Diqin Designer

Chapter 48 Hu Hai and Zhao Gao, rare in history

"If the king had not favored Zhao Gao, how could Zhao Gao have climbed to such a position and had the opportunity to plot a false edict from the king?"

"If the king had not appointed a crown prince earlier, and had brought Master Hu Hai with him during his third tour of the country, how could he have given Master Hu Hai a chance?"

Li Nian continued to output: "The future generations may think that even without Zhao Gao and Prince Hu Hai, there would be Cheng Gao and Han Gao, Prince Wu and Prince Ru... It is unreasonable to attribute the main reason for the demise of the Qin Dynasty to them."

"But I think that Prince Hu Hai and Zhao Gao are one of the main reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty! There are few people in history who are as treacherous as Zhao Gao and as incompetent as Prince Hu Hai. Apart from them, it is not easy to find another pair in the Qin Dynasty."

"Moreover, the things they did were rare in history. If they had made fewer mistakes, the Qin Dynasty would not have perished in the second generation."

Simply put, what Li Nian meant was that disasters like Hu Hai and Zhao Gao were rare in the world. If it weren't for the series of actions they carried out, even if the Qin Dynasty had many problems, it might not have been over.

In fact, Hu Hai and Zhao Gao were not human beings. For example, when Zhang Han requested support on the front line, these two anthropomorphic guys eliminated dissidents in the court. Even Zhang Han was afraid of being punished by Zhao Gao and Hu Hai, so he took the initiative to surrender to Xiang Yu.

History shapes people, but people also shape history. If certain important people were replaced, the course of history would really be different.

These people had a huge impact on history.

Although Hu Hai and Zhao Gao were two troubles, they also belonged to this category. If they had done a little more human work, the Qin Dynasty would not have been driven to the dead end of destruction in just a dozen years, and at least it could have lasted a few more years.

If Zhao Gao and Hu Hai had been completely replaced, the Qin Dynasty would not have perished in the second generation.

That’s what Li Nian thinks.

"The influence of the monarch on the dynasty is great. If the monarch is wise, a dynasty will often prosper, but if the monarch is incompetent and cruel, a dynasty will gradually decline. If the dynasty has already declined, the decline will be accelerated."

"Throughout history, the fall of dynasties is often closely related to the incompetence of the monarchs, but it is rare in history for someone like Prince Hu Hai to bring both himself and the Qin Dynasty to a dead end in just a few years."

Even the Sui Dynasty, which also perished in the second generation, lasted for at least ten years. How many years did Hu Hai only struggle for?

Li Nian felt that if Hu Hai and Zhao Gao were replaced by two dogs, the Qin Dynasty would be able to hold out for a while longer. At least the dogs would not be a drag and would not push the Qin Dynasty into the abyss.

After explaining what he believed to be the main reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty, Li Nian began to elaborate on the specific reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty.

“Although the main reason is the root cause of the fall of the Qin Dynasty II, the specific reasons are the actual manifestation of the fall of the Qin Dynasty.”

"I will not elaborate on the fact that the Qin laws are too harsh and the military merit system is ineffective. I have already told Your Majesty about this. I have also mentioned the failure to appoint a crown prince early, the problems of Prince Hu Hai and Zhao Gao, and the threat of the nobles of the six kingdoms."

"What I want to talk about now is that after destroying the six kingdoms and unifying the world, Your Majesty did not recognize the situation between Qin and the six kingdoms, and did not formulate national policies based on the actual situation."

"Have you ever considered how many officials are needed to control such a huge country? The Qin Dynasty now has so many officials to enforce the Qin laws and spread the king's voice to all parts of the world?"

"I have said before that Your Majesty may have thought about it, but he just doesn't care. Your Majesty is confident that he can control the whole world. But your Majesty not caring does not mean that the problem and impact have been solved!" "Because the Qin Dynasty does not have enough officials, the Qin Dynasty cannot control the land of the original six kingdoms, allowing the nobles of the six kingdoms to hide safely in it, and even do not need to hide. Those who commit crimes cannot be captured and punished in time, and the people's unjust cases cannot be handled in time."

"Because there were not enough suitable officials, many places had to appoint some unsuitable people, which resulted in a mixture of good and bad officials, leading to various problems, corruption in the administration, and even harsher and more cruel enforcement of Qin laws."

"For example, the Qin Dynasty imposed a tax of one dou of millet per mu of land, but in some places, the tax officials might collect three dou of millet."

"These kinds of things will cause the people to hate and resent the local officials, but in the end, this resentment will fall on the Qin Dynasty because the Qin Dynasty appointed these officials."

"And the control over the six kingdoms is insufficient. Once the opportunity arises, the nobles of the six kingdoms with evil intentions will take advantage of the situation to rebel."

"These are the effects of the lack of officials in the Qin Dynasty!"

Ying Zheng didn't say anything. Several eunuchs were writing down Li Nian's words on bamboo slips with pens.

Li Nian continued, "After the Qin unified the six kingdoms, it did not establish a unified ideology. For example, what reason did the Qin have to destroy the other six kingdoms and unify the world? This 'reason' is the ideology. In short, how did the Qin Dynasty come to be established? Why did the six kingdoms be destroyed? Without reason, how can the people of the six kingdoms be convinced?"

"Of course, Your Majesty can rely on the powerful Qin army, but the Qin army can only intimidate for a while, not forever. Unless Your Majesty's army can lead the others across the ages, in this era where competition is ultimately a matter of people, sooner or later someone will rebel."

"In addition, after the king conquered the six kingdoms, he stationed a large number of troops on the borders, such as sending Meng Tian to lead 300,000 troops to defend against the Xiongnu in the north, and Zhao Tuo to lead 500,000 troops to pacify the Nanyue."

"Your Majesty, this will help you defend against foreign enemies, but it will also lead to a consequence. With so many troops stationed at the border, the internal military strength will be empty. If there is internal unrest, can you dispatch troops in time to quell the rebellion?"

At this point, in order to deepen Ying Zheng's understanding, Li Nian asked: "Does your Majesty know where the army led by Zhang Han came from when he was ordered to take charge in times of crisis?"

Since this guy asked this, he is definitely not a real Qin soldier.

Ying Zheng was quick-witted and quickly came up with the answer. He asked, "Could it be a prisoner?"

Li Nian nodded: "That's right! At that time, Chen Sheng's army had already arrived in Xi County, and it was too late to mobilize nearby troops, so Zhang Han proposed to pardon the prisoners in Mount Li and give them weapons to fight the bandits."

Ying Zheng was silent. He knew why the historical self that Li Nian was talking about had stationed a large number of Qin troops on the border. It was not only because there were enemies on the border, but also because he felt that there were no enemies inside and there was no need to station so many troops.

"In the 34th and 35th years of Emperor Qin Shihuang's reign, two events occurred, one was 'burning books' and the other was 'burying scholars alive'. These two events were later collectively referred to as 'burning books and burying scholars alive'."

"The cause of the 'burning of books and burying of scholars' was Chunyu Yue in the 34th year of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's reign. The king held a banquet in the Xianyang Palace, and all the scholars congratulated the king. However, Chunyu Yue accused the minister Zhou Qingchen who congratulated the king of being a traitor, and suggested to the king to restore the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty."

This time, Ying Zheng finally knew why Li Nian wrote Chunyu Yue's name on the bamboo slips. He didn't expect that it was not because Li Nian disliked Confucianism, but because Chunyu Yue had done such a thing in history.

(End of this chapter)