Thousand Characters

Chapter 37

[Original text]

Jin and Chu are more domineering, and Zhao Wei is domineering.Fake ways to destroy Guo, and practice the soil to meet the alliance.

【Note】

Jin: Refers to Jin Wengong, who ranked second among the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons.Chu: King Zhuang of Chu, among the Five Hegemons, Chu has the largest population and largest territory.Guo: Guo State, in today's Pinglu County, Shanxi Province.Practice the soil: place name, now Yuanyang, Henan.Alliance: Drinking blood is an alliance. The ancients put a little of their own blood or the blood of animals in their mouths, or drank blood wine, to show their sincerity in keeping their promises.These four sentences are also about the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. They also tell us that the economic, political and military development and success of every country cannot be separated from the help of capable people.In fact, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were the heyday of the development of Chinese culture and thought, and the familiar Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, and Mozi were all great thinkers in this period.

【Interpretation】

Duke Wen of Jin and King Zhuang of Chu relied on their own abilities and the help of virtuous ministers to dominate successively, while Zhao State and Wei State were successively trapped by Qin State's Lianheng tactics.The State of Jin borrowed the opportunity from the State of Yu to attack its neighbor Guo State, but on the way back it destroyed the State of Yu as well; Duke Wen of Jin relied on his own strength to defeat the State of Chu, and summoned all the princes in Jiantu to unite together. into an alliance.

【allusion】

During the Warring States Period, there were two famous negotiators, one named Su Qin and the other named Zhang Yi.They respectively advocated the political strategy of "combining vertical" and "connecting horizontally" between countries.At that time, there were seven countries, Qin was the most powerful, and the remaining six countries were relatively weak, and they were all afraid that Qin would attack their own country first.At this time, Su Qin visited and persuaded the kings of these six weak countries one by one, and proposed his "joint vertical" strategy, that is, the six countries should unite to resist Qin's expansion.The six countries listened to Su Qin's suggestion and signed an agreement: as long as one of the six countries is invaded by Qin, the other countries will fight back together.As a result, Qin has been under siege by the six countries for more than ten years, and dare not attack any country.Just when Qin was struggling to deal with the six countries, Su Qin's classmate Zhang Yi volunteered to propose to the king of Qin his "Lian Heng" countermeasure, that is to persuade the kings of the six countries to sign a non-aggression agreement with Qin. treaty.In this way, Su Qin's "joint vertical" strategy lost its effect.Subsequently, Qin State adopted strategies of annihilating each of the six countries, and finally eliminated the six countries and unified the world.It can be seen that no matter what we do, before we start, we'd better think about the front, back, left, right, and all aspects of the matter. After we have a good plan or a good method, we can do things right It will be easier and easier to succeed.

(End of this chapter)