Shang Ying's change of law for Qin Kaidi's business!

Shang Ying, originally a native of the country, was formerly known as Gongsun Marting, also known as Wei Marting. At first, Shang Ying was a retainer of Gongsun Acne, the prime minister of the Wei State, and Gongsun Acne greatly appreciated his talents. Before his death, Gongsun Yan recommended Shang Ying to King Hui of Wei, and said that if he could not be reused, he would kill him as soon as possible, so as not to be reused by other countries in the future and endanger the Wei state. However, King Wei Hui did not heed Gongsun Acne's suggestion. In 361 BC, Qin Xiaogong officially ascended the throne. At that time, the princes allied with each other, but refused to allow the Qin State to come to participate. Qin Xiaogong thought that this was a great shame, in order to change the backward situation of "all the candidates and humble Qin" and make the Qin country rich and strong, he was determined to change the law and reform, and issued the "Decree to Seek Talents".

At that time, Shang Ying could not be reused in the Wei State, so he brought Li Kui's "Book of Law" to Liyang, the capital of the Qin State. Through Jing Jian, Qin Xiaogong's favorite minister, Shang Ying met Qin Xiaogong. On the first two occasions, Shang Ying told Qin Xiaogong about the way of governing the country of Yao Shun and other emperors, but Qin Xiaogong was not interested. On the third occasion, Shang Ying expressed his true proposition, taking the Legalist doctrine as the governing program and governing the country with "hegemony", and suggested that Qin Xuegong carry out reform of the law as soon as possible, so as to achieve the goal of enriching the country and strengthening the army. This time, Shang Ying's opinion was praised by Qin Xiaogong, and he was appointed as the head of the left to preside over the reform of the law. In the sixth year of Qin Xiaogong, Shang Ying implemented the first change of law, the main contents of which include:

First, we should emphasize agriculture and suppress business, and reward farming and weaving. It stipulates that agriculture is the "main industry" and commerce is the "last industry". Peasants are encouraged to work hard to cultivate and weave, and those who produce more grain and cloth can be rewarded and exempted from forced labor. Anyone who was engaged in industry and commerce, or who was impoverished by idleness, had to go to the government to serve as slaves and maidservants. Second, the hereditary privileges of the nobility should be abolished and a system of military merit should be established. It is stipulated that all the children of the clan who have not made military merits shall not be included in the official family register. Knighthoods are awarded according to the size of military merit, and officials are selected from among those who have military merits. At the same time, according to the level of the title, they occupy different numbers of farmlands and have different numbers of slaves and maids. Strict prohibition of private fighting, and those who engage in private fighting without permission shall be punished differently according to the severity of the festival. Third, adopt Li Kui's "Book of Laws" as the law and implement the law of joint sitting. It is stipulated that the people should register their household registration, with five families as one army and ten families as one. Each family pickets each other, and if one violates the law, the other nine must report it, and if they don't, they will all be "sitting". At the same time, it was stipulated that hotels could not accept people who did not have official certificates, otherwise the innkeepers would also be "constrained".

In the twelfth year of Qin Xiaogong, the Qin State moved its capital to Xianyang, and Shang Ying implemented the second change of law, and put forward further political and economic reforms on the basis of the first change, the main contents include: First, the implementation of the county system. It was stipulated that the county should be the local administrative unit, the sub-feudal system should be abolished, and the township should be merged into 31 counties. Each county has a county ordinance, which is responsible for county government; Set up a county and assist the county order: set up a county lieutenant to be in charge of the military. Second, abolish the merger system and open up the frontier. The state recognized the private ownership of land in the form of a decree, allowed the people to open up land, allowed land to be bought and sold freely, and paid taxes according to the amount of land occupied by each person. Third, the establishment of a method for levying and levying according to men. It is stipulated that if a family has two sons, when they reach the age of majority, they must separate the family and earn a living independently, otherwise the tax will be doubled. Fourth, unify weights and measures. In order to ensure the tax revenue of the state, a standard weights and measures were prescribed, which was about 0.23 meters in the standard ruler and 0.2 liters in the standard liter. At the same time, it stipulates weights and measures such as buckets, buckets, weights, balances, zhangs, and rulers.

Because the Shang Dynasty Reform Law violated the interests of the nobles, they strongly opposed and resisted it from the beginning, but with the support of Qin Xiaogong, the Shang Dynasty Reform Law was implemented. However, the nobles were not reconciled and continued to destroy the new law in the process of changing the law, and the crown prince Fu Gongzi Qian and the prince Gongsun Jia instigated the prince to violate the new law in an attempt to sabotage the reform. Shang Ying did not show weakness, believing that the formulation of laws is not only used to control the people, and since ancient times, there has been "if the law does not work, it will be violated from above". Shang Ying believes that the prince broke the law because the teacher did not educate him well, so the teacher should be punished. As a result, Gongzi Qian had his nose cut off, and Gongsun Jia's face was engraved with ink. Since then, no one has dared to openly oppose or resist the new law. Shang Ying's clear distinction between rewards and punishments, impartial law enforcement, established prestige in the hearts of the people, and was able to make the law change go smoothly. According to the records of the "Historical Records", ten years after Shang Ying implemented the law change, "the people of Qin are happy, the road is not forgotten, there are no thieves in the mountains, and the family is sufficient." The people are brave in public war, cowardly in private fighting, and the countryside is under great governance", a new scene of prosperity from top to bottom in the Qin State.

In 340 BC, Qin Xiaogong ordered Shang Ying to lead his troops to attack Wei. At that time, the strength of Wei was already very weak, as soon as the Qin army arrived, the Wei soldiers were vulnerable, and the Wei state ceded the land west of the river to the Qin state, and King Wei Hui regretted very much that he did not listen to his uncle's advice at that time. Due to Shang Ying's outstanding merits, Qin Xiaogong gave him the title of Shang Fifteen Yi. In 338 BC, Qin Xiaogong died and was succeeded by the crown prince, King Qin Hui. Gongzi Qian and others took the opportunity to frame Shang Ying for rebellion, and Shang Ying fled to the border and wanted to stay overnight in the guest house, but because he did not show his documents, the store did not dare to keep him staying for fear of being "sat down", which was obviously Shang Ying's "self-defeat". Subsequently, Shang Yang fled to the Wei state, and the people of the Wei state were reluctant to take him in because he had attacked their own country. Later, Shang Ying returned to Shangyi, and the Qin State sent troops to arrest him. In the end, Shang Ying was killed by a car split, and his family was also "sitting".

Although Shang was killed, his new law was further enforced in the Qin state. The reforms carried out by Shang Ying in the political, economic, and military fields changed the backward appearance of the Qin State, promoted social progress, promoted economic development, strengthened the combat effectiveness of the army, and brought about fundamental changes in the Qin State, truly realizing the prosperity of the country and the strengthening of the army. The Shang Dynasty Reform not only laid the foundation for the eventual annexation of the Six Kingdoms and the unification of China by the Qin State, but also played an important role in the development of Chinese history.

The content of the Shang Martingale Reform:

First reform: After the successful implementation of the Reclamation Decree in Qin, Qin Xiaogong appointed Shang Ying as the head of Zuo Shu in 356 BC, and implemented the first reform in Qin.

The main contents of the first change are:

promulgated and implemented the "Book of Laws" of Li Kui of the Wei State, added the law of joint sitting, and used heavy punishment for minor crimes;

Abolish the old Shiqing Shilu system, reward military merits, stop private fighting, and promulgate the 20-rank knighthood system of rewarding according to military merits;

Emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business, rewards for cultivation and weaving, and special rewards for land reclamation; It stipulates that those who produce a lot of grain and cloth can be exempted from labor and taxes, and regard agriculture as their "main business" and commerce as their "last business", and the scope of business of merchants is restricted, and the commercial tax is relevant.

Burn the Confucian classics and stop the people from wandering.

Enforce the system of individual small families. It expanded the sources of state taxation and military conscription, laying a solid foundation for the growth of Qin's economic and military strength.

The second change: Xianyang is located in the middle of the Guanzhong Plain, north of the plateau, south of the Wei River, down the Wei River can go straight into the Yellow River, Zhongnan Mountain and the Wei River can be directly connected to the Hangu Pass. In order to facilitate the development to the east of Hangu Pass, Qin Xiaogong ordered Shang Ying to recruit soldiers in 350 BC, build the Jique court according to the scale of the national capital of Lu and Weiguo, build a new capital, and move the national capital from Liyang to Xianyang in the following year, and at the same time ordered Shang Ying to carry out the second reform in Qin.

The main contents of the second change are:

Abolish the aristocracy's well-field system, "open up the frontier and seal the territory", abolish the slave system of state ownership of land, implement private ownership of land, and the state recognizes private ownership of land and allows free buying and selling.

The county system is universally implemented, and county-level bureaucrats are set up; "Gather small capitals and townships into counties", take counties as local administrative units, abolish the sub-feudal system, "all thirty-one counties", the county has a county order to preside over the county government, a county to assist the county order, and a county lieutenant to take charge of the military. The county has jurisdiction over a number of capitals, townships, towns and gatherings.

moved the capital to Xianyang and built a palace;

Unified system of weights and measures, and promulgated standards for weights and measures;

It stipulates that residents must register their household registrations and begin to levy military taxes according to their population.

Eliminate the residual Rongdi customs, stop fathers, sons, and brothers from living in the same room, and implement a small family policy. It stipulates that where there are two or more sons in a household who have reached the age of establishing a household and do not live separately, the household registration tax shall be doubled. This is a supplement to the "Heterogeneous Family" decree in the first reform, and it is also a norm for social customs.

The influence of the Shang Dynasty reform on the later Qin State and the Qin Dynasty was very far-reaching.

The "Qin Law" unearthed by Yunmeng was revised, supplemented, and accumulated on the basis of this change. The "Qin Law" also talks about the law of joint sitting in many places, such as concealment or falsification of household registration, not only the township officials must be punished, but those who are in the same "army" must also be fined one guilder per household, and "all of them will be moved". The Law of Qin also prioritized the suppression of "thieves" and imposed heavy penalties for misdemeanors. For example, those who steal one to two hundred and twenty yuan must be "moved"; those who steal more than 220 yuan and more than 660 yuan are punished with imprisonment respectively; those who steal cattle are punished with imprisonment; those who steal sheep or pigs are also punished with considerable punishment; and even those who steal other people's mulberry leaves for less than one dollar must be "punished for thirty years." For "group thieves" with more than five people, the punishment is more severe. At the same time, the "Qin Law" also has many provisions on the pursuit and punishment of various fugitives.

Shang Ying's reform of the law despised indoctrination and advocated heavy punishment for minor crimes, and Shang Ying's law enforcement was harsh, and 700 prisoners were executed at one place by the Wei River, so the river turned red, and the sound of crying was earth-shattering. The Shang Dynasty's strict law enforcement and indiscriminate use of torture drew widespread resentment, and Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty also considered Shang Dynasty's strict torture laws to be an important reason for the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty, and the Old Tang Book even referred to Shang as a cool official.

Stance matters. Whether it is brutal or not depends on who it is. In the era when princes and generals had a kind of situation, for the nobles who could not punish the doctors, and the nobles who had extralegal privileges, the Qin Law was of course quite brutal. For ordinary civilians, Qin Law was the fairest law at that time. Otherwise, the Qin State not only did not perish because of this so-called "brutal" law, but gradually went from weak to powerful more than 100 years after the law was changed.

However, in the Shang Dynasty reform, he despised education and advocated heavy punishment for minor crimes, which to a certain extent aggravated the exploitation and oppression suffered by the broad masses of the people, and to a certain extent brought great suffering to the broad masses of the people. It has not completely dissociated itself from the old system, culture, and customs.

Ideas such as "using knives and saws on the inside, and armoured soldiers on the outside" and superstitious belief in violence and despising indoctrination also have their obvious historical limitations.

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