warring states careerist

Chapter 188 Infinite Changes and New Strategies ([-])

The King of Chu questioned the Mozhe first for the benefit of the world, but Shi used his own self-interest to question the Chu people, because he knew that since the King of Chu had considered the words of benefiting the world, it was impossible for him to speak out what he had prepared.

The Chu people in the tent looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing how to deal with themselves.

Shi Shi's remarks about the nobles' unwiseness are harsh and straightforward.

The nobles present may have originally relied on the instinct of that class to do something to oppose or support, without a clear goal.

However, the appropriate words made them go beyond their instincts, clearly pointing out that nobility and monarchy are contradictory, and the strengthening of monarchy means the decline of nobility's power.

A group of ministers could neither refute nor know how to refute, so they had no choice but to remain silent.

The king of Chu was expressionless, but secretly happy in his heart.

If it is appropriate, it hits the king of Chu's mind, or this is the reform that the Chu people will do more than ten years later: most of it is the content of Wu Qi's reform.

The King of Chu knew very well that the biggest problem of the Chu State was that there were too many conferred monarchs. After the second military elimination meeting, all the problems of Chu State were basically caused by the conferred monarchs.

The king of Chu didn't care about the saying that the wealth and glory of the kings of Nafan could come from the people. He could think so or not, but the result of thinking this way was that the throne was just a decoration.

There are many problems in the state of Chu, and the king of Chu also had the idea of ​​reform, but there was too much resistance, and there was no one who could coordinate the overall situation to preside over it.

But what Shide said seemed to accuse the ministers of being unwise, to the King of Chu he said: We Mohists can help you change, we have ideas, we have a big picture, and we have a certain amount of military strength...

The king of Chu seemed to understand what he meant, but he was just tempting the king of Chu, doing what he liked, doing what he liked best.

In fact, Shi didn't have any thoughts about Xiong Dang. This is a monarch who will die within two years, and it is meaningless to form a good relationship with this kind of person.

The king of Chu thought a lot, and he had to consider the mentality of the nobles in the tent, he said to himself: "This person said it very well, it can be said that he pointed out all the problems of Chu, some of them were thought of by me, and some were my thoughts. I can't even think of..."

"It's just that everyone in the tent heard it at this time. If I'm happy, I'm afraid they will be angry. Is the Mohist talking so directly?"

With a thought in his heart, he wanted to break the embarrassment at this time, and he didn't say good or bad, let alone the rhetoric of asking the soldiers to set up a frying pan to fry the Mo Zhe, but asked: "You said Chu Fei was single-minded, and said that the people in the tent are all unwise. I am in the tent and I am a human being, so why am I unwise if I don’t know?”

Xiong Dang's tone was a bit sullen, but it was actually to cover up his inner joy, and this sullenness was meant for the nobles in the tent.

It's not easy to cheerfully say something like "Mr. is a great talent, and he is a secret businessman in the tent". If that is the case, there will be a mutiny tonight.

It's just that Shi didn't come forward to answer this question, but asked the rest of the Mohists to answer it for him, and most of them used the principle of "saving money".

The original internal principles of Mohism are very useful in themselves. For a big country like Chu, the benefits gained from repairing the interior are far more beneficial than going out to fight for hegemony, especially when the monarchy is not yet stable.

Chu State has a vast land and sparse population, backward technology, unreasonable internal laws, and many barbarians in the south. Therefore, as long as there is no war for 20 years and efforts are made to develop internal affairs, in fact, the gains will be far more than those of 20 years of war.

These principles are all facts, and even the king of Chu agrees, but in fact, it is in the same line as the previous saying that the nobles are unwise.

If you want to develop internal affairs, you must touch the interests of the nobles.

These two words seem to be saying that the nobles and the king are unwise, but in fact, they are all for the king of Chu. The nobles in the tent feel more and more uncomfortable, thinking that the Mohists are just instigating conflicts among the Chu people.

It's just that this kind of instigation does not have any conspiracy elements, and they are all telling the straightforward truth, as straightforward as saying that grass is green and flowers are red. The truth that is difficult to refute is often full of power.

The King of Chu was already moved, and Mo Zhe didn't say a word, but what the King of Chu heard was: Mo Zhe has the ability to help you change, as long as you agree to Mo Zhe's condition of benefiting the world, we have people who are educated and knowledgeable...

This cryptic hint made the King of Chu drink a glass of wine to conceal his inner joy.

But the nobles in the tent couldn't sit still anymore. As the surnames of the royal family, they hated reforms and the like the most, especially the content of the reforms proposed before.

Everyone knows that the reform of the law will make the Chu State stronger, but what does the Chu State's becoming stronger have anything to do with the feudal monarch?If the state of Chu is the state of Chu of the king of Chu, why would the king want to cut his own flesh to make the state of Chu stronger?
This is a simple truth, and because of its simplicity, it is impossible to directly refute it.

Zuo Yin finally asked: "You Mohists only say that you want to benefit the world, so you want to help the weak and defend the weak. I just ask you, what will happen if the Chu people retreat today and the three Jin troops arrive tomorrow?"

"You say we are unwise. Could it be that the soldiers of the Three Jin Dynasties will not attack the Song Dynasty? Even if they do not attack the Song Dynasty, if there is another hegemony in the future, won't the people of the Song Dynasty not provide food and silk for labor?"

"If the Three Jins do the same thing, why are you defending the city? Can the Song people defend the city themselves? What's the difference between the Jin Dynasty and the late Chu Dynasty? I think you mohists are unwise!"

Gong Yin also asked: "You Mohists say that the world should be unified and the emperor should be chosen. May I ask which country's king can be called a holy king in today's world?"

Shi shook his head, indicating that it was no one.

Gong Yin said again: "Could it be that Mo Di considers himself a holy king?"

Shi still shook his head and said: "The giant never thinks like this, and he also thinks that even Zhongni in the past is not a holy king."

Gong Yin laughed and said: "Looking at it this way, the world cannot be settled into one! Since it cannot be settled into one, what will you Mohists do to benefit the world? Today you encircle the Song Dynasty, you guard the Song Dynasty; tomorrow you invade Lu, you Guard Lu; when you occupy Zheng in the future, you guard Zheng...is there any use?"

"Besides, even if you defend the city, you can only rely on the troops of the Three Jins to break out of the siege. Since you think that there is no king in the world who can be called a holy king, then you can only fight endlessly."

Shi smiled without saying a word, got up and bowed around, asked Mo Zhe to take out a picture from his arms, and unfolded it in the tent.

This picture is a hand-painted simple world, and many places are extremely inaccurate, but overall it is the first time that the whole picture of the world has been shown to everyone.

Yan in the north, Qin in the west, Qi in the east, and Chu in the south.

The roughly meandering coastline, the several-shaped Yellow River... This is the first time that these things have been displayed intuitively in front of everyone in the form of a map.

The Mohists in the tent had seen a lot, but the Chu people in the tent saw such a world for the first time, they couldn't help but exclaimed, and got up to watch.

The king of Chu was the closest, staring at the Chu land on the map, looking at the mountains and rivers and the big cities with inaccurate positions, he secretly praised him.

"It turns out that the Kyushu in the world actually looks like this. The person who drew this map must have traveled all over Kyushu and has a lot of knowledge. Those who can see the world, except for the king, I am afraid they are people like the Mohists."

Shi said: "At this time, there is no sage king in the world, and there is no one who can decide on one and benefit the world. But the giant once said that two evils compare with each other, and the lesser one is for profit."

"The most powerful countries in the world today are the three Jins and Chu."

"In the past, Hua Yuan and Xiang Wu went outside the city of Shangqiu twice to force Jin and Chu to eliminate troops, so that the world was stable for decades."

"Couldn't the national power be strong without fighting? Can't the people be rich? Can't taxes be increased? Can't the population be doubled?"

"The Mohist has made the truth clear, it can be done. It can even double the wealth and population of the world within 20 years. This is the way to benefit the world."

"Nowadays, Lu, Song, Wei, and Zheng are all weak, sandwiched between Jin and Chu, and there are continuous wars and disasters. This is what the giants and the disciples of the Mohist school do not want to see."

"If the Mohists say that there is a way to prevent all countries from going to war and double their wealth within 20 years, wouldn't it be possible to promote the third alliance to eliminate troops?"

The so-called covenant is the product of the balance of power. I don't trust the covenant, and I absolutely don't want a terrifying balance in the world of Kyushu. He is just trying to deceive the people of Chu.

The truth has been made clear, and the rest is to see if the Mohists can come up with something that makes the monarchs of all countries excited, to guarantee the so-called promise of doubling the population and wealth in 20 years.

After Shi Shi explained the situation, several Mohists went out to retrieve a large number of iron farm tools from the carriage, and some other iron tools, and threw them on the ground with a clang.

The people of Chu have seen iron, but it is either meteorite iron or a piece of smelted iron, which is completely different from the iron tools that Shi made.

Even though these people are nobles, they still go to the fields to show off when they are farming in the spring.

Once these strange iron wares were displayed, he said conveniently: "The Mohists have a method of smelting iron, which makes iron extremely cheap compared to copper, and every household can use iron as utensils."

"A farmer has a plow, a share, a shovel, and a hoe; a carpenter has an axe, a hammer, a planer, and a knife; a miner has a drill and a pick..."

"Bronze wares are still easy to break even though they are divided into six parts, but iron wares are stronger than bronze wares. The same farmer holds these iron wares several times faster than the bone wares they used to use. The farmer cultivates several times the fields."

"Mozhe also has the method of harvesting and composting, which can increase the yield per mu by half. He also has the technique of crop rotation and fallow. A field of a hundred miles can be made for two hundred miles."

"The Mohists are the most proficient in these methods of smelting ironware, and the world will not be second."

"In addition to ironware, there are also methods of weaving, farming, and making utensils, all of which are several times better than before."

"Since the Mohist wants to benefit the world, these things cannot be kept privately, but if these things are used for war, they will make the world flee."

"If the three Jins and Chu can form a military meeting again, once the treaty is reached, the Mohists are willing to let these things that benefit the world communicate in the world."

"This is just an iron tool. The Mohists have no lies. In the future, there will be more miraculous techniques that can double the taxation of civilians without war."

After showing these iron wares, he eloquently talked about many things that sounded extremely mysterious and were common to Mohists, but Chu people had never seen but believed in them.

And when Shi said this, he thought to himself: "I want to believe in your covenant, that's really naive."

(End of this chapter)