Chapter 29 Five, bloody from now on

With the goal of centralizing the monarchy and enriching the country and strengthening the army, Shang Yang launched his system reforms in an all-round way, including economic reforms and military reforms.The method used is also very simple: both grace and power.For example, those who work hard to produce more public grain will be exempted from corvee; those who steal, rape, cheat and speculate will be accepted as slaves.For another example, those with military merits will be honored; those without military merits will be shamed.In short, with a mace in one hand and a military medal in the other, Shang Yang led Qin to break out of the encirclement.Ten years after the implementation of the new law, the state of Qin "does not pick up relics on the road, there are no thieves in the mountains, and the family has enough for others."Qin Xiaogong also moved his capital to Xianyang (now Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province) from Yong (now Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province), and began preparations for "sweeping the world and including Yunei".The vigorous Qin made the princes look at each other with admiration, and even the emperor Zhou sent gizzards.

But, this is suspicious. What can be questioned is not the great governance of the township, but the reasons for the great governance.In fact, the No. 1 decree issued by Shang Yang after he came to power was to implement the Baojia system and the law of joint sitting in grassroots organizations.Shang Yang stipulated that common people should be organized into households, with five households as security and ten households linked together, and one person committing an adulterous crime, the whole body should be jointly and severally responsible, and all neighbors must immediately report to the government.Those who do not report will be cut in half, those who hide will be regarded as surrendering to the enemy, and those who report will receive a reward according to the level of beheading the enemy's head.No wonder Qin Guo can "do not pick up lost things in the road, and there are no thieves in the mountains". Everyone is a spy and a policeman!

Such a horrible life of neighbors spying on each other and reporting on each other may only be experienced in Nazi Germany.It's just that no one knows whether Shang Yang formed an SS for his head of state. But it is certain that Shang Yang not only turned Qin into a military camp, but also turned Qin into a prison.In fact, he eliminated thieves, rectified law and order, and prohibited fighting, not to protect the lives and property of the people, but to concentrate the idle force in society for his own use.The so-called "be brave in public battles and be timid in private fights" means only fighting for the monarch, not for oneself; only killing foreigners, not Qin people;Obviously, what Shang Yang cultivated and educated were nothing more than heartless killing machines.It would be a big joke if the world can be ruled by this!

Killing machines don't put other people's lives in their eyes, and Shang Yang himself is like this.It is said that Shang Yang once executed more than 700 prisoners on the banks of the Weishui River in one day, so that "the Weishui River was completely red, the sound of wailing moved the heaven and the earth, and the accumulation of grievances and enmities was as high as the hills and hills". Shang Yang, are you not afraid of retribution for killing people like this? No one knows whether this source is reliable, just as no one can prove that it was fabricated or exaggerated.But there is no doubt that Shang Yang is an iron-blooded prime minister.When the new law was first implemented, there was a lot of discussion in Qin State, and thousands of people complained to the capital.At first, Shang Yang reasoned with them, but later he simply acted domineeringly.And no matter whether the new law is bad or the new law is good, they are all called disorderly people and exiled to the border towns.The result certainly satisfied Shang Yang.Since then, no one dared to make irresponsible remarks.

This is by no means the price that must be paid for reform. Yes, reform requires some iron fist.After a decision is made, it is also necessary to cut through arguments.Otherwise, there will be a lot of chatter and discussions, and the reform will not be successful.But Shang Yang's situation is different from this.Everything he does is designed and carried out around autocracy, centralization, and dictatorship, so the people cannot be allowed to have freedom of speech.In fact, not only was Shang Yang not allowed to discuss his decrees, but he did not allow any discussion at all.In his heart, the people have only obligations and no rights.They are just tools and weapons for the king to achieve hegemony and imperial career.In other words, men are tools of labor in peacetime and weapons of murder in wartime, while women are machines for producing these tools and weapons.If so, what are you talking about?Just do it!

This is the so-called Shang Yang Reform.Since then, the Qin State has a dictatorial monarch, all living beings under it, and bureaucracies in the middle, with troops, secret agents, and police all over it, and it has become a quasi-empire with centralized power and military dictatorship. In fact, Qin's ability to stand out in the fierce competition of survival of the fittest can only be attributed to the fact that they had the most effective system at that time.In other words, they built the new system most thoroughly and used it most thoroughly.This new system can maximize the concentration of domestic resources and wealth, maximize the production potential and fighting courage of the people, and maintain the collective character of order and prohibition in step, so as to run rampant and dominate the world.

Here we smell the blood of tyranny. Yes.Accompanying the advance of the Qin army into the Central Plains was blood and rain; what provided the guarantee for Qin to come from behind was severe punishment.The strictness of the Qin government, the strictness of the Qin laws, the arbitrariness of the Qin system, and the strength of the Qin style are in fact an open secret and an indisputable fact.Qin is the base camp of despotism and militarism. The founder of this base camp was Shang Yang. Shang Yang succeeded.At least, he transformed Qin from a principality into a kingdom, paved the way for the kingdom to become an empire, and made preparations.Fourteen years after Shang Yang's death, Qin Hui became king; one hundred and four years later, Ying Zheng became emperor.

However, Shang Yang himself died unexpectedly.

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