Qin Shihuang After unifying the six kingdoms, China changed from a public world where "family is greater than the country" to a private world where "the country is greater than the family". As a parent of a new unified empire, the first thing he needs to do is to unify his thoughts. He is too clear about the power of "thinking" and "culture".
So, he upholds the spirit of "fighting endless fun with the sky, fighting the earth, and fighting the people", and starts a new war of unified "culture" - unified currency, unified weights and measures , unified culture...
The most core of it is unified culture.
When governing the country with "rituals", and tolerating the open " Hundred Schools of Contending for the Sword and Fair "
When destroyed the Shang Dynasty, rulers such as When Gong learned the lessons of the demise of the Shang Dynasty and believed that the people should be valued on the basis of respecting heaven, thus establishing the ruling idea of "respecting heaven and protecting the people". Taking this as the guiding ideology, the rituals and music of Zhou rituals and music formed a set of etiquette systems that distinguish the high and low, and on this basis, a nearly "autonomous" social operation system was formed.
It is in this inclusive and open social environment that in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to save the collapse of etiquette and music, scholars and scholars proposed different concepts of governing the country -
Taoist 's governance by inaction, Confucian 's benevolence, righteousness, rituals and trustworthiness, 's Mohist 's love, non-aggression, and simplicity, The harsh punishments of the Legalists , the conspiracy and power tricks of the hierarchists ...
The Qin ruled the country with "law", and the "burning books and burying scholars" under the harsh government and cruel laws
Qin unified the six countries. Objectively speaking, the Legalists' governance strategy played a great role.
Because of the severe punishment advocated by the Legalists, under such high pressure, the potential of the country and the people can indeed be explored to the greatest extent. For example, the state's mobilization capacity, Qin can mobilize nearly 1 million troops with a total population of 5 million. This kind of exploitation mobilization is also incredible today.
Therefore, the Legalists have conquered the world with the Legalists. It is naturally necessary to continue the dominant position of the Legalists and naturally to suppress the theories of other schools. This action of "respecting the Legalists" is to be implemented to the extreme, which is to "burn books and bury scholars", burn the books of the "hundred schools of thought", and to ban the learning of the "six countries". Then, there is only the laws and studies of the Great Qin in the world. Without any debate, the Great Qin can be a perfect match for all generations.
From history to today, many scholars have "rehabilitated" Qin Shihuang, saying that his " Burning books and burying scholars " is just burning books that are not conducive to rule, and killing alchemists who deceive the world and steal reputation. In fact, these statements are mostly about stealing the bells, because for the Qin Dynasty, which "fools the people, weakens the people, and tired the people", almost all books from hundreds of schools are poisonous, and almost all those who are knowledgeable and able to think are not conducive to their rule. Therefore, "burning books and burying scholars" may not be fabricated by later generations!
