Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Where Did Qin Shihuang Wrong

In 221 B.C., King Yingzheng of Qin who unified the world, the first thing he did after he became famous was to change his name. The world was unified, and the princes were all wiped out. It would be shabby to be a king again.For such a great achievement, one should also find a more dignified title than the king.He ordered his doctors to provide him with titles, and those nerds thought hard for a lot, and finally gave him a king.He explained that this appellation couldn't be better. Tai means big, and Huang means Three Emperors and Five Emperors. The combination means that your old man is bigger than the Three Emperors and Five Emperors.But Yingzheng was still dissatisfied, he thought about it for a compromise, and left behind the character for emperor, and then used his own brains to add the character for emperor, so a new noun was born-emperor.Ying Zheng was very satisfied, so he called it that!nice!In this way, the supreme ruler of China's feudal society had his own name—the emperor.China had its first emperor in history——Ying Zheng.His name is Qin Shihuang.

The reason why Qin Shihuang chose the word "emperor" was painstaking. Huang, in Chinese, means "big". As for "emperor", it is the supreme god who ruled the whole world in the eyes of ancient Chinese people. the first.The meaning of adding up is a big god.This is tantamount to telling the Chinese people for no reason that I, Yingzheng, the emperor, is here to rule you on behalf of the heavens, and the power in my hands is given by the heavens, and it will not change in ten thousand years.Since the era of the great unification of Chinese feudal society, the supreme ruler of China has the color of the divine right of the monarch.

However, this unified feudal dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, lasted only 15 years before it was destroyed in the massive Peasant War at the end of Qin Dynasty.At that time, Qin Shihuang called himself the first emperor, and his son was called the second emperor. He expected his regime to last for tens of thousands of years, but unfortunately, it was only 15 years. Speaking of the reasons for the death of Qin II, many people who are familiar with the history of Qin attributed the reason to Qin Shihuang's "tyranny".So is this really the case? Before talking about the merits and demerits of Qin Shihuang during his reign, we must face up to a practical problem that Qin Shihuang faced: what kind of country should the new Qin Dynasty build.

Qin Shihuang's state power was established on the basis of pacifying the six countries, although he could use force to destroy the princes and unify the whole country.But the real question is that the political systems and economic structures of the six countries are very different internally. Can Qin's political system be completely transplanted to the six countries?Is it to completely copy the system of Qin to rule the six countries, or to establish a new national system?At this point, no one knew the answer at the earliest time. Related to the political system, there is also the economic system. The economic conditions and economic systems of the six countries are also different. More importantly, the cultural inheritance is also different. Are the economy, culture, and laws of the Qin State applicable to other countries in the six countries? Whether the region will cause accidents due to improper promotion is still unknown.

So Qin Shihuang's country was built on all these unknowns.China in 220 BC was facing changes that had not been seen in hundreds of years before. The country was moving towards a brand-new state system. No one had this experience, including Qin Shihuang himself, about how this state system should work. Even within the Qin State, the officials who had followed Qin Shihuang for many years had different opinions on this issue.At that time, the prime minister, Wang Wan, once suggested that Qin Shihuang canonize his son in the hometown of Qi and Chu, because this was the "ancestral system". Except for Li Si, all the ministers at that time basically agreed with this system. Qin Shihuang himself was also wavered for a while, but Li Si used the turmoil in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods as a comparison, which made Qin Shihuang dispel this idea.It is now announced that the system of prefectures and counties will be implemented throughout the country, and a central group directly controlled by the state will be established.

This policy is correct from the perspective of stabilizing the state power, but at that time, there were many people who did not understand it, especially in the eastern Qi State and other regions.Qi State is a country with many Confucian scholars. These Confucian scholars are most concerned about the patriarchal system and ancestral system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In their eyes, Qin Shihuang is like the emperor of Zhou who ruled from the back.Now that we have won the world, but don't want to divide the enfeoffment, this is a big rebellious thing, not to mention that the implementation of the county system is not perfect. One problem is that most of the officials appointed by the Qin State as county officials at that time were Coming from Qin Benguo, he hastily entered a place that he is not familiar with at all. Can this official be comfortable?

Therefore, in 213 BC, Chun Yuyue, a Confucian scholar in Shandong, satirized Qin Shihuang on the spot at a banquet, which angered Qin Shihuang.As a result, under Li Si's instigation, Qin Shihuang decided to burn books and began to bury alive Confucian scholars who did not listen to him. This is one of Qin Shihuang's tyranny "burning books and burying Confucians". Qin Shihuang's burning of books and burying Confucianism, in terms of quantity, burned a large number of precious classics and killed more than 460 Confucian scholars, which can be described as cruel, but such cruelty is not gratuitous hatred.Qin Shihuang himself was not interested in Confucianism. What he cared about was Legalism. It's a matter of course.

And Qin Shihuang was instigated by Li Si to do this.Li Si's biggest problem is "drugging" others.In the early years, it was because of him that he harmed Han Feizi, who Qin Shihuang wanted to reuse. This time, the target of his jealousy was not one, but a group. After the dynasty changed, all talents from the six countries entered the talent pool of Qin, especially Confucian scholars. The group, with the Confucian scholars in Shandong as the core, is a gathering of heroes, which may threaten my status one day, so we must prepare early, and those who can prescribe the medicine should be given the medicine, and those who can be driven away should leave quickly.Those who can't be blasted away will be dealt with to death. Anyway, I want to minimize the threat these people pose to me.

In fact, Confucian scholars' opposition and Chun Yuyue's accusations are trivial matters. The key question is, what is the biggest threat facing Qin in this period?There are only two things to say, one is the external threat from the Huns, and the other is the decline of the national economy after the war. Regarding these two items, the situation in the early days of Qin's reunification was very severe.Let’s talk about the Xiongnu issue first. The Xiongnu’s power in this period was not as strong as that of the later Han Dynasty, but it was already one of the three major nomadic tribes in the grassland (the other two were Dayuezhi and Donghu). At this time, the Xiongnu happened to occupy The Hetao Plain is facing the Guanzhong Plain where Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty, is located.With this strategically important place in their hands, the entire northern part of China is exposed under their noses. They fight and rob whenever they want. The original Zhao and Yan countries have also been destroyed at this time. The Qin army stayed behind, but it was basically in an undefended state. In this situation, it is impossible not to solve the Xiongnu.

The domestic economic problems are also severe. Qin has used troops year after year, which has cost a lot, and its own financial hole is huge.The six countries have experienced wars, and it was a period of exhausted people and economic difficulties. Another important issue in this period is that the economic systems of the six countries are different, and a new national financial system must be established immediately.If the country wants to cheer up, it must control the country's tax revenue through the integration of the economic system, so that the army has the capital to fight and the border defense can be consolidated.

Qin Shihuang knew about this problem, so after he ascended the throne, he first adopted two policies.One is to quickly spread the prefecture and county system to the whole country, set up government offices in the newly occupied territories, and consolidate the rule.At the same time, Meng Tian led an army of 300,000 to the north of Qin State. After a bloody battle, they regained the Hetao Plain from the Huns and established a core base to defend against the Huns.The threat of the Xiongnu to the Han land in the south was temporarily relieved, and it was during this period that "Hu people dare not go south and graze horses".It must be admitted that Qin Shihuang's first battle against the Huns in the north was not militaristic. If he did not take the initiative to adopt an attack policy at that time and let the Huns plunder wantonly, then the Han land in the north would never be peaceful.Moreover, after regaining Henan, Qin Shihuang ordered Meng Tian to farm on the spot in order to save money. As a result, the food in the Hetao area was not only self-sufficient, but also supplied to other surrounding military towns.These measures were sensible at the time. In terms of internal affairs and economics, Qin Shihuang quickly established a top-down bureaucratic system. The country was divided into 46 counties, and the central government established strict centralized rule at the local level.In terms of economy, the more important one is "make the head of Guizhou self-realize the land", that is to say, let the common people check the amount of land by themselves and then report it to the central government. This is equivalent to completely sweeping away the remaining well field system and making the new feudal land system in The country quickly took shape.This article is of key significance to the establishment of the economic system and the development of the economy after the unification of the Qin State.On this basis, the land tax system of the Qin Dynasty was also established. The country's tax collection was divided into oral rent, oral tax and miscellaneous tax, which basically followed the land tax policy of the Qin Dynasty.Among them, the oral rent is the agricultural tax, that is, the land tax; the oral tax is the head tax; and the miscellaneous tax is the tax levied temporarily every year.The agricultural tax in the Qin Dynasty was one-tenth, and the amount of poll tax was basically the same as that in the Wenjing period of the Western Han Dynasty, about 120 yuan.Both of these were not too heavy taxes at the time.As for miscellaneous Fu, they are usually called temporarily when encountering wars. Now that the world is peaceful, the burden on the common people is not too heavy on the surface.At the same time, currency, weights and measures, and characters were also unified during this period, and the law of Qin State "Qin Law" was also promulgated and implemented nationwide.The scattered six kingdoms of the Central Plains were gradually formed into a unified force by Qin Shihuang. Looking at these actions, we must admit that the early Qin Shihuang was still very diligent in governing. He did a good job in kneading the entire country and strengthening the centralization of power. not bad. The deterioration of Qin's state affairs is usually referred to as "tyranny". The content of tyranny mainly includes the construction of palaces, Qin Shihuang's tomb, and Afang Palace.But the real working people are the most serious, there are three major projects, one is to build the Great Wall; the second is to build domestic post roads; These three major projects are almost all carried out front and rear.Qin Shihuang dug canals with a very wide range.In the second year after the destruction of the Six Kingdoms, 100,000 civilians were mobilized to renovate Hangou in the south of the Yangtze River and the Jishui Canal in Shandong.At the same time, after Qin Shihuang sent 300,000 troops to recover the Hetao Plain, he conscripted another 400,000 civilians to renovate the Great Wall.In 219 BC, Qin Shihuang once again conquered 400,000 civilians, rectified domestic post stations, and built a post station road connecting the Central Plains and the south with the Guanzhong Plain as the center.These three major projects are beneficial to the future development of the country in terms of function. The construction of the Great Wall can play a role in resisting foreign enemies. Later, the Han Dynasty, which was the prosperous feudal dynasty, benefited a lot from it.Digging canals is conducive to promoting agricultural production, which also has long-term significance.The construction of post stations can also promote national transportation, strengthen the connection between various places, and ensure the unity of the country.These three items are good from a starting point, but in just a few years, Qin Shihuang continuously recruited 900,000 civilian husbands. You must know that the population of the country at that time was only 20 million.Most of these 900,000 civilian husbands are young and middle-aged, that is to say, at least one-third of the young and middle-aged people in the country have been pulled out by Qin Shihuang to do projects. The result of this is very simple. Of course, production is destroyed, and the old and weak are left to work in the common people's homes. Naturally, the production capacity is greatly reduced. The production capacity is reduced, and the country's wealth taxation is of course also reduced.At the same time, Qin Shihuang was still engaged in a war against the Yue people in the south, and continued to recruit troops from the Yue people in the south. After laying down the territory, he wanted to build a post station leading to the south from the Central Plains, and at the same time build water conservancy projects in the South Vietnam area.In this way, the folk husbands who had just finished working in the Central Plains all of a sudden went to the South. Chinese people have always loved their families, and leaving their hometowns is always the most painful thing, so it is natural to complain.Of course, we can also say that the development of the Vietnamese area has positive significance, such as promoting the unification of the country and the integration of the nation, but the people at the time did not feel the great significance of these later, the soldiers only knew, They were sent to fight in a difficult environment, without rest all year round.The common people only know that the world was finally unified, but the emperor forced us to work and used us as animals, and the resentment towards Qin Shihuang accumulated day by day. The biggest mistake of Qin Shihuang was not that he did these things, but that he did these things at the same time.Just look at the distribution of the north and south at that time. In the first six years after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, Qin's 300,000 troops were in the north to deal with the Xiongnu, and 500,000 troops were in the south to deal with Baiyue.The south and the north are 800,000 troops, which is equivalent to fighting on two fronts. Even in a modern country, fighting on two fronts is often a taboo for military strategists, let alone a newly established feudal country with a declining economy.Not to mention the military affairs, but the use of civilian workers was even more shocking. After the settlement of the southern Yue nationality area, Qin Shihuang successively mobilized more than 400,000 civilian workers to dig canals and open post roads in the south. Most of these people did not return.That is to say, at the beginning of the founding of the country, when Qin needed to recuperate most, it was still making big moves and tossing.These things, which were originally correct, happened to exceed the limit of China's tolerance during this period. But the question is, why did Qin Shihuang make this mistake?Some said that he was very happy, some said that he was ungrateful, and some said that he had a cruel personality. However, fundamentally, we have to say that it is normal for Qin Shihuang to do this kind of thing, because this is the habit of the king of Qin. Just look at the history of Qin State during the Warring States Period. Qin State has been in toss for more than 130 years after Qin Xiaogong's reform.From Qin Xiaogong to Yingzheng, except for a short-term strike, the Qin State has been recruited almost every year and fought every year. However, Qin's national economy has not only not been dragged down, but has become stronger and stronger.The successive monarchs of the Qin State have never been stingy in using the power of the people. For example, during the period of King Qin Zhaoxiang, he ordered all men over the age of 16 in the country to join the army and go to the Changping battlefield, which immediately established the victory of the Changping battle. The overall situation, this war caused more than half of Qin's casualties, but only one year later, Qin surrounded Handan with an army of 500,000, but was attacked by the joint attack of Wei and Chu, and was defeated.Even so, the Qin State recovered quickly. No matter how much sacrifice they made and how heavy the casualties were each time, their ability to heal their wounds quickly was unmatched by any of the six countries. The reason why Qin State has such a healing ability is not because the people of Qin State are highly enlightened, but from two aspects.One is that after Shang Yang’s reform, after two stages of continuous implementation of the reform, Qin people established an absolute sense of awe of the law. This sense of awe created the characteristics of Qin’s order and prohibition. They have all envied the rigorous law-abiding of Qin officials.But such conditions cannot be copied to other vassal states in a short period of time.Another important condition is that at that time, the State of Qin had a policy of rewarding military exploits, and launching a war was originally an opportunity for the grassroots to stand out, and the people of the State of Qin were naturally tough and martial, so that they were never afraid of death.But those six countries that were newly wiped out are not like this. Treating them with the same policy as the people of Qin State can only be said to have found the wrong target. But Qin Shihuang obviously didn't realize this. Back then, with a population of only one or two million people in Qin State, it was possible to launch a military operation of one million people, and a large-scale water conservancy project with seven to eight million people. Now I have 20 million people in my hand. How can it be said that people's power is being abused?But the problem is that the 20 million people in his hands come from all over the world, and his people do not only include the Guanzhong Plain.No one will be satisfied if the country has just been unified and the people are governed psychologically, but they are still tossing about. The essence of Qin's reform was to use the power of the state apparatus to establish strict laws and build an efficient autocratic country.After unifying the six countries, Qin Shihuang also planned to do the same, but neither the timing nor the economic conditions were ripe. However, Qin Shihuang feels very good about himself, and there are more and more things to toss about. As for the various misdeeds he was accused of during this period, such as repairing the Afang Palace, repairing Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum, and being extravagant and lewd all day long, these are actually being an emperor. The "subsection" question.The big problem is that he didn't figure out the primary and secondary issues of this country's construction, what needs to be done first, and what to do later.And it wasn't a sudden mistake he made, but a weakness he often had. Qin Shihuang, with a courageous character, a tenacious spirit, and a heroic demeanor, is indeed a born king.But Qin Shihuang's major problem is his strategic choice.When he was destroying the six kingdoms in his early years, he had tossed and turned, hesitating in deciding what order to choose. Finally, with the help of Wei Liao, he found the key to the final step of national unification.Qin Shihuang has a resolute execution ability, a fanatical desire for work and a desire for power, but what he lacks most is probably the quality of being targeted.This difference in quality made him perform this farce after he ascended the throne. Qin Shihuang made a mistake, but the greater tragedy is that his mistake has continued since he came to the throne. Qin Shihuang began to build the magnificent Afang Palace in 220 BC, and in 218 BC. , His Lishan tomb group also began to be built, and a Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang mobilized another 700,000 civilians.Young and middle-aged people all over the world have to revolve around him.He forgot one thing: what China needs most after the demise of the six nations is not a big project or a big face, but what it needs most is to heal the wounds of the war.The war to pacify the Yue people could have been postponed, but Qin Shihuang wanted to grasp it with several hands, not only to restore the economy, but also to launch engineering projects. Finally, the Great Wall was built, but the Qin Dynasty was on the verge of collapse. Qin Shihuang's mistakes, he himself did not realize when he was alive, on the contrary he was very complacent.After he ascended the throne, he went out on tour many times, such as the east tour and the south tour, which cost countless people and money.But there are also reasons for the parade. At this time, the country is initially determined, and people everywhere are in panic. The parade can play a role in calming people's hearts and stabilizing the overall situation of the country.Theoretically, it is true, but the requirements of the Chinese people are very simple, what they want is to live in peace of mind.Another funny thing about Qin Shihuang in his later years is that he began to trust alchemists, begging for gods everywhere, and even came up with an allusion about Xu Fu's journey to the east.After the completion of the great cause of reunification, Qin Shihuang's performance was completely different from his period of unification of the six kingdoms. Why did such a change occur? In fact, in the history of China, the Qin Dynasty is not the only one with allusions such as this kind of country falling into war quickly after the end of division.Such as the Western Jin Dynasty, such as the Sui Dynasty.Moreover, the Western Jin and Sui dynasties completed national unification after decades of self-cultivation. The country's financial reserves and population were far better than those of the Qin Dynasty at this time.But even so, once the power of the people is used improperly and the country's internal and external policies are out of balance, it will immediately fall into disintegration. Whether it is an ancient dynasty or a modern civilized country, its internal and external policies seem to be two ends of the balance. maintain long-term stability.During Qin Shihuang's period, his policy was to add weight desperately at both ends of the balance, and the result was that the entire balance broke. Why make such a mistake? In fact, among all the evaluations about Qin Shihuang, there may be one person's evaluation that hits the nail on the head, that is, he once served as a national lieutenant under Qin Shihuang, an outstanding military strategist in Chinese history: Wei Liao. The most outstanding thing about Wei Liao when he was assisting Qin Shihuang was his excellent strategic vision.When determining the plan to destroy the six countries, it was he who formulated the correct policy to ensure the smooth completion of the national reunification of Qin.However, Wei Liao still has another ability: seeing people's eyes.When Qin Shihuang was only the king of Qin, he saw through Qin Shihuang's biggest weakness at a glance: "Lack of kindness, heart like a tiger and wolf; in adversity, he can treat others with humility, and when he is successful in the world, he will easily devour people." At that time, Qin Shihuang heard this On the contrary, he appreciates Wei Liao very much, because in his eyes, this is not a shortcoming in itself. This is exactly the tragedy of Qin Shihuang. A man with a heart like a tiger and a wolf may be an excellent general on the battlefield, but he is destined not to be an excellent emperor on the throne.Emperor Sui Yang, who also had the title of tyrant like Qin Shihuang, was also an excellent general back then, but after becoming emperor, he still did things in a muddle. There are not a few who look like tigers and wolves.But Qin Shihuang's biggest weakness is the last sentence in Wei Liao's comment, "After gaining ambition in the world, he will easily devour people."This sentence was unfortunately hit by Wei Liao.After all, Qin Shihuang didn't know how to suppress his desires. Once he was satisfied, he immediately showed his face as a tiger and wolf. When Qin Shihuang was alive, resistance to Qin Shihuang began in various places. The most indispensable thing in Qin Shihuang's life was "being assassinated".Moreover, the number of assassinations is increasing day by day, but he himself does not realize it until he dies. Afterwards, he roams around, showing off his might, enshrining Mount Tai in Zen, showing off his glory, and Qin's strength is also gradually overdrawn by him in this process, and at the same time overdrawn What's clean is still his personal temperament.By 210 BC, when Qin Shihuang died of illness on the East Tour Road, a huge anti-riot movement was already in full swing. In the tragedy of Qin Shihuang, there seems to be another reason hidden, a reason that posterity has not paid much attention to: the legalist tradition of Qin State. As we all know, the strength of Qin State came from Shang Yang's reform.The thought of Shang Yang's reform is mainly the thought of the Legalists.In the period of troubled times and world wars, through severe punishments and harsh laws, coupled with cruel external living conditions, as long as sufficient national dignity is established, the country can quickly gather combat power, win foreign wars, and become stronger day by day.However, when the country moved toward unification and began peaceful construction, Legalism revealed its fatal flaw: rigidity without softness. The main feature of Legalism is the severe punishment and strict laws, which make the whole country shrouded in horrible punishment supervision, and use harsh punishment to suppress all opponents.However, with the shift of the main contradiction in the country, the legalist thought completely lost its positive role during the recuperation period, and instead became a negative role.At the same time, the resentment and anger caused by the Legalists' perennial suppression will completely rebound from the people once there is a disturbance.It triggered a huge anti-riot movement, just like the principle of conquering the world on horseback and governing the world on horseback. Legalism can conquer the world, but it is difficult to rule the world. The dynasty, its vitality is also doomed to be stiff, even if it is as strong as the Qin army, even if it swallows thousands of miles like Qin Shihuang, it cannot save its decline. The history of the demise of Qin Dynasty II, in a sense, is also the history of the rapid decline of Legalism after reaching its historical apex.Facts have proved that the simple legalist rule of the country may achieve immediate results in troubled times, but in peaceful and prosperous times, it will instead become a catalyst for national turmoil and decline.Among the various thoughts contending among a hundred schools of thought, Legalism is doomed to have fulfilled its mission, and the theory that is truly qualified to be inherited by China's feudal society in the next 2,000 years is the later Confucianism.At that time, Legalism could only incorporate its core essence into Confucianism and become an important part of Confucianism. The glory of Legalism in the Warring States Period could only be preserved in the Warring States Period. This is where the tragedy of Qin Shihuang lies. All kinds of tyranny after he won the world are due to his personal character, but also due to the influence of Legalism.As a young man who grew up in a legalist cultural environment, and also has the inheritance of legalism from his ancestors from generation to generation, asking him to take the initiative to change his mind and implement benevolent government after winning the world is a very difficult action.For Qin Shihuang, it was unrealistic to achieve this, so Qin's lasting strength was also unrealistic.