice to do so.Future generations of emperors, don't forget the well digger when drinking water, and don't be a cook when you are full. What is the main reason for Qin's death?To sum up, there are four in total: First, eager to get things done.Daxing construction, expropriation of too much people's power, directly led to the decline of people's livelihood, "those who want to cause chaos, ten rooms and five". Second, the transition from enfeoffment to imperial autocracy was too sharp.The single system of prefectures and counties, without proper enfeoffment, had many technical disadvantages, and more importantly, it violated the general psychology of the people at that time, causing turmoil in the middle and lower classes.The long-term historical inertia and backlash of the enfeoffment system has brewed a huge anti-Qin political force.Some middle-level elite heroes are generally in trouble with Qin. Third, the ideological transition to the imperial autocratic society was too sharp, and the methods were too rough, which led to the phenomenon of "burning poems and books, pitting those who disagreed", which intensified the contradiction between the middle-level elite and the emperor to a certain extent, and led to the severance of speech , The phenomenon of telling lies. Fourth, ignoring etiquette education and full-time punishment.Qin people put more emphasis on practical work, but less theory, and are not good at ideological work.Although Confucianism and Confucians did play a certain role in the Qin ruling group, they were actually still weak.Punishment alone is not enough, you must often do ideological work for people, and they will be comfortable! The Legalists encouraged full-time punishment and ignored enlightenment, which also led to Qin's neglect of enlightenment.Like Han Feizi, he despises the role of enlightenment, and thinks that ordinary people are not worthy of enlightenment, so you just use the law to restrain him.我们说，教化作用确实不能夸大，像说周文王、商汤是因为仁德的思想教化对下面做得好，最后王天下了，这是儒家在吹牛。但是呢，教化也能多少起到一定的辅助作用。所以，儒法兼行，一个长于做事，一个长于教化，虽然这显得有点“中庸”或者“乡愿”，但似乎却不失是个最终的选择。 以上秦亡的四条原因，单独一条都不足以导致秦亡，其中重点是第二条。 后代皇帝在学习中进步了，他们不会一次犯太多错误。