Talk and laugh to see the world change
During the Spring and Autumn Period, hundreds of princes competed for hegemony, annexed each other, and successively presented five winners, which were the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. When history entered the Warring States period, there were only seven major princes left, and the countries were not satisfied with hegemony, but aimed at the fall and annexation of other territories, and then unified the world. Among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, first the State of Wei was the most powerful, and then the State of Qi was the largest. At the same time, the Western Qin State was rapidly developed after undergoing the Shang Martingale Transformation Method. The outward expansion of Qi and Qin and the struggle for allies became the main line of history during this period. In this situation, Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi of the Zongheng family stepped onto the stage of history.
Zhang Yi "fought against the princes from abroad", used eloquent eloquence and devious strategy, lobbied the princes, established many merits, and became an insignificant figure in the political, diplomatic, and military aspects of the Qin state. He mainly relied on diplomatic skills and adopted the strategy of continuous horizontalism, "scattering the six kingdoms and making them serve qin in the west", which greatly increased the prestige of the Qin state and produced a grand deterrent effect among the princely states. Zhang Yi's technique of even horizontalness also became the fundamental strategy of qin to destroy the Six Kingdoms and unify the world. Su Qin also played an extremely important role in the rise of weak Yan and the decline of the State of Qi, and his and Gongsun Yan's art of combining indulgences was a victory in preserving the six eastern kingdoms, so that it can be said that he single-handedly hindered the pace of history. After the death of Su Qin, Gongsun Yan and other Zongheng families, under the powerful offensive of the Qin state, the six kingdoms were threatened by Qin, although they felt the need to cooperate with and resist Qin, but there was no suitable person to advance, and the alliance of the two countries could not be formed. The countries fought endlessly, taking into account their own interests, and finally were destroyed by the Qin state one by one. One vertical and one horizontal, not vertical and not horizontal, the general trend of the world is very different. In these fierce battles between the kingdoms, these masters exerted a great influence. As Mencius's disciple Jing Chun praised, the Zongheng family "was angry and the princes were afraid, and lived in peace and rested in peace", as if the whole world was in their hands.
As an excellent cross-sectionalist, he needs to have a variety of talents, but the most important of them is undoubtedly his skillful ability. Relying on his own three-inch tongue, the Zongheng family can actually affect the development of the general trend of the world, and can be said to have brought the skills and effectiveness of tongue argumentation to the extreme. Why can a mere three-inch tongue play such a big role?
Speech is the most important communication tool for human beings. The various meanings we want to express to each other are usually stopped through words. Political struggles throughout the ages can hardly exist apart from words. People make judgments based on access to information, and the words of others are the main source of information. Relying on his control over his speech skills, he can cognitively distribute the wrong information, so as to play tricks in the logic of thought, and strive to receive the effect of vague understanding of the other party, affecting the mood of the other party, interfering with the other party's judgment, shaking the other party's will, and arousing the other party's emotions, so that he has completed his intended purpose. This is the basic basis for the triumph of tongue argument.
When dealing with people, good eloquence is considered to be one of the important talents of people. In the political struggle, countless people have invented all kinds of spectacles relying on eloquent eloquence: soaring yellow and soaring, desperate for life, turning danger into disaster, turning enemies into friends, and freezing the previous suspicions. The highest situation is the development of the general trend that affects the world.
Words that often appeared in ancient times, such as politics, war, and diplomacy, are often associated with the use of tongue-in-cheek art. The art of tongue-in-cheek often shows its important role at the most critical junctures of war.
Su Dai subdued Fan Ju with his three-inch uncorrupted tongue, and Fan Ju also subdued the King of Qin with his three-inch uncorrupted tongue to make a truce, thus objectively winning a precious time for Han and Zhao. Fan Ju also had a disagreement with Bai Qi because of this incident, and Later Bai Qi was killed, most likely because of Fan Ju's provocation and instigation in front of the King of Qin. After Bai Qi was killed, Fan Ju replaced him with his confidant Zheng Anping, but Zheng Anping was unable to capture the Zhao state. Even later, the State of Zhao was not only able to resist the attack of the State of Yan, but even combined with other princely states to stop an active attack on the State of Qin. Looking at the whole process, Zhao Guo relied on the suppression work stopped by Su Dai and Fan Ju to resist the offensive of the powerful Qin army led by Bai Qi, so that it changed (or at least slowed down) the course of history. This is what people often call the three-inch tongue, which can be used against millions of male soldiers.
A generally accepted concept among historians is that military wars between nations or regions, usually a continuation of politics, are stopped for the purpose of snatching political benefits. A war with great fanfare is a major national affair, and even if it has absolute superiority, it will make great sacrifices in economic and other aspects, so that before the war is stopped, the initiators of the war must weigh the stakes, move when they should move, and rest when they should rest. Therefore, at every critical time, the cross-sectionalists who are good at the art of tongue argument can often grasp the weaknesses and hobbies of the initiators of the war, state the interests of the war, follow the good inducements, and introduce the other party into the plan they have designed, so as to achieve the goal of benefiting their own side. When the stated stakes can be agreed upon, this subduing work can play the role of initiating or aborting the war, and the three inches of the subjugator's tongue can play the role of resisting the attack of a million troops.
There is also a situation in which the two sides that do not have a war rely on a certain cross-country who is good at verbal argument to lobby the other party and state the interests for the other party, so that it can withstand the conditions that the other side wants to achieve without a knife or a shot. Whether it is to subdue the enemy with a three-inch tongue to stop the war, or to replace the war with a three-inch tongue for the benefit of oneself when there is no war, the grand role of the three-inch tongue is fully elucidated.
Because the art of tongue argument is so effective, it has been loved by people throughout the ages, and it has played many serious roles. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang was well versed in the doctrines of the Hundred Schools of Thought and was also very good at the tongue debate of the Zongheng family, and his victory lobbying for "pen warfare and Confucianism" even affected the development of the general trend of the world. At that time, Cao Cao had defeated Liu Bei's army and marched south with superior troops, once threatening Sun Quan; Liu Bei was cornered and urgently needed to form an alliance with Sun Quan; Sun Quan's internal main surrender and main battle factions each insisted on their own words, and Sun Quan's move was undecided. In this situation, Zhuge Liang was ordered to send an envoy to Eastern Wu and stop lobbying. The political purpose of this lobbying is very clear, that is, to resolutely resist Sun Quan's decision to resist Cao Cao and promote the political and military alliance between Sun Quan and Liu Bei.
In view of Sun Quan's psychological state, Zhuge Liang first analyzed the choices that Sun Quan's side could make under the situation at that time, and its respective interests, and pointed out the risk results of indecision. Then, Zhuge Liang used the Radical General Method, on the one hand, indicating that Liu Bei, who had recently been defeated, was a Han Dynasty scholar and a talented man, and could never surrender to Cao Cao; On the one hand, he also persuaded Sun Quan, who was "the land of all Wu and the crowd of 100,000 people", to surrender to Cao Cao and still keep his head. When Sun Quan decided to unite with Shu to resist Cao, Zhuge Liang further pointed out that although the Cao army was strong in appearance, it had a fatal weakness in deepening the lone army, being tired from afar, not accustomed to water warfare, and unstable military morale, thus strengthening Sun Quan's self-confidence in victory. Finally, Zhuge Liang also analyzed the three-legged political situation that would inevitably emerge after the success of the anti-Cao resistance, which opened up a bright prospect for Sun Quan. After this series of victorious persuasions, Zhuge Liang achieved his desired goal. Sun Quan resolutely combined his attitude with Liu Bei and defeated Cao Cao at the Battle of Chibi, laying the foundation for the future Three Kingdoms. Therefore, it can be said that the composition of the three kingdoms' position has a very important connection with Zhuge Liang's superb tongue argument. Zhuge Liang also triumphantly dominated the development of the situation in the world, which once again strongly proved that the solemn history and integrity could become the palm of the hands of those who are good at tongue debate.