First of all, let's talk about the reasons for burning books. The summary of Lisi and his disciples is probably: In the past, princes competed for supremacy, each with its own country, and they rushed to recruit talents, so the atmosphere of private education and study tour was developed. Now that the world is unified, people should work hard in agriculture and industry, and scholars should study the legal system and various criminal laws. But now the scholars taught by these Confucian scholars do not learn the useful practical knowledge at present. What they did was to study ancient books, make random comments and mislead people, which led Qian leaders to doubt the laws and regulations created by your majesty, which was more harmful than any crime. At the same time, as soon as these people talk about the promulgation of the new law, they use the old classic they have learned-rebuttal, which is not only personally dissatisfied, but also attracts criticism when they go out. He became famous by criticizing your majesty, playing tricks by playing the devil's advocate, grandstanding, forming gangs to spread rumors and slander the government. If this situation is not banned quickly, it will lead to the crisis that people are no longer convinced of any administrative measures of the government and must be banned! However, Li Si proposed some compromise measures, such as books and bamboo slips of practical knowledge, such as medicine, divination and gardening. It won't be burned again. Some people who want to learn politics, criminal names and law can go to official schools.
There is no evidence to test how many books were burned, but according to the strictness of the criminal law of the Qin Dynasty at that time, I am afraid that the number of books burned is astronomical. In addition, Qi Xin, the broad masses of the people, worked together to show their magical powers.
After the book burning order was issued, people dug cellars, built double walls and hid books in them. Of course, this action cannot be invited, nor can it be conducted openly during the day. Only in the middle of the night, when neighbors and family members are asleep and get up alone in the dark. Therefore, many white-haired old pedants pick up hoes or trowels for the first time in their lives, and their hands are covered with blisters, but in order to preserve traditional culture, they are only excited and happy, without any regrets or fears. Others are afraid that their books will be discovered sooner or later, and simply turn their brains into book pits, memorizing as much as they can remember day and night. They also have collective cooperation. You were assigned to recite the Rites of Zhou, I recited the Book of Songs, and he recited the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Book of Changes and so on. This is a multi-source ancient book recorded by themselves or dictated by them later, while others use this kind of text (biography). This kind of action is the most active in Qilu, and it is also the only source of ancient China (Da Zhuan) books unearthed several years later.