After the death of Duke Xiao of Qin (381~338 BC), Shang Martin was killed by King Huan of Qin Huiwen, giving people the feeling that the latter was venting his anger, causing descendants to blame King Qin Huiwen for Shang Martin's death.
In fact, although Qin Xiaogong is the Bole of Shang Martingale, he has plans to get rid of Shang Martingale, but it is not convenient for him to do so, because his "Book of Recruitment" clearly says that "the guests and courtiers have those who can make surprising plans to strengthen Qin, and I honor the officials, and divide the land with them", how can he backtrack!
Obviously, killing Shang Martingale is equivalent to losing trust in the world, which is bound to affect the enthusiasm of talents flowing into the Qin Kingdom, and Qin Xiaogong himself will also bear the stigma of crossing the river and demolishing bridges and being ungrateful. However, in order to calm the anger and resistance caused by the change of law, it is appropriate for Shang Martingale to be a scapegoat. Therefore, before his death, Qin Xiaogong did not arrange any way back for Shang Martin, leaving him in danger like a sheep thrown into a wolf.
King Qin Huiwen, who succeeded to the throne, naturally understood his father's intentions, and he also knew the importance of killing Shang Martin to win people's hearts, so he needed to immediately put on a gesture for those who were angry. However, King Qin Huiwen could not find a proper reason to kill Shang Martingale, and he also cared about the eyes of the world, so in the end, he could only use "personal grudges" as a shielding cloth.
What is a personal grudge? It turned out that Shang Martingale was obstructed and sabotaged by the party of Prince Huanxi when implementing the new law, and in order to implement the new law, Shang Martingale killed the chicken and monkey and cut off the nose of Huanxi's teacher Gongzi Qian. Taking revenge on Shang Martin with personal grievances damaged the image of King Qin Huiwen, but did not damage the image of the country and did not affect the interests of the country, so King Qin Huiwen's excuse was only to avenge Gongzi Qian. Of course, in the end, Shang Martin fled to Zheng County to fight a small war with the Qin army, and was just charged with "treason".
Shang Martingale had already expected his end, so the wind and the grass and trees were all soldiers, and he was tightly wrapped in the middle by thousands of guards. When Qin Xiaogong died, Shang Martin did not go to mourning, for fear of throwing himself into the net, but carefully planned an escape route in the fiefdom.
Located at the junction of the Qin, Wei and Chu kingdoms, the land of Shang Yu is composed of two pieces of land, Shang and Yuzhong, in the northwest-southeast trending strip, a total length of about 600 li. During the Spring and Autumn hegemony , Chu and Jin wanted to occupy this place, so the State of Chu was repairing the city in Shang, and the State of Jin was in Zhongxiu City. Later, the capital of the State of Chu was attacked by the State of Wu, and the State of Qin sent troops to help the State of Chu fight off the State of Wu, and Chu thanked him with a place of commerce. From Wuguan to Shangyu, and then directly to Guanzhong, it shows the importance of its location to the Qin state.
It is worth mentioning that Shang Martin only obtained the land of Shang Yu three years before Qin Xiaogong's death, plus the Qin State restricted the growth of its armed forces, so in the past three years, Shang Martin only hired more than 1,000 guards out of his own pocket, and organized more than 1,000 old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers from the local area, and put together more than 2,000 private armed forces. At that time, Shang Martingale was trembling like a rat crossing the street, and these forces were enough to ensure his travel safety, and it was insignificant to hold on to Shang Yu or break through the barrier.
Survival is human instinct, Shang Martin cannot sit still in the fiefdom, otherwise he will directly become a turtle in the urn, but it is also difficult for him to escape, but he is confident that he has the ability to escape from the Qin Kingdom. So, how did Martingale plan the escape route?
First of all, it is not possible to flee to the State of Chu, first, it is necessary to pass through the Wuguan guarded by the Qin army, and second, the State of Chu and the State of Qin were relatively close at that time, and the possibility of Shang Martin being repatriated back to the State of Qin to the State of Chu was very high;
Secondly , the Wei state was also unwilling to take in Shang Martin , and Shang Martin had already sent people to Wei State to pass Qi Er and received a negative answer, so Shangluo , a Wei city , which was relatively close to Shang , could not make a choice. However, Wei Guo's attitude revealed a bit of neutrality, which gave Shang Martin a glimmer of hope.
Moreover, Bashu will not work, the road is difficult to walk, and it is necessary to pass through the Chu Realm, and it is still a completely unfamiliar place for Shang Martingale.
In the end, Shang Martingale decided to take an adventure, enter Guanzhong as fast as possible, then enter the Xianhan Passage (which had not yet been built and was controlled by the Wei state), and then take the Yellow River waterway on a raft and enter Korea. After arriving in South Korea, if you are not accepted, then go to another country. In short, Shang Martingale believes that as long as he reaches Kanto, he will become a bird out of the cage.
However, the best route to reach the Xianhan Passage had to pass through Zheng County in the Qin state, which had 5,000 garrisons, and Shang Martin thought that more than 2,000 horses could handle it, so he directly broke through the pass. However, the Qin army, stimulated by the rank system of battle merit and rank formulated by Shang Martin, was extremely brave, and Shang Martin's army was beaten and fled, he himself was killed, and his body was transported to Xianyang to crack.
Why is Martingale no way to live?
First, he should not accept the fiefdom of Qin Xiaogong, because the Qin State implements the county system and will not allow the situation of many princes to appear, so the fat meat that enters the mouth of Shang Martin will have to spit out sooner or later. Throughout the history of the Qin Dynasty, all those who were given land by marquis did not end well, Shang Martin, Wei Ran, Fan Yan, Lü Buwei, Concubine, Bai Qi, and so on.
Second, Shang Martingale transformed the common people into war slaves through severe punishment and harsh laws, and the common people died for the operation of the war machine of the Qin state, and their wives were separated and exhausted their entire lives. Therefore, the common people suffered from the war, but they were firmly tied to the war and could not get out, becoming war slaves, and the comforting "twenty-level military merit title" was as exciting as a drug and destroyed the human body. Therefore, the common people hated the initiator Shang Martingale to the bone, which was confirmed by Zhao Liang's words of advice to Shang Martingale.
Xiang Qin does not take the people as a thing, but builds a great fortune, not for merit. The master of the prince of punishment, mutilating and wounding the people to be punished, is a grievance and animal calamity. The education of the people is also deeper than the fate, and the effect of the people is also quick to order. Now the king is also left to build the outside easy, not so for the teaching. Jun and the south are called widows, the noble son of the Japanese rope Qin. ——"Shiji • The Biography of Shang Jun"
Third, Shang Martingale smashed the golden rice bowl of the nobles of the clan and let them live without dignity, and these people hated Shang Martingale the most, and they also had the most capital to take revenge on Shang Martingale. Undoubtedly, the positive significance of weakening the aristocracy was to strengthen the centralization of power and avoid the scenes of "three families dividing the Jin family" and "Tian dynasty Qi" in the Qin state.
Epilogue:
From the Spring and Autumn struggle for hegemony to the struggle of the nations, the survival pressure of the Qin State increased day by day, especially in the face of the aggressive Wei State, so by the time of Qin Xiaogong, the Qin State could not be delayed.
By squeezing the common people, the Shang Martingale method solved the problem of the source of troops for the Qin state, multiplied the military strength of the Qin state, gradually gained the upper hand in the competition with the Wei state for the land in Hexi, and had the driving force to expand to the east.
By suppressing the nobles of the clan and concentrating power in the hands of the king, avoiding their constraints and interference at critical moments, the efficiency of major decision-making truths was improved. On the other hand, the State of Chu has not solved this problem, so the State of Chu has always been a situation of no cohesion, strong outside and dry in the middle, and scattered sand.
However, the change of law among the nations does not hurt the people, but the martingale law turns the people into slaves, and his change of law is only utilitarian and does not show human favor, so his chances of ending well are far lower than those of other changers.