In 359 B.C., China was in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when the Seven Heroes competed for hegemony. The seven countries of Qi, Chu, Qin, Yan, Zhao, Wei, and Han attacked each other, and wars continued.
According to the "Warring States Policy": "Among the seven countries, five are the countries of ten thousand times, and two are the countries of the thousand times, competing for power with each other, and the world is in dispute." "Although the land of Shenzhou is vast and thousands of miles, there can only be one true emperor, the future Ninety-Five Emperor.
The seven countries are not much apart in strength, and attacking each other will not solve the problem. As a result, the wise king began to understand that it was not just about conquering cities, but also about improving the overall level of the country.
However, at the end of this slavery period, how to quickly raise the comprehensive level of the country? The answer is simple, and that is to change the law.
The change is not magic, it is not a trick, it is like modifying the established system of the country today. This kind of revision is not just for one or two, but for the whole system.
No matter which dynasty or society, the legal system needs to keep pace with the times and constantly change to maintain the stability of the entire society. Yan Fu mentioned in "The Decisive Theory of Salvation": "Today, China's immutable laws must perish. ”
The meaning of this sentence is that only through the change of the law can the country become strong, otherwise it will only lead to destruction.
In modern society, we rarely see large-scale reforms, but during the Warring States period, countries set off a wave of changes in order to become stronger.
Li Kui in Wei, Wu Qi in Chu, Zou Ji in Qi, Shen Buxi in Korea, Wang Anshi in the Song Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty, and Wuxu in the Qing Dynasty, all carried out reforms.
This kind of reform has been carried out throughout the history of China and proves the importance of law change.
Li Kui told Wei Wenhou about the background and reasons for the changes in the Warring States States, with a special mention of the Shang Dynasty reforms. Shang Ying was not the first or last to change the law, but he was the most successful.
He not only allowed the Qin State to sweep Liuhe in the near future, dominate the world, and establish the first feudal state in Chinese history, but also made his name Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the ages, admired by thousands of people in later generations.
Shang Ying was a person who defended the country, and his ancestors were civil servants of Weiguo, a small state in the vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty, who was originally surnamed Ji, and later changed his surname to Gongsun. Shang Ying's parents were also civil servants of the country.
Since Wei Guo perished within a few days, there are many different theories about Shang Ying's birthplace, some people believe that he was from Puyang City or Puyang County, and some people think that he was from Anyang Huang County.
These different statements are understandable, as historical and cultural figures are popular.
The success of the Shang Dynasty changed the Qin state from a weak country to a powerful one, and his name became a name that cannot be ignored in ancient Chinese history.
Shang Ying, a young man from a small country, loved the study of criminal law in his youth and was an avid enthusiast in the legal profession.
But he didn't catch the first train of the change, and when Li Kui and Wu Qi had already completed the change, he was still a concubine in Wei, responsible for teaching the children of the Wei nobles all kinds of knowledge.
In the process, he showed extraordinary talent, which made his superior uncle acne admire him. When Gongshu was critically ill, he strongly recommended Shang Ying to the King of Wei, believing him to be the top candidate to govern the country.
He also said meaningfully that if Wei did not use Shang Ying, at least he could not be allowed to leave, because he would become a talent who made decisions in the world, and should not be allowed to fall into the hands of other countries.
However, the king of Wei did not listen to his advice and neither reused Shang Yang nor imprisoned it.
Wei Fu's snubbing of talents has a criminal record, and missing Zhang Yi and forcing Sun Bin away can be described as the Warring States Period"Talent insulators"。
Realizing his mistake, Uncle Gong returned home with a deep sense of conscience, glad that the King of Wei had not taken his advice, so he approached Shang Ying, revealed the content of his conversation with the King of Wei, and advised Shang Yang to leave Wei as soon as possible to avoid danger.
However, Shang Ying was undaunted, believing that the king of Wei would neither take his words nor his advice to kill him, so he decided not to leave Wei immediately.
Qin Guo is in a hurry to recruit talents, an entrepreneurial company, one of the top seven in the Warring States, with a generous salary and five insurances and one housing fund. No matter what talent you have, as long as you are willing, the State of Qin will provide you with a broad stage.
Qin Xiaogong sincerely invited talents from all over the world: "Whoever can come up with a unique strategy to enhance the strength of the Qin State, I will give him the best generous Lu and divide the land." ”
When the news reached the Wei State, Shang Ying was very excited when he learned about it, and immediately came to apply for the job with his research result "The Book of Laws".
Shang Ying had many in-depth exchanges with Qin Xiaogong, advocating that Qin must reform the old system and policies in order to make the country strong. Qin Xiaogong was greatly overjoyed when he heard this, he had long wanted to change the law, but there was no one to trust.
Now that Shang Ying is here, he feels like a treasure, and the road to changing the law has begun.
In a meeting, Li Kui and the ministers jointly discussed the matter of changing the law. Some people say that changing the law is a good thing, just implement it directly, Qin Xiaogong is the emperor, he just gives an order, and no one dares to oppose it.
However, in reality, there are emperors and courtiers in a court, and it is necessary to work together, and even the emperor cannot change his mind casually. Although the courtiers were willing to cooperate, frequent changes would cause trouble for the people.
The success of the law change is very important, and if a problem arises, someone needs to solve it. A wise monarch chooses to consult with his courtiers and make decisions together rather than act arbitrarily.
Although the Shang Dynasty reform seems to be a good thing now, it received a lot of opposition and criticism at the time. Because change means that some of the existing institutions and orders will cease to exist, and will this affect the interests of some people?
The answer is yes. Let's take a look at the main content of Shang Ying's first change:
1. In terms of law, if one person commits a crime, nine families sit together, you become a traitor yourself, steal chickens and dogs, etc., not only will you be punished heavily, but your relatives and friends will also suffer.
Second, abolish the old Shiqing Shilu system, I can't control the current princes and nobles, but if your children and descendants have no ability and no ability, then I'm sorry, inherit your official position and glory, this kind of thing is not to talk about, and it will be four big words in the future.
3. Attach importance to agriculture and despise commerce, and encourage everyone to do business in a variety of places. And if you plant a lot and plant well, you can also be exempted from forced labor and taxes.
But if you just don't obey and want to speculate and become a capitalist, then I will impose heavy commercial taxes and make you unable to make money.
Fourth, burn the Confucian classics, everyone should not read the things of Confucius, and the rest are not allowed to speculaters to wander around every day to think about getting promoted and making a fortune, and they must honestly do their own work, and so on.
In this way, as soon as the content of several changes was mentioned, the nobles couldn't sit still when they heard it. Why? Because the content of these changes directly touches their interests.
Gan Long, the representative of the aristocracy, Du Zhi was even more unconvinced, and got up and retorted, the legal system was set by the ancestors, you can change it if you say it, you can't change it, follow the rules of the ancestors, that's right.
Shang Ying was also very angry when he heard it, and said-for-tat, "Ancestors are ancestors, we are us, the rules of ancestors are suitable for ancestors, but not for us, and how can governing the country be immutable, those countries that are unchanged have long been finished."
He made a presentation and was impassioned, the nobles were speechless, and Qin Xiaogong struck while the iron was hot and announced that the law would be changed in the near future, and Shang Ying would be fully responsible.
In order to establish his prestige, Shang Ying set up"The south gate moves wood"Whoever can move a three-zhang high log from the south gate to the north gate will receive a rich bounty.
At first, people thought it was a **, and no one dared to try it. However, Shang was determined to prove his integrity, so he raised the bounty.
In the end, a brave man accepted the challenge and successfully moved the wood to the north gate, receiving a bounty of fifty taels **.
This incident caused a sensation among the people, and the people were convinced of Shang Ying's promise.
After Shang Ying implemented the first reform, Qin's laws became stricter and the tax system was gradually improved, which laid a solid foundation for Qin's economic and military strength.
However, Qin Xiaogong was eager to expand his territory and hoped that the Qin state could develop outside the Hangu Pass, so Shang Ying had to make a second change.
This reform mainly included the resumption of the land of the aristocracy, the implementation of private ownership of land, and the free purchase and sale of land; Implement the county system throughout the country and set up county officials; moved the capital to Xianyang; Unified weights and measures; conducting a national census; It also requires people to live separately and not with their parents, siblings.
Any reform will touch people's vested interests and will therefore be opposed. Every reform in history is actually a readjustment of the relationship of interests.
Reformers may be attacked by utopians, but they don't really care about the people's living system, but only sit still when the reform touches their own interests.
The Qin aristocracy held a grudge against Shang Ying's reforms. In 338 BC, Qin Xiaogong died and was succeeded by King Huiwen of Qin.
In the TV series "The Legend of Miyue", King Liang Huiwen played by Fang Zhongxin was bad news for Shang Ying. Back then, when Shang Ying implemented the new law, King Qin Huiwen was still the crown prince.
Although the crown prince violated the new law, everyone was hesitant to punish him. Shang Ying thought that the prince's status was noble and unsuitable for punishment, but he could punish the prince's teacher, so the teacher was arranged to accept the ink punishment.
Since then, King Huiwen of Liang and Shang Ying have formed a Liangzi. After succeeding to the throne, King Huiwen of Liang remembered that this Liang Zi wanted revenge, and deeply realized that because Shang Ying promoted the success of the rule of law in the Qin State, he became the greatest threat to the imperial power of the Qin State.
In this process, both King Huiwen of Qin and Shang Yang symbolized the legal system of the state, but two people representing law and authority were not tolerated in a country.
Therefore, even if there was no later framing by the nobles, King Huiwen of Qin had to get rid of Shang Ying, as the uncle of Wei said, if you use it, you will reuse it, and if you don't use it, you will kill it.
Shang Ying understood that since his first step in coming to Qin, he was doomed to a tragic end. Framed by the nobles, Shang Yang fled in all directions, and eventually died in Tongdi, where his body was brought back to Qin and tortured by "car splitting".
Although King Huiwen of Qin killed Shang Ying, the reform was not abolished.
The Shang Dynasty Reform was an important event in Chinese history that revolutionized the system of the Warring States period and laid the foundation for the unification of the Qin Dynasty.
Although Shang's torture and excessive promotion of violence caused controversy, his contribution to the country's prosperity and strong army is undeniable.
Despite the limitations of his thoughts, he made significant contributions to the development of Chinese history. February** Dynamic Incentive Program