The 48 Laws Of Power

TRANSGRESSIONOFTHELAVV

Ch’inShih

Huang

Ti,

thefirst

emperor

ofChina

(221-210B.C.),

wasthe

mightiest

manofhis

day.

His

empire

wasvasterandmore

powerful

than

that
ofAlexandertheGreat.Hehad

conquered

allofthe

kingdoms

sur-

rounding

his

own

kingdom

ofChinandunifiedthemintoonemassive

realmcalledChina.Butinthelast
years

ofhis

life,

few,

if

anyone,

sawhim.

The

emperor

livedinthemost

magnificent

palace

builttothat

date,

in

the

capital

of

Hsien-yang.

The

palace

had

270

pavilions;

allof

these

were

connected

by

secret

undergroundpassageways,allowing

the

emperor

to

move

through

the

palace

without

anyoneseeing

him.He

slept

in

a

differ-—

entroom

everynight,

and

anyone

who

inadvertently

laid

eyes

onhimwas

instantly

beheaded.

Only

ahandfulofmenknewhis

whereabouts,

andif

they

revealeditto

anyone,they,

too,

were

put

todeath.

The

first

emperor

had

grown

soterrified

ofhumanContact

thatwhen

hehadtoleave
the

palace

hetraveled

incognito,disguising

himselfcare

fully.

Ononesuch

tripthrough

the

provinces,

he

suddenly

died.His

body

wasbornebacktothe

capital

inthe

emperor’scarriage,

withacart

packed

withsalted fish

trailing

behindittocover

up

thesmell ofthe

rotting

corpse-—~no

onewastoknowofhisdeath.Hedied

alone,

farfromhis

wives,
his

family,

his

friends,

andhis

courfiers,

accompaniedonlyby

a

ministerand
a
handfulofeunuchs.

Interpretation

Shih

Huang

Tistartedoffasthe

king

of

Ch’in,

afearlesswarriorofunbri-

dled

ambition.Writersof

the

timedescribed

himasaman

with“a

waspish

nose,
eyes

like

slits,

the

voice

ofa

jackal,

andtheheart

ofa

tiger

orwolf.”

Hecouldbemerciful
sometimes,
butmoreoftenhe“swallowedmen
up

withouta

scruple.”

Itwas

through

trickery

andviolencethathe

conquered

the

provincessurrounding

hisownandcreated

China,

forging

a

single

na-

tionandcultureoutof
many.

Hebroke

up

thefeudal

system,

andto

keep

an
eye

onthe

many

membersofthe

royal

familiesthatwerescattered

acrosstherealm’svarious

kingdoms,

hemoved

120,000

ofthemtothe

cap-

ital,
wherehehousedthemost
important

couxtiersinthevast

palace

of

Hsienyang.

Heconsolidatedthe

many

wallsonthebordersandbuiltthem

into
theGreat
Wall
ofChina.
Hestandardizedthe

country’s

laws,

its

writ-

ten

language,

even

thesize

ofits

cartwheels.

As

part

ofthis

process

of

unification,

however,

thefirst

emperor

out-

lawedthe
writings

and

teachings

of

Confucius,

the

philosopher

whose

ideasonthemorallifehad

already

become

virtually

a

religion

inChinese

culture.OnShih

Huang

Ti’s

order,

thousandsofbooks

relating

toConfu-

cius
were
burned,
and
anyone

who

quoted

Confuciuswastobe

beheaded.

This
made
many

enemiesforthe

emperor,

and

he

grewconstantly

afraid,

even

paranoid.

Theexecutionsmounted.A

contemporary,

thewriterHan-

fei-tzu,

notedthat“Ch’inhasbeenvictoriousforfour

generations,yet

has

livedinconstantterror
and

apprehension

ofdestruction.”

Asthe

emperor

withdrew

deeper

and

deeper

intothe

palace

to

protect

'lHI.

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LAWis 131