Li Si was born in the late Warring States Period. He was a native of Shangcai, Chu State (now southwest of Shangcai County, Henan Province). When he was young, he worked as a minor official in charge of documents. Sima Qian recorded such an incident in "Historical Records: Biography of Li Si": Once, he saw rats eating poop in the toilet. When people or dogs came to the toilet, they all ran away quickly; but the rats he saw in the rice warehouse , one eats big and fat, and plays and mates leisurely in the rice pile, without the threat or fear caused by people or dogs. So, he expressed this emotion: "Whether a person is successful or not, just like a mouse, is determined by his environment." Li Si believed that it does not matter whether people are capable or not, intelligence and intelligence are basically the same, and wealth and poverty are not the same. It all depends on whether you can seize the opportunity and choose the environment. During the Warring States Period, when everyone was vying for fame and fortune, Li Si also wanted to do something great. In order to achieve the goal of becoming a prosperous person, Li Si resigned as a petty official and went to Qi to study and became a disciple of Xun Qing. Xunzi's thoughts are very close to the legalist ideas, and he also studies how to govern the country, which is the so-called "imperial art". After Li Si finished his studies, he analyzed and compared the situations of various countries and decided to go to Qin. After Li Si arrived in Qin, he quickly gained the respect of Qin Prime Minister Lu Buwei. He became a minor official in Qin and had the opportunity to get close to the King of Qin. Once, Li Si said to the King of Qin: "Anyone who succeeds must seize the opportunity. Although Qin Mu was very strong in the past, he failed to complete the great cause of unification because the time was not ripe. Since Qin Xiaogong, Zhou Dynasty The emperor was completely in decline, and the vassal states fought for years, and the Qin State took the opportunity to become stronger. Now that the Qin State is powerful and the king is virtuous, it is as easy to wipe out the six kingdoms as to sweep away the dust on the stove. Now is the best time to complete the imperial cause and unify the world. , don't miss it."
The King of Qin listened to Li Si's plan to alienate the kings and ministers of various countries. For the six countries, Li Si also proposed the order of annexation of "Destroy Han first to fear other countries." So he was appreciated by the King of Qin and promoted to Chang Shi. Li Si persuaded the King of Qin to send people with gold and jade to various countries to buy and bribe, so as to alienate the monarchs and ministers of the six countries. As expected, the effect was achieved, and he was named a guest minister again.
Just when King Qin was determined to unify the six countries, South Korea was afraid of being destroyed by Qin, so he sent water engineer Zheng Guo to Qin to encourage the construction of canals. The purpose was to weaken Qin's manpower and material resources and contain Qin. of eastward. Later, Zheng Guo's purpose of building canals was exposed. At this time, various countries in the East also sent spies to Qin to be guests. The ministers talked a lot about the foreign guests and said to the King of Qin: "People from all over the world who come to Qin mostly come to Qin for the benefit of their own country." If you disrupt the work, please order the expulsion of all visitors." King Qin issued an order to expel guests, and Li Si was also expelled.
Li Si wrote a letter to the King of Qin, persuading the King not to expel guests. This is the famous "Book of Remonstrance and Expulsion of Guests". He said: "I heard that the officials were talking about expelling guests, which is wrong. In the past, Duke Mu of Qin asked for wise men. He invited Yu Yu from the Rong in the west, Baili Xi from the Chu State in the east, and Uncle Jian from the Song State. Duke Mu of Qin appointed Pi Bao and Gongsun Zhi from the Jin State. He annexed twenty countries and dominated Xirong. , Qin State became stronger. King Qin Hui used Zhang Yi's strategy to break up the alliance of the six countries to resist Qin, and forced all countries to obey Qin State. . These four generations of kings all contributed to the Qin State by appointing guest officials. If these four kings also ordered the expulsion of guests, it would only make the country less prosperous and the Qin State not have a strong reputation."
The King of Qin clearly distinguished between right and wrong, decisively adopted Li Si's suggestion, and immediately canceled the order to expel guests. Li Si was still reused and was named a Tingwei. After the unification of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou had many children. Later, they all became estranged and regarded each other as enemies. Wars often broke out, and the emperor of Zhou could not stop them. Only through counties and counties can the world be at peace. Qin Shihuang also believed that the world had been unified, and establishing many kingdoms would not be conducive to unification and would not guarantee peace, so he supported Li Si's opinion. Therefore, he divided the country into thirty-six counties, with counties below the counties. The county system was an improvement over the feudal system and was conducive to the unification of the country.
This entire centralized system fundamentally eradicated the root causes of division and separatism among princes and kingdoms, and played a positive role in consolidating national unity and promoting social development. Therefore, this system has been used in the imperial society after Qin for nearly two thousand years.
Unifying Weights and Measures After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, in order not to affect the economic exchanges and development of the dynasty, Li Si reported to the emperor and suggested abolishing the old system of the Six Kingdoms and clearly unifying the weights and measures from the chaotic and unclear situation, which was approved by Qin Shihuang. The measurement system uses the unit of inches, feet, and feet, and uses the decimal system for counting; the measurement system uses the unit of he, liter, bucket, and bucket, and also uses the decimal system; the scale system uses the baht, liang, catty, jun, and stone as the units , twenty-four baht is one tael, sixteen taels is one catty, thirty catties is one jun, and four jun is one stone. In order to effectively unify the standards and implements, Li Si also took institutional and legal measures to ensure the accurate implementation of weights and measures.
This is another achievement of King Qin who unified China and Li Si ranked second to the prime minister. And its impact is self-evident. For thousands of years, no matter the dynasties changed, this measurement method has never changed, and it still has its presence in life. Unified Currency In 210 BC, the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shi Huang, Li Si presented the last important memorial to Qin Shi Huang: to abolish the currencies of the six countries that were originally used outside Qin, and to unify the currency within China. Although this move was of no great use to the economic development of the Qin Dynasty, it had a great impact on future generations. Under the auspices of Li Si, the currency stipulated that gold should be used as the upper currency, and yi should be used as the unit. Each yi weighs twenty-four taels, and half a tael of copper should be used as the lower currency. Ten thousand copper coins are equivalent to one yi of gold. He also strictly ordered that pearls, jade, turtles, shells, silver, tin, etc. be used as decorations and treasures and not be circulated as currency. At the same time, it is stipulated that the right to mint currency belongs to the state, and private individuals are not allowed to mint coins, and violators will be criminalized. Li Si's move was considered by later generations to be a pioneering work in economic history. The round and square hole Banliang coins (commonly known as Qin Banliang) that he was responsible for casting were used until the end of the Qing Dynasty because of their reasonable design and easy use and portability. Sima Qian: "Li Si used Lu Yan to liaise with the princes and enter the Qin Dynasty. Because of his shortcomings, he assisted the first emperor and died as an emperor. He was the three Dukes, so he was respected and used. He knew the return of the "Six Arts" and did not do Mingzheng to supplement the emperor. The lack of superiority, the importance of holding titles and salaries, the arrogance of A Shun, the severe torture, the desperation of the princes, and the establishment of a concubine. The princes are ready to remonstrate and fight, so it is not the end! The punishment of death is different from the common theory. Otherwise, the merits of this are the same as those of Zhou and Zhao."
Cao Pi: "In the past, Yi was cruel and slandered because he was not favored. Jiang Chong Fenfeng created a poison out of guilt. Gao Si's deception was also greedy for power, and his favor was neglected and he wanted to be noble. They were all close to the flesh and blood, so as to achieve his evil."
Sima. Zhen: "The rat lives in the place, and the man chooses the place. It has the effect of intelligence, and the merits and fame are achieved. The wine is placed in Xianyang, and the ministers are in the best position. A man is deceived, and the magic weapon is changed. The country is killed and killed. The original is the same but the last is different."
Su Shi: "Li Si and Zhao Gaojiao issued an edict to establish Hu Hai, killed Fusu, Meng Tian, ??and Meng Yi, and finally destroyed the Qin Dynasty."
Zeng Gong: "This is not the case for the wanderers of the Warring States Period. No. He knows it is trustworthy and is willing to explain it easily. He is careful and careful, so he talks about the convenience of deceit and conceals its failure. Those who have advantages cannot overcome the disadvantages; if they have gains, they cannot overcome the losses. The disciples of Su Qin, Shang Yang, Sun Bin, Wu Qi, and Li Si were killed, and the princes and Qin used them as well. It is clear that it will be a great disaster for the world, but the world is still unstoppable."
Li Zhi: "When Qin Shihuang was born, the sky collapsed and the earth collapsed."
Gui Youguang: "Li Si used the Qin Dynasty, and the clouds and clouds entered Luo. For a moment, he breathed wind and thunder, and the sun and moon were brilliant. The world was running around and admiring her beauty. Things have changed, so I asked you to lead the yellow dog out to Cai Dongmen. How can we gain anything by listening to the crowing of cranes in Huating?"
Wang Fuzhi: "Qin Zheng and Li Si regarded the destruction of feudalism as an eternal sin, while Jia Yi cried bitterly for the Han Dynasty because of the greatness of the princes and kings. How can it be different from Gu Qin? ”
Yao Nai: “A gentleman’s official position is to advance without concealing the virtuous; a person’s official position, regardless of what he has learned, is that he has good knowledge, but when he sees that his ruler’s behavior is unreasonable and unreasonable, he will be ill.” For the first time, those who often stay in a private home, yet proudly boast about their reputation in the court, know that they are unjust and encourage them to do it, say that the world will forgive me for being helpless to my king, and do not blame me for my sins, knowing that they will lose the country. I do this because my body and appearance can be avoided. Although I know that the world is about to be in chaos, I will not change my current wealth, but use wealth and wealth to cause chaos in the world, so I can enjoy peace and happiness for the rest of my life. , It is a disaster for future generations, but there is no one to give to this feast! What a shame! Before the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, the three tribes of the barbarians were punished. The heaven punished the evil people, and sometimes they were also evil! ”
Ding Yaokang: "Li Si was once a warehouse clerk, and he was happy to see hamsters. From my perspective of life and death, he is just a rat. He started out to make people full, but ended up biting people, and the society of Qin was empty.
As for the yellow dog at the east gate, he still misses the rabbit, and his heart is still alive. Isn't it appropriate to kill someone with an imperial edict and lead to the annihilation of the clan? If the punishment is too high, then even death is not enough. Ruofu Tian is also guilty. He was a famous general of the Qin Dynasty and made great achievements, killing many people. This is why Tai Shigong is guilty. Or: What's Fusu's crime? If Fusu does not die, and the second generation is not killed, can Qin be destroyed? "
Wang Shizhen: "Yu Su did not like Li Zhi's learning, and his Collection of Books and Xu Collection of Books were not comprehensive. Looking at it closely, the most harmful thing to the Tao is the article "On Kuangyi". He said that Fang Xun was crazy and became emperor, King Wen was crazy and became king, Tai Bo was crazy and became uncle, all of them were crazy. Shun, Yu, Tang, Wu, Taigong, Zhou, and Zhao were all crazy. Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty was the god of madness; Emperor Wen was the sage of madness. Such fallacies are just like babbled in a drunken dream, yet they were highly praised by famous people at that time. Why? If Li Si, Sang Hongyang, Lu Buwei, Li Yuan, Jia Xu, and Dong Zhao are famous ministers, and Wen Qiao is a rebel, it is said that likes and dislikes influence people's nature. It is also a big mistake to regard Yang Xiong, Hu Guang, Qiao Zhou and Feng Dao as officials and hidden foreign ministers. ”
Zeng Guofan: “In ancient times, people such as Li Si, Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo, and Yang Su all had unparalleled intelligence and extraordinary disasters. In recent times, such as Lu, He, Su, and Chen, they all knew that they were strong, but they could not protect their end. Therefore, it is okay for us to strive for strength in self-cultivation, but not in the pursuit of strength against others. ”
Mao Zedong: “The Mencius group advocates following the law and prior to the king, favoring the past over the present, and opposes Qin Shihuang. Li Si supported Qin Shihuang and belonged to Xunzi's faction, advocating law first and king later.
Lu Xun once praised Li Si: "Li Si is the only one who wrote Qin's articles", "but Zi's writing has special merits." "His calligraphy is "spiritual in small seal scripts and wonderful in large seal scripts", and he is known as the originator of calligraphy.