Li Si: Founder and Undertaker of Daqin Empire

Recently, the TV series "Dafuqin" is being broadcasted. I took the time to have a look. Let's not talk about the play for the time being. There is only one heavyweight in the history of Qin-Li Si.

Without Reese, there would be no post-Qin empire. He not only helped Qin Shihuang unify China, but also laid the political model of the Chinese Empire for two thousand years, which still plays an important role today.

However, the evaluation of Reese is not high in later generations. Sima Qian said: I know that the six arts belong to me, and I don't want to make up for the deficiency of the Lord. I value nobility, but I obey cruelty. I listen to lofty heresy and abolish it. The vassal is already on the shore, thinking about fighting, it is better to end!

After the death of the old emperor, Reese didn't think about how to govern the country well, just wanted to keep his power. He colluded with Zhao Gao to help others, and he himself became a funerary object of the dynasty.

Most of the intellectuals after the Han Dynasty were Confucian believers, and the evaluation of Li Si generally inherited Sima Qian's caliber, affirmed his talent and criticized him as a person. In addition, because of the old account of Qin Shihuang's "burning books and burying Confucianism", Reese, as a planner, was inevitably criticized by everyone.

Reese was brilliant, and his first half was a model of little people's counterattack, but his fate took a turn for the worse in his later years. Its tragedy reveals the cruel logic of centralized politics.

1/6 from humble origins

Li Si is from the State of Chu. When he was young, he was a small official in Shangcai County, Chu. As a grass-roots civil servant, Reese leads a stable life.

It is said that a group of mice changed his fate.

Once Reese went to the toilet and scared away a group of mice. Seeing them running around, Reese was inevitably disappointed.

He saw mice in the granary. They are full of food and drink, lazy and fat, and don't care about people at all. In Reese's view, this is the result of different environments. If you are poor, you will live in fear all your life and worry about all kinds of trifles from time to time. On the contrary, if you are in wealth, you can stay away from pain and trouble.

Therefore, poverty is the most terrible thing in the world. Only by earning enough money and mastering enough power can we get enough sense of security.

However, if you want to turn over, staying in Shangcai County will not have a future. You must go to a place where you can display your talents. In today's words, your personal development depends on a big platform.

Just as young people in small towns now want to go to the north for development, at the end of the Warring States period, the "going north" in the hearts of young people in small towns was Xianyang, the capital of Qin State. At that time, the strength of Qin ranked first among the seven countries, with the widest territory and the largest population, which also attracted cultural elites from all countries.

But before that, Reese must arm himself with knowledge. So he plunged into Xunzi's door and met another disciple of Xunzi, Han Fei. Seven years later, Reese is not who she used to be.

Intellectuals in the Warring States period have one characteristic. They made no secret of their desire to contribute. In a competitive world, countries are eager for talents, just like today's enterprise recruitment, although gold will shine. However, among thousands of scholars, few can really be appreciated by the king and awarded high positions.

Reese's ambition is to help the king unify the world. He doesn't even want to be a senior official. He wants 10 thousand people each. He has long seen the trend of world unification, and Qin is the only country qualified to accomplish this great cause. If you don't go to Qin, you will disgrace his talent.

However, there are many masters in Qin, but Reese is a nobody. How can he stand out? He was introduced to Premier Lv Buwei and became Lv Buwei's Scheeren.

At that time, there were more than 3,000 "Scheeren" under Lv Buwei, among whom Reese had no sense of existence. So, how did Reese win Lv Buwei's appreciation? There is no detailed record in the history books.

It is speculated by later generations that Lv Buwei's Lv Chunqiu was compiled at the instigation of Li Si. Of course, the details are difficult to verify. Anyway, through the relationship with Lv Buwei, Reese was able to get to know Ying Zheng, the king of Qin. It was this encounter that made Reese's career a great victory.

2/6 Meeting with Ying Zheng

Reese, a commoner, has a strong desire for success. He once said to Ying Zheng, "If you are a professional, go somewhere else. Those who achieve great success will put up with it because of their defects. " This means that mediocre people only wait for opportunities, while great people know how to seize opportunities and be cruel.

When Reese first met Ying Zheng, the king of Qin was still a teenager, about the same age as junior high school students now, and Reese was nearly twenty years older than him. Ying Zheng appreciates Reese's talent. The young monarch has no ambition to unify the whole country. However, what is before him is a more realistic question: when will he take power?

At that time, the politics of Qin was dominated by Ke Qingshi and Ying Zheng's mother Zhao. The so-called guest Qing is a foreigner who comes to the state of Qin to be an official. Lv Buwei is a Korean. He is very talented. He also keeps a large number of public visitors, and his influence in Xianyang City is intertwined.

It is an open secret in North Korea that Empress Zhao and the old framework are in harmony. At that time, Ying Zheng's father, Qin Zhuang Wang Xiang, was taken hostage in Zhao, and received economic support and protection from Lv Buwei. In return, Lv Buwei was made Prime Minister, and Ying Zheng was also made Guan Zhong, ranking above officials.

In order to please Empress Zhao, he worshiped Empress Dowager Cixi Lao Ai, who quickly won the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi and even let Empress Dowager Cixi give birth to a child for him. This embarrassed the court. Empress Dowager Daqin openly cuckolded the former king. Where did you let your ancestors' faces go?

Fortunately, this old ai is really overreaching. If he's just fooling around with women, if he staged a coup, he's dead.

Facts have proved that he seriously underestimated the strength of Ying Zheng, the coup was quickly suppressed, Lao Ai was killed, Empress Dowager Zhao was jailed, Lv Buwei was implicated, was removed from the position of prime minister, and soon committed suicide.

Putting down the Lao Ai Rebellion eliminated two major obstacles to Ying Zheng's rule and Zhao. With the death of Lv Buwei, another shocking plot was made public.

Hanwang once sent a spy, Zheng Guo, to Qin to build a canal, euphemistically calling it water conservancy, but in fact it was to bring down Qin's finances. After the plan was exposed, Ying Zheng ordered the expulsion of all foreign officials working in the State of Qin in view of the lessons learned from Zheng. As a native of Chu, Reese is naturally on the list of being expelled.

We all know what happened afterwards. Li Si wrote a famous article, The Book of Departing Guests, which has been included in Chinese textbooks for middle schools. In this article, Lisi summarized the history from Qin to Ying Zheng and the source of the prosperity of Daqin Empire-recruiting talents and not sticking to one pattern.

This article made Ying Zheng cancel the expulsion order, but we don't need to overestimate its political value. Qin has a tradition of attracting foreign talents for more than 100 years. Ying Zheng's expulsion order is of course out of security needs, but it is more out of temporary anger than a long-term solution.

More importantly, Keqing's group, represented by Li Si, has long been deeply rooted in the State of Qin and has mastered many secrets. At this time, if we rush to drive them away, it is equivalent to giving the enemy a big gift. Even if we want to kill them, we can't kill them. Besides, in this way, excellent talents will never come to Qin again. With the wisdom of Ying Zheng, should not fail to understand this truth.

3/6 is good at grasping the "user perspective"

After the expulsion order was cancelled, Li Si was appointed as the Minister of Justice of Qin State, Ting Wei. You know, Daqin was founded according to law, and the importance of this position can be seen. At the same time, it is also beneficial to the system reform of Reese. Later, with the help of Reese, Ying Zheng achieved the great cause of reunification.

Having said that, let's briefly review Reese's growth trajectory.

As I said before, Reese is extremely eager to get ahead. However, in the fiercely competitive talent market of the Warring States, ambition alone is not enough. Reese's success lies not only in his extraordinary intelligence, but also in his ability to look at problems from the other side's point of view and skillfully combine with his hobbies. In today's words, Reese consciously adopted the "user perspective".

According to legend, when Li Si was under Lv Buwei, he made a bold suggestion to Lv Buwei: expel all public guests.

This proposal seems crazy, but it actually has profound political considerations. Reese has long known that Lv Buwei has raised so many public servants, which is equivalent to showing his strength to the court and giving orders to others easily.

In order to dispel people's doubts, Li Si suggested that Lv Buwei write a book, which became the Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu. On the one hand, it will give people something to do, on the other hand, it will win a good reputation for itself by writing books.

Reese understands that Lv Buwei, as a businessman, must tell each other his own interests, weigh the pros and cons, and give him a suggestion conducive to fame and fortune in order to gain the trust of the other party. If you start talking about governing the country, how can you be taken seriously?

Of course, the above is only the speculation of scholars, and there is no conclusive evidence. After all, Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals embodies the thought of miscellaneous schools, and Lisi is a loyal practitioner of legalism. It's hard to see what this book has to do with Reese's content. However, Reese's words and deeds in front of Ying Zheng are clearly recorded in the history books.

When he met young Ying Zheng, Reese knew young people's minds very well. If you have an ideal, I will give you chicken blood. You have foresight, and I will draw a blueprint for you; If you need encouragement, I will kiss your ass: "My husband is Qiang Qin, a wise king. If you sweep him out of the stove, it will be enough to destroy the princes, call him the emperor, and unify the world. " In this way, the little heart was captured.

The king of Qin gave the marching orders, and Reese changed his angle. He didn't talk about the influence of expelling Qin Gui on Qin, but told many stories first. Why is Qin powerful? Look at the important figures in the history of Qin, most of them are foreign. The country is employing people. Now, if you drive away all the guests, I don't need to say more about the consequences.

Advertisers all know that there are only two kinds of advertisements that touch people's hearts. One is to create anxiety, reveal a worry or hidden danger to you, cause panic among consumers, and then pay for the problem. One is to create vision and want a more beautiful appearance? Want a cooler experience? Want a better life? Pay, and we will make your dream come true!

For Lv Buwei and Ying Zheng, Li Si skillfully used these two methods. He never said, "How can I do it?" Instead, he said, "Do you want XXX? It is through the "user perspective" that Reese can approach the big shots step by step, from an unknown small official to the number one power minister of the world's strongest empire.

Completed in 4/6 days.

After several changes, Reese finally gained a firm foothold in Qin State. In the following decades, he became Ying Zheng's best business partner.

In 22 1 year BC, the Qin dynasty destroyed six countries and the world was unified. This year, Ying Zheng was thirty-nine years old and Reese was close to sixty. The monarch and his subjects unified China in 12, and a brand-new dynasty appeared before them.

For Reese, this is a bigger stage. Only in this unified territory can he realize his political ideal.

The first thing he did was to abolish the enfeoffment system and change it to the county system. Generally speaking, the former is a franchise store, which only needs to pay rent to the central government regularly, provide soldiers in wartime, and be responsible for its own profits and losses at ordinary times. The latter is a direct store, where officials are appointed and managed by the central government, and financial, military and personnel appointments and dismissals are all returned to the central government, and officials are also subject to regular performance appraisal.

Reese knows very well that although the enfeoffment system can please princes and heroes, it is not conducive to the long-term stability of the country. The fate of the Zhou dynasty is a lesson from the past. Before the unification of the six countries, Qin implemented the county system in China, and Lisi extended it to the whole country, which was used by feudal dynasties.

This is Li Si's greatest contribution to China's politics. The rest, such as unifying words and weights and measures, burning all kinds of classics, and the central government monopolizing the right to make money, have had a far-reaching impact on history. We all read it in middle school, so I won't introduce it here.

Usually, we put the unified measures taken for the whole country after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty under the name of Qin Shihuang. This is true, however, Reese is the actual trader of the empire. Not only that, he was also the chief architect of Qin system and the founder of centralized politics in China for two thousand years. It was Ying Zheng's ambition that built this platform for him and made him go down in history.

In his later years, Ying Zheng became more and more grumpy and tyrannical. He devoted more energy to the pursuit of immortality. Although he became the emperor of the world, he was not happy. His territory expanded unprecedentedly, and there were eyeing eyes staring at him everywhere, trying to kill him. Therefore, the first emperor was very suspicious, killing innocent people at every turn, and his reputation began to deteriorate from this time.

Interestingly, he gets along well with Reese. Until Ying Zheng died, Reese remained his most trusted right-hand man.

This aspect is related to Reese's caution. He learned a lesson from Lv Buwei, fulfilled his duty and prevented his power from expanding excessively. On the other hand, he and Ying Zheng are a match made in heaven, and Ying Zheng is grateful to him. He can also be called Ying Zheng's life mentor.

Ying Zheng's character is firm and cold, and a war is a cinch. Reese is thoughtful, has a big picture, and there is no lack of scheming and strategy. In the world of great struggle, especially in sturm und drang, the bravery of the first emperor and the delicacy of Reese complement each other.

With the death of Qin Shihuang, the era that belonged to Ying Zheng and Lisi came to an end.

5/5 tragic ending

In 2 10 BC, Ying Zheng died on a cruise. On his deathbed, he decided to pass it on to his eldest son, Fu Su. But Fu Su was at the border, and the roulette wheel that decided the fate of the empire turned to Reese and Zhao Gao.

Fu Su is famous for his virtue, but neither Li Si nor Zhao Gao wants Fu Su to succeed him. Because behind Fu Su, there is an army that supports him. As the saying goes, political power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and both of them understand that if Fu Su ascended the throne, their lives will not be better.

Zhao Gao has made up his mind not to let Fu Su live, because he offended Meng Huo, who is Fu Su's most trusted general.

On the other hand, Reese hesitated. He has no rancor with Fu Su. If he forms an alliance with Zhao Gao at this time, there must be risks. What's more, Zhao Gao wanted his youngest son, Hu Hai, to be emperor against the wishes of Qin Shihuang. This was a betrayal of the first emperor, and Reese felt a little guilty.

But in the end, the desire for power blinded Reese. Zhao Gao convinced him that once Fu Su came to power, he would have to give up the position of prime minister. After careful consideration, Reese chose to stand with Zhao Gao, forcing Fu Su and Meng Tian to death, and also starting the countdown to death for the Daqin Empire.

Hu Hai has no ambition and is completely controlled by Zhao Gao. Reese painfully found himself marginalized soon. What's more frightening is that Zhao Gao kept blowing in the emperor's ear, which means that Reese is old and it's time for the old man to retire.

This aggravated the contradiction between Reese and Zhao Gao. Reese looked down on Zhao Gao, but now he hates it when he sees that the emperor has been played by eunuchs. He exhorted again and again, but Hu Hai became more and more impatient. The gap between the monarch and the minister could not be filled from the beginning.

Shortly after Hu Hai came to power, the Chen Sheng Uprising broke out in Guangwu, which quickly spread throughout the country. Zhao Gao failed to solve the problem, but put the lavatory on Reese's head. He told the emperor that Li You, the son of Li Si, was the chief of Sanchuan County. When the rebels passed through Sanchuan County, Li You didn't open the door to meet them. Obviously, he has ulterior motives. He hoped that the emperor would investigate the matter as soon as possible.

Zhao Gao wanted to kill Reese, because Reese was his accomplice in falsely spreading the imperial edict. Reese is dead, and no one in the world knows about this conspiracy except Zhao Gao and Hu Hai.

In addition, Reese also posed a substantial threat to his power. Behind Reese is the Hero Group. Everyone hates Zhao Gao playing politics. These people are like a time bomb, which may explode at any time and place.

Unfortunately, Reese didn't realize this. After working hard in officialdom for so long, he finally got the wrong person. Hu Hai is by no means a democratic leader. As for Zhao Gao, it is far more horrible than he imagined.

Finally, Reese was arrested and imprisoned on charges of participating in the rebellion. After being tortured, Li Siqu made a confession. Until the end, he hoped that Hu Hai would change his mind, but he couldn't wait any longer.

In 208 BC, Li Si was beheaded in Xianyang. Before he died, he said a heartfelt word to his son: "I want to go to Shangcai Dongmen to hunt rabbits with you again. Is it still possible? "

6/6 Summary

Reese would never say such a thing to her son unless she was dying. This doesn't seem to conform to his philosophy of life. On the road to success, Reese never gets tired of running all the way. Even when the bad king was in power, he never slacked off and did his duty. He has been busy for himself and the Daqin Empire all his life.

Li Si is very talented. I'm afraid no one can surpass him in governing the country from the end of the Warring States to the turn of Qin and Han Dynasties. In addition, Reese is also very politically minded. Regardless of his superiors or competitors, Reese knows how to gain insight into people's hearts and pave the way for himself by winning trust.

Reese is a ruthless character. He has no mercy on those who threaten his power. At that time, his brother Han Fei entered Qin, Han Fei was eloquent, and Ying Zheng was immediately fascinated by his talent. This is not a good thing for Reese, besides, Han Fei is at odds with his political views. So Reese killed the killer and forced Han Fei to commit suicide in prison.

Reese can climb to the position of prime minister step by step, which is the result of complementary ingenuity. But even such a person will be in danger in the end. What is the reason?

On the surface, it was Reese who coveted power, colluded with Zhao Gao to keep the position of prime minister, and finally got burned and lost his life.

Looking deeper, Reese's tragedy has certain inevitability.

Reese is a gentleman in essence, and his ideal is to run the country and make it safe. In the process of his growth, despite the war, the legacy of the Zhou Dynasty still exists to some extent.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the ruling class was mostly aristocrats. Although there are intrigues between countries and people, they still advocate independent personality. As the saying goes, "As a doctor, you can't be punished, and as a Shu Ren, you can't be polite." At that time, literati, represented by nobles, should pay attention to etiquette and regard you as a respectable opponent even if they competed with each other.

Everyone is a gentleman, so we should act as a gentleman and abide by the rules of the gentleman's game. From Lv Buwei to Han Fei and even Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng, they were either gentlemen or quasi-gentlemen. In the face of such bosses and opponents, Reese doesn't need to trample on the bottom line of being a man by abusive ways.

But Hu Hai is different from Zhao Gao. They grew up when the Qin Empire was established. The former was born in a deep palace and had never been baptized by war. The latter wandered to the center of power early and learned a set of skills of observing words and feelings.

In Zhao Gao's eyes, success is synonymous with intrigue, and there is no need to talk about gentlemanly manners. In order to achieve his goal, he can take down his opponent by any means. Only Zhao would do such a thing. The reason why Reese can't beat Zhao Gao is simple. Reese is not a hooligan, Zhao Gao is.

In the later history of China, roles like Zhao Gao emerged one after another.

Why is this happening? Because the aristocratic era is gone forever. Since the Qin Dynasty, China has opened a long era of centralized rule. Since then, the nobility has gradually withered.

Politics in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was ruled by monarchs and literati. But since Qin Shihuang, social elites have only been slaves of the emperor in name and practice. Nobles are degraded in status and close to villains in means. The "Jianggang" culture in China's political ecology gradually took shape and fermented.

Under the system of unrestricted power, a gentleman cannot be like a duck to water. When power doesn't need a bottom line, people who give up the bottom line to please power will live better. Reese's tragedy is just the beginning.