During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the feudal lords fought for hegemony and the war broke out, and people had a further understanding of the importance of agricultural production. Thinkers at that time all put forward their own views on the importance of agriculture, among which Guan Zhong's view is the most representative. Guan Zhong not only has the famous sentence "Know manners for servants, know honor and disgrace with ample food and clothing", but also connects agricultural production with the prosperity of the country and people. Put forward: "if you are wrong in one place, give it virtue;" Those who accumulate in the warehouse are inexhaustible, and they will serve the grain; " People hiding in inexhaustible houses will keep Sang Ma and six animals ... If they eat grain, they will have enough food. If they raise Sang Ma and six kinds of animals, the people will be rich. He also warned the rulers that "all herders who own land should be put into storage at four o'clock." Based on this understanding, some vassal States put forward the slogan of "Farming War" to support the war by encouraging farmers to develop agricultural production and increase grain output. Among them, the practice of Qin State is the most successful. History: "Qin Xiaogong used the Shang Jun, bad mines, open buildings, and the rewards for emergency farming. Although it is not an ancient road, it is still a service, favoring neighboring countries and dominating princes. "The victory of Qin is actually the victory of agriculture.

While some vassal States actively devoted themselves to encouraging farmers to engage in farming wars, some thinkers also put forward their own views on agricultural issues from different positions and became farmers and one of the hundred schools at that time. Han Shu's Literature and Art Annals says: The agricultural flow comes from the officials who plow the fields and millet. Sow 100 seeds, and advise to plant mulberries, so as to have enough food and clothing, so the eight governments say that they eat goods. Confucius said that "food is the most important thing for the people" has its own advantages. What the contemptible people did thought that the sage had nothing to do, and they wanted to make the monarch and his subjects work together to keep the order up and down. It can be seen that farmers in the pre-Qin period can be divided into two factions: one faction has the color of "official agronomy" in its theory; The other school of theory has the color of "contempt agronomy" or "civilian agronomy" Whether it is a farmer with the color of "official agronomy" or a farmer with the color of "contempt for agronomy", his theory should include two aspects, one is about social and political opinions, and the other is about agricultural science and technology.

There are 9 kinds of farmer's works in Han Shu Literature and Art Annals, among which 20 pieces of Shennong and 7 pieces of Yelao 17 are works in the Six Kingdoms Period. The former is "when a philosopher is sick, he is lazy in agriculture and grateful to Shennong." The latter, according to Ying Shao, a native of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was named "Wild Old Man" because he lived in the field and plowed with the people. And these works are now lost. Only the agricultural documents belonging to the pre-Qin period that have been preserved so far have been listed in Hanshu Yiwenzhi? Quot Lu's Chunqiu is divided into four chapters: going to agriculture, people and land, discussing politics and judging the time.

Lu's articles such as Shang Nong in the Spring and Autumn Period reflect the technology of intensive cultivation. Going to agriculture means "going to agriculture". The importance of agricultural production and the policies and measures to encourage agriculture and mulberry are expounded. Ren Di et al. is the most concentrated and in-depth set of papers on agricultural science and technology in pre-Qin literature. It discusses a set of specific agricultural technologies and principles from aspects of arable land, soil preparation, sowing, seedling fixing, intertillage weeding, harvesting and farming time, and is very rich in content. Among them, Rendi has the nature of general discussion, while Lun Tu and Lun Shi have the nature of separate discussion. Ren Bishi put forward ten major problems in agricultural production and the general principle of land use, that is, "land to the tiller", and also discussed the importance and methods of mastering farming time. The debate about soil is mainly about cultivation techniques and methods, which is the so-called "cultivation way". First of all, talk about some principles of "arguing soil" and farming. Let's talk about the prevention of "three thieves" in farming and cultivation, that is, stealing land, stealing seedlings and stealing grass. There is an urgent need to talk about the harm of unreasonable structure. I will talk about the technical principles of sowing and intertillage in turn. Judging Time mainly discusses the importance of mastering farming time.

The rudiment of intensive cultivation

The appearance of three articles, such as Rendi, indicates that the traditional intensive cultivation technology has taken shape. Intensive cultivation in this period mainly has the following characteristics:

1. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, iron farm tools began to be widely used, which was confirmed by historical documents and archaeological excavations. At the same time, Niu Geng also appeared. All these have prepared conditions for the intensive management of agricultural production. During the Warring States period, deep ploughing was widely advocated. Deep ploughing, want? Quot the depth of its deep cultivation, the soil will win. "The advantage of this is that it can make the cultivated land" big grass does not grow, moths do not grow, and now it is beautiful, beautiful. " "In addition to the requirements for depth, Lu Chunqiu Rendi also puts forward general principles and some specific principles for farming adjustment according to the soil's own conditions. "Lu Chunqiu is the younger brother" says: "The generosity of the tiller: the strong want to be soft, and the soft want to be strong; Those who rest want to work, and those who work want to rest; People with thorns want to be fat, and fat people want to be thorns; People who are in a hurry want to slow down, and slow people want to worry; Wet to dry, dry to wet. The general meaning of this passage is: hard soil should make it softer and soft soil should make it harder; Land that has been fallow should be cultivated, and land that has been cultivated for many years should be fallow; The barren land should be made fat, and the over-fat land should be made thin; Let it be loose if it is too real, and let it be real if it is too loose; Too wet land should make it drier, and too dry land should make it wetter. This shows that considerable experience has been accumulated in soil farming during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.