Qin Shihuang was born in the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty. At that time, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty had begun to decline, and there were seven relatively powerful vassal states. There was a battle between them that lasted for hundreds of years, which was called "Seven Heroes of the Warring States" in history. In the separatist situation at that time, after Qin Xiaogong appointed Shang Yang to carry out political reform, Qin achieved great success. By the end of the Warring States (the birth of Qin Shihuang), Qin had possessed the basic conditions for unifying the six countries in politics, military affairs and economy. In 238 BC, after Qin Shihuang took office, he selected many effective military commanders, and used the strategy of making distant friends and attacking near, dividing and alienating each other, and divide and conquer the other six countries. In 221 BC, the last country was destroyed, and the first centralized unified dynasty in China history was established, namely the Qin Dynasty, which was named Qin Shihuang.
after Qin Shihuang unified China, he immediately carried out a series of reforms. Politically, the enfeoffment system since Shang and Zhou Dynasties was abolished, and the county system was implemented, announcing that the position of county officials could not be inherited, that state affairs were presided over by the emperor himself, and that important officials were directly appointed and removed by the emperor; County officials regularly transfer positions to prevent them from establishing spheres of influence; Build Chidao and Straight Road to connect the capital and counties. This set of centralized feudal autocracy established by Qin Shihuang is of epoch-making significance.
in addition, Qin Shihuang also carried out many policies and measures to safeguard national unity. He unified laws, unified measurement, currency and writing. These policies and measures played a great role in promoting the economic development, cultural integration and civilized development of China feudal society.
during the Qin Shihuang period, after the reform, the characters of Xiao Zhuan and Li Shu began to rise, and the ancient characters were transformed into modern characters. Although the dynasty changed in the future, different languages and pronunciations were used in different places, but the unified writing always linked the whole Chinese nation. The square-hole and round-coin system he reformed has been used for two thousand years in the currency history of China.
In 213 BC, in order to carry out the new dynasty system, the emperor adopted the suggestion of Lisi, a representative of the Legalist School, and ordered the burning of historical books and other books of various countries except industrial, military, agricultural, legal, medical and Qin Dynasty historical books, which caused a fire of burning books all over the country. In the second year of burning books, in order to further crack down on heresy, Qin Shihuang buried more than 46 scholars in Xianyang alive and exiled all the rest to remote mountainous areas. This is the famous "burning books to bury Confucianism" incident in history. "Burning books to bury Confucianism" has not only wasted the crystallization of the cultural development of the Chinese nation for more than a thousand years, but also killed the freedom of academic discussion, interrupted the situation of a hundred schools of thought contending and active thinking since the Spring and Autumn Period, and since then, it has set a precedent for China's great literary inquisition.
In terms of foreign policy, Qin Shihuang launched a large-scale campaign against the south and other regions of China. He conquered Baiyue in the south and dealt a heavy blow to Xiongnu in the north. In order to prevent the Huns from harassing the northern border, Qin Shihuang mobilized a large number of manpower and material resources, repaired and built the Great Wall on the basis of Yan, Zhao and Qin Yuan, and connected the Great Wall in the north to form a huge high wall. This is the world-famous Great Wall of Wan Li, which represents the long history of China.
In order to get the elixir of life, Qin Shihuang spent millions of dollars several times, and sent 3, boys and girls to the bottom of the sea to be buried and fed to fish and turtles. In order to build his own mausoleum, he sent 7, prisoners to build it all year round; Repairing Epang Palace, building the Great Wall, attacking Xiongnu, and defending the border ... all these have increased the tax burden of the people. The people can no longer live under the conditions of exorbitant levies, heavy taxes and endless corvee. The assassination of Qin Shihuang happened many times, but all failed. In 21 BC, Qin Shihuang died of illness. In 29 BC, farmers Chen Sheng and Wu Guang led the peasant uprising which was unbearable for exploitation, and the world gathered in response, and the Qin Dynasty soon collapsed and perished.
Qin Shihuang is not only a great man at the turning point of China's long history, but also a tyrant in the eyes of future generations.