6.15 Zi said: "Meng Zhi did not fight, ran to the palace, will enter the door, drive his horse, and said: 'If you dare to go back, the horse will not enter.'" ’”
Confucius said: "Meng Zhi did not boast that his army was defeated, and when he was about to enter the city gate, he whipped his horse and said, 'It is not that I dare to resist the enemy, but that the horse does not run forward.'" ’”
Analects 615
Interpretation] Meng Zhianti - Doctor Lu Guo, name side.
Var - boast.
Ben - the army is defeated and flees.
Hall - the back of the temple, the tail of the march.
Ce - whipping.
"Not to be virtuous, not to be virtuous" is not to boast of one's own benefits, which is a virtue advocated by Confucianism. Yan Yuan said of his ambition: "May there be no goodness, no hard work" ("Gongye Long Chapter" 526) also means the same thing.
This chapter is Confucius's praise of Meng Zhi's rebellion, and the detailed historical facts can be found in the "Zuo Biography".
In the spring of the eleventh year of Lu Aigong (484 years ago), the Qi State and the Lu Left Army, under the command of Ji Zai Ran Qiu, won the victory of defending the country.
The right army of the state of Kelu was defeated, its commander Meng Ruzi was timid from the beginning, the team just met the Qi army and fled in all directions, Meng Zhianti was the most heroic warrior in the right army, he intercepted the enemy behind his palace, protected his own troops, and was the only meritorious person of the defeated side. But Meng Zhi did not take credit, but deliberately made excuses that he had no merit.
On the other hand, Meng Ruzi, after the defeat, said to others: I am at least better than Bing Chu (personal name). I didn't want to fight, and I could remain silent, but when I went to the battlefield, I shouted: Escape. As the commander of an army, he has such an understanding, why he failed, there is no need to say much.