That's right, King Zhao Wuling also changed his law!
In fact, since the three families were divided into the Jin Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period entered the Warring States Period, all countries have experienced reforms.
It’s impossible to stay the same! The previous Zhou rites no longer work. Staying unchanged means falling behind, and falling behind means being beaten or even annexed.
Even the country that first carried out the reform was not the Qin State in our ordinary consciousness, but Qin's old rival, Wei State, one of the Three Jins. This reform was also called Li Kui's Reform.
In fact, the later Shang Yang's reform was inherited to a large extent from Li Kui's reform, such as the abolition of the hereditary system and the application of talents, the establishment of the "Book of Laws" to govern the country according to law, and the reform of the military system and the establishment of military soldiers. The above is taking place in the land of Western Qin.
But compared to Li Kui, Shang Yang was obviously more ruthless. On the basis of "law", Shang Yang added the chain of "farming and war", which firmly tied all the Qin people to the Qin State. On the battlefield.
The reason why Wei was the first to carry out the reform was that it actually had to be changed.
At that time, the State of Wei had just divided the State of Jin into three parts with Zhao and Han. After the separation, it was naturally a matter of joy to rise from the family to the state, but the question also came to mind: how to keep this family business!
You know, although Jin is strong, after three points, it is weaker than the surrounding countries.
What a coincidence, the land allocated to Wei at that time was the worst among the three countries: in terms of wealth, Wei was inferior to South Korea; and in terms of military strength, Wei was inferior to Zhao.
However, Wei State is still in a land of four wars: Qi State in the east, Qin State in the west, Chu State in the south, and Zhao State in the north. The Wei State sandwiched in the middle is at a geographical disadvantage.
If the law remains unchanged, I'm afraid it will be annexed soon.
The situation in Zhao State was similar back then. It is no exaggeration to say that it suffered from internal and external troubles.
Externally, there is the Qiang Qin who succeeded Shang Yang's reform in the west; there is the Qiang Qi in the east who is eyeing it; and in the north there are Lin Hu and Lou Fan who harass from time to time, and the whole country is in a state of war at any time.
In terms of internal worries, if nothing else, King Zhao Wuling was only fifteen years old when he succeeded to the throne, which was enough to arouse the suspicion of the young country.
Seeing that the surrounding countries were gradually becoming stronger and stronger through reforms, King Zhao Wuling naturally wanted to make Zhao Guo strong and prosperous through reforms.
But the problem is, through the examples of Qin, Wei and even Chu, everyone knows that reforms can make a country strong and prosperous. It’s okay for Zhao to remain unchanged. If you want to really change, how many big countries that have benefited can agree? The failure of Han Zhiguo's Shenbulai Reform is clear evidence of this.
Just like a country that already possesses nuclear weapons, how can it be possible for other countries to possess such "good things" as nuclear weapons? !
Obviously reform will definitely not work!
However, King Zhao Wuling was still a powerful figure of his generation. Knowing that the surrounding countries will not let Zhao Guo complete the reform easily, then we will not change the law first and only strengthen the army. In the mind of King Zhao Wuling, as long as the soldiers are strong enough, and they can push back to carry out reforms, they will be powerless to stop them, both internally and externally.
Obviously, this is the way to go.
Thus, the historically famous Hufu riding and shooting was born. In order to reassure other countries, King Zhao Wuling also took the initiative to focus all his work on the north, as if he was about to decouple himself from the affairs of the Central Plains.
In the name of fighting against the Hu, Zhao State developed northward, annexed Zhongshan, and expanded Dai territory, allowing Zhao State to achieve unprecedented development.
But it is a pity that in the end, Zhao's reform completely stopped at "riding and shooting in Hufu" with the "Dune Palace Revolution".
Over the years, Zhao's army has been brave, and Zhao's famous generals have emerged one after another, but they have never appeared in the national macro-strategy. As for the idea of reform, they have long been abandoned by the Zhao kings who succeeded to the throne. Gone somewhere.
What Zhao Kuo has to do now is to take advantage of the opportunity when other countries dare not look north to completely complete what King Zhao Wuling wanted to do but had not yet done - reform.
But the question also arises, how to change the law?
Is it a step into socialism? Obviously that was a dream. When Zhao Kuo came, China was still in the primary stage of socialism and would be in the primary stage of socialism for a long time to come!
Given the productivity conditions that have just transitioned from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, let alone socialism, we have not even touched the edge of capitalism!
Then there seems to be no good choice left! There is only feudal society.
Feudal society was still the most rudimentary feudal society and was far from the heyday of the feudal dynasty. Therefore, the so-called thorny stock market issues such as land annexation did not need to be considered at all.
Then things will suddenly become much simpler. In an incremental market, the most important thing is to make the cake bigger. As long as your cake is big enough, you can quickly form a scale effect and squeeze out the existence of other cakes.
To put it simply, we need to liberate and develop productivity! Then inject productivity into the already powerful military!
In this regard, Qin is undoubtedly the best country.
A saying with high emotional intelligence: The whole country is playing a game of chess and only does two things: farming and fighting.
Low EQ statement: Life, old age, illness and death all depend on these two things. How can people rush forward without screaming?
But obviously, this approach seems to be concentrating efforts to do big things, but in fact it greatly curbs the initiative and creativity of all the bottom levels.
To put it simply, Qin only needs screws, obedient screws, to start the machine of Qin and move towards the set goal.
As for the lubrication between gears and the riveting between screws and nuts, they are all thrown aside. Let alone upgrade the so-called machines.
It has to be said that this approach is still the best way in the Warring States Period when productivity was backward, and even in modern times, if one is willing to stop at labor-intensive industries.
But with this model, the biggest fear is not that other countries will compete with it, because with the advantage of first mover, if you win, they can always win more than you, which is nothing more than suffering for the people. In the end, no country could defeat Qin.
What it fears is a blow from a higher dimension.
You can understand it as aliens, such as the emergence of modern man Zhao Kuo. Of course, you can also understand it as a simple transcendence in thought and vision, such as the role of commerce in focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce.
Of course, in this Warring States Period, the first step in reform was centralization of power!
The reason is simple. The development of productivity is the ultimate goal, but the development of productivity will inevitably lead to changes in production relations, and changes in this relationship will inevitably involve the redistribution of interests.
Once it involves the redistribution of interests, strong rights are needed to achieve success.
All the reforms in dynasties in history tell this truth.
Shang Yang's reform, which firmly held military and political power, was successful; Wang Anshi's reform, who did not have absolute power, failed; as for Zhang Juzheng's reform, he won first and then lost. The reason for victory is that one person can dominate the world, and defeat can Because there was no successor, Jiangling did not have the surname Zhu.
After having this understanding, Zhao Kuo quickly made a plan in his mind. Of course, these plans were not open to outsiders.
As the saying goes, "If the king is not secretive, his ministers will be lost; if the minister is not secretive, he will lose himself; if a few things are not secretive, it will cause harm." Although Zhao Kuo has the ambition to swallow the sky, he still needs to be cautious and plan carefully.
Although the ancients did not have the knowledge of thousands of years, they were by no means fools.
Subtlety may be the best way. Just like what Mei Changsu said in Nirvana in Fire, there is no need to tell your subordinates about your intention to seize the direct descendant, they will naturally know when the time is right.
Of course, while Zhao Kuo was carefully planning the future for his ideal China, Zhao's ministers and Lord Pingyuan were also running for the future of Zhao in his heart.
The Chu State envoy, who showed great goodwill in the court, soon welcomed the distinguished guest, Lord Pingyuan, in the evening after returning to the post house.
Immediately, a banquet was inevitable.
Lord Pingyuan came here on behalf of the State of Zhao, to express his gratitude for the generous speech of the envoys of the State of Chu, and also on behalf of Zhao Kuo to establish a mutual alliance with the State of Chu.
Faced with the kindness of the Chu State envoy, it was naturally difficult to refuse.
The envoys from Chu State were also very excited when they saw Mr. Pingyuan coming. Who doesn't know that Lord Pingyuan is now the second person in the Zhao Kingdom, and with his relationship with the father of the current King of Zhao, he can even influence the number one person in the Zhao Kingdom to a great extent.
For such a person to come to the post house in person shows Zhao Guo's sincerity.
Naturally, the envoy of Chu State also showed his greatest sincerity - Huan Huan curled up around the waist of Chu Palace, plus fine wine and delicacies, which was very exciting.
When Lord Pingyuan said that King Zhao had approved the mutual alliance, the Chu envoys who had been bullied by Qin for a long time were even more excited. This can be said to be the rain that comes after a long drought!
With the support of Zhao State, Chu State no longer has to look up to Qin State. Even if the Zhao army defeats the Qin army in the future, it is uncertain whether Chu will take the opportunity to regain the land of Yanying!
Immediately, the Chu envoys killed three nobles in succession to show their sincerity.
Mr. Pingyuan was naturally excited to accompany him.
It was during this exchange of cups and cups that the alliance between Zhao and Chu was concluded.
Seeing the singing and dancing in the court, Mr. Pingyuan seemed to have thought of something. He immediately frowned and whispered something into Chu Shi's ear. Chu Shi's eyes lit up as he kept saying, "Wonderful!" rational!
"If this is really possible, the whole country of Chu should express our deep gratitude to Mr. Pingyuan." The envoy from the Chu Kingdom immediately wanted to toast again.
Only this time, Lord Pingyuan declined, and immediately said without waiting for the Chu envoy to persuade him: "It won't be too late to drink this wine in the future. I can only make a decision after I enter the palace and ask the Queen Mother about this matter. "
"What your Majesty said is true." Upon hearing this, the Chu envoy immediately put down the wine prince and said it was true again and again.
Immediately, Mr. Pingyuan did not wait long. After a slight salute, he left and left. The direction of the carriage was exactly the direction of the palace.
"Hurry, I will serve you with pen and ink." The Chu envoy saw off Lord Pingyuan, and when he returned to the post house, he also hurriedly summoned his servants and said, "Don't rush to report to my king."
Some people died, but not completely...
