Is the Shang Dynasty Reform Good for Farmers?

To ask this question, this first understands the content of the Shang Martingale Reform.

1.Abolish the Shiqing Shilu system and reward military merits.

Under the new law, relatives of the monarch who did not have military merits no longer have hereditary titles. Civilians with military merits are awarded knighthoods according to the size of their merits.

2.Abolish the well field and reward cultivation and weaving.

The well field system was abolished and the legitimacy of private ownership of land was recognized.

The new law exempted those who worked hard to cultivate and weave and promote the production of grain and cloth from forced labor.

3.Establish a county system and strengthen the centralization of power.

There are many more details to be enumerated here).

Among them, it is not difficult to see from the first two contents that rewarding military merits and rewarding cultivation and weaving is a good thing for the vast number of peasants. Rewarding military merits made it possible for the peasant class (commoners) who had lived on agriculture for generations to become an aristocratic class, which greatly mobilized their morale and fighting enthusiasm; Rewarding farming and weaving enables farmers to obtain a certain amount of land and can farm with peace of mind, which greatly mobilizes their enthusiasm for production.

The success of the Shang Dynasty Reform lies in the fact that it successfully mobilized the enthusiasm of the peasant class, which accounted for the majority of the population of the Qin State, and received a strong response from them (it can also be seen from here that the peasants of the Qin State supported the reform), so that the Qin State quickly stood out from the Seven Kingdoms and eventually dominated the world.

This question seems to be very novel, and it seems to be looking at this reform from the perspective of the peasants, but in fact, if we think about it carefully, it is nothing more than a test of our grasp of the content and significance of the Shang Dynasty reform.

There were benefits, but the effect of the reform did not last long, because the Shang Dynasty reform touched the interests of the class forces, and after the Qin State pacified the Six Kingdoms, the peasant uprising was an example.

It's all because of entering puberty.

In all dynasties, there are certain reasons for the heavy agriculture and suppression of business, and the Qin Shang Dynasty proposed to suppress business because the peasants of the Qin State were very short at that time, and it had reached the point of exempting the people of the Three Jin Dynasty from taxation for ten years to "make the matter"; On the other hand, commercial activities in the city were very prosperous, so the merchants wanted to suppress the merchants and make them return to the agricultural capital. The essence of the Shang Dynasty's anti-business policy is, on the one hand, the development of government-run commerce, and on the other hand, the contradiction of prohibiting the production of luxury goods that affects the normal development of industry and commerce, so as to adjust the imbalance in the proportion of the agricultural and commercial population. He said, 'If you can't help it, then the skillful will benefit, and the wandering eater will be many.'

The "last thing" here refers to the production of luxury goods, not commerce in general. For business, Shang Ying once gave full affirmation, he said, "Agriculture, business, and government are the three of them, and the country's regular food officials are also." Farming, business, government, law and people.

Shang Yang clearly understood the role of commerce in circulation, and considered it to be as indispensable to the state as agriculture and officials.

The Shang Dynasty Reform was a very successful reform in Chinese history, which allowed the Qin State to achieve the basis of great unification. When Shang Ying was changing the law, the main content was the waste well field system and the opening of the field. Shang Yang wanted to abolish the well field system, because the well field system at that time was the state land ownership system, although the common people said that it was farming, but they all served the public land, and all the harvest was needed to give to the upper class, only the people's own fields could have their own harvests, and such a land system to a certain extent also made the people's lives extremely difficult, and the emergence of the policy of the waste well field system allowed farmers to extensively reclaim the land, release the productive forces, and fundamentally established the private ownership of land. It can also further develop society.

At that time, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the various vassal states were constantly fighting, and in this process, the various vassal states also began to carry out the reform movement, which was also aimed at making the various vassal states strong, and the establishment of feudalism was also the main concentrated reflection of the social changes that replaced slavery. During this period, because of the change of the law, the Qin State lagged behind the other vassal states in economic and political development, in this case, in order to enhance the overall strength of the Qin State, so that the Qin State was in a favorable position in the process of the vassal states competing for Kai and accompanying Qi hegemony, so Qin Xiaogong supported the Shang Dynasty at that time to carry out the reform.

The reform of the Shang Dynasty involved political, economic, and military affairs, as well as a series of measures such as unified weights and measures, and culture, all of which provided a good foundation for the development of the Qin state. This also made the Qin State a relatively backward country at that time, and quickly became the final winner during the Warring States Period, and finally unified the whole of China, established the first ** centralized dynasty in Chinese history, but there were also some drawbacks in the Shang Dynasty reform, because the Shang Dynasty adopted the heavy agriculture and suppressed the merchants, which also made the merchants think that they became extremely low. Moreover, privatizing land has also intensified the sale and trading of land.

Some of the upper class began to carry out land annexation, which made the life of the common people extremely difficult.

In the end, because of the development of the times, the chaos of the Shang Dynasty reform also made the Qin State strong to a certain extent, which is also the success of the Shang Dynasty reform.

The disadvantages of the Shang Dynasty reform include despising education and advocating heavy punishment for minor crimes, which to a certain extent aggravated the exploitation and oppression suffered by the broad masses of the people, and to a certain extent brought great suffering to the broad masses of the people. It has not completely dissociated itself from the old system, culture and customs; The policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was conducive to the development of the feudal economy at first, but later hindered the development of the world economy of the Commercial and Information Bureau. Shang martingale changed the law. The disadvantages include despising education and advocating heavy punishment for minor crimes, which to a certain extent aggravates the exploitation and oppression suffered by the broad masses of the people, and to a certain extent, brings great suffering to the vast number of people; It has not completely dissociated itself from the old system, culture and customs; The policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was conducive to the development of the feudal economy at first, but later hindered the development of the commodity economy.

The disadvantages of the Shang Dynasty reform are: 1. The reform measures that focus on agriculture and suppress the development of industry and commerce have led to the weakening of the democratic consciousness of the entire nation; 2. The law of "co-ordinating the people for the army" and "joint sitting" enables the people to monitor and denounce each other, so that the whole people are always in the terror of mutual suspicion.

Policies that emphasize agriculture and suppress business. Shang Ying's policy of rewarding cultivation and weaving was correct, but he also stipulated that those who engaged in the final business (industry and commerce) would not be admitted to the government and would be punished as official slaves and maids. This policy of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce was later regarded as a golden rule by successive feudal rulers, and it had little positive effect in the early stage of feudal society, and it became a policy that seriously hindered the development of industry and commerce in the later period of China's feudal society.

In order to strengthen the management and rule of the vast number of residents, the Shang Dynasty stipulated that the five families should be divided into one army, and the two families should be divided into two families. It is also stipulated that each family within the army should picket each other, "Those who do not accuse adulterers will be beheaded, those who accuse adulterers will be rewarded with the head of the enemy, and those who conceal adultery will be punished with the enemy."

This kind of white terror, which made the people spy on each other and denounce each other, so that the whole people were always in mutual suspicion, evolved into the "armor protection system" when Wang Anshi changed the law, and was later inherited by the Kuomintang of Xiaoxiao. By the time of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese invaders in the occupied areas also implemented the armor protection system.

Shang Ying entered Qin from Wei and put forward a set of development strategies such as abandoning well fields, emphasizing agriculture and mulberry, awarding military merits, implementing unified measurements, and establishing a county system, which won the trust of Qin Xiaogong. Therefore, he was appointed as the head of the left, and in 356 BC and 350 BC, he successively implemented two changes with the main content of "abandoning well fields, opening up Qianmo, implementing the county system, rewarding cultivation and weaving and fighting, and implementing the law of joint sitting".

Measures and role of the Shang Dynasty Reform Law.

Measure. The state recognizes private ownership of land and allows it to be bought and sold freely. Those who are rewarded for ploughing and warfare and produce more grain and cloth can be exempted from forced labor; Knighthoods and fields are awarded according to the size of military merit. Establish a county system, which is governed by officials directly sent by the monarch.

The impact of the competition between countries to change the law: During the Warring States period, the feudal system was gradually established after the reform of the law in various countries. The rule of the landlord class replaced the rule of the slave owners and aristocrats, and the contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class became the main contradiction in society. China's feudal society was formed.

Measures of Qin Shi Huang's unification:1The supreme ruler is called the emperor, supreme 2The county system is implemented, and the world is divided into 36 counties, and the county is divided into counties. 3.Unified currency, writing, weights and measures.

The significance of the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings: It was the first large-scale peasant uprising in Chinese history. Their revolutionary initiative inspired millions of working people to rise up against the tyrannical rule.

The rule of Wenjing: Measures: Reduce the burden of conscription, military service, and taxes on the peasants, and pay attention to the development of agricultural production. Later, the country settled down and the people became rich.

The great unification of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: 1. Ordered that the kings should be allowed to divide their fiefs among their sons and establish smaller princely states2Depose the hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism 4Strengthen the centralization of economic measures and the prosperity of commerce.

The result: a great unification of the economy, politics, military and ideology, and began to enter its heyday.