廣弘明集 11.78

11.78

對曰。周顯王五年。秦穆公始霸三十四年。秦權周政。竹書云。自秦仲之前。卒無年世之紀。陶公並云。秦是篡君不依德政。次第不在五運之限。縱年長遠終非帝王。以短為長指虛為實。有何意見。秦時北築長城備胡。偽殺扶蘇矯立二世。陳勝蟻聚作亂關東。

We reply: In the fifth year of King Xian of Zhou, Duke Mu of Qin first attained hegemony for thirty-four years, and Qin took control of Zhou's governance. The Zhushu says that prior to Qin Zhong, there was no record of reigns and generations at all. Master Tao also states that Qin was a usurpative regime that did not rely on virtuous governance, and in its sequence was not within the bounds of the Five Phasic Movements. Even if its years had been remote and long, they were ultimately not emperors. Taking the short to be long and pointing to the void as real, what basis in understanding does this have? In the time of Qin, they built the Great Wall to the north to defend against the Hu, falsely killed Fusu, deceitfully set up the Second Emperor, and Chen Sheng gathered a swarm like ants to bring chaos east of the Pass.