Mencius quotes: Li Lou 1-14

Mencius pointed out three classes of government in this chapter of Mencius quotes. He thought the lowest one is the king who cultivated new land. Perhaps this viewpoint is different from other Confucian works'. For example, Dan Fu(an ancestor of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty) moved to Qi in order to find a new land to cultivate and avoid to drag his common people into a war. This story was recorded both in Mencius quotes and the Analects of Confucius quotes. Following content is the original text of this chapter of Mencius quotes.

Mencius said,
'Ran Qiu(Confucius' disciple) worked for Ji Shi(Who was the minister of State Lu) as the chief officer, but he did not make Ji Shi practise the benevolent government. On the contrary, common people had to turn over double grain to government than before. Confucius said, 'Ran Qiu is no longer a disciple of mine, you all of my disciples are allowed to beat a drum and condemn him.' In view of this, all kings of States that didn't practise policy of benevolence but extorted excessive taxes and levies for wealth were detested and rejected by Confucius, let alone the kings who started war for wealth. To plunder land by force and kill many people on the battlefield; to conquer a city by force and kill many people in the city. This behaviour is the so-called that to eat human for land. Such kings' crime deserves more than death. Thus, the good fighter can make others become subject to him; the inferior one is who can unite vassals in order to avoid war; the lowest one is who cultivates new land.'

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