It is necessary for the author to explain what is called "general in cloth", which refers to people who have not entered the bureaucratic system before, or petty officials whose official position is below 100 stone. These people include working people such as farmers, scholars, workers, businessmen, slaves, and the descendants of declining aristocratic bureaucrats, consorts and eunuchs with humble origins. Later, after military service, he was appointed by the court and appointed by the monarch as an official (three public officials, nine public officials, and honest officials) with a stone above 1000.
Our country has had many generals in cloth since ancient times. Yi Yin, the founding father of Shang Dynasty, and Fu Shuo in Wuding period, both came from humble origins and came from the lower classes before being appointed as generals. During the Warring States period, the reform policies of various countries in introducing talents were embodied as follows: Zhao Liehou of Zhao appointed Lian and Xun Xin, "selecting talents and appointing officials to enable them" and "scrimping on food and appointing people on merit", which made the feudal regime develop and consolidate; Wei Wenhou During the period of Wei, Li Kui "rewarded when he was full, and punished when he was capable", and "taking people's wealth was a quartet", which made Wei the most powerful country in the early Warring States period.
Han Zhaohou, South Korea, carried out the reform of "God does no harm" and adopted the policy of "rewarding people for their achievements and officials for their abilities", which consolidated the monarchy in South Korea. During the Yan Zhaowang period of Yan State, Le Yi's reform was based on the principle of "don't be selfish, give it to those who have made great contributions, don't love it with officials, and treat it with those who have the ability". The effect of the reform was to make Yan rich and strong, and once dominated the East.
During the Qi Xuanwang period, Zou Ji was appointed to carry out reforms, and Qi became an eastern power in the middle of the Warring States period by means of "Ming Jue Lu"; During the mourning for the king of Chu, Wuqi was enabled to carry out political reform, which made Chu change from a big country to a powerful country from the "third title collection"; Qin Xiaogong, the state of Qin, carried out Shang Yang's political reform, abolished heredity and established military service, making Qin the most powerful country at the end of the Warring States Period.
What was the cloth meeting in the Warring States period? Zhao's Yu Qing, Lian Po and Lin Xiangru; Qi Zou Ji, Sun Bin, Tian Dan, Qian Fu; Hui Shi and Li Kui of Wei; South Korea does not apply for the sea; The drama "Xin",; , Cai Ze, Wu Huo, Ren Bi, Wang Jian, Meng said; Wu Qi, Yang Le, Le Teng, Ximen Bao, Xin Yuanyan, Pang Juan, etc. of the State of Chu all once held power, ranking above the marquis, but they all came from humble origins and were worthy of the name.
The political and economic changes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are actually changes in which the development of productive forces adapts to the emerging relations of production. During this period, slave owners, landlords and nobles tended to decline, and the status of ordinary workers and businessmen began to improve. The taxi class between Shu Ren and the nobility gradually separated from the aristocratic class and merged with the Shu Ren class to form a new class, namely the civilian class. This class later became the main force in the political life of the country at that time, which had a great influence on the pattern of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is this class that produces a lot of cloth and clothes.
There are many reasons for the rise of Buyi, including the disintegration of Jing Tian system, the decline of Shiqing system, the destruction of patriarchal clan system and the need for a series of social changes for the hegemony of vassal States. At this time, the monarch, as the ruler, needed a lot of talents, and the desire for talents made the ruler change from "cronyism" to "meritocracy".
The appearance of Buyi in the Warring States Period is the embodiment of the ruler of each vassal state "Ren Xian can do whatever he wants". These monarchs don't judge heroes by their origins, regardless of their origins, they are all virtuous people, and those who don't deserve them are suppressed and discarded, thus forming a phenomenon of "from poverty to bachelor" in society, resulting in a large number of ordinary people.
Private ownership of land is the economic basis of its emergence. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the main form of land ownership was hereditary aristocratic ownership. With the development of social productive forces, this form of land ownership has been difficult to adapt to the development of productive forces. In the Warring States period, the traditional hereditary private ownership of aristocratic land gradually changed into a new multi-layered overlapping land ownership of military nobles, businessmen and farmers, especially the establishment of private ownership of land, which made the lower class have land ownership.
For example, Zuo Zhuan recorded that Su Qin, Wu Yuan, Xiang Que and others all owned a certain amount of private land before becoming officials. Although their economic income is not as rich as that of slave owners and nobles, it is far richer than that of ordinary people at the bottom. This is their economic base. Without these means of production, they would not have the money to study, nor would they have the opportunity to be an official, let alone be a cloth minister.
The way of land acquisition has also changed, from aristocratic hereditary system to military service system, which undoubtedly had an impact on the "cloth and clothes must be the same" at that time; During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, countries began to implement the system of "knighthood by merit" and "knighthood by land", and the original land form was broken. It is recorded in the book Shang Jun that civilians can obtain titles and land by military exploits, which is undoubtedly very attractive to farmers and the cloth class.
Diversified patterns are an important basis for the formation of cloth and clothing. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Jing Tian system disintegrated, the patriarchal clan system was destroyed, the blood relationship was alienated, and the control of Zhou Tianzi on the vassal state was weakened, which provided an opportunity for the development of the vassal state. With the use of iron and Niu Geng in agriculture, it greatly promoted the development of agricultural productive forces, greatly enhanced the strength of vassal States, and stimulated the grandiose desire of the emerging landlord class, and then rose to the stage of hegemony among countries to annex land and compete for population.
With the rise of the "Three Little Overlords" and "Five Overlords" in the Spring and Autumn Period, the seven heroes of the Warring States coexisted, and wars continued. Countries became rich in Qiang Bing for hegemony, which provided a stage and opportunity for the energetic and talented taxi class to participate in social and political activities. If they make outstanding contributions in the war, they will become new dignitaries. In this era of heroes, countries' desire for talents and the need for heroes in war have achieved a lot.
In addition, the patriarchal clan system and aristocratic hereditary system in the Western Zhou Dynasty were broken, which led to the disintegration of the old bureaucratic structure and a short vacuum in the original power. In order to fill this power vacuum, the rulers must absorb useful people, scholars and civilians from the lower cloth to achieve political stability, which provides a good political space for the cloth group.
The wind of honoring the virtuous and worshipping the holy prevails among monarchs in various countries. Due to the balanced economic development of the vassal States, no one can destroy anyone, which leads to the phenomenon of multi-strength and hegemonic change. In this diversified political situation, monarchs of all countries try their best to attract talents to dominate, and talented people are treated with grand courtesy and respect in all countries. So as to form a wind of respecting the elderly and loving the young in the whole society.
In talent selection, countries have abolished the official system. They can't inherit their status with power, regardless of family background, and break the restrictions of national boundaries. All countries have made great efforts to select talents and selected a large number of talents in an exceptional way. This ethos of respecting the virtuous, Shang Xian, valuing the virtuous and being benevolent has formed a good political environment. For example, Guan Zhong, who was born in poverty, was appointed to rule the State of Qi; When dealing with foreign talents, Qi Huangong has a special court for selecting talents. It was "respecting Shang Xian" that led to the "Nine Kings, conquering the world" of Qi State and became the first overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Recruit talents with humble body and thick coins, and learn from changing palaces into palaces. Therefore, it is out of Wei, Zou Yan is out of Qi, the drama is out of Zhao, and the scholars are fighting for Yan; Le Yi was made a general by Yan Zhaowang, United with the five countries to cut Qi, a shame of blood swallows; It is the best to respect morality and be virtuous. At that time, in order to seek virtue, Qin and Qin Xiaogong invited Shang Yang, and the powerful Qin came into being.
Diversified official selection system Diversified official selection system has played an extremely important role in the entry of Buyi into the official position. As we all know, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the official system was hereditary, and that layer of cloth could not be squeezed into the management. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to cope with the extremely complicated war environment at that time, the monarchs of various countries had to change the original system of selecting officials. At this time, various official selection systems came into being, such as military service system, three-choice system, recommendation system, guest system, training system and so on.
The military service system provides a way for the rise of Buyi people. Let's focus on the military service system. "The combination of official titles and titles, conferring titles for meritorious service" was a widely used official selection system in various vassal States at that time. Such as Wuqi of Wei, Lian Po of Zhao, Le Yi of Yan, Sun Bin of Qin and Jincon of Qin. All were awarded the title of minister for their military service.
In addition, Shang Yang also combined the awarding of military service with farming warfare, especially the implementation of farming warfare, which broadened the scope of talent selection. Shu Ren, who was originally a lower class, could also become the common goal and political ideal of people from all walks of life at that time by farming, killing the enemy, taking the title with merit, and taking the title with merit. In short, the implementation of the military service system broke the monopoly of the official system.
The Keqing system and the rise of gentry opened the era of "lobbying politics in cloth". When the traditional aristocratic hereditary system was replaced by the appointment and dismissal system of monarchies and bureaucrats, the Keqing system gradually replaced the Shiqing system and entered the political arena, which attracted the attention of monarchies in the Warring States period. For example, Qing Yu is a guest of Zhao, Su Qin is a guest, Zou Yan is a guest, Han Yi is a guest, and Fan Ju is a guest.
During the Warring States Period, Ke Qing's family flourished and played the most important role. For example, Zhang Yi is from wei ren, Gan Mao is from Chu, Fan Ju is a great man, Cai Ze is from Yan, Lv Buwei is from North Korea, Reese is from Chu and Zhao Gao is from Zhao. Therefore, Keqing played a decisive role in the prosperity and unification of Qin State.
Keqing is a special image in the electoral system during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. He is an exceptional system for selecting and introducing talents created by the emerging landlord class in order to strengthen the monarchical centralization system and enhance the ability of foreign annexation and war. This system mainly adopts the principle of "meritocracy", paying no attention to family background and qualifications, but only paying attention to moral integrity, thus eliminating the hereditary system of officials under the Shiqing system. This system of appointing officials had a far-reaching impact on politics at that time, especially on the lower classes.
In addition, with the sharp increase in the number of scholars and the improvement of their political status, the influence of the scholar class gradually increased, and it became the main force affecting the political situation during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, providing rich talent resources for the "General in Cloth". The rise and growth of the gentry class made it possible for the general in cloth to appear generally.
In the discussion, the author thinks that the emergence of general Buyi in the Spring and Autumn Period is inseparable from the cultural factors behind it. During the Yin, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties, in order to maintain the hierarchical status of slave owners and nobles, the school became a gathering place for "noble disciples" while implementing the patriarchal hierarchy system and following the principle of "learning in officials" in education. Shu Ren people were deprived of the right and qualification to receive education, monopolized education, guaranteed the privileged position of members of the aristocratic class, and replaced officials.
When the unified pattern of the Western Zhou Dynasty was broken, the Zhou family declined, many officials of the royal family began to degenerate into princes and princes, and the school of princes began to appear. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the educational pattern of "official learning is official" was broken, official learning began to move down, and private learning began to appear and flourish. Many declining nobles and people of insight began to actively advocate the wind of private gathering to give lectures, and civilians can also recruit students and set up schools with their own knowledge. Among them, Confucius had the greatest influence at that time, and there were hundreds of Mohism, Legalism, Taoism, militarists and saints. This trend of gathering disciples to give lectures prevailed and played an important role in the emergence of Buyi.
Under the influence of diversified political structure, private schools appeared in the cultural field during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Confucius, Mozi, Han Fei and others all formed their own schools. They traveled around the world to publicize their ideas and political ideals, which laid the foundation for the formation of a diversified pattern. Diversified cultural environment has a far-reaching impact on the cultivation of talents, the formation of study style and the formation of schools.
The rise of private schools has given a large number of lower classes the opportunity to learn, thus forming a new educated intellectual class-the scholar class, which provides a talent pool for politics. In fact, countless civilians who have mastered knowledge actively become officials; Without the rise of culture, there would be no "talent peak" in the Warring States period, and there would be no rise of the gentry class, not to mention "cloth clothes will form a big situation."
The author believes that ideology plays a vital role in the emergence of general Buyi. The rise of benevolence, the awakening of people's subjective consciousness and the change of people's general concepts in society are all worth discussing. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, traditional social concepts experienced unprecedented turmoil in social values. When the hierarchical system of Shiqing, which was linked by blood, was destroyed, people's concept also broke through the thinking mode of "dragon gives birth to dragon, phoenix gives birth to phoenix".
The original concept of "harmony between man and nature" gradually turned to the concept of "princes and princes will be at peace" Confucius tried his best to raise the concept of equality from "self-denial and courtesy" to "education without class", which laid the ideological foundation for literati to enter the upper class of rulers from the civilian class. When "learning to be an excellent official" replaces "being an official by blood", the appearance of this concept is by no means an accidental phenomenon, but a product of social change and an inevitable result of social development.