Why should we leave room for things to happen?

Logically speaking, parents should treat their children equally and should love and care for them equally. Because every child is his own flesh and blood! However, the truth in the world often does not match the facts. The phenomenon of favoring one child over another is common in ancient times and today. Even well-educated kings and queens are no exception, especially mothers and queens. Isn't it?

In the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Jiang, the wife of Duke Wu of the State of Zheng, gave birth to two sons. The eldest was Riwensheng, and the second was Riduan. The eldest son was born in reverse order and frightened the Jiang family, so he was named Weisheng. However, Duan, the second son, was born unusually smoothly, so the Jiang family has been partial to Duan and hated Weisheng since then. Later, Duke Wu died, and Wansheng ascended the throne as his eldest son, and was known as Duke Zhuang of Zheng in history. This was a normal thing, but Wu Jiang was unhappy. Not long after Duke Zhuang came to the throne, Wu Jiang not only forced Duke Zhuang to make his youngest son Duan an uncle in the capital based on his mother's respect, but also collaborated with Duan Liyingwai within a few years and launched a military coup to overthrow Duke Zhuang's legitimate government. Unfortunately, due to the perverse behavior of Wu Jiang and Duan, the coup failed. Duan was defeated and fled, seeking political asylum abroad; Wu Jiang was expelled from the capital in anger by Duke Zhuang, placed in Chengying, and was placed under house arrest for life. Not only that, when Duke Zhuang was about to send Wu Jiang to him, he also swore to him:

"If you are not as good as Huangquan, we will never meet again!"

When Wu Jiang heard this, he could only burst into tears. Landi left the capital. But not long after Wu Jiang left, Duke Zhuang felt the happiness of his subjects' family happiness, and immediately regretted his unfilial behavior of expelling his mother. However, at this time, Duke Zhuang could not remedy his mistake. Because he had sworn an unfeeling oath to his mother Wu Jiang, as a king he could not renege on his word, so he had no choice but to make the mistake to the end. As a result, I often feel pain in my heart.

Later, the story of Duke Zhuang expelling his mother was known to Uncle Yingkao, a minister guarding the border. Uncle Yingkao asked to see Duke Zhuang on the pretext of offering game meat. Duke Zhuang felt his loyalty, and after summoning him, he gave him a banquet and food. Uncle Yingkao ate the meat and put it aside with chopsticks. Seeing this, Duke Zhuang felt strange and asked: "Why did you leave the meat when you were eating?'"

Yingkao When the uncle saw the question, he avoided the table and bowed, and said emotionally:

"Young people have mothers, and they all taste their food. If you haven't tasted your soup, please leave it behind."

< p>When Duke Zhuang heard this, he was even more ashamed. After half a day, he said nonchalantly: "You have a legacy from your mother, but I don't have one?"

Uncle Yingkao knew what he meant, but he pretended not to understand what it meant and asked: "What do you mean by that?"< /p>

For half a day, Mr. Zhuang truthfully told him about his previous love affair with his mother, and told Uncle Ying Kao about his difficulties in retracting the oath he made that day, "Nothing better than hell, no chance of meeting each other."

When Uncle Yingkao heard that it was so, he immediately laughed and said:

"What's wrong with you? If the land and the spring meet each other, who would not be like that?" ?”

Immediately, Duke Zhuang’s sadness disappeared. Later, Duke Zhuang dug a tunnel in Chengying. After the mother and son met in the tunnel, they reconciled as before.

In China’s feudal era, loving mothers and filial piety were the most basic principles of life. However, as the queen, Wu Jiang was not kind to the former, and as the king, Duke Zhuang was not filial to the queen. How can this not cause an uproar in the world's public opinion and make the virtuous minister Ying Kao Shu feel restless? Because of this, Uncle Yingkao went to Beijing to lobby Duke Zhuang, hoping that he would take his mother back, reconcile her, and set an example for the people in the world.

But how to persuade Duke Zhuang? As a minister guarding the border, generally speaking, he will not have any special strategies. After all, they were not in the court and did not know the inside story of the palace, so it was more difficult to lobby and ridicule the king. However, Uncle Yingkao had other methods. Although he didn't know the inside story of Duke Zhuang's family, he heard the public news that Duke Zhuang was expelling his mother, and thought that what Duke Zhuang did was unwise. Therefore, he went to lobby Duke Zhuang in the name of offering game to show his loyalty and filial piety. Don't underestimate the gift of game meat presented by Ying Kao Shu, but the meaning contained in it is quite profound. Firstly, it showed his loyalty to Duke Zhuang, and secondly, it made Duke Zhuang feel ashamed compared to his own mother-in-law plot. Because of this, after receiving the game from Uncle Yingkao, Duke Zhuang was moved and gave it to him. He also sincerely confided to him his regret for expelling his mother, and revealed the true story of his family's mutual strife. . As a result, Ying Kaoshu finally mastered the contextual background and verbal prerequisites necessary for lobbying.

Naturally, when Zhuang Gong expressed his difficulty in not being able to take back his promise "not as good as the underworld, we will never see each other again", Ying Kao Shu naturally used the method of "stealing the beam and replacing the pillar" to lift the language shackles that Zhuang Gong had previously imposed on him. , allowing Duke Zhuang to realize his wish to reunite with his mother without losing the king's face. This is Ying Kaoshu's wisdom and Ying Kaoshu's lobbying skills.

Zhuang Xin, after Qu Yuan, is another outstanding talent of Chu State. Although he was very dissatisfied with King Xiang's mediocrity and ignorance, for the sake of the suffering people of Chu State, his innocent heart of serving the country remained unchanged, and he still placed his hope in King Xiang, hoping to make Chu State strong again. Therefore, he made some emotional admonitions to King Xiang:

"I heard the slanderous saying, 'It is not too late to look after the dog when you see it is safe; it is not too late to mend the prison after the sheep has died.' I heard that in the past Tang and Wu were able to prosper with hundreds of miles, while Jie and Zhou destroyed the world. Although Chu is now small, it is still thousands of miles long, so how can it be more like a hundred miles? I was shocked and ashamed. Although I couldn't express it in words, I could see from my expression that I was deeply moved. So Zhuang Xin pushed the boat along the current and went down with a drum:

"The king alone can't see the dragonfly? It has six legs and four wings, flying between the sky and the earth, bending down to peck at mosquitoes and flies and eating them, and looking up to drink the nectar." "I think I have no troubles and I don't have any trouble with others. I don't know if my husband is a five-foot-tall boy, but he will add glue to his body four feet high, and the bottom will be eaten by ants."

Still silent, just nodding frequently.

"The dragonfly is small, and the oriole is the same. It bends down on the white grain, perches on the lush tree, and flaps its wings. I think I have no trouble and have no fight with others. I don't know my husband. Wang Sun, holding a bullet on the left and a pill on the right, added it to his body by almost ten feet, and used it as a move. During the day, he wandered through the lush trees, and at night, he looked at the sour and salty water."

King Xiang watched intently. Looking at Zhuang Xin, he nodded again. Zhuang Xin continued:

"The oriole is the smallest one, so it is the yellow swan. It swims in the rivers and seas, submerged in the swamps, stoops for the eels and carp, raises its head to gnaw on the spindles, and fights with its six feathers. , while Ling Qingfeng is swaying soaring high, thinking that he is in no danger and has no dispute with others. If he doesn't know how to shoot, he will repair his seals and control them. The increase will be over a hundred ren, and he will be deleted. It's easy to catch the breeze, so you can swim in the river during the day and tune into the cauldron at night." When Zhuang Xin said this, he glanced at King Xiang and saw that he was looking attentive, so he added. He opened the door:

"Huang Huang Ge, the younger one, is the reason for Cai Linghou's incident. He traveled south to Gaopi, Beiling to Wushan, drank the flow of the Ruxi River, and ate the fish of Xiangbo. On the left He holds his young concubine in his arms, hugs his daughter on his right, and rides with her through the high mountains, not caring about the country. I don’t know that the master’s order is from the king of spirit, because he saw it because of Zhu Si.”

This time King Xiang felt a little uncomfortable and seemed to be restless. But Zhuang Xin pretended not to see it, and said in one breath: "The affairs of Marquis Cai Ling are small, and the king's affairs are because of this. Marquis of Zuozhou, Marquis of Xia on the right, chariots from Yanling Lord and Shouling Lord, rice and salary, and carry to Fang Mansion The gold is galloping with him in the clouds and dreams, and he does not care about the world. I don’t know that Ranghou Fang was ordered by the King of Qin to fill the inside of the fortress and throw himself outside the fortress. ”

< p>After Zhuang Xin finished speaking, he looked up at King Xiang again and saw that his "color changed and his body trembled." From then on, King Xiang began to cheer up. Although he did not return to the state of his ancestors, he was not quickly destroyed by King Qin. And what about Zhuang Xin? Because of the admonition, King Xiang "taught him the title of Lord of Yangling and the land of Huaibei in order to hold Gui."

Prince Xiang is famous for his stupidity and tendency to believe in the words of villains, and is also familiar to Zhuang Xin. Therefore, for such a communication object, it is undoubtedly not possible to "seize it with reason", but can only be "moved with emotion".

Military "outflanking" can often achieve strategic feats of unexpected victory; then, why not try to lobby and persuade kings, especially those who are ignorant and ignorant, as a metaphor? What about the "outflanking" strategy of suspecting soldiers, taking detours, and encircling and arresting people? Just imagine, if Zhuang Xin did not go from far to near and make inroads in the east and west to calm King Xiang's mentality of accepting sarcastic remonstrances, but instead adopted a direct criticism style, could he wake up a coward like King Xiang?

It was the Warring States Period in 265 BC. King Zhao Huiwen had just died and his son King Zhao Xiaocheng succeeded to the throne. Because of his young age, his mother, the Queen Mother Zhao, ruled on behalf of King Cheng. We must know that in an era of strong predators, it is not easy for a young son and a widowed mother to establish a world, let alone a country? The Qin Empire, known as tigers and wolves, saw the sudden death of the powerful Zhao State, and immediately coveted Zhao State, and quickly mobilized troops to annex Zhao State. How could the orphaned and widowed State of Zhao resist this powerful force of oppression? So the ministers made a motion to borrow troops from the great country Qi in the east to relieve the siege.

However, the envoy from Zhao replied to the Queen Mother: "The Lord of Chang'an must be taken as a hostage, and the troops will be sent out."

What? Taking "Mr. Chang'an" as hostage? Wouldn't this cost the Queen Mother her life? Don't the people of Qi know that "Chang'an Jun" is the Queen Mother's favorite son? Joke, impossible! Queen Mother Zhao refused to accept this condition. However, as everyone knows, "rescuing troops is like putting out fire", should we just sit back and watch the demise of Zhao? No! The ministers would not agree. So there are those who are upright and bold, and practice strong remonstrance. As a result, the Queen Mother became very angry and slapped the table to warn the ministers: "If you make any further remarks about making Lord Chang'an a hostage, the old woman will spit in his face!"

Everyone said that women have the softest hearts. Move as soon as you say it. Probably the ministers of Zhao State at that time thought so too! Otherwise, why would so many ministers want to participate in admonishment? This is a vivid portrayal of "haste makes waste"? The reason why Zuo Shi Chulong was able to finally persuade the Empress Dowager Zhao and turn the Zhao Kingdom out of danger was because he adopted the opposite strategy to the officials who strongly remonstrated. This was the admonishment method of "luring the enemy deep" and "encircling and capturing them".

Zuo Shi Chulong asked to see the Empress Dowager Zhao, with the same purpose of admonishing her to ask Chang'an Jun to surrender to Qi to relieve Zhao's siege. However, Chulong was not busy asking questions. Instead, he greeted her first and made peace with her, making her think that Chulong cared about her, so she would naturally lower her guard against him and be willing to be led by him into the trap that had been laid out in advance. When Chulong saw that the Queen Mother's anger had subsided, he gradually moved towards the predetermined ambush location. Using the man's love for his son as bait to "lure the enemy deeper" led to the topic of Empress Dowager Zhao's love for Lord Chang'an. At this point, Queen Mother Zhao has entered Chulong's ambush circle. However, this is not the time to use troops. Because if you rush to attack at this time, Queen Mother Zhao, who has just been shortlisted, may immediately withdraw from the circle, and all the previous achievements of Touching the Dragon will be wasted. So, he went further and compared the difference between her love for Queen Yan and her love for Lord Chang'an. The Empress Dowager Zhao was forced to admit that she did not love the Lord of Chang'an as much as she loved the Queen of Yan. At this point, Chulong called out an ambush and surrounded the Empress Dowager Zhao in Gaixin, making her surrender and let the Lord of Chang'an surrender to Qi. As a result, Chulong's strategy of "luring the enemy deep" was completely successful. How can such advice and advice be inferior to the military strategy of "spotting autumn troops on the battlefield"?

King Xuan of Qi during the Warring States Period was well-known for his pomp and circumstance. According to "Mencius", King Xuan of Qi built a garden with a radius of forty miles on the outskirts of Linzi City in order to have fun, specifically raising elk and other rare birds and animals for hunting. This was the largest scale among the vassal states at that time. However, soon King Xuan felt that he was young and hated the complaints of the people of Qi against him. Later, when Mencius traveled thousands of miles to meet the King of Qi, during the conversation, King Xuan of Qi revealed his dissatisfaction with the small garden and the resentment of the people. He also asked Mencius: "King Wen's enclosure is seventy miles away. Is there anything? ”

After Mencius entered Qi, he learned about King Xuan’s establishment of confinement and learned about King Xuan’s cruel behavior of hunting down and killing the people. Therefore, when King Xuan thought that he had extensive knowledge of ancient and modern times and consulted him, he immediately replied: "It is said in the biography."

When King Qi heard about it, he found out that it was true. Then he further asked: "If so, how big is it?"

As soon as Mencius heard this, he immediately understood what the King of Qi meant. So he followed the trend and said: "The people still think that they are small."

"I have a confinement of forty miles, but the people think that it is big. Why?"

This Qi King Po He was an elf. When Mencius said that King Wen of Zhou's territory was within a radius of seventy miles, the common people thought it was small, so he immediately complained about his subjects. Therefore, while he pretended not to understand and questioned Mencius, he also expressed his dissatisfaction with his subjects' opposition to his construction of the garden.

When Mencius saw that King Qi was full of complaints, he took the opportunity to say: "King Wen's territory is seventy miles away. Those who eat cud and grass can go there, and those who pheasants and rabbits can go there. They are the same as the people, and the people think it is the same. Isn't it appropriate for me to go to the border and ask about the country's great ban before I dare to enter? , Isn’t it appropriate to trap him in the country, and the people think it is great?”

After Mencius finished speaking, look at the King of Qi. King Qi was silent for a long time before he nodded. After that, he no longer complained about the confinement and stopped banning people from entering the garden.

Literaturers conduct literary criticism and pay attention to "knowing people and analyzing the world"; rhetoricians conduct analysis of language skills and pay attention to "theme and situation". So, what principles should we abide by when we deconstruct and analyze Mencius’ wisdom in admonition? We believe that the deconstructive analysis of language wisdom should neither focus solely on “knowing people and analyzing the world”, nor should it focus on grasping “theme and situation”, but should take into account both aspects. In this way, we can thoroughly analyze the true meaning of a certain wisdom discourse.

We might as well take the above text of Mencius admonishing the king of Qi as the object of analysis.

King Xuan of Qi is a master who enjoys great achievements and shows off his pomp. Speaking of him, there are few people in China who don’t know that the idiom “a waste of time and money” is related to him. It is said that in addition to being good at hunting, King Xuan of Qi also had a hobby: listening to Yu playing. However, among King Xuan of Qi's 300-strong Yu playing band, there was actually a Mr. Nan Guo who could not play the Yu at all. Who would have thought? However, there are unexpected things after all. Mr. Nan Guo not only cheated by playing the Yu, but he also stayed around until the death of King Xuan, and then he was frightened by King Qi Hua's new trick of loving solo and ran away. Although people now always scold Mr. Nan Guo every time they talk about this matter, this is not Mr. Nan Guo's fault, but the fault of King Qi Xuan. If he didn't like to show off and set up a huge Yu band to give Mr. Nan Guo an opportunity, this would never have happened.

Since Qi Xuan Gong had the nature of being very happy with great achievements and fond of ostentation, when Mencius heard King Xuan ask King Wen whether the seventy-mile radius of the garden was true, he would naturally follow the trend and take advantage of the situation and said: "The people "You still think you are small" are tempting words. Firstly, he followed King Xuan's temperament, and secondly, he gradually brought the topic to the fact that "King Xuan has a limit of forty miles and the people think it is big". And when King Xuan was indeed led into an ambush by Mencius, Mencius naturally wanted to call out the ambush and capture King Xuan: pointing out that King Xuan had made a mistake in building a prison that harmed the people. This is a manifestation of the principle of "knowing people and analyzing the world" in lobbying and communication activities, and it is also a testimony of the necessity of "reduction" when we deconstruct and analyze wisdom language.

From this point of view, the principle of "knowing people and commenting on the world" is not only an effective method of literary criticism, but also a principle that we must abide by when analyzing the connotation of language communication. Of course, as we said above, adhering to the principle of “knowing people and analyzing the world” is only one aspect of the deconstructive analysis of the semantic orientation of discourse. The other aspect: "Adapting to the topic situation" is also very important. Mencius wanted to remonstrate with King Xuan of Qi that he should abolish the law that he had enacted to abuse the people, "Anyone who kills his deer is guilty of murder." He suggested that he open the gardens to enjoy the people, which was the ultimate "goal" of his lobbying. However, when and under what circumstances the topic is introduced into the "preset sequence" depends on the "situation" that "adapts to the topic". When King Xuan took the initiative to jump into the trap set by Mencius and questioned the reason why "a few people are limited to forty miles, but the people still think it is big", Mencius felt that the "situation" suitable for his lobbying "topic" already existed, so he began to King Wen and King Xuan made an extremely real and convincing comparison of the purpose and method of building gardens, which forced King Xuan to bow his head and admit his mistakes, change the policy of abusing the people, and implement measures to enjoy the happiness of the people. This is the extremely wonderful method of "making the best use of the situation" when Mencius persuaded King Xuan of Qi based on the needs of the "topic and situation". Naturally, when we conduct discourse deconstruction analysis of this method of remonstrance, we must also carefully "restore" it.

When it comes to Dongfang Shuo, the Chinese are no strangers. His wit and funny language helped him save the day and turn danger into safety several times. According to the "Han Shu·Dongfang Shuo Biography", during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he held a festival in the solstice of the year. Emperor Wu ordered the officials to sacrifice meat. However, the official prime minister had not arrived yet. Dongfang Shuo waited and could not follow Emperor Wu's imperial edict. He drew his sword and cut a piece of meat alone. He also said to his fellow officials: "I will return early in the morning, please accept the gift!"

After saying that, he walked away with his body in his arms. After the official Cheng found out about it, he informed Emperor Wu of the matter, and Emperor Wu couldn't help but get angry. How could this be true? He cut his flesh without waiting for the order. Do you still have the emperor in your eyes? ——You know, in the feudal era, the law should be beheading! ——Thinking of this, Emperor Wu immediately sent a message to Dongfang Shuo to ask: "Yesterday, I gave you meat, but I cut it with a sword and took it away without waiting for an edict. Why?"

Dongfang Shuo was speechless and kowtowed repeatedly to apologize.

When Emperor Wu saw this, he calmed down his anger. Perhaps for the sake of their usual friendship, they did not ask him about the death penalty, but just asked him to reflect on himself: "Sir, please blame yourself!"

Dongfang Shuo heard this, stood up and bowed again, and said: "Come on Shuo! Shuo Lai! How rude to receive a gift without waiting for an edict! How brave is it to cut off a lot of flesh? How merciful is it to return to Yixijun?"

, couldn't help but laugh out loud. Then he said helplessly: "To make Mr. blame himself is to praise himself!"

As a result, Emperor Wu not only did not punish Dongfang Shuo, but instead gave him a stone of wine and a hundred catties of meat to leave his wife behind.

Dongfang Shuo’s linguistic wisdom can find theoretical basis from traditional Chinese rhetoric theory.

This is why Dongfang Shuoshi followed one of the most basic principles of verbal communication with Emperor Wu: "Know people and judge the world" and "Adapt to the topic and situation." Anyone who knows a little about history knows that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was, firstly, very proud of his achievements; secondly, he liked gods and was fond of humor. Dongfang Shuo cut off his flesh without waiting for his orders. This offended his god, and naturally he was angry. Dongfang Shuo, as his favorite and close attendant, knew this. Therefore, when Emperor Wu questioned him, he had no choice but to kowtow and apologize. And when Emperor Wu's anger subsided a little and asked him to blame himself and reflect, he took the opportunity to seize a great opportunity and did what he wanted. He also laughed at and made excuses when he blamed himself, which made the angry Emperor Wu couldn't help but laugh at his humorous words. Laugh. This is the reason for the success of Dongfang Shuo's defense language of "knowing people and commenting on the world" and "adapting to the subject situation".

Language is the most precious asset that distinguishes humans from other animals. Although orangutans and apes are smart and dexterous, they have no language, and have not yet evolved into humans, and still live in the mountains. Although tigers, leopards, and lions are stronger than humans, they have no language and eventually succumb to humans. Therefore, the most wonderful and incomparable wealth of mankind is language. As long as humans are good at using it, any miracle can be created. Zhu Zhiwu's tongue retreated from Master Qin, Dongfang Shuomiao talked about resurrection from the dead, etc., weren't they clear views?

Whether language is good or bad, its effects and reactions are very important. It not only involves oneself, but also "adds to the people" and affects the behavior of "gentlemen". Just imagine, although Dongfang Shuo was extremely intelligent, if he had no words to support him and deftly surrendered to Emperor Wu, he might not have been able to escape the blame, let alone being favored, given wine and meat by Emperor Wu. Therefore, Xunzi, a famous Chinese philosopher and thinker during the Warring States Period, once summed up: The beauty of words is Mu Mu Huanghuang. ("Xunzi·Duluo")

It is also said: Giving words to others is more important than gold, stone, pearls and jade; observing people's words is more beautiful than embellished articles; listening to people's words, one is happy with bells, drums, harp and harp. ("Xunzi·Feixiang")

Looking at Dongfang Shuo today, Xunzi's words are indeed the ultimate theory.