Li Si from "Dune Change" is just as the saying goes, he is smart but he is mistaken by his cleverness. He has great wisdom, but he did not expect that he would make such a wrong decision in his later years. But after all, no one is a sage, and no one can make mistakes. In a long life, no one can avoid making mistakes. Therefore, this is not enough for us to deny the fact that Li Si is not smart. We can only say that Li Si was smart all his life and confused for a while. .
When we evaluate whether Li Si is smart or not, we cannot draw premature conclusions about him just because of this incident. Since Li Si could become the prime minister of Qin, he must have something special about him.
If you want to know a person accurately and comprehensively, it is particularly important to understand his life; and to judge whether a person is smart or not, you need to understand his achievements in life. So, let us first get to know Li Si briefly.
Li Si, whose name is Si and whose courtesy name is Tonggu, was born in the late Warring States Period and was a native of Shangcai, Chu State (now southwest of Shangcai County, Henan Province). He was an outstanding politician, writer, and calligrapher in the Qin Dynasty. His representative works include "Book of Remonstrance and Chasing Guests", "Langya Stone Carving" and "Taishan Fengshan Stone Carving", etc.
After briefly getting to know Li Si, let’s get back to business and take a deeper look at Li Si’s intelligence. Li Si's intelligence:
He went to Qin to try his skills
When Li Si was young, he worked as a clerk in charge of documents. However, he was unwilling to be so mediocre in his life, so he resigned from his position as a petty official and went to Qi State to study, and became a disciple of Xun Kuang. It is recorded in "Historical Records" that Li Si learned the art of emperors from Xun Qing. After Li Si succeeded in his studies, he analyzed the situation faced by the seven countries in the world and believed that only Qin could defeat the six countries and dominate the world. Therefore, Li Si, who had great ambitions, made up his mind to go to Qin to show his talent. In his correct decision, we see his plan for the future of his life. He has his own goals and ideas, which also shows his intelligence.
In 237 BC, Li Si came to Qin. After coming to Qin, he first worked as a retainer under Lu Buwei. After Li Si gained Lu Buwei's trust, he became a personal attendant of King Qin Yingzheng. After Li Si had the opportunity to get close to Ying Zheng, he continued to persuade Ying Zheng and King Qin to attack the six countries in order to become the overlord. King Qin Yingzheng also had this intention, so he appointed Li Si as a long history, and then appointed him as a guest minister, and asked Li Si to formulate a preliminary plan to destroy the six countries and achieve hegemony. This was also the starting point of Li Si's success and fame.
Li Si is like a thousand-mile horse, but he is smart and does not wait for his Bole. Instead, he chooses to take the initiative to find his Bole. This is undoubtedly his cleverness.
After being expelled, he wrote the "Book of Remonstrance and Expulsion"
In 237 BC, King Qin Yingzheng was persuaded by Li Si and determined to annex the six countries. At this time, South Korea was afraid of being destroyed by Ying Zheng, so it ordered Zheng Guo to go to Qin to build aqueducts to contain Qin's military and financial resources. In the end, South Korea's conspiracy was discovered by King Yingzheng of Qin, and he ordered the expulsion of guests from various countries. Li Si was undoubtedly expelled by King Yingzheng of Qin. How could Li Si, who had just emerged, give up on his ideals and ambitions? So on his way out of Qin when he was expelled by the King of Qin, he wrote the "Book of Admonishment and Expulsion of Guests" to persuade the King of Qin. This also reflected Li Si's intelligence from the side, and the "Book of Admonition and Expulsion of Guests" was also written by him. The crystallization of wisdom.
This book contains a large number of historical facts, which illustrates the benefits that guests from various countries can bring to Qin, and focuses on the losses caused by expelling guests. The book also writes that we should not hesitate to All the recruitment of talents reflects the current national conditions of Qin. King Qin suddenly realized after seeing the "Book of Remonstrance and Expulsion of Guests" written by Li Si, and ordered to cancel the expulsion of guest officials from various countries and appointed Li Si as Yanwei.
Li Si's move brought huge benefits to Qin. The water canal (Zheng Guo Canal) built by the State of Zheng greatly promoted the prosperity of the State of Qin, and also enabled King Yingzheng of Qin to have a group of good ministers and generals, such as the well-known Meng Tian, ??Wang Li, Wang Jian, Li Xin, etc. . After submitting the letter, Li Si was reused by King Qin Yingzheng.
Make good plans to help Qin destroy the six kingdoms
Li Si suggested that King Yingzheng of Qin should continue to use Fan Ju's previous strategic measures of "making friends far away and attacking near", first focusing on China's strength, defeating neighboring countries and forming alliances with distant countries. , this will prevent the six countries from calling each other out, and can effectively protect the territory they have conquered, so as to gradually invade the six countries and complete the imperial hegemony. From this seamless plan, we also see Li Si’s cleverness.
Having said that, let us briefly take a look at Li Si’s plan. The first battle against China was in South Korea, which was the weakest among the six countries.
Using the tactics of military suppression, surprise, and pre-emptive strike, they won the victory and captured South Korea in one fell swoop. South Korea was destroyed in 230 BC. The Zhao State had the deepest hatred among the six kingdoms of World War II
In the first stage, the Qin State took advantage of the Zhao State's war with the Yan State and ordered the famous general Wang Jian to capture 9 Zhao State's cities. Later, he ordered Huanjue to capture Pingyang and enter the strategy stalemate stage. After three years of rest and recuperation, Qin State took advantage of the drought in Zhao State and launched a north-south pincer attack on Handan, the capital of Zhao State, to launch the second phase of the offensive. During this period, the famous Qin general Wang Jian used counterintuitive tactics to make the King of Zhao abandon generals Li Mu and Sima Shang, and then captured Handan, the capital of Zhao, in one fell swoop. Zhao was destroyed in 228 BC. The Wei State, which had the strongest defense among the six kingdoms in the Three Wars
Wang Ben, the son of veteran general Wang Jian, first attacked Chu to open its way. Later, he sent troops and diverted the Yellow and Hong Rivers to break through Wei City. Three months later, it was defeated by the Great Army. The king of Wei surrendered in a small boat when the water destroyed his capital. Wei was destroyed in 225 BC. The Chu Kingdom, the largest among the Six Kingdoms in the Four Wars
The famous general Wang Jian avoided the enemy and waited patiently for a year when the enemy's morale was high. When the enemy relaxed their vigilance and their morale was low, he seized this opportunity to break through Shouchun, the capital of the Chu Kingdom. In a typical battle with exhausted enemies in history, Chu was destroyed in 223 BC. The cold and windy Yan Kingdom in the Five Wars and Six Kingdoms
Qin King Yingzheng ordered Wang Ben to lead his troops to attack Liaodong and captured Yan King Xi. Yan was destroyed in 222 BC. Qi, the last surviving state in the Six Wars
learned the experience and lessons from the previous destruction of Chu, avoided the elites of Qi, attacked its flanks, and destroyed Qi in 221 BC.
Since then, the Qin Dynasty, the first unprecedentedly powerful unified country in history, was established, and Ying Zheng called himself Qin Shihuang.
During Ying Zheng’s journey to unify the world, Li Si helped King Ying Zheng of Qin formulate a plan to annex the six countries, and actively deployed and offered suggestions, fully demonstrating his intelligence and talent, and his contribution is indispensable. Later, he was promoted to prime minister by King Yingzheng of Qin.
Abolish the enfeoffment and establish counties and counties
After Qin completed the great cause of unifying the empire, Li Si continued to assist King Yingzheng of Qin to consolidate power and handle national affairs. He suggested that Yingzheng abolish the backward feudal system and implement a system of counties and counties. The content of the system of counties and counties is to establish several counties in the country, and then establish counties and townships below the counties, which are unified under the leadership of the government. Officials are appointed and dismissed by the central government, and the central government establishes three public offices. and Jiuqing, to make their division of labor clear and better able to assist Yingzheng in managing government affairs.
The system of prefectures and counties proposed by Li Si has been used by subsequent feudal dynasties for nearly 2,000 years since the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, and has had a significant impact on the history of China and the world. If it were not for his great ingenuity, the county system would not have been established, nor would it have been in use for nearly 2,000 years, nor would it have had such a profound impact on history.
Personally presided over the unification of writing
Since many princes have been in a state of division and separatism for a long time, there are also considerable differences in language and writing, which will have a great impact on the future development and development of the country. Progress is a big obstacle. Li Si proposed to Qin King Ying Zheng to unify the written language. Ying Zheng readily accepted it and gave Li Si the responsibility for the matter. So Li Si personally took charge, based on the original Qin fonts, abolished some traditional Chinese characters, integrated and created some simple and easy-to-use small seal scripts as standard characters, and promoted learning throughout the country.
During this period, Li Si not only unified writing, he also made important contributions to unifying laws, currency, weights and measures, and tracks. This move greatly promoted the cultural exchanges of various ethnic groups, the exchange of commodities and materials, and the construction of transportation, allowing the Qin Dynasty to develop rapidly in terms of culture, economy, transportation, etc. The unification of its currency was followed by the feudal society for more than two thousand years after the Qin Dynasty and had far-reaching influence.
Whether it is him unifying writing, unifying laws, or unifying currency, etc., if Li Si did not have real great wisdom, this would be impossible for him to accomplish. Li Si's decision-making mistakes:
Life's failure: Sand Dune Change
Qin King Yingzheng died of illness on the way back from his fifth tour. Before his death, he orally asked Zhao Gao to give Prince Fusu wrote a letter asking Fusu to return to Xianyang as soon as possible to handle the funeral and inherit the throne. But before this letter was sent, King Qin Yingzheng passed away. Zhao Gao then wanted to help Hu Hai usurp the throne. He knew well that Li Si would lose to Meng Tian after Fusu succeeded to the throne and was afraid of being left out, so he discussed with Li Si about helping Hu Hai usurp the throne. In order to protect his noble rights, Li Si arrogantly believed that he could defeat the eighteenth prince Hu Hai and Zhao Gao, the magistrate of the CRRC, so he made the most foolish decision in his life and forged a will with Zhao Gao. The eighteenth prince Hu Hai was made the second emperor of Qin.
After Hu Hai successfully succeeded to the throne, Zhao Gao became aware of Li Si's threat to him. Zhao Gao, who had already gained Hu Hai's trust, became murderous towards Li Si, so Zhao Gao falsely accused Li Si of having "treason" intentions and Li Si was tortured to extract a confession, and finally Li Si was forced to admit the fact of his "treason".
Li Si stills
In 208 BC, Li Si was expelled from the three barbarian tribes, and Li Si withdrew from the stage of history. Summary
After understanding Li Si’s life, everyone must have their own opinions in their hearts. He made outstanding contributions to great measures such as writing a letter to advise King Qin Yingzheng not to expel guest officials; helping to realize the grand plan of annexing the six countries; abolishing the feudal system and implementing the system of prefectures and counties; and unifying the writing, currency, weights and measures of the six countries. We showed his true talent and intelligence.
As the saying goes, "There is no pure gold, no man is perfect." After all, Li Si is not a saint. He also had his moments of confusion, and his missteps in his later years are not enough for us to deny Li Si's cleverness. fact. Throughout his life, Li Si was indeed a man of great wisdom.