On the Death of Shang Yang

Some people say that Shang Yang's death can't be blamed on Qin Huiwen and the villain of Qin State, but on Shang Yang himself, because Shang Yang's personal achievements are too great. The achievements of Shang Yang's appearance led to people only knowing Shang Yang at that time, but not the king of Qin. This is why King Huiwen of Qin was extremely afraid of Shang Yang.

Shang Yang embarked on the road of political reform that year, which also made the old nobles of Qin very angry with him. Therefore, Shang Yang was used as a springboard by Qin Huiwen, pushing him out to quell the anger of the old nobles of Qin State.

We can see from the fact that Qin Huiwen still abides by Shang Yang's new law, although he later killed Shang Yang. Qin Huiwen is not opposed to Shang Yang's new law, and even supports the new law of Qin State. Therefore, Shang Yang's death from the new law is just an excuse of King Qin Huiwen.

Qin Huiwen is a very clever emperor. He knew that killing Shang consolidated his political position. Once Shang Yang is killed, it will make the old nobles have no excuse to abolish the new law, and they can also turn against the old nobles on the grounds of Shang Yang's death. So for Qin Huiwen, Shang Yang's death is very valuable.

In fact, if Shang Yang did not firmly support Shang Yang's reform since he entered Qin, Shang Yang could not succeed in the new law of Qin. After all, no matter which country reformed in ancient times, once reformed, the leader of its reform will inevitably end in a bleak end (although Shang Yang was no exception in the end), but the difference between Shang Yang and most reformers is that his reform was ultimately successful and was a great success.