 The Book of Lord Shang (Shangjun shu) builds on two themes that we have already encountered. First, it argues that “the greatest benefit to the people is order (zhi)” (SJS ch. 7). This is to implicitly accept that “benefit (li)” is the standard by which theories of governance are judged, but it also places particular stress on the collective character of “benefit”. In a war-torn world, we are told, only when the state is strong can its inhabitants flourish. Those who act for their own interests rather than for the “benefit of the state”, therefore, are to be punished (SJS ch. 14). The text is no friend of those who like to debate and push their own agendas; it prefers a people devoted to agriculture who are “simple (pu) and easy to direct” (SJS ch. 3). We can see here, in short, that one result of the fuzziness surrounding the idea of “benefitting the people” is that if clearer criteria can plausibly be seen as necessary conditions for benefitting the people, they take center stage. A prime example is “order”. Disorder, it is natural to assume, is incompatible with the people’s well-being, so rulers could concentrate on order and allow benefit to follow in its wake. Especially when combined with the idea that the people tend to be selfish and not understand what is really good for them, though, a focus on order can rapidly lead to tyranny.