Chapter 109 Change and Invariance
During the past 700 years, the State of Luo only did two things: one was to drive out the princes and repel the barbarians, and the other was to respect the king and eliminate all those who attempted to threaten the destiny of Zhou.
The core of these two things is that Ji Zhao needs the Zhou Dynasty to exist and the Xia Dynasty to prosper.
Now there is no need for Luo State to repel the barbarians. The countries on the border have become huge and can deal with it on their own. No new barbarians have emerged in the world that are capable of challenging the Chinese.
As for the King, the current royal family is very powerful, and this is the last ray of light of the Mandate of Zhou.
Luo Chang looked at the sun rising from the east and shining on the Luo National Academy, and realized that this was the future path of the Luo family.
Ever since the war between the various states began, the debates in the Luo State Academy have never stopped. The more brutal the war, the more various ideas will pop up like mushrooms after rain.
…
Inside the academy, two groups of people were having a heated debate, and both sides had completely different understandings of war.
On one side were disciples of Confucius, who shouted, "What has five years of war brought to the world?
It brought death, hunger, disease, and also brought unfaithfulness, unrighteousness, and lack of kindness.
Isn't it ridiculous that a villain like Wei Houqing could usurp the throne of a great country?"
Confucianism despised Wei Houqing to the extreme, as he was a monarch who did not conform to the attributes of a Confucian sage king at all.
The Legalists, who had always been at odds with the Confucians, laughed at them and said, "Wei Houqing invited all the wise men in the world to come to Wei. He adopted all the policies that could strengthen Wei. Even if someone was a slave, he would be willing to treat him as the prime minister.
He was also willing to bestow upon her the noble lady of the royal family.
Isn't this still the Holy King?
I have decided to go to Wei State to show what I have learned. It is a waste of time to debate with you pedantic people in this academy.
When we make Wei strong, we will know right from wrong."
The Confucian scholar sneered, "When you came to the academy, you were still a Jin person. Jin was destroyed by Wei. You can still act so openly now. You are really a Legalist."
This map cannon directly angered the Legalist scholars in the academy, who accused: "Zheng, Song, Chen and other countries were annihilated in the war, why didn't we see Confucian scholars born in these countries go to die for their country?"
This is a confusing account. It is nonsense to say that there is no concept of country. When you go out, the first thing you should report is your own country.
However, the concept of slaves of a conquered nation had not yet appeared. Basically, the ones who suffered the most after the fall of a country were the direct descendants of the royal family. Most of the nobles were able to transform themselves into officials of the new country and even hold high positions.
Everyone's national identity changed very quickly, just like the Xiang family of the Chu State. Two or three generations ago, they would say they were from Luo who served in the Chu State, but now they are just people of Chu.
This was the case even for the royal family, not to mention the lower-ranking nobles and ordinary people. Basically, ceding a city was equivalent to directly changing nationality. This was a very common thing. It was very unwise for Confucian scholars to use this to make accusations.
The scholar knew that he was in the wrong, and said, "There are wise and virtuous monarchs and unwise monarchs in the world.
Assisting a wise monarch will bring peace to the world, while assisting an unwise monarch will plunge the world into disaster. Haven't you seen enough of the tragic scenes in various countries now?"
All the Confucian scholars felt sad when they heard this. They lived in Luo State and knew how prosperous Luo State had been. However, after the war, countless people had lost their loved ones. This was in Luo State. If it were in other countries, the lives of those people would certainly be even more miserable.
Although Confucian scholars respect the relationship between ruler and subject, father and son, the obligations are two-way. While subjects obey the ruler and father, the ruler and father must protect the subjects.
If one fails to do so, and even harms his people, then he has failed in his duty as a ruler or father, and he will be denounced as a tyrant and will be overthrown directly.
This actually has some meaning of free judgment.
The biggest difference between the Legalists and the Confucians is that the monarch is supreme and the center of everything.
The advanced aspect of the Legalists is that if a prince breaks the law, he will be punished the same as a commoner, and there are clear laws with a clear distinction between right and wrong.
However, the monarch is above the law. He can arbitrarily modify the law, even reverse right and wrong, and use this to rule legally, which means that all people are slaves of the monarch.
Therefore, when faced with the arguments of Confucian scholars, the Legalists always scoffed at them, saying, "So-called wisdom is nothing more than human judgment. Once the law is established, whether it is right or wrong, it is all on the bamboo slips.
As long as he acts according to the law, an unvirtuous monarch can still make the country strong.
Confucian scholars are pedantic, but the rulers of the world will see that this is the world of the Legalists, so wait and see."
The turmoil in the academy did not affect the progress of the various countries. All countries were trying their best to restore their national strength.
So many troubles have arisen just after the peace agreement was signed. The nations will certainly not accept this. Once their strength is slightly restored, they will surely start a war again.
Wei stabbed Qin in the back, but the two countries were still able to maintain a balance between the Huai and Si rivers because Chu was still there. As a bridgehead to contain Chu, they still had to cooperate.
The Chu State is now both excited and worried. "Chu is the strongest among all the nations. No other nation can compare to it in terms of population or territory. But will the nations unite to fight against Chu?"
The Chu State was too experienced in this regard, having been beaten countless times.
Xiang Cheng was not most worried about this, "Your Majesty, under the current situation, even if the nations unite, Chu is still able to protect itself. The real crisis for Chu is the feudal lords throughout the country.
These feudal lords maintained the survival and status of the royal family, but once the State of Chu wanted to change the current system, it would face a huge backlash.
In the past, the Prime Minister of Qin State, Da Shuzhang Yili, was married to Qin State as a dowry with Princess Xuan Mi, and eventually the Qin State prospered. Of course, there are countless reasons for this, but could it be that it has nothing to do with the Chu State's strategy of employing people?
The State of Chu was established for more than 700 years, and all official positions were controlled by the nobles. What a terrible thing this was.
If I were not born into the Xiang family, I would never have been given the position of Ling Yin."
In fact, it was very inappropriate for Xiang Cheng to say this, because he himself was the greatest noble in the State of Chu. In the entire State of Chu, apart from the royal family, the Xiang family was the most prominent.
The King of Chu hesitated and said, "But the nobles of Chu have always been very capable. For example, the Xiang family, where your uncle is from, has many talented people and is close to the royal family. If we don't use these followers and instead promote them from the bottom, this seems even more inappropriate.
The current situation in the country is already unstable. If the power of the nobles is deprived, the newly prosperous Chu State may be in trouble.
Anyway, the State of Chu is strong now. After the country recovers, an army of 500,000 will be enough to sweep away everything. Is it possible that someone can defeat 500,000 with only 50,000 troops?
Uncle, don't worry too much."
The king and his minister looked at each other in silence, and what they both said made a lot of sense.
Xiang Cheng wanted to take advantage of the fact that the emperor and his ministers were in power and directly destroy this tradition that had lasted for more than 700 years.
Because it is impossible for the royal family and the great nobles to produce talented people from generation to generation, there must be talented people among the scholars of the Central Plains countries, but the system of the Chu State cannot attract those truly gifted people.
The king and his minister thought for a long time and decided not to act rashly and wait and see. The Chu State was a big country with great ambitions and was the strongest country among the Xia Dynasty. It was no longer the Chu State that had to fight for survival with great difficulties.
Wei State.
After Wei Houqing founded the country, he felt a strong sense of crisis. After all, Wei's strategic environment was too bad. The Qin State in the west had just been stabbed in the back by him. Presumably, the two countries would be in a state of hostility for a long time.
The Chu State in the south had always wanted to go north from Nanyang, and the Wei State happened to be blocking this road.
The Zhou royal family next to him had just been forced to confer titles of princes on him, and even the alliance between Han and Zhao was just a weak alliance to keep each other warm.
Although it was difficult, Wei Houqing was a great man. Every choice he made was the best for the Wei family and the Wei state. In order to confuse Qin Bo, he was so humble that he almost worshipped Qin Bo as his father.
"Paying tribute to the Zhou royal family with beautiful women is a sign of Wei's submission."
This was the first choice Wei Houqing made in the face of a complicated situation. Then he showed goodwill to Han and Zhao again, "delivering benefits to Han and Zhao, doing his utmost to maintain the Three Jins alliance, focusing on blocking Qin, and then attacking Chu."
Finally, Wei Houqing began to recruit talented people. The capable officials who had followed him to sacrifice their families for the country were retained, while the incapable ones were sent back to their fiefdoms. All the high-ranking positions in the Wei State, including the position of prime minister, were left vacant, waiting for talented people to take up the posts.
He also ordered that "all the noble ladies of marriageable age in the royal family, the five generations of royal families, the noble families, and the relatives of the emperor's wife should be registered and reported. If they are lucky enough to be granted marriage by the king, it will be an honor."
This was the first monarch among all the nations who even interfered in the marriages of his subjects, because there were simply not enough women of marriageable age in the royal family.
In order to attract talented people from all over the world, Wei Houqing almost tried his best. As long as one has talent, he can get everything in the State of Wei.
This is why those Legalists in the Luo State Academy highly respected Wei Houqing.
Although everyone knows that Wei Houqing is not a good person, he can really be said to be eager for talent, and even feels like the King Su spitting out his breast.
Wei Houqing's generosity even stunned the monarchs of other countries, but it was difficult to imitate him because Wei had been beaten so badly and the power of the nobles was originally small.
The only country that could follow suit was Han, which was also completely defeated. However, Han Cheng was still hesitant. He was not as decisive as Wei Houqing.
Faced with the situation in the world, Wei and Chu made opposite decisions based on the situation in their countries. One slowly sought change along the traditional aristocratic feudal rule, while the other violently began to tear down and rebuild.
…
After the war ended, all the states slowly recovered their strength, but Wei was an outlier. In the midst of all the chaos, the rulers of Wei saw the opportunity for change and decisively launched a top-down reform. This was the first major country in the Warring States period to change its national system on a large scale, and Wei's national strength grew rapidly. - "Warring States Reform Collection"
People are complicated. I didn’t expect Wei Qing to have his moment of glory!
(End of this chapter)
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