Reforms of the Seven Kingdoms during the Warring States Period

1. Qi State: Zou Ji’s Reform

Zou Ji implemented Legalist policies

Starting from Duke Huan of Qi, the father of King Wei of Qi, the State of Qi established its capital in Linzi, west of Ji. In the Jixia area outside the gate, a school was set up to attract scholars from various schools to write books and discuss politics. They were called "Mr. Jixia", also known as doctors. Among Mr. Jixia, there was a man named Chun Yukun who was a domestic slave and a progressive thinker. He twice criticized the Confucian Meng Ke to his face, believing that Duke Mu of Lu had weakened the country by placing great emphasis on Confucianism, which showed that Confucianism was "useless". "To the country", as in Confucianism, "one who does things for his own sake but has no merit" is not considered a "sage".

At this time, Chunyu Kun spoke to Zou Ji in "wee words", which led Zou Ji to decide on the following strategy: for the monarch, "please be careful not to leave the front" and "please be careful in everything you do"; for the people, " Please attach yourself to the people"; for ministers, "please choose gentlemen carefully and not mix with villains", "please revise the law carefully and supervise traitors". These advocates obeying the king and choosing "gentlemen" to serve as officials and preventing "little villains". It is the policy of Legalism to mix people, advocate amending laws and supervise the elimination of traitors.

Zou Ji attaches great importance to recommending talents, and King Qi Wei also attaches great importance to these talents, treating them as "treasures". Once, King Wei of Qi and King Hui of Wei were hunting together in the countryside. King Hui of Wei boasted that he had ten "pearls with an inch diameter" that could be used to "light a chariot twelve times in front and back", so it was a "treasure"; and King Wei of Qi He thinks that his "treasures" are different, and that a few capable ministers are his "treasures", such as Tanzi who guards Nancheng, Panzi who guards Gaotang, Qianfu who guards Xuzhou, and Zhongshou who "makes preparations for thieves". They are all his "treasures" and "will illuminate a thousand miles".

At this time, Qi State had many talented people, and Sun Bin also served as military advisor due to Tian Ji's recommendation. This is all the result of Zou Ji's implementation of the Legalist policy of "choosing gentlemen carefully". In response to the situation of "hundred officials in chaos" in Qi State, Chunyu Kun once spoke to King Wei of Qi in cryptic terms. He asked King Wei of Qi: "There is a big bird in the country that stops at the royal court. It has not flown (flyed) and has not sounded for three years." "What does the king know about this bird?" King Wei replied: "If this bird does not fly, it will soar into the sky; if it does not sing, it will make a great noise." Then he summoned seventy-two local officials from all over the country, "Reward one person and punish one person." ".

Because the official of Jimo governed Jimo, "the fields were opened up, the people gave them, the officials had nothing to do, and the east was peaceful", instead of serving the king for reputation, King Wei of Qi rewarded him with ten thousand families. of food. And because Adafu was in charge of the country, "the fields were not cultivated and the people were poor", but he used money to serve the king in order to gain reputation. King Qi Wei cooked Adafu and the people who praised him to death. It is said that from then on, "the country of Qi was frightened, and everyone did not dare to cover up his wrongdoing, but acted with sincerity, and the country of Qi was governed by great rule." This is another concrete implementation of Zou Ji's implementation of the Legalist policy of "respecting the law and supervising the treacherous officials".

At the same time, due to Zou Ji’s advancement, King Wei of Qi ordered his ministers and people: “Those who can criticize others’ mistakes will receive high rewards; those who write letters to admonish others will receive medium rewards; those who can slander others will be discussed in the market. "Those who heard the news will be rewarded." It is said that when the order was first issued, officials came to the gate to admonish. After a few months, there were still people coming to admonish. A year later, "Although they wanted to say nothing, they had nothing to say." "Enter". This is an exaggeration, but promoting remonstrance from ministers in this way is indeed helpful to the political reform of the monarchy.

2. Chu State: Wu Qi's Reform

"Ming the law to judge the order" and implement the rule of law. Wu Qi summarized Li Kui's experience in the reform in Wei State and knew the importance of the rule of law, so he formulated laws and regulations during the reform and announced them to the public. In order to establish the authority of the rule of law, Wu Qi also adopted the method of "leaning on the shaft of a cart", that is, setting up a cart shaft and rewarding those who can move it. In order to make ideological understanding and public opinion consistent, politicians and politicians are prohibited from lobbying, "breaking up the horizontal and vertical (vertical), so that those who speak out have nothing to say"

Reduce the rank and salary, and then abolish the aristocratic and ministerial status. Lu system. "Huainanzi·Tai Clan Training" said: "Wu Qi ordered Chu to reduce his nobility and salary." "Shuoyuan·Zhiwu" said: "(Wu Qi) equalized the nobility of Chu State, and equalized his salary, and damaged his surplus, and then continued Its shortcomings." For nobles with no meritorious service and their descendants, the policy of equalizing their titles and salaries was implemented, while those with military merits and other meritorious services were awarded titles and salaries, in order to solve the unfair distribution and increase the enthusiasm of soldiers and emerging feudal forces.

At the same time, we further abolished the aristocratic system of senior ministers and senior officials, and "enabled the descendants of the monarch to receive titles and salaries for three generations", which solved the problem of "too many monarchs" and "abolished those who were alienated from the public clan to support them." Fighter". "Belittle the authority of ministers" and rectify the administration of officials.

Wu Qi believed that "too many ministers" and "too many kings" were the two major political shortcomings of the Chu state. Therefore, while abolishing the privileges of the nobility, he also weakened the authority of ministers, "forbids party members to encourage the people", and prohibited big officials from forming parties for personal gain. Reward officials for their loyalty to their duties and for not exceeding their prescribed powers.

At the same time, Wu Qi also started to rectify the administration of officials. The first is to "block private requests, a custom of the Chu State", to put an end to the trend of asking for requests from powerful families, and to clarify the administration of officials; the second is to "keep private interests from harming public affairs, slanders from hiding loyalty, words from slanderers, and deeds from slander." "Doing justice does not lead to reputation loss." It requires officials to distinguish between public and private affairs, be honest in words and deeds, not care about personal gains and losses, and be determined to serve the emerging political power of the reform.

The third is to "remove incompetent officials, abolish useless officials, and damage officials who are not urgent." Reduce redundant officials, select talented and capable people, and eliminate incompetent and useless officials. Move the nobles to the border to consolidate the vast and empty land. According to "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Gui Zu", Wu Qi said to King Chu of Chu: "What is left in Jing is the land, and what is not enough is the people. Now the king is benefiting from what is not enough, and the ministers are not allowed to do anything.

Strengthen military training and improve the combat effectiveness of the army. Wu Qi's reform "should focus on strengthening the army and obeying those who oppose him" in order to "strive for the benefit of the world". Therefore, in the reform, "the people who are prohibited from traveling should be cultivated intensively." "Warriors" means paying equal attention to farming and fighting, being both soldiers and farmers, and prohibiting Ding people from being idle and not doing farming. At the same time, the salaries of hundreds of officials and the descendants of lords are reduced to ensure that the army is fed and trained.< /p>

Wu Qi also changed the "two-version wall" to the four-version city construction method, which improved the quality of the city building project and strengthened the construction of Yingdu.

3. Qin State: Shang Yang's Reform

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The First Reform

Main article: Shang Yang’s Reform

After the "Grass Reclamation Order" was successfully implemented in the Qin State, Qin Xiaogong appointed Shang Yang as the leader in 356 BC. Zuo Shuchang implemented the first reform in Qin State.

The main contents are:

(1) Promulgated and implemented the "Book of Laws" written by Li Kui of Wei State and increased the number of joint sittings. Follow the law, and misdemeanors should be punished with severe punishments;

(2) Abolish the old system of ministerial salary, reward military merit, prohibit private fights, and promulgate a twenty-level nobility system for rewards based on military merit;

< p> (3) Emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, reward farming and weaving, and especially reward land reclamation; stipulate that those who produce a lot of grain and cloth can be exempted from labor and taxes, with agriculture as the "primary industry" and commerce as the "final industry". And the scope of business operations was restricted, and business taxes were levied. ?

(4) Confucian classics were burned, and wandering people were prohibited.

(5) The individual small family system was enforced. The sources of national taxes and military corvee laid a solid foundation for the growth of Qin's economic and military strength.

The Second Reform

Xianyang (now northeast of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province). It is located in the middle of the Guanzhong Plain, with the plateau to the north and the Wei River to the south. Going down the Wei River can lead directly to the Yellow River. There is a direct connection between Zhongnan Mountain and the Wei River to Hangu Pass. In order to facilitate development to the east of Hangu Pass, Qin Xiaogong established it in 350 BC. He ordered Shang Yang to recruit soldiers, build the Jique palace and create a new capital according to the scale of the capitals of Lu and Wei. In the following year, he moved the capital from Yueyang (now southeast of Fuping County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province) to Xianyang. At the same time, he ordered Shang Yang to build a new capital. The second reform was carried out in the Qin State.

The main contents are:

(1) Abolition of the aristocratic well-field system, "opening up the land and enclosing borders", abolishing the state-owned system of slave land, and implementing The state recognizes the private ownership of land and allows free buying and selling of land.

(2) The county system is generally implemented and county-level bureaucracies are established; small capitals, villages and towns are gathered into counties, and counties are used as local administration. Units, the feudal system was abolished, and "all thirty-one counties" were established. The county magistrate was established to take charge of county administration, the county magistrate was established to assist the county magistrate, and the county lieutenant was established to take charge of the military.

(3) Move the capital to Xianyang and build a palace;

(4) Unify the weights and measures system and issue standard weights and measures;

(5) Establish household registration, 5 If every family is together, what is the purpose of ten families? It is stipulated that residents must register their household registrations and begin to collect military taxes based on household and population;

(6) Get rid of the remaining Rongdi customs, prohibit fathers, sons, and brothers from living in the same room, and implement Small family policy. It stipulates that if there are more than two sons in a household who have not separated when they reach the age of establishing a household, double the household registration tax will be levied. This is a supplement to the "Irregular Sons' Law" in the first reform, and it is also a standard for social customs.

4. The State of Yan: There was no reform in the State of Yan. King Kuai of Yan tried to reform but was full of jokes.

5. Zhao State: Hu Fu Riding and Shooting

Hu Fu adopts the clothing of the Hu people, that is, wearing short clothes, belts, belt hooks, and leather boots. King Wuling of Zhao's reform of Hu clothing was very thorough. He not only wanted to change it to the army officers, but also to all the subjects in the country. Therefore, this innovation of changing the clothing touched a wide range of levels, exacerbating the difficulties of the reform.

Before King Wuling of Zhao’s order to “mount and shoot in Hufu” was issued, he was opposed by many of the emperor’s relatives in Handan. Gong Zicheng and others refused to accept the reform on the grounds that "the way of changing ancient times is against the will of others". King Wuling of Zhao refuted them and said: "People with both virtue and talent take countermeasures according to the actual situation, and do whatever is beneficial to the prosperity of the country. As long as it is beneficial to the country and the army, there is no need to stick to the old laws of the ancients."

King Wuling of Zhao, determined to control the Hu with the Hu and incorporate the northwest Rongdi into the territory of Zhao, broke through the obstruction of the conservative forces and resolutely issued the decree of "Hu clothing, riding and shooting". King Wuling of Zhao ordered the whole country to narrow their sleeves, practice riding and shooting, and took the lead in wearing Hu clothes to meet with ministers. After the narrow-sleeved collared right-fold clothing was fully equipped in the Zhao army, King Wuling of Zhao began to train the soldiers, asking them to imitate the appearance of the barbarians, ride horses and shoot arrows, go to the battlefield, and conduct actual combat exercises combined with hunting activities.

When Prince Cheng and others saw that King Zhao Wuling was really having sex, they felt very uncomfortable, so they spread rumors below: "King Zhao Wuling has always looked down upon us, and this is done deliberately to humiliate us. After hearing this, King Wuling of Zhao summoned all the civil and military ministers in Handan City and shot arrows through the sleepers on the gate tower in front of them. He said sternly: "Whoever dares to say anything to obstruct the reform will be shot through with my arrows." His chest!" Young Master Cheng and others looked at each other, and no longer dared to make any random comments.

However, King Zhao Wuling foresaw in advance that the opponents would be strong and the resistance would be great. So we discussed it with Minister Fei Yi and General Lou Xuan for five days in the Xin Palace in the capital of Zhao State. Fei Yi and Lou Huan both agreed. King Wu Ling made up his mind and ordered the whole country to implement Hufu. He first put it on himself, and then sent someone to tell his uncle, Gong Zicheng, to ask him to wear clothes with narrow sleeves and collared collar.

The envoy reported that Gongzi Cheng had a disapproving attitude, so King Wuling went to persuade Gongzi Cheng in person, so that Gongzi Cheng also wore narrow sleeves and turned the right lapel to go to court. The aristocrats Zhao Wen, Zhao Zao, Zhou Yu, Zhao Jun and others discouraged the practice of wearing narrow sleeves with the right lapel collar. King Wuling of Zhao refuted them and said: "The previous kings were different from the customs, so how could they follow ancient laws? Emperors did not attack each other, so how could they follow the etiquette?" "Popularity and vulgarity change, and etiquette follows changes. This is the way of the sage."

And pointed out, "It is not necessary to imitate the ancients to facilitate the country. The rise of saints does not require attacking each other to become kings." Regarding clothes, he said, "The system of clothes is for the common people, not for the wise." King Zhao Wuling received the support of the ministers and refuted the accusations of some nobles, especially the influential nobles like Gong Zicheng. They also wore clothes with narrow sleeves and collars at the right lapel, so the clothing with narrow sleeves and lapels at the right lapel became popular throughout the Zhao Kingdom.

Later, after Zhao State captured Yuanyang, it was renamed "Qiyi" to train cavalry. A man named Niu Zan came out to object again, saying, "The state has a fixed registration, and the army has a regular system. If the registration is changed, it will be chaotic, and if it is lost, it will be weak." King Wu Ling refuted him and said: "There are different advantages in ancient and modern times, and it is easy to use far and near." "I know my status as an official, but I don't know the benefits of weapons." "I use my status as an official to mess with people's affairs, which is not what I know!" Niu Zan hurriedly bowed down and said, "How dare I disobey orders!"

6. Wei State: Li Kui’s Reform

The content of the reform mainly includes four major items:

The first is to abolish the hereditary system in the slavery era and select officials based on ability. , canceling the hereditary salary originally enjoyed by the old nobles and using it to recruit talents and develop production.

The second is to formally abolish the traditional well-field system in China, adopt the policy of "teaching the best of the land", encourage people to reclaim wasteland, abolish the land boundaries under the original well-field system, and allow private land sales. At the same time, all land within the country will be evaluated, the country's land output will be estimated, and reasonable tax policies will be formulated. Allocate land to farmers according to poor land standards to encourage farmers' enthusiasm for production.

The third is to implement the rule of law and establish a complete Wei Dynasty's legal "Fa Jing", which has the most complete provisions on national laws, government functions, officials' promotion rewards and punishments, and military merit awards.

The fourth is to reform the military system and establish a "military soldier" system, which means to assess the soldiers in the army, reward the outstanding ones, and rearrange them into teams according to the combat characteristics of different soldiers. Give full play to the military's combat advantages.

In order to further implement the reform and consolidate the results of the reform, Li Kui compiled the criminal codes of various countries and wrote the book "The Book of Laws", which was announced through Wei Wenhou and became law, affirming and protecting the reform in the form of law. , fixed feudal legal rights. There are 6 chapters in the "Book of Laws", namely "The Law of Stealing", "The Law of Thieves", "The Law of Prisoners", "The Law of Catching", "Miscellaneous Laws" and "GuLv".

7. South Korea: Shin Buha’s Reform

Shen Buya advocated ruling the country by law and implementing further reforms. He also absorbed the Taoist "Junren's Southern Technique" and transformed it, and proposed a A complete set of "technical" treatment strategies of "cultivating skills and practicing Taoism" and "cultivating politics and religion internally".

The first step of Shin Buha's reform in South Korea was to rectify the administration of officials and strengthen the monarch's centralized rule. With the support of Han Zhaohou, he first attacked the three powerful families of Xia, Gongli and Duan, who were holding their own territory. Decisively taking back its privileges, demolishing its castles, cleaning up its treasury and filling its treasury with wealth not only stabilized South Korea's political situation, but also greatly increased South Korea's strength.

At the same time, "technical" governance was widely practiced, the ranks of officials were rectified, and the assessment and supervision of officials were strengthened. "Rewards for merit and appointment of officials for ability" effectively improved the administrative power of the state power. Efficiency has given South Korea a vibrant situation. Later, he suggested to Han Zhaohou to reorganize the army, and took the initiative to ask for orders. He appointed himself as the general of South Korea. He incorporated the private soldiers of the nobles into the national army, mixed them with the original national soldiers, and conducted rigorous military training, which greatly improved South Korea's combat effectiveness. improve. It is particularly worth mentioning that Shen Buhai worked hard to enrich the country and strengthen the military, and he also attached great importance to the land issue.

He said: "Within the four seas and between Liuhe, it is said that 'Xigui, soil, is the foundation of food.' He also said: "The kings of the past seventy-nine generations had different legal systems and different orders. But why do you rule the world? The country must be rich but have a lot of grain. Therefore, he strongly advocated that the people open up more wasteland and diversify food. At the same time, he also valued and encouraged the development of handicrafts, especially weapon manufacturing. Therefore, during the Warring States Period, the smelting and casting industry in South Korea was relatively developed. At that time, there was "Han, the sword of the world". "For the masses" and "The strongest bows and crossbows in the world all come from Han".

In the 15th year of Shen Buhao's prime ministership in Han Dynasty, he "cultivated politics and religion internally and supported the princes externally", helping Han Zhaohou to implement the "Dharma" Governance and "technical" governance have strengthened the Korean monarchy, stabilized the domestic political situation, restricted the privileges of the nobility, and made people's lives increasingly prosperous. It is said in history that "the body of the final Shenzi, the country was governed and the army was strong, and no one invaded Korea." "Although South Korea is surrounded by powerful countries, it can live in peace and become one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period alongside Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Wei and Qin.

Baidu Encyclopedia: Zou Ji's Reform

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Baidu Encyclopedia: Wu Qi's Reform

Baidu Encyclopedia: Shang Yang's Reform

Baidu Encyclopedia: Hufu Riding and Shooting

Baidu Encyclopedia: Li Kui's Reform< /p>

Baidu Encyclopedia: Shen Buhui Reform