廣弘明集 11.53

11.53

To the response regarding [the claim that] from Qin Zhong downward there were thirty-five generations and more than six hundred years, we reply: The Shiji states that prior to the Yin dynasty, genealogies of the feudal lords cannot be obtained, because the sequence was largely lost and the years are difficult to know. Therefore, the Shangshu merely uses the sexagenary cycle for succession, without years and months; this is precisely because the historical records are deficient and did not record them. The deviant views claim that starting from Qin Zhong down to the Second Emperor, there were more than six hundred years. At first glance it seems long, but from what definitive evidence does it derive? Examining the period before the Spring and Autumn era, the Qin originally did not exist; only since the Spring and Autumn era was there first an Earl of Qin. In the Spring and Autumn period, at the time of Qin Zhong, they gradually attained hegemony, yet they were merely a minor settlement of the Zhou. In the time of King Xiao, Feizi was ordered to pasture horses between the Qian and Wei rivers; he did not receive the Mandate of Heaven and had no official calendar. His great-grandson Qin Zhong, in the time of King Xuan, first received the rank of minister of chariots and escort. Zhong's grandson Duke Xiang escorted King Ping's eastward move and was advanced in rank to earl. Only from Duke Wen downward does Qin first appear in the Shiji. From then until its demise was no more than two hundred-odd years. The Shiji, the Zhushu [jinian], and Master Tao's Nianji all say that Qin lacked the astrological mandate and was a retainer minister during the Zhou era; hence Master Yinju listed it below the various states. How could there be an era chronicle continuously reaching Hu Hai? The Shiji only lists them starting from Duke Li: one hundred and one years, ending with the Second Emperor. Even if there were dates, they are all appended to the Spring and Autumn annals and have no separate chronicle. At the end of King Nan, King Zhaoxiang of Qin, taking advantage of the Zhou's decline, first destroyed the state of Zhou and usurped the title of king. Transmitted by various histories, the Qin reigned for only five generations and forty-nine years. The Shimu by Secretarial Court Official Yang Jie of Qi says that from Qin's first enfeoffment to its demise, there were thirty-five generations and more than six hundred years in all; this merely takes the more than six hundred years that elapsed under the title of Qin since its initial enfeoffment, not that it held hegemony and ruled China for so many years. The deviant views have prolonged Qin's brief lifespan and falsely appropriated long years from earlier times. How utterly absurd!