What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the enfeoffment system in national management? How did Shang Yang deal with the shortcomings of the enfeoffment system?

The enfeoffment system has a long history. It was first established in the late Shang Dynasty or the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Advantages: First, it consolidated the rule of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Because at the beginning of the founding of the Western Zhou Dynasty, after the Battle of Muye, only the central power of the Shang Dynasty was eliminated, and there was no way to rule the vast people of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Therefore, it called itself a "small state". On the one hand, Wu Geng, the son of King Zhou, continued to rule the old tribe of Yin and Shang, and on the other hand, he sent King Wu of Zhou's three younger brothers to monitor Wu Geng. On the other hand, the feudal heroes and Zhou clan carried out armed immigration activities. The original purpose of this enfeoffment activity was to expand the Zhou royal family's influence and control over other regions through military conquest and immigration. Through a large number of enfeoffments, the Zhou royal family obtained a large amount of land and population. After Zhou Gong's eastern expedition, "the whole world is the land of the king". Second, it established the sovereign status of Emperor Zhou. The combination of Zhou's feudal system and patriarchal system was the characteristic of the political system at that time. This system determined that the feudal princes always had blood ties or monarch-minister relationships with the Emperor of Zhou. The Emperor of Zhou was the "big sect" of the world, and the princes were just the "small sects" of the Emperor. They were in a subordinate position to the Emperor of Zhou in terms of blood and politics. Third, Emperor Zhou’s enfeoffment was strategic. Through enfeoffment, the most loyal princes were sealed in traffic arteries and important agricultural production areas, which not only controlled the main economic and transportation lifelines, guarded against the barbarians, but also drove the old people of the Yin and Shang Dynasties far away. Fourth, given the economic and traffic conditions at the time, the enfeoffment system seemed to be the best choice. Because it was impossible for the princes to quickly transmit information to the Emperor of Zhou when encountering a situation, they had relatively great power to deal with local disturbances in a timely manner. Finally, and most importantly. Zhou's enfeoffment system was based on well fields. The well-field system determines the size of the land and the title and salary of the royal family, the public office and the clan. The continuous enfeoffment is actually the continuous occupation of land and the distribution of rights.

Disadvantages: First, later government orders will not work. As the blood relationship between various princes, ministers and officials became more and more distant from Emperor Zhou, their feelings towards Emperor Zhou were basically indifferent. In addition, due to the long distance, they would not obey the emperor's orders very much. This has already appeared in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. In addition, the Quan Rong invaded Haojing in the last years, forcing King Ping to move the capital. As a result, Emperor Zhou was disgraced and at the same time lost his possession of the royal territory. From then on, the Zhou royal family basically became the banner of Zheng, Qi and other countries. No real power. It can be said that these are all the consequences of enfeoffment. Because the enfeoffment system determined that local princes had too much power, such as the political power, judicial power, and military power possessed by the princes. Second, from another perspective, the later enfeoffment system was not conducive to economic development. The reason is that the enfeoffment system determined that the land was nominally owned by the Emperor of Zhou, but actually occupied by the princes, ministers and officials. These aristocrats did not participate in production, but obtained land rent through the labor of the serfs who worked on it. As productivity increased, the serfs' output increased, but they never had their own land. As a result, the enthusiasm for labor decreased, and a large number of people fled (escaped to places where no one cared about them to get their own land). It can be said that the enfeoffment system restricted economic development to a certain extent.

How did Shang Yang deal with the shortcomings of the enfeoffment system?

1. Completely abolish the Shiqing Shilu system, reward military merit, implement a military merit title system, and establish a Shiwu organization. The purpose of prohibiting private fighting was to weaken the power of slave owners, strengthen feudal centralization, and greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the army.

2. Unify weights and measures to eliminate the influence of local separatist forces.

3. Establish a new centralized system of feudal absolutism and implement the county system

4. Abolish the state-owned land system of slavery and implement private land ownership. People are allowed to open up wasteland, land can be bought and sold freely, and taxes are paid equally according to the amount of land each person occupies. After that, although the Qin government still owned some state-owned land, such as unowned and abandoned fields, mountains, forests and swamps, and newly occupied land from other countries, it later gradually turned to private ownership.

This destroyed the production relations of slavery and promoted the development of feudal economy