During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, because of the great controversy, the world was divided. In different places, many schools of thought extended between different countries, most of which served the rulers, such as the legalists who made the rise of Qin, Qi, Wei, and Chu, especially the Qin state, in the middle of the fourth century BC, using the Shang martingale transformation method, rapidly rose to become a great power that could influence the situation in the Central Plains in the late Warring States period. After that, until 221 BC, when Qin Shi Huang was unified, it played an immeasurable role for more than a hundred years.
In addition, the countries before the rise of the Qin State, including the shadow of Confucianism, the first Lu State, then to the Wei State of Xihe, and later to the State of Qi, there are Kong Meng's figure, other types such as bingjia, Yin and Yang family, Taoism, Mojia, which were still famous schools at that time, even at that time, the performance was very general, let alone the influence of later generations, so for the later generations of schools with relatively large influence, in fact, mainly Confucianism and Fajia, then we compare horizontally and vertically, who has the greatest influence on future generations.
The era of Confucianism - Spring and Autumn Warring States
Taken together during this period, the influence of the Dharma was greater than that of confucianism. Because the most important great power in the Spring and Autumn And Warring States period was the Seven Kingdoms of Qi Chu Yan, Han, Zhao Wei, and Qin, as mentioned earlier, four of them were dominant at that time because they adopted a set of variations of the Fa family. For example, Wei Wenhou, who took the lead in rising, used Li Wu to change the law and Wu Qi to strengthen the army, becoming the first rising princely state in the Warring States period, the state of Qin in the west, the qichu in the east, and the unity of Han Zhao, at that time, the state of Wei was a well-deserved hegemon.
In the period of Marquis Wu of Wei, Wu rose up and went to the State of Chu and composed a good story with the Chu mourning king Mingjun Xianchen, and in just five years, it made chu at that time, the world was subjugated, and the princes were afraid. Among them, Wu Qi, who led the change of law, is also a representative figure of the Legalists.
These are not the most important, the highlight of the Fa is the later Shang martingale transformation method, shang martingale from Wei into Qin, in just twenty years, dominated the most successful change of law in the Warring States period, which directly laid the foundation for the unification of the qin state after that.
Shang Martin also became the first Great Liangzhuo of the Qin State because of his merits.
After the unification of the Qin state, it continued to use the harsh punishment of the legal family to control the remnants of the Six Kingdoms, but it also left a valuable spiritual legacy for future generations, especially the heavy peasant ideology in it, which influenced future generations for thousands of years. In particular, the system of cultivating wars, serving as soldiers when busy and farming in idle time, has made the country a war machine, and it is also the fundamental reason for the continuous rise of the national strength of the Qin state.
But the same because the Qin state, after reunification, adopted the strict punishment of the legal family to control the remnants of the six countries, relatively radical, in just a dozen years, it made a huge empire collapse, it can be said that among them, the factor of the legal family is not small.
The period of great unification after the Spring and Autumn Period - gradually became clear
The two Han Dynasties that rose later absorbed the lessons of the demise of the Qin Dynasty and recuperated, except for the early days of the founding of the country, which adopted a period of Daoist inaction, and after emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "deposed hundreds of families and respected Confucianism alone", making Confucianism the orthodox thinking of China for thousands of years.
Later, in the Song and Ming dynasties, on the basis of Confucianism, it was extended to Cheng Zhu Lixue and YangMing Xinxue, which were ostensibly another doctrine, but in fact another form of Confucian expression.
There is also a poem that says, "Heaven does not give birth to Zhongni, and eternity is like a long night", and Zhongni here is the ancestor of Confucianism - Confucius.
So what is the fundamental reason for the dominance of the Confucian family in later generations?
Ming Jingjun believes that there are the following points.
The dispute between conservatism and radicalism, China's longer historical rule of the world is definitely relatively conservative. The first is that one is relatively conservative and the other is relatively radical. Corresponding to Confucianism and The Fa, respectively, the Confucian moderation (conservatism) was exactly what the rulers of successive generations needed after the unification of the Qin and Han Dynasties. This is similar to the proverbial "do not seek merit, but seek no fault". Social development and stability must also be more necessary for rulers, for example, after 1840, rulers may not be unaware of the gap with the West, but still maintain rule, and there is no major change.
The Confucian "theory of sexual goodness" is more able to educate the people. "At the beginning of man, sex itself", these well-known classic sentences, have always been filled with our same year, simple, to contribute to social development efforts, which is what stability needs most, and it is also true that after thousands of years of Confucian culture, China's obedience and optimism and diligence have taken root in their bones.
In ancient times, when the king's power did not go down to the county, it definitely needed good customs to guide. In ancient times, the identity of a person was usually defined as five classes: the Son of Heaven, the Princes, the Qing Doctor, the Scholar, and the Commoner. Correspondingly, the division of local administrative regions is also similar to today's provinces, municipalities and counties, corresponding to ancient states, prefectures, and counties. Some particularly remote places, because the ancient traffic was not developed, the mountains were high and the emperor was far away, some systems and laws were difficult to control, most of the constraints mainly depended on the local patriarchy, but the patriarchal law because of its own limitations, it is difficult to constrain all aspects of things, so it still relies on public opinion and customs to control these simple and kind people. How are public opinions and customs formed? The guidance of readers, the popularization of the Four Books and Five Classics, and so on, these are all part of Confucianism.
Therefore, in view of the above, the applicability of Confucianism in ruling the world is much stronger than that of the Legalists, and all the rulers and the ordinary people have adopted a set of Confucian doctrines.
Therefore, it is not entirely unreasonable for later generations to influence Confucianism several times more than the Fa.