In 247 BC, Ying Zheng, who was only thirteen years old, ascended the throne and became the new monarch of Great Qin. And he is Qin Shi Huang, who is known as the first emperor of the ages.
At that time, although the Great Qin was rich and strong, and had crushed the six eastern countries in terms of national strength, no one could be sure that Yingzheng would inevitably destroy the six countries and unify China.
- Ying Zheng is a little emperor who has just ascended the throne, and his power is held by his mother, Empress Dowager Zhao and Lü Buwei, and Empress Dowager Zhao and Lü Buwei are ex-wives and ex-husbands.
- Lü Buwei saw that Yingzheng was growing up day by day, and he was afraid that something would happen, so he recommended the guest Chang Yu to the Empress Dowager Zhao, who was named the Marquis of Changxin and was in charge of the government, and the Empress Dowager Zhao also gave birth to two children for Chang Yu, and there was a hidden danger of civil strife in the country.
- Although the six eastern countries have been sleepy and lacking in people, they still retain the strength of the first war, such as the Battle of Handan after the Battle of Changping, Wei and Zhao Hezong can still bring great pressure to the Qin State, and the situation in the world is still unclear.
- In 247 BC, Xinling Jun led the alliance of the Five Kingdoms Wei, Zhao, Han, Chu, and Yan to attack the Qin State, and the Qin army was so defeated that they did not dare to go out at Hangu Pass, and the Qin State was still unable to resist the alliance of the Six Kingdoms militarily.
The core key issue of the above things is that Qin Wang Yingzheng can successfully get back his political rights, and after the internal stability is stabilized, and then according to the national policy of "distant friendship and close attack, as long as he does not make low-level mistakes, according to the national strength of Qin at that time, Qin's annihilation of the Six Kingdoms is a matter of course." Finally, in 238 A.D., Ying Zhengping rebelled, deposed Lü Buwei, put the Empress Dowager Zhao under house arrest and took back her rights. Subsequently, Li Si, Wang Jian and his son were reused, and it took ten years to destroy Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi successively, and complete the great cause of unification. In the author's opinion, although the destruction of the Six Kingdoms seemed to be an inevitable trend of history at that time, there were too many accidents that coincided together.
T'em-hsien
A small barbarian country survives in the cracks
No one can succeed casually, the history of Qin's development is also a history of blood and tears, and Qin's development has also encountered many difficulties along the way:
- The country was established late, and the monarch came from a humble background - King Wu of Zhou responded to the call of the Emperor in that year, destroyed the Shang, set the capital of Haojing, and established the Zhou Dynasty in 1406 BC. King Wu of Zhou rewarded meritorious deeds and divided the marquis, there was no Qin State at that time, and the Qin State was only a small ethnic group at that time. Until the time of King Xiao of Zhou in 905 BC, Feizi, the leader of the Qin tribe, officially assigned him to the place of Qin because of his meritorious horse raising, and used Qin land as a mining town for Feizi. Until 771 A.D., "Zhou Youwang Fenghuo Opera Princes", Qin Xianggong actively Qin Wang, and then because of the escort of Zhou Ping King to move the capital to Luoyang, in 770 B.C. by Zhou Ping King was named a prince, and the land occupied by Xirong was given to Qin, since then Qin State was formally established, nearly 600 years later than the princes in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
- Generations of people have worked hard with blood to build a base - Qin Xianggong established the Qin State, and the land allocated to the Qin State by King Zhou Ping was all land occupied by Xirong, which was actually a dead letter. Qin Xianggong was not able to get the land back until his death, until 170 years later, during the Qin Mugong period, he successively destroyed 12 Rong regimes in the West and dominated Xirong, and the old Qin people have since fought hard to build a base and gain a firm foothold among the princes.
The territory of the early Qin state
- Struggling and going east to no avail - Qin Mugong devoted his life to going east, but the powerful Jin State was in front of Qin, and he did not fulfill his wish to go east until Qin Mugong's death. Although Qin Mugong did not get the opportunity to compete in the Central Plains, he managed to become the overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period in the western border. However, after the death of Qin Mugong, the subsequent generations of monarchs of Qin were lackluster, continued to decline, and civil strife continued. In 453 AD, Zhao, Wei, and Han divided the Jin Kingdom, and the world entered the Warring States Period. At this time, the Qin State was still suffering from internal and external troubles, and the domestic monarch was inactive, and the external state was constantly engaged with the Wei State, and the Wei State occupied the strategic place - the Hexi Plateau. At this time, Qin's national strength had fallen to the bottom. At this time, under the leadership of Wei Wenhou, the Wei State took the lead in carrying out the "Li Kui Reform" in times of peace, reusing Wu Qi, Le Yang and others militarily, defeating Qin, Qi Chu and other countries in a row, occupying Zhongshan State, and sitting on the throne of the overlord of the Central Plains.
In my opinion, after Qin gained a firm foothold, the eastward letter to Guguan was the first problem they faced. Qin Mugong struggled all his life to go east without success, and the following generations of monarchs continued to suffer from internal and external troubles, and he never took this step. But in 453 BC, the powerful Jin state was divided by Han, Zhao, and Wei, bringing a glimmer of hope to the Qin state. In 361 BC, Qin Xiaogong ascended the throne, and what was in front of him was how to strengthen the Qin State and survive.
Qin Xiaogong (stills)
Fen VI's aftermath
Just like after Qin Mugong, more than ten generations of monarchs of the Qin State have done nothing, which is accidental, not the result of human choice. But it is precisely from the beginning of Qin Xiaogong to the generation of Qin Shi Huang on behalf of Ming Jun that the author also believes that this matter has historical accidents in it. Each generation of these ancestors of Yingzheng has fulfilled their respective historical mission:
- Qin Xiaogong - issued an order to seek talents, reused the guard's martingale, implemented the county system, abandoned well fields, rewarded cultivation and weaving, implemented military merit and other measures, strengthened the centralization of power, improved the enthusiasm of national production, and the 20-level military merit system allowed Qin Min's ruthless fighting courage to be used in practice, and the division of tigers and wolves came from this.
- King Qin Huiwen - Qin rose through the law change, the army of tigers and wolves was completed, and the six countries of Shandong joined forces against Qin, and under the persuasion of Su Qin, the six countries combined to make King Qin Huiwen not send troops to Hanguguan for 15 years. King Huiwen of Qin finally reused Zhang Yi, a native of Wei, and adopted the strategy of connecting horizontally, cleverly taking advantage of the contradictions between the six kingdoms and the differences in geographical location to break the unity of the six kingdoms.
- King Wu of Qin - reigned for three years and died because of the Luoyang Zhou Temple. King Wu of Qin reused Gan Mao, a native of Chu, and united with Wei to take the important Korean town of Yiyang in 307 BC, thus opening the door to the east of Hangu Pass. In Luoyang Zhou Temple to show the national strength, accidentally smashed to death, if this thing is done, "winning the Central Plains" this thing has to lean back.
King Wu of Qin was vain
- King Qin Zhaoxiang - reigned for 56 years, during his reign, he appointed Fan Ju, a native of Wei, as the prime minister, implemented the diplomatic strategy of "distant friendship and close attack", and appointed Bai Qi as a general in the military, and continued to advance eastward to continue to attack the vital forces of the six countries. Killed 450,000 Zhao in the Battle of Changping and laid the fortune of Qin and Zhao. In addition, it also destroyed Xiaoxi Zhou, showing the determination of the world to destroy the six countries, and shocked the six countries of Shandong.
- King Qin Xiaowen - Because King Qin Zhaoxiang reigned for too long, he did not give King Qin Xiaowen a chance to show his talents, and died after reigning for three days, with no merit or fault.
- King Xiang of Qin Zhuang - In 249 BC, he defeated the Qiyi of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in one fell swoop, eradicated the remnants of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, reused the Wei native Lü Buwei, occupied 36 cities of the Zhao State, greatly weakened the Zhao State, and laid the foundation for unification.
- Qin Shi Huang - adhere to the national policy of "distant friendship and close attack", reuse Li Si, Wei Yi, first destroy Han Zhao, envelop Yan Qi, and then destroy Chu Wei, unify weights and measures, unify coins, unify writing, unify China, and become an emperor through the ages.
The seven generations of monarchs of Qin have a common feature that they use talents from generation to generation, and most of them also use talents from the six countries of Shandong. In other words, it was the lack of the ability of the six countries of Shandong to recognize and use talents, so that the people of the six countries helped Qin to destroy the six countries. It is commendable that none of the seven generations of Qin's monarchs made mistakes.
Those who destroy the Six Nations are also the Six Nations
So look at the other vassal states, what mistakes did they make to make themselves fall behind step by step, and eventually lead to their demise?
- Jin - the strong and unified Jin State was killed due to the clan power, and the regime was hollowed out by the foreign surname Liuqing, in 453 BC Han, Zhao and Wei divided the Jin State, Qin against the three small states is much easier than against the powerful Jin State, which can be proved by referring to the difficulty of Qin Mugong going east. After the three families were divided, Qin had the hope of sending troops to Guguan.
- Zhao - Zhao has always been the absolute main force against Qin, Zhao Wuling King "Hu Fu Cavalry Shooting", destroyed Zhongshan State, and the military power and national strength were at their peak. However, King Zhao Wuling had to engage in a "dual regime" on the issue of heirs, and did not handle the relationship between Zhao Zhang and Zhao He, which led to the Dune Coup, and King Zhao Wuling died in the Dune Coup. In the battle of Changping during the reign of King Zhao Xiaocheng, he made a lot of tricks, first negotiated peace with Qin when the war was scorching, was used by Qin to publicize and lost the opportunity to join forces, and then he was in the middle of the counter-plot, abandoning Lian Po and appointing Zhao Kuo, which led to the fiasco of Changping and the killing of 450,000 soldiers by Bai Qikeng. In 235 BC, Zhao Qian ascended the throne, and in the face of the Qin attack, he reused Li Mu to defeat the Qin army several times. But the good times did not last long, in 229 BC the Qin army took advantage of the disaster of Zhao to attack again, and the king of Zhao moved into a counter-plot, and secretly executed Li Mu, and Zhao Sui had no strength to fight. In 228 BC, the state of Zhao fell.
Hufu cavalry shooting
3. Han - "Weak reform", the "Shen Bu Harm Change" carried out during the period of Han Zhaohou focused on the art of the emperor and did not fundamentally solve the problem of national strength. But Han Fei was born too late, and there was no stage for Han Fei to perform. If Han Fei and Shen are harmlessly swapped, I believe that South Korea can become stronger.
4. Wei – As mentioned above, Wei was the first country to change the law, and during the reign of Wei Wenhou, he decisively appointed Li Kui (kuī) to implement the reform, and carried out political, economic, legal, and military reforms. "Wei Wushu" is one in a thousand miles, and his combat power is extremely strong. "Wen Shi Jianhou, Wushi Xinjiang Sheng" Wen and Wuhou era, Wei State can be called the Warring States hegemon.
King Huiwen of Wei experienced the fiasco of the Battle of Guiling and the Battle of Maling, and the Wei State fell from the hegemony and became a second-rate commodity. The monarch lost first-class talents such as Shang Ying, Gongsun Yan, Zhang Yi, and Fan Ju.
Since the reign of King Hui of Wei is not as good as the generation, in 247 BC, Xinling Jun led the Five Kingdoms Alliance to defeat the Qin army, and King Wei Anjiao fell into the counter-plot, as a result, Xinling Jun was dismissed, and died of depression four years later.
5. Yan - Yan State fully enjoys the benefits of Qin's "distant friendship and close attack", Yan State has been busy with Qi State and Zhao State, and weak Qi has been engaged in it for five years, after Zhao State's "Battle of Changping", he took the opportunity to attack Zhao State, which affected Zhao State's recuperation, and was also beaten by Zhao State, and he was also injured. In the end, Qian's donkey skills were exhausted, and he made a hand of "Jing Ke Assassination Qin".
荆轲刺秦王
6. Chu - As one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, the king of Chu Zhuang has always been talked about. In 506 BC, the state of Chu, which had the blood of the hegemon, was defeated by the state of Wu in the "Battle of Baiju", and the capital of the state of Chu was captured by the Wu army, and the state of Chu was in a state of collapse. The internal politics of the state of Chu were rotten and lethargic. During the period of King Chu Mourning, he used Wu to change the law, which was briefly prosperous, but with the death of King Chu Mourning, the five-year change came to an abrupt end, and the national fortunes of Chu have deteriorated since then.
7. Qi - One of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, the state of Qi, during the reign of King Min of Qi, stood with Qin and Zhao on three legs, and became the two emperors of the East and West with Qin, and King Min of Qi followed Su Qin's advice, abused force, and destroyed Song in 286 BC to enjoy this piece of fat alone, but this move exacerbated the contradictions with Qin and Zhao, and also posed a serious threat to Han, Wei, and Chu. The princes were afraid that the Qi family would be dominant, and under the influence of the feud Yan State, Qin, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Yan were the five lords of Qi, and Le Yi led the Yan army to take more than 70 cities of Qi State, and beat Qi State to only two cities, Mo and Lucheng, and almost destroyed the country. Although the Qi general Tiandan later returned to the country, it was difficult for the Qi state to make a difference.
Le Yi Vaqi
In the end, King Yingzheng of Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms to unify China, which itself had his accident, and I think it was mainly due to the following reasons:
- The geographical location of the Qin State is special, and it is known as the "country of the four stops". Jia Yi once said in "On the Passage of Qin":
"(The princes and the nations) tasted ten times the land, millions of people, knocked on the pass (referring to the Hangu Pass) and attacked Qin, the Qin people opened and extended the enemy, and the army of the nine countries did not dare to enter!"
The six countries' repeated joint attacks on Qin all ended at Hangu Pass, and the unique geographical location provided a strong guarantee for the survival of Qin.