Seeking information (for debate) Qin Shihuang has made greater contributions than others, concise and to the point, with many examples.

1, I think that Qin Shihuang's contribution is greater than his fault. The most important thing is that he unified China, not only in territory, but also in culture, ideology, system and customs, which made China avoid being divided into many small countries like continental Europe, and gradually formed a great country.

The cultures of the seven countries in the Warring States are different and check and balance each other. If this goes on, it is very likely that China, like Europe, will form a situation in which many countries coexist. As the saying goes, unity is strong, division is weak, and it is impossible for a divided China to create the glorious history that followed.

In such a special historical period, Ying Zheng, the first emperor, stepped forward and assumed the historical responsibility of leading China towards reunification. Of course, it is impossible for him to realize the great influence that his behavior at that time brought to future generations.

The reason why Qin stood out in the chaotic Warring States period was that it adopted the pragmatic legalist thought. The main idea of legalism, as Shang Yang said, "If you can strengthen the country, it is illegal; If it can benefit the people, don't follow its rituals. " Under the guidance of this thought, the State of Qin resolutely broke the national boundaries and accepted talents from other countries for their own use, such as Bai Xixi of Mu Gong, Shang Yang of Xiao Gong, Ying Zheng, Li Si, Han Fei, and so on. At the same time, the state of Qin ruled the country with the military thought that all the people were soldiers, which made the soldiers stronger than Ma Zhuang, and at the same time trained a large number of outstanding military talents, such as Wang Jian, Meng Ke, Meng Tian and Wang Ben. However, Shang Yang's political reform dealt a great blow to the slave economy, and made Qin embark on the road of feudal economy. All this greatly enhanced the national strength of Qin.

However, Qin is a remote country after all, and the domestic slave owners are still very powerful. Legalists representing the emerging landlord class have seriously violated their interests, so they have become a thorn in their side, so they spare no effort to obstruct them. Shang Yang's death penalty is an example.

After Ying Zheng came to power, he eliminated Lv Buwei, who had long dominated the state affairs, and became a stumbling block to Ying Zheng's ambition. At the same time, it solved the problem of polluting the harem and coveting the throne, paving the way for his reunification.

At this time, the slave owners of Qin took the opportunity to write a letter asking the king of Qin to expel the guest officials from other countries living in Qin, on the grounds that these people were likely to disturb the internal affairs of Qin like Lv Buwei, and they would be remembered for thousands of years. Ying Zheng, who has been living in the shadow of Lv Buwei in North Korea for many years, shuddered at the thought, so he agreed to this request and began to "expel the guests".

If this order is carried out, Qin will lose its hard-won talent reserve. As a large number of official vacancies are supplemented by the old forces of Qin, Shang Yang's previous innovations will also be wasted. At this time, Li Si, a Hakka minister, presented Ying Zheng with a famous piece that can be said to have changed history-The Book of Departing Guests, which painstakingly expounded the pros and cons. At this time, Ying Zheng showed the mind of an outstanding politician, immediately set things right and abolished the marching orders. At the same time, Li Si, Han Fei and other legalists were reused, which laid the foundation for Qin to adhere to the legalist line. Legalists certainly have their limitations, but in the special period of the Warring States period, which "abandoned benevolence and righteousness and used treachery, donated courtesy and valued war", the practicality of legalists is undoubtedly the most appropriate. Since then, Qin has embarked on the road of becoming a rich country.

Since then, Ying Zheng has adopted Liao Wei's suggestion and occupied Bashu area. The rich Bashu has since become the national defense material supply base of Qin State, which has greatly improved the economic strength of Qin State.

Next, Ying Zheng adopted the correct strategy of "making friends far away and attacking near", which was very effective in wooing the powerful Chu State bordering Qin State and attacking Zhao, Wei, Korea and other countries at the same time. The three kingdoms of Jin gradually declined, and Chu, which is closely related to Qin, lost the trust of other countries and could not continue to be the first of the six countries. Qi, which is located in Shandong Peninsula, is not enthusiastic about joint resistance to Qin, while Yan in the north is powerless. At this time, the six countries were in ruins.

Since then, the gap between the six countries and Qin has gradually widened. When the time was ripe, Ying Zheng, with General Wang Jianwei, began a military campaign to destroy the six countries. Qin Jun was on a roll and soon occupied six countries one after another.

However, the occupation of land does not mean the ultimate reunification. Although Genghis Khan established a great empire across Europe and Asia, it vanished in a hundred years, mainly because he failed to unify the cultures and ideological systems of these countries.

After years of development, the six countries have formed their own different cultural styles, much like medieval Europe. There are many vassal States, big and small, each with its own cultural preferences and policies for governing the country.

For example, Qi is famous for its openness, which is a bit like Holland and Spain in the Middle Ages. Port culture and trade culture are very developed.

Chu literature has a strong flavor, much like France;

Ying Zheng began a series of reforms. He unified writing, currency and weights and measures, implemented centralized system, divided administrative regions, established counties and built official roads.

This series of measures firmly controlled the situation in the world, and also provided a reference model for future generations, so that when Liu Bang founded the country, the establishment of counties and counties was based on the Qin system, while the political system of future generations was mostly based on the Qin system.

Most importantly, through a series of reforms, the centripetal force of subjects who originally belonged to various countries has been greatly improved, so that they are integrated with each other and gradually have a sense of identity with this unified country.

It is this sense of identity that reunites China after many "long-term divisions". Later Confucian thought of "great unification" also came from this.

Qin Shihuang's evaluation

First, in the thirty-second year of Qin Shihuang, General Meng Tian was ordered to lead 300,000 troops to attack the Huns in the north and seize the "Henan Land" (now Hetao and its south area in Inner Mongolia).

Second, in 33 years, people who committed the crime of escape, sons-in-law adopted by their in-laws and businessmen seized "Lvliang land" and set up three counties of Guilin, Xiang Jun and Nanhai to resettle forced immigrants.

Third, in 34 years, prison officers who handled unjust cases were sent to repair the Great Wall or moved to South Vietnam.

Fourth, in 35 years, a palace was built in Shanglinyuan, south of Weihe River, and more than 700,000 criminals and prisoners were recruited to build Epang Palace or Lishan Tomb.

The second of these four items is actually a continuation of the previous expedition to 500,000 troops in South Vietnam. Because they never won, these people were made up. However, after the conquest of South Vietnam, except those who died in the battlefield and settled in South Vietnam, everyone can return to their hometown. The 34-year conquest of South Vietnam has basically ended. The number of the third item is obviously small, and South Vietnam is still forced to immigrate. It can be seen that the perennial expropriation is to build Epang Palace, Mount Li and the Great Wall. The first two items expropriated 700,000 yuan, while the latter one has no specific figures. However, Meng Tian's invasion of 300,000 yuan is a constant amount, and the three items add up to * * * one million yuan.

As for other formal projects, such as building the Great Wall, guarding the border crossings, joining the army (including guarding Qin Shihuang's patrol), and local conscription, they are all undertaken by the daily corvee. According to expert research, the daily corvee in the Han Dynasty is no different from that in the Qin Dynasty (for example, see Huang's Study on Corvee System in Qin and Han Dynasties, Jiangxi Education Publishing House, 1988 edition).

On the other hand, the population of the Qin Dynasty was more than 20 million. According to my research conclusion in Population History of China, the population of Qin Dynasty was no less than 40 million at most, so the proportion of conscripts in the total population should be much lower, accounting for only about 2.5%.

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Tell me about the merits and demerits of Qin Shihuang.

The first is to unify the world. Although the prosperity of the Qin Dynasty was the result of the efforts of past dynasties, before Qin Shihuang, the Qin Dynasty had not destroyed a big country, and the six countries were destroyed by Qin Shihuang, thus ending hundreds of years of separatist melee in China.

Secondly, measures such as using the same book and the same train were taken to unify the national culture. This kind of influence is the most profound. Chinese and Western scholars have commented that although there are different dialects and customs in China, they share the same culture, especially writing, which has played a key role in the integrity of the Chinese nation and the inheritance of civilization, but the West has not finally completed this integration.

Of course, these achievements were attributed to Qin Shihuang alone, but he was the decision-maker, so his contribution was also the greatest.

Finally, talk about his shortcomings. Here I mainly talk about burning books and burying Confucianism.

The so-called book burning is not destroying books, but destroying folk books. Only people like "doctors" can collect them. What is strange is ignorance and lack of historical materials other than Qin history; The so-called cheating on Confucianism was discovered because of the slander of Confucian scholars, and cheating on Confucianism was also caused by the harshness of Qin law. As for cruelty, there seem to be many more people killed than Qin Shihuang in history. Qin Shihuang was so concerned because he killed Confucian scholars. The biggest mistake of Qin Shihuang was that he did not stabilize and inherit the Qin system tempered in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

To look at the problem historically is to put Qin Shihuang under the historical conditions at that time, analyze his merits and demerits and study his merits and demerits. To study the historical environment of Qin Shihuang, we should not only pay attention to the general trend of historical development at the end of the Warring States period, but also pay special attention to the historical characteristics of Qin's formation since the founding of the People's Republic of China and its influence on Qin Shihuang. This latter point has been ignored by most people in the evaluation of Qin Shihuang so far. When we systematically study the history of Qin dynasty and then evaluate Qin Shihuang, it is expected to avoid the one-sidedness of the past and draw a conclusion that is more in line with historical reality.

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Attached:

Reasons for Qin Shihuang's great achievements:

Qin Shihuang made many unprecedented achievements in unifying China, and listed several influential ones as follows:

1. Unified writing, making it the foundation of a nation and continuing to this day;

2. Abandoning state-owned counties became the standard management mode after the unification of China, which lasted for thousands of years;

3. Unifying currency and weights and measures greatly facilitates domestic commercial exchanges.

4. The cars are on the same track, and the distance between roads is the same. The construction of Qin Zhi Road has greatly facilitated domestic traffic;

5. Burning books to bury Confucianism, objectively unifying thoughts and avoiding the division of the country due to historical issues; But destruction

Unfortunately, a considerable part of China's ancient cultural faults and ancient history have been dated by ancient books lost in various countries.

6. The construction of Lingqu strengthens the control over the Pearl River Basin, making this area the territory of China forever;

7. Build the Great Wall to make it a natural dividing line between agricultural and nomadic peoples, and the Great Wall will become a national border for a long time;

8. Attack the Huns in the north and recapture the Hetao area, making it the territory of China forever.

No one is perfect. It doesn't mean that his book burning is right, yes, it is a great damage to our culture. But I emphasize that, on the whole, he unified China and ended the division, which is unprecedented and beneficial to future generations. I have to say that he is a great hero in the history of China.