Evaluate Qin Shihuang’s 800-word essay

Qin Shihuang is the "one emperor through the ages" who has an influence on the development of Chinese history. But he is still a man whose merits outweigh his faults.

The Qin Emperor conquered Liuhe.

At the end of the Warring States Period, the strength of the Qin army far exceeded that of the other six countries, and the time was ripe to unify the world. After King Yingzheng of Qin took power, he formulated a strategy to defeat the enemy and actively prepared for the war to destroy the Six Kingdoms - taking advantage of the conflicts among the Six Kingdoms, he separated the alliance between the two great kingdoms of Qi and Chu and the other six kingdoms, making the other six kingdoms The "united vertical" of the past finally became the "connected and horizontal" of today. After ten years of King Qin's campaign, the world was settled.

The Battle of Changping.

The Battle of Changping took place in the late Warring States Period. The Qin army attacked Zhao Guo Changping. The commander of the Zhao army was originally the famous general Lian Po. Since Lian Po had been holding on and it was difficult for the Qin army to capture it, he spread rumors and asked King Zhao to use Zhao Kuo, who had no combat experience and could only talk about war on paper. The 400,000-strong army was completely annihilated and was unable to resist Qin.

The establishment of a centralized system.

After Qin Wang Yingzheng became the supreme ruler of the unified Qin Dynasty from the king of Qin, he believed that "king" was far from showing his status, so he replaced "emperor" with "emperor" in front of many titles. He called himself the "First Emperor". He placed himself in a supreme position with absolute power, and set up prime ministers, prefects and censors in the center to manage administration, military and supervision respectively. Qin Shihuang abolished the feudal system and fully implemented the county system. In this way, the authoritarian centralized system was established in the Qin Dynasty.

Unify currency, weights and measures, and writing.

During the Warring States Period, each vassal state had its own currency and weights and measures. After Qin unified the country, it stipulated that Qin's "half tael" copper coins with round square holes should be the national currency, and the original currencies of all countries were stopped from use. It also issued national measurement standards for length, capacity and weight, unified the national weights and measures system, solved the inconvenience caused by tax collection and trade, and used the official script font as a national font.

Qin’s tyranny burned books and harassed Confucians.

In 213 BC, someone proposed the restoration of the feudal system. However, Prime Minister Li Si severely refuted the idea of ??restoring the feudal system. He also used the topic to point out that Confucian scholars always make irresponsible remarks and oppose the orders of the state. He also told the King of Qin that if it was not strictly prohibited, it would at least affect the implementation of the law, and at worst endanger the consolidation of national power. It is also recommended that all folk collections of "Poetry", "Books" and works of hundreds of schools of thought other than "Qin Ji" be confiscated and destroyed. Emperor Qin then carried out a nationwide "book burning" campaign.

Because the Emperor of Qin wanted to live forever, he listened to the alchemists and asked them to search for the elixir of immortality. However, they were deceived by the alchemists. The Emperor of Qin ordered a hunt for hundreds of Confucian scholars and alchemists who opposed him in Xianyang. He was buried alive by the Weishui River in the suburbs. This is a "confucian trap" in history. This stupid and cruel "burning books and entrapping Confucians" cannot but be said to be a misunderstanding in the thinking of King Qin.

Although Qin Shihuang had great talents and great strategies, he was too cruel and could only be described as a "tyrant" whose faults outweighed his merits.