Chapter 9 Li Kui Reform

One day in 425 BC, a Qin army approached Shangjun, the territory of the Wei family—"Jun" was a new thing in the late Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, the three Jins set up counties in their respective strategic locations, with the main purpose of consolidating border defense.The military and political chief of the county is called Shou, and also honored as Taishou.Shangjun is located in Xihe, on the border with Qin State. Needless to say, it was established to deal with Qin State. This Qin army was blocked by the soldiers and civilians of Shangjun. Before the two armies came into contact, the Wei army shot arrows like locusts. The generals of the Qin army didn't care at first, but soon discovered that something was wrong-the arrows shot by the Wei army were ruthless and fierce. Accurate, and it seems that the range is longer, and a large number of Qin troops fell in an instant.He hesitated for a moment, and just about to order to retreat, a gust of wind rushed towards him, and before he could exclaim, he was shot in the head by an arrow.

When he fell from the chariot, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the big "Li" flag waving in the wind in the distance. The commander-in-chief of this Wei army is Li Kui, the governor of Shangjun. In the existing historical records, there is no record about Li Kui's life experience. We only know that he was once a disciple of the Bu Shang, Zeng Shen, who was regarded as the disciple of the Bu Shang. He was recommended to serve as the governor of the upper county. Li Kui has only been in Shangjun for a few years, and Shangjun has undergone obvious changes-the grain output has increased, social security has improved, and more importantly, the military has become stronger.

It turned out that in order to improve the archery skills of the soldiers and civilians in Shangjun, Li Kui ordered the use of archery competitions to adjudicate the lawsuit, "the one who wins wins, and the one who doesn't win loses."Under this kind of encouragement, all the soldiers and civilians in Shangjun practiced archery hard, and trained a large number of excellent archers. Every time there was a military conflict with Qin, the Wei army took advantage of their superb archery skills. Because of Li Kui's outstanding achievements in Shangjun, after Zhai Huang resigned, Weiss summoned him to Anyi to succeed him as the family minister.

Weiss' original intention was to ask Li Kui to spread Shangjun's experience to the entire Wei family territory.He did not expect that this personnel change quietly opened the prelude to the first political reform movement in the Warring States period, and the Wei regime was pulled into the fast lane of enriching the country and strengthening the army. Everyone was dumbfounded and sighed. Li Kui is the kind of person who can play "Turandot" well if he is given a small stage; if he is given a big stage, he can perform an Olympic opening ceremony. As early as when he was working in Shangjun, Li Kui discovered through observation and research that within a hundred miles of land, excluding mountains, rivers and villages, there were about 6 million mu of cultivated land (equivalent to 1.8 million mu today).If farmers cultivate intensively, they can increase grain production by three buckets per mu, otherwise, they can reduce grain production by three buckets. The total difference is 1.8 million shi.

What did this number mean at the time? The annual ration of an adult is about 18 shi, and 1.8 million shi can supply the ration of 100,000 people for a year. In ordinary times, one shi of grain can be sold for 30 qian (copper coins), and 1.8 million shi is 54 million qian.At that time, the price of a pig was about 250 yuan, and 54 million yuan could buy 216,000 pigs. A farmer spends about 300 yuan a year on clothing, and 54 million yuan can cover the clothing expenses of 180,000 farmers a year. If you want the people to be rich and the country strong, you don't need to steal or rob, just plant the land under your feet well.Under the leadership of Li Kui, the Wei regime promulgated three policies of "teaching with the utmost strength":

First, guide farmers to sow multiple food crops at the same time, so as to avoid a single variety that cannot be compensated for in disasters; Second, order officials at all levels to urge farmers to cultivate quickly and harvest in time, so as not to affect the harvest due to disasters and weather, and to prevent the bandits around them from taking advantage of it; Third, farmers are required to use the land around their houses to plant mulberries, fruits, vegetables, etc., to expand sideline production. These measures may not seem surprising to modern eyes, but they were significant at the time.As mentioned earlier, there were two major national events in the Spring and Autumn Period, namely "Sacrifice and Rong".Li Kui's "teaching with all his strength" is based on agriculture, and he regards agricultural production as the top priority of the country, concentrates on construction, and seeks development wholeheartedly. The influence on Wei is no less than that of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee influence on modern China.

While developing agriculture, Li Kui vigorously promoted the rule of law, compiled and promulgated China's first systematic law code - "Fa Jing".Li Kui believes that the most fundamental role of law is to maintain social order, so that people can live and work in peace and contentment, free from thieves.Therefore, the six volumes of the "Fajing", headed by "The Law of Stealing" and "The Law of Thieves", emphasize the protection of private property, and at the same time emphasize the hierarchical system of superiority and inferiority under the autocratic regime. Such powers are strictly regulated, and exceeding the regulations is called "exceeding the system" and will be severely punished.

It is a pity that the original text of this legal code has long been lost, and posterity can only get a glimpse of it through the records in "Hanshu" and "Jinshu", so this book has to mention it briefly.But what is certain is that this "Fa Jing" established Li Kui's academic status and made him regarded by later generations as the pioneer of Legalism in the Warring States Period.Decades later, Shang Yang entered Qin from Wei and carried out the historically famous Shang Yang Reform in Qin, and he took this "Fa Jing" with him.Later, the "Qin Law" of the Qin State, and even the "Han Law" of the Han Dynasty, were all expanded on the basis of this "Fa Jing".

Li Kui also thinks about food prices from the perspective of the market.He realized that if the price of grain was too low, farmers would not be able to make ends meet and their lives would be difficult; if the price of grain was too high, the burden on urban residents would increase, and the government's finances would also be difficult to guarantee.Therefore, no matter whether the price of food is too high or too cheap, it is not conducive to maintaining the rule.In addition, in order to chase profits, businessmen hoarded food, bought a large amount of food at low prices in good years, and sold it at high prices in bad years, which also led to social instability.

When some people hear about hoarding, they naturally think of it—profiteer, punish him!But wait a minute, merchants do not steal or rob, buy and sell, which law is violated?The so-called legal action is actually an illegal action, which tramples on the spirit of the contract and uses unjust means for a seemingly just purpose.As a pioneer of legalism, Li Kui did not use such a brutal method. He was determined to solve the problem of food prices within the framework of the rule of law, and for this reason he proposed the "leveling (di) method" to balance prices. When the grain harvest is good, the government pays to buy surplus grain from farmers; when the grain harvest is bad, the government sells the surplus grain at a fair price, so as to avoid the sharp fluctuations in grain prices due to harvest problems, and at the same time make it unprofitable for businessmen who want to speculate.The government here regulates the market entirely through market means, which has played a positive role in consolidating the small peasant economy, maintaining social stability and maintaining the authority of the law.For more than 2,000 years since then, this leveling purchase method has been widely used in successive dynasties, but the names are different.

Weiss attracts talents through Bu Shang and develops the economy through Li Kui, but militarily, Weiss is not strong enough.The state of Qin is still threatening the safety of the Wei family. There are constant frictions between the two sides, and large-scale wars occur from time to time.Qi and Chu also took advantage of the fire to loot, and sent troops to invade the Wei family whenever they had the opportunity. In 419 BC, the Wei family began to build Shaoliang City (now Hancheng, Shaanxi Province) to defend against Qin's attack.Before the city was built, the Qin army attacked and the project was forced to stop.The war lasted for nearly two years, and it was not until 417 BC that the Wei family built Shaoliang City.The state of Qin fought tit-for-tat, and built Fancheng in the south of Shaoliang City, and Jigu City in the north. In order to eliminate the threat of Qin once and for all, Weiss took the initiative to attack Qin in 413 BC and defeated the Qin army in Zhengdi (now Hua County, Shaanxi Province).Qi State immediately sent troops to take advantage of the void, destroy Huangcheng (now Neihuang, Henan Province), and surround Yanghu (now Yanggu, Shandong Province).The state of Chu made a northern expedition to Shangluo (now Luonan, Shaanxi Province).Weiss had to go back to the teacher to rescue him. The victory in the battle against Qin was offset by the invasion of Qi and Chu. Weiss deeply felt that a rich country and a strong army are not enough. If we want to survive in this age of the jungle, we must have a strong army!