Shang Ying, known as the founder of the Great Qin Empire, with the assistance of Shang Ying, Qin from a small country on the border of the Western Regions, into the first power of the Warring States, Shang Yang is the key figure of Qin from weak to strong.
Shang Ying is not only a famous politician, but also an important representative of Legalist thought, Shang Yang and Li Kui and Wu Qi are the same as the Wei Guo, Wei Guo in today's Henan, Wei Guo is the vassal state of the Zhou Dynasty, the place is not big, but there are many talents, in history for nearly 1000 years, there are many celebrities, quite legendary.
Shang Ying was born in 390 B.C., earlier than Mencius and Zhuangzi, and the Legalist Shen Dao and Shen Bu are contemporaries, Shang Ying is a patriotic nobleman, in his early years he liked the study of criminal names, and the historical record is still a student of Li Kui and Wu Qi, who studied Confucianism in his early years, and later turned to Legalist thought, so he has the temperament of Confucianism in his thoughts. Shang Ying once lobbied Qin Xiaogong four times to implement his concept of governing the country, and finally impressed Qin Xiaogong with the concept of enriching the country and strengthening the army.
In 359 B.C., Qin Xiaogong appointed Shang Ying to promulgate the "Grass Reclamation Order" in Qin, as a prelude to a comprehensive reform, the starting point of the reform is agriculture, and the strategy is to "teach the best of the land", adjust the ownership and management rights of the land, stimulate the enthusiasm of the people to farm, and at the same time inhibit the development of commerce, reshape social values, improve the social awareness of agriculture, weaken the privileges of nobles and officials, and let the domestic aristocracy join agricultural production. Reform strategies such as a unified tax and rent system will be implemented.
Three years after the implementation of the "Reclamation Order" was very successful, and then Shang Ying was appointed as the head of Zuo, equivalent to the prime minister of Qin, and began to preside over large-scale reforms, first of all, the reform of the law, including the reform of the household registration system, the implementation of the Shiwu joint sitting law, mutual monitoring and reporting, one family violated the law, and ten families were jointly punished.
The second is to make clear military laws, reward military merits, and establish a 20-class knighthood system, and those who have military merits will be promoted and rewarded according to the standards. The military merit system greatly boosted the morale of the Qin army and improved the combat effectiveness of the army.
The third is to abolish the Shiqing Shilu system, and those in the royal family who do not have military merits cannot be included in the family register.
Fourth, public warfare is encouraged and private fighting is severely punished. Fifth, we should encourage farming and weaving, and emphasize agriculture and suppress business. Sixth, it is necessary to increase agricultural production, reduce or reduce taxes, and so on. Later, Shang Ying also presided over the second and third reforms, including the opening of the Mo Frontier, the abolition of the Jingtian system, the unification of weights and measures, and other historic changes.
10 years after Shang Ying implemented the new law, the Qin State began to change from weak to strong, the road was not left behind, there were no thieves in the mountains, the family was rich and the people were full, the people had the courage to fight, and the social order was in order. But after the change, in 338 BC, Qin Xiaogong died, the crown prince succeeded to the throne, Shang Ying because of the change of the law made too many enemies, in the end still did not get a good death, was split by the car and died.
Although Shang Yang committed suicide, but the Shang Dynasty changed the law to lay the foundation of Qin's prosperity and strength, after Shang Yang was torn apart, Qin's legal line was not interrupted, and the powerful Qin Empire gradually gained a firm foothold, starting from 361 BC, Qin Xiaogong succeeded to the throne, and finally established the first unified dynasty in the history of our country after the governance of the VI.
What is the main point of Shang Ying's Legalist thought?
Han Feizi summarized Shang Ying's thought as "law", Shang Ying's law, Shen Bu Harm's technique, and cautious potential were integrated by Han Feizi, and later Han Feizi also became a master of Legalist thought. Shang Ying is a representative of Legalist thought, and his thoughts are included in the Book of Shang Jun, which has only 24 extant articles, which cover many aspects such as politics, economy, military, and rule of law, and its core revolves around: law, faith, and power. In the Book of Shang Jun: Revision of Rights, Shang Ying said that there are three factors in governing the country well: law, credit, and power. The law is "rule by law", that is, with the law as the highest criterion, what to do, what not to do, how to do, everything is based on the law. Faith is about rewards and punishments, and the so-called rewards and punishments have faith.
Power is the power of the state, including the right to wealth, military power, legal power, cultural power, and moral power, all of which must be concentrated in the hands of the monarch, unify thinking and will, and form a joint force for combat. Qin's reform actually revolved around these three fundamentals.
The most important of these is the strictness of the law, which emphasizes the equality of all persons before the law. Four years after Shang Ying's second change, the prince of Qin broke the law and was cut off by Shang Ying. Shang Ying understood that whether the law is effective or not lies in the legislative power and law enforcement power, and if it cannot be strictly enforced, then the law cannot establish authority. Regarding the importance of credit, there is also a story of Shang Ying's "Wood for Faith". Shang Ying erected a three-zhang high log at the south gate of the market in the national capital, and said to the people that whoever could move this wood to the north gate of the city would be given ten gold. The people were baffled, and no one wanted to do it. Shang Ying added another weight: "Someone can move the wood to the north gate of the city and give fifty gold." Someone really volunteered to move the wood to the north gate, and then Shang Ying fulfilled his promise and gave fifty gold, so Shang Ying gained the trust of the people.
In short, Shang Yang is an important representative of Legalist thought, but also the most successful model of Legalist thought practice, not only laid the foundation for the strength of the later Qin State, but also played a key role in the formation of later Legalist thought.