The real reason why Qin Shihuang burned books to bury his father?

After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he took a series of measures to strengthen centralization. When the measures to strengthen political control were completed, Qin Shihuang began to restrain people's thoughts. Influenced by the academic atmosphere of a hundred schools of thought contending during the Warring States Period, Confucian scholars in the pre-Qin period still retained the academic tradition of daring to speak and a hundred schools of thought contending. In the ninth year after Qin Shihuang unified the Central Plains, that is, in 2 13 BC, one day, Qin Shihuang bought wine in Xianyang Palace, and all the officials attended, and seventy doctors who were quite famous in academic thought also attended the banquet. During the dinner, Confucian scholars had a heated debate about whether to implement the enfeoffment system. Prime Ministers Wang Wan, Dr. Chun and others advocated enfeoffment, and Dr. Zhou praised Qin Shihuang's merits with a toast: "Your majesty is wise and wise, pacified the sea and exiled barbarians." "With princes as counties and counties, everyone is happy and there is no war, which will be passed down from generation to generation." Qin Shihuang's face lit up after listening. Chunyuyue was very uncomfortable when he heard Zhou say that the enfeoffment system was not good and the county system was good. He took a few quick steps forward and quickly said to Qin Shihuang, "Your Majesty! It is said that the King of the Yin and Zhou Dynasties passed on for more than 1000 years, making his sons and daughters heroes vassals and guarding the central government like stars arching the moon. This system is already very good. Now that your majesty has unified the Central Plains, your children have no status and no real power. In the future, if Tian Chang, a traitor who rebelled and usurped the throne, appeared in Qi, who could save the situation? I've heard from the older generation that things can't last long without following the old rules. Now Zhou flatters your majesty to his face, which aggravates his fault. I don't think he is a loyal minister. Your Majesty should reconsider the issue of enfeoffment! "

Chun Yuyue raised the issue of enfeoffment system, and Qin Shihuang was a little annoyed. However, Li Si, the prime minister, and others thought that "three generations' matters were not enough to worry about", advocated the county system, and accused Chun and others of "learning from the past and not learning from the present" and "learning from the past and harming the present", which greatly touched Qin Shihuang. Finally, Qin Shihuang agreed with Lisi's point of view, adopted Lisi's suggestion of "burning books", and ordered all foreign historical books, privately collected Confucian classics, works of various philosophers and other classics to be destroyed by officials within a time limit. At the same time, it is forbidden to talk about "poems", "books" and "remembering the past", and offenders will be sentenced to death or even death. After burning books, people can learn ideas and let them learn from officials.

At that time, the specific method of burning books was: except those books about medicine, divination and tree planting, all the books of The Book of Songs, Shangshu and A Hundred Schools of Thought that were not recorded by Qin historians and collected by the government should be handed over to local officials for burning within 30 days after the order was issued. In the future, anyone who talks about the contents of ancient books privately will be sentenced to death; If they attack current politics with ancient truths, their whole family will be put to death. If the official knows nothing about this, he will be sentenced to the same crime. Those who are ordered not to burn books within 30 days after their arrival will be punished for working hard on the Great Wall for four years after tattooing their faces. Anyone who is willing to learn laws and regulations can only learn from officials, and it is not allowed to secretly learn from previous ancient books.

In this way, books were burned everywhere from Xianyang, the capital, to remote rural areas, and a large number of ancient cultural books were reduced to ashes in the ruthless fire, and the first extinction in the cultural history of China fell from the sky. The evil consequences of burning books not only destroyed many important pre-Qin classics, but also dealt a fatal blow to the active ideological fields and theoretical explorers since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, blocking the way of exploring academic freedom in the Qin Dynasty and hindering the process of ideological and cultural integration in hundred schools of thought in the pre-Qin period.

The smoke of burning books has not yet dispersed, and the storm of "pit Confucianism" has leveled off again. The direct cause of "cheating Confucianism" is that the alchemist Hou Sheng, Lu Sheng and others satirized the first emperor and then fled.

Since the Warring States Period, the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements has prevailed, and all alchemy is deduced from Yin-Yang and Five Elements. In the coastal areas of Yanqi, there appeared a group of alchemists who talked about magic. They claim that there are three sacred mountains in the Bohai Sea, Penglai, Abbot and Yingzhou, on which the elixir of immortality grows. After Qin Shihuang proclaimed himself emperor, in order to live forever, he was obsessed with the way of living forever, and he spared no expense to send Xu Fu, Han Zhong, harem, Shi Sheng and others to look for the medicine of living forever. Due to unsuccessful attempts, Qin Shihuang was dissatisfied, and his temper became more and more irritable, irritable and moody.

Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng were alchemists around Qin Shihuang at that time. They are also nervous because of their long-term search for immortals and elixirs. According to the Qin law, if the medicine is not fulfilled, it will be put to death. They know from the doctor's experience that their fate will be very bad; From the impermanence of Qin Shihuang, I feel that my end is coming. They scoffed at Qin Shihuang's "violent self-use" and "full-time warders, and warders got lucky". They discussed with each other: like this, power is established by punishment and killing, and greedy and powerful people can't ask for fairy medicine for him. So Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng quietly took Qin Shihuang's money and made an appointment to escape. Qin Shihuang was furious. He thought he had repaid Lu Sheng richly and treated him well, but Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng slandered themselves and even fled with such vicious words and decided to punish them severely. So Qin Shihuang ordered the imperial doctor to investigate those literati who slandered him behind his back. People who are arrested and interrogated can't stand this cruel punishment. In order to excuse themselves, they pulled out others one by one and crawled around, and found out that more than 460 alchemists and Confucian scholars were suspected at once. In a rage, Qin Shihuang let people dig a big pit outside Xianyang and bury them alive without detailed interrogation and verification. In fact, among these 460 people, only a few people really opposed Qin Shihuang, and most of them died with resentment. Fu Su, the eldest son of the first emperor, thought it was cruel to do so. He told Qin Shihuang that the world was beginning to settle, and the head of Guizhou in the distance was not stable. "The students all recite the teachings of Confucius, and now they are all brought to justice, fearing that the world will be uneasy." Qin Shihuang not only didn't realize his cruelty, but also demoted Fu Su to a business capital.

According to the records in the history books, the fact that Qin Shihuang burned books to bury Confucianism is relatively clear. However, some people think that there are still some questions after this incident, such as whose pit is Qin Shihuang?

Masters such as Zhang Taiyan and Gu Jiegang pointed out that burning books is indeed a fact, but it has never happened. Qin Shihuang's anger was directed at the alchemist. It stands to reason that the 460 people in the pit at that time were alchemists rather than Confucian scholars who recited Confucius. At least among these 400 people, there are few Confucian scholars. "On Salt and Iron" said: "Yan Qishi solved the problem of hoes and argued about fairies and demons, so thousands of people were interested in Xianyang." There is no alchemist among the pitchers, which can't be justified in any case. The social status of Confucian scholars in Qin Shihuang period was higher than that in Warring States period, and the social and political status of Confucian scholars was not affected after the fall of alchemists. After the emperor's east tour, 70 Confucian scholars in Qilu area were appointed as doctors and followed him to Mount Tai for meditation. In the Han dynasty, Confucianism didn't care much about it, and few people talked about it. In the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, when people talked about this matter, they only said "entrapping and killing warlocks", but no one said that it was entrapping and killing Confucian scholars.

It was Sang Hongyang who first described it as "cheating Confucianism" in the sixth year of the Western Han Dynasty (8 1 year ago). However, more than 100 years after the incident, the accuracy of the statement is in doubt. But this statement was inherited by many people in later generations, and it became more and more fierce. Nevertheless, some Confucian scholars are still cautious about this, such as Han Yu and Su Shi, who still call it "bachelor of killing" and "butcher".

Most people think that some people cheat Confucianism, and among these 400 people, Confucianism accounts for the majority. Moreover, according to some historical records, Qin Shihuang seems to have cheated Confucianism more than once. In the Tang Dynasty, Yan Shigu quoted Wei Hong's Preface to the Imperial System and Confucius' Book of Justice as saying: "After Qin Shihuang burned books, he was worried that everyone in the world would not obey his laws, so he called all the students. Anyone who went to Xianyang was worshipped as Lang, with 700 people around. Soon it was ordered to plant melons in the warm place of the mountain pit valley in winter. When the melon was ripe, he asked Dr. Zhu Sheng to talk about it. Confucian scholars are really confused about planting melons in winter. It's so noisy that everyone has their own opinions. So the first emperor asked everyone to have a look and sent someone to set up an office in this place in advance. After the arrival of Confucian scholars, everyone was still arguing with each other. Qin Shihuang ordered people to trigger the mechanism and fill the soil from it. Soon all the Confucian scholars were under pressure, and soon there was no sound. " Wei Hong's record, of course, comes from rumors, which is not recorded in the history books. I don't know if it is the same as the previous "cheating Confucianism", because there is no evidence, so I can't know it today.

Since then, Lishan has also been called the Valley of Pit Confucianism. In the Han Dynasty, it was called the hometown of Confucianism. Some scholars have verified that this valley is located in Hong Qing Fort, ten kilometers west of Lintong County, and Hong Qing Fort was also called Wenbao in the past. According to Mr. Kangle Liu's on-the-spot investigation, the Pit Confucianism Valley is located in a narrow and deep valley in Wuli, southwest of Lintong today. "Hot springs are criss-crossed, which can bear fruit out of season". Both sides of the valley are high slopes and steep mountains. As long as you throw loess stones and guard taniguchi, don't say hundreds of people who go in, even thousands can't escape.

Some people think that Confucian scholars in Qin and Han dynasties also worked as alchemists, and alchemists may also have worked as Confucianism. Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng are looking for medicine for Qin Shihuang. Obviously a magician, his attack on Qin Shihuang sounded exactly like that of a Confucian scholar. Judging from the actual situation at that time, the first emperor was superstitious about alchemy, and pure Confucianism was obviously unacceptable. Therefore, it should be possible for Confucian scholars to study alchemy at the same time or abandon Confucianism and specialize in alchemy.

Whether "burning books to bury Confucianism" is beneficial to social development is also a historical mystery.

Many people think that burning books to bury Confucianism has no good effect. Guo Moruo believes: "The book is burned, but it is still second. Since the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the spirit of free thought has actually been dealt a fatal blow. " Lin Jianming and other experts in the history of Qin and Han Dynasties pointed out that Qin Shihuang ordered the burning of books to bury Confucianism, which resulted in the loss of China culture and the burning of many important documents and ancient books in the pre-Qin period. In order to pursue immortality, Qin Shihuang exercised great power and killed people at will, which fully showed his stupidity and cruelty. Some people further think that burning books and burying Confucianism is the turning point of the Qin Dynasty from prosperity to decline and rapidly sliding to extinction. The starting point of burning books to bury Confucianism is wrong, the methods and means are cruel and stupid, and the effect is to accelerate the demise of the Qin Dynasty, so we should completely deny burning books to bury Confucianism.

Some people think that burning books and burying Confucianism should be analyzed concretely, and the evaluation should not go to extremes. Yan Bozan, a famous historian, pointed out that burning books and burying Confucianism caused great losses to the preservation of ancient documents and academic teaching. However, in the era of fierce struggle for reunification and division at that time, it was of positive significance for Qin Shihuang to use this means to combat the reactionary thought of reviving feudal aristocratic politics. Some scholars believe that Qin Shihuang's practice of burning books to bury Confucianism had its progressive effect under the historical conditions at that time, but we should not uncritically praise Qin Shihuang's measures. After all, the simple and rude practice of burning books is very unfavorable to the development of culture.

There are also some people who hold a positive view on burning books and burying Confucianism. He Ziquan, a famous scholar, believes that Qin Shihuang's book burning cannot be viewed simply from the perspective of book burning. Qin Shihuang's burning of books was the result of two ideological struggles, one was the struggle between progressive and reactionary thoughts at that time, and the other was the political struggle between progress and reactionary. Burning books is a means to ban the reactionary thought of "right and wrong". Burning ancient documents in order to ban reactionary ideas is rude, but it is progressive. Pit Confucianism is a continuation of the book burning incident, and its significance is the same as that of book burning. Scholars pointed out that Qin Shihuang's political direction at that historical stage was correct, but his implementation method was not brilliant. Li Si's suggestion of "burning books" did not completely become the book-making of the first emperor, nor was it fully put into practice. After "burning books to bury Confucianism", the teaching of culture and scholarship including Confucianism in Qin Dynasty was not interrupted, and the authenticity of Historical Records was gradually confirmed, which positively denied the statement that "burning books to bury Confucianism" caused great losses to the preservation of ancient documents and the teaching of culture and scholarship. As for the "cheating Confucianism" incident, it is a typical manifestation of the key internal politics of the Qin ruling group.

Today, it seems that Qin Shihuang burned books to bury Confucianism, with the aim of unifying thoughts and suppressing those thoughts and remarks against centralization, but his practice was too excessive and cruel. Burning books destroyed the cultural wealth accumulated for a long time before Qin dynasty, and pit Confucianism killed many creators of spiritual wealth. Since then, the number of truly learned people in the Qin court has been greatly reduced, and traitors who specialize in flattering and deceiving their superiors and deluding their subordinates, such as Zhao, have gradually become important people around Qin Shihuang, and the Qin Dynasty has indeed started to decline since then. Qin Shihuang was a great emperor. He accomplished the great cause of reunification, and at the same time he exercised cruel rule over the people.