A live-streamed Chinese language lesson under the sky—the ancients were taken aback.

Three days later, under the eager gaze of the Qin court, the curtain of heaven finally opened again.

"Then let's analyze what structural flaws existed in the Qin Dynasty as a system."

His tone, which had been hesitant to speak, became even more serious, and five large characters appeared on the sky.

"Structural defects".

The image transforms into a complex mind map, with several thick threads extending from the center.

"First, the lack of legitimacy in the rule."

"During the Warring States period, the people of each state identified with their own homeland, which they had lived in for hundreds of years."

People from Qi identify with Qi, and people from Chu identify with Chu.

This sense of identity is formed by blood ties, culture, and the land where generations have lived.

Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms through military conquest.

Conquest can destroy an old regime, but it cannot automatically generate a new identity.

In the hearts of the people in the former territories of the six states, the Qin Dynasty will always be an invader, a conqueror, not one of their own.

"Qin Shi Huang himself was aware of this problem."

He traveled around, carving inscriptions to praise his virtues, hoping to establish a new identity in this way.

But this is not something that can be accomplished in one generation.

However, the Qin Dynasty simply did not have that time.

But how should I put it? If the people of the six kingdoms live a better life than before after unification, who would still rebel?

Unfortunately, as we mentioned in the last episode, the Legalist school of thought promoted by the Qin state lacked the concept of loving the people.

Therefore, Zhang Liang's assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang was an act of resistance by the remnants of the state of Han.

Xiang Yu was also a native of Chu; though Chu had only three households left, it was Chu that would surely destroy Qin.

Military force can conquer land, but it cannot conquer people's hearts.

If they weren't desperate to survive, who would rebel and court death?

……

"Second, the singularity and harshness of the technology of control."

The scene changes, and two pieces of paper appear side by side.

On the left is the ruling tool of the Qin Dynasty, with only the two lonely characters for "law".

On the right are the ruling tools of a normal dynasty, densely covered with a bunch of terms such as law, moral education, clan and gentry, scholar class, and folk beliefs.

"A mature and lasting empire cannot rely on laws alone."

It needs moral education to unify thought, the scholar class to act as a link between the court and the people, local clans to manage grassroots order, and even folk beliefs to provide spiritual sustenance for the lower classes.

The Qin Dynasty did not have any of these.

The Qin Dynasty's philosophy was "to teach by law and to take officials as teachers."

The entire country operates entirely on a rigorous, top-down legal system and bureaucratic machine.

This machine is highly efficient, but it lacks flexibility, has no temperature control, and if even one gear becomes slightly loose, it can affect the entire machine.

"Third, the inability to effectively govern the territory."

The scene transforms into a massive map of the Qin Dynasty, its vast territory stretching from Liaodong all the way to the South China Sea.

"The territory of the Qin Dynasty after unification was approximately 3.4 million square kilometers."

This was several times larger than any of the previous vassal states.

What is needed to govern such a large country? It needs a developed transportation system. The Qin Dynasty built the imperial highways, and that's what they did.

Efficient communication was needed, and the Qin Dynasty had a postal relay system, so they implemented that as well.

But most importantly, we need a sufficient number of capable grassroots officials.

Where did the Qin Dynasty find so many qualified officials?

It turns out that the Qin state's official system was designed for governing the Guanzhong Plain, not for governing the entire world.

After unification, there was a severe shortage of officials, so a large number of former officials from the six states had to be retained.

And these people were precisely the most staunch opponents of the Qin Dynasty.

"However, even officials within the Qin state itself can have problems. Let's take an example."

A village in the Chu region appeared in the scene.

When the Qin officials arrived in Chu, they found that the people there liked to sing and perform sacrifices, and would often gather together to dance.

What was the Qin official's first reaction? It wasn't that he understood this was a custom of the Chu people for hundreds of years, but rather that he believed these people were illegally gathering and plotting a rebellion.

So people were arrested, interrogated, and implicated; that's how an entire village was destroyed.

The harsh laws and severe punishments further exacerbated the hostility of the locals, creating a vicious cycle.

If paper could be invented during this period, it would alleviate the situation somewhat. The advent of paper could accelerate the speed of cultural education and information transmission.

Unfortunately, papermaking technology only began to take shape during the Western Han Dynasty with the development of sericulture and the hemp textile industry, and it didn't mature until the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Unification too fast, indigestion.

When grassroots governance fails to keep pace, the only recourse is to resort to violence, which only breeds more resistance.

[Is there any gunpowder that no one wants?]

……

The papermaking process, which flashed across the sky, prompted Qin Shi Huang (Liu Che), who had long noticed the difference in writing materials in later generations, as well as other insightful individuals before the Eastern Han Dynasty, to quickly record the process.

"Fourth, and most fundamentally, is the loss of control over the land."

He paused here, giving the audience time to process the first three points.

"In later videos, I will talk in detail about land annexation, a malignant tumor that ran through the entire feudal dynasty."

However, the situation was slightly different in the Qin Dynasty.

The problem with the Qin Dynasty was not that land was being annexed by private individuals, but that the land was completely controlled by the state.

"After Shang Yang's reforms, the Qin state implemented an extreme nationalist economic model."

Land can be bought and sold legally, but the state's tax and corvée system binds farmers tightly to the land.

When you farm, a large portion of the harvest goes to the state.

You still have to pay taxes even if you don't farm.

You're running away? Your whole family will be implicated.

"In this model, peasants are essentially serfs on state land."

They have no freedom of movement, no freedom of choice of occupation, and they even have to listen to the government about what to plant and how to plant it.

All their surplus value was extracted by the state for war and engineering projects.

"This model is effective during wartime because it can efficiently mobilize national resources."

However, in peacetime, it is a volcano.

Because the farmers see no hope of improving their lives.

They are merely tools for producing food and breeding the next generation of labor.

Why were Chen Sheng and Wu Guang able to rally so many people? It wasn't because they put forward some great political program, but because they shouted the words, "Is it acceptable to die for one's country?"

Since we're going to die anyway, we might as well rebel.

When the people at the bottom of a country see rebellion and waiting to die as their only two options, that country is doomed.

During the Warring States period, there was still a merit-based military system, offering opportunities for advancement and a glimmer of hope for the future.

[They've all gone to do corvée labor; there's land but no one to farm it.]

Another factor is that without external pressure, internal pressure tends to concentrate.

……

"Qin Shi Huang's achievements are unparalleled throughout history. His standardization of writing, the axle width of carts, the county system, and the unification of weights and measures are all historical achievements that have benefited future generations."

However, these achievements cannot obscure the fact that the ruling machine he established left no room for the survival of the common people at the time.

"Such unification will not last long."

The image of the sky freezes on the last shot.

A Qin Dynasty beacon tower stands alone on a mountain ridge, with a burning sky as its backdrop.

The voice, seemingly wanting to say something, continued to ring out.

"People may also have another idea: what if Fusu had succeeded to the throne? Although history has no 'what ifs,' many people are still eager to make up for those regrets. However, whether Fusu could have solved the problems of the Qin Dynasty is still unknown."

"Furthermore, we do not know whether Fusu agreed with the Confucian system of enfeoffment."

"But these are all political issues that came later. More importantly, it was the monarch's own ability. As the first unified state, Qin had no precedent to follow. As the ruler of this state, he had to have the ability to handle crises."

Unfortunately, judging from the few words mentioned in historical records, Fusu did not show any inclination in this regard. He was the kind of person who committed suicide upon receiving a forged imperial edict, caring nothing for his descendants or what happened after his death.

"His abilities were not even comparable to those of Ziying, who rose to power as a puppet."

Encountering such a perilous situation is a crisis, and he couldn't overcome it.

[Fusu's advantage is that its name sounds very nice.]

Not necessarily. If he had practiced benevolent governance, he might have had a chance, especially since the uprising was launched in his name.

……