Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Qin System (Part II)

Among the systems of the Qin Empire, there were some that were formally established after it swept through the Six Kingdoms. "Mobile Access M."

These systems can be described as innovations.

But there is an idea that because the Qin Dynasty did not have time to establish a complete set of ideological systems for the new era, its people had nothing to learn, and when the Han Dynasty established "Neo-Confucianism", people would have something to learn. The Qin Dynasty's idea of agricultural warfare was no longer in line with the social development of the time, but the Qin still rigidly used outdated policies. It has led to the fact that the control of the people's minds is only controlled by force and punishment, and after a long time, of course, it will cause the entire people to resist.

After the destruction of the Six Kingdoms, after the old land of the Six Kingdoms belonged to Qin, according to the official system of Qin, the new county orders and the main bureaucrats of the county were directly appointed by the Qin government, and the subordinate officials were elected and appointed by the locals. There are many ways to select and appoint officials in Qinguo counties and counties, and they can be transferred from military officials, recommended by local governments according to certain property and behavioral standards, or selected through examinations. The selection of officials through recommendations and examinations opened the door for local people to participate in the local government, and also opened the opportunity for ordinary people to enter the government.

In fact, the Qin Dynasty also did not divide the princes as princes and kings in the remote areas where its strength was weak, and directly managed the local areas, so that the descendants of the nobles of the Six Kingdoms had room to give full play to those places.

A few years later, the first to rebel at the end of Qin was the remote and uncontrollable regions of Chu and Qi, which eventually led to the collapse of the Qin Empire. For Qi in the east and Chu in the south, the feudal system is a political structure that people have been accustomed to for a long time with a history of 2,000 years.

It is psychologically unacceptable to the people. In fact, they were very reluctant to be included in the county system, and Qin Shi Huang traveled mainly to go there to suppress the pressure.

Insufficient control over the outlying areas led to the development of the power of the six countries. Qin Shi Huang did not fully establish the imperial power, and those who obtained official positions through military merit were always poorly controlled.

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Under this premise, it has to be said that the Qin Empire followed the land system of the Shang Dynasty reform, and it was also difficult to fully implement it in the newly occupied areas of the Qin Empire in this regard.

The so-called reform of the law means the reform of the political and economic system, and the political and economic reforms of later generations have also chosen the same word as the exclusive political term for reform.

At that time, the state of Qin was far behind the six states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Wei, and Han in terms of comprehensive national strength.

And even Korea, which was the weakest of the Seven Heroes on the whole, was considered to be strong at that time after Shen Buxiao's change, and even Wei would not attack Korea easily.

Shen Buxian advocated the rule of law in the country, carried out further reforms, and absorbed the Taoist "art of the south of the gentleman" to transform it, and put forward a set of "art" governance strategies of "cultivating the art and practicing the Tao" and "cultivating politics and religion inside".

The first step in the reform of the law in South Korea was to rectify the rule of officials and strengthen the centralized rule of the monarchy. With the support of Han Zhaohou, he first attacked the three powerful clans of the Xia clan, the Gongli and the Duan clan, who were holding the fiefdom and self-respecting. The decisive revocation of its privileges, the demolition of its castles, and the liquidation of its treasury to replenish the treasury have not only stabilized the political situation in South Korea, but also greatly increased South Korea's strength.

At the same time, Shen did not harm the "technical" rule of law, straightened out the ranks of officials, strengthened the evaluation and supervision of officials, and "rewarded officials for their merits and awarded officials for their ability," thus effectively improving the administrative efficiency of state power and giving the ROK a vigorous situation.

Subsequently, he suggested to Han Zhaohou that the army should be purged, and he took the initiative to ask for orders and appointed himself as a Korean general, and incorporated the nobles' private soldiers into the national army, mixed with the original national soldiers, and carried out harsh military training, so that Korea's combat effectiveness was greatly improved. It is particularly worth mentioning that Shen Buxian is a rich country and a strong army, and he also attaches great importance to the land issue. He said: "Within the four seas, between **, it is said, 'Xi Gui, soil, and the foundation of food.'"

He also said: "In the past 79 generations, the legal system was different, and the orders were different, and the king of the world, why not? ”

Therefore, he strongly advocated that the people open up more wasteland and more grain. At the same time, he also attached importance to and encouraged the development of handicrafts, especially the manufacture of weapons. Therefore, during the Warring States Period, the Korean smelting and casting industry was relatively developed.

At that time, there was a saying that "the sword of the world is Han for the people", and "the world's strong bows and crossbows are all from Han".

Shen did not harm Han for 15 years, "internal cultivation of politics and religion, external should be the princes", helped Han Zhaohou to implement the "law" rule, "art" rule, so that the Korean monarch was strengthened, the domestic political situation was stabilized, the privileges of the nobility were restricted, and the people's lives gradually became richer. ”

Although Korea was surrounded by powerful countries, it was able to get along with each other and became one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States alongside Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Wei, and Qin.

And one key point is that in the Wei War against Korea that began in 342 BC, if it were not for the existence of Shen Buxian's reform, I am afraid that Korea, which was defeated in the Lian War, would have been destroyed by Wei long ago, and there would have been nothing to do in the Battle of Maling after that.

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The Qin State chose to reform much later than the Six Kwantung Kingdoms, and in high-sounding terms, it was to conform to the trend of historical development, and the system made way for the productive forces.

But the more convincing argument is that the severe political situation at the time forced the Qin state to change course. Since the Warring States period, competition between countries has entered a white-hot stage.

At that time, there was no principle of peaceful development, and there was only one way for a strong country to deal with a weak country, which was to annex by force. It should be said that Qin Xiaogong is a wise man, he senses the ever-present crisis, so he chooses the path of seeking change. The appearance of Shang Ying catered to the needs of Qin Xiaogong.

The political views that Shang Yang put forward to Qin Xiaogong were very clear and extreme: agricultural warfare. These two words summarized the basic national policy of the future Qin State, and also became the political promise of Shang Ying's rule.

The political line of "peasant warfare" advocated by Shang Yang is actually very easy to understand, that is, to build the whole country into a war machine, and all the people have to do is to cultivate and war. In other words, farming also serves the core purpose of war. This is clear from his remarks recorded in the annals of history, and his underlying intention to instigate war has been clearly revealed: "The reason why the country is prosperous, the agricultural war is also the "peasant war"; The country is at peace with the agricultural war, and the Lord is respected when the agricultural war is served".

The system reform of the Shang Dynasty and the policies that directly affected the economy are not recorded much in the "Historical Records", and the most important part is only two sentences: for Tian Kaiqian Mo to seal the territory, and pay taxes. The flat bucket bucket weighs the ruler.

The former sentence, that is, the policy on land, is controversial in academic circles. On this issue, there are two views, one is that Shang Yang privatized the land, and the other is that Shang Yang not only did not privatize the land, but strengthened the management of state-owned land use rights.

At the same time as the Shang Dynasty reform, the six Kwantung countries had already completed the reform of the land privatization system.

Combined with the historical situation at that time, we can know that before the Shang Dynasty changed the law, the Qin State had been weak for a long time, and a few years after the reform, the Qin State actually jumped among the great powers. In connection with the sluggish economic development caused by the private ownership of land before the reform, it is obviously illogical to say that the privatization of land has led to the result of rapid economic development.

Moreover, apart from Dong Zhongshu's remarks recorded in the Book of Han, there is no other source to prove that the land policy adopted by the Qin State at that time was private ownership.

The records in "Yunmeng Qin Jian" and "Qingchuan Qin Mu" can prove that when Shang Ying changed the law, Qin's land policy was really state-owned. Because the market prices of various commodities at that time were recorded in it, but only the important means of production - land was missing. This is clearly not reasonable for private ownership of land. The granting of land can only be accomplished on the basis of state ownership of land.

(PS: The content of "Qingchuan Wooden Raft" is roughly as follows:

On the first day of November in the second year, the king ordered Prime Minister Gan Mao and Nei Shi Kuang that the people were evil and did not abide by the law. There are two acres per acre, a strange road, and one hundred acres is one hectare, and one road is three steps wide. The seal is four feet high, the size is the same as the height, and the height is one foot, and the base is two feet thick. In autumn and August, seals are built to demarcate the fields and remove the grass that grows on them, in September, roads and difficult places are repaired on a large scale, and in October, bridges are built and ponds and embankments are built to clear the ferries and bridges and weeds. If the road is damaged and impassable, it should be repaired immediately.

On the first day of November in the second year of the second year, the king ordered the left prime minister Gan Mao and Nei Shi Kuang to take (Qin Law) and repair it to (Shudi) Tian Law. The law is as follows: the standard of the road is set as eight steps long and one step wide, and there are two roads and one strange road per acre. 100 acres in one, a road, three steps wide. Sealed, four feet high, is the tallest. 埒, one foot high, two feet thick. In the autumn and August of the third year, it began to repair the seal, the city, straighten the frontier and other boundaries, and kill the wild grass on the Qianmo. In September, roads and waterways were built, and in October, bridges were built, weirs and embankments were built to facilitate the dredging of the river. Even though there were fewer weeds when the road was not built, the road was damaged and bumpy and unfeasible, so the road was repaired. ）

Strengthening the management, unified regulation and control, and equal distribution of state-owned land is the real land policy of the Shang Dynasty reform. This is also the fundamental reason why the nobles such as Gan Long and Du Zhi strongly opposed the change of law at that time. The policy of the Shang Dynasty was tantamount to depriving the nobles of the privilege of occupying state-owned land, and directly undermined their economic interests. As for saying that the law is not wrong, it is just that the nobles put on a moral cloak to protect their own interests. If the Shang Dynasty reform law was to privatize state-owned land, I am afraid that these nobles would have raised their hands in support.

History has no assumptions, so after the filial piety returned to heaven, Shang Ying was torn apart.

During the Qin State, men were all changed to the government household register, and several men were given a few labor and military service, and the more people they killed, the more slaves and titles they received from the farm. The more children a woman has, the more she is rewarded, in addition to the need for hard labor.

Based on the idea of strengthening the land nationalization system, the rest of the Shang Dynasty reform law is easy to understand. For example, after the land is granted, a feudal territory is set up and no private changes are allowed; for example, the amount of land obtained by each peasant household and the taxes paid to the state are equal; for example, the amount of land obtained by each peasant household and the amount of taxes paid to the state are equal; for example, the number of acres changed from 100 steps to 240 acres of Qin (large) acres; for example, those who work hard can be exempted from forced labor (labor service and military service). This series of measures has really solved the problem of Qin's slow economic development, and has also improved the dilemma of backwardness in comprehensive national strength due to economic backwardness.

Looking at these alone, it seems that Shang Ying has become the spokesman for the interests of the toiling public, but this is not the whole of the reform, so Shang Ying is not the spokesman for the interests of the people.

Part of Shang Ying's policy was to attract foreign populations to settle in the Qin state, such as residents who moved from foreign countries, they would enjoy the treatment of nationals and also receive land grants. The Shang Dynasty also encouraged small families, and the policy clearly stated that when a family has two or more sons, when they reach adulthood, they must divide their wealth and live separately, set up their own households, and cultivate and produce their own business, otherwise they will be taxed twice.

The core purpose of this policy was to increase the population of Qin and improve the quality of Qin's labor productivity. Population growth is the most important goal of this policy, because man is the main body of war and a living force. Without enough population, there is no way to talk about waging war.

As for the tightly codified household registration system and the establishment of a strict and cruel joint sitting law, it is not even called seeking benefits for the people, but is aimed at using legal violence to escort the transformation of the social structure. The transformation of the social structure is a systematic project, and economic reform alone cannot maintain the stability of the social structure, and there will always be some or all failures due to defects in some details. Violence according to certain rules is undoubtedly the most effective way to protect against improvements, and it is also a way to reduce the opportunity cost.

In the final analysis, the hukou system and the law of joint sitting were implemented because there was a sufficient basis of economic interests for exchange, that is, obedience would lead to benefits, and opposition would not only have no benefits at all, but would be punished violently. If obedience leads to no gain, and is a dead end, then these two systems of violence will eventually go bankrupt.

In addition to the organizational management and territorial control of people, the household registration system can also be used to classify and treat people differently. First of all, it is necessary to put the people engaged in commerce into a separate register, and force them to abandon commerce and turn to farming by means of high taxes and price restrictions. If they become agricultural households and do not work hard, resulting in financial constraints, they will be converted into slaves, become government slaves, and be forced to work.

This is similar to the contemporary labor reform. For those with a business account, not only should the number of people be strictly restricted, but the intensity of the apportionment of forced labor should also be increased.

With such a stark disparity in pay, businesses with weak foundations are easily snuffed out.

In the hukou system, it is important to strictly restrict the movement of residents, supplemented by the prohibition of catering and tourism services, which makes it impossible for ordinary people to settle down during the journey, and indirectly restricts the scope of people's activities.

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