The content of Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals includes thoughts and historical examples of governing the country, some of which can be called good instructions for governing the country. It's a pity that Qin Shihuang didn't buy Lv Buwei's account, and he devoted himself to ruling the country by legalism, burning books and burying Confucianism. Although I wanted to pass on my own Qin dynasty from generation to generation, it only lasted for a short period of more than ten years. I don't know whether this is the sorrow of Qin Shihuang or that of Lv Buwei and Lv Chunqiu. It is no wonder that Guo Moruo wrote in his ten critical works "Lv Buwei and the Criticism of the King of Qin": "More than half of Qin Shihuang's success is the result of the times. Since the Spring and Autumn Period, China has been made up of twelve governors and seven countries, and they have followed a unified line both politically and ideologically. However, the first emperor inherited Yu Wei from VI and was in a commanding strategic position, benefiting from the corruption of the governors of the six countries, so he received natural contributions. But this does not mean that his method is correct. On the contrary, if we follow the new route, Qin will still unify China, and after reunification, it will not collapse quickly and completely in just 15. "
Let's take a look at some viewpoints expressed in Lv Chunqiu, and let's take it as the basis for Lv Buwei to govern the country.
Lv Buwei opposes dictatorship. And this is what Qin is most dissatisfied with. Lv Buwei opposed dictatorship and advocated the monarchical world system. The most typical performance is that "the world is not dominated by one person, but also by the world". This sentence is of course not surprising to us now. At that time, abdication system was replaced by hereditary system, and the world was ruled by one surname. Especially in the eyes of Qin Shihuang, a very autocratic emperor, if you dare to write a book, it will not be a person's world. Isn't that why I, the king of Qin, separated from the world? Obviously, it is absolutely unacceptable for such an autocratic person. In fact, this is just one aspect of Lv Buwei's demagoguery. It turns out that Confucianism also advocates that "the people are important, the monarch is light, and the country is second." In the final analysis, it is not a world of one person and one surname. Do those who respect Confucianism let a foreigner take over the country and make the world the master of what happens in the world? Just use these as rouge to whitewash the world and fool the people. Even if Lv Buwei really became emperor, he could only say one thing and do another.
Nevertheless, this cannot deny the advanced nature of Lv Buwei Thought. At least he saw that if a dynasty wants to last for a long time, it should not be too dictatorial and must find some spiritual comfort for the people. Even if the world belongs to you, you should declare that the world belongs to all the people of Qin, so that the people will naturally not rebel. It should be said that Qin Shihuang and his son Qin Ershi tasted the bitter fruit. There was no large-scale peasant uprising before the Qin dynasty, but it was in the Qin dynasty that a large-scale peasant uprising broke out and Qin Jiangshan was renamed Liu. It is estimated that if Qin Shihuang knew about it, he might re-enable it, trust Lv Buwei, and pay more attention to Lu Chunqiu.
In addition, Lv Buwei is actually in favor of recruiting talented people, which is not only reflected in Lv Chunqiu, but also when Lv Buwei was prime minister. For example, Li Si, the prime minister of Qin State in the future, among his guests are Gan Luo, Zhang Tang and Si Kongma, all celebrities who came to Qin State from other places. Lv Buwei knows a truth, talent is very important, especially in the troubled times of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. A person can even change an era. Therefore, recruiting talents and talents won Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals. In fact, judging from the development of Qin, the people in power are basically foreign talents, such as the prime minister of Qin before Lv Buwei and so on.
Lv Buwei seems to be interested in collecting the thoughts of various schools of thought since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, taking the essence and discarding the dross (of course, this is only handled according to his personal meaning), but with this idea, he will choose the thoughts of various schools of thought. Although he regards Confucianism as one of the main ideas in the book, such as respecting teachers, obeying public opinion, and cultivating peaceful politics, I'm afraid a book called Lv Chunqiu can't be called a "saint" if there are only these things. Lv Buwei also advocated the inaction of the monarch. Doing nothing belongs to Taoism, and governing by doing nothing is a realm pursued by Taoism.
If these were not enough to make Qin Shihuang angry from embarrassment, Lv Buwei's eulogy in the book really made Qin Shihuang unbearable. Of course, whether the abdication system was proposed at that time is still inconclusive. After all, after the Xia Dynasty, the hereditary monarchy replaced the abdication system and became a system. At this time, not only the ruling class will object, but even ordinary people will laugh at its naivety. From an ideal point of view, the abdication system is certainly much more advanced than the hereditary system, but in the case of class differences at that time, it is undoubtedly a flower in the mirror and a moon in the water. In the mid-Warring States period, Yan staged a farce of abdication, which became the laughing stock of scholars attacking abdication and maintaining hereditary monarchy at that time. The recurrence of this incident will naturally cause unanimous opposition from all the literati classes, including Qin Shihuang.
There are many propositions in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, for example, Confucianism advocates respecting teachers and valuing education. , that is, introducing Confucianism in an era of gradual unification. Confucianism advocates "benevolence" and "love", treats ordinary people with appeasement, and makes them forget class differences by example. Lv Buwei saw that an era of long-term disputes was coming to an end, and it was time to appease ideologically and achieve ideological unity. As some scholars have put forward, the appearance of Lv Chunqiu is the result or product of the unification of that era.
In fact, some measures taken by Qin Shihuang are almost in direct opposition to Lu Chunqiu's views. At the beginning of the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, the policies and measures adopted were also in direct opposition to Qin Shihuang. It should be reasonable to say that Lu Chunqiu's views were similar to those implemented in the early Western Han Dynasty.
It should be noted that some soft measures of Lv Buwei, such as attaching importance to agriculture, resuming production and monarchy, are more suitable for long-term rule, and the reason why the Han Dynasty ruled for so long is to learn from the experience of the Qin Dynasty. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, there was a faint shadow of Qin in Lu Chunqiu. (Liu Guanghui)