The Annals of the First Emperor of Qin

The First Emperor of Qin was the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. While Zhuangxiang was a hostage in Zhao, he saw a woman of Lü Buwei’s household, took a liking to her, and married her; she bore the First Emperor. He was born in Handan in the first month of the forty-eighth year of King Zhao of Qin. At birth he was named Zheng, and bore the surname Zhao. When he was thirteen, King Zhuangxiang died, and Zheng succeeded him as King of Qin. At that time Qin had already annexed Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong; across the Wan River it held Ying and had established Nanjun Commandery. In the north it had taken the territory east of Shangjun, holding Hedong, Taiyuan, and Shangdang commanderies; in the east it reached Xingyang, had destroyed the two Zhou states, and had established Sanchuan Commandery. Lü Buwei was chancellor, enfeoffed with ten thousand times ten households and styled Lord Wenxin. He gathered guests and wandering scholars, seeking to unite all under heaven. Li Si served in his household. Meng Ao, Wang Yi, Duke Biao, and others were generals. The king was young and had just ascended the throne, so he entrusted affairs of state to his senior ministers. Jinyang rebelled.

In the First Emperor’s first year, General Meng Ao attacked and pacified it.

In the second year, Duke Biao led soldiers against Juan and took thirty thousand heads.

In the third year, Meng Ao attacked Han and took thirteen cities. Wang Yi died. In the tenth month General Meng Ao attacked Chang and Yougui in Wei. The year brought a great famine.

In the fourth year, Chang and Yougui were captured. In the third month the army was disbanded. Qin’s hostage prince returned from Zhao, and Zhao’s crown prince departed for his own country. On the day gengyin in the tenth month, locusts came from the east and covered the sky. Pestilence spread throughout the realm. Commoners who delivered a thousand shi of grain were awarded one rank of nobility.

In the fifth year, General Ao attacked Wei, subdued Suanzao, Yan, Xu, Changping, Yongqiu, and Shanyang, and captured them all: twenty cities in total. Dongjun Commandery was first established. Thunder sounded in winter.

In the sixth year, Han, Wei, Zhao, Wey, and Chu jointly attacked Qin and took Shouling. Qin sent out troops, and the five states withdrew their forces. Qin captured Wey and pressed toward Dongjun; its lord Jiao led his relatives to settle at Yewang, relying on the mountains to defend Wei’s Henei territory.

In the seventh year, a comet first appeared in the east, was seen in the north, and in the fifth month appeared in the west. General Ao died. Qin attacked Long, Gu, and Qingdu, then turned its troops against Ji. The comet appeared again in the west for sixteen days. The Queen Dowager Xia died.

In the eighth year, the king’s younger brother Chengjiao, Lord of Chang’an, led troops against Zhao, rebelled, and died at Tunliu. His officers were all beheaded and its people moved to Lintao. General Bi died; the soldiers at Tunliu and Puhe rebelled, and his corpse was mutilated. Great numbers of river fish swam upstream; light carts and heavily laden horses went east in search of food.

Lao Ai was enfeoffed as Lord Changxin and given the lands of Shanyang to inhabit. Palaces, carriages, horses, clothes, parks, and hunting were at Ai’s disposal. Every matter, great or small, was decided by him. The commanderies of Hexi and Taiyuan were further made his domain. In the ninth year a comet appeared, at times spanning the sky. Qin attacked Yuan and Puyang in Wei. In the fourth month the king lodged at Yong. On the day jiyou he donned his crown and sword. Lord Changxin, Lao Ai, plotted rebellion and was discovered. He forged the king’s and the queen dowager’s seals to levy county soldiers, guards, palace cavalry, Rong and Di chiefs, and retainers, intending to attack Qinian Palace in revolt. When the king learned of this, he ordered the chief ministers Lords Changping and Changwen to raise troops against Ai. They fought in Xianyang and took several hundred heads; all received noble rank, even the eunuchs who took part in the battle, who each received one rank. Ai and his followers fled in defeat. An order went out across the country: whoever captured Ai alive would receive a million coins; whoever killed him, half a million. Ai and his followers were all caught. Jie, commandant of the guards; Si, chief clerk of the capital; Jie, assistant director of archers; Ling Qi, grandee of the palace; and twenty others had their heads displayed on poles. Ai was torn apart by chariots as a public warning, and his clan was exterminated. Of his retainers, those with lesser offenses were condemned to gather firewood for the ancestral temples. More than four thousand families were stripped of rank and moved to Shu, to live at Fangling. In that month there was deadly freezing weather. Yang Duanhe attacked Yanshi. A comet appeared in the west and again in the north, extending south from the Dipper for eighty days. In the tenth year, Chancellor Lü Buwei was dismissed for his involvement in Lao Ai’s affair. Huan Yi became a general. Envoys from Qi and Zhao came for a banquet. Mao Jiao of Qi advised the King of Qin: “Qin is now making all under heaven its business; yet Your Majesty has acquired a reputation for exiling your mother, the queen dowager. I fear that when the lords hear of this, they will turn against Qin.” The king brought the queen dowager back from Yong to Xianyang, where she again lived at Ganquan Palace.

A great search was made and an order issued to expel foreign guests. Li Si submitted a memorial of persuasion, and the order was rescinded. He then urged the king to take Han first, to frighten the other states, and was sent to bring Han to submission. The King of Han was alarmed and consulted Han Fei about weakening Qin. Wei Liao of Daliang came and told the King of Qin: “Given Qin’s strength, the feudal lords are like mere governors of commanderies and counties. I fear only that they will form an alliance and suddenly strike together. That is how Zhibo, Fuchai, and King Min came to ruin. I beg Your Majesty not to begrudge your treasures: bribe their powerful ministers and disrupt their plans. At a cost of no more than three hundred thousand gold pieces, all the lords can be brought to an end.” The king followed his plan and received Wei Liao as an equal, wearing the same clothes and sharing his food and drink. Wei Liao said: “The King of Qin has a wasp-like nose, long eyes, the chest of a bird of prey, and the voice of a jackal. He shows little kindness and has the heart of a tiger or wolf. When restrained, he readily humbles himself before others; when he gets his way, he will readily devour them. I am a commoner, yet whenever he sees me, he personally lowers himself before me. If the King of Qin truly gets his way under heaven, all under heaven will be his captives. I cannot remain in his company.” So he fled. The king discovered this and firmly detained him, making him commander of Qin; in the end he adopted his plans. Li Si rose to power.

In the eleventh year, Wang Jian, Huan Yi, and Yang Duanhe attacked Ye and took nine cities. Wang Jian attacked Eyu and Liaoyang, combining all the forces into one army. After commanding for eighteen days, Jian sent home the officers who received rations of one dou or less; from each ten men he selected two to join the campaign against Ye and Anyang, under Huan Yi’s command. In the twelfth year Lord Wenxin, Lü Buwei, died and was buried secretly. Of his retainers who attended his funeral, those from Jin were expelled; those from Qin with stipends of six hundred shi or more lost their ranks and were exiled; those with stipends of five hundred shi or less who had not attended were exiled without loss of rank. Henceforth, those who conduct state affairs wickedly like Lao Ai and Lü Buwei shall have their households confiscated, in accordance with these precedents. In autumn, the retainers of Lao Ai who had been exiled to Shu were restored. There was a great drought throughout the realm; rain did not fall until between the sixth and eighth months.

In the thirteenth year, Huan Yi attacked Pingyang in Zhao, killed the Zhao general Hu Zhe, and took a hundred thousand heads. The king traveled south of the Yellow River. In the first month a comet appeared in the east. In the tenth month Huan Yi attacked Zhao. In the fourteenth year Qin attacked the Zhao army at Pingyang, took Yi’an, routed it, and killed its general. Huan Yi pacified Pingyang and Wucheng. Han Fei came on a mission to Qin; Qin followed Li Si’s counsel and detained him, and he died at Yunyang. The King of Han asked to become a subject.

In the fifteenth year, great armies were raised: one reached Ye, another Taiyuan, and Langmeng was taken. The earth shook. In the ninth month of the sixteenth year, soldiers were sent to receive the territory of Nanyang in Han from acting governor Teng. For the first time, men were ordered to register their ages. Wei offered land to Qin. Qin established Liyi. In the seventeenth year, Teng, chief clerk of the capital, attacked Han and captured its king An, annexing all his lands and making them into a commandery named Yingchuan. The earth shook. The Queen Dowager Huayang died. The people suffered a great famine.

In the eighteenth year, a great army was raised against Zhao. Wang Jian led the troops from Shangdi down through Jingxing, Yang Duanhe led those from Henei, and Qiang Hui attacked Zhao; Duanhe surrounded Handan. In the nineteenth year Wang Jian and Qiang Hui fully subdued Dongyang in Zhao and captured the King of Zhao. They drew up their forces to attack Yan and camped at Zhongshan. The King of Qin traveled to Handan, and buried alive all who had harbored grudges against his mother’s family when he was born in Zhao. He returned by way of Taiyuan and Shangjun. The First Emperor’s mother, the queen dowager, died. Prince Jia of Zhao led several hundred members of his clan to Dai, proclaimed himself King of Dai, joined forces in the east with Yan, and camped at Shanggu. There was a great famine.

In the twentieth year, Crown Prince Dan of Yan, anxious that Qin troops were approaching his country, sent Jing Ke to assassinate the King of Qin. The king discovered the plot, had Ke dismembered and displayed, and sent Wang Jian and Xin Sheng against Yan. Yan and Dai raised troops against Qin; the Qin army defeated Yan west of the Yi River. In the twenty-first year Wang Ben attacked Jing. Additional troops were then dispatched to Wang Jian’s army, which defeated the crown prince’s army, captured Ji, the capital of Yan, and took Crown Prince Dan’s head. The King of Yan gathered forces in Liaodong in the east and ruled there. Wang Jian pleaded old age and illness and retired. Xinzheng rebelled. Lord Changping was moved to Ying. Heavy snow fell to a depth of two feet five inches.

In the twenty-second year Wang Ben attacked Wei and diverted the river canals to flood Daliang. Its walls collapsed, its king asked to surrender, and Qin took all its territory.

In the twenty-third year the King of Qin summoned Wang Jian again, compelled him out of retirement, and put him in command against Jing. He took the land from Chen south to Pingyu and captured the King of Jing. The King of Qin traveled as far as Ying and Chen. Xiang Yan, a general of Jing, made Lord Changping King of Jing and rebelled against Qin south of the Huai River. In the twenty-fourth year Wang Jian and Meng Wu attacked Jing and defeated its army. Lord Changping died, and Xiang Yan took his own life.

In the twenty-fifth year a great army was raised under Wang Ben. He attacked Liaodong in Yan and captured its king Xi; turning against Dai, he captured its king Jia. Wang Jian then subdued the lands south of the Yangtze in Jing, brought the lords of Yue into submission, and established Kuaiji Commandery. In the fifth month there was a great feast throughout the realm.

In the twenty-sixth year, King Jian of Qi and his chancellor Hou Sheng sent troops to guard their western border and cut off relations with Qin. Qin sent General Wang Ben south from Yan to attack Qi, and captured King Jian.

When the King of Qin had first united all under heaven, he ordered the chancellor and Imperial Counselor: “Formerly the King of Han surrendered his lands and presented his seal, asking to be our vassal. Then he broke his agreement, joined Zhao and Wei in an alliance, and rebelled against Qin. Therefore I sent troops to punish him and captured him. I thought this good, hoping at last to lay down arms. The King of Zhao sent his chancellor Li Mu to conclude an alliance, so I returned his hostage prince. Then he broke the alliance and rebelled in Taiyuan, and I raised troops to punish him and captured him. Prince Jia of Zhao proclaimed himself King of Dai, so I sent an army to destroy him. The King of Wei first agreed to submit to Qin, but then plotted with Han and Zhao to ambush us. Our officers and soldiers punished him and defeated him. The King of Jing offered the lands west of Qingyang, then broke his agreement and attacked Nanjun. I therefore sent troops to punish him, captured him, and subdued Jing. The King of Yan was deluded and disordered; his crown prince Dan secretly sent Jing Ke as an assassin. Our troops punished him and destroyed his state. The King of Qi followed Hou Sheng’s counsel, severed contact with Qin’s envoys, and planned rebellion. Our forces punished him, captured him, and pacified Qi. With my insignificant person I raised armies to punish violence and rebellion; through the power of our ancestral temple all six kings have answered for their crimes, and the realm is at last settled. Unless my title is changed, it cannot express this achievement or transmit it to posterity. Deliberate on an imperial title.” Chancellor Wan, Imperial Counselor Jie, Commandant of Justice Li Si, and the others all said: “In ancient times the five emperors each held a thousand li of land. Outside it, the lords of the outer and foreign domains came to court or did not; the Son of Heaven could not control them. Your Majesty has raised righteous armies, punished cruel rebels, and pacified all under heaven. All within the seas is now made into commanderies and counties, with law and decree issuing from a single authority. Nothing like it has happened since highest antiquity; the five emperors did not attain it. We have respectfully consulted with the Erudites: ‘In antiquity there was the Heavenly Sovereign, the Earthly Sovereign, and the Great Sovereign, of whom the Great Sovereign was noblest.’ At the risk of our lives we propose the honorable title ‘Great Sovereign’ for the king. Let his commands be called ‘imperial ordinances,’ his orders ‘imperial edicts,’ and let the Son of Heaven call himself ‘We.’” The king said: “Remove ‘Great,’ retain ‘Sovereign,’ and adopt the ancient title ‘Emperor’: let my title be ‘Sovereign Emperor.’ Let the rest be as proposed.” His ordinance said: “Approved.” He posthumously honored King Zhuangxiang as Supreme Sovereign. He issued an ordinance: “I have heard that in highest antiquity rulers had titles but no posthumous names; in middle antiquity they had titles and, after death, received names based on their conduct. That lets a son judge his father and a minister judge his lord. It is wholly improper; I will not accept it. From now on abolish the practice of posthumous names. I am the First Emperor. My successors shall be numbered the Second Emperor, the Third Emperor, down to the ten-thousandth generation, in endless succession.”

The First Emperor considered the succession of the five powers and held that Zhou had obtained the power of fire, while Qin, replacing Zhou, followed the power that overcame it. Now was the beginning of the power of water: he changed the beginning of the year, so court congratulations began on the first day of the tenth month. Clothes, yak-tail standards, pennants, tallies, and banners all favored black. The number six became the standard: tally tokens and ceremonial caps measured six inches; carriages measured six feet; six feet made a pace; and carriages were drawn by six horses. He renamed the Yellow River the River of Virtue, seeing in it the beginning of the power of water. Resolute, harsh, and severe, he decided every affair according to law, stripped away benevolence, kindness, harmony, and righteousness, and thus conformed to the reckoning of the five powers. Laws grew stringent and long-serving offenders received no pardon.

Chancellor Wan and the others said: “The lords have only just been conquered. Yan, Qi, and Jing are far away: unless kings are appointed there, they cannot be secured. We ask that your sons be installed, if Your Majesty graciously permits.” The First Emperor submitted the proposal to his ministers, who all found it expedient. Commandant of Justice Li Si argued: “Kings Wen and Wu of Zhou enfeoffed many sons, brothers, and clansmen. Yet their descendants grew distant, attacked one another like enemies, and waged wars that the Zhou Son of Heaven could not prevent. Now, through Your Majesty’s divine power, all within the seas is unified and made into commanderies and counties. Your sons and meritorious ministers can be richly rewarded from public taxes; they will be easy to govern. When no one in the realm harbors divided loyalties, peace will be assured. Appointing feudal lords is inadvisable.” The First Emperor said: “The whole realm has suffered from ceaseless war precisely because of kings and lords. Through the ancestors’ aid the realm has only just been pacified. To establish states anew would be to plant the seeds of war; how could we then hope for peace? The Commandant of Justice is right.”

He divided the realm into thirty-six commanderies, each with a governor, a military commandant, and an inspector. He renamed the people “black-haired subjects.” A great feast was held. The weapons of the realm were gathered at Xianyang and melted into bells and their frames, and twelve bronze figures weighing a thousand shi each, set in the palace courtyard. Measures of capacity, weight, and length were unified. Carts had a common axle width and writing a common script. The realm stretched east to the sea and Korea, west to Lintao and Qiang territory, south to the lands of the north-facing households, and north to the Yellow River as its frontier, including the Yin Mountains and extending to Liaodong. One hundred twenty thousand rich and powerful households from across the realm were moved to Xianyang. All the ancestral temples, as well as Zhangtai and Shanglin, lay south of the Wei River. Each time Qin conquered a lord, it copied his palaces and built them on the northern slopes of Xianyang overlooking the Wei River, from Yong Gate eastward to the Jing and Wei rivers. Halls, elevated passages, and encircling galleries connected them. The beauties, bells, and drums taken from the lords filled them.

In the twenty-seventh year the First Emperor toured Longxi and Beidi, went out through Jitou Mountain, and passed through Huizhong. He built Xin Palace south of the Wei River, then renamed it the Pole Temple, modeled on the celestial pole. A road from the Pole Temple led to Mount Li, and he built the front hall at Ganquan. He built a covered way connecting it to Xianyang. That year he granted everyone one rank of nobility and constructed imperial highways.

In the twenty-eighth year the First Emperor traveled east through the commanderies and counties and climbed Mount Yi in Zou. He erected a stone and consulted the scholars of Lu about inscribing it to praise Qin’s virtue, and about the rites of sealing and sacrifice to mountains and rivers. He then ascended Mount Tai, erected a stone, performed the sealing rite, and offered sacrifices. On the way down, wind and rain suddenly struck; he sheltered beneath a tree and conferred on it the rank of grandee of the fifth order. He performed the sacrifice at Liangfu. The stone he erected was inscribed with these words:

The emperor ascended his throne, established ordinances and clarified the laws; his subjects kept good order. In the twenty-sixth year he first united all under heaven, and none failed to submit. He personally visited the people in distant lands, climbed this Mount Tai, and surveyed the eastern limit. His attending ministers considered his deeds, traced his achievements to their source, and reverently celebrated his merit and virtue. The way of government operates; all enterprises prosper in their season, each according to its proper rule. His great righteousness shines gloriously, bequeathed to later ages; follow and preserve it unchanged. The emperor is a sage in his own person. Having pacified the realm, he does not slacken in governing. Rising early and sleeping late, he establishes lasting benefits and diligently advances instruction. His teachings are proclaimed and spread, and far and near all is well ordered, all complying with his sacred will. Noble and humble have their distinct places; men and women observe proper conduct and diligently perform their duties. The boundaries between inner and outer are made clear; all is pure and undefiled and so shall remain for our descendants. His transforming influence extends without end: honor the commands he leaves behind, and forever heed his solemn warnings.

He then went along the eastern coast of the Bohai Sea, passed Huang and Chui, reached the far end of Chengshan, and climbed Zhifu. There he raised a stone praising Qin’s virtue and departed.

Traveling south, he climbed Langya, delighted in it, and stayed three months. He moved thirty thousand households of black-haired subjects below Langya Terrace and exempted them from taxes and labor for twelve years. He built Langya Terrace and raised an inscribed stone praising Qin’s virtue and proclaiming his triumph. It said:

In the twenty-eighth year the emperor made a new beginning, rectified and leveled laws and measures, and established order for all things. He clarified human affairs and brought father and son into accord. Wise, discerning, humane, and righteous, he made the principles of the Way shine plain. He journeyed east to console the eastern lands and inspect the troops. With his great work accomplished, he came to the sea. The emperor’s achievement is to encourage labor in its essential pursuits: to exalt farming, restrain lesser trades, and enrich the black-haired people. Beneath the whole sky all have united their minds and yielded their wills. Tools and measures are uniform; written characters are the same. All whom sun and moon illuminate, all whom boat and cart can carry, live out their appointed span, none without fulfillment. To act when the time demands: this is the emperor. He sets divergent customs right, crossing waters and traversing lands; caring for the people, he never rests, morning or night. He dispels doubt and establishes law, so all know what to avoid. Regional governors divide their duties; government everywhere is simple and ordered. Every appointment and dismissal is fitting, all as if drawn to a plan. The emperor’s clear sight surveys the four quarters. High and low, noble and humble, none transgress their station. No corruption is tolerated at Langya; all strive for integrity and goodness. Great and small exert all their strength; none dare grow idle or negligent. In far and near, in open and hidden places, all devote themselves to solemn discipline. Upright and loyal, they pursue enduring work. The emperor’s virtue sustains and steadies the four limits. He punishes disorder, removes harm, promotes benefit, and brings good fortune. Work is regulated by the seasons, and every kind of production flourishes. The black-haired people live in peace, without recourse to arms. Their six kinds of kin protect one another; at last there are no marauders or thieves. Gladly they obey his teachings and know the laws in full. All within the six directions is the emperor’s land: west across the shifting sands, south to the north-facing households; east to the Eastern Sea, north beyond Daxia. Wherever human footsteps reach, none fail to be his subjects. His achievement surpasses the five emperors, his bounty reaches even oxen and horses. All receive his virtue and dwell secure in their homes.

When the King of Qin had united the realm and taken the title Emperor, he pacified the eastern lands and reached Langya. The attendant lords were Wang Li, Lord of Wucheng; Wang Ben, Lord of Tongwu; Zhao Hai, Lord of Jiancheng, and Cheng, Lord of Changwu, both lords of the second class; Feng Wuze, Lord of Wuxin of the second class; Chancellors Kui Lin and Wang Wan; high ministers Li Si and Wang Wu; and Zhao Ying and Yang Jiu, grandees of the fifth order. They conferred beside the sea and said: “The ancient emperors held no more than a thousand li of territory. Their lords each kept their own domains, attending court or not, attacking each other and causing turmoil, with slaughter and warfare unceasing. Yet those emperors engraved bronze and stone to leave records of themselves. The five emperors and three kings of old differed in their teachings and left laws and measures unclear. They borrowed the authority of spirits to deceive distant lands; their deeds did not live up to their names, and their rule did not last. Before their deaths the lords had turned traitor and their laws went unenforced. Now the emperor has united all within the seas, made it into commanderies and counties, and brought peace to the realm. He has brought glory to the ancestral temple, embodied the Way and practiced virtue, and fully earned his august title. Together we ministers celebrate the emperor’s merit and virtue, inscribing them on bronze and stone as an enduring standard.”

After this, Xu Shi and others from Qi submitted a memorial saying that three sacred mountains in the sea, Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou, were inhabited by immortals. They requested permission to purify themselves and seek them with boys and girls. The emperor dispatched Xu Shi with several thousand boys and girls into the sea in search of immortals.

On his return, the First Emperor passed Pengcheng, purified himself, and offered prayers and sacrifices, wishing to recover the Zhou tripod from the Si River. He sent a thousand men diving into the water, but they did not find it. He then crossed the Huai River to the southwest, going to Hengshan and Nanjun. He sailed on the Yangtze and came to the shrine on Mount Xiang. A fierce wind arose, and he nearly failed to cross. He asked the Erudites: “What sort of spirit is Lord Xiang?” They answered: “We hear she was a daughter of Yao and wife of Shun, buried here.” The First Emperor was furious. He sent three thousand convicts to cut down all the trees on Mount Xiang and expose its red soil. He returned from Nanjun through Wu Pass.

In the twenty-ninth year the First Emperor traveled east. At Bolangsha near Yangwu, he was startled by an assassin. The culprit could not be found, so he ordered a great search throughout the realm for ten days.

He climbed Zhifu and inscribed a stone. Its words were:

In the twenty-ninth year, in mid-spring as the warmth of the sun began to rise, the emperor traveled east, toured Zhifu and climbed it, looking out upon the sea. His attending ministers rejoiced in the sight, pondered his glorious exploits, and recounted their beginnings. The great sage established government, fixed the laws and measures, and made the principles of rule manifest. Abroad he instructed the lords, spread the light of civil kindness, and illuminated the principles of righteousness. The six states were perverse, grasping and insatiable, their violence and slaughter unending. The emperor pitied the people and raised an army of chastisement, displaying his martial virtue. His just punishment and trustworthy action carried his awe far and wide; none failed to submit. He destroyed the cruel and mighty, rescued the black-haired people, and settled all four quarters. He spread enlightened law everywhere, ordering the realm for all time as an enduring model. How great indeed! All in the world comply with his sacred will. His ministers celebrate his works and ask to carve them in stone as a lasting standard.

The inscription on the eastern lookout said:

In the twenty-ninth year, the emperor traveled in spring to survey distant lands. Reaching the edge of the sea, he climbed Zhifu to look out upon the morning sun. The view was vast and splendid; all his attending ministers reflected on the source of his most enlightened Way. When his sacred laws first arose, they purged and ordered the country within its borders and punished violent powers beyond them. His martial awe spread in every direction, shook the four limits, and captured and destroyed the six kings. By openly uniting the realm he ended calamity and danger and stilled the weapons of war forever. The emperor’s radiant virtue governs all within the world, never weary of watching and listening. He establishes great principles; his clearly arrayed equipment and vessels all bear distinctive emblems and banners. His officers keep their assigned duties, each knowing what he must do; nothing remains uncertain. The black-haired people are transformed; far and near follow the same standards, excelling all past ages. Duties now firmly established, descendants will pursue the work and preserve the sage’s rule for generations. His ministers rejoice in his virtue, reverently celebrate his sacred achievements, and request this inscription at Zhifu.

He turned back, went to Langya, and returned by way of Shangdang.

In the thirtieth year, nothing happened.

In the twelfth month of the thirty-first year, he renamed the winter sacrifice “Jiap’ing.” He gave each community of black-haired subjects six shi of rice and two sheep. Traveling incognito in Xianyang with four warriors, the First Emperor encountered bandits by night at Orchid Pool and was cornered. The warriors killed the bandits. A great search was carried out in Guanzhong for twenty days. A shi of rice cost sixteen hundred coins.

In the thirty-second year the First Emperor went to Jieshi and sent Lu Sheng of Yan to seek Xianmen and Gao Shi. He carved an inscription at the Jieshi Gate, demolished city walls, and broke through the dikes. Its words were:

Then he raised armies to punish the lawless, and rebellion perished. With arms he destroyed violent traitors; with civil rule he restored the innocent, and all the people gave him their hearts. He graciously assessed merit and service, granted rewards even to oxen and horses, and lavished kindness on the land. The emperor displayed his might, joined the lords through his virtue, and first brought universal peace. He tore down walls, opened rivers and dikes, and leveled dangerous barriers. Once the land was settled, the people no longer suffered forced labor, and the whole realm received his care. Men took joy in their fields, women cultivated their crafts, and every task had its order. His kindness extended to every kind of production; those long settled and those newly come to farm were all secure in their places. His ministers celebrate his achievements and ask to carve this stone, leaving a manifest rule and model.

He sent Han Zhong, Hou Gong, and Shi Sheng in search of immortals and the medicine of deathlessness. The First Emperor toured the northern frontier and came back through Shangjun. Lu Sheng of Yan returned from his mission at sea and, invoking spirits and gods, presented an oracular text saying, “The one who will destroy Qin is Hu.” The First Emperor sent General Meng Tian to lead three hundred thousand soldiers north against the Hu and seize the land south of the Yellow River.

In the thirty-third year, he mobilized escaped fugitives, sons-in-law living with their wives’ families, and merchants to seize the lands of Luliang, establishing Guilin, Xiangjun, and Nanhai commanderies and sending convicts to garrison them. In the northwest he drove back the Xiongnu. From Yuzhong east along the Yellow River to the Yin Mountains he established thirty-four counties, fortifying the river as a frontier. He also sent Meng Tian across the river to take Gaoque, Yangshan, and Beijia, and build outposts and barriers to drive away the Rong. Exiles were moved to fill the new counties. Sacrificial worship was forbidden. A bright star appeared in the west.

In the thirty-fourth year he sentenced judicial officers who had judged unfairly to build the Great Wall and work in South Yue.

The First Emperor held a banquet at Xianyang Palace; seventy Erudites came forward to wish him long life. Their director Zhou Qingchen offered praise: “Formerly Qin’s land extended no more than a thousand li. Through Your Majesty’s divine wisdom you have pacified all within the seas and driven back the barbarians; wherever sun and moon shine, all submit. You have made the feudal states into commanderies and counties, so that everyone enjoys peace without fear of war, for ten thousand generations. Since remotest antiquity none has equaled Your Majesty’s power and virtue.” The First Emperor was pleased. Chunyu Yue, an Erudite from Qi, stepped forward: “I have heard that the Yin and Zhou dynasties ruled for over a thousand years by enfeoffing their sons, brothers, and meritorious ministers as branches to support the trunk. Now Your Majesty possesses the realm, but your sons and brothers are commoners. If ministers like Tian Chang or the six ministers should suddenly appear, without supporting lords how could you protect yourself? I have never heard of a state enduring without following the past. Qingchen flatters you to your face, compounding Your Majesty’s errors; he is no loyal minister.” The emperor submitted this for discussion. Chancellor Li Si said: “The five emperors did not repeat one another, nor did the three dynasties imitate each other. Each governed in its own way, not out of contrariness, but because times had changed. Your Majesty has founded a great enterprise and established achievements for ten thousand generations, beyond the understanding of foolish scholars. Yue speaks of the three dynasties: why take them as our model? Formerly the rival lords competed to attract wandering scholars. Now the realm is settled and laws and decrees issue from one source. At home the common people should work at farming and crafts; men of learning should study the laws and prohibitions. Instead these students study antiquity rather than the present and use it to denounce our age and confuse the people. I, your chancellor Li Si, speak at the risk of my life: in antiquity the realm was divided and no one could unite it. The lords arose together; in conversation men cited the past to injure the present, adorning empty claims to confuse reality. Each praised his own private learning and condemned what the ruler had established. Now the emperor has united the realm, distinguished black from white, and fixed a single authority. Private scholars join in condemning the laws and teachings; when an order is issued, each discusses it according to his school. At court they reject it in their hearts; outside they debate it in the streets. They disparage the ruler to make a name for themselves, prize dissent as distinction, and lead their followers into slander. Unless this is forbidden, the ruler’s authority will fall from above and factions grow below. A ban is expedient. I propose that the historians burn all records except those of Qin. Throughout the realm, anyone other than an Erudite officially charged with their custody who keeps the Songs, the Documents, or the writings of the hundred schools must bring them to the governor and commandant to be burned together. Anyone who dares discuss the Songs or Documents with another shall be executed in the marketplace; those who use antiquity to criticize the present shall have their clans destroyed. Officials who know of violations and fail to report them shall suffer the same penalty. Anyone who does not burn these writings within thirty days of the order shall be tattooed and sentenced to labor on the walls. Exempt are books on medicine, divination, and cultivating trees. Those wishing to study the laws and decrees shall take officials as their teachers.” The imperial ordinance said: “Approved.”

In the thirty-fifth year he cleared a road from Jiuyuan to Yunyang, cutting through mountains and filling valleys to make it straight. The First Emperor thought the population of Xianyang numerous and the former kings’ palace too small. “I have heard that King Wen of Zhou made Feng his capital and King Wu made Hao his. The space between Feng and Hao is a fitting capital for an emperor.” So he planned an audience palace in Shanglin Park south of the Wei River. He first built the front hall at Epang Palace: five hundred paces east to west and fifty zhang north to south, with room above to seat ten thousand people and below to erect a fifty-foot banner. A covered gallery ran around it, leading from beneath the hall straight to the Southern Mountains. He marked their summit as a ceremonial gate. An elevated passage from Epang crossed the Wei River to Xianyang, in imitation of the celestial gallery that crosses the Milky Way from the pole star to the constellation Yingshi. Epang Palace was not yet finished; once complete, he meant to choose it a fine name. Because the palace was built at Epang, the realm called it Epang Palace. Over seven hundred thousand castrated men and convicts were assigned to build Epang Palace or work on Mount Li. Stone coffins were brought from the northern mountains and timber was transported from Shu and Jing. In Guanzhong there were altogether three hundred palaces, beyond the passes more than four hundred. He erected a stone on the coast of the Eastern Sea in the territory of Qu to mark Qin’s eastern gate. He moved thirty thousand families to Liyi and fifty thousand to Yunyang, exempting them from service for ten years.

Lu Sheng told the First Emperor: “We seek the magic mushrooms, wondrous medicines, and immortals, but never encounter them; some harmful presence appears to obstruct us. According to our art, the sovereign should sometimes travel unseen to avoid evil spirits; when they depart, the perfected ones will come. If ministers know where the sovereign dwells, it impairs his divine power. A perfected one enters water without becoming wet and fire without burning, rides the clouds, and lives as long as heaven and earth. Your Majesty governs all under heaven but cannot yet find stillness. May no one know which palace you inhabit: then the medicine of immortality may be found.” The First Emperor said: “I admire the perfected ones; I shall call myself ‘the Perfected One,’ not ‘We.’” He ordered that the 270 palaces and pavilions within two hundred li of Xianyang be linked by elevated and covered passages, and furnished with curtains, bells, drums, and beautiful women, each remaining in its appointed place. Whoever disclosed the location of a place he visited was put to death. Visiting Liangshan Palace, the emperor saw from the mountain the numerous chariots and riders of the chancellor, which displeased him. Someone inside the palace told the chancellor, who afterward reduced his retinue. The emperor said angrily: “Someone inside has betrayed my words.” On investigation no one confessed. He ordered the arrest and execution of everyone who had been nearby at the time. After that no one knew where he traveled. At Xianyang Palace he heard state business and his ministers received his decisions.

Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng plotted together: “The First Emperor is by nature stern, cruel, and self-willed. Starting as one lord among many, he united the realm, achieved all his desires, and believes no one since antiquity has equaled him. He relies exclusively on judicial officials, who alone enjoy his favor. Though he has seventy Erudites, they merely fill posts and go unused. The chancellor and great ministers accept finished decisions, depending on the emperor for their resolution. He delights in using punishment and death to show his power. All fear punishment and cling to their salaries; none dare serve him with complete honesty. Never hearing of his faults, he grows prouder daily, while those below, intimidated, deceive him to win favor. Qin law decrees that anyone who offers conflicting arts whose predictions fail is put to death. There are as many as three hundred diviners of stars and vapors, all worthy men, yet they fear taboos and flatter him, not daring to speak plainly of his faults. Every affair under heaven, small or great, is decided by the emperor. He even weighs his documents by the shi, setting a daily quota by day and night; until he meets it he will not rest. So greedy is he for power. We cannot seek the medicine of immortality for him.” They fled. Hearing this, the emperor grew furious: “Formerly I collected and removed all books in the realm that were of no use. I summoned many learned men and masters of occult arts, intending to create an age of peace, and the adepts were to refine wondrous medicines. Now I hear that Han Zhong left without reporting back, while Xu Shi and the others have spent tens of thousands upon tens of thousands and found no medicine; every day I hear reports of their illicit schemes for profit. I honored and richly rewarded Lu Sheng and his fellows, and now they slander me and magnify my faults. I shall send men to investigate the students in Xianyang, some of whom spread monstrous stories to disturb the people.” He ordered the imperial counselors to investigate all the students. As they implicated one another, more than 460 judged to have broken the prohibitions were buried alive in Xianyang, and the news was spread across the realm as a warning to others. More convicts were exiled to the frontiers. Fusu, the emperor’s eldest son, protested: “The realm has only recently been settled; the people of distant regions have not yet become loyal. All these students recite the teachings of Confucius. If Your Majesty subjects them all to harsh law, I fear the realm will not be at peace. I beg Your Majesty to consider.” The emperor angrily sent Fusu north to supervise Meng Tian in Shangjun.

In the thirty-sixth year Mars stood in the Heart constellation. A falling star struck Dongjun and turned to stone on the ground. Someone among the people carved upon it: “When the First Emperor dies, the land will be divided.” Hearing of it, the emperor sent an imperial counselor to investigate. No one confessed, so he executed all who lived near the stone and burned and pulverized it. Distressed, he had the Erudites compose songs about immortals and perfected beings, and about his travels throughout the realm, ordering musicians to perform them with song and strings. In autumn, an envoy traveling from east of the passes at night on the Pingshu road near Huayin was stopped by a man holding a jade disk, who said: “Give this for me to the Lord of Haochi.” He added: “This year the Ancestral Dragon dies.” When the envoy asked why, the man vanished, leaving the disk behind. The envoy presented it with a full report. The emperor was silent for a long while, then said: “A mountain spirit knows no more than the events of a single year.” Later he said: “The Ancestral Dragon means the first ancestor of men.” He had the treasury examine the disk: it was the one he had cast into the Yangtze during his crossing in the twenty-eighth year. The emperor consulted divination, receiving the omen that travel and resettlement would be auspicious. He moved thirty thousand families to Yuzhong on the northern Yellow River and awarded them one rank of nobility.

On the day guichou in the tenth month of the thirty-seventh year, the First Emperor set out on tour. Li Si, Chancellor of the Left, accompanied him; Feng Quji, Chancellor of the Right, remained to govern. His beloved youngest son Huhai asked to join him, and the emperor agreed. In the eleventh month they reached Yunmeng and sacrificed from afar to Yu Shun at the Nine Doubts Mountains. They sailed down the Yangtze, viewed Jike, and crossed the sea inlet. They passed Danyang and reached Qiantang. At the Zhejiang River the waves were fierce, so they went 120 li west and crossed at a narrow place. The emperor climbed Kuaiji, sacrificed to Great Yu, gazed south toward the sea, and erected a stone with an inscription praising Qin’s virtue. Its text read:

The emperor’s glorious achievements have pacified and united the whole world; his virtue and kindness endure. In the thirty-seventh year he personally tours the realm, surveying distant places. He has climbed Kuaiji to proclaim and examine its customs; the black-haired people are pure and reverent. His ministers celebrate his deeds, trace his achievements to their beginnings, and recall the first days of his lofty brilliance. The sage of Qin took command of the land, first settled the names and laws of punishments, and clearly displayed the established rules. He first made measures uniform, carefully distinguished official responsibilities, and founded enduring order. The six kings willfully broke faith, greedy, violent, proud, and fierce, and led their people to assert their power. They gave free rein to cruelty, grew arrogant in their might, and repeatedly raised arms. Secretly sending envoys to one another, they plotted alliances and acted perversely. Within they contrived deceit; from without they invaded our borders and brought disaster. His righteous might punished them, extinguished their violence and rebellion, and destroyed the rebels. His sacred virtue extends far and close throughout the six directions, bestowing boundless grace. The emperor united the world, heard all matters alike, and brought clarity to both near and far. He managed all things, examined the facts, and recorded each by name. Noble and humble alike can approach him; good and bad are presented before him, nothing concealed. He set matters right, made justice clear: a woman with a son who marries again betrays the dead and lacks fidelity. He established boundaries between inner and outer and forbade sexual excess; men and women are pure and sincere. A husband who behaves like a breeding boar in another’s house may be killed without guilt; men uphold righteous standards. When a wife runs away to remarry, her children no longer acknowledge her as mother; all are transformed to purity and probity. His great government cleanses custom; the realm follows its influence and receives its excellent laws. All observe its measures and rules, live in harmony and peace, and diligently obey its commands. The black-haired people cultivate purity, delight in shared standards, and gladly preserve great peace. Let later generations honor and obey the laws; let enduring government have no limit, let cart and boat never overturn. His attending ministers celebrate his works and ask to carve this stone, so its glorious inscription shines for all time.

On his return he passed through Wu and crossed at Jiangcheng. Following the seacoast, he traveled north to Langya. Xu Shi and the other adepts had sought divine medicine at sea for several years without finding it. Having spent much and fearing punishment, they lied: “The medicine at Penglai is within reach, but great sharks have repeatedly prevented us from reaching it. Send skilled archers with us, we pray, to shoot them with repeating crossbows when they appear.” The First Emperor dreamed he fought a sea god shaped like a man. He asked for a reading of the dream, and an Erudite answered: “The water god cannot be seen, but great fish and sea dragons announce his coming. Though Your Majesty has been meticulous in prayer and sacrifice, this evil spirit must be driven off before the good spirit can arrive.” The emperor ordered those going to sea to carry equipment for catching great fish, while he himself watched for them with a repeating crossbow. From Langya north to Mount Rongcheng he saw none. At Zhifu he saw a great fish and shot it dead. He then went west along the coast.

At Pingyuan Ford he fell ill. The First Emperor hated mention of death, and his ministers dared not speak of it. When his illness worsened, he wrote and sealed a letter to his son Fusu: “Meet the funeral procession at Xianyang and bury me.” The sealed letter remained with Zhao Gao, director of the imperial carriage bureau, who was acting keeper of the seals; it had not yet been given to a messenger. On the day bingyin in the seventh month, the emperor died on the terrace at Shaqiu. Chancellor Li Si feared that news of his death away from the capital would cause unrest among the princes and across the realm, so he kept it secret and did not announce mourning. The coffin was placed in his enclosed cooling carriage. Favored eunuchs rode beside it, and meals were presented for the emperor wherever it went. Officials submitted business as before, and the eunuchs approved it from inside the carriage. Only his son Huhai, Zhao Gao, and five or six favored eunuchs knew he was dead. Zhao Gao had once taught Huhai writing, criminal law, and decrees, and Huhai privately favored him. Zhao Gao, Prince Huhai, and Chancellor Li Si secretly conspired to destroy the First Emperor’s sealed letter to Fusu. They forged a testamentary edict supposedly received by Li Si at Shaqiu, appointing Huhai crown prince. They composed another letter to Fusu and Meng Tian, charging them with crimes and ordering them to die. The full account is in the biography of Li Si. The procession continued through Jingxing to Jiuyuan. It was summer and the imperial carriage began to smell, so an order was issued for accompanying officials to carry a shi of salted fish in their carts to mask the odor.

They traveled along the Straight Road to Xianyang and announced his death. Crown Prince Huhai succeeded as the Second Emperor. In the ninth month they buried the First Emperor at Mount Li. From the beginning of his reign he had excavated the site; after uniting the realm, more than seven hundred thousand convicts from across the country were sent there. They dug through three underground streams, poured in bronze to seal the burial chamber, and filled it with palaces, halls, officials, wondrous vessels, and rare treasures. Artisans made mechanical crossbows to shoot anyone who tunneled near. Mercury formed the hundred streams, the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, and the great seas, mechanically flowing into one another. Above were images of the heavens and below a map of the earth. Lamps were fueled with mermaid oil, calculated to burn a very long time without going out. The Second Emperor said: “It is not fitting for the late emperor’s childless concubines to leave.” He ordered them all to follow him in death; very many died. Once the burial chamber was filled, someone observed that the artisans who had made its devices knew all about the treasures: with such riches, secrets would escape. After the funeral work was done and the treasures laid away, they sealed the inner passage, lowered the outer passage gate, and trapped all the artisans and those who had deposited the treasures inside. None came out. Trees and grass were planted to make the mound look like a mountain.

In the first year of the Second Emperor, he was twenty-one years old. Zhao Gao became Chamberlain of the Palace and took charge of affairs. The Second Emperor decreed that sacrifices in the First Emperor’s tomb-shrine and rites at the shrines of mountains and rivers be enlarged. He ordered the ministers to deliberate how to honor the First Emperor’s temple. All bowed their heads and said: “In antiquity the Son of Heaven had seven temples, a lord five, and a grandee three, which were not abolished even after ten thousand generations. Now the First Emperor has his supreme temple; all within the four seas present tribute and service there. The offerings have been increased, and the rites are complete; nothing can be added. The temples of earlier kings are at West Yong or Xianyang. By imperial ceremonial rule the emperor alone should pour the offering at the First Emperor’s temple. The temples from Duke Xiang onward should be abolished in turn, leaving seven altogether. The ministers should make their offerings according to rite, honoring the First Emperor’s shrine as the ancestral temple of the imperial line. The emperor shall again call himself ‘We.’”

The Second Emperor plotted with Zhao Gao: “I am young, newly enthroned, and the black-haired people have not yet rallied to me. The late emperor toured commanderies and counties to display his power, bringing all within the seas to submission through awe. If I remain at ease without touring, I shall appear weak and be unable to govern the realm as my subjects.” In spring he traveled east through the commanderies and counties, accompanied by Li Si. He reached Jieshi, followed the coast south to Kuaiji, and added inscriptions to all the stones erected by the First Emperor. Beside each original inscription he carved the names of the accompanying ministers, to make clear the late emperor’s achievements and abundant virtue:

The emperor said: “The inscriptions in bronze and stone all concern the First Emperor’s works. Now I have inherited his title, but if these inscriptions do not name the First Emperor, in distant ages they might seem to refer to a successor and fail to honor his achievements and abundant virtue.” Chancellors Li Si and Feng Quji and Imperial Counselor De said, at the risk of their lives: “We ask permission to carve the full text of your edict beside these inscriptions, to make it clear. We beg this at the risk of our lives.” The ordinance said: “Approved.”

He continued to Liaodong and returned.

The Second Emperor then followed Zhao Gao’s counsel and tightened the laws. Secretly he asked Gao: “The great ministers refuse to submit, officials remain powerful, and the princes are bound to contest my rule. What can be done?” Gao replied: “I have long wished to speak, but dared not. The late emperor’s great ministers come from distinguished families whose prestige and merit have passed down for generations. I am by origin a humble man of low station; through Your Majesty’s favor I have been raised to high office and entrusted with affairs within the palace. The great ministers resent me; they obey me in appearance only, never in their hearts. Now that Your Majesty is away, investigate the governors and military commandants of the commanderies and counties and execute those guilty of crimes. Above, you will display your power to the realm; below, remove those you have always disliked. These are times to decide by force rather than imitate civil government. Act with the times and do not hesitate, before the ministers can plot. An enlightened sovereign promotes men from the common people, makes the lowly noble, the poor wealthy, and the distant close to him. Then high and low come together, and the state is secure.” The emperor said: “Good.” He began executing great ministers and princes, implicating even lesser officials of the palace guards on charges that left none fit to serve. Six princes were slaughtered at Du. Prince Jianglü and his two brothers were imprisoned in the inner palace, their trials alone postponed. The Second Emperor sent an envoy to Jianglü: “The prince has failed in his duty as a subject. His crime deserves death. The officials will apply the law.” Jianglü said: “In court ceremonies I have always followed the instructions of the ushers; in the palace and temple I have never broken protocol; in receiving orders and replying I have never spoken improperly. How have I failed as a subject? Tell me my crime before I die.” The envoy said: “I was not party to the deliberations. I carry out the written order.” Jianglü raised his face to heaven and cried out three times: “Heaven! I am innocent!” The three brothers wept, drew their swords, and killed themselves. The imperial clan trembled with fear. Ministers who protested were charged with slander; high officials protected their stipends by seeking favor; the people lived in terror.

In the fourth month the Second Emperor returned to Xianyang and said: “The late emperor found the court at Xianyang too small and therefore began Epang Palace. Before it was finished he died, and the workers were sent to cover his tomb at Mount Li. Now that work on Mount Li is essentially done, to abandon Epang unfinished would proclaim that the late emperor was wrong to begin it.” Construction resumed. Abroad he sought to pacify the four barbarian peoples according to the First Emperor’s plan. He conscripted fifty thousand able-bodied men to garrison Xianyang and train with bows, dogs, horses, and wild animals. Since so many needed food and supplies seemed insufficient, he ordered the commanderies and counties to transport beans, grain, fodder, and straw. The conscripts were to carry their own provisions, and grain grown within three hundred li of Xianyang was not to be consumed by them. Enforcement of the law grew increasingly cruel.

In the seventh month Chen She and other frontier garrison soldiers rebelled in the former territory of Jing, calling their movement “Rising Chu.” Chen proclaimed himself King of Chu at Chen and sent his generals to seize territory. Young men in the commanderies and counties east of the mountains, suffering under Qin officials, killed their governors, commandants, magistrates, and deputies and rebelled in response to Chen She. They installed one another as kings and lords, formed alliances facing west, and declared war on Qin, too many to count. An imperial envoy came from the east to report the rebellion. The Second Emperor angrily handed him over to the officials. When another envoy arrived, the emperor questioned him, and he answered: “A band of thieves. The governors and commandants are pursuing and arresting them, and almost all have been caught. There is no cause for concern.” The emperor was delighted. Wu Chen proclaimed himself King of Zhao, Wei Jiu King of Wei, and Tian Dan King of Qi. The Lord of Pei rose at Pei; Xiang Liang raised troops in Kuaiji Commandery.

In the winter of the second year, Zhou Zhang and others sent by Chen She led several hundred thousand soldiers west to Xi. The Second Emperor, greatly alarmed, asked his ministers: “What shall we do?” Zhang Han, superintendent of the imperial household, said: “The rebels are already here in strength. There is no time to levy troops in nearby counties. There are many convicts at Mount Li; pardon them, arm them, and send them against the rebels.” The emperor proclaimed a general amnesty and placed Zhang Han in command. He routed Zhou Zhang’s army and drove it off, then killed Zhang at Caoyang. The emperor sent senior officials Sima Xin and Dong Yi to help Zhang Han against the rebels. They killed Chen She at Chengfu, defeated Xiang Liang at Dingtao, and destroyed Wei Jiu at Linji. With the famed rebel generals in Chu dead, Zhang Han crossed the Yellow River northward to attack King Xie of Zhao and the others at Julu.

Zhao Gao told the Second Emperor: “The late emperor ruled the realm for so long that his ministers never dared do wrong or offer corrupt advice. Your Majesty is young and has just ascended the throne: why decide affairs in court with your high ministers? Should a mistake occur, you would reveal a weakness to them. The Son of Heaven calls himself ‘We’ because his voice is not heard.” So the Second Emperor remained in the inner palace, deciding matters with Gao. Afterward the high ministers seldom saw him at court, the rebels multiplied, and troops from Guanzhong were dispatched east against them without respite. Chancellor of the Right Feng Quji, Chancellor of the Left Li Si, and General Feng Jie remonstrated: “Rebel bands are rising everywhere east of the passes. Qin has dispatched forces against them and killed great numbers, yet the uprisings do not stop. They multiply because garrison service, canal transport, and construction labor are grueling and taxes are high. Please suspend work on Epang Palace and reduce frontier garrisons and transport levies.” The emperor answered: “I have heard Han Fei say: ‘Yao and Shun did not trim the rafters they felled or cut the thatch of their roofs; they ate and drank from earthenware. Even a gatekeeper would have no poorer fare. Yu cut through Dragon Gate, opened the Daxia passage, breached the Yellow River’s obstruction, and released its waters into the sea. He himself carried rammer and spade until no hair remained on his shins: even the labor of a slave was no harder.’ The value of possessing the realm is to be able to indulge one’s desires fully, uphold strict laws, and keep inferiors from doing wrong, thereby controlling all within the seas. The rulers of Yu and Xia, though Son of Heaven, personally endured poverty for the sake of commoners: what use was their rank? I have the dignity of a ruler of ten thousand chariots without its substance. I wish to equip a procession of a thousand chariots and the retinue of a ruler of ten thousand, to match my title. The late emperor began as one lord among many and united the world; with it pacified, he repelled the foreign peoples to secure its frontiers and built palaces to proclaim his triumph. You can see the purpose in his works. Yet within the two years since I took the throne, rebels have risen everywhere and you cannot stop them; now you wish to end the late emperor’s enterprise. Thus you neither repay him above nor serve me loyally below. How can you hold office?” He handed Quji, Si, and Jie over to the officials to investigate other crimes. Quji and Jie said: “A general and a chancellor shall not be humiliated,” and killed themselves. Si remained imprisoned and suffered the five punishments.

In the third year Zhang Han and his commanders besieged Julu, and Xiang Yu, supreme general of Chu, led Chu forces to its relief. In winter Zhao Gao became chancellor and completed his prosecution of Li Si, killing him. In summer Zhang Han’s forces were repeatedly driven back. The Second Emperor sent a messenger to reprimand him. Fearing for his life, Zhang sent his senior official Sima Xin to explain matters. Zhao Gao refused to see him and would not trust him. Xin fled in fear; Gao’s men pursued him but failed to catch him. Xin told Zhang Han: “Zhao Gao rules at court. Whether you win or lose, General, you will be executed.” Xiang Yu pressed the attack, captured Wang Li, and Zhang Han surrendered his army to the allied lords. On the day jihai in the eighth month, Zhao Gao, plotting rebellion but fearing that the ministers would not obey him, staged a test. He presented a deer to the Second Emperor, saying: “Here is a horse.” The emperor laughed: “Is the chancellor mistaken, calling a deer a horse?” Asked for their opinions, some courtiers remained silent, others called it a horse to flatter Gao. Those who called it a deer were secretly incriminated under the law by Gao. Thereafter the ministers all feared him.

Gao had repeatedly said: “The rebels east of the passes can do nothing.” But Xiang Yu captured the Qin general Wang Li and others at Julu and advanced, while Zhang Han’s forces retreated again and again and requested reinforcements. Kings had been established in Yan, Zhao, Qi, Chu, Han, and Wei. Almost everyone east of the passes had rebelled against Qin officials and sided with the lords, whose armies all faced west. The Lord of Pei, leading tens of thousands, had already overrun Wu Pass and secretly contacted Gao. Fearing the emperor’s anger and execution, Gao claimed illness and stopped attending court. The Second Emperor dreamed a white tiger bit the horse harnessed on his left. He killed the horse but remained troubled and sought an interpretation. The diviner said: “The Jing River spirit is causing trouble.” The emperor purified himself at Wangyi Palace to sacrifice to the Jing River, intending to sink four white horses in it. He sent an envoy to rebuke Gao for the rebel troubles. Afraid, Gao secretly plotted with his son-in-law Yan Le, magistrate of Xianyang, and his younger brother Zhao Cheng: “The emperor will not listen to advice. Now danger approaches, and he wants to lay the blame on my family. I will replace him with Prince Ziying. Ziying is humane and frugal; the people all praise his words.” Gao arranged for the Chamberlain of the Palace to assist from within. Pretending that great rebels had appeared, he ordered Le to muster officials and soldiers, then seized Le’s mother as a hostage in his own house. Le took more than a thousand men to the gate of Wangyi Palace, bound the guard commander, and said: “Rebels have entered here. Why did you not stop them?” The commander said: “Guards have been carefully stationed all around. How could any rebel enter?” Le beheaded him and led his men directly inside, firing their bows as they went. Palace attendants and eunuchs panicked; some fled and some resisted, and those who fought were killed, several dozen in all. The Chamberlain entered with Le, and they shot at the curtain surrounding the emperor’s seat. Furious, the Second Emperor called his guards, but all were terrified and would not fight. One eunuch beside him stayed, not daring to leave. Retreating inside, the emperor asked him: “Why did you not tell me sooner, before it came to this?” The eunuch answered: “I dared not speak, and so survived. Had I spoken earlier, I would have been killed with all the others. How could I be here now?” Yan Le advanced and recited the emperor’s crimes: “You are arrogant and willful, killing without justice; the realm has united against you. Decide now what you will do.” The emperor asked: “May I see the chancellor?” “No.” “Then let me rule one commandery as king.” Le refused. “Then let me be lord of ten thousand households.” Again he refused. “Then let me live with my wife and children as a commoner, like the other princes.” Yan Le said: “The chancellor ordered me to execute you for the sake of the realm. However much you say, I cannot report back.” He signaled his soldiers to advance. The Second Emperor killed himself.

Yan Le returned and reported to Zhao Gao, who summoned all the great ministers and princes and told them how the Second Emperor had been killed. He said: “Qin was once a kingdom. The First Emperor ruled all under heaven, so he took the title Emperor. Now the six states have reestablished themselves, Qin’s territory has shrunk, and to retain the empty name of emperor will not do. It is better to return to the title King.” He installed Ziying, a son of the Second Emperor’s elder brother, as King of Qin. The Second Emperor was buried as a commoner in Yichun Park south of Du. Ziying was ordered to purify himself before appearing at the ancestral temple to receive the royal seal. After five days of purification, Ziying plotted with his two sons: “Chancellor Gao killed the Second Emperor at Wangyi Palace. Fearing that the ministers will execute him, he pretends to enthrone me out of justice. I hear that Zhao Gao has made a pact with Chu to destroy the Qin imperial family and become king of Guanzhong. Now he has sent me to purify myself before visiting the temple because he means to kill me there. I shall claim illness and refuse to go. The chancellor will surely come himself; when he comes, we will kill him.” Gao sent men repeatedly to summon Ziying, but he refused. Gao indeed came himself and said: “The ancestral temple rites are of the greatest importance. Why will Your Majesty not go?” Ziying then had him stabbed to death in the purification palace, exterminated the three branches of Gao’s family, and displayed their bodies throughout Xianyang. Ziying had been King of Qin for forty-six days when the Chu general known as the Lord of Pei defeated Qin’s army, entered Wu Pass, advanced to Bashang, and sent envoys to arrange Ziying’s surrender. Ziying bound his neck with a silk cord, rode in a plain cart drawn by white horses, and presented the imperial seals and tallies as he surrendered beside the Zhidao road. The Lord of Pei entered Xianyang, sealed its palaces, treasuries, and storehouses, and returned to camp at Bashang. Just over a month later, the armies of the lords arrived. Xiang Ji, commander of the allied forces, killed Ziying and the Qin princes and their kin. He sacked Xianyang, burned its palaces, took its sons and daughters captive, gathered up its treasures and wealth, and divided them among the lords. After destroying Qin, they divided its territory into three kingdoms, Yong, Sai, and Di, called the Three Qin. Xiang Yu became Hegemon-King of Western Chu and presided over the division of the realm among the kings and lords. Thus Qin came to an end. Five years later the realm was pacified under Han.

The Grand Historian says: Qin’s ancestor Bo Yi rendered meritorious service in the age of Tang Yao and Yu Shun, receiving land and a clan name. Between the Xia and Yin dynasties his descendants grew weak and scattered. As Zhou declined, Qin rose, settling on the western frontier. From Duke Mu onward it gradually swallowed the feudal lords, until the First Emperor completed the work. He considered his achievements greater than those of the five emperors and his lands wider than those of the three kings, and thought it beneath him to rank alongside them. How well Master Jia reasoned about this! He wrote:

Qin annexed more than thirty commanderies of the lords east of the mountains, repaired the ferries and passes, occupied the strongholds, and armed its soldiers to defend them. Yet Chen She, with only a few hundred disorderly garrison troops, raised his arm and shouted. With no bows or halberds but hoes, wooden mallets, and bare staves, feeding wherever houses appeared, they swept across the realm. Qin’s defenders failed to hold their strongholds; the passes and bridges did not close; its long halberds did not strike and its powerful crossbows did not fire. Chu forces penetrated deep and fought at Hongmen, encountering not even the resistance of a hedge. The east erupted in turmoil. The lords rose together and outstanding men installed one another in power. Qin sent Zhang Han on an eastern campaign, but with three armies behind him, Zhang Han bargained outside the court to undermine his sovereign. This reveals the ministers’ disloyalty. Ziying succeeded, yet still failed to understand. Had he possessed even the abilities of an ordinary ruler and obtained a few middling advisers, Qin might have held its territory even amid eastern unrest, and its ancestral sacrifices need not have ended.

Qin’s land is girdled by mountains and rivers and protected on all four sides. From Duke Mu to the King of Qin, more than twenty rulers, it was consistently the mightiest of the feudal states. Were all its rulers wise? No: its position gave it that strength. Once the realm united its efforts against Qin. Wise men assembled, skilled generals led the armies, able chancellors coordinated their plans, yet the strongholds blocked their advance. Qin opened its passes and drew them into battle, and their million-man army fled and collapsed. Was it because they lacked courage, strength, or intelligence? The terrain was against them and their position unfavorable. Qin absorbed the great cities into its smaller fortified settlements, defended its passes, kept its ramparts high and avoided battle, closed the gates, and held the narrow ways with halberds. The lords, risen from private station, united for gain, without the conduct of true kings. Their bonds were weak and their subjects uncommitted. They claimed to seek Qin’s destruction but really sought its wealth. Faced with Qin’s impregnable barriers they would have withdrawn. If Qin had secured its land, given its people rest, awaited the enemy’s exhaustion, rallied the weak and aided the weary, it could have commanded the lords of the great states and achieved its aims within the seas. Yet a man honored as Son of Heaven and wealthy in all the realm was captured: his remedy for defeat was wrong.

The King of Qin trusted himself alone and asked no advice; he made mistakes and never changed. The Second Emperor inherited his course and did not alter it; his cruelty deepened the disaster. Ziying stood alone without family, in danger and weakness without help. All three rulers were blind and remained so to the end. Is their fall surprising? This age was not without men capable of deep reflection and knowledge of change, but they dared not speak their loyalty fully or correct the ruler’s faults. Qin’s customs were full of prohibitions and taboos: before loyal words were finished, the speaker was executed. Thus all the realm’s men listened intently, stood frozen in fear, and kept their mouths closed. The three rulers lost their way, loyal ministers dared not protest, and wise men dared not offer counsel; when the realm was in revolt, news of rebellion failed to reach the throne. How tragic! The former kings knew that isolation and ignorance injured the state; they appointed high ministers, grandees, and officers, refined laws, established punishments, and governed the realm. When strong they forbade violence and punished disorder, and the realm submitted. When weak, the five hegemons campaigned on their behalf, and the lords followed. Even when reduced, they maintained defenses within and allies without, preserving their altars of state. At Qin’s height its elaborate laws and stern punishments terrified the realm. In decline the common people resented it, and all within the seas rebelled. Zhou’s five ranks maintained the right way, and its line lasted over a thousand years. Qin lost both foundation and consequence, and so did not endure. The principles of safety and peril are very far apart. A country saying goes, “Remembering what came before is a teacher for what follows.” Thus the noble man who governs a state looks back to high antiquity, tests his judgments against the present, compares them with human affairs, examines the reasons for rise and fall, considers the proper use of power, follows an orderly course of advance and retreat, and changes with the times. In this way he preserves his state for generations.

Duke Xiao of Qin held the strongholds of Xiao and Hangu and possessed Yongzhou. Ruler and ministers defended them firmly while eyeing the Zhou royal house, aspiring to sweep up the realm, embrace all within the world, encompass the four seas, and swallow the eight wildernesses. Lord Shang assisted him. At home he established laws and standards, promoted farming and weaving, and prepared for defense and war; abroad he formed cross-state alliances to turn the lords against one another. Thus the men of Qin took the lands beyond the Western River without even lifting a hand.

After Duke Xiao died, King Hui and King Wu inherited his enterprise and followed the plans he left. Southward they annexed Hanzhong, westward they captured Ba and Shu, and eastward they seized fertile lands and key commanderies. The lords were afraid, convened in alliance, and plotted to weaken Qin. They spared no rare vessels, precious treasures, or fertile lands to attract the realm’s talented men; they forged a united alliance. At that time Qi had Lord Mengchang, Zhao Lord Pingyuan, Chu Lord Chunshen, and Wei Lord Xinling. These four were discerning, wise, loyal, and trustworthy; they were generous and loved people, honored the worthy and esteemed scholars, and united an alliance against Qin’s divisive leagues. They joined the forces of Han, Wei, Yan, Chu, Qi, Zhao, Song, Wey, and Zhongshan. Among the six states’ scholars, Ning Yue, Xu Shang, Su Qin, Du He, and their fellows devised plans; Qi Ming, Zhou Zui, Chen Zhen, Zhao Hua, Lou Huan, Zhai Jing, Su Li, Yue Yi, and others coordinated intentions; Wu Qi, Sun Bin, Dai Tuo, Ni Liang, Wang Liao, Tian Ji, Lian Po, Zhao She, and their peers commanded armies. With ten times Qin’s land and a million soldiers they repeatedly attacked its passes. Qin opened the gates to welcome its foes, yet the armies of the nine states hesitated, retreated, and dared not advance. Qin did not spend a single arrow or arrowhead; already the lords were exhausted. Their alliance broke apart, and each strove to cede territory to Qin. With strength to spare, Qin took advantage of their weakness, chased the fleeing and routed them: a million bodies lay fallen, and blood flowed deep enough to float shields. Qin pressed its advantage, carved up the realm, and divided its rivers and mountains. Strong states asked to submit; weak states came to court. Through the reigns of King Xiaowen and King Zhuangxiang, both short, the state remained free of trouble.

Then came the King of Qin. He carried on the achievements of six generations, raised his long whip to govern the world, swallowed the two Zhou states and destroyed the lords, assumed supreme power and ruled the six directions, wielding the rod to scourge the realm and shaking the four seas with his might. In the south he took the territory of the hundred Yue peoples and made it Guilin and Xiangjun commanderies; the Yue lords bowed their heads, cords around their necks, and entrusted their lives to his lesser officials. He sent Meng Tian north to build the Great Wall and defend the frontier, driving the Xiongnu back more than seven hundred li, so that Hu horsemen dared not pasture in the south, nor their warriors draw bows in revenge. He abolished the former kings’ Way and burned the writings of the hundred schools to keep the people ignorant. He tore down famous cities, killed the eminent, collected the realm’s weapons at Xianyang, melted down blades and cast twelve bronze men to weaken the people. He cut through Mount Hua to make a wall and used the Yellow River as a moat, holding a rampart ten thousand fathoms high above unfathomable ravines. Able generals with powerful crossbows guarded the vital points; trusted ministers and elite troops displayed sharp weapons and challenged all comers. The realm was settled. The King of Qin thought his fortified Guanzhong and thousand-li walls of bronze would sustain his descendants’ imperial rule for ten thousand generations.

After the King of Qin died, the fear of his power still reached distant peoples. Chen She was a man whose family had jars for windows and ropes for door hinges, a common laborer and deported convict. His abilities were below the ordinary; he had neither the wisdom of Confucius and Mozi nor the wealth of Tao Zhu and Yi Dun. He sprang up among the ranks, rose from a squad of ten or a company of a hundred, rallied weary scattered soldiers, and led several hundred men against Qin. They cut branches for weapons and raised poles for banners. The realm gathered like clouds and responded like an echo, bearing provisions and following him like shadows. The outstanding men east of the mountains all rose and destroyed Qin’s clan.

The realm had not grown smaller or weaker; Yongzhou and the strongholds of Xiao and Hangu remained as before. Chen She’s station was not higher than that of the rulers of Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Song, Wey, and Zhongshan. Hoes, mallets, and thornwood shafts were no sharper than hooked halberds and long spears. His garrison convicts were no match for the armies of the nine states. In planning ahead, commanding an army, and deploying troops, he did not equal the scholars of earlier days. Yet success and defeat reversed themselves, and achievements were opposite. Compare the lands, power, and strength of the eastern states with Chen She’s: they are not even comparable. Yet Qin rose from a small tract of land and the might of a thousand chariots to bring the eight regions to court and make its peers bow for over a hundred years. It then made the six directions its home and the Xiao and Hangu passes its palace. One man raised a revolt, its seven ancestral temples fell, and its ruler was killed by another’s hand and mocked by the realm. Why? Because it failed to practice humanity and justice, though the conditions for conquest differ from those for defense.

Qin united all within the seas, absorbed the feudal lords, and faced south as emperor to nurture the four seas. Scholars everywhere turned toward it eagerly. Why? For a long time there had been no king. The Zhou house was weak and the five hegemons dead; commands no longer ran across the realm. The lords governed by force: the strong invaded the weak, the many oppressed the few, wars never ceased, and soldiers and civilians were exhausted. Now Qin faced south and ruled the realm: there was a Son of Heaven above. The common people longed for security of life; all looked up to the throne in hope. At that moment the foundation of safety or peril lay in preserving authority and securing achievement.

But the King of Qin cherished greed and meanness and relied on his own stubborn cleverness. He distrusted meritorious ministers and was distant from scholars and people; he discarded the kingly Way, established his own authority, banned writings, and imposed cruel laws. He put deceit and force before humanity and justice and made tyranny the beginning of his rule. To conquer one prizes stratagem and force; to secure a realm one prizes timely accommodation. Conquest and preservation require different methods. Qin left the Warring States behind to rule the world, but did not change its ways or government; it made no distinction between how it won the realm and how it should keep it. Possessing it in isolation, Qin could expect immediate ruin. Had the King of Qin considered earlier ages and the history of Yin and Zhou in fashioning his government, even if later rulers had been wanton and arrogant, the state would not have fallen. Thus the three kings established realms whose illustrious names and achievements endured.

When the Second Emperor came to power, everyone waited expectantly to see how he would govern. To one who shivers a short rough coat is welcome; to the hungry even chaff tastes sweet. The realm’s suffering was an opportunity for its new ruler: a distressed people are easy to win through humanity. Had the Second Emperor acted even like an ordinary ruler, employed loyal and worthy men, and joined his ministers in concern for the realm; had he dressed in mourning and corrected his predecessor’s faults, divided lands and people among descendants of deserving ministers, established states and rulers in accordance with ritual, emptied the prisons and pardoned the condemned, abolished the shameful punishment of confiscating wives and children and sent them home, opened the granaries and distributed wealth to aid the solitary and poor, eased taxes and labor service to relieve the people, simplified law and reduced punishments to support them thereafter, and allowed everyone a new beginning, a changed manner of life, and the chance to cultivate their conduct and guard themselves, meeting the hopes of the people and bestowing power and virtue across the realm: then the world would have rallied to him. Throughout the four seas all would gladly have lived content in their homes and feared any change; even cunning men would not have wished to leave their sovereign, treacherous ministers would have had no place to exercise their craft, and violent rebellion would have ceased. Instead the Second Emperor rejected this course and compounded injustice. He damaged both ancestral shrines and people, resumed work on Epang Palace, multiplied harsh punishments and cruel executions, allowed officials to govern brutally, rewarded and punished without justice, levied taxes without limit, plunged the realm into turmoil beyond his officials’ control, and ignored the people’s poverty and distress. Fraud and wickedness multiplied; high and low evaded one another. So many were condemned that executions lined the roads, and the realm suffered. From ruler and high minister to commoner, each feared for his own safety and endured hardship; none felt secure in his place, and all were easily stirred to revolt. Thus Chen She, though possessing neither the wisdom of Tang and King Wu nor a lord’s rank, raised his arm in the marshlands and the realm responded, because its people lived in fear. The former kings understood how beginnings become endings and what determines survival or destruction: their way of shepherding the people was simply to make them secure. Then even when there are rebellious ministers they find no support. As the saying goes, “Secure people can be led to do right; endangered people are easily led to do wrong.” This is what it means. The Second Emperor was honored as Son of Heaven and possessed the wealth of the realm, yet could not escape a violent death because he failed to right a state on the brink. This was the Second Emperor’s fault.

Duke Xiang succeeded and reigned twelve years. He first established the western altar. He was buried at Xichui and fathered Duke Wen.

Duke Wen succeeded and lived in Xichui Palace. He died after fifty years and was buried at Xichui. He fathered Duke Jing.

Duke Jing died without reigning. He fathered Duke Xian.

Duke Xian reigned twelve years and lived in the new western city. He died and was buried at Ya. He fathered Duke Wu, Duke De, and Chuzi.

Chuzi reigned six years and lived at Xiling. The three senior ministers Fuji, Weilei, and Canfu led assassins to murder Chuzi at Biyan. He was buried at Ya. Duke Wu succeeded.

Duke Wu reigned twenty years and lived at Feng Palace in Pingyang. He was buried southeast of Xuanyang village. The three senior ministers were punished for their crime. Duke De succeeded.

Duke De reigned two years and lived at Dazheng Palace in Yong. He fathered Dukes Xuan, Cheng, and Mu, and was buried at Yang. He first established the summer sacrifice to ward off evil influences.

Duke Xuan reigned twelve years, lived at Yang Palace, and was buried at Yang. He first recorded intercalary months.

Duke Cheng reigned four years, lived in a palace at Yong, and was buried at Yang. Qi attacked the Mountain Rong and Guzhu.

Duke Mu reigned thirty-nine years. The Son of Heaven acknowledged his hegemony. He was buried at Yong. Duke Mu studied under the man named Zhu. He fathered Duke Kang.

Duke Kang reigned twelve years, lived at the High Residence in Yong, and was buried at Qushe. He fathered Duke Gong.

Duke Gong reigned five years and lived at the High Residence in Yong. He was buried south of Duke Kang and fathered Duke Huan.

Duke Huan reigned twenty-seven years, lived at the Great Residence in Yong, and was buried north of Yili hill. He fathered Duke Jing.

Duke Jing reigned forty years, lived at the High Residence in Yong, and was buried south of Qiuli. He fathered Duke Bi.

Duke Bi reigned thirty-six years and was buried north of Cheli. He fathered Duke Yi.

Duke Yi died without reigning and was buried at the Left Palace. He fathered Duke Hui.

Duke Hui reigned ten years and was buried at Cheli beside Kang and Jing. He fathered Duke Dao.

Duke Dao reigned fifteen years and was buried west of Duke Xi. He fortified Yong and fathered Duke Ligong.

Duke Ligong reigned thirty-four years and was buried at Ruli. He fathered Dukes Zao and Huai. In his tenth year a comet appeared.

Duke Zao reigned fourteen years, lived at Shou Residence, and was buried south of Duke Dao. In his first year a comet appeared.

Duke Huai returned from Jin and reigned four years. He was buried at Liyushi and fathered Duke Ling. His ministers surrounded him, and he killed himself.

Duke Suling was the son of Zhaozi. He lived in Jingyang, reigned ten years, was buried west of Duke Dao, and fathered Duke Jian.

Duke Jian returned from Jin, reigned fifteen years, and was buried west of Duke Xi. He fathered Duke Hui. In his seventh year common people first wore swords.

Duke Hui reigned thirteen years and was buried at Lingyu. He fathered Duke Chu.

Duke Chu reigned two years. He killed himself and was buried at Yong.

Duke Xian reigned twenty-three years and was buried at Xiaoyu. He fathered Duke Xiao.

Duke Xiao reigned twenty-four years and was buried at Diyu. He fathered King Huiwen. In his thirteenth year he first made Xianyang the capital.

King Huiwen reigned twenty-seven years and was buried at Gongling. He fathered King Daowu.

King Daowu reigned four years and was buried at Yongling.

King Zhaoxiang reigned fifty-six years and was buried at Zhiyang. He fathered King Xiaowen.

King Xiaowen reigned one year, was buried at Shouling, and fathered King Zhuangxiang.

King Zhuangxiang reigned three years and was buried at Zhiyang. He fathered the First Emperor. Lü Buwei was his chancellor.

In the seventh year of Duke Xian’s reign, markets were first established. In his tenth year, households were registered in groups of five.

In the sixteenth year of Duke Xiao’s reign, peach and plum trees blossomed in winter.

King Huiwen was nineteen years old when he took the throne. In his second year, coinage was first instituted. A newborn infant said: “Qin will be king.”

King Daowu was nineteen years old when he took the throne. In his third year the Wei River ran red for three days.

King Zhaoxiang was nineteen years old when he took the throne. In his fourth year field boundaries were first laid out.

King Xiaowen was fifty-three years old when he took the throne.

King Zhuangxiang was thirty-two years old when he took the throne. In his second year he took Taiyuan territory. In his first year he proclaimed a general amnesty, honored meritorious servants of former kings, showed abundant kindness to his kin, and bestowed favors upon the people. Eastern Zhou plotted with the lords against Qin; Qin sent Chancellor Lü Buwei to destroy it and annex all its territory. Qin did not end its sacrifices, but granted the Zhou lord the land of Yangren to continue them.

The First Emperor reigned thirty-seven years and was buried at Liyi. He fathered the Second Emperor and was thirteen years old when he took the throne.

The Second Emperor reigned three years and was buried at Yichun. Zhao Gao was chancellor and Lord of Anwu. The Second Emperor was twelve years old when he took the throne.

From Duke Xiang of Qin to the Second Emperor spans six hundred and ten years.

On the day yichou, the fifteenth day of the tenth month in the seventeenth year of Emperor Xiaoming, Ban Gu wrote:

The Zhou mandate had passed on; a son’s humanity did not supersede his mother’s claim. Qin came rightly to its place, but Zheng of the Lü family was cruel and violent. Nevertheless, becoming a feudal lord at thirteen, he united the realm, indulged his passions and desires, and cared for his kin. For thirty-seven years his armies reached everywhere, and the institutions and decrees he made served later kings. He seems to have wielded a sage’s power: the River God granted him a chart; he occupied the stars Wolf and Fox and trod upon the constellations Three Stars and Punisher. These helped Zheng clear his path, until he styled himself the First Emperor.

After the First Emperor died, Huhai, in his supreme folly, resumed work on Epang before the tomb at Mount Li was finished, following his father’s former design. He declared: “The value of possessing the realm is to indulge one’s every desire; now great ministers would even stop what my father began.” He executed Li Si and Feng Quji and put Zhao Gao in power. What painful words! A human head uttering the cries of a beast. Had he not displayed his might or punished evil, had he not made reckless promises or vainly brought on ruin, he still could not have held back the inevitable. His cruelty hastened the end. Though occupying a state naturally protected, he could not survive.

Ziying inherited the throne according to his place in the succession. He put on a jade crown and splendid sash, rode beneath a yellow canopy, attended by all the officials, and visited the seven ancestral temples. When a small man occupies a station not his own, he loses his bearings, living for each day’s brief peace. Yet Ziying alone could think beyond the moment. Father and sons contrived a stratagem close to home, within their own doors and windows, and at last killed the treacherous minister, punishing a rebel on behalf of his ruler. After Zhao Gao’s death, before guests and relatives could finish congratulating one another, before food had passed their throats or wine touched their lips, Chu troops had already sacked Guanzhong, and the true sovereign soared at Bashang. Ziying came in a plain cart with a cord around his neck and presented his seals and tallies, submitting to the future emperor. When the Earl of Zheng carried thatch standards and the sacrificial knife, King Zhuang withdrew his troops. A breached river cannot be dammed again; rotten fish cannot be made whole. Jia Yi and Sima Qian said: “Had Ziying possessed even the abilities of an ordinary ruler and found a few middling advisers, Qin could have held its territory despite the turmoil east of the mountains, and its ancestral sacrifices need not have ended.” But Qin’s decline was long in the making; the realm was collapsing like earth and tiles. Even a man of the Duke of Zhou’s gifts would have had no chance to display his skill. To blame this solitary ruler of a single day is mistaken! Tradition rightly says that the First Emperor began Qin’s crimes and Huhai carried them to the extreme. To blame the young man as well, claiming he could have preserved Qin’s lands, is to misunderstand the course of events. The Spring and Autumn Annals did not name Ji of Ji for preserving Xi. Whenever I read the Qin Annals and reach Ziying’s execution of Zhao Gao by dismemberment with chariots, I cannot help admiring his resolve and pitying his purpose. Ziying fulfilled the duty of a man whether in life or death.