The third of the Yanyu Warring States, Li Wu changed the law 1, the Wei state situation 2, Li Wu changed the law 3, and Wen Hou hegemony

Li Wu was the chancellor of the Wei Wenhou period, and he single-handedly pushed the State of Wei to the position of the first power of the "Three Jins". It was Li Wu who created the "Era of Law Change" in the Warring States Period and laid the foundation for the century-old hegemony of the State of Wei.

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In 403 BC, Zhou Tianzi recognized Zhao Weihan as a prince. Wei Qing Wei Si transformed himself from Zheng Qing, the ruling minister of the Jin Dynasty, to Wei Wenhou, the founding monarch of the State of Wei. When the "Three Qings divided into Jin", Zhao Guo was the strongest, South Korea was the weakest, and Wei Guo belonged to the "second oldest". Sandwiched between the Zhao and Korea states, the State of Wei included present-day southern Shanxi, northern Henan, eastern Shaanxi, and southern Hebei. The State of Wei is bordered by the State of Zhao to the north, the State of Qi to the east, the State of Chu to the south, Korea to the southeast, and the State of Qin to the west, a typical "land of four wars".

The "land of four wars" belongs to the geopolitical "crisis" and is easy to suffer from the "group beating" of the surrounding powers. Therefore, if wei wants not to be swallowed, it must "walk on two legs", one is to develop its own "fist hardening", and the other is to find allies to "avoid being beaten by the group". Before the "Division of the Three Qings into Jin", the most powerful princely states were the State of Jin, followed by the State of Chu, and then the State of Yue, the State of Qi, and the State of Qin. After the Jin state was divided into three, if the "three Jin" united to "unite with the outside world", they could still "hang" any surrounding power like the original Jin state. However, if there is infighting in the "Three Jins", it is easy to be broken by other powers. This kind of alliance was especially important for the Wei state located in the "land of four wars", and the "Three Jin Alliance" was not a relationship between hegemony and life and death for the State of Wei. Fortunately, in the early days of the "Three Qing Divisions and Jin Dynasties", the "Three Jins" were in the honeymoon period, and Wei Wenhou could also "practice internal skills" without distraction, which led to the Li Wu transformation method of changing the law and trying to be strong.

Li Wu was appreciated by Wei Wenhou, also because of the "help of nobles", and this nobleman was the famous Bu Zixia.

Bu Zixia, a famous businessman, a thinker and educator in the late Spring and Autumn Period, was listed as one of the "Seventy-Two Sages of Confucius" and "Ten Philosophers of Confucius", and was honored as Buzi. This "great bull" was not only one of Confucius's "ten great disciples", he also trained well-known disciples Li Wu, Wu Qi, Tian Zifang, Duan Ganmu, etc., and Wei Wenhou also performed the disciple ceremony to Bu Zixia. Confucius always wanted to be an "imperial master" and could not get it, but he did not expect that his disciple Bu Zixia had become the first "imperial master" of Confucianism, and was also the "imperial master" of the overlord Wei Wenhou.

With this layer of relationship between Li Wu and Bu Zixia, Li Wu was naturally promoted from the front line against the Qin army by his "brother" Wei Wenhou Weisi, and entrusted the entire state administration to him. It seems that no matter how capable a person is, he also needs personal resources, which can be appreciated and trusted. Li Wu also lived up to expectations and began the "top-level design" of the Wei state.

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Li Wu believed that "for the way of the country, there is food and labor and merit, so that those who can do it must be rewarded, and punishment must be done", and they must also "rob the people of adultery, and the people from all over the world" will also be "robbed of the people's lu." The so-called "adulterous people" refer to the nobles and their children who "have merit in their fathers and eat them without merit." Li Wu made it clear that "on merit and reward", those old nobles who had no merit were to be stripped of their titles and titles, and instead rewarded to meritorious ministers and recruited the world's most capable people. This is the earliest "performance appraisal" system in China, without contribution, there is no reward, of course, to stimulate "labor" and "meritorious" people to serve the country. The State of Wei used merit and rewards and punishments to attract people from all over the world to enter and leave Wei. After this reform initiative was introduced, Talents such as Wu Qi, Zhai Huang, Le Yang, Ximen Leopard, and so on arrived, laying the talent foundation for the Wei state to become the hegemon of the early Warring States.

Li Wu suppressed the status of "hereditary nobility" and severely weakened their unearned privileged interests. At the beginning, the "Six Secretaries" of the Jin Dynasty were actually a large number of "hereditary nobles" monopolizing military and political positions, thus eventually rebelling against the monarch. Li Wu's reform method began with the fight against the "hereditary nobility", but also to consolidate the monarchy and avoid the Wei state from repeating the mistakes of the Jin state.

In the economic field, Li Wu popularized the principles of "doing our best to make the land" and "doing a good job of leveling the grain," encouraged the peasants to cultivate intensively and meticulously, and increased their incomes; the state purchased surplus grain at a parity in the harvest year and sold it at a parity in the year of the poor harvest to stabilize the grain price; it was suggested that a variety of grain crops be cultivated at the same time to prevent disasters and famines. During the Li Wu era, iron tools were gradually popularized in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and the level of agricultural productivity was greatly improved. At this time, individual farming families have been able to independently undertake the heavy agricultural production work. Therefore, in order to adapt to the development of the situation, Li Wu resolutely privatized the land of the Wei state to a single peasant family. The "Book of Han and Food Goods" mentions Li Wu's transformation method, and there is a record that "now a husband and wife carry five mouths, rule a hundred acres of land, and harvest one and a half stones per acre, which is one hundred and fifty stones for millet". It can be seen that the Li Wu transformation method has privatized the land of the Wei state to a single peasant household. Li Wu's "ditch as a ruin" conformed to the general trend of land privatization, abolished the restrictions on the boundaries of fields, and encouraged peasants to actively open up new land to improve agricultural production efficiency.

Encouraging farming, and even reducing agricultural taxes and increasing commercial taxes, stimulated the development of agriculture in the Wei state. The policy of purchasing surplus grain and the policy of selling grain at an equal price to stabilize prices are actually the practice of confucius disciples who have paid tribute to get rich, and Li Wu has turned this kind of low-price purchase evaluation dumping into "state operation". This move not only stabilized prices, but also strengthened the country's economic strength. "With grain in hand, do not panic in your heart", Wei Guo was capable of supporting a large-scale war.

What Li Wu really passed down through the ages was that he promulgated the Fa Jing. The "Law Classic" is divided into 6 chapters, which are promulgated and implemented by Wei Wenhou for the "Theft Law", "Thief Law", "Prison Law", "Capture Law", "Miscellaneous Laws" and "Gu Laws", which have made the most complete provisions for state decrees, government functions, rewards and punishments for the promotion of officials, and rewards for military merit. There are six chapters in the Fa Jing, including "Theft Law", "Thief Law", "Prison Law", "Flutter Law", "Miscellaneous Law", "JuFa" and so on. The so-called "theft law" is the law punishing the theft and robbery of property; the "Thief Law" is the law punishing crimes such as rebellion and murder, murder, and so on; the "Prison Law" and the "Fighting Law" are the laws related to the impeachment of thieves; the "miscellaneous law" is the law on other criminal acts, including the prohibition of adultery (prohibiting the husband and wife from cheating), cunning (prohibiting the theft of the seal and the vain discussion of state decrees), the city ban (prohibiting crossing the city wall), the prohibition of playing (prohibiting the game), the golden prohibition (prohibiting the corruption of officials), and Prohibition of transgressions (prohibition of transgressions of etiquette) and so on; "jujutsu" is the law that aggravates or mitigates punishment according to special circumstances.

The Fa Jing is extremely extensive, far superior to the laws of the nations in the Spring and Autumn Period. What is even more rare is that when formulating the law, Li Wu also broke the bad rule of "not being a doctor on punishment", and there were corresponding punishment methods for violations of the law by civilians, up to qing doctors, and even princes. For example, there is a provision in the "Miscellaneous Law" that prohibits participation in gambling, and those who participate in the game are punished with fines. If the prince participates in the game, he will be punished by flogging (that is, bamboo whipping); if he commits another crime, the intensity of the flogging will be increased; if he does not change after two floggings, he will be replaced by a prince. This code is the founding father of the "Chinese legal system", and the subsequent "Qin Law", "Han Law" and even "Daming Law" and "Great Qing Law" have all been influenced by it. If Napoleon is immortal because of the French Civil Code, Li Wu is immortal because of the French Scripture.

Li Wu also proposed the establishment of a professional army militarily, which later developed into the Wei state's "martial pawn" system, which made the Warring States princes feel frightened before the Battle of Maling. Of course, it was Li Wu's "apprentice" Wu Qi who really carried forward the martial arts system and created a military miracle of crushing the great powers. Since the State of Wei is surrounded by military powers, the State of Wei must have a strong military force, not only to avoid being invaded by other military powers, but also to continuously expand outward.

The ideological content of Li Wu's transformation law later became the object of imitation by various countries. The Li Wu transformation method directly promoted the overall prosperity of the Wei state, realized the rich country and strong army in a short period of time, and gradually surpassed the powerful Zhao state in the "Three Jins" and became the "leading big brother" of the "Three Jins". It's just that Wei Wenhou didn't have too high a reward for this "chief designer" of Wei Guo's wealth and strength, and compared to the later Qin Xiaogong's reward of Shangmartin, it seemed to be a little weak. But perhaps it is precisely this kind of "thin affection and widowhood" that avoids Li Wu's successful transformation of the law from becoming a victim of the old nobles' dissatisfaction, the so-called "Sai Weng lost his horse and knew that it was not a blessing".

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Initially, the State of Zhao wanted to unite with the State of Wei to annex Korea, and the two families divided Korea equally, but the State of Wei refused. Then Korea wanted to unite with the State of Wei to annex the State of Zhao, and the two families divided the State of Zhao equally, but the State of Wei refused. Wei Wenhou was worried that the joint attack of the State of Zhao and Korea on the State of Wei would be the disaster of the enemy in the abdomen, so he had to support and maintain the "Three Jin Alliance". Zhao Guo and Korea were initially extremely resentful of Wei Guo's "non-cooperation", but later heard that Wei Guo refused to unite with another family to attack them, and they both expressed their gratitude to Wei Guo.

At that time, the Zhao state had the strongest military strength, the Wei state was the richest, and the Korean weapons were the most sophisticated. If the "Three Jins" are infighting, they will inevitably lose both, and even be annexed by the surrounding powers. Don't say that Zhao Guo swallowed and did not swallow the State of Wei, the State of Wei could not eliminate the State of Zhao, even if the State of Zhao annexed the State of Wei or the State of Wei annexed the State of Zhao, it was also a serious injury to the vitality, and how could the State of Qin, the State of Qi, and even the State of Chu next to the tiger sit idly by? After the Battle of Chengpu in 632 BC, the Jin-Chu struggle for hegemony was on the same footing. After the Battle of The Fall in 627 BC, the "good of Qin and Jin" became the "Qin and Jin feuds". In 548 BC, after the Duke of Jin sought the support of the State of Qi in his crusade against the "Four Qings", the State of Qi was at war with the State of Jin. Faced with a common external threat, Zhao Weihan's "three Jins" united as one to the outside world, which became an inevitable choice.

Wei Wenhou explained to Zhao and Han his ideas on the development of the three families. Jindi was surrounded by mountains and rivers, relatively closed, and only Zhao, Wei, and Han in it extended two tentacles of Dai and Handan outward, but due to the threat of Han and Wei behind them, Zhao Guo was unable to continue to expand outward through these two tentacles. The three kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, and Han were close neighbors and must live in peace, and if there was infighting, they would be dragged into the closed environment of the Three Jins, and no one could develop. Zhao, Wei, and Han could only find a way out if they joined forces to expand outward.

Zhao Weihan's "Three Jins" began to "hug the group for warmth" and expanded back-to-back to the outside world. The State of Zhao in the north attacked the State of Zhongshan in the north, Korea in the south attacked the State of Zheng in the south, and the State of Wei in the west attacked the State of Qin in the west. The Jin Dynasty had always adopted a conservative policy, content to maintain hegemony in the Central Plains. However, in the "Three Jins" era, Zhao Weihan went to the road of "dichotomy and expansion". Unfortunately, the "Three Jins" could not concentrate their forces, such as first helping Korea eliminate the State of Zheng, then helping the State of Zhao to eliminate Zhongshan, and then helping the State of Wei to eliminate the State of Qin, but "fighting for each other", which also led to the strength of the "Three Jins" being far inferior to that of the original State of Jin, which also laid the foundation for the later "Three Jins" to be destroyed by the State of Qin.

As early as 419 BC, before the "Three Qing Divisions of Jin", the Wei army crossed the Yellow River in the west and built a city at Shaoliang (present-day southwest of Hancheng, Shaanxi) to build a military stronghold to attack the Qin state. The Qin army counterattacked the Wei invasion. After several battles, the Wei army crossing the river occupied shaoliang, an important military stronghold. The Qin army besieged the Wei army in Shaoliang while building fortifications along the Yellow River to prevent more Wei troops from crossing the river. Wei Xiang Zhai Huang recommended the Wei state wu qi to Wei Qing Wei Si, who appreciated Wu Qi's command ability and appointed Wu Qi as the main general of the Wei army to attack the Qin state. After Wu Qi took office, the stalemate between Wei and Qin at Xihe was soon broken, and the Wei army was victorious.

In 413 BC, Wu Qi led the Wei army to defeat the Qin army on the battlefield of the West River and broke through the Qin army's West River defense line. Wu Qi directly attacked the State of Qin and entered Zheng (present-day Hua County, Shaanxi Province), the throat of the WeiHe Plain, and the State of Qin was shocked. If Wu Qi attacked Zheng and entered the Weihe Plain, it would be equivalent to controlling the granary of the Qin State, and the Weihe Plain was also the military base of the Qin State. There is no danger to defend in the Weihe Plain, Wu Qi's direction is like breaking bamboo, if it enters no man's land, and the soldiers are in Qin Duyong (present-day Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province), the Qin state will be in danger of destroying the country. Wu's purpose in attacking Qin was to destroy Qin, which made the Qin people very afraid. On the one hand, Duke Jian of Qin mobilized heavy troops to defend Zheng, and on the other hand, he sent emissaries to ask Qi and Chu to send troops to attack the State of Wei to alleviate the pressure on the State of Qin. When Duke Xuangong of Qi and King Jian of Chu saw that the main forces of the State of Wei were concentrated on the western front to attack Qin, they attacked several enclaves of the State of Wei and succeeded one after another. Wei Wenhou ignored Qi and Chu's attacks on Wei's eastern enclaves and urged Wu Qi to continue his attack on Qin. Wu Qi fought a decisive battle with the Qin army in Zheng, and the Wei army won a great victory. The Prince of Wei took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Qin army's West River defenders besieged Wu Qi and the defense was empty, and commanded the Wei army on the east bank of the Yellow River to cross the river. The prince led his army to break through the military town of Fanpang (southeast of present-day Hancheng, Shaanxi), and the West River defense line of the Qin state was completely broken by the Wei army, and a large number of Wei troops entered the Qin state. Wu Qi commanded the Wei army crossing the river to clear the Qin military strongholds in the Xihe area (present-day Luohe, Shaanxi, a large delta between the Yellow River and the WeiHe River), and successively occupied the cities of Linjin (southeast of present-day Dali, Shaanxi), Wangcheng (present-day Dali, Shaanxi), Yuanli (present-day south of Chengcheng, Shaanxi), Luoyin (southwest of present-day Dali, Shaanxi), Heyang (southeast of present-day Heyang, Shaanxi), and Yinjin (present-day east of Hua County, Shaanxi).

In 408 BC, the Wei army completely occupied the Xihe region, and the territory of the State of Wei was greatly expanded. Wu Qi also seized large tracts of land from the Rongdi minority to the north, where Wei Si established Shangjun (上郡) (east of the Luo River and north of the Huanglian River in present-day Shaanxi). The Wei army also occupied Hangu Pass (present-day west of Sanmenxia, Henan Province) and controlled the golden passage between the Qin state and the Central Plains. The State of Qin was oppressed west of Luoshui and built fortifications along the west bank of Luoshui. Weiss built a Great Wall on the east bank of Luoshui, connecting the Yin and Jin dynasties with weishui at the southern end and reaching the west of Diaoyin City (present-day Daozhen, Ganquan County, Shaanxi Province). The State of Wei suppressed the State of Qin west of Luoshui for 80 years, so that the State of Qin could not communicate with the Central Plains, and the State of Wei monopolized the interests of the Guandong, taking advantage of its geographical monopoly position to control the exchanges between the State of Qin and the Central Plains, and extracting huge profits from it.

After obtaining this large area of land in Xihe, the Wei army not only solved the threat of the Qin army, but also alleviated the difficulties of having more people and less land in the jurisdiction. The West River provided Weiss with strategic manoeuvre, while also providing Weis with soldiers and food. The gains and losses of the West River are directly related to the later trade-off of the forces of the Qin and Wei states. It was not until after the Shang martingale changed the law that the State of Qin took advantage of the fact that the State of Wei was defeated by the State of Qi at the Battle of Maling and lost all its elite troops, which recaptured the Xihe region.

In the late period of the Zhao Xianhou Dynasty, the national strength began to decline, and Zhongshan became a greater and greater threat to the Zhao state. After the death of Marquis Xianhou of Zhao, Marquis Liehou of Zhao took the throne, and Zhongshan's offensive against the State of Zhao became more fierce. At this time, the strength of the State of Wei had surpassed that of the State of Zhao, and the State of Zhao asked the State of Wei for help. Although Marquis Wenhou of Wei agreed to help the State of Zhao destroy Zhongshan, he asked the State of Zhao to use Zhidi (present-day northwest of Yuxiang, Yongji, Shanxi) as a reward for the State of Wei's attack on Zhongshan, and Zhao Liehou agreed. Zhidi was located in the northern part of the Wei kingdom, and it was a large stone that Zhao Xiangzi had pressed on the head of the Wei state. After continuous efforts, Wei Wenhou finally solved this heart disease for many years.

South Korea's southward attack on Zheng guo did not go well, and Zheng Guo repeatedly defeated Korea with the help of the Chu and Song states. Han Jinghou also began to seek help from the State of Wei. In 408 BC, Weiss, after solving the Battle of Xihe, began to attack Zhongshan. At the request of Han Jinghou, the State of Wei helped Korea attack the State of Song in order to facilitate the development of Korea to the east. The power of the State of Wei extended south of the Yellow River.

Zhongshan and the State of Wei did not share a boundary, and the State of Zhao was separated by the State of Zhao. Led by the famous general Le Yang, the Wei army crossed the Zhao state and attacked Zhongshan. Zhongshan was a state established by descendants of the Bai Di tribe, and after Zhao Xiangzi seized Dai County, Dai County and Handan formed a north-south attack on Zhongshan, and Zhongshan was very nervous. After Zhao Xiangzi's death, Zhao Xianhou did not maintain the pressure on Zhongshan and was counterattacked by Zhongshan. When Zhao Liehou took over the Zhao state, it was the time when Zhongshan was victorious in the war against Zhao. Under the excellent command of Le Yang, the well-trained Wei army fought hard for three years, and finally attacked the Zhongshan State in 406 BC, relieving the Zhongshan State of threat to the Zhao State.

Zhongshan State is an ancient country, although the Wei army occupied Zhongshan State, but the Zhongshan people disobeyed, rebellions occurred from time to time, the situation in Zhongshan is still very turbulent. Marquis Wenhou of Wei allowed the powerful crown prince to govern the Zhongshan Kingdom. Marquis Wenhou of Wei enfeoffed the Lingshou of the Zhongshan Kingdom (present-day Pingshan, Hebei) to Le Yang, a hero who attacked the Zhongshan Kingdom, and sent Le Yang to lead his troops to garrison the Zhongshan Kingdom. Marquis Wenhou of Wei appointed Li Wu as the Minister of Zhongshan and assisted the crown prince in governing zhongshan. With the efforts of Prince Taizi, Li Wu, and Le Yang, the situation in Zhongshan Gradually stabilized.

In 405 BC, Qi Xiangtian died, and civil unrest broke out among the Tian family, which was in charge of the Qi state. Tian Hui occupied Liaoqiu (廪丘, northeast of present-day Juancheng County, Shandong Province) and asked Zhao Guo to take him in, and Zhao Liehou agreed. LiaoQiu was not connected to the Zhao Kingdom, and there was a Wei State in between. Before Tian Hui surrendered to Zhao, the power of the State of Qi had infiltrated the Wei State and had already controlled this large area of land based on Liaoqiu. Tian Hui surrendered to Zhao, not with the city of Liaoqiu, but also with the large area of Weiguo land controlled by the State of Qi near Liaoqiu. This piece of land is close to Puyang and Guantao, and its commercial value is great. As a result, Zhao Guo's behavior of taking in Tian Hui and occupying LiaoQiu caused strong dissatisfaction among Tian He, Tian He's successor, who ordered Tian He to lead an army to attack the Zhao state, and the Zhao army was unfavorable. Therefore, Zhao Liehou asked Wei Wenhou and Han Jinghou to send troops to help. The combined forces of Zhao, Wei, and Han fought a major battle with the Qi army, killing 30,000 Qi troops and obtaining a large number of strategic materials.

In 404 BC, the combined forces of Zhao, Wei, and Han attacked the State of Qi in a big way, all the way to the Great Wall of the State of Qi, and Tian He was forced to cut off the land and seek peace. Zhao, Wei, and Han acquired large tracts of land in their war with the State of Qi. In order to connect the newly acquired land of the State of Qi with the previously occupied region of Hanoi, Wei Wenhou captured several cities near the Wei Dynasty.

As Zhao, Wei, and Han developed south banks of the Yellow River, they attacked the States of Zheng and Song, and clashed of interests with the States of Chu, which had always wanted to control the States of Zheng and Song. As a result, the Three Jins and the Chu State had many fierce battles, the Chu State was defeated by the Three Jins continuously, the Central Plains land was lost, and the State of Wei gained a firm foothold in the Central Plains.

After the Qi territory occupied by the Wei state was connected to the Chaoge region, the Wei state had a large area of land between Zhangshui and the Yellow River, which was a great threat to the Zhao capital City of Mu (in present-day Shancheng District, Hebi City, Henan) that burst into the Wei land. Although Zhao Liehou was very dissatisfied with Wei Wenhou's oppression of the Zhao state, because the Wei state was very powerful at this time, and Wei Wenhou was clever and clever, under the banner of the joint development of the three Jins, Zhao Liehou did not have the courage to break with the Wei state. Wei Wenhou's Three Jin Dynasty was actually centered on the State of Wei, co-opting Korea and taking advantage of the opportunity of joint development to weaken the State of Zhao.

Under the banner of expelling the State of Qi from the Wei State, Wei Wenhou included the land on the south bank of the Zhangshui River that Qi and Zhao had been fighting for into the Wei State's sphere of influence, and Zhao Guo's years of hard work in Zhangnan were wasted. Marquis Wen of Wei established Yi County (邺县, in present-day Southeast yi town, Ci County, Hebei) at the most prominent point to the south of Zhangshui. The establishment of Yi County dealt a head-on blow to Zhao Guo's strategic concept of entering the Central Plains in the south. In front of the Zhao capital Zhongmu was Chaoge, and to the east was Tangyin, both important military strongholds of the State of Wei. The west of Zhongmu is the Taihang Mountains, and there is no room for development. The location behind Zhongmu made Zhongmu, who had already burst into the Weidi, appear more prominent, more isolated, very dangerous, and not suitable for being the capital of the country at all. Yiding was directly south of Handan, the strategic base of the Zhao State's southward advance into the Central Plains, and blocked Handan's southward entry.

On the one hand, the development of Wei Wenhou consolidated the hegemony of the State of Wei, which seemed to be the successor of the "international law" of the State of Jin; on the other hand, it offended the surrounding States of Qin, Chu, and Qi, and even contradictions with the State of Zhao were breeding. Once the foreign policy of the State of Wei made mistakes, the State of Wei could easily fall into a "group fight".