Chapter 103 Section 3 Abolition of Feudalism

At this time, the territory of the Qin Empire stretched from the sea in the east, including Korea; to Lintao and Qiangzhong in the west;How can such a vast territory be managed effectively? In this regard, the prime minister Wang Wan and others advocated following the method of the Zhou Dynasty, entrusting princes to princes in remote places such as Yan, Qi, and Chu, so as to deter them. If you don't set up a king, you can't suppress it. Please set up your sons, and it's only my luck." Ying Zheng received the report, without expressing his position, but issued a discussion among the ministers.The ministers unanimously agreed: this idea is good.

Only Li Si moved against the trend and tried his best to reject all opinions. He wrote, "Zhou Wenwu enshrined many children with the same surname, and then they were alienated. They attacked each other like enemies, and the princes even punished each other. Zhou Tianzi can't stop it. Your Majesty's gods and spirits are unified, and they are all prefectures and counties. The heroes of the princes are rewarded with public taxes and taxes. Only then did Yingzheng reply, "The whole world is suffering and fighting endlessly, so there is a king. Lai Zongmiao, the world was first established, and the country was restored. .”

Therefore, the world was divided into thirty-six counties, roughly as follows: Sanchuan, Hedong, Nanyang, Nanjun, Jiujiang, Zhangjun, Kuaiji, Yingchuan, Dangjun, Sishui, Xuejun, Dongjun, Langye, Qijun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi, Liaodong, Daijun, Julu, Handan, Shangdang, Taiyuan, Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, Yanmen, Shangjun, Longxi, Beidi, Hanzhong, Bajun, Shujun, Qianzhong, Changsha, internal history.Each county imitated the central government's three-public system, setting up guards, lieutenants, and supervisors for management.The county guard is in charge of civil affairs, the county lieutenant is in charge of military affairs, and the county supervisor is in charge of supervision.At the end of the Qin Dynasty, there were no feudal rulers, no sons were established as kings, and meritorious officials were not established as vassals.

In fact, since Shang Yang’s reform, except for a few feudal states (such as Lu Buwei and Lai Ai), the Qin State has implemented vertical management in the style of prefectures and counties.However, extending the system of prefectures and counties to all the land in the world is indeed a ground-breaking pioneering work. Everyone is the teacher of a hundred generations, and one word is the law of the world.One of Li Si's propositions rewrote Chinese history and was followed by many dynasties in later generations.Since then, China has bid farewell to the feudal society (although the feudal system has been restored several times in the future, they have not lasted long).The system of prefectures and counties with centralized monarchy has become the mainstream model of Chinese political system. After more than two thousand years, it has evolved into the current system of provinces, cities and counties.Of course, this is a story.At that time, why did Li Si stand on the opposite side of all the ministers in the court, came out to oppose the enfeoffment system, and supported the county system? During this period, what kind of mental journey did he go through?To this end, I interviewed Li Si.

Hello, Mr. Li Si.Many people think that the enfeoffment system is of positive significance to the long-term stability of the empire. For example, your old friend, the prime minister Wang Wan, he believes that feudalists must privately own their land, follow their own people, adapt to their customs, cultivate their principles, and implement them. Huayi also.What do you think of it? Li Si replied, "What was the result of the division of the Zhou Dynasty? The princes were arrogant and prospered, and they fought against the army. There were many countries in chaos, and few people governed the country. Hou Bo could not change his government, and the emperor could not change his ruler. There are not a few people who are private. Today, the Great Qin ruled the world, divided the capitals and made them counties, abolished the marquis and guards and made them guards. According to the grand plan of the world, the capital is above the Liuhe, and it controls the four seas and transports them within its control. Above, the world is united, although it can be known for all eternity.”

Next question.Among the ministers in the DPRK and China, you are the only one who firmly opposes enfeoffment.You should be well aware that your advocacy will make you numerous enemies.How many people are eagerly looking forward to enfeoffment, and if you mess with them like this, ruining their interests and cutting off their wealth, they will undoubtedly hate you to the bone.If Mr. Shihuang did not agree with your proposition, then your life in the court will definitely not be easy in the future, at least you will be excluded, and at worst you will be slandered.Have you considered the consequences of this?Have you ever wavered?

Li Si stared into the distance for a long time, then sighed in an irrelevant answer, "How do you know, kid? I'm the only one in the world!" After the interview, Li Si saw that I was depressed, so he asked, "Have you been trampled on? Tell me, and I will avenge you." I forced a smile and kindly accepted it.We are living in two eras, can you get enough of it? Li Si shook his head and said, "This statement is wrong. Don't forget, everything is inseparable from his ancestors. No matter who that person is, his ancestors must be in our Great Qin Kingdom and under my jurisdiction. I will help You find out his ancestor and kill him for you. You know the death penalty in Qin country very well, so you can just pick one, and I will execute it accordingly. What do you think?"

This is certainly a tempting proposal, but out of concern about the chaos of time and space, I can only reluctantly refuse. Before further elaborating on the pressure Lise was under at that time, there are two examples for reference. Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, before proclaiming himself emperor, his subordinates persuaded him many times to come in. He tried all kinds of arguments, but Liu Xiu refused to accept them all.Later, Geng Chun persuaded, "The scholar-bureaucrats in the world donate their relatives, abandon the soil, and those who are between the king and the stone, the plan is to hope that they will climb the dragon scales and attach the phoenix wings to achieve their goals. Now the achievements are determined, and the heavens and the people It is also appropriate, but when the king stays, he is against the crowd, and his position is not right. He is purely afraid that the scholars and bureaucrats will be desperate. "Liu Xiu realized the seriousness of the problem when he heard it, so he agreed.

Liu Bei, who is also a descendant of the Liu family, was also persuaded by his subordinates to proclaim himself emperor many times, but they all declined and humbly surrendered.Zhuge Liang cited the example of Geng Chun, saying, "Scholar bureaucrats who have worked hard with the king for a long time also want the merits of size to be as good as Geng Chun's words." When Liu Bei heard this, he suddenly woke up and proclaimed himself emperor obediently. What do these two examples illustrate?It shows that those who fight in the country want to sit in the country.If we don't let the country sit, let's break it up, start a new stove, and fight the country again.Liu Xiu and Liu Bei couldn't bear this kind of pressure, and they didn't dare to take such a risk.If they don't proclaim themselves emperor, what will the subordinates do?Only by proclaiming the emperor, can the subordinates get the rewards they want in a legitimate way, and get a share of the pie in the country.

Back to Lee's time.The empire has just been unified, not to mention the princes, but just those heroes who have conquered the world, they all want to get a share of the empire.Therefore, as soon as Wang Wan's suggestion of enfeoffment came out, he immediately responded to it.The prince is divided, how can the hero not be granted? What does encapsulation mean?It means an independent country within a country, where orders are issued by oneself, land and taxes are all owned by oneself, and descendants are hereditary, and enjoy wealth and honor for a long time.Once such a beautiful dream is shattered, who can be in a hurry?

It stands to reason that Li Si is also a great hero in unifying the world. If he is entrusted, he will definitely be indispensable.If he only valued personal self-interest, then when Wang Wan proposed enfeoffment, he could totally go along with it, or at least keep silent.Then, he will get a large piece of fiefdom, and his title land can be hereditary by his descendants, why not do it?Is it worth breaking the thoughts of so many heroic colleagues, harming others and not benefiting oneself?And offended so many princes and grandchildren waiting to be named, why bother! Therefore, in all fairness, Li Si abolished feudalism and supported prefectures and counties, showing his broad-mindedness and foresight as an excellent politician.With Yingzheng's intelligence and wisdom, he trusted Li Si throughout his life, which also shows that he recognized Li Si's political loyalty first in public and then in private. Later generations don't understand deeply, they always like to regard Li Si as a man who is greedy for wealth and honor, and think that he has been pursuing to be a hamster all his life, which can be described as absurd.It's ridiculous for the old man to spy on the sky, and the old man to frighten the chicken.