During the Spring and Autumn period, Xianggong of the Song Dynasty, one of the Five Tyrants, was known for his admiration of benevolence and righteousness, and it is said that even Confucius's benevolence and righteousness were inspired by him. So, what kind of situation has Song Xianggong's pursuit of benevolence and righteousness reached?The story takes place when the Song and Chu states were at war in Hongshui (northwest of present-day Zhecheng County, Henan Province). The two armies confronted each other, the Song army lined up in formation, and the Chu army began to cross the river. Song Xianggong's brother Muyi suggested: "There are many Chu troops, our army is outnumbered, at this time, while the Chu army is not stable in crossing the river and the formation has not yet been arranged, we should take the opportunity to attack!."
However, Song Xianggong replied: "We are the teachers of benevolence and righteousness, how can we attack while people are crossing the river?""After the Chu army crossed the river, the military formation had not yet been completed, and Muyi once again suggested attacking. However, Song Xianggong still insisted: "The widow can't bear to attack the enemy who has not set up a formation. In the end, the Chu army completed the arrangement of the military formation, and the Song army was defeated and retreated, and Song Xianggong was also seriously wounded. This example vividly illustrates the truth: the exercise of benevolence requires a clear understanding of the object of benevolence, and benevolence towards the enemy may mean cruelty to one's own people.
If the example of Song Xianggong is not deep enough, there is also a story about benevolence and righteousness. In September of the seventh year of Kaibao (974), Zhao Kuangyin led an army of 100,000 to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the later lord Li Yu surrendered, and sent a letter to all counties to surrender the city to the Song Dynasty. Hu Ze, the commander of Jiangzhou, believed that it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity of the letter and that it was not easy to surrender. Under his leadership, everyone held on to Jiangzhou, and Cao Han led the Song army to attack for many years, but failed to conquer it.
One day, Hu Ze was sick and wanted to eat stewed fish, so the cook gave it to him, but Hu Ze felt that the fish was not delicious and wanted to kill the cook. Hu Ze's daughter-in-law hurriedly dissuaded and reminded everyone that it was not worth killing for a fish, especially when everyone was working so hard to defend the city. Hu Ze felt justified after hearing this, so he did not kill the cook. Originally, this matter was in the past, but the cook did not think so, and for the sake of safety, he fled the city wall at night, told Cao Han the truth of the city, and personally led the Song army into the city.
After Cao Han captured Jiangzhou, he launched a crazy revenge, slaughtering tens of thousands of people in the city and plundering hundreds of millions of treasures. At the same time, he put Hu Ze on a wooden donkey and prepared to escort him to the execution ground, but Hu Ze died before he could reach the execution ground due to illness, so Cao Han beheaded Hu Ze's body in order to show the public. This thought of benevolence eventually led to the destruction of the family, which shows that Hu Ze's vision was extremely unwise and he chose the wrong object to carry out benevolent and righteous acts. In fact, Dapeng learned that there were also people in the Southern Tang Dynasty who were rewarded for practicing benevolence and righteousness.
For example, when Wang Yanzheng had Jianzhou, he ordered the general Zhang to guard the city of Jianzhou, and his subordinates were beheaded because they did not report the military situation on the specified date, but Zhang cherished his talents and did not execute it immediately. After Zhang returned home, he told his wife about the matter and felt that it was difficult to decide. His wife, Lian, wittily and secretly, sent someone to tell the general: "You are in a desperate situation, flee quickly." And gave him the money for the journey. After the generals fled to the Southern Tang Dynasty, they were doing well. Later, he led his troops to capture Jianzhou, and before entering the city, he clearly stipulated that the Lian family should not be harmed.
When Lian learned about it, he sent someone to say: "The people of Jianzhou are not guilty, please forgive them!"If you want to kill, kill me and my wife. The general was indeed a benevolent man, so he ordered the soldiers to put down the **, and the people of the entire city were saved. Therefore, it can be seen that only by giving benevolence to those who are truly benevolent and righteous can we get a good reward;And to give kindness to those who do not speak of righteousness will inevitably lead to disaster.