The Qin State is five hundred years old and has an Achilles heel
During the Warring States Period, it took more than 100 years for the Qin State to complete the great cause of unifying the world, but why did it collapse and declare extinction in the more than ten years after the unification, and even surrendered the Guanzhong homeland and could not get it?
This is the deadliest problem of the Qin State - it is too old. From the time when Qin Xianggong escorted King Ping of Zhou to move eastward and opened the country as a prince in the hometown of the Western Zhou Dynasty (770 BC), to the unification of Qin Shi Huang (221 BC), it took 549 years.
In the course of this long history, the six kingdoms of Kwantung, Qi, Chuyan, Zhao, Wei, and Han, with their centuries-old history and ruling elite group, formed their own unique consciousness and true "vassal states".
Therefore, it was also a long and difficult historical process for Qin to annex and digest these powerful vassal states.
The Qin state has a long history, and after hundreds of years, various vested interest groups in the court are intertwined, which is in stark contrast to the new ruling group in later generations. Even if we take the Shang Dynasty Reform as the starting point, to the unification war of Qin Shi Huang, 128 years have passed, and it has gone through six generations and seven Qin kings.
When Qin Shi Huang began his unification plan, he found that the Qin court had been divided among various interest groups. Although the legal system of Shang Yang contributed to the prosperity of the country and the construction of the army, its fatal weakness was the military merit awarding system, which made the war dividend no longer exist after the unification of the six kingdoms of Qin.
Even so, the vested interests of the Qin state did not understand this, they lacked the foresight to recognize it. Therefore, Qin Shi Huang waged a long-term war against the four kingdoms of Wei, Han, Zhao, and Chu before he became pro-government, and had already cut off nearly half of the territory of these four countries, causing hatred in the world.
But why is he reluctant to concentrate his military efforts on destroying a country first? This is because"A full meal"Not as well"Full"。After the Battle of Changping, Qin's national and military strength had reached half of the world's.
Why were the three kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, and Chu able to revive for a short time, but then they were quickly defeated by the Qin state? This is enough to prove that the previous one"Revival"It's just the intention of the interest groups in the court of the Qin State"Drain the water"with"Raise wolves"。
Therefore, a situation in which the Qin State is strong alone, but the six Kwantung countries can also compete with it, is the most in line with the interests of almost all interest groups in the Qin State, even the ordinary soldiers and ordinary people of the Qin State, but it is not in the interests of the Qin king, who is determined to truly dominate the world, such as Yingzheng.
Qin Shi Huang's reign was underestimated by many because many believed that he could not be compared to emperors like Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, who started from the grassroots class.
However, isn't it more difficult for an old state apparatus that has been established for more than 500 years and has undergone more than 100 years of law changes to accomplish the great cause of unifying the world than for later dynasties when the state apparatus was still running at a high speed?
The unification of Qin Shi Huang directly led to the citizens of the six Kwantung countries becoming the new Qin Dynasty people, enjoying the civil rights and social benefits of the Qin Dynasty, and the old Qin people did not have any additional privileges, and even the previous military merit titles and war benefits were all abolished.
After the unification of the Central Plains, Qin Shi Huang used a huge war machine to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops in the north and south, whether it was to conquer the Xiongnu, seize the Hetao, or conquer Baiyue and Lingnan, these difficult places were a loss-making business from an economic point of view.
At the same time, he also built a lot of spectacular buildings, which from another point of view was also a drain on resources. As a result, just three years after the death of Qin Shi Huang, the old Qin people completely abandoned the Qin royal family, which had ruled them for more than 500 years, and turned to Liu Bang, a Chu general.