To prevent getting lost, the elevator goes directly to the safety islandNewspaper man Liu YaEast A
Common sense reading
Author:Qin Hui
Lecture Transcript of the 13th Lecture on the History of Chinese Thought
Section 1 The Qin system won because it was the most thorough legalization
In the "hundred schools of thought" on the occasion of Zhou and Qin, or in the struggle between the Zhou system and the Qin system, the Qin system obviously won. The reason for the victory was not that it was morally lofty, but rather that it was precisely because the Qin system was unscrupulous and appeared to be more practical than the high-profile Confucian doctrines.
In fact, the Qin system did play a great advantage in the annexation war during the Zhou and Qin periods, especially in the Warring States period, legalization has been a general trend, and everyone is actually competing to see who can legalize more thoroughly and who can eliminate the royal road as much as possible.
Qin did the most excessively and thoroughly in this regard, and of course he could win. Qin not only performed miracles in the war, but also in that short period of 15 years. The terracotta warriors, the Great Wall, and the straight roads we see now are all symbols of the miracles created by Qin.
Section 2: The Historical Rationality of Legalism
The existence of Legalism has its historical justification. In fact, apart from the Legalist doctrine, what other way can we integrate such a large country to a high degree in a state of very backward technical means?
Of course, this does not mean that there were no big empires in that traditional era, and some large empires flourished for a while and quickly disintegrated, such as the Mongol Empire; Some of the so-called great empires are just a kind of countries with a relatively low degree of internal integration, similar to the empire of Charlemagne in the European Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Empire of Otto I, etc., although they are all empires, and the rulers are also called emperors, above the various kings (kings), but in fact, these empires are a bit like the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the degree of centralization is very low.
On this issue, it is only natural that the Legalists have the upper hand. In fact, Qin did a lot of things in 15 years, such as building straight roads and implementing "cars on the same track, books on the same text". Nowadays, people know that "the car is on the same track, and the book is the same text", but in fact, Qin's role is exaggerated. Because as early as the Yin Zhou Dynasty, there was basically little difference in Chinese writing, which can be seen from the oracle bones of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the oracle bones of the Yin Shang Dynasty.
Section 3 Today's people are actually beautifying the tyrannical Qin
In addition to his merits, Qin's ** is also very famous. For various reasons, there are some people today who always want to give it a moral aura on the basis of affirming Qin's strength. For example, the recent TV series "The Great Qin Empire", which has had a great impact, highlights that the Qin system is very popular with the people, and people are jubilant and proud under the rule of Qin.
To be honest, this is all nonsense, especially one of the paragraphs in "The Great Qin Empire", which is very inexplicable: Qin governed the country very well, and the morality of the common people was generally improved, so that "the road is not left behind, and the night is not closed", there are no criminals in the Qin State, and there is only one prison in the entire Great Qin Empire, which is called "Yunyang National Prison" by the author.
What is the code of Yunyang National Prison? Actually, it didn't exist historically.
The TV series says that except for prisons, there are no criminals in the entire Qin State. ButEveryone understands very well that the main builders of the Lishan Tomb, Afang Palace, and the Great Wall are not all prisoners? In today's words, isn't that a ** crime? The economy of the whole Qin is actually the "gulag economy".(Gulag: An institution of the former Soviet Union, responsible for managing the country's ** battalions).。Today, there are still a large number of convict cemeteries in the area of Lishan in Lintong, which are all evidenced by physical objects. And this TV series blatantly proposed that there were no criminals in the Qin State, which is really a big lie. So many people write about Qin's rule, with bias.
Section 4 The real Qin is the enemy of the people
When we evaluate Legalism and the Qin system, we should not rely on the materials of Qin's opponents, but only need to look at what Qin's officials say, such as "The Book of Shang Jun" and "Han Feizi". The ideological system of "Book of Shang Jun" and "Han Feizi" was the official ideology of the Qin Dynasty. What is it exactly?
There is a chapter in the book of Shang Jun, called "The Weak People", what is the "weak people"? The main idea of this article is "".If the people are weak, the country will be strong, and if the people are strong, the country will be weak; A country with a way is for the weak", to put it simply:The country and the people are the enemy, and if the country is strong, it must trample the people under its feet; When the people are strong, the country will be weak; When the country is strong, the people will kneel. Moreover, the Legalists also clearly assert:If you want to conquer an enemy country, you must first conquer your own people, even your own peopleHow can a country that cannot be conquered by its people defeat an enemy country? The so-called "He who can control the world must first control his people; He who can overcome a strong enemy must first defeat his people."This is what the Legalists clearly say.
Victory over the people is a theme of Legalist thoughtLegalism is the one who has nakedly declared itself to be the enemy of the people in the history of mankindThe ruler must not allow the people to prevail, but must trample the people under his feet, in the words of Shang Ying, "the people win their government, and the country is weak; The government is better than the people, and the army is strong". If the common people can prevail, the country will be weak, and if the common people can be defeated, then the country will be strong
There is a saying in Legalism: "There is no loyal minister in the ruler, and there is no filial son in the father", the filial son is played by the father, and the loving father will not have a filial son, the more the father beats the child, the more filial the child is, because the child does not know whether it is good or bad.
According to this theory, Legalists believe that the more good the ruler is to the people, the more arrogant the people are, and the ruler is to beat the people fiercely, just like a father beating his son, "a loving father has no filial son, and the ruler has no loyal ministers." ”
Section 5 He who has reached the pinnacle is the enemy of the people
In order to overcome the common people, the ruler had to do several things:
First, we must not let the common people be smart, in the original words: ".If the people are not expensive to learn, they will be foolish", "If the foolish peasants do not know and are not good at learning, they will be sick farmers."”。Meaning:It is better for the common people not to know anything, the more stupid they are, the better, so that they can only do coolies, and the country needs them to do coolies. If the people are stupid, I'm not stupid, then I can be the king, the people are stupid, then the wisdom can be the king, this is the first article, to defeat the people must adopt the best strategy, so that the people are "stupid".
The second, for the sake of".Weak", must not be allowed".If there is surplus food in the farm, the swallow will be in the yearIt means that once the peasants have surplus food, they will be idle, and they will have nothing but food, that is, the common people should be looted and destitute
Those who govern the country well must ensure that the people "do not accumulate corn in their homes, but also hide in their homes." The rulers of the country must not let them become rich, and at the same time, they must imprison the people with the joint sitting of the army and the harsh punishment of the law. The current household registration management system and compulsory custody system are actually the same as Shang Ying
Shang Ying said,It is necessary to let those who want to get rid of the shackles have no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the earth, that is, "there is no escape between the lines, and there is no way to migrate." The rule between the lines, even five, distinguish by the chapter, bind the order, clumsy nowhere to go, stop and have nothing".
To put it simply, if you want to escape, if you want to be a blind stream, then I will put you in danger of being arrested at any time, and even if you are not caught, you will not be able to live, because I will kill everything.
Interestingly, Shang Ying himself was later planted in the hands of a policy designed by himself: Qin Xiaogong, who supported him, died, and the newly succeeded King Qin wanted to arrest him, so he fled to a hotel, but the owner of the hotel asked him if he had a certificate, and Shang Ying was still strange how to live in a hotel and had to prove it, and the boss said, this is stipulated by Comrade Shang Ying, and I dare not take you in without a certificate from the state.
So Shang Ying sighed and said, what a self-defeating act, the policy he designed actually tied himself up. In the end, he had no way to escape, and was soon caught and his car cracked, and the end was miserable. To be honest, I don't sympathize with him at all, he deserves this kind of fate, after all, this system is designed by him.
All in all, in the eyes of the Legalists, the common people are all cheap bones, and once their wishes are granted, they will be treacherous and slippery. If the people become rich, they will not know that the sky is high and the earth is thick, and they will only work hard when they are poor and sorrowful。The original saying is, "Let the people do what they do, so there are many traitors." If the people are poor, they will be strong, and if the people are rich, they will be promiscuous". There is also a saying in Legalism, called "If the people are humiliated, they will be noble, if they are weak, they will be honored, and if they are poor, they will be rewarded", which means that the common people must be humiliated in order to know the dignity of adults; The people must be humble in order to understand how powerful they are to be officials; The common people are not so poor that they jingle loudly, how can they care about the rewards of those who are in power? Therefore, if we want to make the country rich and strengthen the army, we must let the common people sink into humiliation, weakness, poverty, and ignorance.
Shang Ying also said openlyThose who are in power should do what the people hate, and never do things that make the people happy, so that the country will be strongOn the contrary, the country will decline, and the more obedient it will be, the weaker the country will be, and the more it oppresses the people, the stronger the country will be. His exact words were: "The government is evil to the people, and the people are weak; The government is the pleasure of the people, and the people are strong", "the people are weak and the country is strong, and the people are strong and the country is weak......The people are strong and strong, and the soldiers are heavy and weak......The people are weak and weak, and the soldiers are strong". That is to say, if the common people are pressed weaker and weaker, the country will become stronger and stronger; On the contrary, if politicians keep doing things that the people like and dare not do things that the people don't like, then the people will become more and more arrogant, and the country will become weaker and weaker.
What impression does this make on people?
I often say that there are probably a lot of people at home and abroad who think like this, but if they say it nakedly, I am afraid that Shang Ying and Han Fei are the most outstanding and unscrupulous. The fact that they have been able to talk so far is indeed the pinnacle. However, I also understand very well, because books like "Han Feizi" are not meant to be read by ordinary people, so it is understandable that his words are very thorough.
But under such conditions, the Qin State may really be strong, but is the life of the common people better? In addition, there is no need to say more about the historical materials about the tyrannical Qin and harsh government, which can be described as a vehicle bucket, and the list is endless.
We only need to understand a simple truth: if the ruler claims that he wants to make the common people rich and happy, it is difficult to say whether he can do it, and I am afraid that we need to listen to his words and watch his deeds. But if the ruler does not even want to say such things, but openly says that he wants to make the common people humiliated, weak, poor, and stupid, that is, "the government is evil to the people", and specializes in doing things that the people hate, then there is still no need to doubt the suffering of the common people?
So I don't think there's much to say about this issue.