The method of governing the country by the saints is unified reward, unified punishment, and unified education.
If the uniform reward is implemented, then the army will be invincible, if the punishment is uniform, then the king's orders will be carried out, and if the uniform education is implemented, then the people will obey the king's servants. Just and wise rewards do not waste money, strict punishments do not kill people, and education does not change customs, but the people know what they have to do, and the country has no special customs. Rewards that are just and wise can be rewarded to a certain extent without rewards, strict criminal laws can be exempted from punishment at a certain time, and education can be done without education when the education is reached to a certain extent.
By uniform reward, we mean that benefits, benefits, official positions, and titles are all given exclusively on the basis of merit in war, and there are no other different favors. Therefore the wise, the foolish, the rich, the lowly, the brave, the cowardly, the virtuous, and the unvirtuous, all exhausted their wisdom and all their strength, and were born and died for the king.
The heroes and heroes of the world follow the monarch like flowing water, so the army is invincible in the world and the decree can be implemented in the world. No country with 10,000 troop chariots dared to confront his army in the field, and a country with 1,000 troop chariots did not dare to defend the towns. A country with 10,000 chariots will be wiped out if it has an army to fight it in the wilderness, and a small country with 1,000 chariots will attack its city if it defends it. If you fight a war, you must destroy someone else's army, and if you attack, you must occupy someone else's city, then all the cities can occupy it, and all the princes of the world can come to pay tribute.
In the past, Shang Tang established a country in Zanmao, and King Wen of Zhou established a country in Zhou Yuan under Qishan, and the radius was only 100 miles. Shang Tang and Xia Wei fought on the field of Narujo, King Wu of Zhou and King Shang fought in the Muye area, they both defeated the powerful army of Xia Wei and King Shang Xuan, and finally Shang Tang and King Wu of Zhou divided the land and divided the princes, all the soldiers who held their positions returned to their hometowns and owned the land according to the population registered in the society, and the chariot was put there and no longer ridden, and the horses were put on the southern slope of Huashan, and the cattle were put in the fields around Hongnong, and they did not take it back until they died of old age. This is Shang Tang and King Wu of Zhou's reward. Therefore, if the grain of Zanmao and Qizhou is used to reward the people of the world, each person will not get a liter, and if the money of Zanmao and Qizhou is used to reward the people of the world, each person will not get a penny.
Therefore, the monarchs, who originally only owned a hundred miles of land, made their ministers princes, and the fiefs of these princes were larger than their original lands; the soldiers who were in battle returned to their hometowns and had the land that was distributed by the people registered in the books, and the objects of their rewards were even broadened to cattle and horses? Therefore, a just and wise reward is not a waste of money. Shang Tang and King Wu of Zhou have already defeated Xia Wei and King Shang, there is no harm in the country, and the world is very stable.
They built five kinds of warehouses, collected all kinds of weapons, stopped the conquest, and carried out cultural and moral education. The weapons were put upside down, and no longer fought wars, and the ministers wore court clothes, inserted the court wat at their waists, and created music to show their merits. At this time, neither the reward nor the profit were practiced, but the people were very disciplined. Therefore, if a fair and clear reward reaches a certain level, it is possible to avoid the reward.
The unified punishment refers to the use of punishment without rank, from ministers and generals to doctors and ordinary people, there are those who do not obey the orders of the monarch and violate the laws and regulations of the state. Anyone who violates the prohibitions of the state and breaks the laws established by the monarch shall be punished with the death penalty without amnesty. If a person has made a meritorious service in the past, but later has violated the punishment, the punishment will not be reduced because of this.
If you have done good things in the past, and you have made mistakes later, you will not break the law because of this. Even those loyal ministers and filial sons who committed crimes must be judged according to the magnitude of their sins. Officials who carry out the decrees, and officials who hold the current office, who do not carry out the decrees of the monarch, have also committed capital crimes, and will not be pardoned. And the punishment came upon their fathers, mothers, and wives. Those who are surrounded by officials, who know their sins and are able to denounce them to the monarch, will not only be exempt from punishment, but will inherit the title, land, and fortune of that official, whether rich or poor. Therefore, if the punishment is increased, and their father, mother, and wife are involved, then the people will not dare to defy the law, which means that there will be no punishment. In ancient times, emperors made decrees that put people to death, cut off the feet of criminals, and tattooed words on the faces of criminals and then painted ink, which was not to seek harm to the people, but to prohibit evil and prevent crime. Therefore, there is no better way to prohibit adultery and prevent crime, than to use heavy punishment. If the punishment is severe, the prisoner will be captured, and the people will not dare to defy the law, so the state is equal to the people who have not been punished. The state does not have a people punished with punishment, so it is said that severe punishment is not for murder.
Jin Wengong wanted to punish the people to be close to him, so he recruited all the ministers and doctors to stay in the Qiangong together, and it was too late for the magistrate to ask Jin Wengong to convict him, and Jin Wengong said: "Torture him." The magistrate then cut off the spine of the jaw for public display. The soldiers and people of the Jin Kingdom were very afraid when they talked about this matter, and said to each other: "Dian Jie is the king's favored minister, and he has been cut down to show the public if he violates the criminal law, let alone for us." Later, Jin Wengong sent troops to attack Cao and Wulu of Weiguo, and when he returned to the army, he overthrew the low wall of Zheng State, and ordered all the ridges of Weiguo to change to east and west, so as to facilitate the passage of his country's military vehicles. A general and soldier of the three armies of the Jin State gave the order to stop the advance, and they stood as if they had been cut off, and ordered them to attack, walking as fast as flowing water.
None of the generals and soldiers of the three armies dared to violate the ban. Therefore, as soon as the Duke of Jin Wen borrowed the method of committing a misdemeanor and punishing him with a heavy sentence, the Jin State was governed. In the past, Zhou Gongdan killed Uncle Guan and exiled Uncle Huo, saying: "They are people who have broken the law." People all over the world said: "My brothers have committed crimes and all enforce the law, let alone those of us who are estranged?" Since then, everyone in the world has known that the Duke of Zhou used punishment in the imperial court, and the order in the country has been governed. Thus it is said: "A just and strict punishment is used to a certain extent, and it is equivalent to no punishment." ”
The so-called honest and honest, proficient in etiquette and music, morally cultivated, forming friends, maintaining credibility, and reversing black and white, cannot be rich because of this, cannot comment on laws and punishments because of this ability, and cannot establish a private doctrine on their own, and use their private doctrine to state their thoughts to the monarch. Destroy him to those who are stubborn, and defeat him to those who are sharp. Even the so-called wise and wise, eloquent, flattering, loyal and simple people cannot benefit from deceiving the monarch by not performing meritorious service on the battlefield. If this is the case, those rich and noble families can only be rewarded for their meritorious service on the battlefield. Only those who can fight can step through the door of wealth.
Those who are arrogant and domineering will be punished by a certain amount of criminal law and will not be pardoned. In this way, fathers, uncles, brothers, acquaintances, men and women, like-minded people, all said: "The only place where we must redouble our efforts is on the battlefield." Therefore, those who are in the prime of life must fight hard, the old and infirm will strive to defend, those who die on the battlefield will not regret it, and those who are alive will encourage each other. Those who wanted to get rich and noble did not stop until they covered their coffins after death, but the doors of wealth must have been for the soldiers, so when the people heard that there was going to be a war, they congratulated each other. The songs and ballads that the people sang when they lived and ate were all about war. This is what the minister said that strict education to a certain extent is equivalent to no education.
These are the three things I call reward, punishment, and edification.
A holy man cannot understand everything, but understands the essence of all things. Therefore he rules the country and grasps the essentials to achieve all-understanding, so that he can achieve a lot of merit by practicing only these three kinds of education. The rule of a wise man is easy to understand but difficult to implement. Therefore, saints do not need to be praised, ordinary monarchs do not have to be abolished, murder is not cruel, reward is not benevolence, because the laws of the country are strict and just.
The holy man bestows official positions and knighthoods on merit, so the virtuous do not have to worry, and the saint does not forgive the mistakes of others and does not pardon the punishment of criminals, so those evil things cannot happen. It can be seen that the people of the Holy Ming govern the country only considering unified rewards, unified punishments, and unified education.