"Praying Mantis Catching Cicadas, Yellow Finches Behind"

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One year, King Wu wanted to attack the State of Chu. The ministers around them believed that although the odds of attacking the Chu state were great, it was not a good time, and if other princely states that wanted to attack the State of Wu were allowed to take advantage of the situation, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The far-sighted ministers advised King Wu to cancel his plan to attack the State of Chu, but the arrogant King Wu could not listen to any opinion at all, and said, "If anyone dares to stop me, I will execute him." As soon as this order was issued, even if the ministers objected in their hearts, no one dared to joke with their own lives.

When a young man who served King Wu learned of this, he also agreed with the ministers, and he could not bear to see the people of Wu suffer, so he decided to dissuade King Wu. However, he thought that the honorable ministers could not convince King Wu, and that he was only a humble servant, so how could he make King Wu listen to himself? He racked his brains and finally came up with an idea. The boy found the slingshot he had played as a child, ran to the back garden of the palace early every day to guard it, and once he found king Wu passing, he raised the slingshot and pointed it at the birds in the trees.

When King Wu passed by for the third time, he finally couldn't contain the curiosity in his heart and asked the teenager, "What did you come here early in the morning to do?" The young man waited for this opportunity, so he pretended to be mysterious and lowered his voice and said, "Great King, I have discovered an interesting thing." ”

King Wu said, "Oh? What interesting things to say, come and listen. ”

The boy said, "Did you see the cicadas in that tree?" It was barking loudly, but it didn't notice a praying mantis crouching behind it, waiting to catch it for a full meal. ”

King Wu looked in the direction the teenager was pointing, and sure enough, he saw a praying mantis hiding on a green leaf.

The young man pointed to the branches on the other side and said to King Wu, "Great King, please see that there is another yellow finch here, it stretches its neck and stares straight at the praying mantis, as long as the praying mantis pounces on the cicada and relaxes its vigilance, the yellow finch will take the opportunity to prey on the praying mantis." ”

When King Wu looked, there was indeed a yellow finch behind the praying mantis. Seeing this, King Wu's heart clattered, thinking of what the ministers had said these days.

The young man noticed that King Wu's face had changed, and knew what he was thinking, so he continued: "Great King, you just asked me what I was doing, in fact, I was waiting for the opportunity for the yellow finch to prey on the mantis, as long as it got up to catch the mantis, it would relax its vigilance behind me, so that I could easily shoot it down with a slingshot." Isn't that interesting, you say? The praying mantis wanted to eat the cicada, but did not know that there was a yellow finch behind it ready to eat it, and the yellow finch wanted to eat the mantis, but did not know that the slingshot in my hand had already been aimed at it. ”

King Wu fully understood the young man's intentions and said in a loud voice, "Good, good! You make so much sense! ”

King Wu immediately summoned his ministers to a meeting and cancelled his plan to attack the Chu state. When the ministers heard this news, they all breathed a sigh of relief and praised Wu Wang's wisdom.

Praying mantises catch cicadas, yellow finches in the back

Pronounced tángláng-bǔchán, huángquè-zàihòu. The praying mantis was about to catch a cicada, but the yellow finches were about to eat it behind it. Satirize those who are short-sighted, only concerned with immediate interests, and do not care about the evil behind them. From "Saying Yuan, Zheng Zhi".