Wu-ti came to power from the popular support of his apparent Confucian beliefs. He, however, drew from the legalistic system under the Qin dynasty and found the wealth need to fund his expansion through practices such as the monopolies. The debate revealed the clear divisions between the realistic legalists in power and the principled scholars who wanted reforms. The government retained the monopolies on salt and iron, but it became clear that many of the Confucian literates saw his actions for what they truly were. Wu-ti bridged the division between state and society and created a system where non-Confucian ideals filled the government pockets by oppressing the commoner. An important quote from the debate is that "Government should not comp

Some common words found in the essay are:
Iron Officers, Shang Yang, Emperor Wu-ti, salt iron, monopolies salt iron, iron tools, monopolies salt,
Approximate Word count = 503
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)