Although Wang Pu does not agree with Gongsun Yang's "strong country and weak people" system of "heavy punishment and light reward", this theory of strong country is still feasible.
It's just that this theory is too cruel to the common people. It believes that the only way to suppress the common people is to use laws and force them to join the army, but is stingy with rewards. Basically, it pits the lower class people against the country.
It is believed that the strength of the country and the strength of the people are antagonistic. Only when the people obey the law and are simple and loyal, the people will not combine into a powerful force to fight against the country and the monarch. Only in this way will the country be easy to govern and the status of the monarch will be firm.
This kind of thinking is completely contrary to the Huai State's governing philosophy. From Zijue onwards, the Huai State did not regard the people as antagonists, but believed that the cornerstone of the country was the people, and the cornerstone of the monarch was the people. If the monarch wants to control the power of the country and not be ignored by the nobles, he must ensure that the lives of the people are not squeezed by the nobles, officials, and powerful men. He can ensure the country's money, food, and army through taxation and military service.
Therefore, the Huai State will not use the art of domineering. After all, the strategy of using the art of domineering to strengthen the country has long been preserved in the Huai State's treasure room.
Although the Qin Code was born out of the Huai Code, it is completely different from the Huai Code. Qin's laws enforced heavy punishments, including the reintroduction of corporal punishment that had long been abolished in the Huai Kingdom.
Among them, beheading, castration, torture, tattooing, etc., these punishments were too cruel, so they were changed to imprisonment, and in serious cases, they were changed to death penalty.
After compilation, Wang Pu specially ordered people to compile the Qin's reform techniques and the Huai's reform techniques together, so that people can more accurately understand the cruelty of Qin's laws.
Compared with the compilation of hundreds of schools of thought, the compilation of the Huaiguo calendar was more cumbersome. After collecting a large amount of data, and after several years of personal cultivation and comparison by farmers and bachelors, a relatively accurate calendar was finally calculated.
After calculating the accurate calendar, the first generation Taishi ordered Wang Gao to present the newly compiled calendar to Huaigong.
Wang Pu was very happy to see the newly compiled calendar, and immediately issued an order that from today onwards all Huai Kingdom would use the new calendar, and use next year as the first year of the new calendar AD.
At the same time, Wang Pu also sent several official missions from the Huai State to travel to various countries with the new calendar and inform them of the new calendar.
No matter how unhappy these princely states were, they could only hold their noses and admit it after seeing the Huai Kingdom's new calendar. What should I do if I don’t recognize it? No need for a new calendar? Or fight with Huaiguo?
Matters related to farming are a major event in any country in the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, after confirming the accuracy of the new calendar, these countries also began to implement the new calendar.
The development of Huaiguo's siege equipment made other countries in Bangzhou secretly frightened, and they began to study various equipment. However, the vast majority of Mohist disciples were in Huaiguo, and there were very few in other countries. At this time, Gongshu appeared.
Compared with the Mohists who like to make defensive equipment, the Gongshu family is more proficient in the production of various equipment. The Gongshu clan left the state of Lu, but the state of Lu, which once could compete with the Qi state, was too weak to realize the Gongshu clan's ambitions, so the Gongshu clan's descendants began to appear in various countries.
Similarly, after the Huai Kingdom learned about the Gongshu clan, they also invited people over. Wang Pu also welcomed the arrival of the Gongshu family. The Gongshu family was somewhat similar to the Mohist family. They were also proficient in making various instruments, but the Gongshu family did not have the Mohist philosophy of loving everything but not attacking.
They regard themselves more as craftsmen, relying on their skills to obtain high positions in various countries. Wang Pu agreed with this situation. Gongshu was good at all kinds of instruments. Wang Pu appointed him as the master craftsman and supervisor of craftsmanship. At the same time, he also included Gongshu among the hundreds of schools of thought.
The Mohists strongly disagreed with the Gongshu family. The relationship between the Mohist school and the Confucian school was very poor, and at the same time it was on the same level as the Yang Zhu school. Confucianism is copying, no, it is absorbing the ideas of other schools, and its relationship with Mohism has gradually improved, but the Gongshu and Yangzhu schools are still like this.
The Gongshu family did not care about the Mohist theory. The Mohists believed that the Gongshu family made engineering tools to encourage countries to conquer each other. However, the Gongshu family did not care. They just thought that they were making tools, and the use of the tools had nothing to do with them.
As for the Yang Zhu School, this school was born out of Taoism, but even many Taoist scholars did not agree with this school.
Even Wang Pu thought it was fallacy after seeing the thoughts and doctrines of this school.
The Yang Zhu School was born out of Taoism and advocates discussing life and death, respecting oneself, rebirth, and preserving the integrity of one's nature.
According to Yang Zhu, everyone is called on to cherish their own lives and protect their own interests, and not to lose their own interests to help others. This approach is a disaster for ordinary people.
The lives of ordinary people are difficult. Many of them don't even have cattle for farming and need to rent them. If everyone values themselves and doesn't help others, these ordinary people will probably starve to death. Human beings are accustomed to group kings because it is difficult for humans to survive in the wilderness relying on their own strength.
As for the other things, they are not that important in Wang Pu's opinion. Just like what it said about life and death, the Yang Zhu School believes that no matter noble, poor or humble, all will be reduced to rotten bones after death. Yao, Shun and Jie Zhou are no different.
Wang Pu laughed when he saw this. It's no different. That's because you haven't seen King Wen before. The Duke of Huai was completely different from the others. After his death, the Duke returned to the cave. When he met King Wen, how could he be like a rotten bone and a rotten tree?
As for valuing oneself even to the point of plucking a hair and benefiting the world, it is unacceptable. I know that all the people in the world are dedicated to one body, and they don’t want to take it. No one suffers a single loss, no one harms the world, and the world is in order.
If it were true that everyone in the world valued themselves, as he said, then the entire world would be in chaos, and even the country would cease to exist.
But is this really possible? Wang Pu feels that as long as people still have selfish motives and desires, it is basically impossible to realize them.
Wang Pu could also forcibly explain the Mohist philosophy of universal love and non-aggression to make the Mohists serve the Huai State. However, in Wang Pu's view, Yang Zhu's theory had no need to be reformed and was of no use to the Huai State. However, Yang Zhu's theory also attracted many people, so Wang Pu ordered people to spread Yang Zhu's theory to other vassal states in Bangzhou.
This kind of extremely self-interested doctrine is of no use to the country. It will only appear a group of selfish people. If a group of such people can appear among the nobles and officials of the various states, I believe it will be easier to defeat and annex this vassal state. Significantly reduced.
In the academy, more and more schools of thought are appearing, and the various debates are eye-opening, and the debates between the various schools of thought are amazing. The debates among various schools of thought have also continued to provide a large amount of luck to the Huai Kingdom. Now the luck provided by the Huai Kingdom Academy is almost half of the luck provided by the Huai Kingdom.
(End of chapter)
