Historian Du Zhengsheng pointed out in his book that during the Warring States Period, all countries directly controlled the common people through the tax system and the household registration system, called "household qimin" (peasants registered in the household registration), who were responsible for state taxes as the main economic pillar of the state. However, in the late Warring States period, the peasants of the Six Nations were in a precarious situation, their economies were bankrupt, and they were unable to support the expenses and levies of the war, and the tax base of the Six Nations was destroyed, and they were defeated.

The six countries are the biggest stumbling block in the unification war, but the six countries themselves have their own ghosts, and there are often wars between the six countries of Shandong, for example, Zhao and Yan have become the enemy of life and death because of the war for many years, in 242 BC (the fifth year of the reign of King Qin), Yan Wangxi because of the long-term attack of the Qin State, the main general Lian Po went to the Wei State, Yan Wangxi not only did not intend to aid Zhao to resist Qin, but intended to take advantage of the fire to rob and attack the Zhao State.

Before setting out for the expedition, Yan Wangxi asked Ju Xin about Pang Xuan's situation, and Ju Xin said that Pang Xuan was easy to deal with. Yan Wang Xi then attacked Zhao with Ju Xin as his general, and Zhao sent Pang Xuan to meet him. In the end, the Zhao army won a great victory, captured 20,000 people of the Yan Kingdom, and Ju Xin was captured and killed. From the above examples, it can be seen that the relationship between the six countries was very fragile, and it was finally easily broken by the Qin state one by one.

After Ying Zheng pacified the world by force, he carried out a series of measures in the political system, which had a tremendous impact on the political, economic, and cultural unification and development of China in later generations.

In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, only Zhou Tianzi could be called "king", but after King Ping moved eastward, the Zhou family declined, and the three kingdoms of Chu, Wuyue and Yue were respectively usurped to claim the king, and in the Warring States Period, Zhou Tianzi's authority was even lowered. They also recognized each other's monarchs for the throne, and for a time the title of "king" was also greatly devalued, so the name "emperor" and "emperor" began to take shape.

At that time, in order to rationalize their political power and the basis for unification, the princes of various countries found out the roots from ancient history, and even fabricated ancient imperial genealogies for their royal families. For example, in the late Warring States period, King Qi and King Qin Zhaoxiang called each other the two emperors of the East and the West.

After Yingzheng unified the six kingdoms, he believed that he had "meritorious service to the three emperors, virtue and five emperors", and that the title of "king" was not enough to show his great achievements and esteemed status to future generations, so he consulted with the important minister Wang Juan, the imperial historian Feng Zai, and the court captain Li Si and others to provide advice on his "honorific title".

Wang Juan and others first praised Yingzheng's exploits, which have surpassed the three emperors and five emperors. Then it is said that in ancient times, there were titles such as the emperor, the emperor of the earth, and the emperor of Thailand. The Emperor of Thailand is the most noble, so he presents the honorific title of "Emperor of Thailand" to Yingzheng. Those who promulgate laws and decrees are called "books", those who announce events in the world are called "edicts", and seals are called "seals". The words spoken are called "oracles". The ministers called him "His Majesty". The Son of Heaven no longer calls himself a "widow." Changed the name to "I".

Ying Zheng accepted most of the suggestions of Wang Juan and others, but removed the Thai character for the honorific title "Thai Emperor" that the ministers presented to him. The word "emperor" was adopted in ancient times, called "emperor", and his father King Zhuang Xiang was posthumously honored as the emperor, and the law was abolished. He called himself the "First Emperor", and his descendants were called the Second and Third Emperors until eternity. The common people are called "Qianshou".

On the other hand, Ying Zheng also ordered Li Si to grind the He's Bi (one said to be Lantian jade) into a jade seal, that is, the "heirloom jade seal" passed down from generation to generation, the size of the jade seal is four inches square, by the Xianyang jade worker Wang Sun Shou will be the He's Bi fine grinding, the jade seal is carved with five dragons, eight insects and birds are written on it, according to the records and existing rubbings have "Haotian's order, Emperor Shouchang", "Ordered by the sky, both Shou Yongchang (see "Three Kingdoms, Wu Shu)", "Ordered by the sky, both longevity and health (see "Ying's Han Guan", "Huangfu Century)" and " By the mandate of heaven, Emperor Shouchang (the historian Pei Songzhi's statement)" four sayings.

Qin Shi Huang adopted the Five Virtues of Zou Yan, a Yin and Yang master of the Warring States Period, and believed that the Yellow Emperor belonged to Tude, with yellow dragons and large earthworms.

In the Xia Dynasty, there was a green dragon landing on the outskirts of the capital, and the grass and trees grew exceptionally strong and lush.

The Shang Dynasty got Jinde, so silver flowed out of the mountains.

The Zhou Dynasty belonged to the fire virtue, so there was an auspicious end of the red black.

Qin followed Zhou and Xing, and Qin Wengong, the ancestor of Qin Shi Huang, encountered a black dragon when he was hunting, so Qin should belong to Shuide. In order to match the characteristics of water virtue, with October as the beginning of the year, the beginning of the year to change the morning greeting to October 1, the color is still black, the final number is six, so it is stipulated that the clothes and festival flags are still black, Fu Chuan, the crown, the public seat (the Son of Heaven rides six feet, the car drives six horses) and other systems are all counted with "six", and the name of the Yellow River is changed to "Deshui".

Other characteristics of water virtues include the direction is still "north", the season is still "winter", etc. Because the water dominates yin, and yin represents torture and killing, Qin Shi Huang used this as the basis for his aggravating severe punishment law.

Due to the shortness of the Qin Dynasty and the incomplete records, we can only make indirect inferences about the bureaucratic system of the Qin Dynasty, but both Sima Qian's "Historical Records" and the "Book of Han" written by Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty refer to the Han Dynasty and the Qin system, so the bureaucratic system of the Qin Shi Huang period is mainly based on the records of the "Book of Han: List of Hundred Officials and Ministers".

However, in any case, Qin Shi Huang established the system of 100 officials, called "Three Princes and Nine Emperors", and continued to use the expression of later generations, which is still widely accepted.

The time when the term "Three Princes" appeared should be at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. As for the "Jiuqing", from the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty to the early Warring States period, no evidence of the adoption of this official system has been found, but it can be determined that the term "Jiuqing" appeared during the reigns of Lu Dinggong and Lu Aigong in the Spring and Autumn Period, and was connected with the "Three Princes".

The exact record of Jiuqing in pre-Qin literature is the Lü Chunqiu Period, and there is also a similar institutional description in the Lü Spring and Autumn Twelve Chronicles, which can be regarded as the earliest source of the term "Jiuqing".

After Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, he established a system of 100 officials, with the prime minister and the national government in charge of the military, and the imperial historian in charge of picketing, collectively known as the three dukes.

Under the "Three Princes", there were "Jiuqing" to control the affairs of the court, including Lang Zhongling (palace security), Zhisu Neishi (in charge of finance), Fengchang (in charge of the temple etiquette), Taifu (in charge of the imperial family), Tingwei (in charge of the prison), Shaofu (in charge of the Shanhai Chize), Weiwei (in charge of the palace guards), Dianke (in charge of the affairs of the "barbarians"), and Zongzheng (in charge of the affairs of the sect), but due to the lack of documentary records, it is not possible to determine whether the Taiwei and the Imperial Shi Dafu actually performed their practice.

As for the number of nine kings at the beginning, it was only symbolic, and it was only a conceptual bureaucracy, and it was not limited by the number of "nine". It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that the concept of Jiuqing was confirmed as the de facto Jiuqing.

On the other hand, the official system of the Qin Dynasty also had 72 doctors for consultation, and there were also generals (in charge of the levy) and generals (in charge of the palace), all of whom were appointed by the imperial court, and were appointed and dismissed at any time, and were required to evaluate their performance every year. The bureaucratic system established by Qin Shi Huang became a model for the political system of all dynasties.

Since the destruction of the Six Kingdoms, the imperial court has held discussions on whether feudalism should be restored. At that time, Prime Minister Wang Juan believed that the Yan State, the Qi State, and the Chu State were located in a remote area, and if the three places were not divided into clans, these three places could not really be controlled by the imperial court, so he suggested that Qin Shi Huang divide the princes to screen the royal family. Although this proposal was supported by most of the ministers, Li Si, who was the court lieutenant at the time, strongly rejected the public opinion.

Li Si used the Zhou royal family as an example, pointing out that the Zhou royal family also divided many princes with the surname Ji, but their descendants were separated because of blood estrangement, and regarded each other as enemies, Zhou Tianzi was powerless to stop the disputes between the princes, and the princes no longer regarded the royal family at all, and finally the Zhou dynasty fell apart. The division of the princes will only lead to the division of the princes in the future, and the armor will not stop.

In order to make the world peaceful, the only way to do this is to implement the county system, and to reward the princes and heroes with public taxes, so as to eliminate the ambitions of the people in the world.

Qin Shi Huang agreed with Li Si's opinion, pointing out that the princes and kings were the scourge that disturbed the world, and it was precisely because of their existence that the people of the world suffered from endless wars for many years and longed for peace. (To be continued......)