The unification of the descendants of the descendants is mostly unified in decades or fewer than a few years. Why is the Qin Dynasty "the reign of the sixth generation" among all dynasties?
In fact, During the Warring States Period, The unification of the Qin State was not only a military conquest, but also a process of establishing and promoting a new political model within the world. Therefore, the process was very long. In contrast, the Chu-Han War did not require such a process of promoting the imperial system. However, from another perspective, this process was actually realized only after Emperor Wu, and it was also very long.
First of all, since the strength of each country is not much different, the concept of unifying the world has not yet been formed. The ultimate unification of Qin was gradually becoming clear with the historical development trend.
Before Qin, Shang Dynasty Xia, Zhou Dynasty Shang Dynasty, all used princes to replace the status of the common ruler of the world, and ordered the princes, rather than destroying all the princes and unifying the world. In the pre-Qin period, the idea of unifying the world with force did not exist in the minds of people at that time, because no country had this strength, and every country was to be the king and dominate, and it was not a little bit different from destroying all the princes.
At that time, people's view of the world was completely different from today, and there was even no concept of "unification". The word "unification" means that each part should be a whole from the level of , . Unification is to let these branches overlap and combine from the pervert of division to the normal of unity. However, the concept of ", unified " was widely used in the Han Dynasty, especially after Emperor Wu respected Confucianism. For the Qin Dynasty, the more commonly used term was "Unification of the world". If you guess the meaning of the semantics, you will find that "Unification of the world" did not set a unified level of dictation. The world was not originally one, and it was precisely this that highlighted the greatness of Qin and the six kingdoms.
Qin Xiaogong stills
Qin Xiaogong's reform originated from Qin people is regarded as a barbarian by Shandong Six Kingdoms , Qin Xiaogong wanted to reverse this situation. The result of the reform was that the emperor of Zhou sent meat to Qin, recognizing Qin's overlord status. In this regard, there is no difference from the Qi, Jin and Chu countries in Spring and Autumn . The so-called overlord is the highest national strength among the princes, but it is still 108,000 miles away from destroying the other major powers.
Take Jin and Chu battle for hegemony as an example. Jin and Chu competed for hegemony several times, and the war never involved the core areas of the two countries. They usually occurred between the vassal states, let alone Jin and Chu were able to destroy another country. The same is true for Qin during the reign of Duke Xiao of Qin. At that time, Qin defeated , the strongest , the early stage of Warring States , and the world saw that Qin was outstanding, but that was all. At that time, the Qi State also defeated the Wei State in the two battles of Maling and Guiling, and the national strength also became prosperous. At this time, the Chu State was also expanding to the east.
The strength of Qin State is hardly overwhelming among the princes. Until Qin Zhaoxiang King , Qi and Qin were both strongest in the world.
Secondly, the reform has given institutional guarantees for the rise of Qin. The system ensures that the national strength of Qin can be continuously improved, but it does not make Qin's national strength overwhelm the six countries at once. On the contrary, the reforms of the six countries can also greatly improve the national strength in the short term.
Besides Qin, there were many powerful countries during the Warring States Period, including Wei ( Wei Wenhou ), Qi ( Qi Wei King Qi Xuan King), Zhao ( Zhao Wuling King ), etc., all of them have improved the country and strengthened the army through improvement, just as in the Spring and Autumn Period, Qi Huan Gong used Guan Zhong , Qi Jing Gong used Yan Zi , Chu Zhuang King used Sun Shuao , also improved the country and strengthened the army through improvement.
The above examples have a common feature, that is, the wise monarch used talented ministers to achieve prosperity and strengthening the country through several specific measures to improve. However, the reform model of Qin was completely different from the above. Qin was a fundamental institutional change and codified it, and the reform measures were comprehensive.
system reform and codification mean that the implementation of the new policy does not rely on wise monarchs and talented ministers, but a system of efficient operation of the country. Therefore, Shangjun is dead and the government continues to be ruled.
Due to the fundamental different reform models of Qin, the national strength of Qin is the only one among all countries that can continue to grow. The personal ability of the monarch is not the first element.
On the contrary, when the monarch of Qi, Wei and Zhao countries were wise, they could once become a country on par with Qin. When the monarch was a fool, they would be in a depressed state.
The most prominent of the Qin political system are the military merit system and the Shiwu system. The former promotes class mobility through military merits and prevents aristocrats from monopolizing high positions. The latter obtains sufficient tax revenue and military sources by strengthening the control of household registration, thus allowing the Qin State to create a strict centralized system.
During the Warring States Period, such centralized reforms were also carried out in the six Kanto countries, but due to the obstacles of historical traditions and real politics, such reforms were not thorough. For example, Wu Qi's reform in Chu State was ultimately failed because of [Fengjun Taizhong].
Therefore, Qin's reform advantage is not in the short term, but in the long term, the reform of the six countries can benefit in the short term, but it is difficult to last in the long term. Qin has also recorded many defeats by the six countries, but its strength is still growing and has not been depressed by one or two battles. Therefore, Qin's destruction of the six countries is also the result of the continuous accumulation of long-term strength.
Third, the land and population of the six countries are several times that of Qin. It takes generations for Qin to digest the occupied land.
In fact, in addition to King Xiaowen of Qin , the six kings of Qin were all important nodes on the road to Qin unification.
After Qin Xiaogong's reform, he defeated Wei and took back his hometown. King Huiwen used Gongsun to destroy Bashu. This was an important step in Qin's rise, allowing Qin to avoid seizing land from the meat grinder in the Central Plains, and automatically obtained a large number of strategic resources. King Huiwen also appointed Zhang Yi to destroy Hezong, and by the way, the Chu State was trapped in a slump.
Daowu reigned for a very short time, and he appointed Gan Mao to capture Yiyang, Han, and opened up the road to enterprising the Central Plains. King Zhaoxiang reigned for nearly half a century, which was a period when the image of Qin's unification appeared slowly. Chu, Qi and Zhao, which could compete with Qin, all lost their power to fight back. Bai Qi attacked Yingdu , Chu moved its capital to Shouchun, Qin participated in the attack on Qi in the five countries. The former "East Emperor" almost destroyed the country. After the restoration of the country, the national strength was greatly reduced. The Battle of Changping almost wiped out most of the main forces of Zhao State. The Battle of Yique also destroyed a large number of new forces between Han and Wei. It can be said that during the reign of King Zhao, Qin had become a struggle against the six countries.
stills of King Zhaoxiang
Zhuangxiang reigned for only three years and destroyed the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Zhou no longer existed. He and the later rulers continued to attack the six kingdoms. During the Lu Buwei period, Dongjun was established. Qin and Qi bordered, and the union of the Union was cut into two sections. Each generation of monarchs did what they should do. Finally, it was natural that the unification of Qin Shihuang was made.
Therefore, the conquest of Qin was not only a military victory, but also needed to deepen the system of Guanzhong into this area, so this process was undoubtedly long.
"The Book of Language" mentioned this example, Nanjun [Now the law is already in place, but officials and people do not use it. The people who lose their licentiousness and impoliteness will not only... The private interests and the hearts of local customs remain unchanged]. The Jianghan Plain where Nanjun is located is the core area of Chu State from the Spring and Autumn Period to the early Warring States Period. At this time, it has been more than 50 years since the Qin Dynasty entered, and the customs of Chu remain unchanged, which shows the resistance to system and cultural promotion.
The fourth is different from the war of unity in later dynasties
Qin's destruction of the six kingdoms is completely different from the unity of later generations. Before Qin, the six countries had different writings, different currencies, very different customs and habits, the small peasant economy was not fully developed, and the great empire also lacked an economic foundation. After Qin, it was completely different, and unification really became an inevitable trend.
Warring States Period is similar to modern Europe, with seven brothers next to each other, and any of them are a great country with hundreds of years of heritage, and the people of all countries have a strong sense of identity; in this case, even if the country has been destroyed, restoration is just around the corner.The most typical example is that Le Yi defeated Qi and occupied Qi for five years; but under the counterattack of other countries interfered with Hotan Dan, the rule of Yan State in Qi quickly collapsed. The difficulty of unification under this historical premise is by no means comparable to the dynasty changes in later generations; this unification is similar to Germany killing France, Britain, and Austria , unifying Europe, and the 163-year historical process can be said to be not long at all.
The conquest of Qin was an unprecedented event, so he failed to gain recognition from the people of the world in terms of concepts and systems. There were many obstacles. The process of Qin's unification was not only a process of military victory, but also a process of promoting Qin's Qin law to the six Kanto countries and allowing the people of Guandong to recognize the rule of Qin.
Unfortunately, Qin State failed to even complete this process in the end. The fire of Xiang Yu made Qin State's hundreds of years of foundation go to waste. After Liu Bang ascended the throne, he chose to take steady steps, establish a system of parallel counties and states, and gradually promote Han Law to Guandong. This process of "re-conquest" was truly realized in the era of Emperor Wu.
Although the unification of Qin State only lasted for 15 years, the political legacy left to us has far-reaching influence:
At this point, the people of the world know that the world can be unified, and can be written in the same text and the car and the same track; no matter what kind of dilemma is in the future, whether it is divided or the country is destroyed or the family is destroyed, the people of kindness and ambition have one goal: unification.
