Han Feizi plays evil

Drill and burn tortoise shells, calculate yarrow for divination, and sign "Daji", so it was Zhao that attacked Yan State.

Drill and burn tortoise shells, calculate yarrow for divination, and omen "Daji", so it was Yan that attacked Zhao. Ju Xin served the Yan State, but it was useless, but it led to national danger, and Zou Yan's service to the Yan State was useless, but it led to the severance of the country's lifeline.

Zhao first defeated Yan and then Qi, and the domestic chaos was still arrogant, thinking that he was evenly matched with Qin, Khan was not Zhao's divination and Yan's divination was deceitful. Zhao once went north to crusade against Yan through Buzhu, intending to hold Yan hostage to resist Qin, which was "good luck".

The Zhao army advanced to Lidi, and its six cities had been conquered by the Qin state; the Zhao army entered Yangcheng, and the Qin army captured Zhao's Yedi; and when Pang sent troops to the south to rescue, the area around Yan was completely occupied by the Qin army.

Therefore, I said: Even if Zhao's divination lacks foresight for attacking Yan, it should have foreseen Qin's attack on Zhao. According to his own "great luck", the Qin State has benefited from opening up the territory, and the rescue of the Yan State has a good reputation, and the Zhao State has reduced the territory according to its own "Great Luck", and the soldiers were humiliated, and the King of Zhao could not get his wish and died, which is not the divination of the Qin State and the divination of the Zhao State deceived people. At the beginning, Wei captured Tao and Wei to the east in a few years, and a few years to attack Qin in the west but lost a lot of territory, this is not Fenglong, Wuxing, Taiyi, Wang Xiang, Seti, Liushen, Wukuo, Tianhe, Yin Robbery, Suixing and other auspicious stars have been in the west for several years, and it is not Tianqing, arc reversal, Xingxing, Yingfu, Kuitai and other fierce stars have been in the east for several years. Therefore, divination ghosts and gods are not enough to infer the outcome of a war, and the changes in the position of the stars are not enough to determine the outcome of a war. There is nothing more stupid than relying on them.

The ancient kings were devoted to being close to the people and engaged in the manifestation of the law. When their laws are clear, loyal ministers are encouraged, and punishments are resolute, traitorous ministers stop doing evil, loyal ministers are encouraged, and traitorous ministers stop doing evil, so that the territory is expanded and the monarch is noble, which is exactly the case in the Qin State;

It is the general rule of personnel that chaos and weakness will decline, and it has been the law since ancient times that those who are stable and strong will rule the world. Goujian, the king of Yue, relied on the auspicious omen shown by the precious tortoise shell to fight with the state of Wu, but there was no victory, and he became a prisoner to serve in the state of Wu.

Therefore, those who rely on the blessing of ghosts and gods will ignore the rule of law, and those who rely on the assistance of other countries will endanger the motherland, and the Cao State will rely on the Qi State and not obey the Song State, and the Song Dynasty will destroy Cao when Qi attacks Chu. The state of Xing relied on the state of Wu and did not obey the state of Qi, and when the state of Wu was attacked by Yue, Qi destroyed Xing. Xu relied on Chu and did not obey Wei, and Wei destroyed Xu when Chu attacked Song.

Zheng relied on Wei and did not obey Korea, Han destroyed Zheng when Wei attacked Chu, and now Korea is weak and a big country, and the monarch ignores the rule of law and obeys Qin and Wei. Rely on Qi and Chu as a means of maintenance. As a result, South Korea, which was already weak, became more and more likely to perish. Therefore, relying on others is not enough to expand territory, but South Korea cannot see this.

The state of Chu used troops Xu and Jun in order to attack the state of Wei, and the state of Qi invaded the land of Wei by attacking Ren and Hu, which was not enough to save Korea, but Korea did not know. These are all examples of the destruction of the motherland by relying on foreign countries without promulgating laws and regulations.

That's why I said: If you know how to govern, then a country can be rich even if it is small, and if you are cautious and trustworthy in rewards and punishments, you can be strong even if the people are small. There is no standard for rewards and punishments, although the country is very large, the army is weak, the land is not their own land, and the people are not their own people.

Without land and people, Yao Shun could not be called the king of the world, and the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties could not be strong, and the monarch rewarded excessively, and the courtiers were rewarded in vain, and the monarch entrusted the affairs of state to those who talked about the merits of the former king and Ming Jun in disregard of the law. That's why I say that this is counting on the merits of the ancients, but using the standards of the ancient rewards to reward the talkers of the present. The monarch thus rewarded excessively, and the courtiers were rewarded in vain.

If the monarch excessively rewards, his subordinates will be lucky, and if his subordinates are rewarded in vain, the merit will no longer be honored. If the people are rewarded, the people will not do their best for the monarch, so those who do not reward properly will lose the people, and the people who use the punishment improperly will no longer be afraid. If there is a reward but it is not enough to encourage meritorious service, and if there is a punishment but not enough to prohibit evil, then the country, even if it is large, must be very dangerous.

Therefore it is said that a man who is a little wise cannot let him plan things, and a man who is petty loyal cannot let him be in charge of the decrees. King Gong of Chu and King Li of Jin fought at the county tomb, and the Chu army was defeated, and King Gong was wounded.

When the battle was raging, Sima Guanzi was thirsty and asked for water to drink, and his close servant Gu Yang gave him a piece of wine. Zi Yan said, "Take it, this is wine." The servant Gu Yang said, "This is not wine. Zi Yan took it and drank it, Zi Yan liked to drink, and felt that the wine tasted sweet, so he couldn't stop drinking, and he fell asleep after getting drunk. King Gong wanted to start the war again and plan war with him, so he sent someone to call Zi Anti, and Zi Anti excused him on the pretext of heart disease.

King Gong rode to see him, entered the tent, smelled the wine and returned, saying, "I was wounded in the eye in today's battle. What I rely on is Sima, and Sima is like this, this is to ignore the gods of Chu and not care about my people. I can't restart the war with the enemy. ”

So he led his troops out of the county tomb and sentenced Sima Zi to death. Therefore, when the servant Gu Yang entered the wine, he did not hate Zianti in the first place, but was sincerely loyal to Zianti, but in the end, he happened to harm him because of this. This is to do small loyalty and harm great loyalty, so it is said: small loyalty is a scourge of great loyalty. If the person who is petty loyalist is allowed to rule the law, then he will inevitably pardon the offender and love him, so that he will be at peace with those below him, but he will hinder the governance of the people.

When the Wei state was in the process of enacting legislation and building laws and regulations, those who had meritorious deeds would be rewarded, and those who were guilty would be punished, so strong that they could correct the world and reach the power of the neighboring princes; when the laws and regulations were slackened and the rewards were chaotic, the state became weaker and weaker.

When the state of Zhao was in the process of expounding the national law and engaged in army building, the army was strong and conquered the lands of Qi and Yan; when the national law was slackened and the rulers were weak, the state became weaker and weaker. When the Yan State was showing that it was obeying the law and attaching importance to the government's decision-making, it took the Qi State as its own county in the east, and completely occupied the territory of Zhongshan in the south; when the law was discarded, the government's decision-making was no longer implemented, the left and right cronies fought with each other, and the monarch obeyed the decisions of his subordinates, so the army was weakened, the land was reduced, and the country was subject to its neighbors. Therefore, a country that strictly enforces the rule of law is strong, and a country that ignores the rule of law is weak. The contrast between the strong and the weak is so clear, but the contemporary monarch does not practice it, and the country really deserves to die.

As the saying goes, "If you have a fixed property in your family, you will not go hungry even in a famine, and if you have a fixed legal system, you will not die even if you are in danger." ”

Abandoning the fixed legal system and obeying the will of the individual will make the subordinates whitewash their own intelligence, and the subordinates will whitewash their own intelligence, and the legal prohibition will not stand. In this way, the practice of doing as you please is in practice, and the principle of the rule of law is abandoned. The principle of governing the country, and those who abandon the law that endangers it, will not be deceived by wisdom and will not be deceived by false names.

In the past, Shun sent officials to drain the flood, and Shun killed those who made meritorious service earlier than the order; Yu received the court meeting of the princes and kings on Huiji Mountain, and Yu killed him when the Fengfeng clan was late. From this point of view, the killing that precedes the order and the killing of the second order, then the first thing that was paid attention to in ancient times was to do things according to law. Therefore, if the mirror remains clear and undisturbed, the beauty and ugliness will be revealed, and the weight of the scale will be measured if it remains flat and not dried. If you shake the mirror, you can't keep it bright, and if you shake the scale, you can't keep it straight, and that's the "law". Therefore, the first king took the Tao as a routine and the Dharma as the foundation.

If the legal system is strict, the monarch's name will be honored, and if the legal system is chaotic, the monarch's name will be lost. Those who are highly intelligent and strong will act if they have a basis, and stop if they have no basis. Therefore, intelligence is a deviation and cannot be passed on to people. The Tao and the Dharma are perfect, and there are many deviations in intelligence. Only when the hanging scale is not fair, and only when the compass is set up is not round can it be done, which is the way of perfection. Because Mingjun can make the people use the Tao to correct themselves, it saves effort and merit.

Throwing away rules and relying on skill alone, abandoning the rule of law and relying on wisdom alone is the way to confuse and confuse people. The faint king made the people whitewash themselves with wisdom and skill, because they did not understand the Tao, so their efforts were in vain.

Abandoning the law and obeying the request, the ministers betrayed the officials above and received remuneration from below, so the benefits went to the private family and the power fell to the ministers. Therefore, the people did not have the intention of serving the monarch to the best of their ability, but devoted themselves to befriending the ministers. The people liked to make friends with the ministers, and the goods flowed upwards into the hands of the ministers, and the people who spoke well were appointed.

If this situation is formed, there will be fewer and fewer meritorious people. When traitorous courtiers are increasingly employed and talented courtiers are repulsed, the monarch will be confused and will not know what to do, and the people will gather and not know where to go. This is the fault of abolishing the law, ignoring merit, valuing fame, and listening to requests. Anyone who corrupts the rule of law will certainly set up a deception, pretending to have something to do to get close to the monarch, and he likes to talk about things that are rare in the world, and this is the reason why the tyrant is deceived and the virtuous minister is violated. Therefore, the courtiers praised the merits of Yi Yin and Guan Zhong, and there was a basis for illegal wisdom, and there was an excuse to praise the loyalty of Bigan and Wu Zixu for being killed. The former says that the monarch is virtuous, and the latter says that the monarch riots, which cannot be analogized, and such should be forbidden.

The monarch's legislation thinks it is correct, and now the courtiers often flaunt their personal ingenuity to deny the law of the country, which is to use wisdom and ingenuity to affirm treachery, slander the legal system, and flaunt ingenuity. Such should be forbidden, this is the principle of being a monarch.

To be a wise man, we must understand the difference between public and private, demonstrate the legal system, and give up private favors. It is the righteousness of the monarch to carry out orders and prohibitions, and it is the private duty of the courtiers to realize their own selfish interests and gain trust among friends, and not to encourage them with rewards or to stop them with punishments.

If private righteousness prevails, the country will be chaotic, and if righteousness prevails, the country will be peaceful, so there is a difference between public and private. Courtiers are selfish and righteous. Self-cultivation, honesty, fairness, and selflessness as an official are the righteousness of the courtiers; it is the selfishness of the courtiers to defile their conduct and indulge their selfish desires and benefit their families.

When the emperor is above, the courtiers will go to selfishness and do righteousness, and when the emperor is above, the courtiers will go to righteousness and practice selfishness.

Therefore, the monarch and the ministers are not of the same mind, the monarch relies on calculations to support his courtiers, and the courtiers serve the monarch by calculations, and the monarchs and ministers interact with calculations. The courtiers do not do it if they harm themselves and benefit the country, and the monarch does not do it if they harm the country and benefit the courtiers.

If the courtier's heart endangers himself, he cannot talk about his interests, and if the monarch's heart endangers the country, he cannot talk about getting close. The relationship between the monarch and the subject is a combination of calculation. As for the courtiers, they must die in danger, and they use their wisdom and strength to the fullest, and this is caused by the law. Therefore, the first kings made rewards to encourage them, and severe punishments to subdue them.

If the rewards and punishments are clear, the people will be able to fight to the death, and if the people fight to the death, the army will be strong and the monarch will be honored. If the punishment and reward are not clear, the people will seek benefits in vain, and those who are guilty will get away with it, and the result will be that the army is weak and the monarch is humble. Therefore, the first kings and ministers tried their best. Therefore, public and private affairs must not be unclear, and the law and prohibition must not be ignored, and the first king understood this truth.