Life
According to Sima Qian's Biography of Historical Records of Lv Buwei, Qin Shihuang's mother was the daughter of General Zhao, and she was Lv Buwei's concubine before giving it to Zi Chu. Lv Buwei gave Zhao Ji, who was pregnant, to an alien (that is, King Xiang of Qin Zhuang) for political purposes. Later, Zhao Ji was pregnant in December and gave birth to Ying Zheng. In fact, she was the illegitimate child of Lv Buwei and Queen Zhao. According to the research results of modern medicine [source request], there are few cases of twelve months of pregnancy; At the same time, menopause as a sign of pregnancy can also be suspected by strangers. Therefore, it is possible that Sima Qian made mistakes in Historical Records. ) As the son of a proton who was not favored, Ying Zheng spent his boyhood in Handan, the capital of Zhao. At this time, the alien had already returned to Qin through the mediation of Lv Buwei, and recognized Mrs. Huayang as his mother. After many political struggles, he finally gained Huayang's trust. Lv Buwei spent a lot of energy and money to take Zhao Ji's mother and son back to Qin, and Ying Zheng began his political career in Qin king Palace.
Life
Ascending to the throne
King Zhuang Xiang died in three years (247 years ago), and Ying Zheng ascended the throne as the king of Qin. When he acceded to the throne, because he was young, the national politics was dominated by Lv Buwei, the prime minister, and Lv Buwei was honored as Guanzhong. Lv Buwei not only controls the imperial court, but also has an affair with the Empress Dowager (Zhao Ji). Seeing that Qin Shihuang was getting older, he was afraid of being discovered by him, so he presented the fake eunuch Lao Ai to the Queen Mother. As a result, the Queen Mother gave birth to two illegitimate children, and Lao Ai, a fake eunuch, assumed the title of Wang Fu, made a long letter, owned Shanyang, Taiyuan and other places, and collected his own henchmen. Lao Ai has been operating in Yongcheng for many years and established a huge force.
in the first 238 years, Qin Shihuang held a crown ceremony at the Yinian Palace in Yongcheng. Lao Ai used the decree to launch a rebellion, and attacked the Qinian Palace. Qin Shihuang had already arranged 3, chosen men in the Palace of Qi Nian to defeat the rebels. Lao Ai turned to Xianyang Palace, where there were already troops. Lao Ai fled alone and was arrested soon. Qin Shihuang dismembered Lao Ai's five horses and exposed them to the public; And put his mother Zhao Ji in the Lv Yang Palace in Yongcheng. Qin Shihuang then removed Lv Buwei from his post and exiled Lv Buwei to Bashu.
Later, although he listened to the nobles of Qin State and issued the Order of Expelling Guests and expelled the diners from the six countries, he was discouraged by Li Si's Book of Expelling Guests. Later, he appointed Wei Liaozi, Li Si and others.
reunifying China
From the first 23 years to the first 221 years, Qin Shihuang adopted the strategy of making friends far away and attacking near, dividing and alienating each other, and launched the war of Qin to destroy the six countries. It destroyed Korea in the 17th year of Qin Shihuang, Zhao in the 18th year, Wei in the 22nd year, Chu in the 24th year, Yan in the 25th year and Qi in the 26th year. Finally, the first unified, multi-ethnic, authoritarian centralized state in China history-Qin Empire was established.
building the great wall
after the Qin dynasty destroyed the six countries, it began to build the great wall in the north, collecting more than 4, civilian workers every year. At that time, the productivity was extremely low, men could not wrap their stomachs after hard work, and women's textile cloth could not cover their bodies. So it was not surprising that so many people were recruited to engage in unproductive labor, resulting in an incalculable number of deaths, a thousand miles of corpses and rivers of blood, so it was not surprising that five out of ten households wanted to rebel. The folk legend of "Meng Jiangnu cried and collapsed the Great Wall" also reflects the complaints of ordinary people about the construction of the Great Wall from one side.
The Great Wall built at that time was not the Great Wall we see today (the Great Wall was built by the Ming Dynasty), but rather a rather weak rammed earth wall. Qin Changcheng's main purpose was to mark the boundary between the Xiongnu and the Xiongnu, and it had no real defensive function. Moreover, the Xiongnu was not strong at that time, and the first emperor still sent Meng Tian to attack the Xiongnu with 1, troops. Later generations commented on this: "To attack from afar, to be greedy from the outside, to be wide-ranging and not to worry about its harm." Not long after Meng Tian's death, Xiongnu easily crossed Qin Changcheng, not only recovered the original lost land, but also occupied Yan, Dai and other counties. To sum up, it is still a controversial topic whether the Great Wall itself is meaningful in the war against nomads in later generations, but at least in the Qin Shihuang era, it played no role except wasting national strength.
Centralized rule
launched the event of burning books and burying Confucianism.
At that time, hundreds of schools of thought contended, which seriously hindered Qin Shihuang's unification of the people's thoughts in the six conquered countries and threatened the rule of the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, in order to unify the thoughts of the people of the original six countries, Qin Shihuang began to destroy all hundred schools of thought's works except the legalists in that year, until the demise of the Qin Dynasty in 26 BC, which was known as "burning books".
In 212 BC, the second year after the book burning, Qin Shihuang killed more than 46 Confucian scholars and alchemists in Xianyang, the capital of Qin Dynasty, in order to further exclude different political thoughts and opinions, which was called "pit Confucianism" in history.
luxury life
before Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, there were many palaces, but during the period of unifying the six countries, it was even more massive. Every time a country was destroyed, it was necessary to copy its palace buildings near Xianyang, with a total area reaching an alarming level. The whole Guanzhong area, from the north of Weihe River to the east of Yong Men to the Jinghe River, was full of palaces.
After reunification, Epang Palace (also known as Chaogong and Epang as its former temple name) was built on the south bank of Weihe River, and more than 7, migrant workers were employed every year. Although some people argued that these people were guilty, the proportion of 7, was amazing compared with the national population of only 2 million at that time. The Imperial Palace can accommodate 1, people, and it takes cars and horses to transport food and wine inside. The area of a front hall alone is 693 meters long from east to west, 116 meters wide from north to south, and the pedestal is as high as 11.65 meters, which can seat 1, people. However, the archaeological team of Epang Palace, which is jointly composed of the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology of Xi 'an, found that Epang Palace was not built at all. In the Qin Dynasty, this palace only completed the foundation.
In addition, there are Xingle Palace, Liangshan Palace and so on.
According to Three Ancients' Old Stories, the State of Qin has "a hundred and forty-five temples at home and abroad". According to Historical Records? Qin Shihuang's Chronicle records that there are "3 palaces in Guanzhong, more than 4 outside the customs", and "within 2 miles of Xianyang" and "27 palaces".
Where there is a palace, there must be beautiful women. When the Six Kingdoms are destroyed, all the beautiful women from all countries are plundered and put in the palaces built. The total number of ladies-in-waiting, according to the old records of Sanfu: there are more than ten thousand women in the harem, and they are angry with the sky. Moreover, after the death of Qin Shihuang, most of these ladies-in-waiting were forced to die.
The tomb of Mount Lishan was built from the time when the King of Qin ascended the throne, which lasted for more than 3 years and employed 7, people every year. The tomb now preserved is 2 meters in circumference and 55 meters in height from the periphery. The interior decoration is extremely luxurious, with copper casting roofs, mercury as rivers, lakes and seas, and full of organs. Moreover, the craftsmen who built the mausoleum were all buried alive after the mausoleum was built.
In the thirty-seventh year of his death (the first 21 years), Qin Shihuang returned to the plain and fell ill. Going to the sand dunes (now northwest of Guangzong, Hebei Province), Qin Shihuang died of illness. Zhao Gao colluded with Hu Hai, the youngest son of the first emperor, and Reese, and forged a testamentary edict to make Hu Hai a prince for Qin Ershi. And gave Prince Fu Su death.
National Construction
Soon after the emperor ascended the throne, he began to send people to design and build the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. After the unification of the six countries, the luxurious Epang Palace was built immediately, with a maximum of 72, workers (imaginary numbers indicate a large number).
in the first 222 years, Qin Shihuang began to build a large-scale chidao with Xianyang as the center and extending in all directions, similar to a modern expressway. Running in the same lane and implementing "cars on the same track" are all 5 steps wide. Chi Dao has several functions, one is to facilitate traffic and manage the old places of the six countries, the other is to facilitate the supply of the front line of the northern war, and the other is to facilitate the smooth flow of the first emperor's patrol. Except for the Qin Straight Road and the Qin Plank Road, most of them were built on the basis of Qin's hometown and the old roads of the six countries and the roads built during Qin's conquest of the six countries. The famous Chidao includes Shangjun Road, Linjin Road, Dongfang Road, Wuguan Road, Qinplank Road, Western Road and Qinzhi Road.
after the six countries were wiped out, Qin Shihuang ordered Shilu to dig canals to connect Xiangjiang River in the Yangtze River system and Lijiang River in the Pearl River system in order to transport troops and materials needed for conquering Lingnan. The canal was finally completed in the twentieth year (219 BC) to the twenty-third year (215 BC) of the first emperor. Lingqu is one of the oldest canals in the world, and it has been the main waterway transportation route between Lingnan and Central Plains for more than 2, years. Therefore, this project is one of the key cultural relics protection units in China.
What happened during his reign
Zhang Liang, a well-known Korean family, sent assassins to assassinate Qin Shihuang in Bolangsha, but failed.
In order to seek the medicine of immortality, Xu Fu, an alchemist, led thousands of children, men and women to cross the East China Sea to seek immortality, which cost a lot. ("Chu Yi Liu Tie" means that Xu Fu and the boys and girls will never return after arriving at their destination (that is, present-day Japan), and the Japanese minister Qin Shi is their descendants. However, referring to the Historical Records and the Records of the Three Kingdoms, we can see that this statement did not appear before the Eastern Han Dynasty. As for Xu Fu's theory of Emperor Jimmu, there is no literature to take an examination of, except for the age discrepancy.
Evaluation
He was the first emperor in China, the founder of emperor honorific title, and the founder of emperor system in China, who made China enter the era of centralized monarchy. He also made China politically unified for the first time, forming a situation of "cars on the same track, books with the same language", which laid the foundation for the subsequent dynasties to seek reunification. But since ancient times, Qin Shihuang has always been a controversial figure.
Positive evaluation
When Qin Shihuang was in power, he annexed six countries and sent troops to the south to explore the north. It was recorded in the history that "all the land that was crossed by hundreds of people bowed down" and "the land expanded thousands of miles to the north". According to the map of the Warring States, the territory was almost twice as large as that controlled by the seven heroes of the Warring States. Moreover, Qin Shihuang "set up counties" and paid attention to the rule and system construction of the conquered land, unlike other contemporary conquerors such as Alexander of Macedonia or Rome, which only focused on conquest and not on system construction; Therefore, the unified land rule was stabilized, which laid the foundation for the present territory of China. Later generations believe that "the contribution is greater than that of Qin Huang Hanwu". It means that Qin Shihuang is ahead of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty in martial arts, which is unparalleled in history. Up to now, the English address for China, China, has also evolved from the Roman word Chin, which shows the influence of the Qin Empire on one side.
Since Shang Yang's political reform, the State of Qin has attached importance to ruling the country by law. Qin Shihuang inherited this tradition and highly praised Han Fei, a legalist figure. He once lamented that "if you travel with him, you will have no hatred". Reward and punish the generals according to law. Although Qin Shihuang was autocratic and thought that "I am the world", he still ruled the country according to law in the Qin Dynasty. Chen Sheng Wu Guang uprising, its reason is also "harsh Qin law", its crime when death, had to be reversed, but the law forced the people to revolt. It is not like the later generations, "Zhu Men's wine stinks and the road has frozen bones" because of serious corruption, and the officials forced the people to rebel. Later Confucianism advocated the rule of man, and the rule of the country was not in accordance with the law. It was decided by the monarch in a word, but the wind of rule of man and flattery still exists today.
Qin Shihuang initiated the post station system and built post roads. It laid a technical foundation for the decree access of the huge empire and the resulting county-based imperial power country. "Building post roads and establishing counties" is a necessary condition for China to adopt the advanced system of county system instead of the western enfeoffment system. At the same time, Rome could not effectively control the occupied areas, but only had a powerful governor (the governor was in charge of the military and political power of a place, all of whom were nobles, and the grass-roots organizations relied on the original local organizations), which was still similar to the enfeoffment system, which was a very important reason for the subsequent division of the Roman Empire. The county system is a civilian system, and its military and political leaders are all appointed by the emperor. According to their political achievements, their military achievements can be promoted and demoted, and they can be transferred equally, which leads to the emergence of professional bureaucrats and professional soldiers. Professional bureaucrats and professional soldiers can come from civilians, and the county bureaucracy effectively guarantees the rights of civilians (cloth) to participate in the discussion of state affairs (such as Reese, Meng Ao, etc. are all cloth, and they only come out according to their military achievements). Compared with the aristocratic politics of the enfeoffment system, it is undoubtedly a great historical progress. This is where the civil service system and the military system of modern countries originated.
The Qin Empire established by Qin Shihuang laid the foundation for China to be more advanced than the West in political system in the next 1,7 years. The so-called "Han inherited the Qin system", "since the Qin dynasty, its system has not changed" and "one hundred generations still practice Qin law and politics" China, in the era of imperial power for two thousand years, basically followed the system of Qin Dynasty in political system.
Li Bai's poem "Antique" says: "The king of Qin swept Liuhe, and he looked at him! "Sang Hongyang's treatise affirmed Qin Shihuang's achievement in unifying China. In 1913, Zhang Taiyan of Qing Dynasty wrote Qin Zheng Ji, which also praised Qin Shihuang.
Negative comments
Because Qin Shihuang promoted the Legalist theory of "ruling the country by law", and later rulers in China all promoted Confucianism with benevolence and the doctrine of the mean as the core. Therefore, Qin Shihuang often appears as a negative model in various essays and historical records. Such as Jia Yi's "On the Qin Dynasty".
Historical Records of the First Qin Emperor: The King of Qin was greedy and self-motivated, didn't believe in meritorious deeds, didn't kiss the gentry, abolished the kingly way, established private rights, banned documents and made the law cool, cheated before righteousness, and began with tyranny.
Jia yi's "On the Qin Dynasty": If one man makes trouble and seven temples fall, he will be laughed at by the whole world. Benevolence is not applied, but the offensive and defensive trends are different.
Qin Shihuang was regarded as a tyrant by many historians, and he would do anything for power [14].
The Great Wall in Wan Li, Qinchi Road, Lingqu, Epang Palace and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor are all very large in scale, and the population of the whole country is building. Many documents have denounced that many people were killed and injured during the construction, but on the other hand, they have further developed the traffic in various places and contributed to the future integration of transportation, economy and trade, as well as all ethnic groups. Therefore, it has always been a debate among historians about whether Qin Shihuang's achievements are great or too great.