Shang Martin was originally a Wei people, in the area of Liangzhuang Town, Huang County, Henan Province, whose original surname was Ji (姬), Gongsun (公孙氏), and his name was Martingale ( ) , so people also called it Wei Martingale or Gongsun Martingale . He was intelligent and studious from an early age, and was very interested in the jurists' doctrines popular during the Warring States period, and saw that the Wei state was weak and weak enough to display his ambitions, so he went to the State of Wei.
Shang Martin served as a zhongshuzi under the Wei state minister Gong Shu ,and was responsible for the education of the princes and qing masters, and was in charge of the affairs of the gong clan. Uncle Gong knew that Shang Martin had the ability to govern the country and wanted to recommend him to King Hui of Wei, but before he could report it, Uncle Gong became seriously ill and bedridden.
someday. King Hui of Wei personally went to visit his uncle's condition. After small talk, I asked the minister of state who could take on the heavy responsibility of managing the country's major affairs. After thinking seriously, Uncle Gong replied: "You can entrust it to my subordinate Gongsun Martingale, although he is not very old, but he is intelligent and talented, enough to take on a big responsibility, if the king does not agree, please kill him, and never let him escape from the Wei kingdom!" King Hui of Wei simply looked down on shang martingale, who was not famous, and thought that the minister of state was sick and said nonsense, so he did not take these words to heart.
After King Wei Hui left, Uncle Gong called Shang Martin to the hospital bed and said to him, "I recommend you to the Great King to take over the position, it seems that the King does not have this plan, I said to him that if you can't reuse you, you will kill you, I am thinking about the monarch first, considering the subordinates, since I told the King first, now I have to tell you, while the King has not killed you quickly, run away." ”
Shang Martin smiled after listening to it, and felt that the master really thought too much, "King Hui didn't listen to your words and let me take my advice, so why would he listen to you kill me?" ”
Shang Martin never escaped, and later the Qin state recruited talents. Qin Xiaogong claimed that whoever could make the Qin state rich and strong would be named Shangqing. When Gongsun Martin heard the news, he decided to leave the State of Wei. Shang Martin was not famous, and it was very difficult to meet the King of Qin directly, so he bribed Jing Jian, the favorite of Qin Xiaogong.
When he first went to see Qin Xiaogong, he gave a lecture on the "Dao Dao" and talked a lot about the etiquette of governing the country. Qin Xiaogong was really not interested in hearing half of it, and yawned three or four times in a row, and then simply fell asleep. Afterwards, Qin Xiaogong angrily rebuked Jing Jian: "How did you do it, introduce such a person, there is no reason to talk about it, how can it be reused?" Five days later, Shang Martin wanted to meet the King of Qin again, and Qin Xiaogong reluctantly agreed, this time he talked about the "King's Way", but Qin Xiaogong still couldn't listen to it, and still didn't reuse his meaning.
Shang Martin ran into the wall twice in succession, but he was not willing to ask for a third visit, and this time he expressed his true proposition of governing the country and the world, the magic of the Fa's strong country, "hegemony". When Xiao Gong heard that "overbearing" was as excited as a child eating candy Tang, he hurriedly asked, "Do you have any way to make my Qin kingdom stronger?" ”
Shang Martin said: "The king's way is to teach slowly according to the people's feelings, and the people's "hegemony" cannot be like this, sometimes they cannot follow their wishes, but they must change their habits vigorously. Men and women who have no insight only know how to get by and covet the immediate benefits, and they can't see the happiness of the future. On the contrary, the bold monarch has a far-sighted vision, and his strategy is to take into account the long-term interests of the future. Ordinary people do not understand this, their lives are miserable, but they are already bitter, and they are asked to change their opposition. To practice "hegemony," we must have determination; the things that the people like are not necessarily done immediately, and the things that the people do not like must be done. When the reforms are effective and the people benefit, they will understand the hard work of the monarch. If we want to be rich, we must attach importance to agriculture, and if we want to be strong, we must reward soldiers, and with heavy rewards, the people can work hard, and with heavy punishments, the people will not dare to break the law. Moreover, if you want to carry out thorough reform, the king must learn to employ people without doubt. Appoint a person to tell him to let go of his hands and feet, and not change his mind because others oppose him, otherwise not only will the results of the reform be abandoned, but the imperial court will also lose its prestige! Qin Xiaogong listened and nodded his head in praise.
A few days later, Shang Martin went to see Qin Xiaogong for the fourth time, at which time Xiaogong changed his indifferent attitude and received him very warmly. The more the two men talked, the more speculative they became, and they even forgot the etiquette of the monarch. Xiao Gong sat excitedly on Shang Martin's seat. Jing Jian felt very strange and secretly asked Shang Martin, "What did you tell the King?" Is he so happy?" Shang Martin smiled and replied, "I told him about the art of a powerful country, and the "overbearing" king was naturally happy. Soon, Duke Xiao of Qin appointed Shang Martin as zuo shu chang (左庶長) and put him in charge of the change of the Qin state.
Reform means major changes, it will affect all the political, economic and military patterns of the country, and it will inevitably have conflicts of interest with traditional beneficiaries. Fearing fierce opposition from the nobles and common people, Shang Martin came up with a plan to establish the authority of the new law.
He sent a three-foot-tall wooden coffin outside the south gate of the capital, and posted a notice that read, "Whoever can move this wooden pole to the north gate will be rewarded with ten gold." "People come and go outside the South Gate, and everyone sees this notice and wonders: Why give such a high bounty for such an easy thing? People don't believe it's true, and no one ever does it. Shang Martin saw that no one believed it, and ordered on the spot, "Whoever can move the wood over me will be rewarded with fifty catties!" This time, someone finally squeaked, removed the wooden pole in front of the people, and received a bounty of fifty, so that the whole Qin state realized the determination of the King of Qin to change the law and try to be strong.
In the more than twenty years from the time of Ren Zuoshu to the death of Qin Xiaogong, Shang Martingale carried out two changes in total.
In 356 BC, he issued the first orders for the change of law. First of all, reward the cultivation of the field and weaving, the development of agriculture, and prohibit business. His idea of attaching importance to agriculture was influenced by Li Wu, believing that agriculture was the fundamental means of developing the economy, and only by attaching importance to agriculture could the people become rich and strong. Secondly, the household registration is compiled to implement "consecutive sitting", that is to say, if one family breaks the law, the other families must report it, otherwise they will be punished together. The third reward is military merit, there is merit to obtain rewards and official positions, relatives of the monarch, without military merit are not allowed to enjoy privileges, this practice mobilized the Enthusiasm of the Qin people for fighting. In addition, he also formulated strict laws, the biggest feature of the legal family is "severe punishment", the principle is "misdemeanor and heavy punishment", even if a very minor crime is committed, it must be punished with extremely heavy criminal law, even if the ash is thrown on the road, it will also be severely punished. Even the prince broke the law and committed the same crime as the commoners.
Shang Martin was promoted to Daliangzao in 352 BC in the tenth year of the Qin Dynasty, which was an important official position in the imperial court. In order to maintain the results of the change, in 350 BC the Shang martingale carried out a second change.
Two of the most important systems had a profound impact on later generations: First, the establishment of the county system. The new law stipulates that the county system will be widely promoted throughout the country, and each county shall set up a county order and a county clerk, which is the highest local administrator, and since then, the county has become the basic organizational form of local power, breaking the system of aristocrats being officials for generations in the past. The second is to stipulate that the weights and measures of the whole country must be unified, and the forward system, that is, the units of measurement such as ascension, bucket, zhang, and ruler are uniformly stipulated, which is very beneficial to the economic development of the Qin state at that time, and also laid the foundation for the unification of weights and measures by Qin Shi Huang later.
After years of efforts, the Qin state has become stronger and stronger, and finally has the strength to unify the world.
The State of Wei was to the east of the State of Qin, an important gateway to zhongyuan in the Qin State, the greatest threat to Qin, and the number one power among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. After the State of Qin became rich and strong, Shang Martin said to Xiao Gong, "The State of Qin and the State of Wei are incompatible because of the terrain, just like sooner or later the disease of a person who changes his heart is a scourge, and in the end he cannot escape the fate of being swallowed and swallowed." Now the monarch you are wise, the country is prosperous is better to take advantage of the present to raise troops to cut down Wei, if the State of Wei can not survive, it will inevitably move the capital to avoid, and then the Qin State has the danger of mountains and rivers, can develop to the east, subdue the princes of the Central Plains, and achieve the cause of overlordship! After hearing this, Qin Xiaogong very much agreed with his plan.
In 340 BC, Qi and Zhao attacked the State of Wei, and the situation in the State of Wei was critical, and Shang Martin thought that this was a good opportunity, so he led his army to attack the State of Wei. The State of Wei sent Wei Wei as a general to lead troops to resist the Qin army. Judging from the strength of Qin Wei's troops at that time, it was still very difficult for qin to win a quick victory. So Shang Martin wrote a letter to Wei Jie: "In the past, we were very good friends, but now you are now at war with your lords, I am very reluctant to fight with you, let's meet and strike and ask for peace, how do you see!" Wei Wei readily agreed.
The Qin generals hid in advance at the meeting place, and while Wei Wei was drinking, the ambushers rushed up and captured him alive. The Qin army took advantage of the situation to defeat the Wei army and achieved a major victory. The State of Wei fought against foreign countries for many years, and the country was empty, so it had to cede most of the land west of the Yellow River to the State of Qin to make peace. King Hui of Wei suddenly remembered that when his uncle was seriously ill with acne, he recommended Shang Martingale to him, and said regretfully, "I really hate myself, why didn't I listen to Xiang Guo's words in the first place!" ”
After Shang Martin defeated the Wei army, Duke Xiao of Qin rewarded him with the fifteen yi of the land of Yu and Shang, and thus gave him the title of "Shang Jun".
Shangmartin implemented the change of law to make the country prosperous, but it also infringed on the interests of many people, some nobles have long hated him to the bone, and after the death of Qin Xiaogong, the blows on Shangmartin came one by one. After King Huiwen of Qin ascended the throne, he still ostensibly supported the Shang martingale reform law, and also respected him, and often praised his contribution to the country in public, but behind his back, he supported those who opposed the shang martingale and tried every means to fabricate charges against him.
At that time, some of Shang Martin's friends had already seen it very clearly, knew that King Huiwen might poison him one day, and privately advised him to leave the Qin State quickly, while Shang Martin was on the one hand confused by the illusion created by King Huiwen, and on the other hand, he coveted the glory and wealth in the Qin State and was unwilling to leave. Not long after, the prince of the State of Qin falsely accused Shang Martin of plotting a rebellion, and King Huiwen ordered shang martingale to be arrested immediately. Shang Martin heard the news and quickly fled.
On the way to escape, he wanted to stay in the hotel, because there was no voucher, the owner did not dare to take him in and said to him: "This is the rule of the martingale, whoever allows the person who does not have the voucher to stay, he will sit together." Shang Martin had no way to run to the State of Wei again, and the State of Wei already hated him to the bone, so he had to return to his fiefdom of Shangyi in the State of Qin. He organized some people and horses to prepare to resist the Qin army, but he was outnumbered and captured by King Huiwen's army.
King Huiwen put Shang Martin to death with the cruel criminal law "Car Split". After the death of Shang Martin, the new law was abolished, many old customs and old forces made a comeback, and the Qin state underwent nearly twenty years of changes. It ended in failure.
Although the change of law helped the Qin state to become strong rapidly, after the Qin Dynasty unified China, because the law was too harsh, it was quickly overthrown by the peasant uprising, and Shang Martin himself died under the severe punishment and cruel law he set, which shows that only strict laws govern the country, although it can be strong for a while, but often soon perish, so after the rise of the Han Dynasty, it no longer uses the harsh rule of law, but adopts Taoist and Confucian ideas to make the country gradually prosper.