Both the Hezong family and the Lianheng family are lobbyists. A sympathizer criticizing a liaison strategist, or a liaison strategist criticizing a sympathizer, is like a contradiction to an enemy. Zhang Yi said that Hezongjia only talks big words and sings high-pitched words, but cannot do practical things. The real purpose of the Hezong family is to seek hegemony for the king. The Qin State was able to develop and become powerful because it eliminated the utopians who spoke in vain. Shang Yang's reform banned speech.
In order to destroy King Ai of Wei's last line of defense and completely conquer him, "Historical Records" records that Zhang Yi said, "A pile of feathers sinks a boat, a group of people breaks a shaft, a crowd of words makes gold, and a pile of bones is destroyed" ("Historical Records: Biography of Zhang Yi") ). What he means is that although feathers are light, if they are gathered too many, they can sink the ship; although the goods are light, if they are loaded too much, the axle of the axle will be broken; if many people talk too much and carry too many reputations and slanders, the man of gold and stone will be melted down. ; If the slander encountered is excessive, even flesh and blood relatives will be destroyed. Zhang Yi's implication is that Hezong is not good at all, and it is not worth gambling on Wei's future.
Under Zhang Yi's clever words, King Wei Ai finally agreed to his countermeasures. So Zhang Yi requested to return to Qin in the west. The good news that Zhang Yi brought back when he returned was that Wei had abandoned the alliance and ordered Zhang Yi to be his envoy, willing to make good relations with Qin.
As a weak country unable to protect itself, facing the competition of great powers, Wei State was like grass in the strong wind, swaying in the wind. Three years later, the situation changed drastically, and Wei betrayed Qin and joined the alliance again. Qin was furious and sent troops to capture Quwo. After Quwo was captured, Wei served Qin again the next year.
The declining Wei State has become swayed by the wind and unable to protect itself during the wars between the princes.
In fact, Zhang Yi is eloquent, but his actual ability is not good, and he cannot compare with Shang Yang. As soon as he arrived in the Qin State, Gongsun Yan went to the Wei State to lobby for an alliance. Without the participation of Wei State, there would be no great cause of Lian Heng. If Zhang Yi can persuade Wei to attach himself to Qin and participate in the plan to strengthen Qin, this will prove his usefulness. However, Zhang Yi stayed in Wei for more than four years and lobbied to no avail. If there was no Qin army to suppress the border, Wei would definitely be unwilling to rely on Qin.
After several trials, Zhang Yi did not get much credit despite going through all kinds of hardships. King Qin Hui was dissatisfied with him, which Zhang Yi could naturally see. As a minister, if you want to win the favor of the king, you must contribute to his career.
After completely weakening Wei, Chu became a thorn in Qin's side. Zhang Yi was once whipped by Chu State, so he hated Chu State very much. Zhang Yi wanted to make meritorious deeds, and even more wanted to avenge his past humiliation, so the task of lobbying the Chu State fell on him.
In these years, Zhang Yi not only had no merit to boast about, but also caused Qin's national reputation to plummet, and even fell into a deep valley. King Qin Hui was very dissatisfied with this, so he reduced Zhang Yi's expenses for entering Chu, which undoubtedly increased Zhang Yi's difficulties.
I remember that when Zhang Yi entered the Wei Dynasty, even though he had made little merit, King Qin Hui still treated him with generous gifts. "Historical Records" records that Zhang Yi's lobbying of the Wei State failed, and King Qin Hui "restored Zhang Yi and it was more beneficial" ("Historical Records·Biography of Zhang Yi"). This means that even if Zhang Yi had no merit but hard work, King Qin Hui treated Zhang Yi more favorably.
At that time, King Hui of Qin gave Zhang Yi a lot of money and preferential treatment, because Zhang Yi was new to Qin and was worth nurturing. After being given several chances, Zhang Yi did not dissipate as much heat as he should have. Therefore, King Qin Hui was disappointed and became indifferent to Zhang Yi.
With insufficient funds, Zhang Yi's life was very difficult, and even his subordinates were unwilling to follow him. Zhang Yi told his subordinates not to be discouraged, because after the end of the road, there will be a bright future.
The entourage had followed Zhang Yi for a long time and knew that Zhang Yi was a good talker and was always good at deception and deception, so they were determined not to listen to Zhang Yi's sweet words. However, Zhang Yi's words were so exciting that his followers unknowingly began to believe Zhang Yi again.
Since assisting the Qin State, Zhang Yi left a bad impression on the Chu State, and King Chu Huai naturally disliked him.
Suffering the cold reception, Zhang Yi came up with a plan to retreat in order to advance, saying that she would go to South Korea. Zhang Yi clung to Chu State and couldn't drive him away. It was really a good thing that he took the initiative to leave. As soon as King Chu Huai's expression softened, Zhang Yi immediately asked if King Chu Huai needed anything, such as asking Zhang Yi to send a message to South Korea. King Huai of Chu was eager for Zhang Yi to leave immediately, saying that Chu was rich in products, including gold, pearls and jade, rhinoceros leather and ivory, and there was nothing he needed.
After listening to King Chu Huai's words, Zhang Yi smiled softly, squinted his eyes and asked slyly, isn't King Chu Huai not lewd?
After hearing this, King Huai of Chu straightened his eyes and became numb. Before leaving as an envoy, Zhang Yi had already found out clearly about King Huai of Chu's background, personality, and hobbies.
If Zhang Yi didn't understand King Huai of Chu and didn't know his vitals, how could he dare to assure his followers that good times were coming? King Huai of Chu had four major shortcomings: first, insufficient brain, second, greed for money, third, lust, and fourth, henpecked.
As the king of a country, the first, second and fourth shortcomings of King Huai of Chu can all be made up for, but the one of lust cannot be made up for, because Chu State is located in the south and there are not as many beauties as in the Central Plains.
The beauties from the Central Plains region are so beautifully dressed and so charming that when they first meet, they think they are fairies descending to earth. When they see her again, they will be unforgettable. King Huai of Chu was very lustful and was naturally confused by the beautiful women Zhang Yi described. So he hoped Zhang Yi would help and gave Zhang Yi a large amount of money, pearls, jade, etc. as funds.
After taking the belongings of King Chu Huai, Zhang Yi refused to leave. Instead, he secretly spread the news that he would go to the Central Plains to look for beauties for King Chu Huai.
After Nan Hou and Zheng Xiu heard the news, they quickly visited Zhang Yi and bribed Zhang Yi with a large amount of money so that Zhang Yi would not go to the Central Plains to look for beauties. Queen Nan had a lot of money and gave Zhang Yi a thousand catties of gold; Zheng Xiu was also generous and gave five hundred catties of gold. After Zhang Yi accepted the money from the two, he assured them that their positions would be safe and sound.
On the surface, it was said that he was looking for beauties for King Huai of Chu, but in fact, Zhang Yi wanted to use this as a bait to capture everyone in the palace of King Chu. At the farewell banquet, Zhang Yi performed even more brilliantly and exposed his purpose.
After parting, King Huai of Chu entertained Zhang Yi as much as he wanted and gave Zhang Yi whatever he wanted. At this banquet, Zhang Yi seemed to have become a king, while King Huai of Chu was reduced to a minister.
At the banquet, Zhang Yi told King Huai of Chu that he heard that Queen Nan and Zheng Xiu were the great beauties of Chu State and hoped to meet them. Zhang Yi praised King Chu Huai's wife and concubines, which was equivalent to praising King Chu Huai's vision. King Chu Huai was extremely happy and wanted Zhang Yi to meet the beauties of Chu country, so he ordered people to call Queen Nan and Zheng Xiu.
After seeing Nan Hou and Zheng Xiu, Zhang Yi immediately fell to the ground and shouted that he should die. King Huai of Chu didn't know the reason and asked Zhang Yi what was wrong. Zhang Yi said that Queen Nan and Zheng Xiu were more beautiful than immortals, but not as beautiful as the beauties from the Central Plains. He did not dare to go to the Central Plains to look for beauties.
King Chu Huai was originally henpecked, so Zhang Yi revealed everything about King Chu Huai's secret search for beautiful women, which was clearly an attempt to destroy King Chu Huai's family harmony. His wife and concubine were as fierce as tigers, so King Chu Huai could only cancel his plan to find the beautiful woman.
Looking for beauties was just a ploy. Zhang Yi went around in such a big circle just to win the favor of King Huai of Chu. By working hard intentionally and succeeding unintentionally, Zhang Yi not only won the favor of King Huai of Chu, but was also deeply loved by Queen Nan and Zheng Xiu.
King Huai of Chu, Queen Nan and Zheng Xiu were so amused by Zhang Yi that they not only did not realize that they had been cheated by Zhang Yi, but also sincerely thanked Zhang Yi. This proved Zhang Yi's intelligence from the front and the stupidity of King Huai of Chu and others from the negative.
