The Warring States were an era of drastic changes in all aspects of society and culture, and it can also be said that it was a period of transition towards the politics of a new dynasty. All countries have generally implemented law changes, and various politicians and doers have appeared on the historical stage, which can be called China's "when the stars of mankind shine", but the question is, all countries are changing their laws and becoming stronger, why in the later stage, the strong and weak between countries are clearly distinguished, and the weak and small are subordinate to others until they perish; And the strong such as Qin can join forces and look at the world?
The reform of the law in the Warring States period was slightly different from the reform of other periods, and the change of the law in the Warring States period was to change the social structure that was not suitable for conquest in the past into a structure suitable for fighting war and occupying the first opportunity in annexation. This change is the most representative and is needed in various countries of that era. There were many changes in the Warring States, for example, the relationship between the people and his monarchs changed, like Han, Zhao, Wei, and the State of Qi, all changed monarchs. In addition, the thinking has changed. But the main change is political. Here are some examples.
During the reign of Marquis Wenhou of Wei and Wuhou of Wei, Wu Qi was appointed to reform the military. It is roughly to let excellent children become soldiers, and make being a soldier a glorious thing. In addition, being a soldier is also exempt from taxes, but this also brings the problem, that is, as the number of soldiers increases, the government's income will sharply decrease. But at first, it worked well. Under such a system, the Wei army was also capable of fighting.
For example, Wu Qi's change of law in the State of Chu: mainly to suppress the power of the nobility and enrich the people's livelihood; Another is to save unnecessary expenses, strengthen national defense, evacuate the nobility. The evacuation of the nobles cost Wu Qi's life. As soon as the king of Chu died, when these nobles returned to do funerals, they saw Wu Qi, and when the enemies saw each other, they shot Wu Qi with arrows. The state of Chu had a rule that whoever shot an arrow at the king would destroy whose clan it was. So Wu Qi climbed next to the corpse of King Chu, and as a result, the person who shot him mistakenly shot an arrow onto the body of King Chu. This would be tantamount to blaming these nobles, and as a result, dozens of these nobles' homes were raided. It is often the aristocracy that hinders the centralization of power, and of course, this change is far less profound than the martingale change.
In the State of Qi, Zou Ji presided over the reform of the law. Everyone has heard the story of "Zou Ji satirizes the King of Qi", that is, Zou Ji asked the King of Qi to look in the mirror and let him reflect on his domestic politics. The main measure to change the law is to recommend the sages, and the other is to dredge up public opinion, the government has done the wrong thing, let the people put forward opinions, this change is actually quite shallow.
And the most profound change occurred in the Qin State, that is, the Shang Martingale Transformation Law. From the perspective of the Qin State, the Shang Martingale Transformation Method created a system for the Qin State that was particularly suitable for war. When the martingale changed the law, the household registration system was implemented. Martingale stipulated that if there were two sons in the family, the tax would be doubled. The other is to crack down on the strategists who wander the nations. In fact, in the Book of Shangjun, it is mentioned that books should be burned. Because he wants to "cut a hole". He regarded industry and commerce and these lobbyists as the "lice" of the country, believing that they would lead to the country's impoverishment and weakness. All in all, this great change is to completely militarize the people and stimulate everyone's enthusiasm for war. In the era of such annexation as the Warring States, it played a positive role. But once this period passes, it is a willow lock, and this side effect will become more and more great
Another feature of the business finance method is that whether it is obedient or disobedient, it is cleaned up. According to the records of the Han Dynasty, it is said that the Qin state one day killed those who disobeyed on the banks of the Weishui River, killing hundreds of people, and the water turned rouge. Later, some people saw that the country was stronger, and praised the change of law, and even if this was the case, they still had to eat a knife and say that this was a rioter. Stretch out your head and eat a knife, shrink your head and eat another knife, just don't let you speak. In this way, a lifeless situation will arise. So we should look at the martingale method from an objective perspective today.
Overall, the Warring States period was an era of great law change. The success of the reform of the law depends on whether it can effectively organize the people into a war machine. Only the State of Qin has done this, and it is precisely this war machine that has swept the Six Nations into the garbage heap of history. Therefore, when we look at the history of the Warring States period today, we will find that the so-called Warring States Change Law, in terms of political system, is to evolve the country into a huge tool that revolves around war, and the Qin State, as the most successful tool for operation, naturally began the journey of unifying the six countries.