The Qin state in effect turned itself into a single , giant weapons factory in order to defeat the combined strength of the other 7 states sometimes even all at once ! It went from provincial backwater to the richest , most populous , and most militarily effective state in the land by essentially restructuring the very essence of its society form the ground up through a new pholosophy known as legalism . Legalism held that a ruler must hold absolute authority over all aspects of his state , from lowliest citizen to highest official , that his word was law , and that and infraction of that law must be met with the severest of punishments often an entire family brutally slaughtered before the condemned himself met a similarly grisly end . Ever man , woman , and child was a direct servant of the state and by extension the will of its ruler and must devote their whole energy and livelihood towards its needs . In essence it was as close to a WWI factory as the 4 th century BCE could come . And for all that , Qin Shihuang would win the war and unite the states into the Qin Empire for all of 16 years before the people got well and truly sick of all that business , overthrew his son , and established the Han Dynasty , which had a rather more relaxed view of things .