Chapter 47 46 The First Emperor - Qin Shihuang

Qin Wangzheng annexed the six countries, ended the situation of the Warring States period, and unified China.He felt that his achievements were greater than those of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors in ancient legends, and that he could no longer use the title of "King", but a more noble title should be used to match his achievements, so he decided to adopt the title of "Emperor".He was the first emperor of China, so he called himself the First Emperor.He also stipulated: The successors of his descendants are arranged in order. The second generation is called the second emperor, and the third generation is called the third emperor.

Now that the whole country is unified, how should such a large country be governed? At a court meeting, Prime Minister Wang Wan (sound wan) and others said to Qin Shihuang: "Now the princes have just been eliminated, especially the three kingdoms of Yan, Chu, and Qi are far away from Xianyang. It is impossible not to seal a few kings there. Please ask the emperor to send a few princes to Xianyang." Seal it there." Qin Shihuang asked the ministers to discuss it. Many ministers agreed with Wang Wan's opinion, and only Li Si opposed it.He said: "When King Wu of Zhou established the Zhou Dynasty, he enfeoffed many princes. Later, they killed each other like enemies, and the emperor of Zhou couldn't stop them. It can be seen that the method of enfeoffment is not good. It is better to establish counties throughout the country."

Li Si's opinion is exactly what Qin Shihuang wanted.He decided to abolish the method of enfeoffment and switch to the system of counties and counties, dividing the country into thirty-six counties, and sub-counties under the counties. County chiefs are appointed directly by the imperial court.The political affairs of the country, no matter how big or small, are decided by the emperor.It is said that Qin Shihuang read the memorials sent from below every day, and he had to read one hundred and twenty-one catties (the memorials at that time were all engraved on bamboo slips), and he would not rest until he finished reading.

It can be seen how concentrated his power is. Before Qin Shihuang unified the Central Plains, the countries had never had a unified system. Take transportation as an example, the size of vehicles varies from place to place, so the lanes are also wide and narrow.The country is unified, and it is inconvenient for vehicles to travel on different lanes. From then on, it was stipulated that the distance between the two wheels on a vehicle should be changed to six feet, so that the tracks of the wheels are the same.In this way, it is convenient for vehicles to travel across the country.This is called "cars on the same track".

Before Qin Shihuang unified the Central Plains, the scripts of various countries were also very inconsistent.It is the same text, but there are several ways of writing it. Since then, more convenient calligraphy has been adopted, and a unified script has been stipulated.In this way, cultural exchanges around the world are much more convenient.This is called "book with text". Transportation is convenient in various places, and commerce is also developed, but the standards of size, liters, and jin are completely different in various countries. Since then, it has been stipulated that the whole country should adopt a unified system of degree, quantity and balance.In this way, there will be no difficulty in buying and selling in various places.

Qin Shihuang was engaged in domestic reforms, but he did not expect the Huns from the north to come in.The Huns were originally an ancient minority in northern my country.In the late Warring States period, the Xiongnu nobles took advantage of the decline of Yan and Zhao in the north, invaded south step by step, and seized a large area of ​​land in the Hetao area of ​​the Yellow River.After Qin Shihuang unified the Central Plains, he sent general Meng Tian (yin tian) to lead an army of 300,000 to resist, took back all the Hetao area, and set up forty-four counties. In order to defend against the encroachment of the Huns, Qin Shihuang requisitioned civilian husbands to connect the original northern city walls of Yan, Zhao, and Qin, and built many new city walls.In this way, from Lintao in the west (now Minxian County, Gansu) to Liaodong in the east (northwest of Liaoyang, Liaoning) in the east, it forms a Great Wall.This world-famous ancient building has always been a symbol of the ancient civilization of our Chinese nation.

Later, Qin Shihuang sent another 500,000 troops to pacify the south and added three counties; the next year, Meng Tian defeated the Xiongnu and added another county.In this way, there are a total of forty counties in the country. In 213 BC, Qin Shihuang held a celebration banquet in Xianyang Palace because he opened up the country. Many ministers praised Qin Shihuang's achievements in unifying the country.Chun Yuyue, a doctor, proposed again that the enfeoffment system could not be abolished. He believed that it would not work not to follow the ancient rules. At this time, Li Si had already become the prime minister.Qin Shihuang wanted to listen to his opinion.

Li Si said: "Now the world is stable and the law is unified. But there are a group of scholars who don't learn from the present, but go to learn from the past, discussing state affairs indiscriminately, and causing chaos among the people. If they are not prohibited, it will affect the prestige of the court." Qin Shihuang adopted Li Si's proposition and immediately issued an order: Except for books on medicine and tree planting, all books with private collections of "Poems", "Hundred Schools of Thought" and "Hundred Schools of Thought" should be handed over and burned; , to be punished with death; anyone who uses the ancient system to criticize the present will be executed everywhere.

In the second year, there were two alchemists (a kind of person who cheated money by seeking gods and refining elixir) named Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng, talking about Qin Shihuang behind his back.When Qin Shihuang learned of this situation, he sent someone to arrest them, but they had already fled. Qin Shihuang was very annoyed, and after further investigation, he found that some Confucian scholars in Xianyang had also discussed him.Qin Shihuang arrested those Confucian scholars for interrogation.Confucian scholars couldn't stand the torture, so they confessed a large number of people by rambling.Qin Shihuang ordered that more than 460 Confucian scholars who violated the ban be buried, and the rest were exiled to the border.

This is the so-called "burning books and burying Confucianism" incident in history. Qin Shihuang was on fire, and none of the ministers dared to persuade him.His eldest son Fusu thought it was too harsh to deal with Confucian scholars and advised him not to do so.This angered Qin Shihuang and ordered Fusu to leave Xianyang and go to the north to guard the frontier with Mengtian.