Chapter 8 "Stop War with Business" and Peaceful Hegemony

Guan Zhong's core idea of ​​governing the country, which is also the most ignored by later generations, is "stop war with business". "Stop war" - preventing war (whether civil war or foreign war) is the first priority of governing the country.Later generations of thinkers put forward many ideas of "stopping war". For example, Mohism and Taoism advocated "stopping war with agriculture", Legalism "stopped war with war", Confucianism "stopped war with benevolence and righteousness", Ming and Qing dynasties "stopped war with Shut off the country and stop wars", and in the late Qing Dynasty, Wei Yuan and Zheng Guanying put forward the theory of "military wars and business wars", all of which are different from Guan Zhong's "stop wars with business".

As far as the country's internal affairs are concerned, "stopping war with business" means developing a commodity economy so that the people will be rich without rebellion. Guan Zhong has a strong people-oriented thought.He said: "The prosperity of government lies in following the people's will." He does not advocate the use of harsh punishments to deter the people, because "punishments are not enough to fear their will, and killing is not enough to subdue their hearts." So how can we achieve "following the hearts of the people"?Guan Zhong's answer is to "follow his four desires", that is, "The people hate labor and sorrow, so I will make them comfortable and happy; the people hate poverty and lowliness, so I will make them rich and noble; Life is stable; after the people hate extinction, I will make them prosper.”He believes that as long as a politician understands these principles and regards giving as taking, he is a magic weapon in politics.Based on this, Guan Zhong put forward the very famous maxim: "If the warehouse is real, you will know etiquette; if you have enough food and clothing, you will know honor and disgrace."

Among the countries, Qi is the exporter of salt, iron and silk, the free trade zone with the lowest tax rate, and the country with the most stable grain production and sales.Guan Zhong's economic reform was to a certain extent also a victory for the middle class. As far as the relationship with the vassal states is concerned, "stopping war with business" means expanding foreign trade and maintaining a balance with military deterrence. Due to the success of economic reforms, Qi State has the strongest national power. It has 30,000 well-equipped soldiers. At that time, no one dared to fight for the front, but Guan Zhong rarely used troops to conquer the four fields.In the last generation of Duke Huan of Qi, only the two small countries of Tan and Sui were destroyed. Even when civil strife broke out in neighboring countries such as Song and Zheng, Guan Zhong tried to help his monarch restore the country.

Duke Huan of Qi has convened alliances of princes many times, and he has become the leader of the alliance of all countries. "Historical Records" says that he "joined the princes of nine countries, and controlled the world", that is, he called princes from all countries to Qi for nine meetings. In addition to national power, the important content is to unify the tariffs, trade and taxes of all countries as a hegemon.In 679 B.C. (the seventh year of Duke Huan of Qi), the Qi Nationality allied the princes and reached a tariff agreement. The tax on market transactions was 2%, and the import and export tariff was 1%.In the second year, Qi State once again allyed with the princes, and stipulated that the participating countries should build roads, unify the measurement standards, and unify the weight.These practices of Guan Zhong are like creating a regional economic customs union, which is still a game practice in international trade today, more than two thousand years later.

When the relationship between Qi State and neighboring countries was not in harmony, Guan Zhong seemed to be more willing to use commercial warfare to weaken the power of other countries.A very wonderful case is recorded in "Guanzi Light and Heavy Garrison"-- Lu State and Liang State are both big countries in the east, especially Lu State, which has always been called "Qilu" together with Qi State.The people of Lu and Liang were good at weaving ti, which is a thick and smooth silk fabric, and the clothes cut out of it were the most high-end clothing at that time.Guan Zhong begged Duke Huan of Qi to take the lead in wearing Ti clothes, and asked his attendants to follow suit.Soon, wearing Ti weaving clothes became the fashion in Qi.Although the demand for ti has soared and the supply exceeds the demand, Guan Zhong does not allow his own people to produce ti fabrics, but imports them all from Lu and Liang.Guan Zhong called together the merchants of the two countries and said to them: "If you weave ten bolts of rice for me, I will give you three hundred catties of copper. If you weave a hundred bolts, I will give you three thousand catties of copper. In this way, the two countries will Even if no taxes were collected from the people, the money would still be enough.” As expected, Lu and Liang fell into the trap, and under the instigation of the government, the people began to weave rice, and farming was neglected.Over the past year, food prices have skyrocketed.At this time, Guan Zhong ordered the closure of the trade gates with Lu and Liang, and no more imports of a piece of silk cloth.The economies of the two countries suddenly collapsed, and refugees flooded into Qi State. Guan Zhong took advantage of the situation and asked them to open up many wastelands in Qi State, which actually promoted agricultural production.Since then, Lu and Liang have been devastated, and the monarch of Lu State had to go to Qi State to collect coins to repair it.

Guan Zhong also used the same method to subdue the states of Ju and Lai.This is a rare case of commercial warfare in ancient Chinese history. Guan Zhong undoubtedly took advantage of the relationship between supply and demand in international trade.