What is the history of Mencius' theory?

In hundred schools of thought during the Warring States Period, Confucianism was the most influential school, and Mencius was the representative of Confucianism in the middle of the Warring States Period. After the death of Mencius, his disciples and re-disciples formed the Mencius School at the end of the Warring States Period. Mencius has always been a master of Confucianism respected by the society, and Mencius' theory was an outstanding school at that time.

Qin annexed six countries through war, and established the first unified feudal autocratic empire in China with blood and fire. In order to suppress the resistance of the conquered, mobilize and enslave the people who have suffered, Qin used harsh laws to increase tax corvee. Such a cruel dictatorship is completely opposite to Confucianism, especially the Mencius school, which advocates benevolence and righteousness and worships poetry and books. In the field of ideology and culture, Qin always pursued the policy of cultural autocracy of "worshiping the law and destroying Confucianism", burning books and burying Confucianism all over the country. Burning books is ordering the confiscation of Confucian classics everywhere. Among the Five Classics, except the Book of Changes, which was used for divination, everything else was burned, especially poems and books. Whoever sees it will kill his head. Pit Confucianism is a Confucian scholar who teaches Confucian classics alive, with a total of more than 460 people buried alive. Mencius sent people almost killed.

In the Qin Dynasty, Mencius' disciples and their works were the objects of feudal dictatorship and were brutally attacked. Fortunately, Qin Shihuang ordered the burning of Confucian classics, while Mencius was a sub-book, tied with a hundred schools of thought. Some bamboo slips were burned in some places, others were not, and some bamboo slips were kept.

Confucianism and a hundred schools of thought contended together in the Han Dynasty, and Mencius, like other philosophers' books, did not receive special attention. At that time, some people saw the essence of Mencius, and some people made notes on chapters and sentences. Emperor Wendi once established Dr. Mencius, in addition to the Five Classics. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone" and established a unified empire of feudal monarchy. What he needs most is Dong Zhongshu's transformation of the relationship between heaven and man and his theological study of the divine right of monarchy. How could he like Mencius' theory that the people are more expensive than the monarch, and even punish and abolish the monarch? So I removed Dr. Mencius. During the spread of Mencius, some people ignored it, some people appreciated it (such as Zhao Qi's inscription on Mencius), some people accused it, and some people criticized it (such as Wang Chong's inscription on Mencius). In the Han Dynasty, Mencius and his works had the same status as other philosophers, and it was normal to be praised or criticized.