The Six Arts of the Gentleman in the Bright Moon of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 674 Bingzhou is yours and ours as well [Please subscribe*Please vote]

There were many forces that used temporary economic systems during war, from the Qin Dynasty to the Mohist School, all of them adopted this system.

Needless to say, the Qin State only had soldiers and farmers. Trade was prohibited and farming and warfare were rewarded. All supplies were centrally allocated by the Qin State.

The Mohists believed in collectivism. Even wages had to be handed over to the community, which would then distribute them uniformly. They advocated economy, thrift, and simple funerals.

Because of the military merits and titles, the Qin State was able to satisfy the upward mobility of its people, but this was not the case for the Mohist School. Most of the Mohist disciples came from poor backgrounds, and they joined the School just to make their lives better.

It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

After joining the Mohist school, Mohist disciples become local officials or master a skill, and their income will naturally increase, but they still need to hand in their wages, which will be allocated by the Mohist school.

This caused many Mohist disciples to gradually lose their loyalty to the Mohist headquarters.

The Mohist school held its disciples to the standards of saints, but how many people in the world can become saints or sages?

Therefore, after its heyday, the Mohist school continued to decline, and the number of disciples became fewer and fewer. Most of the disciples only used the banner of the Mohist school to do things for themselves, and there was no longer the chivalrous spirit of the Mohists of the past.

If it weren't for the appearance of the Six-Fingered Black Knight and Jing Ke, who made great changes to the Mohist School, according to the normal historical development, the Mohist School would eventually become the first one to be kicked out of the ranks of prominent schools, and even go from strength to strength, declining rapidly, and eventually the Mohists disappeared, and it was even inferior to the weakest of the Hundred Schools.

The Qin State did not go as far as the Mohists to require that materials be uniformly distributed among the people, but it was almost the same.

The fate of the Mohists will also be the future fate of the Qin State.

The collapse of the military merit and economic systems meant that if the Qin State did not make changes in the future, the empire would collapse instantly after its heyday.

The temporary wartime economic system was the most brilliant system in an agricultural country and the moment when centralization was at its peak, but its drawbacks were equally obvious.

That is like turning the entire country into a galloping chariot with a fully drawn bowstring. Sooner or later, the chariot will be destroyed, people will die, and the bowstring will break.

Bingzhou had to adopt a temporary wartime economic system due to conditions and material limitations, but that does not mean that Bingzhou did not see the dangers behind this system.

Bingzhou, in particular, inherited the legacy of Mohism and was more aware of the dangers behind this system.

"We cannot change this system in a short period of time, but we can start pilot changes near the royal capital." Yan Yan said thoughtfully.

Bingzhou is too big and too poor.

If supplies are not allocated in a unified manner, people will inevitably starve to death or freeze to death, and then civil unrest and rebellion will inevitably occur.

However, after years of renovation around Beiye Royal City, the people actually have spare money and surplus food. In this case, they naturally hope to have a better life instead of having their purchasing power restricted.

With unified labor and distribution according to work, there will inevitably be people who are unqualified and fill in the numbers, and the people will no longer be in the situation of facing a survival crisis as before.

"As I said, Bingzhou doesn't support idlers. If you want to fill in the numbers and eat and drink for free, then I will be the first one to disagree!" Yan Yan thought and continued.

As life becomes more affluent, it doesn't matter whether you do more or less. People have become numb and are unwilling to put in more effort, which has led to a decline in the quality of projects and a decrease in output.

People's enthusiasm for production is also declining, and problems will arise sooner or later. It is okay when the natural environment is good, but once encountering natural disasters or man-made disasters, this collective economy will easily collapse, and once a famine occurs, it will be a major famine covering a collective, a village, a county, or even a county.

Bingzhou is not good at producing grain, and most of the grain has to be imported from the princes. The only places where grain can be grown are the Hetao area that is being developed and the surrounding areas of Juyan Lake.

Other places rely more on the goods produced by the major workshops established in Bingzhou to exchange for food, such as cashmere factories, cotton bedding factories, Liuli factories, military workshops, etc.

"Change the distribution system and distribute according to work!" Yan Yan said seriously.

In Bingzhou, there is no such thing as keeping idle people. You can choose not to live, but you cannot choose not to have a life.

"We are not a charity. Giving them a chance to live does not mean we have to support them forever. If they want to survive and live a better life, they have to earn it with their own hands!"

An Qisheng nodded. As the steward of Bingzhou's internal affairs, he had also received a lot of dissatisfaction from the people. Some people were working, while others were lazy, but they ate and wore the same as the workers. Would the workers agree with this?
Absolute egalitarianism means that people will obey when facing hunger, cold and life threats, but when their living environment improves, people's laziness will emerge.

On this point, Xunzi's theory of human nature being evil actually has a certain degree of accuracy.

Even the Mohists could not guarantee that all Mohists would act in accordance with the behavior of sages, let alone ordinary people who could not read or write?
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was the one that developed egalitarianism the best. The "Tianchao Tianmu System" it promulgated was based on egalitarianism.

But history has proven that this absolute egalitarianism exists only in imagination and is a utopian existence.

This is more difficult to achieve than the Taoist idea of ​​a small country with few people or the Confucian idea of ​​the great way for all.

"If you want to get something, you have to pay something." An Qisheng also understood the drawbacks of the current system.

Although it is not obvious now, we cannot wait until it breaks out before thinking about how to solve it.

Fortunately, they discovered it early and still have time to think, try and solve it.

"Bingzhou is not only our Bingzhou, but also the Bingzhou of all Bingzhou people. Therefore, the prosperity and strength of Bingzhou depends not only on us, but also on the people of the whole country."

“No matter how big a problem is, it is no longer a big problem when it is placed on the shoulders of millions of Bingzhou citizens. Similarly, no matter how small a problem is, it becomes a big problem when it is accumulated by millions of citizens!”

Yan Yan said solemnly.

An Qisheng was even more awe-inspiring. No matter how big a problem is, it will not be a big problem if millions of people share the responsibility. But the opposite is also true.

"You are saying something irresponsible. The prosperity of Bingzhou is shared by the people with us, so why should we bear the risks of Bingzhou ourselves?" Yan Yan asked in return, looking at An Qisheng and the civil and military officials in the court.

"Only when the people are allowed to participate in the discussion of state affairs can they have a sense of participation, identity and honor."

"Bingzhou stands with the people!"

Yan Yan continued.

This is actually hard to understand, but this is the fact. No one will cherish what they get for free, and no one will feel at ease enjoying it.

However, when people share weal and woe, participate together, and go through thick and thin together, their sense of collective honor will increase, and they will cherish and protect it.

"Bingzhou is yours, and ours too!"

"The Prime Minister's Office should come up with a solution in the near future. We need to let the people participate in it and share the risk with Bingzhou."

(End of this chapter)