The era of the emperor

The Qin Dynasty, founded in 221 BC and destroyed in 207 BC, was the first unified feudal dynasty in Chinese history, formerly known as the Qin State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

The ancestor of the Qin people, Dafei, was a descendant of the grandson of the Yellow Emperor, and Shun gave him the surname Ying.

In 361 BC, Qin Xiaogong succeeded to the throne and reused Shang Yang to change the law twice, so that Qin's economy developed, and the army's combat effectiveness was continuously strengthened, and it developed into the richest and most powerful vassal state in the late Warring States period. King Yingzheng of Qin successively destroyed Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi, completing the great cause of unification.

In 221 BC, Ying Zheng was proclaimed emperor, known as "Qin Shi Huang" in history. In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang fell ill and died in the sand dunes (present-day Guangzong County, Hebei Province) during his parade. His son Hu Hai ascended the throne as Qin II. Although the Qin Dynasty had a huge influence in history, it abused the power of the people and was unified for only fifteen years.

In 209 BC, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang cut wood as soldiers, and the world responded, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu raised troops in Jianghuai to resist Qin.

In 207 BC, the Qin Dynasty fell.

The Qin Dynasty ended the 500-year split of the princes since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and became the first centralized state in Chinese history. It has had a profound impact on Chinese history. The territory of the Qin Dynasty, east to the sea, west to Longxi, north to the Great Wall, and south to the South China Sea, greatly exceeded the previous generation.

The Qin Dynasty set up three princes and nine secretaries in the center to manage national affairs; Locally, the feudal system was abolished and replaced by the county system; Implement the same text, the same track, and unified weights and measures. The establishment of the centralized system laid the basic pattern of China's political system for more than 2,000 years and laid the foundation for the rule of China's great unified dynasty.

Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng, born in 259 BC, surnamed Ying, Zhao, Ming zheng, an outstanding politician, strategist and reformer in ancient China, the founder of the Qin Dynasty, the first absolutist centralized state in Chinese history, and the first monarch in China to be called emperor.

Ying Zheng is the son of King Xiang of Qin Zhuang and Zhao Ji, and was born in Handan, the capital of Zhao, because his father was a hostage in Zhao State. [3] After King Xiang of Qin Zhuang became the crown prince of Qin, Yingzheng was released back to Qin. In 247 BC, Ying Zheng succeeded to the throne.

In 238 BC, he quelled the rebellion of the Marquis of Changxin, eliminated the powerful minister Lü Buwei, and began to govern pro-government, using Li Si, Wei Yi and other guest secretaries. Since 230 BC, he has successively destroyed Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi, and completed the great cause of unifying the six countries.

In 221 BC, Ying Zheng used "virtue and three emperors, merit over five emperors", and used the "emperor" of the three emperors and the "emperor" of the five emperors to form the title of "emperor", and was called the "first emperor". Politically, Yingzheng set up three princes and nine secretaries in the central government, and abolished the feudal system at the local level and replaced it with the county system; Economically, the currency and weights and measures are unified; Socially and culturally, the policy of the same book and the same track was implemented, and roads leading to various places were built with the capital Xianyang as the center, and the law was used as the teaching and the officials were the teachers; Militarily, he attacked the Xiongnu in the north, collected Henan, and built the Great Wall; Conquered Baiyue in the south, built the Ling Canal, and communicated the Yangtze River and Pearl River water systems. In 210 BC, Ying Zheng died on the sand dune platform at the age of 50 and was buried in the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Lishan. He was succeeded by Hu Hai, and the following year the Peasant War broke out at the end of the Qin Dynasty, which buried the Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng ended the situation of disputes between the princes of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and laid the basic pattern of China's political system for more than 2,000 years , and was praised as "the first emperor of the ages" by the Ming Dynasty thinker Li Zhen. At the same time, his implementation of harsh punishments, burning books and pit Confucianism, extreme desire for luxury, large-scale construction projects, vain attempts to become immortals, and indiscriminate conscription and forced labor also caused controversy in later generations.

The life of Qin Shi Huang

In the first month of the forty-eighth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Yingzheng was born in Handan Kuocheng of Zhao State at that time. The son of Sun Yiren (King Xiang of Qin), the king of Qin at that time. Yiren is the son of An Guojun, and neither mother nor son is favored by An Guojun, plus An Guojun has more than 20 children, so Yiren was sent to Handan, Zhao State as a proton. At that time, the relations between Qin and Zhao deteriorated, and wars broke out from time to time. He lacked a carriage and horses for travel and daily belongings, and his life was embarrassing and frustrated. Lu Buwei, a patriotic businessman who was doing business in Handan, knew about the situation of Yiren, and thought that he was "a strange thing to live in", so he used a lot of money to see An Guojun's favorite concubine, Mrs. Huayang, who recognized her as his mother and changed her name to Zi Chu. Zhao Ji, the concubine of Lü Buwei that Zichu saw, gave birth to Yingzheng after being lucky.

In the fiftieth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (257 BC), the state of Qin sent Wang Qi to besiege Zhao Handan, the situation was very urgent, and the state of Zhao wanted to kill Zichu. Zichu and Lü Buwei conspired to take out 600 catties of gold and give them to the officials defending the city, so they were able to escape, escape to the Qin army camp, and return to China smoothly. Zhao Guo wanted to kill Zi Chu's wife and son Zhao Zheng again, because Zhao Ji was the daughter of Zhao Guo's wealthy family, so he was able to hide, so the mother and son had to live.

In the fifty-sixth year of King Qin Zhaoxiang (251 BC), King Qin Zhao died, and the crown prince An Guojun succeeded him as king, who was King Qin Xiaowen and Mrs. Huayang was the queen. Mrs. Huayang took the opportunity to persuade King Qin to establish him as the crown prince. King Qin Xiaowen made his son Chu the crown prince. At this time, Zhao Guo also returned to Qin with his son Chu's wife Zhao Ji and his son Zhao Zheng. At this time, Zhao Zheng was able to return to Qin.

An Guojun succeeded to the throne of Qin, and after a year of filial piety, he died of a sudden illness only three days after being crowned, and Zi Chu succeeded to the throne as King Xiang of Qin Zhuang. King Zhuang Xiang honored Mrs. Huayang as the queen mother, and her biological mother Xia Ji was honored as the queen mother. In the first year of King Xiang of Qinzhuang (249 BC), Lü Buwei was appointed as the prime minister and was named the Marquis of Wenxin.

In May of the third year of King Xiang of Qin (247 BC), King Xiang of Zhuangxiang died at the age of Chinese New Year's Eve. At the age of 13, Ying Zheng was made the king of Qin. When Yingzheng ascended the throne, due to his youth, he respected Lü Buwei as his middle father, and all state affairs were controlled by Lü Buwei.

In the eighth year of the First Emperor (239 BC), King Qin was about to take charge at the age of 21, but at this time, a fierce political struggle was set off in the Qin court. At the beginning, Lü Buwei not only controlled the imperial court, but also had an affair with the Empress Dowager Zhao Ji. Later, seeing that Qin Wangzheng was getting older, he was afraid of being discovered by him, and wanted to leave the Queen Mother, and he was afraid that the Queen Mother would be resentful, so he pretended to be corrupted by his own disciples, and only plucked out his beard and eyebrows and offered them to the Queen Mother for her lewd pleasure. As the Qin Dynasty grew older, the Queen Mother was also pregnant with Chang Yu's child, and she was afraid of being discovered, so she wanted to move elsewhere under the pretext that the feng shui of the palace was not good. Qin Wangzheng agreed, so they moved to the palace in Yongxian, and as a result, the Queen Mother gave birth to two illegitimate children, and Chang Yu also regarded himself as the fake father of Qin Wangzheng, and Chang Yu reprimanded a minister after a drunken time: "I am the false father of King Qin, you dare to provoke me!" The minister was very angry when he heard this, and secretly found an opportunity to tell Qin Wangzheng about the relationship between Chang Yu and the Queen Mother, Qin Wangzheng was very angry when he learned about it, and Chang Yu panicked and prepared to rebel. At that time, with the help of the Queen Mother, Chang Yu was named the Marquis of Changxin, and he received Shanyang, Taiyuan and other places, and collected his own party members. Chang Yu operated in Yongcheng for many years and established a huge force, and was a powerful political force in the Qin State second only to Lü Buwei.

In the eighth year of the first emperor (239 years ago), the younger brother of the king Chang'an Jun Cheng Cheng led a large army to attack Zhao State, rebelled halfway, after the Qin army captured Tunliu, Cheng Chan's subordinates were beheaded and executed for sitting together, and the people of Tunliu were exiled to Lintao.