Looking back, back to the period of King Qin Zhaoxiang, there are many evocative stories in various countries at the end of the Warring States Period.
It seems that King Qin Zhaoxiang has determined that the Zhao Kingdom has not been destroyed and does not consider it his home. Perhaps before the Battle of Changping, King Qin Zhaoxiang and Bai Qi had made great plans: the first step was to defeat the Qin army in the Changping Battle; the second step was to capture Handan and destroy the Zhao State; the third step was to wipe out the nearby Qin several countries; finally Yan and Qi were destroyed.
If Bai Qi had taken action, perhaps the Qin State would have reached the third or even fourth step. Unexpectedly, Bai Qi would just stay in Xianyang no matter what, unshakable as a mountain in all weathers.
King Qin didn't believe it. Without Bai Qi, Handan couldn't be conquered. As a result, the King of Qin sent Wang Ling and Wang Lu one after another. Later, he followed Fan Ju's suggestion and sent Fan Ju's sworn brother Zheng Anping to Handan to support Wang Lu. The total number of Qin troops who besieged Handan reached 450,000. The first wave was a 100,000-strong army led by Wang Ling. They attacked Handan for many months. Not only did they lose troops and generals, but the war in Handan did not achieve the slightest breakthrough. Later, Wang Ling was replaced by Wang Ling and they continued to increase their troops in Handan, but they still attacked Handan. Instead of going down to Handan, they fought and retreated until they reached Hexi of Qin State.
The so-called sad soldiers will win. Bearing the grief and humiliation of losing hundreds of thousands of compatriots, the Zhao army must fight to the death against the Qin army at this time. In addition, the Qin army's passive attack in support of Bai Qi was also an important reason for the outcome of this war. More importantly, when the balance of the war gradually tilted towards Handan, the eastern countries gradually reduced their fear of the powerful Qin army and began to prepare for action. Of course, if there were not such a group of people wandering among the countries, not knowing how to reason and moving to benefit, the countries would have been sitting on the mountain watching the fight between tigers and tigers. Even if they participate in the rescue of Handan, the time will be delayed a lot.
The outstanding ones among this group of people are people such as Pingyuan Lord Zhao Sheng, his disciple Mao Sui and Wei Guo Xinling Lord.
Mengchang Jun Tianwen of Qi State, Chunshen Jun Huang Xie of Chu State, Pingyuan Jun Zhao Sheng of Zhao State, and Xinling Jun Wei Wuji of Wei State are called the "Four Young Masters of the Warring States Period". The reason why they can have such great influence , mainly due to the influence of social thoughts at that time. There are three main tendencies in this kind of thinking:
First of all, the "Four Young Masters of the Warring States Period" have superb intelligence and morality. In this era of turbulence and turbulence among powers competing for hegemony, what matters is talent. Secondly, they are all nobles from various countries and have noble origins. As a person from a high class in society, his influence is much higher than that of ordinary unknown people.
Thirdly, the idea of social harmony is emphasized on the basis of unequal social hierarchy. The representative theory of this kind of thinking is the hierarchy advocated by Xunzi. Each person needs to accept his specific position in a hierarchical structure and, to the best of his ability, he needs to fulfill the social duties associated with that position. For example, Zhao Sheng, Lord of Pingyuan, was responsible for seeking talents for Zhao, such as supporting guests, and performing diplomatic tasks, such as lobbying in various countries. Those like Mao Sui are the representatives of guest officials. They emphasize the importance of eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor, and they must do their best to realize their own fame and great cause and the political ideals of the lord and country to which they are attached.
At that time, the Qin army had been besieging Handan for more than a year. Seeing that the King of Qin was determined to destroy Zhao, King Zhao Xiaocheng believed that it was difficult for Zhao's old and weak soldiers to withstand the repeated attacks of the powerful Qin army for a long time. Moreover, the Qin army repeatedly increased its troops in order to conquer Handan as soon as possible. If this continues, Handan will be unable to withstand it.
Therefore, King Zhao Xiaocheng invited Pingyuan Lord Zhao Sheng to give him advice.
Mr. Pingyuan thought that the only solution now was to ask for help from other countries. Originally, when Qin was besieging Handan, all the other countries just stood by and watched. The situation is now very clear. If Qin wants to conquer Handan, it will not take one moment or three moments. But once the State of Zhao was destroyed by the State of Qin, it would be difficult for other countries to escape the disaster of national subjugation.
As mentioned earlier, the State of Zhao dedicated the six cities that had originally been promised to the State of Qin to the State of Qi, thereby gaining the sympathy and support of the State of Qi. The Zhao State has just experienced the Changping War, and its vitality has been severely damaged. It no longer poses any substantial threat to other countries. Therefore, as long as the Zhao State can send envoys to other countries to ask for help, other countries are likely to come to rescue Zhao. country.
The six countries have different strengths. At present, the only ones that can be called powerful countries besides Qi are Chu and Wei. South Korea had already fallen under Qin's big tree to enjoy the shade, while Yan was focused on managing its relations with the Xiongnu. From this perspective, only Qi, Chu and Wei can be used by Zhao. Moreover, Chu and Wei had deep hatred against Qin and were in the most dangerous situation. Therefore, these two countries became the key countries that Zhao needed to unite.
Therefore, Pingyuan Lord Zhao Sheng decided to go to Wei State first to ask for help from Lord Xinling. This Lord Xinling is not only talented and virtuous, he is also well versed in the current international situation, and knows that saving Zhao at this time is what must be done. And he is also related to Pingyuan Jun Zhao Sheng. It turns out that Lord Pingyuan's wife is the sister of Lord Xinling of Wei State. They had a close personal relationship, so it was much easier to ask for help.
Secondly, Lord Pingyuan decided to go to Chu State for help.
At this time, the person in charge of the monarchy in Chu State was King Kaolie of Chu, and there was also a famous scholar in Chu State - Lord Chun Shen. King Chu Kaolie and Lord Chun Shen, if one is a tree trunk and the other is a branch, it just shows the political situation of strong branches and weak trunks. At that time, Bai Qi led 100,000 Qin troops to conquer the capital of Chu State with mythical speed, and also burned the tombs of the previous monarchs of Chu State. Since then, Chu's national power has declined, and its international status has plummeted. Suffering this heavy blow, Chu State has always adhered to the military strategy of protecting itself. After years of recuperation, he finally showed some improvement, but he would never act rashly, and King Chu Kaolie was incompetent and had no ability to judge the situation.
Therefore, Lord Pingyuan was not sure about successfully persuading Chu to reinforce Zhao. Before he went to Chu State, he said: "It would be great if peaceful methods can succeed, then the siege of Handan can be solved in a short time; if peaceful methods cannot succeed, we must try our best, even if Using the method of "bloodshed" under the mansion, you must also sign a "joint vertical" covenant before returning to Zhao State. The entourage does not go outside to search, but selects 20 people from the thousands of diners under the door to be the entourage team. This trip is definitely There are many difficulties, but I believe that through everyone's concerted efforts, we will succeed." ("Historical Records: Biography of Pingyuanjun Yuqing") As the saying goes, "Raise an army for a thousand days and use it for a while." Before the selection, Pingyuanjun's disciples were all gearing up. Prepare to serve Lord Pingyuan and the State of Zhao. Lord Pingyuan went through layers of selection among these 3,000 guests, and finally only selected 19 people to go to Chu with him, which did not meet Lord Pingyuan's plan of selecting 20 people.
For a moment, Mr. Pingyuan couldn't help but sigh: I want to spend all my family wealth on courtesy and virtuous corporals, recruit talented and virtuous people from all over the world, have countless diners under my door, and become famous all over the world. But he didn't expect that at the critical moment, not even 20 qualified talents could be selected. Although the selection criteria are harsh and difficult, it should not result in this.
Are you just trying to make up for it, just finding someone at random, or are you going to strictly follow the standards and let these 19 people go to Chu with you? No matter what, it will cause some damage to your reputation.
When Mr. Pingyuan was hesitating, a person appeared and broke this difficult situation. This person is Mao Sui.
please put me in your pocket
Mao Sui was born in 285 BC and died in 228 BC. Mao Sui was not from the State of Zhao, but from the State of Xue (now Zaozhuang, Shandong Province). Later, I heard that Corporal Jun Lixian of the Pingyuan State of Zhao State had three thousand diners under his family. As long as he was talented, , all received good treatment, so they came to Zhao State.
At this time, Mao Sui was the disciple of Prince Zhao Pingyuan Jun Zhao Sheng. It had been three years since he first came to Pingyuan Jun's house. These three years were the three years when Zhao's national power took a turn for the worse. Then he saw that the state of Zhao was in decline, and he was filled with anger, but there was no chance for him to serve the country. So, he simply studied the strengths of each family all day long and prepared to gain a solid foundation. Therefore, in the past three years, Mao Sui has not shown the slightest edge.
When Mao Sui saw Lord Pingyuan, he came directly forward and recommended to Lord Pingyuan confidently: "Mao Sui heard that Mr. Pingyuan was going to the State of Chu to sign a 'joint vertical' treaty with the King of Chu. He also heard that Mr. King Zhao agreed to select 20 of his diners to go to Chu State together, instead of looking for talented and virtuous people among non-diners. This should be a fact. After strict screening, Mr. Zhao could only select 19 qualified people. , seeing that Sir was so hesitant, I came to ask Sir for permission to allow Mao Sui to go to Chu as an envoy with Sir."
To Mr. Pingyuan, this Mao Sui is an unfamiliar face. Lord Pingyuan asked kindly: "I have never met you before. How long has it been since you came to Zhao Sheng's sect?" Mao Sui didn't mind and answered directly: "As of today, it has been more than three years. ." Mr. Pingyuan was surprised. He had been here for three years. If he really had talent, he couldn't have known it, so he said unceremoniously: "A capable scholar in this world is like an awl in a bag. , its tip will gradually appear in a short time; it is better than a piece of gold placed in the soil in troubled times, it will emit light as long as it is exposed to the surface. Mr. just said that you have been under Zhao Sheng's door for 3 years. Maybe Zhao Sheng is blind and deaf. Sir, can you hear me? Who has praised your talents? Zhao Sheng usually pays attention to the talents of his diners, but he has never heard anyone praise you. In my humble opinion, you definitely have nothing to gain. No one praises you for your talent in action. Therefore, I ask your forgiveness, sir. This mission is of great importance. You can stay in Zhao country to avoid suffering from the wind and frost."
Mao Sui said: "Just as the prince said, I came here today just to ask to enter the bag and to enter the soil surface. If I had been in the bag a long time ago, I would have been like the sharp awns of the ears of corn. , the whole edge will be exposed, not just the tip? If I had been on the surface of the soil, I would not just show a glimmer of light, but would shine brightly."
Mr. Pingyuan was shocked. Although this man was a bit arrogant, but observing his words and deeds, he looked confident and confident. Being able to say these words must be extraordinary. Let's give him a chance, put him in the bag and put him in the soil, and see how much edge and brilliance he can unleash.
This resulted in a well-known allusion in Chinese history - Mao Sui recommended himself.
However, although Mr. Pingyuan recognized Mao Sui, it did not mean that others also recognized Mr. Pingyuan's actions. Especially the 19 people who went to Chu as envoys with Lord Pingyuan. They believed that Mao Sui had not shown any outstanding performance in three years. The reason why Mao Sui was selected by Lord Pingyuan this time must be because of his flattery or because of his Due to luck, everyone looked at Mao Sui with ridicule.
Seeing this, Mao Sui did not directly argue with them, but instead discussed with them the general trend of the world. At the beginning, everyone dismissed Mao Sui, but gradually, everyone discovered that Mao Sui was really talented. , The strategy in mind and the eloquence in mouth are all amazing.
Soon, Mr. Pingyuan and his group of more than 20 people came to Chu. Under the recommendation of his good friend Chun Shen, Mr. Pingyuan met the King of Chu smoothly. However, the negotiations with the King of Chu did not go smoothly.
Mr. Pingyuan was just about to invite Chu to participate in the alliance. The King of Chu then directly told Lord Pingyuan that he must not talk to Chu about any alliance. Many bloody lessons have proved that all countries consider their own interests. If they really want to unite, as long as the Qin State makes a slight attempt to alienate a country, or focuses on attacking a certain country, the alliance will fall apart and collapse without attack. If the Qin army continues to take advantage of the situation to pursue them, all countries will surely Losing troops and losing generals.
Seeing the negative attitude of the King of Chu, Lord Pingyuan racked his brains and tried to persuade him. However, the King of Chu refused to participate in the alliance. If he wanted to participate, it would only be symbolic, such as shouting from the outside and demonstrating to the Qin State. .Behavior. It is absolutely impossible for Chu State to send troops to attack Qin State.
It is said that Lord Pingyuan and King Chu were both very patient. They were able to argue from the time the sun just came up in the morning until the sun was high at noon. However, no one could convince the other, so the two were deadlocked. Everyone knows that the reason why the King of Chu did not get angry was only because of the relationship between Chun Shenjun, the national relations between Chu and Zhao, and basic diplomatic etiquette. To persuade the King of Chu to participate in the alliance, you need to give him a sufficient reason.
Seeing that the negotiations had reached a deadlock, the followers brought by Lord Pingyuan were anxious. They knew that Chu could afford to delay, but Handan, which was in dire straits, really couldn't afford to delay.
