Li Si

Li Si (? - 208 BC), a native of Shangcai, Chu State (southwest of today's Shangcai County, Henan Province), was a statesman, writer and calligrapher of the Qin Dynasty. Li Si once served as the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty. He was said to be the prime minister of Zuo. Sima Qian wrote "Historical Records" and "Li Si Biography" for Li Si. Or it can be said that the word is Tonggu. In his early years, he was a minor official in Shangcai County, responsible for handling documents. Later, he and Han Fei learned the art of emperors from Xunzi, and later became representatives of Legalist theory among hundreds of scholars. After completing his studies, Li Si entered the State of Qin and became the successor of Qin Prime Minister Lu Buwei. Marquis Wenxin appreciated Li Si very much and appointed him as a Langguan. Later, he persuaded the King of Qin to attack and destroy the six eastern countries. The King of Qin adopted his strategy and sent counselors with money to lobby the six countries in Shandong, alienate the kings and ministers of each country, and appointed him as a guest minister. In the tenth year of the Qin Dynasty (237 BC), because a water conservancy engineer named Zheng Mingguo came to Qin as a spy for South Korea in the name of building channels, the King of Qin ordered the expulsion of the guest officials from the six countries. Li Si's "Book of Remonstrance and Expulsion of Guests" stopped him, and was adopted by the King of Qin. Soon he was promoted to Tingwei. He made great contributions to Qin's cause of destroying the six kingdoms. After Qin unified the six kingdoms, Li Si, Prime Minister Wang Wan, Imperial Censor Feng Quji and others agreed to honor the King of Qin as Emperor. Li Si advocated the system of prefectures and counties and opposed the system of enfeoffment; he also advocated burning the books of various schools of thought collected by the people. Li Si also participated in the construction of many systems in the Qin Dynasty and had a profound influence on later generations. After the death of Qin Shihuang, Li Si, because of his different political stances from Fusu, framed Fusu, the eldest son of Qin Shihuang, with Zhao Gao, and established Qin Shihuang's youngest son Hu Hai as emperor. He was later killed by Zhao Gao, sent to the market for execution, and the three tribes were exterminated. Li Si assisted Qin Shihuang in unifying laws, decrees, weights and measures, promoting the same track and unified writing, and promoted the cultural unification of China.