China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 10

In 482 B.C., King Fu Chai of Wu, Duke Ai of Lu, Duke Ding of Jin and others met in Huangchi and took away all the best soldiers, leaving only old and weak soldiers left in the capital.Gou Jian took the opportunity to lead an army to attack Wu, and Fu Chai rushed back to rescue him after hearing the news.But because the soldiers were exhausted and defeated by the Vietnamese army, Fu Chai had no choice but to send Bo Pi to seek peace with Gou Jian.After discussing with Fan Zi, Goujian agreed to make peace and withdrew his troops and returned home.

After a period of careful preparation, Goujian finally launched a war to destroy Wu in 478 BC.After a three-year stalemate, in 475 BC, the Vietnamese army formed a siege of Wu, and after another two years of siege, Fu Chai was finally forced to commit suicide.

After Gou Jian destroyed the state of Wu, he killed Bo Pi, a shameless villain.Afterwards, Gou Jian led the army across the Huaihe River and marched northward to the Central Plains, forcing Jin, Qi and other Central Plains princes to meet in Xuzhou and recognize his supremacy, writing the last chapter of the Spring and Autumn War.

●Rabbit dead dog cooking language dead
King Goujian of Yue destroyed the state of Wu and held a celebration ceremony to reward the meritorious officials, but Fan Li was missing.Later, it was said that he took his beautiful woman Xi Shi and went to other countries incognito.Before Fan Li left, he left a letter to Wen Zhong, saying: "When all the birds are shot, the good bows and arrows should be stored away; after the rabbits are shot, it's the turn to burn and eat the hunting dogs. King Yue can share with him." You can't share happiness in adversity, you'd better leave quickly." Wen Zhong didn't believe it.

One day, Gou Jian called Wen Zhong to his side and said to him, "You taught me seven strategies to attack Wu, and I defeated Wu with only three, and you have four more, you might as well follow them." Go, the king of Wu, and try your strategy to see if you can save them." After speaking, he gave him a sword and told him to commit suicide.Wen Zhong saw that it was the sword that Fu Chai told Wu Zixu to commit suicide.Wen Zhong regretted not listening to Fan Li, so he committed suicide.

●Rich and invincible country Tao Zhugong
Fan Li played a vital role in achieving the hegemony of Yue.After destroying the state of Wu, Fan Zi felt that his fame was too great, and he knew Gou Jian's character well, so he decided to leave the state of Yue.One night, he left the motherland with his family and came to the state of Qi.

Fan Li changed his name and surname in Qi State, calling himself "Qi Yi Zi Pi", farming by the sea and doing business.After several years of hard work, he accumulated a lot of property and became a rich man.The people of Qi thought that he was a great man, so they elected him as their prime minister.One night, he took a walk under the moonlight and sighed: "I have become a prime minister as an official, and I have earned tens of thousands of fortunes. It is not bad to be a man who has achieved this. Everything in me has reached its peak." , It’s not a good thing for me.” So he resigned his official position, distributed all his wealth to the poor, and quietly disappeared from the land of Qi.

Fan Li came to live in a place called Tao, and called himself "Tao Zhu Gong". He did business in this place, opened a workshop, and his business was very prosperous.Soon, he became a rich man again. It was said that his wealth was enough to equal the income of a country.Later, people often used Tao Zhugong to refer to the rich man.

Fan Li migrated three times in his life. Wherever he went, he must make a difference. He can make great achievements in governing the country, and he can become rich in financial management.

●The three families of Zhao, Wei and Han were divided into Jin
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the great state of Jin in the Central Plains also gradually declined.The power of Jin was controlled by the six doctors of Luan, Xie, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Zhi. Later, there were only four families of Han, Zhao, Wei, and Zhi. Among the four, Zhi Boyao was the most powerful and ambitious.Zhi Boyao planned to invade the land of Han, Zhao, and Wei, so he invited Zhao Xiangzi, Wei Huanzi, and Han Kangzi to his home for a banquet.During the banquet, Zhi Boyao said to the three people: "In order to revive the Jin Dynasty, I propose that each family donate a hundred miles of land and the corresponding household registration to be in charge of the monarch." Fearing Zhi Boyao's power, Han Kangzi first expressed his agreement. Wei Huanzi was unwilling in his heart, but he had to express his position, and also handed over Baili's land and nine thousand household registrations to Zhi's family.Seeing that Zhao Xiangzi was silent, Zhi Boyao threatened him with words.Zhao Xiangzi had an upright character. Seeing Zhi Boyao's greed, he was very angry, so he said: "The land is the inheritance of the ancestors. If I want to give it to others, I really dare not make the decision." There were endless quarrels at the table, and Zhao Xiangzi flung his sleeves and left.Zhi immediately decided to crusade, and personally led troops and horses as the central army, let Han be the right army, Wei be the left army, and the three armies went straight to Zhaocheng.Zhao Xiangzi was outnumbered, retreated while fighting, and retreated to Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi) to retreat and defend.After fighting for two full years, the Zhi army couldn't take Zhaocheng, so Zhi Boyao built a dam and released water to flood Jinyang city.

After the flood flooded Jinyang City, Zhao Xiangzi was anxious and frowning, so he discussed countermeasures with his counselor Zhang Meng.Zhang Mengtan analyzed and said: "I think Han and Wei are not willing to cede the land to the Zhi family. Why don't we send people to lobby to win Han and Wei over, and ask them to help us deal with the domineering Zhi Boyao." Xiangzi sent Zhang Mengtan out of the city overnight and went straight to the Han and Wei camps.The two doctors Han and Wei were worried about their future, and according to Zhang Yi, they both agreed to work together to deal with Zhi Boyao.

As a result, the three families of Han, Zhao, and Wei wiped out the Zhi family army, Zhi Boyao also died under the chaos, and took advantage of the situation to carve up the land of Jin.

In 403 BC, the three families sent envoys to meet the Emperor Zhou and asked Jin to make them princes.Zhou Tianzi saw that the boat was done, so he pushed the boat along the water to send a personal favor, and formally named Han Kangzi, Zhao Xiangzi, and Wei Huanzi three princes in Jin Dynasty.From then on, Han, Zhao, Wei and Qin, Chu, Yan, and Qi were collectively called the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period".

●Wei Shangyang reformed to strengthen Qin Dynasty
In order to achieve hegemony, Qin State recruited talents from various countries.Qin Xiaogong claimed that if anyone can make the state of Qin prosperous and strong, he will be made a high official.Shang Yang, who was in the state of Wei, heard about this and also went to the state of Qin.

Shang Yang was an important thinker in the Warring States period. He was born in a noble family in Wei. He was interested in the study of criminal names popular in the Warring States period. He was an official in Wei State at that time.Although the king of the state of Wei treated him very well, he felt that the power of the state of Wei was too weak to give full play to his talents.

Shang Yang went to Qin State through the introduction of others. Qin Xiaogong received him, and Shang Yang explained to him the principles of governing the country.At first, Xiao Gong was not interested in what he said at all. When Shang Yang left, Xiao Gong complained about the person who introduced Shang Yang.Later, Shang Yang went to explain the principles of governing the country to Duke Xiao, but Duke Xiao of Qin was still not interested.But when Shang Yang talked to Qin Xiaogong about governing the country with benevolence and righteousness for the fourth time, he listened to it with great interest, and even forgot to eat. After talking for several days and nights, Qin Xiaogong did not feel tired.

Duke Xiao was persuaded by Shang Yang and decided to implement Shang Yang's new law and carry out reforms.The reform of Shang Yang mainly includes several parts: the first is to implement the method of joint sitting, that is, to organize the common people into a group, and let them supervise each other. If one of them commits a crime, the others will also be punished; the second is Encourage the development of production, abolish the well field system, and implement the system of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce; the third is to encourage soldiers to kill the enemy and make meritorious deeds. The size of an official in the army depends on how great his achievements are.However, the implementation of the new law has encountered a lot of troubles, and the phenomenon of lax enforcement is very common.Through the efforts of Shang Yang, the implementation of the new law was very smooth. The power of the Qin State increased greatly, the national power was strong, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the soldiers in front fought the enemy bravely, invincible.

Qin Xiaogong also paid more attention to Shang Yang, and named him Daliang Zao, which is an important official position in the court, and asked him to lead the army to attack Wei State.At that time, the power of Wei State was already very weak. When the Qin army arrived, the Wei soldiers were vulnerable. The Qin army captured many cities one after another, and finally captured the capital of Wei State.When Shang Yang returned in triumph, the people of Qin State all consciously went to the roadside to welcome him.Because of Shang Yang's outstanding meritorious service, Qin Xiaogong granted Shang and other cities to him.Shang Yang was originally called Wei Yang instead of Shang Yang, because at this time he had the fiefdom of Shang, so he was called Shang Yang.

A few years later, Qin Xiaogong passed away, and his son King Huiwen succeeded to the throne.Soon, Shang Yang was forced to rebel.When King Huiwen heard the news, he immediately sent troops to attack Shang Yang.In the end, Shang Yang was defeated and killed.After Shang Yang's death, the new law was abolished, and Qin's nearly 20-year reform was completely destroyed.

●Sun Bin pretends to be crazy and fights Pang Juan
During the Warring States period, King Wei Hui, the king of the state of Wei, saw that the strength of the state of Wei was declining day by day, so he went out to call for talents, looking for talented people to assist him in governing the country.

A Wei man named Pang Juan knew that King Wei Hui was recruiting talents and wanted to try it, so he discussed it with his righteous brother Sun Bin.Sun Bin is a native of Qi, and together with Pang Juan, he learned military affairs from a university scholar who lived in seclusion in Guigu and called himself "Guiguzi".Sun and Pang were congenial, and they swore to be brothers.Pang Juan told Sun Bin about preparing to be recruited, and Sun Bin agreed very much.Before leaving, Pang Juan said to Sun Bin: "After I go, if I can be reused, I will definitely recommend my brother to the king of Wei, so that we can share the blessings."

When Pang Juan came to the capital of Wei, he met King Hui of Wei and was very appreciated by King Hui, so he appointed him as a general and military adviser.Pang Juan quickly trained the Wei army for a while, and then went to attack the state of Song, winning several victories in succession.Soon, Qi State came to attack Wei State, but was also defeated by Pang Juan.King Wei Hui trusted Pang Juan even more.

One of Mozi's apprentices named Qin Huali went to the capital of Wei, and he went directly to King Hui of Wei and recommended Sun Bin to him.King Wei Hui questioned Pang Juan, and Pang Juan had no choice but to invite Sun Bin.King Wei Hui was overjoyed to see Sun Bin, and Sun Bin also answered all questions of King Hui, and he was eloquent, so King Hui loved him even more, and his reuse was beyond words.King Wei's treatment of Sun Bin aroused Pang Juan's displeasure, so he secretly plotted to defraud Sun Bin's family letter by treachery, and deleted it, and then told King Wei that Sun Bin had contacts with foreign countries.King Wei Hui believed Pang Juan without knowing what was going on, and sentenced Sun Bin to be punished (removing the kneecap), and tattooed on his face.

Pang Juan pretended to order someone to send Sun Bin to a hotel to rest, healed his knee injury, gave him good food every day, and called him often to visit him, and talked with him to relieve his worries.More than a month later, when Sun Bin's wound healed, Pang Juan tricked Sun Bin into writing his ancestral "Sun Wu's Art of War" to him.Later, Sun Bin knew the truth and thought: Pang Juan is really a beast in clothes!How can I pass "Sun Tzu's Art of War" to him?He thought again: "If I don't write it, he will kill me in anger." Sun Bin thought of a way to save himself.

One night, Sun Bin suddenly went crazy. He overturned all the food on the ground, threw the engraved letter into the fire, and scolded loudly.Pang Juan thought Sun Bin was lying to him, and ordered someone to throw him into the pigsty.Sun Bin fell asleep in the pigsty, and when he woke up, he picked up pig manure and stuffed it into his mouth.Pang Juan thought that Sun Bin was really crazy, so he put aside the writing of military books, but he was still worried about Sun Bin, and still sent people to monitor him.Sun Bin dragged his disabled body, going in and out of the pigsty, crazy every day, but no one could see that he was pretending to be crazy.

When Qin Huali heard about Sun Bin's experience, he discussed with Qi Minister Tian Ji how to rescue Sun Bin, and sent a mission in the name of King Qi Wei to see King Wei Hui.On the night before the mission returned to China, Qin Huali hid Sun Bin in a tightly sealed car, changed his clothes to someone in the mission, and lay down in the pigsty as usual.After a few days, the person pretending to be Sun Bin also ran back to Qi.When Pang Juan found out that Sun Bin was missing, he thought that Sun Bin had fallen into the well and drowned!He did not expect that Sun Bin had already arrived in Qi State safely.
●Siege Wei and rescue Zhao Qi Jun wins
In 356 BC, Zhao Chenghou, the king of the state of Zhao, met King Wei of Qi and Marquis Huan of Song in Pinglu (now Wenshang, Shandong), and at the same time met Duke Yan Wen in A (in today's Hebei).Zhao Guo's actions aroused great dissatisfaction with King Wei Hui.In 354 BC, the state of Zhao attacked the state of Wei, which was attached to the state of Wei, and forced the state of Wei to surrender.Therefore, the state of Wei sent troops to attack Zhao under the pretext of protecting the state, and surrounded Handan, its capital.Zhao and Qi had an alliance relationship. Seeing that the situation was critical at this time, they sent envoys to Qi for help in 353 BC.

King Qi Wei heard that Zhao Guo was in a hurry, so he summoned the ministers of civil and military affairs to discuss.Prime Minister Zou Ji opposed sending troops to rescue Zhao.Qi general Duan Ganpeng believed that not saving Zhao would not only lose the credibility of Zhao, but also cause difficulties for Qi to contend for hegemony, so he advocated saving Zhao.But at the same time, he also pointed out that a small amount of troops should be sent south to attack Xiangling to contain and exhaust Wei.When the Wei army broke through Handan and both Wei and Zhao were exhausted, they would attack frontally.Duan Ganpeng's plan was completely in line with the fundamental interests of the ruler of Qi. King Wei of Qi readily accepted it. He decided to use part of the army to join forces with Song and Weinan to attack Xiangling. The main force temporarily stood still and watched the development of the situation.

Wei Guo attacked Zhao with the main force, and the two armies held each other for nearly a year.When the situation in Handan was at stake and both Zhao and Wei were very exhausted, King Wei of Qi believed that the time was ripe to send troops to a decisive battle with the Wei army, so he appointed Tian Ji as the general and Sun Bin as the military adviser to lead the main force of the Qi army to rescue Zhao.

Tian Ji planned to go straight to Handan and confront the main force of the Wei army to rescue Zhao Wei.Sun Bin disapproved of this kind of head-to-head warfare, and put forward the correct suggestions of "criticizing exaggeration and making falsehoods" and "sprinting to lead the way".He suggested that Tian Ji quickly march to Daliang (now Kaifeng, Henan Province), the capital of Wei State, to cut off Wei State's main traffic routes, and attack its empty defenses.He believed that once this was done, the Wei army would be forced to return to the army to save itself, and the Qi army could break the siege of Zhao in one fell swoop, and at the same time make the Wei army tired on the road, so that it could finally defeat it.

Tian Ji adopted Sun Bin's combat suggestion and led the main force of the Qi army to quickly advance towards Daliang Wanxiang.After Wei Jun learned the information, Pang Juan had to lead the main force to rush back to rescue Daliang.At this time, the Qi army had already taken Guiling (northeast of Heze, Shandong Province) as the planned combat area to meet the Wei army on the way home.Due to the long-term attack on Zhao, the Wei army consumed a lot of troops. In addition to the long-distance trek and rapid march, the soldiers were exhausted. to a crushing failure.This is the famous "surrounding Wei and saving Zhao" in history.

● "Retire troops and reduce stoves" Ma Ling battle
In 342 BC, Wei State sent troops to attack South Korea, and South Korea asked Qi State for help.At that time, King Wei of Qi was dead, and his son King Yi of Qi sent Tian Ji and Sun Bin to lead troops to rescue Han.According to Sun Bin's strategy, the Qi army once again smashed the Wei capital Daliang.Pang Juan got the emergency document from his country, so he had to withdraw from the siege and return to the country, and joined forces with Wei Prince Shen's troops to attack the Qi army.

One day, Pang Juan inspected the place where the Qi army camped, and found that the Qi army camp occupied a large area; they sent people to count the cooking stoves, enough for 10 people to eat, and Pang Juan broke out in a cold sweat. .The next day, Pang Juan led the army to the place where the Qi army camped for the second time. They counted the stoves, but they could only be used by 5 people.

On the third day, Pang Juan chased to the place where the Qi army camped for the third time. After counting the stoves carefully, there were only 2 stoves left.Only then did Pang Juan feel relieved. He smiled and said, "I knew that the Qi army was a coward. It took only two days for the [-] army to arrive in Wei, and more than half of them fled." The method of "reducing the stove" lures the enemy.He ordered Qi soldiers to discard their weapons and supplies along the road, and reduced the number of pots and stoves piled up for cooking in the army day by day, causing Pang Juan to have the illusion that most of the soldiers of Qi army had fled and had been routed.

Sure enough, Pang Juan was fooled, and led his troops to chase him all the way to Maling (in present-day Hebei) in the state of Qi.The Maling Road was very narrow, and Pang Juan wished he could catch up with Qi's army in one step, so he ordered the army to rush forward in the dark.Suddenly the soldiers in front came back and reported: "There is a chaotic wooden block ahead."

Pang Juan stepped forward to take a look, and sure enough, he saw that all the trees beside the road had been cut down by Qi soldiers, leaving only the biggest tree uncut.At this time, a soldier saw a line carved on the tree, and because it was getting dark, Pang Juan asked someone to raise a fire to identify it, and saw that it said: "Pang Juan died under this tree." Pang Juan was shocked, and quickly ordered the soldiers to retreat. But it was too late.Because the light of fire was the signal Sun Bin gave to the Qi army to shoot arrows.In an instant, all the arrows of the Qi army that had been in ambush were fired, the Wei army suffered heavy casualties, and Pang Juan was defeated and captured.

●Su Qin said that the six countries are united
Su Qin, a native of Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, once studied under Mr. Guiguzi. After completing his studies, he traveled for many years without any success.Later, when Su Qin returned home, his family looked down on him. His sister-in-law did not cook for him, his wife did not sew clothes for him, and even his parents did not talk to him.Su Qin vowed in shame and indignation that he would stand out.Su Qin locked himself in the room and studied "Taigong Yin Talisman" all day and all night.Sometimes when he was really sleepy after reading in the middle of the night, he would pick up an awl and stab his thigh until the blood flowed to his feet, forcing himself to cheer up.With this spirit, Su Qin read from the book the way to govern the country and secure the country, and planned to travel to other countries again to recommend his own ideas for governing the country.

In 329 BC, Su Qin first came to the state of Qin to lobby King Hui.But at that time, the state of Qin had just executed Shang Yang, and the scholars who lobbied everywhere were very unwelcome.So Su Qin went east to Zhao State. Zhao Suhou's younger brother Fengyang Jun didn't like Su Qin very much, so Su Qin had to leave Zhao State and go to Yan State.

Su Qin stayed in Yan State for more than a year, and was summoned by Yan Wenhou in 328 BC.Su Qin analyzed the current situation to Yan Wenhou, saying that the powerful Qin State has the ambition to annex other countries, and the reason why Yan State has not been invaded is because Zhao State stood in front and contained Qin State.Su Qin persuaded Yan Wenhou and Zhao to unite against Qin.Yan Wenhou agreed with Su Qin's opinion very much, so he funded Su Qin's chariots and horses with money, and asked him to go to Zhao as an envoy to fight against Qin.

At this time, Lord Fengyang, who didn't like Su Qin, was dead, and Su Qin took the opportunity to persuade Zhao Suhou with the same reasoning.Zhao Suhou was very tempted when he heard this, and decided to make Su Qin the prime minister, and gave Su Qin a lot of money to lobby the vassal states to join him.Su Qin lobbied the monarchs of Han, Wei, Qi, and Chu successively, and the four countries finally agreed to form an alliance to resist Qiang Qin.As a result, the alliance of the six countries was successful, and Su Qin became the leader of the alliance, and also served as the prime minister of the six countries, in charge of the affairs of the alliance.

(End of this chapter)