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Volume 3: A blow of destiny, the king appears Chapter 36: Title

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    Historian Du Zhengsheng pointed out in his work that during the Warring States Period, all countries directly controlled the people through the tax system and household registration system, called household registration and Qimin (farmers registered in household registration), who were responsible for national taxes and served as the main economic pillar of the country.  However, in the late Warring States period, the farmers of the six countries were in precarious conditions, their economies were bankrupt, and they were unable to support the expenditures and recruitment of the war. The tax base of the six countries was damaged, and they were defeated.

    The unification of the six kingdoms was the biggest stumbling block for Ying Zheng in the unification war. However, each of the six kingdoms had their own agendas, and wars often broke out between the six kingdoms of Shandong. For example, Zhao and Yan had become life-or-death enemies due to years of war. In AD  In 242 BC (the fifth year of the Qin Dynasty), King Xi of Yan, because Zhao had been attacked by Qin for a long time, led his general Lian Po to flee to Wei. King Xi of Yan not only did not intend to aid Zhao in the fight against Qin, but instead intended to take advantage of the situation and attack Zhao.

    Before the expedition, King Xi of Yan asked Ju Xin about Pang Nuan, and Ju Xin said that Pang Nuan was easy to deal with.  King Yan Xi then attacked the State of Zhao with Ju Xin as his general, and the State of Zhao sent Pang Nuan to fight.  In the end, the Zhao army won a great victory and captured 20,000 people from Yan State. Ju Xin was captured and killed.  From the above examples, it can be seen that the cooperative relationship between the six countries was very fragile, and was eventually easily defeated by Qin one by one.

    After Yingzheng used force to pacify the world, he carried out a series of measures in the political system, which had a huge impact on the unification and development of China's politics, economy and culture in later generations.

    In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, only the Emperor of Zhou could be called the king. However, after King Ping moved eastward, the Zhou Dynasty declined, and the three kingdoms of Chu, Wu and Yue respectively claimed the title of king. However, in the Warring States Period, the authority of the Emperor of Zhou was even lower. During this period, the Five Kingdoms became kings.  After the incident, each prince not only claimed the title of king, but also recognized each other's monarch's throne. For a time, the title of king also greatly devalued, so the names of emperor and emperor began to be formed.

    At that time, in order to rationalize their political power and the basis for unification, the princes of various countries sought out the root causes from ancient history.  He even made up the genealogy of ancient emperors for his own royal family.  For example, in the late Warring States Period, King Min of Qi and King Zhaoxiang of Qin called each other the two emperors of the East and West.

    After Yingzheng unified the six kingdoms, he believed that his merits were greater than those of the three emperors and his virtues were equal to that of the five emperors. The title of king was not enough to show his great achievements and respected status to future generations, so he met with the important ministers, Prime Minister Wang Wan, and the imperial censor Feng Jie.  , discussed with Tingwei Li Si and others to provide opinions on his title.

    Wang Wan and others first praised Ying Zheng's achievements for surpassing the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, and then said that in ancient times, there were titles such as Emperor of Heaven, Emperor of Earth, Emperor of Thailand, etc., and Emperor Tai was the most noble, so they presented the title of Emperor Tai to Ying Zheng.  The one who promulgates laws and decrees is called making books.  The edict that informs the world of events is called an imperial edict, the seal is called a seal, the words spoken are called edicts, and the ministers call them your majesty.  The emperor no longer calls himself the widow, but instead calls himself me.

    Ying Zheng accepted most of the suggestions from Wang Wan and others.  However, for the honorific title Tai Huang presented to him by the ministers, the character Tai was removed, and the character "Ancient Emperor" was adopted, and he was called the Emperor. He also honored his father, King Zhuang Xiang, as the Supreme Emperor, and abolished the posthumous title.  He calls himself the First Emperor, and his descendants are called the Second World, the Third World, and so on.  The common people call it Qianshou.

    on the other hand.  Ying Zheng also ordered Li Si to grind the He's Bi (some say it was Lantian jade) into a jade seal, which was the national jade seal passed down from generation to generation. The size of the jade seal was four inches square, and the He's Bi was carefully polished by General Sun Shou, the king of Xianyang jade workers.  grind.  Five dragons are carved on the top of the jade seal, and eight seal characters of insects and birds are written on it. According to records and existing rubbings, it is Haotian's destiny, Emperor Shouchang, who was ordered by heaven, and who lived forever and everlastingly (see Wu Shu of the Three Kingdoms), who was ordered by heaven.  There are four theories: longevity and health (see "Yingshi Hanguan" and "Huangfu Century"), and being ordered by heaven to make the emperor Shouchang (according to historian Pei Song).

    Qin Shihuang adopted the Five Virtues Theory of the End and the Beginning of the Yin and Yang Family of the Warring States Period.  It is believed that the Yellow Emperor belongs to Tu De, and yellow dragons and giant earthworms appear.

    In the Xia Dynasty, when Mu De was achieved, a green dragon landed on the outskirts of the capital, and the vegetation grew exceptionally strong and lush.

    The Shang Dynasty gained gold and virtue, so silver flowed from the mountains.

    The Zhou Dynasty was a fire virtue, so the auspicious end of the red crow appeared.

    Qin prospered after Zhou Dynasty, and Qin Shihuang¡¯s ancestor Qin Gong encountered a black dragon while hunting, so Qin should belong to the water virtue.  In order to match the characteristics of Shui De, October is used as the beginning of the year, and the New Year's greetings are moved to October 1st. The color is still black, and the number of the last six is ??six. Therefore, it is stipulated that all clothes, banners, and festival flags should be black, and the talisman, ceremonial crown, and  Systems such as the Yucheng (the emperor rides on a six-foot-long chariot and drives a chariot with six horses) all use six as the number, and the name of the Yellow River is changed to Deshui.

    Other characteristics of water virtue include the direction of north, the season of winter, etc.  Because water governs Yin, and Yin represents punishment, Qin Shihuang used this as the basis for his laws to increase the severity of torture.

    Due to the short reign of the Qin Dynasty and the incomplete records, we can only make indirect inferences about the Qin Dynasty's bureaucratic system. However, both Sima Qian's "Historical Records" and the "Han Shu" written by Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty indicate that the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. Therefore,  As for the bureaucracy during the Qin Shihuang period, it is mainly based on the records in the "Hundred Officials and Officials Table" in the Book of Han.

    However, no matter what, Qin Shihuang established the system of hundreds of officials, called the Sangong and Jiuqing, and continued to use the saying of later generations, which is still widely accepted.

    Regarding the time when the word Sangong appeared,?At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period.  As for Jiuqing, from the early Zhou Dynasty to the early Warring States period, no evidence has been found that various countries adopted this official system. However, it can be determined that the term Jiuqing appeared during the reigns of Lu Dinggong and Lu Aigong in the Spring and Autumn Period, and was connected with the Three Dukes.

    The exact record of the theory of Jiuqing in Pre-Qin Xianzhong is "Lu Shi Chun Qiu". In addition, there is a similar system description in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Twelve Chronicles", which can be regarded as the earliest origin of the term Jiu Qing.

    After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he established a system of hundreds of officials, with the prime minister, prime minister, and state affairs officer in charge of the military; the imperial censor was in charge of inspections, collectively known as the three ministers.

    Under the Three Dukes, there are nine ministers who control palace affairs, including Lang Zhongling (protection in the palace), Zhisu Neishi (finance), Fengchang (in charge of temple etiquette), Taipu (in charge of the royal family and horses), and Tingwei (in charge of punishment).  Prison), Shaofu (in charge of mountains, seas and ponds), Weiwei (in charge of palace gate guards), Dianke (in charge of barbarian affairs) and Zongzheng (in charge of clan affairs). However, due to the lack of records, it is impossible to determine the positions of Taiwei and  Whether the imperial censor truly performs his duties.

    As for the number of Jiuqing, it was just a symbolic form at the beginning. It was just a conceptual official system and was not restricted by the number nine.  It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that the concept of Jiuqing was established as the de facto Jiuqing.

    On the other hand, the official system of the Qin Dynasty also set up seventy-two doctors for consultation, generals (in charge of conquests), and generals as Shaofu (in charge of the palace). All officials were appointed by the court and could be mobilized and removed at any time, and were required to  Annual performance appraisal.  The bureaucratic system established by Qin Shihuang became a model for political systems in previous dynasties.

    Since the elimination of the Six Kingdoms, the imperial court has held discussions on whether feudalism should be restored.  At that time, the Prime Minister Wang Wan believed that Yan, Qi, and Chu were located in remote areas. If clans were not enfeoffed in these three places, these three places would not be truly controlled by the imperial court. Therefore, he suggested that Qin Shihuang enfeoff various disciples to screen the vassal royal family.  Although this suggestion was supported by most ministers, Li Si, who was the Tingwei at the time, rejected all opinions.

    Li Si used the Zhou royal family as an example. He pointed out that the Zhou royal family also created many feudal clans with the surname Ji. However, their descendants separated themselves one after another because of their estrangement by blood. They regarded each other as enemies. The emperor of Zhou was unable to prevent the disputes among the princes. Moreover,  The princes no longer took the royal family seriously, and eventually the Zhou Dynasty fell apart.  Dividing the princes into feudal states will only lead to separatist regimes and endless wars in the future.

    "To make the world peaceful, we can only implement the system of prefectures and counties, and use public taxes to heavily reward the princes and meritorious officials. Only in this way can the ambitions of the people of the world be eliminated."

    Qin Shihuang agreed with Li Si's opinion and said that the princes and kings were the culprits that disturbed the world. It was precisely because of their existence that the people of the world suffered from endless wars for years and yearned for peace.
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