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Sima Qian writes about how the Emperor's decisions were made on strict principle of the law, with little to no wavering in judgment. He regularly made public examples of those who acted out against him such as Lao Ai, and Lu Buwei in effort to showcase his power and authority to the people; this was always done in the most merciless of ways such as cutting off heads or pulling someone apart. Overall Emperor Qin's strength seems to come from his consistency in war time decisions and in politics; his decisions were made with established principles and values of his character in mind (that he would not be questioned) granting him a sturdy state of mind to accomplish selfish tendencies of exerting power in all his company. .
Although it could be perceived by some that the emperor had many personal shortcomings, and that these shortcomings adversely affected the Chinese people for years. The atrocities he committed did a heavy psychological toll on the people's minds. Actions such as book burning, confiscating weapons, punishing commoners for mourning a suicide (i.e. Lu Buwei's suicide), pushing subject away and killing those who interrupted during his quest for obtaining 'True Man' status, his obsession for the supernatural and quest for immortality also took away from more pressing issues in the Empire, and of course genocide. It could be argued that Emperor Qin did these acts in a calculating manner with not the goal of hurting but helping the people as a whole. Many of the things he did then are considered as war crimes and crimes against humanity today. Sima Qian gives us the idea that the Emperor acted these atrocities out in effort to preserve the peace he had created within newly unified China, and felt completely justified in doing so. It is up to the reader to decide if the Emperor was acting out of strength or fear. .
Specific episodes that give us insight into the Emperor's personality are 1) his anger and decisive quickness to the sword.
