Chapter 11 The military knight system: creating the world's first civilian society

Many great dictators were idealists and patriots. They had a firm idea of ​​​​governing the country and believed that they could benefit their people. In order to achieve their goals, they did not hesitate to sacrifice or hurt their loved ones, even themselves.Technically, they often act in the name of the people, attacking local governments and existing wealth groups by coercing grassroots people, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of restructuring interests and centralizing power.Shang Yang's reform clearly showed such characteristics. After spending three years turning Qin into a large farm, Shang Yang implemented the famous military system.

Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, China has entered the period of feudalism. The princes divided the world and the titles were hereditary, forming a system of nobles ruling from generation to generation.At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the civilian class has gradually risen, almost becoming an open and free society.Many famous generals and Confucian scholars recorded in history are poor scholars.Xu Zhuoyun, a contemporary historian, once counted the celebrities in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the early days, humble people who were not of noble origin accounted for 20% of the total number, and by the end it had accounted for 44%. Zhang Yi and others are all "people who dig the door in the poor alley and roll the hub of the Sanghu".In the Warring States period, this trend became more obvious.About 20 years earlier than Shang Yang, Wu Qi carried out reforms in the state of Chu, and proposed that "the sons and grandsons of the king should receive the title and salary for the third generation". .Because of this, Wu Qi was hated by the nobles and was shot dead.Twenty years later, Shang Yang raised this proposal again, and did it more thoroughly.

There are two specific policies of the knight system: First, "the clan cannot be a member of the clan unless it has military merits." All noble ranks of nobles are taken back, privileges are revoked, and redistributed. Only those who have made meritorious service on the battlefield can be reassigned noble ranks and become nobles; Second, "Those who have military merits, each of them will receive the rank of nobility." As long as they have military merits, no matter whether they are poor or low, they can obtain the rank of nobility.Shang Yang designed 20 ranks of titles, all awarded according to the number of enemies killed.

This system of military titles can be described as groundbreaking. It completely obliterated the boundaries between nobles and untouchables. Everyone can gain fame and wealth through war.In the state of Qin, citizens should only engage in two occupations, one is farmers and the other is soldiers. The former "rich the country" and the latter "strengthen the army". .This is an extremely pragmatic, anti-intellectual, utilitarianism that only "productivity comes first".In Shang Yang’s view, if everyone cultivates the land, they will get more food, more food will lead to more children, more children will lead to more soldiers, and more soldiers will lead to wars and get more land and population. More people will continue to fight more battles, and in this cycle, the "national goal" of unifying the world can be achieved.Anything that conflicts with or violates this national policy must be banned, and it cannot even be "paid off with merit."

Among the ancient civilizations in the world, China was the first country to break the aristocratic system, and among them, Shang Yang played the greatest role.In terms of national history, the military rank system opened the channel for people from Kong and Wu to enter the ruling class. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the government invented the imperial examination system, which opened up another channel for the intellectuals at the bottom.As a result, "princes and generals have a kind of peace", and the military system (samurai) and the imperial examination system (scholars) are linked together to form the stability of a civilian society that has lasted for thousands of years.The formation of these two systems, coupled with the regime’s moral contempt for business and institutional suppression, ultimately constituted an important feature of Chinese civilization.