Why did the Daqin Empire, which swept the world, perish in the second year?

Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng unified the six countries and established a brand-new Qin Empire. However, the seemingly majestic Daqin Empire collapsed three years after Qin Ershi won Hu Hai. This always makes people feel sorry. Why did the Daqin Empire perish in the second year? Many people in the early Han Dynasty, especially Jia Yi's On Qin, are most famous for his view that Qin died of tyranny.

Qin territory

But did the Qin Empire really die of tyranny? Did the people really rise up against Qin tyranny?

The person who bears the greatest responsibility for the demise of the Qin Empire is not Qin Ershi's victory over Hu Hai, but Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng. Qin Shihuang made two major mistakes that led to the demise of Qin: first, a large-scale immigration policy; Second, Prince Chu Jun was not established too early, which led to his successor's lack of prestige, domestic troubles and foreign invasion, and no experience in handling government affairs.

The reasons for the demise of the Qin Empire are roughly as follows:

I. Immigration policy:

Over the years, the population and criminals have been migrating to the border and Guanzhong, resulting in changes in the population structure of Guanzhong: the old Qin people were evacuated and the original six countries occupied Guanzhong. The change of population structure made it impossible for the Qin Empire to effectively recruit soldiers and form elite soldiers to suppress the rebellion in the east.

The time of Qin Shihuang's migration was 1 and 2 19 BC, and 30,000 households (about15,000 people) moved to Langya, and 12 years, the relocated households were rewarded with exemption from corvee; 2. In 2 12 BC, 30,000 households (about15,000 people) moved to Lishan near Xianyang, and 50,000 households (about 250,000 people) moved to Zhangtai and Yunyang. In 10 year, the relocated households were rewarded to avoid corvee. 3. In 2 1 1 year BC, 30,000 households (about150,000 people) moved to the present Ordos area.

These are records of the migration of civilian population. In addition, when reunification was just completed in 2 17 BC,120,000 households (5 people in each household, with a population of 600,000), including the royal family and nobles, were forcibly moved to Xianyang.

The following are the records of migrant criminals. Although there are no exact figures, there are not a few: in BC 1 and BC14, criminals were sent to Yinshan, a newly conquered land of the Huns in Meng Tian, to enrich the newly established 34 counties; In addition, fugitives, slaves and shopkeepers were sent to Baiyue area in the South China Sea. 2. In 2 13 BC, corrupt officials were sent to repair the Great Wall or Baiyue area in the South China Sea; 3. In 2 12 AD, criminals were sent to the frontier again.

Just counting the migration records of civilians, there are already 6.5438+0.4 million households (about 700,000 people). 200,000 people must have moved to Guanzhong. These large-scale immigrants changed the foundation of the Qin people in Guanzhong, which made it impossible for the Qin empire to unite the people in Guanzhong as quickly as in the previous Warring States period and form combat effectiveness, thus resisting the invasion of the rebels. Liu bang easily entered Xianyang from Wuguan.

Second, the lack of a standing army:

After the reunification of the Qin Dynasty, the former Qin Jun was mainly scattered in the Baiyue area of the South China Sea and the northern border to fight against the Huns and guard key cities. In addition, because of the unification, the Qin empire did not maintain or train elite soldiers to prevent the suppression of domestic rebellion. When the rebellion formed a large-scale situation, the Qin empire could not quickly assemble elite troops to suppress the rebellion. Zhang in "Chen Sheng" went to the war zone not far from Xianyang, and was shocked to learn that he had won Hu Hai. But he wanted to transfer soldiers, and there was no soldier to adjust near Xianyang. He could only organize criminals from Mount Li and Epang Palace into an army, led by, as the main force to suppress Zhang Chu. It can be seen that Qin is short of soldiers.

According to the records of Qin's genocide, there are two main forces of the Qin empire: one is an army composed of criminals from Lishan; Second, Wang Lijun surrounded by antlers should be Qin Jun, who led Meng Tian to guard the Great Wall at that time. After Montaigne committed suicide, it was owned by Wang Lijun. Other major players are not there. Qin Jun is located one hundred miles away from the South China Sea. It is a long mountain and a long river. There is no heavy garrison in the east. The reason why the rebellion in the East can be judged as a success lies in the fact that there are not many troops stationed in Qin Jun, not the main force, but only general defense. The lack of the main army of the Qin Empire was also the key to Liu Bang's easy entry into Xianyang.

Third, the infighting of the Qin Empire:

Ying Zheng, the first Qin Emperor, was most responsible for the infighting in the Qin Empire. Because Ying Zheng didn't determine the prince, didn't specify the heir. This led to the legitimate demands of various governors for the throne, and also made the successors have no experience and prestige in dealing with government affairs.

Qin Ershi Huhai

The first infighting: the struggle for the emperor's succession

This is a big problem: Qin Shihuang had more than 20 sons. Faced with such a huge throne power, which prince can say that he doesn't want to be enthroned? It is not only the eldest son of Emperor Fu Su who can compete with Hu Hai for the throne, but at least eight other princes are qualified to threaten Hu Hai's throne. After winning the throne of Hu Hai, he arrested three assistant ministers, killed six brothers (indicating that these six men were the most urgent threat to win the throne of Hu Hai), and forced three brothers to commit suicide. It can be seen that the sons of Qin Shihuang's struggle for the throne is not inferior at all and the intensity is not low at all. This also explains to another extent why Ying Zheng died after his eldest son was demoted to the North, and there is no way to designate an heir. This is because of the fierce competition for the throne among the sons. Another example that proves that Ying Zheng's sons fought fiercely for the throne is: After Ying Zheng's death, Reese died because of Qin Shihuang's "outward surrender". He was afraid that Ying Zheng's sons would openly fight for the throne by force, and there would be rebellion in the East, so he felt that the secret would not be mourned. Won Hu Hai killed 10 brothers, and only two of them had names: Won Su and Won General, in order to stabilize their own throne. According to the records in Biography of Li Si in Historical Records, the number of brothers killed by Hu Hai is different: 12 brothers were killed, 10 sisters were killed, Gongzi Gao committed suicide, and Qin Benji, the winner of suicide in Historical Records, committed suicide. If you win Hu Hai, you will kill 16 brothers and 10 sisters. Counting more than twenty sons of Ying Zheng, you killed more than half of your brothers. This kind of murder record for the throne, which dynasty can compare? It can be compared to a river of blood. This is the infighting of inheritance rights. In addition to the death of Ying Zheng's son 16, the lives of Meng Tian and Meng Yi were also involved. Meng Tian's death deprived the Qin Empire of its last star, resulting in a shortage of talents to suppress the rebels in the future. The death of Meng Yi led to the imbalance of the central structure of the Qin Empire: the prime minister directly confronted the palace and lost the buffer of Meng Yi, which led to the infighting of the political line of the Qin Empire. If Meng Tian and Meng Yi were still alive, it would be much easier for the Qin Empire to solve the rebellion and political infighting in the East. However, Meng Tian and Meng Yi's loyalty to Fu Su led to Hu Hai's victory, and Hu Hai had to kill Meng Tian and Meng Yi in order to stabilize the throne.

Zhao Gao stills

The second infighting in Qin Dynasty was the political infighting between Zhao Gao and Reese.

Reese was the last legalist, so he naturally insisted on continuing the rule of legalism after Qin Ershi defeated Hu Hai. Judging from his remarks, Zhao Gao seems to be a Confucian. In addition, as a student of Zhao Gao, Sheng Hu Hai should also have a strong Confucian concept. That is to say, after Qin Ershi won the throne of Hu Hai, he was faced with the choice of political route: whether to choose the Confucian rule of virtue of Teacher Zhao Gao or to continue to carry out the legalist rule of the country of Prime Minister Li Si. As a teacher, Zhao Gao made the greatest contribution and was the most active in fighting for the throne of Hu Hai. The reason behind it is nothing more than that he wants to use Confucian morality to govern the Daqin Empire and ease the rigor of legalist governance (relative to Confucian morality). However, after Hu Hai won the throne, facing the ups and downs of the rebellion in the East, he adopted Lisi's legalist line. Li Si wrote a letter and put forward the method of "the monarch's arbitrary and supervisory responsibility" to solve the phenomenon of dereliction of duty and lax law enforcement of Qin officials, which was adopted by Hu Hai. This means that winning Hu Hai adopted the line of legalist governance of Prime Minister Reese: Shang Jun's method, Shen Buhai and Han Feizi's technology. This is a serious setback for Zhao Gao's Confucian line of ruling by virtue. Since then, the infighting between Zhao Gao and Reese has officially started. Zhao Gao's first suggestion for Qin Ershi to win Hu Hai was to establish the emperor's prestige. Zhao Gao's Confucian governance suggestion for Qin Ershi's victory over Hu Hai is to establish the prestige of the emperor. The reason is that Qin Ershi is young, just succeeded to the throne and has no experience in handling government affairs. If he discusses government affairs with ministers every day, the emperor's incompetence will be known to ministers, but will be looked down upon by ministers. The emperor can rule the world by giving orders, and he can establish his prestige without hanging out with ministers every day. Establishing the emperor's authority and intimidating his ministers is Zhao Gao's strategy to win over Hu Hai. In order to alienate Qin Ershi and Hu Hai's trust in Lisi, Zhao Gao took advantage of his control of the imperial palace, learned that Lisi was going to meet Hu Hai, and demanded to stop building Epang Palace. Zhao Gao went to see Reese and encouraged Reese to challenge Hu Hai. However, when Zhao Gao was resting and playing the game of winning Hu Hai, he arranged for Reese to meet him. I won Hu Hai's rest and entertainment time, and I was disturbed by Reese many times, so I was naturally dissatisfied. He thought that Reese looked down on him because he was young, so he came to see him when he was resting and entertaining. Coupled with Zhao Gao's misleading: Li Sigong is high and wants to be king; Li You, the son of Reese, let the rebels enter Guanzhong, probably in collusion with them. The victorious Hu Hai wanted Reese to investigate Li You, but he was afraid that Reese was favoritism, so he secretly sent an envoy to Sanchuan County to investigate. After hearing Zhao Gao's slander, Reese wrote to beg Hu Hai and asked Hu Hai to guard against Zhao Gao. However, due to Zhao Gao's preconceived idea of winning Hu Hai and the trust gap caused by Reese's repeated interruptions, Reese's petition was not accepted. Hu Hai, who won, thinks that he is young, "has not learned to govern the people" and has no experience in governing the country; However, Reese is old and may die soon, and the time to help himself is not long; Zhao Gao has a good personality and works actively, so he can still be trusted. Faced with the increasingly serious rebellion in the East, more and more soldiers were sent from Guanzhong, so Reese, right Prime Minister Feng Quji and General Feng Jie remonstrated with Hu Hai and demanded that Epang Palace be stopped. Win Hu Hai said: As an emperor, it is not too much to want to build a palace and live a better life; Besides, Epang Palace was built by the first emperor. Do you want to stop construction and be worthy of the first emperor? I've only been in the throne for two years, and rebellion is everywhere. You can't suppress it. What else can you do as a prime minister and general? So the winner Hu Hai ordered the imprisonment of Reese, Feng Quji and Feng Jie. Feng Qujia and jie feng felt insulted, refused to go to prison and committed suicide. Reese thought there was still room for change, so he went to prison willingly. Hu Hai sent Zhao Gao to interrogate Reese for treason. Reese couldn't stand the torture, so she had to cheat and confess treason. After pleading guilty, Reese wrote a letter to Hu Hai, expressing his contribution in a sarcastic way, hoping that Qin Ershi would forgive himself for winning Hu Hai. But Reese's petition was blocked by Zhao Gao, and he didn't submit it to win Hu Hai. Zhao Gao designed Reese to admit treason. In order to win Hu Hai, Reese was beheaded in Xianyang, and the three clans were destroyed. After Reese's death, Zhao Gao became prime minister as he wished and won the final victory. It was August 208 BC. A year later, Qin was destroyed. The death of Li Si, Feng Quji and Feng Jie was absolutely a devastating blow to the political situation of Qin at that time. The death of two prime ministers and a general was a great blow to Qin officials. Not to mention the normal operation of foot soldiers, hay and yamen, even with Zhao Gao as prime minister, it is difficult to operate smoothly. This provides a background explanation for the defeat of the Julu War and Zhang Han's surrender: logistics supply and floating people's hearts. The more important thing is to shake the hearts of officials and people. Wang Congjun suffered a crushing defeat, surrendered to Xiang Yu, and Wuguan Shoujiang attempted to attack Xianyang with Liu Bang, all of which were manifestations of the floating of people's hearts and the idling of imperial power institutions after Reese's death.

Rees

For Zhao Gao. But in the face of all kinds of complicated government affairs in the war, what can you do without experience in dealing with government affairs? Therefore, the death of Reese has the most direct and critical impact on the demise of the Qin Empire, and it is a turning point in the demise of the Qin Empire.

The third infighting is the trust problem between Zhao Gao and Yingziying. Zhao Gao killed Qin Ershi and won Hu Hai for the following reasons: winning Hu Hai did not listen to advice, and winning Zi Ying was more suitable to be the king of Qin; Afraid of being killed by Hu Hai.

However, Ying Zi thought that Zhao Gao made him King of Qin, which was only temporary. In addition, he heard that Zhao Gao and Liu Bang agreed to divide Wang Guanzhong, suspecting that Zhao Gao wanted to be king on his own, so he distrusted Zhao Gao and assassinated Zhao Gao. After Zhao Gao's death, Qin had no backbone, and Ying Zi was not a strong-willed person. After Qin Jun was defeated by Liu Bang in Lantian, he chose to surrender after winning Zi Ying, instead of withdrawing from Longxi in the west or entering Bashu to continue the confrontation. Stick to Bashu, or withdraw from Longxi in the west, Qin may not perish. The reason is simple: whether Liu Bang or Xiang Yu entered Guanzhong, the soldiers of the army wanted to go home. As long as the six-nation alliance occupies Guanzhong, Qin Jun can resist one or two six-nation attacks, and the six-nation alliance will be dissolved (3-6 months at most) and return to China. No matter how brave Xiang Yu is, the return of foot soldiers is unstoppable. At the Hongmen banquet, Liu Bang, Sajima and Cao Wushang told Xiang Yu that Liu Bang wanted to be the king of Guanzhong and win Zi Ying as prime minister. This shows that all the people who destroyed Qin at that time, except Xiang Yu, no one wanted to destroy Qin-because this was the practice of the three generations (Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties) and even the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period: to destroy the country without killing nobles. Qin destroyed the six countries, only moved the nobles of the six countries to Xianyang, but did not kill them.

Winning Ziying's surrender extinguished the last glimmer of light in Qin.

Peasant Army Uprising in the Late Qin Dynasty

Fourth, the ability to win Hu Hai's rebellion is insufficient.

Qin Ershi defeated Hu Hai and was forced to win Fu Su's suicide before he succeeded to the throne. After he succeeded to the throne, he killed more than a dozen brothers and sisters such as Gao and others in order to stabilize his throne. Although bloody and tragic, as an emperor, the means are understandable. Continue to build Epang Palace, but to show respect for Qin Shihuang. This matter has no serious consequences. On the contrary, when there are no soldiers available in Guanzhong, the prisoners of Mount Li and Epang Palace can quickly form the main source of troops to suppress the rebellion in the east. It is common to transfer 50,000 people to stay in Xianyang. As for the dogs, horses and animals raised in Xianyang, there is not enough food and grass to eat. The victorious Hu Hai ordered other counties to transport grain and grass for feeding, and asked the escorts to bring their own grain and grass support. This is not tyranny. It is nothing more than raising horses in Xianyang. How serious can it be? Qin Ershi s evaluation of the measures to pacify the rebellion in Hu Hai;

Neutral measures: 1, Chen Sheng's emissary of rebellion in the name of winning and helping the Soviet Union;

2. Listen to Zhao Gao's suggestion of establishing prestige, cut off from ministers and reduce interviews;

3. Suspect Reese and send someone to investigate the case that Li You raped the rebels in Sanchuan County;

4. Reject Reese's suggestion on guarding against Zhao Gao, thinking that Reese is old and has little time to help himself, and continue to trust Zhao Gao.

Benign measures: 1. Listen to Zhang Han's suggestion, pardon criminals, form an army and suppress the rebellion;

2. Adopt Reese's suggestion that "the art of supervising responsibility is arbitrary by the monarch".

Malicious move: 1, Checha Chen Sheng surrendered to Liu Chen and cut off the road to surrender;

2, angry words and imprisonment humiliated the generals, Feng went to the disease and Feng Jie committed suicide;

3. The case of Reese's rebellion was not carefully examined. Zhao Gao was too credulous and killed Reese rashly, which caused people's anxiety. Zhao Gao was the last one and there was no checks and balances.

4. Appoint Zhao Gao as Prime Minister without supervision;

5. Instruct to meet the king of Chu in the north, leave Zhao behind, and let the rebels in Chu have a breathing space (speculation);

6. Wang Ziwei is surrounded by a huge deer. If he doesn't advance for four months, he won't retreat.

7. Kill Yang Xiong who retreated due to defeat;

8. Before putting down the rebellion, Epang Palace was built.

The most serious mistake was that Erfeng committed suicide and executed Reese. Qin Ershi won Hu Hai knowing that he was "not good at governing the people", but insulted and executed two experienced prime ministers and generals in the chaotic situation in the East, which caused irreparable losses to the Qin Empire. This is the biggest mistake of winning two.