February** Dynamic Incentive Program
These were the two earliest reform movements in Chinese history. The Wei State became the first overlord of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States through Li Kui's reform, and the vast and populated Chu State was also prepared to change the malaise of the past due to the addition of the famous general Wu Qi. However, it was also a reform and a change of law, but the ending was very different, and the famous general Wu Qi was even killed by random arrows. So what were the reasons for the success of Li Kui's reform and the tragic failure of Wu Qi's reform?
At the beginning of the Warring States period, the slave state ownership of land had almost been replaced by the feudal private ownership of land, and the feudal economy thus occupied a dominant position, and the landlord class gradually grew, but this was in serious contradiction with the former slave owners and aristocrats. Therefore, in order to consolidate and develop the economic base of the feudal state, to ensure the rule of the new landlord class.
In the early Warring States period, various countries successively set off a reform movement, the first to bear the brunt of the Wei State, before the reform of the Wei State can be described as internal and external troubles, as the three emerging countries after the division of the Jin Dynasty, after the separation of the enemy. In the case of fierce battles between the princes, it was under very great military pressure externally, and the region of Wei was relatively backward, and its national strength was far behind that of Korea and Zhao, which were separated at the same time. Therefore, in the twentieth year of the reign of Wei Wenhou, Li Kui at that time had become an important minister of Wei after several years of tempering. Wei Wenhou then decided to appoint Li Kui as the prime minister and change the law to strengthen the country.
First of all, the hereditary system of the slave era was abolished, the hereditary salary enjoyed by the nobles was abolished, and the officials were selected according to their personal ability, which made the Wei state in the later period of the reign of Marquis Wen of Wei a situation of gathering talents. Then Li Kui abolished what had existed since the Western Zhou Dynasty"Ida system"Allowing private ownership and buying and selling of land, and at the same time setting reasonable taxes according to the output of the land, the farmland that originally belonged to the slave owners and aristocrats was transferred to the hands of the landlord class and peasants, and the Wei economy was completely transformed.
Secondly, Li Kui compiled the "Book of Laws" to implement the rule of law, and established a relatively complete Wei law, the six major systems of this law involved a very wide range of content, not only to maintain the feudal regime, but also to protect the interests of the emerging landlord class.
In the end, Li Kui proposed"Martial arts system"The soldiers of the army are evaluated, and those who perform well will be rewarded generously.
This reform had the most direct effect on Wei, which greatly improved its military capabilities. Through a series of changes by Li Kui, Wei Wenhou made the national strength of Wei grow by leaps and bounds, and provided strong support for Wu Qi to train Wei Wushu later. In the end, because of its strong national strength and brave army, Wei quickly occupied the hegemony among the seven kingdoms, and Li Kui's reform was undoubtedly very successful.
At that time, the state of Chu was vast and populous, and the army that could be mobilized even reached one million, but due to political corruption, the national strength of the state of Chu has been in a state of malaise, coupled with the fact that the state of Chu after the succession of King Chu to the throne has been in war for almost many years, resulting in the continuous loss of its territory. In this extremely embarrassing situation, King Chu Mourning also wanted to change the law to become stronger, but the lack of talents made him extremely distressed. At this time, Wu Qi, a famous general of Wei, was squeezed out by his ministers because of his outstanding military ability, and Wu Qi defected to Chu. The king of Chu then met with Wu Qi and was deeply touched by Wu Qi's analysis, so he took it"Explicit legal decrees"Wu Qi was promoted to Minister of State and presided over the reform of the law.
First of all, Wu Qi personally experienced the reform of the Wei State and knew the importance of the legal system to the country, so he formulated the decree of the Chu State based on Li Kui's "Book of Laws".
Secondly, Wu Qi thinks"The feudal monarch is too many"with"The minister is too heavy"are the two major drawbacks of Chu politics"The feudal monarch is too many"There are too many lords, and Shiqing Shilu will make the country poorer and poorer.
Wu Qi implemented a policy of lowering the rank of the nobles who had no merit and no merit, and at the same time abolished the Shiqing Shilu system, so that the descendants of the nobles could not enjoy more than three knights, so that the economic status quo of the Chu State could be directly changed, and the saved expenses could be used to motivate the soldiers, so as to strengthen their own military power. The so-called"The minister is too heavy"It's just that the power of ** is too great. Wu Qi strictly ordered the ministers not to exceed the scope of their powers"Ministers are prohibited from forming parties for personal gain"、"Reward all officials for their devotion to duty"The principle of rectifying the rule of officials, all incompetent and useless ** are all dismissed, and at the same time, it is necessary to reduce the income of hundreds of officials to nourish the army. We see "Wu Qi Change.""Totally"Li Kui's reform"as a model, and then change it in combination with the national conditions of the Chu State. However, the result of Wei Chu's change was completely different"Li Kui's reform"made Wei the overlord of the Seven Kingdoms, and"Wu Qi changed the law"However, it only played the role of enriching the country and strengthening the army to a certain extent, and a generation of famous generals finally ended up being shot to death by random arrows.
So, why are the results so different between the two of the same law reforms?
In fact, the main reason for this ending is that Wu Qi's reform dealt a blow to the vested interests of too many people, so that the old nobles lost the hereditary treatment of Gao Juelu, and the power in the hands of the minister was seriously weakened, causing Wu Qi to be resented, and finally suffered an attack after the death of King Chu Mourning, and his reform also ended with his death.
Some people may wonder why Li Kui also dealt a huge blow to the interests of the old aristocracy, but why was his reform so successful?
This is because of the support time of the two lords. Wei Wenhou still presided over the state affairs for 20 years since the beginning of the Wei reform, which means that Li Kui's reform has been supported by the monarch for 20 years, and the content of the reform has long been deeply rooted in the Wei state, which led to the success of Li Kui's reform. Since the beginning of the reform of the law, the king of Chu mourning only presided over the national affairs for five years and then drove west, but at this time, the reform of the law has not yet been completely established, and there are many opposition forces. If King Chu Mourning can live for another ten years, then Wu Qi's reform will inevitably have a different ending.