Learn about a historical story every day - Yan Zi makes Chu

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there were many princely states at that time, and there was no end to strife. The state of Chu was becoming more and more powerful, and the king of Chu was even more ambitious, wanting to dominate the princes, and often sent troops to attack countries that disagreed with him. Since the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the monarchy of the State of Qi was not as powerful as before. In order to get rid of the threat of the State of Chu and strengthen the relations between the two countries, the King of Qi sent Yan Zi to the State of Chu for a friendly visit.

Since King Zhuang made a splash, the State of Chu quickly jumped to the rank of the five hegemons (Qi, Jin, Qin, Song, and Chu), and its national strength became stronger and stronger, and its arrogance became more and more arrogant. Under the situation that Chu was strong and Qi was weak, Yan Zi represented the State of Qi to envoy Chu, and the king of Chu was particularly strong and weak, and deliberately insulted Yan Zi before he entered the city.

The ministers knew that Yanzi was short, so they deliberately closed the city gate to let him in through the small door next to him. Yan Zi looked at the small door and greeted him

The Chu minister said, "This is a dog hole, and only those who are envoys to the dog country enter it from here." I'm a little confused now, what kind of country is your Chu country? The two ministers who came to greet him were speechless and had no choice but to open the gates of the city.

The feast meets the King of Chu. The king of Chu said, "Is there no one in the State of Qi?" He sent you as an envoy.

Yan Zi replied: "There are more than 7,000 households in the capital of the State of Qi, so many that as long as you open your sleeves, you can cover the sky and the sun; if you shed a drop of sweat per person, you can form a torrential rain, people support people, shoulder to shoulder, and your toes touch your heels, how can you say that there is no one in the country of Qi?" ”

The King of Chu said arrogantly, "If this is the case, why did you send such a person as an envoy?" ”

Yan Zi replied, "The State of Qi sent envoys to each of them, each with its own envoys, and the wise emissaries were sent out to the country where the monarch was virtuous, and the incompetent envoys were sent to the country where the monarch was immoral and talentless." I was the most incompetent person and was sent here. ”

After the King of Chu listened, he was angry and helpless, so he had to think of other ways to learn yanzi. The king of Chu rewarded Yan Ziyu with wine, and when the wine was drunk happily, two soldiers tied up a man and walked up to the king of Chu. The King of Chu asked, "What crime has this man committed?" ”

The soldier replied, "He is a native of the State of Qi and has committed theft." ”

The King of Chu glanced at Yan Zi and said, "Are you Qi people good at stealing?" ”

Yan Zi stood up unhurriedly and said, "I have heard of such a thing: an orange tree growing south of the Huai River is an orange tree, and growing north of the Huai River is a tree, but the shape of the leaves is different, but the taste of the fruit is different." What is the reason for this? It is different from water and soil. Now the common people live in the country of Qi and do not steal, when they arrive in the country of Chu, they steal, can it be that the water and soil of the country of Chu make the people good at stealing? ”

King Chu Zhuang smiled and said, "The saint is not someone who can joke with him, but I have humiliated myself." ”

Yan Zi is a tall man with outstanding wisdom.