After Ying Si ascended the throne as emperor, he did several major things in a short period of time, which shows his superb political skills.

The first is to kill Shang Yang. Shang Yang was the number one contributor to Qin's reform and national strength. Regarding this, Ying Si is not unaware of this, nor does he disagree with it. But after all, Shang Yang was an important minister of Duke Xiao of Qin, and his relationship with Ying Si was very alienated. Moreover, Shang Yang's power and influence were too great, which greatly limited the deterrence of Ying Si as a monarch who had just come to power. In order to clear the way for him to be a good king and establish his own achievements, Ying Si had to get rid of Shang Yang. And besides, there was a personal feud between them. Ying Si broke the law when he was the prince, and Shang Yang punished the prince Fu according to the law. Ying Si is not Ying Quliang, and this hatred will always be more or less unforgettable to him. Wouldn't it be great to kill Shang Yang, clear away the obstacles on the road to power, and settle personal vendettas?

Ying Si’s brilliance lies not in killing Shang Yang, but in surrounding the incident of “killing Shang Yang” and even using this incident to lay the groundwork for his subsequent actions. .

He was extremely calm-minded: he killed Shang Yang and even sentenced him to death, but he firmly and clearly supported Shang Yang's new law from the bottom of his heart. Although he recognized the new law very much, he still wanted Shang Yang to die. And the car was broken to death. This is not revenge driven by hatred, but a precise political calculation. Killing Shang Yang would not only be beneficial to his own monarchy; at that time, the aristocrats of Qin and the six kingdoms of Shandong were facing pressure. If he directly defended Shang Yang, the pressure from the two sides would inevitably cause turmoil. The chariot broke up with Shang Yang, as if the monarch was on the side of the clan, which made these old men vent their anger and slowed down the momentum slightly, leaving enough room for Ying Si to plan the next move to annihilate the clan's power.

Ying Si’s cleverness is very creepy. He knew that both Shang Yang and the family were obstacles to his personal dominance as a king, and they had to be removed. He actually used the family to kill Shang Yang first, and then used the banner of Zhaoxue, Lord Shang, to annihilate the family who wanted to rebel. This first step was unpopular with the people, but in the second step he completely placed the responsibility for Lord Shang's death on the heads of the clan and the Six Nations, and he was clean and tidy. Moreover, the more miserable Shang Jun died, the more earth-shattering his last step was. He even caught up with the Six Kingdoms and said that the Six Kingdoms were forcing Shang Jun to be killed. From then on, sending troops to the Six Kingdoms would have a high-sounding banner.

Thanks to Ying Si being such a wise king, Shang Yang's tragic death was not in vain, and his death was a great achievement.

Shang Yang’s reform indeed made Qin rich and powerful. History books commented that "the Shang ruler governed the Qin Dynasty, and his laws were enforced, he was fair and selfless, he did not shy away from being powerful in punishing people, and he did not shy away from being intimate with others in rewards." Therefore, "After a period of time, the Tao will not pick up the lost things, the people will not take it rashly, and the military will be strong." In today's terms, Shang Yang's reform was conducive to the improvement of productivity and people's living standards, and at the same time improved the overall national strength. It should be admitted that Shang Yang's reform laid a comprehensive foundation for Qin to unify China. Shang Yang's reforms adapted to the historical trend and promoted the progress of history. Therefore, "Shang Jun died" but "the law was not defeated", unlike Wang Anshi and others in the future, who died but the law was abolished.

In history, every reform is a revolution. Revolution is about breaking the original pattern of power and interests, and those who are affected are often those with vested interests in the ruling class. Shang Yang's reform indeed endangered the interests of the old aristocracy of Qin. Before the Reform, the titles and salaries of the old nobility were hereditary, and they enjoyed political and economic privileges from generation to generation. However, Shang Yang's reform of rewarding military merit stipulates that all old nobles who have not established military merit must be removed from the books of the clan nobles and are not allowed to receive salary without merit. Civilians with military merit can also be ennobled and rewarded based on their military merit. In the past, nobles had fiefs and they were the monarchs in their fiefs. The abolition of the enfeoffment system (what the ancients called feudalism) and the establishment of counties under the unified leadership of the monarch weakened the power of the nobility and strengthened centralization. Of course, these are unacceptable to the nobles. Some contents in the reform also hurt the interests of some civilians. For example, the continuous sitting system and the household registration system made people feel a sense of crisis and made mobility inconvenient; the wives and children of those who abandoned farming and doing business had to become official slaves; brothers had to pay two taxes regardless of family separation, etc. Of course, the leaders who opposed the reform could only be the old aristocrats, but these people whose interests were harmed became the social basis for opposing Shang Yang.

As early as the beginning of Shang Yang's reform, the nobles Qianlong and Du Zhi opposed the reform of their ancestral laws. After the first reform, there were thousands of people who opposed the reform in the capital alone. Prince Si's teachers Gongzi Qian and Gongsun Jia were the leaders of the opposition.

They took advantage of the prince's youth and ignorance to instigate him to violate the new law and create problems for Shang Yang. Shang Yang, with the ambition of "having no worries and doing public service without caring about private interests", used an iron hand to fight back against the opposition: He could not punish the prince, so he punished his division. Gongsun Jia was sentenced to tattoo (tattoo on the face), and the prince After Qian broke the law again, he was sentenced to death (cutting off his nose); he also used cruel and bloody methods to suppress it, executing more than 700 people in just one day, so that "the Wei River turned red, and the sound of wailing moved the heaven and earth." This sows the seeds of hatred that will one day turn into even more bloody actions. In the 24th year of Qin Xiaogong (338 BC), Xiaogong, who supported the reform, passed away. The following year, Prince Si came to the throne, and he became King Qin Huiwen. The seeds of hatred grew too fast. Prince Qian and Gongsun Jia accused Shang Yang of treason, and the new king ordered Shang Yang to be arrested. He had nowhere to escape and was torn apart by a car. None of his family members survived.

Whether it is a reform or a reform, it is a huge change in society. To complete this process in a more secure manner, reformers must not hesitate to use any means to achieve their goals, but must know how to compromise and make concessions. This is what we often call a gradual path. The first meaning of gradualness is that the reform process should not be too fast, but should break through from easy places and gradually deepen. The second is to make concessions to the original vested interest groups that are quite powerful and provide appropriate compensation. In the process of transformation, it would be much better for Britain and Japan to make concessions to the old aristocracy, retain the status and interests of the monarch and the nobility, and implement constitutional monarchy than the French revolution that killed Louis XVI and his wife. Historical progress comes at a price. If we don't use bloodshed and make some concessions, the price is actually the smallest. If Shang Yang could start with reforms that were conducive to production, such as focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce, abolishing the well-field system, and rewarding those with military merit, but not abolishing the status of the old aristocracy, he might not have died by lightning. Legalists in history were known for their harshness and often resorted to extreme and bloody methods. This was one of the reasons why most of them ended badly and were criticized. Using heavy punishment for minor crimes to establish authority may backfire.

Historical progress does not necessarily have to come at the expense of the bloodshed of reformers or opponents. The key lies in the method adopted by the reform. Entering a minefield does not necessarily mean you will be killed. The key lies in how to find an appropriate route. It is a pity that Shang Yang and many reformers in history did not understand this.