 Punishments and penalties can deter the people from misbehavior, but to encourage them to do “whatever the ruler desires,” positive incentives—“ranks and emoluments”—are no less important. The ruler’s major goal, as Shang Yang reiterates incessantly, is to turn his subjects into diligent farmers and valiant soldiers. This can be attained only if engagement in these “bitter and dangerous” occupations will be the exclusive way to secure material riches and glory. This understanding stands at the background of Shang Yang’s most celebrated reform: the replacement of Qin’s traditional hereditary aristocratic order with the new system of “ranks of merit.”