The first emperor of Qin had swallowed the world, he called the officials and said: "The ancients, the five emperors, Zen, and the three kings, who will be?" The doctors were not right. Bao Bailingzhi said: "The official of the world, then Zen virtuous is also; the family of the world, the world will continue to be the same. Therefore, the five emperors regard the world as the official, and the three kings regard the world as the home.? The first emperor of Qin looked up to the sky and sighed: "I Virtue comes from the five emperors, I will rule the world, who can replace me?" Bao Bailing said in response: "Your Majesty's path to Jie and Zhuo, to be the Zen of the Five Emperors, is beyond your majesty's ability. The emperor Taishi furiously said: "Before the order! How can I follow the path of jie and 纣 in words? To put it in a funny way, if you don't understand, you will die. "Ling Zhi said to him: "Please tell me the minister. Your Majesty built a platform with dry clouds, five miles in the palace, a bell of a thousand stones, and a scorpion of thousands of stones. There are hundreds of women who advocate for excellence. Xing Zuo Lishan Palace, one after another until Yong. Therefore, the self-professor will destroy the world and the power of the people. To refute selfishness, not to be as good as people. Your Majesty's so-called self-employed only survivor. How can the five emperors of the Devil, want to have officials in the world?" The first emperor couldn't answer it. He looked embarrassed. After a long time, he said: "Lingzhi's words make everyone ugly. "Then dismissed. There is no Zen intent.
Regarding the above record, people generally did not believe it in the past. There are probably two main reasons for this: First, this matter is not recorded in the "Historical Records", and scholars often disbelieve what is not recorded in the "Historical Records". Second, it seems unreasonable at first to say that Qin Shihuang, the prestigious authoritarian monarch, has the idea of concession. Therefore, this section of material in "Said Yuan·zhigong" has not received much attention from people for a long time. But if we link this piece of material with the relevant content in "Historical Records: The Benji of Qin Shihuang", and make a comparison and analysis, we can find that the incident recorded in "Suoyuan·zhigong" is superficial The collection is not contained in (Historical Records), but in fact this incident is consistent with the objective facts at the time, and also consistent with the relevant records in the "Historical Records"; therefore, it can be determined: This record is credible.
We know that Qin Shihuang once set up many doctoral officers to act as consultants. Before the imperial court formulates or implements certain important policies, it often asks the doctors or ministers to discuss the pros and cons of the policy for Qin Shihuang's discretion and then approve the implementation. The implementation of the county system is implemented through such methods and procedures.
The political significance of how to pass on the throne and whether to implement the system of prefectures and counties has the same political significance. They are both important measures taken by the Qin dynasty to strengthen regime building and consolidate ruling interests. Therefore, the first emperor of Qin asked the doctors to come. Discussion-Fan. In this regard, the records in "Shuo Yuan" are consistent with the records in "Historical Records". Obviously Qin Shihuang had originally planned to adopt the system of concession. It was only because the doctors were silent on this matter, and because they were reprimanded by Bai Lingzhi, Qin Shihuang cancelled his original idea and became "no Zen." . Due to the limitations of the objective conditions at the time, Qin Shihuang's idea of passing the throne by means of concession could not become a reality, but he could not easily deny that Qin Shihuang had this idea in the beginning.
In fact, it is not strange that Qin Shihuang had the idea of concession. During the Warring States Period, the theory of "Rang Xian" was once widely popular in society. Many people not only believed that Yao and Shun's concessions really occurred in ancient times, but some people also imitated them, hoping that they would be famous and famous like Yao and Shun. . The pre-Qin documents recorded that there were incidents in which King Wei Hui planned to give way to Hui Shi, and Qin Xiaogong wanted to give way to Shang Yang and King Yan to his son. Among them, what Yan Wangkui gave away was a real and real occurrence, which was very shocking and had a profound impact. Although Yao and Shun’s doctrine of walking meditation was touted by Confucianism, in the Qin state, which advocated legalism, its rulers were also influenced by the doctrine of “letting the virtuous”; therefore, from Qin Xiaogong era to Qin Shihuang era, some rulers continued to yearn for it. The act of renunciation. Some people, such as Xiangguo Lu Buwei, also recognized and vigorously promoted Yao and Shun's walking meditation in theory. So Qin Shihuang wanted to walk meditation, in fact, it is to imitate the precedent and follow the precedent. Qin Shihuang believed that he had successfully unified the world, and his merits were enough to overwhelm the emperor with one merit, and he should share the glory with the ancient sages such as Yao and Shun in the annals of history. Therefore, he wanted to make a move of walking meditation in order to show his reputation. It seems that Qin Shihuang's desire to make walking meditation not only conforms to Qin Shihuang's arrogant and extravagant psychology of greed for vanity, but also in line with the objective situation that the theory of walking meditation was very popular at that time. What is recorded in "Shuo Yuan" will never be an absurd theory out of nothing, and it can indeed supplement the insufficiency of the "Records of the History". But why the long-term use of the material about Qin Shihuang’s desire to walk in the "Shuoyuan·zhigong" chapter that is so valuable and important is ignored by people? The author thinks that the main reason is probably There are the following aspects:
First, because people hate Qin Shihuang so much and don’t want him to be in the light of Yao and Shun. -Generally speaking, Yao and Shun are sages praised by people, while Qin Shihuang is a tyrant that people generally scolded. Especially in the early Western Han Dynasty, people heard and saw Qin Shihuang's harsh politics, so they were unwilling to tell about Qin Shihuang's desire to imitate Yao and Shun's walking meditation, lest Yao and Shun's reputation would be tainted by Qin Shihuang. Sima Qian was born in the early Han Dynasty, and his thoughts and behaviors must be consistent with those of the people at that time; therefore, it is not surprising that Sima Qian's history books do not record that incident.
Second, because people are overly superstitious about the reliability of the materials in "Historical Records". Sima Qian's "Historical Records" has been highly praised since its publication. First-class scholars in the Han Dynasty, such as Liu Xiang, Yang Xiong, and Ban Gu, have unanimously recognized that the book is a "factual record." Ban Gu once emphasized: "Its writing is straightforward, its matter is core, it is not false and beautiful, and it does not hide evil, so it is called the veritable record" ("Han Shu·Sima Qian Biography"). This has basically become the mainstream for the academic circles to evaluate "Historical Records". Therefore, as the head of the official history, the "Historical Records", its content is often the authoritative material for historians and scholars to examine historical events and study historical issues. Coupled with the deeds of Qin Shihuang, it is usually only found in the "Historical Records", and other books have very few records about it; therefore, naturally, the status of this aspect of the materials in the "Historical Records" in people's minds It will be very high.
Third, people don’t know enough about the value of certain historical materials in "Suo Yuan". "Shuo Yuan" is generally regarded as a miscellaneous history, so on the whole, the value of historical materials and academic status of this book is much lower than that of "Shi Ji". In fact, although the materials in "Historical Records" are reliable and usable, it cannot be said that they are absolutely reliable and usable; nor can it be said that with the materials of "Historical Records", any other materials can be completely discarded. Practically speaking, there are so many deeds in Qin Shihuang's life that it is impossible for Sima Qian to record in the limited space without omissions. It is entirely possible that he ignores certain things without remembering them, or even consciously forgets them. Therefore, certain things that were ignored by Sima Qian cannot be regarded as unreliable. "Suo Yuan" was mainly written by Liu Xiang using the archives and books of the imperial court, and it should be worthy of attention. Just as an accomplished scholar who studied the book "Suo Yuan" thought: "The materials used in "Yue Jie are very extensive...Nine out of ten of them, you can also explore the origins of the existing classics and refer to each other. But some of them are not. It was scattered and lost early, and there is no evidence in the literature. It is only relied on "Shuo Yuan" to retain a little bit of posthumous language. If you see each other's books, you can refer to the comparison: for our research and evaluation; the only remaining is released. Old news is even more worth cherishing." This is quite reasonable and fair. It should be admitted that the book "Shuo Yuan" inevitably contains some content that can be classified as problematic. They are often historical events of a relatively old age. Because of the passing of them, historical events are distorted and even inaccurate. The Western Han Dynasty is not far away from the times of Qin Shihuang. Generally speaking, the deeds of Qin Shihuang recorded by the Western Han Dynasty people should not be corrupted or corrupted. Besides, people in the late Western Han Dynasty did not have as strong a hatred of Qin Shihuang as the people in the early Han Dynasty. It is normal for people to mention and recognize certain benevolent behaviors of Qin Shihuang on certain occasions. Therefore, Liu Xiang used this material when compiling "Suo Yuan". In short, the content about Qin Shihuang's deeds in "Shuoyuan·zhigong" should be the content that Sima Qian missed or intentionally not used when writing history, and it may even be content that Sima Qian had never seen before. It is really worth cherishing.
