Looking back at the history of China's feudal dynasties for more than 2,000 years, it is not difficult for us to findWhenever a regime is strong, there must be a famous minister around the monarch, such as Jiang Ziya, Zhuge Prime Minister, Wei Zheng, Liu Bowen and others. Thanks to the development of China's ** literature, the deeds of these famous people have been recorded and even adapted, presented to the world in a richer and more vivid posture, compared to their great achievements in governing the country, people seem to believe that they have the ability to call the wind and rain, the power of Qimen Dunjia, and relish these legends.
Many of the names of statecraft have been given mythological overtones.
Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, is one of the outstanding representatives. The Zhuge clan is a famous family in Langya County, and the prime minister received a good education when he was young; When he was an adult, he carefully studied the way of governing the country of the ancients, and was known for his talent, comparing himself with Guan Zhong and Le Yi. After receiving the invitation of the ancestors, the prime minister took it as his responsibility to support the Han family, and conscientiously assisted Liu Bei's regime throughout his life.
He not only pointed out the strategic direction for the next few decades with a "Longzhong Pair" as the first master, but also led the army to fight and govern internal affairs, leading Shu to fight against the Cao Wei regime that encompassed the entire north with the power of a state. In ** "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", many of the prime minister's deeds are deified, not only clever calculations, but also peeking into the mandate of heaven, so people mistakenly think that governing the country is just a trivial matter for him. However, in real history, the successful governance of Shu is due to the small things he started from bit by bit, and it is these small things that come together to lay the foundation of Shu's strength.
The most classic film and television image of Prime Minister Zhuge Cheng.
Among the thirteen states in the world, Shu only occupies one state, that is, Yizhou, according to the prime minister's early plan, the first mainly wants to retain the opportunity to seize the world, and must occupy Jing and Yizhou, and the current situation has made Shu far away from the great cause of unification. According to"Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, Zhuge Liang Biography".
"The general is the emperor's family, the letter and righteousness are focused on the four seas, the heroes are generalized, the sage is thirsty, if there are thorns and benefits, protect its rock resistance, the west and Zhurong, the south Fu Yiyue, the outside of Sun Quan, the internal cultivation of political affairs; If there is a change in the world, he ordered a general to take the army of Jingzhou to Xiang Wan and Luo, and the general led the people of Yizhou out of Qinchuan. If this is the case, then the hegemony can be achieved, and the Han family can be prosperous. "
The thirteen states of the Han Dynasty.
From the above historical sources, we can draw a conclusion that Yizhou alone was not enough to compete with the Cao Wei regime, which occupied the entire north. During the Yu period, the administrative scope was divided for the first time for the world, forming Kyushu; During the Han Dynasty, due to the further expansion of the territory of China, the world was divided into thirteen states. Throughout the course from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the early period of the Three Kingdoms, most of the major events took place in the north (Siqing, Xuji, and Yanzhou), that is, the traditional Central Plains, which was the core area of early Chinese civilization, and far exceeded other regions in terms of population and wealth accumulation.
Xiangyang, an important town in Jingzhou.
When Liu Bei's forces occupied Jingzhou, due to the temporary need to resist Cao Wei with Eastern Wu, the southeast of Jingzhou was relatively stable, and only faced pressure from the north. In this case, the prime minister still had a sense of distress, and strongly instructed the ancestors to go west to occupy Yizhou and connect Jing and Yizhou. In his plan, Yizhou benefited from the fact that it was surrounded by mountains and had a natural protective barrier, and the Chengdu Plain was fertile and suitable for grain cultivation and population accumulation, and could be built into the rear of Jingzhou, and when it was really time to plot the world, it was necessary to send the Jingzhou army north.
However, the strength of Liu Bei's forces is very limited, in order to successfully enter Sichuan, most of the living forces and almost all the military generals of Wenchen were mobilized, and the huge Jingzhou could only be guarded by Guan Yu's forces alone. This arrangement eventually led to the loss of Jingzhou, and although Guan Yu remained loyal to Liu Bei and fought against the Wei and Wu armies with all his might, he was trapped by the huge disparity in strength between the two sides and eventually lost Jingzhou. When Liu Bei's forces successfully eliminated Liu Zhang's forces, it was too difficult to recapture Jingzhou again, and there was also an episode of the ancestor avenging his brother in Yiling, the ancestor not only died, but also suffered a huge loss to Shu's ** force, so the prime minister could only temporarily develop steadily in Yizhou and restore the vitality of Shu.
There is a saying that the land of abundance is protected by natural dangers and is vulnerable to attack, which is suitable for the regime to divide here; However, the disadvantage is that Shu people are easy to indulge in happiness, lack of sense of worry, and eventually lose their enterprising spirit and live comfortably throughout their lives. Throughout the history of China, only Han Gaozu was the only one who won the world from the southwest region for more than 2,000 years, and Liu Bang was able to successfully leave Sichuan, in addition to his own merits, but also due to the many major mistakes made by the Western Chu regime at that time.
Silkworms and mulberry leaves. However, the prime minister always kept in mind the legacy of the ancestors, and was determined to regain the Han world, although Yizhou was fertile for thousands of miles, but it was still not enough to compete with the Cao Wei regime, so he implemented a series of measures in Yizhou to improve Yizhou's economy. In addition to the common construction of water conservancy, encouraging fertility, and upgrading agricultural tools, the prime minister also personally planted mulberry trees to raise silkworms, so as to encourage the Shu people to weave Shu brocade. According to"Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, Zhuge Liang Biography".
"At the beginning, Liang said from the back of the table"There are 800 mulberry trees in Chengdu, 15 acres of thin fields, and the children have food and clothing, and they have their own surplus. "
Brocade pattern detail.
Why does the prime minister attach so much importance to Shu brocade? This has to start with his concept of governance, as mentioned above, when the prime minister was young, he liked to compare himself with Guan Zhong and Le Yi, the former represents his concept of governing the country and the latter is his way of governing the army. Guan Xiang is known as the first phase of China, this name is by no means groundless, because he attaches importance to commercial development, so that Qi State through the profit of fishing and salt to harvest a large number of resources of other countries, not only to make their country rich and strong, but also military strength has been fully developed.
At present, Shu only occupies beneficial states, and the population and land area cannot grow rapidly in a short period of time, so if you want to improve the country's strength, you can only hope for internal excavation. Generally speaking, the ancient regime tended to attach importance to agriculture, because food was the basic guarantee for the survival of the people and the army's fighting, and if the country's leadership could manage agriculture clearly, even if the development of commerce, handicrafts and other industries stagnated, it would gain a good reputation. However, the prime minister realized that it was not enough to fight the agricultural production of several northern states with the agricultural survival of one state, so he had to create other products to generate a premium and go to the agricultural dividends of other countries, which was the fundamental reason why he attached importance to Shu brocade.
Chengdu Shujin Cultural Museum.
Soon, Shu brocade with its excellent embroidery, graceful patterns and magnificent colors became the love of the world's wealthy people, even the ** of the Wei State is not exempt from vulgarity, have spent a lot of money to buy Shu brocade, Cao Pi was very uneasy after learning this, personally promulgated the "Shu brocade book with the ministers". According to"Taiping Yulan, Cloth and Silk Department, Volume 2".
""Emperor Wei Wen's Edict" said: Every time you get Shu brocade before and after, it is not comparable, it is suitable and surprising, and Xianbei is still not loved. Since the ruyi tiger head and the brocade woven by me, there are also gold and thin, Shu thin to Luoyi, all evil. It is a thing that goes down to the earth, and it has a false name. "Why did Cao Pi want to interfere with the ordinary business behavior of buying Shu brocade? This is going to start with the high ** of Shu brocade. Shu brocade is a textile product, and the Wei people like him can buy it at will, but there is a problem here, that is, the prime minister led the Shu people to live a self-sufficient life in Yizhou, and there was no need to buy Wei bulk commodities; However, Wei kept buying consumables like Shu brocade, and Shu naturally formed a ** surplus with Wei.
Due to the high value of Shu brocade, in the ancient society dominated by agriculture, a high premium was formed that exceeded ordinary handmade products; And because of its light texture, easy to preserve the two characteristics, almost equivalent to the use of currency, Shu often use Shu brocade to reward meritorious officials, according to"Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Sixty-fifth Chapter".
"Send an envoy of 500 catties, 1,000 catties, 50 million catties, and 1,000 horses of Shu brocade, and give them to Yunchang. The rest of the officials and generals will be rewarded poorly. Kill cattle and horses, pay soldiers. Open a warehouse to help the people, and the army and the people are happy. "
Shu brocade loom. The people of the world recognize Shu brocade very much, so it has formed a brand effect, especially Wei as the most powerful country at that time, because of the high overall national wealth, especially like to buy Shu brocade, so Shu through this product continues to reap the production dividends of Wei, in other words, Wei is paying for the sky-high price of Shu brocade (Shu in order to form an alliance with Wu State, Shu brocade sold to Wu is relatively cheap).
On the other hand, the Wei State, although often raised troops against the Shu State, but its strategic and political significance is far higher than the actual harvest, not only can not be used to plunder the materials to feed the war, but also because the transportation of materials on the rugged mountain roads has caused a huge consumption of resources, itself is a huge consumption of domestic wealth, and now because of the purchase of Shu brocade will continue to convey wealth to the war opponent for its expansion of armaments, naturally Cao Pi is dissatisfied, which led to him taking the initiative to persuade his courtiers to stay away from Shu Jin.
Shu brocade can even act as currency.
From the matter of Shu Jin, we can get a glimpse of the Prime Minister's idea of governing Shu. First of all, the prime minister clearly proposed to drive out the Han thieves, so the Shu army must go out of Sichuan and wage war against the Cao Wei regime; However, since ancient times, the Shu road is difficult to walk, which is not only reflected in the enemy's entry into Sichuan, but also in the Shu army out of Sichuan.
In the case of limited production resources and conforming to the will of the people, the prime minister must not excessively grab the wealth of the people for military spending, but also maximize the productivity as much as possible. Although it is difficult to do this, it is not completely impossible, that is, to grasp the agricultural and commercial enterprises together, and focus on the basics; On the basis of guaranteeing grain output, state capital and private capital should be pooled to carry out targeted production of special commodities.
Screenshot of the MV of the song "Shu Embroidery".
The skills of Shu brocade have been passed down in ancient times, and they have been inherited in Shu; In addition, the good reputation over the years has broadened the smooth sales channels for Shu Jin, so it is not a problem to realize and earn foreign exchange. Previously, Shu brocade was only a private business behavior, after the prime minister ruled Shu, but this kind of business behavior rose to the height of the national strategy, with the policy to lead the people to carry out industrial upgrading, in the population, labor efficiency, labor intensity under the premise of the same greatly improved the actual value of the means of production, and finally let Shu in just three years with a state to compete with half of the world's strong national strength.