Shang Jun's calligraphy and painting strategy

In the past, when the Haoying clan ruled, the people were allowed to cut down trees and kill wild beasts, because there were few people and many trees and beasts at that time.

When the Yellow Emperor ruled the world, he did not let people hunt young beasts, did not let people eat birds' eggs, and officials did not have slaves for their own calling, and they could not be buried in coffins when they died.

Haoying and the Yellow Emperor did different things, but they both claimed to be kings in the world, this is because the times are different.

When Shennong ruled the world, men farmed so that people could eat, and women weaved cloth so that we could have clothes to wear; The world is stable without the use of criminal laws and decrees, and the world can be ruled without the army. Shennong died, and people began to bully the weak with the strong, relying on the strength of the number of people to bully the small number of clans, so the Yellow Emperor formulated a moral code between the monarch and the subordinate and the superiors, the etiquette between fathers, sons, brothers, the principle of marriage between husband and wife, the use of punishment internally, and the use of military conquest externally, also because the times have changed. From this point of view, Shennong is not more clever than the Yellow Emperor, but his reputation is very high, because he adapts to the changes of the times. Therefore it is possible to destroy war with war, although it is also possible to conduct war; It is okay to eliminate murder by killing, although it is okay to kill someone; It is also possible to use criminal punishment to eliminate punishment, although it is possible to increase criminal punishment.

The one who could control the world in the past must be the first to subdue his people. The one who can defeat a strong enemy must also be the one who first subdues his people.

Therefore, the fundamental way to subdue the people is to control the people, just as the smelters control the gold smelting, and the potters use the clay, which is not strong at all, the people are like birds and wild beasts, who can control them? The fundamental way to govern the people is to enforce the rule of law. Therefore, those who are good at governing the country use the law to contain the people, and their reputation and land increase.

What is the reason for the monarch's noble reputation, his possession of vast land, and his eventual attainment of the title of king? What is the reason for the low prestige, the reduction of the land area, and even the eventual extinction?

A country that does not win a war and does not become the king of the world, and a country that does not perish without defeating a war is something that has never happened in ancient or modern times. If the people fight bravely, they will win the war, and if they do not, they will lose. A monarch who can make the people concentrate on fighting, the people will be brave when they fight; A monarch who cannot convince the people to concentrate on fighting will not be brave when the people fight. The holy monarch saw that the merits of being the king of the world could only be obtained in the merits of war, so he asked the people of the whole country to serve as soldiers. Walking into a country, observing the way the country is governed, the army is fully used, and the country is strong. How can we know that the people are being used by the monarch? That is, the people see the war, just as a hungry wolf sees meat, and then the people are used.

Generally speaking, war is something that the people hate, and the monarch who can make the people like to go to war is called the king of the world. The people of a powerful country, the father sending his son to be a soldier, the elder brother sending his younger brother to be a soldier, and the wife sending her husband to be a soldier, they all said: 'Don't come back if you don't get the enemy's head!' And he said, 'If you do not obey the law and disobey the order, you will die, and I will die, and the village will punish us, and there will be no place for us to flee in the army, but to run home, and we will have no place to go if we want to move.' The management of the army is to form five men into a group, to sit together, to distinguish them by markings, and to bind them by military orders. Flee and have no place to live, and there is no way to survive if you fail.

Therefore, the officers and men of the three armies listened to the military orders like flowing water, and even if they died in battle, they would not turn their heels and retreat. ”

The governance of the country is chaotic, not because its laws are chaotic, nor because the laws are abandoned. Countries have laws, but there is no way to enforce them. Although the state has laws and regulations prohibiting evil crimes and imposing criminal penalties on thieves, there is no way to make evil and thieves necessarily captured.

The death penalty is imposed on those who do evil deeds and steal, but the phenomenon of adultery and theft continues to occur, because those who do evil deeds do not necessarily get caught. Even if you can catch it, there are still evil and stealing things, and this is because the criminal law is light.

Criminal law is light and cannot successfully punish crimes; If they could be caught, many would be punished. Therefore, those who are good at governing the country only punish those who do not abide by the law, and do not reward the kind and law-abiding people, so they are kind and law-abiding without punishing the people.

It is because the punishment is severe. The punishment is severe, and the people dare not violate the criminal law, so there is no punishment; No one dared to do something that should not be done, and the people of the whole country were law-abiding. Therefore, the law-abiding good people are not rewarded, but the people are good. You can't reward a good man, just as you can't reward a thief. Therefore, a person who is good at governing the country can make a person like a metatarsal be honest and trustworthy, and let alone a person like Boyi? A person who cannot govern a country is suspicious even if he is a noble person like Boyi, let alone a person who is like a metatarsus? If the situation can make people do bad things, even a noble person like Boyi is suspicious.

The country is either better governed or more chaotic. A wise monarch is in the position of a king, and the people he chooses must have virtuous talents, so the decrees are in the hands of virtuous people.

If the decree is in the hands of the virtuous, then the law can be carried out below, and the unvirtuous will not dare to do bad deeds. If an unwise monarch is in the position of a king, he must use people who are not virtuous, and the country will not have strict laws and regulations, and those who are not virtuous will dare to do bad things, which is called chaos and chaos. The army is either stronger than stronger, or weaker than weaker, and the people want to fight, but they can't help but fight, and this is called weak and weak, that is, weaker.

A wise king cannot enrich his courtiers without restraint.

When we say rich, don't we mean the grain and jade? When we say expensive, don't we mean the titles and official positions? Abolish the law and make it the master of the individual, and give the courtiers titles and salaries, then the courtiers will be rich. Generally speaking, the moral conduct of the monarch is not superior to all men, nor is his wisdom superior to that of all men, nor is his courage and strength superior to all men.

However, the people, even with their unusual wisdom, did not dare to seek the position of monarch; There is courage and strength, and they do not dare to kill the monarch; Even if the people were large in number, they did not dare to rise above his monarch; Even if the number of the people is in the billions, it is because of the law that the people do not dare to fight if the king offers a great reward, and if the punishment is imposed, the people do not dare to resent. The chaos of the country is due to the fact that the people think more about the feelings between individuals; The strength of the army is weak because the people are more interested in fighting between individuals. Then there are many ways to obtain titles and salaries in weakened countries; The culture that brought the country to ruin was because the people looked down on titles and despised them. If you don't work to have food, if you don't fight, if you don't fight, if you don't have a title, you can still be rich, if you don't have an official position, you can still have prestige, this is called a traitor. The saying that "a good ruler has no loyal ministers around him, and a loving father has no filial son by his side" is because wise monarchs do not want to listen to nice compliments, and use laws to make ministers supervise each other, and use orders to make ministers correct each other. In this way, the subjects cannot do bad things alone, nor can they do bad things with others.

The wealth is said to be more than the land. If there are restrictions on clothing and moderation in eating and drinking, then there will be less expenditure. Women do what they have to do at home, and men do what they have to do outside, so they earn more.

The wise monarch means that the monarch has nothing to see, so the ministers will not dare to do what they should not do, and the people will not dare to do evil.

So, the monarch sat on a comfortable bed and listened to the music played by strings and wind instruments, and the world was governed.

The so-called wise monarch can make it impossible for the people to do things without doing things according to the law. The so-called powerful monarch has subdued all the people who rule the world. Therefore, we can gather the strength of the people of the world. Therefore the strong do not dare to riot, and the wise do not dare to do deceit, and are chosen by the monarch by empty preaching; There is no one who has the whole world who dares not to do what the monarch likes, and to avoid what the monarch hates. The mighty monarch is said to be able to make the brave to his own use. His ideal of unifying the world can be realized, and the people of the world are willing to assist him; If his ideals cannot be realized, the people of the world will also like him. Rely on the people of the world, and the people of the world will abandon him; Only by relying on one's own people can one get the world. To get the monarch of the world, first of all, you have to get your own people; To be able to defeat a powerful enemy, you can first defeat yourself.

The people of the Holy Ming understood that society would develop in this way, and that it was necessary to conform to the development of the times, so they formulated laws and regulations that would surely govern the country well, and gave orders that the people would obey when they were sure to win the war. Therefore, when the army sets out to fight, it will be invincible in the world, and the monarch's orders will be obeyed as soon as they reach the world. The yellow bird flies for thousands of miles, because it has wings that can fly thousands of miles. Good horses like Lili and Juju can run a thousand miles a day, because they have the ability to run a thousand miles a day. Tigers, leopards, bears, and wolves are fierce and invincible by nature because they have certain abilities to defeat other beasts.

The sage was able to discover the political norms of the development of society as it should be, and understood the laws of the development of society in that way, so he ruled over the people as if he were using the high and low terrain to control the flow of water, and also controlled the fire by using the dryness and wetness of flammable materials. Therefore, a benevolent man can be kind to others but cannot make others merciful; A moral man can love others, but he cannot make others love him. Therefore, those who know how to be merciful and moral are not enough to govern the world. A saint has a certain character that makes people in the world trust, and he also has a way to make people in the world not distrust. The morality mentioned here means that as a courtier, you must have loyalty, as a son, you must have filial piety, there must be etiquette between the elder and the young, and there must be differences between men and women. If it is not moral, even if you starve to death, you will not be able to eat, and if you die, you will not be able to steal your life. These are just ordinary things in countries with laws. Therefore, the emperor of the Holy Ming does not attach importance to morality but to the law, and the law must be plain, and the orders of the monarch must be carried out, then it is fine.