There has never been an emperor as controversial as Qin Shi Huang, some say he was a cruel tyrant, others say he was the first emperor of the ages whose merits are higher than the sky.
The Great Wall, the landmark building he left behind, is also debated endlessly, some people say that it was Qin Shi Huang who had the courage to contribute a great miracle to mankind; Others say that it is evidence of his tyrannical crimes, made of countless white bones.
Even his origins were questioned, saying that he was not the legitimate heir of King Qin.
Qin Shi Huang's father, Zi Chu, once went to Zhao as a hostage, where he met Lü Buwei, a wealthy man who defended the country. In order to enter politics, Lü Buwei took a fancy to Zichu's potential stock, and gave him his pregnant concubine Zhao Ji. Zichu didn't see that Zhao Ji gave birth to a male baby soon after, and this boy was Yingzheng.
Soon after returning to China, Zichu's father, King Qin Xiaowen, died, and he naturally succeeded to the throne, that is, King Xiang of Qin Zhuang. King Xiang of Qin Zhuang only served as emperor for a few years before he died, and Yingzheng naturally became the king of Qin.
Some people say that he is a "wild seed" born to Lü Buwei and Zhao Ji, which is impossible to verify.
In any case, after Ying Zheng took office, he reused Wang Jian militarily and Li Si and others administratively, plus the dividends brought by the Shang Dynasty reform, the Qin State finally achieved hegemony and swept the six countries in 221 BC, unifying China for the first time.
Therefore, it seems that it is not an exaggeration to say that Qin Shi Huang is "an emperor through the ages".
But Qin Shi Huang was very tyrannical, and the monuments such as Afang Palace, the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and the ancient Great Wall are actually ironclad evidence of his mediocrity and cruelty. In order to create a miracle of the world, the corpses of exhausted people are piled up, and it seems that calling him a "tyrant" does not seem to have wronged him.
Today, we will not talk about his merits and demerits, nor about his ruling skills, but only about why he called himself "I" in a unique way.
It is said that after Yingzheng unified China, many things were different from the past.
For example, in the Shang Dynasty, February was counted as the first month of the year, and in the Zhou Dynasty, November was counted as the beginning of the year, which was practiced for five or six hundred years.
After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, the year of the beginning of each year was also changed, and October was set as the first month of each year, and the time to celebrate the entry of the dynasty was the first day of October.
And black became the most noble color, at that time to say that people are "really black", not derogatory, but to praise you,
At that time, the number was "six for" and the distance of one step was six feet. At that time, the talisman and crown were all six inches, and the width of the chariot at that time was also six feet. Even the horses that drove were no more, no less, six horses.
What's more, the Qin Dynasty's name was also different from that of the Zhou Dynasty.
Qin Shi Huang said to his minister: "I have unified the six kingdoms, and the title of King of Qin is too stingy to match my great achievements, and now I must change my name, not like the kings of the previous six kingdoms." ”
The ministers nodded yes when they heard this, and began to rack their brains to think, hoping to give King Qin a domineering and connotative name.
Prime Minister Wang Xuan, Imperial Historian Feng Zai, Tingwei Li Si and others discussed with the doctors and then wrote to King Qin: "In ancient times, there were emperors, there were emperors, there were emperors, and there were emperors of Thailand, among which the emperor of Thailand was the most noble. ”
King Qin said: "In my opinion, the 'Thai Emperor' is a bit cumbersome, and only the word 'Emperor' is retained;Another word is the title of 'emperor' in ancient times, and it is called 'emperor' when connected. ”
When the minister of civil and military affairs heard this, he applauded repeatedly, and the king of Qin began to change his name to "emperor".
Qin Shi Huang was also unique, abolishing the old rule of giving nicknames to his ancestors after his death, saying that he would no longer take the nickname after a hundred years, and he was called "Shi Huang" when he was alive, and he was still called so after his death. As for the emperor's son, he is called the second and the grandson is called the third, which is both trouble-free and domineering.
From then on, the king of Qin began to be called Qin Shi Huang, and his son Hu Hai, who inherited the throne after his death, was called "II". It's a pity that the Qin Dynasty only passed on the second generation and died, and it was not for thousands of generations.
Before the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, the kings of various countries called themselves "widows".
Some people say that widowhood means "a man of few virtues", and the king is very modest, saying that he is unkind, so he calls himself "widow".
In fact, otherwise, how can anyone harm themselves? The ancients believed that widowhood was a great and noble meaning.
The widow is also the one who is superior; The multitude is also the one who is inferior. This is indeed the case, all strata of feudal society are an upright pyramid, and there are many people at the bottom of the tower, and there are the vast number of working people.
In the middle of the tower is the scholar, and then up is the county order and other places**, fast to the top of the tower is the provincial and ministerial level**, and then up is the princes and nobles.
At the top of the tower, there is only the emperor alone. The higher up, the number of people is very small, and there is only one king, so the kings of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period call themselves "widows".
During the Three Kingdoms period, the princes who did not claim the title of emperor but only called the king, such as Cao Cao and Sun Quan, called themselves "lonely", which is also the meaning.
Before Qin Shi Huang became emperor, the word "I" was very ordinary, and it was the first person who was very common, even those who picked up garbage on the street could call themselves "I".
For example, Zhang San asked Li Si to go shopping, and Li Si could reply like this: "I'm sorry, I don't have time today, I can't leave."
However, in order to make Qin Shi Huang happy, Prime Minister Li Si suggested that the word "I" would be used exclusively by the emperor in the future, and only the emperor Lao'er could use it alone, and the rest of the people would definitely not be able to use it, otherwise they would be locked up and sentenced to death. Therefore, it was at that time that the character "朕" became the patent of Chinese emperors, and existed for more than 2,000 years, until the Xinhai Revolution occurred and the Qing court was destroyed.
So the question is, why did this first-person pronoun, which was originally a common folk pronoun, become the exclusive title of Qin Shi Huang?
In fact, as long as you take apart the word "I" and analyze it, we will find that there is a deep meaning in it, and the ideals and ambitions of Qin Shi Huang are buried.
You might say, what? Tear apart the word "I"? Isn't this just a "month" and a "guan" word? I don't see anything mysterious. In fact, the word "I" we see now is simplified.
At that time, the character "朕" was a hieroglyphic script.
The composition of this character is roughly as follows: on the left is a boat, that is, a "boat", and on the right is a 灷 (因zhuàn), which means fire on the ship, or fire!
Water is the source of life, where there is water, there is life, Chinese civilization originated in the Yellow River Basin, the people live and reproduce according to water. And without boats, people can't move an inch and can't travel.
With a boat, you can also fish and live a quality of life. When attacked by a fierce beast, you can sit on the boat and take shelter; In the event of a natural disaster, the boat is also a means of escape.
The mark of a successful man is to see if you have a boat and how many boats you have.
As the saying goes, "everything grows on the sun", and the sun's photosynthesis allows humans to have food to eat.
However, the sun is about to set, and there is no sun when it is cloudy and rainy. It's easy to do without the sun on a cloudy day, but if there is no sun and no light at night, people will be afraid.
Don't talk about the beasts, even if you hear their roar, everyone will tremble or run for their lives.
Because at that time, mankind had not yet invented gunpowder, there was no hunting gun; In the beginning, people didn't even have knives, almost with their bare hands.
As we all know, wild beasts are afraid of fire, and after having fire, they can make the beast retreat, and after having fire, they no longer have to worry about freezing to death. Fire can also make humans change their diet, bring light and drive away fear.
The Suiren clan is the legendary inventor of drilling wood to make fire, so he is respected as the eldest of the three emperors, ranking in front of the Fuxi and Shennong clans.
In ancient times, with the possession of ships and fire, there was a dominant position, which is equivalent to the current monopoly of oil and gas, and is a symbol of status, status and power.
Qin Shi Huang believed that taking "I" as an imperial title was tantamount to monopolizing ships and fire, and others had to rely on themselves.
Qin Shi Huang did this, or to deter the nobles of the Six Kingdoms who were unwilling to be reconciled because of the destruction of the country: I am supreme, don't try to challenge my authority, otherwise, it will be a dead end!
At the same time, Li Si believed that Qin Shi Huang's unification of the six countries was equivalent to uniting the scattered countries together, sitting on a huge ship, advancing with torches held high, invincible, and becoming a huge empire.
Qin Shi Huang chose to use"I"As a self-proclaimed, it can also be interpreted as his ambition to lead his subjects to do something that no one has done before.
He hopes that he will be like a helmsman, leading his subjects to ride the wind and waves on the great rivers and rivers and run to the ideal world of universal harmony.
In Qin Shi Huang's eyes, he was sent by heaven to save the people of Limin. It is this sense of mission that has allowed him to leave behind several wonders of the world.
It was also the severe punishment brought about by such a sense of mission that made the common people live in dire straits, and resentment accumulated in their hearts, until Hu Hai ruled to vent it, and the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings broke out, sounding the death knell of the Great Qin Empire.
In this way, although the sense of mission made Qin Shi Huang, it also destroyed the Great Qin Empire.