The Qin Army was known as the "Tiger and Wolf Division", and the Soldiers of the Qin Army were also the most feared existence at that time. Through the records of historical books and modern archaeological discoveries, we can know that the strength of the Qin army and the ferocity of the Qin soldiers are inseparable from the "military merit system" implemented in the Shang martingale transformation law.
The historical superiority of the military merit system
People who know history know that an important part of the Shang martingale transformation method was the implementation of the "military merit system" in the Qin state. Its content is also mentioned in secondary school history textbooks. Therefore, everyone feels that it is inevitable that this statement will be mentioned again, but the military merit system is not only a simple military system, it is in a sense an adjustment of social relations. And it is precisely this point that reflects the historical superiority of the military merit system.
The military merit system was a challenge to the Shiqing Shilu system: before the Warring States, the Shiqing Shilu system was commonly practiced in various countries, that is, the main official positions and powers were in the hands of slave owners and nobles, who hereditary high-ranking officials Houlu and controlled a large amount of land and slaves at the same time. There are also many families who are equally responsible for labor and service, and lack access and space for ascension. The implementation of the military merit system provided the best channel for these common people's families to rise, just like the challenge of the later imperial examination system to the politics of the warriors. The families of the Qin dynasty continued to receive rewards through military merits on the battlefield, completely changing the fate of the family. The old nobles who were Shiqing Shilu lost the opportunity to directly obtain high-ranking officials by virtue of the system, and would even be overtaken by those families who were quickly promoted by military merit.
The military merit system was a challenge to the Ida system: during the Western Zhou to Spring and Autumn Periods, the various princely states were implementing the Ida system summarized and perfected by The Zhou Gong Ji Dan. This is a kind of slave society's land state ownership, or aristocratic private property, this question is more complicated, it is difficult to say for a while, but it is certain that ordinary common people have no ownership of land, they only have the right to use land, and work with slaves on the land under the impetus of slave owners and nobles, and can only barely maintain food and clothing (or food and clothing are difficult, but they are slightly stronger than slaves). An important part of the military merit system is that by virtue of military merit, you can obtain "granted land", that is, ordinary people can get the land at their disposal, and the more military merits they get, the more land they get, which is more attractive to those people than any "salary".
In summary, this military merit system of the Qin State played a great role in opening up the political space of the Shu people and allowing the Shu people to obtain the important means of production of land, which also conformed to the historical background of the transition from slavery to feudalism in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and also greatly stimulated the will to fight of the Soldiers of the Qin State. Moreover, this practice of military merit is not unique to the Qin State, in fact, almost all the Seven Heroes of the Warring States have adopted a similar system to a greater or lesser extent, and some of them are implemented earlier than the Qin State, but why does the Qin State have the best effect?
Why are the Qin armed forces of the military merit system different?
Why didn't most of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States adopt a system similar to the military merit system but did not achieve the effect of the Qin army? This question was thought about and answered at that time. Now that thousands of years have passed, we have to admit that his analysis is very reasonable. This man was the Confucian master Xunzi. In "Xunzi Huibing", he analyzed three famous strong armies in the Warring States period and compared the differences between the three.
Qi State Technique: This is the ace unit of the State of Qi during the Warring States period, and when Xunzi commented on this army, he mentioned that its system was to carry out monetary rewards. That is, those who have obtained military merit in the Qi state of Qi can get a bounty but no land reward. Therefore, Xunzi believes that this reward does not solve the fundamental problem. Therefore, Xun Zi believed that the soldiers of the Qi State would perform well against small cockroach thieves or weaker enemies, but once they encountered strong enemies, they would quickly collapse, after all, most of the soldiers were not Grande, and they would not lose their lives for a little bounty.
Wei Wu pawn: This unit is more famous among those familiar with history, and was a strong heavy infantry of the State of Wei in the early Warring States period. Well-equipped and well-trained, it was an important magic weapon for the Wei state to dominate for a while in the early Warring States period. However, Xun Zi also believed that the military system of this unit was still problematic, because as soon as the soldiers of this unit entered Wei Wuzhu's troops, they would be freed from slavery and at the same time obtain the same land use rights as the common people, that is, they would still use the practice of sharing the land in the general practice of the well field system, and at the same time they could also be exempted from taxation. However, this method made wei wupao's update slower, and at the same time, the cost was extremely high, and it was difficult for the state to support it for a long time.
Qin Guoruishi: At this time, Xunzi called the elite of qin at that time. At the same time, he also analyzed why the soldiers of the Qin Army were so strong. That is, the two major characteristics of the military merit system of the Qin State mentioned above, one is to enable the soldiers to have a channel for promoting social status, although other countries also have this, but their changes are not thorough enough, the soldiers and pawns at most from slaves to common people, a very small number of people can become nobles. However, the military merits of the Qin State were the most thorough, and if there were no military merits, even the Qin State Sect Would Not Be Knighted. If the soldiers of the Qin Army continue to obtain military merit, they can obtain official positions and titles, which effectively stimulates the desire of the Shu family for official positions, power and status, and effectively transforms it into the vigorous will to fight of the Qin soldiers; second, although the military merit system has a system that allows the hereditary title of battle merit, but in general, there is no new military merit, these families will decline, so they can only continue to join the Qin army, go to the battlefield to continuously obtain military merit, in order to continuously improve the status and power of the family.
It can be seen from this that the military merit system of the Qin State has effectively stimulated the people of the Qin State from two aspects, making it bloodthirsty and tenacious in order not to get more rewards, so that the Qin army is becoming a tiger and wolf division.
The thinking of the legalists has effectively promoted the implementation of the system of military merit in the Qin State
Still from Xun Zi's "Discussion of soldiers", his analysis of the method of strengthening soldiers mentions "long ceremonies, effective merit, shangye; heavy lu, guijie, sub-also; shanggong, lowly festival, lower also". This means that in the law of strengthening the army, it is a superior method to promote etiquette and evaluate military merit; it is a second-class method to value Profit and honor integrity; it is a second-class method to advocate military merit and despise integrity. This is also an important guarantee for the implementation of the military merit system of the Qin State - the Qin Law.
The implementation of the Qin Law has enabled the Qin State to form a complete set of legal thinking from top to bottom. In the Qin Kingdom, everything was basically carried out according to the law, from the monarch to the people of Li. This makes the Qin state have a higher guarantee in honoring the reward, the Qin army soldiers bathed in blood, in exchange for military merit can be effectively cashed, which in turn continues to stimulate the Qin people's desire to change their fate through military merit.
The harshness of the Qin law made the soldiers of the Qin army dare not be cowardly or slack. Imagine a country that had a similar modern standardized military production process more than two thousand years ago. Their rule of law imagines that we modern people are estimated to be inferior to ourselves, so the Soldiers of the Qin Army do not dare to retreat on the battlefield, because they know that they may gain greater military merit to change their fate, and retreat will inevitably face severe punishment, so the Soldiers of the Qin Army will inevitably burst out beyond the will to fight and combat effectiveness beyond ordinary people in the environment of the front and the steel knife in the back.