In the "Records of History", Sima Qian described the four princes of the Warring States as having established a biography, but only referred to as "Gongzi" as Xinling Jun. Although Sima Qian called Pingyuan Jun "Prince Of Turbidity", he also mentioned two major flaws in his body: one was that Li Lingzhi fainted and put Zhao Guo in danger; the other was that he did not have the heart of knowledge and love for talents, and the cultivation of soldiers was only to decorate the façade. In fact, meng tianjun and Chun Shenjun also have the problem of not having the vision of talent and the heart of love. In addition, Chun Shenjun was even more extinct due to greed for profits, and Meng Yijun also joined forces with the three kingdoms of Qin, Wei, and Zhao to attack the State of Qi. The following is discussed from the two aspects of raising talents and maintaining the interests of the patriarchate.
First, the vision of talent and the role of the people who are cultivated
Hou Wei was the "Supervisor of the Great Liang Yi Gate", Zhu Hai was the "Shijing Drum Knife Butcher", Mao Gong was "hidden in the Bo disciple", and Xue Gong was "hidden in the pulp seller", they all hid themselves at the lowest level, but Xin Lingjun did not despise them because of their low status, which undoubtedly fully demonstrated Xin Lingjun's vision of knowledge and love for talents. Hou Wei, Zhu Hai, Mao Gong, and Xue Gong also pointed out the direction for Xin Lingjun when he encountered difficulties, among them Hou Wei and Zhu Hai helped Xin Lingjun steal the charm to save Zhao, and Mao Gong and Xue Gong urged Xin Lingjun to return to save Wei, before for the great righteousness and after the national interest.
On the other hand, Pingyuan Jun, Meng Tianjun and Chun Shenjun either have no vision of talents, or they have no heart of love, or they are not willing to listen to the opinions of their disciples, and the role of the people they have raised is often not reflected in the level of righteousness or safeguarding national interests.
Pingyuan Jun "likes guests, and the guests cover thousands of people", but he is not a real person who knows and loves talents. Mao Gong Xue Gong was ignored by him for many years in the Zhao Kingdom, and Mao Sui did not attract his attention for three years under him. Not only that, but when the squatter (a person with a disability in his legs) asked Pingyuan Jun to kill the laughing man, Pingyuan Jun pretended to be a light and heavy soldier, but in his heart he called the person a "shaft". When the doorman thus "went more than halfway", Pingyuan Jun killed the beauty to apologize, and it is not difficult to see that all his actions are actually dominated by personal interests.
Meng Tianjun "invited the guests of the princes and the guilty of the dead", and his way of choosing soldiers can be said to be that those who come do not refuse, so there are many chicken and dog thieves and people who do evil among the doormen. In fact, he also lacks the heart of love, which is indicated by two "angry" characters in the Biography of Meng Yujun: one is that when Wei Zisan did not enter, Meng Tastejun "angrily retreated from WeiZi"; the other was that after learning that Feng Chen burned the coupon book, Meng Tastejun was "angry and summoned the envoy". The role of the people raised by Meng Tianjun was often limited to serving him personally, such as the chicken and dog thieves who helped Meng Tianjun escape from the Qin state, Wei Zi killed himself to prove that Meng Tianjun had no intention of rebellion, and Feng Chen made the people of Xue Di "pro-jun and show the good voice of the king".
In the "Biography of Chunshen Junlie", it is said that "there are more than 3,000 people in Chunshen Junke", but there are very few descriptions of this "more than 3,000 people", and the only few descriptions are negative. One is "Zhao makes the desire to boast, for the tortoiseshell hairpin ... Its guests all crept to see the Zhao envoys", saying that the envoys of the Zhao kingdom wanted to show off in the Chu people, and Chun Shenjun made the disciples dress up more pearlescently, thus making the envoys of the Zhao kingdom feel ashamed. The second is that "Zhu Ying knows that he does not use words, he is afraid of harming his body, but he will die", Zhu Ying is the only person in the biography who gives a good word for Chun Shenjun, but Chun Shenjun does not listen to his opinion at all. It is not difficult to see from this that chunshen jun yangshi is only to decorate the façade.
Second, the ultimate value orientation: whether to safeguard the interests of the patriarchate
In the Biography of the Princes of Wei, Sima Qian closely links the life of Xin Lingjun with the fortunes of the State of Wei, in order to highlight that the fundamental purpose of the Xin Ling Jun's yangshi was to serve the great righteousness and safeguard the interests of the clan state, and that the disciples raised by the Xin Ling Jun also happened to serve the great righteousness and the interests of the clan state. Therefore, Sima Qian praised: Corporal Xinling, neighboring countries are inclined to each other. As a prince, he did not dare to increase his troops. Quite know Zhu Hai, do your best to pay tribute to Hou Wei. However, he was despised and finally resigned from Zhao Cheng. Mao, Xue Jianzhong, Wangu Xisheng.
Although Pingyuan Jun was praised as "the best prince of the world", he heard Feng Ting's heresy and coveted small profits to cause the Zhao kingdom to fall into a state of perdition, so Sima Qian sighed: (Pingyuan Jun) The best prince of the Fei Fei world has not seen the general situation. The contemptible phrase "Li Ling Zhi Dim" and the heresy of Feng Ting, the Plains Jun's greed, caused Zhao to trap more than 400,000 soldiers in Changping, and Handan to die several times.
Battle of Changping
Looking at Meng Tianjun's life, he was running for personal interests, and the relationship between the people he raised and him was also maintained by self-interest. And he was even more selfish and ordered the Marquis of Qin Xiangyong to attack the State of Qi to King Zhao of Qin, so Lü Li fled the State of Qi, but the State of Qi was in danger. Therefore, Sima Qian concluded: Son of Jing Guo, grandson of King Wei. If it is strong, it is really high. Hospitality, see Heavy Plains. Chicken singing dog thief, Wei Zi, Feng Nuan. How to bear the eyelashes, Xue County in vain!
Chun Shenjun's life can be divided into two parts, the first half of which is dedicated to the interests of the Chu state, and the second half is to protect the interests of the personal interests and disregard the interests of the clan state. King Chu Kaolie was childless, and Chun Shenjun actually offered a woman pregnant with his own flesh and bones to the king of Chu, and eventually made his son crown prince. Therefore, at the end of the "Biography of Chunshen Jun", Sima Qian associated Chunshenjun with Yan Yi and Lü Buwei: Yan Yi was also chaotic in Qin, Jue, and Yiqi, and Lü Buwei was deposed.
Illustration by Chun Shenjun
It is worth noting that the originality of the second half of the "Biography of Chunshen Junlie" is actually extremely low, and the materials used are almost exactly the same as those of "Chu Kaolie Wang Wuzi" in the "Warring States Policy", which can actually see Sima Qian's own attitude.