As a key figure in the Qin Dynasty's unification of the world, Li Si once assisted Qin Shihuang to achieve eternal hegemony, and also assisted Qin Shihuang to establish the basic structure of feudal society for more than two thousand years. However, he ended up being cut in half

In July 208 BC, a strange man Li Si was cut in half in the city, and was also ordered by Hu Hai to the Yi tribe. As a key figure in the unification of the world in the Qin Dynasty, Li Si once assisted Qin Shi Huang to achieve eternal supremacy, and also assisted Qin Shi Huang in establishing the basic structure of feudal society for more than two thousand years. However, he ended up being cut in half and died. It was also chopped into meat sauce.

The Qin Dynasty was the first feudal unified dynasty in ancient history. Its influence lasted throughout the entire feudal era. The shadow of the Qin Dynasty can almost be seen in many dynasties in later generations. In the process of establishing the Qin Dynasty, in addition to Wang Jian, Wang Ben and his son, there was another figure that cannot be ignored, which was Prime Minister Li Si. Without Li Si's assistance, Qin Shihuang would probably have many years to go before he could complete the great cause of unifying the world.

Li Si is a native of Chu State . He has had a great ambition for fame since he was a child and is eager to get ahead and do something in his career. However, Li Si was not reused in the Chu State. He was just a minor official in charge of documents, so he entered the Qin State at the end of the Warring States Period and went to serve in the government of Qin Prime Minister Lu Buwei. Lu Buwei was very fond of Li Si. He first appointed him as Lang, then made him the chief historian, and then made Li Si his guest minister. Qin Wangzheng Ten years ago, Ying Zheng, who was King of Qin at that time, issued an expulsion order to expel the admonishment officials. Li Si wrote a "Remonstrance and Expulsion Letter" to Ying Zheng, advising him not to do so, and thus obtained the Ying Zheng’s trust.

When Li Si was in the Chu State, he worshiped Xunzi as his teacher and learned the art of emperors. Although Xunzi is a representative figure of Confucianism , Xunzi's ideological views are not completely limited to Confucianism . He has the strengths of Confucianism and Legalism to form a unique set of ideological doctrines. Under the influence of his teacher Xunzi, Li Si realized that if he wanted to achieve great things, Confucianism alone would definitely not be enough. If he wanted to make achievements, he still had to rely on Legalist .

Li Si was very ambitious about fame. He went all the way to the Qin State in order to achieve a great career. He once advised Ying Zheng to seize the opportunity to attack and destroy the six countries, and took Qin Mugong as an example, saying that Qin failed to complete the great cause of unifying the six countries because the time was not yet ripe. Now that the king is virtuous and Qin's national power is at its peak, it is a good time to attack and destroy the six countries. Moreover, Li Si had already planned the order of attacking and destroying the six countries. He suggested that Ying Zheng "destroy Han first to fear other countries."

After Qin destroyed the six kingdoms, Li Si became the prime minister of the Qin Empire. He finally fulfilled his boyhood dream and embarked on an earth-shattering career. After becoming the prime minister, Li Si made a series of far-reaching suggestions to Qin Shihuang, such as the well-known county system , the same track for cars, the same text for books, and the unification of currency and weights and measures, which were basically strategies that established the basic pattern of feudal society. From the hands of Li Si.

Throughout Li Si's life, he spent most of his time practicing and implementing Legalist thoughts . However, when he became famous, he pushed Legalist thoughts to the extreme. This move not only pushed Qin into the abyss, but also caused him to swallow the bitter fruit of failure. The reason is probably because Li Si is too obsessed with fame and he is too obsessed with power. This can be seen from the time when he jealously killed and Han Fei.

After the death of Qin Shihuang, Li Si and Zhao Gao pushed Hu Hai to the throne, and then killed his son-in-law Fusu . People often say that there is a difference between closeness and distance, but why would Li Si rather let Hu Hai be the emperor than let his son-in-law be the emperor? This is because both Hu Hai and Zhao Gao promised to continue to reuse him once things are done, but Fusu, who was deeply influenced by Confucianism, never promised this to Li Si.

To put it bluntly, although Li Si was a strange man of his generation, his move to support Hu Hai was purely based on his sectarian views. As a representative of Legalism, he naturally did not want to see Fusu, who represented Confucianism, ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, for fear that Fusu would deprive him of the power and status he enjoyed after he ascended the throne.However, Li Si probably never imagined that Hu Hai, who he single-handedly pushed to the throne, would be such a vicious and cruel person. He never imagined that Zhao Gao, who seemed to be obedient and always laughed at everyone, was the biggest culprit behind the scenes.

Li Si was cut in half in the city and chopped into meat paste. This can only be attributed to his excessive ambition for fame. The older he gets, the more obsessed he is with power and status. According to historical records, Li Si was at least seventy years old when he was killed. He was a well-deserved longevity star in the Qin and Han Dynasties. But Li Si was still obsessed with power and had no intention of reclusiveness. He still believed that he could control the court. If he could put aside everything and resign and retire, he might not have ended up with the tragic end of " with five punishments ", and the Qin Dynasty might not have died in his second generation.