The Qin Dynasty is an extremely important dynasty in the history of China, which ended the 500-year separatist regime since the Spring and Autumn Period and became the first unified, multi-ethnic and centralized feudal country in the history of China. From Qin Shihuang's political victory to Zi Ying and Qin Sanshi, he spread san huang and enjoyed the country for fifteen years.
Ying Zheng, king of Qin, launched a large-scale annexation war after he came to power. From 230 BC to 22 BC1year1year, Qin destroyed Korea, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Qi. Realized the national unity. The Qin Dynasty was founded, and its capital was located in Xianyang. Ying Zheng, the king of Qin, thought that his merits were higher than that of Huang San and his virtue was higher than that of the Five Emperors, so he adopted these two honorifics to become the emperor, as the proper name of the son of heaven. He claimed to be the "first emperor" of the Qin Dynasty (22 1-2 10), and his descendants will be "II" and "III" ... even infinite.
Qin Shihuang established centralization with the emperor as the core: the central government is divided into three levels: government affairs, military affairs and supervision, which are under the responsibility of Prime Minister Qiu and Imperial Physician; The local county system is implemented, and the world is divided into 36 counties (later increased to 4 1 county). There are counties under the county, and there are grassroots organizations such as townships, pavilions and villages under the county. In this way, the whole country is under the strict rule of the emperor and his family from top to bottom. Qin Shihuang also took a series of measures to consolidate reunification. Throughout the country, the equatorial straight road was built, water conservancy was built, Lingqu was built, weapons were destroyed, and the capital was moved to Xianyang to enrich the people on a large scale. Move ten thousand surnames to fill in the border and sentence criminals to guard the border; Unified currency, taking Qin's round square hole money as a unified currency, is very useful for promoting economic exchanges among all ethnic groups and regions. Unified writing, with simplified Chinese characters and small seal characters as the standard font, making it universal throughout the country. As a result, there appeared a font official script that was simpler than Xiao Zhuan's writing. Now regular script is evolved from official script. The unification of writing promotes cultural exchange. Unifying tracks and weights and measures makes the length, capacity and weight have a unified standard, which facilitates economic development. In agriculture, Qin practiced "strengthening the foundation and restraining the end", allowing private ownership of land and free trading. Establish private ownership of land and unify household registration management; In addition, Qin Shihuang also extensively built Chidao leading to the whole country with Xianyang as the center. And he himself has visited all parts of the country many times along the newly-built equator, and has always been happy to record his achievements everywhere.
Qin Shihuang's series of unification measures were naturally aimed at establishing the rule of his family for generations, but the system he created was often followed by successive dynasties, thus laying the foundation for China to be a unified multi-ethnic country.
Qin Shihuang also enforced harsh laws in the cultural field, arbitrarily controlled his thoughts and imprisoned freedom of speech. In 2 13 BC, Qin Shihuang stipulated that all the history books except Qin were burned. Except for books on medicine, divination and tree planting, other books such as poems, books and hundreds of languages were burned. Whoever mentions "poetry" and "book" again will be beheaded; People who regard the past as the present will be copied by others. In the second year, some alchemists and Confucian scholars talked about Qin Shihuang's authoritarian and abusive punishment behind his back. Qin Shihuang pursued it and ordered a search for Confucian scholars who were dissatisfied with the court. A total of 460 people were arrested and buried alive. These two things are called "burning books to bury Confucianism" in history.
In addition to the unified measures in politics, economy and culture, Qin Shihuang also paid attention to opening to the outside world, and the northern expedition to Xiongnu and Nanping made China's territory wide open. At that time, the territory of the Qin Dynasty started from Dragon Tree in the west, east to Liaodong, north to the desert and south to the South China Sea, which greatly surpassed the previous generation and formed the foundation of China's territory. The best witness of Qin Dynasty's brilliant martial arts is the construction of the Great Wall in Wan Li. The Great Wall was originally the product of strengthening the frontier defense of Yan, Zhao and Qin during the Warring States Period. Xiongnu, who lived in the desert in northern China at that time, invaded the south from time to time. In order to deal with this kind of unrest, the northern countries set up their own cities to defend themselves. After the Qin Dynasty, Meng Tian, a general, led 300,000 troops to the northern expedition to Xiongnu, connecting the original walls built by Yan, Zhao and Qin, and making up and repairing them. The rebuilt part exceeds the sum of the original Great Walls of the Three Kingdoms and becomes the "Great Wall of Wan Li" from Lintao, Gansu in the west to Liaoning in the east (the Great Wall was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, starting from Jiayuguan in the west and ending at Shanhaiguan in the east, with a total length of more than 6,000 kilometers).
The construction of the Qin dynasty also included the repair of chidao and the construction of canals. For example, Shuxia (Bianhe River, Henan Province) is a waterway hub connecting Hebei, Ru, Huai and Si. In 2 14 BC, Governor Shilu built a Lingqu, which was more than 60 miles long and connected Hunan and Lishui.
In order to satisfy his extravagant desires and arrange his final destination, Qin Shihuang recruited millions of migrant workers and built palaces and tombs. Afang Palace (now Afang Village, Xi, Shaanxi Province) is the most famous palace. Five miles from east to west, a thousand steps from north to south. It was huge and was not built until the death of Qin Shihuang. And the mausoleum he carefully planned for himself-Lishan Mausoleum-was also built for 36 years, and it was barely completed when he died. In recent years, a large pit of terracotta warriors and horses has been found in its east, which contains about 7,000 terracotta warriors and horses, 100 chariots and horses and thousands of various weapons. It is praised as "the eighth wonder of the world" by Chinese and foreign people. In addition, Qin Shihuang staged a large-scale demonstration in China, demanding the elixir of life. In particular, there is no limit to the collection of corvees, and heavy taxes are imposed and the punishment is cruel. At the end of the first emperor, people all over the country were already in general resentment and dissatisfaction.
In the thirty-seventh year of the first emperor (2 10 BC), Qin Shihuang died on his way to the south of Shandong and Hebei. Prime Ministers Zhao Gao and Li Sijie killed Prince Su and made his brother Hu Hai succeed him, namely Qin Ershi. II was fatuous, and under the control of Zhao Gao, he was more tyrannical than the first emperor. In July of the first year of II (209 BC), a peasant uprising led by defenders Chen Sheng and Guangwu finally broke out. The flames of the uprising spread rapidly, and anti-Qin forces from all over the country came to participate. The remnants of the old nobles of the six countries, the lower officials of Qin State and local forces also rose up against Qin State. Qin Jun suffered a crushing defeat. However, the internal contradictions of the insurgents soon appeared, and they killed each other. The anti-Qin struggle was led by Xiang Yu, an old aristocrat of the six countries, and Liu Bang, a junior official of the former Qin Dynasty, respectively. By this time, Zhao Gao had killed Prime Minister Reese and II, and made the first emperor Sun Ziying the king of Qin. In 207 BC, Xiang Yu defeated Qin Jun, and Qin Jun was completely annihilated in the Battle of Julu. Zi Ying killed Zhao Gao. In 206 BC, Liu Bang entered the customs, went to the dam outside Xianyang City, Zi Ying left the city, and Qin died. History has entered the stage of Chu-Han War between Chu King headed by Xiang Yu and Hanwang headed by Liu Bang. In the first 202 years, Xiang Yu was defeated and Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor.
Although the history of the Qin Dynasty was short, it had a far-reaching influence on later generations. Qin Shihuang unified Chinese mainland, and its territory has been basically used to this day, except for the undeveloped border areas in the west, southwest and northeast. A set of centralization established at the beginning of the emperor was basically inherited by later dynasties; The Great Wall of Wan Li built in Qin Dynasty is still a miracle in the history of world architecture. However, the rule of Qin Shihuang was a rare brutal rule in history, so it was quickly overthrown by the people and became a short-lived dynasty.