In order to compete for hegemony and strength, all countries have competed to develop their own strength through various means, so during this period, all kinds of changes in the law appeared in an endless stream; in order to ensure their national status and to be able to open up the gap between them and other countries, the major princely states have made more attempts on the road of law reform, such as: the law of law change, the law of law change, the law of change of law, the law of military rule, and so on.
The philosophy of historical materialism tells us that the development of history has its own specific laws, and although there is no best way of development in some specific periods, it must have the development characteristics that are most suitable for that era, so the results achieved by various types of changes are different; in addition, the effects achieved by the implementation of various types of changes in different countries are also different, for example, the State of Qi and the State of Wei are a typical example.
After the rule of law changed the law of Wei, it gradually evolved into the law of the change of the law of officials
The change of law in the early warring states period of the State of Wei was actually exercised by the law of change, that is, the change of law of Li Wu, which opened the prelude to the change of law in the Warring States; Li Wu was one of the great masters of the fa and one of the inheritors of the mainstream scholarship of the fa, and the legal change he implemented in the Wei state was the foundation that made the Wei state strong and prosperous.
However, the Li Wu transformation method is only a stage of the nature of the change, that is to say, when the generation of monarchs who supported Li Wu became the past, the next monarch did not continue to implement the policy of li wu transformation law, which led to the Li Wu transformation law to achieve relatively great achievements in one stage, but did not continue its glory.
By the time of King Hui of Wei, the State of Wei did not continue to push a higher level of Li Wu's transformation method, but was more inclined to the development of the Confucian doctrine of the royal way of politics, and the form of domestic development was also more similar to that of the rule of officials, and the State of Wei did not go a long way on this road, resulting in a sharp decline in national strength.
Let's look at the variation of the State of Qi
The State of Qi began to implement the law of change of official rule during the reign of King Qi Wei, which was the fundamental change of law of the State of Qi, and this change of law movement brought great benefits to the State of Qi, making the national environment of the State of Qi very stable, the people's lives relatively rich, and the politics relatively close to the people; the State of Qi can be said to be a relatively stable country throughout the Warring States Period.
On the surface, it seems that the same is the change of the law of the officials, why did the State of Wei lose to the State of Qi?
In the middle of the reign of King Hui of Wei, the State of Qi and the State of Wei fought a contest that ended in the defeat of the State of Wei; so what was the reason that the two countries achieved different results under the same form of change? This article focuses on understanding this problem, and what are the in-depth reasons hidden under the same superficial development methods of the State of Wei and the State of Qi?
The State of Wei was geopolitically bad, in the land of four wars, and urgently needed to improve its strength and strengthen itself
The first factor we discuss from the objective point of view, the State of Wei is a country in the core area of the Central Plains, its strategic position is very important, the importance of this strategic position is divided into two aspects, first, for the State of Wei itself: the reason why the State of Wei actively carried out reform in the early warring states period is because it must use the results of the change to make up for the shortcomings in geographical location.
The State of Wei is in the core area, surrounded by strong enemies on all sides, and the State of Wei is a country formed after the division of the State of Jin with Korea and the State of Zhao, although the State of Jin is an old princely state in the Central Plains, the national foundation is relatively strong, but the State of Jin is after all a princely power formed by several large families that have developed for hundreds of years, although the State of Wei is a relatively powerful family in the late Jin Dynasty, but the strength of a family is still difficult to match with a country, and the historical background of this family is not as good as that of the State of Jin, so in a sense, The State of Wei was actually an emerging state.
A newly established princely state, surrounded by some princely states with hundreds of years of history, is naturally difficult to survive; therefore, for the State of Wei, it must enhance its national strength in a way that can quickly achieve results, so as to avoid endangering the survival of the country under the environment of the princes.
Li Wu's rule of law change has relatively low requirements for domestic and foreign conditions
The second aspect is that for the major princely states, for a new country, it is easier for them to get benefits from it, so it is easier for them to enhance their own strength, so the Wei state must also seize the time to develop and grow.
And the problem lies here, the Li Wu transformation law implemented by the State of Wei is a kind of change of the nature of the rule of law, one of the characteristics of this change is that it has achieved rapid results, it is through hard regulations and clear forms of governance, to arrange the development of the whole country, its requirements for external conditions and internal conditions are relatively low, because it itself is used to eliminate unfavorable factors; so under the rule of law change, the State of Wei can develop and grow rapidly.
After the Wei state became strong, the rule of law changed into a change of law, and the internal and external conditions were relatively high
However, when it developed and grew, it became the most powerful country in the Central Plains, and the threat of the surrounding princely states to it was decreasing or even eliminated, so the Wei state lost the momentum of development, and its development stayed in the stage of King Hui of Wei; after that, they also began to implement a change in the administration of officials, but the change of the law of the rule of officials was very demanding on the external environment and the internal environment.
The stability of the development environment of the Wei state is due to the strength of its national strength, to put it simply, the Wei state has actually been in an unstable state of development, but because of the development of its own strength, these unfavorable factors have been temporarily hidden, and when its development gradually declines, these unfavorable factors can still threaten its national survival.
Therefore, when the strength of the State of Wei fell, the domestic rule of officials did not show much effect, after all, most of the role of the law of change of the law of the rule of officials is on the common people, and a stable development environment is needed to be implemented, so the geographical conditions of the State of Wei itself are not suitable for the development of the law of change of the law of the rule of officials.
The State of Qi was orthodox, had a profound historical background, and had superior natural conditions suitable for the change of law by officials
However, the State of Qi itself is a princely state located in the east, its neighbors are relatively few, and its own historical background and its development strength are rarely greatly invaded by other countries, and it is relatively stable compared with the development of other countries.
At the same time, the State of Qi is a vassal state inherited from the Western Zhou Dynasty, its own status is very orthodox, the form of development is relatively advanced, not as deeply influenced by the nobility as the State of Chu, the State of Qi is located on the coast of the East China Sea, and has a natural advantage in economic development, which means that the wealth that the common people of the State of Qi can accumulate is larger and easier than other countries, and the life is more stable and rich than the subjects of other countries.
This is actually a guarantee condition for the change of the law, because if we want to improve the morality of the common people, we must first plan and guarantee their living environment, so that people can pay attention to moral issues. From the perspective of objective factors, the State of Qi has the conditions to carry out the reform of the law of the officials; therefore, the two countries will achieve different results under the same form of change.
The Wei officials did not change the law thoroughly, causing them to lose many talents
The second reason is that the law of change of the official rule implemented by the State of Wei was not complete, and it was even said that the court of the State of Wei did not make any effort to change the law of the rule of law; on the question of why the State of Wei abandoned the law of change and the law of the rule of law to implement the law of the change of the law of the rule of law? The reason is unbearable, because
Under the change of the law of the bureaucracy, it is better to cover up the mistakes of the monarch's decision-making and to exclude talents who cannot make the monarch's favorite.
In fact, many famous courtiers in the Warring States period came from the State of Wei, such as Le Yi, who led the coalition army of the State of Yan, whose ancestors were the LeYang of the State of Zhongshan for the State of Wei; or who later brought to the State of Qin the Shang martingale who changed the law, Zhang Yi who brought the policy of lianheng, Fan Ju who brought the policy of attacking from afar and close attacks; or the Xinling jun who was not trusted by the monarch and self-destructed in wine... These people were not simply unhappy in terms of career. It was also persecuted to varying degrees by the Wei dynasty.
Shang Martin was strongly recommended by the then chancellor Gong Gong Shu, but because he did not have a good background in birth, he was ostracized by King Hui of Wei, resulting in Shang Martin not having any breakthrough in Wei for several years; Zhang Yi was driven to the Chu State because he was a cloth man, and even more was framed and stole heshi Bi in the Chu State; Fan Ju was tortured by the nobles of the State of Wei in every way, and finally could only flee by pretending to be crazy and stupid; for famous generals such as Le Yi, he also let go; for people like Xin Lingjun who were themselves from the Wei royal family, the King of Wei avoided his usurpation of his throne. After stealing the charm to save Zhao, he trapped him in the Zhao kingdom for ten years....
In order to cover up the mistake, the king of Wei smeared the more blackened the result
All of this can show that the employment system of the Wei royal family is very unrealistic, or that there are large problems in the political system of the Wei state itself, and this wrong decision in the system led to the loss of the superpower status of the Wei state, and it is also the main reason why the Wei state suffered two major wars, the Battle of Maling and the Battle of Guiling.
In order to cover up this mistake, the monarch must prove in another way that he is not unkind, or make up a big lie to show that he must have made efforts for the development of the country, but the King of Wei himself does not think that he has done wrong, nor will he admit his own mistakes, nor is he willing to change the existing institutional development policies, so he can only find some policies that cannot be implemented to cover for himself and give the subjects of the world a so-called explanation.
Therefore, King Hui of Wei found the Confucian Mencius and the Yin-Yang family's Chun Yu Jie, who were relatively famous in the world at that time and had a profound impact on the entire world; but the doctrines of these two families were not suitable for the development of the Warring States Era, which was a chaotic era.
After the King of Wei saw Mencius and Chun Yuji, he first stated his mistake very bitterly, and explained to them the recent situation of the State of Wei: saying that the prince of the State of Wei was captured by other countries, the generals of the State of Wei were beheaded on the battlefield by other countries, and the army of the State of Wei was originally victorious in every battle, but now it has been defeated repeatedly... Therefore, the King of Wei asked them to give themselves a way to govern the country so that they could seek practical benefits for the State of Wei.
The King of Wei ran into a wall in front of the Confucian Mencius and the Yin-Yang family Chun Yu
But Chun Yuji of the Yin and Yang family laughed when he heard this discussion, and the Confucian Mencius even more highly criticized the King of Wei, saying that how could the King of Wei, as a monarch, talk about interests? If the monarch will only pursue interests, then the courtiers and ordinary people will only pursue interests, and over time, who will contribute to the country? Therefore, the King of Wei could only improve the current situation of the country through the development policy of wang Dao, that is, the so-called improvement from the aspect of the health and death of the people.
This is actually an attempt to confuse history, and I would like to ask which country would give its opponents the opportunity to improve in the details during the Warring States era when wars broke out frequently? More importantly, the Confucian Mencius and the Yin-Yang family's Chun Yu-Ji were the leaders of the great sects in the world at that time, and the confucian and Yin-Yang doctrines were also widely circulated, and King Hui of Wei, as the monarch of the Wei kingdom, lived in the liang that could be called an international metropolis at that time, how could such a person not understand the teachings of Confucianism and the Yin-Yang family?
In fact, the King of Wei knew the answer they were going to give him before he asked Mencius and Chun Yujie, and the later King Hui of Wei did not do what Mencius and Chun Yujie said, indicating that he himself understood the absurdity of this statement, or the impossibility of this way in the Warring States period.
discuss
The purpose of the Wei officials' change of law was to cover up the mistakes of the monarch
Therefore, in the final analysis, King Hui of Wei only wanted to find an excuse for himself, indicating that he did not disrespect talents, but that talents could not really bring benefits to the development of the Wei state, and wanted to clear his responsibility in the decline of the Wei state. But what King Hui of Wei did not expect was that his practice had a deep impact on the later State of Wei, after all, King Hui of Wei reigned for fifty-one years, and more than fifty years was enough to bring a profound impact on the development form of a country.
After the death of King Hui of Wei, King Xiang of Wei and other monarchs had met with Confucian disciples and consulted them on the way to govern the country, which made the state development policy of the State of Wei more and more biased toward the royal way, and it was more and more biased toward the rule of officials, but the State of Wei itself was a country that was not suitable for the change of the law of the rule of officials, it did not have the external conditions for the change of the law of the rule of officials, and it did not make efforts and contributions to the change of the law of the rule of officials from within, so how could such a country ask the change of law to bring it practical benefits?
On the contrary, the State of Qi really made efforts in the reform of the law of the officials, and the King of Qi wei, after listening to Zou Ji's words, opened up the way of speech, appointed many talents who could contribute to the development of the country, and also improved the living environment of the common people, so that the State of Qi, which was very rich itself, became more stable and harmonious, greatly used its advantages in economic development, and finally achieved the goal of defeating the court, so that Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, and all of them were in Qi.
Therefore, in fact, the purpose of the State of Qi in carrying out the change of the law is to enable the State of Qi to rise in the Warring States era and to seek more benefits for its own country, and the purpose of the State of Wei's implementation of the Law of The Change of The Rule of Officials is only to cover up its inadequacy in its failure to continue to promote the change of the law by the rule of law, and it is just a small trick of the monarch; therefore, one country is wholeheartedly organizing the change of law, while the other country adopts an attitude of not caring, which will naturally lead to a different final result.
brief summary
From the above description, we can see that the different emphases of the Wei and Qi states on the road of changing the law, coupled with the differences in the external environment in which they themselves are located, have led to different degrees of deviation in establishing the status of the royal road policy in the development of the country, and this deviation has also led to their differences in the final result.
In fact, the State of Wei itself has a better development advantage than other countries, it is the first country to adopt the rule of law to change the law to enrich the country and strengthen the army, if it can always adhere to the goal of changing the law of law, can always implement the political measures of Li Wu's change of law, then it will certainly be able to better lead other countries.
However, the State of Wei abandoned the path of rule of law, used a royal road that was almost opposite to the rule of law to cover up its shortcomings in development, and eventually suffered a huge defeat; it can be said that the State of Wei is the most regrettable country in the history of the Warring States, the strength is the first to be strong, it once had the greatest advantage to unify the Central Plains, but finally achieved the most tragic end, which is worthy of our later people's deep thinking; many times only by implementing innovation and reform can we harvest a perfect ending.
References: Lü Shi Chunqiu, Han Shu, Warring States Policy, Zuo Zhuan, Zizhi Tongjian, Shi Ji, etc