Qin II Hu Hai conspired with Zhao Gao to take advantage of the transition of power after the death of Qin Shi Huang and took over the power of China's first unified dynasty. However, it only took 3 years to bury the dynasty. , and he also ended up committing suicide. Its prosperity is also booming, and its demise is also sudden. How did he die in just three years?
"Historical Records" records that before Qin Shihuang died, he had written a sealed edict to his eldest son Fusu , asking Fusu, who was far in the north, to rush back to Xianyang to take charge of his funeral affairs. His intention is not clear. And metaphor. However, the edict was not delivered directly to the envoy. It may be that Qin Shihuang no longer had the ability to deliver it to the envoy. Instead, it was placed with Zhao Gao, the magistrate of Zhongche Mansion in charge of the seal. At this time, Qin Shihuang was on a tour, and only one prince, Hu Hai, was with him. Therefore, Zhao Gao seized this opportunity and conspired with Hu Hai to win over Prime Minister Li Si and tamper with the imperial edict. Hu Hai suddenly became the second emperor of Qin.
Taking over the throne of power of the Qin Dynasty can be said to be a good thing for Qin II: Qin Shihuang unified the world in the 26th year of his reign. At this time, after 12 years of consolidation, foreign invasions were basically resolved, and weights and measures It has been unified, the decree has been successfully implemented, the county system has basically taken shape, and the prototype of a unified dynasty has basically taken shape. Of course, Qin II also faced many problems, such as the incorrect position, the officials were dissatisfied, the people did not return to their hearts, and the old people in Shandong were not digested, etc. But overall, this is a good set of cards. If Qin II plays well, he will most likely be the winner in life.
However, Qin II, who was already twenty-one years old, should have been basically mature mentally, but his subsequent behavior was extremely anti-intellectual. In the three years since he took over the imperial power, he has played all his cards to pieces.
Qin II knew that his position was unfair. When he came to the throne, he immediately did two things to declare that he was legitimate. The first thing was to increase the number of sacrificial items for Qin Shihuang. This could indeed play a role in declaring orthodoxy in ancient times. The reaction of hundreds of officials was to discount the price and approve. It shows that this idea is still a good one. Although it is not beneficial to the people, it has a stabilizing effect on the court. The second thing is to go on patrol, like Qin Shihuang, to inspect counties and counties. "Historical Records" records that "in the spring, the second generation visited prefectures and counties in the east, went to Jieshi, Binghai, south to Kuaiji , and returned to Liaodong ". This tour basically covered the whole country, announcing that the new emperor had ascended the throne. Everywhere he went, he saw a stone tablet erected by Qin Shihuang, and he inscribed on it to highlight Qin Shihuang's great achievements. This matter was done well. At least in the feudal society, it showed the great achievements of the late emperor and was understandable by anyone.
However, what happened next began to show Qin II's anti-intellectual nature. He felt that he had no party members, all the officials were dissatisfied, the emperor's brothers coveted his throne, and the emperor's throne was unstable. So he followed Zhao Gao's advice and killed the ministers and the emperor's brothers on various charges. This creates a power vacuum. According to normal people's logic, at this time, someone should be selected to take over power, in order to stabilize the imperial power. But Qin II did not arrange for his own people to take over. It is also possible that he had no party members at all and no one he could trust. Therefore, Zhao Gao took advantage of this loophole and arranged for his own followers to fill the vacancy, and the imperial power began to fall away.
It can be seen from this incident that at the beginning of Qin II's succession, although Zhao Gao was able to influence Qin II, he could not completely control him. Qin II could foresee the threat and deal with it with brutal means, which still played a certain role in stabilizing the situation of the court. However, he went on a killing spree as soon as he came to the throne, which frightened the members of the royal family. In order to maintain their official positions, all the officials were reluctant to do so. The people vibrated. At the same time, he credulously believed in Zhao Gao, thinking that Zhao Gao was just a eunuch and would not threaten the imperial power. Since he had no one he could trust, he allowed Zhao Gao to take advantage of the loophole. He first suffered from political impatience, and then contracted the disease of political infantilism. In just over three months, he disrupted the political situation and laid the root of the disaster.
In April of the first year of Qin II, he returned to Xianyang after his tour and began to continue the construction of Abang Palace. The construction of Afang Palace shows that Qin II was in danger at this time but did not know the danger.The imperial power has begun to fall apart, and the ministers dare not speak out against Qin II, and there is already a tendency to betray relatives and alienate relatives. There are Zhao Gao's party members everywhere in the court. Zhao Gao is obedient to Qin II on the surface, but secretly he is accumulating strength. Yet he continues to undermine his own political capital. He conscripted more than 50,000 people to Xianyang to strengthen Xianyang's defense. He also estimated that the food supply needs of these 50,000 people would be great, so he collected food and grass from various places, and ordered those responsible for transporting food and grass to bring their own rations. 300 people outside Xianyang Food transported within the area is not allowed to be eaten.
He carried out extensive construction projects and raised guards, but he enforced the law more harshly on the people, which aroused dissatisfaction among the people. Jia Yi once commented: Now that the second generation of Qin has been established, everyone in the world will lead and observe its politics. At this time, faced with the resentment of the poor and the people caused by Qin Shihuang's massive construction projects and extensive conquests, Qin II only needed a little good governance to win the hearts of the people. Jia Yi said: If you put a short coat on a cold person, others will feel warm, if you feed a hungry person chaff, others will feel it is sweet, and the world is crying for food. This is the capital of the new king.
Qin II obviously did not see this capital. Although he once went on a tour in Xianyang, he only went to demonstrate his power and declare his orthodoxy. He did not see the hardships that successive years of conquests and large-scale construction projects had brought to people's lives. In other words, he never had a civilian perspective from beginning to end. He was arrogant and unwilling to consider the people. He continued to build Afang Palace just for his own enjoyment.
Water can carry a boat and also overturn it. In July of the first year of Qin II, Chen Sheng Wu Guang revolted in Daze Township. When the elders of the Six Kingdoms saw that Qin II had lost the support of the people, they hated the rule of Qin Dynasty even more. They responded one after another to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and the world was in chaos. At this time, there were only some sporadic flames in the world. If Qin II handled it properly and did not go further down the wrong path, it should be easy to put down the rebellion. Judging from the fact that in the third year of Qin II, he sent Zhang Han to lead the army to quell the rebellion, even 2 years later, the rebel army was not capable of confronting the Qin army. If he could quickly arrange to quell the rebellion at this time, it should be easier of. But Qin II made the biggest mistake in his life: killing the envoy. The envoy reported the situation in Shandong to Qin II, but Qin II thought that the envoy was misleading the people, so he killed the envoy. The result of this incident was that from then on, the envoys who came back from Shandong only said that there were some thieves in Shandong, but did not dare to say that there was a rebellion.
Qin II killed the envoy, which reflected the turmoil of the Qin Dynasty. Qin II must have been bewitched by Zhao Gao when he killed the envoy who reported the situation. Zhao Gao didn't want Qin II to put down the rebellion, mainly because he didn't want Qin II to send generals out of Xianyang and divide his power. He wanted to buy time to develop his own power. Qin II didn't know whether it was true or false, so he was forced to become an ostrich. At this point, it was only a matter of time before the Qin Dynasty fell. In fact, although Qin II's reign ended in three years, the Qin Dynasty's demise was doomed in July of the first year of Qin II.
After becoming an ostrich, Qin II believed that the world was stable, so he locked himself in Wangyi Palace and began to enjoy himself. Zhao Gao took the opportunity to slander and further controlled Qin II, making it difficult for ministers to meet Qin II. Zhao Gao also designed to frame Li Si, Feng Quji, Feng Jie and other important officials of the previous dynasty, and basically took control of the dynasty. In the winter of the second year of Qin II, Zhang Han was sent to quell the rebellion. In the third year of Qin II, Zhang Han confronted Xiang Yu and asked the court for reinforcements. Zhao Gao was worried about losing power and refused to send troops for reinforcements. Zhang Han surrendered, and the last hope of the Qin Dynasty was shattered. The isolated Qin II was just enjoying himself, ignoring the rebellion in Shandong, and waiting for the demise of the Qin Dynasty.
In the third year of Qin II, Liu Bang entered Wuguan , and the Qin Dynasty was in danger. Zhao Gao saw that the Shandong Rebel Army had become a trend. In order to preserve his glory and wealth, he sent people to secretly contact Liu Bang, forced Qin II to commit suicide in Wangyi Palace, and established Ziying as King of Qin. Ziying was the queen of Qin for 46 days, but she had no choice but to surrender to Liu Bang, and the Qin Dynasty was destroyed.
When Qin II took over, the Qin State could not be said to be weak, and eventually ended up being forced to commit suicide. The Qin Dynasty quickly perished. The reasons were complicated. The most direct reason was that Qin Shihuang did not make any advance arrangements for the transfer of power. The arrangement led to chaos in the court. Zhao Gao took advantage of the loophole and monopolized power and disrupted the government. Qin II behaved inappropriately during the time of internal troubles and turmoil, and finally acted like an ostrich and allowed the rebel army to destroy the country. From the process of the fall of Qin II, we can see the sharp power struggle in the late Qin Dynasty, and we can also see that Qin II, as an emperor, was not only unworthy of his position, but also unworthy of his virtue. He credulously trusted Zhao Gao, which led to Zhao Gao's dictatorial power. When he first came to power, he had no perspective on the people and did not understand the sufferings of the people. In the end, the officials forced the people to rebel, and he became a king who subjugated the country.
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