Sun Shu'ao, The Chu State Ling Yin (Xiang Guo), was a clean and honest official, dedicated to the people, and was deeply supported by the local people. During his reign, he advocated teaching the people, spreading the government with the tao, protecting the people's livelihood, and developing the economy. Personally inspect and lead the local people to build water conservancy and irrigate farmland. Because of the water conservancy project, the crops can be irrigated in time, and the surrounding people have moved to this place to cultivate, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the society is harmonious. The water conservancy projects built by Sun Shu Ao xingxiu are called Yanlou Irrigation District (in Henan) and Qianpo (in Anhui, now known as AnfengTang), which are of great significance in the history of water conservancy in the world.
During Sun Shu'ao's tenure as Ling Yin (Xiang Guo), he reformed laws, built cities and pools, developed the economy, prospered the economy, made the country rich and the army strong, and the Chu state gradually became the hegemon of the Central Plains.
Benevolent government never places the burden of reform on the people. King Zhuang of Chu thought that the car in the Chu state was too small, and suggested that the people of the whole country should build a big car in the form of law, and Sun Shu'ao was dissuaded in time because he felt that this would increase the burden on the people. King Zhuang of Chu believed that the currency of the Chu State was too small, and it should be changed to a large coin and forced to be used by the people. Sun Shu'ao believed that the size of the coin did not make much sense, it was a waste of resources and inconvenient to carry, the currency reform was easy to cause panic among the people, the social order was unstable, as long as the people could live and work in peace and contentment was the most important, so he persuaded the king of Chu Zhuang to abolish the implementation policy of "big coins".
Sun Shu'ao was also a military expert, and in the great war between Jin and Chu, Sun Shu'ao led the Chu army to successfully defeat the Jin army in only one month, making the Chu state famous.
Sun Shu'ao's merits were great, but he was very humble, and the King of Chu zhuang repeatedly rewarded Sun Shu'ao with fiefdoms and money, but he did not want them.
Uncle Sun Ao lived in Xiangguo, his family was surrounded by disciples, and he usually ate coarse tea and light rice. Because he did not have the money to buy grain, he even asked his son to dig up wild vegetables in the mountains to eat. Because of the fatigue of Sun Shu'ao when he was 38 years old, he knew that his life was short, and warned his son: Before I was born, the king of Chu rewarded me many times, and I did not want it, and after I died, the king of Chu would definitely reward you. If you are given gold and silver treasure, do not want it, but only a piece of land. There is a place in the Chu kingdom called Sleeping Hill, which is remote and barren, and the Chu people regard him as a place where ghosts and insects haunt, and the Yue people also think that this place is unknown and no one wants to go. If you want our children and grandchildren to last, you must choose this land in order to keep your children and grandchildren from the pain of war and chaos in the future, and their lives are safe.
When Sun Shu'ao died, the king of Chuzhuang really wanted to reward his son, and his son did not want Guanlu, nor did he want anything else, nor did he want other fiefdoms, and insisted on a place of sleep. The King of Chuzhuang had no choice but to seal Sun Shu'ao's descendants to the bedchamber.
Facts have proved that Sun Shu'ao's vision is indeed very long-term, the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the conquest of the masses, those who own fertile land have died, because their land has long become a priority resource for the overlords to compete for. And Sun Shu'ao's descendants lived in the sleeping hill, and for many years no one paid attention to it. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States, from the Warring States to the end of qin, Sun Shu'ao's descendants were safe and sound.
Sun Shu'ao, as a famous scholar of the Spring and Autumn Period and a famous minister of the Chu State, he was dedicated to justice, bowed to the best of his ability, and his honest and incorruptible character made future generations of officials and eunuchs beyond their reach, and he deserved our admiration and study.