Why was the Qin Dynasty short-lived and the Han Dynasty long-lived?

The Qin Dynasty was the first unified dynasty in history. After the melee of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, many years of war ended. However, the Qin Dynasty was replaced in only 14 years. The reason should be There are the following points.

1. Heavy corvee

At that time, there were about 10 million people in the country, but there were more than 2 million people serving in the army, accounting for one-third of the young and middle-aged men in the country. . With so many people serving in the military and heavy taxes on the rest, the people would naturally revolt if they couldn't survive.

Second, Immigration

At that time, the Lingnan area was still a barbaric land. Qin Shihuang adopted the opinions of Zhao Tuo and others and moved 500,000 people in Guanzhong there, leaving Guanzhong empty. This is why Later, the reason why Liu Bang was able to easily capture the land in Guanzhong.

Third, the second generation was incompetent

According to Qin Shihuang’s decree, Fusu should have ascended to the throne, but the eunuch Zhao Gao and Prime Minister Li Si secretly exchanged the decree and forced Fusu to death. Mengtian was ordered to commit suicide, and the incompetent Hu Hai became emperor. Hu Hai obeyed Zhao Gao's orders, and Zhao Gao controlled the government, which increased the burden on the people. The people were forced to have no choice but to revolt as the only way to survive.

The reasons for the long life of the Han Dynasty

First, the predecessors planted trees for future generations to enjoy the shade

It inherited the benefits brought by the unification of the Qin Dynasty, which is consistent with the The Sui and Tang Dynasties are very similar. The Sui Dynasty conquered the world, while the Tang Dynasty reigned supreme. In the same way, the Qin Dynasty conquered the world, and the Han Dynasty reigned supreme.

Second, light corvee and low taxation, and rule by inaction

In the early years of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty learned from the experience of the fall of the Qin Dynasty, implemented light corvee and low taxation, and at the same time followed Huang Lao's "inaction" "Government" allowed the people to develop on their own, so the "Government of Wen and Jing" was created. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the national treasury was very sufficient, so that he had the funds to fight against the Huns in the north.

Third, recharge to extend your life

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the country was extremely corrupt, with eunuchs and relatives controlling the government. Later, Wang Mang became the dictatorship, and the Western Han Dynasty was destroyed. At this time, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu appeared. After 12 years of unification war, he regained power. After ascending to the throne, he worked hard to govern and created the "Guangwu Zhongxing", successfully extending the life of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty became the only dynasty that was unified for more than four hundred years.

To sum up, these are the reasons why I think the Qin Dynasty was short-lived and the Han Dynasty was long-lived. They only represent my personal views.

In 221 BC, Qin unified the six kingdoms and successively destroyed Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi. This was also the first unified multi-ethnic centralized state in the history of our country, which had a profound impact on future generations.

But only 12 years later (209 BC), Chen Sheng and Wu Guang took risks due to dereliction of duty that could lead to death sentences, and led the garrison soldiers to mutiny with great momentum, and various places responded. Subsequently, the anti-Qin struggle was led by Xiang Ji and Liu Bang respectively, and they entered Guanzhong from the west to attack Qin. In 207 BC, Xiang Yu's 30,000-strong army defeated the Qin army of 200,000. In the Battle of Julu, the Qin army was completely annihilated.

In September, Zhao Gao killed Qin II and made Qin II's nephew Zi Ying king of Qin. Zi Ying assassinated Zhao Gao as soon as he came to the throne. In October 207 BC, Liu Bang entered the Pass, Ziying surrendered out of the city, and the Qin Dynasty was destroyed. By 202 BC, after winning the Chu-Han conflict, Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor and established the Han Dynasty, known as the Western Han Dynasty in history, with its capital in Chang'an. After that, the Han Dynasty began its 407-year rule. In 220 AD, the Han Dynasty finally presented Emperor Liu Xie.

After understanding this, it is easy to understand why the Han Dynasty lasted longer than the Qin Dynasty. Since the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the policy of light corvee and low taxation has been pursued. Thereafter, during the periods of Emperor Hui, Empress Lu and Emperor Wenjing, they all pursued a policy of recuperation. Later, in order to compromise with the local powerful, the inspection system came into being. To put it bluntly, the inspection and examination system gives powerful people from all over the country the opportunity to send agents to the central government to share power. With such an opportunity, the separatist tendencies of local powerful powers can be reduced, and powerful powers who can share power will naturally take the initiative to stabilize the situation.

This is very critical to political stability. Qin Shihuang's suppression of the royal families and famous families of the Six Kingdoms of Guandong was very harsh. Every time a country was conquered and destroyed, those families were moved to the pass and monitored nearby (later, the Western Han Dynasty also learned this technique and adopted the policy of "moving tombs"). The ways of civil and military affairs were relaxed, but Qin Shihuang was only good at killing people, but he didn't bother to coax people. To the east of Hangu Pass, everyone was gnashing their teeth.

To put it bluntly, the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. It was Qin who planted trees and did bad things, and it was Han who did good things by picking peaches. In addition, Han also learned to "patch" and fix any problems, and he stumbled away like this for more than four hundred years.

The main reason is that the ideas are different. The Qin Dynasty’s governance ideas started from Shang Yang’s reform. Legalist thought is that everything in the country is to serve the monarch alone, and the people are not treated as human beings. Construction is carried out in order to satisfy personal selfish desires. As a result, the people cannot bear it and an uprising breaks out. This is the reason for the short life of the Qin Dynasty. The Han Dynasty learned the lesson from the fall of the Qin Dynasty. At the beginning of its establishment, the Han Dynasty implemented a policy of rest and recuperation. It stopped building large-scale construction projects and launched large-scale wars so that the people could rest and the economy could develop. This is how the Han Dynasty could last for hundreds of years. reason.