Farmer refers to a farmer. The Tian family, a family engaged in agriculture. A school of scholarship that reflected agricultural production and peasant thought in the pre-Qin period. It is advocated to persuade the cultivation of mulberry to have enough food and clothing. Also known as "farmhouse stream." "Hanshu Art and Literature Chronicles" is listed as one of the "Nine Streams". Source: The poem "Farmer" by Yan Renyu of the fifth generation: "When people don't know the hardships of farmers, they will be said to be self-reliant in the valley of the field." Song Luyou's poem "Yuechi Farmhouse": "The farmer in the deep spring is not enough, and the original head is full of two yellow calves." ”

Xu Xing (c. 390-315 BCE), a contemporary of Mencius, is found in Mencius Tengwen Gong I. He relied on the words of the ancient Shennong clan to promote his ideas, and was a representative figure of the peasant family in the Warring States period. Judging from Mencius's scolding of him as a 'man of the southern barbarian's tongue' and 'a man of the tongue of Chu', (1) he should be a native of Chu. Qian Mu argues in "The Year of the Pre-Qin Princes: Xu Xing's Examination" that Xu Xing was a disciple of Mo Poultry Slip, while Yang Bojun's "Mencius Translation Commentary" argues that there is no conclusive evidence for Qian Shuo. There are 20 articles of "Shennong" in "Hanshu Art and Cultural Chronicles", which should be Xu Xing's work, but unfortunately it has long been lost. The records of the peasant family can be found in the "Shangnong", "Rendi", "Defending the Land", "Judging the Time" and "Love" in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Lü Family, as well as in the Huainanzi Qi Customs. It is no accident that farmhouses appeared in the Warring States period. The great social changes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period brought about great changes in class relations, so that the ideological theories that reflected the interests of the laborers could also exist at that time, and Mozi, Yang Zhu, and Xu Xing were the ideological representatives of the laborers. However, because they represent different classes and strata, their ideas are different. The Mohists are the ideological representatives of the small craftsmen. The Yang-Zhu school represented the interests of the small landowners, while the peasants, represented by Xu Xing, were the spokesmen of the lower class peasants. Xu Xing has dozens of disciples, and they live an extremely simple life, wearing ordinary coarse cloth clothes, and making straw sandals and mats for a living. They have no land and live a wandering life. They came to Teng from the state of Chu, not to pursue high-ranking officials, but to get a piece of land and a house so that they could settle down and engage in farming. Xu Xing's ideas had a certain influence on the society at that time. So much so that the Confucian disciple Chen Xiang and his brother Chen Xin also abandoned Confucianism and worshipped the teacher. It can also be seen from Mencius's wanton attack on Xu Xing. Xu Xing represented a considerable social force at that time, so it attracted so much attention from Mencius.

The peasant family is a school of thought that paid attention to agricultural production in economic life in the pre-Qin period. In his Introduction to Pre-Qin Scholarship, Mr. Lu Simian divided the peasants into two factions: one was about planting trees, and the other was about politics. "Hanshu, Art and Literature, Zhuzilu" listed the peasant family as one of the nine streams. And called: farmer stream. Cover from the officials of the farm. Sow a hundred grains. Persuade ploughing mulberry to have enough food and clothing, so eight politics and one food. Second, the goods. Confucius said, "The food of the people is important", and this is also his strength. and the despicable, thinking that the holy king who has nothing to do, wants to make the monarch and the minister plough together, contrary to the order of the upper and lower. "The food of the people" is also the characteristic of the farmer, respecting the Shennong's. The peasant school advocated the implementation of the policy of farming and warfare, rewarding the development of agricultural production, and studying agricultural production issues. The summary of the farmer's experience in agricultural production technology and his simple dialectical thinking can be seen in "Guanzi Diren", "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period", and "Xunzi".

During the Warring States period, there were many representatives of the peasant family. Xu Xing, a native of Chu, has no writings, and his life deeds can be seen in the book "Mencius". The year of birth and death cannot be examined, but it was about the same time as Mencius. At that time, there were dozens of students accompanying him, which was quite influential, and the Confucian disciples Chen Xiang and Chen Xin brothers abandoned Confucianism and studied agriculture and joined Xu Xing's disciples. "Mencius: Teng Wengong I" contains: "When Chen Xiang saw Mencius, he said to Xu Xing: '...... The sage and the people plough and eat together, and feed and rule. (Chen Xiang went to visit Mencius one day and relayed Xu Xing's words, saying, "...... A virtuous man should cultivate and eat with the common people, and cook with himself. Advocating that "the sage and the people plough and eat together" is one of Xu Xing's two propositions. The central thrust of this proposition is to advocate equal labor and equal exchange of goods and goods for all on the basis of affirming the division of labor and mutual assistance, so as to realize its reform ideas.

It is generally believed that the article "Diren" is the work of the peasants, while the articles "Herdsmen", "Quanxiu", "Wufu" and "Eight Views" focus on the thoughts of the peasants. Since the vast majority of the common people at that time were engaged in farming, "heavy agriculture" was "heavy on the people", and the tendency to focus on agriculture would inevitably develop into a people-oriented ideology. The content of the peasant family in "Guanzi" focuses on the people-oriented ideology of the peasant family, and has become the most important part of the peasant thought. 01. Obey the will of the people, be loyal to the people, and see that the will of the people cannot be violated, and "obeying the will of the people" is the basis of all rule, and a wise ruler can conform to the will of the people and take the will of the people as the guideline of his own behavior. "Guanzi Herdsmen" mentions: "The prosperity of government is in accordance with the will of the people, and the abolition of government is against the will of the people." It can be seen that through the concept of "people's heart", the peasant family initially felt the inevitable trend of historical development, which was one step further than the Confucian people-oriented. "Loyalty and love for the people" is the basic way to rule the world, and the peasants see the hardships of the peasants engaged in farming, and demand that the rulers be sympathetic to the people's sufferings and not take advantage of them. The "Guanzi Quan Revision Chapter" proposes that "the people should be taken to a certain extent, and the use should be stopped," and the rulers were required to restrain their own behavior, not to take advantage of the plunder, and not to exploit the people too heavily, that is, to reduce taxes and lightly punish the people with light labor; at the same time, they should pay attention to economy and not be extravagant and extravagant. Although Xu Xing's idea of equal labor for all has been changed, such a change is undoubtedly more acceptable to the rulers. 02. Cultivating hunger and disaster relief In the book "Guanzi", farmers also pay great attention to the problem of agricultural disasters and put forward the idea of "repairing hunger and disaster relief". Farmers refer to floods, droughts, wind, fog, snow and frost, diseases, and insect plagues as the "five evils", believing that the "five evils" are major disasters that endanger the people's lives and production, so if a wise ruler wants to consolidate his rule, the top priority is to sweep away the "five evils", and only when these disasters are solved and the people's suffering is relieved, the people will obey the rule. In the opinion of the author of "The Pipe", floods are the most dangerous natural disasters and should be paid special attention to by rulers. In this way, disaster awareness has become an important part of farmers' humanism. 03. The end of agriculture-based business"The end of agriculture-based business" is a basic national policy of traditional Chinese society, and it is also a value concept that is generally recognized by society. The pre-Qin peasant family advocated "agriculture and commerce", pushed the rulers to establish this basic state policy, and promoted social recognition of this value. The peasants believed that agriculture was the foundation and source of all wealth, and that if a country wanted to be stable and prosperous, it must vigorously develop agriculture. Commerce, on the other hand, is a source of destruction and depletion of social wealth. Merchants do not create wealth, but only take other people's products, buy cheap and sell expensive, and profit from them, and at the same time, merchants have to eat and dress, and consume a large amount of grain and cloth produced by farmers. Not only that, the contrast between the peasants who work more and reap less, and the merchants who pay less and reap more, will cause the loss of agricultural labor. First of all, agriculture is the basic means of ensuring the survival of the people. The country takes the people as its roots, and the people take the grain as their life. If the people have no grain, the country will lose its foundation, so the development of agricultural production must be given an important position. Pearls, jade, gold, silver, and the like could neither be eaten nor clothed, and were of no value to the people who were hungry and cold. Second, the peasants believe that a strong army is the fundamental guarantee for the stability of the country. In the pre-Qin period, the most important thing for the army was sufficient rations and a stable supply of soldiers, both of which needed to be provided through the development of agriculture. Thirdly, the peasants believe that agriculture is the premise and guarantee of moral education. Persuading the people to engage in agriculture will make the people simple and simple, and it will be easier for the rulers to use and serve them; persuading the people to practice agriculture will also make the people behave in a serious manner, reduce the opportunities for forming cliques for personal gain, and plot rebellion, tie the people to the land, and prevent them from moving at will, thus ensuring the implementation of government decrees and reducing the factors of social instability. The peasants' advocacy of valuing agriculture and suppressing business does not mean denying the value of the existence of industrial and commercial activities, but demands that the scope of industrial and commercial activities be narrowed and controlled from the perspective of the will of the state so that it will not become an obstacle to agricultural activities. In the all-encompassing miscellaneous work "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period", there are also many chapters that expound peasant ideas and agricultural techniques. Among other things, the authors propose a unified weights and measures to avoid commercial speculation. The specific method is that in the two months of mid-spring and mid-autumn of each year, the state shall organize manpower to divide the measurement units, unify the scales, level the measuring instruments, and correct the irrigation tools. This also opened a precedent for the Qin Dynasty to "have the same track and the same book", which was another improvement compared with Xu Xing's proposition.

There are 20 works of the peasant family, including 20 articles of "Shennong", 17 articles of "Ye Lao", 17 articles of "Zai's", 17 articles of "Dong Anguo", 17 articles of "Yin Duwei", 17 articles of "Zhao's", etc., all of which have been lost. None of the peasants' complete writings have survived, and their thoughts and activities are scattered in the writings of the princes, which are scattered but still worthy of attention. (To be continued......)