In the world, everyone laughs at "Gao Lianghe Car God". However, at least the Car God had the thought of unifying the world, unlike some of his descendants who settled in a corner and dare not even think about it.
"But not every emperor is like the king who can unify the world, so at certain times, the land of Xiaohua split into several countries."
"Like the Song mentioned earlier, which coexisted with the Liao, Xia, and Jin dynasties; and then there were the Five Dynasties and Ten States, which literally means, within less than a century, there were five dynasties and ten states."
Ying Zheng nodded, indicating that he understood.
For two thousand and more years after Qin, not every dynasty has accomplished a grand unification like his Great Qin, but rather, feudal lords dominate, and multiple regimes exist.
It seems that my great Qin Dynasty, though it fell after only two generations, isn't too bad in history, and there are so many little brothers to serve as a foundation.
Thinking about this, Ying Zheng's mood couldn't help but improve!
Li Nian continued, "In addition to the bamboo slips, I have drawn the robes of future major dynasties, princes, concubines and ministers. The king can use them as a reference. The robe of dragons is the dress of emperors, also known as dragon gown, which can only be worn by emperors."
"In the later dynasties, those who make or wear private dragon robes are considered treason and a crime worthy of punishing the nine families. Even if a prince wears it casually, he will still face severe punishment."
Ying Zheng understood this was to emphasize the uniqueness and nobility of emperors. If everyone could wear dragon robes, how would one display the uniqueness of emperors and inspire awe among the people?
"Quickly present them to me." Following Ying Zheng's order, an eunuch carried a pile of bamboo slips and several boards into the hall.
The bamboo slips were presented to Ying Zheng, but he did not immediately look at them. Instead, he looked at the eunuchs holding the boards. Each board had a painting of a garment and a Qin seal script on it.
As the Qin seal script on the first board was "Qin," indicating that the dragon robes on the board came from the Qin Dynasty, Ying Zheng carefully examined it and could see that they were modified according to his usual royal robes.
Looking at the second board, Ying Zheng raised an eyebrow. The seal script on the board was "Han," indicating it came from the Han Dynasty. However, the Han Dynasty's dragon robes looked strangely similar to those of the Qin Dynasty.
"Brave rebels of the Han Dynasty, they even dare to 'inherit' the dragon robes of the emperor!"
However, he didn't feel angry. The Han Dynasty dared to inherit his Qin Dynasty's dragon robes, which only proves that the Qin Dynasty's dragon robes were even better.
After looking at the dragon robes, Ying Zheng did not look at the costumes of the princes, concubines and ministers of future dynasties. He picked up a roll of bamboo slips, while reading them he told Li Nian: "You can continue!"
Li Nian said, "Your Majesty is already aware that the title 'emperor' for the kings in later dynasties originated from you. You are the first ruler in the history of Xiahuá to be called an 'emperor.' The title of emperor varied slightly from dynasty to dynasty, but generally, it was the same."
"The emperor was also known as 'The Son of Heaven' or 'The Supreme Being of the Nine and Five,' and self-reference was usually used with 'I', 'the humble one', or 'alone'. When others met the emperor, they often did not directly address him as the emperor, but instead used terms such as 'Your Majesty', 'Longevity', 'His Majesty', 'Official Family', or 'Holy One'."
Although he was going through the bamboo slips, Ying Zheng did not miss a single word of what Li Nian said. When he heard "Official Family" as another term for the emperor, he asked aloud, "What does the term 'Official Family' mean, and where does it come from?"
Li Nian said, "The term 'Official Family' had appeared during the Han Dynasty, but it was not officially used as a title for the emperor until the Song Dynasty."
"The Song Taizong had also asked the same question as Your Majesty. His minister replied 'Three Yao ruled the world, five Ying ruled their families. That is what the term 'emperor' means'."
"The statement originally comes from Jiang Ji's 'Wanji Lun' (Treatise on the Ten Thousand Affairs) during the Three Kingdoms period. It was originally 'Three Emperors ruled the world, five Emperors ruled their families. The emperor combines the virtues of both, hence the term 'Official Family'."
It's amazing to have such understanding, the Three Dynasties and Five Emperors are really useful. He created a 'emperor', and then others invented the 'Official Family'!
"But there is also another explanation. Before the Song Dynasty, doctors were called medical families, farmers were called agricultural families, and those who sold wine were called wine families. According to what they do, a 'family' was added before their name. Official Family is also like this for the emperor who rules the country."
Ying Zheng furrowed his brow, this just means that the emperor is a profession, which means that anyone can be an emperor. Then, how could there be uniqueness and mystique?
After explaining the titles for the emperor, Li Nian continued to talk about the titles for princes and concubines: "The term 'emperor' is used to refer to the rulers of later dynasties. As the titles for rulers change, so do the titles for their sons and wives."
"The wife of the king is called a queen, while others are titled as imperial consorts, such as concubines and princesses, like the Queen Mother, Concubine Empress, Princess of Charm, Princess of Virtue, and Princess of Wisdom. The son of the king is called a prince, while the crown prince and other princes are different and are called imperial heirs."
This is also to highlight the difference between the Crown Prince and other princes.
As the Crown Prince is the future ruler, although he is still 'reserve', not a formal 'king', he still has the qualities of a king. How can he be considered the same as other princes?
After listening to Li Nian's explanation, Ying Zheng found that there wasn't much change. Many titles were similar to the current Qin Dynasty, with "King" simply replaced by "Emperor".
A moment's thought, and Ying Zheng understood why: it was very likely that these things were originally created by him during the Qin Dynasty, inherited by later dynasties, and then with some changes made by them.
"After the emperor of a later dynasty ascends to the throne and takes office, he usually receives formal homage from officials, and also establishes empresses dowager, empresses attendants, queens, crown prince, and other consorts."
At this point, Li Nian was quite curious about the first emperor not having established an heir, yet there were always rumors saying that Fusu was the eldest son of the emperor. The question now is, which of the Qin princes is the emperor's legitimate son?
As for the reason why the first emperor did not appoint a queen, Li Nian believed it was not because of the deep shadow left by Zhao Ji, but rather that before he had selected an heir, he did not want to appoint a queen. Once a queen was chosen, it would undoubtedly affect his plans for succession.
As a political figure like the first emperor, it is possible that he was influenced by Zhao Ji and did not want to appoint a queen. However, the probability is not very high. It is more likely that he had political considerations and did not want to establish a queen.
"The new emperor will also establish a reign year, symbolizing the start of a new era under the rule of a new emperor. The reign year usually starts from the first year of his accession to the throne and continues until he no longer holds power over the realm. However, some emperors may alter their reign years, not necessarily using a single year number for their entire reign."
Upon hearing the word "reign year," Ying Zheng took an interest and asked, "What do you think I should choose as my reign year?"
Li Nian pondered for a moment and replied, "Although Your Majesty could establish a reign year, it would be more appropriate to establish a calendar."
Ying Zheng was even more interested, temporarily setting aside the bamboo slips in his hand, and looked up, saying: "Go ahead and speak!"
Li Nian said, "Your Majesty could set the year of the unification of the realm and the establishment of the imperial system as the first year of Emperor Qin. You could change the calendar to the Qin Calendar, which means from this year on, all subsequent years would be dated according to the Qin Calendar."
Proposing this idea, Li Nian thought that the year of the birth of Jesus Christ, which is used as the New Year in the Gregorian calendar by later generations, could be considered the first year. So why couldn't the year when Emperor Qin established his rule be considered the first year of Qin?
Here is the Qin Dynasty, not the modern era of later generations. Instead of using significant events in Chinese history as the starting point for a calendar year, do we have to wait for the West to arrive and then use the Gregorian calendar?
That's not logical!
