" Zhouyi " says, "If you are poor, you will change; if you change, you will be promising; if you are promising, you will be promising." Times change, and with the changes of the times, the old systems will be out of place, and change must be carried out at this time. After the establishment of
Zhou Dynasty , the princes and ministers led by Zhou Gongdan established a strict Zhou ritual system. However, 150 years later, the middle period of Western Zhou was gradually inappropriate, so the ritual collapse and the music began to appear. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the annexation and competition for hegemony among the princes became more and more intense, and the social changes were greater, and the Zhou rituals were even more unable to adapt to the times. Therefore, the large-scale ritual collapse and music caused Confucius to be heartbroken. After entering , the war of annexation became more and more intense. Every country had a crisis of national destruction, and society also experienced more drastic changes. However, on the other hand, some rigid Zhou system continued, hindering the country's strength and threatening the status of the monarchy. Sharp politicians found that reforms were necessary and a new system was established, so the vigorous reform of the Warring States powers kicked off.
However, The Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period have carried out reforms one after another, why is the only Qin Shang Yang's reform successful? In this regard, Sima Qian mentioned two words, which are not much the same as our understanding. At the same time, most of the strong army in later generations are closely related to these two words.
In 359 BC, Shang Yang promulgated the " Reclamation and Grass Order " on Qin , which was the prelude to the comprehensive reform of the Qin State.
The so-called "grass cultivation order" is, as the name suggests, a reform related to agriculture. The main purpose is to stimulate agricultural production and provide a degree of attention to agriculture. For example, it is mentioned that it is important to attach importance to agricultural production, allowing domestic aristocrats to join agricultural production, and implement a unified tax and rent system and other reform strategies.
Three years later, the "Reclamation and Grass Order" was successfully implemented, and Shang Yang carried out the next step of reforms, such as implementing Wei State Li Mi's " Law and Jing ", establishing a twenty-level rank system, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce to reward land reclamation, abolishing the well-field system of aristocrats, abolishing the state-owned land ownership and promoting private land ownership, forcibly implementing the individual small family system, unified weights and measures , etc.
Among them, the twenty-level rank system is closely linked to military merits. The more enemies you kill, the higher the rank you get. Depending on the number of beheadings, you can also obtain fields, houses, servants, etc. For example, killing five enemies can have five servants. In addition, if parents are prisoners and wives are slaves, they can change by killing enemies.
Therefore, the core of Shang Yang’s reform is “farming and war”, that is, “agriculture” and “war”, and others, including commerce, are on the sidelines. Sima Qian said in "Biography of Shang Jun" that "I have read the book "Shang Jun " and it is similar to his behavior." Although Sima Qian despises Shang Yang, he wrote very clearly about the core of Shang Yang's reforms.
Shang Yang himself said it more clearly in "Shang Jun Book: Guan Law": "Therefore, my teachings and orders: Those who want to make profits cannot farm, and those who avoid harm cannot fight. All the people in the territory must first fight and then enjoy what they enjoy."
The problem is, what is the relationship between "farming war" and the success of Shang Yang's reform?
The reason is very simple. Shang Yang’s simplest division is to divide the country into two types, either as farmers or herdsmen or as warriors. Qin is located in the west and the country is relatively backward. It has always been despised by the six Kanto countries as barbarians. There is not much social division of labor and business is not developed. Generally speaking, Shang Yang’s division is easier to accept.
The author makes an assumption, if the content of Shang Yang's reforms is put into Qi State , Wei State, and Korean , can it be successful? It will definitely arouse large-scale opposition, because these countries are relatively advanced in society, and commerce and handicrafts are very developed, especially in Qi. Various ideas emerge one after another, and it is almost impossible to simply and roughly implement the "farming war" system.
Of course, the political situation of Qin is stable, the monarch firmly holds the power, and has always supported the reform. Shang Yang's reform meets the requirements of the emerging landlord class, and attaching importance to agriculture also allows the people to fill their stomachs. These are also the reasons for Shang Yang's success in the reform, but the word "farming and war" that is more in line with the national conditions of Qin is undoubtedly the key among the key, which is not much the same as in the past understanding.
After Shang Yang's reforms, the people of Qin State worked in their spare time and fought in wars, which not only guaranteed logistics supply, but also guaranteed the morale of soldiers. Especially for the twenty-sixth-class peasants, by killing enemies, they can not only improve their lives, but also become middle and high-level leaders of the country in theory. This has a great stimulation to the common people and can almost make the Qin State a soldier.
Under this stimulation, the Qin army's combat effectiveness soared rapidly. It can be said that it is as brave as it is. The key is that there are still many brave soldiers in this way, which are called "Tiger and Wolf Army" in history books. " Shangjun Book " records that "the people of (Qin) see the battle, just like the hungry wolf see the flesh", which shows the urge to the head of the Qin people; later Zhang Yi praised the bravery of the Qin army and said, "The tiger and the throne are so powerful that they can't do anything." This means that they hold their chins in their hands and go straight into the enemy's formation, which is very brave, which makes the soldiers of the six countries frightened.
As the reform effect emerged, more and more food was added, and the army was more and more capable of fighting, making the king of Qin more and more determined to carry out the reform to the end. Finally, after several generations of persistence, he finally unified the six countries at the time of Qin Shihuang , achieving unprecedented great achievements.
Since the farming war has made Qin powerful, will there be any regime in later generations follow suit?
In fact, if you look at Chinese history, you will see that the strong army in almost every era is related to the two words "farming and fighting", such as Han Dynasty 's military farming system, Tang Dynasty 's palace military system (integration of soldiers and farmers, standard farming and fighting methods), ward offices in the Ming Dynasty, etc. As for the alien regime, it is even more closely linked to the word "farm" and is expressed more prominently.
Xun , Turkish , Mongolian, and Jurchens, they are all integrated with pastoral warfare, or fishing, hunting, farming + warriors, taking Last Jin as an example in the late Ming Dynasty.
The Jurchens in the late Ming Dynasty were either fishing, hunting, farming or grazing. Anyway, they were just for food, and then they were soldiers during wartime, so that all the soldiers could be soldiers. Once the Later Jin Dynasty was about to invade Ming Dynasty , countless Jurchens would be transformed into soldiers. Because the Later Jin Dynasty allowed soldiers to rob and could make money every time they went to war, the Jurchens became more and more warlike. Looking at the Jurchens' set, it is very similar to the core of Shang Yang's reforms, but it is much rougher.
In contrast, after the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's garrison system, it could only use the recruitment system . However, after the financial crisis in the late Ming Dynasty, the generals could only raise a small number of combat-capable servants. Obviously, the number of servants is limited, far less than that of the Jurchens, who are all soldiers, so it is natural that failure is not the case. Of course, there are many other factors that can be established in , the Qing Dynasty , but the farming war is undoubtedly the key reason for its success.
However, although the farming and war system can bring about a strong army, it is more adaptable to a backward society after all. Human beings are constantly moving forward, and the social division of labor is becoming more and more refined. It is impossible for future generations to return to the simple farming and war era. The collapse of the Tang Dynasty military system and the Ming Dynasty ward system are closely related to the inability to apply the changes in the times.
Reference materials: "Records of the Grand Historian", "Book of Shang Jun", etc.
