On the Passage of the Qin Dynasty
Table of Contents·Explanation
·About the Author
·Original Text (Part 1)
· Translation (Part 1)
·Book Review (Part 1)
·Original Text (Chinese)
·Translation (Chinese)
·Original Text ( Part 2)
·Translation (Part 2)
·Summary
On the Passage of Qin
English name:
On the Qin
Explanation
The original text of "On the Qin" is divided into three parts: the first, middle and second chapters. It is included in the first volume of "New Book" and the fifty-first volume of "Selected Works". It can also be found in "Historical Records·Qin Benji", "Historical Records·Chen She Family" and "Hanshu". The full text focuses on analyzing the faults of the Qin Dynasty from all aspects, so it is called "On Guo Qin". This article aims to summarize the historical experience of the Qin Dynasty's rapid demise, so as to use it as a reference for the Han Dynasty to establish institutions and consolidate its rule.
About the author
Jia Yi (200 BC-168 BC), known as Jia Taifu, Jia Changsha and Jia Sheng. A native of Luoyang (now east of Luoyang, Henan). A political commentator and writer in the early Western Han Dynasty. At a young age, he became known to the world for his poetry and literature. Later, he was used by Emperor Wen, who advocated reform and was demoted. He was appointed Taifu of King Huai of Liang. King Huai of Liang fell off his horse and died. He injured himself and died of sorrow and anger. His main literary achievements are political essays and the author of ten volumes of "New Books". His representative works include the first, middle and second chapters of "On Guo Qin", "Chen Zheng Shi Shu" (also known as "Public Security Policy"), "On Accumulation and Storage", etc. "Lun Guo Qin" summarizes the lessons of the rise and fall of the Qin Dynasty, but it actually reveals the mistakes of the Han Dynasty. "Chen Zheng Shi Shu" and "On Accumulation and Storage Shu" are works that criticize current affairs and propose the method of "many princes but less power" to consolidate the centralization system. It is necessary to "drive the people back to the countryside" and consolidate political power. His prose is thorough in reasoning, rigorous in logic, powerful in momentum, and has sonorous and powerful words, which has a great influence on the prose of later generations. Lu Xun once said that his and Chao Cuo's articles "are all great works of the Western Han Dynasty, which benefited future generations and have far-reaching benefits." "Hanshu Yiwenzhi" records seven poems, which he wrote when he was demoted to Changsha and was crossing the Xiang River. "Diao Qu Yuan Fu", as a self-instruction. He lived in Changsha for three years and wrote "Ode to the Songbird". He used the question and answer with the Pengniao to explain "the principles of the change of all things". He did not care about death, life, honor or disgrace, or all living beings. It comes from the heart, and the sadness comes to life on the page. The essence of the poem is to express concern for the country. His Fu is all in Sao style, and the form tends to be scattered, which is the forerunner of the development of Han Fu. He wrote fifty articles, which were compiled by Liu Xiang into ten volumes of "New Book", but are now lost. People in the Ming Dynasty compiled "Jia Changsha Collection", and modern people compiled "Jia Yi Collection", published by Shanghai People's Publishing House.
Original text (Part 1)
On the Passage of Qin · Part 1
Qin Xiaogong occupied the land of Yongzhou, and the emperor and ministers stayed there to get a glimpse of the Zhou Dynasty. It has the meaning of sweeping the world, encompassing the universe, encompassing the four seas, and annexing the heart of the eight wastelands. At that time, the Lord of Shang assisted him, internally enacting laws, doing farming and weaving, repairing and guarding war equipment, externally linking up balance and fighting against the princes. So the Qin people surrendered and took the area outside the Xihe River.
Since Xiaogong was gone, Huiwen, Wu, Zhaoxiang and Meng had their old responsibilities. Due to the legacy policy, Hanzhong was taken from the south, Bashu was raised from the west, the sacred land was cut from the east, and key counties were taken from the north. The princes are afraid, will form an alliance and seek to weaken the Qin, and do not love the precious and fertile land, so that all the people in the world will unite and establish diplomatic relations and become one. At this time, Qi had Mengchang, Zhao had Pingyuan, Chu had Chunshen, and Wei had Xinling. These four monarchs are all wise and loyal, generous and loving, respecting the virtuous and respecting scholars, and they are all from Han, Wei, Yan, Zhao, Song, Wei, and Zhongshan. So the scholars of the Six Kingdoms, including the subordinates of Ning Yue, Xu Shang, Su Qin, and Du He, conspired, and the followers of Qi Ming, Zhou Zui, Chen Zhen, Zhao Hua, Lou Su, Zhai Jing, Su Li, and Le Yi understood their intentions. Wu Qi, Sun Bin, Dai Tuo, Ni Liang, Wang Liao, Tian Ji, Lian Po, and Zhao Shezhipeng controlled their troops. With ten times the land and a million troops, they raised their heads to the pass and attacked Qin. The people of Qin closed the gates to delay the enemy, and the troops of the Nine Kingdoms patrolled and did not dare to advance. Qin did not have the money to pay for the death arrow, but the world was already trapped. So he broke the contract and lost, fought for the land and bribed Qin. Qin had spare power to control its disadvantages, and chased the enemy to the north, laying down millions of corpses, bleeding and floating in the oars. Because of advantage and convenience, they slaughtered the world and divided the rivers and mountains. Strong countries will submit, weak countries will join the dynasty. Extending to King Xiaowen and King Zhuang Xiang, the country enjoyed a short period of time and the country was fine.
As for the first emperor, the remaining heroes of the sixth generation vigorously pursued the strategy and controlled the inner world, swallowed up the princes for two weeks, acted as the supreme and controlled the Liuhe, held on to beat and beat the world, and shocked the world. Taking the land of Baiyue in the south, I thought it was Guilin and Xiangjun. The king of Baiyue bowed his head and tied his neck, and ordered his subordinates. He ordered Meng Tian to build the Great Wall to the north and guard the fence, but he defeated the Huns for more than 700 miles. The barbarians did not dare to go south to herd horses, and the soldiers did not dare to bend their bows and complain. So he abolished the ways of the previous kings, burned the words of hundreds of families, and used the stupid head of Guizhou; he made the city famous, killed the heroes, collected the soldiers of the world, gathered in Xianyang, sold Feng Dy, and cast it into the Twelve Golden People to weaken the people of the world. Then practice Huahua City, because the river is a pond, occupy the city of hundreds of millions of feet, and think it is solid in the face of unexpected abyss. The good generals guard the key points with their powerful crossbows, and the trustworthy ministers and elite soldiers prepare the troops. The world has been settled, and the First Emperor's heart is that he thinks that the Guanzhong is solid, the golden city is thousands of miles away, and the inheritance of descendants and emperors will last forever.
The First Emperor is no longer alive, but his remaining power shocks the world. However, Chen She is the son of the rope hub of the urn, a gangster, and a migrant. His talent is not as good as that of the middle-class people. He is not as talented as Zhongni and Mo Zhai, and he is not as rich as Tao Zhu and Yidun. He creeps among the troops and becomes stubborn. In the Qianmo, he led the exhausted soldiers and turned hundreds of people to attack Qin. He chopped down trees as soldiers and raised poles as flags. The world gathered to respond, winning food and scenery. The heroes of Shandong then joined forces and destroyed the Qin people.
The world is not small and weak. In the land of Yongzhou, Weihan is solid and self-contained. The position of Chen She is not respected to the kings of Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Song, Wei, and Zhongshan; it is not to hoe thorns and thorns with spears and spears; to banish the garrison is not to resist The divisions of the Nine Kingdoms are those who are far-sighted and far-sighted, and the way of marching and using troops is not the same as those who look forward to the times. However, success or failure varies, and achievements are opposite. If we try to make the Shandong Kingdom and Chen Shedu have a long life and compare their power and strength, they cannot be of the same age. However, the Qin Dynasty used a mere area to expand the power of ten thousand people, ordering the eight states and dynasty in the same row, which lasted for more than a hundred years; then it made Liuhe its home and Weihan its palace; when one man was in trouble, seven temples were destroyed, and he died in the hands of others, for the sake of the world. Laughter, why? If benevolence and righteousness are not applied, the offensive and defensive momentum will be different!
Translation (Part 1)
Qin Xiaogong occupied the dangerous terrain of Xiaoshan and Hangu Pass, and owned the land of Yongzhou. The monarchs and ministers firmly guarded it, so as to have a glimpse of the power of the Zhou royal family. ), with the intention of sweeping the world, conquering Kyushu, sweeping across the four seas, and the ambition to conquer remote places in all directions. At that time, (someone) Shang Jun assisted him, established laws and regulations internally, promoted farming and weaving, and built defensive and offensive equipment; externally, he implemented the strategy of connecting and balancing, causing the princes of Shandong to fight among themselves. In this way, the Qin people easily captured the land beyond Xihe.
After the death of Duke Xiao, King Huiwen, King Wu, and King Zhaoxiang (successively) inherited the existing foundation and followed the strategies of the previous generations, attacking Hanzhong to the south, annexing Ba and Shu to the west, and annexing Ba and Shu to the east. Fertile land, occupy key counties to the north. The princes were frightened and held meetings to form alliances and seek ways to weaken Qin. He did not skimp on rare and valuable utensils and fertile and fertile land, and used them to attract outstanding talents from all over the world to form a vertical alliance and form one body. At this time, the state of Qi had Lord Mengchang, the state of Zhao had Lord Pingyuan, the state of Chu had Lord Chunshen, and the state of Wei had Lord Xinling. These four princes were all sensible, resourceful, sincere and trustworthy, generous to others, and respectful to the virtuous. (They) defeated Qin's Liheng strategy by agreeing to unite, and defeated Han, Han, and Han. The troops of Wei, Yan, Chu, Qi, Zhao, Song, Wei, and Zhongshan formed a coalition. At this time, the scholars of the Six Kingdoms including Ning Yue, Xu Shang, Su Qin, Du He and others made suggestions for them. Qi Ming, Zhou Zui, Chen Zhen, Zhao Hua, Lou Su, Zhai Jing, Su Li, Le Yi and others (for Countries) communicated their opinions, and Wu Qi, Sun Bin, Dai Tuo, Ni Liang, Wang Liao, Tian Ji, Lian Po, Zhao She and others led their armies. They once marched to Hangu Pass to attack Qin with ten times the land of Qin and millions of troops. The people of Qin opened and closed the gates to lure the enemy deeper, but the armies of the nine kingdoms hesitated and did not dare to enter the pass. The people of Qin did not lose an arrow, and the princes of the world were already in a desperate situation. As a result, the treaty was dissolved, and the various vassal states competed to cede land to bribe Qin. Qin had abundant power and took advantage of its opponents' weaknesses to subdue them. It chased the defeated soldiers, leaving millions of defeated soldiers lying dead on the road, blood flowing (into rivers), and large shields floating. (The people of Qin) relied on this favorable situation to seize the land of the world and (re)divide the areas of mountains and rivers. Strong countries voluntarily surrendered, while weak countries went to Qin (on time) to pay homage. When King Xiaowen and King Zhuang Xiang succeeded to the throne, their rule was not long, and there were no major events in Qin.
By the time of the First Emperor, he had greatly developed the achievements of the previous six generations of monarchs. He wielded a long whip to control the whole of China, wiped out the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Western Zhou Dynasty and other vassal states, and ascended to the most noble throne. He came to rule the world from the throne, used various instruments of torture to persecute the people of the country, and frightened the world with his majesty. He captured the land of Baiyue in the south and divided it into Guilin County and Xiang County. The king of Baiyue lowered his head, tied a rope around his neck, and left his life to the control of Qin's subordinate officials. So he sent Meng Tian to the north to build the Great Wall and guard the border, and drove back the Xiongnu for more than 700 miles. The Hu people did not dare to come to the south to graze their cattle, and the warriors did not dare to draw their bows and shoot arrows to take revenge. Then he abolished the governance of the ancient emperors and burned the works of various schools of thought to make the people stupid; he destroyed the famous cities and killed the heroes; he collected all the weapons of the world and concentrated them in Xianyang, removing the blades and The arrows were used to cast twelve golden figures in order to weaken the resistance of the people. Then he set foot on Huashan Mountain to build the city wall, borrowing the Yellow River as a moat. There was a city wall hundreds of millions of feet high above and an immeasurable abyss below as a solid fortification. Good generals armed with powerful crossbows guarded key places, reliable officials and elite soldiers armed with sharp weapons questioned passers-by. The world has been stabilized, and the First Emperor believed that the dangerous terrain of Guanzhong and the thousands of miles of copper and iron walls were the foundation of the emperor for generations to come.
After the death of the First Emperor, his remaining power (still) shocked remote areas. However, Chen She was just a boy from a poor family who used broken urns for windows and straw ropes for door hinges. He was a gangster and a slave. He was (later) relegated to serve as a pawn on the border. Virtues like Confucius and Mo Zhai were not as wealthy as Tao Zhu and Yidun. (He) stood in the ranks of the garrison soldiers, suddenly rose up from the fields, led the exhausted soldiers, commanded a team of hundreds of people, turned around to attack Qin, cut down trees as weapons, raised Bamboo poles served as flags, and people from all over the world gathered like clouds, responding to him like echoes, carrying food, and following him like shadows. The heroes east of Mount Laoshan then rose up together and wiped out Qin's family.
It can be concluded that the Qin Dynasty that dominated the world was not weak (unable to resist). The terrain of Yongzhou, the dangers of Weishan Mountain and Hangu Pass were still the same as before.
Chen She's status is no more noble than that of the kings of Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Song, Wei, and Zhongshan; the hoe stick is no sharper than the hook, halberd, and spear; The ability) is not stronger than the troops of the Nine Kingdoms; (as for) the foresight and the strategy of marching and using troops, (Chen She) is not as good as the generals and advisers of the Nine Kingdoms. But those with good conditions fail and those with poor conditions succeed. Their achievements are completely opposite. Why? If we compare the length and size of the Shandong countries with Chen She, and measure their power, there will be a world of difference. However, Qin relied on its mere territory to develop into a powerful country with tens of thousands of troops and chariots, attracting the princes of the eight states to come to worship it. It has a history of more than a hundred years; As a palace wall, a garrison destroyed the Seven Temples of the Emperor in an attack. The princes, emperors and grandsons all died at the hands of others and were ridiculed by the world. What is the reason? Just because you don't practice benevolence and righteousness, the offensive and defensive situation has changed.
Book Review (Part 1)
There are three chapters in "On the Passage of Qin" ***. Among them, the best written and most influential one is this first one. It was first appended to the end of the "Historical Records: The Chronicles of the First Emperor of Qin" as the second chapter; later Chu Shaosun supplemented the "Historical Records" and appended it separately to the end of the "Chen She Family". "Hanshu" and "Selected Works" also included this article. The monograph "New Book" written by Jia Yi is believed to have been collected and compiled by later generations. This article is clearly marked as the "Part 1" of the three chapters. Among the four books of "History", "Han", "Xinshu" and "Selected Works", this article can be found in five chapters, and the words and sentences of the articles are quite different.
From the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the present day, almost all anthologies of ancient Chinese literature have selected "On the Passage of the Qin Dynasty" (Part 1), so there have been many comments on it by predecessors. For example, Yao Nai of the Qing Dynasty commented on it as "Xiongjun Hongsi" in "The Compilation of Ancient Wen Ci", and Wu Kaisheng, a recent scholar, commented on it in an included review of "Gu Wen Fan" that "the whole article is concentrated in one go, like a single stroke of writing. Close". To sum up the opinions of most commentators, they mainly say that this article is full of momentum and completed in one go. It is the first "powerful" article in ancient and modern times. Therefore, Wu Kai's opinions are relatively representative. In this short article, I want to start with the point of abundant momentum.
From a linguistic point of view, the so-called powerful articles often use parallel sentences or couplets, and this article is no exception (for example, in the second paragraph, from "then the people of the six countries" to the following, first use " Starting with the word "you" and running through the following three sentences, a large number of people's names are listed, which is a parallelism sentence pattern; for example, the following four sentences of "Meng Guye" have a pair of words every two sentences, which is a duality sentence structure. There are also parallelism and duality sentence patterns, For example, it is said at the beginning that Qin Xiaogong "had the intention to sweep the world, encompass the universe, encompass the four seas, and swallow up the eight wastelands"). But this is only understood from the surface phenomenon. Among famous classical prose articles, there are not many articles that use parallel sentences or couplets, but they are not necessarily grand. For example, Kong Zhigui's "Beishan Yiwen" is full of sentences, either arranged or occasionally, but it does not feel very lively when read. It can be seen that the use of parallel sentences and dual sentences is only one of the factors that make the article more powerful. It is an external artistic skill, not the main factor.
I think there are three reasons why this article is characterized by its high energy and is immortal. The reason why it makes people feel persuasive. The first one is the most important, that is, although this article is a reasoning article, seventy-eight percent of it is devoted to narrative. Using narrative to reason can be said to be the biggest feature of this article. The author uses a thousand words to summarize the history of more than 100 years from Qin Xiaogong to the fall of Qin, and briefly explains the entire process and main phenomena of Qin's rise and decline. At the same time, it also runs through the author's own point of view. Explain the key to its rise and fall. This helps us have a clearer understanding of this historical fact. Why does this feature make the article read powerful? The key points are: 1. The author can express rich content in a concise and concise way, making readers feel that a short article contains so many things. They naturally feel that the article is full and sufficient, and their thoughts naturally follow the author's writing style when reading. Of course, it would appear to be "prosperous"; secondly, Jia Yi's narration of Qin's prosperity and decline, and its rise and fall is very organized. It follows a vertical line, that is, from the rise of Qin Xiaogong to the Qin Dynasty The death of the article is always arranged according to the order of time; and a certain point in a certain period of time is highlighted and displayed, so that people can not only see the "line", but also the "line" Each of the "dots" is emphatically described with thick ink and heavy colors. So you can't help but push down and read along the order arranged by the author. If he doesn't interrupt, you can't interrupt. If he doesn't add extraneous details, you can't ignore the rest. Therefore, this also gives people a feeling of vitality.
The second reason why readers feel the power of the article is another feature of this article: Jia Yi is using the technique of writing fu to write reasoning prose. Writing a poem requires extravagance and exaggeration. It can be said that Jia Yi used this technique throughout writing this article. For example, in the first paragraph of the four sentences "There are sweeping the world", the words "sweeping", "baoju", "including" and "annexing" are basically synonymous; "world", "yunei", "four seas" and "eight wastes" are also synonymous. They all mean the same thing. Writing several sentences in a row with the same meaning, both in parallel and in contrast, is an exaggerated technique in writing a poem. There are similar sentences in paragraphs 2, 4, 5, etc. below, too numerous to mention. The so-called "ostentatious" mainly refers to this type of sentences. In this way, the momentum will naturally be abundant, and readers will naturally feel that the author's writing is sharp and aggressive, and the reading will be energetic and persuasive, and they will feel unable to stop.
This is because the author himself was a poetry writer. As a writer, Jia Yi is not only a politician, but also a litterateur; as a work, "On the Passage of Qin" also has the artistic characteristics of a literary work.
There is also a third reason, which is also the third characteristic of this article, that is, the author writes his arguments using a method of comparison throughout the article. There is nothing strange about the comparison method, but the highlight of this article is that the author uses four aspects of comparison: that is, the comparison of Qin itself first strong and then weak, first prosperous and then declining, first prosperous and then destroyed; the comparison of Qin and the Six Kingdoms ; Comparison between Qin and Chen She; Comparison between Chen She and the Six Kingdoms. Several contrasts are intertwined, the structure is naturally grand, the momentum is naturally majestic, and the words appear to have more weight. The differences in subjective and objective situations, as well as the differences in the difficulty of strength and weakness, rise and fall, are all revealed from the comparison of several aspects. It is not difficult to understand why the article is so powerful.
Let’s briefly analyze it section by section.
The first three paragraphs mainly write about three aspects: 1. Qin has ambitions from generation to generation; 2. Qin is getting stronger and stronger; 3. It is not difficult for Qin to unify the world because of its strength. The first paragraph emphasizes ambition, the second paragraph emphasizes strength, and the third paragraph emphasizes both. The arrangement and comparison of the whole article are based on these three aspects, integrating specific facts and using general language to outline the general outline, so that the narrative content has a tendency and the author's own point of view. For example, "The people of Qin took over the West River" and "Qin did not pay for the chain of death arrows" and at the end of the third paragraph, "The heart of the first emperor thought that the Guanzhong was solid, the golden city was thousands of miles away, and the inheritance of descendants and emperors would last forever. "And so on, they all describe Qin's ambition and strength. It is not difficult to conquer the world. At the same time, the author also wrote about the other side, such as the "Four Lords", "Teachers of the Nine Kingdoms", "Seniors of the Six Kingdoms", etc. The more he writes about the other side, the more it reflects the power of Qin. This is a way of supporting the moon. But we feel: the more we write about Qin's power, the more we see Qin's arrogance and ignorance; the more we write about Qin's self-confidence, the more we see Qin's subjective one-sidedness; the more we write about Qin's ambitions, the more we see Qin's shortsightedness. . Although the author narrates and ignores everything, he is "preparing" for the discussion in the last paragraph. Reading such an article naturally makes me feel full and happy.
I would like to focus on paragraph 3 here. There are only nine words at the beginning of the third paragraph: "While enjoying the country, the country is fine." This is of course true. But it’s not like there’s nothing to write about. But the author is not going to spend too much time here, it is enough to just draw the vertical line that runs through the various periods of Qin. In terms of writing, a vigorous article cannot be breathless at all. The dozen words at the beginning of the third paragraph form a brief pause for the whole article. Gui Youguang, an ancient writer in the Ming Dynasty, once said that this is "like a person exhaling" (see Gui Youguang's "Pingdian Shiji"). Of course we cannot look at the problem in a formalistic way and insist on inserting a "breath" into a coherent article; but when the article is written here, there is naturally a chance to breathe. "Like a person exhaling" is still necessary and is also necessary for learning writing. People should pay attention to it.
As mentioned before, the third paragraph is about Qin Shihuang: ambition and strength, written at the same time. But paragraph 3 is not the same as paragraph 2. The second paragraph is written from both sides using pros and cons, but the third paragraph is written from the front, vividly describing Qin Shihuang's strength and ambition. The more he writes, the more he becomes more complete and more impressive. Even at the beginning of the fourth paragraph, we still need to find two additional sentences: "Since the First Emperor is gone, his remaining power is beyond the ordinary." Wu Kaisheng commented: "If you add two more sentences, it will be very satisfying." This is like inflating a ball or wheel to the maximum. If you add two more times, the ball or tire will burst. Then he suddenly fell back and started writing from Chen She's side, but he always praised Chen She instead of criticizing him. This further showed that Qin's demise was caused by his own misfortune.
The last paragraph is "argument" and "judgment". It still uses comparative techniques to integrate several aspects together, and then draws a conclusion, which is the so-called "judgment". In order to make the conclusion solemn, I mentioned Qin again and said it again, and then ended with "If benevolence and righteousness are not applied, the offensive and defensive momentum will be different." Articles must be able to be released and closed, opened and closed, and only then can one's skills be revealed. Jia Yi has done exactly that in this masterpiece.
Jin Shengtan added a comment to this article in the second volume of "The Ancient Prose of Cai Zi" (part of the Dynasties): ""On Guo Qin" discusses Qin's faults. Qin Guo only has the last sentence 'Benevolence and righteousness are not shown' This sentence ends the entire text... As for the first half of the chapter when it talks about the Six Kingdoms, it is just a refutation of Qin; when the second half is about Qin, it is just a contrast with Chen She. "This is the most strange thing. That's quite succinctly said.
It should be admitted that this article did have a good influence at the time. As a scholar-bureaucrat, Jia Yi stood in the position of the feudal ruling class and advised the Han Dynasty; but he was able to realize the power of peasant uprisings and realized that the key to the Qin Dynasty's demise was the loss of people's support and excessive superstition of force. The feudal rulers were ambitious and abused the people. , and was finally destroyed by the people. With this understanding, the ruling class began to consider how to ease social conflicts in order to consolidate its ruling power. This shows that the peasant uprising truly drove the wheel of history. With Jia Yi's description, the emperor of the Han Dynasty could truly summarize the experiences and lessons of the Qin Dynasty from prosperity to decline, from strength to weakness. Therefore, while we learned how to write essays, we also learned from history. The purpose of our reading "On Guo Qin" (Part 1) is precisely for this purpose.
Original text (Part 2)
On the Passage of Qin · Part
Qin destroyed the Zhou Dynasty, merged the seas, and the princes, and proclaimed himself emperor in the south to support the four seas.
All the people in the world are outstanding. If so, why? Said: There has been no king in recent times for a long time. The Zhou Dynasty is humble, and the five hegemons are destroyed, and the order cannot be used in the world. Therefore, the princes are in power, the strong bullies the weak, the many are violent and the few are violent, the war is endless, and the soldiers and the people are at war. Today, Qin Nan faces and rules the world, and there is an emperor above. Since the people of Yuanyuan hope to secure their lives, they should all look up with an open mind. At this time, the foundation of safety lies in the solemn authority and determination of merit.
The King of Qin had a greedy heart and the wisdom of self-improvement. He did not believe in meritorious officials and was not close to the people. He abolished the royal way and established personal love. . Those who want to annex are more deceitful, and those who are in danger value their authority. This means that taking and keeping are different skills. Qin left the Warring States Period and ruled the world. Its path was not easy and its politics did not change. This is why it was adopted. It exists alone, so it can stand and wait for its death. By asking the King of Qin to discuss the affairs of the past world and the traces of Yin and Zhou Dynasty, he could control his government. Although there were arrogant and arrogant masters in the future, there was no danger of collapse. Therefore, when the three kings established the world, their names were beautiful and their achievements were long-lasting.
Now that the second generation of Qin has been established, everyone in the world will take the lead and watch its politics. If the husband is cold, he will benefit from leeks and brown, while if he is hungry, it will be sweetened with dregs and chaff. The world is clamoring, and the new master's capital is also there. This is what makes it easy to work for the people. Xiangshi II behaved like a mediocre ruler and was appointed loyal and virtuous. The ministers were single-minded and worried about the troubles at home. They were humble and corrected the mistakes of the previous emperor. After dividing the land and dividing the people and naming meritorious officials, they established a country and established a king to honor the world. They were imprisoned in vain and were exempted from punishment. Go. Collect impurities and cause them to rebel against their hometowns; distribute money to warehouses and houses to encourage lonely and poor people; give light gifts and minor tasks to help the people's needs; make laws and save punishments to support the people in the world. Everyone must renew themselves, practice more disciplinedly, and be careful about themselves; block the hope of all people, and spread their great virtues to the world, and the world will stop. That is to say, everyone in the four seas is happy and content in their own places, fearing that there will be changes. Although there are cunning and malicious people, but they have no intention of detaching themselves from their superiors, the unruly ministers will not be able to show off their wisdom, and the traitors will be eliminated.
The second generation did not practice this technique, but focused on immorality: ruining the ancestral temple and the people, and then building the palace of Afang; severe punishments, severe official administration; inappropriate rewards and punishments, and excessive taxation. There are many things going on in the world, but the officials cannot keep them in check; the people are poor, but the Lord does not accept mercy. Then traitors and falsehoods arise together, and the superiors and the inferiors escape from each other; the sinners are all condemned, and they face each other in punishment and death, and the world suffers. From the ministers down to the common people, people have a heart of self-danger and are living in poverty. They are not secure in their position, so they are easy to move. Therefore, Chen She did not use the talents of Tang and Wu, and did not borrow the honor of the princes to fight for the great marsh. If the world responded, his people would be in danger.
Therefore, the former kings saw that the beginning and the end remain unchanged, and knew the reasons for survival and destruction. Therefore, the way of herdsmen is to ensure safety. Although there are ministers who are rebellious, they will not be able to respond to help. Therefore, it is said: "It is righteous to make the people safe, but it is wrong to endanger the people." This is what it means. It is right and wrong to be the emperor, to be rich all over the world, and to be killed by those who kill you. This is the fault of the second generation.