-210 BC- so, Qín Shǐ Huáng was dead. Next in line to replace him as emperor was his eldest son, Crown Prince Fúsū (who had up till then been forced into "military duty" (i.e. exile) in the north for criticizing his father).
-However, because Fúsū was far away, those in power who were present at Qín Shǐ Huáng's death (Imperial Chancellor Lǐ Sī, Prefect (of the Office for Imperial Carriages) Zhào Gāo, Prince Húhài (Prince Fúsū's younger brother), and maybe some eunuchs and shit) quickly realized that they had an excellent opportunity to just seize power for themselves!
-Zhào Gāo was basically Ancient China's version of Varys from Game of Thrones haha, although it's unclear as to if Zhào Gāo was actually a eunuch or not (there seems to be evidence supporting both sides).
-There's actually one theory that argues that Zhào Gāo was actually a member of the Zhào royal family (from the state/kingdom of Zhào (which had been conquered by Qín in 228 BC)) and thus was seeking revenge on the Qín dynasty for conquering his family's kingdom!
-Qín Shǐ Huáng seemed to have taken a liking to Zhào Gāo (who was also well-educated) because eventually he began serving as a tutor for Prince Húhài.
-Anyway, the plan was to forge Qín Shǐ Huáng's will so that Húhài was named heir to the throne, not Fúsū!
-Besides just wanting to hold onto power, it made sense for Zhào Gāo to want to do this. If Prince Fúsū was enthroned, then it was most likely that the commander of his armies would be General Méng Tián (fun fact: he's credited with inventing the ink brush!), someone whom Zhào Gāo had a serious political rivalry with. So, it's reasonable to assume that Prince Fúsū being enthroned as emperor could mean imprisonment or even death for Zhào Gāo.
-Apparently, it was also mentioned in the forged will that both Fúsū and Méng Tián were to be either executed or forced to commit suicide (that's not suspicious at all, right?).
-This resulted in Prince Fúsū following these orders and committing suicide, but Méng Tián immediately smelled a rat and immediately started to do some digging. However, unfortunately for him this resulted in his arrest and execution (in addition to the arrest and execution of his family as well, which made things work out even better for Zhào Gāo!).
-Thus, because of these treachery Prince Húhài was enthroned and took the imperial name Qín Èr Shì ("Second Generation of Qín")!
-Unfortunately, Qín Èr Shì would end up being a pretty shitty emperor, and even today his name is part of a negative phrase "describing spoiled children raised by wealthy parents, growing up with little or no moral values, or any forms of necessary daily life skills" (according to Wikipedia haha).
-Of course, a weak/incompetent emperor was exactly what Zhào Gāo and Lǐ Sī wanted because it would allow them to actually call the shots behind the scenes. Plus, Zhào Gāo especially was able to manipulate Qín Èr Shì because before he was emperor Zhào Gāo had served for years as his trusted teacher and mentor.
-As imperial chancellor, Zhào Gāo was able to convince Qín Èr Shì that it was best for the emperor to remain isolated deep within the imperial palace at the capital and only communicate with Zhào Gāo (ha!).
-It was only a matter of months before Chancellor Zhào had completely isolated the emperor, and soon Chancellor Zhào was essentially ruling as emperor himself (in all but name only).
-Because of Zhào Gāo's paranoia/pursuit of absolute power, soon members of the imperial family began to be spied upon, imprisoned, and sometimes even executed/forced to commit suicide!
-209 BC- because of the chaos in the imperial court (and presumably across the empire as a result), there were a series of uprisings against the throne, the first of which became known as the Dàzéxiāng Uprising (AKA the Chén Shèng and Wú Guǎng Uprising).
-The Dàzéxiāng Uprising began when the generals Chén Shèng and Wú Guǎng were heading north on a mission to defend a town against Xiōngnú invaders but were forced to delay due to a storm and subsequent flooding. This was extremely problematic because the Qín government had just passed a new law declaring that showing up late to a government job or assignment would result in immediate execution (stupid law), so the generals felt that they had no choice but to fight for their lives and rebel (even if they only had like 900 men with them!).
-In order to give their insurrection a little more legitimacy, the generals decided to rebel in the name of their former state/kingdom, Chǔ (which had been conquered by Qín, of course), with General Chén being enthroned as the new king of Rising Chǔ ("Zhāng Chǔ Wáng")!
-The generals then immediately began a propaganda campaign in attempt to spread the news about Qín Èr Shì not being the rightful heir to the throne and shit like that.
-It wasn't hard to get people to join their side, as the Qín dynasty had already pissed off everyone by raising taxes in order to pay for the wall in the north as well as their vanity projects, lavish lifestyle, etc.
-Because of this, the Dàzéxiāng Uprising soon went from 900 men to over 20,000!
-Unfortunately, this revolt wouldn't last long, as the rebel armies were really little more than armed peasants without real equipment or training, and they were soon crushed by the Qín dynasty's armies.
-Within six months, Chén Shèng's armies were broken, and Chén Shèng himself was ultimately assassinated by his own guard, Zhuāng Jiǎ, in 208 BC.
-However, it's important to note that although the Dàzéxiāng Uprising had been quelled, the seeds of discord has been sewn; soon, lawlessness and civil unrest were popping up all over the empire.
-208 BC- Zhào Gāo further consolidates his grip on imperial power by convincing Qín Èr Shì that Lǐ Sī and other high-ranking officials were conspiring against the emperor, so Qín Èr Shì gave the orders to have Lǐ Sī (and his family!) imprisoned, brutally tortured (via the Wǔ Xíng ("Five Punishments") method, which included having his nose cut off, followed by a hand and a foot, then castration, before finally being executed (by way of yāo zhǎn ("waist chop")), which was actually part of an ancient series of torture and execution methods that had been revived by Lǐ Sī himself!)!
-One example of Zhào Gāo's cunning involved an incident in 207 BC in which he brought a deer into the court of the emperor and claimed it was a horse. The courtiers who happened to be with Zhào Gāo were divided; some agreed with him and said it was a horse, while others didn't go along with it. Of course, Zhào Gāo took note of who agreed it was a horse and who didn't so he could recall who to have executed later that day.
-That pretty much removed all doubt among the officials as to who was really ruling the empire.
-Meanwhile in the south, the idea of a revival of the kingdom of Chǔ still hadn't died out among the local population.
-In fact, after the news of Chén Shèng's defeat, one dude had named himself Jǐng Jū decided that he would crown himself "Chǔ Wáng" ("the King of Chǔ") and that the Kingdom of Chǔ was back!
-However, he was soon defeated by another rebel army, led by a dude named Xiàng Liáng (his father was the famous Chǔ general Xiàng Yàn, who had fought against the armies of Qín and was killed in battle in 223 BC). Xiàng Liáng then had the shepherd Xíong Xīn (actually the grandson of King Huái of Chǔ, the last king of the state/kingdom of Chǔ before its fall to Qín but was now a commoner) enthroned as King Huái of Chǔ ("Chǔ Huái Wáng"), although for simplicity we refer to him as King Huái II of Chǔ so as to not confuse him with Chén Shèng.
-However, although King Huái II was technically the ruler, the real source of his power was obviously Xiàng Liáng (and his family).
-It didn't take long before Xiàng Liáng's army to clash with the Qín army (led by General Zhāng Hán) at the Battle of Dìngtáo (modern-day Hézé, Shāndōng Province); Xiàng Liáng was killed in battle.
-Meanwhile, an army representing another former kingdom, Zhào, also declared independence from the Qín dynasty, and soon Hándān (former capital of the state of Zhào, located now in modern-day Héběi Province), where the rebel army was gathering, was besieged Zhāng Hán's army.
-Eager to avenge his uncle's death, Xiàng Liáng's nephew Xiàng Yǔ quickly tried to raise an army to help drive off the Qín forces at Hándān.
-However, Xiàng Yǔ quickly experienced problems because King Huái II for some reason chose General Sòng Yì to lead the army and for Xiàng Yǔ to be second-in-command. Both generals had completely different ideas on how to lead the army, and their rivalry got so bad that eventually Xiàng Yǔ just straight-up murdered Sòng Yì in his own tent (with the excuse that Sòng Yì was planning on betraying Chǔ and that the assassination had been authorized by King Huái II himself).
-Of course, King Huái II found out about this pretty quickly, but surprisingly Xiàng Yǔ was able to convince the king that he would just have to accept what Xiàng Yǔ did if they had any hope of surviving against Qín's forces. When it was all said and done, Xiàng Yǔ was named the new commander of Chǔ's army.
-Xiàng Yǔ then traveled with his army to Jùlù (modern-day Xíngtái, Héběi Province), where the Qín forces were camped beyond the Yellow River.
-Once they crossed the river, Xiàng Yǔ ordered his army to destroy the boats that they came over on, their cooking pots and utensils, and all of their rations except for three-days worth. His message, of course, was that his army was to only survive by defeating the enemy forces and stealing their food.
-It's worth nothing that while Xiàng Yǔ had about 50,000-60,000 soldiers, Zhāng Hán's army had like 200,000-500,000 (I'm sure these numbers are insane exaggerations).
-However, Xiàng Yǔ was apparently a genius commander and was able to defeat the Qín army in multiple skirmishes. Panicked, Zhāng Hán immediately sent his sub-commander Sīmǎ Xīn to request reinforcements from Xiányáng (capital of the Qín dynasty).
-Surprisingly, Zhào Gāo convinced the emperor that Zhāng Hán was secretly working in cahoots with the rebels and to not to send reinforcements (!), so Zhāng Hán's request was rejected! In fact, Zhào Gāo even tried to have Sīmǎ Xīn killed on his return to Zhāng Hán! However, Sīmǎ Xīn was able to survive the assassination attempt and escape, and upon returning to Zhāng Hán told the rebel general everything that had happened.
-While all this was happening, Xiàng Yǔ's rebel army had continued to grow in size, and soon it had completely surrounded Zhāng Hán's remaining forces. Seeing the writing on the wall, Zhāng Hán decided to surrender to Xiàng Yǔ.
-Xiàng Yǔ decided to spare Zhāng Hán, Sīmǎ Xīn, and Dǒng Yì (another Qín general), but had the remaining 200,000 (approximately and probably an exaggeration, of course) executed (by being buried alive) outside the city of Xīnān (modern-day Yìmǎ, Hénán Province).
-After this, Xiàng Yǔ began making plans to head straight for Xiányáng!
-207 BC- Back at the capital, word quickly spread that the massive rebel army was heading straight for them, but no one could do anything really because Qín Èr Shì was being kept in the dark by Zhào Gāo!
-When the emperor was finally told the truth about what was really going on, Qín Èr Shì tried to have Zhào Gāo arrested, but Zhào Gāo had already planned for this.
-Because of his control of the entire court at this point, Zhào Gāo forced Qín Èr Shì to commit suicide (or face imprisonment, torture, and execution, I'm assuming).
-Zhào Gāo then had a dude named Zǐyīng enthroned as emperor of the Qín dynasty.
-It's unclear as to who exactly Zǐyīng is; in some records he's listed as the eldest son of Prince Fúsū, but it's also been argued that it's more likely that he was actually one of Qín Shǐ Huáng's brothers or some other relative.
-Anyway, it seems as if Zhào Gāo picked Zǐyīng to be emperor because the chancellor thought Zǐyīng easy to manipulate like Qín Èr Shì, but this was incorrect and Zǐyīng made it clear that he wasn't going to put up with Zhào Gāo's bullshit.
-Suspecting that Zhào Gāo was already plotting to his demise, Zǐyīng decided to beat Zhào Gāo to the punch.
-On the day of his official coronation, Zǐyīng decided to pretend to be sick so that when Zhào Gāo came over to check on him, Zǐyīng had an ambush ready! Zhào Gāo was then killed by one of Zǐyīng's eunuchs.
-After his coronation, Emperor Zǐyīng quicly realized that the Qín dynasty was just about to croak; everything had been fucked up so badly by Zhào Gāo.
-When a rebel army led by a former Qín military officer named Liú Bāng finally arrived at Xiányáng, the emperor immediately surrendered.
-Eventually Xiàng Yǔ and his army arrived at the city, but didn't Xiàng Yǔ didn't give a fuck about the surrender and ordered the immediate execution of the emperor and his family (as well as the destruction of one of their partially-completed palaces)!
-Surprisingly, once Xiàng Yǔ had control of the capital, he didn't try and take power for himself by starting his own dynasty or anything like that. Instead, he just wanted to go back home to Chǔ!
-Fun fact: apparently, when one his men made a joke about the people of Chǔ, Xiàng Yǔ had him boiled alive!!
-206 BC- the Qín dynasty was no more!
-Instead of starting a new dynasty, Xiàng Yǔ declared that the empire was to be divided up into 18 kingdoms (!):
-Xī Chǔ ("Western Chǔ")- ruled by Xiàng Yǔ (who still allowed for King Huái II to rule (and even had his title changed to "Chŭ Yì Dì" ("Emperor Yì of Chŭ"), but it was obvious that Xiàng Yǔ was really calling the shots; he even changed his title to "Xī Chǔ Bà Wáng" ("Hegemon-King of Western Chǔ") to reflect this.
-Hàn- ruled by Liú Bāng (enthroned as "Hàn Wáng" ("King of Hàn")).
-Yōng- ruled by Zhāng Hán.
-Sāi- ruled by Sīmǎ Xīn.
-Zhái
-Héngshān
-Hán- ruled by Hán Chéng (enthroned as "Hán Wáng Chéng" ("King Chéng of Hán")), a descendant of the Hán royal family but had been living as a commoner in the Qín dynasty before joining Xiàng Liáng's rebel army.
-Dài
-Hénán
-Chángshān
-Yīn
-Xī Wèi ("Western Wèi")
-Jiǔjiāng
-Línjiāng
-Yàn
-Liáodōng
-Qí
-Jiāodōng
-Jìběi
-Of course, this "18 Kingdoms" period ("Shí Bā Guó") wouldn't last long; they almost immediately started fighting with each other.
-Qí immediately took over Jiāodōng and Jìběi, which restored Qí's territory to the Warring States period-borders.
-Xiàng Yǔ realized that this peace wasn't going to last at all, so even he began to engage in wars of expansion against neighboring kingdoms.
-He even went so far as to order the assassination of both King Huái II/Emperor Yì (in order to replace him as the undisputed ruler of Western Chǔ) and Hán Chéng/King Chéng (in order to annex Hán)!
Friday, March 15, 2019
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Qin - Part II - One Nation Under Qin
-221 BC- so, the Warring States Period had ended, and China (as we know it today) was now unified under Qin (which was now the Qin dynasty, as opposed to the state of Qín).
-However, while many still argue this viewpoint, it could also be argued that the idea of an actual "Chinese" civilization did not begin when China was finally unified, but instead was ALREADY a civilization under the Xia and Shang dynasties and that the Warring States period was like a long period of civil war within this civilization; it was a renewal, not a beginning.
-Anyway, to reflect this "renewal", King Zhèng went back into ancient Chinese history and selected the title "Huángdì" ("Emperor"), which was derived from the titles used by the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors when they had ruled China, as well as "Shǐ" ("First"), which implied that this was the start of a brand-new imperial dynasty; hence, he was transformed from "Qín Wáng Zhèng" ("King Zhèng of Qín") to "Qín Shǐ Huáng" ("First Emperor of Qín"). Pretty cool!
-As emperor, Qín Shǐ Huáng immediately began implementing a number of serious reforms and changes across his new empire.
-The old feudalism model of the Zhou dynasty and the Warring States period was replaced by an imperial model that enforced unity, in part by reorganized the land into 36 jùn, or commanderies/prefectures (which would actually grow in number as the empire expanded), all of which were ruled directly by the emperor.
-These prefectures were then further divided into xiàn (counties).
-These counties were then divided even further into xiàng (townships).
-These townships were then divided even further into li (communities/subdistricts (100 families per li)).
-Property rights were also abolished under this new system. Instead, positions of power were awarded based on merit, not family background.
-All weapons not belonging to the imperial army were confiscated (and melted down, if possible).
-So many metal-based weapons were melted down that among them Qín Shǐ Huáng was able to build these massive statues in the capital (Xiányáng) that would become known as the Twelve Metal Collosi.
-Standardized a system of weight (around the unit jin, or catty (outside of mainland China), equal to like 0.5kg (at least in modern times)).
-Road systems and transportation requirements (axle lengths/widths) were standardized as road and canal construction became a huge priority for the empire.
-A new currency was also introduced to replace the "blade coins / knife money" (unclear as to what exactly the deal was with these) that had been used in the past- the bàn liǎng (which had been the form of currency in the state of Qín).
-Bàn liǎng were round bronze coins with a square hole in the middle. They doubled as both currency and a system of weight measurement, as one bàn liǎng weighed 1/16 of a jin/catty.
-Qín Shǐ Huáng also continued construction (which had started around 246 BC (before he was emperor)) on a massive mausoleum (The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Qínshǐhuáng Líng), located in modern-day Xī'ān, Shǎnxī Province) which was to serve as his tomb.
-It's been recorded that between 300,000-720,000 workers (!) toiled away on this project (for 38 years!), but the number of workers is most likely an insane exaggeration.
-It was a huge undertaking (the circumference of the inner city is 2.5 km; the outer is 6.3 km!), and was actually finally finished two years after Qín Shǐ Huáng had already died!
-Although an archaeological excavation was initiated in 1974, it's still being worked on today (as of 2019), although the process is slowed dramatically due to a bunch of complications and technical shit (high levels of mercury (dangerous), air exposure could damage the site, etc.).
-For example, in 2012 archaeologists discovered what appears to be Qín Shǐ Huáng's imperial palace, which was also fucking massive!
-This is also the site of the infamous Teracotta Army (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, of course).
-214 BC- Qín Shǐ Huáng sends a huge army to the north in order to secure the border and an even bigger army to the south to conquer the Bǎiyuè (or "Hundred Yuè"), a loose collection of tribes/states/kingdoms occupying (at this time) a stretch of territory from (roughly) modern-day Southern China to Northern Vietnam.
-The Qín forces had a really rough time trying to subjugate the Bǎiyuè, as the Qín troops weren't used to fighting in jungles. The Bǎiyuè knew this, and were especially adept at guerrilla warfare. However, this still wasn't enough to ultimately repel the Qín invaders.
-In order to make travel to the south easier (presumably for military vessels, supply boats, etc.), Qín Shǐ Huáng ordered the construction of the Líng Qú ("Magic Canal"), a long (36km!) canal, in order to connect the Xiāng River with the Lí River.
-This was extremely significant because it essentially connected the Yangtze (or Yángzǐ) River with the Pearl River Delta (Zhūjiāng Sānjiǎozhōu)! Thus, the Qín now had a superhighway in which they could use to pour their armies into Bǎiyuè land (as opposed to having the armies travel overland, which would be extremely expensive and an overall giant pain in the ass.
-The lands in the south that the Qín dynasty did end up conquering they immediately started to colonize.
-They did this by sending tens of thousands of criminals (with promises of freedom should they agree to live in these new regions), exiles, and other undesirables into these newly-acquired lands (in addition to military troops).
-One of the most important things Qín Shǐ Huáng did during this time was standardizing a system of writing that was to be used by his entire empire, as up till this point every region used a different script to write their dialect.
-This script became known as zhuànshū ("seal script"), which was based off of the script used by the Zhou dynasty but was what had been used by the kingdom of Qín before all of this.
-The "director" who oversaw all of this implemented was the Qín dynasty's chancellor/prime minister Lǐ Sī, who was also a calligrapher and Legalist philosopher/writer.
-For what it's worth, he's also considered to be one of the most important figures in all of Chinese history because of his reforms (which included promoting a unified, standardized script to be used throughout the empire, as well as destroying/removing/erasing any other script that was being used at the same time that wasn't zhuànshū. In many cases, he also suppressed intellectual dissent by cracking down on "free-thinking" scholars by destroying their works and historical records and then having the scholars themselves either imprisoned (and sent north to go work on border fortifications (NOT the Great Wall of China, although it was a precursor) that Qín Shǐ Huáng was having built in order to defend against the Xiōngnú) or executed; only books written by pro-Qín writers and intellectuals were spared.
-Additionally, anyone caught discussing the classics of poetry or history would be executed. Criticism of the government would also result in the execution of one's entire family!
-Because of this, China's "Hundred Schools of Thought" intellectual golden age (which included Confucianism, Taoism, the works of Sūnzǐ (Sun Tzu), etc.) was finally coming to an end.
-213 BC- around the time that all these reforms were being passed, Qín Shǐ Huáng realized that he was starting to get a little old. Because of this (and also having survived multiple assassination attempts), he became obsessed with achieving immortality, and used all of the resources at his disposal in order to do so.
-He famously had over 460 scholars buried alive after he found out that he was being deceived by two alchemists who had promised that they could create a potion of immortality for him.
-When Qín Shǐ Huáng's own son, Crown Prince Fúsū argued that this brutal oppression of Confucian scholars would result in widespread civil unrest across the land, Qín Shǐ Huáng had him sent to the northern frontier on "military duty" (but it was obvious that he had actually just been exiled)!
-It's been argued that perhaps Qín Shǐ Huáng ordered the book burnings and executions in order for his scholars and alchemists to focus solely on finding out how to become immortal.
-At one point he actually sent thousands on an expedition to try and find Mount Pénglái (located in the legendary, mystical land of Pénglái ("Pénglái Xiāndǎo")) where it was believed that a 1000 year-old immortal wizard named Ānqī Shēng lived. Perhaps he could help Qín Shǐ Huáng?
-Leading this expedition was Xú Fú, a (the?) sorcerer for the court of the Qín dynasty.
-However, after years of exploration and adventures, Xú Fú and his expedition eventually just ended up disappearing. Where did they go?
-Assuming this is a true story, according to legend Xú Fú and his people landed in Japan and they just ended up staying there and colonizing it!
-Additional theories have proposed that it wasn't Japan but was actually Jeju Island, Taiwan, etc., but of course who the fuck really knows.
-Perhaps they didn't want to return empty-handed to Qín Shǐ Huáng because they knew that he would have them executed for their failure
-211 BC- according to legend, a meteor fell to earth near the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
-On the meteor, someone wrote the words "Qín Shǐ Huáng will die and his land will be divided", which of course freaked out Qín Shǐ Huáng.
-Qín Shǐ Huáng tried to figure out who wrote these words, but no one in the nearby town fessed up so he had all of the villagers executed and the meteor pulverized!
-210 BC- Qín Shǐ Huáng dies, quite possibly from mercury poisoning due to all the wacky potions and shit he was having his alchemists create in order to try and achieve immortality!
-Upon hearing the news of the emperor's death, Lǐ Sī, fearing that the empire would break up to its old state of chaos, ordered for the death to be covered up; this was possible because Qín Shǐ Huáng had died in Shāqiū prefecture (Shāqiū Píngtái) at one of his palaces.
-Because this particular palace was like a two month-journey outside of the capital at Xiányáng, Lǐ Sī ordered for the few witnesses of the emperor's death (which included the emperor's second-eldest son, Prince Húhài (who would soon take the imperial name Qín Èr Shì when he was finally enthroned as the second (and final) emperor of the Qín dynasty), Chief Eunuch Zhào Gāo, and a few other eunuchs) to keep quiet about it as they journeyed back to the capital with the emperor's entourage. This seemed to work, as everyone just assumed that the emperor was chilling in his wagon, and routines went on as normal as they made the trip.
-However, of course over time the body began to decompose, so Lǐ Sī ordered for wagons carrying rotting fish to travel next to the emperor's wagon in order to cover up the corpse's stench.
-How no one caught on at this point what was going on is beyond me.
-Anyway, when they finally reached Xiányáng, Lǐ Sī allowed the news of the emperor's death to be revealed.
-However, while many still argue this viewpoint, it could also be argued that the idea of an actual "Chinese" civilization did not begin when China was finally unified, but instead was ALREADY a civilization under the Xia and Shang dynasties and that the Warring States period was like a long period of civil war within this civilization; it was a renewal, not a beginning.
-Anyway, to reflect this "renewal", King Zhèng went back into ancient Chinese history and selected the title "Huángdì" ("Emperor"), which was derived from the titles used by the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors when they had ruled China, as well as "Shǐ" ("First"), which implied that this was the start of a brand-new imperial dynasty; hence, he was transformed from "Qín Wáng Zhèng" ("King Zhèng of Qín") to "Qín Shǐ Huáng" ("First Emperor of Qín"). Pretty cool!
-As emperor, Qín Shǐ Huáng immediately began implementing a number of serious reforms and changes across his new empire.
-The old feudalism model of the Zhou dynasty and the Warring States period was replaced by an imperial model that enforced unity, in part by reorganized the land into 36 jùn, or commanderies/prefectures (which would actually grow in number as the empire expanded), all of which were ruled directly by the emperor.
-These prefectures were then further divided into xiàn (counties).
-These counties were then divided even further into xiàng (townships).
-These townships were then divided even further into li (communities/subdistricts (100 families per li)).
-Property rights were also abolished under this new system. Instead, positions of power were awarded based on merit, not family background.
-All weapons not belonging to the imperial army were confiscated (and melted down, if possible).
-So many metal-based weapons were melted down that among them Qín Shǐ Huáng was able to build these massive statues in the capital (Xiányáng) that would become known as the Twelve Metal Collosi.
-Standardized a system of weight (around the unit jin, or catty (outside of mainland China), equal to like 0.5kg (at least in modern times)).
-Road systems and transportation requirements (axle lengths/widths) were standardized as road and canal construction became a huge priority for the empire.
-A new currency was also introduced to replace the "blade coins / knife money" (unclear as to what exactly the deal was with these) that had been used in the past- the bàn liǎng (which had been the form of currency in the state of Qín).
-Bàn liǎng were round bronze coins with a square hole in the middle. They doubled as both currency and a system of weight measurement, as one bàn liǎng weighed 1/16 of a jin/catty.
-Qín Shǐ Huáng also continued construction (which had started around 246 BC (before he was emperor)) on a massive mausoleum (The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Qínshǐhuáng Líng), located in modern-day Xī'ān, Shǎnxī Province) which was to serve as his tomb.
-It's been recorded that between 300,000-720,000 workers (!) toiled away on this project (for 38 years!), but the number of workers is most likely an insane exaggeration.
-It was a huge undertaking (the circumference of the inner city is 2.5 km; the outer is 6.3 km!), and was actually finally finished two years after Qín Shǐ Huáng had already died!
-Although an archaeological excavation was initiated in 1974, it's still being worked on today (as of 2019), although the process is slowed dramatically due to a bunch of complications and technical shit (high levels of mercury (dangerous), air exposure could damage the site, etc.).
-For example, in 2012 archaeologists discovered what appears to be Qín Shǐ Huáng's imperial palace, which was also fucking massive!
-This is also the site of the infamous Teracotta Army (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, of course).
-214 BC- Qín Shǐ Huáng sends a huge army to the north in order to secure the border and an even bigger army to the south to conquer the Bǎiyuè (or "Hundred Yuè"), a loose collection of tribes/states/kingdoms occupying (at this time) a stretch of territory from (roughly) modern-day Southern China to Northern Vietnam.
-The Qín forces had a really rough time trying to subjugate the Bǎiyuè, as the Qín troops weren't used to fighting in jungles. The Bǎiyuè knew this, and were especially adept at guerrilla warfare. However, this still wasn't enough to ultimately repel the Qín invaders.
-In order to make travel to the south easier (presumably for military vessels, supply boats, etc.), Qín Shǐ Huáng ordered the construction of the Líng Qú ("Magic Canal"), a long (36km!) canal, in order to connect the Xiāng River with the Lí River.
-This was extremely significant because it essentially connected the Yangtze (or Yángzǐ) River with the Pearl River Delta (Zhūjiāng Sānjiǎozhōu)! Thus, the Qín now had a superhighway in which they could use to pour their armies into Bǎiyuè land (as opposed to having the armies travel overland, which would be extremely expensive and an overall giant pain in the ass.
-The lands in the south that the Qín dynasty did end up conquering they immediately started to colonize.
-They did this by sending tens of thousands of criminals (with promises of freedom should they agree to live in these new regions), exiles, and other undesirables into these newly-acquired lands (in addition to military troops).
-One of the most important things Qín Shǐ Huáng did during this time was standardizing a system of writing that was to be used by his entire empire, as up till this point every region used a different script to write their dialect.
-This script became known as zhuànshū ("seal script"), which was based off of the script used by the Zhou dynasty but was what had been used by the kingdom of Qín before all of this.
-The "director" who oversaw all of this implemented was the Qín dynasty's chancellor/prime minister Lǐ Sī, who was also a calligrapher and Legalist philosopher/writer.
-For what it's worth, he's also considered to be one of the most important figures in all of Chinese history because of his reforms (which included promoting a unified, standardized script to be used throughout the empire, as well as destroying/removing/erasing any other script that was being used at the same time that wasn't zhuànshū. In many cases, he also suppressed intellectual dissent by cracking down on "free-thinking" scholars by destroying their works and historical records and then having the scholars themselves either imprisoned (and sent north to go work on border fortifications (NOT the Great Wall of China, although it was a precursor) that Qín Shǐ Huáng was having built in order to defend against the Xiōngnú) or executed; only books written by pro-Qín writers and intellectuals were spared.
-Additionally, anyone caught discussing the classics of poetry or history would be executed. Criticism of the government would also result in the execution of one's entire family!
-Because of this, China's "Hundred Schools of Thought" intellectual golden age (which included Confucianism, Taoism, the works of Sūnzǐ (Sun Tzu), etc.) was finally coming to an end.
-213 BC- around the time that all these reforms were being passed, Qín Shǐ Huáng realized that he was starting to get a little old. Because of this (and also having survived multiple assassination attempts), he became obsessed with achieving immortality, and used all of the resources at his disposal in order to do so.
-He famously had over 460 scholars buried alive after he found out that he was being deceived by two alchemists who had promised that they could create a potion of immortality for him.
-When Qín Shǐ Huáng's own son, Crown Prince Fúsū argued that this brutal oppression of Confucian scholars would result in widespread civil unrest across the land, Qín Shǐ Huáng had him sent to the northern frontier on "military duty" (but it was obvious that he had actually just been exiled)!
-It's been argued that perhaps Qín Shǐ Huáng ordered the book burnings and executions in order for his scholars and alchemists to focus solely on finding out how to become immortal.
-At one point he actually sent thousands on an expedition to try and find Mount Pénglái (located in the legendary, mystical land of Pénglái ("Pénglái Xiāndǎo")) where it was believed that a 1000 year-old immortal wizard named Ānqī Shēng lived. Perhaps he could help Qín Shǐ Huáng?
-Leading this expedition was Xú Fú, a (the?) sorcerer for the court of the Qín dynasty.
-However, after years of exploration and adventures, Xú Fú and his expedition eventually just ended up disappearing. Where did they go?
-Assuming this is a true story, according to legend Xú Fú and his people landed in Japan and they just ended up staying there and colonizing it!
-Additional theories have proposed that it wasn't Japan but was actually Jeju Island, Taiwan, etc., but of course who the fuck really knows.
-Perhaps they didn't want to return empty-handed to Qín Shǐ Huáng because they knew that he would have them executed for their failure
-211 BC- according to legend, a meteor fell to earth near the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
-On the meteor, someone wrote the words "Qín Shǐ Huáng will die and his land will be divided", which of course freaked out Qín Shǐ Huáng.
-Qín Shǐ Huáng tried to figure out who wrote these words, but no one in the nearby town fessed up so he had all of the villagers executed and the meteor pulverized!
-210 BC- Qín Shǐ Huáng dies, quite possibly from mercury poisoning due to all the wacky potions and shit he was having his alchemists create in order to try and achieve immortality!
-Upon hearing the news of the emperor's death, Lǐ Sī, fearing that the empire would break up to its old state of chaos, ordered for the death to be covered up; this was possible because Qín Shǐ Huáng had died in Shāqiū prefecture (Shāqiū Píngtái) at one of his palaces.
-Because this particular palace was like a two month-journey outside of the capital at Xiányáng, Lǐ Sī ordered for the few witnesses of the emperor's death (which included the emperor's second-eldest son, Prince Húhài (who would soon take the imperial name Qín Èr Shì when he was finally enthroned as the second (and final) emperor of the Qín dynasty), Chief Eunuch Zhào Gāo, and a few other eunuchs) to keep quiet about it as they journeyed back to the capital with the emperor's entourage. This seemed to work, as everyone just assumed that the emperor was chilling in his wagon, and routines went on as normal as they made the trip.
-However, of course over time the body began to decompose, so Lǐ Sī ordered for wagons carrying rotting fish to travel next to the emperor's wagon in order to cover up the corpse's stench.
-How no one caught on at this point what was going on is beyond me.
-Anyway, when they finally reached Xiányáng, Lǐ Sī allowed the news of the emperor's death to be revealed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)