| Zhong and Li: |
Someone asked: In twenty-six years of rule, Qin Shi Huang had seized all under Heaven. Fifteen years later Chu seized it, and only five years after that Han controlled it. In a fifty-year period, the empire had changed hands three times. Was this due to Tian or man?
Yangzi said: Both. The Zhou installed their sons and brothers, divided up the titles and fiefdoms, ordered the five ranks, and established the twelve kingdoms. Even at that time, there were some like the Han that desired to control the empire, but what could they do about it? Then six kingdoms became foolish and disordered, helping Qin Shi Huang to weaken the Zhou, and finally to brush aside their armies and seize control of their kingdoms. Thus, the empire was seized by the Qin. They ended the Zhou system of feudal appointments and the establishment of prefectures, and the prefects lost their control, leaving the world orphaned and separated. Xiang Yu rebelled and replaced the ministers and princes, and thus empire was taken over by Chu. In the month Chu seized control and divided the empire into eighteen kingdoms, Liu Bang of Han was established in the southern mountains. He set out searching throughout the three kingdoms at the heart of the former Qin, and pursued Xiang Yu to Shandong, and thus the empire was taken by the Han. This was due to Tian.
The other said: What about man?
Yangzi said: Collecting together men of talent and respecting their knowledge, planning and calculating meticulously, and carefully acting at just the right moment—this is due to man. Without man, Tian has nothing to rely on. Without Tian, man cannot succeed. |
