Do you know: I am Qi Heng

Qi Heng believes that everyone should do something meaningful in their life.

He lacks neither wealth nor status, nor does he need to worry about them.

Most importantly, the Great Zhou Dynasty had no precedent of killing civil officials. In previous years, when the new laws failed, all those involved were only demoted and sent out of the capital.

Apart from some who have passed away, many of those who were demoted have returned to the central government in recent years.

Figures like Han Zhang and Ouyang Xiu were supporters of the new laws at the time.

Without such worries, even if one fails, one can simply resign from office and inherit the title in the future, becoming a carefree duke.

Moreover, compared to others, he had an advantage: he was very close to the royal family.

Zhao Shou is young, so he can gradually influence Zhao Shou's thinking.

But this alone is not enough to complete the reform; he also needs the help of some people.

There are many successful examples of reforms in history, but only the reforms of Shang Yang can truly be considered successful.

Other reforms achieved good results in the early stages, but for various reasons, they were not able to be sustained.

Although Shang Yang died because of his reforms, the Qin state did not abolish those policies; killing Shang Yang was merely a way to appease the powerful and influential.

In this respect, the Qin state was far superior to the other states during the Warring States period.

While Qin's ability to unify China was certainly due to the accumulated achievements of six generations of rulers, Shang Yang's reforms played an indispensable role.

Qi Heng has been studying Qin history and many rare ancient texts for years, researching why Shang Yang's reforms were successful.

Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that the success of Shang Yang's reforms was not due to the excellence of his system.

There were many examples of reforms during the Warring States period, and those reforms made the states strong and powerful, making them the hegemons of the time.

But why did those in power later either abolish it or abandon it?

Both the previous new laws and the reform strategies formulated by Wang Anshi in the future had good intentions and purposes.

But all of them ended in failure.

Because these people only changed the system, not the structure of the privileged class.

At the beginning of a dynasty, it is like a blank sheet of paper. The emperor can learn from the experience of the previous dynasty, establish a new system, and discard the drawbacks of the previous dynasty.

However, over time, other drawbacks will emerge.

However, there is one thing that has never changed throughout history. It's not that they didn't notice it, but that they themselves maintained it.

That is, nothing changes!

Whether it's loyalty or filial piety, including so-called Confucianism, the core essence remains unchanged.

Because if things don't change, the world can remain the domain of one family. If things don't change, the powerful and wealthy can remain powerful and wealthy forever.

And immutability is also the core of feudalism.

However, when later emperors realized that the unchanged system was threatening their rule over the country, they wanted to make changes but found it was already very difficult to change things.

Because at this time, any change would shake the interests of the majority, they would turn around and use ancestral laws to restrict the emperor from making changes.

Throughout history, no dynasty has ever been able to resolve its long-standing problems in the middle or later stages.

At most, it can only be alleviated through some means, but this alleviation is not a solution, and it depends heavily on the emperor's courage and ability.

When a new emperor is replaced, if the new ruler lacks the courage and ability, he will soon be brought back to his original state.

Historically, this situation has a very nice name: Zhexing (meaning "restoration" or "revitalization").

Therefore, the key to the success of the reform lies in the support of vested interests, namely, some upper classes.

The institutional strategies for reform were secondary.

The success of Shang Yang's reforms, and their continued adoption, lay in his use of the military meritocracy system to create a new group of vested interests.

With their support, Shang Yang's reforms were able to succeed.

It was because of their support that the new rulers had the confidence to face the old aristocratic groups.

The new laws of Fan Zhongyan and the later reforms of Wang Anshi also illustrate this point well.

Qi Heng carefully studied the matter and discovered that when Fan Da Xiang Gong (Fan Da Xiang Gong) presided over the new laws, there was actually not much opposition at the beginning.

While not everyone supports it, only a minority opposes it.

Normally, those who have vested interests should vehemently oppose it from the outset in order to protect their own interests.

However, it was only after Fan Da Xiang Gong (Fan Da Xiang Gong) formulated the new law that a large number of opposing voices emerged.

Qi Heng had thought about it carefully and concluded that the reason for this was that those who had vested interests were watching and waiting.

Because this was the first time the reforms had been proposed in this dynasty, they didn't know whether the reforms would be good or bad for them.

So they didn't rush to object, wanting to see what Master Fan would do.

What if it's to my advantage?

Wang Anshi's reforms faced significant resistance from the very beginning.

However, with the emperor's support, the reforms continued.

However, a problem arose: seeing the emperor's resolute attitude, some people chose to side with the reformers for their own interests and future prospects.

Some, seeing that they couldn't stop it, joined in, their purpose being to secretly sabotage it.

These two types of people have different starting points and different methods, but the results are the same.

Officials who were only interested in getting promoted and making money, and who supported the reforms, completely ignored the actual situation in their localities in order to achieve results.

They forcibly implemented all the reforms and then reported them to the authorities to claim credit and rewards.

And those who cause damage are the same; wasn't the Green Sprouts Act supposed to lend money to the people?

Then I'll force people to borrow money regardless of whether they want it or not, and force them to repay the money when it's due, regardless of whether they can repay it.

The end result was that the local people were full of complaints and cursed the reforms.

Therefore, the core of reform lies in people; in essence, the accumulated problems are also caused by people.

There is a group of like-minded people, or supporters who are won over by binding them with shared interests.

Only with enough people like this can the reform policies be truly implemented.

Like Wang Anshi, he had very few genuine supporters; most of them were people with ulterior motives. Even if his policies were perfect, they would be useless if they were not well implemented.

Qi Heng is currently unsure what to use as a means to secure support and gain their backing.

However, it is very necessary to win over some like-minded people.

Although Wang Anshi's reforms were unsuccessful, the new laws he enacted were also highly problematic.

However, one thing cannot be denied: Wang Anshi had no selfish motives.

Qi Heng would definitely want to win over someone like that, but Wang Anshi was a very stubborn person.

He believed that the problems of the imperial court were very serious and that reform was needed to solve them, so he devoted himself to reform.

They completely disregarded the current situation in the court and whether reforms were possible.

Indeed, Zhao Shou's arrival brought much stability to the court.

However, Zhao Shou was young, while the Emperor was quite old.

Although the emperor is still a little short of fifty years old, only a minority of emperors in history lived past fifty.

There are still more than a decade until Zhao Shoucheng's term ends, and the Emperor is unsure whether he will live to see that day.

Reform is not something that can be accomplished in a short period of time.

For the current government, stability is the most important thing.

If reforms are implemented now, the court will be in chaos, and the emperor will die, leaving his young son with a mess.