Stories of civilization and etiquette

Stories of civilization and etiquette

1. Honesty and etiquette - King Zhao of Yan seeks to be a wise man

After Lord Meng Chang was dismissed from his post, King Min of Qi became even more arrogant when he destroyed the state of Song together with the states of Chu and Wei. He wanted to annex all the states and become the king himself. This made all the lords and states dissatisfied with him, especially Yan, the northern state of Qi, which was bullied by Qi and wanted to take revenge.

Yan was originally a big country too. Then it passed to King Kuai of Yan (pronounced kuài), who listened to the ideas of bad people, and even followed the legendary method of Yao and Shun to give up the throne to Zi Zhi, the prime minister. The generals of Yan and Prince Ping attacked Zi Zhi, and great chaos broke out in Yan. In the name of pacifying Yan's internal turmoil, Qi invaded Yan and Yan was almost destroyed. Later, the army and people of Yan made Prince Ping the king of the country and rose up to drive out the Qi army.

Prince Ping took the throne as King Zhao of Yan. He was determined to make Yan strong and determined to find a good ruler, but he couldn't find the right one. Someone reminded him that Guo Kui (郭隗), an old minister, was very insightful, so he might as well go to him for some advice.

King Zhaowang of Yan personally visited Guo Kui, and said to him, "I can't forget the shame of Qi's invasion of Yan while our country was in turmoil. But now Yan is too weak to take revenge. If there is a wise man to help me avenge this shame, I would rather serve him. Can you recommend such a person?"

Guo Kui stroked his beard, pondered for a while and said, "I can't say anything about recommending a ready-made talent, so allow me to tell a story first." Then he told a story:

Anciently, there was a king who loved a thousand-mile horse the most. He sent his men to search everywhere, and after three years of searching he could not find one. One of his ministers inquired about a valuable thousand-mile horse somewhere far away, so he told the king that if he gave him a thousand taels of gold, he would be able to buy the thousand-mile horse back. The king was very happy, so he sent his minister to buy the horse with a thousand taels of gold. But when the minister arrived, the horse was already sick and died. He thought it would be hard for him to go back with empty hands, so he took out half of the gold he had brought with him and bought the horse's bones back.

The king was furious when the minister presented the horse bone to him, and said, "I wanted you to buy a live horse, who told you to spend money to buy a useless horse bone?" The courtier was not flustered and said, "People heard that you were willing to spend money on a dead horse, and they were afraid that no one would send up a live horse?"

The king of the country was convinced and stopped blaming the minister. As soon as the news spread, everyone thought that the king really loved and cherished the thousand-mile horses. Within a year, several thousand li horses were sent from all directions.

Guo Kui finished the story and said, "If the great king must solicit wise men, he might as well try me as a horse bone."

When King Zhao of Yan heard this, he was greatly inspired, and when he returned, he immediately sent someone to build a very fine house for Guo Kui to live in, and to worship Guo Kui as his teacher. When he heard that King Yan Zhaoge was so sincere in recruiting talents, people from different countries rushed to Yan to meet with him. The most famous one was Le Yi from Zhao. King Zhao of Yan appointed Le Yi as the Minister of State, and asked him to organize the state and train the troops, and Yan became stronger and stronger every day.

At this time, King Zhao of Yan saw that King Min of Qi was arrogant and unpopular, so he said to Le Yi, "Now that the King of Qi is ruthless, it's the right time for us to get rid of the shame, and I'm going to mobilize all the people in the country to go and fight against Qi, what do you think?"

Le Yi said, "Qi is a vast country with many people, so I am afraid it will not be possible to rely on us as a nation to fight. If Your Majesty wants to attack Qi, you must join forces with other countries."

King Zhao of Yan then sent Le Yi to Zhao to get in touch with King Huiwen of Zhao, and sent others to get in touch with Han and Wei, and also asked Zhao to contact Qin. All these countries were willing to join Yan in sending troops, as they were not used to Qi's domineering behavior.

In 284 B.C., King Zhao of Yan made Le Yi his general, and he led the troops of the five kingdoms to kill Qi.

When King Min of Qi heard that the allied forces of the five states were coming, he was also panicked, and gathered all the troops and horses of the country to resist the allied forces, and fought a battle to the west of the Jishui River. Due to Le Yi's good command, the five kingdoms' men and horses were in high morale and defeated the Qi army, and King Min of Qi fled back to Linzi.

The generals of Zhao, Han, Qin, and Wei had won the battle, and each of them captured a few cities of Qi, and did not want to fight any more. Only Le Yi refused to give up, and he personally led an army of Yan, which drove straight into the country and kept on fighting down Linzi, the capital city of Qi. King Min of Qi had to flee and was finally killed in Ju City.

King Zhaowang of Yan thought that Le Yi had made a great achievement, and personally went to the Ji waterfront to labor the army, and rewarded him for his achievements, and appointed Le Yi as the king of the state of Chang

2 . Unity and love - calm Liu Mingchuan

Liu Mingchuan, the governor of Taiwan sent by the Qing court, is the construction of Taiwan's great achievements, Taiwan's first railroad is his supervision of the repair. Liu Mingchuan's appointment, there is a thought-provoking story: when Li Hongzhang recommended Liu Mingchuan to Zeng Guofan, but also recommended two other students. Zeng Guofan in order to test the character of the three of them who is the best, they deliberately asked them at a certain time to Zeng House to interview. However, at the appointed time, Zeng Guofan intentionally did not show up, let them wait in the living room, but secretly carefully observe their attitude. I saw the other two look very impatient as if, constantly complaining; only Liu Mingchuan a person quietly, calmly and peacefully appreciate the calligraphy and painting on the wall. Later, Zeng Guofan asked them about the calligraphy and paintings in their living room, and Liu Mingchuan was the only one who could answer. As a result, Liu Mingchuan was recommended to be the governor of Taiwan.

Accordingly, those who have no patience must lack the spirit of perseverance and overcoming difficulties, and naturally they will not be able to accomplish anything great. If we want to make a difference in the future, we must first improve our patience and perseverance.

3. Thrift and self-reliance - enduring humiliation

Lu Xun (陆逊), with the character Bo Yan (伯言), was a native of Wu County, Wu County (present-day Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province) during the Three Kingdoms period. He initially worked in Sun Quan's general's office as an East and West Cao ordering officer, and later became a Haichang Tundun Lieutenant, who was also in charge of the county's political affairs. When the county was in drought for years, he opened warehouses to provide relief to the poor. He advised farmers and supervised mulberry cultivation, and his political performance was excellent. At that time, the area around Wu County, Huiji and Danyang was harassed by mountain bandits, which infringed on the people. Lu Xun was given permission to recruit his own soldiers and went into the dangerous passes to conquer them, and one by one, he was promoted to the rank of Captain of Dingwei and stationed in Lipu.

Lu Meng, the governor of Lukou, who was planning to seize Jingzhou, threatened to return to Jianye (present-day Nanjing), the capital of Wu, because he was ill. Lu Xun went to see him and said to him, "Your defenses are connected to Guan Yu, why don't you leave far away? It is really worrying that there is no proper person to take over." Lu Meng said, "You are perfectly right, but I am seriously ill." Lu Xun said, "Guan Yu is accustomed to bullying others with his courage. Now that he has established the great achievements of attacking Fancheng, flooding seven armies, chopping off Pound and capturing Yu Ban, he is so arrogant and slack that he only concentrates on his northern expedition and does not pay any attention to us, and when he hears that you are sick, he will not be on the defensive. When we attacked by surprise, we were sure to succeed. When you see the Lord, you must agree on a plan." When Lu Meng met Sun Quan, he recommended Lu Xun to replace him, and said, "Lu Xun has far-reaching plans and is talented enough to take up important responsibilities. He has no reputation yet, and Guan Yu will not be concerned about him. If you appoint him and tell him to act secretly without moving, you will surely succeed." Sun Quan then appointed Lu Xun as the right governor of the biased generals to guard Lukou instead of Lu Meng." When Lu Xun arrived at Lukou, he wrote a letter to Guan Yu, extolling his merits and virtues, expressing his gratitude for the strong patronage he had received from his allies, and couched it in extremely humble terms. Guan Yu originally despised Lu Xun as a scholar and a young boy; he was very happy to read the letter and no longer had any precautions. Lu Xun reported to Sun Quan, put forward the strategy of sneak attack Jingzhou. Sun Quan secretly mobilized the army action, sent Lu Xun and Lu Meng for the vanguard troops, a war on the attack on the public security, Nanxian, followed by the attack on Yidu, Fangling, Nanxiang. When Guan Yu received an urgent report from Fancheng, he hurried back to the front line, but he was already at a loss, and his soldiers were gradually dispersed, so he finally left Mai Cheng and was intercepted and killed by Pan Zhang, a Wu general. All of Jingzhou fell into the hands of Wu. Lu Xun was promoted to the rank of Right General and General of Zhenxi (镇西将军), and was awarded the title of Marquis Lou (娄侯).

Liu Bei, in order to avenge the killing of Guan Yu and the seizure of Jingzhou, personally led an army of 700,000 men in a crusade against Eastern Wu. Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as the Grand Capital Governor and led 50,000 men to defend against it. Liu Bei camped for 700 miles from Wu Gorge, Jianping up to Yiling, and first sent Wu Ban to lead thousands of men to set up camp on the flat ground to show the old and weak and to challenge them. The generals of the Wu army all demanded to fight. Lu Xun said: " There must be conspiracy and trickery here, our army is only allowed to hold on and wait for the situation to change." As expected, Liu Bei ambushed his troops in the valley, but he failed to lure the enemy and had to give up. Lu Xun thought that Liu Bei's army was new and sharp and should avoid an encounter. The enemy can not fight, hold for a long time, natural relaxation, and then capture the opportunity to fight. However, his generals could not realize his intention, and thought that he was afraid of the enemy, cowardly and afraid to fight, and they were all resentful and dissatisfied. Some of these generals are Sun Ce's old generals, some are office nobles, so they don't want to follow orders because of their status. Lu Xun pressed his sword and declared in a stern voice: "Although I am a scholar, I have accepted the Lord's heavy responsibility. The reason why the country is entrusting you all to listen to my control and dispatch is because I have some strengths and am able to endure humiliation. Each of you is responsible for guarding the passes and must not move. Military law is merciless, do not violate it!" Later, when Liu Bei moved his camp among the mountains and forests, Lu Xun used the fire attack plan to set fire to the 700-mile camp, and pursued the attack in victory, the Shu army was defeated and Liu Bei fled back to Baidi City in the night

Kong Rong gave up his pear

Kong Rong (153-208), a native of the state of Lu (present-day Qufu in Shandong Province), was a famous literary writer at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and one of the Seven Sons of Jian'an. He was highly respected by Cao Pi, the Emperor of Wei. According to historical records, Kong Rong was not only very smart when he was young, but also a typical person who paid attention to the rites of brothers and mutual help and love.

When Kong Rong was four years old, he often ate pears with his brother. Every time, Kong Rong always took the smallest pear. Once, his father saw him and asked, "Why do you always take the smallest one but not the big one?" Kong Rong said, "I am the younger brother, the youngest, I should eat the smallest, the big one should be given to my brother!"

Kong Rong's understanding of siblings' mutual courtesy, mutual help, and solidarity at a young age surprised the whole family. Since then, the story of Kong Rong letting his brother have a pear has been passed down for thousands of years, and has become a model of unity and love.

CHENG MEN LIXUE

"Cheng Men Lixue" story from the "History of Song Dynasty - Yang Shi biography": "see Cheng Yi in Luo, when the cover is forty years old. One day to see the Yi, Yi occasional close sitting, when with the tour of entertainment service to go. Yi both realize, then the snow outside the door a foot deep carry."

"Cheng Men Li Xue" is about the Song Dynasty scholars Yang Shi and You Yu Yu to Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi to pay homage to the teacher to seek advice. Yang Shi and You Yu, who had Cheng Hao as their teacher, were forty years old when Cheng Hao died, and they had already passed the entrance examination, but they had to go to Cheng Yi to continue their studies. The story takes place on the day when they first went to Songyang Academy to pay their respects to Cheng Yi.

According to legend, one day Yang Shi and You Yu, came to Songyang Academy to pay a visit to Cheng Yi, but they met Mr. Cheng, who was sitting in a false sleep with his eyes closed. At this time, it began to snow outside. These two people are eager to seek a teacher, they respectfully stand aside, do not say nothing, so wait for half a day, Cheng Yi slowly opened his eyes, see Yang Shi, You Yu Yu stood in front of him, ate a shock, said: "ah, ah! The two of them are still here not gone?" By this time, the snow outside the door had accumulated more than a foot thick, and Yang Shi and You Yu did not have a trace of fatigue and impatience.

This story, called "Cheng Men Li Xue", was widely circulated among the scholars of the Song Dynasty. Later, the idiom of "Cheng Men Li Xue" was often used to express the respect of scholars for their teachers and their sincerity in pursuing studies.

Zeng Zi avoids the seat

"Zeng Zi avoids the seat" comes from the Book of Filial Piety, which is a very famous story. Zeng Zi was a disciple of Confucius, once he was sitting beside Confucius, Confucius asked him: "The sage kings of the past had supreme virtues and subtle theories, which they used to teach the people of the world, so that people could live together in harmony, and there was no dissatisfaction between the king and his ministers, do you know what they were?" Hearing this, Zeng Zi understood that his teacher, Confucius, was trying to instruct him in the most profound truths, so he immediately got up from the mat on which he was sitting, walked outside of it, and respectfully replied, "I am not clever enough to know, so how can I know, and I ask my teacher to teach me these truths." Here, "avoiding the mat" is a very polite behavior. When Zeng Zi heard that his teacher was going to teach him, he stood up and walked outside the mat to ask the teacher to teach him, in order to show his respect to the teacher. The story of Zeng Zi's understanding of politeness was recited by later generations, and many people learned from him.

Zhang Liang Worshipped His Teacher

Zhang Liang was the military advisor of Liu Bang, the Gaozu of the Western Han Dynasty, whose ancestors were Koreans. After the destruction of Korea by Qin, Zhang Liang was determined to avenge Korea. On one occasion, he was hunted down and took refuge in Xiapi after an assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang.

Zhang Liang had nothing to do in Xiapi. One day he went for a walk on the bridge in Xiapi, and came across an old man, dressed in a coarse cloth and short clothes, who walked next to Zhang Liang and deliberately dropped his shoes under the bridge. Then he turned back to Zhang Liang and said, "Son! Go down to the bridge and pick up my shoes for me!" Zhang Liang was stunned to hear this and wanted to hit him, but once he saw that he was an old man, he forced himself to hold back his anger and went under the bridge to pick up his shoe. The old man even ordered again, "Put the shoes on me!" Zhang Liang thought that since he had already picked up the shoes for him, he might as well put them on, so he knelt down and put them on him. The old man put his feet out and let Zhang Liang put them on him, then walked away with a smile on his face. Zhang Liang watched him with amazed eyes. When the old man had gone a long way, he turned back and said to Zhang Liang, "You are a boy who can be trained to be a great man, so come here to meet me at first light in the morning five days from now!" Zhang Liang knelt down and said, "Yes." At dawn on the fifth day, Zhang Liang arrived at the Xiapi Bridge. Unexpectedly, the old man was already waiting there, and when he saw Zhang Liang, he said angrily, "Why are you late for a date with an old man? Meet again on the fifth morning in the future!" After saying that, he left. On the fifth morning, as soon as the rooster crowed, Zhang Liang rushed there, but the old man was waiting there again, and when he saw Zhang Liang, he said angrily, "Why did you fall behind me again? Come back earlier after five days!" Then he left again. On the fifth day, Zhang Liang rushed to the bridge before midnight, waited for a long time, and the old man also came, and he said happily, "This is good." Then he took out a book, and pointing to it, said, "Study this book carefully, and you will be the emperor's teacher! In ten years, the situation of the world will change, and you will make your fortune. In the next thirteen years, you will see me at the bottom of Gucheng Mountain in Jibei County? There's a yellow stone there that's me." The old man finished speaking and left.

When the morning dawned, Zhang Liang took out the book and looked at it, which turned out to be The Art of War of Taigong (the book of war of Jiang Taigong, who aided King Wu of Zhou in conquering the Zhou Dynasty)! Zhang Liang treasured it so much that he often familiarized himself with it and studied and researched it over and over again.

Ten years later, Chen Sheng and others rose up against Qin, and Zhang Liang gathered more than 100 people to respond. When Liu Bang, the Duke of Pei, led a few thousand men and captured some places to the west of Xiapi, Zhang Liang submitted to him and became his subordinate. From then on, Zhang Liang often offered his advice to the Duke of Pei according to "The Art of War of Taigong", and Pei recognized it as very good and often adopted his strategies, and later became Liu Bang's military advisor in planning and strategizing to win the battle of the thousand miles. After Liu Bang was crowned emperor, he was appointed Marquis of Liou.

Zhang Liang never forgot the old man who gave him the "Art of War", and 13 years later, when he accompanied Liu Bang through the northern part of the country, he saw a piece of yellow stone under the Gucheng Mountain, and retrieved it, called it "Huangshi Gong", and enshrined it as a treasure to be worshipped on a regular basis. After Zhang Liang's death, his family buried the yellow stone with him.

Sending goose feather for thousands of miles

The story of "sending goose feather for thousands of miles" happened in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the leader of a minority group in Yunnan Province sent an envoy, Maeng Bogao, to contribute swans to Emperor Taizong to show his support for the Tang Dynasty.

While passing by the Shinyang River, the kind-hearted Maung Bo Gao released the swan from its cage and wanted to give it a bath. Unexpectedly, the swan spread its wings and flew high into the air. Maung Bo Goh reached out to catch it, but only pulled a few goose feathers. Maung Pao Ko was so anxious that he cried. The attendants advised him, "It's no use crying when the goose has already flown away. When Maung Bo Gao thought about it, he could only do so.

After arriving at Chang'an, Maung Bo Gao paid a visit to Emperor Tang Taizong and offered him a gift. Tang Taizong saw that it was an exquisite satin sachet, so he made people open it, and saw that it was a few goose feathers and a small poem. The poem said: "The swan tribute to the Tang Dynasty, the mountain is high and the road is far. The swan lost its treasure in the Shinyang River, and fell to the ground crying and bawling. I am sorry to say that I have not been able to return the swan to the Tang Dynasty, but I am sorry to say that I have not been able to return it to the Tang Dynasty. The gift is light, and the goose is sent for thousands of miles." Tang Taizong was puzzled, Maine Bogao then told the original story. Tang Taizong repeatedly said: "rare and precious! Rarely can be valuable! Thousands of miles to send goose feather, the gift is light, the feeling is heavy!"

This story embodies the valuable virtue of honesty in gift-giving. Today, people use the metaphor of "sending goose feather in a thousand miles" to describe a gift that is thin, but the sentiment is exceptionally strong.