The Reforms of Shang Yang

359–338 BC · State of Qin (Wei River valley) Theater

359–338 BC

Not a battle but the transformation that would win the war. The Legalist statesman Shang Yang remade Qin into a machine for conquest: abolished aristocratic privilege, tied rank strictly to heads taken in battle, organized every household into mutually-responsible groups, standardized law with terrifying severity, and turned the whole society toward 'agriculture and war.' Qin's peasants became the most disciplined soldiers in China.

• ●The Reforms of Shang Yang