Introduction to Shang Yang: Shang Yang (about 390 ~ 338 BC) was born in Wei State (now Luoyang, Henan Province), formerly known as Wei Yang or Gong Sunyang. He was a minister in Hong Xiao, Qin Qin during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a famous politician, and the main representative of Legalism.
Shang Yang likes to study the names of criminals since he was a child. In 36 1 BC, he defected to the state of Qin, won the trust of the state of Qin, served as Chang and Liang Zao, and took charge of the military and political power of the state of Qin for 20 or 20 years. After the fifteen cities of Yu (now the eastern part of Henan Neixiang) and Shang (now the southeast of Shangxian County, Shaanxi Province) were sealed as Shangjun, they were sealed as Shang Yang.
The chaotic situation in Shang Yang's period: Shang Yang lived in the middle of the Warring States Period, when wars of separatist regimes and annexation were frequent. In order to enrich Qin and establish a unified feudal empire, he successively carried out two political reform activities centered on "agricultural war" and "rule of law". Shang Yang's political reform was a profound social change in the history of our country, which effectively dealt a blow to the old system and the old relations of production, made the backward State of Qin a first-class power that overwhelmed the six Shandong countries, and laid a solid foundation for Qin Shihuang's later unification of China.
The resistance of Shang Yang's political reform: Gan Long and Du Zhi, representatives of the old aristocracy, rose up against the political reform. They think that profit is unchangeable and it is not easy to use. "There is nothing wrong with the ancient law, and there is nothing wrong with politeness." Shang Yang pointed out in a tit-for-tat way: "What was the ancient law in the past? If the emperor doesn't mend fences, why follow? " "Governing the world is different, and the country is illegal. Wu Wangtang, not from ancient times; You can't die easily with courtesy when the summer is over. But you don't have to be anti-ancient, and you can follow the ceremony. " Therefore, we advocate that "the ceremony should be made according to the situation" (Shang Jun has more French articles and historical records? Shang Jun biography). This refuted the so-called "legalist" and "etiquette" of the old aristocracy with the thought of historical evolution, and made public opinion preparations for the implementation of the reform. The decree of Shang Yang's political reform has been prepared, but it has not been announced yet. Worried that the people don't believe in themselves, he erected a three-foot-high wood outside the south gate of Guodu Market.
Notice: Who can move this piece of wood to the north gate of the market and get twelve taels of gold? People are surprised that no one dares to touch it. Shang Yang also issued a notice saying, "Give him 50 Jin of gold if you can move it (the ancient" gold "is actually brass)." A man got up the courage to move the wood to the north gate of the market, and Shang Yang immediately ordered him to give him fifty taels of gold (brass).
Promulgation of Shang Yang's Order of Foraging Grass: After the end of the political reform, in 359 BC, Qin Xiaogong ordered Shang Yang to promulgate the Order of Foraging Grass in Qin Zheng, which started the comprehensive political reform.
Its main contents include: agricultural production, restraining commercial development, remolding social values, improving agricultural social consciousness, weakening the privileges of nobles and officials, allowing domestic nobles to join agricultural production, and implementing a unified tax and rent system.
The function and content of the grass reclamation order of Shang Yang's political reform: weakening the privileges of nobles and officials and allowing domestic nobles to participate in agricultural production.
Increase the tax of nobles and restrict them from raising diners; Noble children must serve corvee except the eldest son, so as to improve the conditions for their exemption from corvee; It is forbidden for scholar-officials to improve the knowledge and experience of domestic people through debates and study tours; It is forbidden for nobles and officials to hire servants and force aristocratic children to work by themselves.
Restrain business development
Treat business as the last business. In order to curb the development of commerce, Shang Yang stipulated that businessmen should not sell grain. Raise the price of wine and meat, and raise the sales tax on commodities; People are prohibited from running hotels and guest houses; The army is forbidden to appear in the market, and businessmen must provide weapons and armor for the army; Smuggling of grain is prohibited in the military internal market, and vehicles transporting grain are strictly supervised; Increase the tax revenue of the main road market; Businessmen's slaves must serve and other measures.
* * * Agricultural production
Take agriculture as a profession. For the development of agriculture, Shang Yang made a plan to increase the number of farmers, so that people from all walks of life in the country are engaged in agriculture; Prohibit farmers from buying grain and force them to concentrate on farming; Implement the policy of ignorance of the people and isolate farmers from contact with knowledge; Forcing farmers to be quiet and ignorant in farming; Clean up official management, ensure that officials are honest and clean, loyal to their duties, implement consistent government decrees and measures, and do not delay their official duties; Measures such as reducing officials' subordinates and reducing officials' interference in agriculture.
Remodeling social values and improving society's understanding of agriculture
Intensify punishment and crack down on those narrow-minded, impatient, lazy, wasteful and flattering people in China; Cancel recreational activities that affect agricultural production; Change the domestic atmosphere of Qin that attaches importance to learning and despises agricultural production.
Implement a unified tax and rent system.
Land rent, that is, land tax, is uniformly levied according to the amount of grain grown by farmers. Increase taxes on nobles and businessmen.
Other measures
Registered in China), prohibit people from moving without authorization. Nationalize natural resources such as mountains, rivers and lakes, and prohibit farmers from making a living.
The first reform of Shang Yang's political reform: (1) Promulgating and implementing the Code of Li Kui of Wei State, adding the law of sitting together, and imposing heavy sentences on minor crimes;
(2) Abolish the old stone-clearing system, reward military service, prohibit private fighting, and promulgate a 20-level jazz system that rewards military service;
(3) emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, rewarding agriculture and weaving, and especially rewarding land reclamation; It is stipulated that those who produce more grain and cloth can be exempted from their own labor and taxes, take agriculture as the "industry" and commerce as the "last industry", limit the business scope of businessmen, and levy business tax again.
(4) Burning Confucian classics and prohibiting people from wandering around the government.
(5) Compulsory implementation of the individual small family system. It expanded the source of national tax revenue and military corvee, and laid a solid foundation for the growth of Qin's economic strength and military strength.
The second reform of Shang Yang's political reform: Xianyang (now the northeast of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province) is located in the middle of Guanzhong Plain, bordering the plateau in the north and Weihe River in the south. It can go down the Weihe River to the Yellow River, or to Hanguguan between Zhong Nanshan and Weihe River. In order to facilitate the development to the east of Hanguguan, in 350 BC, Qin Xiaogong ordered Shang Yang to recruit soldiers, build Jique Palace according to the capital scale of Luwei, and build a new capital. The following year, he moved the capital from Liyang (now southeast of Fuping County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province) to Xianyang, and ordered Shang Yang to carry out the second political reform in Qin State.
Its main contents are as follows: (1) Abolish the aristocratic well-field system, "open the border and seal the border", abolish the slave state-owned land system, implement the private land system, and the state recognizes private land and allows free trading.
(two) the universal implementation of the county system, the establishment of county-level bureaucracy; "Set small cities as counties", take counties as local administrative units and abolish the enfeoffment system. "Where there are thirty-one counties", counties and counties have county magistrates in charge of county administration, county magistrates assist county magistrates, and county commandants are in charge of military affairs. The county has jurisdiction over several cities, townships, cities and towns.
(3) Move the capital to Xianyang and build a palace;
(4) unifying the measurement system and promulgating standards for weights and measures;
(5) Compiling household registration, five for five, ten for why, requiring residents to register household registration, and starting to levy military tax according to population;
(6) Get rid of the remnants of Rongdi custom, prohibit father and son from sharing the same room, and implement the policy of small family. It is stipulated that if more than two sons in a household are not separated at the age of building, the household registration tax will be doubled. This is a supplement to the law of "the division of different sons" in the first reform, and it is also a norm for social customs.
Achievements after Shang Yang's political reform: After Shang Yang's political reform, the old system of Qin State was completely abolished, the feudal economy developed, and Qin State gradually became the most powerful country among the seven warring states, which laid a solid foundation for the later Qin Dynasty to unify the world. In 338 BC, Qin Xiaogong died and Qin Huiwen succeeded to the throne. Political reform violated the interests of the nobility and was strongly opposed by them. Shang Yang lost his strong supporters of the political reform, so it was difficult to argue, and he had to flee. In the end, Shang Yang was killed in the pursuit of Qin Jun, only to end up with a "split car". However, the reform continues.
progress
Shang Yang's political reform was a thorough feudal reform movement during the Warring States Period, which conformed to the trend of feudal historical development, promoted the transformation from slave society to feudal society, conformed to the interests of the emerging landlord class, and greatly promoted social progress and historical development. Through reform, Qin abolished the old system and established a new system to adapt to social and economic development. The reform promoted the social progress and economic development of Qin State. At the same time, it strengthened its national strength and made Qiang Bing a rich country. It laid the foundation for national reunification in the future and played an important role in the historical development of China.
limit
However, in Shang Yang's political reform, he despised enlightenment and advocated heavy punishment for minor crimes, which aggravated the exploitation and oppression suffered by the broad masses of people to a certain extent and brought great pain to the broad masses of people to a certain extent. It has not completely drawn a line with the old system, culture and customs. The idea of "using expert knives and saws, using armored soldiers for external use", superstitious about violence and neglecting enlightenment, also has its obvious historical limitations.