Dong Tiezhu
Almost every Chinese knows about yue wang gouge. When it comes to Gou Jian, everyone will think of the story of his lying down and taking revenge on Wu Guo, and he has thus become a symbol of hard work and self-encouragement and hard struggle. Many people also admire Wu Zixu, who can be described as a famous loyalist in Chinese history, giving people the impression of sparing their lives and speaking bluntly. However, if we carefully read "Wu Yue Chunqiu", we will find the collapse of the image of Gou Jian and Wu Zixu: they have become two masters of lying - in Zhao Ye's pen, Gou Jian and Wu Zixu have succeeded by lying all the way. In fact, it's not just the two of them who lie! From the taibo who founded the state of Wu to the usurper who usurped the throne and plotted rebellion, from Fan Li, who was in a high position, to the fisherman who was willing to make green leaves, almost everyone was lying in different ways in the process of Wu Yue's struggle for hegemony. Why are they lying? How do they lie? Zhao Ye's colorful description of lying reflects his thinking on what issues? Interpret Wu Yue's struggle for hegemony from another angle, and understand this history from one more perspective!
If the tradition of lying in the State of Wu originated from their ancestors Gu Gong and Tai Bo, then the technique of the Yue King was not derived from ancestry. When Gou Jian encounters trouble, many times it is only by relying on the idea of the right hand and the right arm to turn the crisis into safety. These are two different models: one is to imitate the previous kings, and the other is to take the subject as the teacher. The former seems to be taken for granted, since the previous kings were sages, their traditions should naturally be inherited, and we have seen that when Shou Meng and Fu Cha abandoned the tradition of "lying", it caused devastating consequences for the Wu kingdom. The latter is a more complex model. When a person is both a courtier of the king and a teacher of the king, the role he plays is destined to be able to switch freely between lying and not lying - if the switch is successful, he becomes Fan Li; If the switch fails, it will fall into the literature.
In general, the interpretation of Fan Li and Wen Zhong mostly stays in the different choices of the two after the successful revenge. Fan Li wisely left in time to save himself; Wen Zhong, on the other hand, chose to stay in YueGuo and was given death by Gou Jian. When we look at the two from the perspective of lying, we will find that the ending of Fan Li and Wen Zhong is almost predestined.
Both Fan Li and Wen Zi can be called "teachers" of Gou Jian, and their status Chinese is higher than Fan Li at the beginning - before leaving, the ceremony is held, and the host is Wen Li instead of Fan Li. When Gou Jian expressed remorse to the courtiers who came to send him off, and felt confused about the future, it was also Wen Zi and Fan Li who gave encouragement and encouragement to Gou Jian, telling him that his current predicament may be an opportunity.
However, when the ministers began to divide their work concretely, the choice of Wen Zhong and Fan Li determined their future fate. Wen Zhong said: "The battle of the inner cultivation of the frontier, the preparation of the external cultivation of the war, the wasteland is deserted, the people are close to the people, and the affairs of the subjects are also." Fan Li said: "Assist the Lord, survive the country, do not be ashamed of the difficulties of misfortune, guard the land of humiliation, and turn against the king, and the revenge of the king, and the affairs of the subjects." "To put it simply, the literature is inside the main body, and Fan Li is outside the main body." Wen Zhong was responsible for making the Yue kingdom strong and making the people loyal to the Yue King; Fan Li was responsible for how to ensure the safety of Gou Jian in the Wu Kingdom, so that he could smoothly return to the Yue Kingdom to complete his revenge. Therefore, for Gou Jian, Fan Li's status exceeded that of Wen Zi, because from then on, Fan Li became the person who accompanied Gou Jian. In the most lonely and helpless years, Fan Li became his reliance.
Fan Li: Cover for lying
After arriving in the kingdom of Wu, once the king of Wu summoned the king of Yue to see him, "the king of Yue prostrated himself in front, and Fan Li stood in the back." This is an interesting detail that fully illustrates the status of Gou Jian and Fan Li at this time. If Gou Jian does not want to worship and has to worship, then Fan Li wants to stand. The "volt" of the hook is also true, and the reason why it is true is because he knows that only the "volt" can survive; The reason why it is false is because he obviously hides the true thoughts of not wanting to ambush in his heart. On the contrary, Fan Li was real, and at this moment, Fan Li did not need to worship, because he had no worries about his life at all, and Wu Wang Fuchai even wanted to reuse him. The sharp contrast between Fan Li's "Standing" and Gou Jian's "Volt" shows that Fan Li's status in the Wu State is actually higher than that of Gou Jian. Fan Li was obviously well aware of this, so he chose to stand. It was their tacit cooperation that Fan Li used his "truth" to cover up the "falseness" of the Yue King: in Fu Cha's view, since the courtiers of Gou Jian knew that they were higher than Gou Jian' status, then Gou Jian naturally "really" felt that his status was inferior and sincerely "volted". It can be said that Fan Li provided cover for Gou Jian's lying in the State of Wu.
Since you want to cover up, you must be true and false. Gou is fake, Fan Li is true. When Fu Cha said that the Yue King had no way and that the Yue Kingdom would perish, and advised Fan Li to change his mind and abandon Yue and return to Wu, Fan Li did not express his willingness in a vain and conciliatory manner, but clearly expressed his gratitude to Fu Cha for his great kindness, but was willing to protect himself with the practice of "protection between kings and subjects". When Fan Li made a generous statement, the Yue King wept on the ground, forming a strong contrast again. Fan Li used his "truth" to make the flattery of Gou Jian look more real. In Fu Cha's view, since Fan Li dared to truly say that he would not betray Gou Jian, then Gou Jian did not need to hide any intentions. If Fan Li also pleaded with Gou Jian as much as he did, or if he hurried to catch it as soon as he saw his husband throw an olive branch, then King Wu might instead question Fan Li's character and become even more suspicious of Gou Jian.
This cooperation model between Fan Li and Gou Jian has continued. When the King of Yue kept horses as slaves for his husband, Fan Li maintained the courtesy of a monarch at his side. Some people may ask, isn't this not telling others that they still want to return to the Yue Kingdom to become their own Yue King? This is the cleverness of Fan Li's virtual reality. If Gou Jian completely abandons the dignity of the "Yue King" at this moment, it will make Fu Cha feel suspicious. Therefore, on the one hand, Fan Li and Gou Jian show everyone the "real" side, telling Fu Cha that we still want to be "monarchs"; On the other hand, they can more effectively conceal their vengefulness and make Fu cha further believe in the lies of the deception.
Fu cha did not believe in the hook from the beginning. Not only did Fan Li and Gou Jian cooperate very successfully, but Fu Cha also imprisoned The Yue King alone in the stone chamber at the suggestion of Wu Zixu. Therefore, after the Yue King had the opportunity to see Fan Li again, the two once again cooperated to complete the pinnacle of collusion and lying- tasting the feces of the husband. This time, the two of them were still one true and one false. The King of Yue told Fan Li that King Wu was very good to him, and was particularly worried about King Wu's illness—the first half of this sentence was obviously against his heart; Fan Li said bluntly to Gou Jian that King Wu was "really not a human being", believing that King Wu was full of benevolence and morality, but only said and did not do - this is of course the truth. It can be seen that the pattern of the two of them being true and false or true and false not only appears in front of the husband, but also the way the two get along.
This is critical. Fan Li must tell the truth to Gou Jian, so that Gou Li can believe Fan Li's suggestions and be willing to use the corresponding lies. If Fan Li was also secretive about Gou Jian, then it was difficult to imagine that Gou Li would trust Fan Li 100% so much that he did not question Fan Li's suggestions—the feces of the poor husband. Gou Jian has a clear understanding of the importance of Fan Li, he knows that the reason why he can save his life is all based on Fan Li's strategy, and the key to Fan Li's strategy is that he himself does not lie - whether it is to fu cha or Gou Jian. In this regard, Fan Li and Wu Zixu are fundamentally different: Wu Zixu's accumulation of power in the State of Wu relies on lying to King Wu, while Fan Li is honest with his own king; Wu Zixu used Lu Lu to avenge himself, while Fan Li took "revenge with Jun" as his goal. Compared with the two, the high and low are immediate.
Genre: Lying to others more about yourself
We also remember that when Gou Jian traveled from the Kingdom of Yue to the Kingdom of Wu, Zhao Ye mentioned that Wen And Fan Li sent each other, with Wen Li in front and Fan Li in the back; When Gou Jian returned to Yueguo, in the case of the two of them mentioning together, the order had been changed and it had become "Xiangguo Fan Li and Dafu Species". The change in order not only represents the change in the status of the two in Gou Jian's mind, but also the embodiment of Zhao Ye's evaluation of the two.
When Gou Jian returned to The State of Vietnam to prepare for the re-entry of the government, Fan Li and Wen Zi had a small disagreement. Gou Jian asked them which day was an auspicious day, and Fan Li said that today was the day of the first noon, which was a good day. Wen Zhong said a deep-sounding but a little clichéd saying- "The front car has been overturned, the rear car must be admonished, may the king look deeply." Fan Li made a clear rebuttal, pointing out that the language was "not one and two", and listed five major reasons to prove that the Yue King was ready to come to power, one of which was that "the monarch has a difference, do not lose his reason", and once again emphasized the hierarchical difference between himself and the Yue King. We also remember that when Gou Jian was not in Vietnam, it was the language that presided over the internal affairs of Vietnam. Now that Gou Jian has returned to China, Wen Zhong is unwilling to let Gou Jian take power immediately, probably forgetting the truth that "the monarch has a difference".
Therefore, the biggest difference between Fan Li and Wen Shu is that Fan Li not only does not lie to Gou Jian, but also does not lie to himself. In other words, he does not deceive himself. In both the tradition of Chinese and Western philosophy, self-deception is an important issue. Almost everyone who talks to Socrates thinks they know everything, and then under Socrates' questioning, they find that they don't actually understand anything, and they have been lying to themselves. For example, in "Tour Suffren", Socrates meets Syphren and asks him what he is going to do. He said he went to report that his father had killed a slave. Since it was not a serious matter for an ancient Greek citizen to kill a slave, Socrates asked him curiously why he had to denounce it. You Sufren said it was out of piety. Socrates asked him what piety was, and Euphorus said that piety was to listen to God's word. Socrates asked that there were so many gods, and they were still fighting with each other, and if piety was listening to God's word, then which god's word should be listened to... So YouSuffren finally found that he didn't know anything.
There are also many people in the Analects who deceive themselves in front of Confucius. The Shu Er contains:
Chen Sifu asked, "Zhao Gong knows about etiquette?" Confucius said, "Zhi Li." Confucius retreated, and the witch horse marched in, saying: "I have heard that gentlemen are not party, and gentlemen are also party?" Jun took from Wu, for the same surname, called Wu Mengzi. The king knows the etiquette, and the one does not know the etiquette? Wu Ma looked forward to telling him, and the son said, "Qiu is also fortunate, and he has had it, and everyone will know it." ”
In this famous story, Confucius took the initiative to "hide" for Lu Zhaogong. When Chen Guo's Si Feng asked Confucius if Lu Zhaogong knew the etiquette, it was obviously provocative. He knew that Lu Zhaogong had married a woman with the same surname, and he already had the answer in his heart that Lu Zhaogong did not know etiquette, but he just wanted to see how Confucius answered. Confucius's principle is very clear, the son is the father's hidden, and the subject is naturally the king's hidden. Therefore, he refused to make a negative evaluation of Lu Zhaogong's behavior and replied with "zhili". In this case, he himself would be charged with the crime of "party". Zhu Xi's "Commentary on the Analects" said: "Helping each other hide is not for the party." "Simply put, it is to cover up the wrongs for others. However, Confucius's over-the-top is not only the king, but also the State of Lu itself. Kong Anguo pointed out: "The evil of the country is also a courtesy." This means that Confucius's "concealment" is exactly in line with etiquette, and if he directly rebukes Lu Zhaogong for not keeping the etiquette in front of Chen Guo's defeat, then although he tells the truth, he violates the etiquette. Therefore, Chen Si defeated the problem of self-deception. He thought he knew etiquette, but he didn't know that when he tried to create a moral dilemma for Confucius and let Confucius admit that Lu Zhaogong did not know etiquette, it just showed that he himself did not know etiquette--he did not know that Confucius could solve this problem by "hiding" and keeping etiquette.
In the same way, the genre is more or less self-deceptive. Like Chen Sifeng, he thought that he was the only one who remembered the "lessons of the past", and completely ignored that Gou Jian had been a slave for many years in the Wu Kingdom and had been reborn -- Gou Jian's lying salary was proof of this. Zhao Ye's narrative tells us more than once about the language. For example, after the Yue King returned to China, he "cultivated his virtue inside and spread his way externally... The people are rich and the country is strong, and the people are safe and the taotai", in the case that the yue kingdom has embarked on the road to rejuvenation, the yue king learned from the eight ministers and consulted the way to govern the country. The answer in the language is: "Love the people." The King of Yue asked how to love the people, and wenzi gave sixteen words: "Profit is harmless, success is undefeated, life is not killed, and there is no takeover from it." "This conversation seems to be decent, but in fact, the problem is that it is decent. In the case that the Yue King has adopted the policy of "the people are rich and the country is strong", Wenzhong is still there to persuade Gou to love the people, which just shows that Wenzhong does not know the right medicine, but thinks that he can give Gou jian useful advice. Although the King of Yue also affirmed his advice, it is undeniable that the gouge in Wen Zong's mind was the same gouge in wen's mind before the defeat of the war, regardless of the lives of the people for their own glory. Chinese know the story of carving a boat and asking for a sword, and the language that painstakingly persuades the people to love the people is there to "salvage" the old Yue king.
In other words, Wen's understanding of others has not kept pace with the times, which has also led to his misjudgment of himself, and he has always felt that he is a loyal servant who can give the right medicine to the Gou Jian, but he does not know that he has misjudged the disease of Gou Jian, and the medicine will naturally lack efficacy. When he advised the King of Yue to "love the people", he was obviously suspected of criticizing and practicing "not loving the people". On the contrary, Fan Li's suggestions are generally targeted and practical, whether it is to build a city and pool internally or to wait for the opportunity externally, he only gives specific suggestions to Gou, rather than "educating" from a moral height. Fan Li clearly knew that "the monarch has a bad", and perhaps he was the "teacher" of the deception in lying, but all this was for the revenge of the "king". Wu Zixu once exhorted his husband to say something that clearly indicated Fan Li's status: "The more there is a saint Fan Li, the bravest and good strategy." "Wu Zixu's evaluation has two key points: First, when referring to the threat of the Vietnamese state, the language is ignored, indicating that in Wu Zixu's view, the language is not enough; The second is to use the word saint to describe the subject, which is a very high evaluation of Fan Li. In the "Character History" written by Liu Shao of the Three Kingdoms, it is said: "The beauty of the sages of the husband is beautiful, and the beauty is smart; What is wise is precious, and it is not precious to know people. Fan Li, who was called a saint by Wu Zixu (Zhao Ye), was able to know people—not only the King of Yue and the King of Wu, but also himself.
Ironically, the language is not unaware of lying. It is precisely the language that proposes to Gou Jian that "if you want to cut down Wu now, you must seek its favor before you go forward," which shows that the enemy is still very well understood. Ji Yan, a colleague of Wen Zhong and Fan Li, once said to Gou Jian: "Fan Li knows the inside clearly, and the literary style is far away from the outside. Just looking at this sentence, you may be surprised, it was not Wen Who presided over internal affairs in those years, but it was not Fan Li who accompanied Gou in the Wu Kingdom? However, if it is understood from the perspective of lying, then Ji Yan's words can be interpreted as Fan Li's understanding of Gou Jian and himself, while Wen Zhong can see through Wu Wang. Wen Zhong did come up with nine very effective schemes that succeeded in deceiving King Wu. He referred to these schemes as the "Nine Arts", which included sending good wood to King Wu, having the State of Wu build a palace and build Gusutai; Send Xi Shi and Zheng Dan to Fu Cha, so that he is addicted to female sex; The most ruthless thing was the trick of borrowing grain from Wu Guo, and it was Wen Zhi himself who personally went to Wu Guo to complete this mission.
In front of King Wu, Wen Zhong was indeed a master of lying. He said that the country of Vietnam had been in drought for many years, the grain harvest had failed, and the people were hungry, so he came to borrow millet from the state of Wu and promised to pay it back in the coming year. Wen's lies successfully deceived the king of Wu, and Fu Cha lent it to the Yue kingdom Su Wanshi, and as a result, the next year the Yue kingdom returned to the Wu state steamed corn, and Wu guo sowed these corn seeds, and ended up with no harvest.
We can see that Fan Lijiao's collusion and lying are more out of defense, in order to allow the Yue King to save his life and return to China; Wen's lying, on the other hand, focused on the offensive in order to destroy the strength of the Wu state. Therefore, the language is not that it does not lie. The difference between the two is that Fan Li did not deceive himself, while Wen Zhong lived in self-deception.
After helping Gou Jian to successfully take revenge, Fan Li and Wen Zi congratulated the Yue King one after another. Fan Li saw from the expression of the Yue King that the Gou Jian was concerned with the territory, not the lives of the ministers. He clearly knew that his mission was over, and he also knew that he could not change the situation of "kings and ministers are bad", and if he wanted to save himself, he could only choose not to be a courtier. Fan Li originally wanted to flee directly from the State of Wu, but in order to fulfill the righteousness of his subjects, he still chose to leave after the army of Gou Jian returned to the Yue Kingdom, and this detail once again showed Fan Li's position on himself: if he was a courtier, he would be a courtesy courtier, and did not fantasize that he was more important than the king. At the same time, Wen Zhong, not only was he not alert to his own danger, but even after Fan Li reminded him that "the Yue King will surely curse his son", he still did not believe what Fan Li said. This does not mean the foolishness of the genre, on the contrary, it is the "self-confidence" of the genre, and his self-confidence stems from "self-deception". The reason why he didn't believe Fan Li's warning was because he believed that he knew Yue Wang and believed that he was smarter than Fan Li.
Before deciding to give him the death of Wen Zhi, Gou Jian once asked him: "I know that people are easy, but I know that it is difficult." How can he know the country like a man? These words were said by Gou Jian, and it was also said by Zhao Ye. Self-deception without self-knowledge is probably the root cause of the difference between the fates of Wen And Fan Li.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhong Yuan
Proofreader: Liu Wei