The king of Wei asked: "What are the foreign envoys doing in Wei?" Xiao Yi stood up and said: "Qin is strong but the six countries are weak. The Qin army is conducting military exercises in Lantian and wants to go east to conquer other countries. In order to prevent Qin from going east to Hangu Pass, I have been ordered by my king to form an alliance with your country." Prime Minister Wei stood up and said, "The Qin State's military exercise in Lantian is probably aimed at your Zhao State." Xiao Yi faced Prime Minister Wei and said, "What Prime Minister Wei said is right, the Qin Army This military exercise is aimed at our country, Zhao, because since the military reform, Zhao has become the only military power that can compete with Qin, posing a huge threat to Qin in launching a unification war. If Qin wants to unify, The only opponent to destroy is the State of Zhao. After the destruction of the State of Zhao, will it be very beneficial to the State of Wei? The King of Wei is an ambitious monarch, is it possible that the State of Wei is willing to succumb to the military suppression of the powerful Qin? , make them fearful?" These words spoke to the hearts of the kings and ministers of the Wei Kingdom. Little Ant stood aside and observed their facial expressions, and saw that they were hesitant, and none of them stood up to speak. Xiao Yi said something again, which made King Wei who was sitting in the court make a 180-degree turn. Little Ant said: "Three years ago, Qin and Wei fought in Hexi. The Qin army killed more than 600,000 Wei generals. Doesn't King Wei want to wash away the shame of defeat?" King Wei looked at Little Ant standing under the main hall. , and then looked at the civil and military ministers standing next to him, but these ministers were silent. The King of Wei asked: "Foreign envoy, how can our Wei State resist the powerful Qin State?" Xiao Yi said: "The three Jin Dynasties belong to one family, plus a big country Chu State, Wei State is in alliance with our Zhao State. South Korea is in The three great powers of Wei, Qin, and Zhao are trying to survive in the cracks, allowing them to have both sides. If the two great powers of Wei and Chu form an alliance with our Zhao state, South Korea will naturally join in and form Wei, Han, Chu, and Zhao. The four countries united their armies to jointly resist the powerful Qin, which made Qin afraid and did not dare to go eastward. Wei could develop its military strength at this time, recapture Hexi in one fell swoop, and wash away the shame of defeat." King Wei agreed happily after hearing this. Successfully persuaded Wei and Zhao to form an alliance.
After that, Xiao Yi drove south and crossed the Huai River to Shouchun, the capital of Chu State, to meet the King of Chu. The little ant stood outside the Chu Palace. The eunuch walked out of the Chu palace and stood on the steps. He looked aloof and looked down, asking, "Who are you?" Xiao Yi first bowed and kowtowed, and said, "The foreign envoy is the envoy of the State of Zhao. , I have been ordered by my king to send you an envoy to the Kingdom of Chu." The eunuch entered the palace of the King of Chu and met the King of Chu. He knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the envoy from the Kingdom of Zhao is asking for an audience outside the palace." The King of Chu smiled and said, "I understand. , please step back." The kings and ministers of Chu State planned to scold this Zhao State envoy in the main hall. The King of Chu looked outside the palace and said, "Xuan Zhao's envoys have come to the palace to pay their respects."
Xiao Yi helped the envoy enter the Chu Palace, bowed and saluted, and said: "King Chu." King Chu asked: "Are you Xiao Yi, the envoy of Zhao State?" Xiao Yi raised his head and looked up at him and said, "Here he is." Ling Yin of Chu State stood up and asked: "Do you have any official position in Zhao State?" Xiao Yi turned to face Ling Yin's arrogant look. Most of the officials of Chu State were royal nobles, so these officials looked aloof. With such a look, Xiao Yi did not argue with them, but just said: "No official, no position." This made the officials present burst into laughter. Ling Yin couldn't stop laughing and said: "Since you have no official position in Zhao State, how can you speak for your king? It's better for your king to come to Chu State to talk to my king." Xiao Yi smiled and said : "Please forgive me that my king is unable to come to Chu State due to busy state affairs. It would be better for your King Chu and his ministers to set off together to the State of Zhao to pay homage to my king. Isn't this better? My king will host a banquet to entertain you, King Chu." "This remark angered Ling Yin of the Chu State, and he pointed angrily: "Xiao Yi, you, you are rude, are you all like this in the Zhao State?" Xiao Yi said to him: "It is you, the Chu State, who are rude. First of all, why does our country of Zhao need to treat each other with courtesy? My king knows that your country of Chu is rude, so he sent me, a lowly minister, to your country of Chu." Ling Yin stood up and said: "You have no official or position. You are not worthy to stand in the court of our Chu State and be with us scholar-bureaucrats." Ling Yin faced the King of Chu and said: "The envoy of the State of Zhao was rude, so he was kicked out of the court." Xiao Yi looked around at these courtiers of the Chu State. , the courtiers all stood up and said in unison: "Blast it out of the court." King Chu stood up and said: "Blow the Zhao envoy out of the court."
Xiao Yi just said one thing that made King Chu change his attention. When Xiao Yi left the court, he said: "When I came to Shouchun, the capital of Chu, I heard that Chu was a southern barbarian. King Xiang of Zhou Thirteen In the year (639 BC), Song Xiang made an agreement with the princes to meet in Kedi to jointly restore the Zhou Dynasty and perform benevolent and righteous actions. It was also called the Alliance of Clothes and did not bring a single soldier. Your King of Chu, King Chu Cheng, led The soldiers imprisoned Song Xianggong, and I really saw it today." The King of Chu stood up again and said, "Envoy Zhao, please stay." Xiao Yi turned around and said, "Does the King of Chu have anything else to say?" The King of Chu asked: "What do envoy Zhao mean by these words?" Xiao Yi took a few steps forward, looked at the King of Chu with his head held high, and said, "You, the Chu State, are rude. Do you treat the envoys sent by other princes in the same way?" The King of Chu then began to admit his mistake and said: "It's the fault of the worm." The little ant said: "If you know the mistake, correct it. There is no greater good." The King of Chu first faced the ministers standing in the court. These ministers or princes and nobles Xiao Yi was speechless and had no choice but to admit his mistake in front of Xiao Yi and said: "This is my fault. Sir, please sit down."
Little Ant walked up and sat down and faced the King of Chu. The King of Chu asked: "Sir, you are very clear about our country of Chu. So, please teach me how to govern the country of Chu?" The little ant said: "Once there was a man in your country of Chu. Very talented ministers, liaising with the Qi State externally, resisting the powerful Qin, implementing reforms internally, getting rid of the old government, starting a new government, and waiting for improvement. However, your late king did not trust it because of the strength of the nobles, stayed away from it, and exiled it. It is Chu's loss to let him die in a foreign land." The King of Chu also admitted this and said: "Sir, you are right, the first thing I did after inheriting the throne was to redress his injustice." Xiao The ant said: "The king of Chu is right to redress the injustice of his virtuous ministers, but does your Majesty know what the foreign ministers saw when they came to the territory of Chu?" The king of Chu said: "I don't know, sir. Tell Yu Wu Chong." Xiao Yi first faced the ministers standing in the court, and then said to the King of Chu: "The King of Chu grew up in a deep palace, so he naturally does not know the sufferings of the people. The princes, nobles and some officials seize the people's land, The people had no land to cultivate, and hungry people were everywhere. A large amount of land in the Chu State was barren, which was the reason for the weakness of the Chu State. The bad government of the Chu State was already deeply rooted, and the power of the nobles in the court was so intertwined that it looked like they were terminally ill. The old bug needs timely management and it is impossible to change the status quo. After the efforts of generations of kings and the slow efforts, things have changed." These words of Xiao Yi obviously touched the interests of these nobles and some officials, causing Strong dissatisfaction among nobles or officials. An official stood up and said: "Our Chu State has a vast territory and many generals. What you say is inevitably a bit exaggerated. I think the ancestors of our Chu State established the country, expanded its territory, conquered the Central Plains, and became the overlord of one area. The laws set by our ancestors It cannot be changed. Later kings only need to imitate it. The so-called changing of the laws of the previous kings is unfilial. Please think carefully, your Majesty." The little ant said: "It is indeed the advantage of the Chu State that it has a vast territory and many generals, but it is a rule for the king to govern. , clinging to the old rituals without knowing the disadvantages of adapting them. Qin and Chu fought in Danyang. The Chu army was defeated and 800,000 people were beheaded. From the 36th to the 37th year of King Nan of Zhou (270 BC 9 to 278 B.C.), the Qin army captured Yingdu, the capital of the Chu State, and forced the capital to be moved to Chen, and then to Juyang and today's Shouchun, all in order to escape the Qin Dynasty. What is the reason for the retaliatory attack of the Qin army? With the vast land or the large number of soldiers of the Chu State, can it withstand the ravages of the Qin army’s cavalry?” These words just touched on the pain point of the King of Chu, and everyone in the court I couldn't speak for a long time. It can be said that the trauma of Chu State is incomparable. Chu State was attacked by Qin State and was destroyed several times. It has never recovered from the fall. The King of Chu raised his head and asked: "Sir, how can our Chu State resist the powerful Qin and regain the lost land?" Little Ant said: "The foreign minister has persuaded the King of Wei to alliance with the State of Zhao, and then South Korea. The State of Chu If you want to regain the lost land, you must ally with Zhao to resist the powerful Qin, so that Qin will not dare to leave Hangu Pass in the east." The King of Chu immediately agreed to the alliance with Zhao and said, "Okay, I have agreed to join forces with Zhao. The Zhao State Alliance also invites you to stay in our Chu State. I have treated you as a distinguished guest and set up a state banquet for you. You must attend." Xiao Yi happily agreed and said: "Then the foreign minister will stay for the time being. In Chu State."
Wei, Chu, and Zhao are three big countries. Xiao Yi has convinced the kings of Wei and Chu to form an alliance with Zhao. The king of Han has also begun to waver. If the alliance of Han, Wei, Zhao, and Chu is formed, it will prevent Qin from leaving Hangu Pass in the east. The king really wanted to see this, but he was hesitant to pay attention because he was afraid of Qin's military strength. King Han entered the court and stood among the ministers, looking at them with a very helpless look. All the ministers knelt down and bowed three times and called out: "Your Majesty." King Han came up, sat down and said, "My lords, please get down." All the ministers stood up and stood up. The King of Han faced the ministers and said, "I heard that Chu, Wei, and Zhao are allied with each other. What do you think of this?" Shen said: "Your Majesty, the three countries of Zhao, Wei and Chu are big countries. Wei, Zhao and South Korea belong to the Three Jins. It is reasonable to alliance with Zhao to eliminate the military threat of Qin to South Korea. It is not better." King Han said: "If we ally with Zhao, we will offend Qin. Qin will send heavy troops to attack our country, South Korea. What will happen to us, South Korea?" The king of Han was afraid of tigers in front and wolves in the back. He looked forward and backward. It seemed that he was afraid of being attacked by Qin.
At this time, the State of Qin sent envoys to Xinzheng, the capital of South Korea, and entered and stood in the court hall. King Han asked: "Under the main hall is the envoy of Qin." The envoy of Qin did not take King Han seriously at all, and even said arrogantly: "King Han, if you dare to ally with Zhao, we, the Qin Dynasty, will send troops to attack South Korea, crush Xinzheng, the capital of South Korea." Then he supported the envoy and walked away, and the minister looked at the Qin envoy striding out of the court.
Prime Minister Han stood up and said: "The envoy of Qin is very rude and relies on his own strength to put pressure on our Korean military. Your Majesty, please make an alliance with Zhao."
