The main content of the Shang Dynasty Reform Law is not complicated in the vernacular, and can be summarized as follows according to its importance:

First, the rule of law should be promoted. Before the Shang Dynasty reformed the law, the general situation in the Chinese state was to continue the ritual and religious system handed down from the Western Zhou Dynasty. Although the conquest of various countries and the collapse of the power of the powerful made this system more and more difficult to maintain, and it was more and more out of step with the requirements of the times, the strong culture of etiquette and religion and the strong aristocratic power made this system stubbornly survive under the impact of the wave of reform. Before the Shang Dynasty reformed the law, there were already Li Kui implementing a new policy in Wei, Wu Qi changing the law in Chu, and other countries also taking measures to change the law, but Li Kui's new policy focused on the economic level, and Wu Qi's reform law failed, and none of them changed the fundamental system of the country where they lived. The changes of the other vassal states were not as good as those of these two countries. Only Shang Ying clearly put forward and implemented the idea of "rule of law" to replace the rule of etiquette in the reform of the law, and in the Book of Shang Jun, the words "rule by law", "rule by law", and "rule by law" repeatedly appear. Shang Ying believed that governing the country must rely on the law, and the people and officials must abide by the law, and only the legal system can make the country governed, and if the country is not governed according to the law, the country will inevitably decline. As for the loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness advocated by Confucianism, it will naturally become a reality after the realization of the legal system. He also emphasized the role of the law to the extreme, and even put forward the proposition that "in a country with a way, the ruler does not obey the king, and the people do not obey the officials", even the monarch himself must act according to the law, and if his decision is not legal, it cannot take effect. Such a claim is certainly not surprising today, but do not forget how shocking it must have been in those days! Of course, as we will see below, in practice the Qin state did not achieve this. However, the monarch and the lower levels have no distinction between the noble and the inspired), and everyone must obey the law, which is generally enforced.

Second, it is necessary to establish private ownership of land and develop agriculture. In fact, this measure was not the first of Shang Ying's initiative, not only did Li Kui have already issued a similar decree during the new policy, but also before Shang Ying became the head of Zuo, after the famous debate, Qin Xiaogong had already issued the "Grass Reclamation Order". Under the new system, land revenues in addition to taxes were paid to the landowners, and the more land was produced, the more income was earned, and the more production was made, the more income was generated, and the production was active and naturally high. It is of great significance not only to increase the country's land revenue, but also to enable the people to pay taxes fairly. The fundamental "magic formula" for the prosperity and strength of the Qin State was to encourage farming and warfare, and the reform of the land system was the primary reason for the rapid development and progress of "farming". In order to develop production, it was further stipulated that those who worked hard to cultivate and weave, and to produce increased grain and silk, were exempt from forced labor and taxes.

It is worth noting that Yuan Lin's "A New Theory of the Land System in Two Weeks" proposed that the Shang Dynasty Reform Law did not establish private ownership of land, but on the contrary, changed the original private ownership of land into state ownership. This statement is noteworthy, but it is not a general statement, so the author does not take it. It seems that further archaeological excavations are needed to investigate this question.

Third, the system of Shiqing Shilu should be abolished and a system of receiving knighthoods for military merit should be created. The so-called Shiqing Shilu, that is, the Western Zhou Dynasty took "relatives and respect" as the principle, and implemented the division of feudal according to blood relations, and the eldest son inherited his father's title, and the second son was demoted to an official, and the generation enjoyed the system of wealth and nobility forever. Needless to say, under this system, the status of people is determined in the mother's womb: basically nobles will always be nobles, and commoners will always be commoners, so whether it is nobles or commoners, generally speaking, there is no motivation to work hard, and the whole country is in a state of chaos, such as the Chu State is a typical one; The state could not directly tax the fiefs of the nobility, which affected the state revenue; What's even more terrifying is that the aristocracy has ruled the fiefdom for generations, for a long time, and the power is huge, once there is a "motivation to work hard", then the end of the monarch has come. Qi and Sanjin are typical. Abolishing this system and replacing it with a system of knighthood based on military merit can kill three birds with one stone: first, since military merit is the best way to develop, people will naturally work hard driven by huge profits; Second, civilians have the opportunity to soar and prosper, and they will fight for themselves, and their will to fight is extraordinary. The nobles will lose their titles and income if they do not make military achievements, and they will also strive to fight wars; The third advantage is that it is impossible for the nobles to make military achievements from generation to generation, and it is difficult for them to be rich and noble for a long time, and of course they will not form a huge force to threaten the monarch - it is difficult to see the nobles who bully the lord in the history of the Qin State, even if it is Lü Buwei, he will be defeated with one blow. In the era of Qin Shi Huang, according to Chun Yuyue, even the emperor's children became commoners, compared with the huge and solid power of the nobles of various countries in the Autumn and Warring States periods, it can be said that the nobles of the Qin State simply had no power at all.

Fourth, make a hole. The so-called profit is that there is only one way to obtain benefits, which is a generalization. In the practice of the Shang Dynasty reform, there were actually three ways for the Qin people to obtain benefits: first, farming; the second is fighting; The third is to sue, that is, to denounce criminal acts.

In the time of Shang Ying, people already knew that the peasants were the hardest. Even with the aforementioned incentives, people will avoid farming as much as possible out of the instinct to avoid hard work. The solution, in addition to the heavy penalties mentioned below, was to block the other avenues of benefit for the people, which at that time were mainly handicrafts and commerce. In ancient times, agrarian peoples often had a tendency to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, and China is a typical example, and it was the Qin State that pioneered this tradition. However, in the Qin state, the commodity economy always existed, and did not go down, but did not occupy a major position in the social and economic composition dominated by the natural economy.

Encouraging people to fight bravely is an even more important and difficult task. Because of the innate instinct of human beings to avoid danger, it is inherently terrifying that everyone fears. To this end, Shang Ying's solution was to make military merit the fastest and most significant way to obtain wealth and wealth. So much so that compared with the establishment of military merits, other ways to obtain wealth are very unattractive. The "first merit" system, which was created to encourage warfare, that is, the system of determining the size of military merit by the number of severed heads, became the most familiar and most frequently mentioned law of the Qin State by later generations, which shows the deep impression of this kind of reward. In addition to generous rewards, just as the industry and commerce opposed to agriculture should be curbed, the scribes who opposed the warriors should also be curbed. In the eyes of a Legalist like Shang Ying, those thinkers and families who can win the favor of the king by sitting in a comfortable and warm room and shaking the pen stick are really useless, and even moths of the state. Therefore, Shang Ying advocated that no one who disseminated speech that was inconsistent with the law and was not conducive to the overall situation of cultivation and warfare—he meant that anyone other than the Legalists, as well as other people who were erudite, eloquent, moral, proficient in etiquette, personable, and fond of making friends—should not be allowed to become rich. Not only will they not be rich, but they will also be deprived of their right to speak. Judging from the fact that there was no famous scholar or famous thinker in the history of the Qin State, and that talents were heavily dependent on "imports", this proposition was implemented to a certain extent. The stipulation for "shutting" is "to reward the enemy with the head of the enemy", and such a reward is also very human, which is obviously of positive significance for curbing crime and encouraging whistleblowers, but after all, it makes people feel very uncomfortable, and after the unification of Qin, it quickly became a kind of malpractice.

Fifth, clamp down on the people. Although Shang Ying is highly regarded in modern times, you can understand from reading the Book of Shang Jun that he is by no means a person of the people. "A country with a way should be for the weak" is his proposition. In the reform of the law, this proposition was put into practice by establishing a system of joint sitting in the Shiwu. The founder of the Shiwu system was Guan Zhong, and Shang Ying's "creation" was to associate it with lianzai. The people are guaranteed by one for every five families, two and ten families supervise each other, one is guilty, and the remaining nine families have the responsibility to report and expose, if they do not report, once they are discovered, ten families will be jointly and severally punished. In addition to the civilian Shiwu Liansit, the army had military companies, and the officials had their positions, plus heavy punishments for minor crimes, and the encouragement of whistleblowers, the people of Qin were like living in a large concentration camp. There are often remarks on the Internet that envy and yearn for the Qin State, but if these remarks are made in the Qin period, they have to risk being exiled - when the decree of the Shang Dynasty reform law was just promulgated, the Qin people said that the decree was not good, and then the law persisted in implementation for ten years, and the benefits were fully reflected, and some of these people changed their words and praised the decree. Shang Ying said: "These are people who stir up politics. "Exile them all to the frontier, so that no one dares to talk about the law again.

Sixth, the feudal system was abolished and the county system was implemented. The county is divided into counties, the counties are divided into townships, and the countryside is divided into li. The magistrates of counties are dismissed by the monarch, and the monarch also has the final say on the affairs of the county, especially the vital military power, which is completely controlled by the monarch. Therefore, it is easy to see that the purpose of establishing the county system is to strengthen the power of the monarchy and prevent the local aristocracy from gaining weight, in addition to facilitating management.

Seventh, severe punishment and strict law. Shang Ying believed: "If you stop, you should be punished heavily." "And the punishment is more important than the reward. He further developed this idea, proposing that "punishment should be used to pass" and "execution, the heavier is the lighter", that is, not only to punish criminal acts, but also to punish premeditated crimes; Heavy sentences are applied not only for felonies, but also for misdemeanors. Judging from the historical books and excavated Qin Janes, Qin's legal practice carried out these propositions.

Eighth, the people were forced to separate their families and to prevent fathers, sons, and brothers from living in the same room. It is an old custom of the Qin State that father and son live in the same room, and it has always been ridiculed by other Chinese countries. However, the main purpose of these two decrees is to promote population multiplication.

Ninth, unify weights and measures. This was the precursor of Qin Shi Huang's unification of weights and measures throughout China.

The above is the main content of the Shang Martingale Reform. Such drastic reforms, involving all aspects of the political, military, economic, and cultural aspects of the Qin State, can be said to have fundamentally changed the society of the Qin State, and cannot but arouse a lot of suspicions, and people do not know whether this kind of great change will be able to persist or will be short-lived. According to Sima Qian, in order to win the trust of the people, before the decree of the law change was issued, Shang Ying staged a performance of "Tumu North Gate", the process of which everyone knows.

Tips: If you think this article is good, please recommend it to more friends! Sharing is also a pleasure.