Duke Xiao of Qin

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Duke Xiao was born on a gengyin day in the first lunar month of 381 BCE, the fourth year of Duke Xian of Qin. He was Duke Xian's son. Before Duke Xiao's birth, Qin had experienced several generations of succession turmoil after Duke Ligong, greatly weakening the state. Wei took advantage of Qin's instability to seize the Hexi region west of the southern stretch of the Yellow River between present-day Shanxi and Shaanxi. After Duke Xian came to power, he ceded territory and made peace with Wei to stabilize the frontier, moved the capital to Liyang in present-day Yanliang District of Xi'an, rested the population, and repeatedly campaigned eastward in hopes of recovering Hexi. He died before achieving that goal. Duke Xiao was only twenty-one when he succeeded, inheriting a Qin that faced both internal weakness and external pressure: Hexi remained lost, the central states treated Qin as culturally marginal, and national resources were depleted.

Accession and the Search for Talent

Duke Xiao succeeded in 361 BCE. At the time, rulers including King Wei of Qi, King Xuan of Chu, King Hui of Wei, Marquis Wen of Yan, Marquis Zhao of Han, and Marquis Cheng of Zhao held power. The major Warring States states east of the Yellow River and the Xiao Mountains had taken shape, while more than ten smaller states lay between the Huai and Si rivers. Zhou authority was weak and the lords fought, annexed, and destroyed one another. Wei held Qin's former Hexi territory and had built defenses northward from Zheng County along the Luo River. Chu controlled Wu and Qianzhong south of Hanzhong. Qin, in the relatively remote region of Yongzhou, did not participate regularly in central-state alliances and was treated by other lords as if it were a non-Zhou frontier people.

After taking the throne Duke Xiao set restoration of Duke Mu's hegemony as his goal. He extended favors, aided widows and orphans, recruited warriors, clarified rewards for military merit, and issued the famous Call for Worthy Men, ordering officials and people to submit plans for enriching the state and strengthening the army. That same year he sent two armies out: one eastward to besiege Shan and another westward against the western peoples, where Qin killed their King Huan. Zhao and Han meanwhile took advantage of the new ruler's unsettled position and attacked Qin.

Employing Shang Yang and Carrying Out Reform

After the death of Gongsun Cuo, Shang Yang, a man of Wey, heard of Duke Xiao's call for talent and traveled to Qin carrying Li Kui's Book of Law. Through Duke Xiao's favored minister Jing Jian, he obtained an audience. Shang Yang first spoke of the ways of the ancient sage-emperors and kings; Duke Xiao fell asleep and afterward rebuked Shang Yang through Jing Jian. Shang Yang then spoke of hegemonic methods, which changed Duke Xiao's attitude but did not yet win him office. Finally Shang Yang discussed concrete policies for enriching the state and strengthening the army. Duke Xiao was delighted, and the two reportedly talked for several days without tiring.

At Shang Yang's urging, Duke Xiao decided to reform Qin, but conservative ministers led by Gan Long and Du Zhi strongly opposed the program, producing a major court debate. After the debate, Duke Xiao ordered Shang Yang in 359 BCE, the third year of his reign, to promulgate the Order on Cultivating Wasteland as a prelude to comprehensive reform. Its measures included stimulating agricultural production, restraining commerce, reshaping social values to elevate farming, reducing privileges of nobles and officials, encouraging aristocrats to participate in agricultural production, and standardizing taxation and rents.

After the order was successfully implemented, Duke Xiao appointed Shang Yang Left Shuzhang in 356 BCE and authorized the first major reform. Its measures included household-registration reform, the mutual-responsibility system of groups of households, clear military laws, rewards for military merit, abolition of hereditary aristocratic privilege, creation of a twenty-rank military merit system, rewards for farming and weaving, suppression of commerce, severe punishment for private fighting, formalization of statutes, development of Qin law, and promotion of smaller family households.

Following the first reforms Qin's power increased. In 358 BCE Qin defeated Han at Xishan, west of the present-day Xionger Mountains in Henan. In 357 BCE King Xuan of Chu sent the official He to marry a Qin woman, forming a marriage alliance. In 355 BCE Duke Xiao met King Hui of Wei at Duping, east of present-day Chengcheng County, Shaanxi, ending Qin's long absence from diplomatic meetings with the central states.

Moving the Capital to Xianyang and the Second Reform

To facilitate expansion east of Hangu Pass, in 350 BCE Duke Xiao ordered Shang Yang to mobilize laborers and construct a new capital at Xianyang, modeled in scale on the capitals of Lu and Wey, including ceremonial palace towers. The capital was moved from Liyang to Xianyang the following year, and Shang Yang carried out a second reform. Measures included opening the old field boundaries, abolishing the well-field system, allowing private ownership and sale of land, establishing counties, levying additional poll taxes, standardizing weights and measures, burning certain classical texts while emphasizing legal ordinances, blocking private requests for favor, restricting itinerant office-seekers, and enforcing household division.

The source states that after the two reforms Qin became strong and prosperous. Households were well supplied, lost property was not taken from the road, banditry disappeared from the mountains, people were brave in public war and reluctant to engage in private fighting, and villages and towns were well ordered. King Xian of Zhou sent an envoy and bestowed recognition of Qin's hegemonic status, while the lords sent envoys of congratulations. In 348 BCE Marquis Zhao of Han personally came to Qin and concluded a truce with Duke Xiao. In 342 BCE Duke Xiao sent Crown Prince Si to lead the rulers of ninety-two western peoples to King Xian of Zhou, demonstrating Qin's dominant position in the west.

Later Years and Death

In 338 BCE Duke Xiao became gravely ill. The Strategies of the Warring States records that he wished to hand the throne to Shang Yang, who declined. Five months later Duke Xiao died and was buried at Diyu. His son King Huiwen of Qin succeeded him. Shang Yang was subsequently accused of rebellion by Prince Qian, defeated in fighting at Tong, and killed; his corpse was carried back to Xianyang and torn apart by chariots for public display.

Qin Xiaogong was born in the fourth year of Duke Xian of Qin (381 BC). Before his birth Qin had passed through the disorders of the reigns of Li, Zao, Jian and Chuzi, and its strength had much declined; Wei took advantage of the instability to seize the lands west of the Yellow River, the region between the modern Shanxi and Shaanxi. Duke Xian, his father, made peace with Wei by ceding territory, steadied the frontier, moved the capital to Yueyang, and campaigned east several times hoping to recover the lost land, but died before it could be done. In the twenty-fourth year of Duke Xian (361 BC) Qin Xiaogong came to the throne at twenty-one.

At his accession the six great powers east of the passes had taken shape and more than ten small states lay between the Huai and the Si; the Zhou royal house was weak and the states swallowed one another by force. Wei held the old Qin lands west of the river and built a wall northward along the Luo from Zheng county; Chu was expanding south of the Han and bordered Qin as well. Qin lay in the remote Yongzhou, took no part in the covenants of the central states and was held aloof by them as though it were a barbarian land — a situation that stung the young duke.

In the decree inviting men of worth recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian, Qin Xiaogong said that in the days of Li, Zao, Jian and Chuzi the state had troubles within and no leisure for affairs without, that the three Jin had seized the lands west of the river held by his predecessors and that the contempt of the other states was a disgrace beyond all others; that Duke Xian, coming to the throne, had steadied the frontier and moved the government to Yueyang and wished to march east, recover the old lands of Duke Mu and restore his ordinances, and that he thought on his father's purpose with constant pain. He therefore took as his task the restoration of the hegemony of Duke Mu's time, showed kindness, relieved orphans and widows, enlisted soldiers, gave clear laws of reward for merit and issued his decree inviting able men to bring him plans for a rich state and a strong army. That year he sent out two forces, besieging Shan in the east and attacking the western Rong, whose chief Yuan he killed; and Zhao and Han took the chance of his new accession to attack Qin.

Shang Yang, unsuccessful in Wei, heard of the decree, came to Qin with Li Kui's Canon of Laws and obtained audience through the duke's favourite Jing Jian, winning his approval by talk of overlordship and the art of a strong state. About 359 BC Shang Yang was made leader of the left and began his reforms: the people organised in tens and fives with collective liability, military merit rewarded and hereditary office abolished, farming and weaving encouraged and commerce restrained, the old field boundaries done away with, counties established and measures standardised. The capital was then moved to Xianyang and the reforms carried further; after ten years nothing dropped in the roads was picked up, there were no bandits in the hills, every household had enough, the districts were well governed and the state was strong.

Abroad, Qin fought Wei repeatedly and recovered part of the land west of the river. In 343 BC the Zhou king recognised Qin Xiaogong as a leader of the states, acknowledging its strength; in 340 BC Shang Yang led the army against Wei, took its general Gongzi Ang by a stratagem and broke the Wei army, forcing the cession of territory. In 338 BC Qin Xiaogong died and his son came to the throne as King Huiwen. Shang Yang was killed at once, but the new laws the duke had supported were not repealed, and Qin went on to grow steadily stronger. In later discussion of the rise of Qin, the employment of Shang Yang under Xiaogong is commonly taken as the decisive step, and his decree inviting able men is often cited as a model document of the age when the states competed for talent.

Qin Xiaogong's backing was the key to Shang Yang's carrying his reforms through in Qin over so many years. He made Shang Yang first leader of the left and then grand commandant, putting military and civil authority in his hands, and shielded him when the reforms met resistance. At the outset, when the heir apparent broke the law, Shang Yang held that the law fails because those above break it first and would have punished him; as the heir could not be mutilated, he punished his tutor Gongzi Qian and branded the face of his teacher Gongsun Jia, and when Gongzi Qian offended again his nose was cut off. None of this could have been done without the duke's support, and for it the old nobility of Qin hated Shang Yang bitterly.

Abroad and in war, the contest with Wei was the sharpest of the reign. Wei held the land west of the river and had built a wall there, the greatest obstacle to Qin's expansion eastward; in the more than twenty years of his rule Qin fought Wei repeatedly and recovered a number of towns west of the river. In 350 BC the capital was moved from Yueyang to Xianyang, bringing the political centre into the heart of the plain of the passes and making expansion east easier. In 343 BC the Zhou king recognised Qin Xiaogong as a leader of the states, and the other princes sent their congratulations, so that Qin's standing as a great power was acknowledged.

His decree inviting men of worth is one of the representative documents of the age when the states competed for talent. In it he frankly set out the internal troubles and external humiliations of Qin, admitting that the contempt of the other states was a disgrace beyond all others, and promised that any guest or minister who could devise a plan to strengthen Qin should share the land with him. The open invitation answered to the fashion of keeping retainers in Wei and Qi at the same time, and the policy of employing men from elsewhere which Qin followed for the next century largely continued it.

Qin Xiaogong died in 338 BC and his son King Huiwen came to the throne. Shang Yang was at once accused of plotting rebellion, failed to escape and was killed, his body torn apart by chariots and his clan destroyed; but the laws he had made were not repealed, and the system of farming and war and the local administration went on in Qin. In later discussion of the rise of Qin the cooperation of Xiaogong and Shang Yang is commonly taken as the decisive thing: the duke supplied the political guarantee for reform and Shang Yang the institutional design, and their union turned a weak western state into the strongest power of the late Warring States.

Major Activities

Issuing the Call for Worthy Men

After taking the throne Duke Xiao issued the famous Call for Worthy Men, ordering officials and subjects to submit plans for enriching the state and strengthening the army. The proclamation lamented generations of internal disorder, loss of Hexi, and the humiliation of Qin by other states and expressed his determination to restore the hegemony associated with Duke Mu. This call attracted Shang Yang of Wey, who came to Qin carrying Li Kui's Book of Law and initiated the program of reform and strengthening.

Supporting Shang Yang's Reforms

Duke Xiao overcame opposition and supported two rounds of systematic reform under Shang Yang. The first included changes to household registration, establishment of military-merit ranks, and policies favoring agriculture over commerce. The second abolished the well-field system, allowed private ownership and sale of land, expanded county administration, and standardized weights and measures. These changes greatly increased Qin's fiscal and military capacity and achieved the goal of enriching the state and strengthening the army.

Recovering Territory in Hexi

Recovery of the Hexi territory was a long-standing goal of both Duke Xian and Duke Xiao. After the two rounds of Shang Yang's reforms, Qin possessed sufficient strength to recover portions of the region. In 354 BCE Qin defeated Wei at Yuanli, killed seven thousand defenders, and occupied Shaoliang. In 352 BCE Shang Yang led troops to occupy Wei's former capital Anyi. In 351 BCE he besieged and captured Guyang. In 341 BCE Shang Yang deceived and captured Prince Ang of Wei and decisively defeated Wei forces. King Hui of Wei was then forced to cede part of Hexi in exchange for peace.

Diplomacy

Duke Xiao used flexible diplomacy. He accepted Shang Yang's strategy of encouraging King Hui of Wei to style himself king. In 344 BCE Shang Yang persuaded the Wei ruler to assume the title, helping produce the meeting at Fengze. According to the source, Wei's violation of ritual hierarchy angered Qi, Chu, and other states, causing them to turn toward Qi and successfully shifting military pressure away from Qin.

Establishing Qin as the Dominant Power in the West

In 342 BCE, the twentieth year of Duke Xiao, he sent Crown Prince Ying Si to lead the rulers of ninety-two western peoples to an audience with King Xian of Zhou. The Book of Later Han, volume 87, “Account of the Western Qiang,” records that Qin under Duke Xiao was powerful and that his authority over the Qiang and Rong was sufficient for the crown prince to lead rulers from ninety-two western states to court the Zhou king.

Personal Relations

• Duke Xian of Qin, Ying Shixi: father.
• King Huiwen of Qin, Ying Si: son.
• Unnamed daughter: married King Xuan of Chu.
• Shang Yang: leading minister who directed the reforms and was enfeoffed as Lord Shang.
• Jing Jian: favored minister who introduced Shang Yang to Duke Xiao.
• Gan Long: conservative minister who opposed reform.
• Du Zhi: conservative minister who opposed reform.
• King Xian of Zhou: nominal Son of Heaven who recognized Qin's hegemonic status.
• King Hui of Wei: principal opponent in the struggle over Hexi.
• King Wei of Qi: contemporary ruler with indirect diplomatic interaction with Qin.
• King Xuan of Chu: formed a marriage alliance with Qin.
• Marquis Zhao of Han: concluded a truce with Qin.

Historical Assessment

Warring States and Qin Periods

• The Records of the Grand Historian, volume 68, “Biography of Lord Shang,” says that ten years after the reforms Qin's people rejoiced, property left on the road was not taken, there were no bandits in the mountains, households were well supplied, people were brave in public war and timid in private fighting, and villages were well governed.
• The Book of Later Han, volume 87, “Account of the Western Qiang,” says that at the time Duke Xiao of Qin was strong and had brought the Qiang and Rong under his authority.
• The Strategies of the Warring States records that when Duke Xiao became gravely ill he wished to transfer the throne to Shang Yang, illustrating the depth of his trust in him.

Han Dynasty

• Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, volume 5, “Basic Annals of Qin,” records Duke Xiao's Call for Worthy Men and reform program in detail and recognizes his achievements in restoring Duke Mu's ambitions and strengthening the state.
• Jia Yi's “On the Faults of Qin” traces Qin's rise to Duke Xiao, writing that he relied on the strategic strength of the Xiao Mountains and Hangu Pass, possessed Yongzhou, watched the Zhou court while ruler and ministers defended their position, and harbored ambitions to roll up the realm, encompass all within the seas, and annex the surrounding lands.

Song and Yuan Periods

• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance gives a detailed account of Duke Xiao's employment of Shang Yang and the reform program, treating it as a major development of the Warring States period.
• Su Shi, in his “Discussion of Shang Yang,” criticized Shang Yang's harsh punishments but acknowledged that Duke Xiao's employment of him made Qin rich and strong.

Modern and Contemporary Views

• Qian Mu's chronological studies of the pre-Qin masters examined events such as the Fengze meeting and provided influential chronological arguments for the study of Duke Xiao's reign.
• Yang Kuan's Chronological Compilation and Verification of Warring States Historical Materials systematically organized and evaluated sources on the Qin-Wei wars of Duke Xiao's period.
• Modern historians generally regard Duke Xiao's employment of Shang Yang and sponsorship of reform as the decisive turning point in Qin's transition from weakness to strength and as a foundation for the later unification under Qin Shi Huang.