warring states careerist

Chapter 49
As a formal Mohist, when I followed Mozi back to Shangqiu, my mood was very different from before.

This is not the first time he has seen Shangqiu City, but it is the first time he has really seen Shangqiu, an ancient city that dates back to the Emperor Ku's era, because he finally has a little qualification to participate in matters related to this city.

Before that, no matter how big the city was, it had nothing to do with him.

Shangqiu City is the capital of the Song Dynasty. According to the regulations of the Zhou Dynasty, the side length of the capital of the Gonghou Kingdom should not exceed seven weeks.

Hundreds of years ago, the rituals of Zhou were definitely the most scientific, and according to what Mozi said, they were the norms that upheld the will of heaven and fully complied with the level of productivity at that time, but they are quite outdated now.

At that time, whether it was building the city, or enfeoffing Houdian Caiweinan and Gonghou Bozinan, they were all based on the means that were most conducive to the clan system and all the people were soldiers.

During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, there were tens of thousands of states, and a large number of earls and viscounts according to the area of ​​Xiali.At that time, one mile was 250 meters, and one foot was only thirteen or fourteen centimeters.

After Shang destroyed Xia, Shang ruler was used instead.

After the reform of weights and measures, the habit of saying that you are an earl and viscount by area has not changed.

So a group of earls who did not follow Shang Tang Mie Xia suddenly discovered that according to Shang's weight and measure, they were downgraded to viscounts by Shang, a bunch of viscounts became barons, and a group of earls who did not follow Shang Tang Mie Xia were not as big as Shang's viscounts. .

When Zhou destroyed Shang, the remaining barons were basically the thousand-year-old kingdom before Xia. According to the habit of Shang downgrading earls to viscounts, the barons were called viscounts.

Chu is a Viscount, although he became the Little Western Zhou Dynasty, destroyed a bunch of concubines, and even made the feudal state of King Wen's four friend Nan Gongshi his own vassal state, but he still abided by Zhou etiquette to a certain extent, and the sides of the city walls were not long. If you dare to go beyond, you can only play side-by-side.

The state of Song was the Sanke of the Zhou Dynasty, the authentic duke, who was able to build a big city with a side length of seven miles at the beginning of the founding of the country.But now the strength is weak, and he dare not surpass it.

Shangqiu City is not a standard square, and it is not difficult to build a standard square city with the current level of mathematics.

However, it is not easy for the square to exploit the loopholes of Zhou Li.

The shortest city wall of Shangqiu City is three kilometers, which is exactly seven weeks, which is not overstepped.

But the longest city wall is close to four kilometers, which exceeds seven weeks, which is considered arrogance.

Although Zhou Tianzi was shot in the shoulder by Zheng Bo's arrow, and Chu Zi asked for the importance, his authority is gone, but everyone still has to abide by those etiquettes symbolically.

Even in the era when Qixiong had already been established, the shortest city wall of Qixiong's main city was seven miles, but the longest wall was generally shorter than nine miles.

The emperor's city is nine li, and the duke's city is seven li, so the longest one must not exceed nine li, but the shortest must not exceed seven li.

If any side exceeds nine miles, it is beyond the Son of Heaven.

If the shortest side of all sides exceeds seven miles, it is beyond the Duke.

There are a lot of talents in various countries, and such means of sidestepping the ball emerge in an endless stream, which shows the wisdom of logic at this time.

Regardless of whether it is Zhou Tianzi or the princely state, there was not that much population at the beginning of the founding of the country.

In such a big city, it is impossible for all of them to be residential areas, and there is still a large part of farmland.

Now that the population is growing, there are still some vegetable fields or farmland in the city, not all of them are houses, markets or palaces.

Building a big city for hundreds of years has its own advantages.It was also relying on Shangqiu City that the Song State could continue to defend the city and survive in the cracks between Jin and Chu for hegemony, and it also gave Mozi a strong backing to stop Chu from attacking Song.

From Shi's point of view, Shangqiu City is quite grand.

The city wall is ten meters high, the bottom of the city wall is nearly 25 meters wide, and the width of the top of the city wall is also nearly ten meters wide.

There are some natural small lakes near the city wall, most of which are used by the city people to soak in hemp, and they can also be used as natural moats to protect the city when someone attacks the city.

Such a city is completely different from the city in the Spring and Autumn Period where dozens of people could conquer a baron country and capture the baroness.

A decent home, kind of in the heart of the city, close to the bazaar.

This time, he followed Mozi to meet Emperor Sicheng, and happened to pass by his own door, so his ancestors could be regarded as people who had dealt with Sicheng in Song Dynasty.

They belonged to one of the few people who could enter the Imperial Palace of Sicheng without a carriage.

After Shi Shi followed Mozi into the Royal Palace of Sicheng, Emperor Sicheng led people to greet him in the courtyard, and stood on both sides of the courtyard with Mozi to salute.

Mozi can afford the court ceremony, and Sicheng Huang must also make a gesture.

After entering the inner room, the leader kneels and sits on the seat.

Mozi sat on the east side, facing west.

Si Chenghuang sat on the west side, facing east.

Due North is empty.

Shi Jiatun, Shi and other disciples sat on the south side, facing north.

The master faces east, and his equal friends who can stand up to him face west, and the lowest rank faces north.

There was no one in the north, because Si Chenghuang couldn't find anyone who was lower than himself but higher than Mozi to sit there, so he had to leave it empty.

Such a person belongs to the ordinary people who are not inferior to ordinary people, but now they are the disciples of Mozi, so they are qualified to sit among them.

There are all kinds of tableware on the table, and I don't know how to use them at all.

Fortunately, it was just a banquet for the Mohists, and there were only some corn rice, some bean soup, and some wine that faded out of the birds.

Sichenghuang knew that Mozi wanted to be frugal, not to be happy, so this banquet was much simpler, without any music, dance or music.

Eating is not the purpose, the purpose is to talk about things.

As a disciple, Shi Yushi Jiatun did not have the right to make decisions, and could only make supplements on some issues. It was Mozi who really talked to Emperor Sicheng.

Shi secretly glanced at Mozi, thinking of some suggestions from last night.

When the Mohists were discussing this matter last night, Shi came up with a bold idea.

Last night, after Shi Shi finished talking about Fuxi and Nuwa, many Mohists praised him unceasingly.

Only Bian 54 and Shi, who had just solved the question of the three Mohists who asked him that day, one person, one liter of rice, made a joke.

"Shi, last time you casually made up about Xi Zhong, which made Gongsun Ze unhappy. Now you are making up about Zhongni again. After a few days, these people will pass on what happened here, and he will definitely come to you. You always It’s not good to say that this is a premeditation, right? Zhong Ni lost his father at the age of three, how could his father know that he has single eyelids and double eyelids?”

When it is appropriate, I can't stop laughing, thinking of the stories of making up famous quotes of celebrities that are commonly used in later generations, and thinking that everything is repeated again and again, and this kind of random making up of celebrity behavior can no longer be said.

Mozi didn't care. At this time, the people in the village community only knew the name of Zhongni, but didn't know about Zhongni. It's okay to talk about such things.If you talk about chicken, pig, dog, how can it compare to a famous person who is easy to remember?
He believed in the will of heaven, just as he often cited the example of rhetoric: a person has only seen a white horse in his life, so he thinks that white is the characteristic of a horse.But in fact, the characteristics of horses are not like this, but need to be summed up to find common points and distinguish differences.

The suitable examples of Daxian and Xiaoxian are not isolated evidence like Baima, so they can be considered correct.

Of course Mo Zi didn't care what Gongsun Ze thought, anyway, the enmity between Confucianism and Mohism had already been forged, even if this matter got to Gongsun Ze's ears, it would not be easy for Gongsun Ze to find trouble again.

At that time, both Gongsunze and Zhongni were mentioned, so Zhou Li naturally came to mind, and then he talked about the invitation of the three families of Jin to join the alliance.

Mozi sees it clearly, the state of Qi is in chaos, all countries want to take a bite, maybe a big war involving several countries is about to break out.

Qin State has a good relationship with Chu State, and if it cannot bite Qi State, it will definitely take the opportunity to bite Sanjin; Qi State still occupies Guanqiu in the north of Shangqiu, which is an enclave for Qi State, but it is inserted near Song State Taoqiu. It was snatched by Qi State from Wei State three or four years ago.

Many of Sichenghuang's fiefdoms are near Taoqiu. From the perspective of interests, Sichenghuang probably hopes to take advantage of the opportunity of Qi's domestic chaos and the three Jins attacking Qi to take down Guanqiu.

But Mozi really didn't expect that Emperor Sicheng wanted more than that, and also hoped to take the opportunity to use the power of the three Jins to deal with Song Gong's lineage. The field conforms to the enfeoffment of destiny.

He always talked about fate and didn't believe in destiny, so he didn't think in this direction at all when analyzing this matter.

Dozens of Mohists chattered and discussed for a long time, but they didn't understand what the Sichenghuang wanted those grain seeds for, nor did they understand.

But Shi has long been determined to exchange some seeds for money, because the Mo family is really too poor.

Mo Zhe has his own craftsman workshop and can also produce weapons, but these weapons are never sold, but are only used to defend the city, so-called righteousness.

If it is sold, it will be regarded as providing weapons for the unjust war, which is against Mozi's idea.

Shi Xin didn't think so, but it's hard to say at this time, he can only use the reason of Xingyi to find a way to get some money for the Mo family to expand the power of the Mo family.

Since everyone couldn't guess why Emperor Sicheng wanted rice seeds, he said conveniently: "Since you don't know, then you don't have to guess. Ask the gentleman to ask tomorrow and you will know. If it is used to do unrighteous things, it will not be sold. But if It’s neither doing unrighteousness nor righteousness, it can always be sold. The money we sell is used to do righteousness, it’s the same.”

He had already convinced Mozi on this point, and Mozi agreed, so he asked, "How do you want to sell it?"

Shi had already thought about it, and said: "Sir, you have seen the village commune, do you believe that according to the methods I mentioned, two stones per mu can be produced?"

All Mohists who understand Jiarong agree with this point, let alone Mozi.

Then he said: "Since this is the case, I have an idea. Tomorrow, we can pay taxes on part of the land of Si Chenghuang. If he has a piece of land and can collect [-] shi every year, then we can use [-] shi to cover it. .”

When Shi Jiatun heard it, he immediately understood the joints, clapped his hands and praised: "The appropriate method is good. If the fixed tax of tithes is two thousand stones, but the appropriate method is strictly based on the number of tithes." , it may be four thousand stones. In this way, those farmers can benefit instead. This is a kind of righteousness."

When Mozi heard the word "tax guarantor", he thought deeply about it, and said worryingly: "If this becomes popular, the Mohist can do it, but it's not good for others to learn from it. Since he paid two thousand shi for the trip, he wanted to make a profit, so he would take four thousand shi." Qianshi, those farmers are still suffering."

Shi smiled and said: "Sir, you are too worried. Now, except for me, who can benefit from a tax of [-] shi? The profit in our eyes is doing righteousness; the profit in the eyes of merchants is gold and copper. They deal with each other. You can profit from trafficking. The rest of the nobles have neither the intention nor the ability. If the tax is only increased and the farming method is not changed, the farmers will be dissatisfied and the public opinion will be overwhelming. Only me can increase the tax appropriately now, and It is better for civilian use. In the future, we can teach many farmers who know new farming methods and spread them all over the world. Wouldn’t it be of great benefit to the world?”

"Sir, I'm afraid that if this method of cultivation is spread to the world first, the taxes collected by princes and nobles will not be ten acres and one stone. In today's world, how many people can uphold the heart of righteousness and benefit the world, except Mohist?" ?Instead of believing in them, it is better to believe in ourselves. At least, we can really benefit others, and accumulate small righteousness into great righteousness."

"Besides, if the land is rich, everyone can believe in the new farming method. Since the master believes that the power of the emperor is a covenant between the subjects, the disciple thinks that before the new farming method is spread all over the world, the agreement must be reached first, and the law must be established. The amount of tax for the next mu will be supervised by me, and if he violates the contract, he will be... fined!"

"If you want to be able to punish with words and punishments, you must have more people who know the will of heaven and believe in the rules of the Mohist. If you accumulate little, you will become a mountain. When the covenant is formed, this covenant can also completely prohibit it." The law of taxation."

"Master has a sword, so he can reward and punish. The Mohist promised the sword of the world, but the disciple has not yet seen it. How to forge the sword of reward and punishment to the world? The words of the will of heaven are copper, the hearts of the people are charcoal, and the things that benefit the world are tin Qi , I have all these three things in Mohism, why not forge a sword of reward and punishment?"

"I have this sword of three hearts in the village, so I can reward and punish the village community; if the state of Song has this sword of three hearts, it can reward and punish the state of Song; if the world has this sword of three hearts, it can reward and punish the world. Who would dare not From?"

(End of this chapter)