(Today, a few book friends and fans chatted with me privately, asking me about the first emperor, and the truth or falsehood of the book burning, I started to check at four o'clock in the morning, and it has not been checked until about eleven o'clock in the evening, so it is summarized and summarized in this chapter, about 8,000 words, if you have anything you want to ask in the future, just ask me, I will do my best to help you, and release the official chapter content tomorrow.) )

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Qin Shi Huang was the first true emperor in Chinese history and one of the most controversial. Those who praise him believe that he unified the world, unified writing, rails, weights and measures, etc., and his merits outweighed his faults. Those who demean him think he is insidious, cruel, and tyrannical. It is not surprising that such a brutal monarch seems to have had all the brutal and bloody things that happened under his autocratic rule, such as the famous "book burning and Confucianism" incident in history, which was an indelible stain on Qin Shi Huang's life.

Qin Shi Huang has always been criticized by future generations, and even his appearance has been described as extremely insidious - "a bee is accurate, long-eyed, beloved, jackal, less grace and tiger wolf heart". But in terms of common sense, this appearance may be related to his exile and malnutrition in Zhao when he was a teenager. Qin Shi Huang is misunderstood by the world, not only because of his appearance, but also because of his true character.

After Qin Shi Huang unified China, he changed to a new imperial title, called himself Shi Huangdi, and stipulated that his successor should be called the second and third emperors, and even eternity. This is recorded in the "Records of the Historians". However, since the Western Han Dynasty, there has always been a saying that at first Qin Shi Huang had the idea of using Zen to pass on the throne. This seems to have nothing to do with the perverse, violent and suspicious Qin Shi Huang in people's minds. However, in modern times, more and more people have begun to believe this statement, because there are indeed historical sources that show clues.

There is such a record in the chapter of "Shuo Yuan: Zhigong" written by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty:

After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, he convened his ministers to discuss the transfer of state power, and he said: "In ancient times, there were five emperors and three kings passed down from generation to generation, which one do you think is better?" I want to take the best approach. None of the doctors present spoke, only Bao Bai Lingzhi replied: "If the world is the public, the Zen position will be given to the virtuous; If the world is regarded as private property, it will be passed down from generation to generation in the family. It can be seen from this that the five emperors regard the world as their public, and the three kings regard the world as their home. Qin Shi Huang looked up to the sky and sighed: "My virtue is comparable to that of the five emperors, I will let the people of the world jointly manage the society, but who can replace me?" Bao Bai Lingzhi said mercilessly: "Your Majesty is following the way of Xia Ji and Shang, but you want to learn from the Five Emperors to give way to the Sages, this is not what Your Majesty can do." When Emperor Taishi heard this, he was furious and said, "Let you stand forward!" Why do you say that I am in the way of the Righteous and the Righteous Ways? If it makes sense, if it doesn't, you don't want to live. Ling Zhi said unhurriedly: "Your Majesty, you have built a lot of buildings, hundreds of women in the harem, and more than a thousand excellent people." For their own enjoyment, exhaust the people's power in the world. You are also selfish, and you cannot push yourself and others. Your Majesty, you also say that your merits surpass all monarchs. With your virtue, how can you compare with the Five Emperors, and how can you be qualified to rule the world? The first emperor was ashamed when he said this, and after a long time he said: "What Ling Zhi said is to make me ugly in public." So he quit the plot and never mentioned Zen again.

In the above passage, Qin Shi Huang initially compared himself to the Five Emperors, intending to emulate them in passing on the throne in the form of Chan concessions. There are three common sayings about the "Five Emperors" in history, one is the Yellow Emperor, the Yellow Emperor, the Emperor Yu, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun - see "Shiben"; The second theory is Taibai Gao, Emperor Yan, Yellow Emperor, Shaobai Gao, and Zhuan Xuan - see "The Book of Rites: The Order of the Month"; The third theory is Shao Hao, Zhen Xu, Gao Xin, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun - see Kong Anguo's "Preface to Shangshu". The Three Emperors and Five Emperors were regarded as the highest model of virtue in history, and the doctors who participated in the meeting at that time probably thought that Qin Shi Huang was not as good as the Five Emperors, and did not dare to say it, so they were collectively silent, and only Bao Bai Lingzhi rebuked Qin Shi Huang with his words, and Qin Shi Huang therefore canceled the original idea and "no Zen".

For this record in "Shuo Yuan", people generally did not believe it in the past, probably because of people's absolute trust in "Historical Records". This matter is not recorded in the "Historical Records", and the content that is not recorded in the "Historical Records" is often not recognized by later scholars. Besides, it is like a fantasy to say that the famous autocratic tyrant Qin Shi Huang has Zen thoughts. Therefore, this material of "Saying Yuan Zhigong" has not been taken seriously by people for a long time.

However, if we compare this passage in the Shuo Yuan with the relevant content in the Records of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, we can find that the two coincide in some respects. Moreover, according to the objective facts at that time, this was also possible.

The first is that the Ph.D. is consistent in its arguments.

During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, many doctoral officials were appointed to act as advisors. Whenever the imperial court wanted to formulate or implement some important policies, they often called the doctors or ministers to discuss them, and finally Qin Shi Huang decided whether to implement them after considering them. How to pass on the throne is a major matter related to the Qin Dynasty authorities to strengthen the construction of political power and consolidate the interests of the rule, so Qin Shi Huang naturally summoned the doctors to discuss. This is recorded in the "Shuo Yuan" and the "Historical Records". It's just that then, there was a disagreement between the two books, "Shuo Yuan" put forward the statement of "Zen Rang", but there was no follow-up, and "Historical Records" did not have a record of "Zen Rang" at all. In connection with Qin Shi Huang's intention to come "second, third, and even eternal", people choose to believe in the "Historical Records". However, history should not be read only by what one company says. There are many isolated evidences and contradictions in the "Records of the Historians" itself, so it is inevitably biased to use it as a criterion for judging other historical books.

There is another important reason that also makes future generations doubt the record of "Shuo Yuan", that is, Liu Xiang, the author of "Shuo Yuan", is Wang Mang's right-hand man, and Wang Mang usurped the throne under the pretense of "Zen Rang". At that time, in order to build momentum for Wang Mang's usurpation, Liu Xiang did not hesitate to tamper with the previous history and deliberately created the new Five Elements Theory, which inevitably made future generations question his character, and it would naturally be thought that Liu Xiang's text was used for Wang Mang's momentum.

In fact, it is possible that Qin Shi Huang had Zen thoughts. During the Warring States Period, it was once popular to say that "let Xian" say, and many people not only believed that Yao Shun Chan was true, but also some people followed suit. King Wei Hui had planned to give way to Hui Shi, Qin Xiaogong wanted to give way to Shang Ying, and Yan Wang Hao really gave way to him. Although the theory of "Zen concession" was touted by Confucianism, and the Qin state has always advocated Legalist thought, its rulers were inevitably affected.

Qin Shi Huang succeeded in unifying the whole country, believing that his merits were enough to overwhelm all emperors, and that he should be on the same level as the ancient sages and kings such as Yao and Shun, so it was very likely that he wanted to engage in a move of walking meditation in order to show his reputation. It may be just a show, but it can happen. Although Liu Xiang has had bad deeds, it is impossible to complete the absurd theory that it is made out of nothing. In this sense, this record in "Shuo Yuan Zhigong" can be used as a supplementary material to the "Historical Records", and it is a very valuable historical material.

Why, then, has such a valuable and important material been ignored and denied for so long? To sum up, there should be the following reasons:

First, Yao Shun has always been a model of the human monarch, and Qin Shi Huang has always been a reviled tyrant, especially in the early Western Han Dynasty, people heard and saw Qin Shi Huang's brutality and harsh government, and thought that Qin Shi Huang was not worthy of being compared with Yao Shun, so he was unwilling to tell Qin Shi Huang to imitate Yao Shun to make this matter, and the historical data was inevitably imperfect. Sima Qian was a native of the early Han Dynasty, firstly, he was not exempt from vulgarity, and secondly, as a rigorous historian, it is possible not to remember this matter in the case of uncertain information.

Second, people are overly superstitious about the reliability of the Historical Records. As the first of the official histories, the contents of the "Records of the Historians" are often authoritative materials for historians and scholars to verify historical events and study historical issues. Ban Gu, a first-class scholar and historian of the Han Dynasty, commented in his book "Hanshu Sima Qian's Biography": "Its writing is straightforward, its core is not false beauty, and it is not hidden evil, so it is called a true record." This is basically the mainstream attitude of the academic community in evaluating the "Records of the Historians". In addition, the deeds of Qin Shi Huang are mostly found in the "Historical Records", and there are few other books. Therefore, it is natural that this part of the "Historical Records" has become the highest standard in people's minds.

Third, people do not have enough understanding of the historical value of "Shuo Yuan". Shuo Yuan is generally regarded as a miscellaneous history, and its historical value and academic status are much lower than those of the Historical Records. However, this does not mean that its material is not credible, nor does it completely discard other materials because it is contrary to the Historical Records.

On the one hand, Qin Shi Huang had a lot of deeds in his life, and it is entirely possible that Sima Qian omitted or ignored them in the limited space, or even consciously did not remember them; On the other hand, "Shuo Yuan" was written by Liu Xiang based on the secret archives and books of the imperial court, and some of the contents have been dispersed, and only a little trivial words have been retained in "Shuo Yuan". In this respect, "Shuo Yuan" is indeed worth cherishing. Moreover, Liu Xiang's Western Han Dynasty is not far from the era of Qin Shi Huang, and the deeds of Qin Shi Huang recorded by the Western Han people should not be too distorted and false. In addition, people in the late Western Han Dynasty no longer hated Qin Shi Huang as much as they did in the early Han Dynasty, and would not exclude mentioning and approving certain acts of good deeds of Qin Shi Huang on certain occasions. Liu Xiang may have mastered this information and used it in the compilation of "Shuo Yuan".

Did Qin Shi Huang really think about Zen Rang? Is the content in "Shuo Yuan" something that Sima Qian omitted or deliberately did not use when he wrote history? Since there is no more evidence to prove it, it is not yet possible to determine the final answer, but it does provide us with a new possibility. If this is the case, we should make a new evaluation of Qin Shi Huang's character, the so-called autocratic tyrant still has such a profound sense of righteousness.

Regarding Qin Shi Huang's character, whether it is derogatory or praised, everyone seems to have a consensus, that is, after the first emperor unified China, he "burned books and pit Confucianism", opened a killing spree, and buried more than 400 Confucian students alive at one time. However, there have always been different opinions in the academic community about Qin Shi Huang's infamous "book burning and Confucianism" incident. Some people believe that Qin Shi Huang did not pit Confucianism, but he pit some charlatans. So, who are the people in Qin Shi Huang's pit?

Regarding the "book burning and pit Confucianism", it is recorded in the "Historical Records" as follows:

After Qin Shi Huang established his political power, he regarded the common people in the world as dogs, greedy and tyrannical, and indiscriminately punished the people, making the people's livelihood miserable. In particular, in order to control his thoughts, he followed the advice of Prime Minister Li Si and burned all the books in the world, which aroused strong dissatisfaction among readers.

At that time, there were two people who asked for elixir for the first emperor, one surnamed Hou and the other surnamed Lu, and the two of them privately discussed: "The first emperor is a human being, and his nature is rigid and self-serving, because he destroyed the princes and unified the world, he thought that no one could compare with him among the sages since ancient times." He is so high that he does not hear criticism, and he becomes more and more arrogant; In order to curry favor with him, the officials could only lie and deceive with trembling. He also issued a law stipulating that if a monk failed to do so, he would be put to death. Nowadays, because of fear, no one dares to point out the fault of the first emperor, so that everything in the world, no matter how big or small, depends on the emperor. He even used a scale to weigh the ministers' sparseness, and if the ministers presented less than 120 catties of bamboo slips every day, they would not be allowed to rest. We can't ask for the elixir of immortality for a person like this who is greedy and arbitrary. ”

So, the two of them anointed the soles of their feet and ran away.

When Qin Shi Huang heard about this, he was furious, and because someone reported that some of the people in Xianyang were lying to confuse the people and disturb the minds of the common people, so the first emperor ordered the arrest of some scholars who spread "evil rumors", and tortured them to make them report and expose each other, and more than 460 Confucian scholars were implicated. Qin Shi Huang gave an order, and these more than 400 people were buried alive in Xianyang. This is the "Confucian" event that occurred in 212 BC.

There is also a theory about the matter of Confucianism: because Qin Shi Huang unified the characters into the big seal and the official character, it caused slander and resentment among the people. Considering that the most literate were Confucian students, in order to prevent them from causing trouble with the people of the world, Qin Shi Huang decided to attack Confucian students. He first summoned Confucian scholars to Xianyang to serve as officials, summoning a total of more than 700 people, and then secretly ordered his cronies to plant melons in the warm and sunny place of Lishan Valley. When the melons were ripe, it was winter, and he instructed people to play: "Lishan actually grows melons in winter!" Qin Shi Huang pretended not to believe it and ordered the people to go and inspect it. When the beings had reached the valley, they were debating endlessly, when suddenly all the earth and rocks fell on all sides, and all the people were crushed to death.

Later, Lishan Valley was called "Kengru Valley", and in the Han Dynasty, it was called "Confucianism". Some people have verified that the Kengru Valley is a long and narrow valley in the southwest of Lintong, Shaanxi Province, five miles away, and the terrain is very consistent with this record.

The theory of "Lishan Keng Confucianism" is only found in the "Preface to the Ancient Texts and Books of the Imperial Decree" written by Wei Hong in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the source is not indicated. Therefore, some people believe that Lishan Kengru is actually a misremembering of Xianyang Kengru. However, Wei Hong was a famous scholar in the period of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, and his scholarship was rigorous, and with his attitude towards learning, there should not be such a big mistake. Moreover, the Xianyang pit of Qin Shi Huang recorded in the "Historical Records" is different from the Lishan pit recorded by Wei Hong in terms of location, number of people, and burial methods. Therefore, some people believe that if the records of Wei Hong and Sima Qian are true, then Qin Shi Huang has cheated Confucianism at least twice.

It should be noted that when this passage is mentioned in the "Historical Records", "all beings" are used instead of "Confucianism". The word "Confucianism" first appeared in the classics of the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, more than 100 years after the death of Qin Shi Huang.

In the sixth year of the Western Han Dynasty (81 years ago), Sang Hongyang, the financial steward of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, spoke against the Confucianism at the famous salt and iron conference and published a grand theory, to the effect that the Confucian scholars only knew how to talk about rhetoric and were unrealistic, and the appearance was inconsistent, just like those who were thieves of chickens and dogs, and they had been a scourge since ancient times. The monarch of Lu expelled Kong Qiu and abandoned him because he was sleek but actually pedantic and had no realistic ideas. For the same reason, Qin Shi Huang burned the writings of Confucian scholars so that their speech could not be disseminated, preferring to bury them alive rather than appoint them. After that, Liu Xiang clearly proposed in the "Preface to the Warring States Policy" that Qin Shi Huang "killed Confucian scholars". Since then, the "sentient beings" mentioned in the "Historical Records" have gradually evolved into "Confucian sentient".

During the Wei and Jin dynasties, there was a "Preface to Kong Anguo" in the pseudo-book "Ancient Texts and Books", which said: "And Qin Shi Huang, destroy the classics of the previous dynasties, burn books and pit Confucianism, and the world's bachelors, flee and dissolve." This is probably the earliest origin of the term "book burning and Confucianism". This statement has been widely quoted by later generations and has been passed down to this day.

Restore the truth

Let's start with "book burning".

The book burning originated from a dispute between Zhou Qingchen and Chun Yuyue.

213 BC was the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Qin Shi Huang, and in order to celebrate the Qin Dynasty's construction of the Great Wall and the acquisition of Nanyue, Shi Huang feasted his ministers in the Xianyang Imperial Palace.

There was a servant named Zhou Qingchen who took the opportunity to toast the emperor and praised the first emperor and said: "In the past, the Qin country was very small, and the land was only a thousand miles. Then, he praised the county system, saying that Qin Shi Huang changed the feudal system of princes to the county system, so that the country would not suffer from war and the people could enjoy peace for a long time. Its merits have been unmatched since ancient times.

Although Zhou Qingchen's words are not without flattery, what they state is basically the truth. Unexpectedly, it caused the dissatisfaction of a person named Chun Yuyue.

Chun Yuyue has always advocated the importance of the past and the present, believing that the ancient things are good and the contemporary things are bad. When he heard Zhou Qingchen praise the county system and belittle the feudal system, he rose up and said: "I heard that in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the country was passed down for nearly a thousand years because of the division of the children, because the feudal sons and heroes could allow them and the monarch to take care of each other. Now that the First Emperor is rich all over the world but does not divide his children to echo, if there is a figure like Tian Chang who usurped the power of the Qi State, how will he deal with it? Zhou Qingchen did not point this out to Your Majesty, but flattered him to his face, not a loyal minister! ”

Chun Yuyue and Zhou Qingchen did not have a holiday, this controversy is purely a dispute of views, and it also has the flavor of literati being contemptuous, and it should not have any substantive consequences. Unexpectedly, at this time, Prime Minister Li Si suddenly inserted a lever, which made a qualitative change in the situation.

Li Si said: "The three emperors and five emperors have their own ways of governing the country, and they are all done well. This is because they can use different policies according to the general trend of the world. Now that His Majesty has created a great cause and built a great achievement for all generations, the stupid Confucian scholars do not know the reason, Chun Yuyue takes the Three Emperors and Five Emperors as an example, is this worth emulating? At that time, the princes were competing with each other, and everyone wanted to recruit scholars from all over the world, but now the world has decided that the country should be ruled by law, the common people should devote themselves to agriculture and industry, and the intellectuals should study the law, which is the right way. Now these Confucian scholars do not start from the present, but use ancient examples to say that the current is not, to confuse the people, I risked my life to persuade the emperor: In the past, the world was in turmoil, and each insisted on one word, so that the princes rose together, and they all used ancient times to talk about things, and not a single word of rhetoric was useful, and everyone respected the messy academics, not the national system. If the emperor unifies the world, he should unify his thinking...... The minister requested: If it weren't for the fact that all the histories written by our dynasty were burned, unless it was the duty of a doctor's officer, anyone in the world who dared to have a collection of poems and books and a hundred languages would let the magistrate burn it......"

Li Si said a lot, but there is only one central content, that is, we should focus on the present and thin the past, and not use the past to ignore the present.

Note that Li Si wanted to burn historical works other than the "Qin Period", and did not suggest that Qin Shi Huang even burn the Confucian "Book of Songs", "Book of Books" and all the books of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

In addition, this matter is also mentioned in the "Historical Records: The Biography of Li Si", Sima Qian quoted Li Si as saying: "The ministers ask all those who have literature, poetry, books, and hundreds of languages to remove them, and order them to go to the city for the thirty days." Those who do not go, the books of medicine, divination, zong, and tree planting, if there are scholars who want to learn, take the officials as teachers. Li Si only used the word "go" for those poems and books, and did not definitely want to "burn". Immediately after this passage, there is another sentence: "The first emperor can discuss it, and accept poems, books, and the words of a hundred schools of thought to fool the people." Note that this is "receiving" and not "burning".

Combined with the above three paragraphs, it can be clearly seen that the books of poetry and the books of the hundred schools of thought were not burned, but were collected by the central power of the Qin Dynasty and the corresponding government officials, with the purpose of "fooling the people", not for the purpose of destroying them.

A record in "Historical Records: Xiao Xiangguo's Family" can also prove that Qin Shi Huang did not burn books. This kind of record is: "He (Xiao He) was the first to enter the Qin Prime Minister, the Imperial History Decree, and the Book Collection...... Therefore, the king of Han knew the congestion of the world, the number of household registrations, the strengths and weaknesses, and the sufferings of the people, so how could he have Qin books. It means that after Liu Bang's army captured Xianyang City, Xiao He first confiscated the laws and books stored by the prime minister and imperial history of the Qin Dynasty; Later, after Liu Bang sat in the world, he obtained information from these books on the fortresses of the world, the number of household registrations, the strengths and weaknesses, and the sufferings of the people.

It is not difficult to see from this passage that Qin Shi Huang only ordered the confiscation of folk books and hid them in the hands of officials and scholars, and did not burn them, at least not all of them. Otherwise, what will Xiao He receive? How could the Han Dynasty "get 420 articles of 100 dialects".

Burning the history books written by the previous generation is undoubtedly an out-and-out cultural crime, but the matter should be divided into two, and the misunderstanding of "burning all the books in the world" should still be clarified. In fact, the first emperor was not a fool, if all the books were burned, the superstructure would be completely finished, and the foundation of his rule would also be greatly shaken, and he would not not even know this.

If "burning books" is not about burning all the books, then is "pit Confucianism" really "pit and kill Confucian students"? Not exactly.

The "pit Confucianism" originated in the 35th year of Qin Shi Huang (212 BC). On this day, Ying Zheng drove Liangshan Palace, and the accompanying people rode a lot. When he put the wine in the wind and stopped at the top of the mountain, Qin Shi Huang occasionally looked up and found that there were many entourages of the prime minister, so he couldn't help frowning. At that time, the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty set up two left and right, namely Li Si and Feng Quji, and I don't know which one exceeded the standard. This subtle move was discovered by a nobleman (eunuch) who was on his side, who was friends with the prime minister who had exceeded the standard, and leaked the fact that the emperor seemed to be dissatisfied with his excessive riding in his chariot.

A few days later, Qin Shi Huang didn't know how to hear about this, so he issued a big edict and executed all the nobles who were beside him at that time, putting everyone in danger. Then Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng fled, and more than 400 people were angry and died.

Who were the more than 460 people who were killed? Since the Western Han Dynasty, people almost unanimously said that it was Confucianism. However, Sima Qian recounted this historical fact in the "Historical Records: The Biography of Confucianism", and the original text was to say that "when it came to the Ji Shi of Qin, he burned poetry and books and pitted warlocks". Warlocks are not the same as Confucian scholars. Warlocks, Fang Shi, are people who are good at talking about fairy magic in ancient China. For example, Xu Fu who "entered the sea to seek immortals" when Qin Shi Huang, Xinyuan Ping who "looked at the qi to win the crown" during the time of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Li Shaojun who advocated the "ancestral stove" during the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Qi people and young men who said that they could "make ghosts" to see Mrs. Li, and so on.

Moreover, it was the scholars who defrauded Qin Shi Huang of his money "by tens of thousands", such as Xu Fu, who led boys and girls to cross the sea to seek immortals, and Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng, who slandered Qin Shi Huang and fled, why did Qin Shi Huang vent his anger with Confucianism? Taking a step back, even if Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng were Confucian scholars, Qin Shi Huang would not let go of the magicians who cheated him out of his money and only punished Confucian scholars. In other words, there is no evidence at all to prove that Qin Shi Huang killed all Confucian scholars.

One reason why people think that Qin Shi Huang pits "Confucianism" is that Sima Qian called the pit "Sheng" in the "Historical Records of Qin Shi Huang Benji", and Sima Qian said in the index of "Historical Records" that "since the Han Dynasty, Confucianism has been called Sheng", so "Sheng" means "Confucianism". In fact, this is obviously taken out of context, because before the Han Dynasty, magicians could also be called sheng, such as An Qisheng in the "Historical Records" is a famous warlock. Therefore, the "sheng" of the Qin Dynasty was not entirely Confucianism. Moreover, the term "pit Confucianism" appeared more than 100 years after the death of Qin Shi Huang, so some people believe that "pit Confucianism" should be a false statement imposed on him by the literati of the Western Han Dynasty out of anger at the tyranny of Qin Shi Huang. For example, Zhang Taiyan, Gu Jiegang and others thought that Qin Shihuang did not cheat Confucianism, but he actually cheated "Fangshi".

As for the historical record of "Lishan Keng Confucianism", because it is an isolated evidence, it cannot be used as a conclusive conclusion.

There may have been Confucian scholars among the scholars

Although it was argued above that Qin Shi Huang did not specifically pit Confucianism, but are some of the "students" he pit Confucian or quasi-Confucian students?

According to the "Historical Records: The Biography of Confucianism", after Qin Shi Huang "burned books and lived in a pit", his eldest son Fusu admonished: "If it is decided today, the people from afar may not be convinced. These Confucian scholars were all students of Confucius, and His Majesty punished them so harshly, I am afraid that the people of the world will be terrified and uneasy because of this. Please ask the emperor to take a clear look. Qin Shi Huang was furious when he heard this, and drove Fusu to the far northern border, and made him Meng Tian's supervisor. This led to the later Dune Change.

When Sima Qian recorded the Xianyang pit life of Qin Shi Huang, he only said "all beings" or "warlocks" in general terms, and when Fusu gave advice, he explained the meaning of "all beings" very clearly: "All beings recite Confucius." - The disciples and grandchildren of Confucius, the representative of Confucianism, are naturally Confucians.

Why is the same account so confusing? It may be because Qin Shi Huang liked ghosts and gods, and sent people everywhere to ask for immortal medicine, so some Confucian scholars did what they liked and mixed into the team of warlocks, wanting to win fame and fortune, but they didn't want to be pitted by Qin Shi Huang, so Sima Qian said that Qin Shi Huang "burned poetry books and pit warlocks". In addition, most of the magicians are also scholars, which can be regarded as quasi-Confucian students. What's more, once killed, innocent people may be injured, and it is inevitable that there will be some Confucian students who have been wrongly killed among these "students" who have been pitted.

Qin Shi Huang's behavior of "pitting life" was a huge blow to the Qin Dynasty. In Sima Qian's view, Qin Shi Huang's "burning poetry books and pitting warlocks" was a fatal blow to people's study of the "six arts" at that time. When Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled, Confucian scholars in Shandong resolutely joined the rebel army, and Confucius's eighth grandson, Kong Kun, also became Chen Sheng's doctor, and later died with Chen Sheng. Chen Sheng was able to establish his own power within a month, and these Confucian scholars contributed a lot.

It stands to reason that Confucian scholars should be the most upright to uphold the discipline of the monarch and ministers, but at this time they followed Chen Sheng to rebel, on the one hand, perhaps because the cultural authoritarian policy of "burning poetry and books" deprived them of the right to conduct academic research, so that they could not make a living and embarked on the road of armed resistance when they could not bear it. At the same time, it should also be related to the killing of some Confucian students. Just imagine, if Qin Shi Huang had killed all the magicians who pretended to be gods and ghosts, and swaggered and deceitful, it would not have dealt such a heavy blow to the Confucian scholars, and the social impact would not have been so bad.

Summarizing the above points, we can draw the following conclusions: Qin Shi Huang burned books, but not all of them; The occurrence of the Xianyang pit "sheng" incident was mainly aimed at the magicians, but it also affected Confucianism.