When it comes to the Warring States Period, the most courageous reformer was King Zhao Wuling of Zhao State. At that time, the conservative thinking was prevalent, the political situation was unstable and the frontier was in crisis.
However, King Wuling of Zhao decisively pushed for reforms, and he ordered the whole country to wear Hu clothes and the army to practice mounted archery. History has proved that the advanced nature of these two reforms far exceeded the level of their contemporaries, and their influence on later generations was far-reaching, even extending to modern times.
King Zhao Wuling's reform project led the trend of later generations for hundreds of years. His reform ideas are ahead of his time and he has a unique vision, why did he choose Hufu as a breakthrough in reform?
What kind of strategy and wisdom is contained in this? Why did his reform strategy have a profound impact on later generations and have a strong penetrating power in time and space? All of this is worth our in-depth study and reflection.
The history of the reform of King Zhao Wuling is not only an experiment of reform, but also a process of the rise of the country, which provides us with a precious historical sample.
After Zhao Yong, the king of Zhao Wuling, succeeded to the throne, he found that Zhao had made many enemies among the vassal states, and he had to hurry up to save his life. Zhao Suhou Zhao Yong's father is the flat-headed brother of Zhao Guo.
After the decline of the Wei State, he wanted to become the new speaker of the Three Jin Dynasty, so he frequently fought with the Central Plains countries. He attacked the State of Qi to seize the Tang Dynasty, attacked the Shouyuan of the State of Wei, united the State of Qi to attack the State of Wei, sent troops to attack the State of Wei again, and also sent troops to attack the State of Wei.
Although it took some advantage, it was despised by other countries. The state of Qi was the first power to oppose him. Zhao was more aggressive than Wei, which scared both Qi and Qin.
Qi and Wei joined forces to attack Zhao, and Zhao Suhou ordered the Yellow River embankment to be dug to release water, successfully driving away the Qi-Wei coalition army. This made Zhao Suhou feel a crisis. In order to prevent being besieged again by the enemy, he decided to build the Great Wall to defend the princes of the Central Plains like a barbarian.
In 326 BC, the Marquis of Zhao Su died, and the state of Zhao faced the threat of many powerful enemies. However, King Zhao Wuling was not defeated by these difficulties, and he decided to adopt a-for-tat strategy, setting up a decisive posture to meet those condolence messengers with ill intentions.
At the same time, he also used diplomatic mediation to make Yan and Chu retreat in the face of difficulties. Although the Zhao army suffered huge losses in the attacks of Han, Zhao, and Wei against Qin and Qi, he did not give up.
He saw the territory of the Hu people on the northern border, which was the new strategic development channel of the Zhao state. Although the Zhao Kingdom was surrounded by powerful enemies, King Zhao Wuling's eyes were on the future.
The Hu people's territory is not easy to take, and Zhao Guo is in deep trouble. For this reason, King Wuling of Zhao issued a loud oath: "The fool laughs, the sage observes." Although the world is driven to laugh at me, Hudi and Zhongshan I must have it! ”
The wheels of reform began to kick off slowly, and Zhao Guo looked for a new way out of the deadlock.
The Northern Iron Cavalry constituted a restraint on the infantry of the Central Plains; The tank is bulky, has poor mobility, and the terrain is slightly worse and cannot be passed. So, what should Zhao Guo do? They need to learn the techniques and tactics of the Hu people to ** them.
It is not enough to defeat them, the nomads have always been fierce, they will not submit to the Han and cannot be manipulated by the Han Chinese. Therefore, in addition to conquering by force, it is also necessary to conquer them through virtue and integrate them into the Han culture, so that both sides can become brothers and drink wine and eat meat together.
Just like Miyue and King Yiqu. If you ostracize them in the first place, things get difficult. Therefore, a carrot and stick strategy must be adopted to convince them.
Zhao's reform journey has experienced ups and downs and setbacks, the most important of which is the strong opposition of conservatives. These conservatives are rigid in their thinking, believing that everything about the Hu people is bad, and they can only change Xia into Yi, and they cannot change Xia with Yi.
They are worried that the reform will lead to a redistribution of the benefit cake, and their own cake may not be kept. Therefore, whenever you want to change a field, there is a group of people who protect their cake and say that if you want to change, you will change someone else's.
In this case, it is impossible to make a comprehensive change. However, King Wuling of Zhao did not give up on reforms because of this, he decided to carry out reforms in some areas, and found another way, moving the capital to a new place, and only reforming in the capital and some areas.
This strategy, although limited, laid the groundwork for Zhao's reforms.
King Wuling of Zhao boldly reformed and did not follow the usual path. He is well aware that reform is not simply about changing this and that, and if he fails to grasp the key points, he is likely to fail. So he decided to start from the military field, first from the infantry to cavalry for intensive training, the integration of Hu soldiers, and the learning of Hu people's skills of riding and archery and holding swords, so as to enhance combat effectiveness.
He also stepped on Hu Ma with a Hu knife, defeated Lin Hu, forced King Lin Hu to sacrifice his horse, and learned the skills of Hu people to shoot arrows in distance and hold swords in close combat. In the process of reform, he encouraged General Niu Zan to step out of his comfort zone, bravely become a cavalry general in his own right, and make great contributions in the war.
He also had the support of the princes and nobles, and the reforms were thus smooth. Eventually, Zhao's cavalry accounted for a staggering 8% of Zhao's army, a rarity among other countries at the time.
Through this reform, Zhao's military strength was greatly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for the later development of the country.
King Wuling of Zhao carried out the reform of Hufu cavalry and archery with a vision beyond the times, and his reform was not only a superficial change in clothing, but also had a profound impact on military, political, cultural and other aspects.
He started with his own crown and decorated the crown with gold trim and pheasant feathers, which can still be seen in modern fashion, and the new military general's hat is also very unique, with a circle of tassels around the hat and two long pheasant feathers, this design provided inspiration for the pheasant feather crown of the fierce general of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Bu.
He asked for the shoes to be changed to boots, stipulating that from officers to soldiers must wear boots, and civilian officials must also wear black hoe boots.
The original non-mainstream Hufu slowly became popular after the implementation of Zhao Guo's reference and became the mainstream of Central Plains clothing. "Xi Hu clothes, seeking convenience" has also become the overall trend of China's clothing changes.
The influence of Hufu cavalry archery is far-reaching, not only in military affairs, but also in politics and culture, and even in modern clothing and army construction.
Zhao Jun was unstoppable from then on.
Conclusion: Thinking ahead and achieving extraordinary results King Wuling of Zhao was ahead of his time in reforming thinking. He not only creatively imitated and borrowed the merits of others, but also made deep innovations.
The pheasant tail and mink on the hat designed by Zhao Guo are an innovative design of the Hu costume, but the main part of the hat is the Ben used in the Central Plains of the Zhou Dynasty. This innovation blends the characteristics of the Central Plains culture and Hufu, making it more practical and close to the modern armed belt.
In terms of troops, King Zhao Wuling did not convert all of them into cavalry, but formed a mixed force of infantry, cavalry and chariots according to actual needs, which could cope with battles on various terrains.
This kind of reform has both inheritance and reference, both compliance and innovation. Such successful reforms are very rare in history. After the reform, the state of Zhao gradually became stronger.
In 296 BC, six years after the reforms, the state of Zhao succeeded in eliminating the state of Zhongshan. In addition, through the attack on the Xiongnu, Linhu and Loufu, the territory of the Zhao State was greatly expanded, and the three counties of Yunzhong, Yanmen and Daijun were set up.
From then on, Zhao continued to attack northward, defeated Donghu, and eliminated Lanlin; To the west, the powerful Qin state was stopped, and to the south it supported Korea and Wei, and the national power became stronger and stronger.