At least three stories of celebrity regrets

In October 1973, Jiang Qing came to see the President and asked for a sum of money; after Jiang Qing left, the President said to me, "She sees that I am not going to make it and prepares a way out for herself." Then the President, with tears in his eyes, approved 30,000 yuan of money from his own past manuscript fees and told me to go and do it. I sent the money to Jiang Qing. When she saw the money she immediately said to me, "Xiao Zhang, this money is not enough for me. I am not like you. In the future, I am prepared to kill my head and go to jail, and this I am not afraid of. Or I may be raised without dying, this is harder." This money chairman approved to Jiang Qing has been three years. In these three years, Jiang Qing is unpredictable, often use the money to interfere with the chairman, a moment to say, "Let Zhang keep the deposit slip for me."

At one point, "I don't want Zhang to take care of it, I want Yuan Xin to take care of it." A few days later and let me tube, back and forth, Jiang Qing countless times to disturb the President, until two days before the death of Chairman Mao, she is still making trouble, Jiang Qing said: "I want to limit the bourgeoisie legal rights, I do not want this money. You mean if the chairman must give it to me, then let Xiao Zhang take over." ......

About the money, Zhang Yufeng still has a note in Jiang Qing's handwriting:

Comrade Yufeng:

Can we take out 8,000 yuan of that money? Because if you count from 1968, I should return 8,000 yuan, and from 1969 I should return 7,000 yuan. Of course, can not return, but returned the peace of mind. These seven or eight thousand yuan, mainly for photography, the purchase of lighting equipment, lighting I gave to the Xinhua News Agency, did not count the money. It is the property of the Party and the State, so it should not be counted as money, and we cannot be generous at the expense of the State. If you don't take it, please report it to the President at his leisure, and then ask him to give eight thousand dollars.

Jiang Qing

1975.1.7

Jiang Qing wrote the note with a handful of "Maoist characters," but the verbosity and minutiae of the writing were the same as her usual speeches and reports.

Mao Zedong, who has always been a man of no regrets, regretted his union with Jiang Qing. However, there was nothing he could do about it. Mao Zedong once revealed his frustration to his chief of staff, Li Yinqiao, and to Wang Dongxing:

He once told his chief of staff, Li Yinqiao, that I had never regretted anything. In fact, he regretted many things. He admitted that his marriage with Jiang Qing was too hasty, Jiang Qing has no major faults, not good divorce, and in accordance with his status, the impact of this is not good, just have to make do. This is the regret of marriage. And his biggest regret is to see a group of people wrong, with a group of people wrong.

Wang Dongxing once described some of Mao's later years, in 1971 Lin Biao accident, Mao Zedong unusually painful, he said, "I am blind." His body visibly aged. Later on, he was disappointed with Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, saying, "I have misjudged a group of people. When he was in Yan'an, Mao Zedong said that it would be enough for us to have fifty people in the party who really knew Marxism-Leninism. Wang Hongwen, as Mao's successor, had been nodded by Mao, but this man did not really know Marxism-Leninism, not even the skinny of it, and Mao regretted that he had chosen him as his successor.

(2)

Confucius's idea of "ruling the world by rituals" was not only not recognized by the monarchs and ministers, but was also disliked by many of the people of the time. In particular, Laozi, the head of the Taoist school, had repeatedly criticized Confucius's thoughts and actions, and even considered Confucius an uneducable person. Zhuangzi, which promotes Taoist thought, has repeatedly mocked and criticized Confucius as a negative example. One of the stories about Confucius' attempt to persuade the thieves and metatarsals to abandon evil and turn to good is a thought-provoking and comprehensive exposé of Confucius' false benevolence and righteousness. Confucius also regretted his behavior on this occasion.

The story goes that Confucius had a friend named Liu Xi Ji, whose younger brother was named Thief Parsal. He had gathered more than 9,000 men, and they did everything they could to kill and loot. Confucius was very dissatisfied with Liu Xi Ji's failure to educate his brother, and allowed him to plague the country and the people. He took the initiative to persuade the thieves and metatarsals to turn away from evil and turn to good. From this point of view alone, if Confucius was able to risk humiliation and even death to persuade an evil thief to put down his butcher's knife and become a Buddha, it should be said that he was indeed a very righteous and responsible person.

(3)

King Zhaoxiang of Qin, bent on bringing Zhao to its knees, invaded the borders of Zhao one after another and occupied some places. In 279 B.C., he played another trick by inviting King Huiwen of Zhao to meet with him in Mianchi (渑池) in Qin territory (present-day Mianchi County, Henan Province, west of Mianchi County; Mian yin miǎn). At first, King Huiwen of Zhao was afraid of being detained by Qin and did not dare to go. The generals Lian Po and Lin Xiangru both thought that if he did not go, he would be showing weakness to Qin.

King Huiwen decided to take the risk. He asked Lin Xiangru to go with him, and asked Lian Po to stay in his country to assist the crown prince in his defense.

To guard against accidents. King Huiwen of Zhao sent another general Li Mu with 5,000 soldiers to escort him, and his prime minister Ping Yuan Jun with tens of thousands of soldiers to meet him at the border.

At the date scheduled for their meeting, the king of Qin and the king of Zhao met at Mianchi and held a banquet, drinking and talking happily.

When King Zhaoxiang of Qin had drunk a few cups of wine, he said to King Huiwen of Zhao, "I have heard that the King of Zhao is a good player. Please ask the King of Zhao to play a tune for the group." After saying this, he really ordered his left and right to bring up the thurible.

King Huiwen of Zhao could not refuse, so he reluctantly played a tune.

The historian of Qin wrote this down on the spot and read, "On a certain day of a certain month in a certain year, the king of Qin and the king of Zhao met at Mianchi, and the king of Qin made the king of Zhao play the seer."

King Huiwen of Zhao was so angry that his face turned purple. While this was going on, Lin Xiangru took a fou (缶) (pronounced fǒu, a kind of tile vessel that could be struck to soundtrack music) and suddenly knelt down in front of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, saying, "The King of Zhao has heard that the King of Qin is quite good at Qin's musical instruments. I have a tile basin here, so please give me the honor to strike it a few times to cheer up."

King Zhao Xiang of Qin burst into a rage and ignored him.

Lin Xiangru's eyes shot out an angry light and said, "Your majesty has been too bullying. Although Qin's army is strong, within these five paces, I can splash my blood on the Great King!"

When King Zhaoxiang of Qin saw Lin Xiangru's momentum, he was so surprised that he had to pick up his striking stick and bang it on the percussor a few times in a haphazard manner.

Lin Xiangru turned back and told the historian of Zhao to write down this incident as well, saying, "On a certain day of a certain month in a certain year, the king of Zhao and the king of Qin met in Mianchi. The king of Qin gave the king of Zhao a percussion."

The ministers of Qin were disconcerted when they saw that Lin Xiangru had dared to hurt the king of Qin's honor in this way.

Some stood up and said, "Please ask the king of Zhao to cede fifteen cities to the king of Qin for his birthday."

Lin Xiangru also stood up and said, "I ask the king of Qin to cede the city of Xianyang to Zhao for the king of Zhao's birthday."

King Zhao Xiang of Qin saw this situation as very tense. He had found out beforehand that Zhao had sent a large army to be stationed in the neighboring place, and he was afraid that he would not get any advantage if he really started to fight, so he drank in the ministers of Qin and said, "Today is the day for the kings of the two countries to rejoice, so all of you need not say anything more."

In this way, the meeting between the two countries in Mianchi was finally successfully dispersed.

Lin Xiangru made great achievements in his two missions to protect Zhao from humiliation. King Huiwen of Zhao trusted Lin Xiangru so much that he made him his superior, above the general Lian Po.

Lian Po was very upset, and said privately to his disciples, "I am a great general of Zhao, and I have made a lot of achievements. What's so great about Lin Xiangru? He climbed up to my head. Hmph! When I see Lin Xiangru, I will always give him a look."

The words reached the ears of Lin Xiangru, who pretended to be sick and did not go to court.

One day, Lin Xiangru went out in a car with his men, and saw Lian Po's carriage coming from a distance. He told the driver of the car to retreat to the alley to hide. He told them to go back to the alley and hide there, so that Lian Po's carriage could pass by first.

This incident made Lin Xiangru's men very polite, and they blamed Lin Xiangru for not being so timid and fearful.

Lin Xiangru said to them, "Do you see which is more powerful, General Lian, compared with the King of Qin?"

They said, "Of course the King of Qin is more powerful."

Lin Xiangru said, "That's right! All the lords of the world are afraid of the King of Qin. In defense of Zhao, I dared to rebuke him to his face. Why am I afraid of General Lian when I see him? Because I have thought about it, the mighty Qin does not dare to come to invade Zhao because of General Lian and I. If the two of us don't get along, Qin will not dare to come to invade Zhao because of General Lian and me. If the two of us don't get along, Qin will take advantage of the opportunity to invade Zhao if they know about it. For that alone, I would rather be tolerant."

Some people passed this story on to Lian Po, who felt very ashamed. So he ran to Lin Xiangru's house, naked and carrying thorns, to ask for forgiveness. When he met Lin Xiangru, he said, "I am a rude man, with little knowledge and a narrow temperament. How could I have known that you would be so tolerant of me? I really have no face to come to see you. Please chastise me."

Lin Xiangru quickly picked up Lian Po and said, "We are both ministers of Zhao. I'm already grateful for the general's understanding, why have you come to make amends to me."

Both men were so excited that they shed tears. After this, the two became close friends.