This made the emperor very angry. One day, he came up with a plan and issued an edict, which meant that regardless of the rank of officials and people regardless of age, anyone who is willing to tell the emperor stories can enter the palace. If the emperor is no longer willing to

Once upon a time, there was an emperor who indulged in wine and sex all day long and never paid attention to government affairs. As time went by, he got tired of eating delicacies from mountains and seas, and tired of playing with all kinds of good things, so he became interested in listening to lectures and doing things.

He forced Minister Wang Gong to tell him stories all day long. Gradually, the ministers avoided seeing him. If they couldn't avoid it, they would only repeat the stories they had already told and prevaricate. This made the emperor very angry. One day, he came up with a plan and issued an edict, which meant that regardless of the rank of officials and people regardless of age, anyone who is willing to tell the emperor stories can enter the palace. If the emperor is no longer willing to tell stories, he can enter the palace. After hearing this, he appointed the storyteller as prime minister. But there is one thing: if the emperor still wants to hear it but cannot tell a new story, he will be tortured and executed. After the imperial edict was announced, the crowd was talking a lot. Some said: "It is the greatest convenience in the world to become the prime minister by telling stories."

Others said: "I heard that the emperor has some real skills in listening to stories. There is no story that he cannot tell. It's over, if you don't have anything to say anymore, you will be beheaded."

Others said: "This is the emperor's plan. If he doesn't want to hear it and says he wants to hear it, it will cost him his life." As the old saying goes. It is well said that there must be brave men under heavy rewards. Although there is the danger of beheading, those who covet the prime minister's high official and generous salary only dream about the prime minister's dream and completely forget about beheading. , received the imperial edict and stepped into the palace, there were also some scholars and scholars who believed that they knew the past and the present, and were full of economics, so they left in response to the edict. Unexpectedly, it was easy for these people to enter the palace and difficult to get out. None of them became prime minister, and they were all killed one after another.

It turns out that the emperor had a chronic habit. The better the storyteller was, the more energetic he would listen, often day and night. It is conceivable that even if the storyteller is more knowledgeable, he cannot stand up to such a statement. Therefore, those who entered the palace one after another lasted for as little as half a month and ten days, as many as three months and five months, and as long as one and a half years. After a while, the story ended, but the emperor still wanted to hear it, which led to his own death. After

killed dozens of people in a row, no one dared to serve as an official and tell stories to the emperor. As for the emperor, he thought that the reward given by the storyteller was too small, so he posted the emperor's list and announced to the world that if he could tell the story so that he didn't want to hear it, he would give half of the country as a gift, but there was nothing more to say, beheading. One cannot be missing. Half of the country! In history, people have never seen such a big bet. If you can really win, you will be half an emperor!

However, when thinking of the tragic scene of bloody heads rolling to the ground, who dares to try the executioner's knife again?

The emperor's list has been posted for several months, but no one dares to expose it. As for the emperor, because no one has responded, he is lost and bored.

One day, a farmer heard that the emperor had posted the imperial list and wanted to summon the storyteller, so he rushed to the capital to unveil the imperial list. But the soldier guarding the emperor's list looked down upon the farmer, and while driving him away, he scolded: "You are a country bumpkin. You can't even read half of a pocket, and you are not allowed to tell stories to the emperor? You can feel the growth on your neck yourself." How many heads!" Some well-meaning people also advised the farmer: "This is not a joke, are you going to die in vain?"

There are many people talking, some are persuading, some are scolding, but they are all wrong. Let him reveal the emperor's list.

Unexpectedly, the farmer said confidently: "The imperial list clearly states that officials should not be divided into grades. People are old and young. Anyone who is willing to speak can be an official. I voluntarily accept rewards and punishments. Why am I not allowed to reveal the list?" When everyone heard this, Naturally, there was no way to persuade him any more, so the guarding soldiers had no choice but to let him reveal the royal list and lead him into the palace.

Does that farmer have any background? Is he some strange

hero or a seasoned giant witch? neither. As the saying goes, if you don't have and , you won't dare to do porcelain work. The farmer had listened to his mother telling him stories since he was a child, especially the one called "The Endless Story" that he remembered best. The emperor posted a notice calling for storytellers, and he got what he wanted.

With such a story, of course he is no longer afraid. This is why people with high skills are bold.

Besides, after the guard led the farmer into the palace, the emperor was unhappy when he saw that the farmer was ragged and rustic.He said angrily to the farmer: "Did you know that Jun Wuxiyan? If you stop talking, you will be beheaded!"

The farmer said: "I know, but I accept the terms of the penalty and the terms of the reward. Can you change it?"

The emperor said: "Are you still too little?"

The farmer said: "I don't want to fight for half of the country, and secondly, I don't want to be a prime minister. Now there are years of famine and people are struggling. If you don't want to listen, I As long as you open the warehouse to put food in and help the victims."

As soon as the emperor heard the words "the people are in dire straits," he immediately became angry and ordered the warriors to push the farmers out and behead them. But then he thought again, why should I rush it? Judging from the knowledge of stupid people like him, sooner or later he will not be the ghost under my sword. It will not be too late to kill him when he can't tell his story, and everyone will be convinced. Besides, he only asked for a warehouse to be stocked with grain, and even if I lost, it would still be cheaper than half of the country. So he dismissed the warrior and agreed to the farmer's terms.

The next day, the farmer began to tell stories to the emperor. The farmer didn't beat around the bush and told the "endless story" at the beginning. He said: "During the Warring States Period, the Qin State established the state of Chu, Qi, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei in order to annex the six kingdoms of Chu, Qi, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei. The Qin Dynasty ruled the world, prepared for war, recruited brave soldiers, and accumulated grain. It built a large granary in Kyoto. The granary connected 999 warehouses and was filled with grain in the southeast part of the granary. A hole was made in the corner by a mouse, and a mouse got into the granary. It was so happy when it saw so much grain. It ate first, then pooped when it was full, and rolled around in the grain pile for fun. Stop, wait until it has finished playing, and then start to take out the food. It turns out that the mouse is a greedy guy. Logically speaking, with so much food piled up, not to mention it, its descendants will never finish it. But it felt that if it didn't dump the food out, it would feel like the food didn't belong to it, and it would be relieved only if it was moved to another place, so it started dumping the food day and night. I saw it again after a while. After a while, he came again, took one in his mouth and left again..."

The farmer repeated these two sentences. At first, the emperor was patient and waited for him to say the following. As a result, he didn't want to keep saying these two sentences for several days. The emperor couldn't bear it anymore, so he asked the farmer: "Do you have any new stories?"

The farmer said: "The new stories are still to come. Let's tell them. After finishing this, let’s start talking about something new.”

went on to say that the mouse was carrying food. After a while, it came again, took one in its mouth, and then left... After a while, it came again, took one in its mouth, and then left. ⋯⋯The emperor was sometimes drowsy and restless as he talked about it. After a few more days, the emperor couldn't stand it anymore, so he asked the farmer in a tentative tone: "When will we start talking about something new?" The farmer said, "I know it well. If you really want to know, If you don't like it, let me tell you that you need to wait until the mouse has almost moved the food before he can start talking about something new." When the emperor heard this, his head got big, and he calculated on his fingers that after talking for more than ten days, the mouse had no idea. We can't move three liters or five buckets. If we continue to move like this, even if I die, I won't be able to move all the food. Am I just going to listen to his endless nagging all day long? Forget it, even if I don't want to hear it, fortunately he didn't ask for half of the country. The emperor admitted that he didn't want to hear it, so he had to follow the original terms and open the warehouse to release grain and relieve the victims. The farmer also left the palace and went home.