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

"We have previously discussed the living conditions of the lower classes in the six states during the Warring States period, characterized by frequent wars and heavy taxes."

However, there has never been an uprising like the one at the end of the Qin Dynasty, where a commoner raised his arm and quickly ignited the whole country, directly destroying a dynasty.

The reason behind this was certainly not that the six states were more benevolent.

The scene changes, and a huge table covers the entire sky.

The left side reads "feudal system," and the right side reads "prefecture-county system."

"To understand the problem of the prefecture-county system, we must first know what the old system it replaced was."

Before the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms, China practiced a feudal system.

Simply put, the Zhou emperor enfeoffed land to feudal lords, who in turn enfeoffed land to high-ranking officials, and so on, layer by layer, with each layer consisting of hereditary rulers within their own territories.

"A major problem with the enfeoffment system is that it easily leads to the separatism of feudal lords and the division of the country."

The centuries of war and chaos during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were ultimately caused by the feudal system, which allowed the feudal lords to become too powerful and effectively sideline the central government.

Everyone knows this.

"But did the feudal system have any advantages?"

He wanted to say more, so he raised this question and then gave his own answer.

1. Social Structure

This structure of emperor, feudal lords, and high officials, in addition to its administrative function, also served to disperse hatred.

The primary outlet for popular discontent was the lord who directly governed them, which effectively protected the highest level of the royal family.

The direct oppressor of a peasant in the State of Qi is his lord. It is difficult for peasants under other lords to share a common identity with him that is "we are all exploited".

Therefore, local uprisings are always directed against local lords and rarely turn into a nationwide revolutionary upheaval.

2. Living space

With various vassal states existing side by side, the people could "vote with their feet".

If people are dissatisfied with their own monarch, they can flee to other countries, and talented people can choose a new place to settle down, thus dispersing the pressure.

After Qin unified China, the situation changed drastically.

With nowhere to escape, everyone was locked into Qin's household registration system, and there was no other country to turn to.

3. Methods of Governance

It's not that there were no rebellions during the Six Kingdoms period, but rather that the rebellions were fragmented.

Historical records are full of accounts of "national uprisings", "laborers' rebellions" and bandits. For example, the politically subversive "Cui Zhu's assassination of his ruler" was a rebellion by a powerful minister of Qi.

However, the vast majority of these resistances were confined to their own countries or localities and were quickly suppressed, never having the chance to develop into a nationwide uprising.

The Qin Dynasty's prefecture-county system dismantled this "fragmented" system and established a centralized system that aggregated contradictions.

When the tyranny of Qin aroused public resentment, people all over the world faced the same ruler, were oppressed by the same set of laws, and suffered in a highly homogenized manner.

Under the feudal system, it's hard to imagine that a peasant uprising in the state of Qi could inspire peasants in the states of Chu, Zhao, and Wei to respond simultaneously.

But under the prefecture-county system, this became a reality.

Because the person who oppresses you, your fellow villagers, your cousin from the next county, and strangers thousands of miles away are all oppressed in the same way.

Your enemies are their enemies.

Your anger is their anger.

The whole world united in hatred against the enemy, and then the flames of rebellion spread far and wide.

"So," he concluded, unable to finish his sentence.

"The peasant uprisings at the end of the Qin Dynasty were not because the Qin Dynasty was 'worse' than the other six states, but because the Qin Dynasty used a completely new and highly monolithic system of governance to concentrate and homogenize the contradictions of the whole country and deprive the people of all their escape routes."

It sealed all the gunpowder tightly inside an iron barrel, and when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang ignited the first spark with the phrase "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?", the iron barrel exploded with a tremendous force.

[Diversify risk, preventing all from being destroyed at once]

[So that's how it is; the prefecture-county system concentrated the conflicts.]

The scattered conflicts have escalated into nationwide anger.

Qin Shi Huang consolidated all power in his own hands, and also directed all the hatred towards the Qin Dynasty.

……

When people think of the feudal system, does it remind them of the saying: "My vassal's vassal is not my vassal"?

The comments section reacted quickly.

Yes, yes, I was just about to say that.

The feudal hierarchy in Western Europe!

Isn't this just like the feudal system in medieval European countries?

……

"This sentence describes a typical feature of the feudal system in medieval Europe, where the king granted land to high-ranking nobles, who then granted it to lower-ranking nobles, who could then continue to grant it to lower-ranking nobles."

Each level is loyal only to its direct superior, while the lords of the next level have no authority over those below them.

This system, which began in the Western Zhou Dynasty, was used by the Chinese for nearly eight hundred years, until the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, when the world was in chaos, the people were suffering, and it finally became unsustainable.

Therefore, Qin Shi Huang replaced the feudal system with the prefecture-county system and the hereditary aristocracy with appointed officials, thus reconstructing the fragmented empire into a unified whole.

The scene changes, and a huge map of Eurasia appears.

On the map, the eastern part of China is shimmering with uniform color blocks, while the west is cut into dense, ever-changing fragments.

"An interesting contrast is that this feudal system, after being eliminated in China, continued to be used in the West, spanning the entire Middle Ages and even influencing the political landscape of modern Europe."

The prefecture-county system, which began in the Qin Dynasty and was perfected during the Han Dynasty, remained the basic framework of governance for successive dynasties in China.

The ruling class, educated students, and ordinary people watching from under the canopy were still reeling from the peasant uprising when they were shocked by this news.

Where did these Western European countries come from?

And this map! The world is so vast, and China only occupies a tiny corner.

Ying Zheng, who was in Xianyang Palace, suddenly stood up.

"Chinese people are often proud of one thing: there have been countless large-scale peasant uprisings in our history, from Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's 'Are kings and nobles born with special privileges?' to Zhu Yuanzhang's transformation from a beggar to an emperor. Although there are not many successful uprisings, there have been at least a few."

In contrast, successful peasant uprisings are virtually nonexistent in medieval Europe.

"The differences between China and the West cannot be explained by the fact that Chinese people are braver. The pursuit of happiness is the nature of all human beings."

When European peasants are oppressed to the point of being unable to survive, they will also rebel.

France had the Jacques Revolt, Britain had the Watt Taylor Revolt, and Germany had the Peasants' War; the intensity of the resistance was no less than that of China.

But why have they almost never succeeded?

The answer lies in the differences in systems.

This difference, in turn, proves one thing: what a great invention the unified prefecture-county system was.

Its greatness lies not only in the standardization of writing, cart axles, and weights and measures, but also in the formation of a collective consciousness and collective power that transcends regions, blood ties, and generations.

This collective strength enabled us to mobilize manpower for disaster relief, construction, and warfare during times of peace in the dynasty.

This collective consciousness enabled us, at the end of a corrupt dynasty, to pick up our hoes and strike at the oppressors, overthrowing the dynasty.

This collective strength even transcended two thousand years, uniting the entire nation in the War of Resistance against Japan to resist the invaders and save China from national extinction.

The voice, which had been holding back words, became low and soft.

"When we look back at the roar of Dazexiang, we see not only the beginning of the first large-scale peasant uprising, but also the first time in history that a unified collective consciousness has demonstrated its amazing mobilization power."

From Chen Sheng and Wu Guang overthrowing the tyrannical Qin Dynasty to the united efforts during the War of Resistance against Japan, it is this same force that has been traversing time and space, appearing repeatedly.