King Chu Ling was a famous king of poverty and extravagance and tyranny in the Spring and Autumn Period, and his throne was also improper, and in 541 BC, after he killed his nephew Chu Yi'ao, he established himself as the king of the State of Chu.
This Chu Ling King was probably the first king recorded in history to like to lose weight. As the saying goes, "The king of Chu has a thin waist, and he starves to death in the palace", which refers to him.
This is the allusion.
Once upon a time, King Chu Ling had a unique aesthetic vision, he was very fond of the world's readers, all of whom had a slender waist. It didn't matter what he liked, his ministers would be guilty.
In order to meet the standard of thin waist that the king liked, the scholars and doctors took the initiative to reduce three meals a day to only one meal, and for a long time, the ministers were malnourished, hungry and dizzy, and could not stand up.
Every morning when they get up and get dressed, they must first hold their breath, then tighten their belts and stand up against the wall so that they can maintain a slender waist when they are facing the face.
After a year, the faces of Manchu civil and military officials became black and yellow.
Although they suffered so much, everyone showed their perseverance and made up their minds - in order to make their waists slender, even if they starved to death, they were willing.
Why are you so persistent? Because the king likes it. The so-called "good at the top, will be very good at the bottom" is fully proved here.
King Chu Ling's hobby tossed everyone into this way.
Coincidentally, Qi Huangong of the State of Qi, he also had a hobby.
What is his unique hobby?
Qi Huangong is "lustful" - good purple.
He likes to wear purple clothes.
When everyone saw that the king was proud of this color, the whole city also rushed to follow suit and began to wear purple clothes.
Demand drove the price of the item, and the fabric soared so much that 5 raw silks could not be exchanged for a single purple cloth. In this way, prices in the whole city will rise.
When Qi Huangong heard about this, he was very worried, so he summoned Guan Zhong to discuss countermeasures: "I like to wear purple clothes, so purple clothes are very expensive, but the people of the whole country now like to wear purple clothes, so that the price of goods has soared, now what should I do?" ”?
Guan Zhong listened to Qi Huangong's narration and said easily, "How difficult is this?" If you really want to stop this, why try it and throw away the purple clothes yourself? ”
Qi Huangong listened to Guan Zhong say so easily, and asked with some disbelief: "I can't wear purple clothes?" Ordinary people have become accustomed to wearing this kind of clothing, and it is not an easy task for them to change. ”
Guan Zhong then said that if this method does not work, you can say to the attendant next to you, "I hate the smell of purple clothes very much, so this will definitely be stopped." ”
Qi Huangong accepted Guan Zhong's suggestion and changed into a different costume the next day. Everyone looks at it, how did the monarch change his clothes so quickly? They all looked at each other.
In the courtroom, there was a minister who was about to play, and he was holding a jade wat and striding forward.
As soon as Qi Huangong saw that this minister was wearing purple clothes and was walking towards him, he immediately used the plan that Guan Zhong had given him.
Only to see Huan Gong cover his nose with his hands, pretend to be disgusted, and spit out a sentence from his throat: "Step back a little, the smell of this purple dress is really bad." ”
From then on, there were no guards who wore purple clothes anymore; gradually, no one in the city wore purple clothes anymore; and after many days, no one in the country wore purple clothes anymore.
Conclusion: Through the above two stories, the realm and level of the king, the judgment is made.
King Chu Ling liked to thin his waist, and as a result, his ministers were starved to death, and he himself did not realize that something was wrong.
Therefore, because he was unpopular later, after being overthrown, he was cornered and hanged himself.
His epithet illustrates this point--not to be diligent in becoming famous and becoming a spirit; to die is to become a spirit; to see god in death can know the spirit; to be chaotic without damaging the spirit; to sacrifice the spirit of the ghost god; to know the spirit of the ghost god; to know the spirit of the spirit; to disobey the order; to be shrewd and wise to know the spirit.
This is a kind of evil, with a negative connotation.
What about Qi Huangong? After listening to Guan Zhong's advice, he immediately changed his bad habits.
It is precisely because he is good at receiving advice and knows how to self-reflect, he finally achieved a hegemony and became one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Resources:
Warring States Policy
"Han Feizi" Warring States · Han Fei
Lao Guan Kan Chunqiu solemn statement: original works, prohibit illegal reprinting!