Qin Shi Huang's book-burning pit was widely regarded as an atrocity by the world.
But in reality, the historical truth is not so serious. According to Yongle, it was the Fangshi, not the Confucian scholars, who pitted it, and the burning of books was only partial, and important documents were preserved.
Let's listen to Yongle's story and understand the real story of the book burning pit Confucianism.
At a banquet, in order to curry favor with Qin Shi Huang, Zhou Qing praised him and almost wanted to lift Qin Shi Huang to heaven. Qin Shi Huang was very satisfied with this, and according to the "Historical Records", he was very happy about it.
However, Dr. Zhuo Yuyue was unhappy with this, and he reminded Qin Shi Huang that for the long-term stability of the country, he should learn from the Zhou Dynasty's feudal system, so that he could get assistance from other regions if one side had problems.
Qin Shi Huang listened to Chun Yuyue's suggestion, and then ordered the scholars and ** of the whole country to discuss it.
In February, Prime Minister Li Si was outraged by this, believing that Confucianism did not understand political affairs, and that the current system of the Qin Dynasty had surpassed that of the Zhou Dynasty, and the instructions issued had supreme authority.
He pointed out that the study of the old law by Confucian scholars was disrespectful to the Qin law, and that they would discuss the shortcomings of the Qin law in private, thereby confusing the people and creating gossip, which could cause the signs of rebellion.
Therefore, Li Si suggested that Qin Shi Huang order the burning of all books of the previous dynasty except for divination and medicine books to prevent these acts from happening. Qin Shi Huang agreed to this suggestion and ordered a nationwide book burning.
This was the part of the book burning that later came into the "Book Burning Pit Confucianism" incident.
The root cause of the "Pit Confucian" incident is the two **Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng**. Qin Shi Huang was so eager to see the true saints that he obeyed them and even offered them up.
However, these two ** were too cunning, and they coaxed Qin Shi Huang to keep his whereabouts mysterious in order to avoid being discovered by demons and monsters, so that real people could appear naturally.
Qin Shi Huang was convinced, and ordered his subordinates to connect the Xianyang Palace with a corridor and a flyover, trying to make his whereabouts difficult to find. Time passed, and Qin Shi Huang never saw the real person.
Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng, worried about bad luck, secretly discussed Qin Shi Huang's misdeeds and found an excuse to escape. Upon hearing the news of their escape, Qin Shi Huang was furious because he had been deceived many times, and this was not the first time.
Therefore, he ordered all the monks in the country to be buried alive in Xianyang, so as to warn the world of the consequences of deceiving the king. This is the beginning and end of the Confucianism in the book-burning incident.
The truth of the "book burning and Confucianism" incident in history is not as described in the idiom. In fact, this incident happened entirely because of the misleading propaganda of Confucianism.
Although this idiom has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it does not really reflect the whole picture of events.