Why did the Qin Dynasty completely fall apart in just twenty years?

As the first unified dynasty in China, the Qin Dynasty was relatively late in its reform among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period. It was not until the reign of Duke Xiao of Qin that people began to pay attention to farmland crops, and only in 348 BC did they begin to collect internal taxes. There was no way, Qin was located in the west, far away from the Central Plains, and had to deal with barbarian wars from the north and west. This is why the Qin State, which was once able to confront the statues of the Jin State, was pushed to the floor and rubbed by the sons of the Jin State in the early Warring States Period. However, this disadvantage turned into Qin's advantage. Because the six countries reformed relatively early and their economies have developed well, intricate interest groups have already been formed in the country. Coupled with the feudal system, it was difficult for the kings of the six countries to concentrate all their resources on the war.

Because Qin developed relatively late, its domestic economy was relatively backward, and there was nothing to fight for. Therefore, the domestic interest relationships were relatively simple, and it was easier to establish a centralized financial system. Of course, if it weren't for Shang Yang's reforms, Qin would not have been able to counterattack Wei and regain the land west of Hexi in such a short period of time. Because the politics of the Qin State are relatively simple, the monarch has strong control ability and a higher degree of centralization, so Shang Yang adopted very radical reforms with the purpose of integrating everyone into the national system and allowing everyone to Everyone contributes money and effort to the war.

For this reason, Shang Yang's reform mainly focused on these four aspects: 1. Vigorously promote the centralization of power and implement the county system in local areas. Each county is directly under the jurisdiction of the central government, and county officials are also uniformly appointed by the central government. Establish a Shibao system to strengthen social control; 2. Control the circulation of food and restrict the free movement of the population. Land belongs to the people, but people cannot leave their land at will. 3. The military merit conferment system establishes 20 titles, which are awarded based on military merit. 4. Encourage the six countries to immigrate to Qin. Since Qin developed relatively late, the country is vast and sparsely populated.

The implementation of these measures allowed everyone within the Qin State to join this huge war machine. According to the evaluation of Dong Zhongshu of the Han Dynasty, he believed that after the reform, the corvee burden of the people of Qin increased by 30 times, and the tax revenue of Qin increased by 20 times, which is enough to show how much Qin gained from the people by relying on its powerful financial machine. of capital. It is precisely because of this that Qin can easily organize an army of hundreds of thousands and mobilize enough resources to support the army's long-range operations. Because of this, some people ask what Alexander would have done if he had led the Macedonian expeditionary force across the Himalayas to China. What can be done is to let Qin dig a pit that can accommodate tens of thousands of people.

Relying on such an efficient system, Qin Shihuang finally unified the world and established China's first unified dynasty. However, why was the powerful Qin army able to easily deal with the armies of the Six Nations, but unable to fight against the peasant uprisings? The reason is that the Qin Dynasty's financial system was prepared for war, not for peaceful economic development. The financial system of the Qin Dynasty was designed for military conquest, but in peacetime, it needed to be converted into political conquest. In the past, people were very free in the areas controlled by the Six Nations, because the Six Nations implemented a feudal system. However, under the centralized system implemented by the Qin Dynasty, everyone must follow strict punishments and laws. It is precisely because of this that the Qin Dynasty relied on centralization to continue to mobilize the country's resources in a huge area.

But Qin Shihuang has unified the six countries, who else can be his enemy? So Qin Shihuang turned his attention to the north and south. The Qin Dynasty, which had already consumed huge amounts of money, could not stop the war. In this way, the centralized bureaucracy continued to draw a large amount of resources from the civilian population in accordance with the pattern of a state of war, and used most of social resources for war, making it impossible for the civilian population to rebuild the social economy. What's even more embarrassing is that in order to maintain such a harsh and high-pressure rule, Qin Shihuang needed a lot of wealth to maintain the loyalty of the ruling class. For this reason, Qin Shihuang needed to obtain huge income from the private sector. Don't forget, the other six countries once implemented a feudal system, and the private economy was very free. As a result, after the unification of Qin Shihuang, freedom became less and less, and most of the money earned had to be handed over. Naturally, there were widespread complaints among the people.

If Qin Shihuang could live for another few decades, perhaps relying on his prestige could force people to adapt to this new model and allow the Qin Dynasty to complete political conquests. But the embarrassing thing is that Qin Shihuang died young and the war machine of the Qin Dynasty could not be stopped. In the end, the Qin Dynasty's finances lost control. Peasant uprisings broke out in various places. The original nobles of the six countries also took the opportunity to rise up. The huge empire was torn apart and defeated. in the hands of their own financial system. Many people say that the Qin Dynasty was tyrannical, but a series of measures taken by the Qin Dynasty required money. For money, the Qin Dynasty had to find ways to obtain wealth from the people. Therefore, the title of "violent Qin" came from this, and the Qin Dynasty only lasted for a short twenty years.