釋氏稽古略 1.418

1.418

Named Zheng. Son of King Zhuangxiang. Succeeded to the throne at the age of thirteen. State affairs were all entrusted to the Marquis of Wenxin, who was addressed as Secondary Father. In the second year of the First Emperor, there were seven capped-and-sashed states in the realm, three of which bordered on the Rong and Di barbarians. To the west of Long, Qin bordered the Mianzhu, Hunrong, and Diyan Rong; to the north of Qi, Liang, and the Jing and Qi rivers, it had the Yiqu, Daji, Wushi, and Quyan Rong. North of Zhao were the Linhu and Loufan Rong; north of Yan were the Donghu and Shanrong. Each lived scattered in valleys. Qin eliminated the Yiqu and began building the Great Wall from Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun to fend off the Hu. King Wuling of Zhao defeated the Linhu and Loufan in the north, and built a Great Wall from Dai along the foot of the Yin Mountains to Gaoque as a fortress, establishing Yunzhong, Yanmen, and Dai commanderies. Yan defeated the Donghu, driving them back more than a thousand li, and built a Great Wall from Zaoyang to Xiangping, establishing Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, and Liaodong commanderies to repel the Hu. By the end of the Warring States period, the Xiongnu first grew powerful. In the twenty-sixth year of the First Emperor, he first unified the realm. Considering that his virtue embraced the Three Sovereigns and his merit surpassed the Five Thearchs, he changed his title to Huangdi (Emperor). He abolished the posthumous titling system, deeming it inappropriate for inferiors to deliberate on superiors. He decreed that his commands be called 'edicts' (zhi) and 'decrees' (zhao), and referred to himself as 'Zhen'. He also stated: 'I am the First Emperor; succeeding generations shall be numbered: Second Generation, Third Generation, down to ten thousand generations.' He received the cosmic cycle through the Virtue of Water. Earlier, in the time of Kings Wei and Xuan of Qi, Zou Yan composed treatises on the cycle of the Five Virtues from end to beginning. Men of Qi memorialized it, and the First Emperor adopted his theory. He began changing the New Year court congratulations, all taking the first day of the tenth month [as the beginning]; garments, pennants, insignia, and banners all favored black. Six was taken as the base number, and the winter sacrifice was renamed Jiaping. He divided the realm into thirty-six commanderies: Sanchuan, Hedong, Nanyang, Nanjun, Jiujiang, Zhangjun, Kuaiji, Yingchuan, Dangjun, Sishui, Xuejun, Dongjun, Langya, Qijun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi, Liaodong, Daijun, Julu, Handan, Shangdang, Taiyuan, Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, Yanmen, Shangjun, Longxi, Beidi, Hanzhong, Bajun, Shujun, Qianzhong, and Changsha—thirty-five in all, which together with the Capital Area (Neishi) made thirty-six commanderies. In each commandery he instituted a governor, a military commandant, and an inspector. He confiscated the weapons throughout the realm and gathered them in Xianyang, melting them to cast bell-stands and twelve bronze statues. In the thirty-fourth year of the Emperor, Chancellor Li Si submitted a memorial stating that all books in the charge of the scribes other than the records of Qin should be burned. Those who dared to speak together of the Odes and Documents were to be executed in the public marketplace; those who used antiquity to criticize the present were to have their clans exterminated. Books that were spared were those on medicine, divination, and agriculture. Those who wished to study laws and ordinances should take the officials as their teachers. The imperial decree approved this. When Master Hou and Master Lu fled together, the First Emperor was enraged and sent men to conduct an investigation. The scholars accused one another, and over 460 men who violated the prohibitions were rounded up and buried alive in Xianyang. In the tenth month, winter of the thirty-sixth year, the First Emperor set out on a tour; the Left Chancellor [Li] Si accompanied him, and his youngest son Huhai requested permission to follow. Arriving west at Pingyuan Ford, he fell ill. On the bingyin day of the seventh month, the First Emperor passed away at the Terrace of Sha丘. He had been on the throne for thirty-seven years and was fifty years of age. Zhao Gao, Prefect of the Carriage Depot who handled the imperial seals, then plotted deceitfully with Chancellor Si; forging an imperial decree, they established Huhai as Crown Prince. Only upon returning to Xianyang was mourning announced, and he succeeded to the throne. In the ninth month, the First Emperor was buried at the foot of Mount Li.