The Spring and Autumn Period is the first great ** era in Chinese history, for more than 200 years, the princes were divided, and the wars continued, but it was also a critical period for the transformation of the slave society to the feudal society, and a large number of outstanding politicians and reformers emerged.
Speaking of reform, Guan Zhong and Le Yi are familiar names, but when it comes to childbirth, people are very unfamiliar.
So who are the children?
He was the ruling physician of Zheng Guo in the late Spring and Autumn Period, although Zheng Guo was a small countryHowever, it is no exaggeration to say that the reform led by the protégrature sounded the clarion call for China's social transformation towards feudalism.
Posterity has clouds:
"In the first half of the Spring and Autumn Period, you have to be in a tube; In the second half of the Spring and Autumn Period, I will have a child."When he died, not only the people of the country mourned, but even Confucius shed tears for him, which shows the high status of the child.
Let's unveil this dusty history and learn about the legendary life of this great reformer.
In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the etiquette collapsed, the princes and the Qingshi class contradictions were sharp, the situation in Zheng State at that time was turbulent, and the state power was controlled by the seven Qing clans (the descendants of Zheng Mugong), and the son was the son of the prince Ziguo, one of the "Seven Mu".
Growing up in the office, the child was influenced by the environment and showed a high political talent from an early age.
In 565 BC, Ziguo and another prince, Zi'er, invaded the state of Cai and plundered the wealth
"A small country has no civil rule but has martial arts, and there is no greater disaster than this. From now on, Zheng Guo will not be at peace for at least four or five years. ”As soon as this remark came out, Ziguo was very unhappy and reprimanded:
"What do you know? The state has a major order to send troops, and there is a ruling secretary there, and children who say these words will be killed. ”In 563 BC, civil strife broke out in the state of Zheng, and the sub-kingdom was killed by rebels in a melee.
At that time, Zichan was in charge of the defense of the palace, and after the rebellion broke out, he calmly commanded, first closed the archives and other important places, and then gathered the guards to attack the rebels, and then fought with reinforcements to kill all the rebels.
After that, Gongzi Jiazi Kong was in power, intending to dictate and dictate, but the result once again caused internal contradictions within the Qing family, and in 554 BC, Zizhan launched a coup d'état to kill Zikong, and the position of Shangqing was vacant.
Just when people were deadlocked over the choice of the secretary, Zizhan recommended Zichan to govern.
Because he knows that Zheng is worried about domestic and foreign troubles at present, Zheng Jiangong has no strategy, but it is just an ornament, although the Qing family is in power, most of them are incompetent.
Only the child has enough talent to turn the tide, and the child at first refused.
Zheng Guo itself is a small country, sandwiched between the two big countries of Jin and Chu, and the "Qimu" Qing clan in China has a huge power, fighting openly and secretly with each other, and it is not good that they will be imprisoned and their lives are worried.
Zizhan saw Zichan's worries, and in order to dispel his doubts, he said that although he retreated into the background, he fully supported Zichan's governance and would definitely suppress the opposition of the Qing clan.
In 554 BC, with the support of Zi Zhan, Zheng Jiangong officially appointed Zi Chan as Shangqing and ruled Zheng Guo.
The reform of the child property mainly revolved around economic taxation and criminal law, and the content was simple, but it was of epoch-making significance.
Economically, in 543 B.C., Zichan implemented a reform of the land system, first of all, to implement the "Wei Tian Xun", which restricted the nobles from occupying too much land and distributed the surplus land to the peasants, and then to "make a mound tax", which required taxes to be collected from the fields.
Both measures are based on the recognition and encouragement of private ownership of land at the national level, and the definition of the extent of privately owned land through the construction of ditches on private land.
You must know that for more than 500 years since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the well field system has been practiced, and farmers have cultivated on publicly owned land.
However, with the improvement of agricultural productivity and farming technology, more and more people developed private land outside the well fields, coupled with the continuous wars in the Spring and Autumn Period, the social order collapsed, and the public land was basically abandoned.
Realizing that it was no longer meaningful to maintain the well field system, Zisan simply recognized private land and encouraged people to cultivate it and collect taxes directly from it.
In this way, the peasants' enthusiasm for farming has increased, and the state's tax revenue has been fully guaranteed. At the same time, Zisan also organized the people who worked on the private fields into a military army, enriching the country's military resources.
Obviously, the reform of the land system of the child industry violated the interests of the traditional aristocracy and was violently attacked, and some doctors also warned the child that there was a lot of discontent among the people, and if the situation got out of control, his life would be in danger.
However, the child production was unmoved, and persisted in carrying out the reform of the land system, and three years later, the reform of the child production had achieved great results.
Agricultural productivity has been greatly liberated, and farmers have benefited a lot from the launch of water conservancy projects, and people have shifted from skepticism and resistance to support and support for the reform of the production industry.
Politically, Zichan took the lead in "casting the penal book" in 536 BC, and the "casting penal book" is "casting the penal book in Ding, which is regarded as the common law of the country".
It is to cast the legal provisions of Zheng Guo on the great tripod with the symbolic meaning of royal power, and publish it to the public, so that the people know about it.
This practice of the child once again aroused the concern of the government and the opposition, you must know that before this, countries usually do not publish legal provisions, the logic is that "if the punishment is unknowable, it is unpredictable", and if the people knew the legal provisions, they would use it to rebel against the ruler.
However, Zisan believes that the past should be discarded, that the Zhou rite is not an eternal truth, and that if you want to effectively govern society, you must play the role of the law.
Therefore, the law of secrecy was denied, and the law was made public, so that the people could know the rules in advance and the consequences of their personal actions.
Under the impetus of the child, the first written law was officially promulgated for the first time in the history of China, and in addition to making the penal book public, it also made the penal calligraphy codified, which has epoch-making significance in both legal history and social history.
At that time, there was a man named Deng Xi, who had a very thorough understanding of the law, and not only gathered people to give lectures, but also collected fees to help others fight lawsuits.
Because of his quick thinking and eloquence, he often helped civilians get away with their crimes, so that the people who were originally supposed to be punished by the government had to be released after Deng Xi's defense, and Deng Xi was also recognized as the originator of the lawyer's profession.
In addition to economic and political reforms, Zi Chuan broke the monopoly of power of Shiqing Shilu and selected talents as much as possible.
At the same time, he also paid attention to uniting the "Qimu" group, and realized the problem of Zheng Guo's "small and forced country, big and big favor" in the late Spring and Autumn Period.
Therefore, he acted according to etiquette, reconciled aristocratic disputes fairly and justly, and the noble quality of the child won him a good reputation, effectively curbing the centrifugal force within Qimu.
At that time, Zheng Guoren went to the township school to gather and discuss the gains and losses of the ruler's governance, and some doctors suggested that the township school be destroyed, but Zichan not only refused, but also encouraged the people to speak freely and give full space for discussion.
After years of hard work, Zheng Guo's national strength has gradually recovered, and the social economy has made great progressHistorical records:
"In two years, the city is not Yujia. For three years, the door is not closed overnight, and the road is not forgotten. For four years, the field did not return. For five years, the soldier has no ruler status, and the mourning period is not ordered. ”Because Zheng Guo is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, he has been bullied between the two great powers of Jin and Chu since the change of banner, and Zi Chuan has dominated Zheng Guo's diplomacy, changing the policy of only being strong and subordinate, but defending his own rights with an attitude of neither humility nor arrogance.
In 549 BC, in order to reduce the tribute borne by Zheng State, he sent a letter to Fan Xuanzi, the ruler of the Jin State, and succeeded.
Twenty years later, in the Pingqiu Alliance, he argued with the Jin State over the order of tribute from noon to evening, and was once again able to reduce the tribute.
During this period, when Zichan led the delegation to the Jin State to pay tribute, he was given a cold reception, and in a fit of anger, he demolished the wall of his residence to show **, and the ruling Zhao Wu at that time had to come forward to apologize in order to save face.
In 526 BC, Han Xuanzi, the ruler of the Jin State, wanted to ask for and buy jade rings from the merchants of Zheng Guo through the Zi Estate, but the quilt refused on the grounds that the law of Zheng Guo clearly stipulated that ** should not interfere with the merchants.
Although Zichan hardened the six secretaries of the Jin State, his words were appropriate, reasonable, and the Jin State had nothing to say.
Zichan's attitude towards the state of Chu was equally tough.
In 541 BC, the prime minister of Chu took the opportunity of marrying the daughter of Gongsun Duan, the doctor of Zheng Guo, and led an army to attack Zheng Guo, but the quilt was seen through, and he strongly stated that the wedding could only be held outside the city, and at the same time ordered the army to be under full martial law.
Zichan was able to slap the two great powers of Jin and Chu at the same time, although it was one thing to be smart, but the most important thing was to rely on the growing national strength after the reform of Zheng Guo, so that Jin and Chu did not dare to act rashly.
Zichan's 30 years in power have made Zheng Guo's national strength unprecedentedly improved, but his long-term hard work has also overdrawn his body.
In 522 B.C., Zisheng fell ill, and when he was dying, he still couldn't rest assured about state affairs, and he used water and fire as a metaphor to warn his successor, Uncle Zi, to be lenient and fierce for political leaders, and soon Zisheng died.
According to historical records, after the death of the child, Zheng Guo fell into the grief of the whole country, the young and the old all cried bitterly, all entertainment stopped, and the mourning lasted for three months.
In the more than 200 years of history of the Spring and Autumn Period, Zichan has always been regarded as a reformer on a par with Guan Zhong, so the two are often compared.
In my opinion, although the reputation of the child is relatively small, its performance and ability are not weaker than the latter.
As the Qing Dynasty scholar Jiang Bingzhang said:
"Guan Zhong's achievements are great, and he is in the world, but there are too many of them. The talent of the child is substantial, and the merit is in one country, but it is too little. Guan Zhong died and was in chaos, and the virtuous talents were not used, and the villain was also ambitious. The son died and Zheng Zhi used the son to uncle. ”