Qin Shi Huangdi
The first Qin emperor, Shi Huangdi, was the son of the Qin Zhuang Xiang Wang from his beloved concubine. At birth he received the name Zheng (“first”). He was 13 years old when his father died and Zheng assumed power as the ruler of Qin. By this time, the Qin kingdom was already one of the largest and strongest Chinese states. Zheng-wan had to make one last effort to unite the entire country under his rule. The political situation in the Celestial Empire at that time was as follows - in the east the Qin were opposed by five kingdoms: Chu, Han, Wei, Zhao and Yan; behind them, on the ocean shore, was Qi, in which they all sought support.
Each of the six eastern kingdoms individually was much weaker than Qin, but together they represented a serious force. In order to destroy their alliance, Zheng Wang spent a huge amount of gold bribing the highest Qi dignitaries. As a result, most of them became agents of Qin and carried out his policies. The advisers persuaded the Qian Jian-wan to enter into an alliance with the Qin and abandon the support of their eastern neighbors. As a result, the Qin people were able to defeat them all one by one.
In 234 BC. The Qin commander Huan Qi defeated the Zhao army near Pingyang, executed 100 thousand people and captured this city. In 230 BC. The Qin captured the Han Wang An, occupied all his lands and liquidated the Han kingdom. In 229 BC. Zheng Wang again moved large forces against Zhao. The following year, the Zhao Yu-miao-wang surrendered to the Qin commanders Wang Jian and Qiang Hui. But his brother Dai-wan Jia ruled in Dai for six more years. In 227 BC. The Qin army attacked the Yan kingdom. In 226 BC. she occupied Yan Jicheng. Yan Wang fled east to Liaodong and began to rule there. In 225 BC. The Qin commander Wang Ben attacked the Principality of Wei.
He built a canal from the Yellow River and flooded Dalian with water. The city walls collapsed and the Wei Wang surrendered. After this, Qin completely captured the lands of Wei. In 224 BC. Wang Jian attacked Chu and reached Pingyu. In 223 BC. Chu Wang Fu-chu was captured, and all his possessions were annexed to Qin. In 222 BC. Zheng Wang sent a large army led by Wan Ben against Yan's Liaodong. Yan Wang Xi was captured. On the way back, Wan Ben attacked Dai and captured the Dai Wang Jia. After all these victories, the kingdom of Qi found itself engulfed on three sides by the possessions of Qin. In 221 BC. the last Qin Wang Jian surrendered to Wang Ben without a fight. The unification of China was completed. Zheng Wang took the title Shi Huangdi (literally “first ruler-emperor”).
The inhabitants of the six eastern kingdoms became subjects of Qin. For them, this meant not just a change of ruler, but also in many ways a change in their entire way of life. The main ideology in Qin, unlike other kingdoms where Confucianism spread, was the teaching of fajia, or legalism. Contrary to the views of the Confucians, legalists believed that the prosperity of the state did not depend on the virtues of the sovereign, but on the strict and unwavering execution of laws. The logic of the law served as the main guide for Shi Huangdi and his dignitaries in their political activities. In this regard, any deviation from the law for reasons of kindness or humanity was considered an unacceptable weakness. Severe justice was directly identified with the will of Heaven, and serving it, according to the concepts of Shi Huangdi, constituted the main virtue of the sovereign. He was a man of iron will and did not tolerate any resistance. Soon the entire population of the Celestial Empire felt the harsh hand of the new emperor. Sima Qian characterizes the order established in the Qin Empire as follows: “Firmness, determination and extreme severity prevailed, all matters were decided on the basis of laws; it was believed that only cruelty and oppression without the manifestation of humanity, mercy, kindness and justice could correspond to the five virtuous forces. They were extremely zealous in applying the laws and did not show mercy to anyone for a long time.”
In its internal organization, Qin also did not resemble any of the Zhou kingdoms. Instead of a hierarchy of feudal rulers, the idea of centralization was strictly pursued here. Soon after the annexation of Qi, the question arose of what to do with the conquered kingdoms. Some dignitaries advised Shi Huangdi to send his sons there as rulers. However, the head of the court order, Li Si, did not agree with this decision and, referring to the sad example of the Zhou dynasty, stated: “The Zhou Wen-wang and Wu-wang granted possessions in abundance to their sons, younger brothers and members of their family, but subsequently their descendants became alienated and fought each other as sworn enemies, the ruling princes increasingly attacked and killed each other, and the Zhou Son of Heaven was unable to stop these civil strife. Now, thanks to your extraordinary talents, the entire land among the seas is united into one whole and divided into regions and districts. If now all your sons and honored officials are generously rewarded with income from incoming taxes, then this will be quite enough, and the Celestial Empire will become easier to govern. The absence of different opinions about the Celestial Empire is the means to establishing calm and peace. If we again install sovereign princes in the principalities, it will be bad.” Shi Huangdi followed this advice. He divided the empire into 36 regions, and in each region he appointed a chief - Shou, a governor - Wei and an inspector - Jian. Regions were divided into counties, counties into districts, and districts into volosts. To stop strife, civil strife and rebellion, the entire civilian population was ordered to surrender their weapons. (In Xianyang, bells were smelted from it, as well as 12 metal statues, weighing 1000 dan each - about 30 tons). To suppress any separatism, the nobility of the former principalities, numbering 120 thousand people, was forcibly relocated to the Qin capital Xianyang. In all the conquered kingdoms, Shi Huangdi ordered the destruction of city walls, tear down defensive dams on rivers and remove all obstacles and obstacles to free movement. The construction of new roads began everywhere, which were necessary to establish quick communications between different parts of the empire. In 212 BC. The construction of a strategic road 1800 li (about 900 kilometers) long began, which was supposed to connect Jiuyuan and Yunyang. The emperor introduced a unified system of laws and measurements, measures of weight, capacity and length. A single axle length was established for all carts, and a single style of hieroglyphs was introduced into the writing.
At the same time, having pacified the Celestial Empire, Shi Huang launched an offensive against the surrounding barbarians. In 215 BC. he sent a 300,000-strong army north against the Hu tribe and captured the lands of Henan (the northern bend of the Yellow River in what is now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region). At the same time, there was an intensive colonization of the southern regions inhabited by the barbarian Yue tribes. Four new regions were formed here, where Shi Huangdi ordered the exile of all kinds of offenders and criminals, as well as people who fled from punishment, hid from paying duties or were sent to other people's houses for debts. In the northeast, the emperor began to fight the warlike Xiongnu (Xiongnu). From Yuzhong along the Yellow River and east to the Yinshan Mountains, he established 34 new counties and ordered the construction of a wall along the Yellow River as a barrier against nomads. By forcibly relocating and exiling, he filled the newly established counties with population.
The cruel orders established in the Qin Empire were condemned by the Confucians. Since they first of all looked for examples for their sermons in the past and therefore tried to idealize antiquity, Shi Huangdi in 213 BC. issued a decree to burn all ancient chronicles, with the exception of the Qin annals. All private individuals were ordered to hand over and destroy the Shijing and Shujing lists they kept, as well as the works of non-legist schools (primarily Confucians). It was ordered to publicly execute all those who, using the examples of antiquity, dared to condemn modernity. Anyone found in possession of banned books was ordered to be sent to forced labor to build the Great Wall. Based on this decree, 460 prominent Confucians were executed in the capital alone. Even more of them were sent to hard labor.
Having a large number of convicts as a result of cruel legislation, Shi Huang launched large-scale construction. In addition to a significant part of the Great Wall of China and new roads, many palaces were built during his reign. The new imperial palace of Epan, the construction of which began not far from Xianyang, was supposed to symbolize the power of the Qin Empire. It was assumed that it would have dimensions of 170 by 800 meters and would surpass in size all other structures in the Celestial Empire. According to Sima Qian, more than 700 thousand criminals sentenced to castration and hard labor were brought to this grandiose construction site. In addition to Epan, 270 small palaces were built in the vicinity of Xianyang. All the rooms in them were decorated with curtains and canopies, and beautiful concubines lived everywhere. No one, except the people closest to the emperor, knew which palace Shi Huangdi was currently in. (In general, everything related to the private life of the emperor was kept in strict confidence. He really did not like talkers and severely punished anyone suspected of this weakness. Sima Qian writes that once Shi Huangdi was in the Liangshan Palace and from the mountain saw that his first The adviser is accompanied by many chariots and horsemen. He did not like this. Someone from the retinue told the first adviser about the emperor’s dissatisfaction, and he reduced the number of accompanying people. Shi Huangdi became angry and said: “Someone from those around him divulged my words!” They arranged an interrogation , but no one confessed. Then the emperor ordered the execution of everyone who was near him at that moment.)
However, despite all of the above, one cannot paint the reign of Shi Huang with only black paints. He did a lot for the development of agriculture, as he understood that a rich peasantry loyal to the authorities was the main guarantee of the prosperity of his empire. Contemporaries write that Shi Huangdi devoted all his time to business. During his short reign, he managed to travel the length and breadth of the entire empire and delved into literally every detail of management. (As one of the official inscriptions said, “Our ruler-emperor... decides thousands of cases at the same time, so everything far and near becomes completely clear.”) Every day he weighed on the scales 1 tribute of the reports received to him (that is, about 30 kilogram of bamboo planks) and did not allow himself to rest until he had looked through them all and given the appropriate orders.
But, as usually happens, the population of the country was able to appreciate the positive side of the profound transformations he carried out much later, while the negative side was immediately evident. In the memories of his descendants, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty remained primarily as a cruel and narcissistic despot who mercilessly oppressed his people. Indeed, the inscriptions of Shi Huangdi indicate that he had colossal conceit and, to some extent, even considered himself to be involved in divine powers. (For example, the inscription on Mount Guiji said, among other things: “The Emperor unravels the laws inherent in all things, tests and tests the essence of all matters... By correcting the mistakes of people, he brings justice... Descendants will respect his laws, unchanging governance will be eternal, and nothing - neither chariots nor boats - will capsize.") It was officially proclaimed that the world order established by Shi Huang would last “ten thousand generations.” It seemed quite natural that the “eternal empire” should also have an eternal ruler. The emperor spent enormous amounts of money searching for a drug that would grant immortality, but was never able to find it. Apparently, the very idea that, despite all his greatness and limitless power, he was just as subject to death as the last of his subjects was offensive to him. Sima Qian writes that Shi Huang could not stand talking about death, and none of those close to him dared even touch on this topic. Therefore, in 210 BC, when Shi Huangdi became seriously ill while touring the eastern coastal regions, no preparations were made for the funeral. He himself, finally realizing that his days were numbered, sent his eldest son Fu Su a short note with the following content: “Meet the funeral chariot in Xianyang and bury me.” This was his last command.
When Shi Huangdi died, those close to him, fearing unrest, hid his death. Only after his body arrived in the capital was official mourning declared. Long before his death, Shi Huangdi began to build a huge crypt in Mount Lishan. Sima Qian writes: “The crypt was filled with copies of palaces brought and lowered there, figures of officials of all ranks, rare things and extraordinary jewelry. The craftsmen were ordered to make crossbows so that, installed there, they would shoot at those who would try to dig a passage and get into the tomb. Large and small rivers and seas were made from mercury, and the mercury spontaneously flowed into them. A picture of the sky was depicted on the ceiling, and the outline of the earth on the floor. The lamps were filled with ren-yu fat in the hope that the fire would not go out for a long time. During the funeral, the heir Er-shi, who assumed power, said: “All the childless inhabitants of the back chambers of the late emperor’s palace should not be driven away,” and ordered them all to be buried along with the deceased. There were many dead. When the emperor’s coffin was already lowered down, someone said that the craftsmen who made the whole arrangement and hid the valuables may spill the beans about hidden treasures. Therefore, when the funeral ceremony was over and everything was hidden, they blocked the middle door of the passage. After which, lowering the outer door, they tightly walled up all the craftsmen and those who filled the grave with valuables, so "that no one came out. They planted grass and trees on top so that the grave took on the appearance of an ordinary mountain."
November 18th, 2014
Since the topic of the burial of the First Chinese Emperor is of inexhaustible interest (I just recently received several similar comments), I decided to continue it, and at the same time partially once again touch upon the issue of the Chinese pyramids, which is also very relevant.
It is unlikely that the Chinese government will ever give the go-ahead to open the burials of ancient emperors, so I will try to roughly outline what is inside the burials - this is the question, as I have noticed, that worries many curious people the most. At one time I made several posts where you could see the outside, but I almost didn’t touch on their internal structure. Although the general nature of Chinese mounds. Now I will try to consider this topic in more detail.
The structure of the interior spaces in the tombs of the emperors of the Qin and Han states can be traced using the example of already uncovered burials of high-ranking officials from these dynasties. For example, several tombs of the rulers of the kingdom of Qin - the state that conquered all of China in the 3rd century. BC. has now been excavated, because it was the Prince of Qin who was the famous Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a united China.
An open tomb of the Qin kingdom in Shaanxi province.
Drawing of the interior of a 4th century Qin tomb. BC. 
The tomb is very simple - at the bottom of a huge pit there is a small wooden crypt, where Prince Qin himself and several of his wives rested. This room also contained the funeral gifts necessary for the deceased: jewelry, dishes, weapons, everything that should have made the ruler’s stay in the next world unburdensome. Together with the prince, approximately 150 of his dignitaries, concubines and simply servants were buried; their coffins are located outside the burial chamber. Apparently, the closer to the imperial burial the coffin of the dying person was, the higher his social rank in the state of Qin.
Photo of the remodel into which the wise Chinese turned the imperial tomb, but now it is available for tourists to see. 
As we can see, there is nothing supernatural in the burial of Qin Shi Huang's predecessor. The tomb has minimal interior spaces, originally made of wood (now the Chinese have cast the burial chamber from concrete, as can be seen in the photo).
But, the wooden beams of the crypt of the Qin Wang were partially preserved, and they can be seen in the museum. 
The form of burial in the form of an inverted pyramid going deep into the earth was characteristic of all ancient China (not only the Qin kingdom). It has not changed since the time of the Shang-Yin state (1600-1027 BC). As a rule, no impressive structures were built on the surface above the burial, although there could have been wooden funeral temples in the form of classical Chinese pavilions; naturally, over time they completely disappeared.
Tombs of the Chu state from the Warring States period (5th century BC) from Zaoyang County. 
The long rectangular pits at the bottom are places where war chariots were stored; they were buried along with horses, and in decent quantities. In the burial complex of Qin Shi Huang there were also similar pits; real chariots and real horses were placed there, and not just terracotta models, as is commonly believed.
A wooden burial chamber, or rather chambers, in the tomb of the Chu state in Jiaoyang (clickable). 
The burial chambers here, like those of the Qin princes, are wooden log houses made of timber, with a flooring made of the same processed wooden logs on top of them. As a rule, pine and cypress were used; the wood could be coated with a special varnish to prevent rotting. As we can see, the wooden walls and beams have been preserved very well, although 2500 years have passed. Although, this is rather a merit of the local soils, which retain organic matter well.
Opening of the tomb of Prince Yi, his principality was part of the kingdom of Chu in the 5th century. BC. The photo clearly shows the powerful floor logs. 
One of the chambers in the tomb of Prince I. 
The burial of Prince I was not robbed and became famous for the huge number of objects recovered from it. As in the Qin princely graves, his entire harem - several dozen concubines - was buried here with the ruler. But, the main wife of the prince I had a separate tomb, a hundred meters from her husband’s grave.
Excavations in the grave of Prince I (clickable). 
Well, now we come to the key question - what should the tombs of Qin Shi Huang and other great emperors of early China look like, hidden under huge earthen pyramids?
The answer, I think, is obvious - the tombs of emperors should be similar to the burials of their predecessors, the princes of the kingdom of Qin, Chu and others. There is no reason to think that Qin Shihuang’s burial will be fundamentally different. The only thing that the First Emperor could afford was the gigantic size of the tomb, i.e. his mausoleum may differ only quantitatively, but not qualitatively. It must comply with all the canons of Chinese funerary architecture of that time.
Sometimes you can read in popular literature that the tomb of Qin Shi Huang is something extremely luxurious and progressive, including technically. Although, of course, a giant earthen mound and many wooden log buildings underneath it, this is what could capture the imagination of contemporaries.
In defense of the greatness of the First Emperor of China, I can only put forward a hypothesis based on the story of the Chinese historian Sima Qian, where he mentions the natural mountain Lishan, inside which Qin Shihuang was buried.
“In the ninth moon, [the ashes] of Shi Huang were buried in Mount Lishan. Shi Huang, having first come to power, then began to break through Mount Lishan and build a [crypt] in it; Having united the Celestial Empire, [he] sent over seven hundred thousand criminals there from all over the Celestial Empire. They went deep to the third waters, filled [the walls] with bronze and lowered the sarcophagus down. The crypt was filled with [copies of] palaces, [figures of] officials of all ranks, rare things and extraordinary jewelry that were transported and lowered there. The craftsmen were ordered to make crossbows so that, [installed there], they would shoot at those who would try to dig a passage and get into [the tomb]. Large and small rivers and seas were made from mercury, and the mercury spontaneously flowed into them. A picture of the sky was depicted on the ceiling, and the outline of the earth on the floor. The lamps were filled with ren-yu fat in the hope that the fire would not go out for a long time
Er-shi said: “All the childless inhabitants of the back chambers of the palace of the late emperor should not be driven away,” and ordered them all to be buried along with the deceased. There were many dead. When the emperor's coffin was already lowered down, someone said that the craftsmen who made all the devices and hid [the valuables] knew everything and could spill the beans about the hidden treasures. Therefore, when the funeral ceremony was over and everything was covered, they blocked the middle door of the passage, after which they lowered the outer door, tightly walling up all the artisans and those who filled the grave with valuables, so that no one came out. They planted grass and trees [on top] so that the grave took on the appearance of an ordinary mountain."
If the tomb was hollowed out in a natural mountain, then its internal structure may differ from the burials of the Qin kingdom, located on the plain.
But the problem is that no significant natural rock formations have ever been found inside the Qin Shi Huang Mound. Or rather, anything was found there; this is explained by the specifics of Chinese research. If necessary, Chinese specialists can discover anything anywhere, as well as vice versa, their results may depend on the current party policy, feng shui and other important factors. It is enough to give an example that there is still no clear opinion about the height of the mound of the First Emperor, it seems that it might be easier to measure the height, but the data range from 35 to 80 (!!) meters :) In this regard, it is worth very carefully sort all the information received from Chinese researchers.
General view of the pyramid of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, it looks like a natural mountain covered with forest. 
As for the story of the tomb carved into the rock, some experts rightfully note that Lishan (Beautiful Mountain) may simply be a colorful name for a man-made burial mound; the Chinese love beautiful names. Moreover, this mound was then the only one of its kind; such large mounds had not been erected in China before, so people really could endow it with the qualities of a natural mountain.
Chinese experts, examining the Qin Shi Huang mound, found many structures in it (and under it). For example, it was claimed that some man-made objects were found at a depth of 50 meters under the pyramid, in another case at a depth of 30 meters, in a third, that a certain large object similar to a stepped pyramid was located above the surface of the earth in the thickness of the embankment. It was claimed that a certain “underground palace” had been discovered with a total area of as much as 180,000 square meters. An increased content of mercury was discovered, which should indicate mercury rivers and seas from the story of Sima Qian. But, I repeat, at the moment we can only be guided by confirmed data and analysis of the burials of the predecessors of the great Chinese emperors.
Moreover, even the use of baked bricks was very limited. As a rule, they only paved floors; sometimes brick was used for external cladding of buildings. The bricks were laid in even rows on top of each other, and often even without mortar, at best clay was used. Naturally, with such a low level of bricklaying technology, it was impossible to even think about such elements as arches and domes, which had long been known in the West. All this appeared in China only at the turn of our era. For example, in the state of Eastern Han (1st-3rd centuries AD), cameras were already widely used. Therefore, the ceilings of all Chinese buildings of that time could only be wooden.
Pyramid of Emperor Yuan Di, reigned from 49 BC. e. to 33 BC uh 
In the 3rd century. BC. Chinese civilization was still isolated from the then centers of world culture - Europe and Iran. The Great Silk Road began to function only a hundred years later - in the 2nd century. BC. Therefore, Western masters have not yet reached the Chinese distances. In the 3rd century. BC. they had just begun to educate Hindus in the Mauryan Empire - the first stone architectural elements appeared there. And China had to wait several more centuries until Western technologies were absorbed by local craftsmen.
The underground palaces of Qin Shi Huang and the emperors of the Han dynasty (the successors of Chinese pyramid building) could only be built from wood and compacted earth, and nothing else.
In order to imagine the tomb of the First Emperor of China inside, you can use the already excavated underground rooms from his burial complex. These are the halls in which his famous Qin Shihuang's clay army was located in long galleries dug into the ground. The walls of these rooms were made of compacted earth and vertical wooden beams, which carried a roof-flooring made of logs, covered with mats on top. Next came a layer of clay and earth - and that’s it, the underground palace was ready!
Galleries with terracotta warriors. 
I am more than sure that the main core of Qin Shihuang’s underground complex was not much different technologically from the galleries where his terracotta army stood. Perhaps we can only talk about larger halls covered with log flooring. Perhaps there were halls with many wooden columns, characteristic of Chinese architecture. It was in such a hall that the builders of the mausoleum could decorate the ceiling with a picture of the starry sky, and run “large and small rivers and seas of mercury” along the compacted earthen floor, as Sima Qian wrote about it.
Despite the amazing preservation of the wooden structures of ancient Chinese tombs, there is a great risk that the pine and cedar columns could not withstand the enormous mass of the earthen pyramid poured on top and the all-consuming time. Perhaps, at the moment, Qin Shihuang's underground palace is completely covered with masses of earth and clay. Moreover, there is historical evidence that the tomb of the First Emperor was repeatedly robbed by descendants, and not only robbed, but also burned. For example, most of the galleries with clay warriors were seriously damaged by fire.
But, fortunately, many tombs with early wooden underground palaces have now been excavated in China, as a rule, they all belong to the Western Han era
For example, here is a Western Han Dynasty tomb recently discovered in Shandong Province.
http://www.backchina.com/news/2011/07/21/151671.html 
The interior of the tomb is all made of wood, even the walls of the corridor in the photo are made of wooden blocks, although it may seem like they are brick. 
The texture of the wood is clearly visible here. It's amazing that after 2000 years all the structures have been so well preserved. 
Powerful ceiling beams. 
Another excavated tomb from the Han era (Clickable). 
To understand the internal structure of a typical Han mausoleum, consider another example - the museumized princely tomb in Dabaotai, in the southern suburbs of Beijing, of Prince Liu Jian (73-45 BC) from the Western Han dynasty. http://blog. voc.com.cn/blog_showone_type_blog_id_691288_p_1.html
Here the underground palace is also well preserved. It is entirely made of wood, apparently in the Han era in China there were no problems with forests as there are now. The thick load-bearing walls here are also made of cedar beams; bricks are not used at all. 
The structure is quite simple - a central hall where the prince’s sarcophagus stood, and two circumferential galleries around it. The same wooden dromos corridor led into the tomb, where chariots with skeletons of horses were found. 
I assume that all the underground palaces of the Han emperors, located under the famous earthen pyramids, looked approximately the same. Maybe there are more rooms there, they are somehow decorated (here, in the princely tomb, as we see, there is almost no decoration at all, at best the boards are simply painted), but their essence will not change. Most likely, the Han “underground palaces” are harsh archaic structures, similar to those we see in the photo.
In the 3rd century BC. In the Chinese kingdom of Qin, Prince Ying Zheng was born, for whom the gods had a great destiny. Already at the age of 13 he ascended the throne, and at 21 he became an independent ruler.
At that time, China was divided into 7 independent kingdoms. Local kings were constantly at odds with each other, weakening and ruining their states.
And Ying Zheng set out to become a great ruler. He gathered a huge army and captured all the neighboring lands. He killed kings, razed capitals to the ground, and established his own rules everywhere.
Ying Zheng spent 17 years in wars, killed thousands of people in battles, but achieved the unification of all of China under his rule. Big deal! It was not suitable for the great ruler to live with his old childhood name, and he took for himself a new name, befitting his status, Qin Shi Huang, which means “First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty”
The colossal campaign to unify the Celestial Empire was completed in 221 BC, after which the new emperor carried out a number of reforms to consolidate the gains. First, he designated the city of Xi'an as the capital of his entire empire. He introduced strict standards for everything: money, measures of weight and length, writing, construction, even the width of the axle for carts, so that the carts could easily get from one end of the mighty empire to the other. Naturally, the standards of the Qin kingdom were taken as a model. All previous history was declared irrelevant. In 213 BC. the ancient chronicles and books of all the conquered kingdoms were burned. More than 460 scientists suspected of disloyalty to the new regime were buried alive in the ground.
But Qin Shi Huang was not only wise, but also extremely cruel. Any disobedience to the new laws will result in death. At the same time, the simple death penalty was the lightest punishment. The following types of capital punishment were common: breaking out ribs, tearing by chariots, boiling in a large cauldron, cutting in half or into pieces, quartering, beheading and, after execution, displaying the head on a pole in public places. Particularly dangerous crimes were punishable by execution not only of the perpetrator, but also of all his relatives in three generations, and, given that the Chinese had large families, this measure often affected thousands of people.
At this time, wild tribes of nomadic Huns attacked China from the north. They ravaged the lands and took the inhabitants into captivity.
To defend the northern borders of the Empire, Qin Shi Huang began to unite disparate defensive structures into a single one - Great Wall of China, stretching for almost 4 thousand kilometers. It was built over 10 years fromcompacted earth and stone blocks for more than 2 million people (soldiers, slaves, prisoners of war and criminals). Those who died from overwork, according to legend, were walled up in the wall. Construction conditions: bare steppe, periodic raids of tribes and half-starved existence. The watchmen's legs were cut off so that they could not escape from the towers when attacked by nomads. The Great Wall claimed an unprecedented number of victims; now modern Chinese say that every stone in the wall is someone’s life.
* * *
At the time of the creation of the empire, Qin Shi Huang was forty years old, which is a considerable age for those ancient times. The time had come to start searching for immortality - old wounds were bothering him, age was taking its toll, and it was planned to reign for another thousand years. In search of a wonderful elixir, he examined ancient manuscripts, interrogated sages, sent expeditions on large ships in search of a magic herb, which, according to legend, bestowed immortality.
Eventually, Qin Shi Huang issued a decree that the emperor would live forever. Therefore, even after his death, his body remained in the throne room for a long time, and the ceremonies were carried out in the same way as if he were alive.
The death of the emperor turned out to be somewhat awkward. Like any eastern ruler, Qin Shi Huang had a harem, and there were several thousand concubines in it. One of them killed the first emperor of China by sticking a large needle into his ear while he was sleeping. This happened in 210 BC, when Qin Shi Huang was 48 years old.
From the moment he ascended the throne, Qin Shi Huang gave the order to begin construction of his tomb. And 30 kilometers from the city of Xi'an, near Mount Lishan, over 38 years, 700 thousand workers built an entire burial city - a huge underground complex, designed as a mirror image of the capital of the Qin dynasty.
The emperor's mausoleum was a palace surrounded by two walls made of mud brick. The outer one stretches for more than six kilometers, the inner one is about four kilometers long. Behind the inner wall is the mausoleum itself: a rectangular underground structure half a kilometer long and slightly less wide. Several tunnels approach it. The entire complex covers an area of 60 square meters. km.
The crypt was filled with copies of palaces transported and placed there, figures of officials of all ranks, rare things and extraordinary valuables, countless treasures, including the golden throne of the first emperor.
On the floor of the tomb was a huge map of the world, with rivers and oceans made of mercury.
To protect the emperor and his wealth, terracotta warriors were buried 1.5 km east of the royal tomb. Initially, Qin Shi Huang was going to bury 4,000 real warriors, but such an attempt could cost both himself and his empire his life. And the advisers managed to convince the emperor to create clay ones, numbering more than 8,000, as well as about 200 horses. The harness, weapons, and details of the weapons of this mysterious army were real. The figures were modeled from real warriors, so that after death the souls of the warriors could move into sculptures and continue their service to the Emperor.
All wars were facing east. It was there that the kingdoms were destroyed by the great tyrant. The statues were made with jewelry precision and amazing diligence. It is impossible to find a single identical face. Among the warriors are not only Chinese, but also Mongols, Uighurs, Tibetans and many other nationalities. The only deviation from reality the sculptors made was in growth. The height of the statue is 1.90-1.95 meters. The Qin soldiers, of course, were not that tall. The warrior's weight is about 135 kilograms. The finished sculptures were fired by craftsmen in huge kilns at a temperature of 1,000 degrees. Then the best artists painted them in natural colors in accordance with the table of ranks. 
The soldier is dressed in a short robe and breastplate without decorations, his hair is tied in a knot, his feet are wrapped in windings and shoes with a square toe. The officer is wearing chest armor with decorations, a high hat, and boots on his feet. The general has scaly armor with decorations and a hat in the shape of two birds. Shooters with bows and crossbows, wearing breastplates and short robes. All details of clothing or hairstyle strictly correspond to the fashion of that time. Shoes and armor are reproduced with amazing accuracy.
To install this army, a pit the size of a football field was dug, and when the army took its place, the ancient craftsmen placed solid tree trunks on top, mats on them, then 30 cm of cement and 3 m of earth. Then the grass was sown and the army disappeared. She disappeared forever, not a single chronicler or robber knew about her.
After death Qin Shi Huang was buried in a golden coffin and placed in the middle of a sea of mercury.
The craftsmen made and loaded crossbows so that they would shoot at those who tried to get into the tomb. The heir to the throne ordered to bury alive all the wives and 3 thousand concubines of the emperor, thousands of his slaves, dancers, musicians and acrobats, as well as 17 sons and some ministers.
Then 70 thousand workers were herded there, who equipped and built the crypt with their families, servants who knew about its location. And then the jade doors closed... The entrance was walled up, a hill 120 meters high was poured on top, bushes and trees were planted on the hill so that no one would guess how to get in there.
The tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang is inviolable to this day. The Terracotta Army faithfully serves its Emperor, neither grave robbers nor archaeologists have yet disturbed him
After the death of Qin Shihuangding, his son, the weak and weak-willed Er Shihuangding, ascended the throne. His inept actions on the throne caused a storm of popular indignation. The peasant revolt, which the advisers of the first emperor so feared, nevertheless broke out, and there was no one to suppress it with an iron hand.
It was the Terracotta Army that suffered the first defeat. Outraged crowds plundered and burned the Terracotta Army. It should be noted that this was not just an act of senseless vandalism; the destruction had a purely practical significance. The fact is that the rebels had nowhere to take weapons: Qin Shi Huang melted down or destroyed everything unnecessary to avoid such incidents. And here, quite recklessly, 8,000 excellent sets of real bows and arrows, spears, shields and swords were buried underground. They became the main target of the rebels. Government troops were defeated. The mediocre son of the great ruler was killed.
After one of the rebel leaders, the peasant Liu Bang, seized power and proclaimed himself emperor, order was restored, and the Han dynasty founded by Liu Bang ruled for more than four hundred years and continued many Qin traditions.
More For 2000 years, no one in the whole world knew where the grave of the emperor and his army was, until in 1974, a simple Chinese peasant, Yan Ji Wang, and five of his friends decided to dig a well. They didn’t find water, but they found a life-size statue of an ancient warrior at a depth of 5 meters.This was the main battle formation of Qin Shi Huang - about 6,000 figures. Yan Ji Wan became a millionaire overnight. Now he writes books about his discovery and signs autographs for tourists every day.
Today, a whole city has arisen on the site of the historical find. A huge roof was built over the “army”, like over a large train station. Not all the warriors have been excavated yet, because most of the statues were crushed by a once collapsed roof and a load of earth, they have to be restored from fragments.
Three large pavilions shelter the funeral army of the first Chinese emperor from the weather.Three crypts with a total area of more than 20 thousand square meters. meters
Excavations have been going on for more than 25 years, and there is no end in sight. In 1980, scientists excavated a second column - about 2,000 statues.
In 1994, an underground general staff was discovered - a meeting of senior military leaders.
However, there is an opinion that the found army is only one of the few guarding the Emperor’s necropolis
The reason for the creation of such an army, which could only be created by thousands of sculptors and tens of thousands of workers, apparently lay in the beliefs that forced ancient kings from Northern Europe to Japan to take wives, slaves, warriors and servants with them into the afterlife. But if the leader of the Vikings or Scythians limited himself to dozens of victims who were killed at his grave, then the death of Qin Shi Huang, the Lord of the Universe, entailed the death of thousands of people - everyone who knew access to the tomb. Although by that time human sacrifice was no longer practiced in China, everyone who was supposed to serve the deceased was sent to a better world with the despot.
But no matter how impressive the finds in the crypts of the warriors are, the number of which continues to grow, the main attention of archaeologists is drawn to the tomb of the emperor.
Archaeologists began to lay exploration pits to determine what was under and around the hill. This work is being carried out carefully and slowly,
According to Chinese press reports, over the past ten years, more than forty thousand pits and trenches have been drilled in the area of the tomb over an area of more than ten square kilometers. But this explored area represents approximately a sixth of that occupied by the tomb and its accompanying structures.
When pits were laid in order to determine the size and configuration of the mausoleum, archaeologists twice came across tunnels made by robbers in ancient times. Both tunnels touched the wall of the mausoleum, but did not penetrate it. And although the western and southern walls of the tomb have not yet been fully explored, according to indirect data, scientists are increasingly convinced that the emperor’s mausoleum was not destroyed and plundered, as the chroniclers reported. This allows us to hope that everything inside the mausoleum remains the same or almost the same as on the day the jade doors closed.
And one more interesting detail: the soil samples from the hill have a high mercury content. She could not get there by natural means, therefore, the reports of the historian Sima Qian that on the floor of the tomb there was a huge map of the world, with rivers and oceans made of mercury, are true.
So far, only three crypts have been discovered, 1.5 km east of the tomb, containing thousands of terracotta figurines (known as bing ma yun) and two sets of huge bronze chariots and horses to the west of the mausoleum.
For centuries, robbers have tried to find treasures in the imperial tombs. For some, these attempts cost their lives. Surprisingly, the clay soldiers protected the spirit of their master as best they could. It is said that not a single human skeleton was found among the excavated statues.
Today even the clay from which the walls are made has turned golden. One clay brick from the Qin Shi Huang era costs tens of thousands of dollars. The owner of just one brick can exchange it for, say, a decent mansion in the vicinity of Beijing.
And I “rooted” for the Terracotta Army when they chose “7 New Wonders of the World.” The army failed to become a leader, which is a pity. But she deservesly takes an honorable 8th place. Well, “8th Wonder of the World” sounds good too!
Looking into the empty clay eyes, you are overcome with involuntary trepidation. There is something there, inside. Maybe it’s true that the souls of the warriors, after their earthly life, inhabited the shells prepared for them, and are now forced to languish in terracotta bodies forever, to protect their king, despite the passing millennia.
Ying Zheng was born in 259 BC, in Handan (in the Principality of Zhao), where his father Zhuang Xiangwang was a hostage. At birth he was given the name Zheng ("first"). His mother was a concubine who had previously been in a relationship with the influential courtier Lü Buwei. It was thanks to the latter's intrigues that Zheng inherited the throne, which gave rise to rumors that Lü Buwei was Zheng's true father.
When Zheng became the Qin ruler at the age of 13, his state was already the most powerful in the Celestial Empire. Everything was moving towards the unification of China led by the Qin dynasty. The states of Central China looked at Shaanxi (the mountainous northern country that served as the core of the Qin possessions) as a barbarian outskirts. The state structure of the Qin kingdom was distinguished by a powerful military machine and a large bureaucracy.
Until 238, Zheng was considered a minor, and Lü Buwei was in charge of all affairs as regent and first minister. During these years, the future emperor absorbed the totalitarian ideology of legalism, popular at court, the most prominent representative of which at that time was Han Fei. When Zheng was 22 years old, he ordered the execution of his stepmother's lover (due to the same title, confused with his mother), and Lü Buwei was sent into exile on suspicion of preparing a rebellion.
In subsequent years, Zheng captured one after another all six states into which China was divided at that time. At the same time, he did not disdain any methods - neither the creation of a network of spies, nor bribes, nor the help of wise advisers, among whom Li Si took first place. At the age of 32, he took possession of the principality in which he was born, and then his mother died. The following year, a murderer sent by Prince Yan Dan was caught. At the age of 39, Zheng united all of China for the first time in history and took the throne name Qin Shihuang.
Title of the first emperor
The proper name Ying Zheng was given to the future emperor after the name of the month of birth (正), the first in the calendar, the child received the name Zheng (政). In the complex system of names and titles of antiquity, the first and last names were not written side by side, as is the case in modern China, so the name Qin Shihuang itself is extremely limited in use.
The unprecedented power of the ruler of the imperial era required the introduction of a new title. Qin Shihuangdi literally means "founding emperor of the Qin dynasty." The old title wang, translated as “monarch, prince, king,” was no longer acceptable: with the weakening of Zhou, the title of wang was devalued. Initially, the terms Huang (“ruler, august”) and Di (“emperor”) were used separately (see Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors). Their unification was intended to emphasize the autocracy of a new type of ruler.
The imperial title thus created lasted until the Xinhai Revolution of 1912, until the very end of the imperial era. It was used both by those dynasties whose power extended over the entire Celestial Empire, and by those who only sought to reunite its parts under their leadership.
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Rule of a unified China
The colossal campaign to unify the Celestial Empire was completed in 221, after which the new emperor carried out a number of reforms to consolidate the won unity: under the slogan “all chariots with an axle of the same length, all hieroglyphs - standard writing”, a single network of roads was created, disparate systems of hieroglyphs were abolished conquered kingdoms, a unified monetary system was introduced, as well as a system of weights and measures.
Xianyang was chosen as the capital of the empire in the ancestral Qin possessions, not far from modern Xi'an. Dignitaries and nobles of all conquered states were transferred there. In order to suppress centrifugal tendencies on the ground, the empire was divided into 36 military districts. As a sign of unity, the defensive walls that separated the former kingdoms were demolished. Only the northern part of these walls was preserved, its individual sections were fortified and connected to each other: thus, the newly formed Great Wall of China separated the Middle State from the barbarian nomads.
During the last ten years of his life, the emperor rarely visited his capital. He constantly inspected various parts of his kingdom, making sacrifices in local temples, reporting to local deities about his achievements and erecting steles with self-praise. By making detours around his possessions, the emperor began the tradition of royal ascents to Mount Taishan. He was the first of the Chinese rulers to go to the seashore.
As can be understood from the “Shi Ji” of the Han historian Sima Qian, the emperor was most worried about thoughts of impending death. During his travels, he met magicians and sorcerers, hoping to learn from them the secret of the elixir of immortality. In 219, he sent an expedition to the islands of the Eastern Sea (possibly to Japan) to search for him. Confucian scholars saw this as empty superstition, for which they paid dearly: as legend says, the emperor ordered 460 of them to be buried alive in the ground. In 213, Li Si convinced the emperor to burn all books except those on agriculture, medicine and fortune telling. In addition, books from the imperial collection and chronicles of the Qin rulers were spared.
In the last years of his life, disillusioned with the prospect of gaining immortality, Qin Shihuang traveled less and less around the borders of his power, isolating himself from the world in his huge palace complex. Avoiding communication with mortals, the emperor expected that they would see him as a deity. Instead, the totalitarian rule of the first emperor gave rise to a growing number of dissatisfied people every year. Having uncovered three conspiracies, the emperor had no reason to trust any of his entourage. He died in 210 or 209 during another tour of his possessions. Adherents of the previous dynasties immediately rushed into the fight for the division of the imperial inheritance, and in 206 his entire family was exterminated.
Tomb
Nothing illustrates the power of Qin Shi Huang better than the size of the burial complex, which was built during the emperor’s lifetime. Construction of the tomb began immediately after the formation of the empire near present-day Xi'an. According to Sima Qian, 700 thousand workers and artisans were involved in the creation of the mausoleum. The perimeter of the outer wall of the burial was 6 km.
The burial mound of the first emperor was identified by archaeologists only in 1974. Its research continues to this day, and the burial place of the emperor is still awaiting an autopsy. The mound was crowned by a certain pyramidal room, through which, according to one version, the soul of the deceased was supposed to ascend to heaven.
To accompany the emperor in the other world, countless terracotta troops were sculpted. The faces of the warriors are individualized, their bodies were previously brightly colored. Unlike his predecessors - for example, the rulers of the Shang state (c. 1300-1027 BC) - the emperor refused mass human sacrifices.
The Qin Shihuang Tomb complex was the first Chinese site to be included by UNESCO in the Register of World Cultural Heritage Sites.
Reputation
The reign of Qin Shihuang was based on the principles of legalism set forth in the treatise Han Feizi. All surviving written evidence about Qin Shihuang is passed through the prism of the Confucian worldview of Han historiographers, primarily Sima Qian. It is very likely that the information they provided about the burning of all books, the ban on Confucianism, and the burial of Confucius’ followers alive reflected Confucian anti-Qin propaganda directed against the legalists.
In traditional depictions, Qin Shihuang's appearance as a monstrous tyrant is tendentiously exaggerated. It can be considered established that all subsequent states of China, starting with the Western Han, inherited the administrative-bureaucratic system of government that was created under the first emperor.
Qin Shihuang in art
Based on the history of the unification of China, Chen Kaige in 1999 made the film “The Emperor and the Assassin”, which quite closely follows the outline of “Shi Ji”. In 2002, Zhang Yimou made the most expensive film in the history of Chinese cinema on this topic - “Hero”.
In 2006, the premiere of the opera “The First Emperor” (composer Tan Dun, director Zhang Yimou) took place on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera (New York). The role of the emperor was sung by Placido Domingo.
In 2008, Jet Li played the role of Qin Shihuang in the Hollywood blockbuster The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Ruler (246–221) of the Qin kingdom, emperor (from 221) of China. Created a unified centralized Qin Empire (221–207). An opponent of Confucianism (on his orders, humanities literature was burned and 400 scholars were executed), a supporter of the Fajia school.
The period of Zhanguo, or the Warring States (453–221), preceding the creation of a unified empire on the territory of China, is one of the complex and little-studied pages in the history of China. At that time, the territory of the country was divided into a number of independent kingdoms.
In 246, after the death of King Zhuang Xiang-wan, his son Ying Zheng, known in history as Qin Shi Huangdi, ascended the throne of the Qin kingdom. By the middle of the 3rd century BC, the kingdom of Qin occupied a fairly vast territory. Judging by the message of the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the Qin people annexed to their possessions the territories captured from the kingdoms of Han, Wei, Zhao, Chu and the states of Ba and Shu.
The annexation of rich agricultural regions with developed handicraft production (for example, northern Sichuan with its large iron-smelting workshops) strengthened the economic and military power of the Qin kingdom. At the time of his accession to the throne, Ying Zheng was only thirteen years old, and until he came of age, the state was actually ruled by the king’s first adviser, Lü Bu-wei, a major merchant originally from the kingdom of Wei. At first, the accession of Ying Zheng did not lead to any changes in either domestic or foreign policy. As before, the forefront of foreign policy was aimed at seizing foreign territories.
Growing up, the persistent and capricious Ying Zheng strove to concentrate all power in his hands and, apparently, had no intention of following the lead of his first adviser. The rite of passage into adulthood was supposed to take place in 238, when Ying Zheng turned twenty-two years old. Available historical material indicates that Lü Bu-wei in 239 tried to remove a ruler he did not like. A few years earlier, he brought one of his reliable assistants, Lao Ai, closer to Ying Zheng’s mother, granting him an honorary title. Lao Ai very soon achieved the favor of the dowager queen and began to enjoy unlimited power.
In 238, Lao Ai stole the royal seal of the dowager queen and, together with a group of his followers, mobilizing part of the government troops, tried to capture the Qinyan Palace, where Ying Zheng was located at that time. However, the young king managed to uncover this conspiracy - Lao Ai and nineteen major officials, the leaders of the conspiracy, were executed along with all members of their clans; over four thousand families involved in the conspiracy were stripped of their ranks and exiled to distant Sichuan.
All warriors who participated in suppressing Lao Ai's rebellion were promoted by one rank. In 237, Ying Zheng removed the organizer of the conspiracy, Lü Bu-wei, from his post.
The continued arrests and torture of rebels apparently worried the former First Councilor. Fearing further revelations and impending execution, Lü Bu-wei committed suicide in 234. Having brutally dealt with the rebels and restored order within the kingdom, Ying Zheng began external conquests. At this time, Li Si, a native of the kingdom of Chu, began to play a major role in the Chin court. He takes part in the development of external and internal activities carried out by Ying Zheng.
In 230, on the advice of Li Si, Ying Zheng sent a huge army against the neighboring Han kingdom. The Qin defeated the Han troops, captured the Han king An Wang and occupied the entire territory of the kingdom, turning it into a Qin district. This was the first kingdom conquered by the Qin. In subsequent years, the Qin army captured the kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, Yan, and Qi. By 221, the Qin kingdom victoriously ended its long struggle to unify the country. In place of scattered kingdoms, a single empire with centralized power is created.
Having won a brilliant victory, Ying Zheng still understood that military force alone was not enough to firmly hold in his hands a territory whose population was more than three times the number of inhabitants of the Qin kingdom. Therefore, immediately after the end of hostilities, he carried out a series of measures aimed at strengthening the conquered positions. First of all, Ying Zheng published a decree in which he listed all the sins of the six kings, who allegedly “created unrest” and prevented the establishment of peace in the Celestial Empire. Ying Zheng stated that the death of the six kingdoms was primarily to blame for their rulers, who tried to destroy Qin. The issuance of such a decree was necessary for the moral justification of both the conquest itself and the cruel methods by which it was carried out. The second step towards consolidating the supreme power of the Qin over the entire conquered territory was the adoption by Ying Zheng of a new, higher title than the royal title. Judging by the message of the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, Ying Zheng decided to accept the title of di - emperor and invited his entourage to discuss his choice. After a long discussion, Ying Zheng accepted the title of Huangdi - the highest emperor.
By accepting the title of Huangdi, Ying Zheng sought to emphasize the divine nature of his power. A number of new terms were introduced into the official language, reflecting the greatness of the ruler: from now on, the emperor began to call himself Zheng, which corresponds to the Russian “We”, used in imperial decrees. The emperor's personal orders were called zhi, and his orders throughout the Celestial Empire were called zhao.
Since Ying Zheng was the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, he ordered to call himself Shi Huangdi - the First Highest Emperor.
A certain part of the hereditary aristocracy of the Qin kingdom, Qin officials and members of the ruling house - all of them, to one degree or another, took part in the conquest of the six kingdoms and, therefore, hoped to receive some real benefits. But Qin Shi Huangdi followed the advice of Li Si, who at that time held a rather insignificant position - he was just the head of the judicial department, and moreover, a person who came to Qin from another kingdom.
Fearing internecine wars, the emperor refused to grant independent land ownership to his sons, citing concerns about preserving peace in the Middle Kingdom. Thus, he strengthened his personal power.
In 221, Qin Shi Huangdi began to create imperial authorities.
It is quite natural that, having become emperor, he introduced throughout the entire country, with some modification, the system of government that existed in the kingdom of Qin. The state apparatus of the Qin Empire was headed by the emperor himself, who had unlimited power. Qin Shi Huangdi's closest assistants were the first two advisers (chengxiang). Their functions included implementing all the instructions of the emperor and directing the work of the administrative bodies of the country. The Chengxiangs, Ban Gu reports, helped the son of heaven (the emperor) manage all affairs. The Chengxiangs were in charge of a whole staff of officials such as Shizhong and Shanshu, who assisted the first advisers in their daily work.
The state apparatus of the Qin Empire was divided into central and local government bodies.
Qin Shi Huangdi was a virtually unlimited head of state with despotic power. The fullness of legislative, administrative, executive and supreme judicial power was concentrated in his hands. The role of the bureaucracy, which expanded under Qin Shi Huangdi and was completely dependent on the head of state, was reduced to purely executive functions. The Qin state machine turned out to be so adapted to the needs of the empire that, according to sources, it was “transferred to Han without any changes.”
The economic well-being of a huge army of officials depended on one person - the emperor. He had the right to deprive any official of his position, starting with Chengxiang. However, despite the despotic nature of the government, in the Qin Empire the bodies of community self-government were preserved and actively functioned locally.
The construction industry developed especially rapidly during the imperial period. Even during the war for the unification of the country, Qin Shi Huangdi issued a decree on the construction of palaces near Xianyang, modeled on the best palaces of the kingdoms he captured. According to Sima Qian's calculations, there were only over seven hundred palaces in the empire, 300 of them were located on the territory of the former Qin kingdom. The largest palace was the Efangong Palace, erected by Qin Shi Huangdi near the capital of the empire, on the southern bank of the Wei-he River. This is a whole ensemble of buildings connected by a system of covered galleries and hanging bridges. It is very interesting that the general composition of the buildings recreated the location of the stars in the sky.
Qin Shi Huangdi carried out a number of major national reforms aimed at strengthening the economic, political and cultural unity of the country.
Successful management of the newly united regions, where their own local customs and laws unique to this kingdom prevailed, was impossible without the introduction of common imperial legislation for all. With the resolution of this key issue, Qin Shi Huangdi began his transformations. In 221, he issued an order to eliminate all laws of the six kingdoms and introduced new legislation, uniform for the entire empire.
The entire population of the empire, from a simple farmer to a high-ranking government official, was obliged to unquestioningly carry out the orders of the emperor and be guided in their actions by state legislation; the slightest deviation from the norm or violation of any clause of the laws was punishable according to all the rules of criminal law.
In China, there was an active guarantee system, according to which, in the event of a crime, all persons associated with mutual guarantee with the “criminal”, namely: father, mother, wife, children, older and younger brothers, i.e. all family members, turned into state officials. slaves
Qin Shi Huangdi attached great importance to the establishment of a new surety association, which was one of the main points of the unified legislation of the Qin Empire that he introduced. It is not by chance that in the text of the Lanyatai Stele, among the many merits of Qin Shi Huangdi, it was noted that the emperor established a system of “... mutual guarantee of six relatives and thanks to this, there were no crimes (criminals) and robberies in the country.”
During the Qin Empire, the surety system of liability apparently extended mainly to ordinary people and primarily to farmers.
In 213, due to the aggravation of the situation within the country and increasing discontent on the part of certain sections of the bureaucracy, Qin Shi Huangdi introduced a new law, according to which an official who knew about the crime but did not report it should also be punished on an equal basis with the criminal. By issuing such a decree, Qin Shi Huangdi sought to protect himself from possible conspiracies and open actions by officials against the imperial power.
The death penalty as the highest form of punishment was most often sentenced for anti-state actions. There were several types of death penalty (depending on the social class of the criminal and the severity of his guilt). The so-called honorable execution, when the emperor “graced death” by sending the accused a sword and ordering him to commit suicide at home, applied only to members of the ruling family and the most senior officials. The following types of death penalty were usually used.
Isanzu - the destruction of three clans of a criminal: the clan of father, mother and wife; Tzu - destruction of the criminal family. During the imperial period, this punishment was imposed on those who kept forbidden Confucian literature in their home or made critical remarks about the emperor and his political activities Chele - quartering. The condemned man's arms and legs were tied to four different chariots drawn by bulls, then, on command, the bulls were set to gallop and the body was torn into pieces. This method of execution, which existed in the Qian kingdom during the Zhanguo period, was also quite widespread during the reign of Qin Shihuang and Er Shi Huangdi.
Other types of death include: being cut in half; cutting into pieces; beheading after execution; displaying one's head on a pole in public places, usually in the market square of a city; strangulation; burying alive; cooking in a large cauldron; breaking ribs; piercing the crown of the head with a sharp object.
Often executions took place in public. Obviously, the emperor sought to intimidate the people and, to some extent, protect himself from possible anti-government protests.
In addition to the death penalty, the Qin Empire had other penalties. Hard labor became widespread. Often convicts, including women along with men, were sent to build the Great Wall of China; their heads were shaved or they were branded. For those whose heads were shaved, the period of exile lasted five years, for those branded - four years. However, women did not directly participate in construction work.
Thousands, tens of thousands, and sometimes even a hundred thousand worked in various parts of the country to build highways, palaces, tombs, the Great Wall of China and other grandiose structures of the Qin Empire. Judging by the reports of primary sources, the first six years of the empire’s existence (221–216) were spent on implementing various reforms and grandiose events carried out within the country itself. During this historically very short and intense period, all the forces of the young state were thrown into organizing internal affairs and consolidating the positions gained.
In 221, Qin Shi Huangdi issued an order to confiscate weapons from the entire population of the country, thus disarming the remnants of the defeated armies of the six kingdoms. All confiscated weapons were taken to Xianyang and poured into bells and statues. According to Sima Qian, 12 human figures were cast, each weighing 1000 dan, i.e. 29,960 kilograms. In the same year, Qin Shi Huang carried out another, no less grandiose event - 120,000 families of the hereditary aristocracy, major officials and merchants of the six conquered kingdoms were forcibly resettled in Xianyang. This resettlement was apparently carried out by regular units of the Qin army returning to their homeland. Some of those resettled, in particular merchants, soon resumed their business activities in Xianyang. A significant part of the merchants from among the resettled families, apparently, were engaged in usury, because Qin Shihuang, as a rule, did not touch the merchants and merchants associated with the process of handicraft production (in Ancient China, the merchant and the owner of the craft workshop were one person), and if he resettled, it was only on preferential terms to areas rich in raw materials.
While applying repressive measures against the officials and hereditary aristocracy of the six kingdoms, Qin Shi-huang at the same time treated with favorable attention the officials of the Qin kingdom and the command staff of the Qin army. Apparently, only people from the Qin kingdom were appointed to all leadership positions in the local administrative apparatus that functioned on the territory of the former six kingdoms. Thus, the unification of the country brought tangible results to the officials of the Qin kingdom and opened up rich opportunities for improving their position.
At the end of 220, Qin Shi Huangdi decided to check how successfully his activities were being implemented on the ground. He traveled to the western regions of the country, visiting Longxi and Beidi counties. The first trip apparently yielded positive results - having convinced himself of the reliability of the western border districts, Qin Shi Huangdi decided to embark on more distant and lengthy travels.
We must not forget that the unification of the six kingdoms was not carried out by peaceful means: the Qin people came to each kingdom with weapons in their hands, and the local population did not greet them friendly. The emperor needed to convince broad sections of the population of the six conquered kingdoms of the correctness of his policies. Knowing the people's ardent desire for a peaceful life, he promised them long-term peace. During an inspection tour of the eastern regions of the country in 218, an attempt was made on the emperor’s life, but the killer missed. For ten days, a massive search was carried out throughout the Celestial Empire for the criminal, but he managed to escape.
The Qin Empire was able to embark on an active foreign policy only after strengthening its internal position, that is, six years after the unification of the country.
The military operations of the Qin Empire unfolded mainly in two directions - northern and southern. The battles in the north against the warlike Huns were of a defensive nature and were aimed at returning lost territories and strengthening the northern borders of the empire. Military actions in the south had a completely different character - aggressive. The ruling circles of the Qin Empire - wealthy slave owners, the Qin family aristocracy, high officials and large merchants were interested in a more active influx of luxury goods (feathers of colorful birds, ivory, etc.), for which the rich south was famous. But, apparently, not only this pushed Qin Shi Huangdi to war against his southern neighbors. The essence of the matter is that part of the conquered territory apparently became the property of the emperor. Community members moved to new lands, as is known, on preferential terms. Such development of new territories increased the amount of land owned by the emperor and contributed to the strengthening of despotic power in the country.
The stabilization of the situation within the country allowed Qin Shi Huangdi to move from defensive to offensive actions. By the end of 214, Qin Shi Huangdi managed to restore the northern borders of China that existed during the Zhanguo period. As a result of a two-year war with the Xiongnu, Qin troops conquered from the latter a huge territory stretching from north to south about 400 kilometers.
In order to protect the northern regions of the country and the newly conquered territories from possible attacks by the swift war cavalry of nomadic peoples, Qin Shi Huangdi decided to begin construction of a grandiose structure - a defensive wall along the entire northern border of the empire. Its length was over 10,000 li, hence the name “Wanli Changcheng” - “Wall 10,000 li long”, or, as Europeans call it, the Great Wall of China. Widespread construction of the wall began in 215, when the 300,000-strong army of the commander Meng Tan arrived to the north. Together with the soldiers, convicts, state slaves and community members mobilized for state labor duties worked on the construction of the wall.
The Great Wall of China reliably protected the northern borders of the empire, however, for the mobile transfer of military units and formations from the central regions of the country to the northern border in the event of any danger, it was necessary to have good roads convenient for transporting troops. Therefore, in 212, Qin Shi Huangdi ordered Meng Tian to begin construction of the main road. Thus, the construction of the Great Wall of China, the settlement of border territories and the construction of a highway right up to Xianyang itself transformed the northwestern part of the country into a powerful single complex connected with the center of the empire and which was a reliable obstacle to the advance of the warlike Xiongnu.
The object of Qin expansion in the south were numerous Yue tribes inhabiting the modern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as the state of Aulak (in Chinese - Aulago), located in the northeastern part of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The first three years brought some success - the Qin troops advanced in all five directions and even killed Yui-sun, the ruler of Western Aulak (Siau).
But the Qin could not secure all the conquered territory. In 214, the Yue tribes, together with the troops of the Aulak state, defeated the Qin army in a night battle and killed the commander Tu Ju.
In the same year 214, Qin Shi Huangdi carried out another mobilization. The newly created army was sent south to help the retreating Qin troops. Having received reinforcements, the Qin troops finally captured Nam Viet and the northeastern part of Aulak.
The active foreign policy of the Qin Empire and the grandiose events carried out by Qin Shi Huangdi within the country were impossible without a constant, ever-increasing influx of new manpower and new material resources. In the last years of the empire, during the life of Qin Shi Huangdi, the land tax increased to 2/3 of the community's harvest; The terms of labor and military service also increased. The conversion of farmers into state slaves intensified, and communal slave owners did not stand aside - the state began to mobilize private slaves for labor and military duties.
The population tried with all its might to evade duties. People were hiding from officials and running away from villages. There were cases when entire communities headed by a council of elders were removed from their homes and went to the mountains and swampy areas. Thus, a whole category of people appeared, called “buwanren” - “hiding people”.
The mass flight of community members fleeing from paying excessive taxes and duties was one of the forms of protest against the ruling dynasty. In this situation, the hereditary aristocracy of the six conquered kingdoms intensified their activities. It should be noted that the unification of the country did not at all mean the end of the struggle. After the formation of the empire, the struggle took other forms: the surviving representatives of the hereditary aristocracy took the path of terror. However, several attempts failed. A series of failures apparently pushed the hereditary aristocracy to search for some other forms of struggle. In the last years of Qin Shi Huangdi's life, the struggle took on an ideological character. Confucians, ideological leaders of the hereditary aristocracy and opponents of the teachings of “fa jia” - the state ideology of the Qin empire, begin to preach the imminent death of the Qin dynasty, sow distrust among the population in new reforms and regulations, “inciting the blackheads to speak out against.”
The destruction of Confucian canons was one of the methods of the ideological struggle of the “fajia” with the Confucians. Based on Sima Qian's report, Confucian literature kept in private collections was burned, copies of the Shijing, as well as the works of various thinkers of the Chunqiu - Zhanguo period, located in state libraries and book depositories, remained completely intact.
After the events of 213, the power of Qin Shi Huangdi took on an increasingly despotic character. The emperor no longer consulted with his closest aides and official state advisers (boshi), reducing the functions of the latter to blind execution of orders from above. Judging by Sima Qian's message, Qin Shi Huangdi had a great capacity for work; he looked through at least 30 kilograms of various documentation and reports every day. From now on, all more or less significant matters were decided by one emperor.
In the last years of his life, Qin Shi Huangdi became painfully wary, not trusting almost any of his closest assistants. Starting from 212, the emperor, as a rule, never lived for a long time in one palace, but constantly moved from one place to another, without notifying anyone close to him in advance.
In a territory within a radius of 200 kilometers from the capital, 270 palaces were specially built in various places. In each of them, everything was ready to receive the emperor, right down to the concubines; officials were forbidden to rearrange things without permission or change the furnishings in the halls. None of the population of the empire, including wide circles of officials, should have known about the place of residence of Qin Shi Huangdi. Those who even unwittingly let it slip were subject to the death penalty.
This situation indicated the growth of opposition within the ruling group itself. An audit carried out by Qin Shi Huangdi in 212 showed that some Confucian officials not only criticized the emperor, but also incited residents of the capital to directly oppose him. During interrogations, imperial officials were able to identify the culprits; over 460 Confucians were buried alive, the rest were exiled to guard the borders.
In the summer of 210, Qin Shin-Huangdi died in Shaqiu in the territory of modern Shandong province at the age of 50, returning from his next inspection trip to the eastern regions of the country.