Chapter 425: The Three Elders System and the Filial Piety System
"What is the most important thing today?"
Zhao Kuo asked like this. Cheng Xi thought for a moment and replied: "Plenty of food and clothing."
Zhao Kuo was a little surprised. He looked at Cheng Yu in front of him, nodded and said: "You are right... During the long-term war, countless people have died of starvation and freezing. The most important thing now is to
Let them have enough food to eat and clothes to withstand the cold... As for you talking about persuading the government, I think you still have to wait until the world is unified and there is no war. Only then can a relaxed governance atmosphere be implemented...
."
"The war is not over for a day, and this wound cannot be touched for a day. You think the competition within the Qin State is a trivial matter. In fact, this kind of competition involves many things, from the basic military merit system to the promotion of officials. Changes cannot be made easily.
..." Zhao Kuo said seriously. Compared with his young and impulsive self, Zhao Kuo has grown a lot in these years and has more to consider when doing things.
Cheng Yu smiled and said: "I know, I just want to let my brother know the local situation..."
Cheng Yu's return is a great blessing for Zhao Kuo's family. Cheng Yu grew up in Zhao Kuo's house and has already become a member of this family. Both Yi and Zhao Kuo treat him as their own son.
, Yi Huan often talks about it. For Cheng Xiu, after experiencing such a long period of hardship, he returned to his familiar home again. He was finally able to shed all his fatigue and feel relaxed physically and mentally. Cheng Xiu held Zhao Xiu in his arms and let him go.
Zhao Xiu pulled his beard and couldn't help laughing.
"Kang, Xiu is exactly the same as you were when you were young. This face... these eyebrows, as long as his personality is half similar to yours, you'll be fine!" Cheng Yu said with a smile, and Zhao Kang looked at it fondly.
Looking at his son, he said with some pride: "Don't worry, I hope he will follow me! I won't beat or scold him anyway, he can do whatever he wants..." Zhao Kuo sneered and looked at the side.
Yi, "find me a pen, I want to write these down..."
When Cheng Yu came back, he suddenly had a daughter and a son, and Yi began to ask him if he had a lover and urged him to get married as soon as possible... The family was finally reunited, and almost everyone was present. How many brothers are there?
They all got together, and even Qi came over. Qi has been serving as a guest in these years, responsible for foreign affairs and ethnic affairs, that is, the issue of the Hu people in the country. Oh, yes, the people in the country cannot be considered Hu people, they are
Responsible for the internal affairs of the Qin State.
During the last expedition outside the Great Wall, many frontier Qin people made great contributions, but the rewards for them were different from those in other areas. They did not need farmland, they needed livestock, etc. It just so happened that this war captured a lot of cattle.
Sheep and horses are enough to reward them for their merits. Qi has done a good job. The Qin people in Bashu, Beidi and other places still respect Qi very much and think that he is a just man.
It’s another harvest season with fragrant fruits and abundant grain.
Everyone was eating fruits. Yi, Shan, Ming, and Yun sat together and chatted about their parents' affairs, while Ying Zheng and the others were chatting about important family and national affairs... Zhao Kuo sat on top and ate one.
It was a very sweet peach, and he picked up another date. Zhao Kuo was silent for a moment, how happy she would be if her mother was still here.
After the two battles, the Qin State once again entered a period of cultivation. It was also at this time that the Liufu Canal built by Zheng Guo was officially completed. Zheng Guo expanded the original plan and used new canals to overcome the problems that Zheng Guo Canal could not do.
All the southern areas covered were irrigated... Zheng Guo still seemed a little ready to make a move. In his opinion, two more canals could be dug in the Guanzhong area, but the King of Qin did not agree to him.
There are still many problems in the country that have not been solved. At present, we must not rush to launch corvees to build canals. In this way, the Qin State has three channels, but the scope is limited to the Bashu and Guanzhong areas, but it can be regarded as solving most of them.
The food problem... The current situation of Qin State is that it is still in the rising stage of continuous development. It has not encountered land problems or monopoly problems. It can be said that this is a young and vigorous country.
But the main contradiction comes from the Six Kingdoms. The Qin State has been slowly expanding its territory over the years, encroaching step by step. In addition, the local people still do not have much sense of national identity, so the Qin State has not encountered any problems in the process.
It was too difficult, but after Zhao Kuo advocated unification as soon as possible, the Qin State instantly destroyed the three Jin Dynasties. Eating a little too much can easily cause indigestion.
There is a shortage of officials, the market collapses, and thieves are everywhere, but these are definitely not a big deal for the Qin State. The shortage of officials can be slowly cultivated through schools in various places. The Qin State is currently setting up schools in the Sanjin area and starting to promote them.
The law requires local people to learn the law. As long as they can learn the law, they can participate in the assessment and become officials of the Qin State after passing the test. As long as the officials are in place, the money market, thieves and knights can all be solved.
All Qin needed was time. King Qin was not worried, but he was still determined to better digest these areas.
The prefects sent by the King of Qin to various places can basically be regarded as capable ministers. The King of Qin asked Li Silai to personally guide these prefects to complete their work better. The first step was to register household registration and measure the land. Officials from various places began to
It took nearly a year to complete the census and land survey, and then the land was redistributed, and the people were urged to work and cultivate land.
This year, the King of Qin rewarded Xin Wu, the governor of Nanjun, and asked officials everywhere to practice benevolence and righteousness, treat the people under their rule well, and promote moral education... This was the first time that the officials of Qin State had heard of this, benevolence, righteousness, and morality.
This is a very good thing, but most of the time the officials of the Qin State only see cold laws and moral education, which are what Confucianism talks about, and they have never taken it seriously.
Facing King Qin's order, they still had no choice but to carry it out.
Xin Wu's petition was distributed to officials in various places. This petition was to tell the officials how to "govern with benevolence and righteousness." In the final analysis, it was actually how to promote morality among the people, give priority to recruiting moral people into the school, and provide education to those who are dedicated to their work.
People who are famous in the countryside, people who are filial to their parents, give material rewards to those who are filial to their parents.
In fact, Zhao Kuo has been thinking about the difference between the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty, and the advantages and disadvantages of the two. After Cheng Yu mentioned the local problem, Zhao Kuo started writing again. This time, he wrote for a long, long time. Zhao Kuo wrote
The article is about the biggest problem of the Qin State. There are many opinions on why the Han Dynasty was able to inherit the system of the Qin State without dying early. However, Zhao Kuo, who lived in this era personally, discovered some clues.
The Qin State excessively played the role of the government and suppressed the activity space of the village elders and other wise men to the limit. This caused the people to be alienated from Qin. Qin's government system did not include the people, and governance was disconnected from the people. Zhao Kuo believed that the Qin State
It seems absurd to say that the control of the grassroots is insufficient, because the integrity of Qin's grassroots system is a bit outrageous. He wants to control everything and restrict everything.
However, the grassroots system of Qin State only has control over the people at the grassroots level, but there is no ideological aspect. Qin State punishes the people who committed crimes and asked them how to live, but it refused to tell them why.
If you want to live like this, why can't you commit such a crime? Zhao Kuo wanted to integrate the people into the grassroots system, so he thought of an official position, which is the so-called three elders.
The three elders of the village were perfected during the Liu Bang period. The three elders are not officials. They are the people. They can be said to be the representatives of the people's wishes. They are responsible for educating, persuading the village, and helping to establish good morals. The main responsibility of the three elders is to educate the villagers to be good.
Controlling the people's thoughts can be regarded as a kind of civil autonomy, because they also have to assist in disaster relief and the like. But will this kind of autonomy weaken the control of the government?
No, this won't happen, because the three elders are virtuous people in the local area, and the power to appoint and remove the three elders lies in the hands of the government. In other words, the government can use the power of appointment and removal to achieve the purpose of controlling folk customs and educating people for good. Zhao Kuo
The purpose of doing this in a hurry is to allow local people to have a common moral concept, which will be of great benefit to the Qin State and can increase the centripetal force of the dynasty, and the stability of the country will also benefit the people.
At the same time, such a system can change bad customs, allow people to know right from wrong, and increase the cohesion of the Chinese cultural circle, thereby forming a unified national concept.
These things are very important. The Qin State was always criticized later, mainly because it was not a country of benevolence and righteousness. The Han Dynasty was, at least in name, a country of benevolence and righteousness. The atmosphere of the entire country was "emphasis on virtue". From then on,
This is true from the king to the people. The Qin State did not care about these, but only used legal framework to restrain the people. Zhao Kuo spent a period of time to complete his theory of enlightenment, and then wrote a letter to the king.
The King of Qin was a little confused when he saw Zhao Kuo's letter. Because the local implementation of the three-elder system and the filial piety system seemed to conflict with Qin's current political philosophy. The King of Qin had never been very fond of Confucianism, which advocated these things all day long.
It seems to him that they are all false. Confucianism talks about benevolence, righteousness and morality every day. My father never takes the initiative to say this, but looking at what they have done, who is the benevolent and righteous gentleman?
But why did even my father start to take the initiative to mention these things?
However, Zhao Kuo also put forward his own ideas in his letter, including the national atmosphere, national spirit, moral education, etc. This seemed to make some sense, so the King of Qin called in the ministers and began to discuss
As soon as King Qin spoke about the so-called three-elder system, Li Si stood up excitedly. Because Li Si also had the same idea in his mind. Unlike Zhao Kuo, he hoped to implement the three-elder system in the county so that the place could have
Reputable people help officials govern.
This was to eliminate the common people's resistance to Qin and establish Qin's control over the local area with the help of these prestigious people.
Zhao Kuo thought more. He directly wanted to extend this system to the countryside and let them assume the responsibility of moral education. They were not only responsible for assisting officials, but also had greater power to resolve neighborhood disputes, undertake sacrifices, and bury people.
Waiting for business... Li Si said: "The land of the Three Jin Dynasties has just been unified, so there is conflict in the heart, and our officials are not enough. If we directly recruit local elders who are moral and famous and agree with the Qin State to promote
Education, this effect is very huge."
"Even if we just allow them to educate the people, make them return to Qin, and reduce their inner resistance... the impact of this will be very great. I agree with Marquis Wu Cheng!"
King Qin nodded. It is indeed the case. The most difficult issue after unification is the sense of belonging. If the three-elder system is implemented and those with great influence and love for Qin are selected to help appease the place, this is indeed a problem.
Good thing. But some people have expressed opposition. The reason for the opposition is that the three-elder system will affect the work of officials. How can the people take care of themselves? If they come to resolve disputes in the countryside, doesn't that violate the law?
When it came to the issue of law, everyone turned to Han Fei.
Han Fei frowned, seeming to be thinking about something. Under the gaze of everyone, he stood up and said, "The relationship between education and law popularization that I mentioned earlier can only be discovered by people like teachers. I have collected recent information."
I found that these sinful people do not know the law. The more they understand the law, the more they like to take advantage of the gaps in the law... Of course, this is not absolute."
"What I want to say is, do you know that the relationship between law and crime is not as great as we think? What has the greatest relationship with crime is moral sense. Moral people know right from wrong. Even if they are illiterate, they can still be friendly.
Treat others properly and will not do anything to harm others.”
"If you drop a piece of meat in front of a wolf and repeatedly tell him not to eat it, the wolf will still pounce on him and eat it. If you drop a piece of meat in front of a cow or sheep, it will never come close... What we have to do
Instead of repeatedly persuading the wolf not to eat meat, he turned the wolf into a cow or sheep before it could grow into a wolf." Han Fei explained Zhao Kuo's theory of moral education, and then said: "So I am
Agreed."
"It is of course a good thing to let famous local people assume certain obligations and reduce the number of evil wolves."
Legalist Han Fei said this, so of course the rest of the people did not dare to say anything more, and the King of Qin officially passed the three-elder system and the filial piety system... A new official position appeared in the place, no, they are not officials,
A group of common people appeared. They were all local moral and famous elders. At the same time, they must be close to the Qin State and recognized the King of Qin. They were responsible for educating the people and assisting the government in rewarding moral people.
The sudden transformation of the Qin State attracted the attention of the world, and a large number of Confucian scholars began to pour into the Qin State crazily.
Confucianism never expected that the idea of governing the country that it had advocated for hundreds of years would actually be realized in the Qin State, which was famous for its tyranny and tyranny.
ps: Yesterday, while I was writing, my left eye suddenly started to hurt, and my vision was blurry. I didn’t dare to write anymore. Maybe it was because I had been looking at the computer for too long, so I started wearing glasses to type today.