" Warring States Policy " is not only a collection of eloquence and strategy, but also a collection of diplomacy. Diplomats throughout the ages have absorbed countless wisdom and experience from it. Diplomatic knowledge and skills such as how to establish international alliances, how to resolve crises among major powers, how to analyze and predict the interests and chain reactions of various countries, etc., can all be found in "Warring States Policy" 》 Find cases and answers in .
As a big country, Chu State is facing the danger of national subjugation. Let’s see how the diplomats of Chu State persuaded the superpower Qin State to resolve conflicts and crises.
King Xiang of Chu Twenty years later, Qin general Bai Qi captured Xiling of Chu State. Another Qin army captured Yan, Ying, and Yiling, and set fire to the tombs of the ancestors of Chu State. King Qingxiang was forced The capital was moved to Chencheng in the northeast to preserve the country.
Since then, Chu has gradually weakened and fell under the influence of Qin. Soon, Bai Qi led his army to attack Chu again. There was a man named Huang Xie in the state of Chu. He traveled widely and learned a lot. King Xiang of Chu thought he was a great debater, so he sent him as an envoy to the state of Qin to lobby the king of Qin..
After Huang Xie arrived in Qin, he said to King Zhao of Qin: "Qin and Chu are the most powerful among the princes in the world. Now I heard that the king wants to attack Chu. I think this is tantamount to two tigers fighting. In the end, maybe they will Let the sluggish hound take advantage, the king might as well make peace with Chu. I asked him to explain the reason.
I heard someone say: "The extremes of things are like the alternation of winter and summer; the extremes of peace and danger are like stacking chess pieces." The country occupies half of the world's land, and the northwest and northwest are extremely remote. In history, no big country can stand shoulder to shoulder with Qin. From the first emperor Xiaowen, King Zhuang Xiang to the great king, there have been three generations, and they have never been forgotten. The king opened up the territory in order to share the border with Qi, thus cutting off the way for the princes to join forces to fight against Qin. The king sent Shengqiao to South Korea many times to hold important posts of supervising the country. Shengqiao lived up to his trust and moved to the north. The land of Yan entered the state of Qin, so that the king did not need to mobilize troops and expand the territory hundreds of miles away.
The king also sent troops to attack Wei, blocked Daliang , occupied Hanoi, and captured Nanyan, Suanzao, Xu, Taoren and other places. , the Chu and Yan armies just stood on the sidelines and did not dare to fight with the Qin army.
If the king can rest for two years at this time, he will send troops to attack Pu, Yan, and Shouyuan. Ren, Pingqiu, then the land of Xiaohuang, Jiyang will surrender without a fight, and the Wei family will surrender.
The king will then cut off the land north of Pu and Mo and win over Yan, and then he will control Qi Qin. The passage between Chu and Wei was cut off. In this way, even if the Shandong countries formed an alliance, they would not be able to save their perilous fate.
At present, the king's reputation is in full swing. If he can maintain his success and stop the attack. And practicing benevolence and righteousness will not only avoid future troubles, but also the "three kings" will not worry about becoming the "four kings", and it will not be difficult for the five tyrants to become the "six tyrants"
On the contrary, if the king relies on the power of the army, he will take advantage of the situation. In order to defeat Yu Rui of Wei State and conquer the princes of the world, I am worried that Qin State will have endless troubles from now on.
"The Book of Songs" says this: "Everything has a good beginning, but it rarely ends well." There is a similar example in
" Book of Changes ": "The fox waded across the river, cautiously at first for fear of getting his tail wet, but for various reasons, he still got his tail wet when he reached the other side. '
These all illustrate the truth that things are easy but difficult. There are facts to support this.
Zhibo only saw the benefits of attacking Zhao Guo, but unfortunately he did not notice the disaster of Yuci. The king found that attacking the state of Qi was profitable, but he did not expect that Qian Sui would be defeated. Both countries had great military exploits, but due to greed for immediate benefits, they inevitably perished.
King Wu believed in Yue Kingdom , so he confidently attacked Qi with all his strength and won the great victory of Ailing. After returning from victory, he was captured and killed by the King of Yue at Sanjiangzhipu. Zhibo believed in Han and Wei and joined forces with them to attack Zhao and besieged Jinyang Unexpectedly, a great victory was imminent. The Han and Wei armies turned against each other in front of the formation and killed Zhibo on the chiseled platform.
Now the king is obsessed with destroying the state of Chu, but he does not notice that the destruction of the state of Chu will enhance the strength of the state of Wei.
The minister is therefore deeply worried for the king. "The Book of Songs" says: "A great and prestigious country does not need to fight, but can keep its enemies close by." ’ From this point of view, the remote Chu State should be Qin’s ally, and the neighboring countries should be a thorn in the side.
"The Book of Songs" also says: "I should always be on guard against other people's intentions of harming me. No matter how cunning a rabbit is, it cannot escape the pursuit of hounds." ’
Now that the king was confused by Han and Wei and trusted him, it was the same as King Wu trusting the country of Yue. In the end, he regretted it. I heard: 'The enemy cannot be underestimated, and the opportunity cannot be missed. '
I think that the two countries, Han and Wei, were worried about the destruction of their country and annihilation, so they bowed their knees and surrendered to the king. They did not surrender sincerely. Why do they have such deep grudges? The fathers, sons and brothers of the people of Han and Wei have died in the hands of the Qin people in the past dynasties. In a few days, the country was in ruins, the ancestral temples collapsed, the people were disemboweled and disfigured, their heads were missing, and their bodies were exposed in the wilderness for all to see, and those who were kidnapped and escorted followed them along the road.
There is no one to worship the ghosts and gods, but the people cannot survive and are reduced to servants and concubines of others, all over the princes and countries. As long as Han and Wei are not destroyed, Qin will never be safe and secure. At this time, the king is attacking Chu with all his strength. Isn't it a big mistake? What's more, when the king sends out troops to attack Chu, where will he take it? Your Majesty, you won’t ask for help from your enemies Han and Wei, right? I'm afraid that on the day the troops are sent out, the king will start to worry about whether he can return to Qin again. Taking advantage of the two countries is tantamount to the king handing over a large number of soldiers and horses to Han and Wei.
If the king does not borrow the road from the two countries, he can only attack Suiyang and Youlang of Chu.
Suiyang and Youliang are both high mountains, rivers, forests and valleys, and sparsely populated. Even if the king takes possession of these places, what is the use? It only has the name of destroying Chu, but has no actual intention of winning the land.
Moreover, when the king attacks Chu, the four countries of Qi, Zhao, Han, and Wei are bound to take advantage of it. Qin's troops were trapped in the Chu war and had no time to take care of him. Wei would definitely capture Liu, Fangyu, Huling, Dang, Xiao, and Peng. Song's old territory would all belong to Wei. The State of Qi went south to capture the territory of Sibei. The king sent troops to defeat the State of Chu. Unexpectedly, others took advantage of it, which not only expanded the territories of Han and Wei, but also strengthened the strength of the State of Qi. When Korea and Wei become stronger, they will compete with Qin.
Qi State, with Surabaya as its western border, the sea to the east, and the Yellow River to the north, will have no worries and will become the strongest among the princes. Qi and Wei obtained the benefits of land retention, coupled with the careful management of the officials, although they were not yet able to proclaim themselves emperor a year later, they had enough power to prevent the king from proclaiming himself emperor.
Due to the vastness of the king's territory, the large number of people, and the strength of the army, he sent troops to enmity with the Chu State, but instead allowed Han and Wei to support the king of Qi in proclaiming the emperor. This was the king's mistake.
I sincerely consider that for the king, it is best to reconcile with the state of Chu and live in harmony.
Qin and Chu are one, and when troops approach Han, Han will bow and surrender. Your Majesty, by taking advantage of the dangers of Mount Wei and the meanders of the river, South Korea will inevitably become a subordinate of Qin who monitors the movements of the princes in the world.
At this time, the king invaded Zheng with a hundred thousand troops. The Wei State was bound to be frightened. The two cities of Xu and Yanling would immediately be closed to defend themselves, and Shangcai and Zhaoling would not have any contact with the Wei State.
In this way, Wei Guo also became Qin's scout in the east. Once the king is reconciled with the Chu State, Han and Wei will attack Qi with all their strength, and the land king on the right side of the Qi State will be easily accessible.
At this time, the land of Qin stretched from the West Sea to the East China Sea, spanning the entire world. Yan and Zhao were isolated from Qi and Chu, and then they were coerced. The four countries would surrender to Qin without waiting for troops to attack. "
Meatballs Comments:
Huang Xie is indeed a great debater. He explained to King Qin Zhao the disadvantages of Qin's attack on Chu and the advantages of not attacking Chu.
quoted extensively, elaborated and compared, and explained in extremely contagious language the purpose of It can prevent the ending of "a failure without a beginning, a failure with an end", and the beginning is easy but the end is difficult. In order to prevent Han Wei from taking advantage of the opportunity to attack Qin and Qi, Qin and Chu should join forces and establish a cooperative partnership
. Only in this way can we conquer the other five countries and dominate the world.
Regardless of how subsequent history develops, Huang Xie's diplomatic eloquence was able to justify himself and had the effect of temporarily inhibiting Qin's attack on Chu.
In the pre-Qin and Warring States era, the Book of Songs and the Book of Changes were the most authoritative classics at that time. If the words in these classics are quoted, they will naturally have irrefutable truth. The diplomat Huang Xie quoted classics in three places.
The first place uses the words of "The Book of Songs" and "The Book of Changes" to reveal an axiom that is universal in nature and society, such as the beginning is easy and the end is difficult. It is intended to tell the King of Qin to give up when he sees good.
The second place uses the "Book of Songs" to explain that a country with kingly principles and benevolence can harbor enemies far away, which is intended to make Qin treat Chu with benevolence and righteousness.
The third place uses the Book of Songs to explain that the Qin State should be wary of Han Wei and not deal with the Chu State.
Quoting classics is both cultural and persuasive.
Therefore, we should not forget to quote the wisdom of classics when speaking and debating.
Ancient diplomats have long paid attention to geopolitics, and judged the interests and trends of each country from the distribution of each country in the world and the adjacent position of each country.
The Qin State unified the world, and it was only after it understood the mysteries of geopolitics that it eliminated the six countries step by step and in a planned way.
If you want to safeguard the interests of the Chu State, you can only start from geopolitics. Only when the two great powers Qin and Chu unite can the Qin State have the greatest interests, and the other six countries will surrender to the Qin State. Only this can save the Chu State on the verge of destruction.
