In 76 BC, Yingkai, the king of Qin, was ambushed and killed by the dog Rong, and his son succeeded to the throne and was known as Qin Wengong in history.
The specific name of Qin Wengong is no longer verifiable, so let's call him Wengong for the time being.
According to the "Exegesis": "The text is said through the heavens and latitudes." "Chinese Zhou Yu": "The passage is to the sky, the latitude is to the earth, and the image of the text is also." "Longitude and latitude: longitudinal and longitudinal longitude from north to south, and horizontal lines from east to west are latitudes, which are extended to governance and planning. It is a metaphor for business planning and governance, describing people's great talents and being able to do very great things.
Since Qin Wengong can be called "Wen", he must have done a very great cause, so what did he do, and what role did his actions play in the development of Qin?
Let's take a look at the historical record.
"Historical Records of Qin Benji" contains: "In the first year of the reign of Wen Gong, he lived in the West Chui Palace. ”
Where is the Xitui Palace, the Xitui Palace is in the West Dog Hill (today's Lixian County, Gansu), and it is still in the southwest of Qinyi, which is the place where the original Cheng clan lived, and after the Cheng clan was wiped out by the dog Rong, Qin Zhuang Gong won the place where the clansmen lived in the restored city.
As we said above, in the second year of Qin Xianggong, the capital had been moved to Huangyi, and after Duke Wen ascended the throne, he returned to the old capital Xiyuan Palace.
The reason for this is because of the strength of the dog Rong force. In the twelfth year of Xianggong (66 BC), Xianggong died at the hands of the dog Rong. Therefore, in order to avoid the edge of the dogs, Duke Wen had to retreat to the Xitui Palace.
But Duke Wen was not willing to live here forever, and always remembered the promise of the Zhou Dynasty - the land west of Qishan. So, he secretly decided to develop his own power.
At this time, a lot of changes have also taken place within the dog Rong. The Dog Rong was actually a nomadic tribal alliance that had previously banded together against the Zhou Dynasty due to the fact that the Zhou Dynasty was too powerful.
Now, King Ping has moved eastward, and the biggest enemy facing the dog Rong is gone, and the tense nerves have relaxed for a while, the internal contradictions have continued to intensify, and the tribes have parted ways overnight.
A part of the dog Rong tribe saw that there was no one to rule in Guanzhong, so they came to the Guanzhong Plain from the plateau, and for a time, the big Lirong, Bo Rong, Dangshe Rong, Peng Yarong, Pi Rong, Ji Rong and other nationalities sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and Guanzhong became a pot of porridge. And the dog tribe on the mountain also opened up and went their own way.
The collapse of the Inurong tribal alliance was great news for the Qin people. Qin Wengong fumbled and prepared for three years, and finally found an opportunity to go east.
The Historical Records of Qin Benji contains: "In three years, Duke Wen hunted east with 700 soldiers. "Is Gong Wen really out hunting, I'm afraid not, but out to find out information. After turning around, I found that if this was the case, the dog Rong declined. As a result, Duke Wen couldn't bear it anymore and went east again the next year.
The Historical Records of Qin Benji contains: "Four years, to the meeting of Wei. He said: 'In the past, I was here first by Qin Ying, and then I was made a prince. 'Nabu dwells, and occupies Ji, that is, the camp. ”
The meeting of Wei, that is, the confluence of Huangshui and Weishui, is today's Baoji Fengxiang, and is still in the east of Wangyi, closer to the hinterland of Guanzhong. Moreover, this place was the place where the ancestors of the Qin people were not children and horses. Duke Wen immediately ordered divination, and the hexagram showed good luck, so he ordered to build a city here, which was Chencang, and moved the capital to Chencang.
After moving the capital, Duke Wen focused on the internal governance of the country and established formal state institutions.
First, establish a dwarf and sacrifice the White Emperor with cattle, horses, sheep and three animals. "畤" is a kind of altar for the ancient Son of Heaven to worship the sky. In other words, only the Son of Heaven can worship the heavens. Zhou Tianzi can sacrifice to the sky, but he Qin Wengong cannot, Qin Wengong is just a prince, and the princes' sacrifice to the sky is arrogance, which is a serious violation of Zhou etiquette.
Didn't the Qin Wen Guild know that this was trespassing? Naturally not, he wanted to sacrifice to heaven for other purposes.
At that time, Xirong invaded, King Ping moved eastward, the entire land of Guanzhong was separated from Wanghua, and the original social order was completely lost, and the remnants of the Zhou Dynasty, the country of the Son of Heaven, which represented the advanced civilization, became a vulnerable group to be slaughtered.
Although the Qin State gained the legitimacy of being a prince, the fiefs were in the hands of Rong Di. Although the Qin people had strong combat effectiveness, their army was small, their land resources were small, and their overall strength was very weak, so in order to gain a foothold within the sphere of influence of the Rongdi people surrounded by strong enemies and completely defeat the Rongdi people, it was necessary to recruit people extensively and build a strong army.
Therefore, he needs to organize these remnants of the Zhou Dynasty scattered in Guanzhong as soon as possible. The worship of heaven is a special organizational method of Chinese civilization, and it can often receive the miraculous effect of rapid organization.
The inner principle of sacrificing to heaven is very simple, let them believe from the bottom of their hearts in a way that the people can accept, you are the son of destiny, as long as you follow you, you will win in the end. Therefore, it is very necessary for Qin Wengong to worship the heavens this time, and he can quickly organize the remnants of the Zhou Dynasty for his own use.
Second, the establishment of historians. At that time, the so-called historians were not historians in the later sense, almost all of them were born as witch doctors, who were responsible for divination and sacrifices, and belonged to high-level intellectuals, and some of them were proficient in astronomy, geography, medical education, and education.
Therefore, the main purpose of setting up historians is to educate the people. The establishment of the historian system marked the beginning of the gradual transition from "military rule" to "cultural education" in the Qin state, and at the same time laid the foundation for the later "rule of law management".
After more than ten years of hard work, the national strength of the Qin State gradually improved, and it was time to clean up the dog Rong and expand the territory.
In the sixteenth year of the reign of Duke Wen of Qin (750 BC), Duke Wen of Qin reorganized the three armies and marched to Rong Di, defeating Rong Di who had been entrenched in Xiqi for many years in one fell swoop, recovering the hometown of the Western Zhou royal family, and expanding the territory to the west of Qishan. At the same time, the remnants of the Western Zhou Dynasty who remained near Qishan were co-opted.
These remnants of the Zhou Dynasty were the advanced productive forces of the Western Zhou Dynasty in the land of Gyeonggi, and when they arrived in the Qin State, they not only increased the population of the Qin State, but also brought advanced production technology, which promoted the integration of the Qin people and the Zhou people, and injected new vitality into the backward Qin State.
At the same time, Duke Wen of Qin fulfilled Qin's promise to Zhou Tianzi and annexed the land west of Qishan to Qin, but returned the land east of Qishan to Zhou Tianzi. This not only allowed the Qin state to maintain normal relations with Zhou Tianzi, but also allowed the Qin state to establish a good image among the other vassal states.
After the expansion of the territory, Qin Wengong paid more attention to the internal governance of the country.
So, he released his third big move, setting up a criminal law.
During the centuries-long struggle with the dogs, the Ying family lived a life similar to that of a primitive tribe. When the Ying family manages the area under its jurisdiction, the method used is naturally the management method of the primitive tribe, which relies more on human favor and the authority of the patriarch of the Ying clan, and the rule of law has not yet been put on the agenda.
By the time of Qin Wengong, the territory was getting bigger and bigger, the population was increasing, and wars were becoming more and more frequent, how to manage society, maintain social stability, and enhance national cohesion was still an important issue for Qin. The historian system will become more and more standardized for the management of the court, but what methods can be relied on for the management of the people?
Therefore, in order to deal with the conflict between the state power and the masses, let the people fear the Ying clan, and let the people do something and not do something, Qin Wengong formulated a criminal law to punish the three clans. This is also the prototype of the criminal law of the Qin State, Qin Wengong relied on the power of the criminal law to begin to unite the people of the Qin State, and the awe of the people of the Qin State has since germinated, and the national legal system has gradually taken shape.
In 716 B.C., Qin Wengong, who had been on the throne for 50 years, completed his magnificent life, closed his eyes forever, and was buried in Xishan. Throughout the life of Duke Wen of Qin, moving the capital to the east, crusading against Rong Di, educating the people, rallying people's hearts, and setting up punishments, everything he did did did not seem to be so earth-shattering, but it had a profound impact on the development of the Qin state.
After the death of Duke Wen of Qin, his grandson ascended the throne as Duke Xian of Qin. During the Xiangong period, what happened in the Qin State, we will talk about it in the next issue.