Introduction: In the Warring States period, why did the princely states always adhere to a system, preferring to risk dangers rather than change the old system? Why? Influenced by the Western Zhou system and the form of statehood, vested interests were reluctant to take risks
The Warring States Period is a period in which the pattern of Chinese history changes the fastest, the development of the times is the most chaotic and complex, the enlightenment and research value given to people by this era is immeasurable, and this era is also a transitional stage of social development in Chinese history, without the development of this historical period, the discovery of ancient Chinese history may not be so easy. The faster the pattern of an era changes, the more valuable historical phenomena there will be, the more chaotic and complex the development of the times will be, and the diversity will be added to the development of civilization.
The Warring States Period is the era with the largest number of princely states in ancient Chinese history, and no later dynasty has the same cultural diversity as the Warring States Period, but because that historical period is too complicated, a long period of time has passed since now, and in the cultural development of thousands of years, we can no longer completely restore the historical truth of that period. We can only restore the valuable information of that historical event segment to the greatest extent possible based on the few words left over from history and then add our own understanding and reasoning.
Through the huangsha of history, according to the records of many historical materials, we can know that in the Warring States period, only one country in the Qin state ever changed itself, or only this country has completely changed itself, detached from the political system it has been walking for a long time, and embarked on a road that has never been followed by anyone before.
This change in the Qin state is the Shang martingale transformation method that we are familiar with, and this change completely changed the political system similar to the royal road that the Qin state established from Qin Mugong, embarked on the road of rule of law, and the development of the law in the Qin state can be described as extremely difficult, but the Qin state persisted, and in the countless doubts, it stepped out of its own path, and since then it has changed the decadence of the past and become the most powerful country in the Warring States era.
There is only one such country in the Qin State, but why is only this country that has changed itself? Didn't the other vassal states know that their adherence to the rules would deal a fatal blow to their own countries? Don't they understand what the trend is? The answer is certainly not, so what is the reason why these princely states would rather risk their demise than change the political system at home? Today we will analyze the key factors that have led to this problem.
If the country wants to change completely, it must bear the risk, and in the face of vested interests and risk-bearing, it often chooses the former
The first reason that has to be considered is the question of risk, which must be taken for any country in any historical period of time if it wants to make radical changes. The birth of a new political system must be accompanied by many problems, when these problems accumulate to a certain extent, they will become major problems affecting the development of the country, the measurement between the benefits brought about by a change and the benefits that can be obtained now is a problem that every monarch needs to face, and in the face of a new way of thinking, people always have an inertia of adhering to the previous form.
Because the princely states of the Warring States period were all founded for hundreds of years, even the most short-lived countries had a history of hundreds of years, which made them have an instinctive belief in the political system left by their ancestors, after all, it was something left by the ancestors, and in the previous time, they followed this evidence system to maintain the country for a long time, which shows that this system has superiority, at least in the previous time it was superior.
Therefore, a way to already see the benefits and a way to take great risks, people tend to choose the former, especially the king of a country. As a monarch of a country, he has to face many more problems than ordinary people, although every monarch is not necessarily a monarch with achievements, but no matter which monarch does not want to be left behind him for thousands of years, so if he makes changes, once he is not successful, he can only become a benevolent. However, if you stick to the original political system, even if there is no big deed, you will not bear too much infamy after death. Therefore, when the risk problem is too serious, the ruler of each time period does not want to bear these risks by himself, and it is precisely because there are very few monarchs who dare to change the law and innovate, and even if some monarchs can make a difference, the monarch may not be able to meet a correct historical time period, meet some people who can really advise him, so the risk he has to take will increase exponentially, and eventually let them stick to the original political system.
During the Warring States period, the princely states were profoundly influenced by the political system of the Western Zhou Dynasty
The second problem is the question of historical background. Most of the princely states of the Warring States period were divided into feudal states of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and they were originally the princely states of the Western Zhou. The rulers of these princely states were monarchs of a country but not a heavenly son of heaven, that is, they only had autonomy within their fiefdoms, and within the territory of Western Zhou, they were still subjects.
Therefore, most of these princely states were deeply influenced by the political system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. They have been a country for a long time, the history of the country's existence is relatively long, the country's shackles will be much more, when it carries out reform of the law, there will be a lot more things to consider, some ancient ideas and cultures, political systems will become a hindrance on the way forward, at this time, this country will not become a country that dares to innovate or hopes to change the law and become stronger, the most important thing is that most of the princely states in the Western Zhou Dynasty are very far-reaching.
When the Western Zhou Dynasty was just established, the royal way may be a good way to govern the country, because after many years of war by the King of Wu, the entire Central Plains region has reached a period of time when it needs to rest and recuperate, and the best way to do this time is to promote inaction, stop the war and attach importance to development, and ensure that the agricultural nation can live a good life.
From the beginning of its founding to its demise, the State of Yan has always been a country deeply influenced by the political tradition of the royal road, and from the very beginning of its establishment, it was an important princely state of The Western Zhou Dynasty, and its status in the Western Zhou Dynasty was unmatched by other countries. Not only because its royal family is the royal family of Western Zhou, and its founding king is the right and left arm of King Wu of Zhou, but also because this country is actually a microcosm of Western Zhou, and it is the country that lasted the longest of all the princely states divided by Western Zhou.
To a certain extent, this country also reflects the history of the entire Western Zhou, from the founding of the state to its demise, it basically did not change its own political system, and as one of the most powerful princely powers under the Western Zhou, the system it pursues must be no different from that of the Western Zhou.
Therefore, through the actions of the Yan Kingdom, we can know that the Western Zhou Dynasty was actually a dynasty that pursued a political tradition similar to the royal way, and under the influence of the royal way, the policy pursued by the people was a natural and natural policy, they advocated starting from small things, starting from the people's minimum interests, planning people's lives, making people's lives orderly and then making them rich, and spreading the importance of morality among the crowd, this form of rule, That is what most historians refer to as virtue rule.
That is to say, under this form, people are used to govern the country, and the power of one person or the power of a group of people is used to restrain the entire country, and under such influence, the power of man is almost mythologized, which is why the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty are called the Son of Heaven. So they believe in the power of man and the power of nature, which is what we call the power of holding on to the king's way.
Such thinking is difficult to change, and the late rise of the Qin State, it believes in the rule of law, it is used to govern the country is not people but law, it can be said that in the warring states that period of history, the royal way and the rule of law are two completely opposite policies, if you want a country with historical background to embark on another road that is completely opposite to its original path, the difficulties faced are enormous. Without a tough basic national policy, without a tough monarch, without a truly talented courtier, then this transformation is almost impossible. Therefore, the influence of the royal way on the princely states in the Warring States period was also an important reason why it was difficult for them to make changes.
During the Warring States period, the form of the various princely states had a profound impact on the future
The third reason is the form of statehood, the impact on these countries. In the Warring States period, in addition to the Yan state, which was formed by the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Qin state was the founding prince of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and among all the princely states, the historical background was the shallowest, and the shortest time of statehood.
Other countries, such as the State of Chu, the State of Qi, and the han, Zhao, and Wei states of the Same Jin Dynasty, were basically self-reliant states. The State of Chu was already king in the Spring and Autumn Period, and then the later Warring States seven xiongs were the countries that had been kings for the longest time, the State of Qi was established by the domestic ministers to replace the original Jiang clan, and the three states of the Korean Zhao State and the State of Wei were princely states established after dividing up the Jin State.
Some of these countries may have a relatively short founding time, such as the three countries of the Zhao state and the Wei state of South Korea, but because these three countries have always been important subjects of the Jin state before, they can also be understood as the rulers of the Jin state in disguise, so in fact, their participation in the governance of the country is not short, and later these three countries divided the original Jin state and established a new princely state, the state of Qi is the same as their founding form, in fact, if strictly speaking, the state of Chu is no different, but the state of Chu has been established for a longer time. Reign longer.
Let's take the Chu state as an example to illustrate this problem. At the time of the founding of the State of Chu, the Western Zhou had not yet reached complete weakness, although at that time it had entered the stage of the Eastern Zhou, but the control of the Central Plains culture by Zhou Tianzi was still relatively strong, and it had not yet reached the state of existence in name and death like the Warring States Period; and the State of Chu directly regarded itself as a king because it did not satisfy the title given to it by the Western Zhou, and implemented a system similar to the Western Zhou in its own country, which laid the foundation for the demise of the State of Chu.
After the founding of the State of Chu, imitating the division system of Western Zhou, the Western Zhou gave a great deal of autonomy to a large princely state, and the State of Chu also gave the nobles who made him a lot of autonomy, and within the scope of their power, they could even form their own armies, which made the State of Chu a microcosm of Western Zhou, but it is worth noting that the State of Chu has another choice? There seems to be none.
Because the founding time of the State of Chu was too long, at that time it could only imitate the Western Zhou, but in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, there would be such an uncontrolled chaotic era as the Warring States Period, and in the last years of the Chu State, there would certainly be a situation in which the clans of the chu dynasty restrained each other and disregarded the interests of the state.
We can say that the hidden danger of the demise of the Chu state was already buried when it was founded. The same is true of the four countries of Han Zhao and Wei Qi, after they eliminated the original country, all they could imitate or could implement in this country was the original political system that had been rooted for a long time, but this was almost equivalent to sealing their innovation road, and they had been sticking to the original political system and could not change it, so in fact, their form of statehood also had a great influence on the seat after this country.
Of course, in addition to these reasons, there are also some factors that affect them, such as the fainting of the monarchs of these countries, such as King Hui of Wei, his contempt for talents has become the eternal pain of the State of Wei, if it were not for him, Shang Martin would not have entered the State of Qin, and the balance of strength between the State of Qin and the State of Wei would not have been completely reversed, and perhaps the State of Wei could become a more powerful country.
For example, if it were not for his attempt to implement the Zen concession system in the Yan kingdom, the Yan kingdom would not have been in chaos, the State of Qi would not have had the opportunity to attack the State of Yan, and the State of Yan would not have lost a large area of land, nor would it have led to its further decline.
Another example is Korea, if king Han can develop the strength of his country with peace of mind, if he has not always thought of using conspiracy to govern the whole country, if he has not sent a hydraulic worker Zheng Guo to fatigue Qin, perhaps Korea can exist for a few more years; for example, the state of Chu, if the state of Chu has not always adhered to the original political system, if he can make a little change on the basis of branches, if king Huai of Chu can adopt the policy of Qu Yuan's change of law, With the vast land area and strong military strength of the Chu state, it may be able to compete with the Qin state.
For example, like Zhao Guo, this country has always had a strong military strength, if he can balance military and political development, it will not lead to the tragedy of being killed by the Qin State for 400,000 people. Therefore, the emergence of a historical phenomenon has its most fundamental factor, and we also need to see the essence through the phenomenon.
References: "History", "Zizhi Tongjian", "Warring States Policy", "Zuo Zhuan", etc