The Guwen Guanzhi selects thirty-four articles from the Zuo Zhuan, eight of which deal with the beauty of diplomatic rhetoric in the exchanges between princely states during the Spring and Autumn Period. 1. "Yin Rao Nephew vs. Qin Bo": The Battle of Hanyuan was greatly defeated by the Jin State, the Jin Huigong was captured, and Yin Raosheng met with Qin Mugong as an emissary of the defeated country, showing from the two aspects of the gentleman and the villain that the Jin state was united in one heart and would never yield, and that it would retreat into advance, and that it would be gentle and rigid.
2. "Zhan Xi Treat Division": Qi Xiaogong attacked the border of the Lu state, and Lu Xiangong sent Zhan Xi to treat the Qi army. Zhan Xi, as the representative of the weaker side, went to mediate and used his duties and righteousness and the "order of the first king" to pressure the other side, so that he had to give in for his own reputation.
3. "Candle Wu Retreats Qin Division": Qin and Jin joined forces with several small princely states to attack Zheng Guo, and Zheng Guo sent Candle Wu to negotiate. Taking advantage of the contradiction between Qin and Jin, Qin Bo realized that the Jin state was the biggest beneficiary of the destruction of the Zheng state, and successfully persuaded the Qin state to retreat.
4. "Wang Sun Man to Chu Zi": After years of hard work, king Zhuang of Chu was already the overlord at this time, and in the face of the declining Zhou Dynasty, the size of the victory was an extremely serious provocation to the king's power. Wang Sunman refuted him with the phrase "in Germany is not in Ding", safeguarding the dignity of the Zhou royal family.
5. "Qi Guozuo Does Not Dishonor": Jin and Qi fought, Jin Guo won, and Qi Guo sent Guo Zuobin to seek peace. In the face of the rude conditions put forward by the Jin State, Guo Zuo quoted the scriptures to rebuke from the aspects of filial piety, morality, and righteousness, and righteously and sternly, so that the other party was convinced.
6. "Chu Gui Jin Zhiying": The Chu state and the Jin state exchange prisoners. In the face of the temptation of the King of Chu, Zhiying of the State of Jin seemed to answer the question of the King of Chu directly, but in fact he put himself on the sidelines, only talking about what he should do from the perspective of his responsibility as a courtier and loyalty to the country, not being humble and not being humble, and safeguarding the country and his dignity.
7. "Lü Xiang Absolute Qin": The Jin Dynasty sent Lü Xiang to the Qin State to announce the renunciation of diplomatic relations, listing a series of facts to show that the Qin State was treacherous.
8. "Juzhi Does Not Yield to Jin": Due to the weakening of the national strength, the vassal princely states of the Jin State are becoming increasingly sluggish, and instead of reflecting on themselves, they blame the Juzhi. Juzhi's arguments speak in fact, and quote the allusions of the Zhongyuan people's "Book of Poetry", refuting sentence by sentence, and the words are elegant and straight, and finally make the Jin people admit their mistakes.
It can be seen from the above eight articles: the weaker the national strength, the more beautiful the rhetoric. Although rhetoric shows wisdom, it is also a manifestation of poor strength. Only the weak side pays attention to rhetorical skills, and the strong side often does not need it, because it can be directly crushed by strength. In the exchanges between the two countries, if there is a huge disparity in strength, the weak countries can only survive through diplomatic rhetoric. For example, Zhan Xi, Candle Zhiwu, and Wang Sunman's countries have no strength to fight a war compared to their opponents, so the rhetoric is the most euphemistic and graceful, the most powerless; if the weak country still has the strength to fight a war, the rhetoric will appear soft and rigid, and retreat is to advance. For example, the countries where Yin Raosheng, Qi Guozuo, and Lü Xiang are located, although they are defeated countries, still have the strength to organize a rebellion, and this can increase the bargaining chips; if the two countries are equal in strength, the rhetoric is much tougher. For example, the country where Zhiying and Juzhi are located and their opponent countries can be righteous and stern, argue article by article, and let the other party admire and admit their mistakes when they are finished.
Perhaps born in an era when the country is getting stronger and stronger, we do not appreciate the beauty of diplomatic rhetoric, but like "tough" and "angry".
"The United States is not qualified to speak to China condescendingly, and Chinese not eat this set!"
"Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress and enslave us, and whoever tries to do so will certainly run into a bloody hemorrhage."
"I would like to say that you are not qualified to say in front of China, and you start from the position of strength and talk to China."
The words are thousands of gold, the sound is thrown, and the people of the country listen to the blood boiling and the praise of the eight parties. The history books let me see the beauty of rhetoric, and reality made me feel the beauty of national strength, the rigidity of the strong, the fear of the fear, starting from the strength, speaking with strength.
Note: The "Zuo Zhuan" records the historical events from the common era of Lu Yin to the twenty-seventh year of the Duke of Lu'ai in chronology, and is a central event around the Spring and Autumn Period of "contending for hegemony", describing the "history of the world" with the struggle for hegemony and the powerful countries as the supplement, supplemented by the princely states that had various relations with these powers.