Strong-Trunk Weak-Branch Centralization / 强干弱枝式集权

Strong-trunk weak-branch centralization / 强干弱枝式集权 is the control logic 《资治通鉴·秦纪》123-1｜神之预言：“亡秦者胡”竟是指…？ uses to interpret 嬴政 / 秦始皇’s order to remove large city walls and river levees after the 碣石 tour. The point is not only construction policy. In the episode’s reading, walls and defensive hydraulic works can preserve local autonomy, letting powerful families or regional forces resist central command.

The source connects this logic to 孔子’s earlier “堕三都” precedent in 鲁国: a ruler who wants effective central authority must reduce local power bases that can become semi-independent. Qin’s version is much larger and harsher because it acts across a newly unified empire rather than inside one old aristocratic state.

This concept extends 帝国整齐划一. Standards, commandery-county rule, elite relocation, and weapon confiscation change administration, population, and arms; strong-trunk weak-branch centralization adds the built environment as another object of post-conquest control.

Key Claims

• Local defensive infrastructure can be treated as political capacity, not only as public works.
• Removing large walls and levees reduces the ability of local actors to hold territory against the center.
• The episode does not claim every wall or embankment disappears; it says the policy mainly targets large sites that could support separatist defense.
• The concept sits beside 统一后收兵器 and 豪杰迁徙控制 as another way Qin weakens rebellion capacity after conquest.

Connections

• 嬴政 / 秦始皇 and 秦国 - ruler and regime applying the policy.
• 帝国整齐划一 - broader Qin post-conquest integration frame.
• 统一后收兵器 and 豪杰迁徙控制 - adjacent coercive control mechanisms.
• 郡县制反分封定局 and 秦国行政标准化 - formal administrative settlement supported by local-capacity reduction.
• 孔子 and 鲁国 - precedent invoked by the source through “堕三都.”
• Qinji 123-1 - source episode.