佛祖歷代通載 4.28

4.28

(Yimao) The First Emperor, Zheng (son of Zhuangxiang. He was born in Handan on the morning of New Year's Day in the forty-eighth year of Zhao. In that year he was thirteen. Zhuangxiang passed away, and he took his place as King of Qin. He gave himself the title First Emperor, intending it to last for ten thousand generations, and referred to himself uniquely as "Zhen". He changed the new year and court audiences to begin from the first day of the tenth month. Clothing and banners all favored black. He established commandery governors, military commanders, and imperial inspectors, and built the Great Wall. He named the common people the "Black Heads". He employed Lü Buwei, Zhao Gao, and Li Si as chancellors, and Meng Tian, Bai Qi, and Wang Jian as generals. He annexed the six states, unified all under heaven, and divided it into thirty-six commanderies. Thereafter, being arrogant and unrestrained, he toured all under heaven, proceeding through Guji and Langya, and returning as far as Shaqiu, where he suddenly fell ill. On the bingshen day of the seventh month, he passed away at Pingtai). He ruled for thirty-seven years (and lived to the age of fifty).