King Hui of Wei was a key figure in the transformation of the State of Wei from prosperity to decline. During his reign, the State of Wei suffered two major defeats at Guiling and Maling, completely fell from the hegemonic shrine, and has since been devastated.
The kings of a country are wise men and wise men, as well as dark kings and tyrants. The Xianjun and Ming kings can strengthen the country, and the kings of Zhou Wen, Zhou Wu, Zhou Cheng, and Zhou Kang are exemplary; the emperors and tyrants can destroy the country, and the kings of Xia, Shang, Li, and Zhou You are the representatives. In this regard, should the King Hui of Wei, who led the State of Wei downhill, be a tyrant or a tyrant?
Before the Battle of Guiling, in order to prevent King Hui of Wei from attacking Zhao, Ji Liang, the Grand Master of Wei, had painstakingly advised him: "The Great King relied on elite soldiers and strong generals to attack Handan, hoping to expand his territory and compete for the position of hegemon; I am afraid that the more such actions the Great King, the more distant he will be from the great cause of hegemony." It's like wanting to go to the Chu Kingdom, but driving north! ”
Frequent wars in a country will inevitably increase the burden on the people sharply and greatly deplete their own national strength; at the same time, frequent wars will also make the country make enemies everywhere, and the international environment will deteriorate day by day. Simply relying on force to oppress other countries and want to seek hegemony will not only do half the work, but also easily drag down themselves. Ji Liang knew this very well, and would painstakingly advise King Hui of Wei. Unfortunately, King Hui of Wei couldn't listen to it at all. As a result, although the Wei army broke through Handan, when it withdrew, it was ambushed by the Qi people and suffered a major defeat at Guiling!
On the whole, King Hui of Wei was extremely belligerent in the first half of his life, and from the first year of his succession, the foreign wars of the State of Wei were almost never interrupted. After years of exhaustion, the State of Wei suffered the defeat of Guiling first, and then the defeat of Maling. As the old saying goes, if you forget the war, you will be in danger, and if you are belligerent, you will die. The two strategic defeats consumed most of wei's national strength; then the state of Qin took the opportunity to beat up the falling water dogs and invaded the land of Hexi, so that the Wei state completely lost the opportunity to turn over.
From this point of view, it was King Hui of Wei's obstinate behavior and poor military force that led to the decline of the State of Wei. King Hui of Wei, who had been poor in arms and had been bent on going his own way for many years, should he be regarded as a tyrant or a tyrant?
To add the title of Emperor and Tyrant to King Hui of Wei, first of all, he himself felt very wronged. In the eyes of King Hui of Wei, he should be regarded as one of the few benevolent kings of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty who cared for the people.
Once, when King Hui of Wei met with the Confucian master Mencius, he poured bitter water on the spot: "The widow has exhausted his efforts for the country. When a famine broke out in Hanoi (in present-day Jiyuan, Henan), I moved the local people to Hadong (around present-day Yuncheng, Shanxi), and also transported grain from other places to Hanoi for disaster relief; when there was a famine in Hedong, I did the same. Looking at the politics of neighboring countries, no one has yet been as attentive as a widow. However, there are not many people in neighboring countries, and there are not many people under the widows. ”
King Hui of Wei said that he cared for the people, as if he were boasting, but he was not exactly talking big. In the year that the State of Wei moved its capital to Daliang (大梁, southwest of present-day Kaifeng, Henan), King Hui of Wei abolished the Fengji (present-day northeast of Kaifeng, Henan) and opened it to the people for farming. Feng Ji Zhi Xue was originally a field hunting garden reserved for the monarch. King Hui of Wei abolished the office garden and gave it to the people, which was a moral policy. In 340 BC, when the State of Wei (魏国圃田, in modern Zhongmuxi, Henan) was flooded, King Hui of Wei ordered people to dig large ditches along the outer city of the capital to drain the flood of Putian. Judging from these two events, King Hui of Wei was indeed concerned about the suffering of the people at the bottom.
But Why did King Hui of Wei care so much for the people, but he failed to attract the people of other countries to defect to the State of Wei?
Mencius, the "Yasheng," listened and responded unceremoniously: "The pigs and dogs in the kingdom eat the grain of the people, but no one stops them; some people on the road starve to death, but no one distributes the grain from the warehouse; when the people die, they say, 'It is not because of me, but because of the bad years.'" What is the difference between this and stabbing a person to death and saying, 'I didn't kill people, I killed them with weapons?' So, the great king is laughing at fifty steps and a hundred steps! When the great king no longer blames Nian Cheng for being bad, then the people of the world will naturally defect to the Wei Kingdom! ”
Although King Hui of Wei prided himself on caring for the common people, his deeds were only a little more than those of the princes of other countries, and it was not enough to enable the people to live a happy life without worries about food and clothing; and the suffering caused to the people by the frequent wars waged by the State of Wei was much higher than that of other countries. Therefore, in comparison, wei guo is only fifty steps and a hundred steps, why let the people of neighboring countries gather and follow?
Poor soldiers and obstinate, do not know the people are dead or alive, this is the first half of The life of King Hui of Wei!
However, after encountering two defeats in succession, Guiling and Maling, King Hui of Wei finally woke up. This time, King Hui of Wei was able to change, thanks to a Song man, who was Huishi.
Huishi, also known as Keiko, is one of the representative figures of the Warring States Masters (also known as the Criminal Masters). King Hui of Wei often listened to Huishi's lectures and admired his knowledge, and once reused him as Xiangguo. Most of the laws of the State of Wei during the reign of King Hui of Wei were led by Hui shi.
When the news of Maling's great defeat came, King Hui of Wei, although in pain, was extremely unwilling, and after summoning Huishi, he said: "The state of Qi is the great enemy of the widows, and I will not forget it until I die." Although the State of Wei is weak now, I still want to send troops to retaliate against the State of Qi, but I don't know how? ”
Huishi listened and quickly dissuaded, "No." I have heard that the king must be suitable for the Dhamma, and the overlord must know how to plan. The great king's proposition is really too far away from the law and the plan. The king first formed a grudge with the State of Zhao, and then fought a great war with the State of Qi. Now that the war is invincible, the country is not ready for defensive operations, and the king wants to devote the strength of the country to the country again, so that the subordinates cannot approve. If the king really wanted to take revenge on the state of Qi, it was better to change the monarch's clothes and go on a pilgrimage to the king of Qi. In this way, the king of Chu must be angry. The great king took the opportunity to send people to the two kingdoms of Qi and Chu to secretly instigate and let the two kingdoms of Qi and Chu fight each other. Attack the tired State of Qi with the powerful State of Chu, and the State of Qi will be defeated. In this way, the great king used the Chu state to destroy the state of Qi! ”
After the two victories over the State of Wei, the State of Qi was in great momentum. The strong state of Qi is bound to arouse the jealousy of the powerful state of Chu in the south. As long as the Wei people can stir up discord between Qi and Chu, a great war between Qi and Chu will be inevitable. Although the State of Qi defeated the State of Wei, the State of Qi also suffered great losses in the Battle of Maling: not only did it lose a large number of troops, but even the famous general Tian Ji was suspected and forced to flee to the State of Chu. At this time, the State of Chu, which had been resting for many years, went to attack the State of Qi, and it was not obvious who would win and who would lose?
Hearing this, King Wei Hui was greatly relieved: "Great! He immediately sent people to Qi, claiming that he was willing to submit to the King of Qi.
However, the development was somewhat unexpected: the State of Chu, which the Wei people had been looking forward to, had not yet attacked, and another powerful southern State of Yue had preemptively launched an attack on the State of Qi. Because he did not dare to face the Vietnamese army head-on, Tian Bao sent emissaries to persuade the Yue king Wu Qi to attack Chu in the south; Yue Wang Wu Qi turned his head to cut Chu, but was defeated by the King of Chu Wei in one fell swoop! After learning that it was Tian Bao who instigated WuQi to cut down Chu, king Of Chu Wei was furious and led a large army northward, resulting in a major defeat of the Qi army in Xuzhou (in present-day southeast of Tengzhou, Shandong), avenging the defeat of Ma Ling for King Hui of Wei!
The fact that King Hui of Wei, who had once been proud of his might, was able to endure humiliation and humiliation and bend over backwards shows that he has indeed tried to change. In the second half of Her Life, Queen Wei Hui deeply realized that the use of sages and honorable people could only strengthen the country and shame, and began to recruit talents from all over the world. After the edict of King Hui of Wei was issued, Mencius, Zou Yan, Chun Yu Jie (kūn), and other talents emerging from the Qi State's Jixia Xue palace all came to the State of Wei.
There is an old saying: "Knowing mistakes can be changed, and good is great!" ”
Although King Hui of Wei dragged down the State of Wei in the first half of his life, now that he knows that his mistakes can be corrected, not only can he recruit talents, but he can also learn from the flow of advice, and the prospects of the State of Wei should be greatly improved from now on, right?
Unfortunately, it backfired.
In 334 BC, King Hui of Wei and King Wei of Qi met in Xuzhou and officially became kings. In 330 BC, the Qin army defeated the Wei army at Jiaoyin (present-day Fu County, Shaanxi), and then captured Jiao (northeast of present-day Guyucheng, Sanmenxia, Henan) and Quwo (southwest of present-day Hubin District, Sanmenxia, Henan), and took control of the Kunhan Main Road. After that, King Hui of Wei had to cede Hexi to the State of Qin. In 329 BC, the Qin army once again captured the Wei state of Fenyin (fenyin, southwest of present-day Wanrong, Shanxi) and Pishi (present-day Hejin, Shanxi) and began to encroach on the land of Hedong. In the later period of King Hui of Wei, he was also forced to depose the old Xiangguo Huishi and use Zhang Yi, who was obviously an undercover Qin, as his prime minister.
King Hui of Wei, who knew that mistakes could be corrected and recruited talents, lived a life worse than a day, what was going on?
Some people say that there are many talents in the State of Wei, but King Hui of Wei does not know how to use people.
When the Battle of Maling was just defeated, in order to obtain the assistance of the Zhao state, King Hui of Wei sent his minister Pang Liang to accompany the crown prince to Handan as a hostage. Pang Liang once made a county order, because of the skill of making power and scheming, his subordinates were in awe of him and did not dare to deceive him at all. Choosing Pang Liang to accompany the Crown Prince of Wei, presumably King Hui of Wei also greatly appreciated his talents. However, perhaps because pang juan of the same clan was the culprit in the defeat of the two major wars of Guiling and Maling, many people up and down the Wei state were extremely suspicious of him.
In order to eliminate Wei Huiwang's suspicions, Pang Onion deliberately used the story of "three people becoming tigers" to compare his situation before leaving. After hearing this, King Wei Hui assured him in person: "The widow himself knows how to distinguish between true and false. So, Pang Liang was relieved to go on the road. Unfortunately, not long after he left, King Hui of Wei was bombarded with all kinds of rumors all day. Finally, after the crown prince returned to the Kingdom of Wei, King Hui of Wei never summoned Pang Liang again!
Employ people without doubt, doubtful people do not use. Wei Hui wang's ear roots are so soft, how can he really use talents?
However, the reason why King Hui of Wei was unable to revive the State of Wei was not his employment, but his governing philosophy. If you can understand the hidden thinking behind King Hui of Wei's employment, you may be able to understand why the State of Wei collapsed after the Battle of Maling.
At that time, Wei Wenhou reused Li Wu to implement the change of law, which made the State of Wei strong. The father and son of Marquis Wu of Wei and King Hui of Wei were actually eating the old books of Marquis Wen of Wei. In the middle and late period of King Hui of Wei, he reused the "famous criminal master" Hui Shi as a minister and promoted "governing the country according to law"—which precisely reflected The insistence of King Hui of Wei on his insistence on making progress.
What is the difference between Huishi's "rule of law" and Li Wu's and Shang Martin's "rule of law"?
This can be seen in Huishi's friends.
Huishi's closest friend is Zhuangzi, a representative figure of Taoism. The core idea of Taoism is to "go with the flow" and not to forcibly change the status quo. Although Huishi and Zhuangzi are representatives of different academic schools and have different academic views, since the two are close friends, their ideas must be similar to each other. Zhuangzi once commented on Huishi: "Since the death of my master (referring to Huishi), I have no hostage (opponent) and I have nothing to say!" Judging from the experience of the two people's interaction, the Taoist advocate of "going with the flow", Huishi was also deeply affected. Otherwise, the two wouldn't have gotten that close.
Therefore, Huishi's "rule of law" is a "rule of law" based on adapting to the existing system and national conditions, and will not be a drastic change. Although criminal celebrities emphasize "ruling the country by law", their so-called "law" refers to specific legal provisions, not the institutional changes advocated by Li Wu and Shang Martingale Transformation Law.
This is the fundamental difference between Huishi's "rule of law" and Li Wu's and Shang Martingale's transformation law.
In the early years, King Hui of Wei did not hesitate to abandon the Martingale, but used Huishi so much, which just shows that King Hui of Wei did not want to make drastic changes, but hoped that Huishi's penal name technique would strengthen the State of Wei. To some extent, the choice between Shangmartin or Huishi is a hidden dispute between The Taoists and the Dharma. Although King Hui of Wei eventually chose Taoism, didn't the State of Wei really need a radical change at that time?
Decades later, the State of Qin, which had undergone the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, defeated the State of Wei one by one, proving the mistake of King Hui of Wei's choice. In the Warring States era of the law of the jungle, if you want to improve according to the old ways rather than completely change, this is self-willed degeneration. Therefore, the reason why the Wei state collapsed after the defeat of Maling was that the rulers of the Wei state were unwilling to carry out radical changes again.