A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 236 Meng Ke and Zhuang Zhou

Wang Kan invited Mencius to give a lecture, and Mencius expounded his own thoughts, adding righteousness to Confucian etiquette and benevolence.

"The monarch and his subjects should respect and value each other. If the monarch doesn't care about his subjects, and even treats them like pigs and dogs, then the subjects should take revenge on the monarch."

"Back then, Duke Zhuang of Qi treated Cui Zhu like a pig and dog. He humiliated Cui Zhu many times without concealing it. die."

"If Duke Zhuang of Qi treats Cui Zhu with respect, will he be killed by Cui Zhu? I believe not."

"Legislists say that the king is supreme. I think it is wrong. The king is wise, and this set of laws will naturally not cause problems. However, there is no dynasty in this world that will live forever, and no wise king will live forever. Therefore, the subjects must It has the means to counter the king, so as to prevent the appearance of a king who is Jie, Zhou and assassination in the country."

In this era, the idea of ​​restricting the power of the monarchy has to be said, which is beyond the imagination of other schools of thought.However, it is precisely because of this that even if Meng Ke's idea is very good, all monarchs will not use him.

Even in the Huai country, although Wang Kan admired Meng Ke very much, he would not use him as a prime minister.

Meng Ke's lectures are thought-provoking, and his thoughts have a great influence on various schools of thought.Even the Legalists gave birth to some of the supreme voices of the law.Use laws to limit the power of the king.

This kind of thinking also made Wang Kan's eyes bright, but there were many hidden dangers in it.

A few days later, the person Wang Kan sent out to find another great Taoist sage also came back. He heard that he had just returned from the state of Wei, and even had a debate with Wei Xianghuishi.

Wang Kan looked at the articles recorded on the bamboo slips and was very interested in this Taoist sage.

Judging from these articles, Zhuang Zhou, a great sage, advocated freedom.Because Hui Shi knew that he had great talent, he was worried that he would steal his position, but he didn't know that the position he valued was worthless in Zhuang Zhou's eyes.

Judging from his articles, we know that Zhuang Zhou advocated freedom and was born in the world.And Meng Ke, a great Confucian sage, joined the world.

The views of these two people are completely opposite, and Wang Kan really wants to see the debate between the two.

So he sent someone to invite Meng Ke to have a debate with Zhuang Zhou.Soon Mencius sent someone back and rejected Wang Kan's invitation.

And bluntly said, "Differences do not conspire with each other!"

On the other hand, Zhuang Zhou also refused, which disappointed Wang Kan.

After Zhuang Zhou came to the Huai State Academy, he didn't give much lectures, but liked to read various classics preserved in Huai State, and traveled around Huai State.

After Wang Kan learned that Zhuang Zhou had worked as a painter because he had no money, he wanted to make him the Minister of Huai, so he sent someone to invite him.

At this time, Zhuang Zhou was fishing by the river, and Wang Kan sent someone to invite Zhuang Zhou to become an official.After hearing this, Zhuangzi pointed to the fish in the river and asked, "Messenger, which one do you think is happier, the fish in the river or the fish used for sacrifice?"

The messenger said without hesitation: "Of course the fish in the river are happier, and the sacrificed fish will die soon after leaving the water."

Zhuang Zhou immediately laughed and said, "My lord, if that's the case, then tell Huaiguo that I am a free fish in the river and I don't want to be bound."

After hearing Zhuang Zhou's words, the envoy went back to report to Wang Kan. Wang Kan smiled slightly and no longer invited him to be an official.

Wang Kan asked the clerk to sort out the thoughts, speeches and books of Zhuang Zhou and Meng Ke, and then list them among the hundreds of schools of thought.

Although the two have not debated, their statements are diametrically opposed.

Meng Ke had been lecturing at the Huai State Academy for a long time, and felt that he was almost done studying here, so he planned to go to Qi State and visit the Jixia Academy.

Wang Kan did not refuse Meng Ke's request. Although Meng Ke was a great talent, he was not suitable to be a prime minister.Moreover, its theory has not yet been completed, and it needs to travel to various countries to increase its knowledge.

Meng Ke left Huai State and went to Qi State at the first stop.After the propaganda of the Huai State Academy, Meng Ke's reputation has spread throughout the Zhou kingdoms. The king of Qi welcomed Meng Ke's arrival and personally asked him about the way to govern the country.

King Qi ordered people to offer all kinds of food and wine, and then asked Meng Ke: "Mencius, I heard that King Huai praised your talent and invited you to give lectures at the Huai State Academy. You must have a strategy to strengthen the country. I wonder if you can teach others?" ?”

Meng Ke smiled slightly, and then said: "It's very simple, as long as you can treat your people benevolently and righteously, Your Majesty will be fine!"

The king of Qi said: "Isn't the widow not treating the people of Qi well enough?"

"Mencius, you also know the laws of Wei State and Qin State. The people of Qin State must serve from the age of 17 to 60. The taxes collected by the people of Wei State are also higher than those of Qi State. Do you treat the people like this? Isn’t that considered benevolence?”

Mencius replied: "My lord, let me put it another way. I think you will understand. Two countries are at war. After one country is defeated, the soldiers throw away their helmets and armor. One of the soldiers ran fifty steps, while the other ran away." A hundred paces, if the soldier who ran fifty paces laughed at the soldier who ran a hundred paces, is that right?"

"No, although one of these two ran fifty steps and the other a hundred steps, they both ran away!"

Mencius continued: "Your Majesty understands this, so he should know it. It is not benevolence and righteousness for you to treat your subjects like this."

"Your Majesty, your wish is to strengthen the Qi State, but I see that you are dressed in gorgeous clothes and gourmet food, accompanied by beauties, while the people of the Qi State are starved of food."

"What you are doing now is like climbing a tree to find a fish. Even if you search the tree, you can't find it. Your approach is wrong, so no matter how hard you try, you will only go further and further down the wrong path. Far."

"If you can treat your people more benevolently, reduce their taxes and labor, let them have enough time to farm, reduce their taxes, and leave enough food for the people, so that they can feed their families. "

"The old people and the young children are taken care of. Will the population of Qi be small? If you can do this, will the people not be grateful for your kindness? If the people have a large population, they will receive more taxes. , so Qi will become rich."

"At the same time, your benevolent government has made the people grateful, and the people support you. If other countries attack you at this time, the people in the country will spontaneously join the army and help you defeat the enemy."

"This is the principle of getting more help than others."

King Qi sighed inwardly after hearing what Mencius said.What Mencius said sounds reasonable, but the most critical thing is time.If you want to implement this set, you must start with at least ten years as a unit.But now that the countries are fighting in a melee, Qi has no time to implement this theory at all.

(End of this chapter)