Daqin: Compared with his sons, Ying Zheng is jealous

Under the sky, Qin Emperor Ying Zheng nodded slightly when he heard Prince Fusu's views on agriculture and commerce.

Agriculture is the foundation, and there is nothing to say about this.

Before the unification of the Qin State, or after Shang Yang's reform, the whole country put farming and warfare first.

Farming and warfare, farming and warfare, among which farming even came before war, from this we can know the importance Qin attached to farming.

However, for commerce, whether it was the Zhou Dynasty or the various vassal states during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, they were actually not very suppressive.

As the"Book of Zhou" says:"If farming does not go out, there will be a lack of food, and if business does not go out, the three treasures will be cut off."

Although agriculture is fundamental, it is only a part of people's lives. The joint development of agriculture and commerce is an important part of food and clothing.

Therefore, the Zhou people would provide convenient transportation for merchants. If they encountered traveling merchants, not only would they not add taxes, but they would even allow them to pass through in advance when they encountered checkpoints on the road.

It can be said that it gave great convenience to traveling merchants and greatly improved their trading efficiency. It can even be said that before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there had never been any remarks or measures that ignored commerce.

After the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong appeared and formally proposed the theory of the four classes of people, namely, scholars, farmers, workers and merchants.

However, the"scholars, farmers, workers and merchants" proposed by Guan Zhong did not mean that scholars had the highest status, followed by farmers, craftsmen, and merchants.

Guan Zhong's theory of the four classes of people, namely, scholars, farmers, workers and merchants, was merely a division of social occupational division of labor, rather than a system regulation of the status of social occupations.

For example, in"Guan Zi·Xiao Kuang", it was said that"the four classes of scholars, farmers, workers and merchants are the pillars of a country."

Here, Guan Zhong clearly stated that the four classes of people, namely, scholars, farmers, workers and merchants, were the pillars of a country, or the foundation of a country. During this period, scholars, farmers, workers and merchants did not have the so-called distinction between high and low, and they were all equal to each other.

Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the earliest"scholars" among scholars, farmers, workers and merchants refer to soldiers, rather than literati and civil servants such as scholars, scholar-officials and scholars.

Another little-known fact is that Guan Zhong himself was born in poverty and worked as a merchant in his early years.

In other words, Guan Zhong was a merchant in his early years and made a living by business.

Therefore, Guan Zhong did not do something like"eating with a bowl in hand and cursing his mother when he put down the bowl". After he gained power and left his merchant status, he turned around and suppressed merchants.

The idea of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce began to appear gradually from the time of Xunzi.

Then, the various schools of thought such as the agricultural school and the legal school had different reasons, but ultimately the same needs.

Then in the Warring States Period, there gradually emerged the idea of agriculture as the basis and commerce as the end, or emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce.

But even at this time, agriculture as the basis and commerce as the end, or emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, their essence is not to discriminate against commerce or merchants.

Just like the"agriculture as the basis and commerce as the end" advocated by the agricultural school as mentioned by Prince Fusu, it does not deny the value of the existence of industrial and commercial activities.

Instead, it requires the scope of industrial and commercial activities to be narrowed and controlled from the height of the state's will, so that it will not become an obstacle for the people to carry out agricultural production activities.

To put it simply, agriculture:"Boss (king), you take care of commerce, and make sure it doesn't affect my lack of manpower to farm."

Then as long as commerce does not affect agricultural cultivation, agriculture will not care about the development of commerce, let alone belittle commerce.

Similarly, even the Legalists, who advocated"agriculture first and commerce last" or"agriculture first and commerce second", were essentially just restrictions on commerce, not real suppression of commerce.

For example, Shang Yang once said in"Shangjunshu Quqiang":"Agriculture, commerce, and government are the three permanent officials of a country."

"The three officials are responsible for the six causes of lice: year, food, beauty, good, will, and behavior."

"If any of the six are unsophisticated, they must be cut down. Among the three officials, there are three unsophisticated people, and among the six evils, there is one unsophisticated person."

In Shang Yang's eyes, farmers, merchants, and officials are all people with fixed occupations.

And these three occupations have their own business, their own duties, and even their own harms.

Even though farmers are the most relied upon occupation in Shang Yang's strategy to strengthen the country, officials are also the basic class that Shang Yang relies on to govern the country.

However, Shang Yang also believed that agriculture and officials would produce habits that have a bad impact on society, so Shang Yang collectively called them"six lice."

Because the three occupations of agriculture, business, and officials themselves have both good and bad sides, Shang Yang believed that the king should play his positive role, restrict and prevent bad habits, and prevent these six lice from taking root, otherwise the country will definitely be weakened.

Therefore, to a certain extent, the status of commerce, agriculture, and officials in Shang Yang's eyes is equal to a certain extent.

Or in other words, Shang Yang:"I not only discriminate against business, I also discriminate against agriculture and officials!"

If you only discriminate against one industry, it may be called discrimination.

But if you discriminate against all industries, it is not called discrimination, but"equality"!

How can equal discrimination not be another kind of equality?

Therefore, in Shang Yang's reform of"focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce", the Qin State at most restricted commerce but did not suppress it.

The restrictions on commerce only restricted the activities and trading scope of merchants.

As long as you are within the scope of activities and trading stipulated by the Qin State, the Qin State will not only not suppress or restrict you, but will even support you.

Therefore, in the general environment of"focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce", we will see a strange scene in which the Qin State's commerce is very prosperous. For example,

Sima Qian described in"Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Merchants":

"The goods of Longshu are mostly traded......In the north, the Rong and Di tribes were driven away, and in the east, they were connected to the Three Jins, and there were many wealthy merchants.......Bashu is also a fertile land......"

This means that there were many merchants in Qin State, and there were also many big merchants.

Among them, there were big merchants who bought and sold Rongdi livestock in the north of Qin State, and big merchants who bought and sold horses and yaks produced in Qiong and Zuo in the west.

Although Bashu was isolated on all sides, it was rich in products, including yew, ginger, cinnabar, stone, copper, iron, bamboo and wood, etc., and there were also thousands of miles of plank roads, which connected it to Guanzhong.

Therefore, Sima Qian said in"Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Merchants" with some exaggeration:"Therefore, the land of Guanzhong accounts for one-third of the world, and the population is no more than one-third of the world; however, its wealth accounts for six-tenths." This means that the land of Guanzhong probably only accounts for one-third of the world, and the population is only one-third of the world's population, but the wealth it possesses can reach six-tenths.

In addition, Sima Qian recorded more than twenty big merchants and wealthy businessmen in"Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Merchants" and other chapters, among which there were seven or eight with relatively large influences, and Qin State accounted for four of them.

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The first one, Lü Buwei, needs no further explanation.

A big businessman from Yangdi, he bought cheap and sold expensive, and became a famous big businessman in the late Warring States Period.

Later, he entered the Qin State as a prime minister. With the strategic idea of rare goods, he assisted King Zhuangxiang of Qin to ascend the throne, and organized his retainers to compile the famous"Lüshi Chunqiu", with 3,000 retainers.

Let's not talk about other aspects for now. Just to say that Lü Buwei was able to become the prime minister of Qin, second only to the first person in Qin and above ten thousand people, as a merchant.

It can be seen that the attitude of Qin towards business and merchants is definitely not the attitude of contempt and suppression in later generations.

Otherwise, Lü Buwei would not have been able to sit on the position of prime minister of Qin openly and convince all the ministers at that time.

The second is Wu Shiluo, a giant businessman who developed during the reign of Qin Shihuang.

A member of the Wu clan of Qin, he was a livestock owner and a big businessman who grew up against the background of Xirong.

Qin Shi Huang gave him the same treatment as a"lord", and he could go to court with the courtiers.

You know, it was a great honor to meet the monarch in this era.

The third one was Ba Qing, a wealthy businessman who also developed during the Qin Shi Huang period.

In order to show his importance to her, Qin Shi Huang also gave her a high honor, regarded her as a role model for women, and rewarded her by building a platform for her.

Qin Shi Huang's attention to Wu Shiluo and Ba Qing was also called"conferring Luo and praising Qing".

Wu Shiluo and Ba Qing were also praised as"rituals against ten thousand chariots".

The so-called"rituals against ten thousand chariots" does not mean that Wu Shiluo and Ba Qing can compete with Qin Shi Huang, but that Qin Shi Huang, who has a ten thousand chariot, treats them with courtesy.

So from the above, in the Qin Dynasty and before, the status of merchants and business was not low, and it was not as low as in later generations that everyone could step on them.

Later, when scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants gradually evolved into a system of status and position, commerce became a lowly profession that everyone despised.

For example, in the eyes of artisans:"Merchants are stinking beggars!"

In the eyes of agricultural people:"Merchants are stinking beggars; craftsmen are things with strange and lewd skills!"

In the eyes of scholars:"Merchants are stinking beggars; craftsmen are things with strange and lewd skills; agriculture is stinking farming!"

Therefore, for the idea proposed by Prince Fusu that"commerce should be controlled but not overly suppressed".

In this era, not many people oppose it. In fact, many people think that Prince Fusu is right!

Because the commerce of this period was essentially developed in accordance with what Prince Fusu said.

As for some other people who think that they should adhere to"agriculture first, commerce last""、"The various schools of thought that emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, among which Confucianism is not mentioned for the time being.

But for the Nong family, Chen Xiang, Chen Xin and other Nong family disciples are ready to promote Prince Fusu as a new Nong family sage. As for the original Nong family's"agriculture first, commerce last" ideology, as Nong family disciples, they naturally have to reinterpret it according to the new"agriculture first, commerce last" ideology proposed by Prince Fusu.

: @u_229757