Ying Zheng, that is, the first emperor of Qin, surnamed Ying Mingzheng, is the son of King Xiang of Qin Zhuang, born in Handan, the time is the first month of the 48th year of King Zhao of Qin (259 BC). He ascended the throne at the age of thirteen (247 BC) and became king, and due to his young age, most of the affairs of the state were decided by the prime minister Lü Buwei. During the period from the first year of the reign of King Qin (246 BC) to the seventh year (240 BC), Qin continued its foreign wars, mainly attacking the three kingdoms of Han, Wei, and Yan, capturing thirteen cities in Korea, twenty cities in Wei, and twenty cities in Yan. In the eighth year of the reign of King Qin (239 BC), he ordered his younger brother Chang'an Jun Chengjun to lead an army to attack Zhao. However, Cheng Jun rebelled and was defeated in Tunliu, and his officers were executed. In the ninth year, Changxin Hou also launched a rebellion. Qin Wangzheng sent troops to fight Chang Poison in Xianyang, captured Chang Poison, split him in public, and exterminated his family. According to historical records, Lü Buwei proposed to sacrifice Ji Jin, who was pregnant, when Zhao was a hostage, and the child he gave birth to was Zheng. After Zheng ascended the throne, his mother became the empress dowager, and the relationship with Lü Buwei continued. Lü Buwei feared that he would be executed, so he promoted Chang Yu to eunuch, and the empress dowager favored him so much that he was able to intervene in the affairs of the state and began to conceive a rebellion.
Ten years later, Lü Buwei was removed from the position for promoting Chang Yu and was sealed to Henan. Fearing that he would start a rebellion, Qin Wangzheng gave him a letter to the effect that he asked about his merits to Qin, the reason for sending him to Henan, and his relationship with his self-proclaimed Zhong father, and finally ordered him to move to Shu. Lü Buwei was so frightened that he finally chose to commit suicide by drinking poison. From then on, the Qin Dynasty began to monopolize power, and the throne was consolidated, realizing the situation of "everything is decided by me", replacing the original situation in which Lü Buwei and Chang Yu decided the major affairs of the state. He destroyed six nations. Qin Wangzheng entered the youth period, just as the Seven Heroes entered the decisive period. Relying on the solid foundation laid by his ancestors, he put down the rebellion of Chang Yu and others, and put him in an advantageous position in the confrontation between the Seven Heroes. He seized the opportunity to transform the struggle against the Six Nations from encroachment to annexation. He took Lee Si's advice and formulated the annexation order of "attacking Korea first to show other countries". In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Qin (233 BC), King Han sent Han Fei's envoys to Qin, but Han Fei was executed in Yunyang after arriving in Qin. The king of Han was afraid, so he called his ministers obedient. In the sixteenth year (231 B.C.), Korea donated the land of Nanyang.
The following year, Qin Wangzheng sent Nei Shi Teng to attack Korea, captured Han Wang'an, and destroyed Korea. In the eighteenth year (229 BC), the Qin prince sent Duan He to lead an army to besiege Handan. The following year, he sent Wang Jian and others to attack Zhao and captured Zhao Wangqian. Jia, the son of Zhao State, established himself as the acting king. Qin Wangzheng arrived in Handan and carried out ** on those who had hatred for the Empress Dowager's family. In the twenty-first year (226 BC), Qin Wangzheng sent Wang Ben and Wang Jian to attack Yan State, captured Jicheng, and obtained the head of Yan Prince Dan. King Yan fled to Liaodong. In the twenty-second year (225 BC), the Qin Wangzheng sent Wang Ben to attack the Wei state, irrigating water to conquer the Great Liang. The king of Wei surrendered, and the state of Wei perished. In 224 BC, Qin sent Wang Jian to attack Chu and capture the Chu monarch, who then made Changping the new Chu monarch. However, the following year, the combined forces of Wang Jian and Mengwu defeated the Chu ** team, resulting in the killing of Changping Jun and the suicide of Xiang Yan. Then, Wang Ben of Qin attacked the Liaodong region of Yan and captured the Yan monarch Xi, and attacked Dai, capturing Taiwang Jia.
Soon after, Wang Ben led an army to attack Qi from the south, and finally destroyed Qi, which marked that Qin cut off six countries in just ten years, ended hundreds of years of ** state, and established a unified empire of unprecedented scale. In the process of destroying the Six Kingdoms, the royal government of Qin created the Qin Empire, which continued to grow and grow while deepening his own satisfaction. After the destruction of the Qi State in 221 BC, the prime minister and imperial historian of the Qin State suggested: "We rely on our meager body to revive the army and crusade **, so that we can rely on the spirit of the ancestral temple to make the six countries submit to us, and the situation of great unification can be formed." Now, we need a name that reflects our success and will pass it on to future generations. We should discuss whether we should be emperor or not. The Qin monarch decided to call himself the "First Emperor", which meant that he had supreme and eternal power. He hoped that he and his descendants, from the First Emperor to thousands of generations, would be able to inherit the title. In the same year, the First Emperor also advocated the "Legend of the Five Virtues of the End", believing that the Zhou Dynasty obtained fire virtue, and the Qin Dynasty replaced the Zhou Dynasty, which should be the beginning of water virtue.
In order to reflect the characteristics of Shuide, he changed the beginning of the year, every year from the beginning of October, all clothes, Xuan, and festival flags should be black, all monuments should use the number six, charms, and crowns should be used six inches, the height of the car was six feet, and the horses were also six. In addition, he changed the name of the river to "De Shui" to reflect the beginning of water virtue. The First Emperor formulated these regulations to show that the emergence of the Qin State in history was inevitable and in accordance with the will of Heaven. This is a special form of deification of imperial power, a reproduction of the so-called "Mandate of Heaven" of the Zhou Dynasty. After destroying the six states, the prime minister of Qin suggested that a king be set up to guard these regions. Qin Shi Huang adopted Li Si's advice and abolished the ancient feudal system and replaced it with the county system. Under the circumstances, the extent to which the county system was implemented is unknown. However, from the perspective of the system itself, the county system replaces the local government based on blood relations with the local government that implements the geographical standard, which is the main symbol of the feudalization of local power. In the twenty-eighth year of the first emperor in 219 B.C., he carved the words "Within the four seas, the emperor's land and people everywhere they go, there are no ministers".
This clearly defined the status of the emperor as not only the supreme ruler, but also the supreme owner of the land, and those who lived on the land were both citizens and vassals. In 213 BC, Qin Shi Huang followed Li Si's advice and issued a decree: all historical books except the historical records of the Qin state must be burned, and anyone who secretly collects poetry books and hundreds of schools of thought must be handed over to the guards to be burned together. Anyone who dared to quote poetry would face the death penalty. At the same time, he also purged those who admired antiquity and did not conform to reality. If people want to learn Xi law, they can only take ** as a teacher. In the following year, Qin Shi Huang was slandered by rumors by Lu Sheng and others, and ordered the murder of more than 460 Confucian scholars in Xianyang. From then on, the feudal ruling dynasty of Qin Shi Huang was fully established. He had the supreme ownership of the land and absolute political rule, and at the same time demanded absolute obedience to his ruling system. However, under his arrogant mentality, he acted arbitrarily and brutally exploited and enslaved the people, which made them unbearable. Eventually, shortly after his death, the dynasty came to an end.