"Burning books and burying Confucian scholars is one of the most criticized points in Ying Zheng's life. According to its literal meaning, Ying Zheng burned all the books and buried some Confucian scholars alive. So is this really the case?
In fact, from our later generations' perspective, it is true that Ying Zheng burned books, but there has always been controversy about the matter of burying Confucian scholars alive. Some people say that he did not kill Confucian scholars, but some sorcerers, while others say that it was only a part of Confucian scholars. The main reason is that Ying Zheng offended Confucianism, so later Confucianism put the blame on him.
One thing I want to clarify here is that among the books that Qin Shi Huang burned, practical books like medical and agricultural books were not burned! In addition, the burned books were backed up. Backing up means preparing an identical copy of the original. You can think of Qin Shi Huang as having people copy out copies of the books to be burned.
I'm not saying I burned them all on impulse, but many books on skills were lost later on, partly due to war, and partly because of Xiang Yu, the King of Western Chu, who I'll introduce later."
"It's fake, it must be fake. How could the tyrant Ying Zheng have made such a backup? This must be a lie!"
The remnants of the six kingdoms could not accept Zhou Jia's explanation and started cursing.
Chinese
Liu Che was a little surprised, "Huh, is that so?"
Although their Han Dynasty was indeed quite close to the Qin Dynasty, after the war at the end of the Qin Dynasty, what everyone thought about most was how to survive. Many of the stories were passed down orally, and he had also heard about the burning of books and burying of scholars, but he never delved into the truth. What he thought about most every day was how to consolidate the rule of the Han Dynasty and how to destroy the annoying Huns.
but……
"He offended the Confucians, so all the blame is on him?" Liu Che swept his majestic gaze over the ministers below, saying with a hint of a smile, "Your Majesty the First Emperor offended the Confucians and was accused of all kinds of crimes. If I accidentally make the Confucians unhappy, will they treat me the same way?"
After he ascended the throne, he followed Dong Zhongshu's advice and implemented the policy of "promoting Confucius and suppressing all other schools of thought", and regarded Confucianism as orthodoxy. Now that Zhou Jia had done this, he became somewhat wary of these Confucian scholars.
The most difficult person to accept was the world-renowned founder of Confucianism, Confucius. When he first heard the words "burning books and burying scholars", he thought of the Qin Dynasty, which ruled by law, and felt a little conflicted. But as Zhou Jia explained, she found that she seemed to have a complicated feeling towards Confucianism, but immediately became disgusted when the word "Confucian scholar" was mentioned. Then she thought about her words that offended Confucianism and the first emperor was blamed...
"What on earth did the Confucians of later generations do?" Confucius looked puzzled.
Confucius' disciples were just as puzzled as he was, but Zhou Jia did not continue to explain the problem of Confucianism.
"Since we're talking about sorcerers, let's clarify something that's very misleading to the public - the use of elixirs. It's said that in his later years, Ying Zheng was superstitious about immortality and sent the alchemist Xu Fu overseas to search for immortals. In pursuit of immortality, he believed Xu Fu's advice and ate a lot of elixirs made by sorcerers.
But in fact, there is no historical data to show that Ying Zheng really took elixirs. Not only is there no record, he even personally shot a big fish in 210 BC, shortly before his death. These things are recorded in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian.
As for how the rumor of drug abuse became more and more popular, it has something to do with a later emperor. We will talk about it later. Let’s continue talking about the incident of killing Confucian scholars. Those who know history know that Ying Zheng’s eldest son Fusu was thrown to Meng Tian to help build the Great Wall because he angered Ying Zheng because of the so-called incident of killing Confucian scholars.
Therefore, many people say that Fusu was close to Confucianism, and his teacher was Chunyu Yue, who always supported the feudal system, so he always supported the feudal system. Here I want to say something for Fusu. There is no historical record of Fusu's mother being a princess of the Chu State, his teacher Chunyu Yue, and his so-called support for the feudal system. There are actually very few historical records of Fusu, but the image he appears in is indeed positive, including Sima Qian's record in the Records of the Grand Historian: "Fusu is a kind person." "He is resolute and brave, trustworthy and a hero."
This is a very good evaluation. So why was Fusu sent to build the Great Wall?
The Records of the Grand Historian records it this way:
He then ordered the Imperial Censor to investigate all the students. The students reported one another, and over 460 people who had violated the law were exiled to Xianyang, to let the world know and serve as a warning to future generations. He then exiled more people to the border areas. The First Emperor's eldest son, Fusu, advised, "The empire has just been settled, and the people of distant lands have not yet gathered. The students all recite the teachings of Confucius. Now the Emperor is punishing them with harsher laws. I fear that the world will be in turmoil. I hope the Emperor will investigate this matter." Furious, the First Emperor sent Fusu north to supervise Meng Tian in Shangjun.
This is the origin of the so-called burning of books and burying of scholars by Ying Zheng, and also the reason why Fusu was exiled to Shangjun.
Judging from Fusu's words, he dissuaded His Majesty because he was afraid that after killing these so-called Confucian scholars, the remaining scholars would rise up in anger, which would be detrimental to the stability of the country. Fusu's considerations were indeed reasonable. After all, you have seen the end of Ying Zheng. He was indeed chased and scolded all the time.
However, it was also because Fusu was banished to Shangjun that the two of them never saw each other again until their death."
Speaking of this, Zhou Jia's mood became noticeably depressed.
Ying Zheng glanced at Fusu who was kneeling on the ground, then looked at the Confucian scholars and said, "Fusu."
Fusu shuddered, "Father."
"Do you think I killed someone wrongly?"
It was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry in his voice, but everyone knew that Ying Zheng was on the verge of getting angry.
"Your son..."
Fusu was speechless.
If they don't kill him, they will never have peace if the Confucian scholars continue to push their limits. If they kill him, all the scholars in the world will curse him. Zhou Jia's words were very clear.
Ying Zheng looked at his most beloved child and felt a little tired.
You say this child is timid, but he dares to openly oppose him in the court. You say he is brave, but many times when he sees himself, he is like a mouse seeing a cat.
I still lack the courage, which is really a headache.
Chinese
Liu Che thought of that young master Fusu and sighed silently, "Fusu, it's really a pity. Fortunately, my son is not like Fusu."
As he said this, he hugged Liu Ju, who had been sitting next to him and listening quietly to Zhou Jia's lecture, and teased him.
Tang
Li Shimin held the hand of his Guanyin maid and said, "The temperaments of the First Emperor and his son are indeed very different. One is domineering and the other is gentle. The First Emperor was too domineering, which led to Fusu not being close to him. This is not the case with me and Cheng Qian."
The tone was particularly proud.
Guanyinbi looked at Li Shimin, whose tail was about to reach the sky, and secretly covered her mouth and laughed.
"Let's talk about the last one, the Great Wall."
Speaking of this, Zhou Jia's expression could no longer be described as complicated. To be more precise, it should be said that she was extremely confused.
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