The views of the Economic School of Qi and the Mohist School on wealth have both similarities and difficult aspects.

The class interests represented by both sides are fundamentally different when it comes to the idea of ​​"rich country".

After all, theoretical morality is just theoretical morality. The road to Qi State needs to be in line with reality.

An important reality that Qi State has to face, or a completely different situation from the Si Shang Mo family, is the deep-rooted aristocrats of Qi State.

This is an existence that cannot be ignored. In the great era of change, change will inevitably harm the interests of the nobles.

The Mohist school's methods were simple and crude, completely eradicating the nobles in Si Shang, either exterminating their bodies, or forcing them to become investors in industry and commerce, and using land reform to dismantle the foundation of the existence of the nobles.

However, Qi State could not use such simple and crude means, not because Tian He benevolence and righteousness, but because his basic rule was aristocrats, unlike the basic rule of the Mo family, the gangsters, industry and commerce.

How powerful is the aristocrats in Qi State? You don’t have to look at others, just look at the Tian family’s own family. They were the great nobles conspired to seize power in a coup. At that time, the Tian family couldn’t help but have many children, and the offspring was divided into feudal systems. A family controlled 70% of the fiefdom of Qi State. This was the factor that made the Tian family succeed in replacing Qi.

After enriching the country, we must strengthen the army. These two very realistic dreams have to consider the actual situation of Qi.

Before this coup, Tian He had already begun to think about the way to enrich the country and strengthen the army. However, the counselors and staff around him had discussed it many times, and absorbed many people from the Guanzi School entrusted by the State of Qi to Guan Zhong.

To use the theory of the Guanzi School to enrich the country and strengthen the army, we have to consider the attitude of the nobles.

How to make the nobles obey the Duke of Qi?

How can we collect money from the nobles?

How can we tie the interests of nobles and monarchs together?

This is the difficulty of Qi State and the fundamental reason why Qi State cannot borrow the experience of the Mohist family on Si Shang - there are no nobles on Si Shang.

Looking around the world, the richest place is now Si Shang.

If you cannot learn the experience of Si Shang, then the richest place besides Si Shang are the places around Si Shang in the State of Song.

It's very rich there.

There is a different system there from Sishang.

That seems to be possible to learn.

How were the nobles rich in the place near Si Shang?

Tian He has heard of this. In simple terms, the little nobles there no longer rely on the labor-service land of the fiefdom to live, but instead manage their fiefdoms.

For example, if the original fiefdom of the Twenty Wells relies on labor rent, there is only the most Mitsui among the Twenty Wells as their income. The system of farmers on the other seventeen wells carrying out feudal farming - after the official business, they dare to manage private affairs - to obtain Mitsui's income.

But now, the little nobles on the land near Si Shang of Song State adopted another method: they took back their fiefdoms and drove the excess farmers out of the fiefdoms, causing a large number of farmers to go to Si Shang to enter iron smelting, handicrafts, glass and other industries.

However, it is still the land of Twenty Wells, but the owner of the land purchases cattle and horses, uses ridges, buys plowshares, and hires farmers to grow grain.

The vigorous development of industry and commerce in Sishang requires a large amount of grain, wine, indigo and other agricultural products. The young nobles of Song, who could only earn Mitsui, operated the land of Twenty-jing. According to the market price purchased by Sishang, they either planted potatoes and opened winemaking workshops, planted wheat and corn along the river to Sishang, or planted indigo cotton.

A large number of farmers lost their land, but did not cause turmoil, because the development of Sishang industry and commerce urgently needed a large population, and along with the development of Sishang industry and commerce, there was also a large amount of food as commodities in the State of Song. The handicraft products in Sishang were not only sold in the State of Song, so they created a kind of stability.

That is, hundreds of farmers are driven out of their own territory every year, and the Si Shang area receives hundreds of Song people into workshops or go south to reclaim wasteland every year, and then purchases a large amount of grain and raw materials from the Song State, and sells the goods made everywhere in the world.

It seems that the wealth in the State of Song is something that Qi can learn, but Tian He thought it could not be learned after discussing with people from the Guanzi School.

First, the military system issue.

After the Shangqiu coup in the Shangqiu State 20 years ago, the people of the people of the Communist Party of China had a semi-constant army that could crush the nobles. A large part of the place occupied by the Mohist family in Si Shang was from the Song State. According to the alliance that year, if there was turmoil in the Song Dynasty, the Mohist family's military strength would support the people of the Communist Party of China as they fought against Chu in the past.

The Song State combined with the rising Mo family and the decline of Wei, Han and Chu made it impossible for the princes to provoke Song State before they could destroy the Mo family in one fell swoop.

The existence of the small nobles of the Song State was different from the original feudal military system. When fighting, there was no longer a need to recruit private soldiers from the nobles. The semi-standing army and the power of the Mo family were enough to maintain the stability of the Song State.

In addition to strictly abide by the gentleman's etiquette and believe that expelling peasants from their share was an "unkind" aristocrat, the remaining small nobles were deeply influenced by the development of Sishang's industry and commerce, and gradually turned their fiefs into means of production that provide commodities.

Qi is different.

The State of Qi did not have enough standing troops, and it followed the system of integrating peasants and soldiers. The soldiers in Linzi area were the main force that the monarch could summon.

During the war, the peasants and soldiers in Linzi area were the main force, and each nobleman needed to fulfill his feudal obligations and provide the monarch with chariots, stingers, and their own private soldiers that match their fiefdoms.

For example, the Pingyin Legion that was annihilated in the Battle of Nanjishui was not a standing legion, but the peasant soldiers near Pingyin and private soldiers of various nobles recruited during the war.

For example, as a sergeant, during wartime, he needed to take out a chariot, three baggage chariots to board a chariot, and a sufficient number of vassals.

In the orthodox Zhou system, there were five hundred brigades, and a junior doctor actually had a position in the army as the brigade commander. When they went to war, they had to dispatch a brigade army.

With the increase of population, the sergeants of Qi are basically the lower officials of the Zhou system. However, because the Qi system has undergone a reform, the sergeants of Qi are a large sergeant of two thousand people, so the sergeants of Qi are still the sergeants, but the number of people that the sergeants can command is equivalent to the number of sergeants before the Spring and Autumn Period.

If the military system is changed, it will be turned upside down. Qi State does not have such conditions, and Tian He believes that he does not have such ability to completely centralize power, which may be counterproductive: especially when Tian He was in power, the situation he had to face was that he would compete with the noble forces left by his brother. If he dared to move the nobles, and if he did not complete the centralization, the nobles of Qi State who had just experienced civil strife would destroy him.

The Song State can do that because the existence of the Mo family and the existence of the alliance twenty years ago made the Song State have a standing army during the foreign war, that was the Mo family's righteous army. At the same time, because the existence of the alliance twenty years ago, the nobles of the Song State were split, but no one of them was enough to resist the Mo family's righteous army. After the situation of the three surnames' common politics was interfered by the Mo family, whoever violated the alliance would be destroyed would be a disaster.

Qi State cannot do this because Tian He does not have a standing army, and because the civil treasury is empty, the "machinery" who is a full-time mercenary cannot hire much, and the war still relies on aristocratic power.

Only with money can one maintain a standing army that obeys the monarch, and then oppresses the nobles to gradually gain power.

Instead of offending the nobles first, and then thinking that this will make money, you can form a standing army at that time: the order will be reversed, and the result will be self-evident.

Since the military system cannot be changed first, the farmers must be bound to the land.

Without considering the issue of unrest, if Qi adopts the means of Song, the peasants will migrate freely. The free migration of peasants means that the nobles cannot effectively control the fiefdom, which means that the nobles cannot pull out enough feudal conscripts during the war.

The State of Song and Si Shang did not need aristocrats to rule, nor did they need feudal conscripts on the aristocrats' fiefdoms, and they could also have a standing army of about 40,000 people, so they could have a nobleman.

Qi State is not good, because the number of scholars and officials in Qi State is not as good as the entire Si Shang, and it may not even be a Pei County. Qi State needs aristocrats to divide their feudals and maintain their rule, and also needs aristocrats to maintain stability in order to attract enough soldiers to fight.

The martial artists originated from the developed industry and commerce of Qi. However, although the martial artists are elite, they are not many, and relying on mercenaries to fight wars is extremely problematic, and it is difficult to maintain a sufficient number.

Especially the Spring and Autumn Period has ended. Today, the princes are fighting each other, with a large army of 30,000 or 50,000, and cannot rely solely on those elite fighting soldiers.

In history, the Qin State reforms could achieve a strong army that did not require aristocratic feudal obligations. It originated from the fact that Qin Mo entered Qin after the Mo family's three-pointer, and organized the officials as their teachers to train a large number of grassroots officials, which led to the murder of Qin Mo's son. The King of Qin needed to seek the opinions of Qin Mo's masters and advise to forgive the crimes, because he was not facing a person, but an organization leader who monopolized Qin's education and grassroots officials. Therefore, Qin's law was harsh and the Taifu had to cut his nose, but Qin Jun still had to ask about the murder of Qin Mo's son.

Si Shang can now raise a standing army of tens of thousands of people without requiring aristocrats, because half of the annual income of the developed industry and commerce of Si Shang is invested in education, and a large number of grassroots cadres who have broken out of the Zhou Guanxue system and built a grassroots ruling system that can be controlled at the township level. What else do aristocrats do? Not only do they don’t want aristocrats, but they don’t also want people from other schools of the Mohist school, including Confucian scholars, because the Mohist school now has its own system.

Now Qi cannot do this in the military system, nor can it be able to do this.

The military system is one, and the stability is the second.

In the chaotic times of the Warring States Period, the doctrines that can be valued by the monarch and be able to submit to the monarch's favor are all aimed at "rich country" and "strengthening the army".
Chapter completed!