Chapter 61 Qin Shihuang's State Administration Strategy II: Centralization of Power

"Historical Records" records that after the Qin Dynasty unified the world, Prime Minister Wang Wan and others wrote a letter to Qin Shihuang. The princes had just been eliminated, and the Yan, Qi, and Chu regions were remote. If the princes were not entrusted there, it would be difficult to maintain the rule of the court. The prince is the king, let them guard the frontier for you, and enjoy peace forever. This is actually a continuation of the practice of the Zhou Dynasty. Qin Shihuang handed over this opinion to the officials for discussion, and most of them thought Wang Wan was right, but Li Si stood up and opposed it.

Li Si said: "There were many children and princes with the same surname in the Zhou Dynasty. They thought they could consolidate the rule of the royal family. In the first few generations, they were barely enough. Later, they became estranged and attacked each other like enemies. The princes fought all day long. The emperor can't stop it. Now that the whole country is unified, the original vassal states have become prefectures and counties. It is convenient and easy to control the rewards of princes and heroes from the country's tax revenue. The situation is very good, why do you want to enfeoff the princes and cause trouble for yourself?"

Li Si's words hit Qin Shihuang's arms.The state of Qin is at a historical crossroads at this time. Going to the left is the restoration of the feudal system; going to the right is the path of centralization and autocracy.Qin Shihuang chose the latter without hesitation. He said to his officials: "The reason why the people of the world have suffered from wars is because there are so many princes. Now we have just created a unified country, and we are going to establish various countries. It's planting the seeds for war! Isn't it the opposite of the opposite to use this method to seek the peace of the country? Li Si's opinion is correct, and there is no need to mention the matter of dividing the feudal state from now on."

Some people still couldn't turn the corner: "Then who will manage such a vast land for His Majesty?" Qin Shihuang said: "There are counties." The county was a product of the late Spring and Autumn Period, and was gradually promoted during the Warring States Period, becoming a local administrative organization below the central government of various countries. The Qin State first set up counties, all in remote areas, namely Ba County and Shu County in the southwest and Longxi County and Beidi County in the north.In the process of annexation, counties were continuously established on the newly occupied land.

The hometown of Zhao State includes Taiyuan County, Yunzhong County, Handan County, Julu County, Yanmen County, Dai County, and Changshan County; The hometown of Wei State includes Shang County, Hedong County, Dong County, Dang County, and Hanoi County; The hometowns of South Korea include Sanchuan County, Shangdang County, and Yingchuan County; The hometown of Chu State includes Hanzhong County, Nanjun County, Qianzhong County, Nanyang County, Chen County, Xue County, Sishui County, Jiujiang County, Kuaiji County, Changsha County, and Hengshan County; The hometown of Qi State includes Donghai County, Qi County, Langya County, Jiaodong County, and Jibei County;

The hometown of Yan State includes Guangyang County, Shanggu County, Yuyang County, Youbeiping County, Liaoxi County, and Liaodong County; Baiyue and Nanyue include Minzhong County, Nanhai County, Guilin County, and Xiang County; There is Jiuyuan County in the Xiongnu area. A total of forty-six counties were set up before and after, and the highest chief of the county was the sheriff.In order to prevent the county guard from dominating one side, a county lieutenant was set up to be responsible for local military and public security, and a county supervisor was set up to supervise the people and officials.

There are counties under the county, the highest chief of the county is the county magistrate, and the county magistrate is the county magistrate in a small county with less than 10,000 households.County magistrates and county magistrates set up county magistrates and county lieutenants to share power and govern together. There are townships under the county, which are responsible for apportioning corvee, collecting land taxes, and managing public security.There are "three elders" in the township officials who are in charge of education; there are "cowards" who are in charge of litigation and tax collection;

There is a li in the countryside, which is equivalent to the current village. The village head was originally called Li Zheng, but in order to avoid the name taboo of Qin Shihuang, he was also called Li Dian. There is also a special institution at the grassroots level—the kiosk.The kiosk has no affiliation with the township or village. It belongs to the police station of the county captain, which is equivalent to the current police station. Its main duty is to "catch robbers". It is also responsible for receiving officials and delivering government mail. Counties are local institutions.The establishment of the central organization also embodies the principle of decentralization and governance, and the principle of being responsible to the emperor alone.

Under the emperor, the head of all officials is the prime minister.During the Warring States period, the prime minister of the Qin State was not only the highest administrative officer in the country, but also led the army to go to war. Chiliji and Ganmao were precedents.After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang first deprived the prime minister of his military power and made him a purely civilian official. The so-called censor is the "officer in charge of officials", who is responsible for supervising all officials and enjoys the treatment of deputy prime minister, which is equivalent to the secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection today.This was the original creation of the Qin Dynasty. For more than two thousand years, all dynasties followed the Qin Dynasty's censor system, which shows that it played a very important role in maintaining the emperor's rule.

The Taiwei is the highest military attache, equivalent to today's Minister of Defense, and enjoys the treatment of the prime minister.What's interesting is that Qin Shihuang established the post of Taiwei, but he never appointed anyone to be Taiwei. He only appointed Weiwei, Zhongwei, Tingwei and other officials under the Taiwei.Perhaps Qin Shihuang felt that if he was tired, he would be more tired, and it would be more reliable to directly control the general power in his own hands. The prime minister, the censor, and the Taiwei are collectively called the "Three Dukes". Since then, all dynasties have generally set up their own central institutions according to this model.The so-called "ranking among the three princes" means that someone has reached the highest level of officials, which is quite remarkable in the imperial society.

The empire is so huge, even with the establishment of counties and other institutions, there is still a problem that the mountains are high and the emperor is far away.In order to allow imperial power to permeate every inch of land, Qin Shihuang ordered the construction of Chidao across the country. As the name suggests, Chidao is a road that allows horse-drawn carriages to gallop, which is the expressway of the Qin Dynasty at that time. Chidao, which was built in 220 BC, has two main lines, both of which start from Xianyang.One goes east, leading directly to the original Qi and Yan regions; the other goes south, directly leading to the original Chu and Wuyue regions.In 212 BC, in order to strengthen the defense against the Xiongnu, Qin Shihuang ordered the construction of a "straight road" from Xianyang to the north, directly to Jiuyuan County in the north, with a total length of more than 1,800 miles. According to the records of the Han people, the Chidao of the Qin Dynasty was "fifty steps wide, three feet long and covered with trees, thickly built outside, hidden with golden vertebrae, and green pine trees". comparable. Through these extending in all directions, the emperor's orders can be quickly conveyed to all counties and counties across the country.And once there is a war, the elite troops in the center can quickly rush to the four directions.This is undoubtedly of great significance for strengthening the centralization of power.