China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 13

In order to achieve "mutual love" and "mutual benefit" in the practice of governing the country, Mozi also put forward the propositions of "respecting the virtuous" and "respecting the same" in internal affairs; he advocated "non-aggression" in foreign relations. "Salting the virtuous" is to select people with virtue and ability, regardless of their background and status. "Shangtong" means "shangtong", which means that all people's opinions must be unified with their superiors, from a local township to the world, they must be unified with their chiefs, and lower levels must be unified with their superiors step by step until the emperor is unified. in "day".Mozi advocated "Non-offensive" is to oppose the war of big countries attacking small countries and strong countries attacking weak countries.Mozi believes that this kind of war brings endless disasters to the people and is "the great harm of the world", and the root cause of this kind of war is caused by lack of love.

Once, Mozi heard the news that Chu State was about to attack Song State, so he set off from Lu State and walked for ten days and ten nights to the capital of Chu State to meet the King of Chu.After paying homage to the king of Chu, Mozi asked: "I heard that the king is going to attack the state of Song. Is there such a thing?" The king of Chu replied: "Yes." What kind of person is this?” King of Chu. Said: "This must be someone who suffers from stealing disease." At this time, Mozi changed the subject and said: "The territory of Chu State is five thousand miles in radius; the territory of Song State is only five hundred miles in radius. It’s like comparing a luxurious car with a rotten car. The state of Chu has Yunmeng Daze, where rhinos and elk are everywhere, and the Yangtze River and Hanshui produce fish, soft-shelled turtles, green turtles, and alligators. They can be regarded as the richest in the world; It is the so-called place where even pheasants, rabbits, and crucian carp do not come out. This is like comparing delicacies with dross. There are big trees such as pine, catalpa, nanmu, and camphor in Chu State; but there are no big trees in Song State. Embroidered silk clothes are compared with coarse cloth clothes. Therefore, I think the king’s attack on Song Dynasty is the same as this.” At the same time, Mozi also competed with the Chu minister Gongshu Pan in terms of equipment and tactics, resulting in Chu King and Gongshu Banli’s lack of skills.Finally, the king of Chu said: "Okay! I won't attack Song State." Mozi stopped a war with his strategy of "love each other", "benefit each other" and "non-aggression".

●Qu Yuan sinks into the Miluo River in pain
Qu Yuan, named Ping and styled Yuan, was a descendant of Xia, the son of King Wu of Chu.Qu Yuan received a good education since he was a child. When he was in his 20s, he served as the left disciple of King Huai of Chu, and he won the trust of King Huai of Chu.Later, King Huai of Chu listened to the slander and alienated Qu Yuan.But Qu Yuan didn't care about it, and spoke to King Huai of Chu on state affairs as usual.Not only did King Huai of Chu refuse to listen to Qu Yuan's advice, he also dismissed him from his position and asked him to be a doctor of Sanlu to take care of some irrelevant matters.

Qu Yuan was very disappointed with King Huai of Chu's stupidity. He poured his grief and indignation into his poems and wrote the famous long poem "Li Sao" in the history of literature.Later, when Qu Yuan heard the news that King Huai of Chu had been hijacked by the state of Qin and died in a foreign land, he was filled with grief and indignation, and wrote the poem "Calling the Soul".At this time, in the state of Chu, the crown prince ascended to the throne, namely King Qingxiang of Chu.King Qingxiang reused his brothers Zilan and Jin Shang to reject Qu Yuan.He removed Qu Yuan from his palace duties and exiled him to southern Hunan.

After another two years, Ying of Chu State was captured by Qin State, the palace was reduced to rubble, and King Chu Qingxiang also fled to Jiangdong.Qu Yuan's ideal of rejuvenating the motherland was completely shattered. With the pain of unfulfilled ambition, he chanted his last poem "Huaisha" and threw himself into the Miluo River.The day when Qu Yuan threw himself into the river was the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. To commemorate him, later generations designated this day as the Dragon Boat Festival, and passed down traditional customs such as dragon boat races and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival.

##The eighth series of feudal society began in Qin Dynasty
●Win the government and kill Lu Buwei

After the death of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, 13-year-old Ying Zheng succeeded to the throne. He became Qin Shihuang later.Yingzheng was young, and the power of the government was completely in the hands of the queen mother Zhao Ji and the prime minister Lu Buwei. They colluded with the eunuch Miao Mou, worked in collusion and monopolized the country, and did not take Dongzheng seriously.As Ying Zheng grew up day by day, he naturally developed strong dissatisfaction and resentment towards Lu Buwei's insatiable selfish desires.

In 238 BC, Ying Zheng was 22 years old. According to the regulations at that time, in the spring of this year, a coronation ceremony was held for him in the old capital Yongcheng.Yingzheng held a coronation ceremony. From then on, he was considered to be the king officially, and he could handle the government affairs himself.This was very unfavorable to Lu Buwei, so he came up with a plan to kill people with a knife, and took advantage of Yingzheng's absence in Xianyang to encourage Lai Ai to launch a rebellion.When Ying Zheng heard about Lai Ai's rebellion, he decided to use his tactics and ordered Lu Buwei to lead troops to quell the rebellion.Although Lu Buwei knew that it was King Qin who wanted them both to suffer, he had no reason to refuse to accept the order, so he had to lead his troops there.Unexpectedly, the rebels were vulnerable. In the first battle of Xianyang, hundreds of rebels were killed, and the rest scattered and fled.Within a few days, Lao Ai was arrested and escorted to Xianyang.Yingzheng ordered the chariot to split Lao Ai, and also killed his father, mother and wife.

Knowing that Lai Ai's rebellion was related to Lu Buwei, Ying Zheng sent someone to investigate and verify.After investigating the facts, Yingzheng originally wanted to kill Lu Buwei, but he thought he had contributed to helping his father and himself ascend the throne, so he only dismissed him as prime minister and let him return to his fief Luoyang to retire. Country has gone.However, Lu Buwei was not willing to withdraw from the political stage. On the surface, he lived in Luoyang, but in fact he still maintained close ties with the princes of the six countries, trying to make a comeback with the help of foreign powers.Yingzheng was furious when he heard about it, and moved Lu Buwei to Shu County, and then gave Lu Buwei poisoned wine to commit suicide.

●Jing Ke Assassinates Qin and Never Returns
After Yingzheng ascended the throne, Yan State made friends with Qin State and sent Prince Dan as a hostage to Qin State.Later, Prince Dan fled back to Yan.After the Qin State destroyed Han and Zhao, its soldiers came to the border of Yan State.Prince Dan hurriedly asked his teacher Ju Wu for advice, and Ju Wu suggested uniting the princes to fight against the strong Qin.Prince Dan thought that the distant water could not quench his thirst, so he went to Tian Guang, the elder of the Yan Kingdom, and Tian Guang recommended Jing Ke to him.

Jing Ke was a native of Wei, good at reading and fencing. He once lobbied Wei Yuanjun, but was not trusted. He also traveled to Yuci and Handan, and finally came to Yan.Jing Ke was in the country of Yan and had a close relationship with Yang Tu and Gao Jianli.Gao Jianli was good at building architecture. Jing Ke often drank with Yang Tu and Gao Jianli in the market.Tian Guang treated Jing Ke very well, knowing that he was not a mediocre person, and recommended him to Prince Dan.

Prince Dan and Jing Ke discussed the situation in the world.Prince Dan repeatedly asked Jing Ke to go to Qin as an envoy. It would be best to capture Ying Zheng alive and force him to return the land lost by the princes, just like Cao Mo forced Qi Huan to return the territory of Lu; Chaos, monarchs and ministers are suspicious, and the princes take the opportunity to unite, and they are expected to defeat Qin.Jing Ke said: I heard that Yingzheng bought the head of the fugitive general Fan Yuqi with a thousand jin of gold and the Yiwan family. The government will definitely be happy to meet him, so he can take the opportunity to act.But Prince Dan couldn't bear to kill Fan Yuqi, the Qin general who had defected to him for many years.Jing Ke went to Fan Yuqi privately to explain his intention, and Fan Yuqi killed himself afterwards.Prince Dan asked Jing Ke and the warrior Qin Wuyang to take Fan Yuqi's head and a map of Dukang's land in Yan to Qin as envoys to assassinate Yingzheng.Jing Ke originally wanted to wait for a friend to go with him, but Prince Dan suspected that he regretted it. Jing Ke angrily reprimanded Prince Dan and left immediately.

People in white clothes and hats sent Jing Ke and his party to the edge of Yishui. After the sacrifices and prayers, Gao Jianli went to the building, and Jing Ke sang in harmony: "The wind is rustling, and the water is cold. Once the strong man is gone, he will never return!" Then he strode into the car. , without looking back, drove into Qin.

When they arrived in Qin State, they first bribed Yingzheng's favorite minister, Meng Jia, saying that Yan State sent envoys with precious gifts to express their submission.Therefore, Ying Zheng held a grand reception ceremony in Xianyang Palace.Jing Ke held the box containing Fan Yuqi's head, and Qin Wuyang came to the hall one after another holding the box containing the map.As soon as he walked down the steps, Qin Wuyang was frightened by the strict atmosphere of the Qin Palace, his face turned pale and his body trembled. Jing Ke turned his head and looked at Qin Wuyang with a smile, and then smoothed things over for him and said: "People in poor villages have never I have seen the majesty of your majesty, I hope your majesty will not blame you, and allow me to complete the mission!" Afterwards, Jing Ke presented the map, and Ying Zheng unfolded the scroll bit by bit, until at the end, there was a gleaming dagger.Jing Ke grabbed the dagger with his right hand, grabbed Ying Zheng's sleeve with his left hand, and stabbed at him.Ying Zheng was taken aback and jumped up. Because of too much force, he broke the sleeve that Jing Ke was holding.In a panic, Ying Zheng wanted to pull out the sword on his body, but because of the length of the sword and the panic and urgency, he couldn't pull it out no matter what.So, he had to go around the big pillars on the temple to avoid it.

Jing Ke was chasing after Ying Zheng in the hall, and the frightened courtiers had no weapons in their hands, so they had to fight with Jing Ke with bare hands.

Ying Zheng walked around the pillar to avoid Jing Ke, panicking.The courtiers shouted: "Your Majesty, push the sword on your back!" Ying Zheng suddenly realized that he carried the long sword on his back, drew it from his shoulder, and slashed at Jing Ke, cutting off his left leg.Jing Ke reluctantly threw the dagger at Ying Zheng, but missed, and threw it to the pillar behind.Ying Zheng stepped forward again and slashed at Jing Ke with his sword. Jing Ke was stabbed in eight places.Jing Ke knew that the big event could not be successful, so he leaned on the pillar and laughed, and cursed Ying Zheng, and was later killed.

After the Qin State unified the world, Gao Jianli took advantage of Jianzhu's opportunity to pounce on Yingzheng, but failed and was killed.Therefore, Yingzheng will never be close to people from the vassal states for life.

●Wang Jian made a plan to destroy Chu
After destroying the State of Wei, Yingzheng planned to send troops to attack the State of Chu. He called the generals to discuss the matter of attacking Chu. He first asked the young general Li Xin how many troops would be needed to attack the State of Chu.Li Xin was young and energetic, and said without hesitation: "It's only 20." Qin Wang Yingzheng asked the veteran Wang Jian again, and Wang Jian said: "Chu has a large population and strong troops. According to my estimate, it must be 60." Thinking that Wang Jian was timid, he sent Li Xin to lead 20 troops to attack Chu.

Seeing this, Wang Jian excused his illness and went back to his hometown.Not long after, Li Xin was defeated in battle, with countless soldiers killed and wounded, and several generals also died.Yingzheng was furious and reprimanded Li Xin for being incompetent but dared to boast in Haikou, so he dismissed Li Xin.He personally ran to Wang Jian's hometown, asked him to come out to lead the army, and sincerely apologized to Wang Jian.Wang Jian said: "If your majesty wants me to lead troops, it must be 60 people. Chu has a large land and a lot of people, so it is not difficult for them to mobilize 100 million people to deal with us. I said we have to send 60 troops, but I am afraid it will not be enough." Well. If it is less, it will not work." Ying Zheng quickly apologized to him and said with a smile: "I will definitely listen to the general this time!" So he allocated 60 troops to Wang Jian to attack Chu.On the day when the troops were dispatched, Ying Zheng went to Bashang to see Wang Jian off with wine.

Wang Jian led the army of Qin State to attack Chu State mighty and mightily, and Chu State also mobilized all the troops to resist tenaciously.When they got to the front of the battle, Wang Jian ordered the soldiers to build barriers to prevent them from fighting.Xiang Yan, a general of the Chu State, guessed in his heart: Wang Jian originally came to garrison here, so he had the idea of ​​​​paralyzing and underestimating the enemy. Unexpectedly, this was exactly Wang Jian's strategy.When Xiang Yan was not on guard, the Qin army, which had already suffocated, suddenly launched an offensive against the Chu army camp, and 60 horses and horses rushed past with overwhelming momentum.The soldiers of Chu State resisted for a while, and then fled for their lives.Wang Jian seized the opportunity and ordered the soldiers to pursue him relentlessly.As a result, Chu's soldiers and horses fought less and less, and lost more and more land.Later, the Qin army went all the way to Shouchun, the capital of Chu, and captured the king of Chu.When Xiang Yan learned that the king of Chu had been captured, he felt that the situation was over and he could not turn back, so he drew his sword and killed himself.In 223 BC, the state of Chu perished.

●The surrender of Qi and the unification of the world
The state of Chu fell, and Ying Zheng ordered Wang Ben to lead his army to attack Yan again.In 222 BC, Wang Ben destroyed the Yan State, and then led his troops to capture the Dai City of the Zhao State.At this time, Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, and Yan were all conquered by Qin, and only Qi was left among the six kingdoms.

Qi State was originally very powerful, but Qi Wangjian was always timid and fearful, and never dared to offend Qin State.Whenever the princes asked him for help, he always flatly refused.Qi Wangjian believed that Qi State was far away from Qin State, so as long as he could listen to Qin State's words wholeheartedly, he would not have to worry about Qin State's attack.But when he saw the other five countries being swallowed up by Qin State one by one, he woke up like a dream, and immediately became anxious, and hurriedly sent troops to guard the western border, but it was too late.

In 221 BC, Wang Ben led hundreds of thousands of Qin soldiers from the south of Yan State to Linban, the capital of Qi State.Qi Wangjian had no choice but to sit and wait for death.Soon, the Qin army marched to Linzi, and Qi Wangjian surrendered to the Qin army.

In this way, in less than 10 years, the Qin State wiped out the six countries one by one, ended the long-term separatism of the princes, and established the first unified multi-ethnic feudal centralized state in Chinese history-Daqin kingdom.

Yingzheng began to be called "the first emperor"

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the supreme rulers of various countries were generally called "kings". The ministers deliberated on the emperor's title.

According to the results of discussions among the ministers and doctors, "in ancient times there were emperors, emperors, and emperors of Thailand, and the emperor of Thailand was the most expensive", so the honorary title was "Emperor of Thailand".However, Yingzheng was still dissatisfied, so he took the word "Huang" alone, and at the same time adopted the title of "Emperor" in ancient times, calling it "Emperor".Since then, "emperor" has replaced "king" as the title of the supreme ruler, and Ying Zheng has become the first emperor in Chinese history.In order to show the majesty and uniqueness of the emperor, Yingzheng stipulated a set of systems, such as the emperor's order is "Zhi", and the order is "Zhao", and the emperor's name is not allowed to be mentioned in the text.The emperor called himself "zhen", the seal was called "Xi", and ordinary people were no longer allowed to use the words "lian" and "xi". In addition, a system of clothing was also formulated.

Yingzheng also ordered the abolition of posthumous posthumous titles, forbidding the next generation of emperors to give the previous generation emperors a title, calling themselves "the first emperor", and arranged for his descendants to succeed after his death. Three generations", "As for all generations, it will be passed on endlessly".As a result, later generations called Yingzheng Zuoshihuang.

●Unity of weights and measures and currency

Before the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the degrees, quantities, and measures of various countries were different, and it was very inconvenient to convert.After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he made unified regulations on degree, quantity and balance.Degrees are in decimals: 23 is one inch, ten inches is one foot (together with today's 200 centimeters), and ten feet is one foot.Quantity is also entered in decimals: ten together is one liter (today 24 ml), ten liters is one bucket, and ten buckets is one dendrobium.The unit and method of weighing are: 16 baht is one tael, 0.25 taels is a catty (30 kg today), [-] taels is a jun, and four jun is a stone.After the unification of weights and measures, Qin Shihuang ordered that the imperial edict be engraved on the weights and measures made by the government and distributed to the whole country as standard instruments.Qin's unification of weights and measures has been seriously implemented throughout the country.The unification of weights and measures has played a positive role in maintaining national unity and promoting economic development.

Before the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the currencies used by various countries were different, not only in different shapes, but also in weighing units.There are roughly four major systems: cloth money, dao coin, round money, and Ying love.In addition to Ying Ai, which was popular in Chu, cloth money circulated in Han, Zhao, and Wei, knife coins circulated in Qi, Yan, Zhao and other countries, and round coins circulated in Qin, Eastern Zhou, Western Zhou, Wei, Zhao and other countries.After the unification of Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang ordered to unify the national currency, with gold as the upper currency and yi as the unit; square holes and round coins as the lower currency, with half liang as the unit, called "half liang" money.The right to mint currency belongs to the state, and private individuals are not allowed to mint coins. Offenders will be convicted and severely punished.Coins minted by local governments must be minted according to the standard plate design stipulated by the state, and the name of the minting place must be printed.The round and square hole coins of Qin Shihuang's time have been used for more than 2000 years.

●"Trains on the same track" and "Books on the same text"

After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, in order to facilitate the passage of vehicles on the national roads, he ordered the demolition of the roadblocks and fortresses built by the previous countries, and unified the tracks across the country. "Cars on the same track".This measure has promoted the development of the transportation industry.

During the Warring States period, the shape of characters was disordered, and the characters of various countries were not uniform. Not only were the fonts different, but the phonetic symbols and pictographs used in the same character were also very different.After the Qin Dynasty unified the six countries, the "variable characters" caused serious obstacles to the implementation of government orders and cultural exchanges.Therefore, Qin Shihuang ordered Prime Minister Li Si to be responsible for sorting out the text and formulate a new font as the official text.

In order to unify the writing, Li Si wrote "Cangjie Pian", which changed the big seal script and created the small seal script, which became the official script of the Qin Dynasty.Xiaozhuan is rectangular in shape, rounded with a pen, well-proportioned in structure, thin and handsome in strokes, elegant and comfortable in posture, less pictorial in characters, more symbolic in lines, and there are few variant characters. The writing and position of radicals are basically fixed, and the characters are relatively Simplification is a great progress in the history of Chinese character development.The characters after Xiaozhuan are called Jinwen, and the characters before are called Guwen.In 221 BC, Qin Shihuang promulgated Xiaozhuan and made it popular throughout the country.

Later, jailer Cheng Miao created the official script based on the new fonts already in use by the people, with square fonts, simpler strokes, and easier to write.This kind of font was very appreciated by Qin Shihuang. By the early Western Han Dynasty, Lishu had become a common font throughout the country.

Qin Shihuang's unified script played a huge role in the unification of government orders, cultural dissemination, and economic development in a centralized state, and it also had a non-negligible impact on the development of Chinese history and culture.

●Qinxiu Great Wall Kailing Canal
In 214 BC, Qin general Meng Tian led an army of 30 to conquer the Huns and regained the vast areas north and south of Hetao.In order to consolidate the rule of this area, Qin built and connected the old Great Walls of the original Qin, Zhao, and Yan according to the terrain, and built the Great Wall starting from Lintao in the west and extending to Liaodong in the east.The Great Wall played an important role in resisting the harassment of the nobles of the ethnic minorities in the north and ensuring the production and life of the people in the interior.

In order to open up the Lingnan area and provide logistical support for the Qin army's conquest of South Vietnam, Qin Shihuang ordered the imperial supervisor Shilu to dig the Lingqu in 217 BC.Lingqu connects the Hunan and Lijiang Rivers, and connects the two major water systems of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River.The digging of Lingqu enabled the Qin army to solve the difficult problem of material transportation, played a decisive role in Qin's unification of Lingnan, and also promoted the development of Lingnan area.So far, Lingqu - this ingenious engineering still amazes modern engineers.

(End of this chapter)