Ying Zheng In the 26th year (221), with the demise of Qi State, Qin State unified China, and the empire was first established, so Ying Zheng held several meetings to discuss the country's affairs. In addition to establishing the "emperor", "I", carriages and tracks, same system, books and texts, he also made a choice between feudal system and county system.
We all know that Qin Shihuang denies prime minister Wang Wan (wǎn) sealed suggestion, and adopts Li Si 's national implementation of county system. So, is Qin Shihuang’s choice right? Judging from historical records, this is a major mistake by Qin Shihuang. If you don’t believe it, please see the analysis below:
According to historical records, Prime Minister Wang Wan and others pointed out that "the princes were first destroyed, and Yan, Qi and Jing were far away. If you don’t want to set up kings, don’t fill it. Please establish your sons, but the best wishes are for you."
Wang Wan raised three questions: First, "the princes were first destroyed", the six countries still have the intention to restore the country, and the foundation of Qin is unstable; second, Yan, Qi and Jing are far away from Xianyang , and there are difficulties in ruling; third, how can you effectively rule in remote places without feudalism? Based on this, Wang Wan believed that the sons could be enfeoffed in remote places.
Historical books rarely record Wang Wan, but in fact he was seriously underestimated. When we are familiar with the promotion of unification of the six kingdoms, the same text, the same track, and the same system, Wang Wan and Wei Zhuang were the prime ministers on the left and right, while Li Si was just the court lieutenant. Therefore, Wang Wan, who had been prime minister for at least ten years, could not know how to observe his words and expressions, could not have no talent, and could not understand Qin Shihuang's thoughts. Therefore, since he and Zhuang Wei both believed that the need for feudal division, and "his first emperor discussed it to the ministers, all the ministers thought it was convenient", it must have made sense.
, but Li Si immediately opposed it, taking the Zhou Dynasty seal as an example, pointing out that the bribery led to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period melee, so the whole country implemented the county system, "There is no dissatisfaction in the world, and then the art of peace is the art of peace."
There are many people who agree with the enfeoffment, and very few people who agree with the counties. Logically speaking, Qin Shihuang should be more cautious, but Qin Shihuang did not "re-discuss" or "adopt the opinions of the majority", but immediately agreed with Li Si's opinion, that is, to adopt the implementation of the county system nationwide.
However, the next two things can indicate that Qin Shihuang made a mistake in adopting Li Si's suggestion.
First of all, Fusu and Hu Hai
In the 35th year of Ying Zheng, a book burning and burying scholars occurred, and a large number of sinners were sent to the frontier. Gongzi Fusu wrote a letter to persuade him, "The world is settled, and the Guizhou heads in the distance have not been gathered." At this time, it has been ten years since the establishment of Qin Dynasty , but the hearts of the world are still very fluctuating.
In the first year of Hu Hai, when discussing with Zhao Gao, he said, "The head of Guizhou has not collected any support." In other words, more than ten years after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, the people of the world still did not support themselves.
The nobles of the six countries were unwilling to destroy the country and were always eager to restore the country. They were basically unlikely to join them, but the head of Guizhou has never joined them. The problem is undoubtedly big, because what reflects the governance problem, and there was a big problem in the local rule of the Qin Dynasty.
The people don’t care about the six countries, the strict laws, but they care about whether they can “benefit”. If the people's life was not as good as before or as different as before after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, how could they truly submit to the Qin Dynasty? Judging from the situation at that time, the core issue that had something to do with the people was undoubtedly Tian Zheng. week erection makes a living by playing funerals, Han Xin hungry and feast, Chen Sheng farms for people... It means that they have no land, or the land is taken away and merged. There may be many people like them, so Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising can respond to it.
Secondly, the severe administrative problems of the Qin Dynasty
After Qin Shihuang conquered the six kingdoms, he immediately faced the issue of rule. However, whether it was the number of Qin officials himself or the needs of stabilizing the local area, the Qin Dynasty had to use people from the six kingdoms, or directly the original officials of the six kingdoms. In fact, except for the top leaders of military and political affairs, most of the others are from the six countries. In the later period, even the top leaders of military and political affairs were from the six countries. Take Pei County and Kuaiji County as an example.
After Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising, the county magistrate of Pei County found Xiao He , Cao Shen and others to secretly discuss the uprising. Later, Xiao He suggested that the county magistrate invite the "escape heroes" - Liu Bang to participate in the uprising.
Xiangliang and Xiang Yu hid in Kuaiji County. Although he was determined to rebel against Qin, he had a good relationship with the county magistrate Yintong . One month after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising, Yin Tong (pictured below, stills) discussed with Xiang Liang that "all the people in Jiangxi are rebelling. This is a sign of the destruction of Qin by heaven. You should take the initiative to do big things." So he planned to rebel, with Xiang Liang and Huan Chu as generals. Of course, Xiang Yu then came in and slashed Yin Tong with a knife, and then Xiang Liang rebelled and gained leadership of the rebel army.
From the magistrate of Pei County and Kuaiji County Magistrate, they have no loyalty to the Qin Dynasty. What's more serious is that there were countless local officials who rebelled at that time, most of whom were from the six countries. In other words, there were serious problems in the Qin Dynasty's administration, and they were even colluded with the rebels.
Through the above two things, it can be seen that the Qin Dynasty had problems with the rule of the six kingdoms, and remote places were almost out of control. There are many reasons and it is difficult to sum it up in one sentence. However, the objective reality of is that with Qin Shihuang's prestige and wisdom (including those of Li Si and others), in more than ten years, it has not been able to achieve effective rule over the place, and it has even become increasingly out of control.
That is to say, at least in some remote old places of the six countries, the facts proved that the Qin Dynasty's county system did not conform to the actual situation at that time and could not allow the Qin Dynasty to effectively rule, so no matter how hard it was, it would be a failure.
On the contrary, if Qin Shihuang adopted the suggestions of Wang Wan and Wei Zhuang and enfeoffed the sons in remote places, the Qin Dynasty's control over Jingchu, Yan State , Qi State, etc. would inevitably be very different. Once the feudal sects formed effective rule in the local area and solved the problems of Tian Zheng and official administration, then Chen Sheng Wu Guang , Liu Bang and Xiang Yu may still rebel, but they will definitely not be able to coerce a large number of people, and they will be destined to almost succeed.
In short, the implementation of the county system across the country is in line with the trend of history, which can indeed eliminate the most likely internal strife in the future, but the best one may not be the most suitable. The implementation of the county system across the country does not conform to the actual situation of Qin Shihuang. Therefore, Wang Wan's suggestion is a mature opinion, and Li Si (picture above, stills)'s suggestions may be suspected of flattery, and Qin Shihuang made major mistakes in his judgment on this issue.
References: "Records of the Grand Historian" and other
