Explanation: Under the Qin, the first imperial dynasty of China, many laws were created in light of the philosophy of Legalism, as expounded upon most famously by Lord Shang. Rather than meaning “The rule of law”, it means something closer to “People from the highest to the lowest are dissolute dogs who must be kept in line by fear and unshakable autocracy.” While Confucianism would take the dominant philosophical role in later Chinese dynasties, Legalist thought never entirely died out.
Unfortunately, the idea that only utter terror can keep people in harmony with the collective welfare can have some… nasty consequences. Namely, that the most reliably terrifying punishment - death - is also one that can’t really be ‘improved’ much upon. So when mid-ranking officials had a fuck-up punishable by death - like being late to their troop muster because of the weather, or losing track of prisoners - oftentimes they would just throw in their lot with a full-fledged rebellion or total banditry. Also both punishable by death, but if you win, it’s not rebellion; or if you’re never caught, you never get the punishment.
If your choices are certain death or uncertain death… most people will take the latter. Roll the iron dice!
The punchline is that this is what Liu Bang did. Lost a bunch of forced labor prisoners shortly after Qin Shi Huang’s death, decided to cut the rest and book it, led an army under another king while the Qin dynasty was collapsing, then about 8 years later, he was founding the Han dynasty.
Like showing up to immigration court in 2026
“In for a penny, in for becoming the emperor”
