In the mainstream cognition, without Shang Yang, there would not be the rise of the state of Qin, let alone the great achievement of Qin Shihuang in destroying the six countries and unifying the world.
From the perspective of established facts, this statement seems to be very reasonable, but when you think about it carefully, you find that the truth is by no means so.
The state of Qin hoped to take off through political reform, and they did so in the end. As long as the monarchs of the six states were not blind, they could not see the changes of the state of Qin. If the reform can make the country rich and strong, why don't they follow the example of Qin?
Shang Yang's reform began in 359 BC, and Qin Shihuang unified the six states in 221 BC. In other words, it took 138 years from Shang Yang's reform to Qin's extermination of the six states.
In these 138 years, why didn't the six states of Kanto (east of Hangu pass) take off through political reform, and finally they could only be eliminated by the state of Qin one by one?
In theory, it is not difficult to copy the way Shang Yang played in the state of Qin. Just copy all the laws of the state of Qin and bring them back to the state. It's really no good. We should dig a few bottom judges from the state of Qin to take the lead in carrying out the reform. If we don't say that we learn 100%, we should have no problem with 60% or 70%.
After Shang Yang, many talented people emerged in the state of Qin, such as fan Sui, LV Buwei and Li Si, all of whom were famous officials and even capable officials.
Compared with the above-mentioned people, Shang Yang is not as good as LV Buwei in terms of theoretical level and Li Si in terms of practical level. It should be no problem to say that they are "better than blue and better than blue".
The most important point is that fan Sui, LV Buwei and Li Si are not local people of the state of Qin, but talents of the six states of Guandong. They can not get development space in their own country, so they can only go to the state of Qin to seek development, with great success.
From this point of view, it is not easy to find more excellent talents than Shang Yang from the six states of Kanto, but it is certain that they can be found, but the final result is the unification of the state of Qin
History is by no means something that can be easily changed by someone or an accident. Judging from his personal quality, it should be said that Shang Yang is excellent enough. However, the main reason why Shang Yang can remain famous in history and become the "special one" in the history of Qin is that he appeared at a specific time and place and became the pig standing on the air (non derogatory, just for example).
As early as the spring and Autumn period, Duke mu of Qin developed westward, defeated the dog Army (nomadic people), and finally became one of the overlord of the spring and Autumn period. However, after the death of Duke mu of Qin, the state of Qin gradually declined.
At the end of the spring and Autumn period, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and the powerful Jin state was divided into three kingdoms, Zhao, Wei and Han. It was supposed to be a good time for the eastern expedition of the Qin state, but the Qin state still failed to recover from the internal strife, so that it was oppressed by the Wei state for many years, and even the Hexi land that the military strategists must fight for was lost.
It was against this background that yingquliang, the Duke of Qin, succeeded to the throne. At this time, the state of Qin could only shrink to the west of Hanguguan and shiver, so there was no chance of the eastern expedition.
From the objective reality, the state of Qin at this time can only be regarded as a second-class power at best, but from the bottom, it is obvious that the state of Qin belongs to the type whose ancestors were rich, because the state of Qin in the period of Qin Mugong was very powerful.
From the powerful era of Qin Mugong to the second-class power in later generations, there was only one reason why the state of Qin declined: internal strife and the decline of monarchy caused by internal strife.
Many people are so excited when they talk about the reform that they can't understand it. Even many writers have to paste tens of thousands of words while looking up the materials. It's really boring and boring.
In fact, when talking about the reform, there is no need to play so many empty moves, as long as we grasp one core point, that is to strengthen the monarchy.
Why does the monarch want to reform? Because he thinks the country is not strong enough; why is the country not strong enough? Because he does not have enough power.
If you have enough power in your hands, who else can stop the strong rise of our country? This is the common monarchical logic.
Because the monarchy is not strong enough, people will constantly challenge the monarch. If the monarchy is strong enough, who dares to jump out to seek death?
In this context, who can help Qin strengthen the monarchy, who can make Qin strong again, all the work of Shang Yang is carried out around this basic point.
For the advocates of law change (usually the monarch), the change of law is certainly excellent, because it will increase the power in his own hands. But without the change of productivity, the power in the hands of the monarch will increase, which means that the power of other military and political groups will be reduced.
If the people are killed by their parents, the military and political groups whose interests are damaged will naturally unite to resist the change of the law. This leads to the dispute between the reformists and the Conservatives. Many people interpret it as the concept dispute, which is actually the interest dispute and the interest closely related to themselves.
For the monarch, the change of law is indeed a power collector, but the time for the change is not to say that there can be.
Qin Xiaogong's father, Qin Xiangong Ying Shixi, had already had a monarch in China when he took the position, that is, Qin Qiaogong Ying Chang. Finally, Qin's parents and sons were killed, and Qin Xiangong was able to settle down.
If there is a man like Shangyang, what can he do when he enters Qin State in such a turbulent time? Nothing can be done, because the monarch of Qin is not much better than puppet. Who dare to play with the change at this time is to find death.
The background of Shangyang's success in the reform of law in Qin is as follows:
1、 After Qin Xiangong's operation, other military and political groups in Qin state have been in the defensive position. After his succession, he challenged other military and political groups with Shang Yang's reform of law as weapons, and obtained gratifying results: although they were not able to annihilate them, they were also beaten seriously and dormant;
2、 The state of Wei was so powerful that other countries were worried about being attacked by Wei. So they joined forces to siege the state of Wei. Qin took the opportunity to take back the Hexi area and lay a good foundation for the future east March.
If other military and political groups of Qin state are not weakened, if Wei still has spare no effort to attack Qin, Shang Yang's reform cannot succeed.
Some people may say that although there are various objective convenience in the method of Shang Yang transformation, we can not deny that, in that special time node, it was the emergence of Shang Yang that led to the later Qin state.
This statement makes sense, but still overestimates the role of Shang Yang. Shang Yang appeared at that special time and place, only to ensure that he was famous in history, but not to ensure that the Qin state ruled the world.
Jia Yi said this in his famous book "on the past Qin Dynasty:" Qin land is firmly thought by the mountains and rivers, and the four fortress countries are also. Since the Duke of Miao, as for the king of Qin, more than 20 emperors have been princes and princes. Is the world wise? Its potential is also
In other words, in Jia Yi's view, the main reason why Qin can dominate the world is that Qin occupies a great geographical advantage.
Before the economic center of China moved to the East, Qin, Western Han, Sui and Tang all occupied the world in Guanzhong. From this point of view, Qin had the prerequisite for seizing the world.
Why did the Wei state, once inescapable, decline? We may draw many conclusions, but one conclusion that no one can deny is that Wei suffered great geographical losses and was a country with short board and four Warring States.
Qin gradually stepped out of the shadow of internal strife, Shang Yang changed the law to strengthen the monarchy of Qin, and the enemy Wei was subject to the international environment, and the central government was in danger to help These four factors together, only then had the later Qin Dynasty that dominated the world.
Jia Yi also said such famous words in his famous book "on the past Qin Dynasty:" as far as the first emperor, he fought for the rest of the sixth world, and then he took the long policy to defend the yunei, swallowed the two weeks and died the princes, performed the supreme and made Six Harmonies, and beat and flogged the world, and the four seas were greatly shaken. "
The so-called "remaining martyrs of the sixth generation" is calculated from the Qin Xiaogong. The following are the king of Qin Hui Wen, the king of Qin Wu, the king of Qin Zhaoxiang, the king of Qin Xiaowen and the king of Qin Zhuangxiang.
Of the six monarchs of Qin, three were in bad fortune.
Wang Ying Dang of Qin Wu was in office for four years, and he was injured by weightlifting in competitions with others. He was only 23 years old;
Wang Yingzhu, qinxiaowen, was only three days in office, that is, after his father died, he survived the year number of his father's last year, and he died just three days after his change;
In the three years of his reign, Ying Zi Chu, the king of Qin Zhuangxiang, made no contribution except to attack the Eastern Zhou Dynasty;
The emperor of Qin Zhuang Xiang was the father of the first emperor of Qin. When he was 13 years old, he was faced with a court coup immediately after he was grown up, which was also very difficult.
After reading the above historical facts, many people may sincerely express their feelings: can we unify the six countries in this way? God really cares about Qin!
In fact, with the above four important conditions, the unification of Qin is only a matter of time: one after another the excellent monarch dies; the excellent Prime Minister dies one after another; the excellent commander dies one after another.
However, no matter how dead, the state of Qin could always push the waves behind the Yangtze River and push the waves ahead. One wave was stronger than the other.
It is said that Zhao forced Li Mu to die because he did not respect talents. Those who say this should look at the state of Qin: Shang Yang was cracked, Bai Qi was given death, fan Sui was given death (it is said that he died of illness), LV Buwei committed suicide, and Li Si was driven away Does the state of Qin respect talents very much? To be honest, I can't see it.
This is the difference between historical materialism and heroic historical view: in the view of heroic historical view, only excellent leaders can promote the development of history; while historical materialism holds that the emergence of any talent is inseparable from the objective environment of talent growth.
If we put these two views in the context of Qin State's "striving for the sixth world", who is more correct? I believe everyone can make a judgment.
Shang Yang's political reform strengthened the monarchical power of the Qin state, which is worthy of affirmation. It is also one of the preconditions for the unification of the Qin state, but it should not be too mythical.
Shang Yang began to reform in 359 BC, but he was killed in 338 BC, 21 years later. When Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, there was 117 years between them.
If Shang Yang's reform really had such a great effect, why did Qin wait more than 100 years to realize its unification?
Shang Yang naturally contributed to the great cause of Qin Shihuang's unification of China, but if the first contribution is attributed to him, it is really far back.
