Why did the Qin Dynasty perish after only the second generation?

First, ignoring the cultivation of national cohesion, national construction must mobilize people's strength, and people's psychological endurance for this deployment often depends on the strength of national cohesion in this country. People have a strong sense of identity with the country as a whole, so even if the country makes people's lives miserable for various reasons, as long as it does not exceed the people's physiological endurance limit and as long as various wrong decisions are not implemented for a long time, the state power can be maintained. For example, during the Warring States period, due to frequent wars, countries always supported millions of troops for a long time, and the burden on the people could be imagined. However, there has never been a peasant uprising to overthrow the regime in any big country. This is precisely because during the Warring States period, domestic cohesion was very strong, and most countries used the people's power on a large scale to protect their country and defend their country, which belongs to the legitimate category, so the pressure of the people has not exceeded their psychological endurance limit. At the end of Qin Dynasty, when the peasants revolted and conquered Chen County, the heroic elders in the county said to him, "The general is determined to win, and he has a sharp edge. He leads his troops to crusade against Qin State, rebuild Chu State, survive and die, and be king with merits." Besides, the husband is in charge of all the generals in the world, and there is no need to be king. The former general was appointed king of Chu. "[2] People want to be Wang Wei, and" Chen Yingwei is to blame if he refuses to accept his words ",saying:" There is chaos in the world, and loyal ministers can be seen. Today * * * rebelled against Qin, and its meaning must be to establish Wei Ruyun. " [3] Fan Zeng advised Xiang Liang: "Chen Yousheng has lost. ..... The first thing Chen Shengshou did today was not to stand on his own feet after Chu, but it could not last long. Now that you are in the east of the Yangtze River, Chu bees will all strive to attach you at noon to restore Chu, and "therefore, establish Chu Huaiwang Sun Xin" and "establish Chu Huaiwang and look forward to following the people." [4] This shows that the adherents of various countries were still obsessed with the old country at that time, and the appeal of the six Kanto countries still played a great role in the late Qin Dynasty. The cohesion of the six countries is far greater than that of Daqin as a unified whole. Therefore, we can infer that during the Warring States period, the battles of various countries were backed by considerable national cohesion, and the country was thus prevented from being overthrown by peasant uprisings. Another example is the Yellow Scarf Uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, all of which were big enough to shake the foundation of the country and shake the political power. However, shortly after these two rebellions, local armed forces were able to spontaneously organize large-scale repression without the command of the imperial court. This is precisely because these two dynasties were established for a long time, and the overall national consciousness of "Dahan" and "Datang" was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the people mostly took suppressing uprisings and rebellions as patriotic acts. Therefore, the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty did not perish because of these two drastic changes. It can be seen that before pursuing high efficiency, we must first make the society enveloped in a unified national consciousness, and establish a relatively harmonious society with a unified ideological norm and order society. During the Warring States period, Zhou's consciousness as a whole country had disappeared, which can be proved by Qin's destruction of Zhou without causing any shock. However, the national consciousness of the six Kanto countries was still deeply rooted at the beginning of Qin Shihuang's unification of China, which required Qin Shihuang to quickly establish a solid national consciousness belonging to the unified Qin Dynasty after the unification of China to ensure the strong cohesion of the new country. However, Qin Shihuang completely ignored this point. First, Qin Shihuang did not make full use of supernatural concepts such as ghosts and gods and religion, which made people have similar ideas. On the contrary, he sneered at theocracy and attributed almost all his achievements and authority to himself and the rulers of Qin State. The imperial edict said: "I am ashamed of dispatch troops's rebellion, relying on the spirit of the temple, and the six kings are afraid of its treasury, and the world will be settled." [5] He added: "The five emperors and three kings in ancient times knew paganism, but their statutes were unknown. They pretend to bully ghosts and gods and bully distant places, but they don't name themselves, so they don't last long. " [6] Some scholars believe that Qin Shihuang's meditation is exactly what he ruled with the authority of the gods. Actually, it is not. As long as we look at the inscription on Mount Tai in Historical Records of Qin Shihuang, which praised the emperor but didn't praise the gods at all, we can find that Qin Shihuang's meditation is to promote the authority of the emperor, not the authority of the gods. Inscriptions like Mount Tai's Langxie, Zhelang, Jieshi and Huiji can be found in Qin Shihuang's Biography, all of which advocate the supreme authority of the emperor rather than the authority of the gods. Although Qin Shihuang prided himself on having supreme authority and thought that his prestige alone was enough to form people's widespread worship of the regime, when mysticism was still prevalent and materialism was still in the corner, the broad masses of the people obviously could not agree that a person had authority beyond the gods. Praise Chen for saying during the uprising in Daze Township: "What kind of princes would you rather have?" That is to say, Chen Sheng has begun to think that the master of the emperor should be man-made rather than fate, and similar remarks have never been made before Chen Sheng. It can be seen that the people's awareness of resistance has gradually increased, and the supreme ruler is no longer an irreplaceable sacred image. It must be said that Qin Shihuang ignored the rule of destiny and theocracy and over-publicized the "credit" of human power. Therefore, Qin Shihuang's attempt to downplay the religious consciousness of ghosts and gods and conduct cult-like rule is obviously not conducive to the formation of national cohesion. Second, cultural unification is carried out in a rude way that is eager for success. During the Warring States period, the culture of Qin was relatively backward at least in the eyes of people at that time. Xunzi's theory of strengthening the country points out that there is no Confucianism in Qin, while Mr. Wang thinks: "That is, in terms of ideology and theory, Qin really can't be compared with the eastern countries." In the history of Qin State, from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to reunification, no Qin people can be called thinkers, and no theoretical works of Qin people have appeared. " [7] And in the eyes of people at that time, Qin people were utilitarian and despised benevolence and righteousness, while the six countries valued benevolence and ethics. 8] The Qin Dynasty promoted the unified culture with a culture that was considered relatively backward at that time, which was bound to arouse the opposition and alienation of the adherents of the six countries, which was obviously unfavorable for enhancing national cohesion. Furthermore, through Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips, it can be found that the Qin Dynasty attached importance to changing customs, but it was not implemented by enlightenment, but by decree. In order to deal with the cultural conflicts between Qin and the six countries, the attitude of the Qin Dynasty was to order officials to implement Qin laws. [9] Obviously, this method of achieving cultural unity through coercion is not an easy way to avoid contradictions. "The change of cultural customs can only be achieved through the long-term induction and subtle influence of the superiority and advancement of different cultures, rather than relying solely on legal coercion. Because the Qin law is far from the cultures of Kanto countries, the compulsory implementation of the Qin law will only lead to the discomfort, disgust and resistance of the people of the original six countries to the Qin government, thus causing nostalgia for the old country. " [10] It can be seen that the unification of culture needs a long-term natural process, which can not be completed quickly by coercive means. Moreover, the facts just prove that the effect of the Qin Dynasty on cultural unification is not ideal. "Quotations" says that "statutes and decrees have been made, but officials and people don't need them, and there are many local customs"; Li Si said: "Today's students learn from the past but not from the present, which makes them very confused." "People are good at their private research, which is based on things that are not on it." "Private learning is related to illegal teaching. When people hear about it, they discuss it with private learning. When they enter, they are suspicious. When they leave, they talk about it. They praise the name of the Lord, take the poor as the high, and lead the group to slander." [1 1] Obviously, in the hometown of the Six Kingdoms, it is very common for both intellectuals and ordinary people to refuse to accept Qin culture. As Lv Simian said: "Since the separation, the customs and habits of different places will gradually become consistent, which is also the reality of assimilation." [12] Cultural unification needs long-term natural integration, and it is absolutely impossible to enforce it completely by administrative means. However, it is obviously an anxious behavior for the Qin Dynasty to unify its culture by coercive means, which is not conducive to the formation of national cohesion. Third, combat discrimination against survivors of the six countries. 19 Wawen epitaph was found in the Qin laborers' cemetery excavated in Zhaobeihu village on the west side of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, among which 18 people clearly recorded their native place as the hometown of the Six Kingdoms. "There are three sources of people involved in the construction of the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang. One is from the original six countries; Second, workers in handicraft workshops of the central government of the Qin Dynasty; Third, a number of handicraft workshop workers were recruited from various counties and cities, among which more skilled workers came from the former Qin State. The first type has the largest number of people and is mostly engaged in heavy civil engineering; The latter two are basically skilled workers. " [13] This shows that the government is obviously biased towards the Qin people in Guanzhong area in the recruitment of personnel for the construction of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Dynasty. Moreover, we have reason to infer that this is by no means an accidental phenomenon, but is caused by the discriminatory thoughts of the rulers against the adherents of the six Kanto countries at that time. Therefore, we also have reason to believe that similar discrimination against immigrants from the six countries has occurred in other aspects. This unfair treatment, combined with the heavy tax burden of "Thailand collects half the tax" and the complicated judicial control in Ke Yan, is very unfavorable for the adherents of the six countries to form a new unified national consciousness. Failure to take appropriate measures to integrate and assimilate these people and exert great pressure on them will only make them feel that they are a conquered nation and make their desire to revive their old country stronger (although the life of these people is not necessarily worse than before after reunification, it can be said that the days they have been looking forward to are conducive to resuming production and recuperation have not come, which makes them feel resentful), and finally a peasant uprising broke out. It is also because of strong dissatisfaction that the nobles of the former six countries are eager to restore the country. After the Qin Dynasty unified China, they were moved on a large scale, and many people were forced to stay away from their homeland or even their families were ruined. Moreover, the original nobles of the six countries completely lost their lofty status and preferential treatment because of reunification. Therefore, under such a blow, the nobles of the six countries must not have a strong sense of identity with the Qin Dynasty, and their nostalgia for the old country is even stronger than that of the peasants. From this point of view, after the unification of China, Qin Shihuang attacked and discriminated against the former six countries, both farmers and nobles, completely killing the fragile national cohesion belonging to the "Daqin". Chen Shengshen said in the uprising in Daze Township: "The world is suffering in Ku Jin." [14] Chen Sheng thinks that the object of resentment of the people in the world is not a specific ruler of Qin, but the ruling group of the whole country, which shows that people have completely lost their sense of identity with the unified Qin at that time, and regarded the state machine of Qin as a whole, and the national consciousness belonging to the unified Qin has disappeared. From the word "too long", we can see that this kind of psychology has long been formed in people's minds, not only during the Chen Sheng Uprising. It can be seen that the construction of national consciousness in the Qin Dynasty was a complete failure, and it can even be doubted whether the overall national consciousness belonging to the "Daqin" had a certain influence in the six countries of Kanto. The rapid disintegration of the Qin Dynasty after the Chen Sheng Uprising is an excellent irony to Qin Shihuang's neglect of the construction of national consciousness and his eagerness to seek governance.