136 The First Huang Di

A6.14

Qin had just annexed the rest of the country. The King of Qin issued an order to his prime minister and imperial censors, saying, "In the past, the King of Han offered land and handed over his seal to Qin, and asked to become a vassal of Qin. Soon, he broke the agreement and joined forces with Zhao and Wei to rebel against Qin. So I sent troops to attack Han and captured the King of Han. I thought this was a good idea and might help to put an end to the war. The King of Zhao sent his prime minister Li Mu to conclude an alliance, so I returned the hostage to Zhao. Soon, Zhao broke the alliance and rebelled in Taiyuan, my country, so I sent troops to punish Zhao and captured the King of Zhao. Prince Jia of Zhao then declared himself King of Dai, so I sent troops to destroy him." . The King of Wei initially agreed to submit to Qin, but soon he planned to attack Qin with Han and Zhao. Qin's soldiers went to punish them and defeated them. The King of Chu ceded the land west of Qingyang, but soon he also violated the agreement and attacked Nanjun of our country. Therefore, I sent troops to punish Chu, captured the King of Chu, and finally pacified Chu. The King of Yan was incompetent and rebellious, and his Prince Dan secretly instructed Jing Ke to be an assassin. I sent soldiers to punish them and destroyed Yan. The King of Qi adopted Hou Sheng's strategy, cut off his contacts with Qin, and wanted to make trouble. I sent soldiers to punish them, captured the King of Qi, and pacified Qi. I relied on With my insignificant body, I sent troops to attack the rebellious countries. Thanks to the power of my ancestors, the kings of the six countries all confessed their crimes and surrendered, and the world was completely pacified. If I don't change my title now, I will not be able to praise my achievements and pass them down to future generations. The title of the Emperor is the matter to be discussed for your ministers." Prime Minister Wang Wan, Imperial Censor Feng Jie, Court Judge Li Si and others said: "In the past, the Five Emperors ruled an area of a thousand miles in radius, and the princes of the outer Houfu and Yifu regions could not control whether they came to pay tribute. Today, Your Majesty has raised an army of righteousness, punished the cruel bandits, and pacified the world. The whole country has been divided into counties and the laws are unified. This has never happened since ancient times and was beyond the reach of the Five Emperors. We seriously discussed with the doctors, 'In ancient times, there were Tianhuang the Emperor of Heaven, Dihuang the Emperor of Earth, and Taihuang the Emperor of Tai, among which the Emperor of Tai was the most honorable.' We risked our lives to offer the title of honor. The king will be called 'Emperor of Tai', the order will be called 'Edict', the command will be called 'Decree', and the emperor will call himself ‘Zhen myself '. " The King of Qin said: "Remove the prefix 'Tai', and keep the suffix 'Huang', and add the title of 'Di' like in ancient times, titled it ‘Huang Di the Emperor, and all others stayed as discussed." The decree said :"Okay!" And King Zhuang Xiang was posthumously honored as the Supreme Emperor. The decree said: "I have heard that in ancient times, people had titles but no posthumous titles. In the middle times, people had titles, and their deeds were used as posthumous titles after death. In this way, sons would criticize their fathers, and ministers would criticize their monarchs. This is pointless, and I do not accept it. From now on, the "Posthumous Title Law" will be abolished. I am the First Huang Di, The First Emperor. Future generations will count by the second, third, and even tenth thousands of generations, and the title will be passed down endlessly."

秦初并天下，令丞相、御史曰：“异日韩王纳地效玺，请为藩臣，已而倍约，与赵、魏合从畔秦，故兴兵诛之，虏其王。寡人以为善，庶几息兵革。赵王使其相李牧来约盟，故归其质子。已而倍盟，反我太原，故兴兵诛之，得其王。赵公子嘉乃自立为代王，故举兵击灭之。魏王始约服入秦，已而与韩、赵谋袭秦，秦兵吏诛，遂破之。荆王献青阳以西，已而畔约，击我南郡，故发兵诛，得其王，遂定其荆地。燕王昏乱，其太子丹乃阴令荆轲为贼，兵吏诛，灭其国。齐王用后胜计，绝秦使，欲为乱，兵吏诛，虏其王，平齐地。寡人以眇眇之身，兴兵诛暴乱，赖宗庙之灵，六王咸伏其辜，天下大定。今名号不更，无以称成功，传后世。其议帝号。”丞相绾、御史大夫劫、廷尉斯等皆曰：“昔者五帝地方千里，其外侯服夷服，诸侯或朝或否，天子不能制。今陛下兴义兵，诛残贼，平定天下，海内为郡县，法令由一统，自上古以来未尝有，五帝所不及。臣等谨与博士议曰：‘古有天皇，有地皇，有泰皇，泰皇最贵。’臣等昧死上尊号，王为‘泰皇’。命为‘制’，令为‘诏’，天子自称曰‘朕’。”王曰：“去‘泰’，著‘皇’，采上古‘帝’位号，号曰‘皇帝’。他如议。”制曰：“可。”追尊庄襄王为太上皇。制曰：“朕闻太古有号毋谥，中古有号，死而以行为谥。如此，则子议父，臣议君也，甚无谓，朕弗取焉。自今已来，除《谥法》。朕为始皇帝。后世以计数，二世三世至于万世，传之无穷。”