The Great Wei Empire in the Warring States Period

In the early morning, Wei Shen got up and asked,"Wang Xiao, bring that woman!""Yes, young master!" Wang Xiao said. After a while, the woman brought her over. Wei Shen looked at it again and asked,"I wonder how old the girl is?"

The woman said softly,"The little girl is only twenty-eight years old." Wei Shen heard that she was only sixteen years old. , she went to be a geisha at such a young age, and asked again:"I don't know the girl's surname?" The woman replied:"No surname, they all call me Pearl"

"Oh, girl, I see that you are so beautiful, why don’t I bring you to Duke Qi, Duke Qi will definitely like you if you look good! Wei

Shen said. Yuezhu said:"Young master wants to give me away, Mingzhu will only do what he asks!" Wei Shen said with a smile:"Girl, all you need to do is confuse Duke Qi and mess up the court of Qi!" I wonder if the girl is willing? Mingzhu nodded and said:"Young Master redeems your body to repay your kindness to me. All I have to do is what I am told by you.""Wei Shen was very excited after hearing this. There should be nothing Sun Bin can do now! Then Wei Shen asked the woman to leave.

Feeling a little bored, he said to Wang Xiao:"Wang Xiao, let's go to Ji in Qi State together. Let’s go to the Academy and have a look!"——Yes!

Jixia Academy

Wei Shen looked at the tall academy. Because the land of Qilu was deeply instilled with Confucianism, there was a statue of Confucius standing in the middle of the front of the academy! Wei Shen looked at the academy on the nine-story high platform and said to Wang Xiao:"After returning to China, I will also build a large academy for the Xihe School to cultivate talents for our country of Wei!" Wang Xiao said with a cupped hand:"Young Master is very ambitious." Then Wei Shen took Wang Xiao into Jixia Academy.

After entering the Academy Gate, what comes into view is the Renhe Hall, the main hall of the Academy. The scholar on the side saw Wei Shen coming in and saw that he was dressed as a scholar, so he came over and saluted and said:"This student, I am the scholar here. Does this student need me to lead the way for you?" ?" Wei Shen saw that it was Shiren and asked:"How many halls does this academy have?"

Shiren replied:"The entire academy has three halls and one book pavilion. The first hall is Renhe Hall, which is used for debates. Prepared, the second hall is the Hall of Rites and Virtue, which is a place where talents from various schools of thought teach knowledge. The third hall is the Hall of Qixian, which is used to accommodate scholars from all over the world. There is a book pavilion behind the Xian Palace, called the Xuelin Pavilion. The book pavilion contains precious classics handed down from hundreds of schools of thought!"

After hearing this, Wei Shen said:"Well, I want to go to the Li De Hall to listen to a book. Listen to the lecture!"

Shi Ren said to Wei Shen:"This student happens to be a famous Confucian scholar from the state of Lu today named Meng Ke. It can be said that people are like mountains of spectators!"

When Wei Shen heard that it was Mencius, he also wanted to see this famous sage from ancient times to modern times, and said:"Then please lead me, sir. I want to listen to Meng Ke. Lecture." Shiren took Wei Shen and Wang Xiao to the Li De Hall.

Outside the Hall of Li De, there are two huge stones, respectively engraved with the words"Li" and"De". There is a bronze tripod in the middle, with the four words"Respect the Teacher and the Way" engraved on the tripod.

Wei Shen heard the voice of lecturing outside the palace,"The people are the most important, the king is the most important, and the country is second. If a country wants to prosper, it needs to serve the people. To serve the people, it must govern the country with virtue and be inspired by benevolence." People, if the people are rich, the country will be strong. If the people have benevolence, the country will not be in turmoil. And if you want the people to have benevolence, you must also govern the country with virtue. The people of a country have benevolence. , this country must be the king of the world. When the Zhou Dynasty was founded, King Wen was virtuous, but Shang Zhou was cruel and promiscuous.

Therefore, Zhou would replace Shang. Although Shang had 100,000 soldiers, while Zhou had only more than 30,000 people, Zhou occupied Benevolence defeated Shang. Therefore, if a country wants to become the strongest country in the world, it must manage its people with benevolence and let the people understand benevolence. The country will surely have long-term peace and stability!" After hearing this,

Wei Shen thought to himself: Sure enough, , Mencius emphasized benevolence, and what he said was reasonable and well-founded! So he walked in and saw that there were more than a hundred students in the entire hall. Wei Shen walked around and found that there were no seats left.

Mencius saw two more students coming and knew that they had no seats, so he asked the scholar on the side to bring them two cushions! Wei Shen, Wang and Xiao quickly saluted and said:"Thank you sir." Wei Shen observed Mencius carefully. He estimated that Mencius's height should be about 1.75 to 1.8 meters. He had a good figure and looked like a tall man. A gentle and elegant person.

Later, Mencius said again:"I look at all the countries in the world, and none of them governs the country with benevolence and virtue. The country does not need to govern the country with virtue. This country is only strong for a while. Now Wei is the most powerful country in the world. I think Wei's reforms are beneficial to the country. The people have reduced many restrictions, but they still rule the country by law. Just as the doctors said: it can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. After all, Wei State is only strong for a while."

Wei Shen stood up after hearing this and said:"Sir, I don't agree with your idea.." Mencius saw that it was the student who had just come in and said,"Sir, since you don't agree with my ideas, what are your ideas?"

Wei Shen replied:"Wei State has been implementing Li Kui's reforms since the time of Wei Wenhou. In the end, Wei became strong. Attacking Qin from the west and suppressing Qi from the south to conquer Chu, Wei became the most powerful country in the world. Now the prince of Wei has implemented the second reform, and Wei's national power is already stronger than during the period of Wei Wenhou. Moreover, Wei State defeated Qin, Han and Zhao in a row. Wei State killed nearly 500,000 soldiers of the three kingdoms. Now all countries are learning from Wei State. Why is it said that Wei State's second reform only treated the symptoms but not the root cause?"

Mencius also said He did not blame Wei Shen, but smiled and explained:"What this student said is very good. It is true that no country in the world is the opponent of Wei State. Countries have also imitated Wei State and implemented reforms. But do you know that Wei State has gone through this process?" Can the second reform really defeat other countries after the second reform?"

Wei Shen thought for a while and said:"Of course, the strength of Wei State surpassed other countries during the period of Wei Wenhou, and now that the reform has been carried out, Wei State has far surpassed Countries!"

Mencius smiled and said:"Back then, King Wu of Zhou defeated the powerful Shang Dynasty with only 200 chariots, and King Tang Ye of Shang defeated the powerful Xia Dynasty with only 50 chariots. The strength of these two countries is certain. More than their enemies? Therefore, the reason why they can defeat powerful enemies is precisely because they implement benevolent government! If there is a moderate country in the world and implements benevolent government, then it will be invincible in the world. If it follows the legalist approach That way, it is only superficially strong, but in fact it is strong from outside but weak from the inside!"

Wei Shen continued:"Mr. Meng Ke, today the Wei State has 400,000 soldiers, strong national power, and rich people, and the changes in Wei State this time are due to the influence of With the support of most of the people, everyone got land, and the taxes they paid were only 2 out of 10. In other countries, the taxes paid by their people were as high as 6 out of 10, and some even as high as 6 out of 10. Seven out of ten, I think our Wei State can become very powerful by paying such a small amount of taxes, so I think our Wei State’s second reform is a success!" After listening to

Wei Shen’s words, Mencius said:" Isn't it a benevolent government to reduce taxes and prevent the people from overworking? Everyone has their own land, isn't this a benevolent government?"

Wei Shen asked again:"Since Mr. Meng Ke said that our Wei State has implemented a benevolent government, then what? Why do you say that Wei's reforms only treat the symptoms but not the root cause?"

Meng Ke added:"Why do I say that Wei's reforms only treat the symptoms but not the root cause? That's because not all benevolent policies are used on the people. The current Wei state If the king can eat as much as a hundred households in one day, is this a benevolent government? If too many wars are waged so that the people cannot cultivate in the spring and cannot harvest in time in the autumn, is this a benevolent government? The monarch's garden covers an area of ​​hundreds of miles, and the people are not allowed to go hunting in the garden. As a result, the people have to go far away to hunt every time. Is this a benevolent government? When winter comes, the king wears silk and mink clothes to keep warm, but the people wear unlined clothes and still work in the winter. Is this a benevolent government? Most of the people in Wei State only know how to compete in archery and martial arts, but do not know about benevolence, righteousness and morality. Can this be considered a benevolent government?"After hearing this, Wei Shen could not refute Mencius' words.

He signaled Wang Xiao with his eyes, and Wang Xiao stood up and said,"Sir, what you said is wrong. Our king of Wei does not allow people to go hunting in his garden. That is Because the great Confucian Duan Ganmu was buried, most of the people of Wei State participated in the archery competition. It is not that they do not know benevolence, justice and morality, but because the surrounding countries want to invade, we have to participate in the archery competition. If we do not participate in the archery competition, then we, Wei, will Doesn’t the country become a lamb to be slaughtered? Meng

Ke also smiled after hearing this and said:"The six arts of a gentleman have also been mentioned in archery and defense. But as far as I know, once there is a conflict in the Wei State, there will be an archery competition instead of reasoning." , but instead used force to solve it. Is this considered benevolent government? If it is a country that implements benevolent governance, then its domestic people will not be in trouble because of trivial matters and need to draw swords. Moreover, this student also said that the great Confucian Duan Qianmu buried in the garden, then Wei Guo Why did the king hunt in that garden? As far as I know, that Duan Qianmu is your teacher of Wei Wenhou. Since he is the teacher of your ancestors, if you don't respect him so much, is this considered benevolent government? I wonder, two students, am I right? After hearing this, Wei

Shen and Wang Xiao were completely unable to refute, so they could only bow and say:"Listening to Mr. Wang's words is like studying for ten years!""

Mencius also said:"Children can be taught. Dear students, you must remember that only by governing a country with benevolent government can it last long. Benevolent government is the way of the sage king. Use severe punishment to manage the people. Sooner or later, the people will rebel. If you practice benevolent government, the people will understand." Regarding benevolence, righteousness and morality, I think the only country in the world that has implemented some benevolent governance is Wei State. Almost all other countries use strict laws to restrain the people. Such laws are only temporary and cannot last long. The power of the country can not only completely command the people. , but through benevolent government, the people are convinced and willing to serve the country. Only such a country will be truly powerful!"

Wei Shen thought to himself: This Mencius has such ability, he must be brought to Wei to let him Staying here as a small lecturer in Qi State would be too unfair to his talents!