After Lord Meng Chang was removed from his post, King Min of Qi became even more arrogant as he destroyed the state of Song with Chu and Wei. He wanted to annex all the states and become the king himself. This made all the lords of the kingdoms dissatisfied with him, especially Yan, the northern state of Qi, which was bullied by Qi and wanted to take revenge.
Yan was originally a big country too. Then it passed to King Kuai of Yan (pronounced kuài), who listened to the ideas of bad people, and even followed the legendary method of Yao and Shun to give up the throne to Zi Zhi, the prime minister. The generals of Yan and Prince Ping attacked Zi Zhi, and great chaos broke out in Yan. In the name of pacifying Yan's internal turmoil, Qi invaded Yan and Yan was almost destroyed. Later, the army and people of Yan made Prince Ping the king of the country and rose up to drive out the Qi army.
Prince Ping took the throne as King Zhao of Yan. He was determined to make Yan strong and determined to find a good ruler, but he couldn't find the right one. Someone reminded him that Guo Kui (郭隗), an old minister, was very insightful, so he might as well go to him for some advice.
King Zhaowang of Yan personally visited Guo Kui, and said to him, "I can't forget the shame of Qi's invasion of Yan while our country was in turmoil. But now Yan is too weak to take revenge. If there is a wise man to help me avenge this shame, I would rather serve him. Can you recommend such a person?"
Guo Kui stroked his beard, pondered for a while and said, "I can't say anything about recommending a ready-made talent, so allow me to tell a story first." Then he told a story:
Anciently, there was a king who loved a thousand-mile horse the most. He sent his men to search everywhere, and after three years of searching he could not find one. One of his ministers inquired about a valuable thousand-mile horse somewhere far away, so he told the king that if he gave him a thousand taels of gold, he would be able to buy the thousand-mile horse back. The king was very happy, so he sent his minister to buy the horse with a thousand taels of gold. But when the minister arrived, the horse was already sick and died. He thought it would be hard for him to go back with empty hands, so he took out half of the gold he had brought with him and bought the horse's bones back.
The king was furious when the minister presented the horse bone to him, and said, "I wanted you to buy a live horse, who told you to spend money to buy a useless horse bone?" The courtier was not flustered and said, "People heard that you were willing to spend money on a dead horse, and they were afraid that no one would send up a live horse?"
The king of the country was convinced and stopped blaming the minister. As soon as the news spread, everyone thought that the king really loved and cherished the thousand-mile horses. Within a year, several thousand li horses were sent from all directions.
Guo Kui finished the story and said, "If the great king must solicit wise men, he might as well try me as a horse bone."
When King Zhao of Yan heard this, he was greatly inspired, and when he returned, he immediately sent someone to build a very fine house for Guo Kui to live in, and to worship Guo Kui as his teacher. When he heard that King Yan Zhaoge was so sincere in recruiting talents, people from different countries rushed to Yan to meet with him. The most famous one was Le Yi from Zhao. King Zhao of Yan appointed Le Yi as the Minister of State, and asked him to organize the state and train the troops, and Yan became stronger and stronger every day.
At this time, King Zhao of Yan saw that King Min of Qi was arrogant and unpopular, so he said to Le Yi, "Now that the King of Qi is ruthless, it's the right time for us to get rid of the shame, and I'm going to mobilize all the people in the country to go and fight against Qi, what do you think?"
Le Yi said, "Qi is a vast country with many people, so I am afraid it will not be possible to rely on us as a nation to fight. If Your Majesty wants to attack Qi, you must join forces with other countries."
King Zhao of Yan then sent Le Yi to Zhao to get in touch with King Huiwen of Zhao, and sent others to get in touch with Han and Wei, and also asked Zhao to contact Qin. All these countries were willing to join Yan in sending troops, as they were not used to Qi's domineering behavior.
In 284 B.C., King Zhao of Yan made Le Yi his general, and he led the troops of the five kingdoms to kill Qi.
When King Min of Qi heard that the allied forces of the five kingdoms were coming, he also panicked, and gathered all the troops of the country to resist the allied forces, and fought a battle to the west of the Jishui River. Due to Le Yi's good command, the five countries' men were highly demoralized and defeated the Qi army, and King Min of Qi fled back to Linzi.
The generals of Zhao, Han, Qin, and Wei had won the battle, and each of them captured a few cities of Qi, and did not want to fight any more. Only Le Yi refused to give up, and he personally led an army of Yan, which drove straight into the country and kept on fighting down Linzi, the capital city of Qi. King Min of Qi had to flee and was finally killed in Ju City.
King Zhaowang of Yan thought that Le Yi had made a great achievement, and personally went to the Ji waterfront to labor the army, and rewarded him for his achievements, and appointed Le Yi as the king of the state of Chang
2 . Unity and love - calm Liu Mingchuan
Liu Mingchuan, the governor of Taiwan sent by the Qing court, is the construction of Taiwan's great achievements, Taiwan's first railroad is his supervision of the repair. Liu Mingchuan's appointment, there is a thought-provoking story: when Li Hongzhang recommended Liu Mingchuan to Zeng Guofan, but also recommended two other students. Zeng Guofan in order to test the character of the three of them who is the best, they deliberately asked them at a certain time to Zeng House to interview. However, at the appointed time, Zeng Guofan intentionally did not show up, let them wait in the living room, but secretly carefully observe their attitude. I saw the other two look very impatient as if, constantly complaining; only Liu Mingchuan a person quietly, calmly and peacefully appreciate the calligraphy and painting on the wall. Later, Zeng Guofan asked them about the calligraphy and paintings in their living room, and Liu Mingchuan was the only one who could answer. As a result, Liu Mingchuan was recommended to be the governor of Taiwan.
Accordingly, those who have no patience must lack the spirit of perseverance and overcoming difficulties, and naturally they will not be able to accomplish anything great. If we want to make a difference in the future, we must first improve our patience and perseverance.
3. Thrift and self-reliance - enduring humiliation
Lu Xun (陆逊), with the character Bo Yan (伯言), was a native of Wu County, Wu County (present-day Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province) during the Three Kingdoms period. He initially worked in Sun Quan's general's office as an East and West Cao ordering officer, and later became a Haichang Tundun Lieutenant, who was also in charge of the county's political affairs. When the county was in drought for years, he opened warehouses to provide relief to the poor. He advised farmers and supervised mulberry cultivation, and his political performance was excellent. At that time, the area around Wu County, Huiji and Danyang was harassed by mountain bandits, which infringed on the people. Lu Xun was given permission to recruit his own soldiers and went into the dangerous passes to conquer them, and one by one, he was promoted to the rank of Captain of Dingwei and stationed in Lipu.
Lu Meng, the governor of Lukou, who was planning to seize Jingzhou, threatened to return to Jianye (present-day Nanjing), the capital of Wu, because he was ill. Lu Xun went to see him and said to him, "Your defenses are connected to Guan Yu, why don't you leave far away? It is really worrying that there is no proper person to take over." Lu Meng said, "You are perfectly right, but I am seriously ill." Lu Xun said, "Guan Yu is accustomed to bullying others with his courage. Now that he has established the great achievements of attacking Fancheng, flooding seven armies, chopping off Pound and capturing Yu Ban, he is so arrogant and slack that he only concentrates on his northern expedition and does not pay any attention to us, and when he hears that you are sick, he will not be on the defensive. When we attacked by surprise, we were sure to succeed. When you see the Lord, you must agree on a plan." When Lu Meng met Sun Quan, he recommended Lu Xun to replace him, and said, "Lu Xun has far-reaching plans and is talented enough to take up important responsibilities. He has no reputation yet, and Guan Yu will not be concerned about him. If you appoint him and tell him to act secretly without moving, you will surely succeed." Sun Quan then appointed Lu Xun as the right governor of the biased generals to guard Lukou instead of Lu Meng." When Lu Xun arrived at Lukou, he wrote a letter to Guan Yu, extolling his merits and virtues, and expressing his gratitude for the strong patronage he had received from his allies, in extremely humble terms. Guan Yu originally despised Lu Xun as a scholar and a young boy; he was very happy to read the letter and no longer had any precautions. Lu Xun reported to Sun Quan, put forward the strategy of sneak attack Jingzhou. Sun Quan secretly mobilized the army action, sent Lu Xun and Lu Meng for the vanguard troops, a war on the attack on the public security, Nanxian, followed by the attack on Yidu, Fangling, Nanxiang. When Guan Yu received an urgent report from Fancheng, he hurried back to the front line, but he was already at a loss, and his soldiers were gradually dispersed, so he finally left Mai Cheng and was intercepted and killed by Pan Zhang, a Wu general. All of Jingzhou fell into the hands of Wu. Lu Xun was promoted to the rank of Right General and General of Zhenxi (镇西将军), and was awarded the title of Marquis Lou (娄侯).
Liu Bei, in order to avenge the killing of Guan Yu and the seizure of Jingzhou, personally led an army of 700,000 men in a crusade against Eastern Wu. Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as the Grand Capital Governor and led 50,000 men to defend against it. Liu Bei camped for 700 miles from Wu Gorge, Jianping up to Yiling, and first sent Wu Ban to lead thousands of men to set up camp on the flat ground to show the old and weak and to challenge them. The generals of the Wu army all demanded to fight. Lu Xun said: " There must be conspiracy and trickery here, our army is only allowed to hold on and wait for the situation to change." As expected, Liu Bei had ambushed his troops in the valley, but he failed to lure the enemy, so he had to give up. Lu Xun thought that Liu Bei's army was new and sharp and should avoid an encounter. The enemy can not fight, hold for a long time, natural relaxation, and then capture the opportunity to fight. However, his generals could not realize his intention, and thought that he was afraid of the enemy, cowardly and afraid to fight, and they were all resentful and dissatisfied. Some of these generals are Sun Ce's old generals, some are office nobles, so they don't want to follow orders because of their status. Lu Xun pressed his sword and declared in a stern voice: "Although I am a scholar, I have accepted the heavy responsibility of the Lord. The reason why the country is entrusting you all to listen to my control and dispatch is because I have some strengths and am able to endure humiliation. Each of you is responsible for guarding the passes and must not move. Military law is merciless, do not violate it!" Later, Liu Bei moved his camp among the mountains and forests, and Lu Xun used the fire attack plan to burn seven hundred miles of continuous camps, and pursued the attack in victory, and the army of Shu was defeated, and Liu Bei fled back to Baidi City in the night.
Later generations derived an idiom from this story: "bear insults and bear burdens". It means that one can bear humiliation and bear heavy responsibilities without avoiding grievances and slanders.
Selected from: Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese Idioms