Chapter 112: Twenty Years in the Flick of a Fingertip
As Luo Chang was advancing his plan in an orderly manner, the tragedy in Qi State once again shocked the other countries.
For political purposes, the great nobles of Linzi launched a counterattack against some of the smaller nobles, and achieved great success. More than thirty nobles died directly in the city of Linzi, including their private soldiers and retainers. Thousands of people died in the tragedy.
"Xue Yuan and others are all nobles granted by our predecessor, but they have no intention of repaying their loyalty to the emperor. Instead, they coerce the emperor to achieve their goal of starting a war.
How many Qi people died on the battlefield, and how many nobles' sacrifices were cut off because of it?
What a tiger, leopard, jackal and wolf nature this is! Can such a person repent?
If such treacherous people are not punished, Qi will surely fall into a terrible defeat again in the future."
The people of Qi State cursed Xue Yuan and others, saying that they killed people from Qi and put the blame on people from Song State in order to start a war. This kind of thing once again crossed the moral bottom line.
Ever since the execution of Tian Chang, the politics of Qi State has been shrouded in bloody killings, a cruel model where the winner takes all and the loser is exterminated.
The Qin and Wei states stationed in Huai and Si couldn't help but shudder when they saw this scene and said, "These nobles of Qi are really cruel. They can just stay in Qi and cause trouble to themselves."
Facing the continuous weakening of Qi, the Marquis of Yan had some different thoughts in his mind, so he asked his attendants: "When the Xia people were fighting, Yan resisted the Hu people in the north.
This is a huge favor to the State of Qi.
However, after the war, Qi did not express gratitude to Yan, which was not in accordance with etiquette.
Shouldn't Yan attack Qi to express its anger?"
The prime minister of Yan State did not expect that his own king would actually think about this matter. Yan State resisted the Hu people for the purpose of maintaining the security of its own territory, and protecting Qi State was just a coincidence.
After thinking about it, I guessed that the king wanted to take advantage of Qi's weakness to gain benefits because the Ji-Jiang alliance broke down and Luo State no longer wanted to reconcile the conflicts.
"Your Majesty, if we start a war against Qi now, Yan will surely win. Qi will have to cede 300 li of land to Yan!"
The Marquis of Yan was delighted, and then he saw the Prime Minister's face full of sorrow and said, "But I have to lament for the king that Yan will lose 800 li of land in the north.
The land of Yan State is barren, and it has survived to this day only because of Qi State.
Although Qi is weak now, can Yan destroy Qi?
When Qi recovers in twenty years, even if it does not attack Yan, but just watches the northern Hu people pour into Yan, can Yan still defend the 800 miles of mountains and rivers north of Jicheng?
My family has been blessed by the State of Yan for generations, but now I have watched helplessly as the State of Yan fell into such a dangerous situation. How can I not lament for the king and the State of Yan?"
The Duke of Yan was displeased when he heard this and said, "Does Yan have to be a vassal of Qi forever?
Yan is a noble state of the Ji clan. Now Luo is weak, Wu is facing a catastrophe, Wei is unfaithful and ungrateful, and Han is just a dog of Wei. Is there anyone in the world more noble than Yan?"
Looking at the face of the Marquis of Yan, the Prime Minister of Yan really wanted to slap him twice, but he still coaxed him in a gentle voice: "Your Majesty, Yan has 2,000 miles of territory, while Qi only has 1,000 miles of territory. There are countless wild people on the land of Yan, and they can all be used as soldiers.
As long as Yan State recruits talents and develops step by step, it can become a powerful country like Chu State.
If we attack Qi now, wouldn't that be like throwing away the fine jade and picking up the inferior stones from Qi?"
The Prime Minister of Yan did not believe what he said. How could the shabby land of Yan be compared with the fertile plains of Chu? But it was enough to fool the Marquis of Yan. After all, the Marquis of Yan did not even know the difference between upper fields and lower fields.
So the king of Yan gave up the idea of attacking Qi.
Luo Chang doesn't care about what happened in Qi State. Now he is busy transforming the Luo family and seeking the future path for the world.
Now he has no time to care about even the Zhou royal family, let alone the Qi royal family. As long as there is no crisis of destruction, he will stay quietly in Luo State.
The drastic social changes after the war finally came to a complete halt with the bloody massacre in Qi. Wei began to reform, and the Legalists who already existed in Qi also began to seek reforms in the face of the slightly unified Qi.
However, the Wei Legalists' system of supremacy was not suitable for Qi.
So some people went to Luo State to study. People in Qi knew that Luo State had the complete works of Guan Zhong.
Guan Zhong was the spiritual idol of all the people of Qi and the most respected person under King Su. They hoped to find solutions to Qi's problems from Guan Zhong's works.
Even the prince of Qi State personally went to Luo State to pay respect to Luo Chang, and said tearfully: "Lord Luo, Qi State is now weak and lacking in talent. We want to reform and strengthen the country, but we don't know how to do it.
The Qi and Luo states have been in blood alliance for more than 700 years. Can you just sit back and watch Qi perish like this?
Everyone in Qi knows that Luo is too busy to care about other things, but for the sake of our friendship over the years, please allow talented people from the royal family to serve in Qi. Qi is willing to give them high positions, generous salaries, and noble ladies from the royal family as matchmakers.
The spirit of King Su is in heaven, and Qi is willing to live and die with Zhou and Luo!"
How could Luo Chang not be moved by these sobbing sounds?
So he sighed and said, "Sir, please stand up. As you said, after more than 700 years of blood alliance, how could Luo State sit back and watch Qi State fall?
There are young men in Luo State who are devoted to studying Zhong Xiang's teachings. Let them go to Qi State. I hope you can take good care of them.
I hope Qi can become strong again and revive the hegemony of Duke Huan as soon as possible."
So a group of royal family members went to Qi State, but Luo Chang said that if they did not want to stay in Qi State, they could come back at any time.
It was equivalent to the State of Luo sending a group of people to the State of Qi to provide assistance.
All countries were vigorously restoring production, waiting for a new generation to grow up and obtain more taxes and soldiers. As the reform intensified, the distinction between Chinese and wild people in Wei State was collapsing at an unimaginable speed. A large number of wild people were incorporated into the household registration and became self-cultivating farmers in Wei State.
The traditional well-field system was completely abandoned in the Wei State. With the progress of the reform and the influx of talents, the hereditary system of aristocracy was also abolished.
The only hereditary position in the State of Wei was the Marquis of Wei!
This naturally met with opposition from the nobles. This was everyone's Wei Kingdom, not just yours, Wei Qing's.
Wei Houqing forcefully defeated all obstacles to the reform, and the opponents even persuaded Wei Hou's son to oppose it.
The opposing advice was submitted in the morning, and the order for execution was issued in the afternoon.
The Marquis of Wei had long wanted to kill an important noble to demonstrate his firm attitude towards reform, but he did not expect that the person who happened to be killed would be his own son.
Thinking again, he had seven or eight sons, so he didn't need this one, so he ordered the killing directly.
“As a prince of Wei, you openly defy your father and the king and oppose the plan to strengthen the country. How foolish!
Can such a mediocrity be entrusted with the country?
Only by killing him can we eliminate future troubles forever, and only after my death can the way to strengthen the country be continued."
The prince of Wei could not believe that his father could be so ruthless, and said angrily: "Cruel laws hurt the people, is this really the way to strengthen the country?
I, your son, have advised the State of Wei, and even if I am killed, I will not accept it!"
No one's plea was of any use, and a noble young man sacrificed his life for the reform of Wei State.
Wei Houqing's ruthlessness and insistence on reform shocked everyone, and now no one in Wei opposed it anymore.
Han and Zhao were watching from the sidelines with fear and trepidation, "Wei Houqing could kill his own son like this, how can he treat his subjects well?
If he can't treat his subjects well, how can he care about his allies?
Forming an alliance with Wei is like walking with the wolf of Zhongshan."
However, the Legalists were ecstatic and exclaimed that the Marquis of Wei was a sage king of the time. "The king is as wise as heaven. With a monarch like you, how can the State of Wei not be strong?"
Then he practiced magic in the State of Wei, and with the full support of Wei Houqing, he made the State of Wei a new look and showed great vitality in just a few years.
As Wei Houqing's deeds spread throughout the world, his reputation quickly polarized, but it was an indisputable fact that more and more Legalist scholars came to Wei.
These scholars used their abilities to greatly restore the population of Wei State, especially by granting land, attracting a large number of people from the royal capital, Han State and Zhao State.
The so-called integration of military strategy and tactics. As the State of Wei began to reform, the military strategists in the State of Wei also began to exert their efforts to train the strongest army in the world for the State of Wei.
After Qin Bo returned to the country, he became very upset when he thought about Wei Houqing's affairs. His mentality was even a little broken. It was really that the good situation was gone in a wave. Unless one was a person with an extremely strong mind, no one could withstand it.
When someone in Qin asked him to learn from Wei Houqing's reform, he was furious and said, "Wei Houqing is a foolish villain, a short-sighted rat, and a lowly person who has never appeared in the Xia and other countries.
Is it possible that such a person would do the right thing?
Look at what he did. He interfered with the marriages of noble ladies in the country. Even tyrannical kings like Jie, Zhou, You and Li never did such a thing.
He demoted his meritorious vassals, abolished the hereditary titles of the nobles, and declared that one day he would be assassinated by his own subjects.
Killing his own son directly for giving advice, isn't this a sign of being deceived by treacherous ministers?
I am a righteous ruler, how can I imitate such a despicable creature! "
So Qi began to carry out moderate reforms, which were more like bridging the divided political situation in Qi. The countries around Wei were either hesitant or did not have the conditions for reform.
Or they could be like the royal family, who stay in the royal capital every day to enjoy themselves, thinking about internal fighting all day long, or perhaps it is the traditional royal palace turmoil.
Twenty years passed in the blink of an eye, and the world was in turmoil.
In the Luo Palace, a new generation of Luo royal family grew up.
Luo Chang sat under a tree, looking at the falling leaves under the autumn sun. In his hand was the news about various countries brought by the Prince of Luo.
"Father, Wei is strong, with a powerful army of Wuzu, no weaker than the elite soldiers of Luo State in the past. It also has Han and Zhao as allies. It fought a great battle with the Qin army west of Hangu Pass, beheading 20,000 people, shocking the world. After that, I'm afraid it will have to fight a great battle with Chu State in Nanyang."
Luo Chang glanced at it and said, "Defeat Qin first, then attack Chu. Wei State is thinking of itself as Jin State. Unfortunately, Wei State is not Jin State after all.
The policies implemented by the Wei Kingdom's reforms in recent years, the results of the policies, how the Wei Legalists handled them, and what results they achieved have all been recorded, which has really benefited the public office a lot."
The reforms that Guan Zhong carried out in Qi State in the past were recorded by Luo. The Wei Legalists, who evolved from Guan Zhong's tactics, were put into practice in a big country for the first time. This was an extremely valuable experience.
Although the Luo family did not interfere in politics, they would never let go of culture. Over the past eight hundred years, their books on government affairs had filled up a huge palace.
…
The reforms of the Wei Kingdom destroyed the aristocratic hereditary system and the land system of the Zhou Dynasty. The economic foundation of feudal slavery was destroyed, and a new landlord class emerged. This represented a transformation of advanced productive forces and was also a blueprint for subsequent reforms in other countries.
This is called the proper balance of details and acceleration. In the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought, in addition to the traditional Hundred Schools of Thought, there were also astronomers, mathematicians, etc., and they always had to do something different. The Luo family was a treasure house, and all kinds of knowledge must be included.
(End of this chapter)
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