warring states careerist

Chapter 921 The Inevitable Road

But the life of Qi State in the past few years is also quite bad, with internal and external troubles.

The policy adopted by the Mohist Qi State was economic plunder, and because of the feudal system of Qi State, a situation of "wealth goes to Mo, black pot goes to Qi" appeared.

After the Qi-Mo War, Qi was actually divided into two parts on an economic basis.

One is the southwest region of Qi State south of Jishui. After it was occupied by the Mohists, the feudal system here was destroyed by the violent method of sweeping the fallen leaves with the autumn wind. The land was allocated to farmers and rehearsed in advance for the subsequent violent land reform.

In the negotiations after the war, Tian squeezed his nose and admitted all the new land deeds at the price of the Mohist withdrawal from the Qixinan area south of Jishui.

In this case, the Qixinan area south of Jishui itself is suitable for farming, making smallholder self-cultivation agriculture the mainstream.

This place exists as a "market" in Sishang, and the consumption power of the owner farmers is several times or even dozens of times that of the feudal serfs.

The state of Qi is going back here, but it only has the power of governance in name. In fact, the original old foundation of governance has been smashed, making Qi state's words here not as effective as the grassroots organizations of the Mohists densely distributed in the cities and villages.

If you want a loan, go to the Mohist; if you want ironware, go to the Mohist; if you want to resolve a dispute, go to the Mohist organization...

The existence of Qi State here is extremely embarrassing, and only tax collectors are left.

However, Qi State collects a tax of ten qian here, and the industry and commerce in Sishang can make a profit of [-] qian here.

But the profit trading is voluntary, but the tax collection is not voluntary. Besides, the Mohists have been talking about the purpose of taxation, but Qi State has not done it, which makes Qi State bear a bad name here.

And in the north of Jishui and the central area of ​​Qi, and the southwestern area of ​​Qi, there are completely two models of economy.

The southwestern area of ​​Qi State itself was originally the territory of Lu State. Qi State did not trust the people here. Before, they asked them to pay more taxes and less military service.

The aristocratic system in the central area of ​​Qi State is extremely strong, and the Tian family replaced Jiang Qi by having more children to occupy the fiefdom. It is impossible for so many relatives not to fight among themselves.

The two brothers Tian and Tian Hao killed the other brothers, and the two eventually fell out, but the foundation of Qi State's rule has not changed.

After the Qi-Mo War, the first problem Tian faced was to figure out who was the enemy, who was the friend, who was the trustworthy person, who was the untrustworthy person, and who could support their rule.

When it comes to reform and benefiting all people, Tian knows that no matter what he does, it is impossible to be more radical than what the Mohists do.

And the subsequent performance of the Southwest Qi region convinced them that change and change, the more these people change, the more shameless they will be, and the more they want.

After the Qi-Mo War, the southwestern region of Qi can be said to be the place where the most drastic changes were made in Qi, and the place where the people benefited the most, but it was also the place where the people's voice for in-depth reform was the highest.

On the contrary, the central area is still under the rule of the old system. The farmers and serfs there are much more miserable than those in the southwestern area, but it is quieter and easier to rule there.

Tian knew that he had to govern the country with the nobles, because if he went the other way, he would not be able to compete with the Mohists. In the end, he offended the nobles, and did not gain the support of emerging intellectuals, businessmen, which would be detrimental to the rule.

The legal principle that Tian's Daiqi found for himself was the theory of five elements and five virtues, which made many embarrassing choices.

In the battle between Yan and Huang, Huangdi defeated Yandi, because Jiang Qi was a descendant of Yandi; Chen Tian was a descendant of Huangdi, so it was destiny for the Tian family to replace Qi.

This kind of destiny makes Qi country have to rely on the nobles to rule and continue to maintain the order of dignity and order. Moreover, the aggressive attitude of the Mohists and the situation in the southwestern region of Qi make Qi country have no other choice.

In order to unite the nobles and make them recognize the rule of Qi, it is necessary to give the nobles enough benefits.

The monarchy of Qi State needs to be centralized, but it cannot recognize the theory of Shangxian, because Shangxian is pushed back, and the place where the theory of Mohism is concentrated is too close to Qi State. .

Originally, in the history of Qi State, Jixia Academy was held, so that tourists from all over the world would gather in Qi State, so that talents could be selected, and bureaucrats would gradually replace the hereditary nobles in order to reform.

But now that the academic center of the world is in Pengcheng, tourists are of course willing to choose the Mohist theory that sounds more reasonable, more equal, and has more opportunities, and go to Pengcheng to study or learn knowledge or find a way to become an official.

This also cut off the possibility of Qi State relying on tourists to strengthen centralization.

In the end, the path chosen by Qi State was to reach a compromise with the nobles: Qi State collected certain taxes and fees from the nobles, gave the nobles more rights in the land in the east, Tian Qi established a standing army, and Zong Under the legal system, the bastards who could not inherit from the nobles could serve in the army or become officials of the central government.

The Guanzi School tends to allow the sale of vassal lords, and some merchants lack the status of nobility. In order to develop industry and commerce, Tian Qi allows merchants to spend money to buy xu lord status, or allows businessmen to open mines, set up salt farms, etc., and allow These merchants who bought the noble status of Xujue drove the power of some fiefdom farmers.

Tian Qi also thought very clearly that if the peasants and businesses benefited, they would still choose the more radical Mohism, and the more they benefited, the stronger their power would be, which would be detrimental to the rule.

In the matter of fighting against the Mohists, the Tian family and the nobles of the Qi State have a broad consensus of interests, and most of the nobles are actually branches of the Tian family, so they can compromise on major interests.

In order to strengthen legal rationality, the Tian family moved out the theory of the five virtues. After the Yanhuang Controversy, the Tian family ordered the separated nobles to use "Xuanyuan" as their surname.

At the same time, the education of noble children was strengthened, especially a large number of noble sons and bastards served as officers of the new army. Most of the officers of Qi's new standing army were basically named "Xuanyuan".

Then it began to expand eastward to those Laiyi lands, dividing the fiefdoms, and allowing these nobles to strengthen the rights of the people who used the fiefdoms.

The development of industry and commerce in Sishang urgently needs a lot of food and raw materials, the nobles of Qi also need a lot of handicrafts, and the army of Qi needs a lot of weapons, which gave birth to a deformed agricultural economic development.

At a time when everyone in the world began to think about the direction of change by opening rice paddies, destroying well fields and forming a wide range of self-cultivating farmers, Qi State came to a reactionary change, and judging from the current situation, this reactionary change turned out to be quite successful.

Originally, farmers also had a certain amount of land in the fief, and they had to pay the public land labor to the fief nobles. If it continued to develop, the dispute between the nobles and the royal power would cause the royal power to use farmers against the nobles.

But after the birth of the Mohists, this kind of struggle began to change. Farmers were unreliable, merchants were unreliable, craftsmen were unreliable, and nobles were the only ones who could be trusted.

Those without a home have no country, and those without property have no country. Those who have a family and property are nobles, and those who are willing and able to protect the system of dignity are also nobles.

Sishang's demand for grain and raw materials, the introduction of high-yield crops, and the development of shipping from Langya to Gaomi all led Qi to a road of reactionary reform of the manor economy.

With the acquiescence of the aristocrats who own the land, they seized the farmer's allotment and occupied the land, so that the farmer kept a small portion of the land when the high-yield crops appeared, and planted some sweet potatoes and potatoes, and then the nobles used the farmer's labor to manage the land voluntarily. .

A large amount of grain, cotton, spirits, etc. can be sold every year, and cotton cloth, gunpowder, ironware, muskets, ceramics, etc. can be purchased from Sishang.

The eldest son inherits the manor, and the concubine enters the army to study. If he can make military exploits, he can continue to obtain the fiefdom.

Relying on the export tax levied on the export of grain and cotton as military expenses every year, and collecting a certain amount of head tax every year as military expenses, Qi finally raised a new army.

The officers are basically called Xuanyuan, and the soldiers are recruited from all over the place.

For more than ten years, Qi State has avoided wars and developed in a blind way, using this new system to expand rapidly without touching the interests of the nobles.

Although Laiyi had been defeated more than 100 years ago, the Qi State in the east did not actually have enough effective rule; the same is true for the places close to the Yan State in the north.As a result, with this obvious reactionary change, the nobles and concubines in the Qi army fought bravely in order to obtain the land.

The Tian family took control of some large cities in their own hands. The large amount of grain and raw materials exported each year also improved the central economy of Qi, and prompted some nobles to start transformation: such as using the landed population to mine, dry Salt, farming, wine making, and more.

Qi State chose a reform path different from that of Qin and the Three Jins, because Qi State had to choose this way.

The Qin State can use foreign talents to learn from officials, rely on a good external environment, and do not hesitate to break with the old domestic aristocrats to force changes, forming a country of military exploits where everyone can make progress.

Qi State has no way to do this, Qi State will probably be seized by the Mo family if Qi State does this, and all the talents will go to Sishang.

The Qi State can only choose to recognize the status of the nobles, and at the same time bind the generals to the nobles, admit that the nobles have greater rights to oppress the people in the fiefs in exchange for the support of the nobles, and use the threat of the Mohism as a link between the royal power and the nobles, so as to get closer to Sishang The geographical advantages of developed industry and commerce developed large-scale agricultural exports to accumulate wealth.

Merchants choose to obtain the status of nobility, and after obtaining a certain amount of farmers at their disposal, they start to develop handicraft industry, so that the merchants have obtained an ascending channel and become a member of the nobility.

The aristocrats with the surname Xuanyuan in front of their names began to receive more advanced education, and began to connect the aristocracy with the royal power starting from the grassroots officers, and through everyone being the beneficiaries of the theory of "the reincarnation of the five virtues in the struggle between Yan and Huang" , making Qi a different country.

This also makes the nobles of Qi, large and small, the nobles who are most afraid of Mohism and land reform, and also the group of people who will be the most stubborn once a war starts.

Because they know their own destiny, if the Mohists win, all the privileges and wealth they have obtained will be wiped out.Because their wealth comes from the system, and this system is what the Mohists will inevitably choose to destroy.

The State of Qi chose a correct path, which was the most correct path for the nobles and the Tian clan after facing up to the situation of too many nobles in the country, their strength, the unstable foundation of the Tian clan, and the fact that they were too close to Sishang.

(End of this chapter)