Sima Qian, as a great historian, rarely praises people, but when he writes about Zhao Sheng, one of the four princes of the Warring States, he rarely praises him as "the best prince of the world". However, what is unexpected is that Sima Qian, after exaggerating, immediately said that Pingyuan Jun had a serious shortcoming, that is, he "did not see the general situation" and did not have a view of the overall situation, and also gave an example of saying that he was "greedy for Feng Ting's heresy, causing Zhao to trap more than 400,000 soldiers in Changping and kill several people in Handan", and was a person who "li lingzhi fainted". This is strange, why does Sima Qian say that he is a "good prince" while saying that he is "Li Lingzhi dim"? Does "Jia Gongzi" mean that Pingyuan Jun is handsome in appearance? It is estimated that Sima Qian is not so vulgar. Why? I am afraid that this has to start from the mistakes made by the Plain King.
The Plains King who makes mistakes incessantly
The story of pingyuan jun's "greedy Feng Ting heresy" that triggered the Battle of Changping is familiar to everyone, and it is not expressed here. In addition, what mistakes did Pingyuan Jun make? Let's make a list.
One is the mistake of arrogance. When Zhao Guo's general Zhao Hao was not yet famous, he was only an official in charge of collecting taxes in Zhao Guo. It is a matter of course and righteousness to cultivate land and collect grain, but the vassals of the Plain King's family rely on the power of the Plain King, and they do not pay it. Zhao Hao was also a man of great integrity who was not afraid of the powerful, and he executed nine people in charge of the Pingyuan Junjia family according to law. As the saying goes, it depends on the owner to beat the dog. The courtiers were killed, and Pingyuan Jun was furious and immediately wanted to arrest Zhao Hao and kill him. The Pingyuan Jun's courtiers refused to pay grain and taxes, and the Pingyuan Jun wanted to kill Zhao Hao, who strictly enforced the law, without asking the Qingjing, and the arrogance of the Pingyuan Jun's family up and down was evident from this.
The second is the mistake of knowing people. There were many diners under the Plains King's Gate, but when Handan was besieged and he wanted to send an envoy to the Chu State for help, he could not even find twenty "people with courage and strength and weapons". Just when Pingyuan Jun was worried, Mao Sui, who had been under his door for three years, volunteered to join the mission. Although PingYuanjun was full of doubts about Mao Sui, he really had no choice but to let Mao Sui join in. In the Chu kingdom, the king of Chu could not agree to Pingyuan Jun's request for help for a long time. Just when Pingyuan Jun was in a hurry to get on fire, Mao Sui broke in and angrily rebuked the King of Chu with his sword, and finally made the King of Chu decide to send troops to save Zhao. The things that the prestigious Plains Junjun could not do were handled by Mao Sui, who had never been in the eyes of the Plains Jun, and who was unknown, with his own boldness, and the Plains Juns certainly could not escape the negligence in recognizing people.
The third is the mistake of greed for money. The Qin army besieged Handan for a long time, and the city of Handan was almost exhausted, not only "the people of Handan, cooking bones and changing children and eating", but also the defenders of the city had to "cut wood for spears" due to lack of weapons. In the face of the imminent crisis of the fall of Handan City, although Pingyuan Jun was worried, he was reluctant to give away his huge family wealth, and the common people did not eat or wear, while the hundreds of palace ladies in his harem were still wearing silk satin and eating big fish and meat; the weapons of the defenders of the city were about to run out, and they were almost out of battle, and the bell and ding utensils he enjoyed were still the same. It can be said that Pingyuan Jun never thought of donating his family's belongings for emergency.
The Plains King who keeps correcting mistakes
According to the records of the history books, the mistakes committed by Pingyuan jun in his life are more than the three points we listed above, so some people say that the history of Pingyuanjun's life is his history of faults. Although PingyuanJun often made mistakes, he also had an advantage, that is, after every mistake, as long as he realized that he was wrong, he immediately and unconditionally admitted the mistake and corrected it.
Pingyuan Jun wanted to kill Zhao Hao, and Zhao Hao argued on the basis of reason, saying: "You are the noble prince of the Zhao State, and if you allow your family to not pay taxes and do not abide by the state's regulations now, this will weaken the effectiveness of the law; if the law loses its effectiveness, it will lead to the weakening of the country; the weakening of the country will lead to the invasion of the princes; and if the princes invade, they will destroy the State of Zhao." After the death of Zhao Guo, how can you keep your wealth? On the contrary, if a person in a high position like you takes the lead in paying taxes and abiding by the laws of the country, it will play a good role in leading the way, so that the country will be rich and strong. And as a noble relative of the Zhao Kingdom, will you still have no wealth and no status? When Pingyuan Jun heard that Zhao Hao was right, he immediately looked up to him, not only stopped punishing him, but also recommended him to the King of Zhao, so that Zhao Hao began his brilliant life.
After Ping Yuanjun led Mao Sui back from the Chu Kingdom, he reflected on his mistakes in knowing people from his heart, and publicly reviewed to everyone: "I Zhao Shengsheng is so big that I can say that I have read countless people, and I thought that I would not miss a talent, but now I have actually looked at Mr. Mao. As soon as Mr. Mao arrived in the Chu Kingdom, he prompted the Chu State to send troops to rescue Zhao, and it was really three inches of tongue that was better than a million troops! From now on, Zhao Sheng would never dare to say that he was good at observing people! After admitting his mistake, he also listed Mao Sui as a guest and paid more attention to it.
Handan was besieged, and Pingyuan Jun was unwilling to donate his family wealth, at this time a man named Li Tong could not see it anymore, and ran to Pingyuan Jun to say: "The Zhao Kingdom is so difficult now, and the State Minister's family is still so worried about eating and wearing." Where did all this wealth come from? It's not because of the existence of Zhao Guo! If the Zhao Kingdom is breached, your wealth will also disappear. Why don't you now organize all the people below the lady in the harem into the soldiers, and let them come together to defend the city; scatter your belongings to the soldiers, reward everyone, and inspire everyone's determination to defend the city to the death. In this way, if Zhao Guo is saved, are you still afraid of not getting rich? Pingyuan Junyi heard that Li Tong was right, and immediately complied, thus recruiting three thousand death squads and going out of the city to repulse the Qin army for thirty miles. At this time, it coincided with the arrival of rescue troops from Chu and Wei, and Handan successfully broke the siege.
The Plains King
After reading this, do you think that this Plain Jun is a little cute who keeps making mistakes, but also constantly correcting mistakes?
Since ancient times, people have given high praise to those who can correct mistakes, called: "Passing and being able to change, good is great." "Arguably, there's nothing more admirable than changing it. However, it is regrettable that the vast majority of people in the world face their own mistakes, they try to cover up, and sometimes they will become angry and angry, and retaliate against those who point out their shortcomings. ”
It is precisely because it is so difficult for people to admit mistakes and correct mistakes that Gongcai, another high disciple of Confucius, said: "The faults of a gentleman are like the eclipse of the sun and the moon." Too, everyone sees it. Moreover, everyone looks up to it. That is to say, Zigong said that the fault of man is like the eclipse of the sun and the moon that occurred in that day, and you cannot cover it up. But only a gentleman can be like the eclipse of the sun and the moon, not only dare to show his mistakes to everyone, but also dare to bravely correct them in front of everyone! Here, Zigong has already respected those who know mistakes and can change them as "gentlemen".
Comparing the remarks of Zixia and Zigong, if we look at Pingyuan Jun's life experience of constantly making mistakes in his life, and constantly having the courage to admit mistakes and correct mistakes, we will find that Sima Qian said that he was "the best prince of the world", not that he was handsome, but praised his virtue of having the courage to correct mistakes.
Sima Qian's comment to Pingyuan Jun tells us a common sense: people are not sages, and no one can be blameless. We are not afraid to make mistakes, we are afraid to admit that we have made mistakes. As long as we can humbly accept the criticism of others and actively correct our mistakes after making mistakes, we can win people's respect.