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Edit | Literary and Historical Chronicles
Text | Literary and Historical Chronicles
Preface
How good is Fan Ju? He let Qin unify the six kingdoms with one strategy, but he used 9 words to force the god of war to die Bai Qi. His actions are still talked about today. Is Fan Ju just a traitorous villain, or a veritable political genius?
Nirvana was reborn, and the bumpy road of young Fan Ju to study
Fan Ju was born in a very ordinary poor family, his parents died when he was very young, and he was raised by a stupid old woman since he was a child.
When he was a child, Fan Ju seemed to be very talented and intelligent, and often shrunk in the corner alone to read and study. There was an old talent in the village who found that Fan Ju was extraordinary, so he began to teach Fan Ju to read and write for free.
Under the careful cultivation of Lao Xiucai, Fan Ju quickly learned and knew the six Chinese languages, history, and classics well.
When he was 10 years old, Lao Xiucai saw that Fan Ju was extraordinary, so he persuaded him to go out and break through, otherwise it would be difficult to display his talents. Fan Ju also had this awareness in his heart, so he discussed with Lao Xiucai and decided to travel to various countries to increase his knowledge.
Lao Xiucai helped him prepare some dry food, and Fan Ju embarked on the road of wandering to study.
Fan Ju has traveled to South Korea, Zhao, Wei and other places, and studied famous teachers everywhere to learn the political systems and economic situations of various countries. He also had extensive contact with people from all walks of life to understand their suffering. This provided him with a wealth of first-hand information for later policy development.
Fan Ju was smart and studious, and soon gained systematic learning in various Chinese languages and cultures, and had his own opinions in thought.
At the age of 20, Fan Ju returned to Wei and began to think about how to enter politics and play to his strengths. He lobbied around for his ideas and wrote letters to many important officials to express his political views, hoping to be appreciated.
However, due to his humble background and no background, Fan Ju's talent was not reused, and many opinions were regarded as crazy words.
Later, Fan Ju joined the Wei delegation and accompanied the Qi envoy as a minor official. At a banquet, Fan Ju recklessly interjected to express his opinion, and was actually appreciated by King Qi.
King Qi gave Fan Ju a rich gift, saying that he was welcome to come to Qi often. Fan Ju became famous in this battle and won the reputation of "three-inch tongue".
But this move angered Wei Ran, the envoy of the Wei delegation. Wei Ran thought that Fan Ju monopolized the credit of the mission, and after returning to China, he framed Fan Ju for collaborating with the enemy and treason. At a banquet, Wei Ran ordered Fan Ju to be stripped of his clothes in public, whipped him with wattles, and threw him into a filthy toilet until he was dying.
On the verge of life and death, fortunately Fan Ju was rescued by a toilet cleaner. He fled from Wei and came to Qin, and after changing his name and killing him, he finally rose to prominence in Qin, and finally took revenge on Wei Ran, who had framed him. Fan Ju's early experience was full of dramatic ups and downs, which laid the foundation for his future prosperity.
helped Qin unify the six countries, full of credit
After Fan Ju came to the Qin State, it was not smooth at first. He pondered and finally wrote an anonymous letter to the King of Qin, in which he proposed many strategies for governing the country. After seeing this, the king of Qin was greatly appreciative, and summoned him many times to inquire about state affairs. Fan Ju's strategy impressed the King of Qin, so he reused him as a guest secretary, and later promoted to Xiangguo.
During his reign, Fan Ju pursued a diplomatic strategy of "distant friendship and close attack", first reconciling with small distant countries and then attacking neighboring large countries. According to this, Fan Ju induced the king of Qin to destroy the Wei state first and seize Handan, an important city of the Wei state. Then Qin reconciled with the distant state of Chu and turned to attack neighboring Korea. With the help of Fan Ju's strategy, the territory of the Qin State continued to expand.
At the same time, Fan Ju also assisted King Qin in internal affairs to strengthen the royal power. He managed to expel Wei Ran, a powerful minister of the Qin state, and took away the military power from Wei Ran. Wei Ran was forced to flee to another country and never returned to Qin. As a result, Fan Ju took control of power in one fell swoop, allowing the King of Qin to focus more on the use of foreign troops.
Without Fan Ju's strategic help, it would have been almost impossible to finally win the world in that Warring States period with the talent and national strength of the monarch of the Qin State.
Fan Ju's domestic policies, such as the Lian Sitting Law and the reduction of taxes, also helped the Qin Dynasty consolidate its unified power. Under his auspices, cultural unification, road construction and other measures also accelerated the realization of the centralization of power in the Qin Dynasty.
Fan Ju also participated in the unification of standard currency, weights and measures, and writing, eliminating the division left over from the Six Kingdoms. He advocated the construction of straight roads to connect Guanzhong and Kanto, and strengthened the central government's control over the local government.
In addition, he presided over the construction of a straight road connecting the capital to the Great Wall, as well as a necessary road to Mount Tai to show the sacredness of imperial power.
As Sima Qian said in "Historical Records: The Biography of Fan Sui and Cai Zelie": "Qin is so strong, and Fan Ju's strength is also."
The heart of the villain, forcing the god of war to die in vain
In 262 BC, Zhao Kuo, the general of Zhao, fought a decisive battle with Bai Qi, the commander of the Qin army, in Changping. The battle was at a stalemate from the outset, with the Qin army using clever tactics to lure the Zhao army deep into the area, besieging it for 46 days in the Daliangshan area, which had been depleted of grain and grass.
The morale of the Zhao army fell into a trough, and they could only organize a breakthrough, but they were all defeated by the Qin army. In the end, Zhao Kuo was killed in the breakout, and more than 200,000 Zhao troops surrendered.
Bai Qi won more with less in this battle, defeated the Zhao army, and seized the land of Shangdang in one fell swoop. His military talents allowed the King of Qin to see the dawn of the unification of the Six Kingdoms, and he relied on him very much. Bai Qi also took the opportunity to gain momentum in the court, and was named Wu Anjun, becoming an important general second only to the prime minister.
And this aroused Prime Minister Fan Ju's vigilance. He believes that Bai Qigong's high morale is likely to threaten his position. Moreover, after Bai Qi's victory in Changping, he pursued the victory and smashed Handan, the capital of Zhao State. Fan Ju advocated retiring the army and consolidating the results of the battle first.
The two had disagreements on strategy in the court, and Bai Qi directly criticized Fan Ju by name. This made Fan Ju embarrassed. In order to get rid of Bai Qi's henchmen, Fan Ju decided to slander Bai Qi in front of the King of Qin and minimize his military exploits.
He slandered the King of Qin many times, saying that his heart was not right, and he was reluctant to send troops for a long time, wanting to reap the benefits of the fisherman. He also said that Bai Qi gave up the great opportunity to attack Handan without authorization, and he must have two hearts. Fan Ju tried his best to spread rumors of Bai Qi's rebellion, which made the King of Qin increasingly suspicious of Bai Qi.
At the instigation of Fan Ju, the King of Qin first revoked Bai Qi's title of Wu'an Jun, and then demoted him to a commoner and placed him under house arrest in Xianyang. Three months later, when the news of the unfavorable battle on the front line of the Qin army came, the king of Qin was furious, listened to Fan Ju's advice, and ordered Bai Qi to be killed.
According to Fan Ju's suggestion, the envoy who chased Bai Qi brought an edict written by the King of Qin. There are only nine short words in the edict: "Its meaning is unconvinced, and there are more words." Bai Qi understood that this was a sign of death, and on the way away from Xianyang, he was finally forced to kill himself under the watchful eye of the messenger.
In this way, Fan Ju eliminated his strongest political opponent, Bai Qi. But this undoubtedly weakened Qin's military strength, and Bai Qi's death was a major loss to Qin's future expedition plans.
The art of chaotic Qin, Fan Ju ended miserably
In order to strengthen the centralization of power and consolidate his dominance, Fan Ju also launched a series of absurd measures.
One of the most distressing was Fan Ju's order to burn books nationwide. Any text that contains criticism of Qin's rule, even if it is only a slight rhetoric, will be confiscated and burned. As a result, countless ancient books and masterpieces were burned, leading to the loss and extinction of many schools of thought.
Among them, Mozi opposed the idea of using troops to attack cities and seize land, which was contrary to Qin's policy of strengthening the country. In order to eliminate the hidden danger of thought, Fan Ju ordered the burning of Mohist works, resulting in the almost complete disappearance of this school of thought in the long river of history.
In addition to burning books, Fan Ju also vigorously monitored scholars and officials in the court. He set up secret agents to pay attention to the words and deeds of some loyal ministers. Even if there is only the slightest suspicion, Fan Ju will immediately investigate and finally be executed. Because many of his loyal and capable ministers died unjustly in prison.
For example, Fu Shu, the reviser of the etiquette system, was framed by Fan Ju for collaborating with the enemy and treason because of the slight criticism in his words. Fu said that he was cooked to death in the market, his wife was also beheaded, and his parents committed suicide. Such unjust cases were not uncommon during Fan Ju's reign, and the rule of the Qin Dynasty was shrouded in terror.
Through the literal prison and suspicion of everything, Fan Ju established the autocratic system of the Qin Dynasty, but at the same time, it also deprived the Qin Dynasty of the possibility of reform. As a result, the minds of the vast number of scholars and doctors gradually became alienated from the royal family. This laid a hidden danger for the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in the future, and also became one of the important reasons for the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty.
This is also just as Sima Qian said, Fan Ju's "art of chaos Qin" is also.
Later, during Qin Shi Huang's eastern tour, the crown prince Fusu attempted to cause chaos, and finally died in defeat. There are also historical records that this was caused by Fan Ju's deliberate separation, and he wanted to give the crown prince to his own candidate. This made Qin Shi Huang suspicious of him, and Fan Ju was repeatedly feared by the emperor in his later years.
It was not until after the death of Qin Shi Huang that Zhao Gao joined forces with Li Si and others and finally defeated the old forces represented by Fan Ju in the palace power struggle. In the end, Fan Ju was regarded as the remnant of the old forces and was killed, and the ending was bleak.
The author thinks
Fan Ju is not only a genius in political strategy, but also an extremely unscrupulous strategist. To a certain extent, his experience reflects the reality of surviving in the troubled times at that time, and also warns future generations that the abuse of power will inevitably end in disaster.