Chapter 16 chapter Five

During the Qin State's war to destroy the six countries in a large-scale eastward advance, the various countries did not have a joint resistance action, perhaps they never had such a thought.Many times they joined forces to fight against Qin, but they were all cracked by Qin's "Lianheng" strategy, and then reorganized again and again, and disappeared again and again. I am afraid that the six countries have long been tired of these "games" that have no effect and results. .However, even though they are weak and tired, as long as they abandon their prejudices, truly unite, form a solid alliance, China's history may have to be rewritten.

There is no alliance, it can only show that the six countries are indeed weak and corrupt to the extreme, and it is not normal for them to perish.Think about how much heroism and greatness the ancestors of the Six Kingdoms must have swayed in their kingdoms and lands, but in the hands of these last descendants, they have never even had a flashback. This cannot but be said to be the responsibility of the entire Six Kingdoms sorrow. If there is no union, there is only waiting for the fate of being slaughtered and wiped out one by one. It is inevitable to destroy the six countries and unify China.We have said before that if it were not for Yingzheng and replaced by another King of Qin, he would have completed this great cause for thousands of years.Therefore, King Qin's contribution and changes to history are a series of ruling programs and administrative measures adopted after he unified the six countries.

In 221 BC, the Qin State finally accomplished the great cause of unifying China by force. This year, Ying Zheng was thirty-nine years old. He was in the prime of his life, and he was surprisingly energetic. He still had a lot of great things to do, and he would do some great things that would change Chinese history. After the establishment of the Great Qin Empire, the most important thing to face was the establishment of the emperor's title and the positioning of the state system. Yingzheng's understanding of Chinese politics is much better than that of his biological father Lu Buwei. He deeply understands the truth that "if the name is not correct, the words will not go well, and if the words don't go well, nothing will happen".The King of Qin at this time is no longer the King of Qin who was confined to a corner of the northwest in the past, but the King of Qin of the whole Chinese people.This name is not only an affirmation of Yingzheng's achievements and his supreme status, but also a symbol of authority, a symbol with special social significance, and a kind of worship that can produce religious effects when heard or seen .Therefore, Yingzheng was very serious and cautious about it, and issued an imperial edict: "If the name is not changed today, there is no way to call it a success. It will be passed on to future generations. It is the name of the emperor."

At that time, Liszt, who had been promoted to the court captain, recruited more than 70 most knowledgeable doctors in the country, gathered together and discussed again and again. : In ancient times, there was the Emperor of Heaven, the Emperor of Earth, and the Emperor of Thailand. Unexpectedly, Yingzheng was not satisfied with the so-called most expensive "Taihuang". Regarding this, Shi Maqian wrote in "Historical Records": "Shihuang thought that he had done more than the five emperors and the three kings, and he was ashamed to be with him. . " A "shame" vividly reflects Yingzheng's hesitation.He believes that his achievements are absolutely unprecedented, surpassing any of the three emperors and five emperors deified by the ancestors.

Therefore, he took half of the three emperors - the word "Huang", and half of the five emperors - the word "Di", combining the three emperors and five emperors into one, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and combined into the word "Emperor". Originated from the Three Sovereigns and Five Sovereigns, and higher than them, this is what you want. It can be said that Ying Zheng racked his brains to name this name, but it cannot but be said that he is a feudal emperor who has a deep understanding of the Chinese soil.Yingzheng called himself the first emperor. Although his direct bloodline was not as he expected, "the number of future generations will be counted, and the second and third generations will be passed down endlessly." However, his descendants in a broad sense have continued to use this title for a long time.For more than two thousand years, how many people should have flocked to this title and been twisted and perverted!Until the beginning of this century, Chinese people overthrew the imperial system under the enlightenment of Western democratic ideas. On the land of China, Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, Zhang Xun restored, and Japan supported the establishment of the Northeast "Manchuria".

Now that the name has been established, the state system seems to be no longer a problem. It inherits the traditions of the ancestors of Qin, especially since Shang Yang’s reform, and has been continuously developed, improved, and perfected in the unification war of conquering the six countries. It has basically formed a relatively Stable model - feudal centralization. In order to find out how much Yingzheng played a personal role in this, and how much influence and change it had on Chinese history, here, we need to trace and review the development and evolution of the Chinese political system.

China's natural environment innately determines the Chinese nation's way of life, spiritual culture and the nature of its regime. The birthplace of Chinese civilization has a different geographical environment from other civilizations. The surrounding vast sea, mountains and deserts form a fairly closed circle that restricts the scope of people's living activities.The nourishment of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, abundant rain, warm climate, loose texture and natural fertility of the land, all of these determine the beginning of the civilization of the Chinese ancestors, which is the farming lifestyle of "facing the loess and facing the sky".Affected by this civilization, the Chinese ancestors were down-to-earth, safe and secure, paying attention to etiquette and hierarchical order, and had a strong sense of morality and ethics.These constitute the characteristics of the Chinese yellow civilization.

The evolution of the Chinese social structure has gone through a process from groups to tribes to chiefdoms, and finally to a country. Groups and tribes are the social structure forms of the ancestors in the primitive fishing and hunting era. They are the products of voluntary alliances with each other. The internal members are equal and there is no formal political organization leader.The legendary Shennong tasting all kinds of herbs and Fuxi's teaching people to make nets for fishing and hunting belong to this period. With the finalization and maturity of agricultural civilization, each tribe has a relatively fixed farming site and living circle.In order to develop and expand, the contradictions and conflicts among the tribes became increasingly fierce, and finally had to be resolved by means of war.The chiefdom is the result of mutual annexation between tribes. This social structure established under military conquest naturally has the nature of exploitation and oppression.After entering the chiefdom, the chief has real real power, forming a pyramid-like power structure, with the chief at the top, and below are officials of all levels who obey orders, and later solidified into a permanent hereditary privilege system.This is the era of the legendary battle between the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor and the joint war between Yan and Huang against Chiyou.

Water conservancy is the lifeblood of agriculture and the basis for the survival of Chinese ancestors.Therefore, they had to unite individual and weak individuals into a powerful collective to manage water sources.Thus, Dayu gained a kind of supreme personal authority in the process of water control, and completed the idol worship from god to man. Qi, the son of Yu, succeeded to the throne, and the succession of royal power from generation to generation became a privileged system of the Xia Dynasty, which marked the formation of the early Chinese state.When the chiefdom was transformed into a state, it inherited the legacy of individual rule in the form of government, from which a political structure developed in which one person exercised unlimited and absolute power over others. This is also the earliest human despotism model.

Under the early agricultural farming methods, the Chinese ancestors must stick to a small and fixed land, and rarely interact with the outside world, and the blood relationship forms an important link between them.Slowly, a set of solidified patriarchal clan system was formed, and the political structure of the Zhou Dynasty—the enfeoffment system was built on the patriarchal clan system.The core connotations of the patriarchal structure include the hereditary system of the eldest son of the royal power, the unity of the clan and the monarch, the integration of political power and theocracy, the pyramid structure and the strict integrity and order of the political organization system, and the isomorphic model of the family and the country in which the emperor governs the world with filial piety, etc. , has played its powerful role in more than two thousand feudal societies, and until today, it still plays a potential and profound influence on people's life concepts.

In other words, China's natural environment, survival, and way of life determine that its political system can only be a feudal autocratic rule based on the patriarchal system.This is the natural result of the development of the land of China for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, and it cannot be changed by a single person who can "turn things around" overnight.Even in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, when the winds and clouds were turbulent and the waves were raging, the traditional patriarchal concept could not be disturbed politically, and the political foundation of feudal centralization could not be touched.Kingship and autocracy seem to have never been doubted by any of the ancestors. Even the most sage saints in ancient China had to kneel at their feet in both fear and sincerity.In all the pre-Qin period texts that have been handed down to the present, no matter how hard you search, you can't find a single word about calling for democracy. If we turn our eyes away a little bit and pay a short stay to ancient Greece, the source of modern Western democracy, many puzzles that have been haunting us may be able to be solved. The ancient Greek civilization, which was in the same period as the former Qin Dynasty and could be compared with each other, had its source of development - the natural geographical environment was completely different from that of China.Greece is the country with the most mountains and the most fragmented land in Europe. There are many mountains and little land, the land is barren, and the rainfall is mainly concentrated in autumn and winter. These natural conditions are destined not to constitute the source of Greece's economy with food crops, and most of them rely on overseas countries. purchase.However, Greece is in the center of the entire Mediterranean region, with a long and winding coastline, numerous ports, and unparalleled maritime advantages. They are merchants, travelers, pirates, brokers, and adventurers, creating a blue color that is different from the yellow civilization. Civilization - colonial, comprehensive and open. The Greeks were never bound to a small territory. They wanted to transport food overseas, carry out overseas trade, and colonize overseas. The sea is a vast stage for them to move freely.For the sake of survival and profit, people unite and reorganize from time to time, which soon breaks the clan blood relationship.Individual talents are brought into full play, they are young, full of vigor and passion.The combination of each other will inevitably lead to the birth of the legal prototype in the modern sense-contract and contract.The law based on mutual benefit, mutual voluntariness, equality and freedom is the essence and symbol of a democratic system. Athens was transformed into a country through the merger of tribal alliances, which is the famous "unification movement" in Greek history.During the tribal alliance period, there was a political form of the three-power system consisting of the aristocratic conference, the people's assembly, and the supreme military commander.The occurrence of the reunification movement was mainly due to changes in the composition and living style of residents, and was the result of changes in social internal factors.In other words, the establishment of the Athenian state institutions was a peaceful, legislative rather than a product of violent conquest. Athens, which was peacefully transformed from a tribal alliance to a state, inherited the three-power system during the tribal alliance period. They were replaced by officials, and under them were six sub-consuls, known as the Nine Consuls. Athens, which entered the early state, was not a pure democracy at the beginning, but experienced the ups and downs of aristocratic oligarchy and tyrant dictatorship before developing into the first democratic republic in human history.However, in the political system of Athens, no matter what period, there has never been a supreme chief executive similar to China in history. The power is divided into three parts and mutually restricted, which basically excludes the occurrence of personal dictatorship and arbitrariness of power.At the beginning of the origin of the Athens political system, the cornerstone of city-state democracy was laid. Its characteristic is that the sovereignty rests with the people, fully guarantees the rights of every citizen, establishes a set of political power institutions that restrict each other, and takes turns to govern. autocratic. Comparing the two, we have to lament that it was difficult for modern democratic concepts to be born in ancient China, which is a soil and hotbed suitable for autocracy.Without exchanges and integration, learning from others, it is impossible for China to establish a complete democratic government model in an original way. That is to say, no matter who Qin State unified the six countries, he could not go beyond the closed and unique living soil under his feet, could not reject the legacy left by his predecessors, and could not change the existing social structure model. In a word, he established The Great Chinese Empire that was born can only be a feudal autocratic empire with a patriarchal nature. On the surface, this national system, which seems to have little room for development and seems to be unchangeable, is actually deeply imprinted with Yingzheng's personal imprint in the process of being determined and established. His personality, hobbies, temperament and other factors play an important role pivotal role. What he did was to push the function of feudal autocratic centralization to the peak, almost reaching the level of "no one before, and no one to come after", and condensed a set of stable models for future generations of rulers to imitate and use intact. Yingzheng said that his authority was ordered by the Emperor of Heaven, and he was the first "emperor" in Chinese history, and he was fixed in the form of law.He lowered gods to the level of human beings, and elevated the special individual, the emperor, to the position of gods. He is a superman between human beings and gods. He consciously creates an atmosphere of superstition and worship. , There is an insurmountable gap between the emperor and ordinary people.He also stipulated that the emperor called himself "zhen", the "mandate" issued by the emperor was called the system, the "order" issued by the emperor was called the imperial edict, and the emperor's big seal was called the seal, on which was engraved "ordered by heaven, and life will last forever"; When a minister speaks to the emperor or writes a letter, it must be called "Zou", and the first sentence must be written "The minister offends the capital crime" or "In terms of committing the capital crime", and it cannot be changed as a fixed format; , he formulated a set of majestic rituals for the emperor's clothes, daily life, court rituals, parades, rides, and residence in Hua, in order to make his subjects feel that the emperor's residence is the "Heavenly Court" and the emperor's face is the "Tianyan". But the general public is nothing more than a speck of dust; he wants the common people to be renamed "Qian Shou"; month; he built the Afang Palace in a big way, and gathered all the rare treasures and beauties from all over the world in the palace for his own squandering enjoyment; The excavation of the ancient temple caused a strong sensation in the contemporary era, and was called "the eighth wonder of the world" by later generations... We have listed such a long list of relevant regulations for him alone—the emperor.And most of these were inherited by the later new emperors, such as Zhen, Edict, Shangzou, Yuxi and other titles, such as the emperor's majestic ceremony, taboo system, squandering people's fat and anointing during his lifetime, building tall mausoleums after death, etc. Even if there are some changes, they are still tinkering and tinkering. And his culmination of changes in the political system is mainly manifested in the following aspects: 1. Abolish division and enfeoffment, establish and centralize power.The great unified empire was born, and all wastes were prosperous. What Qin Shihuang asked for was to ensure his supremacy and arbitrariness in terms of political system and structural form.For this reason, he established a centralized bureaucracy centered on the Sangong Jiuqing, and all its government affairs activities were based on and transferred from Qin Shihuang's personal will; Since the enfeoffment system, "the world is divided into thirty-six counties, and the counties are set up with guards, lieutenants, and supervisors." The situation of a country within a country in the past has completely disappeared, and vertical management has been implemented.This set of grand and strict political institutions was basically inherited by the rulers of successive dynasties. Second, carry out the "four unifications".The so-called four major unifications are the unification of roads, currency, weights and measures, and writing.Unified road: Qin Shihuang ordered twice to build a "chidao" with Xianyang as the center. Connect the whole country closely; Unify the currency: The Qin Empire chose a copper coin with a round square hole that is easy to standardize, cast, and easy to carry and store as the standard currency to promote throughout the country. After more than two thousand years, it has spread to Asia, East Africa and other places, and has been imitated by some countries and regions; unified weights and measures: during the Warring States Period, all countries were independent, and the relevant measurement units such as feet, buckets, scales, etc. had different standards, and the degree of confusion It has reached the point where people cannot tolerate it. In order to unify, Qin Shihuang solemnly issued an imperial edict and formulated a special decree. The standard measuring instruments and weighing instruments of the Qin Dynasty unearthed today, even if they are recalibrated with modern technology, are only 100% accurate. Two or three errors; Unified characters: On the basis of Li Siyou's original seven national characters, he learned from each other's strengths and made up for his weaknesses, and created a new type of font - Xiaozhuan, which was promoted to the whole country. At the same time, a newer typeface - Lishu was used as an unofficial The official text is recognized and popularly used.China has a vast territory, complex and numerous language families, and it is very difficult to communicate with each other. A common and common solidified language—a unified written language is a tenacious link connecting all ethnic groups and regions. , One of the important internal factors that can always achieve national unification after division. 3. Full-time criminal law.After the unification of the six kingdoms, Qin Shihuang continued to revise and enrich the original statutory law. The unearthed "Qin Law" gave us a general idea of ​​the main content of the written code of the Qin Dynasty.The laws of China's feudal society and modern democratic laws are two different concepts.Modern civil law is a contractual relationship established between the ruler and the people. The people endow the ruler with power to implement it by administrative means, and have a set of corresponding supervision and restriction mechanisms; while the law of feudal society is the law of the superior ruler. It was formulated by its own regime to oppress the people, and it took violent actions to enforce it without the consent of the people. "Qin Law" is a masterpiece of Chinese feudal law.In order to strengthen authority and consolidate rule, Qin Shihuang implemented severe punishments and strict laws. "Minor crimes and heavy punishments" became the guiding ideology of the legal system of the Qin Dynasty. There are also tattoos on the face, cutting off the nose, chopping off the left and right toes, circumcision of men, confinement of women, extermination of three clans, disasters of nine clans, etc., are really too numerous to list.The Qin Dynasty was like a huge prison.This also set a very bad precedent for the rulers of the past dynasties. They could not learn the things of democracy and good things, but they could deal with the people under their rule. "The King of Qin sweeps Liuhe, and the tiger sees He Xiongzai!" Yes, Yingzheng is a perverted and extremely ferocious tiger, and the general public are just delicacies for him to eat under the tiger's mouth. If any of the kingdoms of the six kingdoms unified the world, if another king of Qin with the heart of ordinary people unified the world, even though it was also an autocratic rule, it was very likely to be a mild autocracy with a benevolent nature.After all, China's feudal autocracy is based on the patriarchal system, which pays attention to blood relationship, and pays attention to family affection, benevolence and righteousness, and the rule of etiquette.However, China's traditional social and political structure integrating patriarchal clan and centralization was torn in two by Qin Shihuang. He abandoned the patriarchal clan system of affection and affection, and pushed autocracy and centralization to an unbearable level. What Qin Shihuang wanted to do was to turn people into inhumans.He is ninety-five supreme, supreme, overlooking the world, and dominates all things. He is a superman with "divinity"; while the people and subjects are another extreme non-human, just a group of talking animals.The entire country, society, and nation have become inhuman after Yingzheng's changes.This inhuman situation did not change slightly until Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, stepped down. Of course, while extreme authoritarian centralization brings disasters to the people of the country, it will always leave behind a little cultural heritage that can be commemorated and flaunted.However, even these cultural heritages that shine with the wisdom of the ancient people are also an embarrassing and painful accumulation. We must not add any bright footnotes to the tyrannical brutality of Yingzheng.