China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 14

Li Si's "Book of Remonstrance and Chasing Guests"

In 247 BC, Li Si came to the state of Qin, first served as a retainer under Lu Buwei, and became Yingzheng's bodyguard under Lu Buwei's recommendation.Li Si took advantage of the opportunities that were often close to Yingzheng, and wrote "On Unification Book" to Yingzheng, persuading Yingzheng to seize the opportunity and realize the unification of the world.Ying Zheng readily accepted Li Si's suggestion, first appointed him as the chief historian, and then worshiped him as a guest minister, and asked him to formulate strategies and arrangements for annexing the six countries and unifying the world.

Later, on the pretext that someone was engaged in espionage activities in Qin, the royal family and nobles demanded that Yingzheng order the expulsion of guest ministers from the six countries, and Li Si was also expelled.On the way to leave Qin, Li Si wrote the "Book of Remonstrance and Expelling Guests", urging Yingzheng to take back his order.He listed a large number of historical facts in the "Book of Remonstrance and Chasing Guests", explaining that Keqing can make Qin State strong, persuade Yingzheng to achieve the great cause of unification, or gather talents regardless of country or region.

Li Si said in the article: "In the past Qin Mugong used Baili Xi and Jian Shu to become the overlord; Qin Xiaogong used Shang Yang to reform and seek strength; King Huiwen used Zhang Yi to break up the Six Kingdoms Alliance; King Zhao had Fan Ju, The prestige of the imperial court has been improved, and these four monarchs have relied on guest officials to establish their achievements. Now that they are in the hands of the king, but all the talents from outside are driven away, isn't this helping the enemy country to increase its strength?"

Ying Zheng felt that what Li Si said was reasonable, so he immediately canceled the "exit order", sent someone to retrieve Li Si from the middle of the road, restored him to his official position, and soon promoted him to be a court lieutenant.

●Meng Tian defeated the Xiongnu and set up the county
Meng Tian, ​​whose ancestors were from the state of Qi.My grandfather, Meng Yu, entered Qin from Qi to serve the King of Qin, and his official position was Shangqing; his father, Meng Wu, and younger brother, Meng Yi, were both famous generals.In 221 BC, Meng Tian was worshiped as a general of Qin because of his outstanding family background, and was ordered to attack Qi and worshiped as an internal history.

In the final stage of Qin's annihilation of the six kingdoms, the increasingly powerful Xiongnu took advantage of the fierce battles of the vassal states in the Central Plains and occupied the so-called "Henan land" in the Hetao area.After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, the threat of the Huns became the most prominent problem.In 215 BC, it is said that Lu Sheng, who was ordered to go to the sea to seek immortality, returned to Xianyang and reported ghosts and gods to Qin Shihuang. The "Record Book" on the play contained the sentence "Hu Ye, who died in Qin Dynasty".Qin Shihuang believed that "Hu" refers to the Huns, so he sent general Meng Tian to lead an army of 30 to attack the Huns in the north.

Meng Tian led his army across the Yellow River and captured Gaoque (now northeast of Hangjinhou Banner, Inner Mongolia), Yangshan (now Inner Mongolia Langshan), Beijia (now north of Hetao, south of Yinshan, and west of Daqingshan) controlled by the Xiongnu. .Under the attack of the Qin army, the leader of the Xiongnu, Touman Chanyu, gave up Henan and Touman City and retreated northward.After the Qin Dynasty regained the area north of Hetao and Yinshan, 44 counties were added, Jiuyuan County was re-established, and castles were built on the banks of the Yellow River.In 211 BC, Qin moved 3 inland households to Beihe and Yuzhong (north of today's Yijinhuoluo Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) for reclamation, further consolidating its rule over this area.At that time, people called this newly reclaimed area "Xin Qin".

●The world's first expressway
After Qin Shihuang unified the country, in order to facilitate the transmission of government orders and military information and the exchange of business travelers and vehicles, he ordered the construction of roads all over the country.The Chidao project radiated from Xianyang, the capital of Qin Dynasty, to various places, reaching Yanqi (now Beijing-Tianjin area and Shandong) in the east, Wu and Chu (now Jiangsu and Lianghu areas) in the south, and Jiuyuan (now northwest of Baotou, Inner Mongolia) in the north. , west to Longxi (now Gansu Linqiao), forming a relatively complete transportation network.The road is 50 steps wide, and the roadbed is relatively solid; the center of the road is 3 feet wide, which is dedicated to carriages and horses, and a pine tree is planted every 3 feet as a sign.Chidao is supplemented by small paths on both sides, which is the way for the people to walk.

In 212 BC, Qin Shihuang ordered general Meng Tian to preside over the construction of a straight road from Jiuyuan to Yunyang (northwest of Chunhua, Shaanxi today), during which 1800 kilometers of mountains and valleys were dug and filled, which solved many engineering and technical problems.

These "running roads" and "straight roads" are almost comparable to today's expressways, and can be called the earliest expressways in the world. "Chi Dao" and "Straight Road", together with the "Wu Chi Dao" in the southwest border and the "Xin Dao" built between Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi today, constitute a road network extending in all directions with Xianyang as the center.

Although the road construction project took a lot of manpower and financial resources, after the road was completed, it greatly facilitated the country's land transportation. Moreover, these projects played an important role in eliminating feudal separatism, strengthening centralization, consolidating the unity of multi-ethnic countries, and developing feudal economy and culture. , has a major and far-reaching impact.

●Qin Shihuang toured the world
After Qin Shihuang unified the world, he led hundreds of officials and servants to tour the world on a large scale several times. Landscapes and customs.Qin Shihuang's large-scale outings mainly include the following several times.

In 220 BC, Qin Shihuang traveled westward from Xianyang (now Xianyang, Shaanxi), and inspected Longxi (zhididao, now Lintao, Gansu), Beidi (zhiyiqu, now east of Zhenyuan, Gansu), and Jitou Mountain (a branch of Liupan Mountain) , today’s Jingyuan North in Ningxia), and then return to Xianyang via Huizhong Road (today’s West of Longxian County, Shaanxi).The main purpose of this parade is to inspect the frontier defense in the northwest region.

In 219 BC, Qin Shihuang traveled eastward from Xianyang to inspect counties and counties in Shandong, and went to Zouyi Mountain (southeast of Zouxian County, Shandong Province today), where he set up a stone to praise his meritorious deeds, and called Confucian scholars in Ludi to discuss the matter of enshrining Zen and offering sacrifices to mountains and rivers.After that, Qin Shihuang and his party went north to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices.When going down the mountain, there was a sudden storm, and he took shelter under a big naked tree, so he named the tree the five doctors.They also offered sacrifices to a hill called Father Liang on the south side of Mount Tai, and erected a stone tablet to praise the merits of the Qin Dynasty. sentence.After descending from Mount Tai, Qin Shihuang and his entourage went north to the Bohai Sea, went east along the Bohai Sea, crossed Chengshan (now northeast of Rongcheng, Shandong), boarded Zhifu (now Zhifu Island, north of Yantai, Shandong), and praised the meritorious deeds.Walking all the way, worshiping the gods of famous mountains and rivers all the way.After leaving Zhifu, Qin Shihuang went south to Langye (now Jiaonan, Shandong), where he stayed for three months, and immigrated [-] households under the platform of Langye, and erected stone carvings to sing praises of Qin De. The soil, the quicksand of the West Sea, ends at Beihu in the south, the East China Sea in the east, and passes through the building in the north (that is, Jinyang, now southwest of Taiyuan, Shanxi). Wherever people go, there is no one who is not a minister" and other sentences.This is the famous Langya carved stone.Then, from Nanjun to Wuguan and return to Xianyang.

In 218 BC, Qin Shihuang traveled east again, and when he reached Bolangsha in the south of Yangwu County (in today’s Henan Province), Zhang Liang, a descendant of the Korean nobleman, sent a warrior to attack Qin Shihuang with an iron cone, but missed Qin Shihuang’s auxiliary car. .Qin Shihuang was frightened and sent people to hunt him down, but he couldn't catch him, so he ordered the world to search for ten days, but still found nothing.Qin Shihuang did not stop, and continued to travel eastward, boarded the Fu, and carved stones to praise his meritorious deeds.Turning back, we passed Langye and took the road back from Shangdang (now Changzhi, Shanxi).

In 215 BC, Qin Shihuang made a north tour and arrived at Jieshi (now north of Changli, Hebei), then went west from Jieshi, inspected the northern frontier defense, and returned via Shangjun (Zhifushi, now south of Yulin, Shaanxi).

210 BC was Qin Shihuang's last outing, left prime ministers Li Si and Hu Hai followed.In winter and November, they arrived at Yunmeng (now the Dongting Lake and Honghu area at the junction of Hunan and Hubei), and then went south to Jiuyi Mountain (now Ningyuan South, Hunan) to worship Yushun, and then went east along the river, passing through Danyang (now Anhui Southeast of Ma'anshan) to Qiantang (now southwest of Hangzhou, Zhejiang), to the edge of Zhejiang (now Qiantang River).Wanting to cross the river, the water of the Hui River rose sharply (the famous Qianjiang tide), and he was forced to go up the river 120 miles to cross the river, go up to Kuaiji Mountain (southwest of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today), worship Dayu, look at the South China Sea, and erect stones to praise virtue, that is, Kuaiji Mountain "Carved Stone", along the way, Qin Shihuang erected stone and tree monuments everywhere, allowing people to praise his achievements and promote the power of Qin.Soon, Qin Shihuang died in the Dune Palace on the way home.

●Burning books and burying Confucian culture
In 213 BC, Qin Shihuang held a grand banquet in Xianyang Palace.Civil and military officials toasted together and sang praises.Zhou Qingchen, the doctor's servant, said to Qin Shihuang: "Your Majesty has created an unprecedented system, and the feudal princes are the prefectures and counties. From now on, they will enjoy peace forever. There will be no superiority in the world. Since ancient times, no king can match your majesty's mighty virtue. "

Dr. Chun Yuyue didn't like Zhou Qingchen's flattery, so he criticized the prefecture and county system. His original intention was to give advice to the ruler out of deep concerns about whether the Qin Dynasty could continue to develop, but Qin Shihuang was a little unhappy to hear Chun Yuyue's criticism of the prefecture and county system. , Let the ministers discuss.Prime Minister Li Si raised strong objections to Chun Yuyue and pushed the issue to extremes.Li Si spent another 10 days writing a memorial to Qin Shihuang, arguing that Confucian scholars only knew how to study ancient books, and that they would confuse people with false rumors, which would cause great harm.He suggested: not all the history books of the Qin state should be burned; not the official doctor in charge of the books, not to privately collect poems and books and books of various schools; Those who criticize and criticize the current system will be exterminated; officials who do not report the knowledge are also guilty; those who do not execute the book burning order within 30 days will be sentenced to 4 years of hard labor and will go to build the Great Wall; books on medicine, divination, gardening and other practical knowledge are exceptions; When running a school, if you want to learn politics, criminal names, and laws, you can ask local officials for advice.Qin Shihuang adopted Li Si's suggestion and began to burn books.In less than 30 days, all the classical documents before the Qin Dynasty were reduced to ashes, and ancient Chinese thought and culture were devastated like never before.This is the famous "book burning" incident in history.

Confucius's descendant, Kong Yu, got the news of the burning of books, so he hid Confucius' works in the interlayer of the wall, so that the Confucian classics could be preserved.The wall where the books were collected had already collapsed, and later generations built another wall, called "Lubi", as a memorial.

In the second year, two alchemists Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng who practiced the elixir for Qin Shihuang ran away because they could not complete the task.They talked and accused Qin Shihuang behind their backs, saying that he was cruel and tyrannical.Qin Shihuang was furious when he heard the news, and said: "I was so kind to these alchemists, but they talked about me behind my back and betrayed me. All alchemists are like this. Now there are hundreds of Confucian scholars in Xianyang, and they must often deceive people. This time It must be thoroughly investigated." Afterwards, he asked the censor to arrest Xianyang Confucian scholars, torture them, and interrogate them.These Confucian scholars shouted their injustice at the beginning, but when they were beaten to pieces, they all ended up being tortured.Qin Shihuang ordered these Confucian life to be buried, a total of more than 460 people.This is the so-called "pitting Confucianism" incident in history.

The incident of pitting Confucianism was not the only one, and it happened for the second and third time after that. "General Examination of Documents School Examination" said: Qin Shihuang "also ordered melons to be planted in Lishan in winter, and they were born, so that doctors and students regarded them as potential opportunities and killed more than [-] people. When Qin II, Chen Shengqi was called again. Doctors and students suggested that there were dozens of people who sat down and said that it was not appropriate. However, this Qin Zhi is for the doctor's disciples, not only that they cannot be tested and tested, but they are afraid that they will not be wiped out. "

Burning books and burying Confucianism is a catastrophe for Chinese culture. Qin Shihuang adopted extremely brutal and brutal methods to "burn books" and bury Confucianism, hoping to achieve a high degree of ideological unity with this cruel method, but this could not save Qin Shihuang's rule. Towards the brink of destruction.

●Zhang Liangbo Langsha Assassins Qin
Zhang Liang, a Korean, his grandfather and father both served as Prime Minister of South Korea.In 230 BC, Qin general Nei Shiteng led his troops to break through the capital of South Korea, Han Wangan was captured, and the Korean nobles were also killed by the Qin army.At this time, the young Zhang Liang had not yet served as an official in the Korean court, so he escaped by luck.In the next three years, he sold his property, left his hometown, made friends with heroes everywhere, and wanted to avenge South Korea.Later, when Zhang Liang was studying etiquette in Huaiyang, he met a strong man.Zhang Liang made a big hammer for him, which weighed 120 jin.The two discussed and planned to assassinate Qin Shihuang while Qin Shihuang was on tour.

In the spring of 218 BC, Qin Shihuang took a large group of people out for inspection.One day, when they arrived at Bolangsha (in today's Henan Province), Zhang Liang heard the news in advance, so he and Hercules set up an ambush in the hidden woods on both sides of the Bolangsha road.When Qin Shihuang's convoy passed by, Zhang Liang and Hercules discovered that there were several resplendent and magnificent carts in Qin Shihuang's convoy.It turned out that Qin Shihuang was afraid of being assassinated, so he had to prepare several identical cars every time he traveled, and even his closest ministers didn't know which car he was sitting in.Zhang Liang had no choice but to wink at Hercules, who threw the hammer over.With a bang, the big hammer smashed a large cart to pieces, but Qin Shihuang was not sitting in the cart.The convoy stopped, and the warriors searched everywhere. Zhang Liang and the others had fled.Qin Shihuang immediately ordered a nationwide search, and the assassin must be caught.But after searching for ten days, nothing was found.

●Li Si Zhao Gao Sha Dunmou
In 210 BC, Qin Shihuang visited the world for the last time.On the way, Qin Shihuang felt unwell and returned to Xianyang.When he reached Pingyuanjin, he fell ill, and the medical officers who followed him tried to see a doctor and gave him medicine, but nothing worked.

When he arrived at the sand dunes, Qin Shihuang was seriously ill. He felt that he was about to die, so he told Zhao Gao, "Write a letter to Fusu and tell him to go back to Xianyang as soon as possible. If I fail, ask him to host the funeral." Before it could be handed over to the messenger to send, Qin Shihuang died.

Prime Minister Li Si was afraid that the news of Qin Shihuang's death would cause confusion, so he agreed with Zhao Gao that there would be no funeral.They put Qin Shihuang's body in the car, closed the door, and lowered the window curtains.Except for Qin Shihuang's youngest son Hu Hai, Li Si, Zhao Gao and five or six servants in the entourage, the other ministers knew nothing about Qin Shihuang's death.The convoy headed to Xianyang as usual, and every time it arrived, all civil and military officials played outside the car as usual.

Li Si urged Zhao Gao to send someone to Fusu, the eldest son of Qin Shihuang, to send him back to Xianyang.At that time, Fusu was guarding the frontier with Meng Tian in the north, and Zhao Gao had an enmity with Meng Tian's family.Zhao Gao secretly discussed with Hu Hai, intending to pass on Qin Shi Huang's will, kill Fu Su, and let Hu Hai inherit the throne.When Hu Hai heard that he was made emperor, of course he wished for it.After Zhao Gao's deception and persuasion, Li Si conspired with Zhao Gao and Hu Hai to forge an edict, saying that Fusu could not make meritorious deeds outside, but instead hated his father. Hand it over to Lieutenant General Wang Li.

Then, Zhao Gao and Li Si hurried to Xianyang.It was summer, and the weather was hot, and Qin Shihuang's body quickly rotted and gave off a strong smell. They had to pile up many rotten fish on the car to cover people's eyes and ears.When they arrived in Xianyang, they announced the news of Qin Shihuang's death, and falsely passed on Qin Shihuang's will, and Hu Hai succeeded to the throne. This is Qin II.

The honest Fusu received a false edict telling him to commit suicide, and committed suicide without saying a word.

●Zhao Gao authorized to kill Li Si
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, due to severe oppression, uprisings surged everywhere.Qin Ershi kept blaming Li Si for being a Sangong, but he couldn't stop the little thief.Li Si didn't dare to tell the truth, so he had no choice but to flatter him, suggesting that the second emperor should intensify the crackdown, and strengthen the suppression and control of the common people and officials with the method of "minor crime and heavy punishment".As a result, the more people kill, the more loyal they can become; the heavier the taxpayer, the more they will become officials.Therefore, at this time, more and more people were tortured and killed.The Second Emperor himself lived in the palace, enjoying himself endlessly, and all political affairs were decided by Lang Zhongling Zhao Gao.

For Zhao Gao's arbitrariness, Li Si sometimes has some different views, which makes him gradually become a thorn in Zhao Gao's side.Zhao Gao falsely accused Li Si to the second emperor, saying that Li Si was going to split the land and become king, and that Li Si's son Li You had an affair with a thief.After Li Si learned about it, he reprimanded Zhao Gao for his evil intentions and misbehavior.Li Si, the Prime Minister of the Right, Feng Quji, and the General Feng Jie came to advise the Second Emperor, asking for a reduction in taxes and labor, and to stop the construction of the Afang Palace.However, at Zhao Gao's instigation, the Second Emperor ordered the three to be imprisoned and punished.Erfeng commits suicide, Li Si is cut in half in half, and members of the three clans are killed.Zhao Gao was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Central Committee, and he monopolized the power, and finally pushed the Qin Dynasty to the brink of extinction

●Referring to the deer as a horse minister to deceive the emperor
After Zhao Gao used Qin Ershi to kill Li Si, he became the eternal prime minister himself.From then on, Zhao Gao became more ambitious and tried to usurp the throne.In order to see whether all civil and military officials in the court would obey him, Zhao Gao staged a farce of "pointing at a deer as a horse".

One day, when Hu Hai was in court, Zhao Gao took a deer and said, "Your Majesty, I present you a fine horse." Hu Hai smiled and said, "You are wrong, this is a deer, how can you say it is a horse?" Where's the horse?" Zhao Gao sneered, and said, "Your Majesty, this is a horse. If you don't believe me, ask the officials around!" All the civil and military officials present were silent, fearing that they would offend Zhao Gao by telling the truth. To be murdered.After a while, no one made a sound, Zhao Gao couldn't bear it any longer, in order to show his power in front of the emperor and all the ministers, he named a few cronies to answer, and they all agreed that it was a horse.At this time, several officials couldn't bear it any longer, and accused Zhao Gao of being insane and confusing black and white. They said, "It's obviously a deer, so why did you deliberately call it a horse?" Several officials who talked about deer were all killed by Zhao Gao.From then on, no one in the Qin court dared to tell the truth.

●Peasant Uprising in Daze Township
In 209 BC, more than 900 peasants driven by the violent soldiers of Qin II rushed from Yangcheng (now southeast of Dengfeng, Henan) to Yuyang (now Miyun, Beijing) to guard the border, and when they reached Daze Township (in today's Anhui), they were killed by The rain stopped.

There is a man named Chen Sheng in the border guards who is very ambitious.During a break, Chen Sheng once said to everyone: "If anyone among us becomes rich in the future, don't forget everyone!" The partners thought it was funny and said, "Where did you get rich?" Chen Sheng sighed: " Alas, how can a sparrow understand Hongyan's ambitions!"

Right now, the trip was delayed due to the heavy rain. According to the law of the Qin Dynasty, the soldiers who missed the schedule would be executed.Chen Sheng discussed with his partner Wu Guang: "Even in Yuyang, the deadline has passed. It is also death, why not start a vigorous career?" Wu Guang thinks it makes sense.Therefore, the two agreed to call everyone to revolt under the banner of Xiang Yan, the general of Chu, under the guise of ghosts and gods.

The next day, the cook went to the street to buy fish and came back, and found that one of the fish he bought had a distended belly.It was cut open with a knife, and there was a silk book hidden inside, with the words "Chen Shengwang" written on it. This matter quickly spread among the soldiers.

(End of this chapter)