After Fan Ju arrived in Qin, he successfully gained the trust of the King of Qin and became the prime minister of Qin. The reason why he was able to gain the trust of the King of Qin was mainly because of two things: he helped the King of Qin formulate a strategy to seize the world and aspire to the Central Plains - making friends far away and attacking closely; at the same time, he also formulated a strategy to calm down the country first when fighting foreign countries - attacking the four nobles. .
In this way, King Qin Zhaoxiang not only became the only authority of the Qin State, but also became the true supreme ruler of the Qin State regime. Fan Ju then became a loyal minister of King Qin Zhaoxiang and became his confidant. Fan Ju's contribution to Qin is really comparable to Shang Yang.
Li Si had a very high evaluation of Fan Ju in his book "Book of Remonstrance and Chasing Guests": "King Zhao obtained Fan Ju, strengthened the public house, suppressed private households, cannibalized the princes, and made Qin an emperor." Therefore, it can be said that Fan Ju inherited Qin Xiaogong's reforms. The strategy of strengthening the Qin Dynasty initiated Qin Shihuang's ambition to unify the empire, and made outstanding contributions to the unification of the Qin State. He was a famous prime minister of the Qin State. Like Su Qin and Zhang Yi, he had extraordinary talents.
However, although Fan Ju was extremely prosperous at this time, he was able to influence the Qin Dynasty. But he knew that everything he did was done out of necessity.
Under Qin's foreign policy of "diplomacy far away and attack close" and the ruthless attacks of Bai Qi's army, Wei lost troops and territory one after another, which made Fan Ju, who was originally a Wei man, sigh. Perhaps, he had no choice but to do anything about himself, because he had no choice but to become the prime minister of Qin. King Qin Zhaoxiang was kind to him, and that was the most important thing. The so-called eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor is talking about Fan Ju's choice at this time.
Politically speaking, Bai Qi seems to be a person who is inexperienced in world affairs. If Fan Ju chooses to deal with him, Qin will definitely lose a helping hand, and the Qin army will no longer be invincible. And if you don't deal with him, not only will your own status be threatened, but Wei will also be in trouble.
At this time, Fan Ju still had feelings, even though he had suffered so many hardships in Wei.
All of this has to start from the 32nd year of King Nan of Zhou Dynasty (283 BC). At that time, there was a general in the Yan State, Le Yi. Under his leadership, the allied forces of the five kingdoms of Yan, Chu, Wei, Zhao, and Han quickly broke through Linzi, the capital of the Qi State. More than 70 cities in the Qi State were conquered by Le Yi in one fell swoop, leaving only The two cities of Xia Jimo and Ju have not yet been conquered by the coalition forces. King Min of Qi saw that his country was ruined and his family was ruined, so he had no choice but to flee. Later, he was killed by Nao Chi, a general of Chu. King Qi Xiang hurriedly ascended the throne in Ju under the situation of internal and external difficulties and precarious situation at that time. It was also Qi's fate that should not be cut off. Qi General Tian Dan actually turned the tide at this critical moment, wisely deployed a fire-fighting formation, and defeated the coalition forces. Qi regained its lost land and regained its former prosperity. When the Qi State was first destroyed, the Wei State racked its brains and tried every possible means. As Qi's power grew stronger, the King of Wei was naturally afraid that Qi would take the opportunity to retaliate against Wei. Therefore, the king of Wei sent the central official Xu Jia to the state of Qi to discuss peace and reconciliation.
Xu Jia was a senior official at that time, and Fan Ju was his disciple. When Fan Ju was under Xu Jia's sect, he showed his ability to talk about everything and his ambition to stabilize the country. But in Xu Jia's eyes, he can only be regarded as an ordinary lobbyist.
At this time, Fan Ju did not have any background or family background. No matter how talented he was, it would be difficult for him to be appreciated by others. It is the so-called "Thousand-mile horses often exist, but Bo Le does not always exist." It is recorded in "Records of the States of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty" that Fan Ju once dreamed of working under the King of Wei, but it was a pity that he had no knowledge and ambition to manage the world. Because his family is poor, he cannot educate himself. "Historical Records" also said that Fan Ju had no way to finance himself. He had no choice but to commit himself to the sect of Xu Jia, a middle-aged doctor, and become a shabby person.
This time Xu Jia went to Qi as an envoy and took Fan Ju with him. This was an opportunity for Fan Ju.
Xu Jia arrived at the capital of Qi smoothly and met with King Fazhang of Qi Xiang. As the saying goes, "enemies are extremely jealous when they meet", the State of Qi was almost destroyed by the five-nation coalition led by Le Yi, and the State of Wei was one of the countries that contributed the most. The King of Qi has recently ascended the throne, and the hatred of the country and the family has surged up. How can he give the envoy of Wei a good look?
So after meeting the Wei envoy, King Qi immediately said with ridicule: "I have only heard that Wei likes to humiliate and sue for peace when defeated, but I don't know that all this is because King Wei is very thick-skinned. I think back then, The late king and the State of Wei went to attack the Song State together. They were so close, just like brothers. However, I did not expect that the people of Qi State regarded the people of Wei State as brothers, and the people of Wei State actually attacked Qi State together with other countries. I guess that at first When the Wei State helped the Yan State to attack the Qi State, they must have been so happy. Not only did they conquer the Qi State's city, but they also killed their ancestors. The Qi State was in ruins, the ground was full of hungry people, and corpses were everywhere. What a Wei. Seeing that Qi has become stronger, they shamelessly come to ask for peace from Qi. In a country composed of such snobs, how can I believe in you?" ("Historical Records: Biography of Fan Ju and Cai Ze")
For a moment, Xu Jia was speechless. As the saying goes, "It is easy to add icing on the cake, but difficult to provide charcoal in the snow." When the Qi State was in trouble in the past, the Wei State not only failed to help the Qi State, but instead took advantage of the crisis to add insult to injury. It is really shameful.
But then Fan Ju stood up and defended Wei Guo. He did not directly confront what King Qi said, but made insinuations and looked at the issue from another angle. He believed that in addition to Qi and Wei, the people who jointly attacked Song were also Chu in the south. Of course, before the war, the three countries had made an alliance: as long as the Song State was destroyed, Qi, Wei and Chu would divide the Song State's land equally. Unexpectedly, after the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms broke through the city of Song State, the Qi State unexpectedly took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, caught Wei State off guard, and took away the land that should have belonged to Wei State. If Qi had not acted treacherously first in attacking Song, how could the five-nation coalition attack Qi behind?
Fan Ju spoke righteously and sternly, which made Xu Jia very excited. Fan Ju took a step forward and continued to say to the King of Qi: "According to what I see below, although the State of Wei nominally joined other countries in the crusade against the State of Qi, in fact it did not take any action. The State of Qi has attracted crusade from many countries, and it is definitely Everything happens for a reason. If the Wei State does not pretend to participate, it will definitely be considered the same as the Qi State, and will be isolated and even suffer the same crusade. All of this is forced by the current situation, and the Wei State cannot turn the tide and can only be a A hero who knows the current affairs. These can be seen from Wei's actions in the future. When other countries rushed to attack Linzi, the capital of Qi, only Wei stood still. Please imagine if Wei had also participated. , where does the king still have the opportunity to show off his power here?"
Fan Ju's sharp tongue completely dismissed Wei's crusade against Qi. He also tried his best to denounce Qi from the standpoint of Wei, making the King of Qi and the envoys of Wei instantly become the host and guest. Swap. Fan Ju is a smart man. He knows that the purpose of Wei's visit this time is not to argue with Qi about right and wrong, nor to belittle Qi. The envoy from the State of Wei came here and could only be considered a success if he persuaded the King of Qi and the State of Wei to reconcile.
Therefore, Fan Ju still needed to praise the King of Qi. Fan Ju continued: "The King of Qi has extraordinary talents and unparalleled wisdom and strategy. Under the king's hard work, Qi finally regained its former glory and rose to the top among other countries." In the past, the former kings of Qi State relied on the strength of Qi State, and they could not help but become arrogant and looked down on the heroes of the world, which later led to the disaster of the country's subjugation. I am not talented, so I expected that the king's intelligence would be better than that of the previous kings, so There will be no arrogance or arrogance. Unexpectedly, when I saw him today, I was really disappointed. Is the king’s arrogance and domineering behavior the behavior of a wise king? "
Fan Ju's derogation and promotion were really shocking to the King of Qi. Although it was difficult for King Qi to accept Fan Ju's remarks for a while, King Qi was very careful about this person. After a little consultation, I found out that the man who made King Qi speechless turned out to be a little-known Sheren. The King of Qi couldn't help but think that there was indeed a talented person in the Wei Kingdom, and any one of them could be very eloquent. Such a great talent could not be reused by Wei State, which shows that the king of Wei State really has no ability to recognize people.
Since the Wei State did not value Fan Ju, the King of Qi decided to take Fan Ju for his own use.
That night, the King of Qi sent his most capable subordinates to visit Fan Ju to find out what he was really like. Naturally, the news brought by the people here can make Fan Ju's heart beat. The King of Qi believed that he was a great talent in the world, and as long as he was willing to stay in Qi, he would be given a high official and a generous salary, and be worshiped as a minister.
Fan Ju did not agree because he believed that first of all, he was an envoy of the Wei State. Although he could not be reused, he was still a member of the Wei State. If he left other countries without permission, he would only be looked down upon and become a dishonest person. Secondly, Fan Ju was still interested in the Kingdom of Wei at this time, hoping that one day the King of Wei would recognize his talent and reuse him to achieve his great fame. And this time when he shows his talents, the King of Wei will definitely know about him, and then he can decide whether to stay or leave based on the actual situation. In addition, as the saying goes, "A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall." Although Qi was known as the most powerful country in the East at that time, when the five countries attacked Qi, Qi's vitality had been greatly damaged, and there were many domestic disputes, and its future was in doubt. Although Fan Ju did not He is a high-ranking official, but his knowledge is not weak at all. He knows that he has little future in Qi State.
Unexpectedly, when King Qi saw this, he admired Fan Ju's moral character even more. There are many talented people in the world, but when it comes to both talent and virtue, there are very few at that time. So the King of Qi decided to try his best to keep Fan Ju as long as possible, and sent his subordinates to send Fan Ju a lot of gold, good wine, and good meat. Fan Ju would naturally not be moved by these vulgar things. It is said that a gentleman loves money and gets it in the right way. Fan Ju felt that he could not destroy his future, so King Qi's efforts were in vain again.
However, "the speaker has no intention, and the listener has intention." Although Fan Ju can be said to be honest at this time, for Xu Jia, who has always been known for being suspicious, it is easy to have doubts: Is there something bad between the King of Qi and Fan Ju? Something to tell someone? So Xu Jia hurriedly called Fan Ju and asked him. Fan Ju thought to himself that Xu Jia must have doubted him. Instead of letting him continue to doubt him, it would be better to tell him directly and let Xu Jia dispel his doubts.
Unexpectedly, Xu Jia didn't see Fan Ju's talents at this time, and secretly thought that Fan Ju was so capable that the King of Qi would condescend to him so much? If a gift is to be given to an envoy, it should also be given to Xu Jia. How could one of his subordinates be asked to give a gift? Of course, Xu Jia would not speak out his thoughts immediately, but hid them.
"A gentleman is magnanimous, but a villain is always worried." At this time, Fan Ju was as upright and upright as a gentleman, without worries or fears, so he was broad-minded and open-minded; while Xu Jia was like a villain, worried about gains and losses, busy with calculations, and often troubled by others, suspicious of others plotting against him, so he was often trapped in worry. Feeling restless. This incident, Fan Ju thought it had just passed, but he did not expect that the real storm was often hidden in the previous calm.
