Source of works
"Therefore, we should abolish Wang Zhidao first and burn a hundred schools of thought." This is the first part of On Qin.
On Guo Qin is the representative work of Jia Yizheng's thesis, which is divided into three parts. The full text analyzes the faults of the Qin Dynasty from various aspects, so it is named "On Qin". On Guo Qin aims to summarize the historical lessons of Qin's sudden death and provide reference for the establishment of the system and the consolidation of the rule in the Han Dynasty. It is a group of articles with profound insights and great artistic appeal.
The first part of "On Qin" first tells the reasons why Qin Zi was filial to the masses and the emperor gradually became powerful: geographical advantages, the idea of reforming the country, the correct war strategy, and the painstaking efforts of several Qin kings. In this paper, parallelism sentences and elaborate description methods are used, which are full of momentum; Later, he wrote that although Chen She's own strength was small, he could overthrow the powerful State of Qin. In contrast, he came to the conclusion that Qin's death lies in "benevolence and righteousness are not applied". The novella analyzes that after Qin unified the world, without correct policies, Qin Ershi failed to correct the wrong policies of Qin Shihuang, mainly accusing Qin Ershi of his fault. The next chapter writes that Zi Ying, the king of Qin, failed to save the country and help the poor, mainly accusing Zi Ying, the king of Qin, of his fault.
original work
On Guo Qin —— Part I
Jia Yi [Han Dynasty]
According to the letter of (xiáo), if you hold the land of Yongzhou, you can get a glimpse of the Zhou family, which has swept the world, won the world and swallowed up the heart of famine. When the time is right, Shang Jun will assist him, making laws at home, farming and weaving, maintaining the tools of war, and confronting the vassals abroad. So the Qin people surrendered and took the Xijiang River.
Due to lack of filial piety, Huiwen, Wu and Wu were inherited. Because of its legacy, Hanzhong in the south, Ba and Shu in the west, fertile land in the east and key counties in the north. The princes were afraid, allied with each other, and sought to weaken the state of Qin, but they did not like treasures and valued fertile land, so that the people of the world could join hands and become one. At this time, there are Meng Chang, Zhao Pingyuan, Chu Chunshen and Wei Xinling. These four monarchs are wise and faithful, generous and caring, and respect the virtuous and value the virtuous. They are all from Tianping, belonging to Korea, Wei, Yan, Chu, Qi, Zhao, Song, Wei and Zhongshan. So the people of the six countries, including Ning Yue, Xu Shang, Su Qin, Qi Ming, Zhou Zui, Chen Yi, Zhao, Lou Man, Zhai, Jing, Yue, etc. all understood this truth. Taste ten times the land, millions of people, knock on the customs and attack Qin. Qin people used to delay the enemy, the division of the nine countries, but they were slow to advance. Wu Qin's death made him pay the price of zú, but the governors in the world were already in jail. Therefore, I was defeated from the loose contract, and I fought for territory and paid (Lu) Qin. Qin spared no effort to control its disadvantages, chasing the dead in the north, burying millions of bodies and bleeding (L); Take advantage of the trend, slaughter the world and split the mountains and rivers. Strong countries please submit, weak countries enter the DPRK.
Extending to the king of Zhuang Xiang, the country enjoys a shallow life and the country has nothing to do.
When Emperor Fen VI was fierce, he made a long-term plan to conquer the imperial palace, swallowed the princes who died within two weeks, made Liuhe the supreme ruler, and lashed the world (ch Ρ), which was famous all over the world. Take the land of Baiyue in the south as Guilin and Xiang Jun; Baiyue Wang bowed his head and tightened his neck, appointing officials. So Meng Tian built the Great Wall and guarded the fence in the north, but the Huns were more than 700 miles away. The conference semifinals dare not go south to herd horses, and the scholars dare not bow to their knees. Therefore, the words of abolishing Wang Zhidao and burning a hundred schools of thought began with Qi á n; (Hu ι) is a famous city, killing heroes; Take the soldiers from all over the world, gather in Xianyang, sell dysprosium (dí), and cast them into twelve gold men to weaken the people from all over the world. Then, Jianhua will become a city, because the river is a pool. According to the city of 100 million feet, the abyss will not be solid. A good general will guard the key points with a strong crossbow, and a loyal minister will be Chen Libing. The world is set, and the emperor's heart begins, thinking that Guanzhong is solid, Jincheng is thousands of miles away, and the descendants of the emperor will always have a career.
I have been shocked by this unusual custom since the first emperor died. However, Chen She urn (wèng) is the son of the rope pivot, the transferred person (méng), and the immigrants are also; Talent is inferior to the Chinese, not the sage of harmony, but the wealth of harmony. Wandering among the ranks, squatting in the hustle and bustle, the rate of exhaustion of soldiers, hundreds of people, turned to attack Qin; Chopping firewood for soldiers, uncovering poles for flags, the whole world gathers to respond, and the scenery of winning grain (yǐng) follows. Shandong Haojun rose together and Qin family died.
Moreover, the world is not small and weak, and Yongzhou is solid and self-sufficient. Chen She's position is not respected by Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Song, Wei and Zhongshan. Hoe hoe (Yu), thorn pity (j Ι n), long shovel with hook (sh Ι) and middle shovel (xi ch Ι n); The people stationed in the garrison are not resistant to the division of the nine countries; Far-sightedness, the way to March with troops, not for the people in my hometown. However, there are differences between success and failure, and vice versa. Try to make the distance between Shandong and Duó greater than that between Xi é, so that we can't talk in the same year. However, the Qin Dynasty, with a small territory, became a trend of "shèng", with eight countries in the same column (cháo) and hundreds of years (Yu U). Then take Liuhe as home and faith as palace; One person's fault (à n) is difficult, the seven temples are destroyed, and the hands are powerless, so why laugh for the world? Benevolence and kindness are not applied, and the tendency to attack and defend is different.
Translation of works
Qin Xiaogong occupies the dangerous terrain of Xiaoshan and Hanguguan, and has the land of Yongzhou. The monarch and his subjects are firmly guarding the Zhou royal family who seized power and have the ambition to unify the world. At this moment, Shang Yang assisted him, established internal laws and regulations, engaged in agricultural weaving, and built defensive and offensive equipment; The implementation of the strategy of balance of power in foreign countries has made the governors fight against each other. Therefore, Qin people easily seized the land west of the Yellow River.
After Qin Xiaogong's death, Huiwen Wang, Xiang and Xiang inherited the inheritance of the previous dynasty and followed the strategy of the previous generation, taking Hanzhong in the south, Bashu in the west, cutting fertile land in the east and occupying very important areas in the north. Fearful and fearful, the vassals got together to form an alliance, discussed and weakened the state of Qin, spared no effort to collect rare utensils and fertile soil to recruit talents from all over the world, and adopted the strategy of vertical integration to conclude a Covenant, help each other and become one. At this time, there were Qi, Zhao, Chu, Chun Shenjun and Wei, Xin Lingjun. These four emperors were resourceful, sincere and trustworthy, generous and kind, caring for the people, respecting talents, and reusing scholars. They vowed to break Lian Heng's Qin strategy and unify the armies of Korea, Wei, Yan, Chu, Qi, Zhao, Song, Wei and Zhongshan. At this time, Ning Yue, Xu Shang, Su Qin, Doukhi and other six scholars advised him; Qi Ming, Zhou Zui, Qiu Chen, Zhao Hua, Lou Man, Zhai Jing, Su Li and Le Yi expressed their opinions. Wuqi, Sun Bin, Dai Tuo, Ni Liang, Liao Wang, Tian Ji, Lian Po and Zhao She are in charge. They once attacked the state of Qin with ten times as much land and millions of troops. The Qin people opened the Hangu Pass to face the enemy, and the nine armies hesitated and dared not enter the Pass. The Qin people didn't spend a single soldier, and the princes in the world were already embarrassed. As a result, the treaty failed, and the vassal States scrambled to cede territory and bribe Qin. Qin took advantage of their drowsiness and the remaining troops to subdue them, chasing the defeated soldiers who fled, and millions of defeated soldiers were lying dead on the road. The flowing blood can float on the shield. In this favorable situation, Qin cut off all the land in the world and re-divided the land of mountains and rivers. The powerful countries took the initiative to express their obedience, and the weak countries went to Qin to worship. It lasted until King Xiaowen and King Zhuangxiang, and the rule time was not long, and nothing important happened in the State of Qin.
By the time of the first emperor, he developed the legacy of VI, ruled all countries by force, wiped out all the Western Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Zhou Dynasty and vassal States, ascended the throne of the emperor to rule the world, enslaved the people all over the world with severe punishments and severe laws, and shocked the whole world. Qin Shihuang captured the land south of Baiyue, which was divided into Guilin County and Elephant County. The monarch of Baiyue bowed his head and tied a rope around his neck (willing to obey and surrender), and handed over his life to judicial officials. Qin Shihuang then ordered Meng Tian to build the Great Wall in the north and guard the border, so that the Huns retreated more than 700 miles; Hu people dare not go south to graze, and warriors dare not draw bows and shoot arrows for revenge. Qin Shihuang then abolished the ancient emperors' way of governing the country and burned hundreds of works to fool the people; Destroy tall walls and kill heroes; Collect weapons from all over the world, concentrate on Xianyang, destroy weapons and arrows, and smelt and cast twelve bronze men to weaken the resistance of the people. Then take Huashan Mountain as the city wall, the Yellow River as the city, the towering Huashan Mountain, overlooking the unfathomable Yellow River, thinking it is a dangerous place. Good generals guard the key points with strong crossbows, and reliable officials and elite foot soldiers question passers-by with sharp weapons. The world is set, and the first emperor thought to himself, Guanzhong's dangerous and solid terrain and Fiona Fang's solid Yugoslav capital are the inheritance for generations to be kings.
After the death of Qin Shihuang, his afterglow (still) shocked remote areas. However, Chen She was only the son of a poor family. He used a broken urn as a window and a straw rope as a hinge. He protected himself and was a servant, and later became a pawn who was moved to the frontier. Talent is inferior to ordinary people, virtue is inferior to Kong Qiu and Mo Zhai, and wealth is inferior to Tao Zhu and Eton. (He) joined the garrison, suddenly rose from the field, led tired soldiers, commanded hundreds of troops, turned around and attacked the State of Qin, cut down trees as weapons, held bamboo poles as flags, and heroes gathered all over the world, echoing him from afar, and many people followed him with food on their backs. Heroes to the east of Xiaoshan revolted together and wiped out the Qin family.
Besides, the world has not shrunk and weakened, Yongzhou terrain, Lushan Mountain, Hanguguan dangerous solid, unchanged. Chen She's position is not higher than that of Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Song, Wei and Zhong Shan. Hoe stick is not sharper than hook spear; Soldiers who move to the border cannot compete with the soldiers of the nine countries; Far-sighted, the method of marching troops is not as good as that of military commanders and counselors before the Nine Kingdoms. But those with good conditions failed, those with poor conditions succeeded, and their achievements were completely opposite. Why? If we compare the Eastern vassal states with Chen She and measure their strength, we can't compare them. However, due to its small size, Qin developed into a country with thousands of chariots and horses, governed the whole country and made the governors of the six countries appear before the court for more than a hundred years; After that, he took the world as his family business and Lushan Mountain and Hanguguan as his inner palace. Chen She Uprising, the country perished. Zi Ying, the king of Qin, died at the hands of others (Xiang Yu) and was laughed at by the world. Why? The offensive and defensive situation has changed because there is no benevolent policy.
Creation background
The era of Emperor Wendi in the Western Han Dynasty was the early stage of the so-called "peace and prosperity" in the Han Dynasty, that is, "cultural governance". Jia Yi, with his keen insight, saw the latent crisis in the Western Han Dynasty through appearances. At that time, rich and powerful people embezzled a large number of farmers' land, forcing farmers into bankruptcy and exile, and heavy oppression, exploitation and cruel punishment also aggravated class contradictions. The contradiction between domestic feudal separatism and centralization, the contradiction between the ruling class and the working people, and the contradiction between ethnic groups are intensifying day by day, and the position of the rulers is in danger of being shaken.
In order to reconcile various contradictions and ensure the long-term stability of the Western Han Dynasty, Jia Yi put forward many political opinions to the Han Dynasty in famous political essays such as Chen Zheng's Poems, On Storing and Storing, and On Guo Qin. This paper analyzes the success or failure of Qin politics from the perspective of summing up historical experience and lessons, and provides reference for Emperor Wendi's political reform. When talking about the purpose of writing, Jia Yi said that the reason why he wanted to "examine the past, examine the present, participate in personnel, examine the rise and fall of power, and judge the power appropriately" was that he advocated "step by step and change with the times" in order to seek "long-term national security" (Part II). The article On Qin summed up the lessons of the rise and fall of the Qin Dynasty, which was really Zhao Han's fault.
works appreciation
Guo Qin's theory is a historical theory, and its main purpose is to analyze Guo Qin. The first part, by reviewing the prosperous history of Qin State, points out that the reform plan of Qin State is stronger than seizing the world, and it is impossible to defend the world because of "benevolence and righteousness". In the second part, the mistakes after the unification of Qin dynasty are discussed in detail. This novella points out that Qin unified the world and ended years of war. Originally, the situation was good, but Qin Shihuang did not formulate correct policies, but burned books to bury Confucianism and ruled the world with tyranny. By the next year, the original mistakes could not be corrected and the country was finally overturned. In the second half of the second part of On Qin, the author continues the previous part, pointing out that if Zi Ying can change its original wrong policy, and "close the door" and "reject it with a halberd", it can hold the land of Sanqin, and then "help the people with solid land", and Xu Tu can develop and even restore national unity. Unfortunately, however, the consistent policy of "letting things go smoothly" in the Qin Dynasty led to "letting things go smoothly" from top to bottom, and Zi Ying was isolated, and finally born to die.
This paper discusses the rise and fall of Qin dynasty and its reasons, and clearly puts forward the central argument of this paper: "benevolence and righteousness are not applied, and the offensive and defensive trends are different." Its purpose is to provide reference for Emperor Wendi's political reform.
From the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the present age, almost all the ancient prose anthologies have the content of Qin Dynasty (I), so many predecessors have commented on it. For example, Yao Nai, a North Korean, rated it as a "majestic and grand boss" in the compilation of ancient literary words, while his neighbors rated it as a "full-page book, like a book, with a big opening and a big closing". To sum up the opinions of most commentators, it is mainly said that this article is full of momentum and is a "prosperous" article.
From a linguistic point of view, so-called lively articles often use parallelism or duality, and this article is no exception (for example, the second paragraph, from So Six Kingdoms, uses the word "you" first and runs through the next three sentences, listing a large number of historical figures, namely parallelism; For example, the following four sentences, every two sentences in pairs, are antithesis. There are also compound sentence and antithetical sentences, such as the beginning saying that Qin Xiaogong "swept the world, accepted the world, accepted the meaning of the four seas, and swallowed the heart of eight shortages". However, this is only understood from the surface phenomenon. In the famous classical prose, quite a few articles use parallelism or antithesis, but they are not necessarily full of vitality. For example, Kong's "Beiwen" makes sentences, even sentences, but it doesn't feel magnificent when read. It can be seen that the use of parallelism and duality is only one of the factors to enhance the momentum of the article, which belongs to external artistic skills and is not the main factor.
There are three reasons why this article is so vigorous and immortal that people feel convincing.
The first and most important thing is that although this article is argumentative, it takes 78% of the space to describe it. Narrative discussion is the biggest feature of this paper. The author narrates the history of more than 100 years from the demise of Qin State in more than a thousand words, summarizes the whole process and main phenomena of the rise and fall of Qin State, and expounds the key to its rise and fall through the author's own views, which is helpful for us to have a clearer understanding of this history. Why does this feature make the article read with momentum? The key is:
1, the author can not only express rich content with concise pen and ink, but also make readers feel that a short article is actually rich in content, naturally feel full and full, and its thinking naturally follows the author's pen, so it will appear "sheng";
2. Jia Yi's account of Qin's decline from prosperity is clear. He grasped a vertical line, that is, from the rise of Qin Xiaogong to the demise of the Qin Dynasty, the level of articles was always arranged in chronological order; On the other hand, highlighting a certain point in a certain period of time enables people to see not only the "line", but also the "points" on the "line" described with strong colors. Therefore, readers will involuntarily push down and read in the order arranged by the author. If the author doesn't interrupt, neither can the reader. If the author doesn't rock the boat, the reader can't touch the rest. So it also brings a strong feeling to people.
The second reason why readers feel that the article is full of energy is another feature of the article: Jia Yi writes argumentative essays by writing fu. Writing Fu needs exaggeration, which runs through this article. For example, in paragraph 1, there are four sentences of "sweeping the world", and the words "sweeping", "including" and "swallowing" are basically synonymous; "World", "Space", "Four Seas" and "Eight Famines" also have the same meaning. Writing several words with the same meaning in succession is both parallelism and duality, which is an exaggeration of writing fu. In the following paragraphs 2, 4 and 5, there are similar sentences, and the list is endless. The so-called "biography" mainly refers to such sentences. This natural momentum makes readers feel that the author's pen is sharp, aggressive, energetic, persuasive and unstoppable. This is because the author himself is a ci writer. As a writer, Jia Yi is not only a politician, but also a writer. As a work, On Qin also has the artistic characteristics of literary works.
The third reason is also the third characteristic of this article, that is, the author writes his own argument through the comparison of the whole article. The contrast technique is not unusual, but the highlight of this paper is that the author uses four aspects of contrast: namely, the contrast of Qin itself, first strong and then weak, first prosperous and then declining, first prosperous and then extinct; Comparison between Qin and Six Countries: Comparison between Qin and Six Countries: Comparison between Chen She and Six Countries. Several contrasts are intertwined, and the structure is natural and magnificent, and the momentum is natural and majestic, and the words are more weighty. The difference between subjective and objective situations and the difficulty of ups and downs of strength are all manifested from several aspects of comparison. It is not difficult to understand why the article is full of energy.
The first three paragraphs are mainly written in three aspects: first, several generations of Qin have ambitions; Second, the strength of Qin is getting stronger and stronger; Third, because of Qin's strength, it is not very difficult to unify the world. 1 section emphasizes Qin Zhizhi, section 2 emphasizes strength, and section 3 emphasizes both. The layout and comparison of the whole article start from these three aspects, and the specific historical facts run through it, drawing a big outline with general language, which makes the narrative content biased and has the author's own views. For example, "Qin people surrendered and seized the Xijiang River", "at the cost of their death", and at the end of the third paragraph, "The heart of the first emperor thought that Guanzhong was solid, the golden city was thousands of miles away, and the descendants of the emperors were also eternal industries", all of which were extremely descriptions of Qin's ambition and strength, and it was not difficult to write. At the same time, the author also wrote on the other hand, such as "four kings", "teachers of nine countries" and "people of six countries" The stronger the other side, the stronger the Qin dynasty. This is a way to celebrate the moon. But we feel that the more we write about the power of Qin, the more we see the arrogance and ignorance of Qin; The more you write about Qin's overconfidence, the more you see Qin's subjective one-sidedness; The greater my ambition to write about Qin, the shorter my vision of Qin. Although the author talks everywhere, he always "gets ready" for the last paragraph. Such an article naturally feels full and hearty to read.
At the end of the second paragraph, only nine words were said: "the country enjoys a shallow life, and the country has nothing to do." This is of course a fact, but it is not without events to write about. However, I don't intend to waste more ink here, but draw a vertical line that runs through all periods of Qin Dynasty. As far as writing is concerned, an energetic article can't stop breathing. A dozen words at the beginning of the third paragraph made the whole article pause briefly. Gui Youguang, an ancient prose writer in the Ming Dynasty, once said that it was "like exhaling" (see Gui Youguang's Historical Records Review). Of course, we can't look at the problem in a formalistic way, but insist on inserting a "window" in the article in one go; But when the article is written here, there will naturally be a chance to breathe and "exhale like a person."
The third paragraph is about Qin Shihuang: ambition and strength. But paragraph 3 is different from paragraph 2. The second paragraph is a positive and negative comparison, but the third paragraph is a positive one, which vividly depicts the strength and ambition of Qin Shihuang, and the more you write, the more imposing it becomes. Even at the beginning of the fourth paragraph, there are two sentences to be added: "The first emperor didn't, but I was shocked by the extraordinary customs." Wu Kaisheng criticized: "It is arrogant to add two more sentences." However, the author turned his pen and set out, but praised and criticized everywhere, further indicating that the demise of Qin did have its way.
The last paragraph is "on" and "off", and several aspects are still compared and combined, and then a conclusion is drawn, that is, "off" In order to make the conclusion more solemn, I mentioned Qin again and said it again, ending with "benevolence and righteousness are not applied but the offensive and defensive trends are different." Articles must be able to publish, collect, open and close, and start to look at skills.
This article did have a positive impact at that time. As a scholar-bureaucrat, Jia Yi certainly made suggestions for the Han Dynasty from the standpoint of the feudal ruling class. However, he was able to recognize the power of the peasant uprising, and realized that the key to the demise of the Qin Dynasty was to lose people's hearts and trust in force too much. The feudal rulers were ambitious, abused the people and were finally eliminated by the people. With this understanding, the ruling class began to consider how to ease social contradictions in order to consolidate its ruling regime. This shows that the peasant uprising really pushed the wheel of historical progress. With Jia Yi's description, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty can really sum up the experience and lessons of the Qin Dynasty from prosperity to decline and from strength to weakness.
Posterity evaluation
Zhang Jiuling, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in Looking at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor with the Yellow Gate: "Smell the" On Qin ",which contains the axis of Confucius."
Jin Shengtan, a Qing Dynasty man, wrote in Volume II of Ancient Talents: "Those who criticize Qin are also criticizing Qin; Guo Qin only broke the last sentence with the word "benevolence and righteousness don't give", and the whole text only saw a word "however" in the middle. Before turning around, the only thing that overlaps is how strong Qin is. After the turn, the overlap is only about how small Chen She is. There are only two sentences throughout, one saying that Qin is so strong and the other saying that Qin is so small. As for the six countries mentioned in the first half, this is just a comparison with Qin; " In the second half, the mention of Qin is only for the sake of foil, which is the most unusual one.
Fang Bao, an essayist in the Qing Dynasty, said: "This article is about the way that Qin took advantage of the world and kept it. Although it is not based on benevolence and righteousness, it can be relied on and is stronger than the six countries. If you have it, use it to keep it, and it will be impossible to break the road for a long time. This is why it is easy to lose. " Qin has always been benevolent, and those who succeed or fail have different positions in attack and defense. "
In the Outline of the History of China Literature, Mr. Lu Xun rated it as "the great prose of the Western Han Dynasty" and "frank and open-minded".
Mr. Qian Zhongshu's "Cone in a Tube" pointed out: "Jia Sheng's writing is guilty of" the word is fat and barren. "
Brief introduction of the author
Jia Yi's portrait Jia Yi (200 BC-65438 BC+068 BC) was originally named Jia Taifu, Jia Changsha and Jia Sheng, and was born in Luoyang (now Luoyang East, Henan Province). Political commentator and writer in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. When I was young, I was famous for my poems. Later, he was used by Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty to advocate reform and was demoted as the teacher of King Changsha (because King Changsha was not favored by Emperor Wen at that time, he was demoted). Later, he was appointed as the teacher of Liang Huaiwang. King Huai of Liang fell off a horse and died of self-injury and grief.
Jia Yi's main literary achievement is his political thesis, and he has written ten new books. His representative works include On Qin, Chen Zhengshi (also known as Public Security Policy) and On Accumulation and Storage. Among them, Chen Zheng's Poems and On Stories and Stories are works that criticize current politics and have great influence on later prose. Lu Xun once said that Jia Yi's article is "a masterpiece of the Western Han Dynasty, which has a far-reaching influence on later generations". There are seven pieces of Fu recorded in Hanshu, and when he demoted Changsha, he wrote Fu of Hanging Qu Yuan as a metaphor. After living in Changsha for three years, he wrote "Ode to Owl Birds", which is a false message to express his concern for the country and the people. His poems are all in Sao style, and their forms tend to be scattered, which is the forerunner of the development of Han Fu. He has written fifty articles, and Liu Xiang has compiled ten volumes of "New Books", which have been incomplete. Jia Changsha Collection was compiled by Ming Dynasty, and Jia Yi Collection is compiled by modern people.