History is a mirror that helps us understand the past, recognize the present, and foresee the future. ”
During the Warring States Period in ancient China, with the widespread use of iron farming tools and ploughing cattle, the level of social productivity was significantly improved, and the power of the emerging landlord class was increasing.
In order to adapt to the changes in the social, political, and economic situation, the rulers of the vassal states had to carry out reforms and establish a new political and economic order, in order to gain an advantage in the annexation war and achieve the goal of recovering the country and strengthening the army.
Many people may wonder why these two tools of production in everyday life have had such a great impact on history. In fact, the maturity of iron-smelting technology and the popularization of iron farming tools and ploughing cattle were the fundamental differences between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, and it can even be said that it was the basic condition for the formation of a unified state.
In the long course of human history, the popularization of iron farming tools and ploughing cattle played a key role, becoming a watershed that distinguished slave society from feudal society. If a civilization cannot adopt iron farming tools on a large scale, then it will have a hard time breaking through the shackles of slavery, and no matter how splendid its culture is, it will still be a slave society.
In the case of Western European civilization, for example, Europe mastered iron smelting technology at a very early age, but in the long years that followed, due to certain technical deficiencies, they were unable to popularize iron farming tools, which led to the continuation of the Western slavery era, which did not end until 476 AD.
At the same time, China had entered the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and as early as a hundred years ago, China's social system no longer followed slavery. In China, the maturity of iron-smelting technology led to the large-scale spread of iron farming tools and cattle, which also directly led to the collapse of the traditional slave society.
In order to adapt to this change, the ruling class at that time had to make changes. This view is now widely accepted.
What is the impact of the development of productive forces and the application of iron tools on society? This needs to be traced back to the development of productive forces in our history. A long time ago, when our ancestors lived by gathering fruit and hunting, people were relatively equal.
Due to the limited amount of food available for gathering and hunting, it was difficult for people to have a surplus and had to unite to compete with wild animals for food. In this case, the more people the better, and people are relatively equal in status when they have no surplus food and other living resources.
Although it was only a difference in strength and the amount of food, human beings at that time were already masters of nature. Now people on the Internet are often asked: Can dozens of strong men defeat tigers?
If ancient primitives saw this problem, they would have thought it ridiculous. In ancient times, a few dozen adult strong men were enough to overthrow any opponents, and the tiger would immediately run away when he saw them.
Then, one day, our ancestors discovered that by burying various crop seeds in the soil, new foods can grow.
Thus, from this moment on, our history entered the chapter of agriculture. As hominids mastered the art of planting, a new question arose: what did they need to sow seeds?
At first, people may just dig holes by hand. But soon, they discovered the convenience of the tool. At that time, human tools were relatively simple, mainly composed of wood, stones, bones, etc.
However, it is obviously much more efficient to make farming tools from these materials for farming than to dig holes with bare hands. With the advent of agriculture, there was another major change: in the past, when fruit was picked, there might have been just enough food for everyone to share.
But once you learn to plant, the yield depends on God's mercy.
In a tribe where bad weather caused food shortages and population declines, the survivors were rewarded again the following year with a good season. Although the population has been reduced, food has exceeded the need, creating a surplus of productive resources.
These resources are handled in a simple way, just continue to store them for an unknown future. In the event of another poor harvest next year, this food could be a source of relief.
The productive resources of primitive societies were originally public, but due to the selfishness and greed of later strong or powerful people, they arbitrarily claimed that these resources belonged to them, and others could not resist but could only obey, which led to the formation of a slave society.
In Chinese history,"Establishment of the Xia Dynasty"It is well known. During the period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, due to the scarcity of resources, everyone shared the surplus items. However, with the success of Dayu's water control, grain production increased and items were gradually enriched.
Therefore, Dayu's son Qi declared that everything is his own, and even the world belongs to him. Here it is"Home to the world"The beginning. From the point of view of modern society, this behavior is clearly selfish, and the fruits of the hard work of all people should not go to the individual.
Slavery was undoubtedly a backward system, and it was not fair.
From a biological point of view, the emergence of a slave society was actually a major advance, because it provided better possibilities for the continuation of civilization. In contrast, public ownership may face greater challenges.
Under communal ownership, all production is shared by all, and in the event of a natural disaster, the tribe may be exterminated en masse due to food shortages, although this seems fair.
Under slavery, although the means of production were occupied by a small number of slave owners, this system was more conducive to the preservation of civilization. Under slavery, in the event of a natural disaster, the low-level slaves may not be eligible to share in the food, so they may be quickly wiped out by the natural disaster, but the slave owners can live for years or even decades with the remaining food, enough to survive the natural disaster.
Thus, despite its many problems, slavery may have provided an important guarantee for the continuation of civilization at this particular stage of history.
Even after a natural disaster, the population of the tribe is reduced to only a few dozen or even a few hundred people, and the population of the tribe can recover quickly as long as there is a suitable environment. Under the condition of sufficient food, it will only take less than a hundred years for these dozens of people to multiply again, becoming thousands, or even tens of thousands!
The ability of humans to reproduce is astonishing. In fact, the constraints on human numbers have always been productivity and resources. The emergence of the slave social system made it easier for human civilization to be passed on and to accumulate knowledge.
Therefore, in the next thousand years, human civilization developed rapidly, countries gradually formed, and bronze smelting technology became more and more mature ......Everything is moving in a better direction.
Many may also ask: since the slave owners held power and oppressed the slaves, why did the slaves not choose to rebel or run away? The answer is: we can't be sure that they didn't resist or run away.
In fact, since the advent of slave society, resistance and flight have never stopped. However, there is a growing realization that neither approach will succeed. It was extremely difficult for slaves to rebel against their slave owners, who usually had the right to rule.
Unless the slave owner caused widespread discontent and caused the majority to oppose him, then it was indeed possible for the slaves to unite and overthrow the slave owner. Otherwise, it would be difficult to succeed with the resistance of one or two slaves alone.
Although slavery was overthrown, new rulers would follow. As for escape, humans are social animals, especially in agrarian societies, where collaboration is necessary for survival.
It may not be difficult to escape alone, but the question is, can you survive alone in the wilderness, or can a few unequipped people survive in the wilderness?
Although the odds are slim, most slaves are still held at the bottom of society and unjustly oppressed. While this life is not fair, at least they survive.
Compared to being hunted by wild beasts in the wild, such a result is already considered lucky. By the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, the slavery system had developed to the extreme. Under the social system of that era, the land of the whole country theoretically belonged to Zhou Tianzi, which was the so-called "universal land under the king".
Although this phrase sounds majestic today, it is a very cruel thing in history.
New copywriting: In ancient times, Zhou Tianzi was the owner of the land, while the low-level slaves had nothing. Although the slaves rebelled and fled many times, the slave owners gradually realized that in order for the slaves to be more willing to work for them, they needed to allow the slaves or commoners to receive a share of the fruits of their labor, and a proportional commission.
This is the background of the emergence of the Ida system. The Jingtian system divides the land into nine parts, of which the crops grown by the ** "Wang Tian" belong to the slave owners, and then the slave owners hand over these crops to the higher slave owners and hand them over to Zhou Tianzi layer by layer.
Those who cultivate separately are responsible for planting and harvesting, and they have ownership of the proceeds of their labor. However, some middle-level slave owners may be disobedient when handing over their profits, and will even use force to confront them, refusing to pay tribute to Zhou Tianzi.
Zhou Tianzi's direct army would directly crusade against these disobedient slave owners when they were strong. However, by the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, with the decline of the Zhou royal family, the strength of Zhou's army gradually weakened, and it was difficult to easily suppress the vassal states below.
Thus, the monarch of the vassal states became the ultimate beneficiary of this institutional pyramid.
With the decline of the Zhou royal family, the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty opened a new chapter in history and entered the Spring and Autumn Period. In this era, the major vassal states frequently waged wars in order to compete for hegemony.
However, the frequency of wars prompted people to devote themselves to technology research and development. Against this backdrop, the technology of making iron tools was gradually mastered. While both iron and bronze are metal tools, the differences between them are enormous.
Compared to copper, iron deposits are located deeper and are more difficult to mine. In addition, iron is also more difficult to smelt than copper because iron has a higher melting point than copper. The melting point of copper is only 1083, and it can be melted with ordinary charcoal.
Ironmaking, on the other hand, requires higher temperatures and greater difficulty.
It turns out that the technology of smelting bronze is mastered by many civilizations around the world, but the mastery of ironmaking technology is much more difficult. According to modern historians, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the value of a bronze farm tool was about equal to half a year's net income of a civilian family, which means that even in good years, a family needs to tighten its belt and save half a year to buy a bronze farm tool.
In addition, the toughness of bronzes is not high, and they are easily damaged during normal labor. If factors such as wear and tear and repairs are taken into account, many families may not choose bronze farming tools because they are expensive, prone to breakage, and have limited impact on food production.
Therefore, before the Spring and Autumn Period, it was difficult for bronze farming tools to be widely used.
The advent of iron farming tools has brought earth-shaking changes to agricultural production. Compared to bronze farming tools, iron farming tools are tougher and less prone to damage. Although the initial cost was higher, it gradually decreased with the popularity of iron farming tools.
At the same time, it was found that iron farming tools could work directly with livestock, such as cattle, to increase the grain production of the land. Originally, one acre of land could only produce 100 catties of grain, but now it can be doubled to 200 catties.
The combination of iron farming tools and cattle has significantly improved agricultural production efficiency. Because iron farming tools are more durable, they have an obvious effect on increasing grain production. As a result, the combination of iron farming tools and ploughing cattle gradually became widespread.
As productivity increased, the time for commoner families to accumulate iron farming tools shortened, and many families began to realize the question: why cultivate the land for the aristocratic lords?
Why not go and carve out new land yourself? While carving out new land was an ancient practice, the process was very costly and difficult before the advent of iron.
For a family to break away from the group, it first needs to spend many years saving enough bronze farming tools, and then storing enough food to ensure that there is enough food to keep in place during the opening of new land.
Because, during the opening of new land, the land cannot produce food.
In the Spring and Autumn period, only the aristocracy could have such rich wealth, which is enough to prove their social status. For a common family, even if the wind and rain are good for several years in a row, it is impossible to accumulate such a large amount of wealth.
However, the advent of iron farming tools made it easier to reclaim agriculture. As a result, many people choose to stop planting public land and instead focus on their own private land.
Even if they continue to plant public land, they will be more attentive to their own part, and they will be more perfunctory when planting public land.
Public land was barren, production was low, and the nobility was cut off from taxes. The Ida system collapsed, and the country's finances were strained. Military and administrative spending is unsustainable, and the country is at risk of collapse.
Faced with this situation, the aristocracy tried to prevent people from giving up their public land, and many countries adopted strict measures to force the restoration of public land cultivation. However, this policy of opposition to the majority of the people is difficult to pursue for a long time.
Private farming was all the rage, and the aristocracy and the top leaders began to reform the old system in order to stabilize their rule. In the process of reform, people gradually realized that only by recognizing private ownership of land, allowing land to be bought and sold, and allowing people to legally own land, could they be willing to pay taxes in accordance with the law.
Since then, the privatization of land has begun, and society has entered the feudal stage, where there is no longer a distinction between slaves and slave owners, but landlords and peasants. The question of how to collect land tax has become a difficult problem in the history of China's feudal society for more than 2,000 years.
Undoubtedly, the widespread use of iron farming tools and ploughing cattle has played a key role in the progress of human civilization. Why, then, did European civilization popularize iron farming tools during our Northern and Southern Dynasties after they had mastered iron-making technology?
Actually, the reason is very simple, because they do not have blast furnace ironmaking technology, and can only produce lump iron. This difference requires in-depth knowledge of the field of chemistry to explain. In general, the iron they produced at that time was not ideal in hardness and toughness, and even inferior to bronze.
In this case, although iron can be made into agricultural tools, its effects do not have a significant advantage over bronze agricultural tools.
During the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, China has mastered the technology of blast furnace ironmaking, and can manufacture iron agricultural tools with extremely high toughness and strength. It was only then that Europe achieved a complete transformation of slave society.