When people mention tyrants, the first thing they think of may be Qin Shihuang, and Qin Shihuang has thus become the first tyrant, a banner of tyrants and a synonym for tyrants. Yes, Qin Shihuang was indeed a tyrant, and he was quite a brutal tyrant: he burned books to bury Confucianism; He enforced strict laws; He extorted money by violence. However, compared with other tyrannies in China's history, he really doesn't deserve to be called the first tyrant in China, at least I think so. His most famous misdeeds of burying Confucian scholars by burning books are only killing hundreds of Confucian scholars and burning tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of books; He didn't kill many people. Since the unification of China until his death, I haven't heard of any decrease in the population of the Qin Dynasty. He is not cruel enough. If he can kill all the nobles of the six countries, just like Zhu Yuanzhang killed all the heroes, even if he later relied on pig and dog partners like Zhao Gao and Hu Hai to keep Daqin Jiangshan; His cruelty is mainly reflected in tyranny, that is, severe punishment and laws, as well as his extortion. The former is that he inherited and carried forward the tradition of Qin State since Shang Yang's political reform. Although it is really cruel, it can also be understood as a policy choice for the ruling group to maintain its rule. The initiator of this policy, Shang Yang, the advocate and accomplice of Qin Wang and Qin Shihuang who carried out this policy, has never been notorious for this. There are some reasons for the latter. In a positive sense, you can also think that it is to resist the invasion of Xiongnu, defend the country and protect the people, so it can't be erased at once, for example, recruiting 400 thousand people to repair the Great Wall. Here, I have no intention to excuse Qin Shihuang's cruelty at all. I just want to make it clear that his cruelty is completely out of the nature of an iron-fisted feudal emperor, completely out of the need to safeguard his own rule, and completely because he pushed legalist politics to the extreme, not because he purely regarded killing itself as a kind of politics and a means, purely as fun and pure bloodthirsty.

Qin Shihuang became the most representative figure among tyrants. I think there are several reasons: First, Qin Shihuang was too famous, too influential and early; Second, Qin Shihuang burned books to bury Confucianism and offended intellectuals all over the world. History books were written by intellectuals. Third, Qin Shihuang engaged in tyranny, which became the opposite of all those who engaged in benevolent government in previous dynasties and even engaged in democratic politics in contemporary times; Fourth, the Qin dynasty was too short-lived, and the tyranny of Qin Shihuang was only used by scholars in previous dynasties as a mirror for learning from history; Finally, except a few people who have brains and thoughts, most people, including most scholars, follow the crowd. Whoever has the greatest momentum or who has suffered the most will be considered as the best or the worst. Idols are made in this way, and so are negative models. So like a supernova explosion, Super Girl can spread all over the country overnight, covering all other stars who are equally red and purple, and Qin Shihuang must bear all the responsibilities that other tyrants should bear, and be buried as a martyr of his tyranny.

Second, rape Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty by violence.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's crusade against Huns has always been regarded by many as a great historical achievement of the Chinese nation and a great feat of the country and people. However, in my opinion, Emperor Wudi's crusade against Xiongnu was mainly to satisfy his own personal desires, just as Qin Shihuang unified China not for the unity of the Chinese nation, but for the sake of ruling the world; Qin Shihuang's great contribution to the unification of China, but Liang Wudi's historical contribution to the Huns is questionable. What is the greatest selfish desire of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty after he ascended the throne? It is to completely defeat the Huns to fully reflect the domineering of a generation of men. This can also be seen from his unwillingness to be bullied. Why did Liang Wudi's crusade against Huns not exist for the country and the people? Because as an outstanding politician and great strategist, he knows very well in his heart: to completely defeat or conquer the Huns, the whole country and people will definitely pay a very heavy price; If the war is mainly confined to the border, the country will continue to prosper and the people will live and work in peace and contentment. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only sought martial arts, not civilized treatment. Only in this way can he truly realize his personal value and win a reputation that attracts worldwide attention. His all-out crusade against Xiongnu was not only a policy choice, but also a result of his personality, ambition and selfish desires. As a result, "domestic consumption is wasted and household registration is halved". This situation is very similar to a quarrel between neighbors: each takes half a step back and has a wide sky; Fighting for the so-called "fame", not only the whole family was smashed, but also brothers and sisters and even parents were smashed. Here, I don't want to deny the actual positive significance of Liang Wudi's crusade against Xiongnu, but just want to explain Liang Wudi's cruelty and extreme ego as an iron-fisted feudal emperor. In this respect, he is no different from Qin Shihuang. In order to realize personal desires, they can sacrifice the whole country and people. Different from Qin Shihuang, his crusade against Xiongnu was carried out under the guise of serving the country and the people, so he won a good reputation, although his crusade against Xiongnu brought more suffering to the people during his 54 years in office than during Qin Shihuang's 13 tyranny. The brutality of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty can be specifically confirmed by his handling of rebellion. The result of many crusades against Xiongnu was that the national treasury was empty, the economy was dragged down, and the people were in dire straits, so the people rebelled. Emperor Wu's way is simple and bloody: if your local officials can't put out the local uprising, they will kill your head and your whole family. As a result, local officials were forced to kill all the local people in order to solve the uprising.

The direct result of Emperor Wudi's brutality and belligerence was the loss of 50% of the national population, leaving his successor with a completely hollowed-out country. This is what he called "the achievements of the Qin Dynasty". But in my opinion, his "achievement" is worse than that of the Qin Dynasty.

There is such a description in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: During the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao "borrowed" the head of a grain official in order to appease the floating morale due to lack of food, pretending that the grain official had deducted military provisions. Made up a story that killing people is purely for a certain purpose. From then on, Cao Cao was left with an eternal name of "traitor". Corresponding to Qin Shihuang's "violence", Cao Cao became synonymous with "treachery". However, compared with the "rape" of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Cao Cao's "rape" can only be said to be a petty rape and a big rape. Cao Cao's petty rape is fictional in literary works, while the big rape of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty is genuine. There are many reasons why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty killed Dou Ying, the marquis of Qi Wei. Apart from the so-called "imperial edict" which is unforgivable, there are also resentment against the Dou Shi family because of Dou Taihou's autocratic power, humiliation brought by the testamentary edict, and worries about the testamentary edict. But I think the more important reason is that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to kill Dou Ying and destroy her husband to deter his mother, the empress dowager and his uncle Tian Fen, who constantly interfered in state affairs. As a result, both the Empress Dowager and my uncle, who were equally illegal and wasteful, could not bear to see such a bloody ending: the Empress Dowager was scared and my uncle was crazy. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used bloody killings to achieve a certain goal. The most typical example is the Zhufuyan incident. He first adopted Zhufuyan's suggestion of "pushing for favors", using Zhufuyan to weaken the strength of the kings, and then eased the tension with the kings by killing nine families of Zhufuyan. It can be said that it is both a struggle and a compromise, both of which are skillfully used. Behind the success, there is Qian Qian's absolute grievance.

The brutality of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is also manifested in the inhuman indiscriminate killing. Some people kill indiscriminately, which is extremely irrational. For example, in his later years, dozens of nine ministers were acquitted. Witchcraft disaster, the prince was killed, the queen was forced to die, and hundreds of thousands of people died and died. Some indiscriminate killings are too rational. For example, Mrs. Gou Jian, who loved herself deeply before her death, was executed "against heaven and human feelings" just because she was worried that "the master was young and the mother was strong" and that the autocratic situation of the queen mother might reappear, just because she was worried that she might be cuckolded after her death.