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Chapter 9 8. Transform public affairs into private affairs in a legitimate way

what is history 1 袁腾飞 1916Words 2018-03-20
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, iron ox farming was popularized, the level of productivity further developed, and the amount of wasteland reclamation increased unprecedentedly, which caused a certain degree of conflict with the well field system.The well field system stipulates that the land is state-owned land, and the cultivated land is allotted.Moreover, due to the low level of productivity, the enfeoffed land cannot be cultivated, and there is no time to take care of other wasteland.However, with the popularization of iron ox farming, people's production efficiency has been greatly improved. After finishing this piece of land, looking at other fertile wasteland, a bold idea emerged: if you don't plant white, you don't plant. Caucasian.These wastelands are not entrusted by the emperor, and they are not owned by the state. If I plant them myself, it is my own land, and I don’t have to pay taxes.Ever since, everyone waved their hoes and started doing private work as quickly and economically as possible.

As a result, more and more private fields are reclaimed, and the land entrusted by the state is gradually barren. As a result, everyone doing this affects the state's income.The so-called Tao is one foot high, and the devil is one foot high. The country thinks that since everyone is like this, it simply pays taxes in accordance with the regulations regardless of public land or private land.It is tantamount to acknowledging the private status of land in disguise. In this way, land ownership has been transformed from state ownership to private ownership.At the same time, in order to adapt to such changes, countries have reformed one after another. For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Qi State Guan Zhong's Xiangdi taxation declined, and Lu State's initial tax mu.Then in the Warring States Period, Li Kui was in Wei State, Wu Qi was in Chu State, and Shang Yang was in Qin State. The three families reformed one after another, and a new system was established.However, Li Kui's reform in Wei State and Wu Qi's reform in Chu State both failed, especially Wu Qi's reform in Chu State failed the most.Once the king of Chu who supported Wu Qi's reform died, the conservative nobles at that time wanted to kill Wu Qi.In the end, Wu Qi was forced to lie on the corpse of the king of Chu, using the corpse of the king of Chu as a cover, and threatened the nobles. If anyone assassinated him, he would definitely commit the taboo of offending the corpse of the king.But this group of nobles hated Wu Qi so much that they regarded the threat as nothing, so they shot Wu Qi to death without any explanation, and the body of King Chu was also shot into a hedgehog.For Chu, this lost an opportunity to become powerful.

The only one among the three reformers who succeeded was Shang Yang, and it was his reform measures that finally made Qin State strong and prosperous.There is an idiom called Tu Mu Li Xin, which refers to one of the reasons for the success of Shang Yang's reform.At that time, in order to convince the people to obey his new law, Shang Yang erected a log at the south gate of the city, and posted a notice saying that whoever carried the log to the north gate would reward fifty gold.Someone really came out to carry it, and easily got fifty gold.Shang Yang didn't use fifty gold to teach everyone that pies can fall from the sky, but to establish his own reputation in the hearts of the people.So during Qin Xiaogong's reign, Shang Yang's reform was implemented smoothly.

The specific measures are as follows: First, let the people serve as five, and implement the method of sitting together.Organize the common people.Ten families have one ten, five families have one five, one family has committed a crime, and five and ten families have been implicated. This is called Lianzuo.For example, the mistress in the next door took drugs, and you didn’t report it if you knew about it, but you were punished after being found out, which shows how strict the control was on the common people at that time. Second, emphasize agriculture and suppress business, and reward farming and weaving.In ancient China, people were divided into four classes: scholars, farmers, businessmen, and merchants and residents, at the end of the four classes.At that time, the key reason for emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business and rewarding farming and weaving was that the level of productivity was too low.There is a saying that "If a husband does not till, he may suffer from hunger; if a woman does not weave, she may suffer from cold".Farmers, the foundation of the world, gold, pearls and jade, cannot eat when hungry, and cannot clothe when cold.Unlike our China today, how many husbands do not farm, how many girls do not weave, and no one suffers from hunger or cold. At that time, there were no people like Yuan Longping. If the common people abandoned agriculture and started business, the country would be over.Therefore, at the beginning, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business was in line with the level of productivity at that time, and the policy must emphasize agriculture.Another reason is that the products at that time were mainly luxury goods, which had nothing to do with the lives of the people, and it was useless to come here. You may not be able to exchange a few sticks of Mala Tang for a dozen of emeralds and agates.It was not until after the mid-Tang Dynasty that people’s daily necessities gradually increased, but later, for example, in the Qing Dynasty, with the development of the country’s economic level, a policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business was adopted, which hindered economic development.

Third, reward military merits and be honored according to merit.Prior to this, the conferring of titles by senior officials was a hereditary salary system, and they were born with a salary. This situation has changed since Shang Yang's reform, rewarding military merits, and receiving titles according to merit.The state of Qin divided the nobility into 20 grades, the highest of which is the 20th grade of Marquis of Guannei, and the first to eighth grades are the ranks of the people.Promotion at this level depends on meritorious service on the battlefield.Cut off an enemy's head, and the title will increase by one level, so the enemy's head is called the first level.This incentive system of the Qin State made the Qin army very brave and good at fighting on the battlefield, beating their heads tirelessly, and this is the reason why they are generally called the tiger and wolf division.

Fourth, burnt poems and books to clarify laws and regulations.This is the later burning of books and burying Confucianism. It can be seen that Shang Yang is a typical representative of Legalism, emphasizing the legal system and requiring everyone to obey orders and obey commands. Fifth, unify weights and measures.Degree is length, measure is volume, and scale is weight.If the weights and measures are not the same, it will bring a lot of trouble to the communication in various places.For example, Americans will definitely speed when driving to Canada, because the United States uses imperial units, and the odometer shows miles, and 1 mile is equal to 1.65 kilometers.If the traffic signs in Canada show a speed limit of 80, the Americans will step on the accelerator and go over the speed limit!For another example, 1 catty is equal to 500 grams in mainland China, and 600 grams in Taiwan.If Taiwanese tourists come to the mainland to buy fruit, they will feel that the mainlanders have killed pigs.

Sixth, the abolition of enfeoffment and the implementation of the county system.The previous enfeoffment system left too many hidden dangers and seriously weakened the power of centralization.In order to solve this problem, Shang Yang set up 31 counties across the country, and the monarch appointed county magistrates.Later, counties were established in the county, and the county guards and county magistrates were appointed by the state, which fundamentally strengthened the role of centralization. Seventh, open fields for fields and seal borders, and waste well fields.Shang Yang established private ownership of land in legal form.It has changed the tacit understanding before, and the country tacitly acquiesces in the state of private land ownership.

Shang Yang's series of measures promoted the development of Qin's politics, economy, and military, making Qin the most powerful country among the seven heroes of the Warring States Period, and creating conditions for the unification of the six countries.
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