In 355 B.C., Zou Ji, a minister of Qi, reported to King Qi Wei one day that when he looked in the mirror in the morning, he found himself very handsome. This is the famous story of "Zou Ji satirizing the king of Qi" in history.
This story, which is written into Chinese textbooks and needs to be memorized in full, must be familiar to most Chinese. The protagonist of the story, Zou Ji, was a minister of Qi during the Warring States Period, and when he was getting dressed one morning, he looked at his figure in the mirror and couldn't help but be self-intoxicated.
In order to confirm his beauty, he called his family, concubines, and guests, and asked them who was more handsome, himself or Xu Gong, a well-known beautiful man in Qi at that time. As a result, whether it was Zou Ji's wife, concubine or guest, they all thought he was superior without exception.
An adult, after waking up one morning, suddenly asks people everywhere to ask if he is handsome, this behavior seems a bit secondary. Fortunately, his friends and family are normal, otherwise he might have been sent to the hospital for psychiatric examination.
Two days later, Xu Gong came to him, and after careful observation, he thought that he was indeed inferior to Xu Gong's appearance. So he began to think: Since he is not as handsome as Duke Xu, why do people around him say that he is more handsome?
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that these people were either people close to him, or they had something to ask for him, so they praised him. He then used the story to advise King Qi Wei, who found it interesting and began to consider the story, and eventually he implemented a series of reforms to encourage people to put forward their opinions.
With King Qi Wei's humble advice, the strength of Qi increased rapidly and became a powerful country among all countries. When they were in school, many people may have felt very disgusted by this story because the article needs to be memorized in its entirety, and the content is difficult to remember.
Therefore, some students may think that there is something wrong with Zou Ji, why did he get up and look in the mirror? If Zou hadn't looked in the mirror, or if he had asked his wife and she replied, "Go and stay aside," the modern student would have saved a lot of trouble.
While this is just a joke, over time, another question may arise when many people look back on this story when they grow up.
Zou Ji who looks in the mirror, why can he make Qi State strong in an instant? This seemingly unreasonable result actually stems from his attitude towards life and positive actions. He used his experience and insights to successfully convince the monarch and change the country's policy.
This tells us that if we can have the courage to face our shortcomings and solve them with the right attitude, then we have the potential to change our destiny and even change the world.
Don't be defeated by the difficulties and setbacks in front of you, and use courage and determination to pursue your goals.
In the Chinese textbook, we only learned the story of Zou Ji's persuasion of the King of Qi, but ignored the historical background behind it. The strength of the Qi State did not begin with this exhortation, but an inevitable trend.
To truly understand this question, it is necessary to go back to that era. As a great power in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Qi has a long history. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Qi Huan once dominated the world and became the first overlord.
At that time, the state of Qi had become the most powerful state in the Central Plains.
The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are not the same concept, because during this period, the State of Qi experienced a change of dynasties. Although the name of the country has not changed, other aspects of the country have changed dramatically.
After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the state of Qi fell into a long-term decline. However, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, during the reign of Duke Jing of Qi, the state of Qi was briefly revived. However, Qi Jinggong did not suppress the domestic scholar family, but made them stronger.
Therefore, the Tian family rose and occupied most of the positions in the top echelons of the Qi State, elevating the monarch of the Qi State. At the beginning of the Warring States period, the Tian family openly rebelled, exiled the last monarch of the Jiang family of Qi to a small island, and occupied the entire Qi country alone.
In the early Warring States period, the state of Qi underwent a major political change, and the monarch changed his surname from Jiang to Tian. This historical event is known as the "Tian Dynasty Qi". Interestingly, this incident was only more than 30 years after Zou Ji, another famous minister of the Qi State, ridiculed the king of Qi.
The main promoter of the "Tian Dynasty Qi" was Tian He, the grandfather of King Qi Wei, who devoted his life to usurping the throne, and after several generations of efforts, finally achieved the complete control of the Tian family over the Qi Kingdom.
In the process, Tian He not only succeeded in purging the Jiang family from the Qi state, but also received the support of other vassal states.
The former is relatively easy, due to the efforts of the Tian family for several generations, the overall situation within the Qi State has been decided, and it is only a matter of time before the Jiang family is eliminated. The latter may be more complicated, in later generations, a family occupies the high-level, which is considered a usurpation, but during the Warring States period, it needs the approval of many countries to be considered a real state.
As a result, Tian He spent most of his time conducting diplomacy in the name of the Tian family, and although he went through twists and turns, he was eventually recognized by the main vassal states and made remarkable achievements.
In 386 B.C., the Wei State was matched, and the Qi State was officially canonized by the Zhou royal family, which marked the official founding of the Tian Qi State, and Tian He also became the "Qi Taigong" of the Tian Qi State in history.
However, the founding of the Tian Qi Kingdom was not all smooth sailing, and Tian He died after only three years in power. According to the primogeniture inheritance system, his eldest son Tian Yan succeeded to the throne and became the second monarch of the Tian family's Qi State.
However, it is strange that there are very few historical records of Takan.
Tian Yan, the eldest son of the Duke of Qi, was old and systematically trained when he ascended the throne. However, there is little record of his nine-year reign, and although the Qi state fought a number of wars during this period, all of them ended in crushing defeats.
In the end, Tian Yan was overthrown by his younger brother Tian Wu, who was the father of King Qi Wei.
Tian Wu may not be a person that many people have heard of, but when it comes to his other name, everyone may be more familiar with him. He is Cai Huan Gong in "Bian Que Meets Cai Huangong", and there is also a Spring and Autumn overlord named Qi Huan Gong in history.
In order to facilitate the distinction, people in later generations called him Cai Huangong. Cai here does not refer to the Cai State, but because the Cai State in the Spring and Autumn Period has been annexed by the Qi State, and one of the political centers of the Qi State is in the Shangcai region, so Tian Wu is called Cai Huan Gong.
Cai Huan Gong reigned for eighteen years, during which he did a lot of things to try to make the Qi state rise. One of the most famous measures was the establishment of a school called the Jishita Gakugu.
This is the earliest government-run institution of higher learning in Chinese history, and it gave birth to a large number of talents in the middle and late Warring States period.
Historically, during the reign of Cai Huangong, one of the founders of the Jixia School Palace, he not only established the School Palace, but also actively expanded to the outside world. During his eighteen years of rule, many things also happened in other countries, and he took the opportunity to do a lot of things.
Thus, by the end of his reign, the state of Qi was already showing signs of rising. It can be said that the change of dynasty of Qi in the early Warring States period was led by King Qi Wei's grandfather, and although his grandfather experienced a brief rebellion after his death, the Qi state did not fall into chaos.
After King Qi Wei's father succeeded to the throne, he vigorously promoted the progress of Qi and accumulated a lot of wealth.
After the establishment of the Jixia School Palace in the Qi State, the talents of the Wei State have switched over, such as Zou Ji, Chun Yuji and other cattle people who joined during the reign of Cai Huangong. After several generations of hard work, Qi has the conditions to take off.
However, before we tell the story of King Qi Wei, it is necessary to understand what was going on in other countries during his grandfather and his father's time, which helps us better understand the environment in which Qi lived.
Since King Qi Wei came to power from his grandfather, after more than 40 years, the Tian Qi State was officially founded. At the same time, the other major vassal states of the Central Plains also experienced a rich and varied history.
Among them, the Three Jin Dynasty was officially canonized by the Zhou royal family, and the Jin Kingdom disappeared and was replaced by the Three Kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei. During the founding period of these three kingdoms, the states of Zhao and Wei began to reform their internal affairs.
In fact, long before the Three Jin Dynasty carved up the Jin Kingdom, they were ready for reform. However, Zhao chose the wrong path, while Wei went in the right direction.
The reforms carried out by the Wei State are known as Li Kui's reforms, which allowed the Wei State to successfully enter the feudal state, and the system surpassed that of other countries. In the early decades of the Warring States period, the Wei state rose to prominence and established an alliance with Han and Zhao, and the Three Jin Alliances were almost unmatched.
However, as Wei became stronger, Korea and Zhao began to worry about Wei. Wei wanted to regain the land of Jin, so when the Duke of Qi applied for the opening of the state, Wei and Zhao parted ways.
At the same time, in order to consolidate his own power, Marquis Wu of Wei expelled Wu Qi, the greatest hero of Wei, and put back a prince of Qin to compete for the throne.
Two events had a profound impact on the history of the Warring States period: the departure of Wu Qi and the return of Qin Xiangong. Wu Qi carried out a profound change in the state of Chu, allowing the state of Chu to catch up with the state of Wei, and Qin Xiangong put an end to the decades-long political chaos of the state of Qin.
As a result of these events, Wei had to act as a mediator diplomatically, helping Qi liaise with the Zhou royal family. However, when King Qi Wei ascended the throne, Wei was in a situation where he was surrounded by enemies and could not exert enough pressure on Qi.
The states of Chu in the south and Qin in the west had risen, and the states of Zhao and Korea had also turned against the states of Wei. Wei's position in the history of the Warring States began to decline.
It was for this reason that the state of Qi was able to develop steadily in the course of eighteen years, and the reason was that the sea in the east and the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei in the west put less pressure on the state of Qi.
In the early Warring States period, Wei took the lead in changing the law, so talents all over the world yearned for Wei. However, with the establishment of the Jixia Academy Palace in the Qi State, due to the perennial war and domestic instability in the Wei State, a large number of talents began to leave the Wei State and turn to the more stable Qi State.
This is also one of the key factors in the rise of the Qi State. As for Zhao and Korea, development in these two countries has been unsatisfactory due to the wrong direction of reform and the threat of annexation by Wei.
Due to its unique geographical location and small territory, Korea's expansion space was greatly limited, and its main energy was contained by Zheng and Chu in the south, which could not put pressure on Qi.
This is the situation in Sanjin. And in the southern state of Chu, the situation at that time was also very complicated. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the state of Chu was almost destroyed by the state of Wu, and the leader of the state of Wu was the famous soldier saint Sun Wu.
Although the state of Chu survived this crisis with the help of the states of Yue and Qin, its national strength had undoubtedly suffered a serious loss.
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the two countries of Wu and Yue were fighting fiercely, while the state of Chu maintained a bystander attitude and recuperated their strength. When the Yue Kingdom won the war for hegemony and was hegemonic for a while, after the death of Gou Jian, the Yue Kingdom began to decline.
At this time, the state of Chu had recovered from its injuries and began to rise in the south. However, just as the state of Chu was preparing to rise again, the matter of three families splitting into Jin occurred in the Central Plains, and the newly emerged Wei State was extremely powerful and directly suppressed the state of Chu.
Wu Qi came from Wei to Chu, and with his help Chu carried out reforms, which allowed Chu to gradually regain its strength. However, Wu Qi's reforms were only carried out for six years, and then because of the death of the old Chu king, Wu Qi was liquidated by other nobles, so this reform was not completely successful.
Despite this, Chu's military power was significantly improved and could rival that of Wei. After the rise of the Chu State, due to the strength of the Wei State, various countries formed alliances against the Wei State, and the Qi State and the Chu State were in a semi-allied state, so the pressure on the Qi State was less.
Later, the state of Qin in the west also joined the ranks.
From the late Spring and Autumn period to the early Warring States period, the Qin State experienced a 60-year "Four Generations of Chaotic Government", and internal contradictions intensified. Even during that period, the Qin state was pressed and beaten by the Wei state, and Wu Qi led 50,000 recruits to almost defeat the 500,000 Qin army, and the Qin state was on the verge of collapse.
However, when the Tian state of Qi was officially established, the state of Wei returned to the prince of Qin, and after his return, he quelled the civil strife and became the historical Duke of Qin Xian. At the same time, Duke Cai Huan and Duke Qin Xian of Qi were also trying to gather power, reorganize their armies, and prepare for a war with Wei.
Due to the containment of Qin, it was difficult for Wei and Qi to take care of both. As for the Yan Kingdom in the north, its historical record is rather vague. This is not because Yan Guo did not act at that time, but because in the official history, except for the record of the monarch of Yan Guo at that time, there is almost no record of what happened to it.
The emergence of this situation is actually due to Qin Shi Huang and Xiang Yu. During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, he implemented a policy of burning books and pit Confucianism, which led to the destruction of the respective historical books of the six kingdoms.
After Xiang Yu entered Xianyang, he destroyed some of the official collection of the history of the Six Kingdoms. Therefore, the modern understanding of the history of the pre-Qin period is mainly based on the records of the Qin state, while the Yan state, as a northern country, had less exchanges with the Qin state and appeared less with other countries.
Therefore, the historical blank of the Yan Kingdom becomes understandable.
Although we cannot deny that the Yan State had limited national strength at that time, it was unable to exert too much pressure on the Qi State. The other second-rate vassal states other than the Seven Heroes of the Warring States were also in a state of decline, and although their sphere of influence was close to that of Qi, they were unable to put pressure on Qi due to their own reasons.
Therefore, the external environment of Qi at that time was not under much pressure. During the reign of Duke Cai Huan, the state of Qi could take advantage of this advantage to accumulate more national strength and lay a solid foundation for the rise of the era of King Qi Wei.
In the long course of history, there is an important trend: the Wei and Chu states made the country strong through reforms. As a result, the various vassal states of the time realized the importance of reform and began to actively prepare.
This laid the groundwork for the reforms of several major countries during the reign of King Qi Wei. In 356 BC, Cai Huan Gong unfortunately died, and although he made a great contribution to the history of the Qi State, in the eyes of most people in later generations, he was just a fool who did not follow the doctor's plan.
Against this background, King Qi Wei ascended to the throne.
When King Qi Wei ascended the throne, the western state of Qin was already ruled by Qin Xiaogong, and Shang Ying was used to change the law. The Wei state was ruled by King Hui of Wei, and the capital was moved to present-day Kaifeng, Henan, and Pang Juan, who received strong support, became the military commander of the Wei state, framing his classmate Sun Bin.
At this time, the state of Chu was strong and constantly challenged the hegemony of the Wei state. Although South Korea annexed Zheng Guo, it did not change the law until a few years later, and it was not until a few years later that Shen Bu Harm was reused and Shen Bu Harm was initiated.
After taking over the throne, King Qi Wei was immediately faced with the dual task of reforming internally and challenging the overlord authority of Wei externally. Although both of these tasks have a certain degree of difficulty, due to the accumulation of several generations of the Tian family and the efforts of Cai Huangong, King Qi Wei has already taken the lead.
Whether it is a change that requires talents, or a confrontation that requires national strength and allies, King Qi Wei has enough manpower and resources. In this context, the scene of Zou Ji meeting King Qi Wei happened in a special period.
During the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, Zou Ji held a position in the Jixia Academy, but due to his low position, his talents and ambitions could not be displayed. However, when King Qi Wei ascended the throne, Zou Ji found that he was a monarch full of determination and thirst for talents, so he decided to meet King Qi Wei in person, and used the piano to introduce the principles of governing the country, which was appreciated by King Qi Wei.
This was known as "Seeing the King with Drums and Pianos", and a few months later, Zou Ji was appointed as the Xiangguo of Qi State, taking full charge of Qi's reform work. Next, Zou Ji used the story of "looking in the mirror" to persuade King Qi Wei, which is the well-known "Zou Ji satirizes King Qi's admonition".
In fact, when we delve into the historical background, we will find that it is not important whether the mirror is reflected or not, what matters is Zou Ji's talent and determination, and the wise actions of King Qi Wei.
He just needed a story to open a new chapter in his reform plan and win the approval of King Qi Wei. With the consent of King Qi Wei, Zou Ji began to implement reforms on a large scale in the Qi State.
However, there is almost no detailed record of Zou Ji's reform plan at that time. We can only learn from the story of Zou Ji that he set up a talent management system, reused a large number of talents, and encouraged King Qi Wei to listen to opinions widely and accept suggestions with an open mind.
However, these were not the core elements of the reform, but were the things that almost all wise monarchs would do. As for why this is the case, there are two main reasons.
Another important reason in the history of the Qi State is a super figure who appeared hundreds of years ago - Guan Zhong. During his lifetime, he developed a sound economic system for the Qi state, and began to explore the land question in the course of reform, although he did not explicitly recognize private ownership of land, he began to tax land according to its quality, which actually recognized the existence of some private ownership of land.
The reform of the Qi State was relatively gentle, only slightly modified on the basis of the original system, because the process was not intense and the story was less, and the records in the history books were naturally much less.
In addition, the ideas adhered to by Zou Ji, a Legalist thinker of the Qi State, were very different from those of Shang Ying and Shen Buxi. Shang Ying advocated the rule of law and liked to formulate a complete Qin law; Shen Bu Harm advocates governing the country by art and managing the country through various techniques.
Zou Ji was more inclined to the law of imperial people, and this idea was reflected in the writings of the contemporaries of the Qi State Legalist Shen Dao.
Zou Ji advocated the rule of people, and the system of Qi was quite perfect. Therefore, when he presided over the reform of the law, he attached the most importance to the selection and use of talents. In the story of "Zou Ji Feng Qi Wang's Admonition", we can see that King Qi Wei reused a large number of outstanding talents, which greatly increased the national strength of Qi.
At the same time, during the reform period, Tian Ji, the military commander of Qi State, also introduced a super bull Sun Bin from Wei State, and he became Tian Ji's most powerful assistant. With Sun Bin's blessing, the military strength of the Qi State increased instantly.
Three years later, Qi took advantage of Wei's attack on Zhao and directly attacked Daliang, the capital of Wei, forcing Wei commander Pang Juan to withdraw his troops, and finally defeated the Wei army, which is the famous Battle of Guiling in history.
Ten years later, Qi defeated Wei again with the same strategy, which became known as the "Battle of Maling" in history. Unlike the Battle of Guiling, this time the Qi State almost completely annihilated the elite Wei soldiers of the Wei State, which caused the military strength of the Wei State to plummet.
After that, the Qin state took the opportunity to attack the Wei state, and finally occupied the Hexi region of the Wei state, and the Wei state has been in complete decline since then. And the state of Qi rose to prominence because of this war and became a new superpower.
The only fly in the ointment was that after the Battle of Maling, due to the discord between Zou Ji and Tian Ji, Tian Ji was forced to leave the Qi State.
There are many famous contradictions and conflicts in history, among which the story of the grievances between Zou Ji and Tian Ji of Qi is particularly eye-catching. The two outstanding talents were pitted against each other when competing for the position of the first minister of the Qi State.
Tian Ji's performance in the Battle of Maling earned him great prestige, and he even received Sun Bin's advice that if he gave up military power, he would take power alone. However, due to various considerations, Tian Ji did not adopt Sun Bin's suggestion and finally gave up his military power.
After Tian Ji gave up his military power, Zou Ji spread the news that Tian Ji had the intention of rebellion in order to consolidate his position and power. This incident reflects the harsh reality of the impermanence of the world and the struggle for power.
Tian Ji had no choice but to flee from Qi and Chu, and his assistant Sun Bin also went with him. This has had a great impact on the military strength of the Qi country.
This has undoubtedly become a big regret in the history of Qi State. Although Tian Ji's actions were regarded by Zou Ji as maintaining national stability and were beyond reproach, his power was too large and posed a threat to the position of King Qi.
Although the departure of Sun Bin and Tian Ji weakened the military power of Qi, Qi was already a new top power at this time, and the victory over Wei was enough to be gratifying.
The real historical process behind the story is that Zou Ji satirizes the king of Qi, and it doesn't matter whether Zou Ji looks in the mirror or not, because that story is just an excuse for him to explain his strategy.