Chapter 8 6. Eve of the Empire

Empires come from states.The state system is the pre-history of the empire, and the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are the eve of the empire. A state is a special form of transition from a tribal state to a unified state.It uses power internally and force externally. It nominally obeys a "common master of the world", but keeps fighting with each other. It is a semi-barbaric society and an immature country.But precisely because of immaturity, competition, and semi-barbarism, the era of states was full of vitality and created the most brilliant culture of our nation.This is the triumphant advancement of a nation from the barbaric age to the civilized age, and the step-by-step advancement of a society from the naive stage to the mature stage.

Qin, it was at this time that it rose in the west. The rise of Qin State began with Qin Xiaogong.Jia Yi's "On the Passing of the Qin Dynasty" said: "Qin Xiaogong held the land of Yongzhou according to the solidity of the letter, and the monarchs and ministers guarded to see the Zhou Dynasty. He had the intention of sweeping the world, including the universe, encompassing the four seas, and annexing the eight wastelands. It should be At that time, Shang Jun Zuozhi, internal legislation, farming and weaving, repairing tools of war, external connection and balance to fight against princes. So the Qin people handed over and took beyond the West River." From this description, it is not difficult to see that Qin's success , in addition to the ambition of the king of Qin and the unity of the people of Qin, there are two direct reasons, one is Xiaogong's attempt to rule, and the other is Shang Yang's reform.

Shang Yang's original surname was Gongsun, and he was also called Wei Yang because he was a native of Wei; he was also called Shang Yang because he was entrusted to Shang by the King of Qin.After Shang Yang entered the Qin Dynasty, he first talked about the emperor's way to Qin Xiaogong, but Xiaogong was indifferent;The so-called "Emperor's way", that is, the way of Yao and Shun, is actually the system and ideal of the tribal era.The so-called "kingly way", that is, the way of Tang and Wu, is actually the system and ideal of the Bangguo era.These two things have long been outdated, so how could duke Xiao be interested? Although "overbearing" is superficially the way of the Five Hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period, it contains the political ideals of the future empire.Qin Xiaogong wanted to keep pace with the times, of course he hit it off.So he reused Shang Yang, acted overbearing, and reformed the law.

The so-called "reform" is actually "reform", that is, to completely change the social system and the state system.But its short-term goal is first of all to work hard, work hard, and become a "hegemon" as soon as possible.Only by completing the "Hegemony" first can it be possible to complete the "Empire".We know that, as a half force and half power society, the state has only two most important things, namely power and force.There are only two most important things, namely sacrifice and war.The so-called "major affairs of the country, only worship and Rong" is the consensus of the Bangguo era.Sacrifice is important because it means power.War is important because it means force.Therefore, whether a state can achieve hegemony, gain hegemony, and eventually become the founder of an empire depends on whether it can use power and force well.Of course, to realize this ideal, financial resources are also indispensable.Shang Yang and the reforms before and after Shang Yang revolved around these three themes.

Reforms include political reform, economic reform and military reform. The contents of the political reform are as follows: 1. Abolish the "lord system" and implement the "landlord system".First of all, the title and privileges of noble lords were abolished, and they were reduced to landlords and rich people in private households (starting with clans without military merits).A clan with military exploits is no higher than a marquis.Hou only collects rent and tax and ignores civil affairs.The subjects who were originally subordinate to the lord were reorganized and managed by magistrates.2. Abolish the "hereditary system" and implement the "appointment system".All officials are appointed by the monarch and serve according to their abilities, not hereditary titles.Those who are capable and talented, even if they are not from Qin, can enter the leadership and decision-making levels.3. Abolish the "feudal system" and implement the "county system".The country is divided into 31 counties, governed by county magistrates (county heads) and county magistrates (deputy county heads).In the future, the lands of other countries will be seized, and they will also be set up as prefectures and counties, and will not be established as feudal states.Here, we clearly see the shadow of the future empire.

The most important content of economic reform is to abolish the "well field system".The so-called "well field system" is to divide a piece of land into nine equal parts, and the rice paddies (roads) separating the fields are in the shape of a well.Each of the eight farmers cultivated a piece of the outer area (equivalent to private plots) and jointly cultivated the middle piece (that is, "public land").The result is that farmers work hard when cultivating private plots and are lazy when cultivating public land.Moreover, the limit on the area of ​​arable land is too strict, and people cannot do their best; the land occupied by roads is too large, and the land cannot do its best.After the "well field system" was abolished, new fields were allowed to be cultivated (open grass), a lot of cultivated land was allowed to be occupied (reserved land), and free trade was allowed.

The main content of military reform is to determine rewards and punishments according to military achievements.Its function is to improve the combat effectiveness.Xunzi compared the military systems of Qi, Wei, and Qin.The way Qi State rewards soldiers is to give money.For killing one enemy, the bounty (copper) is one Zi (a quarter of two).Such an army is good against small enemies, but it is useless against big enemies.This is "Soldiers of the Dead".The way Wei Guo rewards soldiers is tax exemption.As a result, the army increased and the treasury emptied.This is "Soldier of Dangerous Country".The way Qin rewards soldiers is to bestow nobles.No matter who you are, you will be rewarded if you win, and you will be punished if you lose. Everyone will be rewarded for meritorious service, so everyone will fight bravely and strive for military merit.No wonder Qin Jun became the "Tiger and Wolf Master"!

The reform of the economic system has enhanced the financial power of the monarch; the reform of the military system has enhanced the force of the monarch; and the reform of the political system has enhanced the power of the monarch.In fact, this is also the core content of Qin's reform - autocracy and centralization.Abolishing the lordship system and implementing the landlord system is centralization (concentrating the power that was originally dispersed in the hands of the noble lords in the monarch); Yan Jiuding); abolishing the feudal system and implementing the prefecture and county system, there are both.After counties and counties, all citizens are the direct subjects of the monarch, and are no longer the vassals of the noble lords.This not only concentrated power, but also concentrated financial resources and force.Shang Yang even implemented the "Baojia System" and "Jianzuo Law" at the grassroots level, that is, the common people were organized into households, five households were protected, ten households were linked together, one person committed a crime, and the whole body was jointly and severally liable. Cut in half, the hiding person is regarded as surrendering to the enemy.This method of organizing the whole country into ranks was originally invented by Guan Zhong for the sake of Duke Huan of Qi's "hegemony", which is a typical "overbearing".But Guan Zhong only invented the "Baojia system", while the "Liansi method" was invented by Shang Yang.He not only turned Qin State into a military camp, but also made Qin State a "country dominated by police power" (Huang Renyu's words), a country where all the people are soldiers, and everyone is a spy and policeman.

Here we already smell the blood of tyranny.Liu Xin's "New Preface" 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 bigger than the hills and hills". It is horrific! In addition, Shang Yang is mean, cruel, bloodthirsty, and he must be over-corrected, so that "those who step over six feet will be punished, and those who abandon ashes will be punished." The people of Qin are often blamed. It's like walking on eggshells.

This is by no means the price that must be paid for reform, but to establish the absolute authority of the ruling class, at the expense of creating human tragedies, and killing everyone as an example.This is by no means the rule of law.As Mr. Huang Renyu said: "The laws in the minds of these dictators are military law and martial law." There are no robbers and robbers in the mountains, and the family is full."But we must make it clear that Shang Yang's efforts to eliminate thieves, rectify law and order, and prohibit fighting were not to protect the lives and property of the people, but to concentrate the idle force in society for their own use, so that the people "courage to fight in public and fear private fight".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;Apparently, what Shang Yang cultivated and educated were still nothing more than heartless killing machines.If these ruthless killers can achieve great order and long-term peace in the world, that would be a big joke!

Shang Yang's law enforcement should also be viewed in the same way.Indeed, Shang Yang enforced the law very strictly and fairly.He did not corrupt the law, did not practice favoritism for personal gain, "not favored by nobles inside, not alienated outside", and truly achieved "a prince who breaks the law and commits the same crime as the common people" (Shang Yang also had a grudge against the prince because of this).Only in this way, under the rule of Shang Yang, the Qin Kingdom "ordered and prohibited, and the law came out and raped" (Liu Xin's "New Preface").This is undoubtedly worthy of affirmation.However, Shang Yang's "law" must never be discussed.When the new law was first implemented, there were a lot of discussions in the state of Qin. Those who come to make things convenient).Regardless of good or bad, Shang Yang called them "rebellious people" and exiled them to Bianyi.The result was of course satisfactory to Shang Yang—from then on, no one dared to discuss decrees (afterwards, no one dared to discuss decrees).As I said before, centralization does not necessarily mean dictatorship, and autocracy does not necessarily mean dictatorship.However, Shang Yang's reform was not only centralization, but also autocracy.His killing is like hemp, which is tyranny.His Baojia Lianzao is also autocratic.Moreover, because of the suppression of speech, he is not even considered "enlightened dictatorship" (letting people speak), but can only be regarded as dictatorship. Yes, reform requires some iron fist.After the decision is made, it is also necessary to temporarily cut off the debate.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.All of what he did was designed and carried out around autocracy, centralization and dictatorship.Since autocracy, centralization, and dictatorship are desired, the people cannot be allowed to have freedom of speech.Therefore, Shang Yang was not only not allowed to discuss his decrees, but he did not allow any discussion at all.In his mind, the people have only obligations but no rights.They are just tools and weapons for the king to achieve hegemony and imperial career.Since it's nothing more than tools and weapons, what are you talking about? Just follow orders! This is the so-called Shang Yang Reform.Due to the arbitrariness of him and his supporters, the state of Qin after the reform had a dictatorial monarch on top, all living beings on the bottom, and bureaucracies in the middle.Qin, became a quasi-empire with centralized power and a military dictatorship. It is true that the transformation of the state into a "quasi-empire" in which the king directly governs the whole people through the bureaucracy is not Qin's special creation, nor is it the first initiative of Qin, nor is it the work of Shang Yang alone.The so-called "decay of rites and collapse of happiness" actually means that the feudal system established in the Western Zhou Dynasty has collapsed, and it is unstoppable for states to become empires.In fact, the princes who have annexed other states have long since stopped enfeoffing their children; the officials who have replaced the princes are even less willing to repeat the same mistakes.In other words, the reform of the system is already the general trend, but Qin is at the forefront.As Mr. Huang Renyu said, when other countries were still "one-sided reform", Qin was already "comprehensive renovation".This is not surprising, because Qin was originally different (Chu is also different, so I won’t go into details here).Most of the other vassal states were established according to the feudal model of the Western Zhou Dynasty.Every country is almost a miniature Zhou Dynasty, the monarch is often only the head of state in name, and the political power is actually in the hands of the officials, which is the so-called "government by the Ning family, sacrifices by the widows".So there were three families divided into Jin Dynasty, and the Tian family usurped Qi.Qin's political power has always been in the hands of the monarch.In other words, what they implemented was military centralization, and Shang Yang's reforms only added fuel to the flames and brought it to a higher level. Therefore, Qin finally seized the world, which can only be attributed to the fact that Qin State 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 is a centralized system that has begun to take shape.Or to be more precise, the centralized monarchy.Such a system, called "totalitarianism" by Mr. Huang Renyu, can concentrate domestic resources and wealth to the greatest extent, stimulate the people's production potential and fighting courage to the greatest extent, and maintain a "collective system of prohibition and unity." Character", so that the Qin Kingdom can stand out in the fierce competition of survival of the fittest, and finally eliminate the six countries and establish a new regime to rule the world. All that needs to be done now is to change "centralization of power" (centralization of state power) into "centralization of power" (centralization of power in the empire).For Qin people, this is actually very familiar.If there is anything else to do, it is to transport all the weapons of the other six countries to Xianyang, destroy them centrally, and cast them into twelve golden men (bronze men) to show that they bid farewell to the society of force and never raise troops. The Great Qin Empire was born.China has since entered the power society.