Chapter 4 4. Rise in anger

Qin's rise indeed began with reforms, and reforms were forced out. This point, Qin Xiaogong made it very clear in his "Order of Seeking Talents".His statement is called "the princes humble Qin, there is nothing ugly about it".Therefore, if anyone can "make a surprise plan to strengthen Qin", Duke Xiao is willing to "divide the land with him". Qin, is it really looked down upon by the princes? Yes.For example, in the battle of Chengpu in 632 BC, Qin was both a participating country and a victorious country.However, one and a half months later, in the Alliance of Practicing Earth, there were not only the overlord Jin, but also the allies Qi and Song, as well as the neutral and defeated countries Lu, Cai, Zheng, Wei, and Chen, but there was no Qin.

Not surprising.In fact, although Qin Jun has been officially canonized as a prince by Zhou Tianzi, the princes do not regard them as princes, nor are they willing to be equal to them.As a result, Qin people are not eligible to participate in the "China" alliance, even if Qin Jun is Mu Gong at this time.Qin Mugong, who was later regarded as one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period, was probably regarded as an upstart at the time.Veteran and authentic Chinese, how can they look down on such a "half". This is of course a form of discrimination. Fortunately, in the face of discrimination, the people of Qin did not become discouraged, did not blame others, and did not resign themselves to depravity. Their choice was to work hard.

Tuqiang's first step is to find out the reasons for the discrimination. There are also two reasons. The first is cultural backwardness.For example, before Shang Yang's reform, the way of life of Qin people was that parents-in-law, son-in-law, son-in-law, brothers and sisters-in-law all lived in the same house.Of course, this is mostly the custom of living in tents in the nomadic era, but it is uncivilized in the eyes of the Chinese who "set up a defense between men and women". The second is political chaos.Beginning in 425 BC (that is, the year when the ancient Greek historian Herodotus and the Jin doctor Zhao Xiangzi died), the Qin State had no peace for forty years.A monarch (Huaigong) was forced to commit suicide, a prince (Xiangong) could not succeed to the throne, and another monarch (Chugong) was killed together with his mother and queen, and their bodies were sunk in the abyss.As a result, it was Wei Wuhou who took advantage of the internal turmoil in Qin to regain a large piece of land that had been snatched by Qin Mugong.

The cultural backwardness, of course, is because they were originally barbarians; the political chaos is because the aristocrats dictatorship and the power of the monarch falls.Therefore, the core idea of ​​Shang Yang's reform is autocracy and centralization of power. The specific content of the reform has already been discussed in the book "From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period".Simply put, the feudal system is abolished and the county system is replaced; the hereditary system is replaced by the appointment system.The feudal system is abolished, the subjects who were originally subordinate to the nobles directly belong to the central government, and the people belong to the monarch.The feudal system was abolished, and the fiefs of the high officials became counties, and the land belonged to the monarch.The hereditary system is abolished, all officials are appointed by the central government, and the power belongs to the monarch.The land, people and power are all concentrated in the hands of the monarch, of course it is centralization.

After the centralization of power, the monarch has a baton in his hand.This baton that can be swung freely is called "Military Merit".With military merits, peasants can also become marquises; without military merits, nobles lose face.Therefore, everyone in Qin "has the courage to fight in public, and is timid to fight privately", that is, they only fight for the monarch, not for themselves; they only kill foreigners, not the people of Qin; . Killing machine? Exactly.The military merits of the Qin State are calculated on the basis of the head, and one person who kills an enemy is promoted to the first rank.As long as you come with the head of the enemy, you can invite credit and reward, pay with one hand and deliver with the other.Such a "country of tigers and wolves", how can there be any opponents?

The defeat of the Six Nations was a matter of course. Obviously, without Shang Yang's reform, there would be no rise of Qin.The problem is that the system of prefectures and counties did not start from Qin Dynasty. Chu, Jin, and Qi were all earlier than Qin.The Qin family is not the only one who reformed.Li Kui of Wei (read Rukui) and Wu Qi of Chu were also earlier than Shang Yang.So, why was it Qin who won in the end? Perhaps there are cultural reasons for this. The influence of culture on a country and nation is very strange.Generally speaking, too little is not enough, but too much is also troublesome.Yue, suffered from too little culture; Chu, Song, and Lu suffered from too much.Song is the homeland of Yin and Shang, Lu is the successor of Duke Zhou, and Chu is the one who took advantage of it.During the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes of Zhou Dynasty rebelled.After the defeat, he brought a large number of royal family classics, utensils, intellectuals and scientific and technical personnel to take refuge.As a result, Chu, which was originally a "state of barbarians", became the third important town of Chinese civilization.

Thus, Confucianism was born in Lu, Mohism was born in Song, and Taoism was born in Chu. What does Qin have? Blank. If there is a gap, someone will fill it.It was the Legalists who filled the gap in Qin culture.Legalism is not territorial.Whoever is willing to pay a high price, they will advise, advise, and work for whom.It is not surprising that Li Kui became Minister of Wei, Shen Buhai became Minister of Han, Wu Qi fled to Chu, and Shang Yang fled to Qin. However, it was Qin who was most suitable for the Legalists. The Legalists were quite different among the pre-Qin philosophers.Confucianism, Mohism, and Taoism are all idealists and revivalists.Taoism longs for the ancient times, Mohism longs for the Yu Dynasty, and Confucianism longs for the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.Legalists are pragmatists and utilitarians.Their proposition is to face reality and plan for the future.Therefore, Taoism talks about the way of heaven, Mohism talks about the way of emperors, Confucianism talks about the way of kings, and Legalism talks about overbearing.

The Legalists talked about domineering, and the Qin State wanted to be strong, so naturally they hit it off. What's more, Qin's folk customs were originally sturdy and simple.Until the Warring States period, their art was nothing more than knocking on crocks and singing.This shows that the Qin people were not refined by the Chinese civilization.Without refinement, there is no softening, and it is just trained as a production tool and a murder weapon.Even Qin's lack of talents has become an advantage, because it can recruit from all over the world, and the result of reusing Keqing is to further attack the nobles and strengthen the monarchy, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

So the Legalists showed their skills and made great achievements.In fact, their trump card is nothing more than the supremacy of the monarchy; their means are nothing more than high officials, rich salary and severe punishment.Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men; under high pressure, there must be good people.Shang Yang and Duke Xiao have this overlord clause and both soft and hard tactics, so it is not difficult to turn Qin into a farm and a military camp.The whole country is in unison, with strict discipline, orders and prohibitions, and vigorous and resolute actions.As long as the king gave an order, he would pounce on the enemy like a beast.

No one can stop such unreasonable rampage. Qin, who had always been looked down upon by the Chinese princes, finally turned around.And this little salted fish ate all the big fish.What they have to do now is not to transfuse blood for Chinese civilization, but to exchange blood. Qin Shihuang made a revolution.

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