Chen Ying, a native of Dongyang County, Donghai County (now Dongyang Village, Maba Town, Xuyi County, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province) in the late Qin Dynasty, was one of the subordinate officials of the local county order. Since childhood, he has paid attention to strengthening the cultivation of moral character, has always been honest and prudent, and is very famous in the township and county, so he is respected as a generous elder.
At that time, after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled in Daze Township, people from all over the country killed their commanders to raise troops in response, intending to jointly overthrow the tyrannical Qin. The young people of Dongyang County also killed the county commander and gathered thousands of people to elect a leader, so they invited Chen Ying out of the mountain.
Chen Ying began to excuse his inability to resign, but everyone forcibly promoted Chen Ying as the leader, and there were as many as 20,000 people in the county who followed Chen Ying, becoming a powerful team at the end of Qin. Then, the young man wanted to support Chen Ying and immediately claim the throne, wrapping his head in a green scarf, like a cangtou army, to show that this was a new army that was different from other armies.
Portrait of Chen Ying
However, the very famous Chen Ying refused to be the king, and when he changed hands three times, he resolutely refused to be the king, was very low-key, and finally died a good death. Why did he insist on doing this? This is the topic that this article will explore:
Chen Ying at the end of the Qin Dynasty, although he was very famous in the local area, why did he resolutely not claim the king?
1. Mother and son deeply understand the meaning of the six three lines of the I Ching "Tun Hexagram".
Chen Ying listened to his mother's words, resolutely not to be the king, the author thinks: Chen Ying's mother and son's behavior is a deep understanding of the I Ching "Tun Hexagram" of the six three words, and made a decision. First of all, let's interpret this proverb "that is, the deer is safe, but in the forest, the gentleman is almost as good as giving up, and he will be stingy":
This line is the third line of "Tun Hexagram". Among them, "i.e., deer" means chasing deer, and by extension, hunting birds and beasts. "Yu" refers to the ancient people who ruled over birds and beasts. Several, for the sake of opportunity. The whole phrase means: If the beast is hunted but no one in charge of the beast joins in, the beast will flee into the depths of the forest, and the gentleman sees the opportunity to do so, so he decides to abandon the pursuit, and if he continues to hunt, there will be a disaster.
陈母教子画像
Chen Ying's mother and son accurately interpreted the meaning of the six three words of "Tun Hexagram", so they decisively made the decision not to be the king, let's see how they did it?
Second, a very knowledgeable mother, a faithful son
Chen Ying was originally a scribe in Dongyang County, and his family was a prominent family in Dongyang County, and he has always been kind and generous, and has won the respect of the people of the county. Chen Ying himself inherited the family style and won the hearts of the people. Everyone heard that Chen Ying came out to be the leader, no one objected, the people were even more happy, very supportive, and wanted to elect him as the king, Chen Ying was calmer, he thought that he was only a civil official, not proficient in leading soldiers to fight, so he hesitated, so he went to ask his mother for advice.
Chen Ying's mother was a very insightful woman, she had a lot of experience in life, and when she heard that Chen Ying was going to be chosen as king, she was very opposed. And said to Chen Ying: "Although our Chen family is a prominent family in the county, we have never been a high-ranking official. Moreover, the current situation is turbulent and the situation is unclear, and if you come out to claim the king, the disaster will be greater than usual. It is better to choose another person to be the king, and you to be the assistant. If you succeed, you will be rewarded, but if you don't, people will not arrest you. ”
Chen Ying's mother and son stills
Chen Ying listened to her mother's words and resolutely opposed calling him the emperor. But the boys pushed him to be the leader. People nearby also joined Chen Ying's subordinates, and in ten days, the number of people grew from a few thousand to more than 20,000, and the prestige spread for a while. Even Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu's uncle and nephew decided to join forces with Chen Ying's troops to oppose Qin. In order to show his sincerity, Xiang Liang also personally wrote a letter to Chen Ying.
Chen Ying has been thinking about resigning from this position since he was pushed to be the leader, and now as soon as he got Xiang Liang's letter, he immediately gathered the generals and said to everyone: "The Xiang family is the general of the Chu State for generations, Xiang Liang is the general, and the nephew Xiang Yu has the courage of a thousand husbands, if you want to destroy the Qin Dynasty, it is better for us to follow General Xiang." As soon as everyone heard the reason, they defected to Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu's army. Chen Ying also unloaded the burden of everyone asking him to be king.
Soon, Xiang Liang was killed by the Qin army, and Chen Ying threw himself into Xiang Yu's name to continue the campaign. Later, Xiang Yu failed again, and Chen Ying surrendered to Liu Bang again and continued to struggle. When Liu Bang founded the country, Chen Ying was named the marquis of Tangyi, and there were 600 households in the city. In fact, this fiefdom is very low, and among the more than 100 heroes in the early Han Dynasty, Chen Ying is only the second-to-last.
Xiang Liang stills
But Chen Ying did not have any complaints, in the early Han Dynasty a large number of heroes were rectified, Chen Ying's low profile allowed him to spend his old age in peace, did not become the target of Han Gaozu's attack, and was a Taiping Marquis for 18 years. He didn't try to be famous, he lived a good life, and there was nothing better than this at that time.
3. The wisdom of Chen Ying's mother and son is the inspiration for future generations
To sum up: Chen Ying's mother and son correctly interpreted the six three lines of the I Ching "Tun Hexagram": not a hunter, but to hunt birds and beasts, the result is not in vain, and they will be hurt by birds and beasts. Therefore, wise people often give up hunting animals to avoid disasters.
That is to say: people must pay attention when doing things, and some things can be done, such as taking advantage of the right time and place, and when they have the ability to do it, they should naturally do it without hesitation. But when there are things that cannot be done and cannot be done, even if there are mountains of gold and silver in front of them, they must not do it.
Interpreting the Tun hexagram
If we only covet glory and wealth and do not do what we can, calamity will surely occur! When we encounter such a situation, we should give up and give up, we must control our greed, and do not only care about chasing prey and ignoring our own situation.
Chen Ying's mother and son understood the meaning of this line, so they resolutely refused to be kings, thus avoiding the endless disasters that followed. If Chen Ying rashly claims to be the king, he will not only make enemies on all sides, not only will he not be able to become the king in the end, but he will even be killed. Their wise decision also has profound practical significance:
In today's rapidly changing society, how to keep a clear head, how to make wise decisions, and how to deal with the relationship between power and responsibility are all issues that we need to face and think about.
Chen Ying's story tells us that only by truly understanding the needs of the times, respecting the opinions of the people, and sticking to our personal beliefs and principles, can we make decisions that are truly beneficial to society and the people, and make more outstanding contributions to the general public.
Chen Ying stills
This article was originally written by "Ruri Zhongtian 54", welcome to pay attention, learn together, and improve together!