Looking up to the ancient and modern, up and down for 5,000 years, there are only four people who can be called saints, namely: Jiang Ziya, Guiguzi, Zhang Liang, and Fan Li. This shows the weight of this leaderboard.
Pei County is known as "the enclave of the ancient dragon, the township of a generation of emperors", and is famous for the good story of "five miles and three princes". Wen Tianxiang's poem "Guo Pei Nostalgia": "Qin Shi lost his deer, and he was rich and long-faced. The prince and the general are not out of Xu Jijian. "The princes and generals of the Han Dynasty have 12 kings, 23 marquises, and 5 prime ministers. Liu Bang's ministers are mostly Peiren.
Zhang Liang, one of the saints, is not from Pei, but he has an extremely deep relationship with Pei County.
Zhang Liang was a noble son of Korea during the Warring States period, and his grandfather and father were prime ministers for two generations, and assisted five kings of Korea for 87 years. If there is no accident, Zhang Liang will undoubtedly inherit his father's business and become a talent of the general, and shine on the lintel. However, with the invasion of Qiang Qin and the collapse of the country, Zhang Liang instantly fell from a wealthy nobleman to an outlaw. Zhang Liang, the "angry youth" who hated the family and hated the family, planned the Bolangsha assassination of Qin in 218 BC that shocked the world, and the assassination failed, and Qin Shi Huang Longyan was furious, "Dasuo the world", Zhang Liang then buried his name incognito and wandered in Xiapi (now Gupi Town, Suining County). In Xiapi, the legend left by Zhang Liang is that he entered the bridge, because he can endure what ordinary people can't bear, and he was awarded the great work "The Art of War" by the peerless master Huang Shigong.
In July of the first year of Qin II (209 B.C.), Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up in Daze Township, and after Chen Sheng's death, his subordinate general Qin Jia supported the Chu nobleman Jingju as the false king of Chu, and set the capital at Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu).
Zhang Liang studied a "Taigong Art of War" in Xiapi to a great extent, and his mind was full of wisdom and talent, but he was useless. At this time, he also gathered more than 100 people and raised the banner of anti-Qin, but he was lonely and difficult to gain a foothold, and planned to lead the crowd to Jingju. In the same year, Liu Bang, the chief of the Surabaya Pavilion, was proclaimed as the Duke of Pei in Pei County, and with the help of heaven, he defeated the Qin army and captured Fengyi soon after raising his army. He garrisoned Yongya and led thousands of men to the east to attack Xiapi. Liu Bang and Zhang Liang met at this point in time, and they met in Liucheng (now Weimiao Town, Wuduan Town, Pei County).
There are many good stories about the encounter between monarchs and ministers in history, if you talk about two, there are Zhou Wen Wang Weishui River bank met Jiang Ziya, Liu Bei three Gu Zhuge Liang in the thatched house, if you talk about the third, that is Liu Bang stayed in the city and met Zhang Liang.
In this encounter, sparks burst out, breaking the earth, and rewriting the pattern of the world. Zhang Liang was impressed by Liu Bang's open-mindedness, and Liu Bang was sincerely impressed by Zhang Liang's knowledge and insights. In the process of studying the "Art of War", Zhang Liang deeply felt that it was unfathomable, and he could not understand it if he talked about this strange book with others, but when he talked about this book with Liu Bang, Liu Bang could easily understand it and draw inferences. Therefore, Zhang Liang was very surprised, and said that "Pei Gong is bestowed by heaven", and from this he decided that Liu Bang would become a big thing, so he dispelled the idea of going to Jingju and decided to follow Liu Bang.
Mountains and flowing water, Ming Jun and good ministers, Zhang Liang has since started a magnificent and vertical and horizontal life.
In the turbulent years of assisting Liu Bang to chase the world and destroy Qin and cut Chu, Zhang Liang's Wen Tao Wu strategy has become an inexhaustible example classic for the world: descending Wan to take the worm, Zuo Ce to enter the customs, admonishing the lord to settle the people, fighting Zhihongmen, Ming Xiu plank road, secretly crossing Chen Cang, Xia Yi conspiracy, painting chopsticks to block the seal, falsely soothing Han Peng, soldiers surround the wall, persuade the capital to pass the middle, admonish the Yongya, pretend to be Shendao, Mingzhe to protect himself......
If these stories are told one by one, they can be told for about a year, and if they are written one by one, they can write a long story with a grand view, in fact, many people have already written it, and it is very well written, so the story itself is no longer a waste of pen and ink here. What I want to pay tribute to with superficial pen and ink is his choice after becoming famous, his choice, his character and wisdom. Compared with his intrigues, this is the most exciting part of his life's music.
After the end of the Chu-Han War, in 202 BC, Liu Bang placed wine in the South Palace of Luoyang, feasted the ministers, and commented on himself when he summarized his work: "In the midst of strategizing, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, I am not as good as the ovary; Town the country, care for the people, give wages, endless food, I am not as good as Xiao He; Even an army of millions, the battle will be won, and the attack will be overcome, I am not as good as Han Xin. These three are all masterpieces, I can use them, so I take the world. ”
praised three people by name, and Zhang Liang ranked first, which shows his high recognition of Zhang Liang.
Liu Bang has always been a bold and atmospheric person, so he did not hesitate to reward, especially for Zhang Liang, who worked hard, he asked Zhang Liang to choose 30,000 households from Qi as a fiefdom, but Zhang Liang said: "At the beginning, I started an incident in Xiapi and met with the Lord in the reserved land, which was handed over to Your Majesty by God." Your Majesty has adopted my stratagem, and fortunately it has often taken effect, and I only wish that it is enough to receive the fiefdom, and I dare not bear 30,000 households. ”
The reward for the 30,000 households in the Qi State can be described as extremely rich, and the land left is only a projectile land, which is insignificant. It is really meaningful to ask for a seal in this special place. There is affection, righteousness, great trade-offs, and great realms.
Liu Bang pondered for a long time, agreed, and named Zhang Liang as a marquis, returning to the place where the two first met.
The cunning rabbit dies, and the lackeys cook; The birds are all gone, and the good bow is hidden; The enemy country is broken, and the ministers are killed. Looking at the previous dynasties, there is no exception. The tragic ending of Peng Yue, Han Xin and others is the most vivid example. Choice is not only a kind of wisdom, but also a kind of courage, and the courage to give up. This is the greatest courage in heaven and earth.
This is where the "sacredness" of seeking sainthood lies, you can point out the ups and downs of the rivers and mountains, or you can watch the clouds and rivers and seas boating. If you can grasp the world, you can also grasp yourself. Therefore, throughout the ages, there have been many strategists in the world, but there are only four saints.
In fact, with the gradual consolidation of Liu Bang's throne, Zhang Liang has gradually withdrawn and retreated from the "emperor's division" to the "emperor's guest", following the principle of dispensable, advancing and stopping. In the brutal struggle of Liu Bangjian to destroy the king with a different surname in the early Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang rarely participated in the plot. In the open and secret struggle of the Western Han royal family, Zhang Liang also adhered to the legacy of "intimacy". In his later years, he was even sick, basically hiding his residence and not going out. Liuhou Zhang Liang is actually an out-and-out hermit. Chest hidden heaven and earth strategy, through the cold and thin of the world, hidden in the vast micro lake, view the lotus leaf field, fish play between the lotus leaves.
Legend has it that Zhang Liang abandoned the world in his later years, traveled all over the world from the immortal red pine nuts, and disappeared, wherever he went, people are proud of it today, so that now the legendary Zhang Liang cemetery has more than ten places in the country, Weimiao Town, Pei County, and Weishan Island.
Left for the Spring and Autumn Period, the county was built in the Qin period, and in the early Tang Dynasty, it was incorporated into Pei County. The Yuan Dynasty opened the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and Liucheng became the hub of north-south transportation. During the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, due to the flooding of the Yellow River, the city sank in Weishan Lake. Since Zhang Liangchu sealed the city, it has been more than 2,200 years, and the vicissitudes of life have changed the world!
In the territory of today's Weimiao Town, a few miles away from the east of the town, there are ruins of the ancient Liucheng. There is a village in the north of the town that was once called Zifang Village, which was later changed to the current Fang Village, which is said to be the place where Liu Bang and Zhang Liang met. In recent years, counties and towns have put cultural construction in a crucial position, fully protected and excavated the historical and cultural resources of Liuhou's homeland, built Liucheng Ancient Street, and built Liuhou Zhangliang Cultural Center, casting the soul of the new town with culture, boosting the spirit of rural revitalization, and making culture a distinctive characteristic of Liuhou's homeland and a vein nostalgia for people's taste.
Approaching the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, sitting on the vast smoke of Weishan Lake, the homeland of Liuhou with thick humanities and beautiful scenery is continuing to write the legend of love and righteousness in the new era.
Source: "Mass · Mass Academy" Issue 3, 2024
Author: Yang Linjing (The author is Secretary of the Party Group and Chairman of the Pei County Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Vice Chairman of the Xuzhou Writers Association)
Editor in charge: Jia Xiaoxiao