The most successful reform in history

1. Shang Yang (about 390 BC-338 BC): a politician and thinker in the middle of the Warring States Period, and a famous representative of Legalism. Descendants of Wang Wei Gongsun. So it is also called Weiyang and Gongsunyang. In 340 BC, he was knighted by Qin Xiaogong for his meritorious service to the Qin Dynasty. Shang Yang studied the name of punishment when he was young. At first, he was a policeman in Wei, but he didn't meet any talents. It happened that we recruited talented people, abandoned Wei for Qin, and persuaded them to become a political force. Qin Xiaogong ruled 19 years, and Qin ruled. The great achievements of Shang Yang's political reform made Qin increasingly powerful, but it also offended the aristocratic forces. In addition, when Qin Xiaogong was seriously ill, Shang Yang monopolized the military and political power, which intensified the power struggle within the State of Qin. After Qin Xiaogong's death, the prince succeeded to the throne. Gong Ziqian and others accused Luo Zhi of rebellion. King Qin Huiwen ordered the pursuit. Shang Yang had nowhere to hide, returned to the fief, organized troops to resist Qin Jun, and was finally captured because he was outnumbered. Later, he was punished by King Qin Huiwen.

2. Qin Xiaogong (3865438 BC+0-338 BC): surnamed Wen, famous Quliang. During the Warring States Period, the monarch of Qin was in power from 3665438 BC to 338 BC. There are two things in Qin Xiaogong's life that go down in history. One is to move the capital to Xianyang, and the other is Shang Yang's political reform. Jia Yi, a famous politician and writer in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, made a more objective description of Qin Xiaogong in his article On Qin: "Qin Xiaogong kept its food and faith, held the land of Yongzhou, and the monarch and his ministers insisted on seeing Zhou's room, aiming to sweep the world, accept the world and annex the Eight Wastes. When the time comes, Shang Jun should help it, legislate internally, cultivate and maintain the tools of war; Against the prince outside the company. So the Qin people made friends and took Xijiang. " It can be seen that the strength of Qin at that time.

Two. Background of reform

In the process of China's transformation from a slave society to a feudal society, there is a transitional era, that is, the feudal lords era. The Warring States Period was the period when the feudal landlord system in China collapsed and was established. In this critical period of social system transformation, the ambitions of various vassal States for external expansion were all exposed, so heroes came forth in large numbers, which became the most remarkable feature of the Warring States period.

While striving for hegemony, the discussion on the future social model in the ideological circle is also in full swing. Thinkers representing different classes and strata put forward their own ideas from their own class and stratum positions. They take various ways to show their views to the ruling class, hoping that their views will become the basis for governing the country in the future. In this debate, "the dispute between Confucianism and law" is the most famous.

Confucianism advocates "benevolence" and advocates governing the country with "benevolence". They believe that the monarch should treat the people with "benevolence" and the minister should serve the monarch with "loyalty". Advocating the reconstruction of the ancient system and following the ancient law.

Legalists believe that the foundation of governing the country lies in "law" and a strong system is the foundation of governing the country. They advocate throwing away poetry books, bidding farewell to old culture, completely destroying hereditary aristocratic system and encouraging farming. Under the social background at that time, this kind of pragmatism and utilitarianism thought of legalists had strong fighting capacity. Based on this idea, Qin Xiaogong accepted Shang Yang, which gave him the opportunity to practice his strategy of governing the country.

Before Shang Yang's political reform, the economic strength of Qin was relatively weak. It promoted the disintegration of the well field system, and the tax reform produced by the private ownership of land was also late. The Qin Dynasty's First Rent of Grain (408 BC) was later than the Lu Dynasty's First Tax Mu (594 BC) 186 years. The use of iron farm tools has greatly improved social productivity and accelerated the speed of social and economic development. However, the old system and its constraints on economic and social development are becoming more and more obvious. Breaking the old system and establishing a new system has become an inevitable requirement of social development. In this social environment and social conditions, Qin listed a series of talents, hoping to find a good strategy for this rich country. From Wei Yan to Qin, Shang Yang's grand ambition was realized.

Three. Reform content

Shang Yang's political reform was carried out twice, the first time in 356 BC and the second time in 350 BC. These two political reforms involve political, economic and social aspects, and the specific contents are as follows:

1. Contents of the first political reform

(1) what Wu system.

Re-establish and register household registration on the basis of the original natural settlement. Five families; What is the combination of two Wu? Even sitting in a stone house means that if one family breaks the law, the other family must report it. If they don't report it, they will be severely punished, and the informant can be knighted.

(2) implement the small family policy.

When all men reach a certain age, they must start their own businesses separately, or they will have to pay double taxes. It is forbidden for father and son brothers (adults) to share the same room. After separation, they take care of their own lives and do not interfere with each other. On the one hand, this policy is conducive to the collection of taxes and corvees, on the other hand, it is also conducive to the proliferation of population. At the same time, it can restrict the patriarchy in the family system and make the status of the monarch more clear.

(3) Reward the military and set up a rank of 20.

The complete abolition of the old Shi Qing Shi Lu system is one of the important contents of Shang Yang's political reform. The new law has formulated a system of "rewarding meritorious military service and severely punishing private struggle", stipulating that those who make meritorious deeds will be rewarded according to their merits; Private soldiers are punished according to the seriousness of the crime. Only those who contribute can enjoy prosperity; People without credit, although rich, should not be extravagant. At the same time, the title is divided into 20 grades, and the title is based on merit. Imperial nobles who did not perform military service were not allowed to be knighted. These 20 official ranks are: male scholar, Shang Zao, Ba Miao, Bu Geng, doctor, official doctor, public doctor, Gongcheng, Five Blessingg, Zuo Shu, You Shuchang, Zuo Gengzhong, You Shaoshang, Liang Zhuzao, Zhu Chechang, Da Shuchang, Guan Neihou and Che Houchang. Serve the people in grades one to eight; Above grade nine are official titles, among which grade ten to eighteen are ordinary chiefs, and grade nineteen and twenty are princes. There was no food city before grade 20.

(4) Pay attention to agriculture and restrain business, and reward agriculture and weaving.

Anyone who works hard in farming and weaving and produces more grain and cloth can be exempted from corvee. Anyone who is engaged in industry and commerce and idles away, the whole family does not belong to the government and is punished as a handmaiden. Emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce not only enabled Qin people to concentrate on farming or strive for wealth bravely, but also made industry and commerce a monopoly industry of the monarch. Under this policy, literary tourists are also listed as the last industry, which belongs to the scope of suppression.

⑤ Rule the country with severe punishment and strict laws.

Merit must be rewarded, guilt must be punished, and severe punishment and strict law are the foundation of governing the country, which makes the people of Qin have to follow the rules.

2. The content of the second political reform

(1) Implement the county system and abolish the enfeoffment system.

Counties are the local basic administrative units, and the whole country is divided into 4 1 counties, which are under the jurisdiction of county governors and assisted by county officials. The county governs the capital, towns and settlements, etc. Later, Qin established a county in its newly occupied area, and the county magistrate was in charge of everything. Later, a county was established in the county, and the county system of Qin State was formally formed.

(2) Waste ore fields and open-air buildings.

Completely abolish the mining field system throughout the country and recognize the newly opened land as private ownership. Fully implement the land private policy and allow land to be bought and sold freely. All landowners determine taxes according to the area of land they occupy.

③ Unified measurement and length unit.

Unify the national standards for measuring instruments such as buckets, buckets, weights, scales, rulers and rulers, and issue standard weights and measures.

(4) Attracting immigrants and enriching national strength.

Qin is a country with a vast territory and a sparse population. In order to enrich the national strength, Shang Yang took "food is the most important thing for the people" as the basis, and abel tamata Prefecture and exemption from military service as the conditions to attract foreign immigrants and make them specialize in farming and textiles. Gradually, these immigrants became the main force engaged in farming and weaving production in Qin state, and Qin nationals could concentrate on military service. Qin's national strength has been greatly enhanced.

Four. Significance and influence of reform

Of course, the first beneficiary of Shang Yang's political reform was Qin. The reform strengthened centralization, promoted the improvement of social productive forces, promoted the economic development of Qin State, attracted a large number of people of insight to Qin State, and greatly improved the military strength of Qin State. The reform made Qin achieve the goal of wealth, rose rapidly, and became a leader in the Warring States period, laying the foundation for Qin to finally unify the six countries.

Shang Yang's political reform is a profound social change, which marks the complete destruction of an old social system and the beginning of a brand-new social system.

There are many reasons for the success of Shang Yang's political reform. First of all, it won the support of Qin Xiaogong as the representative of the ruling class. Without the support of the rulers, no matter how good the strategy of governing the country is, it is impossible to get the opportunity to practice it by Shang Yang's personal strength. Secondly, the preparations for reform are extremely adequate. After ten years of political reform, Shang Yang made careful arrangements from the ideological work of the rulers to the propaganda work of the people and even the struggle with the opposition. Facing different situations and different groups, adopting different strategies and means to achieve the predetermined goals is an important reason for the success of Shang Yang's political reform. In addition, Shang Yang attached great importance to the performance and attitude of ordinary people in the process of political reform. In order to win the trust of the people, at the beginning of the political reform, Shang Yang adopted the method of "moving wood to win the trust" and established the prestige that money is hard to buy among the people. Shang Yang regards "law" as the basis of the national political and economic system and an important means to ensure reform. He fixed all kinds of effective measures in the form of law, so that the content of the reform was transformed from Shang Yang's personal views and thoughts into the systems and measures stipulated by national laws, and the implementation of the reform was guaranteed by law.

Shang Yang's political reform weakened the rich and powerful nobles' ability to control power and wealth, so these rich and powerful nobles took various methods and measures to prevent the implementation of the political reform. In this case, Shang Yang had a face-to-face struggle with them, and finally the political reform was carried out smoothly. To this end, Shang Yang offended the powerful. When Qin Xiaogong died, he was finally killed by powerful people. However, his reform measures have been completely integrated into the political and economic system of Qin State, which has become a powerful weapon for Qin State to defeat the six countries and unify China. Shang Yang sacrificed his fighting spirit for the reform, which was also an indispensable factor for the success of the reform.

Any reform must involve the distribution of power, resources and interests, which is also the main reason for the contradiction and resistance of reform. However, as long as the reform can conform to public opinion, win people's support and trust, and take law as a powerful driving weapon, even if there is no great resistance, it will eventually succeed.