[Strengthening the Army]

In King Wei's era, the mid-fourth century B.C., proponents of Taoism, early Confucianism, Mohism, early Legalism, the Logicians, the agriculturalists, yin-yang and other naturalists, and the military thinkers were eagerly in evidence. Among the several thousand mendicant advisers in Ch'i, virtually every philosophical perspective and political doctrine could certainly be found. Although "dispensing provisions" is generally identified as a Mohist doctrine, it may well have been a temporary Confucian-oriented policy or one raised by the military thinkers since both emphasized the welfare of the people and the latter stressed the need to attract immigrants from other states, thereby increasing the population and size of the army. Organizational concepts such as the mutual guarantee system and the inescapable grouping by hamlets and villages held prominent places in their thought and were the basis for the draconian implementation of punishments both in civil and military life.