When orders are rectified, the law does not shift. When the law is even, officials do not engage in fraud. Once the law is established, it must not be sold or undermined by fine words. If appointments are based on merit, the people will speak less; if they are based on vague notions of goodness, the people will talk much.
When laws are enforced and cases are decided swiftly, a state that settles matters within five li may become a true king; one that settles them within nine li may become strong; but one that lets cases linger overnight will grow weak.
Govern through punishment, motivate battle through rewards, provide generous salaries to employ officials, and use statecraft to control them. When faults in the capital are inspected, illicit markets will disappear. When goods and people multiply while agriculture slackens and deceit prevails, the state will surely weaken.
If the people have surplus food, let them exchange grain for rank, but only in proportion to their actual effort, so that they will not become idle. A tube three inches long that has no bottom can never be filled. To grant office, rank, profit, and salary without regard to merit is to act like a bottomless tube.
When a state grants office and rank according to merit, it tests wisdom by achievement and encourages courage through authority. Such a state will be invincible. When office and rank are granted by merit, superficial displays of order decrease and empty speech is blocked. This is called removing disorder through order and removing speech through speech, all by granting rank and office according to merit. Thus the state becomes powerful, and no one under heaven can invade it. When it sends out troops, it will surely take territory; when it takes territory, it will surely hold it; and when it keeps its troops in reserve, it will still be secure.
In court affairs, small matters should not be ruined by arbitrary interference. Office and rank are obtained by presenting merit. Even if perverse words are spoken at court, they cannot disrupt the system. This is called governing by method.
A state that attacks with strength expends one unit of effort and gains ten. A state that attacks with words expends ten units and loses a hundred. A state that values strength is said to be hard to attack. A state that values words is said to be easy to attack.
Let ministers bear harm and not lighten their duties. Let no one keep reserve strength in his heart, and let no official bear the burden of multiple offices before the ruler. When there is no hidden resentment within, wise men do not interfere with one another, and so there are no disputes. When officers do not hold multiple posts, their skills become specialized. When people do not share the same merit, they do not quarrel. Such a state is called easy to attack.
When punishments are heavy and rewards few, the ruler truly loves the people, and the people will die for rewards. When rewards are many and punishments light, the ruler does not truly love the people, and the people will not die for rewards.
If profit emerges from only one opening, the state is invincible. If it emerges from two openings, its military strength is halved. If it emerges from ten openings, the people will not defend the state. Heavy punishments make the people clear about the law, and comprehensive control makes them obedient; this benefits the ruler.
When punishments are carried out, punish lightly committed offenses heavily. Then minor offenses will not occur, and serious offenses will not appear. This is called using punishment to eliminate punishment. If crimes are serious but punishments are light, affairs will multiply. This is called using punishment to bring on punishment, and such a state will surely weaken.
Note
This Han Feizi ‑ Chapter 53 (Rectifying Decrees) advocates stable laws, swift judgments and merit‑based official grants. It argues for heavy penalty to eliminate crime and a single state‑controlled profit channel to strengthen state power and curb empty rhetoric.
A prince of the State of Han and the main synthesizer of Legalist thought in the late Warring States period. He argues that a ruler should rely on law, administrative method, and control of power rather than on moral reputation or empty talk.
Legalism:
A Chinese political tradition that stresses clear laws, strict enforcement, rewards and punishments, and the ruler’s monopoly on authority.
Rectifying orders:
Making commands and laws clear, consistent, and strictly enforced so that officials cannot twist them.
Merit:
In Han Fei’s sense, measurable achievement, especially in farming, warfare, and public service, rather than reputation, eloquence, or moral claims.
Five li and nine li:
Distances used here to show how quickly local cases should be settled. The shorter the distance, the faster the judgment, and the stronger the state.
Overnight governance:
A sign of bureaucratic delay. Han Fei believes slow justice weakens the state.
Grain for rank:
A policy of letting people exchange agricultural output or labor for official rank. It encourages farming and ties social status to practical contribution.
Bottomless tube:
A metaphor for granting rewards without standards. Without merit as a “bottom,” state resources can never be sufficient.
One opening for profit:
The idea that the state should allow only one main path to wealth and status, usually through farming and warfare, so that people do not seek private or corrupt channels.
Using punishment to eliminate punishment:
A classic Legalist idea. If even minor offenses are punished severely, people will avoid crime altogether, and fewer punishments will be needed in the long run.
Empty speech:
Words, reputations, moral claims, or private lobbying that do not produce real results. Han Fei sees them as dangerous to government.
饬令第五十三
饬令，则法不迁；法平，则吏无奸。法已定矣，不以善言售法。任功，则民少言；任善，则民多言。行法曲断，以五里断者王，以九里断者强，宿治者削。
以刑治，以赏战、厚禄，以用术。行都之过，则都无奸市。物多者众，农弛奸胜，则国必削。民有余食，使以粟出爵，必以其力，则震不怠。三寸之管毋当，不可满也。授官爵出利禄不以功，是无当也。国以功授官与爵，此谓以成智谋，以威勇战，其国无敌。国以功授官与爵，则治见者省，言有塞，此谓以治去治，以言去言，以功与爵者也。故国多力，而天下莫之能侵也。兵出必取，取必能有之；案兵不攻必当。朝廷之事，小者不毁，效功取官爵，廷虽有辟言，不得以相干也，是谓以数治。以力攻者，出一取十；以言攻者，出十丧百。国好力，此谓以难攻；国好言，此谓以易攻。其能胜其害，轻其任，而莫怀余力于心，莫负兼官之责于君。内无伏怨，使明者不相干，故莫讼；使士不兼官，故技长；使人不同功，故莫争。言此谓易攻。
重刑少赏，上爱民，民死赏；多赏轻刑，上不爱民，民不死赏。利出一空者，其国无敌；利出二空者，其兵半用；利出十空者，民不守。重刑明民，大制使人，则上利。行刑，重其轻者，轻者不至，重者不来，此谓以刑去刑。罪重而刑轻。刑轻则事生，此谓以刑致刑，其国必削。
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