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Chapter 280: Mixed reputation and reputation Li Si
When talking about the top ten most famous counselors in China, we have to mention Li Si, who assisted Qin Shi Huang in unifying the world.

After Qin unified the world, Li Si participated in the formulation of new institutional decisions.

Li Si's most important achievements were assisting Qin Shihuang in unifying the world, writing books with the same text, chariots with the same track, unifying weights and measures, abolishing the feudal system, replacing it with the system of prefectures and counties, etc.

It is no exaggeration to say that half of Great Qin's imperial legacy was due to Li Si.

But it cannot be denied that Li Si is a very complex historical figure.

In Li Si's body, he not only has the principle of being a literate man who can help the world, but who is poor, he can live alone, and he also has an extreme enthusiasm for power and fame.

It is precisely because of such complicated contradictions that Li Si's final ending was very miserable.

Li Si's starting point can be said to be straightforward. He was a scholar from a poor background.

Therefore, he wanted to learn the art of emperors in order to gain fame, wealth and status.

Li Si did not hide his pursuit of fame and fortune. Instead, he felt that he should actively pursue fame and wealth while he was alive.

For Li Si as a minister, Li Si cannot be judged based on simple good or bad.

Li Si has been an official for decades and has been able to climb from the bottom to an extremely prominent position, which shows Li Si's ability.

Although Li Si was keen on fame and fortune, at least during his time as an official, he did an excellent job in everything the emperor entrusted to him.

Li Si was the architect of the Qin Empire and set a model for future generations to govern the country and establish new systems.

"At the end of the Warring States Period, Li Si was born in Shangcai County, Chu State."

"When he was young, Li Si worked as a clerk in charge of documents."

"In the Warring States Period, when everyone was vying for fame and fortune, Li Si also wanted to do something great."

"In order to achieve the goal of rapid success, Li Si resigned from his position as a minor official and became a disciple of Xunzi."

"Xunzi's thoughts are very close to the ideas of Legalism, and they are also the study of how to govern a country, which is the so-called art of emperors."

"After Li Si completed his studies at Jixia Academy, he decided that the King of Chu was not worthy of his service."

"After looking at the weakening of the six kingdoms, he planned to enter the Qin State."

"Before leaving, Li Si said goodbye to Xunzi."

"And told Xunzi that now that Yingzheng wants to annex the world, it is his opportunity to show his strength, and then go west to Qin."

"In the third year of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, Li Si arrived in Qin and asked to be the disciple of Lu Buwei, the prime minister of Qin."

"Lu Buwei admired Li Si very much and recommended Li Si as Lang Guan, so Li Si got the opportunity to lobby for victory."

"When Li Si wrote to Ying Zheng, he grasped Ying Zheng's idea of ​​​​annexing the world, and analyzed the general trend of the world to Ying Zheng based on this."

"At the same time, Li Si quoted the example of Duke Mu of Qin who dominated the world, and suggested that Ying Zheng seize the opportunity to unify the world and annex the six countries to complete the unification."

"After that, Yingzheng appointed Li Si as the chief historian, followed his strategy, and secretly sent counselors carrying gold and jade treasures to various countries to lobby."

"Implementing a policy of bribing celebrities from various vassal states. If the bribe is not successful, they will be killed, so as to drive a wedge between the monarchs and ministers of the vassal states."

"Then Ying Zheng sent General Qin Guoliang to attack the six countries, and appointed Li Si as his guest minister."

"When Yingzheng was preparing to unify the six countries, Zheng Guo, a Korean, went to Qin as a spy in the name of building irrigation canals, and was later discovered."

"The princes and ministers of the Qin Dynasty suggested that Ying Zheng expel the guest ministers, and Li Si was also on the expulsion list."

"After Li Si heard about it, he wrote a letter to Ying Zheng, which became the famous "Book of Remonstrance and Expulsion of Guests" in later generations."

"The article advises Yingzheng not to value things more than people. Expelling guest officials will cause talents to flow into other countries, making hostile countries stronger, which is a great obstacle to Qin's unification."

"Ying Zheng accepted Li Si's suggestion, ordered the abolition of the edict to expel the guest ministers, and reinstated Li Si's official position."

Li Si: I didn’t expect that I would be awarded the honorary title of China’s top ten counselors even if I made a big mistake later.

When he thought about his tragic ending in history, he couldn't help but sigh.

Fortunately, His Majesty the First Emperor gave him another chance to make meritorious deeds, so he was executed without killing Zhao Gao.

Recalling the arduous process of climbing up step by step when he came to Qin, he seemed to remember it vividly.

He still remembered that after coming to Qin, he quickly gained the respect of Prime Minister Lu Buwei and became the official of Qin.

With the opportunity to get close to His Majesty, he explained the situation in the world to His Majesty to gain re-use.

Anyone who succeeds in his or her career must seize the opportunity.

Although Qin Mugong was very strong in the past, he failed to complete the great cause of unification because the time was not yet ripe.

Since Qin Xiaogong, the emperor of Zhou has completely declined, and the various vassal states have been fighting for years, and Qin took the opportunity to become stronger.

Now that the Qin State is powerful and the king is virtuous, it is as easy to wipe out the six kingdoms as to sweep away the dust on the stove.

Now is the best opportunity to complete the imperial cause and unify the world. Don't miss it.

At that time, His Majesty also listened to his plan to alienate the kings and ministers of various countries. For the six countries, he proposed the order of destroying Korea first and then planning to annex other countries.

It was precisely because his impassioned speech touched His Majesty's heart that he was appreciated by His Majesty and was promoted to the position of Chief Historian.

He advised your Majesty to send people with gold and jade to various countries to buy and bribe them, so as to alienate the monarchs and ministers of the six countries.

Sure enough, the effect was achieved, and he was named a guest guest again.

Just when His Majesty was determined to unify the six countries, South Korea was afraid of being destroyed by Qin, so it sent water engineer Zheng Guo to Qin to encourage the construction of canals.

The purpose was to weaken Qin's manpower and material resources and contain Qin's eastward advance.

Later, Zheng Guo's purpose of building canals was exposed.

At this time, various countries in the East also sent spies to Qin as guests, hoping to spy on Qin's intelligence.

The ministers talked a lot about the foreign guests. His Majesty issued an order to expel the guests, and he was also expelled.

Later, he wrote a letter to His Majesty, "Remonstrance and Expulsion of Guests", admonishing Your Majesty not to expel guests.

In the past, Duke Mu of Qin sought wise men. He invited Yu Yu from the Rong in the west, Baili Xi from Chu in the east, Uncle Jian from the Song Dynasty, and Gongsun Zhi from the Jin Dynasty.

Duke Mu of Qin appointed these five people, annexed twenty countries, and dominated Xirong.

Duke Xiao of Qin reused Shang Yang, implemented new laws, changed customs, and made the country rich and strong. He defeated Chu and Wei, expanded his territory thousands of miles, and Qin became strong.

King Qin Hui used Zhang Yi's strategy to break up the six countries' alliance to resist Qin, and forced all countries to submit to Qin.

King Qin Zhao obtained Fan Ju, which weakened the power of the nobles, strengthened the royal power, cannibalized the princes, and Qin became an emperor.

These four generations of kings all made contributions to the state of Qin by appointing guest officials.

If these four kings also order to expel guests, it will only make the country less prosperous and Qin will not have a strong reputation.

After he stated the pros and cons, His Majesty clearly distinguished between right and wrong, decisively adopted his suggestion, and immediately canceled the expulsion order.

But he was still reused and was even named a Tingwei at that time.

"After more than 221 years of war, the Qin State unified the six countries in BC."

"Qin King Ying Zheng was honored as the First Emperor, and Li Si was appointed Prime Minister."

"Then the city walls of each county were bulldozed, the weapons of each county were destroyed, and the feudal system was abolished."

"Two years later, Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng held a banquet in Xianyang Palace to entertain the ministers."

"Chun Yuyue, a native of Qi, and others believed that abolishing the enfeoffment system would do more harm than good. Li Si objected and wrote to Qin Shihuang."

"Li Si believes that the various schools of thought intend to gain fame for themselves by criticizing the monarch."

"And leading the lower class people to slander the imperial court's instructions should be strictly prohibited."

"So, Li Si asked Qin Shihuang to clear out the "Poetry", "Book" and the works of hundreds of schools of thought."

"Thirty days after the edict is issued, those who disobey the edict will be sentenced to tattoos and forced to do hard labor in building a city."

"Then Qin Shihuang approved Li Si's suggestion and confiscated "Poems", "Books" and all the works of hundreds of schools of thought, so that the people could not use the contents of the books to criticize the dynasty."

"This incident is the famous book burning in history."

"At the same time, Li Si began to participate in the revision of the legal system, the formulation of laws and regulations, the unification of writing, and the construction of the palace villa."

"In 212 BC, Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng patrolled around and quelled ethnic minority rebellions from all directions, including Li Si's participation."

"The Qin Dynasty established a unified centralized power. Li Si believed that national governance should be based on actual needs and formulate principles and policies based on reality."

"We should not start from the ancients and demand that the country needs to have unified thinking."

"So Li Si advocated the prohibition of ideological dissent and unification of thought, and suggested that Qin Shihuang burn books."

"Li Si not only advocates doing things according to law and governing the country according to law, but also believes that the rule of law should be strict and advocates severe punishment."

"During the Warring States Period, different countries had different writing styles, and the same character was often written in several different ways."

"The difference in writing is a huge obstacle to the implementation of policies and decrees promulgated by the central government, as well as the dissemination of culture and the exchange of experiences."

"So Li Si followed Qin Shihuang's order and took charge of the work of unifying the written language."

"Based on the writing of the Qin Dynasty, Li Si compiled a writing style with simpler strokes and consistent writing methods than those in the Warring States Period."

"And he took it upon himself to write a model and promulgate it throughout the country. It was called Xiaozhuan and other variant characters were abolished."

Ying Zheng: The book burning incident was instigated by Li Si, but fortunately I have preserved some precious books.

Since he unified the world, Chun Yuyue viewed the politics of the Qin Dynasty from a Confucian perspective, which was incompatible with his thoughts and actions.

This made him very dissatisfied, so he handed Chunyu Yue over to Prime Minister Li Si.

Li Si disagreed with Chun Yuyue's views and explained his own views to him. He felt that Li Si's views were very palatable.

Due to the changes of the times, the methods of governing the country in the Five Emperors and the Three Dynasties were also different.

The practices of the Three Generations period are not worth following.

At that time, the princes were juxtaposed, competing with each other, and the world was unified. The situation was completely different, and there was no need to follow the ancient times.

The current situation is completely different from that in the past. If we follow the methods of governing the country according to the Five Emperors and Three Generations, it will inevitably disturb the people's hearts.

Words and deeds that spread rumors to confuse the public and are not conducive to unifying the world must be prohibited.

Otherwise, it will affect the stability of the political situation and undermine the authority of the First Emperor.

Li Si blamed everything on studying. He felt justified, so he ordered the books to be burned.

All historical books other than Qin Ji, including poems, books, and hundreds of languages ​​​​collected by the imperial court, were to be burned. Only books on medicine, divination, and tree planting were allowed to remain.

He now understands that many ancient documents and books in the Pre-Qin Dynasty were burned, which was a huge loss to Chinese culture.

However, he did not burn all the banned books and kept some of them in Jixia Academy.

As for the part of the ancient pre-Qin books that had been burned, he could organize manpower to carry out restoration work.

"After Ying Zheng unified the six countries, ministers in the court had great disputes over how to govern this huge empire."

"Most ministers headed by the prime minister believe that the enfeoffment system can be implemented, granting hereditary vassal status to nobles in various places, and allowing the princes and kings to guard the territory."

"But Li Si believed that Zhou implemented a feudal system, but in the later period, the world was in chaos."

"The princes and kings fought against each other and did not listen to orders. In the end, the Zhou royal family perished, so the feudal system was not advisable."

"Li Si advocated the implementation of the county system throughout the country to consolidate centralization and national unity."

"Qin Shihuang agreed with Li Si's opinion and divided the country into thirty-six counties, which later increased to more than forty counties."

"These counties are local administrative units under the direct jurisdiction of the central government and are completely obedient to the central government and the emperor."

"Since then, the centralized political system has been inherited in Chinese history."

"During the Warring States Period, each vassal state had its own system of weights and measures."

"After the unification of Qin, different systems seriously hindered the country's economic development." "So Li Si wrote to the First Emperor suggesting unifying weights and measures."

"Then Li Si used Qin's original weights and measures as the standard, and improved it again on the standard instrument promulgated by Shang Yang. The unified standard instrument was made and distributed throughout the country, and the use of weights and measures that were different from the standard instrument was prohibited."

"Li Si unified the measurement of length in inches, feet, and feet, using the decimal system."

"Volume capacity is measured in units of units, liters, buckets, and barrels, and also uses the decimal system."

"Weight is measured in units of baht, liang, catty, jun, and stone. Twenty-four baht is one tael, sixteen taels is one catty, thirty catties is one jun, and four jun is one stone."

"After the standards of weights and measures were determined, Li Si established systems and regulations on weights and measures to promote the standards of weights and measures in the country."

Liu Bang: The county system is an improvement over the feudal system and is conducive to the unification of the country.

After the unification of Zhou Dynasty, King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou had many children, but later they all became estranged.

They regarded each other as enemies, and wars often broke out. Even the Emperor of Zhou could not stop them.

Only by abolishing the feudal system and implementing the system of counties and counties can the world be at peace.

Qin Shihuang believed that the world had been unified, and establishing many countries would not be conducive to unification and would not guarantee peace, so he supported Li Si's opinion.

Therefore, Qin Shihuang divided the country into thirty-six counties, with counties below the counties.

This complete system of centralized power fundamentally eradicated the root causes of division and separatism among princes and kingdoms, and played a positive role in consolidating national unity and promoting social development.

It was precisely because he recognized the importance of the prefecture and county system that he continued Qin Shihuang's prefecture and county system after the establishment of the Han Dynasty.

"During the Warring States Period, various countries had generally begun to use metal currencies."

"However, the long-term division and separatism resulted in the size, style, and weight of currencies in various countries being different, as well as differences in units, which greatly restricted the development of commerce and economic exchanges between countries at that time."

"After the unification of Qin, Li Si suggested to Qin Shihuang to abolish the currencies originally circulated by the six countries and use Qin currency uniformly across the country."

"Ying Zheng accepted Li Si's suggestion and ordered Qin coins to replace the coins of the world, and made Li Si fully responsible for the matter."

"Under the auspices of Li Si, the Qin Empire issued a series of currency reform plans to abolish the old currencies that had been issued by various countries."

"Promote two currencies, gold and copper coins, throughout the country, and stipulate the currency units and exchange rates."

"It also stipulated the form of Qin Banliang, returning the currency manufacturing rights to the state, and ensuring the circulation of currency with national credibility."

"Li Si's unified currency promoted the economic exchanges and commercial development of the Qin State, and also had a huge impact on later generations. The monetary systems of all subsequent dynasties were formed on this basis."

"During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the sizes of horse-drawn carriages varied from place to place, and the width of lanes varied. There was no clear standard."

"After the unification of Qin, Li Si suggested to the First Emperor."

"Across the country, vehicles must have the same width, and correspondingly, roads must be built with the same width."

"Unifying the standards will make people's lives more convenient. After that, Ying Zheng handed over the matter to Li Si to handle it with full authority."

"Li Si changed the wheelbase of all vehicles to six feet. This is the vehicle running on the same track."

“In addition to demolishing the checkpoints and fortresses that hindered transportation, we also built a Chidao centered on the capital Xianyang.”

"And a straight road extending from Xianyang to the north, with a total length of about 900 kilometers, to defend against the intrusion of the Huns in the north."

"These Chi Roads and Straight Roads crisscross each other, forming a road network extending in all directions with Xianyang as the center."

Liu Che: Li Si spent most of his life practicing Legalist ideas.

After Li Si was re-employed by Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng, with his outstanding political talents and foresight, he assisted Ying Zheng in completing the great cause of unifying the six countries, conforming to the trend of historical development.

After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Li Si was promoted to prime minister and continued to assist Qin Shihuang.

Li Si made outstanding contributions in consolidating the Qin Dynasty's regime, safeguarding national unity, and promoting economic and cultural development.

Li Si suggested that Qin Shi Huang abolish the feudal system and implement the system of counties and counties.

He also put forward suggestions for unifying the written language, and later made great efforts to unify laws, currency, weights and measures, and railway tracks.

These measures are all guided by the Legalist concept of strengthening centralization and monarchy.

In the later period of his life, Li Si pushed Legalist thought to the extreme.

But Li Si was only a proposer, not a complete executor.

Later, Li Si no longer had the ambition to rule the country by law, and he no longer represented Legalism.

Therefore, it is debatable whether Li Si's later thoughts should be classified into the Legalist system.

But no matter what, Li Si is still the most complete executor of Legalism.

Li Si's concept of ruling the country by law was still used even in the Han Dynasty.

Although he deposed hundreds of schools of thought to only respect Confucianism and seemed to govern the country with Confucianism, in fact, he was just using Confucianism to govern the country.

"In 210 BC, Qin Shihuang Yingzheng went on a tour to inspect Mount Kuaiji. Prime Minister Li Si and Zhao Gao, the commander of the CRRC, went with him."

"Fusu, the eldest son of the First Emperor, was sent to Shangjun by Qin Shihuang to supervise the army, and Hu Hai, the youngest son, followed him on the trip."

"In the same year, Qin Shihuang fell ill while on an inspection tour fifty miles southwest of Pingyuan County, Shandong. His condition worsened when he traveled to the sand dunes."

"The First Emperor of Qin ordered Zhao Gao to write an imperial edict and give it to his son Fusu. He ordered Fusu to return to Xianyang and let Meng Tian manage the army."

"Before the edict was handed over to the envoy, Qin Shi Huang died."

"Li Si believes that the emperor died while on tour, and since the crown prince has not been officially established, the death needs to be kept secret."

"They placed Qin Shihuang's body in a car that was well-insulated, ventilated and dry, and reported state affairs and provided food and drink as usual."

"The eunuch in the car used the emperor's name to approve the matters reported by the officials in the car."

"Zhao Gao withheld the edict written by Qin Shihuang to his son Fusu before his death, and wanted Hu Hai to succeed him as emperor."

"And persuaded Hu Hai to falsely claim that Qin Shihuang had ordered that Fusu be killed."

"Then he discussed with Prime Minister Li Si on behalf of Hu Hai and informed Li Si that the edict had not been sent yet and that he wanted Hu Hai to succeed him."

"Li Si thinks that a minister should not talk about these things, and he disagrees."

"But later he was seduced by Zhao Gao with the promise of generational fame. He followed Zhao Gao's plan, deposed the young master to support Su, and established Hu Hai as the new emperor."

Li Shimin: Li Si experienced glory and desolation with the change of sand dunes, and his tragedy was also forged at the moment of the change of sand dunes.

During the period of Qin Shihuang, Li Si and Zhao Gao were the two popular men and favorite ministers under Ying Zheng.

Zhao Gao is Ying Zheng's eyes and ears, and the person Ying Zheng trusts.

Li Si was the person admired by Qin Shihuang. He was the hands and feet of Ying Zheng. He was the prime minister of the Qin Empire and could implement the policies and decrees determined by Ying Zheng.

Based on different positioning, during the Yingzheng period, the support Li Si could obtain was much greater than that of Zhao Gao.

It is precisely because of this that when Qin Shihuang died in the sand dunes, Zhao Gao, who had no ability to control the situation, extended an olive branch to Li Si.

Zhao Gao pulled Li Si into the water and launched the Dune Revolution together, killing Fusu and Meng Tian.

Crushing all the overall plans laid out by Qin Shihuang, of course, it also pushed the Qin Empire into a state of eternal disaster.

When Li Si was dragged into the water and stood side by side by Zhao Gao, Li Si's IQ was gone, and his miserable historical ending was doomed.

The Sand Dune incident planned by Zhao Gao was entirely out of selfish motives. It was to prevent Fusu from having anything to do with him after he took over.

It was impossible to become a popular person around Fusu, so Zhao Gao chose to pass on a false inheritance and confer death on Fusu and his backer Mengtian.

And Li Si also sided with Zhao Gao after a brief hesitation, purely to defend everything he owned, and worried that everything he owned would be replaced by the Meng family.

It can be seen that when selfishness takes over, people's IQ will decline and it will be easy to dig holes for themselves.

After Qin II came to the throne, Li Si was sensitive to the fact that his status was no longer like it was during the Ying Zheng era, when one person was inferior to ten thousand people. This feeling was very normal.

Because the talented Qin Shihuang appreciated Li Si's talent, he gave Li Si a lot of support.

In this way, Li Si could show off his talent and do something practical, but Qin II was just a playboy.

Zhao Gao was originally the first teacher of Qin II, so during the period of Qin II, the status between Zhao Gao and Li Si will definitely change.

Qin II trusted Zhao Gao, and Zhao Gao knew how to guide Qin II to enjoy himself in time.

But Li Si is still immersed in the Qin Shihuang period and still believes that he is the prime minister of the empire. This is a tragedy in itself.

"In 210 BC, after Qin II Hu Hai succeeded to the throne."

"The laws have been re-revised and the punishments have become increasingly cruel."

"A year later, Qin II built Afang Palace again, continued to build Chidao, and levied more and more heavy taxes."

"The people were deeply disturbed. Afterwards, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted."

"Li Si has repeatedly sought opportunities to make remarks, but Hu Hai did not accept it. Instead, he blamed Li Si for being disturbed from his own enjoyment."

"Li Si's son Li You was appointed as the governor of Sanchuan County, but it was difficult to stop the invasion of the rebels."

"Qin General Zhang Han defeated the troops of Wu Guang and others and expelled them from the Sanchuan area. He then sent envoys to Sanchuan to investigate and condemned Li Si for allowing thieves to be so rampant despite being in the position of San Gong."

"Li Si was worried about his title and salary, so he wrote a letter to please Hu Hai and affirmed Hu Hai's harsh rule."

"After that, Li Si, Prime Minister Feng Quji and General Feng Jie came to admonish Qin II Hu Hai to stop the construction of Afang Palace and reduce the corvee."

"Zhao Gao took the opportunity to falsely accuse Li Si to Hu Hai, who was as powerful as the emperor and intended to rebel. Hu Hai was afraid."

"Later Li Si impeached Zhao Gao, but Hu Hai did not trust Li Si and imprisoned him for investigation."

"Li Si wrote many letters in prison, but they were all detained by Zhao Gao."

"Afterwards, Zhao Gao severely punished Li Si and fabricated charges that Li Si's son Li You participated in the rebellion."

"And asked Li Si about his plot to rebel, and arrested all Li Si's guests and the Li family."

"In the end, Li Siqu was beaten and confessed his crime."

"In the second year after Qin II came to the throne, Li Si was sentenced to death, and later cut in half in the market of Xianyang, and the three tribes were wiped out."

Zhu Yuanzhang: Li Si was moved by his talent and lamented his ending.

The reason why Qin Shihuang was able to unify the six countries and level the sea.

On the one hand, it is due to his great talents and strategies, on the other hand, he relies on the capable people and strangers under his command.

Among the many talented people, Li Si is definitely second to none.

Li Si's talent is undeniable, and he made great contributions to the establishment of the Qin Empire.

Li Si relied on his own ability and talent to step into the ranks of the Three Gongs and Nine Qings.

First, he edited Lu Buwei's "Lu Shi Chun Qiu", and then met the young Ying Zheng. An "Admonishment and Expulsion Order" saved the Qin State's crisis and made him an important confidant of Ying Zheng.

Li Si's strong governing ability, exquisite calligraphy, and strategies at home and abroad are all amazing.

In the Qin State, where heroes are judged by their merits, his progress from chief official to court lieutenant and then to prime minister Zuo shows his great achievements.

How could such a Li Si not be admired?

However, Li Si's selfishness was enough to ruin his reputation for a lifetime.

For his own selfish interests, after the death of Qin Shihuang.

He conspired with Zhao Gao and Hu Hai to tamper with the imperial edict, kill Fusu and harm Zhongliang.

Within a year of the death of the First Emperor, the members of the royal family withered, and all the three princes and nine ministers were killed or injured.

This resulted in the centuries-old strict laws of the Qin State being ineffective. The Qin Empire was suddenly in chaos and the building was about to collapse.

As the saying goes, success depends on Xiao He, and failure depends on Xiao He. This sentence is more appropriate to describe Li Si.

Qin's unification of the world was inseparable from Li Si's immortal contributions, and Qin's rapid demise was also fueled by Li Si.

(End of this chapter)