To say that Qin Shihuang was cruel means that he was cruel. Personally, I think "cruelty" is incomprehensible to an emperor.

There are many such emperors in history. Qin Shihuang is just one of them, followed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Who doesn't like killing people? All three of them want to win the world at once, and the countries they govern are so prosperous. Some people may say that Qin Shihuang ruled the world as usual, but he ended the era of the Seven Kingdoms War, and the war would only end the development of mankind. What could be more important than this? It is not difficult to understand the burning of books and reading after the reunification of the seven countries. It can't be said that Qin Shihuang was cruel, but he understood those talents as "the root cause". Ordinary people just want to live with peace of mind, while scholars have lofty aspirations and ambitions. How can a newly unified state of Qin settle down without eliminating scholars who are not unified with their own ideas? Some people will say that the state of Qin soon perished, yes, but the later Chu-Han dispute was just a confrontation between the two sides, and it was easy to tell the winner. But it turns out that the dispute between the seven countries can only be a protracted war. Qin Shihuang unified China and ruled the world, so he made great contributions. I can't blame him for not being defeated by the country when he was alive.

"The first emperor Hanwu" and later emperors loved to compare with them. Which of the two emperors is not famous for their cruelty? The wise masters of later generations still recognized their achievements. It shows that the emperor's way of doing things is beyond our ordinary people's understanding, and we have never experienced or understood it. There is also an old saying that "a mixed monarch is like a tiger". Without majesty, you can't rule the world. Some things in the world can be solved by appeasement, and coercion is also a way for stubborn people. Even in today's society, we human beings are highly civilized, but the law still has mandatory provisions. Therefore, the so-called cruelty cannot be understood too literally.