In 221 BC, the Qin Dynasty was established, and China officially entered the era of "great unification" and centralized feudal dynasty.
The establishment of a unified country by the Qin Dynasty had a profound impact on China's political culture for the next two thousand years, mainly in the following aspects:
First, the basic pattern of China's political system for more than two thousand years was established. From then on, " Qin's political laws have been implemented for a hundred generations."
The term " Great Unification" was first formally proposed in the "Spring and Autumn Gongyang Zhuan" "What is said about Wang Zhengyue? Great Unification."
"Da" means "reverence for the great," and "one" is Yuan, "unification" is the beginning, "unification" is the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, symbolizing the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty Regarding the ontology of political society, the original meaning of "unification" refers to the bottom-up reliance of political society on a metaphysical ontology, so that this political society obtains a transcendent existence value, rather than top-down with a supreme power.
Therefore, the original concept of "grand unification" is not what modern people think of. From top to bottom, a huge empire with a vast territory, high concentration and uniformity was established. Obviously, after the unification of Qin State , the concept of "grand unification" was given a new political interpretation.
Second, Qin unified the six countries. , ended the war situation in which the feudal princes had been divided and dominated since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States , and laid the foundation for the unification of our country. The foundation was laid for the establishment and development of the nation-state.
Before the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the country was in a state of division and frequent wars, which seriously hindered the economic and cultural development of various regions and brought disasters to the people's production and life. economic recovery and development, and for the stable life and mutual interaction of people of all ethnic groups. In the past, it provided favorable conditions.
The Qin Dynasty was the first and true unification in Chinese history, creating a new situation in my country's feudal society for more than two thousand years, although there were also brief divisions. period, but unification has always been the mainstream of historical development Qin Shihuang in political, economic and cultural thought. In the field, a series of measures were taken to consolidate the unification, which played an important role in consolidating the unification of the feudal country and the development of economy and culture.
So, how did the Qin Dynasty establish a unified country?
First of all, it ended the feudal separatism politically. Unify China.
In 238 BC, King Yingzheng of Qin eradicated the Prime Minister Lu Buwei and Changxin Hou Lao Ai group, and began to take charge of the government. With the assistance of Li Si, Wei Liao and others, Yingzheng formulated the "annihilation" plan. The strategy of "developing princes, becoming emperors, and unifying the world". The specific measures are: win over Yan Qi stabilized Wei and Chu and eliminated Han and Zhao; they made close contacts with distant enemies and defeated them one by one.
During the process of unification, the Qin State adopted the approach of "not loving property and bribing its powerful ministers to confuse its plans" and divided and collapsed from within. enemy country, and inherited the policy of distant diplomacy and close attack in previous dynasties, and determined the specific strategic steps of first being weak before becoming strong, and first being close before being far away. From the attack on Korea in 230 BC to the end of the Qi Kingdom in 221 BC, in a total of 10 years, the Qin State successively destroyed the six kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi in order, ending the self- The Qin Dynasty was established after more than 500 years of feuding among feudal lords since the Spring and Autumn Period . Qin Shihuang believed that his contribution was better than that of the previous Three Emperors and Five Emperors. He used the "Emperor" of the Three Emperors and the "Emperor" of the Five Emperors to form the title of "Emperor". He was the first monarch in Chinese history to use the title of "Emperor", so he called himself " the first emperor ".
Secondly, Shang Yang’s reform created a new system suitable for social and economic development.
During the Spring and Autumn Period of Qin, the social and economic development lagged behind other countries. The tax reform resulting from the private ownership of land was also much later than that of the Kanto countries. Shang Yang In order to adapt to the requirements of social, political and economic changes, starting from his argument that "there is no one way to govern the world, the country will not follow the law", he believes that the foundation of governing the country is agrarian warfare. To enrich the country and strengthen the army, it is necessary to carry out legal propaganda and cultivate the rule of law. Talent.Economically, Shang Yang's reform changed the old production relations, and the minefields were abandoned to open streets. The "Warring States Policy" said it was "breaking up the streets and teaching the people to farm and fight", which fundamentally destroyed the production relations of slavery. , promoted the development of feudal economy. Politically, the reform attacked and disintegrated the old bloodline patriarchal system, making the feudal state mechanism more complete, and the construction of the centralized system began. Rewarding military merit in the military achieves the purpose of strengthening the army, greatly improves the combat effectiveness of the army, and creates favorable conditions for Qin's strategic development. Through Shang Yang's reforms, Qin abolished the old system and created a new system that adapted to social and economic development.
Finally, in order to stabilize the unified pattern in the system, Qin Shihuang adopted a series of institutional and cultural measures.
First, move to the rich and put away your weapons.
In order to prevent the resurgence of the forces of the Six Kingdoms, after Qin Shihuang unified the Six Kingdoms, what he was most worried about was that the nobles of the Six Kingdoms were plotting restoration. In order to prevent the recurrence of feudal separatism, he moved 120,000 wealthy and powerful families from the six countries to the capital Xianyang, and some moved to Bashu, Nanyang, Sanchuan and Zhaodi, causing them to break away from their hometowns and weaken their social foundation; or Being placed under the direct supervision and control of the central government will prevent the formation of resistance forces. At the same time, he also ordered the collection of weapons from all over the world, transported them to Xianyang for destruction, and cast them into 12 bells and bronze figures each weighing a thousand stones. Use these methods to prevent the common people from resisting with weapons in hand and the old nobles of the six countries from rebelling.
Second, all systems should be unified.
Before the unification of the six kingdoms, the vassal states were in charge of their own affairs, and the form of writing was extremely disordered. This has caused serious obstacles to the implementation of government decrees and cultural exchanges. Therefore, after unifying the six kingdoms, Qin Shihuang immediately made the unification of writing a top priority and ordered Prime Minister Li Si, Zhongshufu Ling Zhao Gao, and Tai Li Ling Hu Wujing to sort out the writing. Li Si developed the Xiaozhuan script based on the characters of the Qin Dynasty and the characters of the Six Kingdoms; Cheng Miao compiled the official script based on the more simplified fonts popular among the people at that time. Both forms of writing are being promoted across the country. However, Xiaozhuan was regarded as the standard script of the Qin Dynasty, and official script was regarded as a daily script.
In addition, due to previous years of war, various vassal states built many forts in various places, and the roads between countries were also of varying widths, which seriously affected transportation and hindered the centralized state's control of various places. After Qin Shihuang unified China, he ordered the demolition of these forts and fortresses. From the 27th year of Qin Shihuang, he successively built three Chi Roads centered on Xianyang to maintain the smooth flow of the transportation network. In addition, in order to defend the Xiongnu , Qin Shihuang ordered The Qin Great Wall was built in the north, and the Great Wall that was originally used for "mutual defense" between vassal states was demolished. Shi Yun said, "The emperor exerted his power, merged his virtue with the princes, and achieved peace in the first year. He destroyed the city walls, defeated the Sichuan defenses, and eliminated the dangers."
In terms of currency and weights and measures, Qin Shihuang unified the currency into two types: upper currency and lower currency. Available nationwide. The upper coin is gold, with yi as the unit, and the Qin system makes twenty liang as one yi; the lower coin is round square hole copper coin , with and half liang as the unit. In addition, Qin Shihuang also used the weights and measures system and weights and measures established during Shang Yang's reform as standards and promoted them throughout the country. It greatly facilitated the exchange of goods and economic exchanges across the country and promoted the development of a unified country.
Third, "Let the head of Guizhou come from Shitian." (216 BC)
confirmed that private ownership of land and feudal private ownership of land were the basis of the rule of the landlord class. After the Qin Dynasty unified the six countries, in the 31st year of the First Emperor of Qin, he promulgated the decree "Ordering the Head of Guizhou to Consolidate Land" to conduct a nationwide land registration and ordered all land holders to report the amount of land they owned to the government. The government accordingly Collect land rent. This policy meant that private land was protected by the feudal regime, and it also meant that feudal land ownership was officially confirmed nationwide. This had a positive effect in promoting the development of feudal private ownership of land, but it also made it legal for the landlord class to use land to exploit peasants, making peasants increasingly increasingly subject to land rent, taxes, and all kinds of corvee exploitation.
Fourth, establish the county system .
At the beginning of the unification of the Qin State, there was a debate on whether to make various princes kings.
A group of officials headed by Prime Minister Wang Wan asked Qin Shihuang to enfeoff the princes in the old places of Yan, Qi and Chu, which they had recently occupied, as kings. He believed that this would help consolidate Qin's rule.
But Tingwei Li Si insisted on his opposition. Li Si believed that the disputes between princes in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were entirely the result of the feudal system in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Only by abolishing the feudal system can disaster be avoided.
Qin Shihuang adopted Li Si's opinion and believed that "establishing a feudal state" meant "creating enemy troops", so he ordered the establishment of a system of prefectures and counties throughout the country. According to "Historical Records", Qin Shihuang divided the world into thirty-six counties. Counties with more than 10,000 households had county magistrates, and counties with less than 10,000 households had county magistrates, who were the heads of counties. Under the county magistrate, there are chiefs and lieutenants. The county lieutenant is responsible for the military and public security of a county. Since the Qin Dynasty's regime had the characteristics of a military dictatorship, the county captain's tasks were particularly arduous. All military matters, public security, corvee recruitment, and management of soldiers, etc., had to be completed by the county captain. Any mistakes would be severely punished. Due to the heavy tasks of county captains, each county has more than one county captain, and there may be two to four county captains.
Fifth, burn books and embarrass Confucians. (213 BC)
In 213 BC, Qin Shihuang adopted the suggestion of Prime Minister Li Si and ordered the burning of historical records of other countries other than "Qin Ji". In addition, except for books on medicine, divination, and tree planting, other "poems" and "books" that are not owned by the doctorate should be handed over and burned within a time limit. Anyone who talks about "Poems" and "Books" in private will be put to death, and his family will be exterminated in a way that is different from the past. It is forbidden for to learn privately. Those who want to learn laws should use officials as their teachers. The following year, more than 460 alchemists and Confucian scholars were found to have violated the ban, and they were all killed in Xianyang.
Burning books and entrapping Confucians were measures taken by Qin Shihuang to control ideology and culture after unifying the six kingdoms. During the Warring States Period, , due to the drastic changes in social relations, the academic community was in a situation where a hundred schools of thought were contending . By the end of his reign, the various countries had returned to unity from division. Correspondingly, there was also a tendency in thought and culture to strive to be eclectic and to integrate various schools of thought into one. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he used the power of the feudal state to enforce ideological and cultural control policies and suppress ideas and speech that opposed the centralized system of .
In 206 BC, Liu Bang arrived at Bashang, the eastern suburb of Xianyang (today's east of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). King Qin Ziying was forced to ride on a plain chariot and a white horse, tied around his neck with a belt, and surrendered to Liu Bang with his seal in his hand. The Qin Dynasty fell. The "short-lived" Qin Dynasty only lasted for 15 years, but its impact on Chinese history was long and far-reaching.
